Chapter 3: Chapter 3 – The Holder

- I'm studying other things at the moment, father - Orion paid no attention to the comments about active magic that the Elders had been discussing for the last few days. - And they didn't want to listen to us last time, so why are you so excited?

- It seems that they have discovered a new way to assimilate sequential passive spells - Oliver had a newspaper in his hand, reading the news from the continent. - They think they can win the war, and the person who answered came here from the Boiler Room.

- Impressive. - Orion used empty words to continue writing some small runes, linking them together to form a symbol different from what he was used to. The Elementary Schools, of the Four Primaries, relied heavily on equal portions of mana throughout the symbol, meaning that regardless of whether a person worked for ten years or a hundred, magic would be used equally for everyone.

It was a way for the Order of Wizards to create a procedure for everyone to follow. This same procedure was what prevented Magi and Apprentice Magi from becoming Arche-Mages or Great Magi.

The magic in each person was different, and the way magic was understood also had to be taken into account. A person with ten years of practice would lose to someone with a hundred years, but using the same spells, the match could be considered a draw.

The foolishness of creating a single system to assist all Magi led the Magi themselves to learn nothing.

And the job of Orion, a Scholastic, was to determine the changes, to recreate a possibility and set it up in practice.

- Have you finished reading the 'Laws of Distribution', father? - Orion kept his pencil on the paper, drawing a completely different picture. - I have to read it later.

- It's over there with the books Raimundo sent you. Just take it.

- He sent books? - Orion blinked several times, looking back. Oliver, from the sofa, just passed the newspaper page to the side. - When did he send them?

- It's been two days, I think. I was away, I guess I forgot to tell you.

Five days recreating the projects Raimundo had sent and I only just found out that he had sent the books he asked for. Orion got up from the table and went to the basket with several sealed books wrapped in transparent plastic.

- He said it was a gift. There was nothing written on the cover, so I thought they were about fantasy, since he likes it so much.

- Yes, it must be. - Orion took the basket and walked towards the bedroom. He stopped at the table and picked up the papers. - I'm going to rest for a while, Dad. Then I'll do those exercises you asked for.

- Okay.

Orion hid his anxiety and only ran to his room after leaving the hall. He closed the door by turning the key twice and sat on the bed with all the books in his hands. Putting them side by side, he pulled the seal off the first one and turned the cover.

"For a man whose potential may be infinite. A gift from Silena Vidian."

- That's the 'Riddle of Mana'. - Orion was shocked. He had made a list for Raimundo saying they would be the ones he most wanted to read at the moment, but he never thought he would actually get it, and even more so from one of the noble families of Caldera.

The contents of this book dated back to long before the world calendar was considered AR, after the Manic Revolution. The number of such books on the continent was not even ten, and one of them was there, in his possession.

Without wasting any time, he turned the page and began to read.

He lost himself for almost ten hours. He read on and on.

The Symbols and Runes, before being recreated by Oswald Agnolio, one of the most brilliant Arcanists in history, had always been an enigma for civilizations. The base called Arcanus Modulus came from ancient times with great flaws in its creation.

The Magi were not called Magi, and the Church was not called the Church. The world was different, and only a few hundred people held the arcane core in their bodies.

Oswald Agnolio wrote the Riddle of Mana as a method to further assist the future generation with the symbol and runes. An example of this were the spells that were always divided into different degrees and levels.

'Sphere of Fire', a second level magic, conjured by an Apprentice would not have the same effect if done by a Second Core Mage. The difference was not in the magic, but in the amount of mana imposed.

And for Orion who was deciphering mana, understanding why mana behaves differently in bodies became essential. And he himself, without a magical core, would have the chance to understand why he was born without one.

Halfway through the book, he took a break and went to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

- Mr. Oliver, half of our Scholastics are being hired by the other houses, and we know that your son has a very good average for Arcanism. - The voice came from the living room, authoritative and very strict. - We would like to hire them as helpers.

- I do outsourcing services, Mr. Philip.

It was rare for Oliver to speak with such formality. Orion squinted close to the door and saw the man sitting facing his sofa. His suit was black linen, matching well with his medium-length hair tied back. Even his posture resembled that of a high-level merchant.

But, in his eyes, Orion could sense a certain fear. He didn't want to be there, not even a little.

- I know that half the people on this island are disgusted by people like me and my son. The Bakers are part of a dishonorable lineage, and I can see that you are here because nobody else wants to help you. - Oliver had left one of the books on his lap, crossing his arms. - Even if I accepted, my skill in Arcanism is only Intermediate.

- I'm sure we could help you improve. We have many books on Mechanics and Algebra, even on complete Magic.

Complete spells were no small thing. Few families could get a book with that much power. They were considered treasures, and wouldn't be being used as a bargaining chip if it wasn't so important.

- It's easier for you to try to show what you want to solve, and if we succeed, you pay us. It's like this with everybody, even the Elders are used this way. Do you have a draft of this project?

Orion came to the door with the glass in one hand and the book in the other. His father called out to him to sit beside him.

