Draith
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Chapter 19 - To Be An Archmage
🕑 Added 2025-02-25 03:00:03 +0000 UTCExplaining I was approaching my ascension to Books, and that I wanted to spend my time preparing, Nexxa and I spent the evening working together as she explained how her own core formation had gone. For her, it'd been a slow process, since she'd been working her affinity for Storm up to fifty at the same time. An astoundingly high affinity for a mage-tier ensouled. The normal accepted limit was around twenty-five. Yet her focus let her raise it even higher with each tier after. She let slip that her current affinity with Storm was nearing two-hundred. I couldn’t fathom how cheap that must make her Storm spells.
In a way, building the foundation for Astral ascension was a lot easier than what we'd been doing with our spells over the last week. Partially, it required reinforcing the existing affinities, and making sure the core had proper channels for directing the aspected mana. The channels were easy to form, but the trick was that you couldn't draw on your mana while working on them or they'd get disrupted.
That meant no casting spells, no charging blasting rods or using any other magical item.
Which made the prospect of building my foundation while my core was leaking… a challenge, to say the least. Not unlike doing work on an engine while it was running. Still, I'd done enough of that to know, sometimes it was better to work on an engine while it was running. Sure, you had to be extra careful to ensure your hand didn't get chopped off by a spinning fan blade or caught in a belt but you also had instant feedback when you made changes.
Course, you couldn't exactly swap a transmission while the engine was running full bore, but from what Nexxa was telling me, I suspected it wouldn't be quite as bad as a transmission swap.
In the morning, we confirmed that my core was still leaking just as much as it had been the day before. Which was as good as it was bad, cause at least it wasn't getting worse.
"Forgive me for asking, master Perth, but couldn't you create a temporary patch?" Calbern asked after overhearing Nexxa and I discussing the problem on the front deck. "That is what the sailors do when they get a leak. They place a patch over the outer hull, then fix the inner hull before removing the patch. I believe they've done it twice so far while we've been aboard."
"I… would that work?" I asked Nexxa, stepping back from the railing so I could hear her better.
"It might? We won't know until you have your fifth slot unlocked and you start working on your foundation. If it does, you might be able to hold off on ascending until you get your affinities in order."
"Thank you, Calbern. Good to have outside opinions," I said, nodding in his direction and receiving one in return.
"So… shall we resume? At a slower pace, of course," Nexxa asked, flexing her hand as if questioning whether she should extend it to me.
"Well, it's not getting any better," I said, accepting her hand, and grinning as the mana flowed into me at a quarter of the usual rate.
After she was done, we examined my core again, and, not noticing any degradation, I cast Access Storage.
To our relief, nothing changed.
We continued through the morning, only refilling my core once an hour, down from the dozens we'd been doing. I was close enough to unlocking the fifth slot neither of us felt we needed to risk rushing at this point.
It also left Books with a lot more time to give us lessons, which he seemed quite pleased by, even though we didn’t explain why.
It was the next morning after when I felt the change. I'd just stored my blasting rod after practice when the fifth slot unlocked.
Despite Nexxa warning me, I was shocked at how much more connected I felt to my core. It was as though I'd spent my life feeling wind blowing against my skin, with all the control that entailed, to having a new set of hands meant specifically for shaping that wind into whatever shape I desired.
The first thing I did was attempt to find the 'cracks' my mana was slipping through. It was pretty easy with my new connection, as my attention was drawn straight towards the fissures. There were… a lot of them. Every one of my spell slots, except the first, had a multitude of hairline fractures in them.
And they were all leaking mana.
Stopping the leaking wasn't as simple as applying a single patch. I didn't have enough free mana to coat even a single one of the slots, which meant I had to take my time applying a multitude of tiny patches.
Only to have them fade after a few minutes if I stopped paying attention to them.
I stopped my repair attempts to inform Nexxa and Calbern of my lack of progress. After his advice the day before, Nexxa and I decided to include him in more of our magic discussions, much to his chagrin. We’d talked about including Books, but it had been Books who’d pointed out that we weren’t close enough to each other to reveal potential weaknesses.
"So, yeah, that's where I'm at," I said, after telling them the specifics.
"Perhaps the structures are healing on their own, and your recovery has just been too minute to notice?" Calbern suggested, looking around the end of the galley Nexxa and I had commandeered for our purposes with a frown. He grabbed one of the books, looking at its cover, then looked around the table again.
"Worth checking, now that you've got all five unlocked. Assess Self might give some good feedback too, now that you can slot it," Nexxa said, reaching out and grabbing a book Calbern had started putting into a neat stack.
"Right," I said as I removed the existing spells from my slots.
"Wait, what'd you just do?" Nexxa asked, letting go of the book as she turned back to me.
"I felt it too," Calbern said, taking the book and returning it to his pile.
"I took the spell impressions out," I said before shifting my focus inward. The cracks still ran along the edges of my spell slots, but without a spell inside, they weren't leaking mana. I also had a lot more free mana to work with. "Huh, no wonder they recommend ascending without any spell impressions slotted."
"Of course they were creating pressure," Nexxa said, smacking her forehead. "That's the whole point."
"This… seems like a good thing, yes?" Calbern asked, looking between the two of us as he adjusted Nexxa's grimoire to align with the edge of the table.
