Lledrith's Admission Test (Patreon)

This is a short story that wound up being longer than I expected. It's set around the same time as Mana Mirror. CW for domestic abuse and foul language - this one wound up being grungier than I expected

-

The Tower-City of a Thousand Worlds was a majestic masterwork of magecraft.

Built by the Spatial King and her retinue over the course of ten years, with trillions of silver poured into the project, and assistance from legendary figures like The Living Wall, The Silver Tide, and The Wandering Mountain, it was the arguably the most complex feat of magic in history.

They’d built a shining tower, two hundred and fifty stories tall, with the ground floor taking up nearly fifty acres. Each floor of the building was interwoven with four massive demiplanes, and it was the only place in the world with over seven thousand active permanent portal spells facilitating movement and trade between and within levels. The result was a city that was home to seven million people.

And I felt like I was about to do something far more difficult than what had ever been done in the history of the tower. I’d taken every step I could to tilt the cards in my favor, and I’d made sure my sibling was safe at this level’s Public Library, but I couldn’t stop my leg from jittering as I raised my hand and knocked on the door to my father’s office.

“Wha?” came a slurred voice from within. A moment later he opened the door and blinked up at me.

Of course he had to be sloshed. Today of all days.

I shouldn’t have been surprised.

My stomach twisted into a knot, and I felt like I was about to vomit on my cheap runners.

“I’m leaving,” I said, the words tumbling from my mouth in a terrified rush. “I’ve found an apartment of my own, and I’m going to be taking my sibling with me.”

It took him a second to process what I said, but when he did, his already red face flushed with anger. He struck out at me, and I felt the blow connect with my temple. My vision went black for a second as I hit the wall, before fuzzily returning.

I could have manipulated my wind stream to move out of the way of the blow. If I’d cast my spectral shield or spectral armor over myself, it could have blocked or blunted the blow.

But doing any of those things would have only made this worse.

“… do you THINK you’re doing?” my father shouted. “I can’t make rent on my own. You think you can just… Up and LEAVE? And you can’t take your brother anyways. You should thank the primes that I don’t burn you for that. My father would have knocked my teeth out for that!”

I felt my leg twitch at the mention of burning.

“They’re not my brother,” I said reflexively.

Oh, Primes.

“I don’t give a fuck what he wants to call himself,” my father spat at me. “You’re not leaving. And you can’t take him, even if you did leave.”

My mana-garden swirled in anger, and I tamped it down the best I could. Getting angry at him was only going to feed his rage, and that would just make everything worse.

“I’ve already got the apartment,” I said, then reached into my pocket and withdrew a letter, marked with the legal seal of the tower. “And this your legal notice that I am now assuming guardian rights over Morgan Dumont.”

Getting that sorted had taken me a year of secret saving, meeting with attorneys, and a meet-up with a judge. I’d had to suffer nearly a year and a half of extra abuse in order to manage it, but it would be worth it to save Morgan from six extra years of abuse.

There was a flash of mana in the air and the paper I handed him burnt to ash.

“Wanna rethink that?” He demanded.

Panic shot through me for a moment when he burned the paper, and I felt tears start to well up in my eyes.

“Awwww, is the little dumbass gonna cry?” he asked mockingly. “I wish you and your brother’d died instead of your mother.”

I took in a sharp breath and let it out slowly.

“Burning the paper changes nothing. That was your notice – the motion has already been passed and filed with tower government.”

A heavy blow connected with my left eye, and my vision went red. Not with anger, everything literally became red, and then it slowly turned black, before returning.

“You’re still gonna send me half your paychecks, got it?” he asked, his voice dripping with the menace of the implied threat.

“Of course,” I lied.

“Fine. Then get the fuck out of my sight. I don’t want to see you and that little shitstain again.”

I shakily turned around and left. I felt a hot ember strike my neck, and searing pain shot through me. I teared up again, but forced the tears away and kept walking. I shut the door behind me, then down the stairs of our shitty apartment building.

A city of wonders only meant a larger slum, after all.

On the stairwell, I passed by a teen with neon green hair, sucking on a crystalline stick that gave off hot pink smoke. They winced when they saw me.

“Sorry bout your dad, dude,” they said.

“Thanks,” I muttered as I passed them by.

The walk to the closest library was a short one, which had been my saving grace a thousand times throughout my childhood. It was also thanks to them that I’d been able to polish my mana-garden as much as I had. When I pushed open the cheap plywood door, I was immediately attacked by a small creature.

Ok, that was a bit mean. Morgan wasn’t that short anymore, and it was looking like they may even wind up being taller than I was. As was, they only came up to my mid-chest though, so I’d keep teasing them for it. They had shaggy white hair that hung a bit over their eyes, and were uncomfortably slender from malnutrition. That was another thing I was going to have to fix when I had the money – proper food. Their skin was just as pale as mine, like most people who lived in the sunless sections of the tower.

They wrapped their arms tightly around me and stared up.

“How did it go?” they asked, then frowned. “Your eye.”

“It’ll heal,” I said. “The important thing is it’s over. We never have to see him again.”

“Where are we going, then?” they asked. “You’ve been pretty cagey about it.”

A small grin split across my face and I nodded to the backpack that they’d been holding onto for me.

“Look in the outermost pocket.”

They let go of me and opened it, pulling out a pair of white and red tickets.

“Third class steerage tickets for the ship ‘Queen Lettie’s Hopes’?” they asked, their eyes knitting together.

“They’re the only tickets I could get us. They’re fully refundable, if it’s something you don’t want to do, but… A few of the librarians I’ve spoken to suggested I could get a certification from Lledrith University. I don’t know about a full degree, but even some certifications would be really helpful.”

