Valterion: The Space/Arch? Mage

Chapter 107: Magic & Artifacts

Location: Magicon Empire; Magicon System; Terra; Imperia; FBC

It’s Thursday now; The week is almost over, and I’ve got the last two classes on my list today. My Friday is free for now. This only changes once the courses I’m playing taxi for kick off for real. I don’t have to sit in their theoretical lessons after all.

Lucy starts showing off her cooking skills more and more and wakes us up with another nice breakfast. After that, Both Alina and Lydia rush off to go to their respective courses. This leaves me with Lucy, who will be my course partner for the first lesson of the day.

It’s finally time for the Magic and Artifacts course! Of course, Lucy wouldn’t miss out on this. We both have been very curious about all things magic for like forever, so it’s only logical that we both took this course.

“Ready to go?” I ask her once we’ve put away the dirty plates.

“Oh, yes! I can’t wait. Let’s go.”

She grabs my arm and practically pulls me out of our room. Then we quickly make our way to today’s classroom. When we enter, it doesn’t surprise me that it’s a rather big classroom this time. It’s almost a quarter in size of the initial classroom we had our introductory lessons. That’s still thousands of people!

And they all make themselves known… The sound of conversation immediately assaults our ears as soon as we enter the room. I can barely hear Lucy talking next to me. If I’m guessing right, she asked where I want to sit.

I shrug and lean over to talk directly into her ear. “I don’t know… Let’s just sit down somewhere in the middle.”

She looks back at me just as confused, then frowns and closes her eyes. A bit of magic emanates from her, and a second later, the surrounding noise quiets down a lot. She lets out a relieved breath. “Ah, that’s better… And yeah, let’s just sit down somewhere.”

“What was that?” I ask. It felt like an A&D spell, but it must be a new one.

“New spell,” she grins. “Leaned it right in my first lesson. It was surprisingly easy and lets me dampen the sound around me. It was originally developed to protect children’s ears during sports events, but the professor showed it to us after one of my classmates complained about the loud noise in crowds due to her sensitive ears.”

“Cool, I’m glad you know it. It’s just so loud in here…”

We reach two empty seats shortly after and sit down. Then we wait until the lesson begins. Lucy notices a few students next to her struggling to understand each other and offers to include them in her privacy sphere or whatever the spell is called. They happily agree, and I hear them sigh in relief once the bubble envelops them.

It takes another fifteen minutes until a wizened man enters the room and closes the doors behind him with a flick of his hands. He walks down the stairs and stops behind the lectern in the front. There he clears his throat and starts speaking. Lucy quickly stops her spell.

He looks so old. Like almost double the age of Grandpa John. Wrinkles are all over his face, and what remains of his hair is completely white. Still, his eyes look sharp as ever, and his voice is still strong and deep.

“Good morning, students, and welcome. My name is professor Oldridge, and I will be your instructor in all things concerning Artifacts and general information about magic.” He pauses for a short moment and looks around. “Now, before I start, are there any questions?”

What would we ask about if we haven’t heard anything yet? I look around as well and notice someone lifting their hand. Looks like we’ve got someone overeager…

Professor Oldridge nods at the student and they speak up. “Thank you, professor. I was wondering if it would be possible to challenge this course early for credit, as I already know everything about the curriculum.”

Oldridge raises an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yes, professor,” they answer with confidence.

“Alright, please come down here after the lesson and we will talk about this.”

“What a nerd,” Lucy mutters, and I nod silently. Could this be me if I grew up here in The Empire? And does this count as an exploit? Probably not, right?

I look around; No one else lifts their hand. Professor Oldridge notices this as well and clears his throat a second time.

“Alright, then let’s start today’s lesson. Can someone tell me what magic actually is or does?”

That earns him blank faces all around. Such a simple definition, and no one has a clue. I’m completely clueless as well, and even the nerd who confidently said they could challenge the course has a big frown on their face.

Oldridge chuckles. “Don’t fret, an all-encompassing answer to this simple question still eludes even the greatest magical scholars after all those years since we discovered magic. The closest approximation to both parts of my question is this: Magic is a supernatural force or power that enables us to do things we otherwise can’t.”

He lets those words hang in the air and waits in silence. I think about them. It makes sense, but it is also very broad. It’s like you say magic is magic and shrug. Before I know it, I’m lifting my hand to ask a question. The professor acknowledges me after a short delay.

“Professor Oldridge, this doesn’t make sense. It’s like you tell us the water is blue. What are we supposed to do with this? Isn’t there a better definition? I mean this is just useless…” The last sentence just slips out, and I blush a bit in embarrassment.

