Chapter 163: Practical Demonstrations |
Knowing that he was standing in the same room as the Sorceress was enough of a shock. Everyone else had at least been forewarned. Her unexpected appearance was another thing entirely. The legends had never mentioned the Sorceress’s… stature.
Adding in how he’d shoved his foot in his mouth, in front of the one person who would most ruthlessly taunt him for decades to come? His life really was over; Tatiana would never let him live this down. The teasing would persist until they were old and gray.
It was too much all at once. He gawked, having lost the ability to form coherent thoughts.
“Please, take your seats,” he was vaguely aware of the demon saying. “There’s no need for any of that.”
Archmage Aeris sat first—presumably to signal that it was acceptable—and the others followed suit. Tatiana had to tug on Xavier’s wrist for him to finally thump down.
He glanced over and saw his older sister smirking at him. She patted his shoulder in fake sympathy, clearly pleased with herself. She’d accomplished everything she’d set out to by keeping him in the dark. He couldn’t have made more of a fool of himself if he had tried.
Through the haze of disbelief, he silently swore revenge. He would get her back for this. Somehow.
As if anything could, he mentally groaned.
He couldn’t afford to zone out while sitting before the Sorceress, though. Rather than lamenting his circumstances, he refocused. The demon’s red eyes swept across the lecture hall, and he got the impression that she found each and every individual assembled in front of her lacking.
“Thank you for coming, everyone,” she said. Her tone wasn’t nearly as intimidating as her gaze. Cool but not cold, though still easily described as apathetic. “I hope we can skip the formalities and speak as colleagues today. I’m no teacher, which I think I’ll be demonstrating. It’d be better if we treat this as a collaborative effort.”
It… wasn’t the introduction he would have imagined coming from the world’s most powerful mage. Not just because of how amicable the words were compared to her appearance, but because the suggestion that anyone here dare pretend they and the Sorceress were colleagues was outrageous. Maybe the three archmages could be considered something approaching that, but Xavier and the other lower-year students?
Silence lingered for a moment, then the Sorceress elaborated, “Which means feel free to speak at any time, especially if what I’ve said isn’t clear, or if you have any other input. That goes for everyone, not just the archmages.” She nodded at the two sitting in the front, then at the Headmaster, who remained standing off to the side. “Void energy is better viewed as a new branch of magic—not that it’s magic—rather than something advanced, locked behind a level requirement. Like how there are [Glamours], [Minor Illusions], and [Major Illusions], there should be something to learn at all tiers of advancement. I’m interested in seeing how each of you interacts with the concepts and designs I’ll be attempting to convey.”
Xavier’s dismay from earlier faded to be replaced with intrigue. Something for everyone to learn? Tatiana did mention that. It’s why I’m here in the first place. Though that didn’t make it any less surreal to be sitting in the same room as the Sorceress, much less learning from her.
Another pause filled the lecture hall, and if Xavier didn’t know better, he would’ve thought the demon was waiting for someone to add their thoughts. Or perhaps that public speaking didn't come naturally to her. Perfectly reasonable as that would be, a part of him refused to entertain the idea. The Sorceress couldn’t be a ‘normal person’ with strengths and weaknesses. That was ludicrous.
When no one volunteered their input, the demon’s red gaze drifted, oddly, to Xavier’s section of the room. To the girl next to him. To Saffra.
Hand atop her desk, the beastkin gave a discreet thumbs-up.
Xavier stared. Hard. After several seconds of pure bafflement, he shook himself and decided he’d imagined it. Because why would Saffra, or anyone for that matter, be nonchalantly giving a sign of encouragement to the Sorceress? As if she needed encouraging. Or that anyone in this room knew her well enough to offer it to begin with.
Wait.
Saffra said she was accepted as someone’s apprentice. Under strange circumstances that she didn’t want to talk about.
And it sounded like it was someone really strong.
Gears locked in his brain as a theory formed for who Saffra’s master might be. But he dumped the line of reasoning into the trash without a moment’s hesitation. It was so ridiculous that he felt he should’ve fallen a letter grade in all his classes for letting it cross his mind in the first place.