“Lledrith?” they asked, sounding shocked. “Isn’t that one of the really big, important-with-a-capital-I schools? Like Miskatonic, Skyhold, or Mossford Central? How do you even have a fraction of the money for a school like that?”

“I don’t,” I admitted. “But not everywhere is a post-industriomagical dystopia. They offer sliding scale scholarships for anyone who can pass their intro exams. Since my income last year was, what… Twenty thousand silver? I more than qualify for an all-expenses-paid scholarship.”

The unsaid threat of failing those exams hung in the air over us.

“And if you fail? Not that I don’t believe in you, but it’s something we need to consider.”

Or maybe it wasn’t so unsaid after all. I ruffled Morgan’s hair and smiled with more confidence than I actually felt.

“Well, Lledrith University is in Elohi, so we’d be on another continent, far away from our father. I’d like to think that I’m a competent enough mage, so I’d probably be able to find work, or maybe I’d be able to attend a smaller university. Annnnnddddd…”

“And?” they asked. They tried to make it sound annoyed, but I could hear the excitement hidden in their tone.

“If I did get a certification, then you’d qualify for legacy scholarships to go there too.”

“Curse you,” they said, with a grin. “I’m going to peel off your toenails, blend them into a smoothie, and pour it in your ears.”

“That is disgusting,” I said. “Also, I’m pretty sure a threat like that is going to get you in trouble someday, when you say it to the wrong person.”

“I’ll burn that bridge when it comes to it.”

“Alright, alright,” I said, laughing. I picked up my backpack and slung it over my shoulder. “I’m ready, how about you?”

“Pretty much everything I own is in my bag,” they said, tilting their head towards a duffel bag. “So, yeah, you could say that.”

“Let me just say goodbye to the head librarian here,” I said. “I’ll be right back.”

I wandered through the stacks of books until I finally found Alyssa. She brightened when she saw me, though her eyes lingered on the red marks around my eye, which were starting to turn purple.

“It’s done, then?” she asked.

“It is,” I nodded. “I want to thank you again. You’ve been a huge help.”

“It’s nothing,” she said. “Providing resources is what the library’s for.”

“Even still, I don’t know how long things would have taken without the advice and lawyers you pointed me to. I owe you. I owe you a lot.”

“Well,” she said hesitantly. “Are you headed off to Elohi, then?”

“I am,” I said, confused by the sudden turn in the conversation.

“If you get the chance, consider taking the library courses,” she said. “They’re not the most popular, and working as a librarian doesn’t pay as well as some jobs, but if you wanted to give back, there are certainly some things you can do. And, speaking of…”

She flicked her fingers, and a thick envelope appeared in her fingers.

“A reference letter of a Head Librarian vouching for your mana-garden’s quality. It’s not much – this branch is one of the smallest and weakest in the city, let alone when it’s compared to the Public Libraries on a global scale – but it may help. You should also include your library card, since not everyone gets a ruby seal, and you… Well, you need everything you can going your way.”

I frowned. I knew that public libraries and the education system all had some sort of link, but I didn’t realize my library card could actually help my application.

“Thank you,” I said again.

The older woman smiled and nodded, and I turned to meet Morgan in the tiny lobby.

“Finally ready?” they asked.

“I am, I am. Not everyone can have the boundless energy youth,” I said. “Respect your elders.”

“Sure, old man.”

“Thank you,” I said gravely. “You will call me Elder Dario now.”

“Dar-dar,” they said. “Take it or leave it.”

“Leave it,” I said with a laugh.

We walked through the busy streets towards a portal to the bottom floor, and waited in the queue, then took another portal to one of the ports outside of the tower. Both of us winced at the bright sun overhead.

“Do you think there’s a way to turn that down?” Morgan asked.

“It’s the sun,” I said with a laugh. “It’s not a light spell.”

“Obviously,” they retorted. “But can’t you, like, create a sphere of shadows around us or something?”

“Creation mana’s flexible, but I’m not entirely sure it can actually do that. Also, even if it can, I don’t know a spell to do that.”

I pushed a bit of mana through my mana-garden, and swirling mist spiraled out from around me. The ingrained effect caused my body to fuzz slightly, blurring my outline to fit in with the mist.

I kept a tight leash on my mana, though, not letting the mist spread through the crowd around us. It did block the light some, thankfully, even if it got a few weird looks.

“Thanks,” they said quietly.

“Course!” I said. “Now, let’s go find the prime-saved Queen.”

“That was a terrible pun.”

“You smiled anyways!”

XXXXX

Queen Lettie’s Hopes was a massive ship, comfortably over a thousand feet long, with a sleek white and black metallic hull, and the massive rumbling of massive lunar enchantments vibrating our room every couple of minutes.

“This is awful,” Morgan groaned, pillowing their head in their lap. “Complete misery.”

“It’s not so bad,” I said with a shrug. “I mean, the shaking is a bit much, but –”

“Mis-er-y,” Morgan insisted. “I’m going to try and take a nap again. Can I borrow a shirt to tie over my eyes and block out the light?”

“Sure,” I said, tossing them one of my larger black shirts that didn’t have too many holes in it.

“Any chance you could check the ship’s store for cheap earplugs? I’ll pay you back for them.”

I paused for a moment, thinking. We really didn’t need to be spending money. I’d saved up a few thousand silver, but in a big city, that could be burnt in a particularly expensive afternoon – not that I planned to waste it that way.

But would a few silver for earplugs hurt?

That was exactly the kind of expense father wouldn’t have made for us.

“Sure,” I acquiesced. “Try to get some sleep.”

I took the stairs up to the shopping deck, which was pretty far away from our rooms, and was partially open to the sky on the top deck, using my personal wind stream to help assist with my leg.

I passed by a half-dozen specialty stores for clothes and jewelry that I couldn’t have bought from, even if I’d emptied out my bank account, and made my way towards a small convenience store.

