Routine Routine Routine

Eric entered First Star Spellcraft. Professor Orren was already standing in the arena below, arms folded as if he’d been waiting.

The last couple of days had been nothing but rest and quiet focus—drawing water closer to his core, inch by inch. He’d managed to bring it more than halfway in, nearly aligning it with the same orbit as air and fire. He still didn’t know what it meant to pull another affinity into line with the others—only that it felt like a door waiting to open.

Between meditation sessions, he buried himself in his class texts, studying everything he could about rune theory and basic artificing. The more he read, the more one idea kept tugging at him—a pocket watch.

It was simple in concept, practical, and something he understood down to its bones. He’d already filled a few pages with sketches, experimenting with how to merge runes into mechanical design. The problem was the interface. He could see how the gears would drive motion and how the runes could generate the pulse that kept time—but how the two systems actually spoke to each other—that was still a mystery.

Professor Orren watched as Eric and Welyvyne entered the room. As usual, they were the first to arrive.

Eric smiled; he still couldn’t hear the bells, but Welyvyne never corrected his sense of time, letting him lead them to class early.

“Good morning, Eric. Welyvyne,” Professor Orren called, a faint smile tugging at his lips. “Could you join me down here, please?”

Eric glanced at Welyvyne, who only shrugged before starting down the stairs. He sighed, shaking his head, and followed after her.

“I’m glad you arrived early—“ Professor Orren said as they reached the arena. “I had planned to instruct Eric privately, but given your bonded academic status, you may join him.”

The professor turned to Eric, a question already forming on his face.

“Eric, I was wondering—how many affinities do you currently have access to? I’ll need to know so I can teach you new spells, and show you how to layer affinities to alter a spell’s conditions.”

Eric smiled. “Conditions? So… like in artificing, where you pull a concept out of an affinity and use just that piece of it? I currently have access to what I think is all of them—but I also know that can’t be right, because lightning’s a mix of two.”

“All of them, you say? Well, you have a lot to learn. And to answer your first question—yes and no. Yes, it’s similar, but no, you won’t be adding modifiers to a spell. You’ll use the same vocalization and gestures; the difference comes from how you guide the spell’s conditions through feeling. It’s easier to understand once you actually do it.”

He smiled, then continued, “I’d like to teach you two new spells today—one for water and one for earth. Once you’ve learned them both, we’ll begin weaving them together.”

“And what about Order and Entropy? Should I not learn something for them as well?” Eric asked.

“No,” Professor Orren said flatly. “As affinities, they exist purely as conditions—any spell you already possess will be altered by them. Which means you need to learn how to weave spells and conditions together first, before attempting to use them. This is how you get there, Eric—one step at a time.”

“Understood,” Eric said with quiet respect. “I’ll follow your instructions to the letter.”

Professor Orren spent a few minutes teaching Eric the vocalizations and gestures. By the time they finished, the other students had begun to arrive. He instructed the class to regroup where they’d been the previous week, while directing Eric to practice his spells off to the side.

The professor moved among the clusters, demonstrating a spell tailored to each group’s affinity. Some students already knew it, but many did not. Watching them, Eric smiled—realizing Orren was simply building a baseline so everyone could start from the same point.

Eric also understood the contrast—that he stood outside the professor’s baseline—and accepted that he would be learning alone, on a path separate from everyone else.

Eric practiced while the other students began casting the new spells they’d just learned. For a moment, frustration crept in—why can’t I understand as fast as they do?

Then he caught himself and smiled, the answer settling in almost instantly. Of course. Everyone here had been raised with magic; they already had the context. They’d been imprinted with understanding since childhood.

With that, Eric began trying to feel how the spells should feel—imagining what water and earth might be like—and then he pushed. He picked up the vocalizations and gestures quickly, faster than he’d expected, as if they were second nature. But now he added the final touch he’d used for lightning: intent guided by sensation.

He understood, at last, why feeling mattered—it was the guide that gave a spell direction. As he imagined the elements, they began to respond: a trickle of water forming in the air, a small stone rising through the floor.

Stone cannot be created, he mused, but water can be summoned from nothing—or, no, not nothing. It’s drawn from the air itself.

By the end of the lesson, Eric had two new spells—Draw Water and Earthen Dart. Simple, efficient, and already full of possibilities.

He knew the professor had what he might consider spell evolution in mind for these simple spells, so he wasn’t disappointed by their relative power. If anything, he found reassurance in their simplicity—trusting the professor’s direction completely.

