The Sixth School

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All Characters in the story are 18 years of age and above...

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Chapter Eighty-Four: Visitors...

"Take a deep breath and relax. This is just a trial run. You won't hurt me even more if you make a mistake here or there. The Orb already has most of my mana pathways mapped out, so you don't have to worry about that. The command you have gained over your mana with the past few months of practice is more than sufficient for this task. Just focus on the feeling of moving mana as it moves through my channels. Moving mana through someone else's body can feel a bit odd at first if you aren't used to it. Try to get used to it as best as you can but also pace yourself. The trial run won't take that long but the real thing will. Remember your control and precision exercises. They'll help you keep a sustainable pace so that you don't run out of mana midway."

Alena, his teacher, was lying naked on her bed within her cave. Unlike had been the case many times in the past, this time, it wasn't for any sexual purposes. Instead, this would be the first practice run of how Greg would go about dissolving all of her mana pathways. It would be a lie if Greg said that he wasn't nervous at all about the procedure they were about to embark on. Still, he wasn't anywhere near as worried as his teacher might think him to be. The reason for his confidence wasn't hubris, but the fact that he knew his teacher's body inside out... literally.

During his ascension, Morpheus had taken Greg over for the first time. Olivia's true self had come down to investigate and because of her actions, Morpheus had taken a good look at Alena, Greg's teacher. The deity's gaze hadn't just landed on her outward appearance. Level by level, he had gone from the external to her internal organs, to her spirit body, to her very soul. And all this information had been indelibly burned into Greg's memory. Even as he was about to start sending his mana through his teacher's mana pathways, Greg wasn't going in blind. Even without the glass orb that showed the image of his teacher's mana pathways mapped out, Greg could have done this with almost perfect accuracy.

That being said, Greg didn't try to correct his teacher's assumptions. Greg knew that Olivia and by extension, her true self, only knew that the eyes were a contact point between Greg and the 'elder'. What abilities his eyes had gained as a result of this connection, however, remained a mystery to them. Greg had no desire to change this state of things. The events of two months prior had shown him that the Primordial could not be trusted. If the benefits of harming Greg outweighed those of keeping him alive, Greg would die without even knowing how or why. Morpheus had succeeded in getting her to back off using a ruse. Nevertheless, Greg knew that it was fleeting. Eventually, Olivia's true self would figure out that something was wrong, and when that day came, as Morpheus had warned him, he better be ready.

This was why he hadn't revealed to either his teacher or his familiar what his eyes could do. Neither one of the two abilities his eyes currently had was combat-oriented. Both perfect recall and appraisal were more utility abilities. Used in the right way, they could be of strategic value, but in a direct fight, they would be of very little use. But even more than the particular abilities, Greg wanted to keep even the fact that the eyes could have abilities secret. Chances are that the stronger he got, the more abilities Morpheus would be able to unleash. These would be Greg's secret arsenal against Olivia and her true self if they ever turned on him.

Taking a deep breath, Greg nodded to his teacher with a resolute expression on his face before bringing his hands to hover over her wrist. Gathering his mana in his palms, Greg sent a tentative thread into the mana pathway that he knew ran through there. This wasn't a random choice on his part. Apart from the fact that it was the most still-intact pathway of those in her arm, it also was the path with the fewest deviations before reaching her mana core. Fragile as this centerpiece of her mana circulation system was, Greg would inevitably have to deal with it, so he planned to get familiar and comfortable with it as early as possible.

From the very first moment he sent his mana into his teacher's mana pathways, Greg realized that this would be a lot harder than he'd been thinking. If his teacher hadn't helped him relentlessly train control of his mana, Greg was certain that his mana would have been caught up in the much stronger flow of his teacher's mana. Injured as she was, she was still the equivalent of a third-tier mage. Not only was her mana more concentrated but the flow of it within her mana pathways, was far stronger than what Greg had been anticipating. After his ascension, they had focused solely on increasing the concentration of his mana to the same level as that of a third-tier mage, thus far, Greg was only halfway between the second and third tier in terms of mana concentration. Which, Greg suspected, was the only reason his mana wasn't immediately swept away in his teacher's more powerful flow. Greg had to hold the position for almost half a minute before he was used to the strength of her mana flow. When he finally was confident he could hold together his mana, a grueling three hours of trying to navigate around his teacher's mana pathways began.

Despite the struggle of the exercise, Greg learned a few things from the practice run that made the whole exercise more than worth it. The first was that his assumption was wrong. Greg began navigating through his teacher's mana pathways using her most intact mana pathways thinking that they would be the easiest to navigate. The reverse turned out to be the case. In the places where her mana still moved freely, Greg had to grit his teeth to keep from losing control of his mana. But in the places where her mana pathways were badly damaged and her mana couldn't as easily move, Greg could more easily navigate. In the places where her pathways were completely dead, Greg had free rein to move however he wished.

