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14 — Hidden Clues
🕑 Added 2022-03-23 15:34:08 +0000 UTCA/N: Sorry for the late chapter, this one took me a bit. Both due to moving into the college dorm and because there was a fair bit to piece together. The chapter will likely go through another editing pass, but for now, here it is!
***
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Little leaves of light swirled around Jennifer’s hand, moving about as if strung together by an invisible thread from their tips and being swirled around. Which was precisely what Jennifer was doing as she manipulated and worked on her light shaping exercise. The idea had struck her recently to attach the leaves of light together with a mana thread which she could then manipulate, to simultaneously move all the other leaves.
It’d partially done the trick, allowing her to move multiple leaves together, without dividing her attention in every other way to keep the spell from breaking apart, but the trick lacked the fluttering motion typical to leaves, as the leaves were simply pulled along together. Nonetheless, the progress pleased Jennifer. She quickly dispelled the spell upon reaching the academy gates, glancing briefly at the two massive statues set on both sides as she stepped into the wide hall within.
Jennifer had spent the last few days reading up on chained casts, glass magic, and exploring her own new class. [Glass Mage] was fairly different to her [Resourceful Enchanter] class as her own mana was now distinctly tinged with glass affinity. It’d affected her wind based spells, manifesting little shards of glass and interrupting proper spell matrix formation. While the reduced control was annoying, it was more than made up for by the increased firepower of her glass spells.
She had almost blown a hole into her room's hall when she’d mistakenly let loose a glass blade at home. It was a warning to be careful with her rapidly growing skills and magic, lest she end up hurting Keith, or someone else without intending to. The close call with her spell had quickly made her realize the need for a proper training space for her magic like she’d had with the guild. Which had brought her back to the academy, looking for precisely that.
She doubted that the academy would spend even close to what the guild had in terms of potions and resources to train her. Just the thought of all the progress she could make had been enough to tempt her to reach out to the guild once more, and spend the rest of this month training with Nathaniel, but Jennifer had decided to exercise some patience, and head to the Academy first. She did not want to risk another encounter with the Demon either, seeing how her life was dependent on her Mark, which, based on the nature of the trial, she assumed could be taken away from her.
Unless my Mark is different somehow, but having someone be able to go back in time upon death is far too ridiculous an ability. Why even bother having a trial then? Far more likely to think that there is some method to overcome the time reset ability. I just hope I can find it before the demon does.
The pristine interior of the academy halls greeted her with its slick tiled floors that shimmered with magic filling each crevice. She wondered just how much magic was hidden in these halls.
“Back here are we?” a voice called out, breaking Jennifer out of her thoughts. Her gaze traveled forward, at the little head rising just above the table of a familiar gnome.
“Yes, I was hoping to meet Magus Beritross,” Jennifer asked the woman, walking up to the counter as she placed her card on top.
“He’s around, although I can't say if he’ll be accepting visitors. Head to the third training facility, down the left corridor in the combat training section and you’ll find him there,” the gnome woman, Minceli Togglecloack as the little card on the desk said, eyed Jennifer briefly. The woman inspected her card with a quick glance before returning it to Jennifer’s hands. “From now on, try to leave a message spell before looking for any of the Mages. Beritross is one of the few people who entertains uninvited guests, you won’t find such luck with the others,” she added.
Jennifer nodded briefly, picking up her card as the woman registered her name in the entry book. Looking around for a moment to find where she needed to go, she quickly made her way towards the training halls.
She quickly found the magus, firing off glowing projectiles at a girl that was swiftly dodging through them all, as she made her way towards the magus. A sharp beam shot towards the girl as she twirled around the attack, her green hair coming loose from the knot she’d kept it in and flowing all around her face.
The magus stopped upon noticing Jennifer standing, quickly dodging the other girl’s attack before sending her sprawling across the room. Jennifer stared wide eyed at the girl, before turning towards the magus with a concerned look. That last hit hadn’t been light.
“Changes your mind about the grade skipping?” the magus asked.
Jennifer stared blankly, unsure of what to say as her eyes remained fixed on the girl with odd green hair slowly pulling herself up.
“Is she alright?” Jennifer asked.
“Ah, she’s fine. If her guard was broken by just that then we wouldn’t be training here,” the Magus replied, before turning towards her. “And you didn’t answer my question.”