“I suppose I’ll get straight into it, then,” the woman said. “First, there’s a lot to discuss when it comes to void energy. We’ve barely scratched the surface. Eventually, I do think we can learn how to use that power wholesale, imbue items and perhaps form attacks using it. But that’s conjecture. Today, we’ll be focusing on what we’re more comfortable with: how to make conventional magic interact with void energy in both directions. The purpose, of course, being to better equip us against voidbeasts and similar threats.”
Xavier nodded to himself. Magic was important to study theoretically, but in the end, it was a tool. Meant for practical use. While this new form of energy was no doubt fascinating, the highest priority was how to counteract it. Humanity had been caught off guard twice by invasions from those creatures, and the more effectively they could defend against them, the better.
“In that vein, live test subjects will allow for the best learning experience. There are limits to merely talking about designs or demonstrating without real void energy in the mix. So please brace yourself for a warp.”
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
He blinked in surprise.
A warp? She doesn’t mean—?
A staff appeared in the demon’s hand, and she waved it without further warning.
Xavier plunged into an abyss. For a fraction of a second that felt a thousand times longer, he was disembodied, a collection of thoughts more than anything that could be considered a person. There was a vague sense of momentum, of a metaphorical whooshing past his ears so intense that he was certain he would be scattered across the world when he slammed back into reality. Then he arrived with a burstof displaced air.
With him suddenly existing in the physical world again, a sensation that wasn’t quite nausea washed through him, and his stomach turned. He wobbled in place.
Though the Grand Magus from earlier had demanded their ‘finest conduct,’ Xavier found himself halfway out of his chair, having jolted to his feet. He snapped his gaze around to orient himself. Thankfully, he wasn’t the only one to react out of pure instinct.
Xavier and the rest of the lecture hall had arrived… mid-air, somewhere. Flying what looked like a mile up. Their desks and chairs had followed them on their trip through space, organized in their typical slanted and curved arrangement. The walls, ceiling, and floor were gone. A construct of mana acted as the foundation beneath their feet now, a transparent blue that revealed a sprawling city below.
He wouldn’t have been able to identify the city if not for a massive hint lying in wait overhead. Something he had heard a lot about, though he hadn’t expected to lay eyes on it. A precise, perfectly circular hole was carved into the dimensional fabric, and a shimmering gray-black shield covered the aperture. His head throbbed to look upon the gruesome violation.
He briefly couldn't believe what his senses told him. The Sorceress had warped not just herself, but a crowd of fifty and much of the lecture hall’s furniture along with her? All the way to Prismarche?
But that’s the Sorceress for you, isn’t it? No reason to be surprised.
That was his initial thought, anyway. Then he looked around and saw the Grand Magi gawking even more blatantly than he had. Oddly, the higher ranks seemed to be more shocked than the third- and fourth-years. His instructors knew who the Sorceress was, and how powerful she was, so why the astonishment?
He swallowed in realization. I think I’m underestimating what I just saw. Apparently, I’m too ignorant to even know how ridiculous that spell was.
And make no mistake, he’d assumed it was ridiculous.
“My apologies for the suddenness of that,” the demon said. “I figured anticipation would make it worse. The sensation passes quickly. Everyone is all right?”
Tatiana tugged on his robe, and Xavier realized he was still half-standing. His older sister only seemed entertained by everyone’s reactions. She didn’t share the shock many of the Grand Magi did.
He slowly lowered himself into his seat and looked around in less of a panic. The archmages’ responses were intriguing. Theophania looked equal parts amazed and delighted. Aeris seemed wistful.
Lysander’s eye was twitching for some reason.
I’m assuming he didn’t know that was going to happen? I guess the Sorceress didn’t share her lesson plan in advance.
Then he saw Saffra’s expression and paused. It was by far the strangest. She almost looked exasperated, of all things.
That theory from before bubbled up again, and he shoved it down with another burst of incredulity. I’m misreading things. Don’t be ridiculous, Xavier.
