Aether Engineering

Chapter 22

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

Kate found it difficult to commute mana around her. To create the armor that Primrose had shown them earlier, two layers of mana were needed to rotate in opposite directions. With both layers active, the small gaps left in each layer were supposed to constantly meet around the eyes, ears, and mouth, allowing sight, hearing, and breathing to be unimpaired by the armor without sacrificing its defenses elsewhere around the body.

Keeping two layers of mana commuting through her body at once actually meant that she had to use the connector in four different places, one to send mana and one to take it back for each layer. Beyond that, a single error in the pattern could lead to the gaps not matching up, causing temporary blindness, hearing loss, or the inability to breathe. It was the last that bothered Kate the most. Every time it happened, she started to involuntarily panic and retract all her mana back into her aether space, forcing her to start creating the armor again from scratch.

The others were having similar difficulties. To their credit though, nobody gave up. It was likely an effect of Primrose’s lecture earlier and their performance in the recent exam. Everyone seemed to be desperate to master the technique, to grow stronger so that they wouldn’t fail so miserably next time.

By the end of the lesson, everyone in the group was able to maintain an imperfect version of the armor. Occasionally someone would block off their airway and drop their armor, but those incidents had at least grown far less common than when they had started.

Kate noted how little mana the technique took to keep active. If she had been evoking mana in the same quantities, she would have lasted less than a minute, but by commuting, she was able to recycle the same mana over and over again. Sure, any mana lost while outside her aether space couldn’t be recovered, but unless Kate was suddenly punched or something, the mana wouldn’t be consumed very fast. In fact, even with how small her mana well was, Kate was able to maintain the armor indefinitely provided she could maintain its structure without messing up.

Primrose had one final curve ball to throw at them by the end of the lesson. “This technique is one of the most important that you will learn. Even as you grow stronger, pure mana commutation will remain your primary defense. As such, I want you to continue practicing the technique throughout the day. I expect each of you to have this technique mastered within the week.”

The task before them was daunting to say the least. Keeping the armor active was a constant mental exercise. Keeping it active at all times was like trying to maintain a slow jog throughout the day. It wasn’t all that fatiguing but continuing to do so for long periods of time would build that exhaustion quickly.

That wasn’t the only difficult task Kate had to take care of today though. She had promised to give an apology today, and now was her only window to have a sizeable conversation. With that in mind, Kate walked over to where Jane and Myles were talking. “Myles, Jane would you guys mind if we grabbed lunch together today?”

Jane raised her eyebrows in a very unfriendly look. She seemed about to say something when Myles gave her a subtle nod. Instead of whatever she had been about to say, Jane just nodded.

The three found an isolated seat in the cafeteria. It was fairly easy to find a table that was out of earshot from others due to the lack of students in the cafeteria. It seemed like there were only 3/4 as many as the previous month. Kate remembered how busy the infirmary had been. It almost wasn’t surprising that there were so few students around.

Once they all had food, Kate began. “Before anything else, I want to apologize for my comment on the first day of class. By assuming that you knew how to use the aether space, I both displayed a lack of trust in you and essentially called your family criminals. I was wrong to do so.”

Jane nodded slightly, not having touched her food. She seemed less than convinced with the apology. “If that is the case, why did you say what you did in the first place, and more importantly why did you wait so long to apologize? Did you really distrust us for that long?”

Kate shrank in her seat a little. Jane was almost always quiet, but she could certainly hold onto her anger. “I didn’t distrust you for long, and I quickly realized I shouldn’t have distrusted you at all, but I didn’t apologize because well...up until last night, I had been planning on leaving.”

The look of confusion and betrayal that went across Myles’ face hurt a little. They may not have been on perfect terms, but they had worked together to survive in the voidlands. “I knew that the life of a soldier would keep me around injuries too much for me to handle. I talked to Reah last night though, and she gave me hope that there might be a way to control my affliction. As soon as I decided to stay, I realized that I needed to apologize.”

Jane nodded as if allowing her the point. “I don’t like it, but considering your situation, I suppose I can understand.”

Kate shrank in her chair a little more. The next part would be the real rough part, but if she wanted to be forgiven, then she would have to tell it. “I think that the reason I said what I did relates to my past experiences with yellow bands. I grew up in a small town called Milltown. There were no soldiers there, and only a single family of yellow bands. Apparently, one of the family members had been a soldier that died in the war.”

Kate noticed that a look of sorrow passed across Myles’ face.

“One day, a young man from this family had a little too much to drink and got in a fight with a few of the other customers. I wasn’t there when it went down, but I felt the results. In the middle of the fight, the man started shooting flames. The entire building caught fire. My mother happened to have me helping her in her clinic at the time. Fifteen people died in our clinic that day. Because of my affliction, I could feel all of their pain. Beyond that though, I could feel the moment they died.”

Kate sat in her seat for a moment without looking up.

Myles leaned over the table. “Are you alright?”

Kate nodded silently, slowly looking up.

Jane waited for Kate to pull herself together. “After hearing your story, I understand why you said what you did, and since you gave an apology, I’m willing to look past the issue.” Jane raised a finger, then used a stronger voice than Kate had ever heard come from Jane. “That said, if you want me to accept you, you’re going to have to prove to me that I can trust you.”

Myles looked up in alarm, apparently guessing where Jane was going with this. “Jane there’s no way we can ask that. It’s way too dangerous.”

Jane turned to him. “Do we really have a choice? We need monster cores if we want to create any construct that isn’t entirely powered by pure mana.”

Myles nodded in reluctance.

Kate was starting to get an idea of what they were getting at. The idea made her nervous, but that was sort of the point. She had to prove that she was worthy of their trust. This mission would both prove that and help them with their work. After seeing what Myles had been able to accomplish on their last mission, Kate was happy to take the risk. “You want me to help you obtain monster cores then?”

Myles nodded. “To be specific, we need to get our hands on a few fire cores. Enough to experiment with and create at least two constructs.”

Kate nodded. She would have to do some digging to find a monster that they were both strong enough to fight and that had a fire core. It would be tough, but Kate agreed anyway. She would find them their monster, and she would prove that she could be trusted. She was glad to have something to different to focus on. Kate would take monster hunting over serious apologies any day of the week.

The trio ate quietly before heading out. As they were about to split ways to head to their afternoon classes, Kate was surprised to get a hug from Jane.

As they hugged, Jane whispered into her ear. “When you were talking about that day, you were shaking. I thought you might need a hug.”

Kate nodded, awkwardly stepping away from the hug. As she did, Kate messed up the pattern of her armor, causing her vision to go dark. She wasn’t upset though. The thick mana would hide the tear that slid down her cheek.