Ends of Magic

The mood at breakfast was anxious. The news of the dead enforcement mage had clearly spread, and everybody was speculating on what had happened.

“A ghost of Quaz!” Roni said in a hushed voice, eyes wide with suppressed excitement. “The battle in the mountains happened near a hidden hermitage. It awoke from the death, then followed the Founder back and now stalks the Academy, killing mages.”

He looked around to see how his companions reacted to the theory. Nathan raised his eyebrows and shrugged, while Hibor looked uncertain and interjected his own theory. “To raise the past, it could have been an action of the Nails. Their hands have been idle for a long time.”

Roni wasn’t deterred. “But the Nails kill with magic. This was something else, like a monster! I want to be a war mage and learn necromancy, so I can animate dead monsters. I’ll apprentice to war mage Usto dho Thrask and shackle the ghost with magic, then learn to make immaterial golems out of death mana!”

Yelun just rolled her eyes. “It was probably a malfunctioning golem. They’re left from the time of Founders, and we still don’t understand them. Miracle of the Giant or not, if they think you do not belong they will kill you.”

Her sober tone was at stark contrast to the excitement of the boys. They grumbled about their own pet theories, but didn’t dispute that the more mature girl was probably correct.

Nathan nodded along, glad that he hadn’t stirred up too much suspicion by killing the enforcement mage. It seemed like the security around the Academy was intense enough that they didn’t really consider the possibility that there could be an assassin inside.

The students, at least. Badud might have more information. But there are a lot of students, and they can't exactly use magic to find me.

Soon enough they were headed towards the practical class, which had Nathan nervous. It was where the low-tier students were supposed to practice their magic and apply the theory they learned in the lectures.

He thought about slipping away, but his new suitemates assumed he’d be joining them. Doing anything else would be suspicious. He thought about trying to make an excuse about joining a different class, but in the end he found a few different reasons for going.

Missing the morning classes will only work for a day or two. So if it takes longer than that to learn wizardry, then I need to learn how to blend in. If it takes less time than that, I can do it while on the run. I can hide in this building for a couple days even with my cover blown. It’s huge. But I also want to see how the mages of Giantsrest learn. They teach thousands of powerful mages. How?

Nathan walked into the classroom, which was a high-ceilinged space split into a dozen small spaces by a series of low walls. Each little pod was set up with a few desks and a practice area shielded by force spells for magical practice. Further spells rose from the walls, preventing sound from carrying between each pod. He followed Hibor down the passage and into one of the little practice areas. Roni and Yelun were right behind, and they sat down in the provided desks and started chatting about the upcoming lesson.

“I’ll do it this time.” Roni proclaimed. “Today is the day I cast [Mage Armor] for the first time.”

Yelun rolled her eyes. “Learn [Force Block] first. Don’t reach above your tier.”

“But you can cast it.” The brown-haired kid looked petulant.

She sniffed “I learned Insights from my father.”

Hibor tried to break the tension. “Don’t sharpen your jokes, it’ll…”

He was cut off by another voice that sounded throughout the room, broadcast by an enchantment on the ceiling. “Students, welcome. Today we will continue our exploration of force mana.”

Nathan spotted the speaker, a short and somewhat portly man in an orange robe walking down the center of the room. He smiled in satisfaction as all of the low-tier students in the room turned to face him, and beady eyes tracked over the thirty people in the room.

“Listen well, for [Mage Armor] is a spell every mage of Giantsrest must know. In the wilds of Davrar it will save your life often, protecting you from all matter of barbarian and monster.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Even if you never leave the Academy, it will protect you from the spells of your competitors. Now, last time we practiced the shape of [Force Block], now we will …”

He trailed off as he spotted Nathan, giving him a curious look. Then the man shrugged and kept speaking. “Now we will marry that to the Insight of mobile force to make a protection that will move with you. Begin.” Then he began walking casually towards Nathan and his suitemates.

One student per pod got up and stood in the practice area, moving mana around to cast the spell. Hibor took a deep breath and squeezed his eyes closed as he summoned force mana and spoke the spell.

[Mage Armor]

The mana wobbled and destabilized as misshapen panes of force forming over the boy’s skin. Usually Giantsrest force spells were transparent, but this one looked like a mess of jumbled plexiglass. The boy raised an arm and the entire spell fell apart like it was made out of sugar.

“I can’t tell if you have the Insight, the force spell is too clumsy.” Yelun called.

The lecturer strolled into their pod, and all of the students gave him a Giantsrest salute. Nathan was a bare fraction of a second slower than the others, but the man was studying Hibor’s failed spell. “That mana won’t flow clean. Sit down and consider your failure.” His tone was harsher than it had been when he was speaking to the class, and Hibor flushed and ducked his head before walking back to his bench and flopping back into the chair.

