System Scribe Academy Book 2 - Chapters 11,12,13,14,15

Chapter 11

Censure

[Primal Interdiction]

The Primal God of Undeath has taken notice of you. Automated Grand System action initiated…

Action failed… Authority denied.

Grand System intervention: Action denied against System Scribe (entity working under DIRECT authority of the Grand System).

Action taken: Primal God of Undeath censured. Penalties applied. Further action will be met with severe penalties.

Note: all actions taken by gods, primal or otherwise, MUST be done through Avatars.

The air within the cloister had grown deathly cold. Every available surface had become covered in a layer of frost. Undeath Mana lingered heavily in the air, stinging Ethan's nostrils with the scent of eternity. It was a strange sensation, but the scribe couldn't keep the smile from springing to his face. He wanted nothing to do with the gods and had assumed that his authority as a system scribe would protect him. Until now, he hadn't had a chance to test that. But apparently, the Primal God of Undeath wasn't happy with what he was doing. That very same god had received a firm slap on the wrist for trying to intervene.

“What just happened?” Nultan asked, finally letting out a breath. “My connection with my patron vanished for a moment.”

"Another god tried to stop me from creating this mana." Ethan looked at the fire in his hand. It had gone from the brilliant silver-blue to a mixture of black and purple, but it wasn't what he had expected. There was nothing evil about it. Undeath as a concept didn't mean evil. It just meant eternity of power. It was a strange juxtaposition compared to what he had expected. “Looks like the Grand System slapped it in the face.”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The frost that had gathered on the ground faded, melting and evaporating as the group watched. Now, Ethan held the mana in his hand, the substance he would use to fuel Zeal and Solace’s system. They had been absorbing the Death mana for a while, but this substance would be far more potent. Although he couldn't estimate how much more effective it would be, he knew that it was the perfect thing for their systems.

"Drink up, kids," Ethan held his hand up, watching as both Zeal and Solace looked on with a mixture of interest and hesitation. But eventually, they came over and absorbed the small amount of mana the scribe generated. Of course, this meant that he would simply create more. He did so until they had their fill for the day.  

"They can only absorb so much at a time. I would be greatly appreciative if you could tell me how close their new system is to manifesting." Nultan watched eagerly, licking his lips as he waited.

Ethan withdrew his Celestial Pen, poking it in the air and leaving a few dots of projected mana. He smiled, getting to work on their systems. They had already made some serious progress. Using the metaphor of a tree growing from the ruins of a building, the sprout had sprung and pushed away a fair amount of the rubble. The remnants of the old system were cast to the side, although they were not completely destroyed. That would still take time. But the growth of the tree had clearly been stimulated beyond what their normal progress was.

“Impressive.” Ethan nodded with approval. “You guys are doing great. But you’ll need some more of my sweet, sweet mana. A lot more, actually.”

“Great. More time trapped here. Lovely.” Zeal sighed, falling back on the ground. He grimaced. “Ew. The ground is wet.”

Ethan wished he could do more for them. He really did. But the fact was that even with his considerable power, he couldn't do much more than help them along. A system was complicated. Patching an ability was easy enough. He was typically only changing one or two sigils within those abilities and spells. But a system consisted of so many parts that it would be impossible for him to track every piece of it. The biggest issue was that there wasn't actually any problem with their undeath system. The issue was that it had to come to light on its own, sprouting and pushing away all the rubble. Until their souls were clean and filled with this new type of magic, there was nothing that he could do other than help it along.

"I can't do any more than I've already done. Unfortunately, your systems just need to grow. They need to empower you too until they're ready to work." Ethan scratched his chin, thinking of any more comforting words he could say, but nothing came to him.

“You’ve done more than most for them,” Nultan said, placing a comforting hand on the scribe’s shoulder. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“Yes. We’re eternally grateful for the chance at a new life.” Solace bowed her head toward Ethan. “Despite how much Zeal complains, he also appreciates it. If not for your intervention at our egg, we would be dead.”

“Very dead. Like, super dead.” Zeal laughed to himself.

“Are you going to do the character voice again?” Ethan asked.

“Want me to? I was gonna take the day off, but anything for you.”

“Nah. That’s fine. Kinda nice hearing someone talk in casual Earth-speak.”

Zeal snorted a laugh. “Cowabunga.”

Ethan cringed.

Although his schedule was quite packed, Ethan spent time talking with the group. There really wasn't much to say, but with how bored they were, Zeal and Solace appreciated any attention from visitors. They seemed reluctant to talk about the past and were very focused on determining what their future might be. The scribe wouldn't blame them. Anxiety about what an undeath system might be was to be expected. As always, the name itself carried evil connotations that had to be dispelled.

Nultan was the perfect man for that job. He had a way with people, soothing their fears and helping them understand how their lives would improve, rather than decline. Life as a True Undead wasn’t different from life as an adventurer. Like high-ranked system-holders, True Undead were functionally immortal. Although they could die, it would take quite a lot of damage to get the job done. The cleric’s idea was for them to eat monster souls to stay alive. Since they didn’t need food, although they could eat it if they wanted, the proto-souls of monsters would’ve been a decent alternative.

Or they could just carry Ethan around, absorbing the True Undeath mana he generated. That wasn’t a future the scribe had much interest in.

Eventually the conversation waned. Ethan had quite a few more things he had to get done that day and didn't enjoy the idea of sticking around at the church forever. It gave him the creeps, especially with the primal god's attempted interdiction. What the scribe had expected to happen when he left the church was for his bracelet to awaken and tell him that it had discovered a way to traverse Voidspace. But that didn't happen. He stood there on the streets and waited for about five minutes before folding his arms and considering his next move.

Getting to the center of the planet was supposed to be the easy part. Fixing whatever weighed them on the other side would likely take him the rest of the trial period. But now Ethan handed aside a course of action without the assistance of his bracelet. He had crossed off a few items from his list and added one more. He needed to add another slot to his Rank 1 Agility Ring, which was something that would simply take time. At the same time, he had to research the magic to create the proper ability. With a shrug, he departed from Luminarum House and headed back to Gale House City.

