Chapter 125 – Part of the Crew

Chapter 125 – Part of the Crew

“Really? Even commoners know about it?” Anton questions.

“Yep,” Emily says with a nod. “Do you want the long explanation, or the short?”

Anton looks around, getting nods from all members of the crew who are listening to Emily quietly.

“We’d like to know about where we’re heading. The long.”

“Okay. So, Old Denntimo followed a similar system to the one Modo does currently, hiding magic from commoners and taking any they find with talent as vassals. And, similar to Modo, any vassal mage that reached third circle, the level of power I’m currently at, was given a noble title. This worked fine for a while, but a lot of the commoners who rose to power were treated like slaves by their old noble family, and a large divide grew within the nobility as the number of these new houses grew. Eventually, the new houses started a revolt and drove the old royalty from their capital, claiming half of the continent for themselves and naming it New Denntimo.”

Emily pauses to take a sip of water, looking around and seeing everyone hanging on her every word.

“They didn’t appoint a new king,” she continues, “and instead formed a system where all noble families are given a vote, weighted based on how many mages they have and favouring high level combat power. Because of this new system, and a lot of the nobles having once been commoners themselves, they started to spread knowledge of magic to the common folk, and use structured education to pick out commoners with talent to add to their numbers.”

“Does that help them grow their numbers that much?” Tony asks from the corner.

“Yes. Doing proper testing of everyone gives them a much higher number of awakened each year.”

“How haven’t they won the war yet then?” Sam questions.

“Because of time,” Emily says, finishing off her bowl. “They have a lot of first and second, and even a few third circle mages, but the country hasn’t had enough time for fourth circle mages to arise. There’s a reason I said the votes were favoured towards high level combat power. A single fourth circle mage can fight against half a dozen third with ease.”

“That sounds impressive, but how strong is a third circle mage? Can all of them do things like that large explosion this morning?” Ash asks with a shiver.

“Kind of but not really,” Emily says, shaking her head. “That was using a large-scale array carved into the basement of their mansion over a very powerful source of mana. That sort of thing requires being very good with arrays, which are difficult for most mages, and a lot of resources. So while a third circle mage can set up an array like that, it takes ages to prepare, and it has to be done in specific places. As for how strong a third circle mage is? It varies wildly, but a standard third circle mage could probably fight an armed force with around fifty people if not more. If you’re looking at a specialist though, it could go up by a lot.”

Agnes would stomp over a hundred armed mortals with energy to spare.

“Woah,” Podrick exclaims. “Wouldn’t that mean fourth circle mages can fight three hundred people?”

“Something like that,” Emily says with a shrug. “I can’t be sure, since I’m not that strong yet myself, but it seems reasonable if not conservative for the one I fought.”

“You fought one? Didn’t you say you’re third circle?”

“Yep, but I’m not a standard third circle mage,” Emily responds with a small, prideful grin.

They continue questioning Emily as they eat, the fear and tension gripping the hall slowly fading as they chat. Emily asks Anton about their next destination as the meal winds down, finding that they are docking the following evening. After they finish, Sam leaves to go crash in his bed, exhausted after having his usual sleep schedule interrupted; Tony leaves to let Angela know Emily’s taking over; and Emily leads Ash, Podrick, and Anton towards the ship’s hatch.

“Is this related to how you were controlling the ship before?” Anton asks as they walk through the ship’s confined hallways.

“Kind of,” Emily responds without looking back. “I’ll be controlling the ship using the same trick I was using then, but this is something slightly different. It’s more about seeing the ship’s surroundings.”

They stop before the hatch, and Emily reaches into her belt before opening it. Ash notices the strange way Emily’s hand seems to vanish as they watch closely.

“What’s with your belt?” they question.

“Space magic. It’s like the bag I gave Anton: it’s bigger on the inside,” Emily replies dismissively, ignoring them turning to question Anton and pulling out one of her bird scouts. “Anyway, this little guy is my scout.”

The bird spreads its wings, taking off and flying around the crew’s heads nimbly before coming to a rest on Emily’s shoulder.

“Using magic, I can see through his eyes whenever I want. I’m going to send him out to sit on top of Calypso’s balloon to look around for me,” she explains as she uses a small burst of machina to open the hatch beside her without dropping the connecting stairs.