Professor Oldridge just grins. “Exactly! The definition we have is so broad, that we can ignore it. That’s why this course isn’t about that. I always like to include it at the beginning of a course though, as it shows just how little we know about magic even after more than 11,000 years. Sure, there have been better definitions over the years, but every single one besides the one I just told you has been proven inadequate shortly after.”

He waves his hand, and a holo-projector comes alive. It shows something I saw all those years ago at the magic academy in the Estriduros Republic: Power levels. This time it shows the whole scale though. From Novice, all the way to Archmage.

The professor focuses back on the class. “I know, you probably know this already, but just for the sake of completeness, I’ll repeat it. We start at the bottom with the Novice rank. It’s the lowest and most restrictive. You actually won’t see many Novices here in The Empire, as they are offered a free advancement to Junior rank which is the second lowest. You also won’t find a doctor in their right mind offering to implant you with a Novice core!”

That’s new. I didn’t know about the no-Novice rule, but I like it. Being a Novice was just bad!

“After Junior, we have Senior, which enables you to cast most of the more advanced spells. This is followed by the Master rank, which is also the peak for most Mages as this is the highest you can reach completely on your own if you were born a Mage. To reach the last two levels, you need additional cores. Grandmaster technically isn’t a real rank, even if it counts as such. A Grandmaster is just a person who has access to at least two cores at Master level.”

The professor pauses with a slight grin on his face.

Why is he grinning? And why does he leave out Archmage? Then my brain catches up to what he just said. He said at least! But… But once you’ve got all three cores at Master you become an Archmage?! What am I missing?

I look at Lucy, and she stares back. “You’ve heard that too, right?” She asks and I nod slowly.

“Yeah, it doesn’t make sense….”

Professor Oldridge clears his throat again and the chatter immediately dies down. Everyone listens to his next words.

“I see you didn’t know everything after all,” he winks at the nerd from earlier who looks just as confused as everyone else. That earns him a few chuckles.

“But you all heard right. It is possible to be a Grandmaster with three cores instead of advancing to the last level which is called Archmage. Actually, it’s more common than the other way around. If you don’t believe me, just look.”

He pauses and starts emanating magic. He cycles through three cores, and they all feel clearly like a Master. Am I missing something? Everyone always says that once you’ve got three cores at Master, they merge, and you become an Archmage.

“You see, there is one final requirement that prevents most people from reaching Archmage. This requirement is known as Talent. You might have already heard people talking about talented Mages. What you didn’t know is that Talent is an actual factor that has more meaning besides being good at magic. If you don’t have enough Talent, as in my case, you aren’t able to reach Archmage and stay a very powerful Grandmaster.”

“Why didn’t we learn that earlier?” Someone calls out, interrupting the professor. It’s a valid question. Why did no one tell me?

“Good question,” the professor replies. “Let me ask you another question right back. Would you be here today if you were told as a kid that you weren’t talented? That’s a question for everyone. I don’t know your levels of talent, so don’t worry.”

Uhh, would hearing that I’m not talented actually discourage me? I glance at Lucy again, and she looks deep in thought. I nudge her. “What do you think?”

She whispers back. “I don’t think I would have pulled through if someone told me I’m not talented. What about you?”

I suddenly remember something. “Err, I don’t think so. Remember my testing? Low power, low potential. Do you think that was Talent?”

Her eyes widen. “Huh, that could be. I never told you, but mine said high potential. Does that mean I’m Talented?”

I can just shrug. “Could be… Let’s hear what the professor has to say.”

We must have missed another question as the professor just starts to answer it.

“Yes, we can quantify Talent, but most of the time we don’t do so because of the reasons you just discussed. Knowing about one’s Talent either discourages someone or turns them into someone arrogant. Therefore, it’s the practice within The Empire, that the value of one’s Talent stays unknown. If you reach triple Master, you either advance to Archmage or you don’t. Either way, you are a very strong Mage.”

I can’t disagree with that practice… If everyone strives to reach Archmage one day, you are guaranteed a lot of powerful Mages. Even if most of them aren’t able to take the last step.

Professor Oldridge pauses again and acknowledges another question. A woman from the back row speaks up. “Where does our Talent come from? Can we acquire more of it or lose it? I don’t know, this all sounds so conceptual…”

Oldridge nods. “Another valid question. And also the perfect moment to build a bridge to the second half of this course.” He pauses and clears his throat again. “Talent comes from your core. You are born with a certain amount of Talent. It is mostly random, but also influenced by your parents or their ancestors. That’s also the reason why the Big Five always have some of the strongest Mages.”

