Mage in Worm without Magic: Chapter 5 (Patreon)

I hand the last stack of papers to Armsmaster, a small frown on my lips as that had taken... a considerable amount of time. 

All of my notes on the magical flowers I planned to create. 

I've... quietly disposed of the flowers in my backyard and replaced them with utterly mundane ones. 

If they make the very clear connection of 'oh, you had all of these flowers planted in your back yard' I'll hit them with a 'Yeah, I planned to disguise some mystical ones within them but I don't really need to do that anymore. Destroy them if you want. I don't really care about those anymore.' 

"Oh. And I'd like to learn a new ability. Tier zero. Scrivener's Chant which should allow me to copy pages much faster than normal." 

"Transcribe and submit it." The man notes causing me to nod and wander back towards the door. 

"Oh. We have acquired a synthetic diamond if you had wished to get the... 'blood orb' I think you called it?" The armored man suddenly speaks causing my hand to briefly pause in front of the door handle. 

"That'd probably be for the best." I sigh. "A blood orb might even let me use tier two abilities occasionally... and in that case I may just attempt to create some of my first 'enhanced items'." 

"Enhanced items?" The man echoes. 

"Yes. Basically tinkertech. Like a sword that has a flaming blade, or a wand." I shrug idly. "Or, the thing I was actually looking at, a belt that should allow me to duplicate my healing trick a couple of times per day." 

"But that's kind of outside my current capabilities... at most I could probably make a one-time-use temporary item that stores energy and lets someone use one of my powers once... but that can come after I finish this, no?" 

[Split] 

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." I wince as I tap my finger across a sheet of steel for one final bloody character.  

I can see Armsmaster standing nearby, face stony, I'm unsure if that's concern or intense scrutiny. 

"Alright. Done." I sigh, raising my hand over the elaborate circle and beginning to drip blood into the empty ring towards the bottom. 

The man wordlessly turns and walks to the other side of the room and returns with a small box that has a fairly large gemstone. About the size of my fist. "Masamune owed me a favor. He is a resource tinker from The Guild. Something you may have in common if your statement of transmuting materials is correct. Here." 

"Thank you, Armsmaster." I nod my head slightly as I take the gemstone and place it within the very center circle. 

A low breath leaves my lips as I hold my bleeding hand over the circle. There's a pulse as a stream of blood leaves my finger, the circle glows brightly, the blood from my finger flows towards the diamond and then wraps around its surface. I wince, gritting my teeth as my consciousness begins to swim. 

As the blood stops flowing I quickly heal my finger and prop myself up, taking several sharp breaths. 

The blood coils around the diamond and... it seems to shrink inwards. The blood transmutation circle spontaneously seems to hiss then flows upwards like it has a mind of its own and compacts around the sphere. It compacts audibly with a small crunch then continues to shrink within the coiling and spiraling blood. 

It slowly drifts back downwards before reaching the table, the crystal underneath seems to reveal itself as it slowly lowers further and further. By the time it makes contact with the metal surface, not a drop of blood is to be seen, just a perfectly spherical crimson orb about the size of a ping-pong ball. 

"Fuaaaaah." I groan as I slowly allow myself to slide down into a seated position. "Please scan that... and do... whatever you have to..." 

The man simply nods, grabbing a pair of tongs, then carefully takes the orb. "I will scan this... if it is safe, it will be returned to you. The capabilities you listed, the ability to absorb blood for future use. Do you need to be present for its testing?" 

"I imagine it'll drink the blood and contain it... but I'll probably be needed if you want to use it any way... plus have no real idea how much it can hold... man I wish I-" 

"..." 

"I would like to submit another ability for approval... the tier-one ability 'Identify'." 

His eyes widen slightly. "Yes. You have tentative approval. If such an ability does what I think it does I would highly suggest you learn it as soon as possible. Please submit a transcription at your earliest convenience." 

"Alright... I'll get on that... as- as soon as the room stops spinning... hey... uh... do you think Medicia made those blood pills yet?" I lean against the table leg, wiping at the cold sweat which had appeared on the back of my neck. 

