NOVEL NEXT Chapter 11 - Consequences
“This section of the library connects to a highway. Dungeon creatures are drawn to the mana density, but there are wards to deter them from coming closer. Your… light show attracted some attention, and you are not safe here. Take what you need, and find a scrying plane.” Said the Librarian.
“I will, but what was that thing? It almost looked like a person. It was creepy. “ Replied Gio, catching his breath.
“An Inkling. A construct of Ink that grows stronger as it eats books. That one was an infant, but there are greater versions in this sector. The denizens of this section aren’t able to remove books from my collection of their own will unless someone does it for them. We will discuss your reimbursal at a later date. Take your books and go, Giorgio deGloria.”
The small owl evaporated into the darkness. Gio quickly grabbed a replacement copy of Mortimer’s Meticulous Primer for Making Spellforms, as well as copies of the conveniently co-located
Mortimer’s Meticulous Primer for Spellform Materials and Ink of Ages: a Material Atlas.
Feeling that he had dallied enough, Gio returned his books to his room via his badge (which was notably harder this far out into the library) and ran, retreading his steps through the library.
_____
“You look horrendous, Gio,” Chandrika said, pushing the silver-haired boy a cup of coffee. “Did you pull an all-nighter?”
“Something like that. I went on a bit of a long walk in the library.”
“A long walk? I thought that the deeper sections of the library were un-navigable without permission from the spirits.” Chandrika posited.
“To make a long story short, I had an eccentric teacher in prep school who made me learn this stupid mana-shaping technique to help me learn how to multitask and it has the side effect of being a divination. Rika, sorry that I’m not feeling more talkative today, but I am… depleted.” Gio said, hanging onto the warm mug like a lifeline. “Remind me to tell you about it... later.”
Chandrika frowned slightly but did her best to let Gio rest before class.
_____
“Gooooooooodmorning, students!” Professor A chirped, eliciting a quiet groan from Gio, facedown on the desk.
“Well, someone’s grumpy. The rest of the class seems well-rested. Why, mister Castallane seems to be positively chipper this morning. Perhaps too many late night visits to the library might not be good for your health, mister deGloria.” Professor A chided.
Gio balefully snapped one eye open at the mention of the library.
Did that bird tattle on me? He’s the one who gave me the tip.
“In any case, I hope you all found time to complete the homework, because you’ll be having a short surprise quiz, and then we’re off to the practice field.” the tall man intoned in a sing-song voice, his pure white ponytail-swinging behind his swaying body.
With a lifeless expression, Gio produced an immaculate sheet for the homework, and decimated the quiz in moments. Returning his head to the desk, several students attempted to glare holes into his back.
_____
“Right! We’re going to be attempting to have you all cast your first spells today, unless you’ve been unsafely practicing without supervision. In a completely unrelated tangent, the following students should step to the front of the practice field to go first. Jean-Claude Castallane, Giorgio deGloria, Henrie Robichaud…”
One by one, students stepped forward. By the end of the class period, about a quarter of the class had successfully demonstrated a spell. Only three students managed to injure themselves during the training session, But Professor Anaximenes had a healing spell on standby, and none of the injuries were worse than superficial.
_____
Gio stepped into the Manse after class, relieved to be finally able to sleep after a very long day and night. After a moment, when no portal outward appeared, Gio became confused.
“Uuuh, hello?” Gio said into the starry black abyss.
An imposing door of red glass floated up, from below the imaginary surface he was standing on. The door was covered in what appeared to be depictions of an embalming process. As Gio looked at the glossy red images of someone’s brain matter being extracted through the nose, he felt a sense of disquiet, but also irritation.
“The theatrics are interesting, but I'd really like to go to bed now.” Gio said, having lost his patience and tact past his 24th hour of being awake.
“I am certain that you’d like that. Mister deGloria. Please step into my private office.” Said Professor A, emerging from the void behind Gio.
Opening the titanic glass doors, Gio was greeted by the sight of an obsidian chamber, dimly lit by braziers of smoky white flames, being held by what appeared to be braziers carved out of ruby. Two symmetrical staircases wound around the sides of the landing area, and the center of the blackened floor was covered with a bas-relief, depicting several skeletal psychopomps grasping towards a glittering golden eye.
Professor A led Gio up a staircase, and sat him down at one end of a well-lit table. On the other end of the table, a young woman was sitting cross-legged. She had a staggering amount of strawberry-blonde hair, cascading from a gorgeous face which was currently locked onto Gio with an expression of unrestrained curiosity. Her angular face rested upon a slender hand, propped up against the ivory surface of the long table. Her fingers were each adorned with a number of silver rings, and razor sharp, long ruby red fingernails.
