《Sprouting Magic》


 Chapter 1: The Discovery

    Chapter 1


    Quickly glancing around the room confirmed that it was clean enough for me not to get into trouble with dad. There was the pile of laundry waiting in the corner but it was not high enough to be trouble. The bed in the corner was tempting, but sleep would have to wait till evening. The holochair in the corner was turned off. Was I ever so happy to have saved allowance for that. Being able to have my games and even classwork be displayed all around me rather than a small arc in front of me really added immersion. My room really did look bare with only the closet as the last thing filling it. But it was fine as the holochair took care of the entertainment. Greg would probably be up for some space battles over the holochair later. Now that today¡¯s class work was done excuses for not getting on with farm work ran out.


    Walking through the living room ¡°The amazing claim that magic is true for several of our neighbouring races, claim that has too much proof to be ignored¡± suddenly came out of the TV at a loud volume, damn dad can''t you remember to change it back sane volumes, a quick wave of my hand and the TV stopped yelling and as i make it outside the tv turned itself off behind me making it eerily quiet.


    Walking across the farm towards where dad was riding the soil processor in the distance. Wish he would replace the robot hand feeding the fertilizing mix into it but money was thin and government did not consider it an essential cost to cover. ¡°Morning¡± I said while climbing onto the slow moving machine. All I got was a grunt from my dad Bert. Glad I ended up with his looks rather than his personality. Like me dad was built tall and wide with a face that hinted at stubbornness inside, though I did have black hair and blue eyes like mom. Grabbing the first of the heavy packages and hefting it into the processor''s input knowing that for most of today that boring work is all I will have time for. The grass that grew on the processed ground if not used for crops was at least a lot nicer looking than the rock solid dirt that was there before.


    Heading in for the evening my arms aching from the constant heavy lifting. Was I ever so glad that cooking was done by a fully automated kitchen. One of the few big things Bert was willing to dish out for. The period after mom died where he cooked was a nightmare, he probably could have burned water. I did learn to cook but I guess me cooking reminded him of mom too much.


    Finally back in my room with a few hours to spare before I needed to go to sleep in order to be ready for one more day of lifting crap. Logging in enjoying the view as my holochair made a whole new world unfold around me. Still loving the spaceship theme I got the login to look like. Looking all around at the holographic spaceship deck around me. Moments later Greg appeared in the co-pilot''s chair. ¡°Hi slacker, finally ready to kick some pirate ass?¡± was Greg¡¯s greeting. With a sigh of amusement, we got to looking through the servers but sadly did not have much choice as Azures selection of servers was rather low, being a freshly terraformed world the population was equally low unlike bigger worlds. A quick game of rock paper scissors later and Greg won the right to be the pilot for the first match, while I settled in to control the guns and missiles of our little ship.


    Two hours later my system pinged reminding me to get ready for bed. Damn it, at least there¡¯s all of tomorrow as dad lets me slack on the weekends. As long as I feed the animals in the morning that is.


    ¡°Greg, you up for more matches tomorrow?¡±


    ¡°Nah man mom is making a big deal of the whole magic is real thing. So I have been kindly invited to join them on protesting against it at the town hall tomorrow. As it obviously means the aliens are devil worshippers. And me not going would probably get my gaming setup confiscated.¡± The sarcasm and frustration in Greg¡¯s voice was very evident.


    ¡°Good luck with that, and night¡± was all I had time to say as he vanished from view. Greg really got unlucky with his highly religious parents and their old fashioned views.


    My birthday passed quietly with just a small happy birthday from dad. Bit annoying that Greg got his net privilege revoked for a while by arguing with his parents over magic. So I got to spend the morning of my birthday watching TV.The news was talking about some alien race we share borders with supposedly gearing up for war with someone, not that anyone knew who they were planning to conquer. And a warning against some kind of crystal, now highly illegal to import from our allied species the Zumbalians. It''s weird because the bugs were the most law abiding species in the alliance. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that i''d have to get going to get to my citizenship test at the alliance fleet station in town. Ugh, a long walk to the station and then a full hour''s ride was not my idea of a fun day. Quickly grabbing my tablet and folding it into my pocket while heading out. At least I will have something to read on the way.


    The view of the town coming in to sight was amazing as always, as the automated shuttle was preparing to land. Just wish the crowds were not a thing. Growing up on a farm did not leave me prepared to wander through thick crowds of people. A short walk later I arrived at the fleet offices.


    A big sign saying ¡°Citizenship test here¡± luckily lead me to the correct door. There was a small line of people waiting outside.At least the weather was warm and away from the town center it was not too noisy. Walking over to the line of people at least the girl in front of me looked really attractive, long blond hair, good figure, a figure that I had to struggle not to stare at, this wait might not be too bad after all. Seeing me approaching she turned sideways and to my surprise started talking. ¡°Hi, are you here for the test too?¡± her voice sounded highly frustrated. The frown on her face quickly ruined the first impression, the face was pretty but the frown¡­


    Without letting me get a word in edgewise she went on ¡°Of course you are, no one would be dumb enough to have anything to do with Starfleet if they could help it. I can''t believe we all have to do some stupid tests and then listen to their recruitment speech or get fined for it. There are such better uses for my time.¡± she went on and on not letting me get a word in and just endlessly complaining about everything. No wonder the person in front of her did his best to not even look her way. Thankfully she got a phone call a few minutes later and swapped to talking about some kind of party to her friend.


    Slowly, ever so slowly the queue moved forwards. In reality it was not a long wait, but in practice it felt like forever. Finally the girl who had not even given me her name before telling me about all her life worries and frustration was admitted in by the two heavily armoured marines at the door. The silence felt amazing,and judging by the amused smile on one of the marines faces in their big bulky power armor, they agreed.