Then the orange-robed mage turned to Nathan, eyes faintly narrowed. “Your face isn’t familiar. Who are you?”

Nathan ducked his head respectfully. “Natad dho Asna. The son of two mages who decided to live in the southern deserts. I recently changed suites, and am attending class with my new friends.” He gestured to the other three students in the booth, and Roni beamed.

“Hmph.” said the lecturer. “I am Bran dho Jast, and I mislike when students make their own decisions. Come, let us see your [Mage Armor].” He pointed towards the practice area.

As Nathan got up, he could feel the man surreptitiously checking out his mana pool, using some kind of enhanced mana sense skill to see how much mana Nathan had. He’d been expecting it, and had set up a fake mana pool that was three or four times larger than the students around him. Not ridiculous, but it would imply he was either already over level 27 or had a skill that increased the size of his mana pool.

Let's see if I've lost the skill of bullshitting my homework.

He kept his aura close to his body as he turned back to Bran with a tight smile. “I’m new to the light of the Academy, and my parent’s Insights don’t flow clean with the Insights of the Academy. I don’t have force mana.”

The lecturer's brows drew down angrily, and he sneered. “Then your cannot be a mage of Giantsrest, and your parents are fools.”

Nathan opened his mouth to respond, intending to talk about special [Dispel] Insights, but the man cut him off.

“You will prove you understand the Insights. Fill in this sheet and return it tomorrow.” A sheaf of paper appeared in his hand and he thrust it at Nathan like a weapon. “Ask your friends for their knowledge.” He shot a look at the three younger students, who were watching silently and trying not to attract the man’s attention. “Extract whatever price you wish from your friend.”

Mid-tier Disguise 6 achieved!

His eyes swept to the blonde-haired girl. “Yelun, if you wish additional lessons, my office is unlocked to you.” Then he turned and left.

Nathan blew out a heavy breath, looking around at the other students with a sardonic grin. “I guess I have some homework.”

They were all watching him with some degree of concern. Hibor looked embarrassed, while Yelun frowned as if she’d encountered an unforeseen obstacle.

Roni just looked moderately confused, and he got up to clap Nathan on the shoulder. “That’s a muckgrabber’s asshole. Let me try.”

Nathan was able to avoid Bran’s notice the rest of the class, though he received another packet of homework along with the rest of the class as he left.

Well that didn’t go as bad as it could. I’ll take a chewing-out from somebody I don’t care about over a manhunt any day. I’m not looking forward to doing homework again though. I thought I was done with that.

He paged through it as they walked to lunch. It wasn’t even… good homework. He’d graded more than a few college-level classes in his time, and these questions didn’t look like they had ‘right’ answers. They were open-ended and unclear. At least one was asking him to sketch a mana structure that he knew for a fact was three-dimensional.

Sudraiel would be apoplectic if she knew Giantsrest is using reams of paper for homework. Maybe that’s why she’s so grumpy all the time.

His ears caught the faintest edge of a familiar voice, and Nathan’s attention focused in on it.

“... press my palms atop those low-tier fools. They’re in Bran’s class, they’ll come this way.” The voice would be inaudible to normal ears, and was coming from around the corner ahead. It belonged to Eban, the boy who had been bullying Hibor yesterday before Nathan decked him.

Nathan held out a hand to stop his group, sighing. “Eban is around the corner. I think he’s planning to ambush us.”

Hibor sucked in a sharp breath, while Roni looked mad. Yelun just looked thoughtful, glancing at the corner and pitching her voice low. “With me here? They raise their hands too high.” She sniffed and lifted her nose arrogantly.

Nathan bit his lip. “They might not have dared a month ago, but now they might decide your support is gone. Because your father is dead.”

Because my friend shot him in the head.

Yelun winced, then looked down at her feet. “...yeah.”

“I know another path!” Roni said excitedly, pointing back and to the side. He took off before anybody had a chance to propose any other ideas. They all followed him on a mad dash through a few intervening rooms to a different entrance into the fire-themed lunch hall.

Nathan used the opportunity to once more examine the wizardry of the Academy as it opened and closed portions of the wall when an authorized user approached. His greater understanding of the wizardry helped him understand the activation sequence, though these spells were less complex than those allowing access to the stairs.

—

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That evening he found himself sitting across from his suitemates across the pile of homework, bartering for their help. He knew a lot about magic, but didn’t know basic things like the notation that Giantsrest used to draw three-dimensional spells on two-dimensional paper.

But the Academy wasn’t a place where you asked a friend if you could copy their homework. You traded favors for it, and the students across from him wanted to get the best deal they could.

This is dumb. I’m trying to assassinate these teachers, not turn in homework to them. Maybe I should consider killing Bran so I have more time to explore. I doubt it is a good idea, but the man seems like a piece of work.

