Mined Games chapter 17

One of the things I was going to miss about having time to myself was sleeping in. I didn’t always do it, but I always had the option. Somehow, I was less tired when I woke up naturally, as opposed to being woken forcibly.

The Guild had a bell for the student quarters, a big, loud, braying thing, clanging away to wake us all up. There were more personalized means of waking a person, alarm spells and other similar things, but freshmen didn’t have access to them yet, and since everyone in the dorms was supposed to be up for the academy they went with a bulk approach.

Which was how I found myself stumbling out of bed so early it was still nominally dark outside, snarling at my bag as I pawed through it for clothes. There was no uniform, since blacksmithing was far from clean they just let us destroy our own.

Alec was up and out of the room without a problem before I was even functional. As I made to leave I heard a crinkling, and, looking down, found a piece of paper. Checking it over I found a map with my location marked, and a few others, as well as a class list, the same as the ones Alec had mentioned.

Apparently while most of the others had to come in and get their class list manually, being in the dorms meant I got mine delivered. First up was, not surprisingly, Mana Control. Control and Manipulation were interchangeable but Control was what was on the list, so I decided to go with that.

Finding it wasn’t a problem, the map was clearly marked, with directions laid out neatly, including floor changes. I arrived there with time to spare, and found a spot to sit down in the wide, brightly lit room.

The rest of the students sat around me. Cecily, Terry, Duval, Annika, and Grace, who I had expected. But also about a dozen other people. Some I recognized, some I didn’t, and judging by their glares some of them recognized me.

It was stranger than ever seeing things in perspective like this. I’d always gotten disdainful stares, but some of those were gone now that I was an Apprentice, that made it easier to pick out the few and far between who glared at me loathing and true disgust. Mostly the ones of those I recognized were powerful and influential people, which made their antipathy even more confusing.

But that train of thought was cut off by the entrance of our teacher. The man strolled in, walked over to a flat, dark stone board, and ran his finger over it, leaving behind a blue trail that he used to write his name.

“I” He said without turning around. “Am Archimedes Dulac. You can call me Archie. I’m here to teach you Mana Control,” He finished writing his name and the class title, then turned to look at us. “Since it always comes up, do any of you have any questions before we get into things?”

A hand went up. A tiny blonde girl with pigtails and big blue eyes. “Yes. Are you THE Archimedes Dulac, son of Stella Dulac, one of the kingdom’s Sorcerer generals?” There were nearly stars in her eyes as she asked it.

Archimedes, or Archie, as he preferred, sighed and reached into the…belt, apron, thing, at his waist, rifling through the pockets to pull out a pipe, which he proceeded to stuff and then light. Slate gray eyes studied the girl, neat brows furrowing under a long brown ponytail. His face was square jawed, with a bit of shadow and he gave the impression of being intelligent but flighty.

“Yes.” He said shortly, puffing out a bit of smoke. Turning away from her in a way that made it clear that was all she was getting, he looked over the class. “Anyone else?” Before anyone could answer he cut in. “Good, then we can get started. Now. Mana Control, who can give me the details of how it works?”

Cecily’s hand shot up. At his nod, she cleared her throat, and in a formal tone stated. “Mana Control is the art of using mana as it exists inside our bodies. Shaping it into spells or learning to output it for the purpose of item creation.”

“Okay.” He drawled. “But…you basically just told me that Mana Control is controlling mana. Which is true. But functionally useless as a description.” The pale girl’s cheeks flushed as red as her hair, but the teacher didn’t harp on her, just turning away. “Anyone else? I’m looking for something a bit more specific.”

Now it was Grace’s turn to raise her hand. He nodded to her, and she sounded nervous as she spoke. “Mana Control uses crystalline structures to express mana through difference processes. Crystals are mana’s natural form. It’s why we condense them, because mana defaults to that state. To cast spells you need to reorder the mana into a crystalline structure so it can be expressed.”

He pointed at her, grinning around his pipe. “Good. A bit simplistic, but on the right track. The crystalline structures that make up formuli and other physical manifestations of mana are the natural state of mana. Think of them as a sort of roadmap. Different roadmaps do different things.”

Turning back to the dark stone he began to sketch. “Now formuli, as we know, are sets of directions to create what is essentially battery crystals. They’re the densest concentration of that type of mana. You CAN condense a crystal that isn’t a battery formula, and that does a specific task, but it’s very limiting, and almost never worth it. These people are called ‘singulars’ and they’re mostly crazy.”

He sketched out a few equations I recognized from both of my formulas, showing what the point of them was. “Now.” He said as he turned back around. “A crystalline structure isn’t enough to make something crystallize. The entire purpose of condensation is to layer enough mana to cause it to take physical form. This is why we can cast spells and they don’t just become rocks.”

