Spell Weaver-Chapter 123. Moving Forward

Sunlight poured through the courtyard windows, and a cool breeze ran through the large sliding glass door that was open. Sam sat cross-legged out in the courtyard while Alex and Sarah sat at the granite countertop of the living room. Alex was hunched over his leather notebook, its spine starting to crack and several pages threatening to escape its binding. His pen scratched against the paper as he muttered to himself.

"It worked when the ritual was that large, the power distribution must have…" Alex's voice trailed off as he finished sketching the diagram and took quick notes along its edge.

Sarah sat a few stools over at the same countertop, with her laptop open and headphones in to cut out his constant mumbling. She peered closely at the ring Alex had gotten from Rylan the day before. She was interested in testing its limits in terms of storage capacity and activation methods, promising to share her notes with him as soon as she was done.

"Die, you stupid—ugh, come on!" Mark sprawled across the leather couch with a controller in his hand. He flopped back onto the pillow and tossed the controller up in the air before catching it. "I know people talk about the difficulty of this game, but at some point, it's just not even fun. You know what's easier? Actually, fighting monsters. At least then I can just catch them on my shield and get Sam to back me up instead of having to drink these stupid potions during fights where I'm walking around in slow motion."

Valtherion was wrapped around Alex's shoulder, with his head wrapped back around and onto his own wing as a place of rest. The bond was using his expansive mana pool to steadily infuse mana into the amulet around Alex's neck, safely tucked into his sweatshirt and shirt. Alex was just thankful that he'd stopped trying to fill his boredom with the task by flicking his tail to hit Alex's pen in the middle of writing notes. It had only been too late that Alex realized Valtherion only continued to do it because he'd had a reaction the first few times.

"Alex!" Sam moved quickly into the living room from the courtyard, excitedly holding out a 3-foot section of the thick thorns that he'd been working with. "I think I've almost got it, can you help me take a look?"

Alex's head came up quickly, and it only took him a moment to shift his thoughts from the notes to Sam.

"That's... Different." Sam said as he hesitated for a moment and blinked at Alex's quick response. "Usually, it takes two or three tries to get your attention when you're doing rune stuff."

Alex stretched his back and set down the pen. "Yeah, hitting level 30 in the mission a few days ago and then going through the rank advancement seems to have helped with that. Everything feels clearer now—my mind can definitely handle my Willpower a bit easier." He stood from his stool and walked over to Sam.

He nodded and signaled Sam to make the attempt again, and he watched through his Heavenly Eye. He studied the green and brown tinted mana as Sam attempted to direct its flow through the thorns and gain a system skill. "Ah, I think I see what's happening. See how the mana is splitting here?" He pointed out a section of the thorns where Sam was consciously attempting to branch his mana to another segment. "Try just focusing on the main branch first, and then once that's filled, you can try to advance the skill later to have multiple segments."

Sam nodded along and turned to walk back outside. "Thanks! I'm gonna keep trying."

Just then, the gym door clicked open, and Olivia emerged. Dark circles were under her eyes, and he could tell that her workout clothes were damp with sweat. Her shadow moved slightly as it passed Alex and Valtherion, the small baby dragon making its normal growling noise as the shadow bond passed.

"Liv?" Alex said with concern as she passed.

She shook her head though, not meeting his eyes. "Just need a shower and some more rest." Her voice was a giveaway how tired she was and she turned the corner into the foyer and made her way upstairs.

Sarah pulled out one earbud from behind him at the counter and watched Olivia retreat with a concerned look on her face before she made eye contact with Alex. They both shared a worried look before Sarah encouraged him to give her a bit of space before checking on her. She put her earbud back in and continued to work.

"Alex?" Mr. Grant's voice carried from the foyer as he and his wife passed Olivia. They must have been waiting to speak with him, but Mrs. Grant still gave her a wave as they passed each other. "Do you have a moment?"

"Of course," Alex said and stood from the counter where he'd been working and closed his notebook. "Let's sit over here." He gestured at the table where there were multiple free seats and they could sit and talk more comfortably.