The boat lurched ominously as I walked, forcing me to manipulate my personal wind steam a bit, and I shook my head. I could not wait to get off this damn ship.

“Twelve silver for a pair of earplugs?” I wondered aloud as I glanced at the label under the box. That could have bought me a full meal.

Sure, not at a very nice place, but some cheap takeaway at the very least.

“It’s the cost of being at sea,” a rotund older man with a growing bald patch explained. “Hard to get stuff in and out without stopping, or without a powerful Arcanist to help portal or fly things in and out. Everything’s marked up.”

I grumbled, but bought the earplugs. As I left the shop, however, an alarm bell began to blare across the ship. I felt tempest mana surge throughout the ship, and a voice let out a bellow from everywhere.

“Combat ready, hands-on-deck, everyone else take shelter! We’ve got a ward breach, crabs incoming!”

Crabs incoming? What did it mean by –

Oh.

With a loud crash, a crab with a shell nearly five and a half feet across, and as tall as a large dog, smashed down from the open window. A moment later, I heard another crash as another giant crab fell. Then another, and another. Most were landing above us, but several fell through the giant hole in the roof that led to the top deck.

The crab in front of me flipped itself over and began to snap its pincers menacingly, scuttling forwards way too quickly for comfort.

Crap.

I pushed my personal wind stream, and I floated up into the air and back, out of the way of the crab’s first strike. I flooded my creation magic’s first gate mana into a spell, and mana gushed out of me, filling the crab with power.

Imprint Beast. The second spell I’d ever ingrained, and an extremely unusual one.

It drained me somewhat – I’d never imprinted something so big or powerful before – but after several moments of flitting around, I felt a shifting and settling feeling in my mana-garden as the crab was imprinted.

I funneled my second gate mana into a new spell.

Summon Beast.

That spell drained a considerable chunk of my mana, but I’d done a lot of polishing on my mana-garden, and since I’d imprinted the crab, the cost was much lower than it would normally be, and the cost of maintaining a beast once I’d summoned it was basically negligible.

A giant crab burst out of my mana, identical to the one I’d imprinted, but with slightly grayed out color.

I waved my hands and sent my second gate mana into the spell, calling forth more giant crabs, though I made sure to leave enough mana in my garden’s second gate for a few more spells. By the time I was done, I had five of them, and the crab I was fighting had fled.

“Aye, summoner-boi!” someone shouted. “A little help?”

I flexed my wind stream to rotate in midair and spotted a haggard looking young woman. She had long dreadlocks with dark beads that went down to her mid back, and her brightly colored dress stood out against her dark skin. Blood was spattered around her, staining the white floor, and coating the brightly glowing magic she had around her fist. She’d taken out one crab already, but was currently fighting two more.

I angled my wind stream and shot towards her, mentally commanding my crabs. I left two stationed in front of the store to deal with any more that came by, sent two down the hall in the opposite direction, and had the other scuttle with me. It launched itself at one of the crabs she was fighting, and I pushed my first gate tempest mana into a spell.

A crackling whip of lighting appeared in my hand, and I lashed down at the other crab. The electricity left burns along its shell, and the woman used a force empowered leap into the air, over its attack.

In mid-air, she opened her hand, and a swirling burst of force shot down, cracking the crab’s shell.

Now that she was clear, I had my crab – I really needed to name it, there were too many crabs around – scuttle back, and cupped my palms, dismissing my lightning whip as I did.

First gate tempest mana built around my palms, layering itself, and then an explosion of sound ripped through the air. The pressurized wave of air slammed into the crabs and threw them into the wall, where they fell still.

“Thanks for the assist,” the woman panted. “Name’s Marie Cousteau, first gate physical mage. My legacy’s really good at range, but…”

“Hey, you still killed one of them on your own, that’s just as good as me. If I’d been cornered by three, I don’t think I would have done as well.”

Most of the combat experience I had was sparring with librarians, which had helped me get my mana-garden in a great state, but left plenty to be desired in terms of actual combat.

“I’m Dario Dumont,” I said. “Tempest and creation mana, both second gate.”

She gave me a strange look for a second, then shrugged.

“Mind if we stick together while we clean up the rest of the monsters on this floor?” I asked.

“Not at all,” she said. “In fact, I prefer it.”

“Cool. Let me just cast something real quick.”

She nodded, so I flowed my mana in a complex pattern, and ghostly green armor slowly formed over my limbs. Lesser Spectral Armor took a lot of mana, since it shared aspects of creation, abnegation, and even physical mana, and the formation of the armor took a long time, even with the spell mastered.

After almost a full thirty seconds, the armor finished materializing, and I nodded.

“Let’s go.”

We began to march down – or in my case, float down – the hall, and Marie charged up a series of spells in her palm. As soon as we saw a crab, she released the bright blue bolt of force, deftly manipulating it to drill through their head.

By the time she’d killed three crabs like this, I was starting to feel useless.

“How exactly were you struggling?” I asked, only half joking.

“Like I said, my legacy. It makes my spells build up extra power the further they travel from me. By the time it hits the crabs, it’s flown for what, ninety feet? Plenty of time to build up extra energy.”

“Damn,” I said, letting out an appreciative whistle. “Mine’s pretty much useless until I hit spellbinder, and even then, it’s a double-edged sword.”

“Those are always the best ones,” she said, letting out a soft laugh. “My own’s kind of like that. My melee spells are weaker than even a normal person’s would be.”

“I don’t know, there are some absurdly powerful ones with no drawback in the history books. Either way, you leverage your  –”

The wind around us shifted ever so slightly, so softly I wouldn’t have noticed it without the imbued effects of my Analyze Wind spell. Something was plummeting downwards

“Watch out!” I shouted, manipulating the wind to fling me backwards.