He sighed, resigning himself to doing the damn homework. It was a great way to establish his cover and buy himself more time to figure out the Academy. He looked up to his suitemates. “I can’t give away much about the Dispel Insight, but I’ve got a few other ones that might be useful.” Nathan said, speaking carefully. He didn’t have a problem giving them some basic Insights into fire mana or something, but he wasn’t about to teach them how light or electricity worked.

Besides, those would be obviously non-Giantsrest Insights. I need to keep this to stuff that would be reasonable to originate from here.

Roni and Hibor nodded, eager for whatever dribbles of knowledge Nathan would share that would give them a leg up on their peers. But they didn’t speak, instead looking to the third person on their side of the negotiation.

Yelun shook her head. “I want a demonstration of the [Dispel], and then one question answered about it.”

If I could pull off pretending to cast [Dispel] in a room full of powerful mages at Nol dho Chokiz’s party, I doubt she’ll be able to tell I’m not actually casting a spell. There’s very little risk to this, and it’s an ability she already knows I have from Hibor.

Nathan eyed her warily. “I can’t share the Insight, or give you hints towards it.”

She gave a slight nod, cool as a cucumber.

He pushed. “That’s worth more than one night of homework. Help with homework for the next three months.”

“Two weeks, and you demonstrate the dispel twice.”

“Ok.” He said, rubbing his hands together. “Put up a spell for me to target.”

[Light]

She set a volleyball-sized orb of light above the table and then gestured towards it.

Nathan stood and raised his hands, moving them in a slashing gesture. “Dispel.” He extended a tendril of aura from his tight control, slicing it across the light spell. It popped like a balloon.

Yelun frowned at the demonstration, eyes crinkling up in thought. “Such a sudden spell…” Then she cast again.

[Force Block]

She gestured towards the spell again.

Nathan was surprised she wanted to use both demonstrations so quickly, but he made a show of wiping his brow before repeating the gesture and word. “Dispel.” The pane of force broke just as easily as the light had, vanishing into Nathan’s aura.

“By the Giant…” Roni had a goofy grin on his face, and Hibor looked satisfied to see the magic demonstrated once more.

Yelun was thinking intently, her brows narrowed as she stared off into space for a second. Then her gaze refocused on Nathan. “That used a new mana type. One I’ve never felt before.” She chewed on her lips for a second, trying to figure out the right question to ask. “What else can it do?”

Nathan smirked at the question. Maybe his skills had guided her down an incorrect path, maybe they hadn’t. But either way, she’d arrived at an incorrect assumption. He wanted to encourage it.

I need to say something that I can actually do, because they’ll expect it to be in my capabilities.

“It can redirect spells. I’m working on [Spell Redirection].” Then he had an idea. “Maybe you can help me practice later?”

It’ll help establish me as a mage in their minds, and it’ll help me fill up on Stamina while getting better at using my new skill. I don’t want to drain random magic and leave big signs saying “An Antimage was here.”

Yelun’s eyes went wide, and she started muttering. “A mana that affect spells. A meta-mana?” Her gaze snapped back to him, to see if he’d reacted to her words.

He just gave her a grin. “Now, about that homework?”

—

Nathan was roving the halls of Giantsrest after curfew once more, looking for more of the wizardry locks that would open up new passages. Being out and about was risky, because anybody who saw him would try to get him in trouble. If he got called in front of a professor for being out at night, they'd quickly figure out he wasn't supposed to be here.

That meant he needed to kill anybody who saw him, since he didn’t want them searching for a low-tier student. But learning how to manipulate wizardry was why he was disguised as a student. It was worth the risks to learn more. To reduce the chances of another mage getting teleported on top of him, he'd decided against trying to manipulate the wizardry so soon.,

Let’s try to avoid generating a suspicious number of mysterious dead bodies.

He instead planned to find as many different samples of the locking spell as he could. He was hoping that having more instances of the wizardry would give him a better foundation to build on as he worked to understand how it worked.

It was slow work, since it meant walking carefully down the halls late at night while paying attention to the faint traces of wizardry in the walls. There was wizardry throughout the Academy, and the doors weren’t super-obvious against the background magic. The entire process was made more complicated by the occasional giant golem clomping around that he had to hide from.

Luckily they were easy to hear coming, and he could feel their artificial mana pools around corners. He also memorized the entirety of the hallway system that was accessible without opening any doors. It only covered about a third of the footprint of the academy, but that was still an area about the same size as a couple dozen city blocks.