After that, the class came to an end. Eric thanked the professor and made his way to Runes, where he found himself enjoying the growing nuance and steadily gaining confidence in rune theory. The lesson felt much like the previous one—Professor Nid sitting at the front with a new book in hand.

This one was different, though. The title looked something like He Who Fights With Rift Monsters, though Eric couldn’t be sure; the professor’s hand covered part of the text.

Later that day, Eric met with Kaelen for practice—along with the rest of the group. Kaelen’s only condition had been simple: “If you’re upright, you can practice.”

Eric already felt better than he had just a couple of days ago. Why did I recover so quickly? he wondered. From what he understood, it could take months to rebuild iron reserves and make a full recovery. I wonder if it’s because I’ve been augmented by the system. Either way, he felt steady again—ready to move.

They decided to meet at the dueling grounds for practice. At this time of day, the arena was empty—a quiet, well-equipped space that felt perfect for group training.

Kaelen stood in the center of the arena, eyes sweeping across the others.

“Today we stop being just a group of friends,” he said. “Today, we become a team—one that watches each other’s backs. We’re going to find our place and learn to move as one. The best teams don’t just react—they make each other stronger. Force multipliers.”

“Eric,” Kaelen continued, “you’ll be our mid-range fighter. You’ll slide between ranged support and assisting me up close, which means we need to get your distance combat up to speed. I’ve got faith your melee will be excellent.”

“Lyren,” Kaelen said, turning toward her. “You’re our healer, obviously—but you can cast as well as any mage. You can throw up defenses, deal ranged damage, and still keep the team alive. What we need is to balance all that with your primary role.”

“Welyvyne,” Kaelen said, facing her this time, “you’re our damage dealer. Your primary goal is to stay back—that means you’ll have the best vantage point to spot threats before the rest of us do, and you’ll need to learn how to direct the fight. I’ll be focused on what’s in front of me, Lyren will be focused on keeping us alive, and Eric will be covering the space between us—taking out anything that slips past. That leaves you as our tactician. No one said being ranged would be easy.”

Lyren flashed Welyvyne a grin. “No pressure.”

After that, Kaelen ran everyone through drills—many, many drills. He had Eric sprint forward to fight beside him, then retreat back to the ranged line, always reminding him to hold the center and cast from there. Targets appeared across the arena, and Kaelen barked orders for them to run and cast on the move.

Hitting a target while running wasn’t nearly as easy as it looked. Keeping focus on both movement and spellcasting at the same time was even harder.

Then Kaelen split them into two groups. He worked melee drills with Eric while Welyvyne and Lyren paired off to practice against each other. He stressed the importance of every ranged fighter having at least some close-quarters capability—because, as he put it, they couldn’t always count on protection.

By the end, they were all drenched in sweat and struggling to catch their breath.

Kaelen straightened, wiping his brow. “I’ve already inquired about registering our team with the Adventurer’s Guide. At first, we’ll be assigned basic duties—guard rotations, handling minor monster sightings, things like that. They won’t risk sending a newly formed team into a rift.”

Eric smiled. “That’s good. I have no idea what it even means to fight in a rift—or to fight at all, really. This is all new to me.”

Lyren snorted. “I can’t even imagine a world without fighting.”

Welyvyne smiled. “Eric will be fine—he’s fast, and he learns quickly. I’m not sure I’m ready.”

Lyren looked at Welyvyne quizzically. “Aren’t your people the majority of the Adventurer’s Guild? I mean—doesn’t everyone from your caste fight?”

Welyvyne frowned. “Yes, but… I don’t know. I’ve never been that type. I worked hard to become an artificer, and when I finally became a mage—well, imagine my family’s disappointment that I wasn’t out on the front lines with the rest of our people.”

Eric smiled softly. “Well, I’m personally glad you did.”

He rested a hand on her shoulder. “I wouldn’t have you as a friend if you hadn’t been here.”

Lyren snorted. “Yeah, I second that.”

Kaelen nodded. “I agree as well.”

The day slipped away after Welyvyne and Eric shared dinner with Seltheren, filling him in on everything that had happened. Later, after Welyvyne had gone to sleep, Eric stayed up a while longer, working on his watch design. He skimmed through his artificing book, searching for any mention of connecting mechanical systems to enchantments—but found nothing. Eventually, he set the book aside with a sigh, the sketches still spread out before him, and drifted off to sleep.

Eric and Welyvyne entered Artificing, running a bit late—or at least, late by Eric’s standards. In truth, they arrived right as everyone else was walking in. Professor Valien stood at his usual spot near the front, already arranging the day’s lesson.