A huge serpent, twice as long as I was tall slammed down into the balcony we were on, which, being made of glass, promptly shattered.

I shoved power into Flier’s Failsafe as quickly as I could, extending it around me to catch Marie and my crab. My first gate tempest mana drained sharply as we slowed in the air and landed gently on the balcony beneath us.

It was only then that I realized that when I’d sent it out around me, I’d sent it to everyone around me… Including the giant serpent.

It let out a hiss and lunged out at me, its fangs striking the conjured green armor around my body, cracks spreading from the twin impact points. I pushed my wind stream as hard as I could and burst from its mouth.

Marie sent a series of three bolts at the serpent, but they pinged off its scales. She swore loudly and turned to run, and I couldn’t blame her.

I shifted my mana and released a sonic burst at the snake while my crab snipped at its tail. It fell back, injured but not dead, and I poured my creation mana into the snake, trying to take an imprint. My first gate creation mana ran dry, so I converted all of my ungated mana, and began to convert down my second gate creation mana.

My crab vanished, and the drain of all my distant crabs as well.

And my armor.

Shit.

I pushed my personal wind stream to its limits, soaring backwards as the snake snapped. Its jaws passed right by my head, and I could have sworn that some of my hair was caught between its fangs.

I pushed harder, forcing myself higher into the air. My wind stream began to stutter, so I rapidly converted my first gate tempest mana into my second gate. It couldn’t do much to reinforce an imbued effect, but every bit of mana helped.

I landed on the balcony above us, and the serpent coiled itself back, prepared to leap.

I frantically ran my senses through my mana-garden, but my creation mana was dry, and my tempest mana was running on fumes.

A massive force bolt, glowing so brightly that it hurt my eyes, slammed into the head of the snake. The snake was tough, and while its scales were cracked and it was bleeding, it could withstand a single bolt, even with as strong as that bolt was.

It could not, however, withstand the hail of six more bolts that slammed into it.

I let out a long sigh of relief and lowered myself to the ground. A hand landed on my shoulder, and I let out a yelp. I was halfway through starting up my lightning whip when I realized it was a crew member.

“Captain wants to invite everyone who helped out with takin’ on the crabs to a dinner at six,” she said. “Ballroom C, alright? Thank ya’ for your help.”

“Yeah, sure thing,” I said distractedly before leaping off the balcony. I manipulated my strained wind stream to catch my fall and walked down the hall where I’d seen Marie pretend to flee.

“Dario?” she called out.

“Yep, it’s me,” I said. “Thanks for the assist. I’m not sure what I would have done without you. I think the battles mostly cleared up though.”

“Good,” she said. “I’m just about dry on mana.”

“Same here,” I said. “Hey, I need to go check on Morgan, my little sib, but we’re invited to a Ballroom C for a dinner. See you then?”

“Sure, lookin’ forwards to it,” she said with a smile. “Go meet your…”

“Sibling,” I said. “Just sibling. Or sib. Not brother or sister.”

“Got it. Go meet your sib, we can catch up after. I gotta know how you’re supposedly flying around without third gate mana.”

“It’s a deal,” I said, then turned to head to the nearest stairwell.

XXXXX

“Bullshit!” Morgan said.

“Hey, watch your language, you’re too young to be talking like that,” I said. “And besides, it’s true!”

“You did not battle a giant snake and win.”

“Well, I didn’t win alone,” I said. “I burnt out my mana imprinting the thing, and even if I hadn’t, I don’t think I could have entirely handled it alone. If I was fresh, sure, but…”

“Okay, okay. When do I get to meet this mysterious savior of yours?” they asked.

I glanced at the clock on the wall.

“Four hours from now?” I offered. “It’s a dinner for helping fight the crabs, but I can probably get you in too.”

“Sure,” they said. “The food’s got to be better than what they’re feeding us right now. I mean, seriously, even I can cook better than this.”

“The glory of the lowest class tickets,” I said deadpan.

“We won’t be this way forever,” Morgan said. “Well. You might. But I’m going to rise up and join the upper crust of society, and when I move back to the tower, I’m going to build a two hundred and fifty first floor, just for me.”

“That sounds more like a supervillain than anything,” I pointed out. “Also, I’m pretty sure you’d need to defeat the Spatial King? And she’s supposed to be at least a powerful Occultist. Some even say she’s a Magi.”

“Magi aren’t real,” they said with a shrug. “But it sounds to me like I just need to become a powerful enough Occultist to challenge her. Not a problem.”

“Sure,” I said. “And when your mana-garden condenses in a few years, you’ll find out that your legacy lets you instantly open your power all the way to eighth gate without effort..”

“Exactly,” they said with a grin. “But back to the story. Did you really remove your armor? While fighting a snake?”

“In my defense, I didn’t expect imprinting it to take so much mana. I’ve only ever imprinted things around the city, like squirrels and beetles, at least until today.”

“Yes, and now you can conjure crabs and snakes. Truly, you shall split the heavens.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “They were a lot scarier if you’d gotten to see them. But anyways. You sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fiiiiiinnnnnnnneeeeeeeee,” they repeated. “For the quadrillionth time.”

“Our cabin’s not far from the mana engines, and there was a ward break. I’ve every right to be worried.”

“You sound like a paranoid old lady,” they said. “It was nothing, just some extra thrumming.”

“Oh!” I said, digging into my pocket and tossing him the cheap plastic baggie with the earplugs. “I got your earplugs.”

“I’m too wired to use them now,” they said, but then smiled softly. “But… thank you. Seriously.”

“Fine,” I said, making a gimme motion. “I’ll use them to get some sleep. Wake me up at five? I need a nap.”