To my surprise, Duval raised a hand. When picked, the laconic talent cocked his head. “If mana density is what does it, then why don’t higher ranked mages accidentally crystallize spells. They use much more mana for their magic than we do, don’t they?”

Archie nodded. “Good question. Basically, for the same reason that some formuli require much more mana to condense.” He turned back to the stone slate and sketched a design. “All spells are created with components called lattices. Lattices are crystalline structures based on the composition of the crystals of that mana type or certain effects we’ve observed from magic tools.”

He showed us a few examples of different lattices, sketching strange designs that looked like partial geometric shapes. “By increasing the number of lattices, you increase factors like the amount of mana needed, the types of mana included, and how that mana will express itself. The more lattices inside a structure, the more power you can pack into it. Of course, lattices also change in complexity themselves as you move up the ranks, but that’s a later lesson.”

Underlining the lattices, he turned back to us. “The reason for this class is because of the necessary factors in spell work, as well as in creation. As I said, all crystals are spells, some are batteries, some are not. In order to craft a proper item, you need to input the mana into that item in the form of a spell, to produce an effect. Otherwise you end up with a battery item, which, while useful, is far from the extent of what you want.”

I blinked. That…was good to know. It meant I’d been working toward making the most pointless type of magic tool all this time, and suddenly I was kind of glad I hadn’t succeeded. I raised a hand this time. Archie waved me to speak. “If crystals are the final form of magic, doesn’t that mean all the spells we cast are unfinished?”

He shook his head. “No. There are lattices that can act as a sort of…cap, for spells. To prevent them from condensing. They’re included in combat spells. Now. There are three components to Mana Control. Density is the first. Structures require greater density as you add more lattices, to support their own weight. Second is complexity, the more lattices you can safely fit inside your spell, the stronger it is, as mentioned earlier.”

Sketching out a series of lattices on the slate in an elaborate but dizzying array, he circled the design. “The final component is stability. Complex designs are great, and necessary to create useful and powerful spells, but stability is key. The number of lattices in the spell is less important than the number you can stably use. Density helps decide this, but some of it is just innate capability. Luckily, it can be trained. Most of you will start of with the ability to stabilize three or four lattice spells, at the most. The goal of this class is to increase this number.”

Walking over to a desk in the corner, he picked up a box, passing it to one of the nearer students. That guy took the hint, removed something, and passed it along, until each of us had a metal frame, a spool of thread, and a pair or needles.

Grace raised an eyebrow, not even bothering to put her hand up. “Knitting needles?” She said with disgust.

Archie smirked. “Quite so. This exercise is a combination of stability and complexity training we’re going to be working on for the foreseeable future. I’ll be teaching you some basic lattices, the ones for the major mana types, and then some connecting lattices that produce effects. You’re going to weave the lattices in the yarn, and then, when you’re finished, we’re going to run mana through them to test the stability.”

“What…what happens if they aren’t stable?” Asked the blonde girl from earlier, her voice uncertain.

He shrugged. “Not much. Not with these. It’s why we use them. That yarn is barely mana tinged. Keep in mind that while you don’t need to use your own mana type, using any others would require conversion, which would necessitate extra lattices. That’s why beginners usually stick to their own type of mana, since their stability number is usually fairly limited.”

With that, he turned and started sketching out lattices. He waved a hand before starting and the dark slate was wiped clean, but it quickly refilled. He showed us a dozen or so basic mana types, clearly labeling them. Then a few universally useful lattices. Conversion like he mentioned, shape and direction, one that denoted direct application of energy.

As I learned, my head started to spin. Magic was…complicated. No wonder Alec told me to wait on picking my first spell. If I’d picked up something with a dozen lattices I wouldn’t have had the density to support the magic, and probably wouldn’t have been able to manage stabilizing such complex structures.

Still, it was fascinating, the way the lattices could be mixed and matched, clicked together to alter effects. Archie even said we would eventually be able to create our own lattice designs based on the principles found in the naturally occurring ones. Which was where most of the lattices we were learning came from.

I spent the rest of the class taking notes. We didn’t get to the reactive knitting, but I didn’t mind. This class was something I would absolutely need in the future, and I couldn’t wait to learn more about how all this worked. None of the books on smithing mentioned this, but I knew it would be just as important as hammering and saturating.

When the class let out, I didn’t even notice the glares anymore. I didn’t give a shit. This was the most fun I’d had in years, and I couldn’t wait to learn more. It also contextualized a lot of things I hadn’t understood in that Mana Control book Alec lent me, and I couldn’t wait to start it over with fresh eyes. Joining the guild was the best choice I’d ever made.