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Chapter VII
🕑 Added 2025-04-02 16:11:17 +0000 UTCAfter half a mile of evading cars and dodging passers-by while continuously augmenting Luviagelita's own reinforcement spell to affect my running speed, it became rather evident that she hadn't accounted for me doing that very thing.
At the same time, I hadn't accounted for vaulting over a fence, leaping onto a balcony and drop kicking me in the back of the head... well, not entirely at least. I accepted that I would be hit no matter what I did so I had ducked with my hands over my head at the last moment.
From there, it was as simple as editing Flat's spell to design an impromptu flashbang and bolting off into roadman territory. She was either too surprised to follow, or simply realised that I would be forced to attend class the next day anyway and cut her losses. Possibly the latter.
So, with a massive confidence boost that would make King Gilgamesh proud because of Yvette, I sauntered back home, hands shoved in my jeans, all dashy like. My ass was hot, and now I knew it. Something everyone would come to regret.
A light drizzle had started somewhere along the way, and people started giving me odd stink eyes on account of the black aviators. Unfortunately, my ego was way too high to care about what some 'muggles' thought.
"Won't someone make a dubious offer for a drink that definitely won't be drugged?" I joked as I made my way up the stairs to our tired, old flat, a few hours later... I needed to urgently do something about new living arrangements.
Flappy bird was a good idea, but it lacked forethought. Having corporate eyes locked on me because of it wasn't all that feasible, especially now that I knew that this was a world where supernatural elements melded with common society. Besides, there was most certainly a way to make money through magecraft. That was a much more exciting prospect.
When I opened the door, I found...
"How did I not see this coming?" I mumbled to myself, "Wait, I did."
Waver Velvet sat in the living room, cigar in hand, one leg crossed over the other. Surprisingly, the patched walls and the stench of my oily sofa didn't seem to perturb him in the slightest. His lips parted, and he exhaled a small cloud of smoke.
An oddly familiar girl stood by the window, hand on the pane as she turned to stare at me cautiously. True to form for magi, she wore a hooded grey cloak under a black mantle with white fur-lined collars that went to her gloved hands. The grey cloak itself extended to just below her stocking-covered knees, and was parted only slightly to reveal a pair of green eyes and grey hair.
She quickly pulled down her cloak as soon as she saw me, as if trying to hide her face.
Ignoring her for the moment, I scanned the flat to find Henry's-...my mother humming in the attached kitchen. Ellie was soundly asleep.
"I didn't do anything to them, if that's what you're wondering."
Narrowing my eyes, I briefly raised my aviators.
"Bullshit."
"How did yo-"
A wave of my hand, and half a dozen of Flat's little fireworks shot out like bullets. Waver's 'assistant' shot between us and punched down on my spell. The bullets exploded against the fabric of her cloak, and the distinct smell of burnt leather rushed into my nostrils.
"Next time they're not going to explode without blowing through you. Although, I'd prefer not to do that."
The girl's eyes widened and she pulled away her cloak to reveal a brass cage in her left hand, a strange rectangular ornament sat within, designed to look like some kind of face with a beak? A bird then. Something told me looking directly at it wasn't going to be good for me.
"Gray, stand down."
Gray...
"Yes... Of course, professor."
There was a tinge of Welsh to her accent.
"Never thought I'd regret not being a sheep."
"...Excuse me?"
"You're Welsh, aren't you?"
"How does that...?" She quickly turned away, hiding her face in her cloak.
With a chuckle, I turned to face Waver. He hadn't even budged an inch. He exhaled some more smoke before sighing.
"I'll apologise. You have all the right to be upset. Being with magi all day tends to make you forget that bonds like these are important to people. My spell is just a harmless mental suggestion. I imagine you don't wish to bother your family, or expose them to any unnecessary danger just for knowing something."
I eyed my mother once again, "Make it quick."
If he was trying to help me, breaking into my home and hypnotising my mother didn't exactly create the best impression.
Waver looked around at my poor living situation with some pity in his eyes. "Move to Slur. This place isn't exactly safe anyway, even without magi. As Lord El-Melloi II, I'll sponsor your education. It's about time this title did something other than be a constant headache for me."
I opened my mouth, but he already knew what I was going to say.
"I'll throw my weight around some, get your family to move in with you." He glanced at Gray's burnt cloak. "You cast a spell without even activating your magic circuits. If you're anything like Flat..." He sighed again, "If you're anything like him, you'll be in danger too. You have a good mother, his own family was trying to kill him when I found him. My sponsorship should stop most people from even considering something."
I couldn't trust his words fully, not when there was a distinct possibility he was trying to lull me into some false sense of security. Besides, free security would stink like a three day old corpse coming from a normie, he was a magus.
Still, if he was telling the truth...
Now I felt bad about just attacking him on sight.
"Don't. Your actions were justified. Most magi only concern themselves with themselves. There was a definite chance I was here to use them to blackmail you or something worse. It is intriguing though." He rested his chin on locked hands. "If the Edelfelt heiress was telling the truth, you know essentially nothing. How did you notice... Mystic eyes. But, you used the same spell as Flat to devastating ef-...No, you changed it? That quickly? It hasn't been... He removed the Mystic Eye Killers last time too. Eyes seem crucial..."
He started mumbling to himself like some of William's colleagues. A moment later, his cigar dropped from his fingers and his eyes widened like they were about to pop out of their sockets.
"You're processing spells in real time?" He murmured, looking lost.
I leaned against the doorway, "That's one fancy way of saying I can see mana."
I never did like when people used big words to appear smarter or wiser. Even when used unironically, they seemed more like pompous wordplay than actual parts of a conversation.
"Right, you can-... WHAT?! Does God hate me? Is that it? What have I ever done that's so wrong?! I even apologised for hypnotising that old couple!"
