Chương 37: Magical Intuition

After the exorcism, Ryland had requested a meeting with the Headmaster the same day. It was gratifying to discover he was allowed one without the need for appointments. He had gone on to explain the truth of the incident at orientation. Mildly amusing though Alaric's goggle-eyed expression was at the mention of Fate, Ryland had quickly reassured him that it had been exorcised. Which didn't mean it was gone entirely, unfortunately. Ryland had dispelled it, but Fate saw beyond space and time.

It had already manipulated reality, empowered malignant beings, primed locations and incidents all over, and who knew what else before the exorcism. While he was confident it would no longer be an active issue, they had yet to experience the totality of Fate's manipulations. Viren and Tallow's distant future was free from Fate. Their near future… probably not as much. At least Alaric had taken it all in stride without getting too worked up about it. He had just looked resigned.

And had also recommended Ryland to focus on his classes. Which he intended to do, as the new semester was about to start. Ryland hadn't lied to Alaric. He intended to take his position as a graduate student of Arcoryx Academy seriously, even if his true goal wasn't to claim the academy's esteemed Archmage degree. Being a proper graduate student meant teaching younger students—unless one requested to be exempt in favour of performing other duties.

He had to set up everything about his class, including writing the syllabus, sending in a list of course topics for approval, setting up the registers that would hold the course's and the students' information, and so on. The academy was happy to leave most administrative matters between mentors and their mentees. In Ryland's case, High Academ Heldon was rather hands-off about it all. No surprise there. This afforded Ryland a great deal of freedom that he was quite grateful for.

High Academ Heldon's approval was rather strange. Ryland ended up leaving documents and such on Heldon's desk when he received no verbal answer. When he returned, they were signed with his mentor's signature. Ryland had found it odd the first few times, but then, one of the oldest mages in the academy was probably allowed his foibles so Ryland chose not to comment. There were a handful of duties he had to take care of as a student himself.

As a graduate student, he had to set up his own list of courses that would fulfil the credit requirements towards his degree, as well as create an outline for his research proposal, to be presented at a later date. However, the nice thing was that Arcoryx allowed credit transfers. … even if they were a few centuries old. As such, Ryland had been spared the need to take almost all the classes required for degree completion.

He wondered, with a helping of gratitude, how many raised eyebrows Alaric had needed smooth over. It also meant Ryland would earn his degree in a vastly accelerated fashion. Serious as he intended to be about his time at Arcoryx, he didn't intend to tie his entire life to the academy. Pieces of him were strewn across all the Realms, Accorded or not. Right. He needed to take a peek at the other Realms soon… For now, however, he focused on the class he was supposed to be holding as a graduate teaching assistant.

Ryland had to admit, as he walked over to his designated classroom, that he felt a smidge of… not just nervousness or apprehension but also a sense of venturing into the unknown. Having focused entirely on research, he hadn't taken classes in his first stint as a graduate student. So now, curiosity rose the highest. How would the students react to the way he was differentiating the class from how it used to be taken? Would there even be that many students?

The academy had been very late in presenting both the changes he had submitted and the fact that he was the one taking it, not High Academ Heldon, who hadn't taken it for a while… With classes underway, the academy was in full swing. Students in blue-and-white robes went about their day in groups or alone. A few were accompanied by manabeast familiars like Viren. It was interesting that the academy wasn't too strict about their uniform.

As long as the students represented Arcoryx's chosen colours for their students, it was good enough. This allowed students a decent level of freedom to express themselves. Some had the blue section of their robes tailored into jackets, which they now wore wrapped around their waists like skirts. Others had turned it into shirts, capes, and so on. Some of the Assistance Mirrors had helped Ryland find the way to his classroom. Ryland paused when he reached his destination. Viren was waiting for him outside.

His eyes were glimmering in excitement.

"There's a lot more students than I was expecting, sir!" he said. The boy had sent a message that he had recovered fully and had suffered no accidents or anything since the exorcism.

"Normally, this class is cancelled because no one cares to take it. But I'm not surprised. It is you, after all." Ryland raised an eyebrow.

"Are you insinuating that they've heard of me or something?"

"There's been a lot of rumours since the Entrance Trials ended, sir. A lot of the students are excited about attending classes being taken by you." Ryland supposed that did make sense. He wondered how Sint, Alendra, and Kendren were dealing with this. Were they even facing the same issue? Somehow, he doubted it.

