System Scribe Academy Book 1 - Chapters 51,52,53,54,55 (Patreon)

Chapter 51

Unpredictable Dragon

Ethan spent quite a long time puzzling over what the component he had just emulated was. It seemed as though the Grand System was using the spell display screen to represent something it wasn't meant to represent, which was confusing. He eventually reached a conclusion that reminded him of spell components, like a control sigil in the spell array. Perhaps it was meant to attach to his rings in a different way. Maybe this was the system's way of giving him a hint on how he could progress his spellcrafting.

A System Sigil was a way of representing information. It defined a system, class, and specific spell array. Ethan reached a pretty interesting conclusion right away. Why couldn’t he modify those spells? He wrote them, after all. Why couldn’t he change them? But it wasn't something he could solve with a snap of his fingers. There were intricacies in the way that system sigils were designed that he didn't yet understand. Having this kind of information would help him in the future. He would work on it over time and eventually reach some kind of conclusion that helped him. For now, he focused on clearing anomalies and testing out combinations.

After all, the dragon didn't seem as though it was going anywhere.

Over the days, he fell into his work. While he had a few good spells to work with, the scribe had mostly focused on getting the vault open. It was in the afternoon, or at least Ethan thought it was, when he finally popped it. A system message appeared, showing that the gravity-based anomaly had been solved.

“I got it!” Ethan shouted, blinking away the tiredness.

Gideon skidded around the corner like a dog coming for a treat. “Really!?”

Sybil shoved her way past her partner, standing near to the place where the crushing gravity anomaly had been moments ago. She looked back at Gideon, nodding with excitement. “He did it.” She rubbed her hands together. “Now let’s see if the interior is safe.”

Ethan stood back, counting on Sybil’s ability to detect danger to see her through. She couldn’t get the rusted old door open on her own, forcing Gideon to give it a few swift kicks. Eventually, it buckled and gave way, allowing the pair to delve inside. The scribe kept his distance, instead turning his attention inward. 

To expand any other Attribute Rings, he had to do things related to that ring. For agility, he jumped around a whole bunch. Getting something for Strength would mean lifting heavy stuff? Or perhaps punching things. Ethan shook away the thoughts, looking inward as he listened to the sounds of Sybil and Gideon shouting with excitement. If the scribe focused on increasing the power of his most important rings, he would need to increase their depth.

“But how do we do that?” Ethan asked, scratching his chin with the end of his pen.

“I can’t believe there’s more!” Gideon shouted, sticking his head out of the room and giving Ethan the thumbs-up.

“Huh. More?” Ethan asked, ignoring the dance Gideon did. After gawking for a moment, the scribe went back to sketching. That was a seriously good idea.

Eventually, Gideon and Sybil came out of the store room with arms loaded with bags filled with loot. Ethan looked up long enough to see that they had mostly gathered raw materials, such as ingot, gems, and other stuff he assumed was for crafting. This must have been an area belonging to some crafters or a storehouse belonging to one such organization. The scribe was pulled away from his thoughts long enough to give it a rest for now.

“Are you rich?” Ethan asked.

“Richer.” Sybil said, hoisting a bag and jingling the contents. “You’re welcome to take an item, since you’re the reason we got in there.”

Ethan considered that offer. He didn’t want to deal with selling an item, but not accepting an item would make him suspicious. “I trust you to pick something for me.” That would offset some suspicion. “But we’re not going anywhere, are we? No sense rushing it.”

Gideon dug in his bag, withdrawing an ingot of glittering metal. It was gray with blue striations. Ethan happily accepted it, pushing himself to his feet and stretching his back out. He had to stop hunching when he spent hours investigating his rings.

“So, is there anything else you guys needed?” Ethan asked.

“No, that was the big payday.” Sybil shook her head. “But we’ll get to work on the next section while we wait for the giant lizard to go away.”

“Don’t call it that, babe. You know how dragons get.”

“Sorry. You’re right.” Sybil sighed. “Just annoyed that the dragon broke the same pattern after… How long has it been?”

“At least a year.”

“A year, and that dragon did basically the same thing every time we visited. Now, it does this.”

Ethan listened as Sybil grumbled, the duo headed down the hall. Without much time left, the scribe needed to dedicate himself to figuring this junk out. He considered the connection between the depth of his attributes and what Gideon had said earlier. It was simple, but he just hadn’t considered it before. He had considered his rings as circles of power, but there was another circle to consider. At first, his theory was that the amount of slots a ring had represented the relative rank of that attribute.

But that wasn’t the case. All his attributes were still Rank 1. But what if he were to stack another ring atop the first one, creating a ring that worked at a higher energy level? A Rank 2 attribute for him would be an attribute with two rings dedicated to the concept. Ethan guessed that second ring would start out with one slot, and he could increase it over time just as he had the Rank 1 ring. The first hint of this came when he saw the system message describing his attribute rings, with the second hint coming from Gideon. The nail in the coffin was the way his rings felt. Even if he had created another slot, he still felt as though the ring was too full of power to be normal.

That power wanted to burst out, so Ethan focused on the idea of creating another ring from the excess energy in his existing rings. One thing was for sure: this was going to take a very long time.

***

Ethan tumbled to the side, uprooted from his spot on the ground and his quiet meditation. It had been a boring few days, with only a couple of interesting anomalies and great progress with creating more rings. But the sound of the ground rumbling and the roar of the dragon outside the underground city brought him from his thoughts in an instant.

“Wake up, sleepy head.” Sybil rushed over to the hall Ethan had been sleeping in. Her bag was loaded with the materials they had gathered and she held a note in her hand. “We gotta get out. The dragons taking off. Here’s our mailing information if you want to talk when you get back to the academy.”

“Leave when you can, Ethan!” Gideon shouted. “That dragon is unpredictable.”

Without explaining things further, the pair were off. Ethan was left there on the cold stone floor, blinking away his confusion. Eventually, he put it together that they wanted to leave right when the dragon departed so they wouldn’t get stuck. The scribe wanted the same thing… except he needed to have a look in the room Thread had given him the combination to.

