Tutorial's End

The New Arrival's Guide to Common Things

by Jorbon Delivas

Next, let's discuss orders. An order, similar to a guild, has a defined goal. Unlike a guild, though, an order is dedicated to a particular ideal or symbol. Orders are often looked upon in a similar manner to a cult or religion - the difference within those two being even more difficult to delineate.

Rather than a charter, an order determines a set of ethics, ideals or symbolic standard, which they champion. It is important to note that orders may not directly worship or unerringly follow any individual being - as such would require they be registered as a cult instead of an order.

The 'symbolic standard' portion is where confusion is most often found. The standard is often a being, either real or fictional, though it need not be. So example, the Order of Jezzak is dedicated to following the example of 'Jezzak Forslei'. While it's debated whether Jezzak exists, existed at one point, or never existed, there are plenty of stories around their exploits. The Soamrik which stands as the order's symbol is one of the few of its race to have ascended to godhood, whether in tale or truth.

More commonly, orders establish a dedicated morality without the confounding and often contradictory variable introduced by an intelligence being whose actions and teachings may appear not to align with each other.

A classic example is 'The Order of Contractual Compliance' which is often employed by other organizations to mediate contractual disputes and enforce breaches. Their ideal is quite simple: "Contracts Must be Upheld." Their entire existence revolves around ensuring that ideal isn't scorned.

Naomi

Unknown Planet

"Understood, captain. We'll make sure Skooth and her crew get priority then." A crackly voice complied.

Nodding Naomi concluded the conversation, "Good, have a good day. Goodbye."

She tapped the small silver button at the end of the baton-like object, cutting the communication off. Signoffs were apparently uncommon, as she'd learned with the small bit of confusion she'd caused the communication's officer Hodge the first time they'd talked using the long-range vocal relay. Saying 'okay, goodbye' had caused the conversation to extend an extra ten minutes or so as she explained that, no, that wasn't code for anything, she was just saying goodbye as she might in person.

As the captain, she was the higher ranked and was expected to decide when the conversation was over and close the connection by disconnecting. In essence, she'd be dismissing her subordinate. The casual expectation of such a master-servant dynamic was disheartening. Especially after taking great pains to ensure her crew understood she wanted them to see her as an equal.

Yes, she and Jonah would lead and help solve disputes, but they could be challenged and even defied if the situation called for it. Everyone had seemed happy about the idea, the concept of being equals clearly of interest to almost all of them. Yet they continued to expect and even self-enforce social norms which dictated a clear hierarchy based on position and power.

Storing the relay away, Naomi forced her mind to return to the present and off of the larger issue of reshaping the perception of nearly a million beings. She could still scarcely believe their ship housed, and were home to, so many.

Lifting her eyes, she took a deep breath and focused on Willow. Her friend was sitting across from her in the small cavern, having been paired up by Madrick for the day for resistance training. He wanted each of them to practice resisting the signature power of the other.

For Willow, that meant detecting and resisting the influence of Naomi's mana. For Naomi, it meant trying to find a way to counteract the time-stasis Willow could force upon an area. Her own task seemed much more difficult, but Naomi wouldn't balk.

She was grateful for the opportunity. Having to constantly resist Jemer's insidious manipulation had forced her to expand her horizons and grow her power exponentially. She hoped 'fighting' Willow's ability would result in similar gains.

"Ready?" Willow asked, her face in its resting configuration of gentle mirth.

She agreed, "Yes."

A few moments passed and Naomi frowned, "When will you start?"

The slight tug at the edge of Willow's cheek, where her dimple was, gave her away too easily and Naomi pushed a sigh of breath out. "You already did it."

"Yyahp!" The girl cheerfully agreed, her southern drawl coming out full force. Naomi had noticed she tended to speak with more of an accent whenever she was trying to be endearing or distract from potential conflict. She wondered if it was an intentional tactic, or something she'd picked up unconsciously.

"I didn't feel anything at all." Naomi admitted. She drew her lips together and her eyebrows down, displaying displeasure, "I'm not sure how I'm supposed to counter something I can't even detect."

Nodding, Willow stood and started stretching. Likely planning to begin some series of physical exercises. She tended to start those as soon as she had nothing else to occupy a decent portion of her attention. Naomi briefly wondered whether it was a decision to work out and be productive with her time, or an automatic habit like a nervous tick.

