abcnovels
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Chapter 23
After breakfast Erick wished Jane and Savral good luck out there in the Crystal Desert, then had a conversation with Al in Al’s living room.
“I need some advice on some math stuff.”
“Hit me.”
Erick smiled. “You know, if you said that to an orcol, they might actually punch you.”
Al smirked.
“So about these mana costs.” Erick said, “It’s going to be 250 mana per cast after I level Clarity to 10. How can I have [Call Lightning] up all the time? The goal is rain, and that only comes from chain-casting. I’m at 20 Focus, 20 Willpower, and I have 22 points to spend.”
“Do you have any Favored Spells left?”
“All of them.”
“Favored Spell is a good option. That would put [Call Lightning] at 125 mana per cast, which means 750 mana per hour, which means 25 Focus, which is a good idea anyway. If you find out you don’t like [Call Lightning] as a Favored Spell, then Irogh can undo that for a grand-Rad, which costs 1000G. It’s a large price, but you might be able to afford it with the reward from those shadowcats. You might even get a grand-Rad as part of your dispensation from the fight.”
Erick thought about all that.
Al frowned a bit, then reluctantly said, “You don’t have to go for Scion of Focus. It’s a great option, but with those sorts of mana costs and the pressure that’s going to be on you to perform this magic… Put another 5 points in Willpower.” Al struggled to say, “Maybe even 10.”
Erick smiled. He said, “I’m still going for Scion of Focus. Mana Exhaustion is horrible.”
Al chuckled. “Good to hear.”
“All of that was good to hear from you, too! I didn’t know I could reassign stuff by paying a registrar.”
“Bah! Don’t count on that. It’s damned expensive and only available once a year. Even small changes cost a grand-Rad. Most people can’t afford Rozeta’s fees or timetables, so they accept Registrar Quests for smaller, more exact changes. Reassigning a Favored Spell would fall under that category. But Registrar Quests are almost worse than the fees. I did one once. Had to go around the world and deal with a dragon.” He smiled. “Savral was an unintended side effect of that quest, though, so it wasn’t all bad.”
Erick wanted to ask how that worked, but it felt impolite to ask where dragonkin come from when one of the parents was a non-dragon. Just… Imagine what that would look like between Al and, like, Rozeta.
… Adoption is an option. Right. Adoption does exist.
Rather than ask about any of that, Erick just smiled. “Registrar Quests are a thing?” Erick said, “I mean… One of those led me to Spur. I shouldn’t be surprised that a registrar quest can do things besides nothing.”
“They can do a lot.” Al nodded. “So? What are you going to do with your points? Have you decided?”
“15 in Focus, 7 backup. Favored spell [Call Lightning]. 35 Focus will be 1050 regen per hour with [Meditation] active. I think it’s a good plan.”
Al smiled. “A good plan.”
Erick Flatt
Human, age 48
Level 19, Class: None
Exp: 273912/676500
Class: -/-
Points: 7
HP
90/90
150 per day
MP
600/600
1050 per day
Strength
9
+0
[9]
Vitality
15
+0
[15]
Willpower
20
+0
[20]
Focus
35
+0
[35]
Favored Spell waiting!
Favored Spell waiting!
Call Lightning 6, 1 minute per level, super long range, 500 MP ~{Favored Spell!}~
Prepare the sky to strike an area or object of your choice for . If used in an active lightning storm, Call Lightning’s duration is as long as the natural storm. Every lighting bolt called reduces the duration of Call Lightning by 1 minute, or a natural storm by .
Exp: 1100/1300
“Looks like 150 mana right now. Clarity is only 9. Can I sustain… Ah. Nope. I can’t. Not yet. [Call Lightning] is only level 6. It only lasts 6 minutes aaand… that’s too much math for me.”
“You’re close.” Al said, “But before all of that, you need to talk to Silverite and get some clearances before you start raining rain across the city.”
“Right! Of course.”
“Chain-cast it with Aurify to level that as well. Once you get to Aurify 2, the range on [Call Lightning] will double, and that will be a sight to see. You won’t be able to make an actual [Call Lightning Aura] until you get [Call Lightning] to 10. But you’ll hit your daily mana exhaustion limit in a few hours, anyway. A good rule to gauge your limits is to take your daily regen and multiply it by 5, which gives a mage with 35 Focus a little over 5000 mana used before mana exhaustion really takes hold.”
