While the value of teleportation magi bat, travel, or escape is undeniable, it truly shines when one siders erd the ey of nations. Le teleportation skills are both rare and expe with the addition of a simple locus and a mana ste device – or a battery of acolytes supplying mana – a town or city dramatically shrink the distaween itself and the eiters of the kingdom. Travel then bees far easier for those with means, and the market for advanced crafting is dramatically expanded.

  - Lecture on eics at the Uy of Ciradyl. Nathaniel Sunstrider, Archmage, Schor, and Guildmaster of the Elven Pathfinder Guild.

  Aliandra

  Ali fitted the pin wooden bracelet around her wrist. It was a little bigger than she would have preferred, presumably having been made foblin – a race that normally ran slightly rger than hers – but it was close enough. Although the worn, rough wooden circlet was never going to be mistaken as a piece of jewelry, Ali was quite excited to have it.

  “It’s got a nice sheen to it,” she said, rolling it on her wrist to see which orientation had a better-looking pattern to the wood grain lying below the aged polish.

  Malika just smiled and tinued s items.

  Wooden Bracelet – level 11 (Are)+21% to mana regeion.Requirements: Wisdom 22Hands – Charm

  Ali had to admit the robust, green-skiorm Shaman had made a strong impression, holding up against her Kobold warriors and tossing arouraordinarily powerful lightning magic at every opportunity.

  She opened her status and focused on her mana to ihe details of how her regeion had ged with her new bracelet.

  Mana RegeionPertage of maximum mana regeed per hour.+100% Racial (Fae).+21% Wooden Bracelet.Total: +121%

  While regeing twenty-one pert more mana over the course of an hour didn’t look immediately spectaazing, Ali knew from hard-won personal experience just how important that extra regeion would be. There had been many battles where she had run out of mana and had to rely on Destru to refill her pool under extremely dangerous circumstances. While this bracelet wouldn’t remove her relian Destru – simply because of the amount of mana it could restore – it would make her less urgently reliant on it, giving her more leeway to make smarter choices in the middle of bat. Sometimes, just a few more points of mana could make an enormous difference.

  “Thank you,” she told Malika.

  “My pleasure,” Malika replied, as the tiny, but structured flows of mana she was wielding about the item in her hands slowly faded.

  “Is that your Appraise skill? How does it work?” It was remarkable how normal and everyday things like examining an item had suddenly bee fasating to her, now that she could see the a and interpy of the magic behind the skills.

  “It’s a general skill, on for people who o evaluate items like… merts,” Malika expined. “It gives me some idea of how the item works, and I see the quality and rough value of the item, too. I also sometimes see hidden item funs – like I see your shrine’s recharge feature even though I ’t use it.”

  “What is the quality of this bracelet?”

  “It looks pin and worn, but its quality is ‘Magical’. That’s a step above Masterwork, reserved for items that hold one or two entments. My skill estimates I could get almost a gold if we tried to sell it – defihe most valuable item the Goblins had.”

  “No!” Ali excimed, withdrawing her arm.

  “I told you it would be cuter once you knew what it does,” Malika chuckled.

  Ali could only ugh at how she had just unwittingly firmed Malika’s predi. She didn’t mind the teasing, knowing Malika well enough by now.

  And I’m just happy we found them alive.

  “ I destruct this pile?” Ali asked.

  “Yes, none of that stuff is worth carrying back with us,” Malika answered.

  Quickly, Ali worked through the pile of Goblin corpses, and then the heavy Bugbear ons and armor.

  Imprint: Crude Leather Armor updated to Imprint: Armor.Variant: Pte Pauldron added to Imprint: Armor.

  Ali g her Grimoire in surprise. She had not yet figured out how her magic decided on categories, and then this happened.

  How is a Pte Pauldron simir to Crude Leather Armor? I wish I uood this better.

  Obviously, it was simir enough for her magierge, but the only on trait seemed to be that they were protective armor pieces for the body. Even the stru and materials were radically different.