“Sure,” they said.

Morgan didn’t actually get me up until around five fifteen, but that still left me with plenty of time to put on my nicest clothes – that was to say, the ones with the least stains, rips, and tears in it. Morgan did the same, and we headed up the stairs to the ballroom.

“The crew cleaned up fast,” Morgan commented. “I would have expected it to still be destroyed.”

I pointed to the broken balconies, which had been taped off to stop people from entering.

“Some parts are, but yeah, they did a pretty good job.”

We arrived at the ballroom, where we were ushered in by one of the sailors. I glanced around the room, looking for Marie, but she must not have shown up yet.

The room had a large table set for about thirty or forty people in the center, and a couple of tables of refreshments scattered about. In the entire room, there were, at most twenty people who didn’t wear ship uniforms.

Had so few really helped defend the ship? Sure, I was a bit early, but there were a couple thousand passengers on the ship.

“Ooh, what’s that?” Morgan asked, pointing at one of the tables. It had a platter of fresh oysters, but there was some sort of greens and onions on them.

“How should I know?” I muttered. “I’ve never even eaten an oyster before, let alone one that’s all… gussied up like that.”

“I’m gonna eat them,” Morgan declared, skipping off to the platter.

I chuckled and watched them go, then felt a hand on my shoulder. I tensed and my wind stream fluttered for a moment before I relaxed.

“Dario!” came Marie’s cheerful voice.

I turned around and smiled. She’d changed out her brightly colored dress for a different one. This one was just as bright, and full of a riot of greens, orange, yellow, and pinks. She’d changed the beads out for ones that were a bright white, with spell designs painted on.

“Hello Marie,” I said. “How are you?”

“Doin’ just fine now,” she said. “So, where’s your little sibling?”

I turned to point at the oyster platter, only to realize they’d run off. I scanned the room until I spotted them eating what looked like a miniature pie, so small it could fit on two fingers, then pointed.

“Morgan’s over there, stuffing themselves.”

My own stomach grumbled, but I was more or less used to that at this point.

“Kids their age need the food,” Marie said, laughing lightly. “I’m sure you ate just as much as they did at their age.”

“Mmm,” I said noncommittally. “So, why are you headed to Elohi?”

“Lledrith Academy, of course,” she said. “I assumed you were too?”

“I am,” I said. “I doubt I’ll be able to get in, but it’s worth a shot. Their acceptance rate’s pretty low, and I don’t have much in my portfolio that’s especially impressive.”

“Don’t be so down on yourself,” she said. “You’ve got a limited flight at second gate, and you rose up from one of the sunless slums of the city, didn’t you?”

“Yeah,” I said, still noncommittally. “How’d you know I was from the sunless parts?”

“You’re too pale,” she said with a laugh. “You and Morgan both are so pale that you could camouflage yourself in a snowbank. Even if you’re naturally pale, that’s a bit much. Also, not to be mean, but…”

She winced and gestured at my clothes, then at hers.

“My parents are office managers, and my clothes are still way, way nicer than yours. And you didn’t change your runners. Even though they’re stained.”

“Alright, Detective,” I said, shaking my head and laughing to play off the fact I felt a bit insecure about her comments. I was about to say more when the doors shut behind us with a rumbling click, and there was the clinging of a spoon on glass.

We looked up to see a woman who could only be the captain stepping forwards. She wore a long blue coat, and a button-down white shirt with black slacks, and her hat was the same white as her shirt.

If her outfit wasn’t enough, the wave of fifth gate power that washed over the room when she entered definitely would have.

“Good evening, guests,” she said, her voice deep and resonant. “I have called you all here today to thank you for the service you performed in assisting us with the monsters that entered the ship during the ward break incident earlier today. Unfortunately, I must also ask you all for a favor as well.”

She paused to take in a deep breath, and I shifted slightly.

“I repaired and inspected the wards personally, and the damage they suffered was not from the attack of a powerful sea dweller. Nor did they simply run out of power, or wear down with time. Someone went through considerable effort to sabotage our wards.”

A rush of murmurs went through the room, even among some of the crew members.

“I knew it,” Marie muttered. “I’ve been on a couple of cruises, and we didn’t ever experience anything worse than turbulence from ward strain.”

“I tell you all this because I have to ask you to keep your eyes open, and mouths shut. The fact you stood with the crew means you have some courage and discernment. I will not be announcing this to the passengers at large yet, so I must ask you to keep silent until I do. Please report any suspicious activity you see to a crew member, and we will investigate.”

I snorted. What was suspicious activity even supposed to mean? I was pretty sure that some people would qualify me walking to my cabin down in the bowels of the ship as suspicious.

“Now, with that out of the way,” she said. “On to the food!”

I made my way to a seat, and Morgan met up with me. They took a seat to my right, and Marie took one to my left. Waitstaff began to move up and down the table and put down silver platters. Pasta, sushi, fish curry, lobster thermidor, and a dozen other foods and dishes were put out.

Next to me, Morgan’s eyes went wide, and I had to admit that mine did too.

“Pace yourself,” I said. “The last thing you want is to be throwing all of this up because you ate too much rich food. Also, they’re probably going to have a desert course.”

“Yeah, yeah,” they said, reaching out to grab a nearby knot of bread.

“And please remember to use your utensils, not your hands,” I said, sighing.

“They’re just a kid, it’s fine,” Marie said with a laugh.

“Hardly,” the man across the table from us said. He was in his late forties, and he wore a suit that looked more expensive than everything I owned, and he had a necklace of pearls that were probably worth my entire savings.

“Children should learn their manners. And you, boy, why are you dressed like a beggar? At least put on a polo shirt for an event such as this one. That’s the bare minimum.”

“Certainly,” I said. “Go buy me one, and I’ll change right here.”