Beyond the complex background wizardry of the Academy, Nathan found several variations on the doors that students could pass through. Some of the locks were fairly simple, like the magic controlling access to the dining rooms and classrooms. Other cases were moderately complicated, like those that granted access to the staircases and what he assumed were offices for the various lecturers. Each of the latter doors was engraved with the name of a mage, and he found offices for both Bran dho Jast and Brardan dho Shisk, the lecturers who taught his practical and theoretical classes respectively.

With the additional data he was able to build a more comprehensive understanding of the different structures of the wizardry at play, though no two examples were truly identical. The simplest had three layers, while the more complex had somewhere between six and eight.

Wizard Senses 7 achieved!

Nathan had found a few examples that were beyond any others, with twelve or even fifteen layers. The fifteen-layer one seemed to block off a wide corridor leading away from a grand hall.

I wonder if it goes to a giant elevator that goes straight to the top. Maybe. But that’s beyond me, for now.

He had ensured that none of the golems were nearby before examining that lock, trying to even get a full sense of the structure of each layer. Then a voice spoke from the side, making Nathan jump a few feet into the air with surprise. He hadn't heard anybody coming.

“You’re not supposed to be here.”

Nathan was so surprised he almost jumped a foot into the air. His head snapped around to face the new arrival, finding a slight man dressed in finely tailored purple robes that marked him as a high-tier student. He looked curious, stroking his carefully-trimmed goatee as he examined Nathan. His feet hovered a few inches above the ground, explaining why he’d been completely silent.

He couldn’t have been older than thirty, but the man was obviously trying to cultivate an air of superiority. He arched an eyebrow at Nathan. “What occurs? Why is a low-tier student roaming the halls of the Academy at night, examining entrances they cannot open?

He floated a little bit closer to Nathan and a little bit higher, tilting his head and giving Nathan a second to reply.

I don’t want to kill him if I can avoid it.

Nathan furrowed his brows, trying to come up with an excuse about how he was just trying to figure out how the Academy worked. He opened his mouth, but the other man cut him off with a wave of the hand.

“I don’t care. Now, offer me a weighty bribe or I will call down the enforcement mages and you will be disciplined.” He swooped down, sticking his face in front of Nathan’s. “Well? Give me an Insight or secret worth the prophecy of death in my palm.”

Nathan didn't want to leave a trail of bodies behind on his nightly excursions. It would attract attention that he wasn’t looking for. He should see if he could escape this without killing.

Besides, I doubt he’s supposed to be here either. I might be able to call his bluff and get through this just fine, without leaving another suspicious body lying around.

He dipped his head slightly without taking his eyes off the other man, and gave a Giantsrest salute. “I know of no Insights that would be worthy of a mage of your power. But if you would...”

The other man sighed heavily and rolled his eyes, speaking over Nathan. “Slave-born scum. Well, then I’ll claim my debt later. I will just need to embed some commands…” He waved his hands idly.

[Paralysis]

The spell slid off Nathan without effect, and the man jerked in surprise. “What? Are you….” He reacted quickly, shooting up and away from Nathan as fast as his magic could take him.

Damn. No choice.

Nathan unleashed his aura on the mage. It struck forward like a whip, destroying all of the spellwork in its path. The [Mage Armor] and [Fly] spells vanished, and the man’s words vanished in a squawk as the magic propelling him cut out. He arced up a short distance, his existing velocity sufficient to send him another ten feet up. Then he fell forty feet to the marble floor with a scream and a crunch.

Well, maybe it'll look like he lost control of his [Fly] spell. That's basically what happened.

Magekiller has leveled to 159! You have killed Rilrar dho Magoad, a high-tier student of Giantsrest!

Void of Magic has leveled to 316! You have killed a high-tier student of Giantsrest inside the Ascendant Academy!

Status of Nathan Lark:

Permanent Talent 1: Aura of Antimagic 9

Permanent Talent 2: Perfected Body 10

Permanent Talent 3: Airwalking 5

Class: Void of Magic level316

Deepened Stamina: 5822/9780

Void of Feeling

Antimagic Momentum

Raging Thrill

Implacable Inertia

Unarmored Resilience

Magic Anathema

Airborne Agility

Hand-to-hand Expertise

Voluminous Aura

Denial of Wizardry

Mana Severance

Class: Magekiller level 159

Regenerative Focus: 1474/1690

Catastrophic Blows

Battle Stealth

Mage Infiltration

Forgettable

Unsuspecting Strike

Antimagic Stealth

Spell Redirection

Lethal Index

Utility skills:

Battle Meditation 10

Inspiration 1

Acceleration 4

Wizard Senses 7

Alertness 6

Wizard’s Intuition 8

Effortless Dodge 2

Mental Fortress 9

Tutoring 2

High-tier Tumbling 10

High-tier Noticeability 4

Mid-tier Disguise 6

Mid-tier Battle Cry 7

Mid-tier Aura Manipulation 7

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