Chapter 75 Food In The Oven?

  Mana snapped like a static shock, in and out of reality, across forty feet in an instant. A pulse of reality magic met it halfway in an attempt to stop it from reaching its endpoint.

  Another snap of mana came down from above before the first counter pulse had even completely disrupted the first attempt. The second counter pulse hit the second snap right as it reached the target location and halted it.

  A third snap managed to make it to the target point and it started to form a lattice shell around the target area before another counter pulse halted it.

  A fourth snap managed to finish most of its lattice before it too was met with immovable space that was solidified with its own pulse of reality magic.

  The fifth snap managed to get a hold of the target area with a finished lattice of spatial magic, it was ready to switch both its starting location and the target location, before a lance of pure directed mana interrupted its process and forced the lattice to break apart.

  The sixth met the same fate as the fifth, but it had almost finished readying itself for the switch before it was disrupted.

  The seventh caused the space to quiver as it began its compression before space was forcefully rended from its grasp, the spatial swap had almost gone through.

  The eighth managed to compress the mana that existed in the space properly without attempting to crush the objects that existed in it, with only a microsecond to spare that too was forcefully disrupted by another targeted lance of pure mana.

  The ninth attempt at a spatial swap finally managed to get through, as the built-in delay that prevented all of the wards from activating on the same target spelled the tower’s undoing.

  The tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth spells all failed as there was suddenly only a part of a person in the area that was supposed to be swapped. Jala had stuck her foot in the target area, which was faster than trying to halt both Shamesh and Alexander’s casting while they were focused on powering her spells.

  Alexander dropped to his knees and Jala’s structure of solidified reality magic disappeared as she no longer needed to control the rate that his hand moved downwards. “Ow.” He whimpered and grabbed both of his elbows. His face was pale and he looked incredibly cold.

  “Alexander, are you alright?” Lenna asked and knelt down next to him. Isaac gave Jala a questioning look.

  “I knew that he could handle it.” Jala replied. “Though I am sure that it was the closest someone so risk averse has ever come to reaching his true limit.”

  Isaac’s eyes widened in realization. Jala had pushed Alexander’s mana pathways to the brink of breaking apart. Isaac was familiar with the feeling that Alexander was dealing with though in much smaller doses. While Isaac was rebuilding his mana pathways he often felt like they were frayed while he waited for them to heal. It felt like the veins, arteries, and even the nerves at times were frayed like a cut hemp rope. It was an unpleasant feeling in small doses but Alexander was probably experiencing it throughout most of his body at the same time, especially around his core and down his arm.

  Isaac looked down at Alexander and saw how utterly shaken he was. In a rare direct act of empathy and compassion, Isaac knelt down next to him and put his hand on Alexander’s shoulder. “Alexander, Alexander look at me.” He instructed the genius wizard. Alexander looked up and met his gaze almost without realizing it. “I know it feels like you are about to break apart, but you will be fine. A frayed rope will not break unless more pressure is put on it. Just rest. You’ve done your best, knowingly or not, and that is all that I can ask of you. Breathe. Try to meditate. It will pass, slowly, but it will pass. Do you understand?”

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  Alexander blinked slowly and then nodded. He took a shaky deep breath and then let it out slowly. “I understand, I will.” He replied and closed his eyes to focus. Lenna’s warmth seeped through him, starting from his fingertips and working its way up towards his core. He felt some of the damage to his mana pathways melt away but the majority of it remained. He knew that she had only healed him enough to make sure that he wasn’t in any actual danger. That knowledge helped his mind and heart settle. In a matter of moments, his trembling had stopped and he started to settle into well practiced meditation.

  “It would have been better for him if he healed naturally.” Jala commented. “His power has fallen well behind his knowledge. It is unpleasant, but this is the best way to help his power increase.”

  Isaac nodded in agreement and understanding. Knowledge was the base that power was built on, for a wizard, but without enough power to build on it, the knowledge was little more than a decoration and an image of what would be. Isaac stood up and walked over to stand next to Jala who was sitting cross-legged on the floor with a diamond octahedron in her hands. It was entirely infused with platinum lines. Isaac was instantly transfixed by the unusual design as was, apparently, Jala.