Ethan dashed around his temporary living area, grabbing all his stuff and cramming it in his backpack. He would be leaving the city with a few trinkets, some physical and some spell-based. With no time to test the new spells, he was eager to get out of here. Once everything was packed away, and the appropriate abilities slotted for a quick getaway, he rushed to the room. He only needed to activate the sigils in the right order, then the door would open… Or so he hoped. Sybil and Gideon told him they had tried a bunch of combinations, so he wasn’t worried about activating a trap.

Pressing his hand into the first symbol on his sheet, Ethan watched as the stone glowed. He waited, watching as the glow remained for a few seconds. He activated the next one with his mana, and the same thing happened. Thread had given him the password to the door. While the scribe inputted what she had given him, he wondered why she would do such a thing. The next eight symbols were accepted without a problem, and soon all the sigils he had pressed pulsed at the same time.

The door creaked, swinging on unseen hinges as dust fell from the ceiling. Ethan stepped back, the barrier spell at the forefront of his mind as he watched. The air that flooded out from the room was stale, rushing over him and forcing him to cough against the torrent of dusty stale air. Covering his face with the sleeve of his robe, he squinted against the darkness and peered within the room.

It was mostly empty. On the far side of the room, there was a pedestal with a small silver bracelet resting atop. Like everything in the room, it was covered in a layer of dust. Ethan crossed the distance, his feet leaving a trail in the thick dust on the ground. Thread wouldn’t lead him this deep into a trap, would she? The scribe hesitated, opening his senses. Although a faint wisp of energy lingered around the bracelet, he could sense no anomalies.

Ethan tightened the straps on his bag, grabbing the bracelet and pocketing it. He remained still, ears perked up as he listened for anything to happen. When no Indiana Jones style traps released a boulder to crush him, he headed for the door and shrugged.

Standing in the empty halls, without the treasure hunters to keep him company, the city felt eerie. Ethan heard the sounds of rocks shifting overhead, and the howl of the wind through the underground city. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end as he made his way toward the exit. He really shouldn’t have been surprised when he spotted the masked figure standing there, hands on her hips as she tutted.

“That changed things more than expected,” Thread said, giggling to herself. “This thread might be in trouble.”

Ethan narrowed his eyes on her. “You’re the one that told me to do it.”

“We live and we learn. The stability of this one isn’t horrible, but the new issue is that you’re gonna die. As you can imagine, that isn’t ideal.”

Throwing his hands in the air, Ethan screamed. “You’re the one who gave me the password!”

“These things are ever-changing. I’m still… The world doesn’t have a moon, but I’m the sun and the moon. Gods, what does that mean?” Thread buried her masked face in her hands. “Okay, hold on. We moved to the left, when we should’ve gone right. So, just take two steps to the right. Job done.”

“What does that mean!?” Ethan shouted, stomping over. He wanted to throttle the confusing masked cat, but restrained himself at the last second. “What do I need to do?”

“Okay, uh… Let’s see… You were supposed to meditate or something outside, so you can either do that and be eaten. You can stay inside, but then there’s a lot of fire… Best option is to run!”

Ethan didn’t wait. It was clear now that Thread was seeing the future or something similar, so he dashed past her and out into the open air. His mouth dropped open as his heart hammered in his chest. A dark shape had appeared in the sky above the valley. The scribe turned to shout one last thing at the entrance.

“You’re an idiot, and I hate you!”

The dragon roared in response.

Chapter 52

Grand System Quest

Logic was a hard thing to hold onto when a flying lizard with deadly intent was breathing down ‌one’s neck. Ethan’s instinct was to hide in the underground city, but he had to consider Thread’s credibility. Unfortunately, she had been right about two key things that made her trustworthy. She had given him the password for the sealed door and she had predicted that his next move was meditating outside of the city.

Ethan kicked off the ground at a tight angle, dropping a quarter of his mana into his Agility Ring. The landscape below him whipped by at such an aggressive speed that he felt dizzy, his head swimming for the agonizing moments of his upward arc. The sound of the dragon’s roar went from deafening to silent in an instant. When he began his downward descent, he created his platform and jumped again. And again, and again. His mana was almost completely expended, forcing him to angle for the forest floor below.

Attempting some kind of superhero roll, Ethan landed awkwardly on a platform near the forest floor and slammed hard into a tree. He groaned, clawing at the ground and looking around. After finding a small embankment laced with overhanging tree branches, he waited in the mud and slowed his breathing as best he could. Something inside him told him to take caution, so he pulled as much of his magical presence close to his soul.

A breath later, and the roaring of an angry dragon echoed out from overhead. Ethan held his breath, clasping his hand over his mouth. Although his lungs begged for air, he waited. A few tense moments later, and the speeding dragon was gone. It had chased him. The scribe was flying at a speed he couldn’t even comprehend, driven by desperation and the fear of that giant lizard, and the beast still chased him.

Ethan remained where he was for hours. He had half-expected Thread to show up, offering equal-parts good information and bad news. But there was nothing but the sounds of the surrounding forest. The scribe’s mind had been a tangle of unconnected thoughts, but that logical part of him returned. This was a problem, and problems could be solved. His first instinct when facing the dragon was now valid. Heading out as soon as he could would be risky, and he was done taking risks if he could help it.

Hunker down for the night. No fire. No food. Just the mud and sadness.

Rising into a seated position, Ethan’s head hit the top of the root cave. He let out a steadying breath, keeping a check on the mana in his soul. It would be a long, boring night. But it was far better than being eaten by a dragon.

***

Sleeping in the mud wasn’t the greatest thing in the world. But Ethan had heard the dragon a few times throughout the night, confirming that his move to stay still was the right one. Sometime after midnight, the beast’s roars had gone silent. Dawn brought with it a feeling of relief and the scribe finally stepped from his hidey hole and stretched. A wave of cleaning system energy washed over him after he dripped some mana into his Vigor Ring.

“Thank God for that,” Ethan groaned, feeling something pop uncomfortably in his back. “Gotta get some more Endurance.”

Ethan had fled east, having no desire to bring the dragon to the small town outside the fighter academy. He found a clearing to take off from and worked his way north, using the rising sun to keep him pointed in the right direction. Naturally, he completely failed to find the outpost and instead found the range of mountains that marked Fangbrand House City’s borders. He arrived outside of the southern gate, breathing a sigh of relief after flashing his badge to the gate guard.