The Grants exchanged a look before Mr. Grant spoke. "Since the incident last weekend, we've been thinking about how much things have changed. And… now that we're here, about how we can contribute. After everything that happened with Samuel…" He paused, and it was clear to Alex that he was tense. "Well, I know I was rather… adamant about awakening as a combat specialist the other day. It wasn't my finest moment."

Mrs. Grant smiled and gave him a pointed look. "What Eric means is that his protective nature got the better of him. But we've discussed it, and we both want to be useful—to step into this world with our son—just perhaps in a different way."

Alex nodded and felt some relief wash over him. He really didn’t want to have to talk Sam’s father out of being a combat oriented Awakened, and it had been clear at the time that he was distraught and making a knee jerk reaction to his son having been detained and kept form them once more.

“Actually, I’ve had some thoughts about that. You both have years of farming experience, right?”

“Going on three decades, now,” Mrs. Grant confirmed proudly.

"What if—if you're open to it—you awakened as non-combat personnel, like Edwin and Gabby? There are neighboring properties to this one here that I've been thinking about purchasing. We could set up some industrial greenhouses and get some food production started. I think this would be a really big step in getting our group to be more self-sufficient." He glanced toward the courtyard where Sam worked. "We could have a couple more industrial-sized ones for crops, but I'd also like to get a smaller and more outfitted one for Sam to create some magical herbs. I think he's really on to something there."

Mr. Grant's expression shifted from uncertainty to interest. "Greenhouses? That's… a great idea. With the right setup, you could be growing year-round."

"That’s what I was thinking. And Sam's new [Flourish] skill has been incredible for some of his smaller experiments with the magical plants. I was thinking that Sam and I could split the startup costs to build the greenhouses and store any crops in the meantime while things are being built. There are so many ways it could go in terms of retrieving magical plants and mana-rich soil from the Rifts to potentially boost the production of certain crops. I would need to put more thought into it, but I don't have the time. So… it makes sense to me that I'd need experienced farmers to manage it properly."

Mrs. Grant was slowly nodding her head next to her husband. “Yes, I like this idea. It allows us to help and continue doing something to support Samuel and stay near him while keeping us out of harm’s way and the Rifts. And the more Sammy helps us, the more he’ll be away from those Rifts as well. I don’t know about magical crops, but we can certainly get started with some basic crops.”

“I was short-sighted before,” Mr. Grant admitted, rubbing his right knee with his hand idly. “Wanting to jump into fights with monsters… that was just fear talking. Fear of being helpless if something happened to Sam again. But this- this is something we know. Something we can actually contribute.”

Alex smiled and appreciated the honest admission. “Well, with everything happening with the Guild and Rylan lately, being more self-sufficient feels more important than ever. I’ve been focused on my magical research and dealing with Rylan, but I need to think long-term, too. My focus really can’t shift either, so I’ll need to entrust the planning and coordination to the two of you. You’ll, of course, have Edwin as a resource, and I’ll be happy to help however I can… But this will need to be your and Sam’s project.”

“The investment would likely pay for itself within a year or two,” Mrs. Grant added thoughtfully as she nodded.

“I’d guess it’s faster than that,” Alex said. “Especially with Sam’s new [Flourish] skill, the magical herbs will likely sell for a lot more than normal crops. If we get on it quickly enough, we could be one of the firsts moving into this field.”

Both of them nodded in response, gears already turning.

“Then it’s settled?” Alex looked between them. “If you two can begin doing research and come up with a proposal plan. Make sure you include estimated costs and timeline for everything from construction to planting tests or cycles. I’d also assume you need some people to help you work the plots, so you can take into account at least the first year of salaries there, and if you need to look at hiring someone to consult with on management details, you can do that as well. Then, once things calm down a bit, I can approve whatever you come to me with, and we can start taking the first steps by getting you both awakened. The more detail, the better.”

The couple stood together, and Eric extended his hand. “Family’s important to us. Thank you for this opportunity to stay here and contribute.”

“No problem, I’m happy to take advantage of your experience,” he answered with a smile and shook Mr. Grant’s hand.

“We’ll leave in a bit to go back to the Safe Zone and grab the last of our belongings.”

“Are you sure? We can get you whatever you need here.”