"Medicia's blood replenishment medication is tailor made for specific blood types." The man lists. "In accordance with Tinkertech Regulations- something that is far stricter for anything even mildly relating to living organisms- there must be thorough testing before it may be approved for use." 

"But you don't need to worry, she has been given a budget for it... she will likely need to collect some of your blood for testing but I couldn't see this stumping her for more than a month... you will gain your medication shortly." 

"I see... thank you, Armsmaster." I sigh, closing my eyes and letting the cool metal leg of the chair press against my face. 

"Yes. Please rest." He bluntly replies. "I will submit the... 'Blood Orb' for testing." 

[Split] 

Four people sits around a small table. Roughly what you might see in a family's dining room. 

"I still do not see why we needed to get a new table." A muscular man rumbles, a featureless white mask rests on his face and a green hooded cloak around his shoulders. "I liked that table." 

"David. It's been two months." Another huffs, this one in orange and blue. "The large black table was giving too many 'evil council' vibes. I didn't like it." 

The next, a man in a blue domino mask and skin-tight blue and white suit. "I agree with Matthew. I get we're trying to put a stop to the endbringers and sometimes we have to make some... questionable decisions... but that table was more screaming 'Doing evil for the sake of evil' than 'four heroes trying their best with what limited resources they have to kill three overpowered nightmare kaiju'. Twas probably for the best that we got rid of the table."  

The green-cloaked figure crosses his arms. "Fine." 

"Now that the table objection is out of the way." The only woman of the four, Alexandria, otherwise known as Rebecca begins slowly. "To what really matters." 

"This year I've had a few outstanding students in Arcadia." The man in white and blue begins. "Of note, Missy Biron, a Shaker Nine, though publicly disclosed as shaker five. After her would be Riley Grace Davis. Tinker Six. Amelia Dallon continues to show promise as an incredible healer since she triggered last year, and her older sister Victoria has had quite an impressive record for stopping small-time crime in the bay." 

"The students at my school are... fine." Eidolon frowns. "Nothing spectacular, but decent." 

"I had to stop a tinker project that could have likely become an S-Class incident, but other than that, my year has been fairly standard as far as a secret superhero school goes." Matthew, otherwise known as 'Hero, the world's greatest tinker' admits. 

"Keith." The woman begins slowly. "There was a new awakening that was reported to me, the brother of Missy Biron, Jayden Biron." 

"Oh? What is it?" 

"He has been granted a tentative Trump five but it's likely to grow as we further understand his powers. He is mildly difficult for Contessa to path and from what I've gathered he is relatively self-serving, caring only for his sister's happiness and is- more than likely- planning to ditch the Protectorate at the first opportunity he gets." She continues. "This issue has been... slightly Exacerbated due to the director we have had stationed there." 

"Piggot?" Legend, 'Keith', asks. 

"Her hatred of parahumans has become far too inconvenient even with how efficient she is. She will likely try to hinder his growth due to her disgust over biological tinker parahuman powers." Rebecca's hands slowly interlock. "And that isn't something that I desire." 

"I have read through a few transcripts, and his powers sound incredibly useful for our fight against the endbringers. He can generate a form of 'energy' that he can use to power abilities and even flowers he grows. One of which he specified had the ability to heal wounds." 

"A flower that can heal wounds? What? Like some video game alchemy flower or something?"  Matthew, mutters. 

"More giving the flower an ability akin to his own. He has already displayed an ability to heal, but, in his current state he is being forced to convert his own blood into these 'abilities'... and Piggot, seeing that he is able to at least do the bare minimum as a parahuman, and after he has crafted an orb which allows him to store his own blood in a safe and contained manner, will likely drag her feet as he attempts to grow flowers which would allow him to use these abilities more freely." 

"She has also been notoriously difficult with both Medicia and Panacea." 

"We need to move her elsewhere. We should have likely done this sooner." Legend sighs. "Who's idea was it to put her in the bay again?" 

