Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 15 — Scattered

Author's Note: This chapter is deprecated! Please see the rewrite.

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The good news was that it didn't take that much longer for the Gift to piece the two spells together. Cale hadn't quite expected it to take that much energy, but apparently whatever the Gift did was magically intensive. Who would've thought it would shut itself down for everyone else?

It was probably at least a little bit his fault, considering that one part about resonance... but in his defense, he hadn't known that was the point of resonance. He could guess at some part of how the Gift was structured now—using gods of various elemental aspects as nodes within a globe-spanning, impossibly complex divine construct.

He still had no idea how one of the realm's divines could have made the thing, though. The sheer scale of it should have been impossible for anyone but perhaps someone just beneath a Monolith in terms of power. Even for a God of Magic, the Gift was something of a miracle.

That was a mystery for another time, though. He had other concerns at the moment. For one thing, between his "donation" and the actual cast of the resulting spell—not to mention the spells he'd needed to cast to get the combination going to begin with—he was actually starting to feel a little fatigued. Not so much that he was at risk of collapsing, but enough that he was definitely going to go straight to bed when they were back at Brightscale.

It wasn't the worst he'd experienced, at least. He'd fought Monoliths, and the scale of those fights could cross multiple realms.

...Come to think of it, that period of time was probably when his mana reserves had grown the most. Something about that might be important. Cale decided to file that away for later, too, because he still hated thinking about that war and because he was more interested in the spell he'd gained.

Which was a little bit stronger than he'd been hoping. Just a little, though!

You have learned [Alter Leylines]!

[Alter Leylines, Level 1] [Sixteenth Tier (Unique), Active] [1.0e56 Mana]

Permanently change the leylines of mana that run through the realm and empower its dungeons. Be cautious when using this, for the slightest change in those leylines may cause ecosystems and dungeons to shift.

Note: Approval for this spell has been tentatively granted to Cale Cadwell Cobbs. Approval may be rescinded should significant damage come to Utelia through use of this spell.

Cale raised an eyebrow. "That's a first," he muttered. The Gift hadn't given him a warning like this even for [Fangs of the Festering Fields], and that spell—despite technically being a tier lower—had posed far more of a risk to Utelia than this one did. The Gift had warned him about using that spell too, but it said nothing about rescinding access.

There was a chance that the Gift itself had been altered in some way, he supposed. Perhaps whoever designed the thing realized the danger of the spells that were being created and decided a safety measure was needed, something Cale couldn't really disagree with.

Alternatively, the Gift could restrict some types of spells more than others. [Fangs of the Festering Fields] reached into the Outer Planes, and magic like that tended to be far more difficult to corral. For all its power, [Alter Leylines] acted only on the realm...

Cale frowned. Something about that was important, he thought.

"The Gift is back," Leo muttered, sighing with relief. "Never do that again, Cale. That was terrifying. What happened?"

"Did you get the spell you needed?" Damien asked quietly.

"Kind of," Cale answered. "I have to be really careful if I want to use this."

Leo made a begrudgingly interested noise. "Spill," he said, pulling out a pencil. When Cale raised an eyebrow at him, he scowled. "It doesn't take a genius to realize you're inventing new schools of magic every time you interact with the Gift! Who's going to document all this if I don't?"

"Right," Cale said, amused. "It's [Alter Leylines]. Basically lets me alter the realm's leylines."

Leo made a strangled, choking noise. "The leylines?" he asked. "The—you're talking about the giant rivers of mana running through the continents?"

"I don't know if I would call them giant rivers of mana..." Cale trailed off, realizing Leo was glaring at him. "I meant I don't know if I'd call them rivers! They aren't that literal."

"They might as well be," Leo said, reaching up to massage his temples. "Is that—does that do what you need?"

"It does, but again, I have to be careful with it," Cale said, studying the conflux of mana flows in the air. With the spell active, he could feel not only the flow of mana but also the grooves they left behind—and he could change those grooves, if he wanted.

The problem was that he needed a chisel, and he was basically working with a sledgehammer. The point of this spell was to move the "giant rivers of mana", as Leo put it, not to gently tweak the way mana flowed inside an academy.