“Is there a captain on guard?” Ethan asked, probing at his leg and wincing. “And a healer’s church?”

The burly guard on duty looked at him with confusion, but both gave him directions to the nearest healer and ran off to fetch someone who was in charge. Ethan waited for only a few minutes, eventually relaying the information about the dragon to a scarred woman who was missing an eye. The members of Fangbrand sure were in rough shape…

“A first year? Running from a dragon?” the captain asked with a laugh. “Sure. And I’m the Warmaster.”

Ethan shrugged. “Just thought you might wanna know. Okay, later.”

Although the captain blustered after him, Ethan ignored her. They could bring him in for questioning if they wanted, but there was only one thing on his mind right now. He got his leg sorted, and used the nearest Gate to rush back to Gale House City. The salty air hit him after only a few blocks, and soon his cottage came into view. Quickening his pace, he threw open the main gate and barreled through the front door before collapsing onto the ground.

“Someone had an adventure,” Avalara said, looking down at the scribe with a concerned expression. “Anything that I need to worry about?”

Ethan gazed up at the ceiling, his eyes not locking on anything in particular. “Got chased by a dragon.”

“A whelp, you mean. Surely a dragon would’ve killed you.”

Ethan sighed. “I wish I was kidding.” Rolling over, he dug through his bag and found the bracelet. He held it up for her to see. “I’m pretty sure it was after this.”

“I don’t recognize it.” Avalara came over, stooping low to inspect the item. “Have you interacted with it yet? I have the feeling this is a magical item, which should be recognized by your system.”

Holding it at arm’s length, Ethan looked at the item. With only the faintest of intent, he inspected it. Just like other aspects of his system, the item produced a screen. What was confusing was how unlike an item information screen it was.

[System Adaptation]

This item is incompatible with your system. Please reconfigure it to adapt to the Primary system.

“Of course it wants to be annoying about this. Another skill to learn, I guess.”

“Explain the issue to me,” Avalara said. “Perhaps I can help.”

Ethan explained what he had read, and the ghost nodded along. Her thoughts on the matter was that this would be an easy fix. Although he doubted her, he would try anything. The bracelet had been a pain to get and was interested in seeing what magic had been imbued into it. He could barely feel anything when he forced his magical senses into it. Wouldn’t a powerful magical item have a lot of juice in it?

“So, I just put my mana in it?” Ethan asked.

“That’s all.” Avalara stood back as though she expected him to do it right away. Since he had been stuck in Stone Valley for about a week, he wanted to do anything but sit inside and get the bracelet working. Instead, he bid her farewell and made for his favorite park.

Ethan took a deep breath of the salty air. Closing his eyes as the sounds of distant seabirds echoed over the park. He already felt better, as though he hadn’t been chased by a dragon for the shiny silver bracelet he held in his hands. But the moment didn’t last too long and he instead got back to work on his rings, toggling between that task and filling the bracelet. It was a hungry little thing, siphoning mana from his chest as though it were parched. Without the Lesser System Siphon ability, there was no way the scribe could’ve kept up with both tasks. With it, he split his focus and got to work.

Expanding the attribute rings was one thing, but Ethan pushed the definition of those rings as far as it would go. He focused on the sensation he felt when he sketched his rings, opening himself up to the Grand System. It wasn’t opposed to the idea, but he could feel that he was a long way off before he had the energy required. Meditation, adding mana to the bracelet, and exploring concepts in his mind painted the rest of his afternoon.

Before heading to dinner, he messed around with the idea of rewriting his spells. Ethan made oddly easy progress on that after he decomposed the Lesser System Barrier spell to screw around with it. Since he had created the System Sigil for the spell, adding the component from the X-13 was easy. Perhaps that’s because both the component and the spell were from the same system, but it snapped together on the first try. He had only smashed them together and it worked. Just like that.

It was important to always be suspicious of anything that was too easy.

Ethan inspected the new version of the spell, finally understanding what the component meant.

[Lesser System Barrier]

Affinity Ring Ability

Generated By:

Lesser Barrier (X-13, Mage, Rank 1)

Description:

Creates a barrier of system-based magic, deflecting physical and magical attacks.

Effect:

Creates a barrier to deflect physical and magical attacks. The strength of this barrier depends on the mana you inject.

Passive increase to magical and physical resistance.

Passive increase to mental attacks.

Component Modifications (Target Focus (Centered))

[Reactive Lesser System Barrier]:

Ability is now cast, instead of channeled, lasting up to one hour before expiring.

Barrier automatically appears to intercept attacks. Each attack absorbed reduces the remaining time of the spell.

Components changed the way abilities worked. When Ethan cast the spell without the component, he had to channel it. Now he could cast it on other people, giving them a temporary shield. As if combining abilities wasn’t powerful enough, he could now change the way they worked entirely. The versatility of this new method would help with spells, but the scribe doubted it would produce anything useful for abilities slotted into his other rings. To test the theory, he applied the Target Focus (Centered) sigil to his System Leap ability and inspected the modifications it made.

Component Modifications (Target Focus (Centered))

[Reactive System Leap]:

Infuse an amount of mana into your Agility Ring, activating a lesser version of the original spell every time you jump with intent.

The speed and power of jumps is greatly increased while mana cost is also decreased.

Some quick testing revealed that the component version of the ability was far weaker, especially when it came to the landing. But the concept of the ability was easy enough to understand. With the barrier, it turned it into a cast-and-forget format. Similarly, System Leap was now passive, increasing his jump height but making it so he didn’t have to manage the mana he injected into his Agility Ring. This format might be useful for other things, but he left his System Leap the way it was before. Zooming away from that dragon showed him just how useful the ability could be if he used it correctly.

Ethan gave himself an hour before heading to dinner. He also had to check in with Amelia and Barry, who thought he was still in the field. That was enough time for him to make minor progress with his rings. His Affinity and Mind Ring seemed on the edge of doing something, but with his mana efforts centered on the bracelet, it wasn’t going to happen today.