“No, I actually wanted to talk about being able to train here. Or perhaps get some instructions from a teacher about my new [Glass Mage] class,” Jennifer said, as the Magus frowned at her.
“Well, any form of proper apprenticeship cannot happen until you have qualified for the position,” the Magus replied as Jennifer’s heart sank. She’d been afraid of hearing that. “But,” he added, glancing at the green haired girl. “What do you think Loux? Care to teach a promising mage enchanter with a rare affinity?”
“No,” the girl - Loux - replied curtly, gathering her scattered hair into a ponytail that she tied tightly behind her head.
“Don’t be like that. You might change your mind if you see Jennifer fight. She has a surprising drive for someone with such methodical casting methods,” the Magus added, but Loux didn’t reply, standing silently next to Jennifer with a straight gaze set at the Magus.
Magus Beritross turned to regard Jennifer. “This is Loux Nekrot, the same age as you, and a certified tier 3 apprentice mage. I’m training her till the academy can find a more suitable teacher for her, and if Noux agrees to teach you, then we can have you here without officially establishing any form of apprenticeship,” the magus said.
Jennifer glanced over to the girl hesitantly. She had a feeling that she wasn’t too well liked by her. “Will you—”
“No,” Loux cut Jennifer off, extending her hand as a glowing blade of mana appeared in it. “Can we start again already?” she grumbled at Beritross.
“My apologies Jennifer, I’ll talk to you properly at a later period of time. In the meanwhile, I suggest heading to the library and asking Ithea to show you some spells and books on glass magic and records of glass mages. I think you’re the ‘learn by preparing beforehand’ instead of a ‘learn by practice’ type anyway,” the magus said, as mana swirled around him, forming projectiles that shot towards Loux in a frenzy.
Jennifer stepped back, watching the fight continue for a few more moments as the girl continued to run around madly with high speeds, slicing through projectiles and launching boltes of mana towards the mage. The method of fighting was oddly reminiscent of her own, and Jennifer felt an itch to bring out her [Blood Dagger] and test it out somehow.
Later. I should probably head on to the library first.
With a set of conflicted emotions at the rejection, that was very quickly replaced by excitement to see new spells and look at the many books in the academy’s library, she made her way ahead.
***
Jennifer had expected the library to be big, knowing that it was one of the things that made the Academy famous, but she still hadn’t expected it to be bigger than the central city plaza itself. Her eyes wandered around in wonder at the massive library that stretched on high above to upper floors as well, stacked full with books upon books present on them, set firmly with powerful wards to prevent any form of theft.
Space magic and internal dimension expansion. There’s no other way this place can be so big otherwise.
Forcing her eyes to prey away from popping out like a country bumpkin, Jennifer walked up to the counter near the entrance and spotted a woman standing there, wearing a cheerful smile on her face.
“How can I help you?” the woman asked upon noticing Jennifer walking towards the counter.
“Magus Beritross sent me here for some books,” Jennifer replied, watching as the woman’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Beritross? Oh my. That man actually sent someone to the library of all places? Astounding,” Ithea, the librarian with light brown hair tied in twin braids, gasped, staring at Jennifer as if she was some mythical creature. The look was quickly starting to bother Jennifer.
“Oh I tease, forgive me. What are you looking for?” Ithea asked, smiling cheerfully as she dropped her astounded expression and Jennifer took a breath, re-preparing herself for the conversation before she spoke.
“Magus Beritross had sent me here to look for books related to [Glass Mages] and glass magic. I’m afraid he didn’t say anything more than that.”
Ithea nodded. “Sure, let me just look for a second.” The woman bent down behind her desk, before picking out a massive tome from within that dropped down with a heavy thud onto the counter. She heard the woman mutter something under her breath, as the pages flipped open. Likely a skill, as the gnome Minceli had used a very similar skill as well.
“You want to look at the 27th row’s 134th shelf, right there on the right side. It’ll contain information on glass magic, and the Glass eye of the sun.”
“Glass eye of the sun?” Jennifer asked, confused at the name.
“A desert made of glass, and the largest source of glass magic related items. There used to be an empire there, or so a lot of people believe. It’s actually a really fascinating piece of history, as the empire had vanished practically overnight centuries ago, with almost no traces of it left behind, and if you let me go on any longer then I’ll start rambling. You should read about it, if you have the time,” Ithea said, smiling and Jennifer nodded, turning around. Even if the topic interested her, she had better things to look into right now.