That was a bluff – I had some decency. But if he wanted to label me as a pig, I wasn’t going to dispute him.

The man let out a harumph and turned away from us, shifting to his side. He muttered something, but I couldn’t catch what exactly he said.

“Where are you going?” Morgan asked, leaning forwards on the table to look at Marie more clearly. “And did you really kill a giant snake?”

“Well, your big brother distracted it long enough for me to charge up my spells,” Marie said. “But yes, I did.”

“You don’t need to flatter me,” I said. “I basically flailed around.”

“Hah, I knew it,” Morgan said.

“So, Morgan… What type of mana would you pick, if you got a choice legacy?” Marie asked. I shifted back in my chair to get out of their way, feeling a bit awkward to be in between a conversation.

Morgan considered the question for a longer time than I’d anticipated.

“Abnegation,” they finally said. “Then nobody would be able to hurt me or the people I like again.”

Marie opened her mouth to say something, then closed it and looked at me. I gave her a grim smile.

“It’s a hazard of life,” I said. “Some people get excellent families. Some get to run from them.”

“I see,” Marie finally said. “Well… I hope you get into Lledrith. If you make it, then maybe we’ll see each other in classes!”

“That would be nice,” I acknowledged.

“He’ll get in,” Morgan said confidently. “He’s a lot smarter than he pretends to be. He built his mana-garden really well, even with only the resources that school gives out, and he designed his own full-gate spell to fix his walking!”

I smiled, my heart swelling some at Morgan’s comment, though I prepared myself for the inevitable question.

“Fix your walking?”

There we go.

“I suffered a bad burn on my right knee when I was younger,” I said. “Makes it hard to walk and stuff. But I designed a spell with the resources at the public library that takes up my entire second gate, but grants me a permanent wind stream as its imbued effect. It gives me some limited flight, which you noticed, though right now it’s hard to do a lot more than hover more than a few feet over the ground.”

“Yeah, but full-gate spells are supposed to be amazing for growth potential!” Marie said. “Especially if you bond it when you hit spellbinder.”

“I’m hoping that when I do that, it will advance enough to give me permanent flight abilities,” I said. “I don’t have a broom, and that’d save costs. Plus, it seems like the kind of thing that a tempest mage should be able to do, doesn’t it?”

“It does,” Marie conceded.

“Do you have plans for a full-gate spell?” I asked. “When I was researching them, I saw that a lot of physical mages who go for one make permanent armor.”

“I considered it, but with my legacy, I think I’m better off focusing on ranged spells,” she said. “Or if I do build one, a haste-type, but that seems like more of a hassle than anything.”

“Fair enough,” I said, picking up a roll. “What are you planning on getting at Lledrith?”

“Bachelor’s in combat magic and a third gate generalist mage certification. You?”

“Some sort of certification,” I said. “Why combat?”

“Money,” she said. “Degree means an easy in with a guild without a reference, and then I can get on a mission exploring the unclaimed territories.”

“That’s ambitious,” I said.

“So is attending Lledrith,” she said. “If you’re going to aim high, then aim for the top. There’s no point in aiming high otherwise.”

I wasn’t sure if I agreed with that. Knowing when to quit was a virtue in my opinion, and constantly striving in pursuit of some unattainable peak felt… hollow. I wanted a good life. I wanted Morgan to be able to have opportunities that I never had.

Given I had nothing to add, I simply picked up another piece of potato and ate it.

XXXXX

Despite the captain’s request, I didn’t go out hunting for the traitor. Not only did it smell far more strongly of continental politics than I’d like, anyone strong enough to damage the wards on an ocean liner had to be either extremely skilled, and likely at least third gate.

Besides, I

“I want to die!!!” Morgan groaned as they sat, huddled over the toilet. I gently patted their back.

“No, you don’t. I told you not to eat so much rich food.”

“Ughhhh,” they protested. “Never again.”

I had to stop myself from smiling at that. I had an idea that resolution would last precisely as long as it took for them to wind up in front of another platter of rich food.

Three days later, we arrived on the banks of Elohi, and using a supply of mist, Morgan and I made our way into the city.

The city around – or rather, beneath – Lledrith university was a beautiful one. I’d heard that Elohi put more into their people than most places, but I’d never really expected it to actually be true.

Instead of the sunless slums tucked away in spatial pockets, with dark alleys of life mages selling drugs and body modifications on the cheap, even the poorest parts of the city were clean and seemed safe. There weren’t any homeless at all, which struck me as incredibly odd, and there was tons of artwork.

Rather than try to suppress people who liked to paint on public buildings, they’d leaned into it. Certain walls seemed to be open for anyone to paint on, and there was even a sign proclaiming that there would be small cash prizes for the best designs.

It was interesting, to say the least.

As we gradually moved into the nicer and nicer parts of the city, the apartment buildings gave way to townhomes and flats, and then individual homes, but…

I’d been on wealthy floors of the tower before, though usually just when I was passing from one portal to another. They were incredibly opulent and indulgent.

This… wasn’t. Oh, sure, to me the idea of being able to have an individual, standalone home was impossible, but part of that was just that I was from the Tower.

Objectively speaking, none of them homes were mansions, and I wondered if there was some sort of zoning law behind it.

Maybe, or maybe the wealthy elites of Elohi were actually made to pay their fair share, rather than being able to keep it bottled away and spent only on fancy things.

Yeah right. I’d believe that when I was rooming with a prince.

Once we got out of the richest part of town, we spent a few hours getting lost in an absolute maze of more middle-class townhomes. It was all surprisingly nice, and still clean, with lots of public artworks, but…

Elohi needed to hire a civic engineer to order their streets. Everything in the tower was numbered by floor, subspace, and then neighborhood.