"She was there before Arcadia was constructed." Rebecca answers. "She has never created a large enough issue to forcibly relocate her." 

"Well, who do we replace her with?" Hero look between the other three. "We aren't exactly flush with options. Tagg?" 

A piece of paper falls through a small portal and lands on the table. Rebecca opens it and skims the first line. "No. That would make the problem worse and cause the boy's eventual exit to be messy and forever taint his perception of the PRT, despite it not being that good to begin with." 

"Calvert?" Another piece of paper hits the table that Rebecca picks up. 

"He is a control freak. He would be there all of a month before doing something that would convince Jayden to kill him." 

"W-What?!" Hero sputters. "Is- is this boy... a sociopath or something?!" 

"No. No he is not." 

A silence seems to spread throughout the table at that. 

"To be honest? My goal isn't necessarily to get him to join the protectorate when he graduates as a ward... I know he likely won't, and any attempt to force him to do so would sour our relationship with him completely. My goal is to get him as powerful as possible before that happens as he would still assist against the endbringers and could be invaluable in the slaying of one. As it is currently, if he can grow past his energy issue, he would be the second most powerful healer on the planet, second only to Panacea."  

"Director Armstrong, then?" Hero suggests. "He's good with kids." 

"Maybe." The woman notes, seeing as how there was no immediate objection from the one trying to stop the world's decline into anarchy, it seems to be a safe bet. 

"Or I could do it." 

"..." 

"..." 

"Rebecca that is a horrible idea-" 

[Split] 

Piggot declined me learning scrivener's chant... 

What the fuck? 

It's just- it's just a thing that makes it so I don't have to write everything by hand!  

SO. 

I've decided 'fuck that bitch' and learned it anyways, and it has been an absolute godsend. I was absolutely dreading writing every. Single. Last. Word within the book. 

Buuuuut now I can just sort of focus on the book and it gets written down on whatever spare paper I have around. 

Had to buy an ink quill, though...  

Knock Knock Knock "Hey? Jayden can I come in?" 

"Sure." I call out. 

"So. Uhm... Jayden how do you like being in the wards so far?" Missy asks as she opens the door. 

At least she knocked this time. 

She looks over to me with a book in my lap, a small ink quill and inkpot sitting on my desk and writing on its own. 

She frowns briefly before she shakes it off. "Is this a tier zero ability?" 

"Yep." I nod once.  

"Then I won't say anything." She sighs 

She... has gotten used to me pricking my finger every now and then. But is still a bit touchy on the more 'draining' spells. She's accepted that the 'tier zeros' are mostly harmless. 

"Real talk? Don't tell anyone I've been doing that." 

"H-Huh?" 

"I went behind the director's back because she gets off on child suffering or something. That spell makes it so I can transcribe books without doing it myself. She said I'm not allowed. So I decided 'screw that' and did it anyways." 

"Wh- surely she had a reason?" The girl sputters.  

"Nnnnnope." I reply. "I sincerely doubt it. Aside from her wanting to make me suffer, that is." 

"But- But- she can't do that! It- it only copy-pastes text, right?!" 

"Correctamundo, sis." I lazily flop my head back on the bed. "It's just a magical copy-paste." 

"Then- Then there's no reason why she'd forbid you from doing that!" 

"Yeah. Because she hates me and wants me to suffer writing hundreds of words and drawing numerous sigils. So. Don't say anything." 

"Please?" I finish awkwardly. 

Her eyes flick from me then to the quill and paper, then back to me. 

"You need to tell someone, right? This is some sort of workplace bullying or abuse of power or..." Her voice slowly dies out. "Fine. I won't tell anyone. But you'll probably get yelled at for this." 

"If I get yelled at I just quit and she has to explain how her being an uncaring and sadistic bitch scared away one of America's only true healers." I shrug simply. 

"Annnywaaaays." I wave off. "You asked me how it feels to be a ward? The last minute rant withstanding, I honestly wouldn't say I AM a ward... yet. I've got no hero name, no hero costume. Mostly it's just power testing and waiting until I'm allowed to do basically anything." 