“Oh, one last thing. Where can I find a Tier-0 divination spell? To find books for example,” Jennifer asked.
“I know one, so I can simply teach you whenever. But if you want to read up more books on divination magic and so on, then it’s on the second floor, the 58th row, 98th shelf to the left. The stairs are to the left. There’s signs everywhere, and a map as well if you need it. I know I did the first time I came here,” Ithea said, and Jennifer thought on it for a second before accepting the offer for the map. She walked around the big library, glancing at the map in her hand before she took a deep breath.
Jennifer had a feeling that she was going to be in here for a while.
***
The dying rays of the run filtered in through the magic tinged windows, as the mage light illuminating the library lit up the inside of the area. Jennifer silently flipped through her book on the history of glass magic, sitting next to a large bundle of books next to it ranging from information on glass magic, spell types, chronomancy and time magic fields, and history of the Giants and their runes pertaining to time.
Yet, it had been something completely unrelated to all of those topics that had caught her interest. A little something called a Death skill. A skill of strength beyond the level it was gained on, obtained by the truly desperate, or those pushed to the very brink upon the edge of death. There were rituals of blood magic, and necromancy that utilized this method and sacrificed people to obtain these forbidden skills of power, one of which mentioned a dagger of blood-glass.
The tangent had taken Jennifer down ancient history and the old utilization of glass as a soul gem. A device meant to harbor souls, and contain them, with glass being one of the few materials that was exceptionally good at the job. Blood-glass, doubly so.
I wonder if my soul can get trapped in something like this too. Would my Mark’s ability still be able to save me? Or- what if I could trap someone else’s soul in this and drag it back in time with me. What would happen to their old soul?
A myriad of questions and hypotheses had arisen as Jennifer had continued to look into the history of soul gems, forbidden glass magic, and the lost empire in the dessert of glass. The glass eye of the sun.
Jennifer heard the sound of steps coming from behind the table she’d taken a seat at, and turned around to see Ithea smiling at her. “Having fun?” she asked, and Jennifer nodded in response, trying not to act too suspicious about the fact that she was looking into forbidden magic.
“Ah, blood magic. Reminds me of my youth,” Ithea said with a laugh. Jennifer felt the blood drain from her face for a moment.
“I jest. But not completely. Every mage has tried to learn more about the forbidden fields of magic out of curiosity. They wouldn’t be here if they lacked that curiosity in the first place,” Ithea said, winking at Jennifer, who took a silent breath of relief.
“In either case, I’m afraid that I have to close the library now. Students are allowed to stay till midnight, but since the first year hasn’t started yet, I can’t allow that just yet,” Ithea said with an apologetic smile, and Jennifer nodded. She’d gotten enough material to think over and go through for now, and she’d already made plans for revisits to the library at a later point. It’d likely be a big help in her research to find methods to counter a linked shield effectively. She did not plan to fail the second time around.
“It’s alright, I was almost done anyway,” Jennifer said, as she quickly stood up and started to pick the books. After walking around for a while with Ithea, and returning the books to their places, she paused when the older woman grabbed her hand.
“As promised, let me show you the divination spell,” Ithea said, drawing a little spell matrix on her hand with lines of mana traced upon them. Three straight lines with a single circle at the center. “Try it now?”
Jennifer tried the gesture, drawing the spell lines with her finger in the air as she poured her mana, and the divination link manifested, waiting for something to attack itself to. Jennifer stood in silence for a moment, before tying the spell to the Mark at her hand.
The spell shuddered once, stretching thin for a moment before snapping. Jennifer turned to look at Ithea and found the woman frowning.
“That’s odd. The thread shouldn’t have snapped if it found nothing. It would just float about and then fade. What did you look for?” Ithea asked, turning to look at Jennifer.
“Uhh, some old cryptic murals I’d found somewhere. I hadn’t recognised the language and thought maybe something might be in here,” Jeninfer replied with a half lie.
“Hmm, strange. Oh well, practice with it and it’ll serve as a really handy tool for whenever you’d like to visit the library,” Ithea said with a smile and Jennifer returned a smile of her own. She couldn’t deny that she’d enjoyed her time here a lot more than she’d expected to.