"What happens if you aren't?" Damien asked worriedly. "I don't know much about leylines."

"I've read about them," Leo said. "They're supposed to be how mana is distributed and recycled throughout each realm. Only about twenty percent of the mana expended for a spell becomes ambient mana—the rest sinks into the leylines for redistribution."

"Mostly correct," Cale said absently. He was busy trying to pick away at the spell to turn his sledgehammer into something closer to a chisel, although he was starting to feel like that metaphor was inadequate. "That twenty percent varies between realms, and it can shift depending on magical activity across the realm. That's not the important bit, though."

"It's the dungeons?" Leo guessed.

"It's the dungeons," Cale confirmed. "Leylines are like a lesser version of the system that balances out the Great Realms. Dungeons shift the balance of power between realms, and leylines are how they're able to stay connected to the Great Realms in the first place. They're also what empowers the dungeons and how those dungeons shift the balance of power between themselves, among other things."

"Are you saying that leylines are connected to the Abyss, somehow?" Leo asked incredulously.

Cale blinked. "Well, yeah," he said. "You called them rivers of mana, didn't you? The Abyss is the source. They're not a closed system."

"But—" Leo sputtered. "Wait, is that how summoning spells normally work? Do they pull things through the leylines?"

Cale grinned. It was so nice to have apprentices that were capable. "Good catch. The good ones do, yes. It's a bit like astral fishing. Bad summoning spells try to punch through the realm directly, and it tends to cost a lot more mana."

Damien, meanwhile, was frowning in thought. "Dungeons are usually a huge part of the ecosystem around them," he said. "So you're saying if you aren't careful—"

"I might kill a dungeon, yes," Cale said. "And if a dungeon withers, then anything that relies on it is going to wither as well. Leyline alteration is dangerous. You remember what I told you about the Karmian Well?"

"You said it merged all the dungeons beneath Karmia," Leo muttered, his brows furrowing. "Are you saying—"

"That spell moved the leylines as well, yes," Cale confirmed. "It's one of the reasons it should have been impossible, especially at that tier. Hugh was a genius, and the spell was so intricate it even minimized the impact to the rest of the realm."

"Minimized," Leo repeated.

"Not eliminate, yes," Cale said, sensing the question the minotaur wanted to ask. "People were drawn to Karmia for more reasons than just the Well's supply of mana. It still disrupted a few dungeons, caused a few breaks, and drained at least one land of its mana before balance was eventually restored."

Damien winced. "...you'll be careful, right?"

"Trust me," Cale said. "I know exactly how important it is I get this right."

Karmia was one of the best examples of leyline alteration out there. Cale had a dozen other examples that came to mind that were infinitely worse, but he figured it was best to spare his apprentices some of that trauma.

Basically, Cale really didn't want to accidentally move a leyline while he was doing this.

Fortunately, he could weaken the spell easily enough. [Alter Leylines] manifested as an active effect through the flow of mana within his core, which meant he could use the spell to weaken itself. Tiny adjustments to its flow within his own core was surprisingly easy, almost like he was using the spell for its intended purpose.

After about ten minutes of concentration—which was a long time for Cale, but he wanted to be absolutely sure this wouldn't have unintended effects—he nodded to himself. "Alright," he said. "I think I'm ready now. Stand back in case I provoke something."

Leo and Damien glanced at each other. "Are you... expecting to provoke something?" Damien asked cautiously.

"Not exactly," Cale hedged. "But if this is what I think it is, then it's really important we know sooner rather than later."

With that, he reached into the conflux of grooves wrought into the center of the room with his weakened spell, then wrenched it apart.

Something screeched. Damien and Leo raised their hands in preparation to cast a spell, startled, but Cale shook his head before either of them could blast away the thing that had emerged.

Right in the middle of the room, what appeared to be a shimmering worm tore its way into reality. Cale stared at it as it collapsed onto the ground, squirming like it was desperate to breathe.

It felt wrong to every single one of its senses. He could feel the magical equivalent of his hackles rising. It was different from an Abyssal, which simply didn't belong in the Great Realms. This was something that shouldn't have existed. That couldn't exist.

