Chương 31: Perhaps female students simply possessed a higher tolerance for initiating conversations

Fabrisse had settled on Loamwake after remembering it was a prerequisite for another Rare spell, and now he was watching Liene firing light beams. Liene stepped back and raised a hand. With just a slight adjustment of her footing, she cast.

"Gather and shine." Light shot across the courtyard, striking a practice dummy in the chest. A small scorch mark appeared beside several older ones already blackening the wood. Fabrisse stared in awe.

"That was the entire mnemonic."

"Mm-hm."

"You barely charged it."

"I charged the spell." Liene pointed at her feet.

"I didn't charge the emotion. If you're just trying to hit a target, you don't need to spend ten seconds cultivating a personalized shame spiral first." He could see it in the way no colored spark trailed the light beam. The light had been uniformly pale gold from formation to impact. Fabrisse felt attacked.

"You need to be quick," Liene continued.

"Just cast before you can overthink. Do it enough and it becomes instinctive." She turned back to him, beaming.

"Now you try it with your rock flinging!" Before his brain could convene a committee meeting, Fabrisse grabbed a Stupenstone and hurled it. The rock described a shallow arc through the air… then dropped onto the grass over five meters away from him.

"Fabri…" Liene whispered.

"Yes?"

"Did you feel any tingling before you threw the rock?"

"No." She pointed at the Stupenstone lying several meters away.

"Then you just threw a rock normally."

"Oh."

"There should've been a tingling running along your arm first. That's aether travelling through the casting pathway." Fabrisse looked at his hand. Liene continued, "And then, correct me if I'm wrong, the rock should start moving before you swing."

"... It should?"

"Yes."

"Fabri, the spell throws the rock. You're not supposed to do all the work yourself."

"That does sound more efficient."

"Look." She settled into her stance again.

"Gather and shine." A pale-gold thread materialized just above her palm before shooting across the courtyard.

"See?" She held up her hand.

"The light doesn't come from inside my palm. It forms on it. The aether creates the spell construct first. Then the construct does the work."

"So what you're saying is that I have successfully mastered the non-magical component of the spell. You skipped the construct."

"No."

"I see."

"You threw a rock."

"I threw a rock." If the spell construct was supposed to do the throwing, then maybe he didn't need to wind up like a professional pitcher every time he cast it. He could just fling it, or even better, snap his hands and let it fly. He might even look cool doing so. Liene was still talking. Fabrisse wasn't listening anymore.

[Stupenstone Fling — Rank I] [Aetheric Casting Equation Available] Spellcasting Equation: Aetheric Release Timing (40%) + Throwing Stance (30%) + Aetheric Resonance (30%) Expected Result: At maximum efficiency, manifested force approximates that of a healthy adult male throwing an equivalent stone manually. [SYSTEM NOTE: Aetheric Release Timing reaches optimal values when DEX ≥ 12. Current value: 11.] [SYSTEM NOTE: Throwing Stance reaches optimal values when kinetic leverage is maximized. Recommended posture approximates an efficient non-aetheric throwing motion.] [SYSTEM NOTE: Aetheric Resonance reaches optimal values when RES ≥ 5. Current value: 4.] Never mind. The spell apparently respected biomechanics. Liene immediately sighed and folded her arms.

"You're doing the weird thing again."

"I've discovered that the spell is approximately thirty percent baseball."

"Thirty percent what?" Only then did he realize Liene wouldn't have known baseball. Outside a few neighborhoods around his hometown Itakonra, the ancient stick-and-ball sport had been dead for centuries.

"Never mind." He picked up another Stupenstone. This time he paid attention. He planted his feet the way he suspected a pitcher would plant his. Then he focused on the slightest iota of tingling running down his arm. His resonance was so poor that the sensation was almost imperceptible, like a single feather drifting onto his skin and vanishing before he could be certain it had ever been there at all. But it was there. The Stupenstone trembled. He threw it. Fabrisse twisted his hips and released.

The rock shot forward, undeniably faster than before. It missed the practice dummy by perhaps a meter before bouncing across the grass. Liene immediately pumped a fist.

"You cast it!"

"I cast it." [Observed Efficiency – 73%] → Aetheric Release Timing (37%) → Throwing Stance (12%) → Aetheric Resonance (24%) It sucked though. The timing was nearly optimal. The stance... The system was politely informing him that his throwing technique was terrible.