Everything here was named seemingly wildly. There was an Itseiyudi street next to a Bullhorn drive, all of which connected to the Oakskin Legacy Circle.

Eventually, we found a large government building, and one of their cops – I thought they were called the Honor-bound, or something like that – was able to direct us to one of the large carpets that were flying back and forth to Lledrith’s entry hall.

There was a long line that stretched out of the door to the building, but we did eventually get through and into the entry hall.

Lledrith’s entry hall wasn’t a hall. It was massive and open air, like an amphitheater. There were people flying in on brooms, carpets, and wind streams, and even more exotic forms of transit. I saw some people teleporting in as small groups, a few portals, and a thousand other ways. I was pretty sure that I saw a few people flying with actual wings, and one person was riding what had to be a terragon.

“Woah,” was all Morgan could say, and I nodded, echoing the sentiment. People from all over the world were coming to Lledrith, and it showed in an impressive, dazzling display.

“Well,” I said after a moment. “I don’t know where to go, but let’s keep moving. We don’t want to look like lost tourists.”

Everyone else seemed to know where they were going, and there were a few people calling out various things like ‘green group, to me!’, but none of it meant anything to me.

We made our way through yet another line and to a frazzled looking receptionist with long red hair.

“How can I help you?” she asked.

“We were… Uh, well, to be honest, I’m not sure what we want,” I said. “I was looking to apply for whatever I could.”

“Oh, a testing group?” she asked. I shrugged and she pushed some papers over to me. “Well, that’s probably what you want. It’s our sorting system. We do a full mana-garden analysis, and suggest some programs you can apply for, if you qualify. If not, we suggest you do further work on your mana-garden, and then apply next year.”

“Sure,” I said as I filled out the paperwork. The next slot open wasn’t for nearly four weeks, and I supposed I probably should have set things up in advance.

In my defense, I hadn’t even been sure the legal paperwork with Morgan was going to go through until a few days ago. I’d barely had the time to set anything up, let alone do something like mail my credentials ahead.

In the meantime, we had to seek out housing on campus. Morgan and I were put up in a small dorm with two bedrooms, each of which had a bunkbed in it. They happily took the top bunk, which was fine by me. The other two that roomed with us were strange. One of them was a tall, skinny woman with strangely intense eyes and a dangerous air that I avoided. The other may have been avoiding her as well, because I barely saw them, and the few glimpses I did get, they were shrouded in heavy clothing.

Despite the tight spaces and strange people, I couldn’t complain.

It was free housing, after all.

While we waited, I spent the time working on my mana-garden. I needed it in tip-top shape for my test.

Without the money for potions, pills, or spiritual herbs, there was a pretty hard limit on what I was able to get done in a month of work, but I did manage to ingrain my Spectral Shield spell, which increased my overall spell resistance a bit.

When the day of testing came, I was surprised to find that both myself and the sharp-eyed woman left at the same time as me.

“I don’t think I ever caught your name,” I said as we walked.

“You did not,” she said, before falling silent again.

I shrugged. If she wanted her privacy, then I’d give it to her. It wasn’t as if I was about to start spilling my life story to her anyhow.

The testing room was a repurposed lecture room, with five people sitting in the stands, and a harried looking enchanter working with some sort of contraption on stage. When we entered, the five people in the stands nodded, and the one in the center spoke.

“Welcome. Mr. Dumont, please wait in the hall until we fetch you.”

I did as she said. it seemed a bit strange to me that I’d been given a specific date and time, but then told to wait. I supposed that a lot of large organizations had the ‘hurry up and wait’ problem, though.

I waited in the hallway, practicing my mana meditation for a while. The Earthen Dragon’s Heart meditation wasn’t an especially unique or rare technique – just one I’d picked up from the library, in fact – but it helped make my spells denser, which improved both my summoning powers, and some of my tempest magic.

“Mister Dumont, you can come in,” the enchanter said as he led my temporary roommate out. I used my wind stream to hop to my feet and followed him back in, where I was surveyed by the five people. I took them in as well.

On the far right was a skinned satyr, wearing very traditional combat robes dyed black. To his left was a casually dressed, sun-weathered woman with a fiery fox sitting in her lap. The center held an absolute giant of a man, with broad shoulders and a suit that honestly looked too small for him. The next in the line was the most beautiful man I’d ever seen. He had purple hair and an easygoing smile, and his eyes… They seemed to swirl with a kaleidoscope of colors every moment. The final member of the council was a small, short woman wearing a sharply tailored suit and short cropped hair. She was by far the most normal looking woman there, which actually spiked my danger alarms somewhat.

“Dario Dumont?” the enchanter asked.

“Yes,” I said.

“Please put your hand here…”

I did as he said, and a moment later the air rippled with creation and solar mana as an illusion of my mana-garden was projected out.

I was pretty proud of it. I’d ensured all of my spells were mastered before I’d ascended to second gate, and I’d ingrained four spells as well.

“Not the worst I’ve ever seen,” the giant man in the center said.

“Better than many,” the woman with the fox said. “Most people who pay their way in are –”

“Not truly anything worth our time,” the pretty man said.

That sent a wave of reactions through the other four, and they seemed to argue with one another for a while before reaching some sort of decision. They must have been blocking me from hearing it, though, because I couldn’t make out whatever was said.

“You have the build of a warrior, boy,” the satyr barked out. “But what use is that in the modern world?”

To tell the truth, the main reason I’d started with learning to fight was to defend myself and Morgan in the tower. While it wasn’t like there were people attacking others every day, it happened enough in our part of town that I’d needed something. Luckily, most muggers could be scared off with a Lightning Whip.

After that, I’d wanted my second gate to form a mobility aid, and the summoning and other combat magic had just sort of… Come to me. I didn’t know why – I could have stopped after mastering a defensive spell.

