EFate: An MMO Story Chapter 45: Whispers

"Are you finished reading?" Lucy inquired, her eyes narrowing as she gazed at her apprentice.

"Yes master, I finished a few minutes ago. I was just taking a quick break," Eric hastily explained.

"Did you?" Lucy's gaze settled upon the book Eric had been reading. "Then I'm sure you'll be able to summarize the theory behind the Whisper spell?"

Eric nodded, "The Whisper spell allows for long-distance communication with others. It relies on a pair or series of linked magical foci that can communicate instantaneously with each other to deliver the message to the recipient or recipients of the spell. The more recipients there are, the more powerful the focus must be and the greater the mana requirements become."

"Mmmmmh. And what are the minimum requirements to use the Whisper spell? Also what is the most commonly used type of focus?"

"The book didn't go too indepth on the minimum requirements. It merely stated that a competent journeyman should be able to cast the spell with some difficulty. As for the focus, crystals that enhance the ease of mana transmission are the most commonly used materials for foci designed solely to use the Whisper spell," Eric responded.

Lucy nodded, her expression softening slightly.

"Good. The minimum requirement to cast it is technically a proficiency with arcane magic surpa.s.sing most journeymen mages. However, these days we simply say that it's a spell that can be cast by any mage who is recognized as an intermediate mage," Lucy explained.

"So I can cast Whisper then?"

"You've reached the Intermediate level?" Lucy asked, surprised.

"Yup, earlier today," Eric replied with a proud look.

"Well, you're a little slower than I'd hoped you'd be. But not too terrible I suppose," Lucy commented.

"What do you mean not too terrible? I'm probably one of the only otherworlders with an intermediate skill in existence right now! How fast do you want me to be? h.e.l.l, how long did it take you to reach the intermediate level?" Eric asked indignantly.

"I became an intermediate mage at the age of eleven," Lucy replied with a deadpan expression.

"So how do I cast Whisper? Do I need to buy a crystal?" Eric asked, changing the subject before Lucy could deal a finis.h.i.+ng blow to his wounded pride.

With a knowing smirk, Lucy responded.

"You've already got a crystal focus. The G.o.ds saw fit to give one to each otherworlder. Simply infuse some mana into the crystal and it should activate. You'll see a series of basic runes, those are the runes used to communicate with your personal crystal. In order to communicate with others, you merely have to infuse mana into the crystal and concentrate on the runes corresponding to who you wish to talk with. As long as you're infusing mana, the connection will remain open between the crystals."

Following Lucy's gaze, Eric realized that the crystal she was talking about was the status stone attached to his storage pouch. Placing a hand on the crystal, Eric focused on the mana in his mana pathways, sending it coursing through his arm and into the stone. With a small glow, the crystal lit up, eleven runes appearing in the air above the crystal as Eric concentrated on keeping the flow of mana steady.

Observing the runes floating next to Eric, Lucy produced a crystal of her own. As Eric watched, her crystal began to glow, although unlike his crystal, no runes appeared above hers.

"Really, it's just a simple matter of mana manipulation," Lucy whispered.

Starting slightly, Eric stared down at the crystal, the glow disappearing as he lost control of the mana. Lucy's voice had emanated from the crystal, causing him to lose his focus for a second. Staring curiously at the crystal, he infused mana once more. As the crystal began to glow once more, a curious expression crossed his face. Continuing to focus, he looked up at Lucy who had a small smile on her face.

"Can you sense a new set of runes within the crystal now?" Lucy asked.

"Yes."

"Those are the runes that correspond to my crystal. If you focus on them, you'll be able to communicate with my crystal, although I can't guarantee I'll answer."

"So the crystal remembers the runes of any crystal it comes into contact with?"

"Exactly."

"So it's like caller ID then?"

"Caller what?"

"Never mind."

"Mmmmh," Lucy gave Eric a knowing look before continuing her explanation. "The Whisper spell also has quite a few useful derivations. That militia badge of yours follows a similar principle of using linked magical items to deliver a message. Of course, the message that your badge can deliver is far more limited," Lucy explained, reverting back to lecturer mode.

"That makes sense," Eric replied, looking down at the silver pin fastened to the breast of his tunic.

"Now then, were there any other questions you had before you left? You've been unusually silent ever since you partic.i.p.ated in that expedition to the north."

Eric considered the question briefly, before taking a small book out from his storage pouch and showing it to her.

"I won this mana technique in the militia tournament. It works fairly well, but it mentions storing mana. I can't find any mention of storing mana in the library, so I was wondering if you knew what it meant, master?" Eric asked.

Wordlessly stretching out her hand, Lucy took the book from Eric, who stood silently by as she began leafing through the pages with a curious expression upon her face. Seemingly arriving at an understanding, Lucy snapped the book shut before fixing Eric with a strange look.

"I'm not sure where Korin got this, but it's a somewhat older technique," she said at last.

"Korin?" Eric asked with a confused expression.

"Wavesun, the strategist for the a.s.sault, and the man who was responsible for giving out prizes. An egotistic a.s.s who's vain as a peac.o.c.k," Lucy said, an annoyed look crossing her face as a vision of Wavesun floated through her head.

"Ah."

"Anyways. It's incomplete, but for now that won't matter as you won't have any troubles using the technique up to the professional level at least. But as an older technique, the wording it uses is outdated, follow me."

With that, Lucy turned and left, her robes swis.h.i.+ng as she departed from the library, Eric's book still in hand. Scrambling after her, Eric followed his teacher as she led him upwards through the manor, pa.s.sing through narrow hallways with doors to rooms full of various magical items.