The other thing that Greg learned was that it would be almost impossible to dissolve his teacher's mana pathways in one session. Wrecked as they were, his teacher's mana pathways weren't those of a third-tier mage, but a seventh-tier mage. Even to himself, this sounded rather obvious. But for whatever reason, Greg had been assuming that they'd be similar to those of a third-tier mage given that this was the amount of power she was capable of displaying. That assumption, however, was torn to bits when Greg tested the strength of her mana pathways on a section that was already completely dead. Trying to use his mana to push through the dead wall had been like trying to cut through extremely tough leather with a blunt knife. With enough time and bull-headed determination, he'd eventually get through it, but it was certain to take everything he could throw at it. With this in mind, Greg could see the whole process taking about a week to complete. One day for each limb, one for her head, and two for her torso which had the highest concentration of mana pathways. The only problem with this approach was that Greg wasn't certain how stable the rest of her mana circulation system would be once he started cutting parts off.

"I can think of a number of potions that will weaken the walls of my mana pathways," The healer spoke when Greg shared his findings and conclusions with her. "If we keep increasing the concentration of your mana and lower the strength of my mana pathways, I believe we can cut that time in half. Also, I suspect you have mana-draining crystals in your Magic Shop. If you have the tier three version, It'll be enough to leave me with almost no mana. If you don't have them, there are formations that can still achieve the same result, your familiar can operate it while you're working. That way you won't have to fight against my mana when dissolving my mana pathways," She continued to list out ideas for tackling the challenges Greg had discovered. "There is some risk to doing things this way though. The potion that weakens my mana pathways will also weaken the walls of my mana core. This means that I can't be allowed to accumulate any mana lest it be unable to handle the strain and collapse. Meaning that once we begin, there is no stopping until the whole process is done," She laid out.

Greg couldn't help but purse his lips. With the solutions that the healer had just come up with, the goal was starting to seem a bit more achievable. Greg, however, wasn't deluded, it still would be a very daunting task to undertake. If he didn't put in every bit of effort that he could muster, then chances are that he would fail. Failure in this case would have disastrous, if not outright fatal consequences. "We should do this once a week even as we continue to increase the concentration of my mana," Greg suggested. Grueling as the task had been, Greg had learned a lot from it. He knew that the more practically familiar he was with the task, the higher his chances of success in the endeavor.

"Yeah, it'll be crucial for you to..." The healer who'd been nodding in agreement suddenly paused mid-statement as if something had caught her attention. She waved her hand and four different tokens appeared in the air before her. Each one of them was flashing a bright white before regaining their usual silvery color in quick succession. Now that they were out of his teacher's storage rings, Greg could feel the small pulses they produced. Greg wasn't sure what it was about them, but they seemed to have something attention-grabbing about them. Even if you were entirely focused on something else at the time they started flashing, the pulses would make it so that you couldn't help but turn to look at their source.

"Is something wrong?" Greg couldn't help but ask when he noted the frown that appeared on his teacher's face.

"These are the tokens given to the three families and the former Town-head," She answered causing a bad feeling to come over Greg as he immediately thought of his family. Just what exactly would cause all three families plus the former Town-head to call the healer to their aid?

His teacher who'd been sitting on the edge of the bed, rose to her feet, a dress materializing around her body. The first time Greg had seen her do this, he'd been surprised thinking that there was a spell one could cast to clothe themselves. His teacher, however, had revealed that they were robes that were enchanted to achieve this effect. According to her, they were common among mages. They'd first begun as a convenient way of saving both time and effort, but as with most things, this was forgotten. Now, among many mages, it was considered plebian to have to physically pull on one's clothes.

Greg, who was already on his feet, turned ready to bolt for the teleportation room. While his teacher could directly teleport to where the tokens were, he had no such ability. If Greg wanted to get there, he'd need to make use of the teleportation room. Using Earth Step, Greg had already made it halfway there when he heard his teacher's voice. "Wait," She called out to him. Turning to her, Greg found that the frown on her face had deepened. "I'm coming with you," She declared, even as she moved towards him. "I am not sure how or why, but something is interfering with my ability to teleport to the tokens," She informed him, causing the worry in Greg to increase sharply. This meant that whatever was happening over in town had a magical aspect to it. Wasting no time, both of them moved to the teleportation room and jumped over.

Usually, when it wasn't winter, the infirmary was largely empty save for one or two people who might have come down with something or been injured in some way. In recent months, this had changed as there was always a number of women waiting for Roka the healer to finish his lessons with the healer and come to 'treat' them. Today, however, Greg and his teacher found themselves sharing a look as they found the infirmary completely empty. Even Shalia, who was usually working on some task at her workstation was nowhere to be found. Greg didn't hear any screams or sounds of distress, so he calmed down a bit. Still, the pace of his steps didn't let up, if anything, they sped up.

The mystery of where everyone had gone was quickly solved as they came to the entrance of the infirmary to find a crowd of women, Shalia among them all looking up at the sky. Greg immediately studied their faces trying to see if there was something wrong that he needed to prepare himself for. But rather than fear, all Greg could see was shock and curiosity. The two of them stepped out of the infirmary and likewise looked up in the same direction that everyone else was. Greg was only vaguely aware that his jaw had dropped in complete shock as he found himself looking at a massive ship sailing through the air toward the town.