“No, really, that’s okay. There are some family keepsakes we’d like to get and make sure that two of our friends who had moved to the Safe Zone know why we’re leaving.” Mrs. Grant smiled and touched her husband’s arm.

“Okay, well… be safe.” Alex felt a bit unsettled by the check points after seeing how easy it was for Sam to get detained without explanation or the ability to contact others.

“Of course,” Alex answered. They turned and left the living room.

Alex smiled to himself as he watched them go.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

One less thing to worry about.

“Hey,” Mark called over to him from the couch. “Did you figure out what you want to do with your class yet?”

Alex groaned, let his head lull back, and rubbed his face with both hands. “No. I don’t think there’s really anything I can do about it.”

“What do you mean? It’s still a Rare option, right?”

“I mean, yeah… but it feels a waste not to take an Epic class for the evolution.”

“Yeah, but I mean, you can’t take an Epic option if it’s not giving you one…”

Alex groaned again. “I know, but I feel like I’m close to figuring this out. If I can successfully combine these two kinds of magic and they are both modified for my purpose, I feel like that has to be a huge achievement and it could change the option in the window.”

“You think figuring out how to make your spell circles is going to give you an Epic class?”

Alex nodded. “Yeah, exactly. Right now, they’re just so close to being complete. It’s why I’ve been messing with them nonstop to try and find the solution. I mean, the fact that even Maelis is surprised with the progress that I’ve made tells me that if I can make it work, it should be a really big deal.”

Mark nodded. “Bit of a risk, though. Isn’t it? Every time you level without advancing, you’re missing out on those class stat points you could be getting.”

Alex nodded and didn’t want to get into the min-maxing thought process too much with Mark, only because he felt it was still a sensitive topic for his best friend since Mark wasn’t offered any Rare class options, meaning he had to take an Uncommon as his best choice. But Alex knew that if he could figure out how to successfully make spell circles and it paid off with an Epic evolution option, then it would be worth it even if he didn’t make a choice for another level or two.

“Could you make a choice and then use the Class Reset Token we got?” Sarah asked, without looking up from the ring she was holding close to her eyes.

“Why would I do that though? It seems like a waste.”

"Well," she said while looking up, "if you choose now, you'll get two new class skills. Then you could wait until you finish the spell circles and then use the token to get a new class and, hopefully, an evolution, giving you two new skills again with the new class."

Mark was shaking his head, though. "No, I don't think that will work. Olivia said that when you use it, the System won't offer your previous class or the evolutions of it later. I know you might not want to be a Ritualist anyway, but I feel like the token is supposed to be used for changing entire job sets. Like moving from a warrior to a teacher or retiring or something. You could really screw yourself over if it only gives you noncombat options."

"Yeah, the System literally just punished me for getting clever with the use of two skills. I don't know that I'm ready to start pushing that boundary again so soon." Alex shivered at the thought of the System so casually contemplating ending his life or taking his eye. "Anyway, I feel like I'm really close to finishing this. Even if I level up once or twice before completing them, it will be worth it to wait. The evolution to Epic will give more stats overall, even compared to advancing."

"Hmm, that makes sense," Sarah said. "I guess, in terms of stats, evolving to the same rarity is actually the worse choice here. Then you're going back to the bottom of Novice, and your stat gain stays the same. At least advancing will give you an increase in stats."

"True, the only real upside to taking the evolution now is that I'm missing my main class skill for the current class. I don't think that it makes sense for me to advance to journeyman. I'll push for the finish of spell circles with [Parallel Mind] while we figure out what to do about Rylan. Best case scenario, it happens soon, and I get offered an updated evolution option by the System with an Epic class.

“My leveling has been really slow in the last few months anyway, so I’m hoping I can finish the Spell Circles before I even gain a level, meaning I wouldn’t have lost out on anything by waiting." Alex shook his head, still finding it surreal to talk about stats and classes with someone like Sarah, not to mention the fact that it was their new reality. “Hey, I’m going to head upstairs and check on Olivia.”

Sarah and Mark both nodded before returning to their respective activities - Sarah to studying the ring and Mark to playing his video game. Alex smiled at them all, happy to have the house full once again.

