Mana Mirror: Chapter Six (Patreon)

While I’d been thinking and putting things away, Ed had wandered off to do something of his own, so I sat down on my bed. My mana had more or less recharged, so I laid the spells out on my bed in front of me. I sketched them out slowly, then began to pour mana into them.

Strangely, the wood of the floorboards leaked some death mana. I’d never even considered that a necromancer would be able to affect wood to some extent. What were its limits? Was there a spell that used life and death mana in tandem to regrow new wood from a table? Could it be animated like a golem?

I’d have to go to the library and see if I could learn anything about that. I felt a flicker of excitement about being able to visit it. I’d always loved the Mossford library, but as a child, I’d only ever been allowed to the parts where the nonmagical books were. I’d been allowed some access to the ungated mana spells once I’d turned sixteen and begun training with mana, but ungated spells were much less interesting than even what could be done with first gate mana.

Was it wise of me to look at other spells, when Orykson had told me he wouldn’t teach me anything else until I had ingrained the two that he’d given me?

Probably not. But if he’d really wanted me to only learn those two, he wouldn’t be allowing his friend to teach me, and he would have put a stipulation in the contract for me to learn only the spells that he’d given me.

Once I’d drained my mana dry, I wandered down to help dad out in the front of the shop. That night, once we sat down to eat dinner, I broke the news to him.

“Really? A proper apprenticeship to an Arcanist? That’s excellent news,” Dad said as he stuffed a potato into his mouth.

I pressed my lips together in mild irritation. Orykson was an Occultist, not an Arcanist. Being chosen by an Arcanist would still be good, but I’d been picked by someone even stronger.

“He’s an Occultist,” Ed said, sticking up for me.

“Of course,” my father said in a tone that made it clear he didn’t really believe me.

I gritted my teeth and smiled.

That night, once my mana was recharged, I cast the spells again. I’d only sketched them out a handful of times, but I’d already shaved a minute or so off of the time it took for me to cast them.

Not that it meant anything – taking nine minutes to sketch out a spell meant very little when it came to being able to use the spell.

The rest of my weekend passed in a rather normal fashion for me – I woke up at four in the morning to begin making dough for the bakery with Dad, then spent the rest of the day selling it in the front of the store.

The exception to my normal routine was using my first gate mana to cast the spells Orykson had shown me. It only took me about two or three hours to refill my mana, since my reserves were brand new and hadn’t had much time to grow, so by the end of the weekend, I’d cast the spell at least a dozen times.

Draining myself empty over and over again had made my mana-garden feel sore and strained, like a muscle that I’d been working out too much.

But even still, my mana-garden had noticeably grown. It wasn’t by much, but being able to see even a little bit of growth in two days was impressive.

I was beginning to rethink my idea to go to the library and research new spells. It still felt like a good idea to do it eventually, but while I was focused on mastering these spells, I burned so much of my gated mana that I wasn’t going to be able to effectively learn anything else anyways.

Six weeks to ingrain these spells.

I was nowhere near mastery of them yet, but maybe it was possible. Maybe.

That Solsday, I woke up, burned through my mana, and went downstairs to eat some leftover toast and jam when I heard a knock at the door. I wandered over and opened it, assuming that it was the teacher that Orykson had mentioned.

I’d been expecting someone rather like Orykson – someone well-dressed and composed.

What I found was… rather different.

The woman who met me at the door looked like the very picture of a kindly old grandmother. If someone had told me that she was Liz’s great grandmother, in fact, I probably wouldn’t have contradicted them.

She was shorter than I was by at least three inches, though part of that may have been the fact that she was bent over an old, worn walking stick. She wore a frumpy light green dress with a floral pattern that gave me a distinctly old lady feel, and that contrasted vibrantly with her coffee-dark skin and iron hair. She smiled as I opened the door, then reached up and pinched my cheek.

She literally pinched my cheek.

My head shot back, but she didn’t seem to notice, having already hobbled inside with surprising speed.