***

Ethan spent the entire next week working on his rings and awaiting the return of his bracelet. At first, it was concerning, but then he just accepted it as a fact. There was plenty to do, so he was properly distracted. Although he had expected that creating a new slot would be easy enough, that hadn't been the case. It was arduous and a feat far more challenging than generating an additional Ring for his other attributes. He brought both his Dexterity and Vigor rings to the next rank before his Agility even thought about budging. But one sunny morning, he sat in his back garden watching Barry and Amelia tinker with the newest version of the armored personnel carrier when the dam finally broke.

[System Expanded]

You have created another slot for your Agility Ring. Adding a spell, skill, ability, etc to this slot will create a combination of the three entries.

Ethan heaved a sigh, falling back on the wall of his house. He was covered in a layer of sweat, the strain of infusing so much energy into the first Ring of his Agility Ring nearly breaking him. Was it too difficult? Yes. Was it totally worth it? Also yes. Getting all his rings up to snuff had been far more difficult than it should have been, but without the bracelet’s guidance, he couldn’t analyze it too deeply. Although he still wasn’t happy with the display he had created for his Attribute Rings, he summoned it to see his progress.

[Attribute Rings]

Strength R1:2

Agility Ring R1:3, R2:1

Dexterity R1:2, R2:1

Vigor R1:2, R2:1

Endurance Ring R1:2, R2:1

Affinity Ring R1:2, R2:1

Mind Ring R1:2, R2:1

The only thing he had left to create a second ring for was his strength. He should have figured that would be the last one. Getting dexterity and vigor up was hard enough. But thanks to Barry's constant insistence that they train like madmen, running miles in the morning, lifting weights, and even doing light sparring, he had pushed them both over the edge. The swell of energy that flooded through the scribe’s body was interesting. Adding another slot wasn’t like adding a whole Ring. It represented depth within the first ring.

Ethan stood, testing out his agility and finding that it had changed slightly. fIt wasn’t nearly as dramatic as a new Ring, but he was slightly quicker and sure-footed. The important thing was, he could now put three abilities or spells into his Rank 1 Agility Ring. Before he did, the scribe considered what would happen when he expanded his Rank 2 rings out. From early testing, it basically just made the ability more powerful. Which was a good thing, because doing infinite combinations of spells and abilities was hard enough. What would happen if they changed when he put them in a higher-Ranked ring?

Chaos, that’s what.

The concept of the flying spell was pretty simple. Ethan had taken the concepts of the System Leap ability and expanded it. When slotting something into a ring, it typically took the aspect of that ring. In the case of the Agility Ring, that meant movement. System Leap was made from System’s Lesser Haste, and Weightless Agility. Weightless Agility made it so he could jump better, which made sense. Haste made it so he jumped a lot better, when combined with the previous ability. So each item built on the other.

Ethan had found the Negate Gravity ability, when slotted in his Agility Ring, allowed him to hover around. But he couldn’t control himself. Adding Command Wind allowed him to shove himself around at a snail’s pace. But combined with System’s Lesser Haste? He couldn’t wait to see the result.

“Hey guys, wanna see something cool?” Ethan asked.

Both Amelia and Barry looked up from their work, each covered in a thick layer of grease.

“Yikes. Maybe not.”

Ethan rubbed his hands together as the two grease monsters came over to see. He slotted each ability into his Agility Ring and watched as the system accepted his entries. The interface for his Agility Ring swirled, each ability combining together until the screen went still. What was left was exactly what he had wanted.

System Flight.

Chapter 12

System Flight

Ethan felt the effects of the Antigravity part of the spell immediately. He hadn't even read the description of his new ability, but he floated up into the air. Both Amelia and Barry let out surprised gasps and then clapped. When Ethan tried to move in any direction, he dashed into the ground, face-planting and getting a mouthful of dirt. Then his companions laughed, picking him up and dusting him off.

“You might want to test that one out a bit before you go all out.” Barry chuckled, helping Ethan pick grass from between his teeth.

“Gods, are you okay?” Amelia asked. “Doesn’t look like you broke anything.”

“Note to self: read the manual.” Ethan sighed, summoning the ability’s description.

[System Flight]

Agility Ring Synergy Ability

Generated By:

System’s Lesser Haste, Negate Gravity, Command Wind

Description:

Travel swiftly by ignoring gravity and commanding Wind Magic throughout your body. By infusing your Agility Ring with mana, you may defy gravity and fly in any direction you wish. Just don’t get sick.

Effect:

Imbuing mana into your Agility Ring, allows you to fly with great speed.

While in the air, a constant flow of mana needs to be added to your Agility Ring to fuel the Antigravity part of the spell.

Greatly lessens the effect of wind-resistance on yourself, reducing drag significantly.

The complexity of the spell was actually pretty immense. The only part of it he didn't have to focus on was haste, but both the Gravity effect and Wind effect were something he had to command. After reading through the ability a few times, Ethan rolled his shoulders and injected mana into his Agility Ring. He focused on the Gravity part of it, allowing less of his mass to have an impact. Then, when he was about a foot off the ground, he focused on the Wind and directed his body upward as gently as he could manage.

“This is a workout.” Ethan groaned as he rotated upside down, all the blood rushing to his head. “The description says not to get sick… I see why. Think I’m gonna puke.”

“Just don’t puke on me!” Barry shouted, running to the side as though vomit would rain from the sky at any moment.

Ethan floated higher, although he wasn’t commanding himself to do so. It was far harder than he had expected to keep command of the Wind. Wind Magic wasn't something he was well-versed in, even if he had read several books. He practiced moving, keeping himself upright, and generally maintaining control of the spell. At first, it was simply too much for him to handle. However, when he realized one of the biggest issues, he crafted a different form of the spell to practice. He removed the haste effect and found much better results. System flight without haste didn't move as quickly and gave him much more time to correct and get used to the way everything felt. Of course, the result was a slow drift across the lawn that looked quite pathetic.

"How much mana does that use?" Amelia asked, walking alongside Ethan as he floated. Her eyes naturally went towards his combat robes. "I'm glad you're wearing pants, by the way."

