Chapter 44 - Kasmaya (Patreon)

Looking back, Violet was shocked at how fast time went by for her in Kasmaya.  It felt like she left the nest only yesterday and began to live with her parents in Lindow.  They were not able to stay long in Lindow.  When it was clear she was there for more than a visit, a very important-looking man showed up at their door to test her magic.

The test was rather anti-climatic.  All of the negative consequences Violet had worked up in her head never came to pass.  Thankfully the device used to test for magic was rather inept and could only confirm the presence of ancient magic.  She was worried the fact she had too many schools of magic would come to light.  Thankfully she was able to claim illusion and healing for her two types of magic.

When the test had come back conclusive, Violet and her parents were offered the use of a minor estate at the capital.  Violet would be attending school with the noble elites until she became eligible to enter the ancient magic school.  She needed to be at least fourteen years of age and have her system unlocked to become eligible.

Just having ancient magic had prompted the Queen to raise Violet to the rank of a minor noble.  Her new status opened quite a few doors for her parents.  They both found research positions in the capital and were able to pursue their passions.  Her father had fallen in love working with wood and was able to find a job designing new furniture, and her mother had chosen to study the ancient Runic language.

It was a source of frustration that Violet was unable to teach her mother Runic.  Even writing the language out side by side with common caused issues.  The symbols used in Runic were interchangeable depending on what you wanted to say.  On more than one occasion, the Runic words changed after being written next to the common translation.  Violet had a suspicion that the system was purposely keeping the Runic language away from people.

Money was not an issue for them because the crown gave Violet a stipend each month to cover staff wages and immediate expenses until her parents could support her.  She had tried refusing the money initially because she did not want to be in debt to the crown.  It had taken a visit from crown princess Regina to calm her fears.

“I don't think you realize how special you are.  You are what nine? Ten?”  Regina asked.

“Nine”

“Having two schools of magic unlocked before the age of ten is just unheard of!  I did not reach 50% synchronization until I was twelve.”

Violet was shocked to learn how fast her progress was.  She quickly thought of a reasonable excuse as to how she could be so fast.  “I was fortunate to have access to a crystal the ancients created.  I would be much further behind if I didn’t have that.”

“The ancients had those crystals in almost every building they created.  The royal palace was built on top of one such building.  The crystal survived the crusades because my ancestors were able to hide it.”

“The crusades to kill spatial magic users?”

“Also, another horrible crusade.  No, these were two separate crusades.  I won’t bore you with history today.  Please accept the stipend as a gift.  My parents would like to see you prosper with us.  You have been given the title of Lady and need to have an estate benefiting your new station.”

Ancient magic in Kasmaya was beyond rare.  Princess Regina was unwilling to state how many ancient mages were in the Queendom, but the number was low.  The money and estate were to foster good feelings and persuade Violet to put down roots and stay in the Queendom.

Violet still had her doubts about it being used against her in the future, but she had let the matter drop.  As her parents became more established and began to make more money, the stipend amount lowered.  By the time she had turned twelve, they no longer needed a stipend to keep their staff paid and everyone fed.

Princess Regina became a regular visitor for Violet over the years.  The princess was five years older than Violet, but they had shared a passion for illusion magic.  Regina was a purist illusion mage.  The second magic she was offered was spatial, and while her station would protect her from the negative connotations of that school of magic, she had decided not to take it.

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The last month of every year was a sort of holiday.  Every adult worked for half of their usual hours, and every child was given the month off from school.  The snows were often heavy during this time of year, and it made sense to hunker down and wait out the storms.

Violet had used this window twice to visit Avery and gain more aspects.  Healing was proving to be challenging to level.  The current aspects holding her back were Cure Disease and Cure Poison.  It was nearly impossible to find someone who had been poisoned fast enough to cure it, and the sewers in the city helped keep diseases to a minimum.

When she could leave school early, she spent as much time as possible following around one of the doctors from the health clinic.  While there was a central location for health services in the city, it was common practice for doctors to visit their patients.  They were always happy to have her tag along because she could heal most maladies they encountered.

Lesser Heal worked by accelerating the normal healing process in the body.  Most people only had enough energy to accelerate the healing process by three to five days.  It would leave them weak for a day or two, but an open cut would scab over in minutes and avoid infection.  Violet could add some of her vitality to the patient if they came across a particularly nasty wound.  She could not do it more than once a day.  Because of this, she was cautious about using it.  The one time she had tried it twice in the same day, she had passed out and woke up the next day in her bed with a massive headache.

It was during one of these massive headaches that a lightbulb figuratively went off over her head.  ‘Hangovers! Alcohol is a type of poison!  All I need to do is visit a few taverns and cure a few drunks.’  She would need to arrange an escort because she was too young to be around those establishments at night, but she could work with that.

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The youngest person known to unlock their system was twelve years old.  It was not common to open your system that young, though.  The most common age to unlock your system was late thirteen to early fourteen.  Time seemed to crawl by as she eagerly waited for her system to open.  By the time she turned fifteen, she had begun to receive looks of pity.  She started to have nightmares about her growth being stunted because the system never unlocked for her.

Violet was now a month away from sixteen.  The oldest person to open their system was early sixteen, and that person was known to be developmentally disabled.  She was becoming more anxious by the day, trying to find out why her system refused to unlock.  Whenever she asked, nobody had ever heard of the system not opening.  She wondered if her reincarnation had screwed up her system somehow.

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Violet awoke covered in sweat.  Her dream had started like many of her recent dreams had.  She was in a room filled with keys, and she needed to find the right one to unlock her system.  It was not a surprise to be revisiting this dream. She had tried and failed to find the key every time she was here.  This time she had closed her eyes and let fate pick for her.  The key she had ended up with looked like her old house key from Earth.  It did not even look like it would fit in the lock, but she chose to go with it anyway.  To her surprise, it worked!

She was so excited that her system finally unlocked; she had not realized the dream had started to morph into something new.  The dream turned into the most precise Divination future telling she had ever encountered.  In the scene, she was presenting herself at court after unlocking her system.  The queen was in the middle of a long speech about how vital ancient magic was, and Kasmaya now had another mage when a loud explosion had gone off in the hallway leading to the throne room.  While everyone was focused on the blast, the queen and king were assassinated by a short assassin.  Violet watched as the killer was joined by others who systematically killed everyone in the throne room.  Seeing her death is what caused Violet to wake up so violently.

Level 27

Age 15 yr 11 mo

Experience (36470/37800)

Health 600/600

Mana 1440/1440

Stat Points 130

Skill Points 5

Strength 45

Constitution 60

Dexterity 42

Intelligence 148

Wisdom 144

[Contracts] [Magic] [Skills] [Storage] [Traits]

[Magic]

Type % Aspect

Illusion 59% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Water 26% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Spatial 8% Tier 2 (9A) - Novice

Healing 41%

Healing 100% Analyze

Healing 100% Lesser Heal

Healing 57% Cure Disease

Healing 100% Drain Life

Healing 12% Cure Poison

[Basic Skills]

Acting 50

Bartering 20

Climbing 50

Cooking 40

Drawing 30

Etiquette 30

Harp 10

Language - Astrish MAX

Language - Common MAX

Language - Imperial MAX

Language - Kasmien MAX

Mathematics 60

Meditation 50

Running 50

Sewing 30

Small Blades 20

Spell Vision 64

Swimming 30

Unarmed Fighting 30

Whittling 20

Writing 42

[Novice Skills]

Accounting 20

Mana Manipulation 40

Mana Regeneration 50

Sneak 40

Translation 30

Visualization 50

[Advanced Skills]

Language - Runic MAX

Mental Notes 50

Pathfinding 20