Chronicles of the True Wizard

Felix was interrupted from the initial designs of something, he had been thinking about creating ever since his conversation with Ked, by a knock on his dorm room door. He was expecting her though so the knock shouldn’t have surprised him but he didn’t actually realize what time it was so, it did.

Melody smiled and waved as he opened the door, wearing a completely new outfit, pants and a loose shirt which was still new to Felix. Even paying a modicum of attention to his fellow students Felix didn’t really notice anyone else changing their outfits other than Melody.

“You ready to go?” She turned to make room for Felix to leave the room.

Felix walked out, making sure to close the door behind him then walked alongside Melody as they left.

“Where’s your familiar?”

Felix shrugged, “I don’t know, wandering?”

“Oh.” Melody shrugged as she jumped down the middle of the spiral staircase to follow Felix.

“So what’s the Shadow Market?”

“It’s… Ok I lied a little bit, nobody calls it that anymore.” Melody looked at him guiltily, “Basically it’s a student run market on the planet. It used to be hidden from the professors and the school because there was a ban on selling anything here but the ban was lifted a while ago and even the professors shop there now.”

“Why was that banned in the first place?”

Melody sighed, “Used to be a problem. People were selling their creations at the forge, constructs, enchantments all of which was fine. They were also selling contraband, using the planet and its… peculiarities to smuggle things, fence products and so on.”

“That isn’t an issue anymore?”

“Nope. The planet takes care of most of it now plus the professors all visit the market often. It isn’t a perfect system but it’s better than most places.”

Felix nodded, “Alright, where is it?”

Melody pointed off into the distance, “A cave system in the mountains way over there. We’ll take a portal though.”

Heading over to the portal room, Felix was surprised to see the portal already open and even more surprised when Melody simply walked through it.

She noticed his confusion as he followed her, “Most people have today off, the schedules are designed around having at least one of the 5th or 10th off, ideally both. The market is a common destination on people’s day off so the portal is left open at certain times.”

Felix nodded in thanks as she explained and he took in his surroundings.

While it was a cave system, the market wasn’t as cramped as it sounded. The shops themselves were carved into the sides of the cave they arrived in so they weren’t stands that took up any of the precious walking space. Some of the carved out shops were empty, just stone shaped like a shop but, most of them were occupied.

The shops weren’t perfectly laid out and most of them didn’t have enough products to fill all the shelves. The signs were makeshift at best and there weren’t any posters, mirrors or signs within the shops either. They were all completely uniform in material too making it painfully obvious how temporary they were but, despite all of that, they were fascinating to Felix.

Some of the shops had been completely transformed into fully functional restaurants, bakeries and massage parlors all of which broke up the various temporary and mundane shops. There were shops selling what were obviously student creations but others that seemed to be selling common items and materials simply for convenience sake.

Many of the businesses seemed to just have items for display purposes and instead of selling them, used them to advertise their work so people would commission them.

Following Melody through the cave lit by various enchanted lights and the colors of the makeshift storefront signs, they ended up in a few clothes stores and many bakeries and dessert parlors.

Even more often than during Group Combat classes, Melody and, to a lesser extent, Felix were approached by various individuals looking to ingratiate themselves with her. Felix largely ignored them when possible, brushing them off when they were more insistent. Melody on the other hand, now that she wasn’t locked into a seat, seemed to be a master of vanishing from people she didn’t want to interact with.

People would approach her, mostly men, and she would simply twist and turn through a specific shop, ask them for something or distract them before completely vanishing. Felix, as an outside observer and not the target of the deception, was able to see everything and actually found it rather amusing when she hid herself in plain sight or tricked them.

Continuing down the lineup of shops, a lot of which were more full than he expected, Felix actually asked Melody about them, “Why do some of these shops have so many products? Is everyone just carrying products with them when they come to school?”

Melody shook her head as she bought more pastries, likely the hundredth she had bought in the last hour, “No. A lot of them are Adept run shops who already attended the school. Some bring products to sell with them but the shop wont migrate over to our cycle for another epoch or so. Then the current students will start to push the Adepts out over time.”

Felix nodded, “How many are there?”

“I don’t know, 500 of these normal shops maybe?”

Before he could ask what a non normal shop was, Felix spotted something at the end of the cave they had been following. He didn’t need to point it out as there weren’t any other interesting shops along the way so that was the next logical stop anyways.

Stepping out of the long and narrows cave market, they descended a series of stone stairs into a massive open cavern that was segmented into shops with much larger goods. Some contained massive machines and others contained various pieces of furniture.

The most interesting shop, the one that stood out and the one that they headed towards first though, was a vehicle store.

Felix had ridden in the Shade’s Wrath larger vehicle, Edemari’s boat like vehicle and Krinitors sleeker more bike like vehicle. He had also seen various vehicles flying through Telviras.

Despite all of that, these were the nicest vehicles he had ever seen.

He felt like he had walked into a supercar show room with each vehicle spaced out liberally from the next and lit from all around with strategic lighting. Each one of them looked sleek and elegant but above all else, fast. It was in large part due to their more aerodynamic shape when compared to all the others Felix had seen.

An aerodynamic shape wasn’t even necessary because it was relatively cheap to fake aerodynamics with enchantments, even Felix could do it with his rudimentary enchanting ability. The shape still gave it an impressive look though and had the effect of making him feel like they were fast.

Looking over an impressive looking red car with two seats that was shaped like an arrow, Felix circled around the vehicle both admiring it with his eyes and examining it with his mana senses.

Melody was less interested in the vehicles but she was interested in the fact that Felix was finally interested in something. She watched and followed along with a smile as he wandered around inspecting the vehicles.

“Good morning to the both of you.” A smarmy looking human Adept wearing fitted robes approached the two of them.

[B] Tanryel (Lvl ?)

His posture gave Felix pause as he looked like he was trying to advertise his superiority.

Bowing slightly in Melody’s direction, “Melody, pleasure to see you again.”

Her brow furrowed, “You run a slicer dealership, Tan?”

Tanryel shrugged, “Just a little money on the side sis.”

“Half. Half-sister.” Melody glared at him.

He just nodded in dismissal, “Well Felix, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I’ve already heard of you, though that isn’t necessarily the way I would have liked to get to know you.”

Felix fought back the frown and just nodded, his smile evidently fake.

“Are you interested in purchasing one of these fine sky-slicers?”

Felix shook his head, “Just looking. Not sure I could afford one anyways.”

Tan nodded, “Would you like to see the price just in case?”

Felix shrugged, “Sure, why not.”

Tan smiled and handed him a piece of parchment.

Felix almost guffawed but just barely managed to contain it as he read the number. He collected himself then nodded, “Definitely not.”

Tan nodded in a dismissing way then turned to Melody, clearly not interested in Felix anymore, “Melody, why haven’t you been training with your brother?”

Melody sighed, “Leave me alone.”

“You’ve heard the rumors Melody. Even if just one of them proves true… things are changing.”

“My oh my Tan, you haven’t lost even a touch of your eloquence. ‘Things are changing’, how well put, succinct.”

Tan didn’t seem impressed but hid it well, “War is coming Melody and with the integration happening, we will likely be at the forefront of it. We need to prioritize who we spend our time with. Come home, join us for training tomorrow.”

Melody chuckled, “No. You know how baseless those rumors are, Rhonan is fine as he always is. He’s just out on a hunt or something.”

“What about Sage Khidell being demoted to Grand Master? What about the movement of the Dragons? You know first hand that Edras is more active than usual. Then there are the rumors about what happened in Telviras.”

Melody sighed, “Look, if it’s all true then it’s not a war at all. It’s the end.” She stared wide eyed at Tanryel, clearly overdramatizing the situation.

“All the more reason to come home.”

