Before I introduced people to Jerome, I wanted to make sure he was okay with it. “They’re decent people,” I said. “A couple acted like idiots at first, but that was because the situation was stressful. They’re a bit older, though, so it might be awkward.” A couple years could make a big difference at that age, especially since Jerome was more experienced. Mostly I was thinking magically, but he’d also leaped into a rapid pace for his normal education.

  He’d gone from behind in classes when I met him to actually gaining confidence in himself, and now at fifteen years old he was taking college classes alongside his other work. He likely benefited from Enhance Mind occasionally, but he didn’t actually need it.

  Jerome thought it over for a while. “It would be nice to have more friends that are acquainted with supernatural stuff. You know, vaguely my age.”

  “Great. I’ll get you in contact with them. Somehow. Kids these days barely even use real phone calls.”

  Jerome rolled his eyes. “Adults these days don’t usually call each other on the phone. You just like it because it’s the first thing you learned about.”

  “It’s very convenient to speak directly. Did you get the books I sent you?”

  “Yeah,” he nodded. “But I can’t read them.”

  “You’ll have to practice around me,” I said. “With Translate active, obviously.”

  Just like their speech, the Many-Colored layered their text. It was likely able to be translated with some proper notes, but it wasn’t something that could be done automatically. So for the moment, magic would be the way.

  “Actually, the others have been around the language to give you a decent basis for it,” I suggested. You could study together. Meter, at least, is specialized in magic.”

  I gave Jerome his first lesson on the otherworldly verbal and somatic components. They were quite inconvenient, slowing down spellcasting. However, that would be mitigated with time and practice. Either way, they were more efficient- and provided a great measure of additional control. It wasn’t necessary for people like Jerome, but that didn’t mean it wasn’t valuable.

  -----

  Now that we had finished making sure a full set of thirty-six was cursed according to our specifications, the main reason to return to Aidura was to transport people back and forth. I wasn’t the only one who could accomplish magical translation, so I didn’t have to be there all that often. However, Extra still didn’t have much of anyone besides me who could go to somewhat arbitrary worlds and back whenever they wanted. And likewise, their options for cross-dimensional communication were limited. Though apparently they could set something up, if they were willing to invest in some sort of infrastructure.

  How long the relationship would be with this world was yet to be determined. If everything went well, there would be no need for interactions until this current generation died off- assuming the rearranged curses worked properly.

  Between that and working on the enchantments for the Celmothian embassy and my days were frequently occupied with things besides combat training and patrols. I couldn’t be too upset, though, because I got almost two levels during that whole excursion. Most of it from two specific battles- the dragon and The King.

  Augmenting the wards for every round of curse modifying had been valuable for improving our enchanting skills, and so even though Midnight and I thought we had been ready for the Celmothian embassy, it actually would have taken a lot more maintenance than expected if we used our original skill levels.

  The building itself was pretty much done, and it was even being used for a few things. It just wasn’t officially open yet.

  “We’ve begun a big project,” Midnight commented. “One that Celmothians hadn’t really bothered much with. Long range interstellar teleportation. Mostly, we’ve stuck to intra-system before.”

  I nodded. “It’s not like you guys have a huge empire.” Specifically, with the Bunvorixians being their neighbors, their early conflicts had kept either from expanding quickly. Aside from diverging resources towards the war, it was also a matter of requiring fortification wherever they built. “... How are things going on Bunvorix?”

  Midnight was the one who could contact Flopan, Starla, and other members of the resistance. They had big ambitions, but it wasn’t clear if they had the capability to succeed. Though, Zeb also helped. Apparently, the resistance was brimming with the news about how the Bunvorixian leadership was actually responsible for the squirrels being gone. There were videos of Zeb with her squirrels… and occasionally Midnight. Excellent anti-government propaganda.

  “Well, it’s complicated,” Midnight said. “It’s fairly likely that with the aid of the resistance, Celmoth could strike a telling blow against the Bunvorixians. But that might bolster the sentiment against us even if we’re trying to help. Unfortunately, it takes time for these sorts of things. Especially since some Celmothians would want to push some sorts of restrictions on them. It could be a huge mess.”