Her scout leaps off her shoulder, sailing out of the open doorway and spreading its wings under several admiring gazes. Noticing the looks of awe on the faces around her, Emily proudly manoeuvres the bird in a series of twisting flips, elegantly performing an aerial display for them before moving it into place to perch on top of the large balloon holding the ship up. She locks the small scout’s talons onto the robust spine of the balloon and sets a single thread to monitor the surrounding desert through it, watching the clear night sky as two more threads micromanage the large vessel’s flight.

“That’s amazing,” Anton says as the bird vanishes from view. “Magic aside, that bird is a work of art. It’s so much more animated than our docking drones.”

“Thanks,” Emily replies, pulling out another bird to let them have a closer look. “They were a long-term project I only finished recently. Speaking of though, I would quite like to see your drones. I don’t remember seeing them when we toured the ship.”

“Cool! What do you need to do to awaken me then?”

“Well,” Emily says, running through the information she has on mages’ assisted awakenings in her mind. “For a mage, the process for awakening someone else is pretty simple. You just inject raw mana into someone and flood their entire body with it, focusing it around their heart. Then, the body will see it as a threat and react: either by fighting it, and likely dying or becoming disfigured in the process, or by adapting to absorb and store it.”

“Isn’t that what you just did with machina?” Podrick questions.

“Yes, but I kept the concentration as low as possible and spread it out, to try not to let your body have a full reaction to it. We’re going to try the same thing again, but I’ll increase the concentration, and I think it will be more effective if I only send the energy along the pathways that will carry it in the future. Unlike mages, who have to form new mana circuits throughout their bodies to aid in the circulation of mana, mechanics use the neural pathways already in place in their bodies. Also, I’ll focus it around your brain, that’s what will become your energy store, not your heart like a mage.”

“Neural pathways?”

“The connections within your body used to transfer signals around. It’s what lets your brain tell your fingers to move,” Emily explains. “Now, prepare yourself, this is going to hurt.”

Podrick nods, taking a deep breath and clasping the edge of the crate he’s sitting on until his knuckles turn white.

“I’m ready,” he says resolutely, screwing his eyes shut.

“Here goes nothing,” Emily responds, placing her hand on the top of his head.

I’ll start at the same concentration as last time and slowly increase it. I can always reset if this doesn’t work and I need to keep a consistent concentration like with mage awakenings, but I won’t gain any information if I instantly fry his brain, so better safe than wasting my time.

She floods his body in an instant, guiding her machina through his brain and into his nervous system, keeping it contained within the pathways as she feels him shudder slightly. Slowly, she starts increasing the concentration of energy leaving her hand, watching as Podrick’s entire body tenses before growing hotter and starting to shake. He grits his teeth and hisses, doing a good job of not screaming under the searing pain, and Emily keeps going until cold lightning is flickering out and across the surface of the boy’s skin, making his hair stand on end.

Suddenly, as if a switch is flipped, she feels a change occur and his body goes from trying to force the foreign energy out to drawing it in hungrily.

It’s working!

“AAAHHHH!” Podrick lets out a guttural scream as his body convulses and starts drawing in energy from the air around him.

Emily lets go of his head and steps back, letting the awakening process continue on its own as she watches with rapt attention. Podrick curls in on himself, his fingers locking out straight and his arms and back flexing under tension. He convulses violently as he continues to scream with tears rolling down his face, mixing with the stream of blood running from his nose.

Is he being damaged by the process? I don’t think I was. I’ll have to check his cortex afterwards to make sure there are no abnormalities.

After a minute, the lightning flickering across the suffering boy’s skin slowly dies down as Emily feels the energy drawn around him weakening. His screaming stops, and he goes limp in an instant, like a puppet with its strings cut, falling forward towards the floor.

Emily glances at the system notification sitting before her eyes as she catches him before he can drop off the crate, lifting him up and lowering him to the floor gently.

̄ ̄ ̄ ̄ ̄

Hidden-Quest completed: The Spread of Knowledge

[The Spread of Knowledge]

[Rank:] D

[Description:] As the first true mechanic of your world, you’ve taken it upon yourself to spread the vocation. Congratulations on becoming the mother of Ulean mechanics.

Requirements:

-Awaken 1/1 mechanic (Completed)

Rewards:

-Skill: Mother’s Blessing

_____

Podrick opens his eyes weakly and looks up at Emily, seeing the small, barely noticeable, triumphant grin on her face.

“Congratulations,” she says, meeting his eyes, “on becoming the second Ulean mechanic.”