The scribe didn’t notice how the park had emptied out. He didn’t even notice as a familiar figure approached from across the open garden areas, striding over the paving stones with purpose. When Ethan looked up, catching sight of the last person he wanted to see after arriving back home, he let out a labored sigh.

“Man, what did I do this time?” he asked.

Silvain pushed back his hood, pointing down at the bracelet in his hand. “Exactly how much mana have you dumped in that? People in adjacent academies reported they could sense a powerful source of mana coming from Gale House.”

Ethan’s brow furrowed as he looked down at the bracelet. “This old thing?”

Silvain gave him a flat look.

The bracelet, humming with energy, might’ve been concerning if Ethan understood anything about it. What concerned him more was the message that entered his vision.

[Grand System Quest: First Trial (Divine Intervention)]

Chapter 53

Scribe’s Bracelet

[Grand System Quest: First Trial (Divine Intervention)]

Description:

Unfortunate, but necessary. The Artifact you’ve encountered in a celestial-grade item not intended for interaction with the Grand System’s magic. Unfortunately, the benefactor coming to your rescue has already selected a dangerous course.

The Lord and Lady of this sector are… strange. Try not to offend them too much while they patch up this mess.

Reward:

????

“I may have made a mistake,” Silvain said, drawing his mouth into a tight line.

Ethan read over the message, doing his best to understand the content. So it was the act of adjusting the “artifact” to his system that was the problem. Was it that his system was too powerful, or just some general incompatibility? Right now, he focused on what the quest told him to do. He focused, gathering as much information as he could, pushing his concentration as hard as he could.

“What did you do?” Ethan asked, watching as his breath hung in the air. Why was it so cold all of a sudden? Divinity… Crap. Should’ve researched that before now.

“Normally, I would handle this issue,” Silvain explained, hand twitching as though it wanted to grasp his massive sword. “But the bracelet is… powerful. I couldn’t contain it without help, so I asked for help from the authorities of the Middle Realms. Specifically, the Arbiter and the Dreamwalker.”

“Keep going.” Ethan watched as the area around them darkened. With his spells at the front of his mind, he prepared for whatever was to come next.

“The Grand System intervened.” Silvain relaxed a bit, shaking his hands out and rolling his shoulders. “It was sent to the Elemental authorities, which escalated it to the High Heavens. I don’t think they’ll show up personally, but emissaries for the Lord and Lady approach. Do not speak unless asked. Do not disobey their commands. Kneels when they approach, and do not make eye-contact.”

Ethan swallowed hard. Then he heard the sound of chimes tinkling far in the distance.

The surrounding darkness seemed to close in, the cold doubling. Ethan drew his robes around himself, hand clutched around the bracelet. Beyond the darkness, a spark of light flickered to life and a bell rang. The scribe ran the rules through his mind again, dropping his focus over his mana and concentrating everything he had on the approaching light.

“Brace yourself,” Silvain said. “I’ve only seen them a few times.”

Two figures emerged from the gloom. They walked hand-in-hand, taking each step in time with a bell that rang somewhere even more distant than the darkness. The one on the left had a feminine form with a flowing white dress and skin so white it seemed to shine. Hanging over her face was a veil that swept from either side with each step she took. The masculine form on the right was covered in dark robes with a matching veil over his own face.

All Ethan could do was stand there. He hardly noticed Silvain take a knee next to him, and was forced down himself when the benefactor grabbed him by the robe. The scribe cast his eyes to the ground, biting the inside of his cheek as his thoughts failed him. He heard the shuffling of feet as the procession came to an end. Now the temperature of the air was a strange battle between hot and cold, with gusts providing each side of the concerning shift.

“Silvain,” the woman said. “I’m happy to see you well.”

“You as well,” Silvain said without raising his head.

“I’m happy to see this world doing well,” the man said.

“As well as I can manage.” Silvain shifted uncomfortably on the ground.

The man and woman hummed together for a moment.

“The Lord will now speak through me.”

“The Lady will now speak through me.”

Ethan felt a heady rush of unrecognizable energy. At first, he thought it was the sensation of the Grand System’s base energy. But there was something strange about it, as though that baseline energy had been tinged with the scent of something else. The warm energy felt comforting and infinite, while the cold felt threatening and finite. Once that energy had finished coalescing, apparently within the bodies of these emissaries, a pulse of power radiated out. The scribe felt it in his gut, a wave of nausea spreading through his body.

“What have you found today, Silvain?” The Lord’s voice boomed, sending a chill down Ethan’s spine. It was hard not to shiver on the spot.

“Oh, go easy on him.” The Lady’s voice was a comfort, each word banishing the cold like a warm song. “We decided on him, so we’re just as much to blame.”

Silvain remained silent, offering absolutely nothing to the commentary. Ethan did his best not to pass out as the weight of divinity pressed in on him. His eyes were locked on the ground, fist pressed into the cobblestone with white knuckles.

“Hand me the bracelet, young one.” The Lady’s voice commanded Ethan. If he wanted to disobey, he wasn’t sure he could resist. Before he knew it, his hand stretched out, offering the bracelet freely. “Hmm, interesting.”

“That’s one way to put it.” The Lord released a heavy sigh. “Such talent. That’s a lot of mana for someone at Rank 1.”

“Not only that, but he’s woven it in such a way as to change the item’s origin system.” The Lady clapped with excitement. “I think we have a winner here.”

“Indeed.” The Lord hummed as he thought, his voice reverberating through Ethan’s bones. “We have the authority. Shall we fix it?”

“Naturally. The fates are clear. Conceptually, this is very difficult. The poor boy has a difficult job ahead of him. Who can remember all that stuff?” The Lady gave a polite giggle.

“You were born in divinity.” The Lord grumbled a few unintelligible words. “You’ve never had that problem.”

“Oh, my! You’re grumpy today.”

Some silent agreement was forged between the Lord and the Lady. They spoke as though Ethan wasn’t even there, which made sense to him. No matter how he looked at it, they were gods. He was far beneath their attention, even if, according to their brief conversation, they might’ve had some hand in bringing him here. Whatever they decided on, he would accept their judgement. The mana resting within the bracelet was growing more unstable by the moment. And then it clicked. The beacon he had lit vanished in an instance.

