The Dao of Magic

69 - Abandon

"Ket, what is the chance of this actually happening? I feel like I'm in a horrible drama."

"The chance of a pair of noble twins meeting again after the boy is outcast from his home because he grew beast traits and the girl happened to have a mana affinity? And that the meeting is in the middle of the ocean while the boy just happened to be on a ship near the sister's vessel, who just happened to be patrolling in the area? One in a million."

Ket looks at me as I see something flicker through his eyes. Is that humour?

"But if we take your propensity for... chaotic movement into account, I'd say one in a billion."

That is definitely humour. So this is how it begins. Now they joke about me, next they won't listen to what I say and then they stab me in the back, I recognize this pattern. I narrow my eyes at him to let the upstart know I'm onto him. He is at least a thousand years too young for this kind of stuff.

Then I remember I hate hierarchies and etiquette. I give him a grin and punch him in the arm. "Thanks for the analysis, dipwad."

"So what do we do now? Drug everyone again?"

I frown at my student. "How dare you sugg.. Nah, we did that last time. Got to keep life varied, right?"

I look at the still sobbing duo on the other ship. Vox is holding someone, I assume his sister, in a tight embrace while bawling his eyes out. I think she might be called Ares, but I'm not sure.

"AAAAREEEEESSS!"

"AAAAANDEEEERS!"

Not annoying at all. The other people on both ships are just staring at the scene, with highly varying levels of interest.

I'm starting to lose interest in the entire situation, so I begin checking the ship's formations. The shield held out, but only because I reinforced it at the last moment. The mana levels in that ittie bittie cannon of theirs were off the charts. That, and the missed shot showed me that the shield needed a bit of reinforcement to fully withstand the mana blast.

I fiddle around with the symbols embedded in the steering column. There is a small qi crystal inside the wooden pole the steering wheel is attached to. I set it to passive mode with active scans. It will burn through the crystal in a couple of thousand years, the used up qi turning into heat energy as it does its thing. It will do for now.

The shield will then be cranked up to appropriate levels of power, based on the sensed danger. I put the lines of symbols through a simulation and they work flawlessly. Barely any qi wastage and perfect protection.

I get distracted by a prickling from my core. I finish up the formation, running it through a quick optimization pass before installing the modification. That done, I focus on my core. There is something here, something like my contract with my students or Rhea. I still my other thoughts and drift in the silence for a moment, external senses running on autopilot now.

The massive agreement with the dragon is easily sensed, the other two books of aerodynamics must have boosted her power even more than I thought, the contract is that strong now. The contracts with my students are also visible because they're all standing very close to me. There is something else though, something unpleasant.

I remember back to my adventure so far, and realize that I have other contracts running. The very first circle I drew inside Tree is still there and still functioning. It's also in my core, the connection faint but visible. I thus search for the other circle that is still operating, the Tower protection. I find it as soon as I look for it, a minuscule pinprick of angry light.

I focus on it and feel the strain. I feel the power that the circle needs to contain constantly, and the fast approaching limit. I focus on it further but the actual circle is too far away for any clarity. I do get the message though, it's full and straining under the collected qi. I will need to empty it very, very quickly.