    Finally it was my turn. Looking around while heading towards the reception table the room was surprisingly nice with plants all along the wall. The table to the side was free with the worker there being a lovely looking redhead, though a quick glance showed that all of the tables had a fit and good looking individual on the other side. ¡°Hi¡± was all I got out as she started talking. ¡°Greetings, I¡¯m Stefanie the system tells me you''re Evan Thomas is that right? Asked the woman with a voice that sounded all too cheerful. I guess it''s her job to make Starfleet look enticing to any candidates. ¡°Yea thats me¡±


    ¡°Good, can you go over this for me and check that everything is correct.¡± she said while passing over a tablet towards me with a long list of info with checkboxes for yes/no/other. Leaning in to grab the tablet also gave me a quick view of the screen built into the desk that was not visible at all until i leaned over it. Showing that she was reading something on one side and the other side showed my face with info next to it, a face that was moving. Not a picture, an actual live view of me in here right now, with all kind of descriptions and numbers on the side. Not that there was enough time for me to actually read much of it. As i started going through the list on the tablet she just cheerfully answered my questions when a question or info on the tablet was not instantly understandable. While her smile never wavered and she seemed to be glancing down at her desk regularly reading whatever was on the side.Stolen story; please report.


    A while later the questionnaire was finally done. Handing the tablet back she got up and told me to follow her. While heading out of the room i saw another woman enter and sit down on the chair she was on moments ago. Going through corridor after corridor of unmarked doors i was lead to a room with a treadmill and lots of exercise equipment. ¡°The doctor will be here in a moment just go in there and swap into the clothes left for you.¡± She said while pointing at a door on the side. There was just a small changing room on the other side with a skin tight full body costume in there, probably with some kind of sensors built in. After getting myself into the embarrassing clothes and arriving back in the gym room, she had me do a huge list of exercises including running on the treadmill till i just could not anymore. The whole time she kept talking to me joking and cheering me on. After changing back, next was a video watching session she just sat next to me occasionally talking and commenting. Some of the videos were amusing some were downright disgusting. When i asked her about it she said it''s to gauge my reaction to different topics.


    After a whole set of tests she lead me to another door ¡°Go in i''ll just wait out here, See you in a min¡± Heading into the room all that was in it was four intimidating marines in corners their faces looking bored, and an old and tired looking man in a white lab coat standing next to a pedestal . ¡°Good you''re here mister Evan¡± he greeted me ¡°Hi¡± was all i got out before he went on ¡°Just a quick test just try to pick up the crystal here for a moment¡± wondering why a random thing like that would be a part of the tests, walking over i just grabbed it. And suddenly all that was visible was brightness, i could still see the crystal through my hand with my eyes closed. Even before i could react i felt myself pulled back. ¡°Dont move! Just stay where you are!¡± Came a harsh sounding command from what i assume was one of the soldiers as the crystal was taken out of my hand. Slowly as my eyes cleared i found the room much more intimidating finding the scientist having moved across the room rubbing his eyes while the soldiers were surrounding me. Two of them holding onto my shoulders and the other two having pointed their very large and threatening looking guns my way.


    Moments later one of them tilted his head to the side and moments later nodded as if listening to something and agreeing with it. Not that i could see inside their helmets anymore, the clear part at the front was now pitch black. The giant power armors they were wearing suddenly looked a lot more scary.


    ¡°Follow us kid¡± one of them said as they guided me out of the room while walking past the now confused looking woman from earlier. One of them told her they will take it from here and she is free to go. What followed was a worrying amount of walking through corridor after corridor until they finally led me through a door. ¡°Sit on the chair kid¡± was the next order, though this time a lot less angry sounding.


    Sitting down on the chair facing a table and a wall, wondering if it was like the table from the reception i glanced down at it. Moments later i found my attention pulled up onto the wall as it had suddenly changed from a wall to a full size window into another room. Though i quickly realized its a screen because in the room behind it a window was visible. Showing a view of a city from high up with the moon in the background and Azure had no moon nor a city that size.


    ¡°Greetings mister Evan I am admiral Ramirez¡± said the man on the other side. ¡°Hi¡± i said nervously as the four marines now in the corners of the room were still quite scary despite their guns once again being pointed at the floor. Taking a closer look at the man in front of me, he had a ceremonial looking military uniform on with a whole pile of different symbols and decorations attached to it. His hair was gray and his face looked serious enough that it could just have well have been chiseled from stone. ¡°Sorry if the marines scared you, the protocol for that test is not quite ingrained into everyone yet.¡±


    ¡°What the heck was that about putting a bright light in a test and then having me escorted around like some criminal.¡± now that the immediate scare was over i was getting angry.


    ¡°Now now there''s no reason to get upset, the test showed the presence of a rare talent that we are on the lookout for. And for you that opens up some amazing opportunities¡± the old man''s statement did make me more interested in what ¡°amazing¡± talent i had that would make them rush me into this meeting.


    ¡°You have the gift for magic¡± the statement completely baffled me ¡°Are you bullshitting me?¡± The old man must have lost a few marbles along the way.


    ¡°No i''m not as you say it ¡®Bullshitting¡¯ you. Magic in humans is something not much explored at this time so we have a offer for you to make a difference. For you to do something more with your life than just work on a farm. But for now just read what you are being offered¡± Forcing myself to calm down i glanced at the document that was now written onto the desk, a quick read proved it was everything i could wish. Wages started at more than the farm earned per year with danger pay showing even more shocking numbers. Confidentiality clause that had penalties so harsh i''d be looking at life in prison if i actively leaked info and the position itself would not be as a military officer or training for a marine but as a ¡°Specialist Consultant¡±. With lots of little bits thrown in about what my rights are and about following orders.