Erick blanked. More Focus meant a higher daily exhaustion cap? That was a thing?
Al must have noticed Erick’s reaction. He winced. “I am sure I told you this. Did I not tell you?”
“No you didn’t freaking tell me!”
“I don’t tell people to wipe their asses either, but I assume—”
“AL. I’m literally not from this planet.”
“Right. That slipped my mind. Honestly did not realize I needed to say something.”
Erick paused. He said, “Don’t worry about it.” He looked out the window. “What are you doing today?”
“Remaking the sewers and streets in the Human District.”
“If you see a mage tower near a farming area, I think I want it.”
Al laughed. “I’ll keep an eye out.”
- - - -
Erick popped into the Mage’s Guild and was immediately directed to the room from yesterday. Everyone from yesterday, along with fifteen new people, were already there, already arguing over the stuff he had drawn on the three chalkboards. Zago arrived shortly after he did and began to organize the rabble.
Erick started his lecture by saying, “I promised the Farmer’s Council I’d see them yesterday, but I was stuck here, and I also need to get clearance from Silverite to use the spell again. So I will talk about what I said yesterday, and then go away for a while, and then come back in the afternoon.”
Zago said, “Sounds agreeable. You may proceed whenever.”
Erick cast [Cleanse] over the chalkboards and ten people yelled how they weren’t done with that.
He gave another lecture, answered ‘why the rain’ with ‘because you can’t have lightning without the sky rubbing against itself, and water is a large part of the sky’, then he told them he’d be back later. He checked the chalkboards for legibility, fixed a few things here and there, then left.
Interclass arguing began before he left the room.
He ducked back in. “Don’t try casting lightning with yourself as one of the electrical sinks. You will die from the charges balancing… Or? It’s just an error message, right? …I don’t know. I wouldn’t chance it.” He left again.
- - - -
Erick arrived at the Courthouse without any problems.
The front guard, the redscale dragonkin Taro, said, “Take a right at the Globe. Offices are all down there. Hera should be in, but if she’s not then someone else can direct you to Silverite. I think she’s here. She moves around a lot. Sorry if you can’t catch her.”
“Thanks, Taro.”
Hera was in her office. So was Silverite. In a minute, Erick was sitting in the Mayor’s office, in front of the silver-wrought ‘dragonkin’ herself. Hera waited off to the side, leaning against a shelf of books, her bright yellow scales like a beacon in the warm space of Silverite’s office. Erick had been inside a few judge’s offices in his time; Silverite’s beat them all. Shelves and shelves of books of all sizes and colors lined one wall. The opposite wall was full of knickknacks; globes, crystals of every color, stone artifacts from archaeological finds, metal and glass contraptions that gently rotated, bells, and photographs. Lots and lots of— not photographs, paintings. Mostly landscapes, but a few portraits here and there. In Erick’s experience, most people preferred large paintings, if they had paintings at all, but Silverite seemed to like miniature versions of grand vistas.
And, of course, there was her desk; a rather normal, large wooden thing, but still solid. Immovable. Her chair seemed normal enough. Maybe a little big, but comfortable looking. Behind her was a grand triple window, with a grove of large oaks just outside, and a fountain in the center of the comfy, green space.
Erick had to say, “You have a really nice office.”
Silverite smiled from her seat. “Thank you, Mage Erick Flatt.”
“You can call me Erick.”
“I would prefer to keep this part professional.”
“Ah.” Erick paused. He said, “Of course, Mayor Silverite.”
“Thank you. How may I help you?”
“I would like dispensation to use [Call Lightning] in the city, for its rain making capability, for the benefit of the farmer’s council. They have expressed interest in extending the growing season outside of the yearly rise in the underground water table and I would like to help them.”
Silverite nodded slightly. “They have come to me with the same desire. I’m willing to grant this ability to you on a provisional basis. There are a few rules.”
Erick said, “Yes.”