There is a bit of bitterness in his voice. I don’t think he’s that happy with not being able to reach Archmage.

Another student calls in their question. “What about awakening cores? People aren’t born with them.”

Oh!

Shit! My friends!

Professor Oldridge lowers his head. “That’s the unfortunate question I was waiting for… If someone wasn’t born as a Mage, they unfortunately lack the Talent necessary to reach Archmage… There is a way though: Artifacts. Real Artifact cores, with the capital A, come with their own portion of Talent that allows even someone who started with an awakening core to reach Archmage later on.”

He continues before the noise rises again. “We’ll talk more about Artifacts in a minute. I have to finish the earlier question first. First of all, the only way to gain Talent is through an Artifact core. No other way has been discovered yet. On the other hand, there is only one known way to lose your Talent and that is the advancement to Archmage. Once you have three cores at Master level, your Talent gets burned up and tries to merge your cores. If there is sufficient Talent, you ascend to the power level of Archmage, if not, you don’t. The Talent is gone either way.

My thoughts ground to a halt a second time. Advancing to Archmage uses up all the Talent! That’s why I need an Artifact core! My early advancement actually screwed me over. Fuck! Lucy puts a comforting hand on my shoulder and gives me a knowing look. She realized as well! I nod at her in thanks.

Professor Oldridge pauses for a moment to let everyone calm down again. What he just told us caused quite an uproar. Reaching Archmage is even more difficult than I thought… And I have already advanced. Even without three cores. Just how much Talent did I have? That’s ridiculous. Or was it the Artifact? Did that cruel thing allow me to collect additional Talent?

Holy shit, that can’t be true. And even if, who would do that to themselves voluntarily?

“Are you okay, Sara?” Lucy asks and shakes me back out of my thoughts.”

“Yeah… It’s just hard…”

She puts an arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer. “I get it,” she whispers. “We’ll find a way though.”

“Thanks, Lucy.”

After about five minutes, everyone has calmed down again, and professor Oldridge continues with his lesson. “I know that was a lot to take in, believe me, I know. But such is life. Magic is a mystery. We don’t even know where it came from. The only thing we’re sure about is that magic is deeply connected with Artifacts. In fact, magic was discovered when the first Artifact core was found on Mars. It took years until the inscriptions were decoded and a volunteer implanted the core. He became the first Mage to ever live.”

Professor Oldridge’s lecture is visualized by pictures and short video clips that show a young man experimenting with magic and finally casting his first spell. He vanishes and reappears a few meters to the side. The first Mage was a Space Mage! The professor stops speaking and points at the projection.

Suddenly something weird happens. The first Mage bends over in pain and holds the area where his Artifact core is located. Then he collapses and medics rush him. They are stopped halfway, unable to move forward or backward. It looks as if the Space around them is locked down.

I lean closer. Is this something a Space Mage can do? That would be amazing for Improvised Combat and who knows what else.

Then power gathers around the first Mage. A purple sphere encompasses him. Suddenly, with a brilliant flash, the purple sphere expands and expands and expands. The view switches to a schematic of the Solar System and shows the sphere expanding throughout the whole Solar System and beyond.

The view switches again and now shows the first Mage collapsed on the ground. The medics are free to move again and rush the Mage. Seconds later one of them gives a thumbs-up. The first Mage is alive! The recording stops.

We all look at the frozen image showing the first Mage lying on the ground, unconscious.

Oldridge clears his throat again. “As I said. Magic is a mystery. No one knows why this happened, but soon after, a fitting name was found for this event: The Awakening! In the following years, some babies were born with their own cores, which led to the first generation of Mages. Most of them had blank cores, which led to the discovery of Utility and A&D magic. Even rarer was the purple magic that the first Mage demonstrated to wield: Space magic. You will learn more about the history of magic in the following lessons as this requires more time than we have left.”

The projection cuts off. “You know what? I’ve just told you so much that I think it’s better to end the lesson right here and let you guys sort out the information on your own. If there are any questions, I stay here for the remainder of the lessons. Otherwise, I wish you a good day.”

Immediately the noise rises again, as everyone starts speaking and discussing what we just learned. I just have to look at Lucy who grimaces. Seconds later, her noise spell envelopes us. We both sigh in relief.

“Do you have a question?” I ask her. She shakes her head. “Okay, then let’s get out of here.”

I grab both of us and we teleport away. I chose the Stargazer as our destination, and we appear in the living room. I immediately sit down in one of the armchairs and let out a long breath.

I didn’t expect a single lesson to be this intense!