    ¡°Why such an offer? This is not a standard recruitment offer¡± if the general was annoyed at my irritated tone of voice none of it showed in his face. ¡°Magic as far as humans go is barely understood, but we can''t neglect it. The pool of possible recruits is very low, so every single one matters¡±


    A few more statements from the admiral about how i''d be helping the whole alliance or how i would be important. On the way out i got handed a copy of the contract in written format with a note about how i''d have to make up my mind by tuesday.


    The way home was filled with thoughts of how i could have a much better life with money like that at hand and i''d get away from the farm and able to actually do something meaningful.


    ¡°Dad we need to talk¡± dad was in the house eating dinner with some put on the side for me, he just sighed. ¡°I thought that might be the case, young men looking for adventure are the ones Starfleet rarely failed to recruit. Atleast tell me you''re going to be based at the training camp near town so you can visit?¡± i guess dad pretty much expected me to escape the farm on first opportunity ¡°What makes you think i want to leave?¡± that got an amused snort out of dad ¡°I''m not stupid, i know you never really liked it here on the farm and we have not been that close since your mom died. Though i was hoping you would just try to find a job in town not sign up with the military¡±


    ¡°Not quite dad¡± i handed him the contract i was offered not really explaining what was so unique that i got offered such a contract. ¡°Seeing as this thing is basically a giant pile of don''t tell anyone anything as a written threat i guess you can''t tell me why exactly they would give you that offer¡± a nod was all the answer he needed. ¡°And you are thinking of going through with this?¡± after a quick nod dad with tears in his eyes gave me a hug ¡°At Least even if you quit a year in you will be settled for life. Though with the bits about danger pay make sure you don''t get yourself killed.¡± The few days till the phone call were awkward as dad tried his best to talk to me to constantly and interact with me. This was the most attention i''ve gotten from him since mom died. Yet all i could do was keep thinking of adventures in space, and how wonderful having magic is going to be.


    A few days later the long expected phone call came, my answer was a clear yes. Quick explanations followed on what i was allowed to take, it basically rolled down to clothes you''re wearing and a small amount of personal items that can fit in a single carry on bag with specific instructions not to waste space on clothes, that uniforms will be provided. But instead of instructions of where to go i was told to be outside by 8 in the evening.


    Waiting outside a few minutes till 8 everything was quiet. A quiet humming noise in the distance, quick glance around revealed nothing until looking up. That was the scariest looking thing i''ve seen flying it looks like a set of guns attached to a giant engine. Moments later what i assume is a fighter landed on the front lawn. The door opens on the side and a ladder rolls down. A man wearing a helmet that i can''t see into looks out. ¡°You''re the kid i''m supposed to ferry right?¡± don''t get why they keep calling me a kid i''m 18 not 8. ¡°Yea¡± he just nods at that while gesturing for me to climb in. A quick climb with my one bag containing just a few pictures of me and my parents and not much else. Climbing into the seat was awkward as it was definitely not built to be climbed in from the side.


    After i got strapped in with some help from the pilot i was off. One last look at the farm and dad standing on the porch i was off to a whole new chapter in my life.

 Chapter 2: The Trip

    <h1> </h1>


    The sky slowly changed from blue to black as we ascended. The pilot was nice enough to turn on a screen giving a view of what was behind the ship. Slowly the farm went from a view of the house to seeing the fields and from there slowly into little dots in the ground until even that became indistinguishable from the mix of greens and browns of the world. Minutes with nothing but emptiness visible outside the window, slowly a dot appeared in front of us. Gradually it started growing from a view that looked like a metal arrowhead, getting closer it just kept getting bigger and looking less and less like a smooth arrowhead but more like boxlike sections welded together with spiky protrusions irregularly dotted on the surface. When it looked as big as a house the pilot pointed at that the shiny blue dot on the side apparently it was where we were heading towards. Approaching closer the perspective slowly started making sense as the tiny dot expanded into a giant forcefield well over a hundred meters from side to side. As we flew into it and the pilot landed the now tiny feeling ship into the docking bay in the kilometers long giant monstrosity of a spaceship. There were people milling around everywhere in the docking bay, one thing that instantly stood out was everyone having a helmet hanging from their belt on the side. ¡°Why does everyone have a helmet in here?¡±  The pilot chuckled at my question apparently finding it amusing.  ¡°Kid, it''s there because if anything happens to the force field keeping the air in the docs you only have a few seconds to get it on before you are unconscious. Anyway follow me, your welcoming party is already here and keeping lieutenant Olivia waiting is not something you want to do.¡±


    Slowly i was lead towards a woman in full uniform standing there with a surprisingly serious expression on her face. She was rather short with a overall small build. As i got closer after i got my eyes off her vividly bright pink hair i saw her grey eyes, and a expression on her face that made me feel like i was a bug she was not being allowed to squish crawling around her floor.


    ¡°Greetings, You are mister Evan Thomas i assume. I am lieutenant Olivia Byrne, Follow me.¡± with a voice that sounded like she would prefer doing anything except dealing with me she walked off. Dutifully i followed, on a good note she did lead me through the gym pointing out i would need to go there daily and that exercise equipment is to be shared, also there''s showers on the side room. The Mess hall was a field of tables and consoles with lidded sections next to them. She quickly mentioned that black on the list means standard food and its free, and anything in red with a price on it will be deducted from next month''s pay. Finally having gone through corridor after corridor with a whole pile of stairs added to the mix all off them looking sameish i was lead to a door she told was going to be mine for the trip. With a quick swipe of her hand on the wall next to the door, it opened. ¡°There is info and assignments on the console for you, Goodbye¡± and with that she walked away. I could not shake the feeling she really really did not want to have anything to do with me. And i definitely don''t remember doing anything to piss her off.