  “Ali, are you dohere?” Mato’s voice called from the treeliealitention away from the idiosyncratic behavior of her Grimoire. Curious as to what he had found, she ran across the clearing with her Kobue following close behind.

  He simply poi the base of the tree where an unusual pnt grew on the deg remnants of a broken branch, sending out delicate yellow-green tufted frond-like leaves that made it look a little like a fern.

  Feather Moss – level 1

  “Maybe useful for your colle?”

  She smiled at the ear expression on his face. He certainly showed a strong passion for the wilds and the importance of the bance of nature. He cimed he was just trying to help her out, but Ali could clearly see the excitement and energy that he poured into her quest to collect trees went well beyond simply helping a friend with a chore. Ali was certain he had always had an affinity for nature, and it was undoubtedly why he had unlocked a Druid css.

  It’s simply who he is.

  “Thank you, I’ll defiake this one,” she said and carefully destructed the pretty moss around the bck oak, hoping to update her Verdant Moss with the new variant.

  Imprint: Verdant Moss updated to Imprint: MossVariant: Feather Moss added to Imprint: Moss.

  I got it right! As predicted, her Grimoire had bihe two variants of moss into a single imprint. Although that robably an easy oo guess, she thought, remembering the armor ohat had just caught her by surprise.

  “Does this tree work for you?” Mato asked, pointing at the bck oak beside them.

  “Looks good to me,” she answered and used her magi it. That was number fourteen. She had been keeping a close t orees she had destructed, hoping that it would behave simirly to the other imprints. When she had destructed a variety of Kobolds, her Grimoire had created a general imprint directly. And sure enough, as she pleted her destru she could sehe impendi of the knowledge within her mind, suggesting she was close. It was tricky to distinguish the feeling from the distrag sense of pain that came from her advanced domain withdrawal, but if she trated, it was beginning to be a little clearer.

  “I think I need one more,” Ali said, answering Mato’s expet look.

  “That’s easy, let’s get this sugar maple over here,” he answered, leading her a short way through the trees to a maple with geous red and purple leaves. “The Goblins made such a mess of the forest that some drastic pruning is needed. If we open up this area to some more light, perhaps it will ence new growth.”

  Without any immihreat or danger looming, Ali found herself enjoying the simple pleasure of walking in the forest colleg trees for her Grimoire, along with the simple tagious excitement Mato was showing in sharing in her experiment.

  She reached out and put a hand on the Maple, and used her magic, feeling the pressure rising within her as it began to dissolve into mana.

  Imprint: Tree pleted.

  Her Grimoire flicked open to the st chapter and floated before her widening eyes, seeming almost expet. She eled the knowledge, accepting her Grimoire’s suggested chapter and the light show of swirling runic magic burst forth, inscribing itself upon the bnk pages while the magical tome rapidly added more and more to aodate the size of the imprint.

  “You got it?”

  “Yes! Thank you, Mato,” she answered happily. “I’m ready now.”

  “Ok, let’s get the others and go home.”

  They returo the clearing where Mated on his pack, weighed down now with all the shaman’s gear. He retrieved his potion. The magic within the vial glowed bck, which Ali reflected once again was a rather ie description for what she could see. He tossed it to the ground at his feet and it exploded inte bck plume of smoke, magic rippling and swirling around his body. And suddenly he was gone, smoke drifting away and dissipating into the forest.

  Ali looked at the vial she had just retrieved, impressed by the effect she had withen she looked at her Kobue standing beside her.

  Um…

  “I’m not sure this will bring you with me,” she said, using Draic to speak with her Kobold.

  “I will run, A Mistress,” the Kobold said, bowing his head.

  “You know where the town is?”

  “No, but I follow the e,” he answered, pointing to his chest where the golden-green globe of her magic softly pulsed within him.

  “Ok, but be careful of the Goblins,” she told him, getting a solemn nod in response. She didn’t like leaving him to run back, but she didn’t have any other choice. She o return before her withdrawal ran out. At least he tell where to go, she thought.

  “ y the wolves back with you, too?”

  “Of course, A Mistress,” the Kobold agreed. Only two of them had survived, but she didn’t want to leave them out here in the forest to be eaten by Bugbears.