“Pants are required.” Ethan’s concentration was completely on the spell. “The mana draw is minimal, if I’m not moving. I just need enough to keep the Gravity part of the spell active. But moving is another story. The mana draw is extremely high, especially when I’m using the fast version of the spell.”

“I like the slow version.” Barry came running over, grabbing Ethan by the legs and swinging him around. “Easier to catch you.”

Ethan almost vomited again, but managed to keep his breakfast where it should’ve been. He gave his companion a glare before floating to a safe distance. It took a few hours, but the scribe got a handle on commanding the spell that was all about switching between Gravity and Wind. Once he understood that both had an intensity and direction modifier, he was soon floating at less than one mile an hour and doing very simple maneuvers. Once he was confident enough, he changed the slow version of the spell to the fast version.

"The last time I messed around with a travel power, I ended up in the bay." Ethan angled himself, facing the bay. That was one area the monster waves didn't affect, so he wasn't expecting a bunch of sea monsters waiting for him there. There were fishing boats currently trawling the closer parts of the waters, so he figured it was safe. "But in case I plummet, you guys will come and fish me out. Right?"

"No promises," Barry said, waving a dismissive hand. "We've got a lot of changes to make to the War Rig." 

“Fair enough,” Ethan muttered, crouching on the spot as he prepared to take off. Using the slow version of the spell, he had discovered that kicking off from the ground was a good way to get some initial momentum.

Mana flooded into his Agility Ring. Ethan felt the spell tingle with power. As he was rendered weightless, he kicked off against the ground, going into the air about a foot before he activated the Wind portion of the spell. Drag from Wind was nothing to him, and the Antigravity effects of the spell provided him with exactly no G-force. The scribe shot into the air in a straight line, tearing across the sky to leave the cottage behind in seconds.

Ethan commanded the Wind to slow him down and he came to a slow stop in the air before hovering high above the city. He saw everything and everyone down below as ants. He could see the sections of the city that were on fire from the trials, and the tiny adventurers running around to collect points. Everything seemed so small. Not just in size, but in significance. It was hard to imagine the lives of so many people reduced to a space he could hold in his hand.

But this wasn't a sightseeing tour. Ethan was here to practice his spell. He needed a more practical travel power that didn't involve jumping. So his goal was to master this, even if he had to do so without the assistance of his bracelet. After doing a few laps around the city and performing a few dangerous maneuvers, the scribe felt confident enough to get close to the ground and mess with the precision aspects of the spell. He came to a rather impressive landing in the back garden of his cottage and found Tenalia bouncing up and down with excitement.  

"You have to take me for a flight." The puppet seemed far too excited for such a dangerous endeavor. “I must feel the wind in my hair.”

“You don’t have hair.”

“I care not! Take me!”

Although Ethan wasn't sure if it was a good idea, he allowed the puppet to wrap her arms around his neck before taking to the sky. Flying around had already become more natural, although he still had to pay close attention to where the mana within his ring was going. He had to persistently maintain the Antigravity while adjusting how much Wind he was giving himself. The puppet hooted as he took off towards the bay, streaking across the sky at impossible speeds.

Ethan hugged the sea as close as he could. If he wanted to, he could reach out and touch the waves. But the most comfortable position for his arms was at his sides. Even if Wind didn’t affect him, he wasn’t eager to take a strange pose while flying through the air. Head-first was the only way to go, as it reduced the amount of nausea he felt.

“This is great!” Tenalia shouted. “Go faster!”

“I’m going as fast as I can.” Ethan banked suddenly, halting their speed in moments, which almost dislodged the puppet, and shooting back the way he had come. Tenalia shouted with excitement, getting more pumped with each new move.

“Let’s spy on the goblins! Perfect use for this power, I think.”

Ethan shrugged, flying over Gale House City until he spotted the masked goblins outside the gates. They were in one of their phases of assault, which meant that thick crowds of the green creatures had accumulated in the open fields. When the scribe thought about getting a bit too close, he saw the forms of the creatures below pulling back bows and releasing crude arrows.  

"Let's stay up here," Ethan said, looking down at himself and checking for any injuries. Fortunately, he had been high enough that each of the attacks had missed. 

“I wanna jump off. Can I jump off and go wild crazy in the sea of goblins?” Tenalia asked.

“Yeah, you can basically do whatever you want.”

The puppet didn’t wait. She released her grip on his neck and plunged to the world below, puppet-sized sword in her hands. Ethan could barely hear her war cries as she landed in the center of a large group of goblins. He wasn’t afraid for her. If anything, he was afraid of how she would traumatize the monsters below. Since he was there, the scribe decided to do a scouting report. He doubted the organizers of this event had thought to include flying enemies, so he just hovered there, writing on a pad of paper what he observed below. Finding the location of dungeons was quite easy when none of the monsters could reach him.

It didn't take long for Ethan to find a few organizers of the event. He spotted figures near the dungeons clad in dark robes, looking up at him. He ignored them at first, but when one waved their arms, clearly trying to get his attention, he tested his new flight ability and came in hot. Using the power of Wind, he slowed himself to a stop, hovering right above the black-clad man.

“No high-Rankers!” the man shouted, clearly flustered. He thought Ethan was a high-Ranked student, messing around above the field of goblins. “If you want to scout, proceed east to the mountains. We’ve got troll dungeons spawning there.”

Ethan hovered, feeling a bit too full of himself as he landed before the organizer. He pinched his badge between his fingers, thrusting it forward for the man to see. “Sorry about that.” He might’ve been feeling arrogant, but the one thing that helped him in the academy was kindness and respect. “I’m a first-year.”

“You’re a… what?” the man asked, pushing back his hood to reveal long brown hair and a scarred face. “Are you serious? Are you some kind of Wind Mage prodigy?” He paused for a few long moments, spotting the details on the badge. “Ah. Anomalous Materials Group. I should’ve figured you were one of those weirdos.”

“That’s me.” Ethan pushed off lightly from the ground, hovering a few feet above the surface. “Everything going well over here? Need anything?”

The man stood, dumbfounded for a few moments before his face brightened. “Got anything to eat? We’ve been scarfing down rations for a while now. They won’t let us leave.”