Just like a dozen other things on Utelia.

"What—what is that thing?" Leo asked, disgusted.

"That," Cale said, "is a realmseed. Or, more accurately, it's what happens now when you try to make a realmseed."

He knelt by it and picked up the now-dying worm. The redirection of mana made sense now—a malformed realmseed wouldn't survive without a constant flow of ambient mana sustaining it. They were aberrant creations, bound to an older iteration of the Great Realms, an older form of magic...

...and sustained by the corrupted part of the Source. The version that had been excised and destroyed, as far as he'd known.

"That's not a good thing, is it?" Damien asked quietly.

Cale sighed and stood, crushing the worm in his grip. "No," he said. "It is not. But we did learn something important."

"What's that?" Leo asked.

"The Red Hunters—or, more likely, their Commander—are creating more of their so-called dangerous wild mages on purpose." Cale felt a sudden exhaustion that had little to do with how much mana he'd expended. "Which means their end goal isn't really to get rid of all wild mages. It's just a means to an end."

He glanced at the remains of the worm in his palm.

A realmseed like this, if seeded properly throughout a realm, would warp the leylines just enough to cause more exotic types of mana to leak through. It would affect the birth of every new mage in that realm, making it that much more likely that the mage would be born with a mana core no one else had.

Worse, they enabled the appearance of mana aspects that should have been restricted. Hunting them all would be impossible, especially when Cale knew the ritual to create a realmseed was gated more by knowledge than power. That would be a losing battle from the start.

"But... they hate wild mages," Leo said. "Why would they be making wild mages on purpose?"

"That's the question, isn't it?" Cale murmured. "If I had to guess? Whoever's in charge of the Red Hunters is trying to get someone with a specific type of mana core to be born. Probably with a mana aspect that doesn't show up unless the world's in sufficient conflict.

"The more they push wild mages to fight back, the more they'll disturb the realm's mana. The more they do that, the more the problem caused by the realmseeds gets exacerbated, and the more wild mages get born. Eventually, the wild aspects will change to reflect the conflict in the world. You'll get mages with dreamplague cores, mindchain cores, skittersoul cores..."

Leo and Damien both stared at him.

"Does—does that mean they're right?" Damien asked, suddenly struck. "To be afraid of us?"

Cale snorted. "They're the cause of this, don't forget," he said. "And any of those mages could learn to control their power. But not if they force the realm to be overwhelmed with them. It's an apocalypse of their own making."

Then he relaxed, giving his apprentices a tired smile. "We should head back," he said.

"But—what are we supposed to do about all this?" Leo protested.

"We find out what they're looking for and stop them in their tracks," Cale said. "This kind of plan takes years to execute. It doesn't change anything in the short term, but it does mean we can prepare, and strike them where it hurts."

"Which is?"

Cale raised a brow. "The state of the realm impacts the type of core created," he said. "Everything we do has an impact. For example... whoever's in charge is going to be really frustrated the next time they check their data."

—

The Red Commander twitched, staring at the report.

There were more wild mages. That was good.

He did not understand why so many that had been born in the last day had, for some infernal-forsaken reason, been granted mana cores related to bread.

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Author's Note: A little shorter today! Partly because I deleted a chunk I wasn't really happy with. I'm going to take a look at this chapter again tomorrow, but I do also want to get it out on time. I'll send out an update if there are any changes.

Thanks for reading!

Cale Fact: Cale brushes off his trauma a lot, but he's seen some messed up things from leyline contamination (which is what happens when you reconfigure those leylines to all be concentrated on top of dark experimentation or whatnot). This includes people rotting alive and/or melting into the walls.

It's not always bad! Sometimes it ends up creating new wonders, like singing mountains. Or trees that shoot lasers.

Cale is the only person that likes the trees that shoot lasers.

RR 55:

Magical Fun Fact: To be fair, other mages have identified the utility of secreting elemental slime. It's just that most of those mages are alchemists, not battlemages. There is at least one archmage who specializes in battle slime, but most other mages just kind of avoid the guy.