Not (Just) A Mage Lord Isekai

After proving I was more than capable of meeting Tamrie's challenge, we kinda fell asleep in Tender's Hall.

Thankfully we woke up before anyone could find us in our compromised… everything.

"Uh, you've got… in your… yeah, you got it," I said, pointing to a root that had wound up in her hair at some point during or after the 'challenge'.

"A spell to clean up after'd be the first thing I'd chose, if'n I could," Tamrie said, running a hand through her hair, leaving it perfectly messy, like always.

"Uh. I… could probably find one that would do that. Maybe, uh, maybe you should talk to Arizar, now that you've got your first spell slot and all. Or even… do you feel a connection to your magic?"

Tamrie turned and gave me the most even glare she'd given me all morning.

"I'll take that as a yes. Look, I don't know how it works for you. Maybe it'd help to talk to Bevel? Anyway, not the point. Bevel was drawing on her magic instinctively long before she got any lessons. Since you have an ocean affinity, maybe you can… I don't know, summon water to help clean your hair?"

"Don't work like that," Tamrie said, shaking her head. Then she paused, running a hand through her hair, brushing up against the hairpin. "Not… not for getting clean, no how. Ocean's more for… hmm."

While Tamrie had her little reverie, I continued to tidy up. "How did these even get so far… you know what, nevermind."

Returning her undergarments to her, which she received with barely an acknowledgment. She paced back and forth, staring upward at the glowing lake fauna above us as she went.

I soon found myself out of things to tidy, so I sat down and watched her, a smile on my face.

"I think… I think I figured it out," Tamrie said, walking over and plopping herself straight into my lap. "Ain't sure it could be true, but… if'n it is, I might have just about the strangest mix 'o affinities this side of the Everstorm."

"Do you want to tell me?"

She shook her head, then laughed out loud. "If'n it what I think it is, and I needs ta do like Bevel's doing, going on a pilgrimage and such… well, that'll be just about the second best thing in my life."

"The second best, huh?"

She turned towards me, smiling upwards. "Could be first, I 'spose. Don't seem none too likely tho."

"I'm gonna take that as the compliment it sounds like and throw it right back atcha," I said, leaning forward to kiss her.

Only to be denied as she made an exagerrated 'Oof,' before leaning to the side. "Why you gots to be throwing things all willy nilly like that," she bemoaned, unable to stop from giggling as she did so. "Might be you could hurt a girl, catching your feelings like that."

"Oh, I'll hurt you alright," I said, reaching forward to start tickling her.

The tickle fight that ensued may have led to us needing to clean up once more. Still, we were out and into our baths before anyone saw us and I didn't even have to use the invisibility spell I didn't have.

Didn't really have an affinity for invisibility anyway.

After we got clean, we ended right back at Tender's grove, this time for our next run through the forest.

Which we were able to do without having to stop, Tamrie's ability with manipulating her Kinya having grown to the point it was no longer painful and me… well, I just grunted and bore through it.

Using the catalyst had definitely been worth it, 'cause as soon as I took Tamrie's hand after scaling the final cliff, I felt it.

"Whoa," I said, sitting down hard.

Tamrie turned back, concern on her face, but a second later, she wavered as well. I reached forward to catch her, but my body was too jelly to do more than sort of lurch in her direction.

Amazingly, it turned out there were positions we could contort ourselves into that we hadn't tried. For good reason, yes, but still, it was a discovery that could only help our relationship grow stronger.

Now, if only either of us could lift a finger.

"Can't feel my face," Tamrie mumbled from somewhere vaguely to my left.

"Me either, though that's not what I'm worried about," I said, attempting to move my fingers and toes, not getting a response from either.

"Least your tongue works. Hate for you to lose that," Tamrie said with a giggle.

"How long do… oh, I think I can move a finger," I said, flexing said pinky finger.

It took almost ten minutes for us to simply be able to sit up. And another twenty for us to stand.

"Well, my schedule's all mucked up, it is," Tamrie said with a heavy sigh.

"Good. Then it won't matter if you come with me to the Golden Halls."

"Ain't they still buried under ten leagues of Sahevin?"

"Maybe…"

"What was that you were sayin' earlier 'bout wanting me to be safe?"

I chuckled, pulling her towards the exit where Arizar was waiting with a raised eyebrow and a far too self satisfied smirk.

"Wasn't none o' that," Tamrie said, waving her off. "This time."

"Think we hit rank two body," I said, carefully lowering myself off the edge. "Either that or we somehow went down a tier instead of up."

"Do feel that way," Tamrie said as she followed, just as slowly.

"Interesting. Normally the bathing process is accompanied by such excruciating pain that any inability to move would likely have been rendered a non-measurable factor," Arizar said, stepping forward and offering each of us an arm. "And the only point of comparison you've had would be Bevel, who was herself already an outlier, correct?"

