<h4>Chapter 11: Blood Pact</h4>


    After their Mana Maniption ss had ended, Jace, Rowan, and Ss sat down in the dining hall for lunch.


    "Dude, that construct you made was insane!" Jace eximed. "How''d you manage to make it so lifelike?"


    "I''m really not sure." Ss shrugged. He''d decided he was still going to keep the system a secret for now. At least until he knew he could trust them fully. "One second I was daydreaming about Rowan''s familiar and the next, I had made the construct."


    Rowan made his usual frown which Ss wasing to realize was his thinking face. "Let''s get back to your mother. She''s from Earth. How did she get here?"


    "Hold on." Ss tried to cast barrier of silence around them. It took a few tries, but eventually he got it. Now no one could hear them talking. "She was experimenting with portal technology and ended up stranded here. She met my dad when she was just trying to survive out here."


    "That''s crazy! So your mom''s a scientist?" Jace asked.


    "Yes."


    "How long is she going to be in prison?" Rowan asked.


    "I don''t know. The police didn''t say. They just took her."


    "Can they do that?" Jace asked.


    "Yes they can. My mom briefly told me about it one time," Rowan said.


    "So are you gonna bust her out?" Jace asked Ss.


    "Time out. We need to pause this convo," Ss said, breathing heavily, overwhelmed. "Before I say anymore, I need to know I can trust you guys."


    "I don''t know about Jace, but you can trust me," Rowan said. "I don''t talk to anybody."


    "Hey I''m trust worthy," Jace said, with a hurt look on his face and his hand over his heart. "I might be a bit of a bbermouth, but if a secret is important, I''ll keep it."


    [System Notification: (2/3) requirements met for Blood Pact.]


    [System Message: Would you like to initiate Blood Pact?]


    "Uh, yes?" Ss said unsure.


    [Hold the hands of the participants of the Blood Pact]


    "Hey guys, this is going to sound weird, but do you want to make a magic pact?" Ss asked hesitantly.


    "I don''t see the need, but I''ll do it." Rowan said, his usual stoic self.


    "Yeah that sounds awesome. I''m in," Jace said, excited.


    "Apparently, we need to hold hands," Ss said.


    Rowan nodded, a serious look on his face. Jace nodded a non serious look on his face. Ss put out both of his hands and his new friends grabbed them.


    [System Notification: Initiating Blood Pact]


    "Ow!" Jace said, pulling his hand back. "Something stabbed me!"


    Rowan pulled his hand back but not like someone who just been stabbed in the hand. "Something bit me." Rowan said, calmly.


    Ss looked at his hands and noticed two drops of blood welling up on his palms. He wiped them on a napkin to get the blood off.


    [System Notification: Combination skill unlocked! Blood Pact sessful]


    "Mom! What does a blood pact do?" Ss said in his head.


    "Ss, why do you only call when you need something?" Evelyn said.


    "I''m sorry Mom, but this is important."


    "Ok, ok. A blood pact binds the members of the pact to not go against the intent of the agreement. In this case, it would mean Jace and Rowan can''t reveal your secrets to anyone."


    "Ok. Thanks. I''ll callter," Ss said.


    "Ok. Good luck," Evelyn said.


    "Ok," Ss said out loud. "So we just entered into a blood pact."


    "What does that mean?" Jace asked. "Am I going to die?"


    "Shut up Jace, you''re not going to die. I don''t think. Ss, is he going to die?" Rowan asked.


    "No one is going to die. You just can''t reveal my secrets to anyone. That''s it." Ss said, wincing, bracing for bacsh.


    Jace straightened up. "Oh. That''s fine. I wasn''t going to do that anyways."


    Rowan looked at Ss with his eyebrow raised. "I don''t think that was necessary, but I did agree to it. Now continue with what you were going to say."


    "Oh yeah," Ss said. "Jace, yes I''m going to bust her out, but not until I get stronger. And when I find out where she even is."


    "Can we help?" Jace said. "This sounds exciting. Like some kind of heist movie."


    "I''ll help with what I can, but I''m not risking my life or jail time for you, Ss. I''m sorry. I just met you," Rowan said, honestly and firmly.


    Ss waved his hands in front of himself. "Whoa hold up! I''m not asking you guys to help. I''m just telling you guys this stuff because you wanted to know."


    "Now I gotta go," Ss said. "I''ll tell you guys the restter."


    "Ok," Jace said, disappointed.


    "See youter," Rowan said.


    * * *


    For his independent study period, Ss headed to the university library to start really learning spells. Using his Learn and Speed Reading skills, Ss started destroying every spell book he could find. Every spell book contained one spell.


    ''Learn'' gave him perfect recall of anything he read, and ''speed reading'' allowed him to read faster. It only took him about 20 minutes to go through each spell book.


    He learned fire st, water spout, wind gust, earth spray, and many more. He learned every tier 10 spell he could get his hands on.


    The things about affinity tiers is the concepts were foundational. You had to learn tier 10 spells in an affinity before learning tier 9 spells in that affinity and so on. For some reason he could only find books on the big four affinities, fire, air, earth, and water. And they were all tier 10.