"That looked quite good," Liene said. He still needed to learn baseball. That meant… Dubbie. She played baseball. Surely she had a better throw than him. If the Eidralith wanted leverage, then leverage it would get. He tried to remember the handful of times he'd seen Dubbie playing with her friends in the empty lots around Itakonra. The stance had always looked ridiculous to him. Too much twisting. Too much commitment. Too much everything. Now he copied it anyway.

The feather-light sensation brushed down his arm once more. He threw. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. [Observed Efficiency – 72%] → Aetheric Release Timing (37%) → Throwing Stance (11%) → Aetheric Resonance (24%) This time, the aim was better. The Stupenstone struck the practice dummy's foot. It didn't even wobble. The rock simply bounced off and rolled into the grass. The spell had successfully replicated the offensive capability of an average person throwing a rock.

Which, from this distance, turned out to be somewhat underwhelming.

"Oh!" Liene clapped.

"Good job! You can cast it already!" Fabrisse studied the numbers. He did even worse than before. There was no point. His timing was effectively capped until he gained another point of Dexterity. His resonance was capped until he increased his Resonance. It wouldn't make a difference if he threw the same stone twenty more times— [Stupenstone Fling – Progress to Rank II: 10%] [Loamwake – Progress to Rank I: 7%] Wait… He absolutely would improve by throwing rocks twenty more times. Eighteen, to be precise.

Liene had already begun gathering her things.

"Right!" she announced cheerfully.

"Now that we've established you're capable of weaponizing geology, we should celebrate. There are cakes left in the annex—""I need to throw my rock eighteen more times." Liene stopped gathering her things.

"What?"

"I need eighteen additional casts." He paraphrased.

"Is rock throwing part of your practical exam? Do you just want to hit Cuman that badly?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"I'll throw better if I practice more."

"That is technically true," Liene admitted.

"But this is still strange. You've spent years avoiding practical Thaumaturgy whenever possible." She tilted her head.

"Now you're voluntarily training after dark." She poked him in the shoulder.

"Maybe that's what being bonded to an ancient reality-warping artifact does to people. The Chosen-One and all that, am I right?" He tried his best not to groan. She watched him pick up another Stupenstone.

"Eighteen more?"

"Eighteen more." Liene sighed, then smiled.

"Well, if we're doing this, at least let me keep score." Ten minutes of throwing later, he'd gotten what he wanted. [Stupenstone Fling – Progress to Rank II: 100%] [Skill Rank Increased] Stupenstone Fling (Rank II) Expected Result: At maximum efficiency, manifested force slightly exceeds that of a healthy adult male throwing an equivalent stone manually.

New Effect: Trajectory Stabilization Minor corrections are automatically applied during flight QUEST COMPLETED: "Further Studies in Applied Lithics" Reward: 100 EXP 10 Earth Thaumaturgy Mastery Points EXP: 2085/2100 2085 out of 2100? That was specifically cruel. How was he 15 EXP points off? It made no sense. Every quest he'd received so far rewarded experience in neat increments of 50 or 100. How could he have accrued another 35? He frowned. Unless… Could one gain experience from actually learning things?

Fabrisse immediately picked up another Stupenstone. The stone drifted slightly left during its flight, then corrected itself by the smallest margin. The adjustment was almost invisible if he didn't deliberately track it. It hit the dummy's chest now rather than its foot, and left an actual thunk followed by a slight jerk.

"Oh!" Liene clapped.

"That sounded better! Have you ranked it up?" Fabrisse was embarrassed by how enthusiastic her claps sounded.

"I think." In truth, Thaumaturges could rarely be completely certain when a spell crossed into a new rank. Most simply developed a feel for it. The spell flowed more smoothly. The construct held together longer. The output felt stronger or more precise. Official confirmation usually required measurement. Liene stepped forward and gently poked the shoulder he'd been repeatedly rotating for the last ten minutes. The smile on her face suggested he had personally defeated a dragon.

"Good job! You really should reward yourself with some rest now. You've rubbed the same shoulder six times in the last minute." Fabrisse immediately lowered his hand. The session was over. [Training Completed: +28 EXP] EXP: 2113/2100 → 2113/2800 [Congratulations! You have reached Level 6.] [You have gained 3 Attribute Points] [You have gained 5 Aether Mastery Points] Yes! Fabrisse very nearly celebrated out loud. The universe had instead rewarded him for throwing rocks at a scarecrow.