"That's 'bout the long and short of it, it is," Tamrie said, from Arizar's far side.

"I suspect we should warn the others of this effect. Though perhaps it is a side effect of the catalysts?"

"Speaking of which," I said, lifting up my spiral, which had broken into dust in several places. "Seems they're not exactly re-useable."

Tamrie gasped, reaching for her disk. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes when she saw similar damage.

"Hey, it's okay, I'll make you a proper ring, one you're meant to keep," I said, kissing her head and pulling her against me. "Plus, hopefully, another tier-2 catalyst. But I'll make a ring first."

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

Tamrie nodded, taking a deep breath. "It's nothing but me mucking myself. Getting all weepy on account of it's the first enchanted item you made for me is awful silly, ain't it?"

"Not silly at all, dear heart," Arizar said just before we stepped back into the central part of the hall.

Tender was there, waiting atop their forest-triceratops. The moment we stepped out, their head swung in our direction. "Ah, I thought I sensed a blossoming. And your paths have further entwined with each other, increasing your... Interesting."

The way Tender dragged out the word interesting was both ominous and… nope, just ominous.

"Yeah. Pretty sure we hit tier-2," I said, deciding to bypass all the byplay.

"Yes, that is most certainly true," Tender agreed, nodding its wide-horned head slowly. "You are no longer mortal in any sense. The first success at such a low ensoulment."

"First… wait, you mean we're test subjects?"

"Everything must be done for a first time," Tender replied, its voice warm. "And your first time was most wonderful."

"Not exactly our first… oh, you didn't mean the… I'll be shutting my own self up," Tamrie said.

With that eloquent statement, we excused ourselves, heading directly to the Golden Halls to get Tamrie's scan done.

Of course, the second we arrived beneath the transparent dome, I realized something was wrong. The Sahevin were gone.

…MLI…

The Sahevin being gone should've been good news. They'd been swarming the ocean around the Golden Halls ever since I completed the first Dauntless trial.

And now they'd cleared out.

"We're probably gonna want someone to figure out what's up with that," I said, looking upward.

"The swan fish?" Tamrie asked, pointing at a school of white fish swimming past the outside of the dome.

"Uh. No, the lack of Sahevin," I clarified. I'd forgotten that she didn't make daily visits to move Tethered in and out.

"Thinking they ran after the bombing?"

"It's possible, I suppose," I said. "Would be a little surprising though."

"Important enough to delay my scans?"

"Should be fine, though I think you should wait in the Establium chamber instead of out here."

"Aye, I can do that. Shame though, awful beautiful here," Tamrie said, voice wistful as she looked out at the open ocean above and around us.

"Yeah, we really need to figure out a better solution for the Sahevin, long term," I said, leading her towards the gazebo.

"Do they build? You said you visited their nests, didn't you?"

"We did. And… I didn't see any evidence that they do anything other than breed, fight and eat," I said, shaking my head. "Still, their awakened seem more… well, slightly more aware."

"Hmm," Tamrie said, patting my arm. "We'll get there, just need time, is all."

"Hopefully you'll get more of that soon," I said, catching her fingers with my own hand.

"Best get on with our day, else we might not get aught else done," Tamrie said, her smile not exactly sending the same message as her words.

"Right," I said, clearing my throat and taking us to the sarcophagus chamber.

Barber's repairs were still ticking away while the Tethered were currently inside their Establium, more than a day until the next awoke. The last, until we found a way to keep the Sahevin clear.

"Not the most cheery. Don't take too long, if'n you don't mind," Tamrie said even as I ran the actual scans, loading them into the memory jade.

"Be back soon as I can," I replied, giving her a quick peck on the cheek. "Though I'll want to give my own scans a quick look over, since we just advanced."

"Course, just…" her gaze shifted to the softly glowing sarcophagi. "Feels a bit like a place where the dead might come back to life."

"We can only hope," I said, chuckling, giving her a hip bump.

She raised an eyebrow, but I just shook my head and activated the transporter to move down to the diagnostic center.

Feeding her jades into the little receptacle, I soon had Tamrie's status floating in front of me.

[Diagnostic summary of Tamrie, Caller of the Deeps.]

Diagnostic Category - Current Tier - Ascendancy Status

Body - Tier 2 - Wavewoven

Strength : 1.24

Agility : 2.04

Resilience : 1.26

Vitality : 1.51

Mind - Tier 2 - Wavewoven

Reaction times : 1.50

Pain Clarity : 1.05

Pattern Recognition : 1.20

Memory Retention : 1.20

Neural Dynamics : 1.03

Soul - Tier 2 (Astral) - Wavewoven

I'd… really been underestimating Tamrie's growth. She'd mentioned that she'd unlocked a spell slot, and since I was comparing her to a regular ensouled, I'd forgotten that most of her power was likely in her innate talent.