“Magic like yours usually has many laws and regulations to prevent abuse and track criminals. Human culture— Apologies. Human culture on Veird, keeps track of these sorts of powerful casters with tattoo magic, while simultaneously locking down any sort of easy learning like what you’re doing at the Mage Guild. We’re not doing any of that, since Spur is an adventuring city, and people with magic like yours live on every corner. I personally know all of the Archmages in Spur. I know most of the mages, too, and if I don’t know them personally, my people do. Abuses of magical and physical power are dealt with very harshly in Spur. We have a very good community here, Mage Flatt. Everyone looks out for everyone else, or else they’re exiled, or worse.”
She left the air open for Erick.
Erick said, “I understand, and hope to comply with your reasonable demands.”
“You don’t even know what my demands are, yet.”
“Still. I’m sure they’ll be reasonable.”
She nodded. “I like to think they are.” She moved a sheet of parchment toward Erick. He picked it up and began to read, while she spoke loud her written requirements. “I’m sure there will be some public complaints regarding my plans, but the idea is that you produce rain on a schedule, and the people of Spur can adjust to the time table. I’m thinking initially every three nights, for two hours at a time. The Farmer’s Council will be the ones directly responsible for deciding the real schedule, but these are my initial thoughts on the matter.
“It never rains in Spur so there might have to be some architectural changes moving forward. This is not your concern. Your spell will alter the environment of Spur, but I doubt we will have to account for a greater environmental shift, like leafy green trees in the Crystal Forest, or unscheduled rains.”
“Is that possible?” Erick asked, concerned that he just reinvented a Global Warming kind of problem. “A permanent change in climate?”
Silverite grinned. “It is good to see your concern for the fallout of your actions, but there are already a few safeguards in the Script to prevent outcomes like climate change. One of the major solutions to this is [Cleanse]. ‘Corruption’ refers to many things. Excess heat, magical pollution, stray spell outcomes, poisonous light. All of that sort of thing.”
Erick smiled wide. “Do you have any idea how valuable a spell like [Cleanse] would be back where I’m from? Immeasurable. Just… Priceless.”
Silverite nodded, smiling. “Back to the subject—”
“Right. Right.”
Erick still wasn’t over how fascinating the [Cleanse] spell actually was, but he forced himself to listen to Silverite anyway.
“—You will be issued two minders. One of them will be with you while you are casting, the other will be out of sight. They will kill you if you attack the people of Spur.”
Silence descended.
“… Will they at least be friendly until they decide to kill me? I mean. I don’t plan on— I know I won’t attack people. I’d prefer not to be surrounded by assholes, though.”
“They will be utterly professional. You will accept this or you will leave my city.”
That was a lie. Blatant and obvious, though neither Silverite or Hera gave it away.
“That’s a false threat. You want me here, but I have basically nothing tying me to Spur besides the fact that I like the place and the people.”
Silverite leveled her shining gaze at Erick. “The only thing special about your magic is how different it is, not how much damage it can do, and we here in Spur have lots of experience with reckless mages. Do you see people throwing fireballs in the street? Shaping buildings into mush, trapping people inside? No. you do not. Do not think yourself above the rest of us, Mage Flatt.”
Erick thought about bringing up Bulgan and the shadowcats, or the mugging and the Sewerhouse assault by those now-dead incani, or all the other small abuses he suffered at the hands of Silverite’s administration. But discretion seemed the better part of valor. He said, “I did not mean it like that.”
“Then please explain yourself.”
Erick said, “There’s a saying where I come from. To get someone to do what you want, you can either use the carrot, or the stick. You can offer something nice and hope that they do what you want. Or you can threaten them. What you just did was threaten. I would appreciate if you could try another method.”
“There’s a saying where I come from. Don’t invite Wizards into your home.”
Hera had maintained a perfectly professional facade until Silverite mentioned Wizards. At that, she gasped small, her yellow scales turning a bit whiter.
“I’m not a Wizard.”
“That remains to be seen.”
“Still.” Erick slid the parchment outlining Silverite’s demands back onto her desk. “Please try another method.”
Silverite breathed. Erick watched her think.