"What I was doing then, is writing down the formula for 'Identify' for Armsmaster and the Director to stare at... Honestly I'm just waiting for them to decide 'hey wait, this is kind of useless as these weird symbols mean less than nothing to us, just write down the descriptions instead of copying the whole thing'. And everything will be just groovy." 

"Or the Director will make me continue to write things down in order for me to 'earn' this power... like I haven't put my blood, sweat, and tears into this shit already." 

To be honest... 

Being a ward or ward adjacent is kind of annoying. 

But it's not the worst. 

Yet. 

Piggot will probably test my patience, but I'm not going to stomp and cry like a little brat for her making things vaguely difficult for me. 

Besides, it's just five years. 

I'm going to treat that as sort of a 'build up' time. 

I can kind of already see my power snowballing. 

I can use first level spells fairly regularly and... and this is a big one... I used my first ever spell WITHOUT cutting myself last night. 

That's right. I meditated, looked deep within myself. Found a collection of motes of light, then spent every single drop I had currently stored in order to cast Prestidigitation! 

Then, after twelve hours, that pool has refilled and it... honestly feels a bit bigger than it used to! 

I plan to keep that close to my chest. 

Sure, I told Missy that one time, but she was freaking out over the blood magic thing so she might not have heard me or she forgot about it. 

Oh! And the best part? Far greater than me using any magic at all? 

I got to skip out on the last week of school! 

Fuck yeah!  

I've got like two and a half months to do my tinker and magic thing until they force me to go to Arcadia! 

To be honest? It'll probably be more stimulating than my old school due to the fact that we're probably going to have 'hero classes' and stuff like that. 

"I-I see." The girl murmurs. "Uh- Riley and Lisa are here... and uhm... L-Lisa just wanted to know if you wanted to... um... hang out with us? Would you like that? M-Maybe take your mind of things?" 

"If I'm not imposing." I agree simply. "Let me just finish this page and- done." 

I rise from my bed, stretching briefly before following along after the girl as she almost skips down the stairs. I slowly descend after her as I see her flop down on the couch. Beside her is the heterochromatic form of Riley and in the recliner towards the corner sits Lisa who is tapping away on her phone. 

She glances over. "Oh hey! Jayden. How's the book coming along." 

"Well, I've got a chapter somewhere. But I was more or less using it as an excuse I could throw at Missy if she suddenly burst through my door and saw me drawing a bunch of magic circles and stuff on paper." I admit causing my sister to let out a small 'HEY!' As I sit on her other side. 

"Thought so." The freckled girl hums.  

"Thankfully, she learned how to knock since then." I grin. "So how have you two been? I saw you fairly recently, Lisa, but Riley? I haven't seen you in a while." 

"Hello!" The girl in question weakly waves. "I've been good, Jayden." 

"I've been fine as well." Lisa agrees. "Kind of bored... been trying to do some private detective work on the side just to see if I could figure out what others couldn't. It's kind of hard when you are trying to piece everything together through a screen, but I guess my power kind of bridges the gap somewhat." 

"Oh," Riley continues. "And I need some of your blood if you want any medication that helps you replenish blood faster. I'm kind of at a roadblock and I can't continue until I get some of your blood to study." 

"Oh sure. I'll do it the next time I'm over there." I nod slowly. "Anyways, what are you three doing, watching Tv? Playing games?" 

"Hero Party. You can be player four!" Missy beams. 

"Bet. I call dibs on Mouse Protector."  

[Split] 

"It is with a heavy heart that we announce that Miss Piggot will be transferring out of the bay." 

"Huh." I mutter. 

Well. 

That kind of solves my issue with her. 

Let's hope we don't get someone worse. 

"However, during this time, while waiting for a suitable replacement to be found, it is with great honor that we announce that the Chief Director of the PRT shall be taking over her duties! Please welcome Chief Director Costa-Brown!" 

Oh. 

This is arguably worse. 