Melody faced Tan directly and, for the first time since Felix had met her, actually looked serious, “All those battles we may be able to sway, won’t matter. All that’s gonna matter is how many gods each side has and which ones you’re hiding behind.”

Tan seemed more sad than anything, “Melody, how can you of all people say that? Doubt your impact? You more than anyone should realize how much of an impact you can have, even on the gods.”

“Tan, no. Leave me alone. Oh and fuck off with trying to dictate who I spend my time with. Whether or not I spend time with Felix, I sure as shit ain’t going home any time soon.”

“Melody, father ins-”

“I don’t care what father thinks. Tell him whatever you want. Tell him I said he can fuck himself. Tell him I joined Edras. I don’t care.” Melody looked like she might spit in Tan’s face for a moment but instead she just turned and left.

Felix had already examined most of the vehicles in the shop so he turned to follow her but a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

“Look kid, I don’t know who you are which means, you can’t keep spending time around Melody. She’s too important to be wasting her time on pets.”

Felix snorted, unsure if Tan was being entirely serious, “I’m sorry? Did you just call me a pet?”

Tan sneered a little, “Melody always did have a penchant for picking up strays and taking care of them. It’s a remarkable quality, especially for a bard, wanting to protect others and care for things. Now isn’t the time though and she can’t see that so I need to help her see it.”

“She made it abundantly clear you don’t have any say in her life. Now let go of me.”

Tan’s grip tightened a little, “Maybe not but defying our father is not a smart move. She may not be punished for it but you might be. Do you really want to be on his bad side?”

Felix sighed, “I don’t know who your father is and right now, I don’t really care.”

Tan actually bent over laughing at that, his grip unwavering as he recovered, “That makes a good deal more sense then. All is forgiven, our father is Kjarne.”

Felix just looked at him with a blank expression, Tanryel clearly expecting more of a reaction from him.

Tan’s brow furrowed, “The Shifter god? Archon and sire to the most gods and demi-gods in the multiverse?”

Felix shrugged and looked at Tanryel completely blanky, “Ok. cool.”

Melody’s story about knowing when her father was lying as a kid is a lot more impressive with context. Also, now it makes sense how her brothers are all very different races, he’s a shifter god.

Tan sighed, “Look, just leave her alone. Stop hanging out with her and I’ll keep our father out of it.”

While Felix didn’t want to anger a god, he couldn’t help but push back against Tan, not even because he was an arrogant, self righteous ass, but because he refused to be told what to do, “Nah.”

Tan gritted his teeth but was careful not to tighten his grip, lest the planet retaliate and protect Felix which he was kind of hoping to see, “Alright, I challenge you to a duel.”

Felix squinted a little, trying to wrap his head around what Tanryel had just said, “You what? You challenge me to a duel?”

“You heard me.”

“No?” Felix almost laughed but he was still recovering from the shock.

“What, are you afraid?”

“I have no reason to duel you. I get nothing out of this. No.” Felix pulled his shoulder free and started walking away.

“Make a demand if you win then.”

Felix just kept walking, lightly shaking his head.

“I’ll give you any slicer in my shop, how about that?”

Felix stopped and spun around, “Really?”

Tan smiled as he knew he had him, “Yes. Pick one.”

“Is this a one on one duel? Solo combat?”

Tan scoffed, “No that wouldn’t be remotely fair. It’s a Caster’s Duel.”

Felix’s eyes went wide at that, “A Caster’s Duel?”

“Yes. If I win, you are banned from spending any more than 1 hour a week outside of your classes with Melody. Furthermore, you are banned from sitting within 10 seats of her in any classes you share. For… 5 epochs.”

“And if I win I get any of these?” Felix gestured to the flying vehicles around him.

“Of course. You can pick it right now and I’ll hold it for you if you’d like.”

Felix knew he should be asking what the hell a Caster’s Duel was but just from the name alone he was interested. Instead, he baited Tanryel a little into giving him more information by asking a question he already knew the answer to.

“We do this here and now?”

Tan scoffed, “No, of course not. In the Caster’s Dueling court outside of the A-SAM building on campus. Say, one term from now? Or rather, four and a half dekads from now, on the tenth day. You have the tenth off?”

Felix nodded, “I do.”

“Are we agreed then?”

“One more thing. If I win, you aren’t allowed talking to or about Melody to anyone. For the same time period. Including your father.”

Tan frowned, “She’s my sister.”

“So?”

Tan shook his head, dismissing the possibility, “Fine. It’s a deal.”

Official Caster’s Duel

A contract between Tanryel and Felix Kade.

You have accepted an official Caster’s Duel from Tanryel. As the terms were agreed upon by both parties, they will be enforced by The System.

Felix Kade Wins:

Felix Kade receives a vehicle of his choice from Tanryel.

Tanryel is banned from communicating with or about Melody to anyone for 5 epochs.

Tanryel Wins:

Felix Kade is banned from spending more than an hour per day, outside of class time, with Melody for 5 epochs.

Felix Kade is banned from sitting within a 10 seat radius of Melody in any classes they share for 5 epochs.

Tanryel grinned and Felix couldn’t help but smile as he looked around at the vehicles around him. Ultimately, he settled on a vehicle that was almost entirely matte black with two seats. Its body was thicker than most of the other vehicles and despite it’s rounded shape was almost boxy in silhouette. He chose it though, partly because it looked awesome and he liked the color, but mostly because he could feel it had by far the most mana in its batteries.

“This one.”

Tan’s eye twitched then he shrugged like it didn’t matter, “Sure. I’ll hold it for you until I win the duel.”

Felix shrugged, mirroring Tanryel as he walked out of the shop’s area, finding Melody standing around a pillar just outside, clearly in auditory range.

Melody placed her hand over her heart as Felix walked over, “Two men dueling over my honor, oh how romantic.”

“I’m dueling because he just offered me a vehicle that costs somewhere in the neighborhood of S5s and a Caster’s Duel sounds interesting. Plus if I lose, the consequences are meaningless anyways. And he’s your brother. And I don’t think he’s dueling for your h-”

Melody mocked him, “Excuse me. How could you? You would jeopardize our blossoming friendship? Who knows where it could lead down the road?”

Felix shrugged, “Oh well.”

Melody spun around and giggled as they walked towards the next shop, “You really do need to at least learn what a Caster’s Duel actually is.”

“Well yeah duh. I need to find out what the hell A-SAM is too. Got any other sage advice?”

Melody smiled, “No but, I can introduce you to someone who will teach you, if you’d like.”

Felix nodded, “Actually, yes. That would save me a lot of time.”

Melody winked at him then skipped once into the air and flew towards the narrow market tunnel they had come from. Felix wasn’t sure if she wanted him to follow her but a few moments later, he decided to anyways.

He almost lost track of her a few times as she danced through the air just to tease him and make it more difficult but ultimately, he found her leaning up against the door of a shop.

As soon as he spotted her, she slipped inside and Felix dropped to the ground to follow her into some kind of enchantment commission shop.

“Ayred.” Melody nodded to the student proprietor of the shop.

[C] Ayred (Lvl 1104)

“Melody, good to see you again. What can I do for you?”

“A favor.”

He cocked a brow, “You need a favor? From me?”

“I do.” Turning around, “This is Felix. Felix, Ayred.”

Felix nodded politely and Ayred returned the gesture.

“Felix just agreed to a Caster’s Duel against Tanny.”

Ayred looked at Felix then at Melody, then back to Felix once more before he looked at Melody, “For… what stakes? Why?”

“My heart.” Melody dramatically tilted her head into the sky and placed her hand over her forehead and heart.

Felix sighed, “I win one of his… slicers? If I win.”

Ayred’s eyes went wide, “Really? What if you lose?”