Poking at the diagnostic station for a while, I realized she'd probably emerged from her awakening on the verge of being tier 2. It was just that Tamrie's talents were almost useless on land. Her strong Ocean affinity was so tightly bound to her, that she was at maybe half her potential, at best, while on shore.

Not just her spellcasting, either. It seemed it had been affecting everything. She wasn't just worse at spells, she was slower, weaker, and even, if I was reading it correctly, less intelligent.

"What have I done?" I asked, slumping to the floor. She hadn't been like this before we'd infused her with the tier-3 material. Doing my best to shake it off, I stood up, going through to find the good I could.

Her nature spells would work on land, but they'd really show their effectiveness if they were used on certain ocean life.

Specifically, leviathans.

The more I poked at it, the more my horror faded.

Her affinity was tied to the nurture and growth of the most powerful creatures in the ocean. She would grow by tending them and emulating them, learning everything she could about them.

If she wanted to grow, she needed to spend time with them.

Our walks along the path had been… well, her unique mana-body had been using the energy as best it could, and it was the only reason she'd progressed at all. Her spellcasting lessons had been completely useless.

Equal parts reassured and concerned, I forced my attention to my own recent advancement.

Body - Tier 2 - Blooming

Strength : 1.00

Agility : 2.50

Resilience : 1.24

Vitality : 1.76

My strength had managed to decrease by a tiny margin, but the rest had gone up significantly. That was good.

Mind - Tier 3 - Refinement, Worlds Alignment

Reaction times : 4.02

Pain Clarity : 3.52

Pattern Recognition : 5.23

Memory Retention : 6.48

Neural Dynamics : 13.99

Soul - Tier 3 (Pegasus) - 5-Slot Ensoulment, Repository Reincarnation

Progress: 2/5 Third Order Impressions, 8 Point Foundational Structure, Enshrined Astral Soul, 56% Pegasus Alignment.

My Neural Dynamics had increased even further, meaning I was going to be getting roughly forty-two hours per real world hour in Memory Palace. There'd been slight growth in the other categories, but none that should have a major effect on my day to day.

Other than having gained another spell slot, my soul hadn't changed much. My affinities hadn't increased a single point since the last time I'd check.

My progress through Pegasus being over half was incredible though. Seemed my time aboard the Dauntless had more effect than I'd realized. A small consolation.

With our results collected, I teleported back to Tamrie.

She was leaning over the Establium that held Barber, her head turned to the side, squinting as she looked at the golem-attendant locked within.

The light illuminated the soft curve of her face, her messy hair hanging down to half veil her expression.

Yet I could still read the curiosity writ across her face.

A smile snuck its way onto my face as she looked up at the swirls of golden light as they faded away.

"Takin' it you're done?" Tamrie asked, stepping away from the Establium. "What'd you find?"

"Well, for one thing, you're a lot stronger than we thought," I said as I handed her the notes I'd taken for her.

"I'm Astral?" Tamrie asked, looking up. "How's that a… don't make a lick of sense, that."

"Keep reading, that's not even the good part," I said even as I guided her over to the steps.

She scrunched her brow as she looked it over, unconsciously sitting beside me as she did so.

"I… not often I feel dense as the ocean floor but I can't make fins from flippers of any of this. What does this even mean?" There was a pained tone to her voice as she batted at one of the notes I'd written down.

I took the page from her, and realized the problem. I'd… used a lot of shorthand, relying on my improved pattern recognition and memory to fill in the gaps.

"That's… me being stupid," I said, taking it all back from her to rewrite. "Sorry."

She shook her head, elbowing me as she did so. "Gotta remember some of us are still mortal."

I paused in my adjustments, meeting her gaze. "That's the thing though Tamrie. You're not. You're… It's just that…" I choked slightly as the truth smacked me upside the head. "You're not meant to be on land."

"How do you mean?" Tamrie asked, taking my hand and squeezing it.

So, I explained exactly what her results meant.

About how tightly wound her power was with the leviathans. About how her being on land was limiting her.

My enhanced memory and problem solving kicked in.

The first time we'd seen a leviathan in the ocean, coming closer to investigate, even before we'd awoken her magic. It hadn't been chance, had it? It'd felt her, even then, and had wanted to meet her. It had even sent a message to find it once she was ready.

Then they'd come to Spellford. A once in a lifetime event. Something the city hadn't seen since Arizar's mother had been alive.

A hello, just for her, that the entire city got to see.

"Tamrie, you're meant to swim with the leviathans," I said, a bitter laugh escaping my throat as I realized what it meant.

If I wanted Tamrie to be who she was meant to be, to truly embrace her path.

I had to let her go.