“That’ll do it.” The Lord sighed as though bored with the affair. “I’m sorry to say, but the road calls.”

“Indeed. Thank you for your cooperation, scribe. We look forward to your work.”

The sound of both the Lady and Lord turning on the spot echoed with chimes and bells. They reversed their procession, the cold and heat fading with each sound. Even when the frigid temperature faded and the sound of the city rushed back in from the distance, Ethan and Silvain didn’t move. Minutes passed before either stirred, and it was the scribe who moved first.

Ethan scooped up the bracelet, which had been discarded on the ground. He held it, rolling it over in his hand to view the strange material. It was hard to determine the material of the object, but bands of white laced within a frame of gold.

“That was something else.”

Silvain groaned to his feet, sagging to one side. He looked upon Ethan with a confused expression. “Why aren’t you on the ground?”

Ethan examined himself. Perhaps he was slightly tired, but nothing more than a long day would’ve caused. It had been very busy, considering he was splitting his focus between so many things. And with classes resuming soon, that feeling of tiredness would only increase. He hadn’t been good about relaxing during his break, after all.

With a shrug, Ethan regarded the benefactor. “I don’t know. Should I be?”

“You just spoke with two gods.” Silvain groaned some more, making the status of his sore joints and fatigue known to all within earshot. “Your closeness with the Grand System gives you quite a few advantages, doesn’t it?”

“Seems that way.” Ethan’s brow knit tightly. “The Lord and the Lady… They were gods, right?”

Silvain shook his head. “They were speaking through avatars, if you will. The gods cannot leave the heavens, except under extreme circumstances. Normally, they couldn’t interact with something like your dangerous bracelet. But this was one of the rare cases where they could push into the lives of mortals, sealing away that dangerous bracelet. Perhaps you can inspect that item now.”

Ethan hadn’t even considered it. When he had first inspected it, the system gave him an error since the item wasn’t usable with his system. He held the bracelet in his hand. It wasn’t often that the scribe found his thoughts clouded by indecision. He’d be lying if he told Silvain he was completely unaffected by the encounter. It might not have been as bad as the benefactor was experiencing, but his thoughts were still clouded.

After too long of a moment of hesitation, he brought the description of the item up.

[Scribe’s Bracelet]

Celestial Ranking Bracelet

Description:

Once a powerful Celestial-grade bracelet belonging to a greedy king, this item has been reforged. A complex circuit made from pure celestial energy has been imprinted on this item.

Circuit:

Learning…

“Learning.” Ethan breathed the words, rolling the item over in his hands to get some idea of what that meant. He spotted a small line connecting two dogs on the inside of the bracelet, but he couldn’t make sense of it. “What the hell is a circuit?”

“You’re asking me?” Silvain asked with a chuckle. “Let me tell you about my background. I was a fighter, and a mediocre one at that. In my position at the academy, I’ve learned nothing of magic. Even as a first year student, you’re better equipped to answer that question than I am.”

It wasn’t just that Silvain didn’t know what this thing was. Logically, Ethan knew no one else would know what it was. In his time reading in the library and interacting with students and professors, he had heard of nothing like this. The construction of the circuit was simple. Two dots and a line. Although he could assume the dots were like sigils, that might’ve only been in design. The function of that circuit could’ve been anything.

“I guess I’m putting this on.” Ethan slipped the bracelet over his hand, gritting his teeth with what happened next. “Should’ve figured.”

In an instant, the item resized itself. One moment, the finger-width bracelet had been large enough that he could comfortably slip over his thumb, and the next it was practically pressing against his skin. No matter how much he pulled at it, the item wasn’t coming off.

“Hope you didn’t need that hand.” Silvain’s tone was almost mocking, but still carried with it a sense of exhaustion. “Unfortunately, I must rest. You’re on your own with the bracelet.”

The only thing Ethan could think of was to take this thing to Avalara. Although the result wasn’t pleasant, she had the right idea sending him off to infuse it with mana. “That’s fine. There’s a ghost I need to talk to about this thing.”

Silvain gave a non-committal grunt before slumping off.

Ethan turned his attention to the dark sky above. Lanterns glittered in the night and life was returning to the park. Apparently, a god showing up to chat with a student wasn’t enough of an event to drive them away for good. That, or they had witnessed absolutely nothing thanks to some errant magic from the Lady and Lord. Upon returning to and entering his cottage, the scribe was met with the shirtless barbarian he had as a roommate, rather than the pleasant ghost he had expected.

“Got something to show you!” Barry shouted, grabbing Ethan by the shoulders and shaking him. “Took almost forever, but I finally got it!”

“What exactly is ‘it?’”

“My War Rig!” Barry shouted. “Come on. Nothing like the cool night’s air on your skin to get the blood pumping.”

The bracelet wasn’t going anywhere. And Barry seemed quite excited about this, so why not? Ethan let that logical part of his brain slip. It wasn’t something he was very good at, but Barry’s class and what it could do had been on the edge of his mind for quite some time. That made things easier, allowing the idea of having “fun” to slip through with relative ease.

“Okay. Let’s rock.”

Chapter 54

Night Ride

Barry had been keeping his secret for quite some time. Ethan had resisted the urge to delve into the man’s system to get even the smallest hint. At first, it was a matter of courtesy, and then it had become something of a reliance on mutual pride and respect. The big, constantly shirtless man had never pried deeply into what the scribe could do. Not only that, but he had come to his aid on multiple occasions, prepared to somehow take on the administrators of the Academy to see him safe. The least he could do was give the man some privacy.

Before, it had been a proverbial cloth prepared to rip off the nature of a system, but now it was a literal one. Behind Ethan’s cottage, there was a heavy canvas tarp draped over the top of something. Barry approached it, rubbing his hands together with excitement and looking back at his friend every so often.  

“Now this right here is something of a prototype.” Barry was still rubbing his hands together. They seemed to itch to reach out and grab the canvas. “I’ve got a lot of improvements to make, but from what the headmaster told me, I’ll be making some seriously cool stuff very early on in my career.” 