“You must be Malachi,” the old woman said as she waved for me to follow. “Lovely to meet you. My name is Meadow.”

“Nice to meet you too, Miss Meadow,” I said as I followed her.

“Oh, just call me Meadow, dear,” she said, waving her hand dismissively as she led me through the house and out into the backyard.

Our backyard was rather barren. My mother had liked to take care of it, apparently, but it had been a withered and muddy field as long as I could remember. Years of neglect had caused trash to slowly accumulate in the yard, blown in by storms.

That had only gotten worse once Ed turned eighteen, and for the past two years, he’d been using the backyard as his personal training ground for his telluric magic. The earth was ripped up in several places now, and there were stones scattered all over the field.

“Seems like we’re going to have a lot to do,” Meadow said as she surveyed the yard, tsking with disapproval.

“What should I do?” I asked.

“For a start, we’re going to clear the yard. Your brother is a member of the Lightwatch – he can use one of their gyms for free.”

“He says it’s more convenient to train here,” I said as I began to pick up the stones and move them into a pile. Some of them were quite heavy.

“I’m sure it is. Does he work today?” she asked, poking at some of the largest stones with her cane. They began to break apart, dissolving into smaller chunks for easier transport.

“He usually works Liday to Cretday, so he’s off on Solsday and Telsday,” I responded.

“He should join us,” she said. “You move rocks while I go fetch him.”

I nodded and did as she said, piling the rocks into a spot on the side of the garden.

A while later, a very sleepy-looking Ed in his workout clothes came outside, being prodded along by Meadow.

“Morning,” my brother said as he yawned and stretched.

I let out a grunt as I shifted a particularly heavy rock and dropped it onto the pile.

“Edward,” Meadow said, drawing in the mud with the tip of her cane. “I’m going to need you to cast this spell.”

He walked over, and a look of confusion came over his face.

“What is this?” he asked. “It looks kinda like my Tremor Sense spell, but even more complicated.”

“Analyze Earth,” she responded. “The spells to sense motion on the earth are rather similar, and they were the roots that I used to make this version of the spell. So are the spells to look at the composition of rocks, to look at the minerals and quality of the soil, and many other things besides.”

“Why not use separate spells for each of those? I mean, I’ve already got a decent Tremor Sense spell, and I’ve almost mastered it.”

“Plus, if he ingrained all those different spells, wouldn’t he gain a bunch of useful effects?” I asked.

“Possibly,” she admitted. “It depends on what spells he ingrained. But it isn’t likely. The composite Analyze spells are more complete versions, and while they take more effort to master and ingrain, they also ingrain more powerful and useful passive benefits.”

I nodded, and Ed began to sketch the spell with his telluric mana.

“Keep it running the entire time you clear the yard out.”

“The entire time?” Ed asked, “That’s going to take so much mana. I’m gonna have to convert from my second, maybe even third gate.”

“Yes,” she said, gently patting his shoulder. “I know it’s no fun, but your brother’s going to be doing the same with Analyze Life and Analyze Death. It’s the best thing for you in the long run.”

“If you say so,” Ed said, sounding unconvinced.

We spent the next several hours working on clearing the lawn of rocks and other trash that had built up there, until we had it all in a single large pile. About an hour into the work, Meadow wandered away, returning a few hours later with a pot filled with some sort of piping hot mix of onions, carrots, and beans, with all sorts of spices, like pepper, garlic, and ginger all mixed in. She also had nicked a loaf of bread from the bakery, and cut it into thick, hearty slices.

We set upon the meal with enthusiasm, and even though it was spicier than most of the food that I was used to eating, it was still delicious.

After that, it was back to work. Ed began using a spell to fuse the stones of the same type into larger bricks so that he could have something to easily train with, and I was tasked with bagging up the trash and taking it to the dump to be eaten by the Moldmongers.

The day came to a close before I knew it, and Meadow gave me the address of the butcher’s shop where I’d be working the following two days. I thanked her, and she pinched my cheeks a second time before she left.

