Mother of Learning. Arc 3 Incomplete

Zorian stopped at this point, not wanting to completely deplete his mana reserves. He demonstrated pretty much everything he achieved so far, anyway.

Zach clapped overdramatically, completely ignoring the mild glare Zorian sent his way.

«You’ve only been practicing, what, for a couple of days?» asked Zach. Zorian nodded. «And you can direct your bolts already? You’re a lot better than I thought you’d be.»

«Oh?» asked Zorian, a hint of warning in his voice. «And why is that?»

«Let me ask you this instead: how many magic missiles can you cast before you run out of mana?» asked Zach.

«10,» answered Zorian. He didn’t see what that… oh. «Ah. Normally learning time corresponds to mana capacity, doesn’t it?»

«Yup! The bigger your mana reserves, the longer you can train each day,» confirmed Zach. «It means mages with larger reserves tend to learn faster than their less gifted compatriots.»

«Assuming everyone is equally dedicated and equally good at shaping mana,» noted Zorian.

«Assuming that,» agreed Zach. «Though the difference in mana reserves tends to overshadow almost everything else. Do you know how many magic missiles I can cast before I run out of mana?»

Zorian hadn’t forgotten Zach’s seemingly inexhaustible mana reserves that he demonstrated during the invasion, and was aware that the number must be pretty high. Still, there was a limit to how big your mana reserves could get. The booklet Kyron gave him said average mages can fire somewhere between 8 to 12 magic missiles before running out of mana, while very gifted ones could manage as much as 20 or 30. Furthermore, while mana reserves increased with age and practice, they were not unlimited in potential — most people’s maximum was roughly 4 times the amount of mana reserves they started with, and usually less. Assuming Zach was in the above average range (something his comments and attitude strongly suggested), and that he achieved his maximum due to the time loop…

«50?» he tried.

«232,» said Zach smugly.

Zorian almost dropped the spell rod in shock, but in the end settled for staring at Zach like he just swallowed a live chicken. 232? What the hell!?

«Admittedly I’m at the extreme high end when it comes to mana reserves,» Zach said. Understatement of the century! «And unlike you, I’ve spent years building them up, so they’re as high as they’re ever going to be. Still, even if you had a lifetime of practice, you’d probably never go over 40. That would make my reserves almost 6 times larger than yours. Quite a disadvantage to make up for.»

«No kidding,» agreed Zorian. «I’m guessing that’s where you come in. Unless you’ve brought me here just to tell me how much I suck compared to you?»

«Hah! I admit the look on your face when you realized how awesome I am was absolutely priceless, but that’s just a bonus,» said Zach.

He beckoned for Zorian to come closer and Zorian complied, allowing Zach to cast a completely unfamiliar spell on him.

Zorian felt the spell seep into his eyes, foreign mana straining against the innate magical resistance possessed by every living creature, and briefly considered snuffing the spell out before it took root. Not because he thought the spell was harmful, mind you, but out of principle. Zach just cast a spell on him without asking for permission or explaining what the spell did, which was a major breach of magical etiquette no matter how you looked at it. In the end he decided not to be that spiteful and simply reeled in his magical resistance, allowing the spell to do its work unopposed.

«You already have control over your magical resistance?» asked Zach. «Sweet! I usually have to teach people how to do that, first. Hell, I didn’t know how to do that before the reverts.»

Zorian frowned, ignoring Zach’s comments in favor of trying to figure out what the spell actually did. It was concentrated in his eyes, so he should… see…

Oh.

A glowing, mind-bogglingly huge pillar rose into the sky, warping and undulating like a living being, occasionally spawning short-lived whorls of glowing matter along its length. It only took Zorian a moment to realize what he was looking at.

«That’s how the Hole looks like under mage sight?» he asked, focusing back on Zach.

«Magnificent, isn’t it?» Zach said. «Watching that huge geyser of mana rising into the sky always puts things into perspective for me.»

«Mage sight shouldn’t work in Cyoria, though,» remarked Zorian. «Too much ambient mana saturating everything. Why aren’t I blinded by painful glow emanating from everything in sight?»

«It’s an experimental variation that tries to filter out such ‘noise’, showing only the important stuff,» said Zach. «It’s not terribly reliable, but it will do for our purposes.»

«Those being?» asked Zorian.