Explorer of Edregon

After a full day of running screenings on the new Earthers, Vin wanted nothing more than to retreat to his apartment and pass out on his shimmerwing mattress. Unfortunately, Spur had requested the two of them have a quick discussion before he headed out on his next adventure, and seeing as he was planning to leave first thing in the morning, that meant delaying his slumber for a few more minutes.

Because the conversation was about teaching magic in general, Vin grabbed Shia, who had since returned from the Sacred Forest, and asked her to tag along. After all, Shia had been his own original magic instructor, so she seemed like an excellent resource for the discussion he expected they'd be having.

"Vin and Shia, come on in," Spur said, giving them a welcoming smile before beckoning them into his apartment. "Myers and Phil are both still out doing who knows what at such a late hour, so it's just the three of us. Am I right to assume this is about the meeting I requested?"

"Yeah," Vin nodded, taking a seat beside Shia. "You mentioned wanting some of the other Earthers to start learning magic?"

"Pretty much." Spur nodded. "I'll admit that's about as far as that plan has managed to get so far. Shia, seeing as you're here, could you weigh in on the feasibility of this? Vin's mentioned how you were the first person to truly teach him magic, so I'd appreciate your viewpoint."

"For starters, while getting some mages up and running among your people is definitely possible, you're basically starting with two hands tied behind your back," Shia said bluntly, tapping her chin. "For some people, when they come of age and are offered their first class by the System, they will be offered a mage-related class, provided they have a high enough magic attribute or have studied appropriately. However, as you well know, your Earthers arrive with a pitiful zero in magic, meaning not a single one of you has or ever will be offered a mage class on the way over to Edregon."

"Yes, we've already figured out that we'll basically have to wait for our Earthers to prestige in order to take a mage-class, similar to how Vin went from an Explorer to a Magical Explorer," Spur confirmed. "The very few Earthers who have actually managed to utilize the shrine of rebirth have confirmed that when their class and levels are stripped away, their improved attributes are as well, so no getting around it that way either. My main question though, is how likely do you think it is that we can start teaching people magic prior to their first prestige? Vin learned his first few spells back when he was in only the single digits for levels. Can we replicate that?"

"Not likely," Shia admitted, causing Spur to deflate a little. "Even if you were able to borrow the training aid from Sakis again, the results wouldn't be the same. I hate giving him a big head, but even I'll admit that Vin has something of a knack for magic and runic formations. He's no prodigy, as my master would almost certainly remind him at every opportunity given the chance, but he's far more efficient than a regular magic student. Your best bet would probably be to have them learn their first spell with the teaching aid, drop a handful of points into magic, and then select a mage-related class when they prestige and start purchasing spells from the System. It's far slower and they won't be nearly as effective as a learned mage, but it removes the serious risk of death or dismemberment from runic backlashes."

"These backlashes… They're seriously that bad? Vin said as much earlier, but at the time, I assumed he was just trying to get out of teaching the other Earthers magic."

"The last runic backlash I experienced tried to grab one of my organs and shove it into a different dimension," Vin said bluntly. "Temporarily."

"And that was just a tier 2 spell, from what Vin told me," Shia added. "Magic can reach all the way up to tier 9, though you'll probably never see anything more powerful than a tier 5 spell in your entire life, if I'm being honest. So you can imagine how devastating runic backlashes can become in the higher tiers. In fact, advanced mages that have chosen the path of manually constructing their runic formations are expected to work on new spells in safe locations far from civilization, to ensure that no innocent people are harmed by the larger backlashes, should they occur."

"Wait, really?" Vin blinked, staring at her. "You never told me that!"

"You don't need to worry about backlashes that powerful until tier 4 at a minimum, so you'll probably never have to bother," she snorted, waving her hand dismissively. "Point being Spur, backlashes are serious business. It's why the vast majority of mages buy their spells from the System."

"Fair enough… So they purchase them similar to how we purchase skills?"

"Basically," Shia nodded. "Every two or three levels, depending on their class, mages are given the chance to pick up a new spell, rather than getting skill points. They can gain experience by practicing these spells, to offset the massive experience gains we get by manually creating them on our own," she explained, looking at Vin. "Because of this, most mages don't actually have many skills, oftentimes only two or three at most, such as Meditation."

"I had no idea," Vin admitted.

"Alright, any other differences between self-taught mages and mages who buy their spells from the System?" Spur asked, jotting down notes. "I know you said they'd be 'less effective,' but what does that really mean? So long as they can still throw a fireball or do whatever crap Vin can do, they'll be good enough for me."

"They'd be less effective in a few ways. For one, not having learned the spell for themselves, they'll be far less flexible with their magic. Even without a passive like Vin's Runic Recalibration, many self-taught mages are capable of tweaking their spells a bit here and there to better fit a specific situation. So while power would be about the same, they'd be less flexible."

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"Alright, what else?" Spur asked, nodding along.

"Another obvious difference is casting methods. You've probably noticed by now, but Vin and I are capable of silently casting our spells if need be. It's a little slower because we have to manually throw together the entire runic formation within our own mana, which is why we don't do it all the time, but it's still a nice option to have. A lot easier to catch opponents off guard when you can silently cast magic instead of having to shout 'Root Spikes' or whatever when you're attacking."