Gaining clues on her [Blood Dagger] and the mentions of Death had also been a surprising find. With the death skills being something that Jennifer could try and leverage to obtain with her unique circumstances as well.
“When is the library open?” she asked Ithea, as the older woman walked her out.
“All days of the week, from sunrise till about sunset,” Ithea said and Jennifer nodded. She was already estimating that a large part of this month would be spent here, looking for information and details about demons, glass magic, time magic, her Mark, and the hundreds of questions that she was looking for an answer to.
I’ll also need to find a way to talk to that Loux girl. It’d be a shame to miss out on the combat lessons.
With a plan slowly forming in her mind, Jennifer stepped out of the library. It was time to make a new friend.
***
“No,” said Loux, shutting the door on Jennifer’s face with a slam.
Jennifer stared at the closed door for a while in silence, taken aback by the response. Definitely off to a good start here, Jennifer.
“Can you just hear me out?” Jennifer called out to the closed door, but heard no response from inside. What’s up with her? Did I do something?
“Hello? Loux? Just hear me out please? I promise it won’t take long,” Jennifer said to the door, and heard a loud smack come from inside, followed by quiet murmuring that she could barely catch.
“I just need you to agree to teach me. I don’t plan to be a bother to you, I just need some help with figuring out my new class,” Jennifer continued talking to the door. “Magus Beritross said the academy was looking for an instructor for you. If you help me out, I could get you in contact with a member of a Ranked plate team.” She held her breath, waiting after her proclamation. The plan had always been to get to Nathaniel, and if Jennifer could get her apprenticeship, then she could get Loux in talks with Nathaniel, so it wasn’t technically a lie.
Moments passed in silence, as Jennifer stood outside the door. She was just about to turn around and walk away in defeat when the creaking sound of a door opening pulled her back.
Loux stood silently, opening the door lightly as she watched Jennifer with a wary gaze. “How?” the girl asked, and Jennifer tried to not smile at finally getting the girl to talk to her.
“I plan to get an apprenticeship under an adventurer called Nathaniel. I know him- sort of. And I’m fairly confident in being able to convince him, all I need is some training and practice to be able to qualify on the test,” Jennifer replied, carefully watching Loux’s expression. The other girl held a passive face, her deep green eyes looking back at Jennifer with an odd intensity.
“No,” Loux replied, closing the door shut.
“Hey! Hold on-” Jennifer said. She called out a few more times, but received no further response. Deciding that she was not going to get anywhere with this method, she turned around and began to make her way out of the Academy dorms.
There went the direct approach plan. Oh well, if it doesn’t work then I can try again in the next reset.
Jennifer paused in her steps at the thought, frowning. Since when had she gotten so used to the fact that she could try again? From what she knew, the only real way for her to go back in time was to die somehow, an experience that she didn’t want to re-experience. Yet the casual manner in which she’d brushed off the task for a future reset on her own took her off guard.
Am I just getting numb to it, now that I’ve died twice? Or is the Mark somehow making me more accepting of these resets and my potential death?
Having her mind, or perhaps her very soul tampered with was an unnerving thought that made Jennifer panic for a brief moment. She soon calmed down, realizing the futility of the thought, but decided to be vary of any thoughts that casually brushed off her own death. She didn’t want to get too used to dying if she could help it.
Jennifer walked through the academy grounds, thinking over the topic. If Mark was having an influence on her behavior, then she had no real way to tell. It could also be the fact that she’s simply changed from everything that's happened since the first invasion. Wars change people, or so they say. I imagine dying does the same.
Brushing the thoughts aside, she began to plan for her next steps. Loux was a hurdle she needed to overcome, and for that, she needed more information on the girl. As things stood, all she knew about her was that the girl was a transfer student, and something akin to a prodigy in combat magic.
Jennifer walked out of the Academy gates, slowly starting to come up with a plan. Even with her hesitation of dying, she knew that there was no real way for her to stop the invasion from happening again this month. She just needed to not get stuck on the thought of her death, as if that was all it took to keep her family, friends and everyone’s life safe, then it was a small price to pay.
Grim thoughts later. I should meet up with Rumina now.
With a budding plan for her actions over the next few weeks, and lots of magic to practice, Jennifer headed back from the Academy.