[Split] 

There is a small pit in my stomach as I stand outside the directors door. 

The new director. 

She apparently wanted to meet me? 

There's something a little intimidating about entering a room with a proverbial morally bankrupt Clark Kent. 

I slowly step inside, followed by miss Militia. 

"You wanted to see me, Ma'am?" 

"Ah, yes, Jayden. I have been meaning to speak with you." The woman ruffles through some papers. "I have been going over some of these... copies you've made of your books. It seems that the last director was being quite unreasonable to you. I apologize for that." 

"The vast majority of this is a waste of time." The woman decides. "For example. These symbols across this paper. They have been shown to numerous thinkers and thinkers, even Hero, an energy tinker has seen them and has been unable to do much with them." 

"Building off the conditions you had with the previous director. You do not need to copy everything, merely give Armsmaster or myself the title of whatever ability you plan to pursue, and a brief descriptor of what it does. You must understand that is merely to help us decide and organize what position you could fulfil in crisis and emergency situations." 

"This is a lot more reasonable." I nod slowly. "Thank you." 

"Next. Your request to create tinkertech plants has been tenatively approved for growth. Armsmaster has been given resources to build a sterile chamber to scan and determine if the plants are safe to grow, and if they are, they are to be moved to the roof, where a greenhouse is being constructed as we speak." 

An entire greenhouse? 

Huh. 

That's a lot more than I ever expected from Piggot. They must really want me to be a hero. 

But it does help me solve the energy issue. 

"That's great!" 

She ruffles through some papers. "You do need to have a meeting with the PR department, however." 

"I am aware," She continues. "That you have not yet made this 'cloth' that supposedly reduces your energy consumption and have no idea what it may look like, but you should still be able to still speak with them about basic designs and the name you plan to go by. Changes can be made before your debut." 

"That is acceptable. Thank you, Ma'am." I faintly smile, quietly thankful that I seem to be 'useful' to the secret cape illuminati. Useful enough that they don't want to end me, at least. 

[Split] 

I give the paper a look of disgust as the slightly overweight man with a wispy beard shows me a potential design. "I'm not wearing a wizard hat. That's ridiculous." 

"Come on, the wizard hat is iconic!" 

"it's also ridiculous." I deadpan. "Sure, it might work if I was a girl for that whole 'witch' aesthetic, but I'm not. And it looks stupid." 

"Alright, I agree with your reasoning, not the wizard look, then." The man mutters. "Then what about this one?" 

He shows an lightly armored figure in chainmail and armored plates with a sword on his back. "A sort of Spellsword!" 

I open my mouth only to pause. "I... just remembered that there's something I need to do in power testing. My powers could theoretically fail if I am wearing armor. Put a pin in this one and if I'm wrong. That looks pretty good. But I can't exactly see where we'd put that silk of mine." 

"The plan would be to replace the majority of the chainmail, it, of course, would be a lightened alloy to allow you to have better maneuverability. A bit less durable than steel, less than a fifth of the weight. The metal plates however would be more durable metals, as we take a ward's safety seriously." 

I look over the costume more closely. "Seven out of ten. Not bad. Better than the robe and floppy wizard hat, at least. The name's not bad either. But personally I was leaning towards 'Grimoire'... I could be sold on 'Spellsword', though... if I can wear armor without my powers failing, that is." 

"Grimoire! That's a good one! I'll write it down and we can circle back to it." The man beams as he quickly taps away at his computer for a moment. 

He is... 

Far too enthusiastic. 

Almost annoyingly enthusiastic. 

"Personally, for my face I was just thinking like... a hood then some cloth to cover the bottom half of my face, not quite a scarf, not quite a bandanna like Miss Militia but... somewhat similar? This of course depends on what my enhanced silk looks like." 

The man lets out a low hum as he writes down. "Hood, and lower face mask." 

"Alright, you've given me some things to work with. I'll see about sketching a few designs. Come back in a week or so and we'll see what you think!" 

"I will." And with that I stand and let myself out of the room.