"You never mentioned you were one of my students too, Viren."

"I wanted to surprise you!" Ryland smiled.

"Well, I'm pleased to see you here." Viren turned around and hurried away.

"I'll see you inside, sir!" Ryland took a quick, preparatory breath, then entered. Viren was right. There were more students than he was expecting. Just as Viren was taking his seat, the dozen or so other youths inside the large classroom all stilled and straightened as Ryland appeared at the doorway. A dozen might not seem a lot, but it was significant compared to the absolute zero this class had for about a decade or so. The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"Greetings," Ryland said as he stepped in and took his position at the front and centre of the class with his back to the board. He smiled broadly at the students, catching Viren's eye and noting that he was sitting next to a girl. Was she the unfortunate new student who had gotten caught up in the mess?

"I welcome you all to Principles of Magical Intuition." They chorused back a greeting of their own, echoing good mornings all around the room. Ryland was pleased to see it wasn't just humans there. He spotted a young elvhenan, a tall golemite youth, and even two crimson-scaled dragonkin from Realm 36. It was evidence of how far things had come. Back then, the academy had shunned non-humans. Back then, these students would have tried to kill each other on sight.

A good reminder that commonly shared, uplifting goals allowed people to look past their differences and work together harmoniously. Memories briefly flashed through Ryland's head. Memories of a time when the Realms had been at each other's throats, determined to conquer each other and take the opposition's vital resources and mana for their own. The Realmbreaker Wars had left scant room for pleasant memories.

"I am not one for formal introductions," Ryland said. He looked at each of the students in turn.

"I much prefer to get to know you over the course of our time together. However, in the interest of at least eventually learning your names, I kindly request that you state who you are if you ever wish to talk to me or ask a question or anything of the sort." Ryland waited until he received nods from the students before continuing. They didn't look miffed at his policy.

He wouldn't be surprised if most of them were tired of the "please introduce yourselves to the class" rigmarole they had likely already faced in other classes.

"Now, to begin," Ryland said, disliking but unable to help the formal tone he ended up adopting.

"As you're aware, this class was originally on Clairvoyance. I was the one who modified it into a new course about Magical Intuition. I will warn you ahead of time that while the directions have changed, this class is built on its predecessor's foundations." The girl sitting next to Viren raised her hand. Ryland nodded at her to proceed.

"Sub-Academ Ryland, I'm Acrypha," she said, introducing herself as he had requested.

"Could you kindly share why your revised course objective said this class was important in growing beyond the Grand Frame?"

"Yes!" another student said. The golemite boy. He cleared his throat, the tiny crystals dotting his stony face glinting in a blush.

"Uh, sorry. I'm Bulgon, Sub-Academ. I was also curious why the course emphasized its opposition to the Grand Frame. Because that's…" Bulgon's glass eyes flitted to the other students "A little heretical." Now that intrigued Ryland. Over the week or two since he had returned to Vyrd, he had come to understand that the Grand Frame occupied a position almost akin to a universal truth. For instance, one didn't question whether the sun would be rising. It just would. That was a fact for as long as the sun existed.

The timescale of its existence was so far beyond anyone or anything else, there was no practical point in considering its end. In much the same way, the Grand Frame had gotten so ingrained into people's lives over the centuries, anything seeming to go against it was put under scrutiny. Like Ryland's class.

"Allow me to correct an assumption," Ryland said.

"This class isn't meant as a substitute for using the Grand Frame. Rather, it's meant to be a supplement. There is a fine difference. And there will certainly be no opposition to the Grand Frame here."

"But that's the thing, sir," Acrypha said.

"If it really was possible for mages to grow further beyond the Grand Frame, then wouldn't most mages already be doing that?"

"Are you saying they don't?"

"They don't, sir. Because it's dangerous. There's a reason we haven't seen a new Calamity in the entirety of the Accorded Realms for over a century now, and the Grand Frame is it." Ryland knew that last bit quite well. He had been there when the last Calamity had leaped from one Realm to another within the domain covered by the Accord. And Acrypha was right. No new Calamities had risen since, not in the space covered by the Accorded Realms.

They had just dealt with the leavings of the ones that had existed once upon a time. Like Living Mana. But Ryland had never attributed the lack of Calamities to something like the Grand Frame. Calamities arose through various means, regardless of the Grand Frame's existence. It was why he was on his personal quest to recover all the pieces of him before another Calamity arose. But there was always one, core tenet that held true in all cases—manasoul evolution.

