Page 9

Lenar’s hands began to trace through the air as he shaped the mana emitting from his fingers. It was an intricate pattern, easily as hard as the one she’d eventually learned for Mana Mastery. Well, technically, Wanda had formed the spell once, tossed it into her river of mana, and then the spell turned into part of the landscape. That still felt like a successful casting though, especially since it actually had given Wanda more control over her mana.

Watching Lenar work, the word that came to mind was graceful. Karlisle lounged near the entrance of the alchemy station, keeping a watchful eye on his wizard. Even Wumble seemed transfixed, standing at her side and staring as the magic took form. Good as it was, the task clearly demanded effort, judging by the beads of sweat running down Lenar’s face. More and more strands of mana were woven together, forming a complex pattern that suddenly snapped into action as soon as Lenar added the final piece.

A flash of purple light lit the whole area, and when it cleared, a semi-transparent purple cauldron was floating in front of Lenar. “Ever Present Cauldron. One of my grandfather’s favorites, and the first imbuement phase spell I started work on. Takes a lot of mana at this phase, but you get a cauldron that can be perfectly controlled. Temperature, pressure, mixing direction, and speed, even how much of what boils off gets filtered out and how much is sent back to the brew. Some of those require more complex versions of the spell to do well, though.”

It was… incredible. Not just the idea of having a ready-to-go potion brewing station anywhere she traveled, but to hold that level of precision over the actual creation process would be unthinkable with any standard cauldron. Wanda expected that finding such equipment would demand loads of time shopping and fortunes in gellen. While an imbuement phase spell pattern wouldn’t be cheap by any means, it should still come in significantly below a cauldron enchanted with all those features.

“It’s amazing.” Wanda finally remembered she needed to speak, the spell having left her momentarily awestruck. “Does the Alchemist Union sell these, or would I need to seek out a specialty shop?” Much as she wanted to ask about the cost, her father’s lessons on topics to avoid in polite company had been well-tread territory. Asking about money was typically high on that list.

“Many branches do. Since Grandfather favors using it, a great deal of alchemists followed suit, which I suspect is the reason he’s so public about casting that spell in the first place. Believes every alchemist should know it, because one never knows when a potion will be needed.”

From the back of his ledger, Lenar produced another piece of paper, though this one lacked any spell pattern. “Though you’ll have no need of such a purchase. I asked if you were interested in learning something and happen to agree with my grandfather. Every alchemist should have access to this spell. Especially one of your talents.”

TWELVE

Yorian was having no luck finding the rest of his team atop the crowded Main Deck, despite standing on his tiptoes to get a better view. But with so many wizards, and especially bearship pilots, all crammed together, there were too many people of notable stature to manage a clear scan of the area.

“Looking for someone?” The voice originated from a bearded, burly fellow in one of the thick furry coats that all bearship pilots seemed to favor.

“The rest of my team. A Dirvken in overalls, a lean fellow with a lizard familiar usually on his shoulder, and an alchemist probably holding her hound close.” Yorian rattled the descriptions off quickly, his own eyes never ceasing their search.

Surprisingly, the pilot nodded. “I saw the alchemist a bit ago. There was some kind of altercation, and the captain let her go back below to make potions. Can’t help you with the other two.”

Yorian barely heard the last sentence over the sudden thundering of his own heartbeat and rising concern. “What do you mean altercation? Was Wanda alright?”

“No one got hurt that I saw, just lots of yelling then some other alchemist got dragged to his quarters.”

Retaking control of himself, Yorian pushed images of a potentially injured friend out of his mind, shifting focus back to the task at hand. “That’s one accounted for, then. Now I just need to find the others before⁠—”

“Occorites!” Captain Sharshaw’s announcement thundered across the deck, silencing every word it encountered like a reaper’s unyielding scythe. “My familiar sighted a flock of occorites approaching from the starboard stern. This flock is significantly larger than the first one and closing fast. All wizards and familiars, prepare to defend the ship.”

“Are you really sure this is okay? I still don’t know about accepting a spell pattern for free.”

Wanda shifted uncomfortably, even as Lenar put the finishing touches on the spell pattern he’d inscribed onto a page infused with her mana. It was shockingly stable; he honestly couldn’t tell what the degradation rate would be.

“Yes, again, I am absolutely sure. That man back on the Main Deck was certified as an alchemist by the union my grandfather runs, despite his clear lacking in moral fiber to be trusted with such a role. Not offering a suitable apology would be an embarrassment to my family name as well as the Alchemist’s Union itself.” Lenar handed over the page, eyes never moving until Wanda finally reached out, her hand hesitating as it drew close. “Please. For me, because I do not want to explain to Grandfather that the union couldn’t even apologize properly after that fiasco.”

Wanda took hold of the page, pulling it close and looking over the pattern etched upon it. “Thank you.”

A part of her dearly wished she could sit down right then and there to start working on casting it, despite knowing there was not going to be any time for that sort of distraction.

“You can practice a bit if you want.” Lenar motioned to the preparation area, where he’d laid out the meager selection of known ingredients in one pile, and the stock of roots with the weird blue moss in another. “There’s only enough of the normal ingredients for one batch, and since we’ve only got a single cauldron at the moment anyway, I can just make that myself.”

It was tempting. Very, very tempting, yet Wanda’s mind kept turning back to the crew and passengers potentially waiting for their potions. “Isn’t that just wasting time?”

“Depends. Do you know how to prepare the root?” Lenar asked. When Wanda shook her head, he mirrored the motion. “Me either. We’re going to have to figure that one together, but we can’t test anything until the first batch is done. I’d say working on that spell is making the most of your time, not wasting it.”

Technically, Wanda could pull out the weird cauldron she’d partially destroyed and reformed with mana, but the last time she’d shown that to anyone, the Kurlain fiasco had occurred. Then there was the fact that she’d have no choice other than to reveal her own portalable to pull the cauldron out under these circumstances.

Even then, Wanda might have chanced it, save that Lenar was right. With an unknown ingredient, it would be safer to have two sets of eyes watching every variable along with two minds puzzling out the potential properties. And since Lenar would be busy making the first batch anyway, Wanda’s desire to learn a spell finally won out.

Dropping to a seat on the ground, Wanda welcomed Wumble into her lap then turned her focus to the spell pattern. Soon she was sinking into her own mind, the visualization of her mana that had been present since bonding with Wumble. There was the grassy bank, the warm sunshine, the raging river of golden mana now being partially subdued by a gleaming silver dam that funneled a portion of the river over to a fountain on the shore.

At the apex of that fountain sat a statue of Wanda and Wumble, while its basin was filled with mana that had been… calmed, for lack of a better phrase. It no longer bucked and shimmied when Wanda took hold, unlike the strands of mana she’d managed to carve directly off the river using mental implements. The fountain had helped her channel mana into her body during the tussle with Kurlain, but that was really a secondary function.

The true purpose of her Mana Mastery spell had been greater control over the eponymous energy. Not that Wanda was given a chance to test the difference in her hurry to flee Kalamaz. Trying it out to learn a new spell would be a good standard of comparison, at least. Wanda had attempted to cast Mana Mastery only a few days prior, and the spells looked to be at similar level of complexity. That tracked, since both were designated for imbuement phase wizards.

Conjuring a replica of the spell pattern from the page in her body’s grip, Wanda dipped both hands into the calmed mana, scooping up a palmful in each. It was finally time to see just how much of a difference Mana Mastery made when it came to casting spells.