"Yeah, I can see how that would be an advantage," Spur said, pursing his lips. "Still, so far the advantages aren't really outweighing the complexity and risks that come from teaching oneself magic. Is that really it?"

"I mean, the obvious remainder is the fact that we can learn magic far faster than System-bought mages," Shia shrugged. "They get new spells every few levels. Vin and I can learn as many spells per level as we want, provided we have the runic formation to learn and decide to invest the time. Again, more spells mean more risk of something going horribly wrong with runic backlashes, so it's still a tradeoff."

"Okay, I think that's all I need to know," Spur nodded, putting his clipboard down. "I might have one or two test cases try to follow in your footsteps, Vin, but I think I'm going to have most of the Earthers who are interested focus on taking the safe route through the System to become mages. It will be slower, absolutely, but we don't have the kind of numbers at our disposal to risk people dying via runic backlashes. Even with the influx of members from the fourth wave, we still have fewer than three thousand Earthers in total. I can't justify risking people's lives just because I want to add some mages to our numbers."

"I think that's the right call," Shia said, giving him an appreciative smile. "Especially when you're taking in a handful of Warlocks and Witches from the infernals' fragment. They'll be able to shore up your lack of magic for the moment while you get your people started."

"Trust me, I'm quite looking forward to seeing what they'll be capable of," Spur laughed. "Though for our first few test cases, would the two of you be willing to try teaching them a bit? Things like how to construct runic formations within your mana, or stuff like that? I'm planning to try and come to some form of agreement with Sakis' Stone Mages or the Druids of the Sacred Forest when it comes to teaching the basics later on, but I want our first handful of mages to be pure Terra-grown. By now, after all you've done for us, I basically see you as an honorary Earther, Shia."

"Well thank you," Shia smiled, showing off her jagged teeth. "I certainly don't mind, though Vin's never done anything like that before," she added, giving him a cautious look. "Think you're up for it?"

"I mean, I'm happy to try," he shrugged, thinking about all the ways it could possibly go wrong. If someone ended up killing themselves via a runic backlash due to his own poor instruction… "Though perhaps we make sure they talk to you before trying to learn anything actually dangerous?"

"That sounds like some good tag-teaming," Shia grinned. "Maybe Lumel would be interested in helping out as well."

"Actually, that reminds me!" Vin turned to Spur, wondering how to word this in a way that wouldn't get the idea shot down immediately. "When I went to learn False Life, the Necromancer who taught me welcomed me to send anyone potentially interested in learning death magic in their direction. No idea what that would actually entail, but he certainly seemed friendly enough."

"I can't say I'm a massive fan of the thought of sending one of our own to a Necromancer boarding school…" Spur admitted, before sighing. "Though I suppose it's too useful of an idea to dismiss out of hand. I'll ask around and see if I can't find one or two people who might be interested in taking them up on that offer. I assume Lumel would be willing to help ferry them over there via the Underside?"

"I think she'd be fine with it, so long as it's only one or two people. It's three fragments away, so any more would probably be too taxing on her."

"Necromancers for death magic, Sakis for earth magic, and potentially the elves for nature and life magic," Spur muttered, staring up at the ceiling as he lost himself in thought. "I suppose we have more options than I initially realized." As if remembering that he had an audience, Spur started before giving them each a warm smile. "Thank you both for taking the time to explain all this. I'll let the two of you know once we're ready for the next steps. Probably sometime in the next couple of days."

"I'll check in once we're back in that case," Vin said, getting up and seeing himself out after wishing the Commander a good night. As the two of them headed back to their shared apartment, Shia asked him the very question he'd been thinking about all day.

"So, where are we headed off to next? We still need to finish the secondary ring of fragments around Terra, right?"

"That was my thought as well," he admitted, pulling out his journal and going to his working map of Edregon. "We still have five entirely unknown fragments in the second ring, as well as Forpurt's home fragment. My goal is to hit each and every one of those before wave five arrives."

"That's not a lot of time for so many fragments," Shia pointed out, peering over his shoulder at the map. "Any preferences as to which one we start with?"

"I think we should hit the last fragment bordering the Sacred Forest first, and then make our way through the Bands' fragment to the one bordering the red desert. Then we can either continue on from there, or return to Terra for a quick break."

"Works for me. But why start there?"

"Two reasons. For one, you mentioned Erik had a bit of intel on the last fragment bordering the Sacred Forest, right?" he asked, seeing Shia's nod. "I figured it would be a nice way to ease ourselves back into our travels."

"Fair enough. What's the second reason?"

"Something I think I've finally put off for long enough," he said, clapping his journal shut and slipping it back into his pack. "The Bands have the statue of their God standing watch over their prison, remember?"

"The statue of rebirth. The one they used to reset their classes that Spur was just talking about," she nodded, giving him a curious look. "Seeing as I doubt you're about to give up your Magical Explorer class… are you planning what I think you're planning?"

"Probably," he said, matching her nervous grin.

"I think it's time we had another chat with the Gods and Goddesses in charge of all this."