The second was definitely some kind of Rune of Ice, but it differed from the basic one presented in the book. The shape was similar enough to be clearly related, but the one on the weapon was surrounded by an octagon of intersecting lines, one of which connected with the rune.
I spent some more time searching the book for the other runes, but they were nowhere to be found. The book’s notes on the basic Rune of Ice indicated that items enchanted with it were dangerous to the wielder, so I decided it was best to keep my hands as far away from the aura as possible, at least until I could discern what the more advanced rune meant.
With that established I sheathed the weapon and lay down on my bed, closing my eyes.
I wasn’t going to sleep, not immediately. I needed a few moments just to process my situation.
I didn’t get them, of course. A knock sounded on my door mere instants after my eyes shut.
The knocking paused for a moment, then repeated a few moments later. It was quick, insistent. I sighed, pushing myself from the bed, and opened the door.
A black-clad student was standing outside, his almond-shaped eyes narrowed in scrutiny. He had amber skin, which meant his family was probably from East Edria or Dalenos.
He stared directly at me for a moment, then asked a single question.
“Are you a Spider?”
I blinked. “Uh… no?”
He nodded curtly, took the door handle, and shut my door.
I continued to stare at the closed door for the next few seconds.
Well, that was interesting.
Contemplating the encounter, I came to the conclusion that the student was testing for my reaction. I heard another similar knock several moments later… but it wasn’t at the next door down. It was too distant for that. He wasn’t going to every door in sequence — either he had a list of specific people he wanted to check, or he wasn’t going in order because he didn’t want people hearing the conversations at adjacent rooms and taking the time to prepare.
Oh, I like this guy.
He hadn’t given his name, but I’d find it.
I kicked off my boots and spent the next few hours reading through runes atop my new bed. The threadbare sheets and single pillow weren’t particularly comfortable, but I was glad just to have a private room.
While I studied the runes, I contemplated what I could potentially build. My few crystals wouldn’t get me very far, but I did have a small discretionary stipend to spend on things outside of what the academy provided. Basic food in the mess hall, lodgings, and uniforms were already covered.
I assumed most of the other students who were lucky enough to have a stipend spent it on the much better food that could be found in the assorted restaurants on the campus, or on things like more books or added conveniences.
My four silver sigils per week were going toward an enchanting fund.
One of my first priorities would be to figure out the local rates on buying various types of enchanting materials. My reading indicated that there were a lot more types of mana crystals than I had initially realized, and that there were some alternatives to using crystals or getting help from other attuned, but that they tended to be harder to come by.
My first priority? Enchanting the flask where I was keeping the water from the pool in the tower. I didn’t know if the effect that had given me my attunement was inherent to the water, or if the water was just a conduit for the goddess to use to give people attunements. If it was the former, I couldn’t know if the water’s magical properties would remain stable forever. Or maybe it would just evaporate if it was left alone. I didn’t want that to happen.
After doing that bit of reading, I grudgingly got back to the stack of paperwork on my desk. I skimmed over school rules and regulations, as well as things like the details on earning points for graduation. I could worry about those later.
I was looking for the campus map. I had something important to do.
Finding the map was easy enough. Actually navigating the campus to find Professor Orden’s office was considerably more challenging. Not only were there several buildings that didn’t appear on the map, many of the labels were out-of-date.
All in all, it took me nearly two hours to find Professor Orden’s office on the opposite side of the campus. She was, predictably, not even there.
I did, however, find a list on her door of her office hours. The next time she’d be present would be Wyddsday, the day before classes. I made a note to come back then. Not only did I want to fulfill my obligation to the Voice, I needed to know how the professor was connected. Was she some sort of servant of Katashi? Or maybe Tenjin?
Valia’s patron visage was Tenjin, the Visage of Inspiration. It was commonly known that the visages often employed mortal help, even outside of their priesthoods. The presence of a foreign visage in our tower was very strange; if Professor Orden worked for Tenjin, it was likely she needed to know about it.
Was there some kind of power play going on, or was I just indulging childish fantasies of visages playing political games against each other? It was the type of thing I’d read about in stories since childhood, but the last known direct conflict between two visages had been over a hundred years ago.
I headed back in the general direction of my room. The trip hadn’t been a total waste of time; I’d discovered the locations of several facilities I intended to visit later, including the mess hall, multiple shops, the apothecary, and my current destination: the library.
Predictably, I found Sera already inside.
She had annexed an entire table, with a massive stack of books on her left and three open tomes spread out in front of her. Most of the pages I could see showed complex diagrams with runic markings. She was scanning one of them intently, apparently oblivious to my presence.
I pulled up a nearby chair, making enough noise that she turned her head with an annoyed look. Her expression shifted from irritation to an inquisitive shift in her eyebrows when she processed who had dared to disturb her studies.
“Yes, Corin?”
I leaned over the table to examine one of the closer books. “Summoning diagrams? Trying to find something powerful to summon to impress everyone before classes start?”
She shook her head, her expression sinking into a frown. “Common misconception. Summoning monsters is actually one of the least common things that Summoners do.”
I blinked. “What do you do, then?”
She stabbed a finger at a diagram in front of me. “This isn’t a summoning diagram, it’s a contract. The runes indicate the terms of the contract, and mana is used to enable it. Summoners make contracts with creatures to draw power from them.”
I scratched my chin. “Like, individual monsters? You have to meet them and bind them personally?”
“Yes. If I want to make a monster do anything — give me power, protect something, or if I want to summon it from a distance — we need to agree to a contract.”
I turned to look at her, my eyebrows knitting together. “How does that work with monsters that don’t talk?”
She flipped the pages to another diagram. “Different diagrams for different monsters. Once I charge it with mana, they basically touch each of the runes to examine them. If they ‘agree’, they contribute their own mana, signing the contract.”
“Huh. Are things like slimes really smart enough to know how to do that?”
She smirked. “Evidently. But I’m not the type to make a contract with a slime.”
“Of course not.” I huffed out a short breath that could almost be called a snort. “Planning out your first contract already?”