- This is Felipe Vidian, son and one of the direct heirs of the Vidian family.

- I am Orion Baker. - Orion nodded his head. - He said he needed help with some project, if my father can't answer, he doesn't even have to go to the other families on our hill.

Oliver let out a smile.

- I'm not the best, but I understand well, son. Stop trying to make our name look better in front of him.

- Actually, I was told to come directly to you," Philip replied. - As much as they didn't want us to talk, they said that you are better than half the people on the island, Mr. Oliver.

- And who said this?

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- Cairo Rent.

This name made Oliver Baker's eyes narrow.

- Cairo, aka Raw Material, said I am better than half the people on this island? - Even he didn't believe those words. - I guess he was mistaken, then.

- I don't think so, sir. - Philip took a parchment from the bag beside him. He stretched it out on the table, putting two light weights on the four ends. - This project was modeled in Basic Mechanics. They want to know if they can find a solution, and he said you would have the answer.

- Basic Mechanics? - Oliver looked up. Orion, however, could recognize the project just by looking at the two circles in the middle. - How long have you been working on this?

- Two years, but no one has found the solution.

- How much do you know about Ordinary Arcanism? - Orion asked him.

- Intermediate in Common Arcanism and Basic in Arcane Evolution.

Orion shook his head several times and stepped back onto the sofa.

- Even if my father explained it to you, you wouldn't be able to understand. Arcane Mechanics has nothing to do with Common Arcane; it's a specialization. Even if I explained the most advanced level to you, it would still be complex.

Philip didn't like his words at all.

- Even if I can't understand, you could answer.

- No. Oliver's arms crossed again. - Oliver's arms crossed again. - It's outside what I'm used to studying.

Orion was the man's focus.

- Can you at least modify or improve something? - A simple question with immense meaning for Orion.

Of course he could. Last week, he had given Raimundo the answer. He even commented on several possibilities for improvement in the house of accepting other bases. If he wanted to, rebuilding such a project twice as efficiently was possible.

Would he do it? Negative.

- The only thing I can say is that the mana channels connecting them are too narrow, and so the amount that reaches the edges of the circles, feeding the runes, is poor.

Oliver looked again and nodded.

- That's right. To be able to use its full capacity, you would need to be at least an Arche Mage. If you're not, you don't even have to push. And these symbols on the sides, they are made of Suction and Attribution, right? If you try to change them...

- No, Father. The Symbols are the only things that got this design right.

Philip looked at Orion more attentively. The boy seemed to understand Arcane Mechanics better than his father, and saw clearly the position of the symbols. To see through a sketch, one needed sharp and precise vision.

- Do you think the symbols won't hurt whoever uses them?

- I never said that. I said that their positions are correct, not that they are the best symbols. - Orion used a pencil to mark the left edge of the paper. - Changing the first defensive layer will break the whole project, and since a magic like this seems to have four or five layers, the best thing is to mess with the deeper parts, where the shock is smaller. - He stared at the boy. - Can you understand?

- Sure, go ahead.

Orion wrote down a series of numbers and then some symbols, with short, shallow notes about which ones should be changed and the effects they would generate. It was common for a Scholastic to know this point, but depending on one's point of view, it was completely out of the ordinary.

People like Oliver were the majority in the Islet Boilers, renowned for endowing them with an intelligence capable of deciphering mana and magic. And people like Orion, Philip had only seen a few in his family, and they were all old and arrogant.

After Orion explained the basis of a rune with reversed positions, to aid in the concentration of mana, he faced the visitor.

- This is how you can improve a design based on layers.

- Just using position runes. - Amazed, Philip didn't know how to thank him. - Orion Baker, right? Why haven't you written yourself into the Boilerplate Scholastic Conjunction yet? With that skill, you could get a great sponsorship.

- I like to study alone. - He stood up, picking up his black-covered book and his empty glass. - Now I'm going to sleep.

Philip stood up, stretching out his hand.

- Thank you for the class on Basic Mechanics and Runes. I'm sure you'll enjoy the improvements.

Orion looked at Felipe's hand and denied it with his head.

- Your family doesn't need to thank ours. - He walked to the kitchen. - It is our obligation to help in any way.

Orion washed the glass and put it away, heading for his room. Inside, he marked the page he had just finished reading and lay down to sleep. Before he blacked out, he saw the Basic Mechanics project in his head as if it were drawn on the ceiling and gave a smile.

- They won't understand a thing when the runes fail in the middle of creation.

As modest as Philip Vidian was, that pleading request was nothing but a sham. Everyone knew well how the Bakers were treated by the other Boilermaker families, and to stoop to the level of one of them was the worst of humiliations.

Orion would not shake hands with a man who belittled his name when he had the chance. His own father had been in worse situations, where he had been cursed at and nearly beaten by Scholastics who had lost in Arcanism duels.

Days that even Orion thought he was cursed and woke up asking the gods to be different from then on. And it never was.

The worst curse of all, at the Boilers, was to have the Baker surname attached to you.

And Orion would change that at any cost.

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