"Professor... Your spell is waning." Gray pointed out quietly, still avoiding my gaze.
I chuckled, "It's like that sometimes. Try meeting a fourteen year old that created a real-time multitasking operating system on a weekend just because he was bored."
It had me consider giving up programming altogether... the first time. Some people were just 'different'. Evidently, I was one of 'those' people this time around.
"This information can not leave this room." He said grimly, clenching his fists. "Do you have any idea what this means for us? Someone that can see and analyze how mana works?"
"I mean... it's probably happened bef-"
"Never in recorded history. No one to my knowledge. A magus that can design and augment new spells as needed on the fly is like the second coming of Leonardo da Vinci, no, even Solo-... maybe not that. But, perfect analysis means... wait, you can manipulate it directly... That's why you haven't activated your magic circuits. You should be able to mix and match the different Thaumaturgical Foundations to make your spells! Do you know how spellcasting works?"
"Enlighten me." I was mighty curious about this. Perhaps it would reveal the final missing piece that was stopping me from doing exactly what he'd said. The so-called higher power I was unaware of so far.
"Fundamentally, mana carries a command to a Thaumaturgical Foundation to activate something, a spell, that was already engraved into it. Different Thaumaturgies, different systems have their own way of communication, their own rites and rituals, the likes of which you see in movies sometimes. A new spell means engraving something new onto such a foundation. It's rarely achievable now but only two centuries ago, Helena Blavatsky designed a Foundation of her own by piecing together others. The base of modern occultism. But, the amount of power that can be drawn from a Foundation at any given time is limited, it was limited further by progress. We discussed this today in class. It's why the induction of new magi is frowned upon. Instead of working to an alternative, the Lords want to desperately cradle what they have already."
I remembered that, the bit about mystery.
"You should be able to achieve the same, with greater ease than even Madame Helena who was an absurd mutation in her own right so long as you have the necessary basic knowledge. You could be the answer to modern problems. Now do you see why this must absolutely not leave the room?" He glared at me like I'd done some great wrong but, it felt like he was just very very very worried.
I nodded, "I guess someone might want the solution for themselves... or be the one to figure it out."
"Yes, so move, please. It's important. Do it immediately, if possible."
"What's to say you don't want the same?"
"Is it because I'm not asking for anything in exchange?" Waver quickly surmised, rising to his feet. "Because it's not free. I'll teach you, yes. But, you'll have to do the occasional odd task under my name if I'm otherwise occupied. The El-Melloi aren't so cheap, I can say that from experience. I'll even pay yo-"
"Professor..." Gray spoke up again but Waver held up a hand to silence her. "But-"
"I'll pay you on my own dime, while of course, subtracting your living costs from your pay. But you won't need it soon enough, patent a convenient spell or two and you shouldn't want for money at all. Like I said, it's a new engraving. You're not obligated to share yours without getting paid."
That sounded... That sounded fine, actually. It would allow me to be much closer to magecraft and while, admittedly, some part of me was still cautious of him just on principle, I would always regret letting this kind of chance go. The patent thing sounded really neat too.
"This will also give you a lot of practical experience. Do I have your consent?"
He held out a hand that trembled ever so slightly with each step I took towards it.
"Fine, but you'll have to help convince my... mum."
"That's alright."
"No spells."
"I wouldn't think of it."
I took his hand and gave it a firm shake.
"Right then." Waver snapped his fingers as Gray quickly retreated behind him. Slowly, my mother came out of whatever stupor had taken over her before tilting her head in a confused daze. She looked down at the tea boiling on her stove, at the cups laid out beside it and then faced us to be even more confused.
"H-Hal, you didn't tell me we were having guests," She stuttered over her words, taking in Waver's choice in fashion before furrowing her brows in worry. "Did he do something, sir?"
"No, ma'am." Waver bowed politely, a hand over his heart and an awkward smile on his face. "I'm a teacher at a university near here. I was wondering if I could get your permission to hire him as my assistant."
Naturally, she was just as suspicious as I was... she was a lot better at hiding it however, and smiled politely in return. "Where did you meet?"
I discreetly elbowed Waver in his liver, mouthing 'library'.
"At the library, I couldn't help but be in awe of the knowledge he possesses at such a young age. I wanted to sponsor his education. He refused to move out without his family unfortunately, and conveniently enough, we do have some lodgings available at our academic town. With your permission, I could make the arrangements before the day is done."
At this, she narrowed her eyes, crossing her arms. She eyed me questioningly and I could only try to shake my head obliviously as I elbowed Waver again and again. He grunted, shooting me a glare that promised pain.
"I couldn't bear the thought of such talent going to waste because of..." He left the rest unsaid, but we all knew what he meant.
He had just called me broke.
-
I wanted to talk about something.
You know how the average chapter on this website is around 1.2-1.5k words, right? Well, I've tried to conform to this for a long while but it's creating some serious trouble at this point. It's damn near impossible to create a proper narrative and tell a good story with a chapter limited to that number of words. Now you might wonder why this is a problem. This is because my chapters are at least 8 pages long with the way I write them, and they need to be that long to tell the story. I often have to leave things halfway or less and feel bad the rest of the day for it. It'll have no effect on me posting regularly, since 3.5-4k words barely take an hour to write, two at the most. This is especially true for my ASOIAF stories.
So, if you guys allow it, I want to change patreon from having 10 chapters ahead to being 20-25k words ahead irrespective of chapter count. It's essentially the same number of words, more even, but I don't have to piece up my narrative for the chapter count when I don't want to. I'm not about to sit here and say I don't like the money, even if I love writing. But, I like to believe you guys read my stuff for the quality rather than the quantity.
What do you think?
Comments
Potato
Sounds good
GoT779
Changing the format sounds good.