***
“Elphion damn me, this is the funniest thing I’ve heard all week!” Rumina exclaimed, cackling with mirth. Jennifer gave her friend a silent glare of frustration. It wasn’t funny to her.
“You actually found someone more antisocial than you, now you’ll know what it’s like for a stranger to interact with you,” Rumina said with a grin and Jennifer struggled not to roll her eyes. She wasn’t that bad.
“Leaving that aside, I do need you to help me out with the girl. I need to know a bit more about her to understand how I’ll talk to her and convince her to help me out,” Jennifer said, looking at Rumina.
“Sure,” the red head replied, twirling her dagger. “It shouldn’t be tough to find out more about her. I probably won’t even have to go through the guild, there’s enough information that passes by through the guild that I can simply filter and point in the right direction to find who she is,” Rumina said, smiling.
“Well, I’ll leave the sneaking around and finding information up to you. I still need to practice my magic, and look into chained cast shields. That and ‘Death skills’ and my [Blood Dagger]. Talking about the dagger, do you think the thieves guild could be asked to move out and look into the demon’s movements?”
“No,” Rumina replied. “The thieves guild isn’t really a unified entity in almost any scenario. Members of the guild could be working against one another within the same guild at any given time. The only rule is that any conflict will not be brought within the workings of the guild itself. The only real way to move the entire guild would be to meet the guild head. You really don’t want to do that.”
Jennifer nodded at Rumina’s words, but the idea remained in her mind. She couldn’t move the guild right now, but if she took her time and found the right pieces, then perhaps it wasn’t an impossible scenario. Having the guild counteract the demons and their movements would help immensely with finding the demon as well.
“Anyway, I do have some news. I’ve found some information about an Ostiri caravan arriving at Lienmont. The timing is a bit too suspicious so I’ll be looking in that direction as well. Beyond that though, there’s been next to nothing on the demons themselves. If they’re in the city, then they’re hiding really really well.”
Jennifer frowned at the words. She remembered hearing about the Ostiri caravan that had arrived, but the event had slipped her mind with the new dungeon branch and her own admission in the academy.
“I remember the caravan. But unlike what people had expected, there had been little to no trouble from them. If anything, the orc mercenaries that’d arrived had caused a lot more of a ruckus, an abnormal amount. I’d met irwys in a fight with one of them as well, which is extremely odd knowing the man and how calm and collected he tends to be. The Orcs on the other hand had been provocative, in every incident that had occured, almost as if… they wanted to draw the attention away from something,” Jennifer said the words, her eyes widening in realization as she turned to look at Rumina.
“Do you think the orcs are working with the demons?” Rumina asked, her voice suppressed to quiet whispers.
“I don’t know. But it would explain why the orcs who have been trying to finally step into the Alliance would suddenly start causing so much trouble in an allied city like Lienmont. But why? What could possibly come from working with demons?”
“If only we knew,” Rumina replied. “I’ll look into the orcs as well,” the girl added.
Jennier nodded. The more she looked, the more hidden layers began to appear. She planned to leave the investigation to Rumina - there were other things that demanded her attention.
***
The rhythmic clang of her Master’s hammer filled the smithy. Jennifer found the weeks to have flown by in between her frequent visits to the library, her repeated approach with Loux, and her own training and practice with her magic. Over the weeks she’d started to gain increasing control over her glass mana spells with time, but while the glass magic progressed steadily, the light shaping trick remained a frustrating endeavor that she just couldn’t seem to overcome. The lack of progress had almost made Jennifer quit on it, but she’d stubbornly clung on, refusing to give in so easily.
There had been little news from Rumina about the caravan or the orcs either. If there was any connection then Rumina hadn’t been able to find it so far. Jennifer had made sure to visit her friend frequently and check in on her through the past weeks. She did not wish to lose her friend again.
“What’re ye so lost in thought about?” her master asked, looking at her.
Jennifer stared back, realizing that her mind had drifted apart once more. “Nothing, sorry,” she replied, as she picked up her crystal and began to trace the spell matrices onto the piece of armor. A few moments paused as Jennifer worked in silence.
Should I tell him? It’s almost the end of the month, and if I do nothing now then the invasion will begin soon.
Glancing up at her Master, Jennifer called out. “Master, I have something to say.”
“Aye, what is it?” her master asked, turning to look at her.