  She threw her potion to the ground and the vial exploded with a popping sound, filling the air around her with an opaque bck smoke cloud that had the distinct smell of fire and soot. Her stomach lurched as the ground below her feet disappeared and then suddenly, she was stumbling on a hard, polished marble floor. Mate hand steadied her as she struggled for a few moments to get her stomader trol.

  “Wele to the Novaspark Academy of Magi Myrin’s Keep, your teleportation fee will be five silver each.” The voice sounded bored and disied, and Ali got the sehat the words had beeed so often that they had long ceased to have meaning for the mage anymore.

  She looked around. She stood in the ter of a great circle of runic magiscribed into the polished bck marble of the floor. The circle glowed softly with the fading remnants of the violet magic that had ected it to the teleportation spell of her Recall Potion. As she watched, the runes fred with a brilliant infusion of purple mana, and Malika and appeared beside her in the circle with a popping noise and a fresh puff of smoke.

  Teleportation Locus! Teleportation magi all its endless variety had always been fasating to Ali, and she couldn’t help but feel a sense of awe at seeing it in a with her Are Insight for the first time.

  Teleportation Locus – level ?? (Are)A magical locus that serves as an enhaeleport destination.Runic Circle

  The locus was a magical struct that served as an anchor for other teleportation magihang both distand accurad was an essential feature in most towns. Without it, travel, and even the ey, would simply not fun. Although, they were reputed to be fairly expeo maintain, requiring an almost endless supply of mana.

  Off to the side of the room, she found a small desk behind which a bored-looking official sat, operating some device. The room had only a sirance which was fnked by two guards wearing identical ornate robes, several wands strapped to their belts.

  “You may also pay by tithing enough mana to cover the cost of your teleportation, plus the guild surcharge of twenty pert. For the four of you, that will e to…” the official behind the desk paused to check the device. “Three thousand one hundred and sixty-four mana.”

  “What if we don’t have enough mana?” Ali asked. Over three thousand mana was far more than her entire mana pool.

  The official gnced up at her and then indicated a couple of chairs arranged in one er of the room. “You’re wele to use the rest area while yee,” he offered, ly maj on the subtlety.

  Ali turo her friends. “What should we do? I don’t have any moo pay.”

  “I help with the mana tithe,” Malika answered. “As long as you don’t mind waiting for my Meditation.”

  Ali walked over to the desk, and after a brief expnation from the official, she pced her hand oifact sitting in front of him.

  Mana Battery (Are)A rechargeable mana ste device.Mana: Recharge the Mana Battery. 28750/40000Created by Donel Novaspark.Artifact

  Well, that expins how the locus is powered.

  She emptied her entire mana pool into the artifact, holding baly the mana she had reserved for her st remaining minions who were presumably making their way back to town through the forest at that moment. It was a little more tha hundred mana, and she was quite proud of how much she had. Mato and tributed two hundred ay and one hundred and forty respectively, but Malika shocked her by tributi hundred ay-five, more even than her.

  “How do you have so much mana?” she whispered to Malika as they moved to the waiting area.

  “My relentless aptitude lets me pay any mana cost with stamina,” she answered. “I need about twenty miee enough stamina and mana to finish it, and then I think we go.”

  Malika’s skills are cool, she thought, leavio her Meditation, and instead walked over to the edge of the runic circle, taking care not to step i. She crouched down and began to study the runes and the magical es using Runic Script, rather than simply sit around bored while she regeed slowly. If she had anything to destruct it would have been much quicker to plete the payment – although, with Mato close enough to share his aura, and her new bracelet, her regeion was already far higher than normal. But she was no longer in such a hurry. She would o return to her domain and recover, but she had several days before it became urgent.

  She struggled to fully uand the magical es within the high-level runistruct, even with the assistance of her Runic Script skill, but she still found the exercise fasating. While Ali worked her way around the circle, several merts appeared within the locus, ing and going quickly, simply dropping payment on the official’s table.

  That seems much faster.

  Still, she felt her uanding growing simply by watg the activation of the runes with her magical perception skill and was soon rewarded with a notification chime.

