Aether Engineering

Chapter 67

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

Myles’ brain felt like mush after finishing the blueprints for the shuriken construct, but he walked with confident energy. At his side, Jane walked swiftly to match. “Are you sure you want to do this? Shouldn’t we be delving?”

Jane was right. Their whole team was falling behind the schedule they were meant to maintain. The group had barely managed to delve their channels long enough to start up their wind wells. They were all supposed to get a start on a new well before the end of the month, and they would need every bit of the power that came with that to fight the bandits they were meant to hunt down.

Myles kept up his pace, storming into Northleaf hall—at least his version of storming which was closer to most people’s calm and orderly—at least Jane noticed the change. She looked a little taken aback by his mood which he felt guilty for, but tonight was a night to make things happen.

Myles led Jane to Reah’s room. The group had quickly picked it out. Reah might have been secretive and abnormally skilled at stealth, but it was hard to keep people you know from finding out you live directly below them, and she had never tried to keep it a secret.

Myles knocked on the door a full three times before Reah answered. “Um…hi”

Jane’s eyes opened wide, and she subtly shuffled back and slightly behind Myles. Reah didn’t seem the same person as usual. She was missing her usual air of—not traditional or blatant confidence but maybe comfortable defensiveness. She looked unsure of herself and that put Myles on the backfoot.

Myles scratched his head, trying to pull his thoughts back together. “Do you want to join us for some pure mana jousting?”

Reah looked at him blankly, and a slight breathy, barely noticeable chuckle came from behind him. Myles knew there was the tiniest of smirks on Jane’s face.

Putting his hands up in a waving gesture, Myles tried to explain himself. “Seth told me about a game some of the nobles he knew played. Apparently, they rode horses at each other and tried to knock each other off using wooden sticks.”

Reah rolled her shoulder a little. “I don’t know if I would call that a game…”

Myles wasn’t sure what that meant, but he pressed on anyway. “Jane and I were testing something for the construct we’re building, and we realized that when pure mana moves against pure mana, its slick. We figured we could use that instead of horses and…”

“And you want me to evoke the mana?”

Jane shook her head. “We want you to join us.”

…

Mercy stood in the spot of their little training room that Primrose usually lectured from. “Welcome one,” she intoned in an unnaturally deep voice, sweeping her hands out, “welcome all to the first ever pure mana jousting TOURNAMENT!”

The crowd of six snickered to themselves. Even Kate, who had withdrawn into herself for the last few days, let out a smile at Mercy’s antics.

“For our first bout we have Ser Silas VS Ser Myles. Contestants ready your horses!”

Myles looked at his friend from across the room and gave a wide grin. He just shook his head in a I can’t believe I’m doing this kind of way. In between them sat a solid sheet of pure mana thick enough for them to stand on shoulder to shoulder. The whole group had contributed to its creation though Reah had admittedly given the most.

Silas mimed mounting a horse, and waved to a nonexistent crowd, earning a burst of laughter from Kate. Myles just prepared himself carefully, finding just the right angle to make his approach.

“Knights charge!”

Myles rushed towards the lane, commuting pure mana around his knees, and leaping onto the sheet. That was where the planning stopped. He slid uncontrollably past Silas. The pair both made a swipe at each other, but for all their training in hand-to-hand combat, they were used to having solid ground beneath their feet. Both of them promptly slipped onto their backs and rolled the rest of the way.

The crowd—such as they were—was roaring with laughter, and Myles had to grin to himself. There were more happy faces here than he had seen from his friends in a week. Nobody would normally accuse him of being a purveyor of foolish ideas, or even being someone who would actively put together a social event of any kind, but he was more than glad for leaving his comfort zone tonight. He was less glad for the wall that was…

The laughter redoubled as Myles smacked into the wall. With the force he hit, his friends might have been in worried silence two months before—but commuted armor had its benefits, namely a distinct overall decrease in bruises.

“And they’re both unworthy of being knights. Who oh who could replace these jesters. Hmmmm…” Mercy stroked her chin with her thumb in overdramatic fashion. “Why, the fair damsel Reah looks quite ready to enter the fray, and the evil, vile, villainous dark knight Seth, enemy of…”

Seth made a rude gesture at Mercy, but it was playful. Myles had to admire Mercy for her bravery. Seth was a great guy, but it was hard to tease him, he was usually so serious. For her part, Reah didn’t look particularly ready or comfortable with the situation. Kate gave her a friendly nudge though, and that decided it. Reah stepped forth, moving to the wall Myles was still crashed up against.

The second joust was much more impressive than the first. It looked like Reah got the upper hand, landing a solid shove on Seth, but he managed to push her with his leg as he was flung to the side. They both landed on the ground with Seth tumbling into one of the sand pits they used for training.

“That’s what I’m talking about!” Mercy’s voice changed again, taking on an impression of some kind of macho man.

Myles walked over and gave Reah a hand up. When he looked up, Kate was already making her way toward the jousting lane, one arm around Jane’s shoulders.

Outwardly, Jane was protesting, but Myles could see in her eyes that she wanted to try it out. He couldn’t help but remember her story about the axe throwing competition. She hadn’t participated in that.

Mercy wasn’t Jane’s best friend without reason. She caught that look in her eye too. “Our final bout of the evening will be between two of our meanest looking competitors. In one corner, we have the woman who’s always covered in soot, and in the other we have the gorilla who killed a vexenaught with her bare hands!”

Kate let go of Jane to give Mercy a glare, and Jane added hers to the mix shortly after. Despite the theatrics, the pair took their positions without any further delay.

Myles was secretly hoping they would make fools of themselves like he and Silas had, so, when they too managed to wind up on their backs, he exchanged a quiet high five with Silas.

It was a breather that they all needed. After a few more jousts, the tournament such as it was ended with no desicive victor, and a roomful of mostly humbled faces recalling particularly comical falls, but everyone left with much lighter hearts.

…

Not two hours after he had knocked on Reah’s door, Myles was back in his room, attention focused on his aether space, using what little wind mana he had in his second aether well to expand it. As he bore into the walls and floor of the well, little bits of membrane vanished, bit by bit he was getting stronger.

When his wind mana was exhausted, he switched his mind over to his pure mana well and moved it in a familiar pattern, digging a new channel in the opposite direction of the first. Lightning mana, he thought, his feelings settled. It may not have been the optimal choice for combat, but it had other interesting capabilities. He had to dig the channel first though, and that would take time, time and persistence.