The thing was made out of a light brown wood and spotting a number of massive sails. From the way the body of the ship had been designed, one couldn't help but think of an underwater creature of some kind. The massive sails only completed the picture by appearing like the creature's fins. Even the smooth way it was moving through the air, seemed to exude the grace of a creature swimming through the air. Greg wasn't sure whether he wasn't giving enough credit to this marvel of magical engineering, or if it was something else but there seemed to be something more than simple mechanical adjustments in the way it moved.

Greg was about to say something to his teacher when he felt her hand land on his shoulder and clamp down tightly. Petite as the woman looked outwardly, it was almost impossible to imagine the amount of power she could generate. Greg couldn't help but wince with discomfort at how tightly she clung to him. Having already turned to her, Greg immediately noticed the grim look of recognition on her face. Her lips moved, but Greg heard the words in his ear as if she had whispered them so no one else could hear. "Quick, get your family, we are leaving!" she instructed, and without offering any further explanation or even waiting to see if Greg would comply, she turned and disappeared back into the infirmary...

***

Sanz Lothar stood calmly on the deck of the airship called Titan looking through the runic lens at the pool of black liquid near the top of the mountain. The runic lens was just a convex lens ringed with a metal band around the edge that was inlaid with various runes. Depending on how much mana one sent onto the metal, they could study the wings of a fly from up to ten kilometers away. Lothar had the appearance of a young man no older than twenty cycles. In truth, he was seventy cycles in age. His short spiky flame-red hair was the first indication one would get of his fire affinity. Pulling the lens away from his right eye, the second indication of his high fire affinity was revealed. Like two burning coals, his irises were a bright amber color. Looking at the stony expression on his face, one would have to be a mind mage to figure out the raging excitement he was barely suppressing. Letting out a long slow exhale, he turned and walked back into the airship.

The crew that was manning the ship was usually found several floors below deck on the navigation floor, just above the luggage and cargo floor. Depending on the size of the ship, anywhere from one up to three floors above the navigation room will be the passenger floors. On this ship, there were only two floors, not that they were needed, there were only five passengers on board. Here as with most other areas of life, people were stratified according to their class. The higher one's wealth, social standing, political influence, or tier as a mage, the lower the floor they occupied. The reason was simple, security. Given how heavily reinforced the bodies of these airships were, it was almost impossible to breach them. The only chance raiders and pirates had of taking over such airships without expending an inordinate amount of firepower, was to actually board the deck and go down floor by floor. The deeper one was inside the ship, the more hurdles a potential invader would have to face before they got to you.

A floor above that of the passenger floors was the servants' floor. Every category of servant from the ship's maids and cooks to the passengers' personal maids, if they had them, would be found on this floor. On the final floor above that of the servants' and just below the deck, is the security floor. On this floor, two groups stayed side by side, the ship security and the guards for any passengers that could afford it. The ship's security would fight to protect the passengers of the ship if they had the space to do so, but it was common knowledge that their first priority was to protect the ship itself first. The only people you could count on to protect you in case something went wrong was a guard that you had personally hired.

Lothar was a second-tier mage himself but the family had assigned three third-tier mages as his personal guards so he wasn't worried about security. Two followed him around out in the open while the third always remained hidden as an element of surprise. Looking at this, one would believe that he was a prized scion of his family. Only he knew that he was as much their prisoner as he was their master. They would answer to him and do whatever he asked of them. He, however, wasn't deceived. He knew that in reality, they only answered to his so-called father. And given how much that man hated him, Lothar doubted that his well-being was their primary concern.

"Wait outside," he calmly stated even as he walked into his office on the upper of the two passenger floors in the airship. Four of the five passengers on the airship occupied this floor. The fifth passenger on the airship occupied the lower passenger floor by herself. Given that she was a fifth-tier mage, no one on board was anywhere near crazy enough to contest the fact that she had a whole floor to herself. Seating behind the large desk that dominated one side of the room, Lothar reached into one of the drawers and pulled out a small crystal that was attuned to him. This was a secure messaging crystal that he'd obtained from the temple of Ozan, the farseeing eye. It had taken a lot of time and money for Lothar to forge a connection with one of its high priestesses. Getting this little prophecy out of her had cost him twice that much.

Lothar had always been gifted from birth. But the gods, fate, or whatever else people believe is out there is a cruel bastard. What it gives with one hand, it takes with another. His high affinity with the fire element made it so that his ascension both to the first tier and subsequently to the second tier had been far faster than any of his peers. But that's when the problem revealed itself. In a cruel twist of fate, He discovered that he had a mana-averse body. With the little amount of mana that first-tier mages had, the problem had been all but undetectable. When he rose to the second tier, however, the issues began. Migraines whenever he meditated longer than a few minutes. The amount of mana he could gather into his core dropped to a fraction of what it once was. Worst of all, any time he tried to cast an even moderately powerful spell, he would pass out. Given his precarious position within his family, Lothar knew that his life would be forfeit if it was discovered. And so Lothar had done all he could to keep this a secret from everyone as he sought a solution of some kind. A decade of fruitless and increasingly desperate efforts to find a cure had led him here