  “No outside help, huh… probably for the best.”

  “They might appreciate help from humanoids, though,” Midnight commented. “But they still need to do most of it themselves. Zeb might be approaching critical mass at some point, so we’ll see.”

  I tilted my head. “What do you mean by that?”

  “About Zeb?” Midnight asked. “Each of her squirrels is basically a full combatant. Maybe not the equivalent of a properly equipped soldier, but the stronger ones could cause havoc. Especially since most Bunvorixians wouldn’t want to attack them. Well, they’d want to chase them but they probably wouldn’t kill them. They’re just a cultural memory now, so they’ve been elevated to a high status in people’s minds. The leadership went along with it for their own propaganda, but bringing them back…”

  How strange, that squirrels would be responsible for such a significant shift. Though I absolutely understood the combat part of things. Every once in a while Zeb had some squirrels that wanted to fight me. While they weren’t individually much, a handful of them could be a tough fight if I didn’t use magic. I had no idea how she consistently managed to improve her bonds with so many different squirrels.

  A genius talent, perhaps. Or maybe it was some sort of secret shared consciousness that Bunvorixians didn’t even know about. Celmothians had their own bond, so it was possible.

  Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

  Squirrels were silly until they were coming for your throat. Then you realized how sharp their teeth could be- and how not little some of them were.

  -----

  I now had far more tomes of magical studies that weren’t from my native world than ones connected to it. And that counted the one I was writing. Some of the copies were purely digitals, but Yalith had given me physical copies to keep for rescuing some books. Riala and The King had handed over a few more into my custody that I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to return at some point.

  I had all of that, but I still wanted more. I was reminded of the days when I had just learned to read, greedily absorbing all the magical knowledge I could. Except I hadn’t been able to practice any of it, which had been awful. Retaining knowledge and being motivated to study more were both heavily impacted by my slow levels early on.

  Maybe I should have asked Master Uvithar to punch me in the face. Obviously that wasn’t normally the correct thing to do with people under your care, but if he’s properly understood Aspect of the Barbarian…

  I was tempted to keep seeking him out, but I knew that most likely I would just wear down his defenses and make it easier for mutual enemies to find him instead. I didn’t know who such mutual enemies would be. Maybe the shadowy cabal of people that decided to lie to people about the world. Only a very small amount of that could feasibly have been to protect people.

  Master Uvithar didn’t tell me how to fully unlock training, even though he must have known. On the other hand, I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t have run off into the wilderness looking for portals. Chances were, I would have found zero portals and a couple bears. No, more likely just one bear because I wouldn’t live to see the next one. Unless I got lucky with Firebolt.

  Obviously I could beat a bear with Firebolt now, but at the time both my aim and power were lacking. So were my defensive improvements. I might have even been foolish enough to use Shocking Grasp because it was stronger.

  Some of these realizations I had come upon as I matured. Others had required Doctor Patenaude. I wondered what a psychiatrist would say to The King. Surely he must have things he worried about. Riala too, even if she seemed carefree.

  It was amazing what someone could do with minimal powers. Obviously reading my emotions was super helpful when I was hiding things or didn’t understand them, but the rest of what he did was from his knowledge. I had a lot of respect for that. Without my magic, I would just be a pretty big guy in decent shape. Magic had always been part of me- and everyone from my world- so I couldn’t say I was unworthy, but what could I do without magic?

  Wrestle. Shoot people with a gun or hit them with a staff. Dodge attacks. Did sensing magic count? It might be tied to my ability to perform magic. Maybe I should try to get better at looking for people’s tells without involving magic. Though… I couldn’t think when it would be useful.

  Fighting was a worthy thing to learn. Though maybe I should get another hobby. Something practical. I had no idea what I would be interested in though.

  -----

  The Storage spell I had learned in Zuresh was bad. It had a lot of problems. It couldn’t hold much. I had to access it in a very specific manner, reaching my hand into extradimensional space that only I could touch. Anyone who knew what I was doing could react. I was also fairly certain that the space could be interfered in by those who knew what they were doing. Or rather, I had been testing that. Obviously I didn’t do it in front of people I didn’t trust, but I was working with Midnight and Bolster. Meter wasn’t available during work hours even if I wanted to test things with him. He had school to attend, and he should probably be spending a lot of time in therapy.