Ethan waited but the man didn’t act. He offered him a shrug. “Well, are you going to pull it?”

Barry flashed a devious smile, then gripped the tarp tightly. In one swift motion, he pulled it to the side, revealing the sight hidden beneath. “Again. Remember, this is a prototype.”

Ethan’s mouth fell open, and he resisted the urge to withdraw his pen from his soul. Even without his pen, he could feel the magical potential coming from the thing. It was, in no uncertain terms, a motorcycle. Well, perhaps it was a motor tricycle. The scribe wasn’t very knowledgeable about anything mechanical, but it certainly looked like something that would not be out of place back on Earth. He circled it, noting all the details. There was a section behind the handlebars that appeared to hold gasoline. There was an engine somewhere near the seat and even brakes on the handles. And one of those things a biker used to turn and give the engine some juice.

“You made a motorcycle.” Ethan cupped his chin, taking in every detail of the contraption. He rolled the bracelet over in his hands, idly slipping it over his fingers a few times but never allowing it to pass beyond his thumb. “How did you even do this?”

“We call them war rigs where I’m from,” Barry said with pride. “Can’t make it across the wastes without them, and I’ve missed mine ever since I left my planet. As you might have guessed, my class is something they’re calling magitech, which is a fancy way of saying that I can recreate concepts from my mechanical knowledge in the form of artifices.”

“You can make magical machines… Is this actually a gas tank?” Ethan knelt and ran his hands along the cool metal of the tank and shook his head. “This thing must have been extremely expensive to make.”  

“Not as expensive as you’d think.” Barry sat beside his friend and put his hand on the tank. “What you’re right about is that this is almost like a tank to hold fuel. But instead of fuel, it’s got liquid mana in it. That is an entire chapter of my life I do not want to relive. It was painfully difficult to get it working.”

“How did you even get the rubber for the tires? And is the engine actually working on a piston system? Is there a driveshaft, or whatever they’re called, in here somewhere?”

Ethan was confused by the entire arrangement. Since he had started learning about magic, the one thing he understood about it was that it broke the laws of physics. What was the point of having a machine that imitated stuff from his old planet if he could just achieve the same thing with magic? Perhaps that was the beauty of a magitech-based class. It came in a familiar package, allowing Barry to create such a contraption in such a short amount of time.

The logic of it was sound. If Ethan had started in this world with a better knowledge of magic as his base, he would have done far better. His propensity to dive headlong into puzzles and solve things with the logical side of his brain had given him an extreme leg up in mastering his class. He looked at Barry in a different light at that moment. The man was a genius, but this kind of genius could only be defined in terms of both magic and mechanics.

“Yeah, that’s right. We’ve got six pistons pumping for the engine and the tires… What do you call it? Rubber? It’s based on a recipe back on my planet. We use the blubber from these creatures to create a hard but yielding material. I was going to do tracks, but this was just easier. There’s a local tree that produces a sap similar enough to the blubber byproduct.” Barry’s chest was fully thrust out. “Every piece was hand-forged by me, and I paid for the materials by working. Well, and the loan you gave me.”

“This is the single most impressive thing I’ve ever seen.” Ethan played with his bracelet more, spinning it around his fingers as his mind fell into thought. “Now that the cat’s out of the bag, would you mind if I emulated your system?”

Barry stood, holding his arms out. “On one condition. You gotta go for a ride with me.”

Ethan considered that for only a few moments before a smile spread across his face. “Deal.”

Emulating Barry’s system wasn’t as difficult as it should have been. Perhaps Ethan was getting used to the act, but after playing around with his pen for a bit, he was able to grasp the man’s system. The first thing he noticed was that it wasn’t like the others he had experienced so far. He would say that it was closest to the X-13 system, but there were enough distinguishing features to make it an entirely different branch of the tree. The symbol he settled on was a five-pointed star inside a circle.

When the system message finally appeared, the scribe’s smile spread further.

[System Emulation]

Would you like to emulate the MAC-5B system at Echelon1, Grade 8, with the Magitech Mechanic class?

Y/N

A laugh escaped Ethan’s lips. “Your system is quirky. The designation is MAC-5B, and your rankings are broken into echelons and levels into grades. That’s cute.” Since the emulation process had been so easy this time, the scribe didn’t have as much of a sense for what the class did. “Magitech Mechanic, huh?”

“Damn. You sure can see a lot of information with that class…” Barry scratched at the stubble on his chin, eventually clapping his hands together. “Welp, you can steal my spells later. You promised me a joyride.”

Ethan thought he would immediately regret his decision. Barry mounted the motorcycle and kicked it to life. Instead of the roaring engine he had expected, it was a patient purr that didn’t sound much louder than a common house cat. But when the Magitech Mechanic produced a broad smile on his face and thumbed a switch on the center panel, everything changed. The sound of the engine became a deafening roar, and he revved the magical engine to make it worse.

“My neighbors are gonna…” Ethan tried to bring his voice above the sound of the engine, but it was useless.

“What was that?”

“I said…”

Barry revved it again. “HUH!?”

Ethan shook his head, throwing his leg over the motorcycle and holding on tight. In response, Barry kicked the vehicle into gear. They tore ass through the yard, nearly slamming through the neat fence that bordered the cottage. A moment later, they were on the road, cutting through Gale House and heading directly for the nearest gate. Ethan screamed for as long as his lungs would allow, but eventually settled. The steady thumping in his chest didn’t subside. Fear and adrenaline created a potent mix.

In all the excitement of jumping on the motorcycle and sailing through the streets of Gale House, Ethan had hastily shoved the bracelet over his thumb. For some of the ride, it had jangled around. But then, as they were approaching the edge of the city at record pace, he noticed that it was now snug against his skin. The scribe slapped Barry’s back, trying to get him to pay attention, but the mechanic was simply having too much fun.

Only when they were outside of the massive city covered in only about an hour did he bring the vehicle to a stop and look back at his companion with concern. “What’s up? Did you crap your pants?” Barry had a broad smile on his face but noticed the concern on Ethan’s. His expression melted into one of mutual fear.

Ethan dismounted from the motorcycle and tugged at the bracelet on his wrist. He winced, cursing as the bracelet stung his skin, sending a small shock of pain up his left arm. “Damn it. I may have made a mistake.”

