Chapter 40 - New School of Magic (Patreon)

Violet was still at 49% synchronization with Water the following day.  She was constantly checking her magic sheet to see if she was high enough for her third magic.  It annoyed her that there weren’t any pop-up notices about gained synchronization.  When she mentioned this to Avery, the cheeky bird asked her why she did not have the setting flipped on if she wanted to see them.

Sure enough, when Violet tried to open her settings menu, a new screen popped up.  It annoyed her to no end that there was no easy way to tell the settings menu even existed.  There was an option to add sound to her notifications and the usual pop-up notices she received.  The customization on this list was enormous.  For now, she chose to receive notifications for when her overall Water synchronization hit 50%, 56%, and 64%.  Those were the remaining milestones she needed to achieve.

[Synchronization increased: Water 50%]

Avery was just as giddy as Violet was to gain her third magic school.

“This is history in the making!  I have never heard of someone having more than two schools of magic.”

Greetings, Ancient One.

Are you ready to decide your next type of magic?

Y/N?

It did not take her long to click yes.  The wheel of colors popped into her vision once again.  She had resigned herself to trusting fate to choose for her.  In her mind, she would eventually have every school of magic.  If she did not receive the one she thought she needed this time, she would eventually get it.  She had made a point not to even think about which school of magic she wanted so she could not be disappointed.  Of course, Violet had magic she wanted over others still, but she would accept what she was given with an open mind.

Fate smiles upon you. Spatial shall be yours.

That one line just made her the happiest person on earth.  After magic lessons with Avery, she realized just how powerful and valuable Spatial magic would be for her.  Spatial was the domain of both time and space.  She now had the magic to eventually teleport, create portals, and tell the future with divination.  It was the magic she had secretly been hoping for.

Her mindscape had changed.  There were no plots for her to dig up aspects.  The ground itself seemed to be missing as well.  She was floating in a void with nothing around. There were stars in the distance and a humanoid floating next to her.

Now she knew the mindscape was created from her mind.  The humanoid floating next to her had a faint outline of blue over constellations for each of his joints.  The figure was around six feet tall and looked like something she had once dreamed about.  She decided to give him the nickname Lonny when she referred to him in her head.

After studying him for a little while, she started to wonder why she was so calm.  She was floating in a void next to a strange constellation man. Ordinary people would be freaking out about this point.  In her minds-eye, this was exactly how she pictured space magic to be, so maybe that was why she was seemingly okay with this situation?

“Greetings Violet, I will be your guide to receiving spatial aspects.  Be aware I have limited answers I can supply, and they are all about your quest for aspects.  Before we begin, do you have any general questions?”

“Why am I so calm?”

“You are inside your mind. What do you have to be afraid of?”

“How do I leave?”

“If you leave now, you will forfeit Illusion magic and have to gain it on your own. Do you wish to leave?”

“NO!  I mean, please proceed with the challenge.”

“Very well, your first aspect will be Telekinesis.  I will give you a simple logic grid puzzle that you will need to solve to use this aspect while inside this space.  For you to gain the aspect permanently, you will need to solve the first puzzle and then use it to solve a harder puzzle.”

• Johnny, whose favorite color is not blue, likes the lemon flavor.
• James’ favorite color is green.
• The person who likes blue also likes cherry.

A table with the grid carved onto it appeared before her.  Red and green markers were provided for her to use off to one side.  Her job was to work through the clues and find the answer.  Which boy was associated with each flavor and color?  It was a simple puzzle aimed to get her feet wet.  After putting the green markers in the correct boxes, she signaled she was done, and her star man came over to check her answers.

“Congratulations, you have earned the provisional usage of Telekinesis.”

After her answers were deemed correct, the table disappeared and a gigantic grid formed in the distance.  The new grid had three categories on each side for a total of four things to keep track of.  Each category had four lines instead of the three she had for the simple puzzle to complicate things further.  An illusionary paper filled with nine clues floated next to her.

“This puzzle can be solved with the clues provided.  You may request an additional clue for a 5% synchronization deduction.  Each aspect starts at 11% synchronization.  If you answer incorrectly, you will lose 3% synchronization.”