“I am banned from all things Melody for 5 epochs.”

Ayred winced, “You agreed to that?”

Felix shrugged, “Sure, why not?”

“Cause you have no chance of winning, that’s why. Also, it’s kind of rude to bet your friendship isn’t it?” Ayred crossed his arms confidently.

“What do you mean I have no chance?”

“If she’s asking for a favor it’s cause you need training and from the way you’re talking, you’ve never even heard of a Caster’s Duel before this.”

Felix shrugged, “Yeah, so?”

Ayred bent over the counter and put his head in his palms, “Alright. You should probably try and find out how good people are before you do something like this in the future, yeah?”

Felix didn’t bother acknowledging the statement as it was obvious, he just didn’t care, “How good is he?”

“He’s the reigning champion at the school and did it professionally outside of school. He’s undefeated by anyone below the A grade.” Ayred smiled in a very defeatist way.

And he said one on one combat wouldn’t be ‘remotely fair.’ How the hell does he think this is fair?

Felix shrugged nonchalantly, “That all sounds impressive but… I still don’t know what a Caster’s Duel is. I have no frame of reference.”

“How about we get lunch and discuss?” Melody clapped her hands and looked between them.

They both shrugged and followed her out of the shop and over to one of the Adept run restaurants. She slid onto one of the benches, Ayred on the other so Felix joined Melody on her side as it would be easier to talk to Ayred. As soon as he sat next to her and Melody lifted her feet into his lap, Felix realized she had either Soul Manipulated or just planned the seating that way.

The restaurant itself was the most decorated interior of any of the shops in the Cave Market that Felix could remember. The food itself, looking at the menu, was odd to say the least but Melody just slapped the menu out of his hand after a few seconds and ordered for the whole table, Ayred didn’t seem to mind at all.

Looking up at Felix, Ayred sighed and rubbed his eyes.

Melody gestured at their surroundings with a sour face, “Hey, it’s a little loud in here, Felix could you cast that Force Bubble thing you did in the Group Combat trial around us?”

Felix complied casting a thin Force Bubble just around their table that he would take down once the food arrived. He made sure to make it as dense as possible and to have it target the air alone so it would silence the sound waves. He took a few seconds to make the modifications then cast the spell.

Instantly, the ruckus of the shops outside and the restaurant inside vanished, leaving them in almost perfect silence.

She smiled knowingly though Felix wasn’t sure why until Ayred leaned forwards, “How did you just do that?”

Felix wasn’t sure what to say, “I just cast a Force Half-Sphere around us? It’s not really a complicated spell at all…”

Ayred shook his head, “Your mouth was closed the entire time, your hands were still and you don’t have a wand, staff, orb or other focus on you at all. There was no indication of that spell being cast… at all.”

Felix just looked at him, “Oh uh…”

Fucking Melody…

Ayred inspected Felix anew, “Can you do that with all spells?”

Felix sighed, “Yes.”

“Hey Felix, can you also cool it down in here a little? It’s a little too warm, don’t you think?”

Felix turned his head towards her, completely unimpressed, “Shut up you. If you want to reveal something just say it.”

She smiled wide, happy Felix had caught on and, based on Ayred’s expression, he hadn’t yet.

“He can also cast lots of spells at once and very quickly.” Melody turned to Ayred, “He also seems to have a cast range.”

“A what now? Also, how many at once?” Ayred looked at each of them in turn.

Since it seemed like Melody was done answering, Felix sighed, “At once, it depends on the complexity of the spell. Cast range? I can cast spells from up to… actually, I’m not entirely sure because I haven’t measured it in a while but something like… 12 meters away from myself?”

Ayred’s brow furrowed slightly then he pulled out a wand from his inventory and very carefully handed it to Felix.

[C - Epic] Ayred’s Caster’s Dueling Wand

[Wand]

A wand with all the necessary spells for Caster’s Dueling embedded within it. This wand has been optimized for Ayred’s personal Caster’s Dueling spells and stat preferences.

“This is my personal Caster’s Dueling wand, made this one myself.” Ayred shared his identification with Felix which had even more information.

[C - Epic] Ayred’s Caster’s Dueling Wand

[Wand]

A wand with all the necessary spells for Caster’s Dueling embedded within it. This wand has been optimized for Caster’s Dueling and Ayred’s stat preferences.

Cast Speed +50%

Mana Discharge Rate +200%

Spell Power +100%

Concurrent Casts: 3

I need a new ring or something for better identifications.

Felix was mostly just thinking to himself but Grim actually responded, Does Identify Arcane Component work on something like this?

That’s… a good question. It says component but… I should be able to modify it, eventually at least.

Using the skill, he got the same information Ayred had offered him plus some more information that was a little more specific to Felix’s capabilities.

[C - Epic] Ayred’s Caster’s Dueling Wand

[Wand]

A wand with all the necessary spells for Caster’s Dueling embedded within it. This wand has been optimized for Caster’s Dueling and Ayred’s stat preferences.

Cast Speed +50%

Mana Discharge Rate +200%

Spell Power +100%

Concurrent Casts: 3

Spell Stability: 73%

Mana Turbulence: 11%

Attunement Efficiency: 64%

Mana Power Scaling Factor: -2

Mana Instability Sensitivity: 4%

Added Mana Instability: 12%

Energy Level Conversion Rate: 71%

Ding You have become more proficient with the Profession skill: [Arcane] Identify Arcane Component (Initiate V => Initiate XVI)

That was some of the easiest proficiency I have ever gained.

He quickly verified that the skill description had modified to include items then mentally rejoined the conversation.

[Identify Arcane Component (Arcane - Initiate V) This skill allows the user to identify any spell, enchantment, ritual or ward component as well as arcane item properties. The provided information includes efficiency curves, power, attunements, input and output requirements along with feedback and interference generated.]

Noticing Felix was aware of his surroundings again, Ayred nodded to him, “We can either get you a wand like this one though… it may take a while to get the right materials and actually finish it or, if you have any spare spell slots…?”

Felix nodded, “I have many spare spell slots. You have the diagrams on you?”

“Not on me. I’ll get them for you when we go back. If you have time after this, I’ll lead you to the Caster’s Dueling court and show you around A-SAM. Then I’ll take you to the less official room which you will not tell anyone about, got it?”

“Of course. Thank you. So… what is a Caster’s Duel?”

Ayred smiled a little as he realized he hadn’t actually explained it yet, “It’s a simple battle of spell casting. The spells we use are specially designed such that they cannot actually do any damage to you, not really. They do however, counter themselves. Think of them as fancy light shows.”

Felix nodded slowly in partial understanding, he understood the words but wasn’t sure he was following.

Ayred sighed, “You get defenses and attacks. The spells are designed to have a base mana cost so your mana pool is a concern here. On top of that, speed is everything, reflexes and casting speed mostly. You fight in a large ring so you can jump around, fly whatever you want but your casting speed matters most. Any spell that affects your opponent other than the preapproved ones are banned and an automatic disqualification. Otherwise, you can do whatever you want, buff yourself, throw yourself around, whatever. Oh and no shields other than the ones provided.”

“I still don’t get what the spells are. You said light shows?”

Ayred flicked his chin in Felix’s direction, gesturing towards the wand, “Cast any of the spells in the wand. None of them are harmful in any way.”

Felix looked down and shrugged then pointed the wand at the table and carefully pushed mana into it. He had never actually used a wand like this before so he had no idea how to choose which spell he was casting. Ideally he would have cast a shield but instead, after pushing around 10,000 mana into the wand, a streak of dark blue shot out of the tip and smacked the table, wisping away a second later.