  “... I want to punch Yamaha in the face.”

  It didn’t matter whether he thought we couldn’t handle advanced maneuvers, was hiding them from us, or was simply ignorant. All of them were a sufficient reason.

  Two simple spells, that was all. Both were taught together for basic spatial magic. First was Storage, which with simple modifications could be used to access another person’s spatial pouches. After all, it wasn’t using the space most connected to a person, just something near them.

  Bolster made a face. “It’s tough. They’re difficult to sense.”

  I nodded. “I probably wouldn’t notice them if I wasn’t actively looking.” That meant that Yamaha probably didn’t know. Most people hadn’t seemed very good at sensing active mana. “I guess I’m leaning towards ignorant, then.” The second application also involved sensing that space.

  Gift was a very good spell. In this world, nobody was prepared to not catch things. I wasn’t even considering tossing live grenades into people’s hands- merely occupying them with rocks or empty water bottles could be extremely valuable. Gift was good. But using Gift to throw stuff into someone’s personal Storage area was… actually mostly useless. Because everyone I knew who would do that was already a friend I could just hand stuff to regularly.

  Still, if I needed to give Midnight something, it was great. Since he didn’t really have hands or anything, it was basically the only way Gift worked. And in theory I could fill such a Storage area full of needles or razor blades. Caltrops, maybe. If I fought any spatial mages from The Six, I’d try it. It would be awful for them to reach for something they needed and get a handful of pain instead.

  “This version is bad,” I said. “Except for the ways it’s very good.” For example, I could dissolve a floating Storage pocket and let things fall out. What good was that, you might ask? As good as it always is to drop things.

  Unlike my version, this could release things away from my body. A Storage zone didn’t actually have to hang directly next to my hip- that was for convenience. I could put them in a specific spot or anchor them to a relative position.

  For example of a specific location- in a doorway. Or above it. Then bam! Bowling ball. Though I was going to try to get my hands on cannon balls or a tungsten cube. The latter was pretty much the mass limit of my regular storage, and not for a huge one. It would be a 5” cube.

  Anyway, our group was reassessing the combat applications of released potential energy. I.E. dropping stuff. It was great to drop stuff from not directly next to you. Technically I could do it with Mage’s Reach, but that wasn’t invisible. Indeed, it was extremely suspicious and most people would find it worth watching.

  “What if…” Bolster said. “Nah, it’s a stupid idea.”

  “Well now we have to hear it,” Midnight said.

  She sighed. “Okay. So, what if we made one big enough to cover a doorway? And people just… ran into it.” She shook her head. “It sounds kind of stupid now. And impossible.”

  I thought about it. “It would certainly require a significantly modified spell. But it could be valuable. Invisibly blocking an opening is of great value.”

  “Yeah, but,” Bolster was determined to argue against the value of her own idea. “I don’t think you could even hurt anyone.” She punched the air beside her for reference. “It’s not really… solid? I’m not even sure if you could force someone else to interact with it anyway.”

  She had a point about the solidity. The end of the space wasn’t actually a wall. That was why things didn’t disappear until they were fully contained.

  “We would have to have it fully encompass someone,” I said. “And then stop them from just stepping out. Would they keep forward momentum?”

  Once fully inside, they might not be able to push off of things- maybe we could first test if there was air. Start with a drone, then some bugs. Then if everything was fine, Zeb’s squirrels since they could listen to orders, when they wanted to.

  Even I was pretty sure I couldn’t easily make a human-sized box. Maybe a cat sized one, but we didn’t immediately need to jump to dangerous extradimensional stuff with Midnight. He was pretty much recovered from his Teleportation trauma, but that didn’t mean he would appreciate it.

  Rob might also be a good option along the way. Rob was a convenient shape. But first, non-living drones.

  It was possible this stuff would improve my spatial mastery. I honestly didn’t care if it did, because it was interesting. Still, it would be nice to get another level of improvement.