The clues on the paper required critical thinking on her part.  One of the clues was ‘Zueyr was worshipped the day after Amos and the day before Vyion.’  She opened up her Mental Notes skill and started making notes about what may be the correct answers.  She flipped switches with Telekinesis to turn the square red or green depending on facts she could deduce on the large grid.

While she was in her Mental Notes, she added a note to herself on the “things to ask Avery” tab to ask if she knew how to create and do these types of puzzles.  She had a feeling the higher tier aspect challenges would only get harder to solve.  Having access to these puzzles on a routine basis would help her gain mental stats too.

When she felt she had completed the puzzle, she took extra time to go over every clue to ensure it was in line with her answer.  She felt mentally drained when she was ready to commit to her solutions.  There was no excuse for losing synchronization this early.  It would not surprise her if a curveball were thrown at her for the higher tier aspects.

Lonny floated over to her when she signaled the puzzle as being complete.  He nodded his head, and she was kicked out of her mindscape after a prompt flashed.

Congratulations, you have received the aspect for Telekinesis with synchronization starting at 11%.

To return for more aspects, you must have a total of 8% synchronization for Spatial.

She immediately jumped up and started performing a happy dance.  “Avery!  I received Spatial magic!”

“That, my dear, is great news!  That magic will serve you well.  Unfortunately, I do not have any friends with that type of magic, so please be careful when you are in the challenge for new aspects.”

“Is Spatial magic rare?”

“Oh no, dearie, certain sapients just have small minds.  Anyone found to have spatial magic was hunted down and killed.  Unfortunately, this practice still occurs in some countries, so please keep your new mark hidden.  Speaking of marks, let me see it!”

“No fair!  Your marks are hidden under your feathers.”  Violet dropped the illusion on her stomach to reveal the new purple star beside her belly button.

“Yep!  It looks like you will have a ring around your belly when you’ve received all of your schools of magic.  How fortunate for you, honey.  Marks often pop up in random places.  I once knew a human who had marks on his face.”

“Wait, back up a little bit.  Why are spatial magic users hunted down?”

“Small-minded people mostly.  Prophecies are created with Divination.  Kingdoms have been built upon prophecy, and similarly, they have been destroyed by them.  The idiots decided if all the prophets were dead, the world would be a better place.  I advise you not to share how unique you are with others you do not trust.”

“My parents have only shared that I can do illusion magic.  At your request, I asked them to stop talking about my magic the first time I visited them.  Thank you for that warning.”

The only time her parents had shared anything about her magic was when they were looking for a magic tutor.  She wished they had not said anything, but at least they had spoken very little about it.  Her brand of magic was not what was taught in magic schools anyway, so they would not have been much help.

Her parents were able to find out that being born with an ancient magic mark was extremely rare in Kasmaya.  The mark mainly occurred for those of noble blood.  Her mother had teased Violet about how easy it would be to find her a husband.  The only school in Kasmaya for ancient magic was located in the capital.  You were required to have a mark and be sponsored by a noble family to attend that school.  Kasmaya revolved around money, and magic-users could make that very easily with their aspects.

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Life fell into a routine.  Four times a year, Violet would visit her parents in Kasmaya while trying to dodge questions from Agnes.  She spent the majority of the time practicing her aspects and talking with Avery.  The more aspects she gained, the faster she was able to level her magic synchronization.

She jumped up to Tier two in Water magic by the time she had turned eight and a half years old.  Avery had fun throwing small stones at her at odd times to level the synchronization for her Shield aspect.  Violet could keep a shield of mist around her at all times for next to no mana.  The challenge was to create an ice shield or a moving water shield depending on what type of projectile was thrown at her.  A fast-moving water shield was easier to produce at a moment’s notice.  That type of shield was best used for small and fast projectiles.  If something heavy were thrown at her, an ice shield would provide better protection.

The other aspect she had picked up for Water magic was Acid Blast.  She was a little shocked to learn from Tilly just how many types of acid there were.  All varieties were deadly, but some worked better for specific situations.  The two main acid types she found most helpful were flammable and corrosive.  Avery had forbidden her from practicing anything flammable near her nest but was willing to provide her with metal to practice the corrosive form of acid.  What Violet found odd about her acid was it never burned her.  She had accidentally splashed some on herself not long after receiving the aspect.  It ruined the dress Violet was wearing but left her skin pristine.  Tilly’s explanation was she could not be burned by something she created.