Where he had expected light or a laser of some kind, the bolt instead looked like he was firing some kind of colored smoke or particles. It was solid and flew through the air far too quickly to not have significant mass of its own but the way it floated through the air was odd. It also made a noise as it hit the table, as if he had actually hit it with something, but it was gone a second later, like a gas that had dissipated so he couldn’t be sure. He also picked up a strong concentration of mana in the bolt itself so he wasn’t exactly sure what it was.

On the table, there was no mark or sign of the impact at all.

“Basically you have different colored bolts and shields… mostly. A red shield blocks red bolts, blue blocks blue and so on. Simple enough but, it gets really complicated when you start to combine colors. You can fire a bolt that is both red and blue at the same time, however, it costs you three times as much mana.”

“I see. So you need to correctly identify the bolt and block it with the appropriate shield?”

“Yes or, in your duel, Tanryel will likely end up just reacting to what you do and when in doubt, relying on his mana. He will bank on your mana pool being much lower than his and his reaction speed being much better than yours. He may or may not just use an omni-shield to remove all your options.”

He’s in for a big surprise if he thinks he has more mana than I do. I’m almost certain my mana pool is much larger than even his.

“What’s the counter to that? Just wait it out?” Felix was mostly just curious.

“Exactly. It’s expensive to maintain. Thing is, he’s at the end of the B grade so, outlasting you isn’t the issue. It’s you outlasting him that’s the issue. He is so much faster than you that he can probably just run at you.”

“Can’t I just maintain an omni-shield of my own?”

“You could. Assuming you had even 10 times his mana pool by some miracle, he could just wait it out easily by dodging everything you throw at him with his ridiculous speed. Omni-shields drain your mana super fast and agility is probably his second highest stat.”

“This is where you tell me that there are attacks other than just single target bolts?”

“Exactly. Your best bet is large area of effect spells to beat out his speed. Thing is, it costs a lot of mana. So you won’t get more than one or two of them off, maybe a few more if you had stupid amounts of mana on hand. No batteries either.”

Felix dropped the shield so the food could be placed on the table. The food definitely wasn’t what he was expecting but, it was so much better. The student server placed an entire animal on their table. It was suspended by a spit over a large platter and already cooked. Each of them were given a fork that looked more like a tiny one handed trident and the intention was clearly to eat right off the animal.

Though Felix didn’t recognize the animal, it looked a lot like a four legged duck with a hippo like body. Its off-putting appearance was completely washed away by the decadent smell, for Felix at least.

The only issue with the animal was that it made it a little hard to talk through it, completely blocking his vision of Ayred on the other side. Melody had already planned for that though and tapped at the table, raising the spit up above their heads.

It was high enough that it wasn’t blocking their vision but it was accessible if he just reached up to access it. Melody didn’t bother though and she floated herself up into the air, sitting on nothing as she devoured the back end of the animal, like a ravenous magical fairy.

Felix handed the wand back before he forgot and Ayred nodded as he took it then dug into the animal. Felix joined him and moaned as soon as he tasted the first bite. Melody made some dirty comment, judging from her lips, but Felix predicted she would do that and silenced her with a Force Bubble.

He replaced the bubble around them as well, though it was trapping the smoke and some of the heat for now. He figured he would vent it later if need be.

“Alright so how do I beat him?” Felix asked through bites.

Ayred shook his head and shrugged, “I don’t know. I’ll show you the basics and even spar with you but, that’s up to you.”

“I appreciate your help.”

He shrugged and chuckled a little, “Let’s just say I owe Melody. I’m happy to help. Also, fuck Tan.”

Felix almost spat his food out but when he saw Melody nodding along in agreement, shook his head, “Is this normal by the way? Challenging people to a duel- or rather a Caster’s Duel to settle things?”

Ayred quickly swallowed then scowled, “Oh, fuck no. Tan is just a Grakka’s arsehole of a person.” He looked up towards the animal’s butt, “No offense Melody.”

She just giggled, “You aren’t wrong.”

“Yes, it is weird. Yes it is very cringey. Don’t do what he did. Challenge people to duels because you want to duel them. Better yet, don’t challenge anyone, ask like a normal person. Bet lunch or something. Don’t do it to get someone to do something you want, especially not someone who doesn’t actually know what they’re doing.” He winced then looked at Felix, “No offense.”

He waved him off and Ayred sighed, “Tan is just completely socially inept so this is how he deals with things. Melody probably ate the social side of his soul in their dad’s sack or something. That’s why she’s so lovely in comparison.” He grinned at Felix knowing Melody couldn’t see him.

She tried to look mad, Felix could tell out of the corner of his eye but she failed to hold back a laugh and snorted instead.

“Not sure about lovely… I’ll give you… ept? Not socially inept but not quite adept.” Felix smiled knowing it would bug Melody.

Melody kicked Felix as she guffawed with a mouth full of food, “Wha are oo on abou’. I’m the ‘wueen o’ bein erfetly ’ordial. Eryone ’ants to be ’round me.”

“All I gotta do is lose this bet and The System will keep her far away.” Felix nodded seriously to Ayred as he thumbed over in Melody’s direction.

“I must commend your planning and foresight in that case then.” Ayred smiled and winked, “By the way, which slicer did you choose?”

Felix shrugged, “A black one. I just picked the one with the biggest batteries.”

Melody called out from behind the anima, “He picked Erevos.”

Ayred spit his food out before quickly apologizing and cleaning up, “You picked Erevos? Really?”

Felix looked at Melody then Ayred, “I… It has a name? Do they all have names?”

“Yup.” Ayred nodded, “Erevos is… special? Unique is the right word.”

“He doesn’t actually own any of those vehicles.” Melody chimed in from her perch in midair, “He works for a dealership and sells them here while he’s still an Adept.”

“So I won’t get the vehicle when I win? It isn’t his to sell? That’s what you’re saying?”

“No. You’ll get it, The System will enforce that.” Melody waved her trident utensil in the air, “He’s just gonna have to pay for it and he does not have that kind of creds.”

“What will happen to him then?”

Ayred flicked his trident in Felix’s direction, “If you win, he’ll probably go running to Kjarne to bail him out.”

“Considering he won’t be able to mention me in any way he’ll probably have to admit he lost it in a duel he started for no particular reason. Our father is also second only to me at reading souls so he can’t lie either.” Melody smirked.

Wait a second…

Felix sighed, “Melody…”

“Yes Felix?”

“How much of this did you engineer or influence or manipulate to happen?”

Melody shrugged, “Not as much as you’d think. I didn’t think he’d challenge you to a duel, I just like making him mad. Once he did… I may have influenced him to be more angry so he’d agree to your terms and I may have also influenced you to look at Erevos… Also… well it probably didn’t actually do anything.”

Felix frowned at her.

“Look, remember when I said I influenced you in the library, when we first met, to decide your classes in the open? Turns out that may have been a lie, sort of.”

Felix’s scowl deepened.

“I tried to manipulate your soul but I also employed some old fashion manipulation. Altering the vibe of the library, pointing you in certain directions.. with the help of the library. Considering how easily you resisted Professor Fen’s aura this morning, in hind sight, that level of soul manipulation probably didn’t work on you at all.”

“Oh… so my decisions are my own?”

“Yes. By ‘manipulate you to look at Erevos’, I just mean I made it look more interesting… think of it like I made a little sound in the ambient anima to draw your attention.”

That’s… comforting actually.

“You know… I wasn’t sure if I should be angry with you for manipulating my soul. It felt like such a violation but you did it for such mundane reasons and mostly to help me… I didn’t really know if I actually was angry. I didn’t feel anything but logically… Guess I don’t need to worry about that now.” Felix shrugged.

“Well, that’s good to hear. I didn’t think… didn’t think you’d see it as such a violation.” Melody dropped back into her seat, “I’m sorry.” She was being the most genuine Felix had ever seen her, he actually felt a little bad.