“Oh, I got you, buddy.” Ethan’s smile widened. He was about to be the universe’s fastest food delivery service. “Hold tight.”

With a burst of impossible speed, Ethan took to the skies once again. He shot directly for Gale House City, moving so quickly the goblins below could barely see him pass. Minutes later, he arrived, slowing his speed and falling to a rather impressive skidding stop before a street vendor.

“Give me everything you got,” Ethan said, gesturing to the various food items on the cart. “Are you just selling skewers, or do you have drinks?”

The confused-looking elf behind the cart looked between the scribe and his wares. “Uh. My brother runs a spirit fruit juice cart. Just over there.”

“I’ll take all of his stuff, too.” Ethan didn’t plan to be good with his money. Which just reminded him to pay his debts. For now, he just wanted to see a smile on the face of those organizers stuck wrangling goblins. “To go, if you don’t mind.”

Chapter 13

Multispace Topography

There was no better way to feel like a super hero than by flying around, delivering delicious food to hardworking folk. Ethan had understood how his powerset was powerful. He knew that combining stuff would produce potent effects. Yet he had never realized exactly how powerful it would make him feel until he was flying. Flight wasn’t an exclusive skill. There were mages, typically those who specialized in Wind Magic, who could soar through the air. But they were all high-Rankers, and the scribe had only seen someone darting around a few times since he had arrived at the academy.

Ethan spent another week just flying around, repairing stuff, delivering food, and fixing anomalies. Hovering above a group of Trial Administrators, the scribe waved and departed into the sky. He had fallen into the habit of flying around, typically harassing Barry and Amelia while they did their rescue missions. The problem with that was, there were less people to save by the day. Now it was only the scenarios constructed by the creators of the trial, meaning competition for being a savior was rough. The APC was thundering across the landscape, heading back to Gale House City for the day while an annoying mage buzzed around the outside.

Barry finally pulled the vehicle into the city, eventually clearing it through the many twisting alleyways to arrive at the garage. There was enough damage for him to repair that he’d be busy for a few days, meaning it was the perfect time for him to shout at Ethan for being so annoying.

“Get down here, ya gnat!” Barry shouted, shaking his fist at the sky.

“Why don’t you come up here?”

Barry shouted something incoherent and ran off into his garage.

“You really shouldn’t tease him like that.” Amelia had a look on her face that was a nice mixture of disappointment and amusement. “Maybe just a bit, but not that much.”

Ethan descended, but he didn’t let his feet touch the ground. He wouldn’t admit the truth to them. Tenalia was always busy slaying monsters, and the bracelet hadn’t returned yet. He was lonely, and the only thing that made him feel better was bugging Amelia and Barry. But both of them were always so busy, it was hard to get their attention for more than five seconds.

“Anyway, shouldn’t you be exploring Voidspace?”

Ethan hovered, went upside down and sighed. “I can feel the bracelet doing something, but it still isn’t back. And every time I try to navigate through the space by myself, I get lost. Or I end up in that place with the vampire.”

“Which vampire?”

“Either. They’re both a dead end as far as I’m concerned.” Ethan sighed dramatically, striking a thoughtful pose as he rotated. “Anyway, how are things going on your end?”

“Seriously. Get down here and talk like a normal person or I’m going to hurl fireballs.”

Giggling, Ethan descended, his feet finally touching the ground. He could fly almost forever. So long as his Mind Ring was constantly pumping mana into his soul, he could remain aloft. But if he had to dedicate mana to something else, he had to get to the ground. There was no way he could repair buildings and maintain flight. Which sucked, but whatever.

“Much better.” Amelia patted him on the shoulder, then slapped him on the back of the head. “That’s for being an asshole. Anyway, the issue is that we’re running out of people to save. We’re going to try a few more things tomorrow, but I think the era of getting points by saving people is over.”

“Interesting. I mean, that makes sense. Maybe focus on recon? I was talking to the organizers of the trials, and they let a few things slip.”

Amelia froze, her gaze dragging over slowly. “Okay. Don’t dangle that in front of me.”

“We already know the trial goes in looping phases. But there’s another cycle of phases. Means stuff is going to change again. Basically, the difficulty is going up and the next phase is more about going out and killing monsters.” Ethan thought if he missed anything, but that was it. “Yeah. So, am I forgiven?”

“You don’t have to ask for my forgiveness. Barry is the only one who really hates when you fly. Mostly because he can’t… yet.”

Ethan smiled to himself, but all the jokes fell away when he felt his bracelet buzz with a bit more intensity than normal. He held it up, inspecting it to see if anything had changed. “Huh. That’s odd…”

[Scribe’s Bracelet]

Celestial Ranking Bracelet

Description:

Once a powerful Celestial-grade bracelet belonging to a greedy king, this item has been reforged. A complex circuit made from pure celestial energy has been imprinted on this item.

Circuit:

Memory Block (25 Units).

4x Processing Block (Rank 1).

4x Processing Block( Rank 2).

Multispace Topography Block (Rank 2)

Projector Block (Rank 1).

Coprocessor Block (Rank 2)

Learning…

“What is a Multispace Topography Block?”

“I’ll need more context.” Amelia didn’t look amused. She looked more confused than ever.

“My bracelet randomly has a new block. I guess that’s what it has been working on for two weeks.” Ethan laughed, closing the interface. “You there, bracelet?”

There was no response. Whatever it was working on, it was still working hard enough to prevent speech. That likely meant it was eating up all its RAM. Maybe there was an upgrade for that.

“As interesting as that might be, I don’t have an idea how I could help. I believe your bracelet is well above any expert you could find. Now, if you could help us with this whole scouting thing, that’d be lovely.”

“I can do that.” Ethan rubbed his hands together. “All my classes are done, and I’m stacking points like crazy. Now, if you guys want some serious points, you need to head east to the mountains.”

“Which mountains?”

“The ones over there.” Ethan pointed in a generally eastern direction. “I don’t know what they’re called, but I can take you there.”

“Hmm. How about you help us fix the War Rig. Then we can talk about these mountains.”