In the past three days, he'd progress more than he had done over the past seven years. It was an incredible feeling. He immediately spent one point on DEX to meet the requirement for Stupenstone Fling, and another 2 points on RES. DEX: 11 → 12 RES: 4 → 6 He didn't need more magic now, but surely there'd come a time where he must cast a spell he hadn't been able to before. Maybe he could even cast that Fire spell he'd been struggling immensely with— Fabrisse abruptly realized someone was staring at him.

Liene stood a few paces away with the same smile she'd worn for the past minute.

"You seem very happy," she said.

"Yeah, I guess." He scratched the back of his head. There was unfortunately no socially acceptable way to explain that he'd just acquired three attribute points and five Aether Mastery Points.

"As you should! You've done well." Liene's smile widened.

"I'll get you some water." Before he could object, she was already jogging toward the annex. A minute later she returned carrying two bottles.

"You want a Logan Prime?" Fabrisse stared at the bottle Liene had produced like it was a cursed relic from a con artist's vault. The label pulsed with aether-laced ink. Beneath the logo, the slogan proudly declared: REJUVENATE YOUR CORE. REALIGN YOUR VIBE.

"I don't drink that."

"Why not?" Liene asked.

"It's good. This one's Prismberry."

"You know it's made by Logan Thaumwright, right?"

"The alchemy influencer?"

"The scammy one who got kicked from the Synod's apprentice track for selling fake runestones. Now he sponsors Tier-I duelists and says things like 'Drink Prime, get sublime.' There's no real berries in it." Liene looked down at the bottle.

"Huh." She considered this information for approximately two seconds, then unscrewed the cap and took a long drink anyway.

"... That explains the aggressive branding."

"You just learned it was a scam."

"It still tastes like berries, Fabri." Then she handed him a plain bottle of water.

"I got you the normal one." Fabrisse accepted it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." They perched on the edge of the courtyard wall. For a while, neither spoke. Then Liene tilted her head and peered at his face.

"So what's with the sudden interest in Thaumaturgy lately?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've voluntarily spent the last ten minutes throwing rocks at a dummy." She gestured toward the battered target.

"Is Montreal on your back again?"

"No." He frowned.

"Who told you that?"

"You two had a lover's quarrel in the Fire Wing corridor the other day. The whole wing's talking about it." He nearly choked on his drink.

"That is not what happened."

"I wonder what really happened. You two hardly even talk anymore." Fabrisse looked down at his water bottle. That part, at least, was true. Liene continued, slower, "Maybe you've made up? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to! I was just curious."

"I don't think so."

"No?"

"I think she's still mad at me from before. She's just gotten madder at me now."

"Fabri, from where the rest of us were standing, Montreal practically pinned you to a wall and then cast a Fire spell before storming off. You understand how that sounds, right?"

"Academically productive?" Liene opened her mouth. Then stopped. Fabrisse was staring into his water bottle again.

"Okay, if you say so," she said. Fabrisse took another sip of water. He supposed he understood why people kept assuming things. There had been a time when he and Severa tended to appear together more often than not. He'd never quite understood how it happened. One day a fourteen-year-old Severa Montreal had simply decided to start talking to him and, despite every indication that she should have found better things to do with her time, continued doing so. Liene hadn't been much different.

One day she'd walked up to him. Then she'd kept doing that too. In hindsight, that was how he'd made most of his friends at the Synod. For some reason, they were almost always girls. The statistical imbalance was becoming difficult to ignore. The only male friend he'd acquired in the Synod was through Liene (Greg didn't count). Perhaps female students simply possessed a higher tolerance for initiating conversations with strangers.

"Do you still want cake?" Liene asked, breaking his train of thought.

"I don't think there are any mingleberry ones left anymore, but if we're lucky, the bakery near the Northern Gate should still have merryberry." He hesitated.

"With cream?" Liene's grin widened.

"With cream." He slowly nodded. Finally, something he didn't have to think too hard about. Tonight would be simple. Just him and sugar— Liene squawked. Wait. What? He turned around. It wasn't Liene squawking.