“Oh don’t worry about it. Sounds like others don’t care right?” Felix looked at Ayred who shrugged indicating he at least didn’t care. “It’s probably not as big a deal as I think it is. I’ll have to wait for the lecture from Fen to understand it fully. Also… if you’re powerless against me anyways… it’s not like you were actually manipulating me, just… guiding my attention? Influencing my decisions?”

“Hold on. I just said that level of soul manipulation. I didn’t say I was powerless against you.” Melody teased.

“Let’s test it sometime, yeah?” Felix looked up at her.

Melody shrugged, “Sure.”

Looking back at Ayred who was lightly smiling as he ate, evidently entertained by their bickering, Felix swallowed his food to clear his mouth, “So first steps. What do I need to do to have the best shot of winning.”

“Well you should get to C grade. How long will that take you.”

Felix shrugged, “A day or two maybe?”

Ayred looked at him with a confused expression for a second then shrugged, “Ok yeah, definitely do that. That’s the best and realistically the only way for you to increase your agility quickly so after that it’ll mostly be training.”

Actually… not the only way… In fact, it might not help at all with my race.

“Anything else?”

He shrugged, “Just get as strong as possible. Armor doesn’t matter. Traditional rules, which are the default, are 5 points, win by two. Any hit is a point. Batteries are banned as always and most items are just a waste of mana in a duel so figure out what you want to wear. Don’t waste your time on items though, what matters most in the end is your casting speed and reflexes.”

“Alright, thank you.”

They sat and ate in silence for a few minutes then Felix turned to Melody, “So what are these rumors Tanryel was talking about?”

She waved him off, “There are always rumors. We just hear about all of them because of our family’s…” She sneered, “Investment in the politics of the multiverse.”

“Still, these sounded like they might have serious implications.”

“Felix, they always do. Sometimes the rumors are started by some god to influence events other times people are just bored or misinterpret something. I wouldn’t worry about it too much.” Melody turned back to the animal that had been mostly eviscerated at this point then thought better of it and fell back against the backrest.

Felix wanted to push her on it more but she didn’t seem happy so he held himself back.

After a few minutes, Melody sighed, “Ugh… fine. Firstly, there’s a rumor than Rhonan is ill. Some say fatally ill others say he’s just injured.”

“Isn’t he a god? The god? How can he get sick and why can’t he just heal himself?”

Melody nodded, “An excellent point… Technically it’s not impossible. He’s had serious injuries before that have taken a while to heal and he in particular explores the unknown more than anyone. It’s completely possible he caught something we’ve never heard about.”

Felix nodded and Ayred followed along, seemingly just as interested in Felix in these rumors.

“But, that one is almost definitely not true. On the other hand, the rumor that Edras is more active than usual lends the Rhonan rumor some weight. He’s been waiting for something like that to happen ever since he ascended. He probably is more active but the question is why. It could be that he’s just found some artifact or his research discovered something important. Doesn’t imply multiversal war is coming though.”

Felix nodded, “A Sage was demoted? How does that happen?”

Ayred cocked a brow in interest and Melody nodded, “Sage Khidell- or I guess Grand Master Khidell now. He quickly rose to fame a few integrations ago when he became a Sage. Since then he’s been contracted by various gods for huge projects across the multiverse. That one isn’t really a rumor though. Tanryel doesn’t know it but I’ve… talked to some people who know more than he does. This one is true.”

Felix looked to Melody then Ayred, “How does that happen, getting demoted?”

Ayred jumped in, “The title of Sage just means they have one skill at Sage level proficiency. That level of proficiency just means ‘one who is more proficient than everyone else’ at that skill. There’s also a baseline of knowledge, you have to be at least Grand Master and know a lot about the skill. You can’t just invent a skill and be the Sage of it because no one else has it.”

Melody spun her trident in her fingers, “There’s also Arch Sage but that’s a little more specialized. It means you’ve held the title of Sage for some period of time and you’re getting close to maximizing the proficiency. We don’t really know but the best estimations we have are that what The System knows and can do is 100%. If you get to 90% of that and you’re above everyone else, you reach Sage. If you reach 95% and hold the title for a few integrations without anyone else even approaching Sage, you reach Arch Sage.”

“It also lets you to basically gift the same skill to other people. You become the god of that skill and can choose who gets it.” Ayred nodded along.

Felix nodded, “Simple enough. What were they the Sage of?”

Melody shrugged, “Mana Control.”

Oh shit. That would have been… insane, if Khidell could have chosen who gets to keep the skill. Makes sense why everyone knew about him and wanted favors from him.

“So uh… what does that… mean?” Felix looked to both of them while he tried his best not to give anything away, mostly to Melody through his soul.

“Someone reached a higher proficiency than him.” Ayred shrugged.

“He’ll still be contracted for stuff, he’s still really good at what he does and no one knows who actually beat him so.” Melody shrugged.

“What about the Dragons?”

Ayred chuckled a little, “They’ve been planning something ever since The Great Hunt. Not that we’ll ever know what it is until… well, it happens.”

Melody nodded, “Yeah. That rumor is basically a bedtime story at this point. To be fair it’s gotten a little louder lately but… who knows.”

“Rhonan probably.” Ayred pointed his trident at Melody.

“Probably.” Melody shrugged.

“The Great Hunt?” Felix looked at both of them.

Melody immediately noticed Ayred’s confused expression and pointed her thumb at Felix, “Integrated.”

“Ahhhh, that… makes a lot of sense.”

Melody nodded, “Basically-”

“Wait, we should probably just go through all the big events, he’s not going to have any context otherwise.” Ayred looked to Melody for confirmation.

Melody nodded, “Sure. Alright, first integration lasts for almost a hundred thousand epochs. In it, the very first god, Rhonan, ascends.”

“Eramith was founded sometime between the second and 5th integrations.” Ayred gestured to their surroundings.

“The first Dragon evolved around the 6th integration?” Melody waved her hand indicating it was approximate.

“I thought it was the 9th?” Ayred squinted.

Melody shrugged, “Somewhere there. That’s when the Draco- and ‘of the Dragon’ items and skills started to gain popularity.”

“The Archons established their alliance sometime between then and the 25th but it’s… weird to pinpoint. They started as just a few gods with some ideals, Rhonan wasn’t a part of it. They slowly expanded but it wasn’t until they morphed themselves to accommodate and recruit Rhonan that they became more… important.” Ayred looked to Melody for confirmation and she nodded.

“Then there was the Dracopurge which happened at the end of the 50th integration.” Melody said a little more solemnly than Felix was used to from her, “Which led to The Great Hunt which spanned across the 50th and 51st integrations.”

“Dracopurge?” Felix’s brow furrowed, “Killing dragons?”

Ayred shook his head, “No. That was The Great Hunt. The Dracopurge was a multiversal ban started by the Dragons, many of whom were gods, and other gods on using Dragon or Draco in an item or skill’s name. They even managed to convince The System to mass rename them by having the Dragons all support the cause.”

“They own the Dragon name… kind of, so it abided.” Melody nodded.

“For whatever reason, historians debate how exactly it all happened but this started widespread discontent that led to two factions rising up. The ones that decided the Dragons weren’t as powerful as they tried to look and the others that revered them, worshipping their ever word and following their every whim.” Ayred sighed.

“So people hunted down people or Dragons?”

Melody sighed as well, “Both. The two sides fought and at the same time, gods started to hunt down dragons for glory, to gain followers, to prove how strong they were and so on. This is where a lot of natural born dragons died as they were kidnapped to be pets, killed to make items and some trained to be subservient slaves.”