"We'll have to figure out how you can detect it as our first step then. Maybe if I activate the ability and break you out of it you can examine the effect?" She asked as she began hopping in place, pulling one knee up to her chest before alternating with the next jump.

Naomi nodded her agreement, then blinked as she heard Willow say, "Be free" in a tone of finality that sent shivers up her spine. Her view snapped into focus, her friend having apparently teleported the few feet between them. Her hand was resting on Naomi's shoulder and she was smiling.

"Let me know when you want me to drop my moment and re-activate it. I'll just be still until then, the more I do, the more stain it puts on me. Actually, if you could avoid moving around too much that'd be helpful too." So saying, Willow stilled into the facsimile of a statue.

Her earlier question about working out being conscious or unconscious became even more interesting as she noted that Willow seemed as at peace doing literally nothing as she had while hopping around. At least on the surface. Naomi was curious to send her mana into her body to check if her emotions matched what she displayed, but it wasn't time for Willow's training yet.

Also, Naomi didn't want to know whether Willow had any ill feelings toward her. She'd infiltrated everyone else with her mana at some point, even Madrick, if only to see if she could. Not Willow, though.

Focusing on the forty foot sphere of dust-like mana which constantly surrounded Naomi like an invisible cloak, she began trying to take whatever it was Willow was doing.

She'd have to find something to grasp in order to examine anything. Unfortunately, a half hour later, she felt no closer to finding a hint than she'd been at the start. To her amazement, Willow hadn't even shifted her position since they'd started. Naomi would have suspected she'd fallen asleep. Except, so far as she knew, keeping an ability running while sleeping wasn't possible unless it was fully passive.

Deciding that if Willow wasn't weary of the practice yet, she'd continue as well, Naomi settled herself for a slow and careful micro-level exploration with her mana.

Madrick

Personal Campsite, Upper-crust Tunnels, Chimera's Moon-63

Piper's revelation that not one, but two, beings had managed to follow them to this private training moon had forced Madrick to change his plans. He needed to verify their hangers-on weren't threats.

Pivots like this were the reason Madrick kept his exact plans close to his chest. Had he told the others the plans had been delayed, they'd have questioned why. Having not disclosed anything beyond a given day's objective, though, he had no need to distract his disciple with unnecessary concerns.

The last two days had been dedicated to resistance training. Willow badly needed to experience the effects of other beings' paths to properly respect the danger others could represent. The girl attendant's was a prime candidate, given how subtle and seemingly insignificant it was.

Madrick suspected it'd been at least an hour before he realized the woman had sneaked a minuscule amount of mana into his own system, after all. If she was capable of bypassing his incredible, though admittedly still diminished, senses, then his apprentice had little chance of noticing at all. So far he hadn't mentioned that he'd noticed the intrusion, as he was far too curious about what she intended to do with the mana to scare her into recalling it. He'd partitioned it carefully, of course, ensuring if she tried anything treacherous he could simply snuff the mana out of existence.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

With a sigh, Madrick stood back up and looked around. He'd been scouting for almost the entire duration of the last two days and still hadn't found anything. The deadline the annoying construct had agreed to was coming up shortly. The pink thing had been intent on informing Willow of those planning to sneak up on her, but Madrick had convinced her to wait. Three days, he'd told her with full confidence. Three days would be plenty for him to gather more information so as to ensure they were no danger.

Yet here he was, rushing through tunnel after tunnel with nothing to show for it. Groaning, he realized there was an obvious solution. His tracking and divination spells had failed, manual scouting had failed, but there was a certain 'guide' who could probably lead him directly to his quarry.

The insufferable boasting which would undoubted follow was still more than enough to make him hesitate to ask the construct for assistance.

Jonah

Madrick's TTS (Training Tunnel System)

Jonah's entire body was coated in sweat as he stared across the small ring at Slyth. The silver man was standing calmly, bastard sword held casually in one hand in a fencer's pose.

There was no way he was supposed to hold a double edged sword half the height of his own body like that, yet the odd guy didn't seem to care. In fact, Jonah was fairly certain he was using it wrong on purpose in order to gain some useful training out of their 'sparing' sessions.

When Madrick had told Willow she was to spend some time with Naomi in resistance training, he'd asked what the rest of them should do. To which the man had responded typically. He'd simply waved and said he didn't care.