They took their seats at their workbenches. Eric summoned his designs and books from his storage space, placing the papers neatly across the table.

Welyvyne glanced at the stack of designs and pointed. “Is that your… what did you call it? A wah-ach?”

Eric smiled. “Close—watch. It keeps track of time—something I desperately need around here. If only I could figure out how to merge enchantments with mechanical parts.”

Welyvyne looked contemplative. “That’s a good question. I’m sure there’s a way—someone must’ve tried by now. But honestly, I’ve never seen it myself. You can see what enchantments look like… but how many have you seen that actually move?”

Eric looked up in thought. “You know… I’ve seen a lot of static enchantments, but nothing that actually moves. Even that big scanner thing I was in—it vibrated, but it didn’t move.”

Professor Valien stepped to the center of the workshop. “I hope everyone has read up to chapter fifteen. Today, we’ll be covering the finer points of safety. The metal plates sitting on—”

He paused mid-sentence, his gaze catching on Eric’s stack of plans. His brow furrowed before he continued.

“—the slabs from last week. They provide a barrier between your enchantments, keeping them from interfering with one another and causing chain reactions. Which,” he added, gesturing toward his missing arm, “is how this happened. I was careless for the briefest of moments.”

Professor Valien glanced once more at Eric’s plans before addressing the class.

“We’ll also be making three new enchantments from your textbooks today. You’ll notice a coil of pure sylvarium wire behind your new stone plates—handle it carefully. Sylvarium is extremely mana-conductive. When alloyed into sylvarium steel, it becomes an exceptional medium for enchantments. Adding coal to the mix helps stabilize the flow, making mana easier to control within the metal.”

He gestured toward the workbenches. “The plates themselves are made of vancium, an ore that repels mana. Together, they’ll help you control and contain your enchantments more precisely.”

Eric turned to his workbench that he hadn't even looked at when he entered and found the coil of wire. it wasn't rounded like he had expected, the wire was rectangular and coiled on a wooden spool.

Professor Valien nodded to the class.

“Your task today is to use the etching tools to carve the grooves needed to embed your wire. Follow the enchantment diagrams in your textbooks, and once the wire is laid in place, cover it with the vancium.”

Professor Valien approached Eric’s bench and glanced over his plans.

“Are these drawings for something you plan to create in this class, Eric?”

Eric handed the drawings to Professor Valien.

“I actually wanted you to take a look at them,” he said. “I’ve been wondering if these designs would work—and if you know of a way to make enchantments interact with mechanical parts.”

Professor Valien took the plans and studied them in silence. After a couple of minutes, he furrowed his brow and finally spoke, “These, Mr. Elwyn, are quite advanced in theory. I would’ve assumed they came from a Third-Star class. To answer your question—yes, there are many ways enchantments can interact with mechanical parts. This is an artificing class, after all, not an enchanting one. But if I’m understanding your intent correctly, the scale you’re aiming for is small—pocket-sized. That’s going to take some figuring out.”

Eric frowned. “So at this scale, there’s nothing you could suggest, then?”

Professor Valien smiled. “Oh, I didn’t say that. I also never said you couldn’t figure it out.”

He tapped one of the sketches with his finger. “Here—this section seems to be some kind of timing mechanism, yes? Order and entropy. That actually could work. I see you’ve placed a time modifier on entropy, and here you’re using the resonance modifier of order. You intend to pulse mana repeatedly—at precise intervals.”

Eric smiled broadly. “Exactly, Professor. I want to make a timepiece—because I can’t hear the bells.”

Professor Valien’s expression softened. “A noble reason, then. Timekeeping by intent—very fitting for an artificer.”

Professor Valien paused, thinking for a moment. “You know…” He turned his gaze toward the coil of wire. “Sylvarium has a rather interesting property that might help you.”

He pointed to the open gear on Eric’s drawing. “Here—it looks like you intend for this arm to move back and forth, pushing the gear forward one tooth at a time, each side catching it just right.”

Eric nodded. “Exactly. I just need a way to move the inverse escapement. The design’s based on something from my world, but with mana, I figured I could make it run forever.”

Professor Valien smiled. “You may have what you need right in front of you. Please, feel free to build this—it’s well beyond what I’m teaching in this class.”

He turned to Welyvyne. “Join your bonded academic. He has a good instinct for artificing.”

Then his tone shifted, a hint of sternness threading through his words. “However, do not charge the enchantment until I’ve inspected it. I expect this project will take some time to complete. If you can get it even partially functional, I’ll consider it a passing grade.”

