Aether Engineering

Chapter 31

Maston Academy

The Town of Maston in the Candis East District

Silas walked out of the mission briefing with two major goals. The first was to gather information on their destination, Hydrabridge. His second was perhaps even more important though. Primrose had warned them about the minister of education who was to give them their actual mission.

Primrose never gave warnings. Even when she had given the details for their first mission, Primrose had sent them off with confidence. The memory of returning from that on a stretcher was still far too fresh for Silas to ignore a warning. He needed to learn everything he could about this Rufus Lance.

There was no better place to accomplish both goals than the academy library. The library was one of the more remarkable buildings on campus. Silas had come to think of it as a representation of the academy itself. It was one of the new buildings, but it had still been built right in the middle of the academy where the buildings were closest together. The result was a building that snaked its way around through the gaps in the older buildings that surrounded it. Much like the academy itself, it seemed completely absurd, twisted, and confusing—at least until you looked at it closer.

At first, Silas had thought the building’s designer had blundered their way through the project, forgetting to provide space for doors until it was too late. The only way to access the library was through one of the three tunnels that led into it from the surrounding buildings. Since then, though, Silas had noticed other odd details like how the library had no windows, and how it seemed to be built with sturdier materials than any other building. Eventually the details added up to a bigger picture. The library was intentionally built as a fortress.

Silas suspected that the books it contained were a large part of why the building was so protected. Every book here was handwritten, and there were more books on one shelf than Silas had seen in the entirety of his life. Silas strongly suspected that the library was one of the most complete in the province.

Mr. Habe had introduced Silas, Mercy, and the others focused on studying politics to the library early on. He had insisted that research was a crucial skill needed for politics. That advise was proving true now as Silas quickly gathered and read through books on the politics, geography, and economics of Hydrabridge —all seemingly boring things except when they had the potential to keep Silas’ teammates alive.

Hydrabridge was named for the unique nature of the town. A system of bridges crossed the many crevasses that cut through the town like scars. It was in these crevasses where the town’s famous mines were located. In addition to the unique ray-crystals that could only be found underneath Hydrabridge, more common metals came out of the crevasses of Hydrabridge than any other mine in the province.

Hydrabridge was ruled by a noble lord much like every town in the province not controlled by Verith’s conglomerate of faces, but unlike most towns, that lord was changed every few years. The lord was seemingly always a former soldier who had earned nobility through some great deed, and they were always retired to a small town after three years.

Silas couldn’t find a reason for the pattern. His only guess was that other nobles were worried about the political power a noble of such an important mine would have. That still didn’t seem quite right though.

Silas considered the problem for a while, but when he caught himself staring into the light construct and being absorbed by the monstrous shapes made by the shadows around the edges of his table, he decided it was time to move to his second topic of study.

Silas quickly confirmed that there was no minister of education position in the government—noble or conglomerate. With a sinking feeling, Silas put his books back and moved to a section on the structure of the province’s military.

In the times Silas had visited the library, this section was almost always filled with noble students. Today though, the section was completely clear. Before he had started training to notice such details, Silas probably wouldn’t have noted the change. Now though, Silas was able to guess the detail meant the nobles had also been assigned their tasks for the month, a potentially useful nugget of information.

The books Silas selected were less helpful than he would have hoped. He was able to confirm that the Ministry of Education was a part of the province’s military, but the authors always seemed to shy away from the topic of what the ministry was responsible for.

Silas paid careful attention to the time. Without windows, it would be easy to lose track, but someone had thought of that, installing a massive clock in the middle of the library. The clock was so big that it actually served as a pillar that the building’s stairway spiraled around.

Every hour, the clock would make a great deep sound though no bell could be seen. The haunting noise could be heard throughout campus, seemingly carried by the same pipes the instructors often used to send messages.

When Silas heard the sound of the bell, he realized he was out of time. He had a meeting to attend.

Ominous clouds had built up while Silas had been in the library. The air had a distinct chill to it. The kind that made the whole world feel like it was standing on a ledge, readying itself to pour into motion, crack into storm.

Silas pointedly ignored the chill air and made his way towards the academy forges. It didn’t take long for him to find who he was looking for. Myles and Jane stood talking intently with three metal spears leaning against the wall next to them.

Good. They had managed to finish on time. Silas grinned and waved to the pair. “How’s it going?”

Myles grinned and made a face that Silas recognized. Silas immediately looked to Jane for help. Unfortunately, she was no help at all. Around the dorm, Jane was usually quiet. That made it too easy to forget how well she managed to bounce off others. It usually happened with Mercy, but it was at its most extreme when it was with Myles. The two seemed to amplify each other’s excitement.

Normally, Silas would be happy to endure his friend’s onslaught of enthusiasm. Silas wasn’t willing to wait today though. He held up a hand. “We need to deliver the third spear to our friends. Is it ready?”

Myles frowned slightly but nodded, shrugging to get Silas to follow him. When he spoke again, his enthusiasm didn’t seem to have died down at all. “We finished earlier. We were just testing to see how the spears handle. We didn’t have much opportunity for that while we were making them.”

Silas nodded. “How much fire can they produce? Will we be able to count on them in a fight?”

It was Jane who answered this time. “The maximum output is theoretically unlimited.”

Myles smiled eagerly, pulling out one of the spears. “With our mana limited to pure, we had to build in a rune that can convert the mana type to fire. As a result of the inefficiencies, the output is limited to roughly one-tenth of the mana we put into it.”

Silas gave a grim grin. They had shown him the designs, but Silas had been uncertain the result would match up. “This will be a huge help. Even if the process is inefficient, we should be able to use it once or twice during the mission. We might actually have a shot of completing our missions this time.”

Myles and Jane became suddenly somber. Jane looked down at the ground. “Yeah…right.”

Silas frowned. “You guys are ready for the mission, right? This is important. There could be serious consequences.”

Myles held up a hand placatingly. “Of course, we’re ready. We were just focused on the engineering is all.”

Silas forced a smile. It wouldn’t do to push too hard. Myles and Jane knew what they were doing. “Shall we start moving to the meetup with our friends?”

As the three of them started to gather their things, to head to the meeting, Mercy suddenly showed up and dragged Silas away roughly.

Silas groaned from annoyance. “Are you trying to scare me into dropping my armor again or something? Why did you drag me away?”

Mercy looked at him in confusion for a second before shaking her head. “No. I saw that interaction earlier and was a little worried. You could’ve given them a bit more patience you know. They worked hard on that project.”

Silas sighed. “I guess I’m just a little on edge from this morning.”

Mercy gave him a light punch in the arm, too light for Silas to feel through the mana commuting around him. “In politics you must always act your calmest when your nerves at their worst.”

“Quoting Mr. Habe now? I could have sworn you weren’t paying attention when he said that.”

Mercy gave him a confident smirk. “Looks are the best deceptor.”

“Never mind. He never said that.”

Mercy’s confidence failed her. “I thought you’d buy that.”

“I knew you weren’t paying attention!”

Mercy frowned. “Fine, let’s just do this.”

Silas nodded, regaining some semblance of composure. The next step would be important. Depending on the assignment their noble friends had been given, perhaps very important.