***

The next day, Ethan had a meeting with the Anomalous Materials Group. He wouldn’t say that Luna was pissed, but she was incredibly disappointed that he hadn’t made progress. The only thing that kept her from smacking him in the face was the fact that he told her his bracelet was doing something, and the block it had created on its own. Also, Tenalia was there to say some encouraging words about honor and the value of hard work. Luna was either too annoyed to care, or she accepted the excuse.

After that, Ethan met up with Amelia and Barry, leading them to the east. The War Rig was insanely fast. It wasn’t faster than the scribe using his flight spell, but for a wheeled vehicle it handled some unfavorable terrain with ease. The areas east of Gale House City were notable for rolling hills, a few rocky areas, and a scatter of forests. But the further east they went, the rockier things got, until the trees were absent and cliffs popped up just about everywhere.

That’s when Ethan learned about rocket boosters.

It was the only way he could describe what happened with the War Rig. Barry was driving dangerously close to a cliffside, one that Ethan was certain he couldn’t jump, when the vehicle lurched forward. Blue fire shot out the back, the front wheels lost contact with the ground, and the War Rig soared over the chasm, landing on the other side with more grace than it should’ve contained. Barry popped out the top and shouted something, pumping his fist, but he was too distant for anyone to hear.

Ethan dipped in the air, coming alongside the rig to give the thumbs-up. “That was insane. Getting close to flight, huh?”

“Here’s hoping!” Barry shouted back, pumping his fist in the air. “How far are we?”

Ethan looked forward, and shrugged. “Give me a second. I’ll go check.”

It wasn’t Ethan’s priority to scout the higher-Rank area, so he didn’t know much about it. From his position high in the air, he could see something. A fine mist clung to the land, shrouding everything. But beyond that barrier, as he drew closer, the scribe spotted a few dark shapes moving around. Given a bit more distance, he saw those shapes as massive, lumbering things. Trolls, apparently.

The scribe returned to the rig, tapping on the top to get Barry’s attention. “About a mile that way, and you’ll run into the trolls.”

“Are you coming along?”

“I’m rich in points right now.” Ethan gave Barry a hearty wave. “Don’t want to steal them away from you.”

“But you’re happy stealing them away from others. Got it.”

“Yup. Just stay safe. I think if you stick to the edge of the fog, you’ll be okay.”

Barry gave a hoot of excitement before closing the hatch to the War Rig. A moment later, blue fire belched out of the back, and they were off to get some sweet, sweet recon points. Ethan saluted as they went, eventually shaking his head. The move was risky, but higher-Ranked challenges would produce far more points. As the scribe watched them go, his bracelet was acting up again. It buzzed, shocked him, and made a strange noise he didn’t recognize.

When garbled speech came from the artifact, Ethan grew concerned. It took him a while to realize the sound he was hearing was the bracelet’s voice coming in slow. Real slow, speeding up ever-so-slowly. The scribe found a nice high place to land, sitting cross-legged while he waited for something to happen. Eventually, it sped up to the point where he could understand it.

“...unit is having difficulty adjusting…”

“Take your time.” Ethan patted his bracelet. It had been out for so long, he doubted readjusting from whatever it had just gone through.

And it did take its time. About an hour later, the bracelet was saying random things while it adjusted to a respectable pace of talking.

“Okay. Time to explain what happened.” Ethan looked down at his bracelet. He had been without its voice for so long, he wasn’t sure where to look.

“Appologies. This unit had to shut down to dedicate all resources to developing the Multispace Topography Block.”

“Yeah, I saw that. Is that something that’ll get us through Voidspace?”

“This unit has performed extensive tests on the functionality of the module. It split its efforts by slowing itself down, probing into Voidspaces remotely and creating a complex mapping protocol that should allow us to travel easily through the endless Voidspaces.”

That was a lot of words to say “yes.” Ethan wouldn’t hold it against the bracelet, though. It did stuff like a computer would, and tackling the problem with a bunch of processing power made sense for it. How the bracelet had projected itself anywhere, let alone into something as weird as Voidspace, was beyond him. Mapping anything out, let alone creating a mana circuit block to do the mapping automatically, was insanely impressive.

“Well, I’m just glad you’re back. Hey, I got a new skill.”

“This unit would like to…”

“New skill first. You’re going to be impressed.” Without waiting for a response, Ethan took to the skies. He soared, shooting off back toward Gale House City as he screamed in delight. The bracelet said something, but he was too busy hooting to hear her. Only when he had the city in sight, far in the distance but poking over the horizon, did he pay enough attention to catch what it was saying.

“The issue is…” The bracelet paused to ensure Ethan was listening. “It will take us a long time to navigate through Voidspace. Without the advanced techniques Trex will teach us, this will not be a pleasant journey."

“How long could it possibly take?”

There was a long silence from the bracelet before it finally spoke. “Four months. Minimum.”

“Oh. Yeah, that’s a helluva long time.”

Chapter 14

Mysterious Benefactors

Luna drummed her fingers on the table while Finn paced. Ethan had broken the news to them, and they weren’t happy. At all. The scribe had assumed their trip to the center of the planet would take a few days. Maybe a week. But that was based on the way he had been traveling through Voidspace. Apparently, the mapping program the bracelet had devised showed that it wouldn’t be a few rooms they had to map. Instead, they had to map their way through several thousand spaces. A direct route simply wasn’t possible.

“And the bracelet has this module thing ready to go?” Luna asked, finally releasing a sigh. “What happens when we get there? Another four months back?”

Ethan shook his head. “No, that’s why the block she crafted is important. Think of it like this: we’re going through Voidspace blind. Earlier today, I tried to ask Trex how to get through, and she shot a fireball at me. If I can’t cheat by just asking the answer, the only other way is brute force. The bracelet can map out our current location, but also a few steps ahead.”

“There must be a better way.” Finn sighed. He seemed the least like he cared that they’d lose 4 months of their lives. “I mean, you’re breaking the system’s rules all the time.”