    Swift exploration of the tiny room revealed a closet and a tiny shower room at the back behind two separate doors, and a table with an orb that was probably the computer console bolted onto it. A quick tap on it unfolded the holographic screen, not quite as good as my old holochair was but it still gave a full frontal holographic view. First things first reading the popup in the middle of the screen. It pointed out that i would be led to the medical doctor onboard in the morning and i was not to leave the room till then. Also dinner would be delivered through the delivery chute. A brief glance around revealed there was a hatch without any handles on it on the side wall. The rest of the list was a long list of holographic classes to go through and selection of books and guides to read. Not having much else to do besides snoop around in the system for anything else interesting i got started on the classwork. Finding it to be very boring as it was classes on military behaviour and protocol. Luckily the next one on the list was tactics class that talked about old interesting battles and what worked and why, but to my dismay after finishing it was math. Looking through the list, it was interesting mixed with boring, with protocol coming up again soon. To finish the evening off was the mandatory reading list, it started off with the Art of War by Sun Tzu.


    Waking up in the morning to the annoying beeping of the alarm i slowly forced myself up. Looking at the clock i still had another hour, so enough time for a quick shower.


    Going to the door i discovered that yes i was locked in as no amount of silly looking waving next to the door opened it and there was no handle to grab. After a few minutes of just standing there and feeling silly the door suddenly opened with Lieutenant Olivia looking as cheerful as yesterday, that is not at all with surprisingly yet another new hair color this time bright green. Half remembering the study from yesterday, i tried to salute her.¡°Good you''re awake follow me. Also your not directly in military line of command so there is no need to salute.¡± And she was off again at a surprisingly fast pace. Taking me up and down the stairs and i''m pretty certain we doubled back on ourselves at least twice. We finally got to a section of the ship where everything went from grey to white with medical symbols and names on the doors. I was lead to a room that based on the sign on the door belonged to Doctor James Palmer.


    The room had named and labeled sections all over the walls. ¡°Good your here, I''m doctor Palmer just have a seat over here for me.¡± said the doctor. He looked unlike everyone else i had seen in the military this far by being surprisingly out of shape. He lifted and ran a scanner over me then spent moments looking around at something only he could see, as i could see his eyes looking around except for me there was nothing there. After a moment he quickly nodded ¡°Good everything is fine mister Thomas. Just stand still so i can give you the Tacnet implant¡± so i was about to get something i had never even heard about. ¡°Tacnet?¡±


    ¡°A yea you are new. Tacnec is an implant allowing you to get visual data and access the ship''s computer. Dont worry its powered by the ship remotely and if you go out of range for over a month it will simply safely be removed by your body itself and no, unlike what some people think it can''t in any way control you.¡± a quick injection later that was taken care of and apparently it would install itself over the next few hours, hours that i would ideally need to sleep through or i might be seeing weird visual artifacts for the duration. I was given a handful of different pills and told that one of them was for me to be able to take a nap this early in the morning and the rest i would need to take daily and after that, it would be delivered each day to my room.This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.


    The trip back was surprisingly very short as it consisted of one elevator trip and less than five minutes of walking. Now i was sure she took the trip that left me out of breath before on purpose. Wondering for a moment why i had to take so many pills but was not able to dwell on it as the world slowly got fuzzy and bed was looking mighty inviting.


    A quick nap later i was woken by a alarm ringing. An alarm that was ringing inside my head, that was disorientating. Quick focusing on what i wanted brought a user interface to the forefront showing me that in a few minutes i would be picked up to be brought for mandatory physical training in the gym. And i could with just a thought go through menus and explore the new computer connection that i had inside my head. After a bit of practice i had a painting on the wall that was not there in reality but i could still see. The interface was a bit confusing at the start as i could bring up something that covered my whole view and still see clearly behind it.


    My exploration of my new shiny computer connection was interrupted by the door opening. Behind it again stood Olivia Byrne looking as stern as each time this far, and with a quick statement for me to follow her she was off again. This time walking through the ship was very different. Each door had notes on them about what they are. From my room it was five rooms of living quarters then a weapon section with strict notes that opening it without good cause was an punishable offense. Without the implant they had all looked the same and confusing now everything was clear. ¡°Why is it that it''s only marked with the implant?¡± If Olivia was annoyed at my question she did not let it stop her from answering me ¡°It is to cause confusion and make it difficult for anyone that is not supposed to be onboard to navigate. The layout of each ship is unique and without it you would not be able to find most of the things onboard. Also if you see a section in front of you that says do not enter then please use your head and don''t enter.¡± As she finished we walked past a section just like that. A corridor to the side but in front of it was floating in bright red overlay ¡°Restricted. Do not enter¡± so i assume a lot of the ship is probably blocked off for me as i was not really part of the crew.