Nexxa frowned as she very deliberately pushed the book back, staring at Calbern as she did so. "Yeah. It's great. It means Perry shouldn't have any problems ascending. He'll just need to be careful with grinding out his affinities."
"Which it's time to check," I said, pushing away from the table.
Then I spent the next few hours slotting in Assess Self.
"That is not a casual process," I said, looking up, only to find myself alone. "Well, no time like the present."
Soul: Tier 1 (Mage)
Progress: 5/5 First Order Impressions, No Foundational Structure.
Affinities: 28 Worlds, 19 Nature, 33 Storm, 15 Arcane, 2 Water.
"Welp, definitely went overboard on worlds and storm," I mumbled even as I noted down the changes. "Impressed nature is so high."
Checking the notes on my spells, I remembered Minor Heal was nature affinity, and I'd been giving it a heck of a workout.
As I looked over my affinities again, then looked at how much I'd have to raise the ones I'd been neglecting to be a proper archmage, I felt a sinking feeling in my gut.
For a second, I had to consider whether I really wanted to be an archmage. While I'd developed an appreciation for Storm, I didn't care about most of the base affinities, such as Air or Fire. Even water I'd only picked up because it was fundamental to life. There were storm aspected spells that could bring rain though.
Sure, they came with thunder and lightning, but if I wanted to exclude those, I could just use extra mana.
"I'm not sure if I should be an archmage," I finally said.
"Nice!" Nexxa called from where she'd just slid down the steps into the galley. "Guessing you're still not going to specialize though?"
"Would bringing four affinities to 33 count as specialized?" I asked, circling my current levels on the page.
Nexxa came over to inspect the page instead of answering. "Goddess take me, we got your storm affinity high. We didn't even have you cast any spells."
"Guess getting constantly pumped full of storm mana had an unexpected effect," I said, underlining nature and arcane. "Also… do you think it's worth keeping them? Or should I purge-"
"You'll want arcane for your experiments. And even I had ten in nature, just for the improved healing," Nexxa answered. "I'd say thirty-three in those we've already brought up, and eleven in the other basic affinities, if you're still interested in being an archmage. You should be able to create balance with four and four."
"Hmm. Well, I'll talk to Calbern, ask him what he thinks. And probably sit on it for a day. Always used to do that before I made big decisions," I said, flipping my journal closed.
Nexxa nodded as I left. Once more, I found Calbern at the front of the ship.
"Ah, master Perth. Beautiful day, isn't it?" Calbern asked, his hands gripping the rail, the spray of the river splashing over his legs.
"It is," I agreed, taking a moment to enjoy the sunshine with him. If we weren't on the open water, it might've been too hot to enjoy, but with the constant chill from the river, it was refreshing. All around us, the Frigid Peaks stretched, reaching high into the sky.
"Is there something I can help you with, master Perth?" Calbern asked after we'd been standing together for a few minutes.
"Maybe. I wanted your advice on my affinities," I said, before explaining the unexpectedly high results.
"Ah. Well, I'm afraid I know very little about affinities," Calbern replied. "Is there one you've enjoyed using more than the others?"
That was an easy answer. Worlds was the only one that had a spell that actually felt magical, even if that was as much because of the ring as Access Storage.
Before I could formulate a response, he added, "Or perhaps, are there any where increased control and mana efficiency will prove most in line with your future plans?"
Again, Worlds fit the bill. Arcane was useful, but a high efficiency wasn't required for most things I used it for.
"Then, I suppose, one must also consider if you care what magic others consider as your signature. Is there anything you'd prefer to be known for?"
Welp, that just blew my thought process apart. "If anything, I want to be known for building things. Not for the spells I cast," I said, rubbing my cheek. Then I let out a long sigh. "Which is why I wanted to be an archmage in the first place."
"Ah. I'm sorry that I wasn't able to help," Calbern said, inclining his head in apology.
"Not at all. You were very helpful," I said, clapping him on the shoulder. "Nexxa will be happy to know you convinced me she was right."
"Always a pleasure to serve, master Perth," Calbern said, his eyes moving once more to study the horizon.
Sliding back into the galley, I quickly informed Nexxa I'd be attempting her plan.
"Okay, your first slot isn't leaking, right?" Nexxa asked, pausing in the midst of jotting notes in her journal to look up at me. When I nodded, she continued, "Then we'll use that to grind your affinities up. I was also thinking that instead of transferring mana directly, I could channel it into the air and then you can absorb it using Mana Draw. Preferably with adjusted versions of the spell. It'll be less efficient, but it should keep from pushing your storm affinity even higher, and each version should stress your channels while drawing mana in."
She didn’t give me a chance to respond before leaning over and jotting down notes. I started taking my own notes, and we were working side by side until it was time to experiment.
As I stretched out, casting Minor Heal while swinging my arms to restore circulation, I said, "Hey Nexxa.”
"Yeah?" she asked without looking up from her writing.
"Appreciate you," I said, slugging her lightly in the shoulder.
"You better," Nexxa replied, shooting me a grin. "Give me a few and we can get started."
I nodded, fully prepared for the grind that would allow me to become a proper archmage. Or so I hoped.
