Thorin would join in admonishing Quin as well, but the breakthrough of his spell had snatched all his attention. He relished the growth.
The mastery of the adept level gave the spell model such stability and resilience that the same construction of the model could cast the spell twice. This was what the stage was famous for—mirror casting. Though the second cast was weaker, it didn’t require any additional mana. That added durability also allowed the spell model to withstand the strain of a class rite.
“Thorin, stop zoning out,” Clay said. “Come help me skin it.”
“I just leveled up my spell to adept,” Thorin said, unable to control the grin that kept sneaking up on him. “Let’s go back quickly. I want to try it out.”
“Then help out already!” Clay yelled.
“Do you think these bees have some honey stored?” Quin asked, looking around the valley.
“Don’t ask for more trouble right now,” Clay said. “The battle here scared them away, but they’ll come at us with full force if we try to steal their honey. I don’t want my face swollen like a ball.”
“Even if we can steal it, there’s no space left in the inventory after this bear,” Thorin said.
Quin clicked his tongue. “I wanted to drink some mead,” he said.
“Let’s get some ginger ale instead,” Thorin said.
“Fuck your ginger ale!” Quin snapped.
“Why are you two so grumpy today,” Thorin murmured and said his prayer for the bear.
By the time he ended it, the quiet of the valley that their battle had forced on it waned away. The flocks of birds returned with the swarm of bees droning around their hives. Yet, one section in the depth of the valley contrasted with the rest. There weren’t many mortal Ghosts around the street market, but most in this valley had gathered in that section. A haunted silence accompanied them.
“Rein in your curiosity,” Clay said when Thorin stared at that section that the dense woods had blanketed. “Whatever’s happening there, it probably isn’t good for us.”
“What if it’s some treasure?” Quin asked, his eyes sparkling.
“Then there will be many fighting for it,” Clay said. “We’ll be cannon-fodder if we go there at our level.”
“Yeah,” Thorin said. “Let’s leave.”
…..
Dusk had settled when they returned to the street market. As always, Byram welcomed them with sumptuous dishes. All three grunted a sigh of relief when they plopped down on the stumps for dinner after freshening up.
“It was extra tiring today,” Quin said.
“That’s because you got your ass kicked,” Thorin said.
“I told you, I hate snakes,” Quin said. “We’ll never hunt snakes again.”
“I’m a good match against them,” Thorin said, curling his lips. “We’re hunting snakes again next time.”
“Alright, alright,” Clay said and butted in. “We first need to think about what we’re going to buy with what we earned today.”
“How about some spellcards?” Quin asked. “It’ll be good to keep some for emergencies. We can afford them now.”
“They could come in handy,” Thorin said. “Especially any healing-type spellcard.”
“Okay, we’ll buy a few spellcards,” Clay said. “What else?”
“Branded potions are still too expensive for us, and those from the plaza are risky,” Thorin said. “So, no potions for now. Same with mana artifacts. How about we buy some information this time?”
“We do need to start looking for information regarding the Aether House,” Clay said.
“I’ve been telling you, we’re the last ones left now,” Quin said.
“I’ll win that bet,” Thorin said. “No way we’re the last Aethers.”
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“I don’t have much hope,” Quin said.
“Rylan said our house was of a Magus family,” Thorin said. “Even if it deteriorated, it could still survive.”
“We’ve given out our last name to everyone we met in this market,” Quin said. “Yet no one reacted to it. Aether House is no more.”
“Perhaps it’s not in this area,” Thorin said. “We don’t even know how far we were taken back then. I don’t even remember where we were taken from anymore. We need to expand our search.”
“Regardless,” Clay said. “Rylan told us to go back, so we will go back. Whether our house exists or not. If we give up and lose this goal, our purpose for becoming Magi will be lost.”
“I had one additional reason, but never mind that,” Thorin quipped in with a murmur.
Clay chuckled. “Yes, your heart takes priority,” he said. “No matter what.”
“I’ll go wherever you two will go,” Quin said. “I don’t care about any house. We’ve always been on our own. No one came to save us back then. We survived by ourselves. If you ask me, I’m more inclined to finding those motherfuckers and taking my sweet revenge.”
“All in due time,” Clay said.
“If we find our house, it will become that much easier to take revenge,” Thorin said. “On our own, we probably can't even find them.”
“It’s decided then,” Clay said. “We’ll actively start looking for the Aether House from now on.”
“There’s an information bank in the market,” Byram said. “I heard they sell pretty much everything as long as you can pay for it.”
“Yeah, I think I saw it on the map at the entrance gate,” Thorin said. “Don’t know if we can afford its services though.”
“We’ll hunt some more if we can't,” Quin said.
Thorin smirked. “We’ll hunt some snakes again.”
“We also need some information on that battlefield,” Clay said. “Southern Whispers was its name I think.”
“We do need to pay it a visit,” Thorin said. “Let’s go there when we’ve at least broken through to second layer though, and after completing our class rite. It should take me about a year or so to break through.”
“Mine’s a bit slower,” Quin said. “I think I need to switch to a new spell for meditation. My
“Maybe we can buy some new spells again if we save some mana shards this time,” Clay said. “I also need to switch my spell.”
“I need to start working on my
“Go to bed early then,” Clay said. “We’ll head to the market first thing tomorrow morning.”
……
But Thorin couldn’t sleep. So, he avoided the creak of his bed and tiptoed his way out. His footfalls were but whispers on the grass as he sneaked away to lie under the full moon. The conversation over the dinner had sent his thoughts into turmoil. He’d puffed his chest in confidence when he said the Aether House must still exist, yet the base of that conviction was hollow. He feared what Quin said. Perhaps they were the last Aethers in this world. Perhaps they really were alone…
The hope Rylan had given them; the hope that they had a home to go back to was what supported their dark days. That someone awaited their return. No one among them was willing to deny that hope back then, for it meant giving in to despair. But now, as they were free in their thoughts and bodies, he couldn’t help but be pessimistic. After all, no one came for them. In the end, they had to break the chains themselves.
Thorin took a deep breath and reached for the moon. “If the Aether House doesn’t exist anymore, then I’ll build it again,” he said under his breath. “As long as we’re alive, everything is possible. We can recreate our family.”
When the chaos in his thoughts settled down, it gave way to the excitement of his spell’s breakthrough. He still hadn’t tested it yet.
Papercut!
He cast the spell and traced a resilient spell model in his soul space. Its structure glimmered with robustness as threads of mana weaved together to strengthen it. On its conclusion, Thorin hurled a paper blade out. It carried more energy, was sharper, and zipped out to reach a farther target. Though its advancement still hadn’t broken its bottleneck on the final damage, the overall spell had transformed.
But Thorin paid more attention to the dimmer spell model that still stayed in his soul space. When he willed it, the same spell model allowed him another cast of the spell.
Papercut!
The second paper blade followed the trace of the first without any extra cost. Finally, the spell model waned away. Though
was weak in combat, the possibilities it showed with the adept level mastery excited Thorin. What if he pushed his
This wasn’t a pipe dream. Because to become an Arcanist, he had to push the spells to the adept level. No matter what, he would see their glory. It was only a matter of time. Not to mention, the adept level wasn’t the end of the mastery.
When he slept on the grass tonight, he dreamed of casting an array of spells at the scholar level, or even the finale of it—the sage level. His dreams couldn’t interpret what they would look like, however. For he himself didn’t know what those mastery stages had in store.