“Well?” the satyr probed.

“I don’t know,” I said. “Outside of guarding and bodyguarding, is there?”

“Yes,” the woman in the suit said. “There is. Monsters, spirits, and any number of things can arise from nowhere, and we’re needed to keep them in check. Not to mention that almost a third of the world is still unclaimed land, and there’s always need there.”

I nodded solemnly, but I wasn’t sure what else to say.

“Oh!” I said, just remembering something. I pulled out my wallet and withdrew my ruby seal library card. “It was suggested I show you all this?”

All five of them exchanged looks that I couldn’t interpret.

“Noted,” the giant man said.

“What I want to know,” the pretty man said, “is why you built a permanent wind stream for yourself. It can’t be as efficient as a flight spell until you at least hit third gate.”

“I suffered a burn to my leg when I was young,” I said. “I use the wind stream as a mobility aid. When I’m third gate, I plan to bind it, as my legacy will help there. It should be in the paperwork. But a permanent flight spell should seem worthwhile to anyone. I designed it myself.”

That sent them all talking behind their privacy magic again. The cynical part of me figured that may have actually increased my odds of getting in, by being disabled, but not so disabled that they’d actually have to make any special accommodations for me.

That was fine by me, if annoying. Putting my pride aside, I’d be a diversity quota if it got me in.

“Now for the interesting part of the test,” the giant man said. “Combat.”

“Combat?” I asked. I hadn’t prepared for combat testing.

“Yes,” he said, a malicious grin spreading across his face. “Bring her in.”

“No!” the woman with the fox said. “That’s not fair! You cannot expect him to fight her.”

“I can and do,” the short haired woman said. “It will be a good lesson for him, even if it won’t tell us much.”

“Does it matter?” the Satyr said. “Just do it.”

The woman with the fox looked at the pretty man, who shrugged.

“It’s not like we’ll let any real harm come to him,” he said. “I agree, it isn’t fair, but that’s life. If he acquits himself well, then good for him.”

I began to edge backwards, not liking the way they were talking about the fight. Was my roommate a fourth gate mage? Did she have an absurd legacy?

I didn’t know, but I began to send my mana through my garden in streams, preparing for the worst case.

“Stop,” the short haired woman said. “That’s cheating. You will begin at the same time.”

“Can I at least cast my armor?” I asked.

“Please,” the woman with the fox said, but she was again overruled.

Now my stomach was churning. As the enchanter got my roommate and cleared the machinery off the stage, I met her gaze.

It was like staring into the eyes of a wild animal. I took a breath to calm myself, but it was cut off halfway through.

“Begin!” the giant of the man said.

My mana surged into my Lightning Whip as I went as high into the sky as I could. I slashed where the woman had been standing, but there was a flicker in the air around us.

She was gone before my whip could touch her, and something cold touched the back of my neck.

“Dead,” she said calmly.

I couldn’t see what she’d done, but in my mana senses, I could feel it.

First gate. All of the mana she’d used in the entire fight was first gate. There were traces of life coming off of her, and her attack was pure desolation, but both were first gate.

How?

“Reset, let’s go again,” the giant said.

She stepped back across from me, and as soon as he gave the command, I tried something different. I sent a huge surge of mist rushing out over the entire area, my body blending into it.

It didn’t help. She had somehow predicted it, because rather than move, she’d simply sent a wave of silvery power rushing right at my neck. It froze, and my mist was dissipated by the power of an Arcanist.

“Very well,” the giant said. “Two to zero, Miss Ming wins.”

“I don’t think any of us have a problem offering Miss Ming a full ride,” the satyr said, and he was met by murmurs of agreement from everyone.

“Honestly, the boy is average enough,” the beautiful man said. “He’s not bad, but I’d only suggest him an eighty percent ride to the combat certification program, nothing else.”

“I disagree,” the woman with the flame fox said. “He’s got potential, and his legacy is not something to be overlooked. I think he should get a full ride to the combat program.”

“No resonance,” the giant of a man said, ticking points off on his fingers, “left many of his spells un-ingrained, and no actual combat experience. He’s lucky he checks as many boxes as he does. Eighty percent is too generous.”

“Seeing as I’m the one who actually runs the combat program,” the suited woman said, “I’d say I should have the final say on anything there.”

“True,” the giant of a man said, “but you’ve yet to speak.”

“Because the test wasn’t fair,” the short haired woman said, then she looked at me. “What did you learn, Dario Dumont?”

“I still have further to go than I thought,” I said. “But I’d contest that I did nothing wrong.”

“Oh?” she said.

“I pushed myself to second gate to form a full-gate spell,” I said. “I may not have been at the absolute peak of first gate when I did so, and while it’s obvious a talented first gate can beat me into the ground, if I’d kept myself at first gate until I was at the peak, I would have failed worse.”

To prove my point, I cut off my wind stream entirely. As my weight settled evenly on my legs, my knee locked up, and then the entire leg spasmed. I almost fell over, and I caught myself on my wind, then rose and looked at them again.

“I may not be perfect, but who is? I’d contend that it was better for me to rush to second gate, and then go back and fix the first gate.”

I was mostly talking out of my ass, of course. I’d been proud of my mana-garden, and thought it was pretty good. Lots of people, maybe even most, my age just sketched their spells. I supposed that I should have remembered this was Lledrith, and not some local community college.

“Interesting,” the short haired woman said. “Alright, I’ll play ball. I suggest you have two months from when the program begins to fix your mistakes. Do it, and you can get a full ride through the combat certification program. Fail, and you’re kicked out of Lledrith. Think you can handle the challenge.”

I straightened my back and nodded, and she gave me a fierce grin.

“Welcome to the world’s greatest university, Dario.”