“This isn’t just something I can bypass. We’re talking about millions, maybe billions of spaces stuffed in a tight area. And all paths are not created equal; some might be dead ends.” Ethan took a deep breath. He didn’t like this at all, but there was no other way. “Means we have to probe a bunch of paths, finding the right one by dumb luck or through the bracelet’s new block.”

“Not like we have any other option.” Finn sighed, but pushed himself to his feet. “Four months of supplies? I’ll gather for a year, just to be safe.”

Luna clenched her jaw, but eventually nodded. “This wouldn’t be my first expedition. Finn, you’re in charge of provisions. I’ll handle the random stuff we’ll need. Tents, fire-making supplies, weapons, armor, and so on. Ethan, get yourself some spells for survival. Water generation, portals, shields, and so on. Anything that’ll help us stay alive.”

“We can map as we go.” Ethan urged his bracelet to project an image of a random path it had mapped. “In this example, spaces one through ten are all jungles. But space eleven is an abandoned city with buildings. If we took the right path at space 10, we would’ve gone to another city… with poison air. The bracelet can take us along a path that has rest stops like that.”

“Perfect. Just as long as it knows we’re mortal things that need sleep, food, water, and shelter.”

Ethan nodded. “I’ll get the spells together anyway.”

“Just so we’re clear.” Luna pointed an accusatory finger at Ethan. “The return trip will be quick. Right?”

“If the bracelet does what it intends to do, which is to plot the safest path by looking ahead, we’ll be back swiftly. Just the time it takes to walk through a few thousand spaces.”

“As opposed to mapping a few thousand spaces.” Luna still looked pretty sour about the whole thing, but she nodded. “I’m only agreeing to this because the order comes from our benefactor.”

“Hooray mysterious benefactor!” Finn shouted. “Let’s get going, folks. Time is wasting!”

***

The amount of spells that existed for mages to engage in survivalist activities was staggering. Water couldn’t be generated that a person could drink, but mages had come up with a spell to find clean water. Earth Mages had concocted a spell to raise a tent in moments. Amelia had a library of such spells for Ethan, to the point where the scribe didn’t bother adding them to his own system. When they needed something, he would emulate the appropriate class and system, drawing from only exactly what he needed.

When Barry and Amelia had learned Ethan was going off for four whole months, they had conflicted feelings. He would miss out on almost the entire remainder of the trials. Not that he needed the points. The scribe’s lead had put him in a place such that he would still be in a decent top percentile without lifting a finger.

Strangest of all was how weird Avalara was acting. On the morning of Ethan’s departure she sulked in the kitchen, barely looking up from the dancing flames on the stove to bid him farewell. Even Barry noticed how weird she was being. When he tried to have a chat with her, the ghost melted into the cupboards and vanished. That left both men standing there, gawking in confusion.

“Okay. Screw me, I guess,” Barry said. “A guy tries to show concern, and a ghost gotta melt away?”

Ethan didn’t want to get too introspective about this, but there was something going on with Avalara. She had been distant for a while. He thought it might have been because he was leaving, but if his memory was as good as he thought it was, her behavior had changed before his plan included an extended absence. It happened when Armel had given the order for him to head to the center of the world.

It didn’t pass Ethan’s notice, and he feared what exactly was waiting for him at the planet’s center.

Since it was the day Ethan was supposed to depart for his journey through Voidspace, Amelia, Barry, and Avalara had gathered in the cottage house, although the ghost did not remain. Everyone who remained had suggestions and concerns, aired out in the overly large space of the house. Tenalia was there, but she didn’t have any concerns. She was extremely excited about slaying “impossible monsters,” whatever that meant. The scribe simply focused on the idea that he would soon get a head start on one class for next semester.

Since his plan was to take some really weird stuff, he wanted to be ahead in at least one.

“You’ll be fine,” Amelia said, patting Ethan on the shoulder. “Well, you’re only going to be fine because you have the bracelet. Without it, I’m certain you’d be dead.”  

“Yeah, talk about cheating. And you can also fly, so I guess you have that going for you.” Barry leaned against a table, flashing his goofy smile. “The only thing I ask of you is that you look for rare materials. My mine is producing a decent amount of metal, but I always need more, especially if I’m going to start making large-scale stuff.”  

Ethan tilted his head to one side, wondering what kind of horrors the mechanic could dream up. He decided that he didn’t want to know. “Thanks for all the help, especially the suggestion to bring my own provisions, Barry. That was genius.”

Barry’s smile broadened. He was from a planet that was pretty gnarly. If his own accounts could be believed, when it came to survival, Ethan took the man’s suggestions very seriously. “Don’t put your own survival on the shoulders of another person. If they tell you that one guy is to bring the food, then make sure you’ve got enough for just yourself. Hell, he might even just like dried fish heads for all you know.”

“The important part is to focus while you’re there.” Amelia rubbed Ethan’s shoulder as though to draw all of his attention to her. “I can’t imagine time is a logical thing down there.”

Ethan was eager to get it over with. He had listened to more advice and suggestions from his friends than he cared to entertain. The most frustrating thing of all was that he had to do it and there was no way around it. But once he had this portion of Voidspace mapped, it would lead to many other locations. Finding a path between two places in real space was difficult. Obviously, somebody like Trex had been doing this her whole life, so she had her tricks. Ethan had to brute force it, creating the map and using it to navigate through the impossible tangle of spaces.

“I appreciate it.” Ethan jerked his head to one side and Tenalia jumped on his shoulder. He hovered a few feet off the ground, signaling that it was time to go. “I’ll repay you guys when I get back.”

Barry barked a laugh. “I expect a massive repayment. In the form of rare ores!”

Amelia elbowed him in the ribs. “He already made you a workshop. For free. Just wait until he understands Dimensional magic enough to create a factory.”

Barry’s eyes sparkled. “Is that possible?”

Ethan cracked a smile. “What do you think I’ve been studying dungeons so much for? I’m gonna revolutionize the housing market.”

“Let us away!” Tenalia shouted. “I grow tired of the way you lowly folk speak. I require the heat of battle and the honor of a fair duel.”

“Sorry. My puppet thirsts for blood.” Ethan waved, floating toward the door before pausing at the threshold. He looked for Avalara, but couldn’t find her. With one final sigh, he shot out of the cottage and into the air.