She took the parchment and began casting some small magic over it, shifting ink around, “[Call Lightning] is not [Cleanse]. The side effects of your spell are what we care about, but those don’t come without subjecting ourselves to the possibility that you could literally lightning strike us at any time.
“You will be assigned two bodyguards until such time as I deem they are unnecessary. One of them will be with you, the other will be hidden most of the time. Barring any disastrous revelations with your magic, you will be paid 10G a day for accepting a to-be-determined rain schedule, in addition to being granted the housing of your choice in the Human District. I understand that you wish to experiment with plants, as well? You will be allowed to use your [Call Lightning] in that case, as long as you can keep the storm confined to the Human District as much as possible.
“I would appreciate if you never use the lightning aspect of your magic without clearance from Killzone or Merit, but I understand that [Call Lightning] is one of your most damaging spells. If you are in actual danger and you are required to throw lightning, be aware that you will be required to report why. Any damage to non-aggressive parties will be dealt with extremely harshly.” She slid the parchment toward him.
Erick took the paper. It read exactly how she said, but with a bit more bullet points and a lot more wordy. “Thank you. I accept.”
Silverite stared at him. “You are an unknown entity, Mage Flatt. I hear good things, but time tells all, and not enough time has passed since you came to Spur. Don’t make me regret trusting you.”
“I hope to prove myself as a valuable member of this society. I was to my own; I will be again.”
She nodded. She put her palm to the side, to the air, and Erick felt a tug on the parchment in his hands. A copy curled into her hands. She kept the paper in front of her, saying, “Since we have come to an agreement, this unsigned paper will serve as an informal guideline for what is expected of us both. I won’t be making laws regarding [Call Lightning] until the full extent of this new magic is revealed.” Silverite stood from her chair. “The laws will come, but not today.”
Erick stood.
She said, “Thank you for coming in and allowing this conversation to happen in an agreeable manner. Hera here will be your temporary bodyguard until two volunteers are found. This finding process should only take a few days.”
Erick looked to Hera. She smiled at him.
He said, “I accept.”
“Good Day, Mage Erick Flatt.”
“Good day, Mayor Silverite.”
Erick turned to leave, but then he had another thought. He asked, “I’ve heard some things about Bulgan. Are they true? Do I need to be worried?”
Silverite sighed. “If Bulgan truly has become a Shade, or if he shows himself to you, you have my dispensation to fry that fucker. The damage he would cause outweighs possible repercussions from Ar’Kendrithyst, and based on your ability to fry two shadowcats, this [Call Lightning] might be exactly the ‘stick’ we need to never fear a Great Purge ever again.” She paused, staring off into space for half a moment. Her distraction did not last long. She leveled her glare at Erick. “Do not injure anyone else, or there will be repercussions. Besides the abysmally low possibility of Bulgan making a direct move again, the leaders of the Guard, the Army, and both Guilds, are all aware of the ongoing problem. There is nothing that you, or your daughter, need to either do, or worry about, with regard to Bulgan.”
Erick said, “Thank you.”
“It is the duty of a leader to keep their people safe, Mage Erick Flatt.” Silverite stood up straight. “It is my sincere hope that you continue to prove yourself as one of our people here in Spur. Actual citizenship requires a year of residency, though.”
With a smile this time, Erick repeated, “Thank you.”
He left Silverite’s office.
Hera followed him out of the room.
When he was far enough away from Silverite, he said to Hera, “I feel like I really fucked up somewhere along the line.”
Hera nodded, saying, “Yeah. I can point out several places where you could have done better, if you’d like.” She waved to Taro on the way out of the Courthouse. “Or, you could tell me what problems you think you have created, and I might be able to alleviate some of your concern.”
“That’s basically the same thing.”
“Yup!” She said, “What I did there, was offer you no way out that I didn’t already approve. What you did, was call me on my bullshit, instead of actually attempt to steer the possibilities into a direction you approved. Now, we are at an impasse and you have ceded me authority to dictate how the rest of this conversation is going to go, and this is how I have chosen to go.”
Erick stopped in the middle of the street. He looked at Hera, and said, “I’m not that bad off, am I?”