It had been Slyth's suggestion to spar together. They changed the rules of their spar each time. Sometimes Jonah used his spells, sometimes he didn't. Slyth didn't have any spells, abilities, skills, or techniques himself to use, so when Jonah did use them he'd assumed he would win easily.

If nothing else, Jonah could use Trick to distract him at critical moments to land winning blows. He could even use Swap to switch places with his opponent and use the unexpected change in perspective to his advantage! After all, swap didn't alter the targets' orientation, only their position in space. So when they were facing each other and Jonah Swapped them, they would be back to back. Jonah would be ready for it and Slyth wouldn't. Therefore, he could just spin around and take the win immediately!

Yeah. I shouldn't have deluded myself. Jonah stared at the man who now held his, begrudging, respect. He'd adapted so quickly that none of Jonah's spells had ever given him a victory. Even without abilities or spells of his own, the silver man calmly reacted and countered each time.

At first, they'd caused him moments of hesitation. Not enough for Jonah to actually win, but enough to get a momentary edge in the fight. Now, though, Trick failed outright more than it worked, and when it did work it caused less than a flinch.

As for Swap, he could somehow feel it coming! The last three times Jonah had used the spell, Slyth had begun turning even before he'd finished casting. By the time the spell completed, the Ozri was in a better position to capitalize on the position change than Jonah himself was.

Sighing, Jonah let the saber in his hand droop and he held up a hand to call the match. He'd purchased the thin, straight, blade as his backup melee weapon before leaving Shee. It was enchanted with durability and balance, ensuring it was a perfect - if fairly mundane - weapon.

"How're you detecting my Swap before I cast?" He asked, voice betraying his exhaustion as much as his panting and sweating.

Meanwhile, Slyth sheathed his sword at his hip and started a slow series of stretches. His sheath was nearly ten centimeters shorter than his sword, yet seemed to fit it fine. Jonah wasn't even sure where the thing had come from, since he hadn't had it when he and Naomi had met up with Willow and Slyth. According to both of them, Slyth had essentially stuck with Willow since literally bumping into her. They'd worked together to make up enough EB to pay for a pair of rooms at an inn each night. At least, they'd worked after Luzzi and Ravavka had run off.

Jonah was a bit disappointed not getting to meet the much more alien-like beings. Slyth was essentially just a silver human with fangs and claws and weird ears. Nothing too special. He'd looked up Hazzabi and Paavaras though, and they seemed way different. Still humanoid, but truly alien in a way most weren't.

"You should stretch too or you'll get stiff again. To answer, though, your face gives it away. Your scrunch your nose and eyes up in a very particular way when you're concentrating on casting. You don't really do that with the one that makes me hear or see things, I'm guessing it's easier for you to cast?"

Acknowledging the other man was right about needing to stretch, Jonah followed along with his rival's motions. "Interesting. I hadn't thought my face was changing much at all… I don't think about what my face is doing in the middle of a fight."

"Most people don't in the beginning. Once you learn to read your opponent's face, you'll naturally begin to control your own. Though it's impossible to fully control your eyes. You have to be able to see where you wish to hit, after all."

The thought was curious. Unlike Slyth, Jonah very much could simply not look where he wanted to attack. If he could figure out another view like his RTS View, at least. Maybe an over-the-shoulder third person view he could switch to in fights? It'd help with the problem of looking at what he wanted to hit, and it'd also give him more distance from the reality of being in a fight in the first place. That was where he struggled the most. He often found himself locking up when Slyth made particularly aggressive moves.

Once, the man had roared fiercely and rushed him with his sword held high. Jonah had found himself frozen in place until he released his normal sight entirely and repositioned using his RTS View alone. He'd work on building the new ability. He might even have enough XP to acquire it when it was built. He hadn't really spent much since Madrick had brought them all here, after all.

Deciding to not be the guy who made everything about him all the time, Jonah asked, "What about you? Any luck using your mana for anything?"

The response was a hand held flat, tilting from side to side. "Outside of combat, yes. So far I haven't found much use within."

Jonah nodded, muttering to himself, "Every question has an answer…"

Everyone within the party knew everyone else's insights, except Madrick of course, who had just laughed when they asked him. Willow had sat everyone down the very first night they'd been reunited and in the most serious tone she'd ever used, explained how Luzzi and Ravavka had been adamant that sharing such knowledge was dangerous. Then proceeded to suggest they do so anyway.

