Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

The return bell came along with a second item - a metal rod that served as an anchor for the bell’s teleportation destination. I hadn’t seen anything like that during our tests, but presumably they’d had something similar built into the main room. My current plan was either to leave the pole in my room or to plant it just outside the tower. I’d probably talk to Professor Orden before deciding.

After I’d picked up the bell and rod, he’d “sold” me three more items that he considered essential — a flask that refilled itself with ordinary drinking water every four hours, a cloak that regulated the wearer’s body temperature, and a mana-powered lantern that generated heatless light.

They all sounded more like camping supplies to me than preparation for a dangerous journey in the tower, but when I considered that the average tower journey lasted days, it made a lot of sense. Moreover, the lantern would be handy in any pitch black rooms similar to the one we’d encountered in our first test.

Even accounting for his usually-inflated prices, I owed Lars quite a bit for practically forcing the things on me. If I made it out of this alive, I’d find a way to repay him eventually.

Aside from that, I’d picked up a large ordinary backpack. I stuffed the cloak inside along with the lantern.

After that, I packed a couple extra sets of clothes… and several extra pairs of socks, as Lars had insisted.

After that, enchanting supplies. I didn’t have a lot of gems left. Just a handful of Class 1 gray ones, a Class 1 mind gem, and the Class 2 universal gem. Better than nothing. I packed my engraving rod and my etching rod, just in case.

Finally, food. I attached a bedroll to the bottom of the backpack. I’d do without a sleeping bag or pillow. There wasn’t room for other large items.

The supplies I was more likely to need immediately went into my normal belt pouch. Those started with the book that put me in contact with the Voice of the Tower. I didn’t plan to show it off to the others, but I wanted it handy in case of an emergency.

I stuffed the demi-gauntlet in my side bag, along with my ten remaining silver coins. Finally, the bell, along with the anchor rod that went along with it. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to use it, but given my luck? It was probably more a question of when I’d need to evacuate.

After a bit of consideration, I put the self-refilling waterskin in my side pouch, and then stuffed the waterskin containing the enchanted water I’d taken from the tower in my backpack. I did not want to mix those up.

I had two shield sigils now. The school-issued one went on my uniform as usual, and the phoenix sigil I’d made for myself went onto my pants to prevent them from interfering with each other.

I’d considered making a third, but that ran a much greater risk of interfering with all three. I’d probably get that sorted out eventually, but I didn’t have time to experiment.

I kept the ring of regeneration on. I’d need to ask Orden about how long it was safe to use it.

While I was thinking about the ring, I inspected the runes on it. They were etched on the inside of the band; it looked like delicate work. The ring had to be made of some kind of rare material to hold that amount of mana in such a small object.

Most of the runes weren’t ones I was familiar with, so I looked them up. There were two fairly standard life runes: one for the actual healing effect, and another to cause the ring to naturally recharge. Next to them, a life mana capacity rune to prevent the recharging rune from overflowing it.

Another couple runes required mental mana. I presumed one was for detecting the user’s injuries. I recognized the one next to it, which was designed to recharge the mental mana required for the other rune. The next one was probably a mental mana capacity rune, but it was a slightly different design from the one I usually used — probably because it was for a higher capacity.

The last one I recognized even more easily: a standard activation rune that required the user to channel gray mana into it. Unlike the variant used on dueling canes, this required the mana to come from the person wearing the ring.

All in all, it was simple enough to make, it just required too much mana for me to fabricate one on my own. I also didn’t have any life mana crystals.

After finishing my research on the ring, I took my mana watch, too. I never left home without it these days.

I checked my mana before putting the watch away. 48/48. Apparently, yesterday’s exertions had helped me improve a bit. I was still a ways off from Carnelian, though. Most people seemed to reach Carnelian at around 60 mana. I’d have to survive without a shroud for a while longer.

Before leaving, I briefly unpacked my book to write a quick message to the Voice of the Tower. I didn’t know when I’d get another chance.

Dear Voice of the Tower,

I’m preparing to head back to the tower along with Professor Orden.

If we’re successful, we’ll be bringing Vera along with us. Katashi has asked me to turn her over to him, and if I fail to do so, he’ll be sending a stronger attack against the city.

In order to ensure the safety of the city, I must succeed.

Any assistance you could provide would be greatly appreciated. If nothing else, please make sure someone else succeeds if I fail.

Best,

Corin

Finally, I had to pick which sword to take with me. Selys-Lyann was tempting, since it was clearly the more powerful and versatile weapon — but it did have that nasty downside of nearly killing me on occasion.

My self-enchanted sword was much safer to use, but I didn’t know if it would be enough to handle the strongest monsters we might run into.

So, I brought both.

I wasn’t planning to wield them both at the same time, of course. I was nowhere near dexterous enough for that. I’d just hand one or the other off to Sera or Jin, since they didn’t have any magical weapons.

Well, that wasn’t completely accurate. I’d enchanted Jin’s revolvers, so they were technically magical weapons. But they had limited ammunition, so he might still want the sword.

I felt a little awkward walking to the Divinatory with two scabbards bouncing on my hips. I’d need to get rid of one of these things sooner, rather than later.

As I approached the Divinatory, Jin opened the door from inside and waved for me to enter.

I blinked. Had I told him what time I was heading over here? I was pretty sure I hadn’t.

Maybe his real attunement was Diviner, or something similar from Dalenos. I think they had one called “Seer”, maybe? Or “Oracle”? Something like that.

It didn’t matter at the moment.

Having Jin present was probably going to be a benefit. He’d provide me with another set of eyes to search and another voice to ask questions.

I nodded to him and he silently fell into step behind me. We headed inside.

I’d been in the Divinatory before, but I’d never been back to the archives. Fortunately, Jin seemed to know the way. I waved at a few other students and faculty as we headed toward the back of the building.

The other people present seemed exhausted and a little dazed. I didn’t blame them, considering the events of the day before. I hadn’t slept well, either.

“This is it.” Jin pointed at a double-door with a single large lock at the back of the facility. I inserted the key, turning it and sliding the doors open.