Ethan took the long way to the Anomalous Materials Group meeting area. He wanted to center his thoughts and double-check all of his supplies. Not only was his bracelet loaded with magical texts, but the dimensional storage bag he had purchased was now filled with dried fruits, meats, and enough nuts to drive a person crazy. He had no water with him, but there was an enchantment he could place on any surface that would siphon humidity from the air and create potable water.

After taking the appropriate gate, Ethan discovered something interesting in Silver City. There were a lot more people flying than he had expected. He just had to go high enough to see them. One person, who the scribe almost crashed into, was on a flying sword and gave a curt nod as they sorted out their minor traffic infraction. Maybe flying cars back on Earth would never have worked…

Ethan wasn’t surprised that the meeting room wasn’t empty for once. Both Luna and Finn were there with large dimensional bags filled with God knows how many provisions. Tenalia hopped off, drawing her sword and slashing it through the air. She then did a fair amount of shadowboxing before settling down.

“We’re going to do a check of our supplies before we go,” Luna said, withdrawing a clipboard and licking the tip of a fountain pen.  

“Oh yes, only the most interesting stuff for us,” Finn said, relaxing on a sofa as he waited for them to depart. 

As the leader of the expedition, Luna wasn’t exactly pleased with the number of things they had brought. She was happy that Ethan had his own stuff, but the items Finn brought weren’t suitable for everybody. They might not have been fish heads, but the provisions he had selected were lacking. The result was that they had to go out and do some shopping before departure. When they gathered back in the meeting room, she did another check just to be sure.

“Excellent. I think we’ll survive. Just in case we run out of things, do we have an escape plan?”

Ethan nodded, holding his bracelet out. It projected an image of circles connected with dots. Most were highlighted in blue, but a specific path turned a bright shade of red. “At any time, even if I’m unconscious or dead, you can ask the bracelet to project the escape path. It will select a path with the fewest monsters, or the fastest path depending on what you need.”

“Are you… planning on dying?” Finn asked.

“No, but what happens if I do? You guys are done if I’m out and we don’t have a plan.” Ethan said.

“And what if the bracelet doesn’t work when you’ve passed?” Luna placed her hands on her hips.

Ethan smiled, withdrawing a notebook from his bag. “I’ll keep a detailed map of where we’ve been, and where we’re going in here.”

“Let me guess…” Finn sighed dramatically as he stood. “If the journal gets burned, you’re tattooing it onto your back as we go.”

“How’d you guess?”

Finn’s expression dropped. “Oh. You’re joking.”

“Am I?”

Luna clapped once to get everyone’s attention. “Anyway… Want to get us started, Ethan?”

“Let’s get this party started.”

Chapter 15

Something Interesting

Voidspace was confusing. One day, Ethan hoped to understand exactly how it functioned. But today wasn’t that day.

Ethan was the first to step through the door, peeking through the threshold with caution and then eventually giving the thumbs up to his companions. Tenalia led the way, followed closely by Luna and then Finn. He wasn't sure if that was the order of their strength, but it certainly was the order of‌ eagerness. The scribe brought up the rear, taking in the scene as they went. A dense forest surrounded them, a twilight sky overhead, and dark shadows everywhere. Finn withdrew a lantern from his storage, adjusted some settings on the device, and then rendered their surroundings in brilliant light.

"Well, that's a handy device," Ethan said, chuckling nervously.

"Okay, we're here." Luna folded her arms and looked around. "What do we need to do next?" 

“That’s the boring part. Now my bracelet will map this space and the adjacent ones with the Multispace Topography Block.”

“What does that mean?” Luna asked. “And how many spaces does it need to map?”

“Hold on… Bracelet, are you already working?”

“Indeed, this unit is.”

“The device is already working. I suggest we make camp.” Ethan tried to offer a reassuring look to his companions, but they weren’t having a good time. Eventually, they all shrugged and got to work on setting up a simple camp.

Ethan didn't know that magical tents existed, but of course they did. Setting up camp was as simple as withdrawing an artifice and applying mana to the correct button. After that, a rather large tent sprung up from nowhere, unfolding from a metal box and staking itself into the ground within five seconds. Then Finn created a simple fire, finding dead wood nearby and lighting it with his mana alone. Soon the group was sitting before it, waiting for something to happen. The worst part about this first space was that no one knew exactly how long it would take.

The group quickly realized how difficult this task was going to be. Finn sat with a device in his hands, looking down at it every so often but otherwise just staring into the fire. After a while, the man released a heavy sigh, looking up from the flames and shaking his head.  

"How long do you think we've been sitting here?" he asked.  

Luna cocked her head to one side, raising an eyebrow. "Less than ten minutes."  

Ethan shook his head as he sat there, watching the fire eat away at the logs. He figured that was accurate. The flames hadn't progressed to a point where the logs within were embers. And he had barely enough time to think about the events that had occurred at his cottage.  

"I'd agree with that." 

Finn held the device out for the others to see. It was a watch of some kind. Well, it didn’t look much like the watches Ethan had seen on Earth, but it was certainly a device to tell time. The scribe couldn’t understand what it meant, but Luna gasped.

“Almost an hour,” Finn said. His tone was far more serious than normal. "I had suspected something strange would happen when we came here, but that amount of time lost is hard to justify. Our minds simply aren't used to counting the seconds here."

“That makes things more difficult,” Luna said, standing and rolling her shoulders. “That’s it. During our downtime, when we’re not sleeping, I suggest everybody perform standing meditation or some kind of training to focus our minds.”

“So, not only do we need to contend with the spaces, but we need to fight against ourselves.” Finn joined Luna, stretching out. “Sounds like a pretty lame training arc.”

With no experience concerning losing one's mind in void space, Ethan joined the others, stretching out and preparing to focus his mind. He was most familiar with Luna's class, so he emulated that and went through the motions of her art. It was all about mana manipulation, which was a topic he was decently familiar with. After some time passed, Finn revealed a watch that lined up better with the scribe’s expectations.

Eventually, the bracelet spoke and Ethan winced.