Her thought was that they should operate as if they were friends back on Earth: working together to improve as a group. Rather than a paranoid individualist who had lived who-knew how long seeing everyone else as a potential enemy. The attempt at persuasion wasn't particularly necessary, as Jonah, Naomi, and Willow already all knew each other's insights and Slyth hadn't had his yet.

Once he had his breakthrough, though, Slyth hadn't been shy about sharing it. The insight was pretty obvious, but saying it didn't immediately give Jonah some kind of power-up or mana, so clearly he didn't actually understand the insight in the same way Slyth did.

"Can you maybe ask your mana a question like 'where will my enemy strike next'?" Jonah suggested.

"An interesting theory…" So saying, golden eyes narrowed and he clearly tried to do something along those lines. After a few moments, he shrugged, "As far as I can tell it didn't do anything. I think I'll have to take Madrick up on his offer." Slyth sighed deeply at the admission.

Jonah winced. Madrick had mentioned that he knew what Slyth's mana aspect was, and even had limited knowledge on what effects it could produce. He'd ruthlessly bartered that knowledge for an oath of fieldty. He wasn't interested in a UICI contract or anything, just Slyth's verbal oath. Strangely, everyone seemed to believe such an oath was a much bigger deal than a contract in a similar vein would have been.

Finishing their stretches in silence, Jonah finally suggested, "Maybe wait a bit before agreeing to Madrick's terms. No need to rush, you can pull your weight as well as I can - if not better - in fights. It's not like you need the boost to be valuable to the team."

A slight smile tugged at the left edge of the man's lips as he turned those deep pools of liquid gold on him, "Thanks, Jonah. I appreciate the support."

Clearing his throat, he nodded and asked, "Ready to go again?"

Piper

Stepped Back!

Piper loved her new spell. Usually, she had to choose who to be with. That choice was usually pretty easy, as 'mother' was the obvious decision. Now, though, she didn't need to choose! She could watch everyone as they went about whatever they wanted to do, and then pop in whenever she was needed!

She and Willow had even come up with a little signal to call her guide and daughter back whenever she needed her. It was awesome! The spell also let her keep an eye on the two sneaky people as they made their way, presumably, toward Willow and team. Katha was… Well, she was going entirely the wrong way.

Mejah was always really close though. Not close enough that Piper thought he was really a threat to anyone, but near enough that he clearly had some way to monitor them.

Meanwhile, Madrick passed Mejah by several times every couple hours. It was hilarious! She couldn't wait for him to give up and ask for her help. Naturally, she would lead him right to the two meter thick wall which Madrick would need to either break or phase through in order to reach the spy, but not without some much earned gloating.

The only problem with the spell was she couldn't hear what anyone was saying. She'd asked Madrick about that and he mentioned it was possible to alter spells, but super hard and dangerous. Well, he'd said, "It's something only the very experienced, or the very talented do. Most people who try without enough wisdom and knowledge damage their souls. Sometimes the damage even leaves scars."

He was as dramatic as Piper herself, though, so she figured it wasn't quite that scary. Either way, she'd see what Willow thought before trying to make a better version of the already super-cool spell.

Seeing Willow make the little one-handed heart they'd landed on as the proper way for Willow to summon her daughter, Piper took two steps and popped into existence on the palm of her hand.

"Hi mom!"

"Not your mom. Can you ask Madrick to come do some actual teaching? Naomi can't sense my ability at all. We've been at this for like twenty hours."

Turning to the black-haired pale woman, Piper zipped directly in front of her face and stared into her empty eyes. She loved looking into those orbs of blankness, they were so different than everyone else's! They never had any sparks of anger or bright joy, nothing. Just empty tranquility.

She also thought it was funny how Naomi never flinched, even when she was mere centimeters from her eye. Willow always flailed around and shouted 'don't do that!' and 'what are you, a mosquito!?!'

Naomi just looked back at her, placid and unworried.

"Okay!" She took two steps forward, pretending she was going to walk right into Naomi's eye, before finding herself back in the void of bubbles containing her people-of-interest.

She even had a dedicated role in the team now, thanks to her new spell! Messenger! Well, another dedicated role. She was also technically a guide, though no one knew how that worked yet. Including her.

So much to learn and figure out! She took two more steps to deliver mother's message to Madrick the meany-but-sometimes-nice-spell-teacher.