    Arriving at the gym. ¡°This is Private Wesley, He will be training you today and everyday after it for the duration of the trip. Make sure to be here on time.¡± Wesley was a giant of a man. Brown hair blue eyes and he towered over me. And i''m not exactly short myself. After a quick greeting he lead me to one of the mats. ¡°Good, for today i just want to see what you know, so just come at me.¡± Thinking for a moment i just tried to tackle him, he just sidestepped and i found myself on the floor with barely any clue what happened. Moments after i got up there was a fist coming my way managing to get my hands up to block it, surprisingly it barely tapped on my arm but the kick that arrived to my side just a moment later was not that gentle. What followed was a hours worth of humiliation as everything i tried got promptly countered. ¡°Good work kid. At Least you don''t have any bad habits for me to have to fix.¡± then he showed me exercises to do weightlifting and running, they were made all the worse for the bruises that were already forming. ¡°Everything already hurts, are you not supposed to take a break after something like that¡± My complaint got promptly ignored and he pointed out that i was supposedly on drugs to help me build muscle and fitness fast and while i was on them downtime was optional. Apparently i would not be getting that option. After a quick shower in the gym room i got back into my now rather smelly clothes and managed to navigate my way to the mess hall. When i approached the terminal it listed a lot shorter list of food than the other terminals, apparently its what im supposed to eat, the system did not allow me to finish till i had selected at least three different main meals. I managed to finish about half of it, putting the rest into a section that was apparently for dishes and leftovers, where it promptly got lifted by robotic arms to behind the wall.


    Making it back to my room now managing to open it with a literal closed/open button floating next to it. In the time i was gone i found my closet was now full of clothes in exactly my size and to my horror they were all drab gray and uniform. I guess some color was too much to wish for. Clean clothes, finally feeling a bit more human i got down to more classwork and reading.


    The next morning to my surprise instead of the expected aches and pains i felt fine. After a quick trip to the mess hall where the system forced me again to take far too much food. Yet this time i felt hungry enough to actually eat it all. After that my schedule listed exercise. I did as much of the routine as i could before going for lunch then a few hours of study. Followed by another trip to the gym to get myself beat black and blue by ¡®Combat training¡¯ courtesy of Wesley. This time i managed to hit Wesley once. I will have to take the small victories that i can for now.


    A week later my daily get beaten session was joined by Olivia. ¡°Today i want to see how much you have improved. So you are sparring me.¡± Her face still very serious but her hair was literally a rainbow today. Someday i will find the courage to ask why, but today is not the day. Feeling a bit hesitant about attacking her seeing as she only just reached up to my chest. I just stood there unsure, something that seemed to irritate her greatly. So moments later she moved in, A quick punch towards my face that i managed to redirect but in the process i took my eyes off the rest of her for just a moment and in that moment she moved, sweeping my legs out from underneath me, landing on my face as my arm was quickly rotated to behind my back to a painful hold. After a painful and humiliating loss i was a lot less hesitant to try and attack yet i failed to tag her even once, just repeatedly getting my ass handed to me in the most humiliating manner possible. ¡°Good your not completely hopeless.¡± After saying that she walked off towards the women''s showers with me starting to head towards the mens showers. ¡°Don''t let the lieutenants wins get you down too much, even i only win one match in five against her.¡± Wesleys statement did not help as much as he probably hoped as i still felt strongly humiliated and resolved that i don''t want to lose that badly again. Half the evening was spent on finding anything i could about how to fight on the system.


    The next few months were spent in a mix of study and pain but i did improve at the end of it, i could sometimes win a match against Wesley now. My routine got interrupted by my schedule showing that the next day i am to head to the hangar bay for transport to the planet Banton.


    Once again finding myself in the hangar bay following the signs written into air for me, pointing me towards one of the fighters where lieutenant Olivia Byrne was already waiting for me this time with her hair a surprisingly standard looking black color.


    ¡°You did surprisingly well kid. I expected lots of whining and trying to skimp on your schedule. So i guess you might not be completely hopeless.¡± And for the first time i saw a actual smile on her face. As i was led to the shuttle that would take me planetside for whatever awaited me there.

 Chapter 3: A Mage is Born

    The shuttle sadly had no windows so i was forced to just sit and listen to the engine hum. Wondering when magic would actually play a part of what they said i''d be doing, as focus was mainly on hand to hand combat and classwork in basic sciences and tactics this far. Though i''m not sure i''m all that good at that yet either as a woman half my size kept beating me up once every few weeks. Study this far had a heavy slant towards combat and even though it was never expressly stated that i''d be fighting, i was far from stupid despite being a farmer''s son. But for magic the risks might be worth it, and this far it looked like the training was heavily aimed at teaching me to survive rather than be a disposable troop in a battle. Even if most of the crew avoided me i overhead details about the battleship being routed to Azure, probably only to pick me up. The fact it did showed they considered me important instead of just another grunt as thousands were shifted just to move me around.


    Banton a name that did not give any info on what kind of world it was. Yet i''d probably be calling it home for a while unless i get bundled on another ship for a few more months of travel. The shuttle finally landed, with the door opening i got my first glance outside. The sky was cloudy and the main color of everything was either bright white of prefab buildings or brown dirt, dry and cracked. There was no grass, just some weird stocky plants in the distance that looked like overgrown mushrooms overall making for a very bleak view. And massive amount of people in full military gear milling about. To greet me there were four troops in full power armor with their helmets blacked out leaving them as faceless menacing entities.


    ¡°We will escort you to your quarters. This way¡± We headed off for a long walk between buildings. After a while we arrived at one of the bigger blocky white buildings. At the door was more guards in power armor, the building had a wider empty area around it with automated turrets dotted all over it unlike all the smaller buildings in the area. The guards at the gate talked for a moment, even that was only noticeable due to how they moved as their voice was completely muted by the armor. Heading through the door on the other side there were pure white walls and floor with rows of unmarked doors. I was lead through corridor after corridor all once again unmarked. It must be that my implant is useless here, or i might need to be granted access. After a short trip inside we made it to a room filled with lab equipment, fancy looking sensors  and half built systems all over the tables. Inside was a young looking man who was completely oblivious to our presence while working on something on one of the terminals fully surrounded by the glow of holograms.


    ¡°We have brought the subject.¡± came the voice from one of the guards surrounding me.