The logical conclusion was that the Grand Frame prevented that entirely. Which was… concerning in terms of long-term growth. Because while such a process was fraught with danger and many destroyed themselves in the attempt, the potential for greatness it allowed couldn't be overstated. That said, Ryland didn't know for sure. He was still working off of assumptions. Something he'd need to research and correct sooner rather than later.

"Your concern does you credit, Acrypha," Ryland said. He smiled.

"But rest assured, I don't have any intentions of turning you all into Calamities." Unfortunately, the students didn't laugh at that. His jokes clearly needed work.

"I don't want you to stop working with the Grand Frame," Ryland continued.

"Instead, I want you to look past its conveniences and work beyond it." Thankfully, the students appeared rapt as he answered their queries and explained the general thrust of his Magical Intuition course, how they would be tested, and so on. The more he spoke, the more interested the students seemed to grow, asking little questions and seeking clarifications every so often, which honestly relieved Ryland.

When he had first been tasked with taking Heldon's much-maligned class, he had pondered how best he could reignite potential students' interests. The idea of using magic beyond the Grand Frame had come pretty quickly. Ryland had been doing it for far too long now. If he could disseminate his understandings to his pupils over the course of the semester, he'd consider it a job well done.

"Our first lesson today," Ryland said after he finished going over the course introduction, gently pacing across the front of the classroom.

"Is something called Emotive Frame. I've adapted the name from a different topic in the original Clairvoyance course. Essentially, it's about how we use our power. Can someone explain how you operate the Grand Frame?" Several students raised their hands. Ryland smiled at seeing how responsive they were. It seemed he had received a blessed class.

"Yes, Acrypha?" Ryland said. The girl cleared her throat, her silvery-blonde hair shining with an almost metallic sheen.

"It works with intentions, sir. You need to have a powerful intention in mind, and with it, you can command the Grand Frame to do things like channelling your mana into the desired Glyph you've mastered."

"Correct. Now, what drives the intention?" Acrypha blinked, grey eyes squinting for a bit.

"Uh, a desire? A goal? I'm not sure what you mean, sir."

"No, no, you're on the right track. To drive the Grand Frame, you need a clear goal in mind. You need to picture in your head what it is you seek and express yourself through your mana, utilizing it in the same way you would move a limb or breathe or perform some other integral function your body is capable of." Viren, who had been content to quietly note down everything Ryland had been saying so far, now raised a hesitating hand.

"Sir, are you asking if we can convince the Grand Frame to act without using our intentions or desires?"

"Not the Grand Frame necessarily, but something deeper. More elementary." Ryland snapped his fingers.

"Magic." He paused for dramatic effect, then said, " [Dream Door]." The others gasped and straightened as a chill breeze swung in from the windows. Where they had been showing the grounds outside their hall on one side and the passageway leading to their classroom on the other, both sets were now displaying a vista with snowy mountains shrouded with clouds in the distance.

"Acting with deliberate intention is important," Ryland said.

"I would never suggest otherwise. But at the same time… there is a reason it's called Soul Glyphs, you understand. Magic is soulful. Individual. It has a natural capacity to get in line with our very being." The students stared outside in awe. At first, it might have appeared as a simple trick, but the chill breeze proved otherwise. Then a dragonkin stuck his hand out through the window before quickly pulling it back in.

"Cold!" Ryland had truly taken them to a mountain range. Well, he hadn't. Unauthorized field trips, especially of Ryland's sort, would make the administration rupture multiple veins on their temples. All he had done was replace the windows with rifts. Acrypha slowly turned her slightly wide eyes back on Ryland.

"That spell… I saw—" She swallowed, flushing a little like she couldn't believe what she was saying. Ryland gave her a soft but challenging smile.

"Enlighten us, Acrypha. What exactly did you see?"

"Your spell circle." She cleared her throat until her voice was firm.

"It had two Soul Glyphs, which is impossible. Spell circles are always made from one Soul Glyph, which acts as the Centreglyph of the circle. But—but you had two of them conjoined."

"No way," Bulgon said." How?" Ryland surveyed their stupefied expressions.

"Well, I'm glad you asked, because that's what I will teach you over the semester."