Rise of the Archmage Alister

“Me??” Wisteria squeaked, cheeks flushing herself as she realized all eyes turned on her, “Not fair! I… I don’t know… I’m so torn. I want something adventure related so that I can make my mother some money and so that I can protect myself. I love the idea of taming creatures, but I don’t think I’m in the position to take care of something like that right now.”

Blas nodded, “That is a fair point. It’s not like summoning. I actually have to care for all my beasts and creatures. It is a huge responsibility. If not that, then what? I know you’re fairly religious, you worship Goddess Vera, do you not? So why not something akin to a priest? Cursebreaker, perhaps, given your hair and eyes?”

Wisteria shook her head, “I know I will always have the option of a holy path, and I'll definitely pick one someday… but I don’t want to narrow my options by choosing something like that first.”

“Smart,” Alliana mused.

“I’m fascinated by guns as a weapon as well as magic… I got a new option after today, called ‘Powder Mage’. It seems like a great option, even if I won't have a gun for a long time."

This got a curious look from everyone present, only making her more flustered. "It's… so it uses gunpowder for magic, kinda. You can make gunpowder, and enchant it…" she sighed, realizing she was doing a terrible job of explaining. "I'll just… read the description."

Clearing her throat, she began.

"Passives are Smoke Vision, Mana Reticle, and Powder Sense. Smoke Vision lets me see through stuff better, especially powder-based stuff, Mana Reticle lets me see where a projectile will go, and Powder Sense would let me know a bunch of stuff about gunpowder, and I can sense how big it'll explode, and I can even tell how wet it is."

This just got an appreciative nod from Blas, "Those all seem very solid. It's difficult to earn Mana Reticule, and pretty much every ranged fighter wants it. You can even bounce shots with it I hear."

This got a nod in return from her, "Yeah, it says something about that. I can see where it goes after hitting something at higher levels. Anyway, the active skills are really cool too! I would be able to make stuff out of mana with Condense Mana, and it's really easy to enchant or alter. I can make gunpowder and make it do stuff, and it'll be really easy to enchant too. I can choose a gun and make it go to a… sub… space…? Anyway, I can summon it anywhere I want. Plus I can get rid of water and make stuff hy-dro-pho-bic. Er… make it repel water for a while, and I can put up a shield that protects me from fire and blunt force! And that's all of it."

All her enthusiasm seemed to vanish though, looking a bit sad, "Oh… I can't pick it yet though…"

Alister just scoffed, practically bouncing in place, "What! Why not? It sounds useful and fascinating and powerful, and I finally hit level 10!"

Alliana nodded, understanding her distress. "I see. You want your mother to witness it. Maybe we can arrange for that," she said as she fiddled with the hem of her sleeves in thought. "We could set up a telepathic link, but to do so at such a distance would be challenging. We'd need a ritual circle. While your mother wouldn't be able to see, she could talk to you at least. Maybe you'll learn a telepathy skill this way too!" She said, clapping her hands together in front of her, finding this unbearably sweet… though somewhat jealous, too. At least Wisteria's mother needn't deal with such rebellion…

Shaking this thought away, Alliana smiled brightly. "Come! We shall see to this at once. I myself am an expert scryer and telepath, though I can hardly claim true mastery. I shall have a room cleared for our needs immediately!" She said, glancing at the nearest servant. They understood her desire immediately, and they went off to locate the head butler.

Wisteria had begun beaming again, very excited about the potential visit with her mother. "Yay! Thank you, Lady Alliana!" She said, immediately giving her a hug. This just got a head pat from the woman, letting out a sigh of contentment. "Mom can see, too! She's a great scryer as well!"

This got a raised brow from the woman. "Most interesting. That's a very specific skill set. Why ever would she have such skills? Especially at such a distance?"

The returning joy flickered briefly, momentarily replaced by panic, "O-oh! Uhm… I don't truly know. I think she uses it to find plants."

Alliana sensed this of course, and she had to fight the urge to use her Telepathy, which was of the Invasive variety, to see what was going on with the girl. She used this skill to ensure the safety of her court, playing her role as a spymaster, but it made her terribly paranoid. That said, while she didn't believe this reasoning for a second, she did respect the quick-wittedness of it. Plus if she used it and Alister found out he’d be a pain about it. "I see. A sensible skill to develop. It must help her position in the market quite a bit. Either way, good for her! She'll be able to witness her daughter's first class! You aren’t as young as Alister but it’s still relatively uncommon at thirteen. Usually, it’s another year or two before then.”

This made Morgan grin. "Careful, we might start thinking you wanted a daughter instead," she said, having relaxed since her scolding.

Alliana just tsked in response, already turning to speak with the approaching butler. Following after the finely dressed dwarf, they soon arrived at a wide chamber with a large sphere at its center. Alliana let out a little "hmm" of surprise upon seeing it. "I forgot we had one of these installed here. I've become so accustomed to the available workings at our…," she glanced at Wisteria and seemingly adjusted her wording to be more polite, "quaint home near the border, I must have lost track of what we have installed where. Ah well, it is convenient."

As she spoke, Alister was studying the sphere from a distance, clearly feeling it radiate arcane magic. He couldn't see past its thick glass surface, but could sense large amounts of… water?

Alliana smiled and patted his head lightly. "Alas this is a delicate piece of work, and I cannot risk indulging your understandable curiosity on the subject. I shall have to tell you all about it soon. For now, I must enter alone," she said as she approached the smooth glass sphere. How she was to accomplish this was unclear to Alister, though Wisteria seemed oddly concerned for a moment when she thought no one was looking, as though she remembered something but couldn't bring it up.

Alliana placed her hand upon the sphere before humming a tune and releasing a passcode sequence of mana into it. Once she felt the energy within beginning to activate, she looked about to find the chair that would usually accompany such a device. Locating it, a comfortable dark wood chair with grey and silver cushions, she went and sat. "Now, please do try to be quiet. These chambers are supposed to make exiting one's body easier, but it still requires quite intense concentration," she said as she sat. A brief flash of light happened, mildly blinding everyone in the relatively dark, windowless room, lit only by a few candles. A thick-looking cloth blindfold was suddenly in her hand.

"Gods, woman, I hate that flair for the dramatic you have with creation. No one will mimic your Object Creation skill by visuals alone you know," Blas complained, rubbing his eyes.

This just got a smile from the woman. "Well, you never truly know. Best to take precautions," she said as she tied it around her eyes, nose, and ears. Once again she began a soft hum that brought a deep comfort to Alister, and unbeknownst to him, Wisteria as well. It brought to mind motherly memories of warm light healing scrapes and bruises and soothing worried dreams. It was just healing and basic telepathy of course, but it still brought great ease to his spirit.

At the same time, Alliana's own spirit was leaving her body. Not that any in the room but Blas could see it, but she had Astral Projected herself into the sphere, dwelling within the hollow space inside while her body continued to hum softly. But as she began to reach out to the woman she felt for but an instant the strangest thing. It was a very metaphysical sort of feeling, like a warning or a portent that what was to come would not go well…