    ¡°A finally, Mister Evan have a seat.¡± came the very enthusiastic sounding voice from the man ¡°Im Gray. I''m so glad you''re finally here.¡± while leading me towards the chair in the middle of the room he spared the guards enough attention to wave at them to go away. And considering how he just walked off half dragging me after him they did not register to him as intimidating or even all that interesting. ¡°Need to get some scans for baseline.¡± when i opened my mouth to ask some questions in order to figure out what exactly he was about to do. ¡°Dont worry just some harmless scans today, we can''t get to the interesting parts for a few more days. Unless you have figured out how to access your magic without outside assistance?¡± finally seated at the not all that comfortable chair there was not much choice besides waiting out whatever he is doing. Able to get a closer look now that he was running  scanner after scanner over me doing the familiar glance around at things he could see and i could not. He looked shockingly plain, a little shorter than me with gray hair that was short but surprisingly messy, gray eyes filled with a unnerving amount of focus. The white lab coat he had on had occasional small burn marks and the pockets were filled with tools. Making for a surprisingly chaotic looking image.


    ¡°Good i have the baseline, the military wants their testing tomorrow. And we can see about unlocking your magic the day after it. We are done for today. Thank you for your time.¡± He once more reeled off everything with no pause making me wonder if he felt that talking was a waste of time that he needs to get over as soon as possible. He just walked off to do something on the holoterminal he was at earlier. Leaving me standing in the middle of the room feeling very lost. But that got solved by the guard near the door waving me over. ¡°Don''t worry about the doctor, he is not really a people person but he is very good at what he does. Just head through the door your honor guard is still standing outside.¡± the guard sounded highly amused by my interactions with the scientist, and probably quite happy not to be his target himself.


    Waking next morning in the room i had been lead to i found another set of guards at the door. Having a full set of guards at the door waiting for me, made me feel like either there was a threat towards me or i was the threat, and with magic i might be a threat to people in power armor soon. Especially considering that by the doctors words i''d have magic in just one more day from now and the thought of it made me feel giddy. For today though i was lead to a room with cameras visible in each corner. Had a whole pile of sensors attached to me, and was asked question after question ranging from the mundane like ¡°Have you ever been in a romantic relationship.¡± or ¡°Have you ever lied.¡± to outright bizarre ¡°Have you ever thought about drinking human blood.¡± or ¡°Do you feel more moody or aggressive at certain parts of the month¡±. The questions went on all day with only a few breaks for food and toilet in between.


    In the evening i had trouble falling asleep wondering how it would work and even how having magic would really be like. In the morning i was woken by a person in full power armor, and having a menacing figure like that leaning over me definitely did not make me squeal like a little girl or frantically crawl backwards, really i did not... After a moment to get my heartrate back under control and to get dressed we were off towards the lab. Me and my escort of menacing figures in full power armor. Intimidation factor was considerably increased by the fact i had seen the face of none of them.


    Arriving at the lab the scientist was there looking as excited as a kid in a candy shop.  Standing next to a solid metal box. ¡°Good your here. The Solidified Porphyron arrived earlier today. And we can finally get on to doing SCIENCE and MAGIC¡± doctor Gray`s enthusiasm would probably have been a bit infectious if it was not for the surprisingly large amount of armed people in power armor arranged around the room. ¡°Get the crystal out, it wont do us any good in there.¡± i got more and more nervous as i watched the soldiers put in codes on several different locations then grabbing four poles and using them to lift the crystal out of the box. The crystal itself would have looked like a unremarkable bluish piece of glass if it was not for the fact it was faintly glowing. ¡°Are you sure that''s safe?¡± Doctor Gray looked thoughtful for a moment before responding. ¡°This far in 829 confirmed cases of humans touching it we had four cases of mage, one werewolf and two vampires. The rest were completely unaffected. So if you end up being unlucky and shedding your humanity on contact, try to be smarter than the vampire gal with your last act being stupid and picking a fight with people in power armor carrying big guns.¡±  It really did not make me feel assured as he kept waving towards the crystal with a cheerful smile on his face. Nothing risked nothing gained i guess, with that in mind i made my way over to the crystal watching as all the guards pointed all guns my way. Taking one last deep breath to steel myself, i reached over and put my hand on it.


    Everything felt so hot, i could feel the crystal, feel many small threads in there pulling on me. No not me, something inside of me. I could see it, a giant glowing orb of something powerful  and it was slowly drawing a stream out of it, twisting it all around and feeding it back into me. Opening my eyes, not even remembering closing them everything seemed normal, except i could still feel the thread of something going from me to the crystal. Following it back and forth trying to memorize the feeling. It felt otherworldly flowing back and forth to the crystal then looping back. It was a whole other world holding the orb of power that was mine, it was inside of me yet kind of through me somewhere else. Carefully taking my hand off the crystal. The unreal sensation of the pool of power faded slightly but i could with just a thought reach out to it again.