Barry killed the engine, walking over with concern and grabbing Ethan’s arm. “What’s this? How did you get it so tight?” He tugged, but to no avail. Even the strength of the muscle-bound mechanic did nothing to remove the bracelet.

Eventually, Ethan resigned himself to his new, permanent piece of jewelry. “This is actually a long story involving a dragon, a daring escape, and some gods. Might take a while to explain the whole thing.”

Barry’s expression twisted from concern to fear. “You’re not kidding, are you? What have you gotten yourself into?”

The night was already dragging on, and Ethan wasn’t sure how much sleep he would get. The scribe winced again as the bracelet sent another electric shock through his system. He would have taken this directly to somebody in authority, but his cool head prevailed. He went back in his mind, remembering the important parts of his conversation with the Lord and Lady. They were fixing this thing for him, and they had high expectations for him. In his mind, that meant they wouldn’t have given him something that would kill him. No, they would only provide items that would help. With that knowledge, he ignored the pain and looked around.

“Is there anywhere we can get some food and drink?” Ethan couldn’t spot a single place that looked open at this hour. They were on the city’s edge, or close to it anyway.

“Maybe. Let’s look around.” Barry was still tugging at the bracelet, but gave up when Ethan withdrew his hand.

It didn’t take long for them to find a tavern that was still open at this hour. The crowd inside was rowdy, but that hardly bothered the pair. Barry was big enough to dissuade anybody from questioning their place there, and they found a table, ordering food and drinks. Of course, the scribe was happy to pay for everything, and he was soon explaining everything that had happened and eating his fill. He hadn’t realized how hungry he had gotten, and the tiredness from the day was settling in.

“Deities are not to be messed with.” Barry’s expression was deathly serious. He leaned over the table and shook his head before pointing an accusatory finger. “No matter what you do, you cannot involve yourself with them. I don’t know exactly how they work in this sector, but don’t strike a deal with them. Don’t pledge to be their follower. Just avoid them at all costs, okay?”

“Message received.” Truth was, although Ethan planned to research everything he could about gods in the coming days, he agreed with Barry. He wanted nothing to do with them. Silvain’s reaction to the appearance of the Lord and the Lady was enough for him to learn his lesson the first time.

“Plenty of time for research.” Barry’s eyes lingered on the bracelet for a moment before he nodded. “Come on. You said Avalara might know a thing or two.”

Ethan yawned, nodding without much enthusiasm. “Yeah. And classes start soon. Can’t forget about classes.”

“No matter how hard I try, I can’t forget about the classes.”

Chapter 55

Lacking Power

All promises of visiting Avalara before going to bed faded when the pair returned home. Barry might not admit it, but the day had taken a toll on him, the same way it had taken a toll on Ethan. They were tired, and both went to bed the moment they returned to the cottage. The bike was stored in the back. This was a fact the scribe wasn’t exactly happy with, not until the mechanic told him about a very important feature. He was the only one who could turn it on, as the machine was bound to him.

Ethan woke the next morning to something pushing against him. He shot up, going from a deep slumber to fully awake in an instant, and somebody released a startled yelp. The room around him was blurry, and the beating of his heart in his ears was enough to drown out most other sounds. He only offered a weak, “What’s going on?”

“What’s gotten into you?” Amelia’s voice immediately put him at ease. Ethan released a heavy sigh and sat up in his bed, rubbing his face. “Barry said you got into some trouble.”

Once the adrenaline wore off, Ethan could feel the pain in his wrist. When his vision cleared, he looked down and breathed a sigh of relief. There were no physical marks on his wrist around the bracelet. It had contracted to exactly the size of his arm and then stopped reducing. “This story is very long and kind of boring. We don’t have classes today, do we?”

“No. Get dressed, and meet me in the living room. Avalara is also very concerned.”

Without saying another word, Amelia left the room. She left behind the pleasant scent of some floral perfume and a bunch of questions Ethan needed answers to. His impulse should have been to exploit his access to Barry’s MAC-5B system, but instead he found all of his thoughts focused on the bracelet. He inspected it, expecting the status of the circuit to have changed, but it was still the same celestial ranking bracelet it was before. A little bit of experimentation later, he determined that the bracelet was not draining energy from him. If it was powering itself, it was doing so through latent energies in the air.

“At least it isn’t draining me of mana… Lifeforce on the other hand? Maybe.”

Dismissing the idea, Ethan headed to the living room and slumped onto the sofa. Barry, and Amelia were standing there, looking at him, while Avalara floated around.

“Sweet. My two best friends and a ghost.” Ethan slapped himself in the face a few times, driving away some of the sleep. “So, do you guys want to hear the story?”

“Yeah, I didn’t feel right telling them.” Barry stood like a sentry, ready to defend against… something. How the big man expected to protect anybody from an unknown bracelet was anyone’s guess.

“It happened like this…” Ethan started his story and was surprised to see that the least interesting part of it was the dragon. Avalara made a few choice noises at the mention of that dragon, but for now she held her motherly tongue. There would be plenty of time for chastisement later. For now, the scribe went on with his story, finally finishing as he held up his wrist. “And that’s how this thing got stuck here. I never really intended to put it on, but here we are.”

Although Avalara had something to say, Amelia was just too quick. “Putting aside your involvement with the gods, you discovered an incredibly powerful artifact and bound it to yourself. That’s fairly impressive, especially for a first year. I imagine if the gods hadn’t gotten involved, you would have died.”

Avalara raised her hand, seemingly slightly annoyed she had been pushed out of the conversation for so long. “I advised him to place his mana into it. I had recognized the adaptive nature of the artifact and assumed it would change to suit his system. I’ll take full responsibility for that.”

“Welcome to the Idiot Club.” Ethan chuckled, shaking his head. “Nobody’s at fault here. I put my mana into the thing and wore it on my wrist. We don’t need to toss blame around. I just wanted to catch you guys up on what had happened.”

This time, before Amelia spoke, she looked to Avalara to see if the ghost had anything to add. A smile spread across her pale, transparent visage. “My opinion is that the best way forward is to wait and see what happens with it. The fact that it says it’s learning means that the circuit will likely change. Miss Harthbrook, do you have any insight on what that circuit might be?”