He carefully closed the leather notebook he’d been taking notes in before heading up the stairs and setting it on his desk. Valtherion followed him the whole way up the stairs, flapping his wings and moving ahead of Alex down the hallway before returning to him in a way that reminded him of a dog.

The thought crossed his mind to sit for a bit and dive into his notes again.

Do I give her more space? Or go comfort her?

Val trilled from his perch and said, "Friend sad. Go help?"

"Yeah, buddy. Let's go help."

Alex found Olivia lying face down on his bed, with her head buried in a pillow. It unnerved Alex that he couldn't see Nox in her shadow even through his Heavenly Eye, though he knew the bound shadow was there with her. She rolled a quarter of the way onto her side, just enough to see him through her messy hair.

"You don't have to keep checking on me," she said, but she did shift slightly to make more room for him. "I know everyone's worried."

Alex sat on the edge of the bed. "Yeah, we are. But it's just because we care. You've barely slept this week, and I know that losing Pete hit you pretty hard." Alex reached out and touched the small of her back.

"Hard to sleep when your shadow keeps drinking all your mana and giving you the headache from hell." She rolled over to face him, and his hand ended up resting on her hip. "But, as big of a pain in the ass as he is, Nox saved my life more than once in that rare Rift. I can't imagine not having him anymore. And he's not doing it for any other reason than it's his instinct to consume the mana. Don't blame him, I just need to get stronger."

"How does it work? The bond, I mean."

"It's different than your bond with Val.” Olivia shifted a bit. “Nox isn’t just connected to me. I, uh… I think The Night is parasitic. He lives in my shadow and feeds on my mana constantly. Like a hunger that never stops. But the System protects me and prevents him from going too far.”

She rubbed her temple and winced. “I told you a bit before, but… In that Rare Rift, creatures of The Night were hunting and capturing any humans who entered. One caught me off guard and dragged me to its den. Rylan helped me escape, and as I was making my break for it, it caught me and started to feed on my mana. I thought I was going to die, but something clicked.” She gripped the blanket at her waist. “It was really just survival instinct, but when I yanked back on my mana as hard as I could, it reversed the flow and bound the monster to me instead.”

Alex watched her face and felt part of his chest tightened at the hollowness in her eyes when she talked about her near-death experience.

“The System gave me a skill for doing it called [Shadow Bind]. After that,” she paused, and he saw a darker emotion fill her eyes. “I spent weeks hunting through that Rift afterward. I used my first bound shadow to weaken slightly stronger ones. I’d release my current bond and capture the stronger creature while it was vulnerable.” A humorless smile touched her lips. “Like trading up. Each new bond consumed the previous one.”

She turned to face him fully. “I know it’s brutal, and saying it out loud… it sounds insane.” She closed her eyes, and a single tear rolled down her cheek. She let out a shaky breath as Alex ran a hand through her hair. “Nox was one of the highest-level predators in the forest, and he was the strongest I could manage to bind without being overwhelmed. Together, we freed a lot of people who were held to be fed on in the dens. Ruthless for sure… but necessary.” She closed her eyes. “Maybe that’s why he’s such a pain in the ass. We understand each other.”

He had known the gist of what happened on the mission, though she hadn't wanted to share details when she first came back. Especially not about the binding skill—he had been assuming that Nox was a companion through a token, like he had gotten Valtherion.

"Speaking of Val…" Alex glanced at his companion, who was hovering near the doorway and making his unusual, unhappy chirping noises and soft growls at Nox's presence. However, he seemed to acknowledge there to be some amount of boundary, as he didn't quite want to enter the bedroom. "We should probably work on getting these two to tolerate each other."

A genuine laugh escaped Olivia's lips. "God, we sound like a couple trying to introduce their reactive dogs. 'Don't worry, he's friendly!'" She mimicked a high-pitched and nasally voice.

"'He just plays rough!'" Alex joined in before growing a bit more serious. "But really, we should figure something out. I don't think Val's going to stop being jealous that there's another creature around, and I think he really only understands that Nox is from the same plane as the shadow serpents that we were running from in the Celestial Rift."