“Ah, Gio, this is Gladiolus Ballantine, my Apprentice. Glady, please don’t talk to Gio. He’s in trouble.” said the man, matter-of-factly.
Gio’s face twisted in an expression of annoyance and indignation.
Oh, that’s how it is? I am being treated like a child. Understood. Gio folded his arms in front of him, looking severe.
The spritely young woman giggled, and vanished into wisps of sickly green fog. Professor A sat at the other end of the table where she vanished from, facing Gio with an intense gaze.
_____
Alexander Anaximenes
Alexander faced his student, who was currently attempting to do his best impression of a death gaze.
Great, I am certain that this will be a lovely evening. Exhaling, Alexander pinched the brow of his nose.
“Do you think that you’re the first student to face this issue?” Alexander asked.
“That somehow, in hundreds of years, this academy has never faced a student who faces financial issues?”
“...No” Gio replied tersely.
“This year alone, approximately 175 individuals of your class of more than 3000 first year students are expected to face some amount of financial stressors. 25 of you are full-ride students, and yes- although you are our only Copper-Ring student this year, you are not the first, and will not be the last to come from a low-income zone.” Professor A ranted.
“I am not ignorant of your situation, Gio. I understand that you feel the need to progress as quickly as possible to make up for your deficiency. But you must understand that in order for you to succeed at all, you need to be alive.”
Piercing Gio with [Soul Sight], Alexander saw Gio’s status in its entirety. An invasion of privacy, perhaps- but a necessary one.
I knew he’d get something for it. Spirits, a [Knowledge Seeker] ?! Of all the blasted-
“Did you inform the Librarian that you received a skill upgrade?” He asked, drawing a confused look from Gio
“Aren’t the spirits aware of system alerts that happen in their domains? I don’t understand.” replied Gio.
“Answer the question.” Professor A demanded.
“No.”
“Good.” Professor A stated. “Keep it to yourself for now. I refuse to congratulate you for putting yourself in undue danger, but that’s a good skill.”
“I guess I don’t understand why you’re upset. I know we were warned to stay within the protection of the Manse, But it’s not against the school bylaws, and I saved a commendation by getting the books myself. I handled the Inkling easily.” Gio said, puffing his chest out slightly.
“I heard.” Professor A growled. “Tore its head right off. Don’t allow yourself to feel a single iota of pride from defeating a minor monster the way you did.”
“Let’s talk about it. You don’t know anything about commendations. You don’t know how to use your defensive magic yet. You had never cast a spell before. You don’t know anything about the structure of the school. You don’t know anything about how the libraries work.” He continued.
Finishing off his rant, Professor A summoned the corpse of the Inkling onto the table in a splatter of black ink and pages. “And to top it all off, you managed to let a monster eat a book from a magical library.”
“... The owl told me that the commendation would let me get special lessons from powerful mages.” Gio sheepishly replied.
He really does look particularly miserable.
Once again pinching his nose, Professor A took a breath in, steadying himself. “Look, Gio. Those old masters that the Librarian is talking about would laugh you off, or manipulate you, or put you in mortal danger if you tried to get something from them with a commendation as you are now.”
“Conversely, Using a Commendation on a [High Knowledge Elemental] like the Owl would give you permanent access to material about a certain topic. You could have filled your room with books about spellform making. It’s not used more because the commendation system can lead to mentorships from some truly powerful individuals, but that’s more of something for students later in their education, normally once they hit a roadblock in their studies.” he said.
“So here’s what’s going to happen. I am not cruel and unusual- so we’re going to suffer through this together. Tonight, we’re going to divide this corpse into raw materials to pay for the book, so that the Owl can’t complain to the high council and have you forced to do his bidding for years.”
Gio paled.
“And then, over the weekend, you’re going to write me a report about Inklings, Inkwraiths, and Library Centipede Golems, all of which exist in that zone, and could have killed you easily.” Professor A continued.
Gio paled further. “C-centipede Golems?”
“Then after that, on Monday you’re going to write me another report, about how you plan on safely harvesting spellform materials without going back into a dangerous area.”
Gio looked like he was about to pass out.
The only reason I'm even being this nice is because he somehow managed 100% on his homework and the quiz. But I'm not going to let him know that. I need to keep his burgeoning pride suppressed so that the lesson sticks.
“So, If you don’t want to lose out on even more sleep, Let’s get started. I suggest you roll up your sleeves, because these things are full of gross shit.”