“Good news. The bracelet is done mapping the surrounding spaces.” Ethan held his breath for a bit, trying to figure out the best way to phrase this. “It went about five levels deep, which is great.”

“You said ‘good news,’ which implies you also have bad news.” Luna didn’t look amused. “What’s the bad news?”

“The surrounding Voidspace is dense. Even the bracelet was surprised with how many things she had to scan.”

“Out with it, Ethan.”

“Each node, which is the place we’re in, has about 2 billion connections. Each of those connecting nodes has another 2 billion. Which means we’re looking at an insane amount of spaces.” Ethan wasn’t sure how to describe it. The webwork of the Voidspace was insanely vast. He gained new respect for Trex as he considered their next move. But at least the bracelet was there to ease his thoughts.

"Although it's true that 2 billion is quite a high number, it is nothing this unit's processing power can't handle. For example, it only took three hours for me to parse all that information and get a decent sense of which next paths we should take. This unit has plotted a course of five nodes from here, and once we reach the next adjacent nodes, its scan will be quicker compared to this one."

Ethan was quick to relay the good news. “The bracelet says we’re on schedule. No need to look behind the curtain.”

“If you say so. Better get to writing that path,” Luna said. “Otherwise, I might kill you myself before this is all over.”

The group packed up, getting ready to head through the next door. This time, something unexpected happened. When Ethan opened it, he saw on the other side something very similar to the scene they had just witnessed. It was a dense forest, but this time in daytime. When the group stepped through, they felt the chilly breeze of wind coming from nowhere. The leaves above rustled, and Tenalia sprang forward in search of something. She eventually found it in the form of a very weak monster that preferred to run away rather than engage in combat. That did not stop the puppet from hunting it down and killing it, though.

Exactly ten minutes later, the bracelet had a report.

“Proceed to the next space. Focus on aspects of wood, winter, rebirth, and goblins.”

Ethan did as he was told, focusing on all those concepts as he reached for another door. He grasped the handle, which felt cold to the touch, and pulled the door open. As expected, it was another forested scene. Before even stepping through, he realized how daunting this was going to be. He had to keep his mind engaged at all times, focus on the concepts, and keep moving.

The idea of passing through thousands of these doors didn’t appeal to him. But the group pressed on.

The first week of travel was tense but easy. It was all forested landscapes, and the bracelet had explained that it was focused on creating a pathway along safe spaces. According to it, the stability of the very path they took depended on how much each of the nodes logically connected. They weren't just passing through these spaces but instead making a physical line in the sand that the system understood. It was difficult, if not impossible, to understand, but Ethan was happy to be their demented tour guide.

Worst of all was the way time seemed to meld into one long streak. No matter how hard he focused, he would lose time. Sometimes it happened when they were resting by the campfire. Other times it happened when he was passing through a door. He would be holding the handle one moment, and the next they were getting ready to go through a different door altogether. Although the scribe had intended to do more training while he was in here, that seemed impossible. All he could do was focus on the doors. Without the bracelet, this task would’ve driven him insane already.

Yet the bracelet wasn’t affected by the weird passage of time. It pressed on, doing its job without emotion. Once again, Skynet proved to be the most potent tool in Ethan’s arsenal.

Ethan stopped counting the time. He did everything he could to improve his rings, but it was impossible. What little progress he made was hampered by the low mana environments they passed through. Instead, he took to training with Luna and Finn, doing physical exercises and martial arts that he would never hope to master. Both of them instilled in him the importance of maintaining one's body, even if it was the scribe's opinion that they did not embody that sentiment. Tenalia was also a great help in training, although the only thing she was interested in teaching him was swordplay.

As much as Ethan didn't want to admit it, Luna and Finn had fallen into the same trap that had hamstrung Alex. They had taken their position with the Anomalous Materials Group and exploited it to be lazy. The scribe wouldn't say this out loud, and he was happy to accept all the training they could give him, but for people who had been at the academy for so long, they had accomplished so little. It was the mirror that had once again been held up to him by the Herald on the planet of Erradon.

Complacency was the killer of potential. The moment he stopped trying to push himself, he might as well have died.

Yet, it was difficult to blame Luna and Finn. They had been forced into the position, and it wasn't a favorable one. Instead of going through the regular Academy experience, they had been forced to join the group and perform one specific task. Their job was to keep the anomalies at bay, and they did a wonderful job of that. Taking care of fifty to one hundred anomalies a week was impressive, but it simply couldn't compare to how many the scribe could patch. He couldn’t even say how many he had fixed, since he would’ve had to have knowledge of every anomaly on the planet.

But he knew that for every anomaly he patched, rather than contained, he was patching hundreds of others around the world.

The theme of forests finally broke. Tenalia stepped through a doorway and the others followed into an enchanting vista that took everyone's breath away. Rolling hills stretched before them, the dotting of forests visible here and there amongst spires that stabbed skyward. Cliff edges and misty valleys appeared, with one massive floating island dominating the area. Ethan edged forward, nearly tripping over a rock as he tried to take everything in. It was by far the largest space they had visited so far and so different from the many forests they had been trapped in, that it seemed like a treat.

“Is that a city atop the floating island?” Finn squinted against the bright sun overhead.

“Looks like one,” Luna confirmed. “Not that we get to visit it.”

“Correction.” The bracelet’s voice echoed from Ethan’s wrist. For once, it didn’t use telepathy to communicate. “You and Ethan will be visiting the island.”

“Uh… why?” Luna asked, looking at the bracelet with confusion.

“Although this was the best path this unit could design, there is a problem.” The bracelet paused for a long moment. “It isn’t aware of the correct term, but this unit has designated this space an Inflection Point. It is a nexus of energy that disturbs everything in a certain direction.”

“What does all that mean?” Ethan asked.

“There is an anomaly within the floating city you must resolve. Failure to do so will result in the destabilization of the local Voidspace.”

“Why can’t I go?” Finn asked.

“You cannot fly.”

“Oh, right.” Finn kicked at a rock, muttering something to himself.

“Finally.” Luna groaned as a flying sword appeared from nowhere. “Something interesting!”