At last they arrived at the top of the manor, where Lucy's study was located in the manor's upper spire. Opening the door, Lucy led Eric inside where he was greeted by the sight of his teacher's enormous dimensional nullifier, a brightly glowing orb which absorbed and negated the effects of any spells cast in its vicinity.

Tossing Eric's book on a nearby table, Lucy rolled up her sleeves, a wand appearing in her right hand as she turned back to face her confused student.

"Storing mana or storing a spell is the old term for what we call Delayed Casting," Lucy explained. "Normally, when you cast a spell, you cannot cast another spell using the same focus until the first spell is cast. To put it simply, if you use your wand to cast an Arcane Strike, until you cast that Arcane Strike, you cannot cast any other spells using your wand as a focus. Does that make sense?"

Seeing Eric nod, Lucy continued. "However, delayed casting changes that rule. Delayed casting allows the caster to store the completed mana structure of the spell inside either their body or their focus, freeing up their focus to cast another spell. The first spell can then be cast at any time, and does not need to be cast from the same focus that was used to cast it originally."

"That sounds really powerful, what's the catch?" Eric asked.

Lucy grinned, "Glad to see you've been learning properly. The catch is that it's actually a somewhat dangerous technique. You're not storing mana, but rather a completed spell. While some spells are totally harmless such as the Pointer spell, and you don't really care if they go off while still being stored or not, other spells are a little more volatile. For example, can you imagine what would happen if a Flaming Sphere was suddenly cast inside your arm?"

Eric shuddered at this, as images of flying chunks of roast meat filled his mind. Seeing his reaction, Lucy laughed.

"Exactly. It's a very powerful technique, but it's also rather dangerous if you don't have full control over your mana. Generally this is a technique that mages are taught once they reach the intermediate stage, but only with spells such as Pointer or Ball of Light. It's not until the professional level that true combat spells should be attempted and even then, using delayed casting in battle is something that even many Masters refuse to use as they simply aren't confident in their control. Because of that, it's quite interesting to see a mana technique that specializes in delayed casting. I'd be quite interested to see the completed version."

"Is delayed casting really that powerful?" Eric asked curiously as his teacher stared at the cover of the book that now lay on a table nearby

Giving him a glance, Lucy turned towards the glowing orb in the centre of the room, her wand glowing slightly as she concentrated. Bursting into action, Lucy's wand began to trace runes at a rate faster than Eric could follow, her wand turning into a blur of light as countless runes appeared in front of her. Flicking her wand slightly, the runes disappeared, but no spell came out. Instead, Lucy burst back into action, repeating the movements from before, as she wove a glowing tapestry of runes into the air of the study.

With a satisfied look, Lucy aimed towards the dimensional nullifier. As Eric watched, an enormous fireball burst from her wand, soaring through the air towards the glowing orb. Before the spell had even made it halfway to its destination, a new spell emerged from Lucy's wand, a second fireball burning brightly as it traced the same path the first one had taken.

With a roar of flames, the first fireball exploded, s.h.i.+mmering runes appearing as the glowing orb negated the spell, preventing its effects from destroying the papers and shelves that littered the room. As the flames surged angrily against the protective barrier, the second fireball landed, causing the explosion to swell angrily within the runic walls as the two spells battled to escape the magical boundaries.

Not wanting to miss even a second of the spectacle, Eric watched, entranced, as the two fireb.a.l.l.s began to fade, strands of mana flowing into the dimensional nullifier as the spell structures collapsed.

With s.h.i.+ning eyes, Eric looked towards Lucy who arched an eyebrow in response.

"If you want to learn this, study harder. I refuse to teach delayed casting to a student who's only just entered the intermediate stage."

"What do I have to do?"

With a wave of her arm, Lucy drew an unfamiliar rune in midair. The rune was shaped similarly to Eric's dart rune, with a narrow, reverse V-shape that opened up at the top. Where the two lines forming the tip of the V met, a third line emerged, piercing upwards through the mouth of the V. Satisfied with her rune, Lucy pointed towards Eric.

"Once you can cast this rune, I'll teach you how to perform delayed casting. Until then, don't bother bringing it up."

With that, Eric was unceremoniously kicked from the manor. Doing his best to memorize the rune that Lucy had just shown him, Eric hummed to himself as he set off for the northern gate. It had been a very interesting afternoon so far, and he didn't intend to let it end here.

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ANNOUNCEMENT!

Sorry about the long delay for this chapter. I meant to post on Sat.u.r.day, but I've been sick for a couple days now. (Which is why I'm releasing two chaps) But anyways, on to the actual announcement.

I've finally finished the major edits to volume 2 of Fate. (I know, I know, it was supposed to be three weeks ago) There are a few more touches needed, and I haven't done any copy editing (grammar/punctuation) yet, but I'm ready to send out copies to anyone willing to beta read it and give feedback on what they think. As many of you know, writing is my job, so I'm trying to make sure that the release of volume 2 goes as smoothly as possible on Amazon.

Also, to my patreons. A big apology. I've been a little flaky recently due to health issues, as a result, I'm releasing bonus chapters for you guys on the patron. They'll be up in a bit as I finish putting the finis.h.i.+ng touches on the extra chaps. Sorry about the inconsistency!

Finally, I can't guarantee a Sat.u.r.day chapter. (The double release of these two chaps is to help make up for that) But I'll do my best. Hopefully once volume 2 is released on Amazon I'll be able to get back to a much more regular and dedicated posting schedule.

Anyways, thanks for reading guys.

- Lighthouse