  In the middle of the octahedron there was a sphere made of nine half-circle lines that met at the top and bottom. Off of some of the parts of the outline of the sphere there were squiggly lines that moved out towards the edge of diamond. Written along some of the squiggles there were symbols that Isaac didn’t understand. The lines of characters were of varying length on each of the six squiggly lines that were adorned as such. All of that was what caught Isaac’s eyes but there was something else that caught Isaac’s mana senses much more clearly.

  “Is that?” Isaac asked, assuming that Jala would know what he was about to ask.

  “Is what?” Jala wondered without tearing her eyes off of her new puzzle.

  “Am I feeling the unconscious Court Mage’s mana signature from the middle of the sphere?” He explained his previously unfinished question.

  Jala nodded slightly. “You are.” She answered but did not elaborate. “Do you need her alive?” Isaac raised an eyebrow at Jala but took a moment to think before he answered.

  “Yes.” Sir Solomon said from behind them. “She must be questioned, judged, and sentenced before we can think about killing her.”

  Jala frowned in mild annoyance. “It would be a lot quicker if she was dead.” She explained and then tossed the Attunement Crystal to Shamesh. “Gently infuse some of your mana into the surface of the crystal, only around one spell level’s worth per minute at a maximum.” She instructed. “Once ninety spell levels worth of mana have been infused, actually, no. Once ninety, plus one for every hour it takes you due to the mana being bled off, have been infused into it, it should be forcefully attuned to you, or at the very least, unattuned to her.”

  Shamesh nodded in understanding and then looked to his master. “Go ahead. The sooner we get into the tower, the better.” Isaac instructed him.

  “As you say, my Lord.” Shamesh replied with a bow and began gently bathing the surface of the crystal with his mana. It was a slow process but Shamesh was not easily bored.

  “That’s it?” Isaac asked Jala. “We are stuck here for the next four hours or so until Shamesh finishes overriding her attunement?”

  Jala shook her head. “The mana only needs to be attuned to him. It is set up in a way that even a sorcerer can attune to it. That means that the mana used does not need to be evenly split between all aspects. You should be able to push your mana into him, as you are the one with the true soul, and he can use some of that to infuse the item.” She comprehensively explained to Isaac, mostly so he wouldn’t have any follow-up questions.

  “That’s possible?” He asked her. Jala frowned at him like he had just insulted her. Isaac raised his hands. “Sorry, I was just surprised, I did not mean to doubt you.”

  Jala nodded. “Good. Let me know when the item has properly changed hands.” She told him and rose to her feet. “I have, what is the idiom…” She began and then furrowed her brows in thought. “Left it over the fire? No, that’s not quite right…”

  “Left food in the oven?” Lenna offered.

  “Yes, that.” Jala replied. She then, using both hands, quickly drew a teleportation spell above her head while grumbling: “Who uses incantations anymore?” A moment later her spell was finished and with a surge of mana and she was gone, in her place was the smell of blood.

  “She was definitely in the middle of dissecting something.” Isaac said with a frown as the odor was far more pungent than most scents of blood that he had experienced. It was clear that Jala needed better ventilation.

  “Might we speak about your… other companion?” Sir Solomon questioned Isaac and Lenna.

  “Lenna, would you mind? I need to try and figure out how to feed Shamesh mana since Jala left before even giving me any advice.” Isaac said and walked over to his retainer. “Shamesh, get on your knees.” He told him and yanked a chair over to himself so he could sit right behind his physical shadow.

  “Yes.” Lenna replied.

  Shamesh did as he was told and Isaac rested his hand on his back right behind his core. “I’m going to start, let me know what you're feeling.” Isaac instructed him.

  Shamesh nodded. “I am ready.”

  “What is your first question, Sir Solomon?” Lenna began answering Sir Solomon’s questions by asking him a question.

  While Lenna was answering all of the other paladin’s questions with barely helpful answers with little to no context, Isaac and Shamesh got to work.

  Amaranth Serentia V'Nova Wexler