    Gray had me explain in as much detail as i could how it felt. As he ran another scanner over me. Occasionally he complained about scanners showing me as being normal. But i did not feel normal, the power in me i could feel it constantly now. I felt whole, like something i didn''t even know i was missing was returned to me. ¡°Hmm the scanners are being useless. All of the other subjects had one skill they could do almost instinctively. Try and figure out if you feel any kinda inclination into how to use your magic.¡±


    ¡°How did you instantly know it worked?¡± i did not think they could feel the sun hiding inside me now. ¡°Kid, your eyes keep glowing on and off constantly.¡± eyes glowing? Should that not interfere with my vision?. After a moment i forced myself to stop thinking about the glow. Did anything feel natural. Reaching inside i slowly pulled at the power, feeling it flow into me and running through channels inside me. It felt like a liquid splashing everywhere, parts of it just evaporating into nothingness. I felt like there were even smaller channels all around the bigger ones inside me and i could make them do something, but when i was about to try and guide it to spread into those tiny lines it felt dangerous. Like it was what i was supposed to do, but at the same time maybe i was not ready for that. But flow into something, a piece of metal on the desk, it felt like a good target for whatever i could do, grabbing the piece of metal i could feel a network of channels inside it, tight and restrictive but still there. Pouring the power into it i tried to guide it towards the channels i felt were there. Instead it filled not just the right channels but pooled all over the gaps between the channels. To my mind the piece of metal was now glowing with a thick spider web of power going through it. ¡°I put power into this plate i''m not quite sure what its doing. But i think it''s supposed to make it better.¡± a few quick blinks and already doctor Gray was striding across the room. ¡°Bring it here and hold it inside the machine. Do you need to keep contact with it?¡± few moments thinking about it felt like i could let go of it and keep the power there but it felt somehow wrong. ¡°It feels somehow wrong to let go of it while i''m powering it¡± the machine clamped onto the piece of metal, with me holding a corner i could feel the machinery inside try to cut into the plate and the power in there was getting used up in tiny droplets to continue doing what it was doing. ¡°Amazing the material is just a piece of steel yet at the moment cutters are already at double the rated pressure for steel.¡± a few moments of waiting and feeling the power in the steel plate i felt the plate get damaged as the pathways altered and the power inside  shifted, still being a thick web of power but somehow feeling incomplete or even wrong. It felt wrong to let it get damaged, so a bit more power got routed in increasing the pressure in it. Pain lanced through my head as the plate suddenly shattered into many tiny pieces. I felt exhausted as if i had just ran for ages, out of breath. The orb of power in me, more than half of it contents were gone. I had not even noticed, the power i was using to make it stronger, to reinforce it flowing back and forth, but when the plate shattered everything in it just vanished.A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.


    ¡°You suddenly got out of breath when the plate shattered, explain as much as you can figure out, Hmm the plate of steel is not just in chunks its damaged to the point i can break the pieces apart with my bare hands.¡± Gray kept glancing at me waiting for me to explain what i can figure out while looking over the pieces of the steel plate, and having the machine do something with the pieces still inside it. ¡°All the power i poured into the plate it still felt like it was still a part of me i could just pull it back, but when it shattered it just vanished. And now i feel like i have gone another round with Olivia.¡± Gray just went around me glancing at scanners and muttering to himself. I just focused on trying to get my breathing under control.


    The rest of the day was interspaced with rest and careful tests. I still felt like i was wasting most of the power as it just filled things despite my best attempts at controlling it, it flowed and splashed inside the items as i was given random things from within the lab. Some of them were like the steel plate, feeling restrictive but the power still flowed within. Some i had to properly focus to get any power in. Each material and item got put partially inside a big testing machine that tried to cut and damage it while measuring everything. Surprisingly a random silver spoon that i was handed felt so much smoother than anything else, it felt open with power flowing smoothly and effortlessly inside it with very little wasted. As i was getting sleepier and sleepier Gray finally allowed me to go and sleep. Even if it seemed that he had no intention of doing the same, and that he has some ideas to discuss the next day.


    To my surprise i found myself awake early in the morning. Based on the clock on the terminal i had only slept four hours. Yet i felt fully rested, my core of power was full and it felt just as amazing as yesterday. Still having several hours to go i filled the time flowing power carefully through everything in the room getting bit by bit better at getting it to flow the way i wanted, rather than semi randomly splashing around. It was faintly amusing that my power felt more like liquid than anything else, yet it felt so very soothing to have it flow out then pull it back losing only tiny amounts of it each time. Finally came the time to go back to the crazy scientist. My scary escort squad was still outside the door waiting for me.


    ¡°Good good, your here. The results are quite surprising, the raw durability of the materials you enhanced went up anywhere from twice to over fifty times its norm. With any alloys with iron in them being near the bottom, and the one item with silver being at the top. Now lets try how it affects more complex items or what happens if you are separated from what your enhancing¡± the tests that followed were surprising in its results, even complex things could be enhanced to be more. But it got more and more difficult to make the power go right when going from material to material as multiple different materials were involved. Some of the more complex things i could not help but shatter, as flow that was right for one material was far too large to fit through the cracks in the other components and the pressure shattered them. Yet slowly i felt myself getting better at it and carefully threading it through everything. It was disorienting to let go of anything i enhanced. It felt like cutting off a limb, any power in it staying but apparently at only about half effectiveness for improvement and any power in it i could no longer claim even if i touched it again, and regardless of the power in it, it slowly dissipated over the course of less than half a hour in the case of silver and in less than a minute in the case of steel. The tests should have felt tedious but it felt so fascinating to control how the power flowed, even if having it deplete tired me at a very quick pace. Gray was left muttering something about the amount of components and needing more silver while pointing me towards some modified exercise equipment set up in the corner telling me to try and avoid having any power flowing on the first attempt and then allowing some on the second set. It felt very uncomfortable pulling all the power flowing back and forth through me back into the core making me feel empty. Doing the exercises first time around was not too bad. Second time around while feeling complete once again it felt loads easier as i went through them not even feeling the strain. ¡°Quite remarkable, standardisation will be a issue with all of you being so different in effect.¡± Gray sounded like he considered it less off a annoyance and more like a challenge. ¡°How are others different?¡± i could not help but ask as i knew there were a few others.