"I don't think it's all Val. I'm pretty sure Nox is doing something to antagonize him. But… Let's do it tomorrow," Olivia yawned. "Right now, I think I just need to rest some more. The drain isn't as noticeable when I'm sleeping."

"Want me to stay?"

She nodded, already closing her eyes. She reached out and grabbed his hand on her hip as she rolled over and pulled him down beside her. "Just for a bit. Tell me about your lesson with the grumpy ghost."

Alex kicked off his Converse so they weren't on the bed, got himself comfortable on top of the sheets behind her, and thought about what he could begin to tell her from Maelis's recent lessons. "Well, despite how cranky he can be, I think Maelis has found something pretty cool for me to get into…"

A booming crash jolted Alex from his explanation of lessons, and the house seemed to shake with the impact. Olivia also sat up instantly despite her fatigue. The sound had come from Alex's office across the hall.

Everyone else was downstairs.

Alex jumped up quickly and pushed off from his bed with socked feet and activated [Feather Step] to cross the large bedroom and burst into the hallway. He hadn't even taken another step before a second explosion seemed to rock the house. Smoke billowed from Alex's office, and he crouched down and cursed. The door into the office was cocked onto the side as it hung on by a single hinge. He stayed low and moved forward to assess the situation. Though the smoke obscured his normal vision, he could still scan with his Heavenly Eye for mana signatures.

He cursed again as he realized that his spatial pouch was sitting on the corner of his desk on the other side of the room, leaving him without a wand or many of his reagents.

Running through his list of options quickly, he wasn't able to use any of his normal rituals without the reagents. The spark rune ritual would be far too big to cast in the house and would take too long.

Val, come to my shoulders and use your illusion. If I tell you to, shoot a mana dart through the ritual over my hand when I activate it.

Without another option, he urged Valtherion to hide on his shoulders and would use him as a temporary wand to launch mana bolts through a modified gust ritual if needed.

He moved forward through the haze in the hallway and caught a glimpse of two figures in hooded cloaks going through the papers on his desk and the books on his shelves, moving slowly and confidently.

Now, Val.

Alex activated the gust ritual over his hand and blew through it just before Valtherion's dart of mana flew through the space and at the intruders.

In a nonchalant movement, the closest figure raised an ornate staff. The bolt skidded off of an invisible barrier and around the raised staff. It smashed into the wall with a small explosion, the tightly twisting air around the bolt causing more damage than a standard bolt of mana. His mana vision registered the surge of mana through the staff an instant before a wave of force slammed into him. He crashed into the hallway wall, the impact forcing the air from his lungs.

Alex glanced over his shoulder and saw Olivia enter just behind him in a crouch. She activated an ability that seemed to envelop her, and she moved out to the right side of the room, opposite Alex, toward the far figure.

She's using the smoke and dust to amplify her stealth to close the distance.

He gave her a nod before committing himself to the left side of the room and approaching the nearest figure near his desk and spatial pouch.

Letting loose several more empowered-Val-bolts, Alex went for the loud approach, hoping to draw both of their attention and distract from Olivia's movements. While he did, he activated his Heavenly Eye and attempted to get a readout on the intruders. To his surprise, he got nothing back. Similar to when he tried to scan Rylan and was met with a mental block. He couldn't get any information on the pair.

He gritted his teeth and had Val continue to fire off enhanced shots as he thought through their situation. The enemies didn't seem bothered by the bolts of mana or the fact that he was there. They just continued rifling through his things.

He looked around and saw the section of crumbled wall, the carpet on fire, and paper fluttering around from his blasts and the open air.

Olivia’s shadow expanded as Nox emerged, exploding in a splash of inky shadow.

The second figure turned, paying more attention to Nox than either of them. The cowl of their cloak covered their face, but they yelled something that in any language could be recognized as a spitting rage. Raising the wand in their hand, it glowed a brilliant orange in Alex’s vision as it yelled another command in a strange, foreign language. It didn’t sound like anything he’d heard before.

Through his Heavenly Eye, he could see an intricate layer of enchantments activate on the gripped wand. Both the wand of one and the staff of the other looked like true masterwork gear, even when compared to the gear Eura had given him.

Then, the world exploded in a golden light.