“Not if you stop teaching those classes this very day!" Hera said, "I used to be apprenticed to Zago. I know all of her tricks, and you skirted some of them, but you fell right into the rest. I still have trouble believing that you actually went and taught a concise, clear lesson. Not even the barest attempt at obfuscation! It’s like you’re begging to be the spark that ignites the Quiet War. Did you even see a single human in that class? I know I didn’t, but you were actually there.”
Erick felt his stomach drop.
Hera noticed. “Good. You are beginning to realize the depths of what you have done.” She sighed. She asked, “Where to? Farmer’s Market, and the Council? You’re going to love and hate Krakina, but I think she’ll be good for you.”
Erick felt heat rise on his face. He said, “Maybe if you assholes wouldn’t solve problems with firepower, then a bit of knowledge wouldn’t be a problem. It could lead to better lives.”
“Oh. Wow. You’re serious.” She said, “Maybe if you were talking about better ways to [Cleanse], you might have a claw to fight with, but you went and added a 500 mana tier 1 war spell to the Script. You fucked up. A lot. This is part of the outcome of your actions, and honestly? It’s going rather well for you, so far. Things could be far, far worse.”
Erick stomped off west, toward the farming district.
Hera followed.
- - - -
The Farmer’s Market was much the same as Erick remembered it the first time. Way too many people buying fresh vegetables and grains from cloth-tent stalls. A few people tried to greet him, to show him some wares, but all Erick could see were greedy eyes and yawning purses, waiting for him to fill them.
Shit. Why did Hera have to talk like that? He knew he was being played by Silverite, but was he being played by everyone? What’s wrong with helping people?
Hera smalltalked to passersby as they went through the market, toward the farms beyond. She seemed to know everyone, and that just pissed Erick off even more. Here she was, saying that he had fucked up by trying to be a part of a community, but she was also being a part of that community with every action she took.
Erick knew he was new to this town, to this world. But he had lived in places like this before; small friendly communities where everyone knew everyone else, but who were suddenly suspicious when you tried to actually move in. He wasn’t welcome, right now, but he had thought he was working toward that goal. Obviously, he was wrong. When the local leaders start talking about murdering you if—
Okay. So Silverite’s precautions were completely reasonable. If Erick murdered someone, even accidentally, he would expect to be murdered back by the locals, or someone else. But just because it was reasonable, didn’t mean that Erick didn’t have a primal, emotional reaction to having his life threatened.
Thinking back to the meeting with Silverite, she had said something he had forgotten.
‘Actual citizenship requires a year of residency’. She meant legally, of course, but in Erick’s experience, it took a year for anyone to socially integrate into a new town. That was not news. Erick already knew this. Silverite was a reasonable person, with reasonable worries, with reasonable threats.
But then Hera had to go and be all like that.
He glanced back at her. She was still talking to random people.
Erick was starting to feel bitter, wondering how much he had been used in the past few days. But, fuck, that was a tiring and alienating way to think about the world. Erick did not want to feel that Hera was using him. He didn’t want to feel used by anyone.
By Zago.
By Silverite.
He didn’t want to have these sorts of dark thoughts, either.
Erick did not want to be the kind of person who was so paranoid about their neighbors that they never left the house. He had helped several people like that in his life. Even if their sort of paranoia was true and helpful on Veird, he did not want to live that kind of life.
So Erick decided to view the past few days through a different lens.
Silverite had hit on Erick’s problem pretty hard. Many other people were capable of more destruction than Erick. Al, for instance, could literally remake the streets and sewers and buildings of an entire city, all by himself. But everyone trusted Al, because Al was a part of Spur. He had been here for a long time already.
Erick was an unknown.
Erick did not want to be an unknown. Part of this change would take time. The rest was up to him.
There would be a few changes going forward. Hera was right about a few things, and one of them was that there were no humans in the classes Zago organized. That was a problem Erick could solve. That was a problem Erick would solve.
Ah. And there’s Valok, father to that Pinkscale girl, member of the Farmer’s Council. He was talking to a rice seller about something. Erick put on a happier face, then walked up to the redscale dragonkin.
Valok noticed him. His demeanor turned icy, a far cry from the warmth he had talking to the rice seller. He said, “You.”
Erick paused. “Me?”
“Ready to work?”