I slept hard that night, worn out both in my mana-garden and my body, but I was up at four the next day as well to head out to my new apprenticeship.

The butcher’s shop was owned by a tall man with large biceps and an even larger stomach. He greeted me with a cheerful smile and took me through the back to show me the different knives and how to use them. I spent my first day spatchcocking chickens and then taking them apart to sell their different cuts.

Using my Analyze Death spell was actually really interesting. It let me see through the skin and the bones, noting the flows of death energy that now ran through the chicken instead of life energy.

The next day went similarly, though I was working on lamb, rather than chicken.

I didn’t have much issue with the butcher’s shop, to my surprise. I’d expected working with the bodies of dead animals to weigh heavily on my conscience, but it only made me vaguely uncomfortable.

I wondered if my death mana was shielding me from some of the trauma. It seemed like it might be, but at the same time, I didn’t feel any different. But would I?

Even without the worst parts of trauma, the work was a bit gross at times, but I’d gotten used to working with slimy textures and food at the bakery, and this wasn’t that different – just with meat, rather than with dough. Not to mention, customer service was the same no matter where you went – customers would always find a way to be the worst possible types of people.

That Temsday, as I was leaving the house to pick up the suits, I was startled to find a letter with my name on it resting on the doormat.

I picked it up and tore it open.

Inside was my identification card, stamped with the freelance operative symbols of the Wyldwatch and Spiritwatch list of missions – one from each of the Watches and one from Orykson himself. Each mission had a small, silver knot on the bottom of the page, into which I could channel mana to accept the contract.

I shifted the missions to the side as I saw a note from Orykson. It indicated I was to complete as many of the missions as I saw fit, and to prioritize matching them to my skillsets.

I looked over the sheets. The mission from Orykson was to track down a handful of cow bones, break them into shards, and then clean and bleach them for storage in the interior lining of my suit.

There wasn’t a listed reward for that job, presumably because it was so easy. I wish I’d known to pick them up while I was at work the day before, so I could start bleaching them already, but it wasn’t a big deal.

The other jobs were more interesting, and I wasn’t sure which I wanted to work on.

The Spiritwatch job was to track down a restless ghost and find their body. The ghost had been spotted walking around on Twenty-Second street, and had occasionally accosted someone to help find their way home.

The reward it offered was twenty silver and a first gate Mana Restoration Elixir.

I stared at the job offer and felt like an idiot.

Mana restoration.

Restoration pills or elixirs were usually meant to restore a mage during combat or other intense activity, and they could instantly refill an average person’s mana. There was a limit to how many could be processed in one day, but...

A full Mana Restoration Elixir, even an ungated one, was expensive – at least fifty silver for an ungated elixir, and it only got exponentially pricier from there.

But there were plenty of cheaper methods – namely, energy drinks.

Plenty of energy drinks also included some plants with known mana-restorative properties, or other spells mixed in to help recover mana faster, along with caffeine and sugar to help stay awake.

They weren’t the best for you, but they weren’t as toxic as overdosing on a restoration elixir, and I was young. I’d be fine.

The Wyldwatch job was to find some moonwater lilies, since they were just starting to bloom in the lakes, streams, and canals, both inside and outside of the city. I’d seen them before, and the sheet also contained a short description of the silvery water lilies, presumably to help avoid any misunderstandings.

The reward for that job was three silver per lily, so it could potentially be quite lucrative – depending on how well I did with tracking them down.

It had a secondary reward listed for the person who was able to bring them the most flowers in the next two weeks, though – a pair of Verdant Pasture pills. I didn’t know exactly what those did, but they sure sounded impressive.

I needed to pass by a pharmacy to grab energy drinks anyways, so I could always ask the pharmacist there – they knew plenty about pills and supplements, generally speaking.

First, though, I sent a pulse of ungated mana into Orykson’s paper, then tucked them all into my pocket and set off.