“Maybe. Since we know the circuit will change, as Avalara said, we know that whatever magic it holds is adaptive. Just like Ethan’s system.” Amelia took a moment to think, eventually shaking her head. “The chaotic nature of his class means it could manifest as anything, but I have a few theories.”

“Enlighten us,” Barry grunted.

Amelia cleared her throat. “The bracelet is watching you. It will develop into something that helps you do what you do.”

“Simple as that.” Avalara nodded with agreement. “Taking all the information into account, that’s the most fair assessment.”

Ethan nodded in agreement. He considered what he needed the most help with and smiled to himself. The vast amount of information he needed to remember was the single most important thing for him. Right now, he had a system of keeping notes and relying on his decent memory, but as the information he was required to remember increased, those methods would most certainly fail. He wouldn’t mention the pulse of recognition he felt from the bracelet on his arm to the others. This meeting was getting a bit too stuffy already.

“Anyway…” Ethan clapped his hands together. “Did you show Amelia the thing?”

“Not yet!” Barry shouted, pumping his fist in the air. “Wanna see something cool?”

Amelia let her gaze linger on Ethan for a few moments longer before nodding. “Sure. Let’s see what you’ve made, Barry.”

Only when both Barry and Amelia were out of the room did Ethan turn to Avalara. “Can I bounce a few things off of you?”

“Always.” Avalara said. “Well, for as long as I remain bound here.”

There were some questions Ethan had about her origin, but he’d leave it there for now. He didn’t want to pry too much. Instead, he went on his planned rant.

“I’m going to detail every important thing that has happened since I got here.” Ethan pursed his lips for a moment. “Well, things that stick out to me. We call this Rubber Duck Debugging back home.”

“Fire away.”

“I’m sent to this world, and they give me this set of powers. Who sent me here, why am I here, and so on are questions I can’t hope to answer. But the powers I’ve been given are good at doing three things.” Ethan let his thoughts gather. “First, I’m good at emulating other systems, and I can use parts of those systems to fuel my own class. Second, I can change the way another person’s class works. Third, I can fix system-based anomalies, something I don’t think anyone else around here can do.”

Avalara nodded along as Ethan spoke. “What’s the purpose of this exercise?”

“I’m getting there. These three things are all related. I can fix the anomalies and classes from other systems, but those both feed into my class.”

“Are you saying that you should focus on something?” Avalara asked. “Would you like my advice?”

Ethan thought about it for a moment. He had expected to already reach a conclusion. Despite saying he would go over everything that had happened, he had instead given bullet points on the things he could currently do. “Please, if you don’t mind.”

“No matter how you approach this problem, the problem being your life, you need to ask yourself one question. What are your goals?” Avalara let that hang in the air for a breath. The sound of the motorcycle outside broke her concentration for only a moment, but she snapped back to it. “What kind of place do you want to have in your new life?”

It didn’t take long for Ethan to reach a very reasonable conclusion. “I want to fix things.”

“There you have it. If you want to fix things, then you can focus on those two aspects. They’ll feed into your class, sure. But then your class just becomes something that helps you achieve those other two goals. I’m wondering if this answered your question or not. Did you even have a question to begin with?”

The answer to that was a firm no, but Ethan wouldn’t express it out loud. He rubbed his chin, thinking of the ghost’s advice, and eventually nodded to himself. He did have a question, he realized. The question was about his purpose and the best way to move forward. If his motivation wasn’t to help people, then that was fine. He could focus on solving the problems. Whether it helped people or not was a consequence, just as solving those anomalies and the issues people had with their classes helped his own class.

Like the circles of power in his soul, those things were all connected. With existential problems out of the way, he turned to one of a more practical nature.

“When I was running from the dragon, I was sorely lacking something.” Ethan grit his teeth. “I only have access to one spell-type ability. Since my Affinity Ring can only support one spell, even if that’s a combination of spells, I’m at a serious disadvantage.”

“Make another.” Avalara said the words as though creating a new ring would be as easy as saying it. “You’re creating your own system, right?”

“Yeah, but...” Ethan trailed off.

“I don’t see why it would be that hard. Just make a new one, and then you could put more spells into that, right?” The glib way that Avalara spoke annoyed Ethan at first, but then he started thinking about some progress he had already made.

Ethan had been working on creating both breadth and depth for his rings. The breadth part was a broadness. When he had increased it to a certain size, he unlocked another slot for his rings, but creating more depth had done nothing so far. 

This thought had passed through his mind before, but it seemed impossible. Now that Avalara had said it, perhaps it wasn’t. Maybe there was a way to split the ring or to layer it on top of the other. He thought about something he had seen recently, only just last night. The difference between the system and their ranking was often displayed in the information panel he got when emulating those systems. Echelons, ranks, spheres, rings, whatever. It didn’t matter; there was a depth there that he couldn’t deny. Increasing one’s rank meant increasing depth.

Ethan snapped his fingers. “I think I’ve got it.”

Avalara folded her arms and beamed with pride. “You’re welcome. I’ll take my payment in the form of... nothing. I’m a ghost.”

This was the biggest easier said-than-done situation Ethan had ever encountered in his life. Saying that he could create enough depth in one of his attributes to create a new ring was one thing, but actually doing it was going to be incredibly difficult. Instead of allowing his mind to be bogged down in the how, he turned back to his original concern, the why of it all. That solved all of his problems. It did not matter what he was doing, whether he was trying to understand the bracelet around his wrist or how to increase the power of his system. One thing was clear: he just had to solve anomalies and mess with systems.

Easy as that.

A faint knock came from the door. Ethan was brought out of his thoughts, turning to see who it could be. When the knock came again, he answered the door to find a plain-looking boy standing there with an expectant smile.

“Ethan Walsh? Sign here,” he said, holding out a piece of paper on a clipboard. Once Ethan had signed it, the boy handed over an envelope with a wax seal holding it shut. Then the boy dashed off without another word.

Ethan flipped the envelope over and shook his head. “Well. I guess the headmaster needs something.”