Andrew Rowe - Sufficiently Advanced Magic

In the meantime, I could only test the whole, and that meant activating it.

I waited for Sera to get outside, then took a deep breath and sent a flicker of mana into the activation rune.

Then the world went white.

“…rin… Corin! Can you hear me? Wake up!”

Sera was standing over me. When did she get back in the room?

Why was I lying down? I didn’t remember lying down.

Someone else was next to her. I frowned. It was another student, but I didn’t recognize her. She was tall, with dark yellow skin like Jin’s. She knelt down next to me, waving a hand over my head. A soft white glow enveloped my face, forcing my eyes shut. The soothing chill that came with the glow helped numb the pain in the back of my head… which I hadn’t realized was hurting until the chill came along.

Oh, I’m being healed, I realized. Which means I’m injured.

“I think I’m okay,” I mumbled.

“Don’t move,” the Mender instructed. “Don’t talk. Don’t do anything.”

I complied. It was several minutes before she even let me talk.

“You’re lucky — your shield sigil absorbed the majority of the blast itself. The explosion carried you into the wall, though, and you hit your head. The sigil looks to have softened that, too. I don’t see any fractures, or any internal bleeding. You’re very lucky. The next time you want to test an enchantment with an attack spell , you should have a more experienced Enchanter look it over first.”

That was true. I probably should have considered that.

“Mm.” And after a few moments, I managed, “Thank you.”

The Mender looked to Sera. “He shouldn’t have any permanent damage. Can you accompany him back to his room? I need to go check on the other rooms.”

Sera nodded with an expression of deadly seriousness. “Of course.”

The Mender left us alone.

“Uh, yeah, so that didn’t go as planned.” I tried to smile. My face felt… weird.

“I’m resisting the urge to smack you right now.”

“Your willpower is, as always, admirable.”

Sera sighed, rolling her eyes. “Ugh. At least you didn’t break your snark .”

“Oh, don’t worry about that. My snark is indestructible. It’s the core of my being, and quite possibly the universe as a whole.”

“Arrogance, also intact. You think you can stand?”

I frowned, looking over the side of the bed. Everything was wobbly. Sera was especially wobbly. Why were we sailing? “No. I’m pretty sure that I’m a ‘no’ on that.”

“Fine.” Sera sat down next to me. “Never do that again.”

I couldn’t manage a nod; my neck was still feeling too stiff. “Right.”

Sera waited with me for as long as I needed. As it turned out, that was the rest of the night.

It was two days before I was largely functional again. Sera kept a close eye on me the whole time, even coming by to bring me food when I was recovering in bed the day after the incident.

Much like a retainer might have, if I had any.

As it was, I was just grateful to have anyone to help me. I owed her one.

The explosion’s cause was fairly obvious. I’d somehow activated both the gray mana and the transference mana at the same time, and they’d mixed. As Lord Teft had told us, like deflects like, opposites nullify…and other mixes tended to explode. This was apparently one of the explodey kinds.

I didn’t see how I’d managed to activate both, though. I had fixed the obvious problem beforehand, thanks to Sera’s comment. I had two separate activation runes that led to each type of mana.

So, I took it to Professor Vellum, the most likely person to be able to diagnose the problem.

Her office was littered with… everything. Books. Unlabeled potion bottles. Children’s toys. Weapons. At least one very mean looking house cat. More potion bottles.

I barely managed to step over the mess at the entrance when I moved to hand her the gauntlet.

“You tried to use this? Goddess, child. You’re lucky to be alive at all. The rest of us might be less lucky for it, if you intend to keep being so reckless.”

I frowned. “I have two separate runes. How did the mana get mixed?”

“Oh, dear child. Do you know how sensitive those activation runes you made are? Take a look here.” She picked up something from the table — a wooden stick — and handed it to me. “What’s different about these runes and the ones you used?”

I glanced them over. “They’re, uh, completely different ones.”

“Yes, of course. But what’s systemically different?”

Interestingly, much like my gauntlet, the stick had multiple activation runes, one on either end of the wood. Each connected via a line to another set of runes.

I was still looking when she spoke again.

“The circles , boy. The circles. Have you never seen a magic item before?”

Oh.

The runes on the stick were circled.

Just like they were on my dueling cane, and my etching rod, and my engraving rod.

“…My books didn’t say anything about circles.”

“Of course not. Because you aren’t reading books about using multi-function enchantments or even basic attack enchantments , both of which are for second year students . Students that understand the fundamentals of how not to kill themselves. Goddess, child, what did you think the circles on your dueling cane were for?”

I winced. I’d skimmed through some of the second-year texts, but I hadn’t read them cover-to-cover. “I guess… I assumed they were cosmetic? They make the runes look more like buttons.”

“Like buttons.” Vellum let out a deep sigh. “Goddess, this generation. Please, let it be the last that I’m blessed with teaching.” She gestured to the stick. “Hand that back to me.”

I gave her the stick, and she handed the gauntlet back to me in exchange. “The circles are far from cosmetic. They’re boundaries. They prevent excess mana from escaping, and they also help to prevent the runes from being accidentally activated by ambient mana, or through other effects. They make it so the rune only activates when you put something inside the circle itself to feed it mana.”

“…Meaning that without them, my gauntlet could have triggered any number of different ways. If I walked into a mana-rich area that had the right type of mana in the air, or the gauntlet was hit by a spell…”

“Precisely. You’re lucky to have your head on your shoulders right now. You’re doubly lucky to have that hand. I’m not sure how you managed to keep it.”

“I was wearing a shield sigil.”

“Ah. At least you did something right, in that case.” She sighed. “Let me see the glove again.”

I handed it back to her. She frowned, shaking her head.

“What gave you the idea for this contraption?”

I folded my arms. I really wasn’t enjoying being interrogated, but I didn’t exactly have any choice about answering. “It seems like there’s always something attacking me, and I’m never properly prepared. In the tower, in dueling class… Even in my bedroom .”

Professor Vellum snorted. “I heard about that. I don’t approve of Orden’s antics, but she is funny , at least. That’s better than I can say for most of our staff.”

I was less amused. “In virtually every encounter, I’ve been impossibly outclassed in combat. I considered other options — things to make me move faster, or block attacks — but this was what I had the materials for, and sometimes it’s necessary to have a strong enough weapon to deter your enemies.”

“I quite agree. But why not use a tested design? There are dozens, if not hundreds of designs for dueling canes alone. Why make your own?”