    ¡°You are nearly twice as strong with any power flowing through you.The girl showed no improvements of any kind besides reaction speed when it came to basic abilities. But she gained a fascinating amount of resistance to higher temperatures. It seems that each of you has a instinctive theme your magic is built around. And yours seems to be making things stronger, or even just better in a way that screws physics.¡± he was right, for me making things stronger felt natural. The basic materials i enhanced were far stronger than they were supposed to be. The machines i enhanced worked better and faster sometimes to the defiance of physics as i knew it. Empowering an old silicon processor should not have made it run several times faster. Changing any of its electrical properties should have made it unstable and unusable instead somehow i made it work faster.


    The next day the theme of the tests in the lab was changed, the room had a huge metal plate in the middle of the room and frames around it shielded with guns and several weapons pointing at it. I was made to enhance it as much as i could and then release separating it and sacrificing the connection i had to it. Enhancing guns did not seem to do much, bullets were faster and more solid, but the giant silver plate stayed untouched until i could feel the power in it run out. Though the bullets i enhanced by sacrificing small bits of power tended to bounce and i was very happy for the safety barrier. ¡°Interesting so enhanced and disconnected items have no effect on each other besides both being more durable.¡± The few silver bullets i was given fared a little bit better both being equally enhanced they made tiny dents. Feeling frustrated at my lack of  progress at damaging it i punched the plate after having recharged it once again. And to my shock the plate developed several cracks. Trying again, at the doctors insistence with a knife i could feel the power inside the knife actively get used up to push aside and interfere with the power in the plate. The normal steel knife casually cut into the silver plate as if it was made out of butter. Doctor Gray muttered something about needing someone doing active reinforcement to test against. To my surprise after some time where i was just left waiting he arrived back with a young woman in tow. ¡°Evan this is Samantha, we need to test your power interactions.¡± Samantha was a redhead with her hair tight in a ponytail, brown eyes that seemed restless. With her only reaching up to my chest i felt that she should be protected not mixed up with training for combat and magic.  ¡°Doc so what do you want me to do this time. I already told you that while the making things better part kinda works, it feels awkward and you rushing me here to reinforce some shit is a waste of my time i''d be so much better off practicing throwing fire at something than this shit.¡± Seems like she is the gal who got fire resistance instead of strength from magic. After some arguing with the doc she got over and put her hand on the silver plate. Almost a minute later it suddenly lit up with red lines crawling all over it, despite her making the plate stronger it still radiated heat. With a quick prompt from the doc i took the knife and tried to cut the plate. Attempt one failed but i felt her power in it, felt it resist and scarily a desire to burn me. On the second attempt i focused power in the knife with intention of cutting magic feeling the power shift to accommodate. And i cut straight through the plate and based on the grimace on Samantha''s face it hurt as much as it did for me when something i was enhancing got damaged. She quickly let go of the plate but the lines of fire in it remained, it still radiated heat. After a quick explanation to the doc about how it felt to cut the plate, later our roles were reversed and i enhanced the plate and she tried to cut it. I had to try and push the remains of her power in the plate out, with hers destroying itself to try and burn mine when they came in contact. While mine felt like water filling the cracks and making it better, hers felt like fire had rushed in and burned away weaknesses in the metal. I could feel her attempts at cutting the plate with a knife. I could feel it trying to disrupt my hold and to weaken the plate but it took near no effort to cancel it out. Letting go of the plate it still took her ten minutes till the power in it was low enough for her to cut into it. Something that frustrated her to no end. ¡°Ok now that we did this shit your way, We are doing it my way. Get back to supporting this metal plate!¡± i barely managed to get the plate reinforced again before she unleashed fire from her hands at the plate. I could feel it trying to eat away at the magic inside the plate. The fire was bright red, far more red than any real fire i have ever seen. But i could feel her expending far more power to try and burn it than i did supporting it. With a prompt from the doctor i let go of the plate feeling the ache of a chunk of power being cut off from me once more. At Least as i got better at not wasting power filling the parts that did not need it there was less lost and it hurt less. It took her several minutes before her flame suddenly went through the plate, with a big chunk of the plate melting.


    After a quick description of how to create flames, i tried. The first few attempts just suddenly compressed the air in front of me blasting me back a bit and sending things in front of me flying with a surprising amount of force. Focusing on fire, on burning i eventually managed to make flames. The effect was so weak i could not even damage the silver plate, and it was so very draining just a few minutes of flame burning through half my supply of power. A flame that felt useless, it ignited paper and after a few minutes wood at most. It felt unnatural and overall very unpleasant to twist my power to behave like that. ¡°So you can replicate each others powers but its very inefficient and apparently uncomfortable considering the grimaces from both of you.¡± Was the intrigued opinion from Gray


    Next few weeks were lots of different tests seeing how my power interacts with different materials,and apparently it worked a lot better if there was any silver in the alloy and it worked far worse the more iron there was. Doctor Gray kept mumbling from time to time about melee combat being unavoidable, and what alloy to create. ¡°Tomorrow you get a few days free from testing in the lab, we have a few experts coming in to try and figure out what would be the most efficient melee weapon for you to use. As annoyingly even bad reinforcement is near impossible to counter at range, with your speciality making melee combat all the more effective.¡±


    Slowly ever so carefully i was making headway in enhancing myself past what passive effect magic offered. Carefully mapping out the pathways in my body sending ever so thin threads into each one figuring out what to do and what to avoid. As i had no desire to see myself shatter like things do when i put too much into too fragile channels yet i wanted to be better to be more. I wasted some time practicing in front of the mirror to try and take the glowing eyes effect away. But apparently it was not to be, any power draw at all even the passive flow back and forth was enough to make them glow faintly, with it being easy to miss at low levels but unmissable with more power used. At least my glow was a cool blue color rather than bright red like Samanthas.