  Are Insight has reached level 6.Runic Script has reached level 8.

  “What do you use all the mana for?” Ali asked while Malika finished paying their fee.

  “Mostly to recharge the locus,” he answered, seeming to perk up a little at her i. “We also have a recharge service for wands and simir items in the academy’s main hall which lets us make a little moo keep the rune circle staffed. If you have teleportation magic, feel free to memorize the locus, it will make your travel cheaper.”

  “I don’t,” she answered, before thinking the better of her reply. “Uh, not yet.”

  Ali khe theory. From studying the circle, she had been able to deduce that this locus had raension and some rudimentary support for circumventing suppression magic. Mages could use such structs to boost their own teleportation magic to travel further or more accurately. It was far from the most eborate locus she had seen, although seeing it activated with mana flows and reading the runic magic directly was quite a different experiehan the dry textbooks she had studied previously.

  Finally settled up, Ali followed her friends through the doorway betweewo guards and suddenly stopped, her eyes assaulted by a riot of magid mana. Stretg out ahead of her was a broad hallway with dark marble pilrs, lit by floating orbs of light. Oher side of the carpet that ran down the ter were stalls, and every single one of them carried something magical.

  “e on,” Malika urged her, and she began to walk, but Ali simply stared at everything, barely eveering where she was going.

  On the left was a table lined with eborate wands, on the right a stall with creatures in small cages – alight with every kind of magical affinity. Artifacts, jewels, spell books, and scrolls y on dispy upo cloth. Vendors calmly tried to attract her attention with robes and dispys of magical prowess as she gawped, dumbfounded.

  “Don’t pay them any attention,” Malika bent down to whisper in her ear. “They’re showing off.”

  What…

  She g Malika, feeling fused, but she felt the pull of Malika’s hand as she gently guided her forward and finally out of the door at the end, emerging into the sunlight of a main street.

  Ali looked back longingly at the door they had just emerged from. Dal’mohra had had simir magical marketpces, signifitly rger. But she had never witnessed oh the perception she now had.

  I want to go ba…

  “Ali, they’re not worth it.”

  “What?”

  “Think about it for a sed. The only people who afford teleportatiurly are the wealthy, powerful, or well-to-do. Almost everyone who es to Myrin’s Keep by teleportatiohat Locus. The Novaspark Academy of Magic remains profitable because their private market of extravagant magic is the first thing all the wealthy visitors see. Everything in there is desigo get your attention and close a deal at a sizeable markup. You don’t want to buy stuff in there, I get you better deals on anything you need in five minutes.”

  “Oh.” Ali took a deep breath and turned her ba the doorway. What Malika said made sense, but she wondered if she would o be careful iure. As much as she loved her new Are Insight, it would be problematic if she could be literally dazzled by something as simple as a mert trying to sell fancy tris.

  Perhaps I o spend more points on wisdom to prevent that from happening again?

  “What are we going to do?” Ali asked as she followed them dowreet. The street, and the town in general, was quite a stark trast to the extravagance she had just witnessed. Just several blocks from the academy, they passed a building that had been burnt to a husk, with rubble and the remnants of burnt furniture still visible inside.

  Her domain withdrawal ached in the back of her mind, remindihat she really o get back to her shrine and moss to recover. And she was also excited to try out her ree imprint when she did get back.

  “We should sell this stuff,” Mato said, hefting his pack.

  “I want to let my mother know I’m ok,” said quietly.

  “We should report the Goblins to the garrison ander,” Malika added. “And we should keep well clear of Kieran Mori. Rep his involvement might draw trouble down on our heads.”

  seemed tle with something for a bit and then he said, “Rep the Goblins is the highest priority, we should do that first. I really think we should be ho about Mori’s influence if we want ander Brand on our side.”

  “I think you have a little too much faith in people doing the right thing,” Malika said, frowning.

  He’s really sweet to worry about his mother’s feelings, Ali thought, quietly deg that taking care of her withdrawal and her desire to experiment could wait for these more important tasks.

  timewalk