“This finally ended when Rhonan came to an agreement with Tekragoraxius, one of the Dragon gods. They joined the Archons and all Dragons were then under Rhonan’s protection.” Ayred took another bite of the animal in front of him, clearly approaching his limit considering how much slower he was.

“I watched a memory crystal of Rhonan fighting a Dragon though, was he part of the hunt before that?” Felix looked to both of them.

Melody shook her head, “Ironically, no. He’s always looking for a challenge and the next thing to fight but he has a rule against hunting sentient-sapient creatures unless they aggress on him or he has to basically. That Dragon was so enraged by The Great Hunt, they insisted on killing off all the other sentient-sapient races or enslaving them under the Dragons. Rhonan killed them right after brokering the deal with Tekragoraxius and the whole thing just stopped right there. No one was willing to stand against Rhonan at that time.”

“After that, all the currency in the multiverse was normalized and converted to credits as The System took over in the 55th integration. A lot of banks just vanished or were converted, it was one of the most impactful changes The System has made. The fact that it had such negative consequences on top of all the positives made it a little weird too.” Ayred scratched his head a little.

“Because The System doesn’t usually make changes that are so impactful or negative on so many?” Felix looked to both of them for confirmation.

They both nodded but Melody shook her head a little, “Unless it has to. Anyways… Telviras was founded around the 50th integration and morphed into what it is now by the 75th ish. Edras ascended around the 120th or so and started his faction.”

“Then there was the skipped integration around the 150th, I think?” Ayred looked to Melody.

“Yeah, something like that.” Melody spun around again, placing her feet on Felix’s lap again.

Felix nodded once to both of them in turn, “Wow, thanks. Last one, Tanryel mentioned a rumor about something happening in Telviras?”

Ayred looked at Melody as he apparently hadn’t heard about this. She sighed, “Yeah, a sector was completely destroyed. Thing is, no one actually knows how, well, except Rhonan. He was called in, or rather his people, to deal with whatever it was. All the details are being closely guarded but… rumors of magical experiments, attacks, spatial enchantments and so on have spread. The sector’s already been completely repaired and restored to what it was before. All that’s missing are the people that died, none of which have appeared in their respective afterlives.”

Wait… it’s completely restored now? Also how did Rhonan’s people get rid of it? The sector was completely full of that stuff.

“Woah, an entire sector? What size of sector are we talking?” Ayred’s eyes were wide.

“100 kilometer square.” Melody nodded solemnly.

“Holy shit.” Ayred dropped his trident and fell back against the back rest of the bench he was on, “Yeah not sure I think multiversal war is coming but, some of those are pretty significant.”

Melody sighed, “The rumors are always significant and it’s always the gods going to war and all that. What happened in Telviras was a tragedy but everything else is just day to day stuff.”

“Well, I appreciate the history lesson and your insights.” Felix nodded to them both.

“Those are just the big events. There were plenty of other wars, gods and all kinds of shit in between.” Melody tapped her trident on the table.

Felix looked to Ayred since Melody seemed to be a little down or annoyed for whatever reason, “How long are each of the integrations?”

“First one was almost 100k epochs after that they get progressively shorter until they hit 10k epochs around the 20th or so. They sat at 10k epochs for 200 integrations then around the 220th to 225th they’ve started shortening again. The 255th only lasted for just over a thousand epochs.” Ayred shrugged, “Don’t ask me why though. I doubt even Melody knows.”

She just shook her head to confirm she was equally unaware.

“You both done eating?” Felix nodded to the animal carcass that wasn’t quite picked clean.

They both nodded and so Felix finished it as quickly as possible then sat back on the seat. Checking his stomach, he knew he wasn’t full, in fact his stomach was completely empty as everything had been digested almost immediately. He had thought that was how everyone worked so he found it odd the two of them appeared to be full but he’d already asked them plenty so he left them be for now. It was also a question easily answered by a book.

Seeing they were all done, a student walked over and took away the spit and carcass then another arrived with the bill.

Felix offered to pay but Melody just laughed at him, “I make more in my per dekad allowance from my father than you’ve likely made in your entire life. Don’t worry about paying for anything with me, kay?”

“Alright.” Felix nodded and sat back, allowing her to pay.

As they walked out of the restaurant and back into the street, Ayred had them stop by his shop for a minute so he could make sure it was closed with a quick command to the planet. Then, they headed back to the portal that was still open and walked back onto campus.

“Alright you boys have fun Dueling. I’ll see you guys later.” Melody waved to them then flew off into the air.

Ayred watched her leave for a few seconds then turned back to Felix, “You can fly?”

Felix nodded, “I can.”

“Great, follow me.”

Together they flew off, winding through the campus buildings over to a building that was separated from the campus by a few hundred kilometers on a field at the top of a cliff. The building itself was a large boxy and futuristic marble building with vertical slits that ran all the way up the building to reveal windows.

All around the building, there were courts that reminded Felix of tennis courts along with large rings of marble set out on the grass. There were training dummies and piles of bricks along with outdoor seating areas that surrounded fire pits. Between everything, there were also multiple statues, all of which appeared to be mages, judging from the objects in their hands and their robes.

Ayred gestured to everything, “Welcome to the official Association of Student and Adept Mages or A-SAM.”

Most of the exterior was empty, not a student or adept in sight using the courts or dummies.

Walking inside, Felix found the inside was just as futuristic and cold as the outside. Off to the right, there was a room filled with display cases, all containing books. There were a few rooms containing sitting areas, eating areas and lounges then, at the end of the hall, there were stairs leading upwards.

“Upstairs are the bedrooms but the only people who use those are Tanryel and the other Adepts who were kicked out of their dorms when they graduated.”

Felix nodded and walked over to the entrance of the display room, “What are the books?”

“Spell books and journals from famous mages. Some copies but I think there are a few originals too. They’re considered property of the school but they let us keep them… here now.”

Noticing his hesitation, “Here, now? Where were they before?”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

Felix shrugged, “Can I read the books?”

“Nope. A lot of the books are either encrypted or in code and many of them are locked by specific spells. Some are trapped to destroy their contents too so they’re kept locked away in cases. Tanryel is the current head of A-Sam and he keeps just keeps them all locked away.”

“Wait, he’s the head of A-Sam?”

Ayred nodded, “Yup. Only reason he’s still on campus now. No one has taken his spot yet.”

“Are all Adepts that are still here the heads of… groups?”

“No no no, just some of them. Either you’re helping with the school and classes or you have responsibilities. Some are performing research and others are assisting or apprenticing to professors. You can’t just stick around because you want to though. Tanryel’s reason is this. He’s been here for 6 or 7 cycles now? So, he’s too old to help with classes.”

“How does someone take his spot?”

Ayred chuckled, “I’ll give you a hint, he changed the rules when he became the head. Take a guess.”

“He chooses a successor or someone beats him in a Caster’s Duel?”

“Spot on.”

Felix nodded, “I’ll have to see if I can add that to our duel parameters.”

Official Caster’s Duel

Would you like to offer an adjustment to the duel contract such that if Felix Kade wins, Tanryel is ousted as head of The Association of Student and Adept Mages?

Yes.

No.

Oh. Yes.

Ayred looked at him with confusion but before he could explain, he got a response.

Official Caster’s Duel

Stipulations accepted.

You have accepted an official Caster’s Duel from Tanryel. As the terms were agreed upon by both parties, they will be enforced by The System.

Felix Kade Wins:

Felix Kade receives a vehicle of his choice from Tanryel.

Tanryel is banned from communicating with or about Melody to anyone for 5 epochs.

Tanryel is ousted as the head of The Association of Student and Adept Mages.

Tanryel Wins:

Felix Kade is banned from spending more than an hour per day, outside of your classes, with Melody for 5 epochs.

Felix Kade is banned from sitting within a 10 seat radius of Melody in any classes they share for 5 epochs.