Jennifer walked closer, and took a breath and lifted her hand to show the Mark. “I’ve gained this Mark which sent me back in time. Multiple times. There’s an invasion coming and I need us to be somewhere safe when it happens.”
Her Master stared at her, his eyebrows settling into a frown. Keeping her mind from being distracted, Jennifer continued. In a go, she gave her master a brief rundown of the invasion and the demons, mentioning the demon in the guild alongside showing her mark and glass magic.
Time flew past as she talked with her Master, thankfully not breaking down like she had the first time around. This being the second time she’d done this helped her settle her thoughts and present them in a much more calm and collected manner.
“You can bring out the truth scroll if you want, or the Appraisal ring. I can speak on both of this, each part and each aspect. None of this is a lie,” Jennifer said, and saw her Master halt.
The man turned to stare her in the eye, assessing her expression. She watched his frown deepen, as curses filled the smithy, as the realization settled upon him. “Well damn me lass,” Haireth cursed. “Ye’ve convinced me, more than convinced me. Rotten depths, the blasted demons of all things. Lass, head home. I’m heading to the guild. I need to sort some things out.”
Her master walked out briskly and Jennifer soon followed, closing the smithy as she left and made her way towards her home. If she remembered right, then there should still be a week or so left before the invasion began, but Jennifer did not plan to wait long enough to find out and risk her family.
Running quickly, she opened the door and walked inside her home. She quickly made her way up to her room and went through her notes. There were still five days left for the invasion. She had some time.
Jennifer breathed a sigh of relief, which was soon replaced by anxiety that filled her chest. She needed to talk to her parents. The hours started to fly past as Jenn remained in her room, trying to think of how best to talk about everything. The thought of telling them that she’d failed to do anything, that she didn’t even know if they’d survived was a heavy weight on her chest, and one that bore down upon her all the more at this time.
Gathering her will, Jennifer stepped out of her room. She needed to talk to them, one way or another. Delaying was not going to help. Walking down the stairs, Jennifer went to the living room, where she saw her mother walking about, as she worked on preparing dinner.
“Hungry? Food will be ready soon,” her mother said upon noticing Jennifer.
“Where’s dad?” Jennifer asked, looking at her mother.
“He went out for some work, should be back soon. Do you need something?” her mother asked. Jennifer shook her head in reply.
Walking ahead, she felt her chest straining. A hole began to bud in Jennifer’s gut as she walked around restlessly, unsure of what to say. Feeling sick of the anxiety and the rising stress, Jennifer walked up to her mother.
“Mom, I need to talk about something,” a tremor interrupted her words, accompanied by a powerful explosion as the ground shook beneath her feet. Jennifer’s eyes widened in surprise. There was no way the invasion was happening this quickly. In a burst of panic she rushed to the door, slamming it open as she tried to look at the city walls. She frowned in surprise when she saw no flame pillars or massive beasts tackling the walls. There was nothing.
“Just what is happening-” her lips clammed up as a sudden weight descended onto her mind. The piercing headache descended onto her as the world began to spin rapidly. Her body turned heavy, her legs giving out. A shadow writhed in her dimming gaze, as Jennifer fell.
With a swift motion, a dark tendril shot towards her chest, piercing her heart, and her world turned dark.
***
Mark of Time:
The Mark of the Chosen of Time.
Bond of Fate: Fated strings
A Bond born from the union of Time and Fate
Abilities: Time Reset
Resets: 3
Integrity: 97.78%
Tier: Undefined
The system message floated in front of Jennifer’s eyes, prompting a blink from her. She stared at the message, as her mind played through a jumble of thoughts.
The image of a dark tendril piercing her chest had Jennifer freeze up, and stumble back. She gasped for breath, clutching her chest as she doubled over in the shock and surprise. Just what had happened? She… died? How was she even found? Was the demon able to find her so quickly after her Master had gone to the guild, even after she’d warned him? Was the tremor an illusion?
Clutching her chest, Jennifer took a long deep breath, wiping the sweat off her forehead as she ignored the numb phantom pain that lingered in her chest. She needed to think, think about how she’d been found, and what mistake she’d made this time. The demons had a way to find her, and if they did, then they also had a way to get to her family. Jennifer suppressed the shiver in her hand as she focused and began to write.
She had underestimated her foe - not once but twice. She did not plan to make the same mistake again.
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