    There were higher floors to the Grand Athenaeum. He supposed moreplex spells were on the higher floors. He would bother with that another time though. He had enough to worry about just learning the spells that were avable.


    Magical affinities just marked what people were naturally good at. A mage could learn any spell they wanted, but it took five times the mana to cast. So people tended to stick to their affinities.


    Affinities were also easier to cast. You didn''t have to use incantations or hand symbols. You could simply cast them in your mind.


    This gave an advantage on the battlefield because opponents wouldn''t necessarily know what you''ve cast, whereas non-affinity spells are far more telling.


    Since Ss''s affinities didn''t offer much in the way of spells and were mostly skills or abilities, he would need to learn non-affinity spells.


    This was only a temporary stop-gap. Eventually, he would need to stick to his affinities if he wanted to reach his full potential, but this would help him shore up his weaknesses for now.


    Every time he would learn a spell, the system would alert him and reward him with experience.


    [System Notification: New tier 10 spell learned: Air disc! +2 Exp (16/40)]


    After nearly 5 hours of reading, Ss heard the sound of footstepsing his way. Looking up, he saw the librarian, an elderly mage with a long ck velvety robe decorated with runes and symbols.


    He murmured an incantation as he approached. There were silver streaks in his hair and beard. He looked at Ss over his sses with mismatched eyes, one green, one pale blue.


    "Ah, a fellow schr, I see. Balthazar Arcanelius, curator and guardian of the Grand Athenaeum," he said.


    "Ss ckwood, sir. I was just trying to relearn the basics," Ss replied.


    "The basics indeed," Balthazar said, looking over the stacks of books Ss had on either side of him. "You seem to be making incredible headway in that regard. Are you actually reading these books you''re flipping through?"


    "Yes, sir. I guess you could say I have a spell that allows me to read quickly," Ss said.


    "A spell, he says. What''s your affinity?" Balthazar asked.


    "Neuromancy, biomancy, and essomancy."


    "Three affinities! That''s almost unbelievable, and I yet I do. Believe you, that is. And affinities I''ve never heard too. Did Al tell you that?"


    "Yes, it did, but how do you know its name is Al?" Ss asked.


    "I know a great many things. For instance, I know you''re not relearning these spells. You''re learning them for the first time, aren''t you?"


    "How did you know?"


    "It''s obvious by the excitement and curiosity in your eyes." Balthazar said.


    "Huh." Ss said.


    Balthazar leaned in close. "If you want to get a leg up on yourpetition, I suggest you check out books on alchemy, enchantment, and artifice. Unlike spells the effects are cumtive."


    "I''ll do that. Could you point me in the right direction?"


    Balthazar pointed down the row of books. "Go down two rows, make a left and the sections will be on your right. Happy hunting."


    Having finished thest book in the pile, Ss got up to check out the section Balthazar rmended. As he walked away, Balthazar said, "Also, make sure you research divination, conjuration, and abjuration. Very useful for any mage, regardless of affinity."


    Balthazar cast a spell and the books Ss had stacked on the table started putting themselves back on the shelves.


    After another hour of reading, Ss had learned one potion, one enchantment, and the basics of weapon forging. Not a massive aplishment, but it was a start.


    The potion he learned was the always useful health potion, and the enchantment was a tracking enchantment. You enchanted an object like a rock and shoved it someone''s pocket or an object they owned and you''d be able to tell where they were at all times, unless they were out of range. The range was about a mile.


    Ss practiced it on pieces of paper and after about a dozen attempts, he was able to produce it well enough for it to work. One would assume that because he had perfect recall of anything he read, that meant he''d be able to perform the magic right away, but apparently that was not the case. There was just no need to physically reference the book every time he tried, because he could reference it in his head.


    The way it worked was if he concentrated on the paper with the symbol on it, he could see a small green light that could prate through solid objects like walls and book shelves. The light would get bigger or smaller depending on how close he was to the tracking object.


    After he was done practicing, he had several tracking papers to work with. He put them in the books he checked out of the library so he wouldn''t lose them. The thought of seeing Balthazar''s face, when Ss told him he''d lost a book filled him with dread.


    Ss felt himself getting tired after his long study session in the Grand Athenaeum. Figuring it was time to head back to his dorm, he packed up his belongings and headed out the door. As he made his way across campus, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.


    Ss activated his sound istion skill. The volume on everything was turned way down except the footsteps. By the sound, he figured there were 4 people roughly a hundred feet behind him.


    As he neared a hedge, he hopped over it, hoping to slow them down and give him some time to put distance between him and them. Unfortunately that hope was dashed when he heard a muttered, mina venti," as a wind de sliced through the bushes.


    If he hadn''t realized it by now, this made Ss certain he was being hunted. He broke into a sprint and the foot steps behind him quickened to match. As Ss rounded a corner, something grabbed hold of his ankle causing him to trip forward and m to the ground.


    The wind knocked out of him, Ss turned over on his back to face his pursuers. He saw 4 second year students, he could tell by the emblems on their cloaks, with their hoods drawn up to hide their faces.


    The one in front slowly walked up to him, grabbed the top his head by his hair and mmed the back of his head into the ground. After that, everything went ck.