Erick frowned. He felt his anger rise, and if he had not tempered himself against his anger moments ago, he might have said something disastrous. Instead, he said, “Nope. Let’s talk, first.”
Valok grunted, then nodded. “Questions?”
“A concern. I’d like to talk about what sort of plan you want from me. Also, I went to Silverite and she drew up a preliminary schedule. Nightly rains, every few days. That sort of thing.”
Two other people had come up to them while he was talking to Valok. One was the orcol farmer from last night, Apogough. He was also a member of the Farmer’s Council, and had roughly the same status as Valok. The other was a sand harpy. Erick did not know the harpy, but her feathers looked familiar. Erick wasn’t about to mention that, though, it might have been a grave insult for all he knew.
Valok turned to the orcol, smiling, “Apogough!” Then he noticed the sand harpy. His icy demeanor returned. “Krakina,” he said, with a light nod.
Apogough spoke to Valok, but Erick didn’t hear much of that conversation, because the sand-harpy was barreling right at him. Krakina got all up in his face.
Krakina started accusing, “You’re here to take my job, but you have another thing to learn, idiot guildmage! The skies belong to those of us with the skills to fly them, not some upstart hue-man with big ideas and bigger holes in his head!” She yelled, “I have been the WeatherWitch of Spur for the last 35 years, and when I am dead, the job will pass to my granddaughter, and then her granddaughter and more and more, just as it was passed to me from my grandmother!”
Erick stepped back, saying, “I’m not here to take your job.”
“Then leave! You are not wanted! You upset everything! You are a wizard!”
There was quiet enjoyment and some frowns among onlookers, until she called Erick a wizard. Quiet descended. There was a lot of that ‘quiet descended’, now that Erick thought about it. He had been in confrontations that got all quiet before today; he was usually able to defuse those. But it was hard to take the threat of being called a ‘wizard’ seriously. He did not laugh at her threat, here in the middle of Spur’s Market, but in another time and place he would have.
He said, “All I know are a few tricks and I already explained everything to Zago and a few other mages at the guild. Smarter people than I will decide if there’s more to what I said, or if I’m full of shit. But there’s no way to undo all of that. I acted before I thought. One of the consequences to that was explaining myself in the guild.”
Krakina almost had more to say, but she closed her mouth, scrunching her features in both disgust and probably pity, if Erick was reading that right. Krakina said, “You told them… everything? All of it? All the secrets of your weather magic?”
“There wasn’t much to tell! I didn’t think it important to hold back. The only reason I knew anything about this stuff at all was to help a kid with their homework, years ago.”
Krakina frowned deeper. “You are not a wizard. I am sorry for calling you that. But you are stupid! Telling secrets of the world to Zago. That sand-tick! I bet there weren’t any humans in her class, were there?”
“There were not.” Erick frowned. “I’m just now realizing how much damage I might have done.”
Krakina said, “That bloodsucking mage guild has their talons on all knowledge, so it is not surprising that you were sucked into that pit. But you are still not taking my job!”
Erick said, “I don’t want your job. What I want is a place for my daughter to be safe and a life for myself without too much hassle. If I can help other people, then that’s all the better. That’s all I was trying to do with explaining how [Call Lightning] works.”
Krakina narrowed her eyes at him. She said, “Erick Flatt. I will be the first in line to redo my entire build when your spell is added to the wider Script, but you will be long dead by then, killed by a human for failing to pledge your devotion to the angels, or by an incani from the depths of hell. Or a thousand other forces. You are naive! You are a blundering fool and it is painful to watch!”
“It’s been a wake up call for me, too.”
“… painful to watch.” She frowned. “But not unattractive.” She huffed, and left.
“Krakina is a storm all to herself.” Hera asked, “What will you do, when your magic causes a war? What will you do when they come for you?”
Erick said, “I’ll struggle to make sure my daughter survives and likely die to prevent the worst outcomes, like all good fathers. What will you do when war breaks out?”
“That plan has never changed.” Hera said, “I have a city that stands behind me.”
“Maybe I need to get me one of those, too. Does Spur have any vacancies for idiot human mages?”
Hera smirked. “Check back in a few months.”