Felix Kade is banned from communicating in any way with all members of The Association of Student and Adept Mages, outside of classes, for 5 epochs.

Do you accept the adjusted terms?

Yes.

No.

Yes.

“Alright, the contract has been adjusted.” Felix shared it with Ayred to help explain.

“Wait, did he just add this last line as the counter to ousting him?” Ayred’s brow furrowed as he read through the contract.

Felix nodded, “The ‘no communicating with A-Sam thing’, yeah.”

“Man he is so so full of himself. He thinks this is such a big deal because he thinks so highly of A-Sam.”

Felix shrugged, “Yeah, not sure I really mind that one. It might get a little annoying but I can just wait till class anyways.”

“Well, now that you’ve seen this, let me show you something else.”

Felix held up his hand, “Wait. Hold on. Can I get back in here without you?”

“Not unless you join A-Sam, why?”

Felix glanced over at the books, “Those. I want to read them.”

Ayred shrugged, “As do most of us. If you win you could try but like I said, most of them are locked or encrypted or in code.”

Walking right up to the first book display case, Felix looked down at the book and reached out with every sense he had, “Think the information in these might help with the duel?”

“I don’t know but even if you did read and decrypt them, it likely wouldn’t be worth the time.”

Figuring out how to upgrade my Scan Literature skill just jumped up my todo list.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

Ayred nodded then led him back out of the building. They flew off back over campus and deep into a massive forest where Ayred, seemingly at random, dove down and through the canopy.

Felix followed, smashing through the leaves and branches and dropping to the forest floor in front of a large log house that looked like a massive cottage.

“This, is the Unofficial Association of Student Mages or as we’d prefer, The Association of Rebel Mages, ARM.”

Ayred walked over to the front door but before he opened it, he turned to Felix, “Melody thinks you’re cool so I trust you, otherwise I wouldn’t bring you here. Seriously though, this place is a secret, yeah?”

Felix nodded, “Of course.”

Ayred, satisfied, nodded then opened the door and led Felix into a much larger and cozier building. The entire layout was mostly open with each room on the ground floor missing at least one wall that would fully enclose them.

Off to either side were sitting areas with couches and bookshelves along each wall, “Sitting rooms, the couches are super comfortable but the books are all fiction. There’s a shelf of smut in there filled entirely by Melody. I’ve never actually seen her read any of it though, I think it’s just there to mess with people so it’s particularly… kinky? out there? Anyways, might want to avoid that.”

“This is the dining room though people kind of just eat everywhere. We just use it for the big tables if someone needs to study or something.” The room in the back had multiple massive feast tables with dozens of chairs.

Opposite the dining room, was a large empty room with a circle drawn into the floor, “This is the room we use for dueling mostly. Then upstairs there are bedrooms but they aren’t assigned to anyone, they’re just open for anyone who needs them. Just don’t forget to lock the door if you want privacy.”

Felix nodded, then addressed a question that had arisen in his mind during the tour, “I thought this was Arm, is Melody a member?”

Ayred lifted his hands up and down like they were scales, “Bards are mages ish… kind of, also we aren’t that stringent and I’m not sure we could keep her out if we wanted to. Pretty sure the planet would just let her back in.”

Felix shook his head in confusion, “What?”

“Building access among almost everything else is managed by the planet right? Melody is… friends? with it? I don’t really get it fully but she asks it for things and gets them. More than anyone else I’ve seen.”

“Huh.”

“Anyways. STRIG!” Ayred shouted into the building.

A few seconds later, a small green individual jumped down from the top floor.

[C] Strig (Lvl 1219)

Felix couldn’t hold himself back, “You’re a goblin.”

“I’m a… was a goblin.”

“I didn’t realize goblins could-”

“Not be savage, evil little shits?” Strig shrugged, “Neither did I until I wasn’t one.”

“Strig here is pretty handy with Spell Formations. I’m more focused on magical items. He designed the spells that I put in my wand.” Ayred gestured towards the goblin.

Strig shrugged, “I don’t know about handy. Maybe, fucking fantastic or awe inspiring.”

Ayred chuckled, “Can you get your best versions of all the Caster’s Dueling spells for Felix?”

Strig nodded, “You picking up dueling?”

“He challenged Tan for head of the A-Sam.” Ayred smirked.

Strig guffawed then shook his head and scurried up the stairs.

Felix turned to Ayred and followed him into the dining room, “Didn’t you guys just get here too? Why does it seem like this is so… established?”

“You know how I said Tan has been the head for 6 or 7 cycles? This place has existed for just about as long. Well, Arm has. This building isn’t a secret, it’s the old A-Sam building before Tan, as a student, decided it needed a revamp. It was supposed to be torn down and reabsorbed by the planet but some of the Adepts were still sleeping here. Before they all left, Arm was founded and the planet kept it around.”

“So the existence of Arm is a secret but the building isn’t?”

“Yeah. Tan knows people hang out here still, he just doesn’t know we run a direct competitor Association out of it. If he knew Melody was a member too, he’d flip. Anyways, this place has existed for just as long and it along with Arm have been passed down from Adept to student each cycle, as it’s supposed to be.”

Felix nodded, “Who’s the head right now?”

“Preleothus, everyone just calls him Leo though. He’s an adept from last cycle, you’ll see him around. He’ll choose his successor, a current student, at the end of the epoch and the cycle will continue.”

“What do the associations do?”

“Nothing. We’re just friendly with and help each-other.” Ayred shrugged.

Strig jumped down over the railing again, his tiny robes fluttering around him as he landed next to their table then hopped up onto it. He dropped a book in front of Felix then sat down on the table and started picking his nose.

The book was goblin sized but otherwise just looked like a normal book. Felix didn’t even bother touching it, mentally reviewing his scan in his Soul Garden at around 360 times speed. A few seconds passed where Ayred and Strig just looked at each-other in confusion then Felix nodded, “Do you have the base versions of the spells?”

Strig just squinted at Felix, “You didn’t even open the book.”

“I read through it, scanned it. I don’t want to spend the time deciphering your spell work so, do you have the base versions of the spells?”

Ayred shrugged then rose to this feet and walked over to one of the bookshelves in the sitting rooms at the front. He retrieved a book and walked it back to the table, placing it in front of Felix.

Much better.

While Felix was sure Strig’s modifications made for great spells, they also added a ton of complexity. For someone with a spell list, that didn’t matter. For Felix, that severely limited the number of concurrent spells he could cast as well as his cast speed. The book Ayred had placed contained spell forms that were as barebones and simple as it got.

“I take it you scanned the book now. Ready to try out a practice duel?” Ayred smirked.

“No, not really.”

Ayred laughed, “Come on I’ll just cast shields and bolts for you to test against.”

Following him into the ring, Felix walked over to the side opposite Ayred and was immediately struck by a red bolt right in the chest.

His instincts kicked in for just a moment before he realized he had taken a grand total of a few points of damage and his robes were completely undamaged. It stung a little but only from the Force carrying the spell. He had also aimed directly at Felix’s chest and his coat wasn’t closed so the enchantment didn’t protect him. His natural endurance along with the natural armor of the robes though were more than enough to mitigate almost all of the damage. What did get through was so negligible he calmed down completely.

“Sorry. Just wanted to make sure you wouldn’t be afraid to get hit. Need you to know the worst of what the spell will do.” Ayred looked rather apologetic so Felix wasn’t angry at all.

Felix nodded in understanding, assuring Ayred he understood and wasn’t mad.

It’s a little weird to think that probably would have killed me when I was first integrated. Either blown a hole through me or completely crushed my chest. Now, it feels like I got hit by a weakly thrown tennis ball or something.