Welyvyne smiled. “I wasn’t expecting that. I thought for sure he was going to tell you it was too dangerous and that you needed to stick to the basics.”

Eric chuckled. “Honestly, so did I. Guess we’re both wrong.”

Welyvyne gathered the parts of the drawings that detailed the enchantments. “I’ll start on these. I’ll scale them up so we can test the enchantments safely. You should figure out what he meant by ‘you may have what you need right in front of you.’”

Eric smiled and nodded. In that moment, he realized that maybe she was, in fact, a kindred spirit.

Eric toyed with the wire for a while, pulsing mana through it to see if he could feel anything. Then he cut another length and tried again.

The moment the mana flowed, he understood what Professor Valien had meant.

The two wires pulled toward each other, reacting to the field created by the mana-infused Sylvarium. When he stopped channeling, they relaxed again—completely still.

Curious, Eric set one of the wires beside the Vancium sheet and pushed mana through it once more. This time, the wire repelled the plate, bending the wire away from it.

A grin spread across his face. He turned to Welyvyne.

“I think I know what Professor Valien meant,” he said, excitement creeping into his voice. “And I know exactly what I need to do.”

Without another word, Eric began sketching a new design.

It took them some time to realize everyone else had already left. Professor Valien sat at his desk, quietly watching as the two of them talked back and forth, their excitement filling the room.

When Eric finally looked up and noticed the empty classroom, he rubbed the back of his neck.

“Guess we got a little carried away.”

Professor Valien smiled warmly. “It’s quite all right. I’ve always enjoyed seeing students who truly enjoy the discovery of artificing. But you should probably get out of here before lunch ends and the next class fills the room.”

Later, they joined the group for more practice. Kaelen brought Eric an actual longsword—its edge faintly shimmering with enchantment.

“Here,” Kaelen said, handing it over. “I know you haven’t said it yet, but you’re planning to travel to the human settlement, aren’t you?”

Eric smiled and nodded. “Yeah. I need more food from there—and honestly, I’m looking forward to getting out of the city for a bit, maybe explore a little.”

Kaelen returned the smile. “Did you plan on bringing someone with you, or were you going alone?”

Eric rubbed the back of his neck. “Uh… yeah, I was going to ask everyone if they wanted to come.”

Kaelen chuckled. “I thought as much.”

After practice, Eric asked Lyren and Welyvyne if they wanted to join him. They both agreed.

Lyren smirked. “And let you wander off alone and accidentally flirt with a monster? Not a chance.”

Eric protested, “I don’t flirt with anyone!”

Everyone just laughed.

The next day was short. Dueling class went better this time—Eric actually won one match, though he still ended up on his back by the end.

Afterward, everyone headed into town. Eric stopped by the food vendors and chatted with Kyllian, who handed him thirty-one Skyls. Eric grinned and promised to bring him something new when he got back from his trip.

He picked up a few more pieces of clothing in his usual style, along with boots better suited for the walk. The others gathered supplies as well; the trip wasn’t meant to be long—just there, get what he needed, and back before dark. Still, Kaelen insisted they be prepared in case something delayed them.

Tomorrow was going to be an adventure.

Eric sat on the edge of his bed, the glow of his status window illuminating the room in soft blue light. He wanted to look one more time—just to see how far he’d come before tomorrow.

[ Status — Eric Elwyn ]

Race: Outworlder

Class: Mage

Profession: Artificer

MP 151 / 151

Base Stats

Strength 5 Endurance 5

Dexterity 4 Agility 8

Wisdom 6 Intellect 8

Outworlder Bonuses: +5 to all base stats

Strength 10 Endurance 10

Dexterity 9 Agility 13

Wisdom 11 Intellect 13

Affinities:

Lightning (Complex)

Fire (Primary)

Air (Primary)

Traits:

Omni-Lingual — You may comprehend and speak all known tongues.

Dimensional Storage (Rank 1) — Access a personal pocket-space to store carried objects. (Upgradable.)

Adaptive Cognition — Neural enhancements optimized for complex mana analysis.

Skills:

Artifice Theory (18)

Process Optimization (Passive)

Adaptive Logic (Passive)

Mana Manipulation (57)

Defense (7)

Longswords (17)

Melee Combat (23)

Spells:

Arc (3) (Lightning)

Lightning Strike (5) (Lightning)

Gust (3) (Air)

Ignite (3) (Fire)

Draw Water (2) (Water)

Earthen Dart (3) (Earth)