“I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought you to Prismarche’s dimensional rift,” the Sorceress said, and Xavier agreed: he was wondering that. “As I said, practical demonstrations are more useful, and as unfortunate as a rift into the void is, there’s a silver lining. The barrier I’ve created dampens the… I’ll call it scent… that attracts the voidbeasts to our world, but it doesn’t hide our presence entirely. Some of the creatures slither through to claw at the barrier on occasion. I need to come here to patch up those scratches with fair regularity.”
The utterly mundane way she delivered those outrageous statements hurt Xavier’s head. As if they were beyond consequence and simply a backstory she needed to recount before getting to the real matter at hand.
“Point being, since we only know how to make classical magic interact with void energy and not manipulate it directly, practicing spell designs is rather difficult. We would only be able to discuss theoreticals, perhaps demonstrate designs but not see their effectiveness. Thanks to this, however”—she gestured at the rift—“we can enlist the help of some useful subjects.”
She pointed her staff at the dimensional hole. He couldn’t bear to keep his attention directly on the fissure, but turning his eyes so that the transgression only intruded on his periphery was tolerable. If barely.
He watched as the Sorceress cast some spell. A moment later, an alien creature made of glassy black-and-purple plating floated out. The hair on his arms rose, and his spine straightened instinctively.
A voidbeast. The creatures were being discussed the world over as a collective Eighth Cataclysm, if not something worse than that, and he was looking at one in the flesh.
Reflexively, he activated [Inspect]. Two screens appeared, one after the other.
***
Inspection failed. Approximation provided:
***
***
Greater Voidling
Lv. 886
***
He dismissed the panels and stared with his mouth hanging open. To be fair, most of the gathered mages were doing the same, regardless of rank. The Institute had participated in Meridian’s defense, so many of the Grand Magi and certainly the Archmagi had seen these monsters before, but Xavier doubted they’d had a chance to study them up close and in a calm environment.
Not a living specimen, at any rate. Corpses had littered the streets after the invasion, though those remnants were under tight lock and key, with the Crown having laid claim to them as a matter of the kingdom’s security.
The descriptions he’d heard didn’t do the beasts justice. Everything about their appearance made his skin crawl. He’d encountered insect-like monsters before, and those were disgusting as a starting point, but something about the alien creatures upset him on a visceral level. They were wholly unlike anything else he had ever seen.
They don’t belong here. They’re unnatural. Wrong. The feeling was immediate and palpable.Merely glancing at these monsters told him deeper than gut instinct could that something in the world had gone horribly awry.
He wiped sweaty palms on his robes.
The monster wasn’t thrashing; it wasn’t moving at all. Whatever spell the Sorceress had used to float the voidling through the barrier, its bindings didn’t allow for so much as a twitch of a sleek, alien claw.
Irrationally, he wondered if this was safe. As if there were any safer place in the world than under the direct protection of the Sorceress.
Seemingly reading his thoughts, she said to the assembled mages, “I assure you that you’re in no danger. I’ve taken the necessary precautions. I wouldn’t risk anyone without warning, much less children.”
In another situation, he might’ve felt patronized by that, but his mind was elsewhere. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from the terrible creature. It was as fascinating as it was awful.
“This’ll certainly be more effective tutelage,” Archmage Aeris mused cheerfully, perhaps to ease some of the tension. His chuckle did a great job too, at least for Xavier. “Field training has always been my favorite means of instruction. I wholeheartedly agree with your choice of setting.”
Maybe Xavier imagined it, but the Sorceress relaxed a fraction. She nodded. “I’ll begin with a simple attack and a simple barrier, both of a design that the Headmaster and I collaborated on.” She inclined her head in acknowledgement of the archmage, who had remained standing off to the side of Vivisari. He returned the gesture with a calm expression. “Observe closely, please.”
Despite all of the ridiculous things he had experienced in what had impossibly only been a few minutes, Xavier straightened in his seat and forced his thoughts to clear. He didn’t understand why he’d been invited to learn from the Sorceress herself, but he wasn’t going to let the opportunity go to waste.
Even if there’s zero chance I understand a single rune of whatever’s to come.