“Alright, now that you aren’t afraid of getting hit, let’s experiment with the spells. I’ll cast a red shield, you hit me with a red bolt.”

A moment later, Ayred flicked his wand and surrounded himself with an semi opaque orb of red.

Felix picked out the base spell form for a red bolt based on their labels in the book and constructed the spell form in front of him. Unfortunately, the spell form was complex enough to be about a level 4, almost 5 in complexity. He probably couldn’t cast more than 3 of them at once if he had to guess.

After a few seconds of constructing the spell form, only taking so long because he had never cast it before, a streak of red smacked into Ayred’s shield, disappearing within a moment.

“Ok now let’s duel but go really slow for a bit. No moving around to keep things simple and we’ll do it turn based. You’ll see why in a second. My turn first I’m casting a Blue Bolt.”

Felix nodded and cast a Blue Shield, completely surrounding himself in a blue orb that slightly obscured but mostly just tinted his vision. As the shield swirled, whatever was producing the blue pigment grew denser then lighter in turn, like zebra stripes. The denser sections were impossible to see through but they were sparse enough that it wasn’t a big deal.

Ayred cast the bolt and it smacked against the shield, ineffectively turning to smoke and disappearing a second later. Felix noticed though, it didn’t entirely disappear and do nothing. The spell contained some amount of mana and that amount was integrated into his shield. The shield also used negligible amounts of his mana just to block the raw force.

“Ok now I’m going to cast a Green Shield and a Red Bolt. Red Bolt passes through Green Shield so I won’t be blocking my own spell.”

Felix nodded and switched from a Blue Shield to a Red Shield then cast a Blue Bolt.

Ayred’s bolt smacked into Felix’s Red Shield and did nothing but Felix’s Blue Bolt passed right through Ayred’s Green shield and smacked him in the chest.

“That’s one point for you. I know it seems childish that we’re doing this but I’ll show you why right now. I’m going to cast a Red Shield.”

“Blue Bolt.” Felix said.

“Combine Blue Shield.” Now Ayred’s shield immediately turned into a combination of a Blue and Red Shield. It wasn’t purple though, instead it swirled with patterns and stripes of each color never combining and always staying distinct from each-other.

“Yellow Bolt.”

“Combine Yellow Shield.” Yellow streaks swirled into the shield and mixed itself among the swirls of Blue and Red.

Ayred stopped Felix before he could give another, “Now, this shield costs more than triple the mana of a single shield and at the same time, it limits my options. I can’t cast a Blue, Red or Yellow Bolt because my own shield will block them. My options are limited to Orange, Green, Cyan, or Purple. You know that so you could theoretically cast a combined shield of all of those.”

Felix nodded, “But then you could drop any of your shields and cast one of those bolts, right?”

“Sort of. I have to drop it all at once now. No way to split out and get rid of only a single color.”

“I see. So there are mind games to some extent.”

“Yeah. You can also try to force your opponent into doing something you want them to do. Adding a color to a shield exponentially increases the mana cost so, you want to drop it and erect a singular color shield as fast as possible. I want you to try doing that now though, drop your shield and just summon a new one as fast as you can.”

Felix complied, dismissing the spell form for the shield as he cast the new shield at the same time. The shield didn’t immediately disappear though and as the new one formed almost instantly, they combined and the draw on his mana from having one shield up, instantly jumped. The shield that appeared around him too, was a combination of the shield he had tried to dismiss and the new one.

Frowning, Felix dismissed the shield and waited for a fraction of a second then cast another shield which, combined again. He tried a few more times before he found it took just over a half second wait for a shield to be fully dismissed.

“Ok so my goal then is to force you into a position where you have to combine multiple shield casts into one then keep you there by hitting you with a barrage of bolts.” Felix nodded in understanding.

“Yup. Those are the basics. From there, I want to completely dodge your bolts so I don’t need a shield but you can fall back on area of effect spells instead. There are also many quick swap techniques for shields which you can explore and Tan uses.”

“Quick Swap?”

“Duelists have realized over time that if they use a burst of Force to blow away the remains of the first shield, the second can be cast slightly faster. There are other techniques as well like keeping the shield in a constant location then jumping through it to a new location.”

“Could I just increase the size of the shield? Layer them?”

Ayred smiled as Felix was catching on quickly, “Yes and no. The layers have to be far enough apart not to interfere and combine with each-other; The bigger the layer, the more mana it costs, also exponential.”

“How much to cast the standard omni-shield?”

Ayred shrugged, “No idea. I don’t have the mana capacity to cast it for even a fraction of a second.”

Felix nodded then cast each one of the 7 shield colors used in standard dueling two by two. As soon as the rainbow shield was formed, he first noticed that it was far more opaque than the single color shield. The patterns swirling through it were much denser and closer together making it very difficult to see.

Checking his mana pool and using his stat screen to quantify it, he saw it was drawing just over 1.6 million mana per second. He dropped the shield to see Ayred looking at Strig with a smile and a very impressed expression.

“1.6 million per second.” Felix interrupted their silent communication.

Ayred nodded, “Yeah so the pattern holds then. Doing the math, that’s about what I figured. Never bothered to pick up a battery and test it though.”

“Ok so these are the basic, standard spells. Where have we gotten from there?”

Ayred sighed, “I was planning on surprising you in a series of duels but fine.”

First, he cast a shield that wasn’t an orb but instead a slightly curved wall in front of him. Hopping off to the side, he then cast another partial shield off to the side as the first disappeared. He was only visible between the two for a tiny fraction of a second, much less than if he had switched colors with full orb shields.

Before Felix could even ask, Ayred cast a Red Bolt at Felix that curved around the Partial Red Shield in front of him. They never touched each-other so they didn’t interfere and the bolt curved around a wide arc before smacking into a Red Shield Felix had cast from behind.

“Are those Seeking Bolts or just Curved Bolts?”

Ayred popped out from behind the shield as it disappeared so they could speak unobstructed, “These are just curved. I have other seeking bolts though. There are also Splitting Bolts, Delayed Bolts, Movable Shields and so on.”

Felix nodded, “I assume Tanryel utilizes all of these?”

“And more. You’ll probably want to watch memory crystals of some of his previous matches.”

Felix’s eyes went wide, “That is a great idea. Where can I find those?”

“Telviras library for all the official matches.”

“Perfect. Anything else I should know or should we spar?”

Ayred grinned, “You sure you know how to use all the modified spells from Strig’s books too? Would you rather us limit our speed or just go for it?”

Felix shrugged, “The bolts don’t hurt. Let’s just go to 100 points then we can take a break and discuss.”

Ayred scoffed, “I might not have have the mana capacity to get to 100 points.”

“Just let me know when you run out of mana and we’ll take a break then.”

Ayred shook his head, “How much mana do you have?”

Felix shrugged, “A lot. Ready?”

Ayred nodded and the sparring began.

Strig acted as the impartial referee, counting the points and deciding whether the glancing blows counted as a hit. To be safe and prepare Felix for the actual duel, they counted just about everything, not that it overly mattered.

Ayred got to 20 points before Felix even scored one but then it got a little more even. Ayred stopped them when he hit 68 points, Felix at 54 so he could recover his mana.

“You learn fast.” Ayred nodded, “Your cast speed is pretty good too, especially considering you don’t use verbal, somatic or a focus.”

“Thanks.”

“Not nearly enough to win though.” Ayred chuckled, “Hope you have a whole lot up your sleeves or some way to get much faster, real quick.”

Felix shrugged, “We’ll see. I’ve got some ideas.”

“Well, if you need someone to spar and test them on, just let me know.”

“Thanks.” Felix looked to them both to make sure they knew he was speaking to both of them.

With many things in mind to increase his chances for the duel, Felix bid farewell to the ARM building and flew back to his dorm. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .