The Accidental Archmage by Edmund Batara (read out loud books .TXT) 📕

to feel if there’s anything surrounding him. It

took an hour before he gave up. Nothing. Nada.

Then the thought struck him. If what Odin said was true, then no wonder he couldn’t

feel or see anything. The energy was part of creation. He can’t see it with his mind. It

was all around him. In the soil, the trees, the mountains. Anything not transformed in

form and substance by man, it was there. It was part of the world. He had expected to

see an aura, a flow or something different and visible to his mind. He realized that

expectation was absolutely Hollywood. Or he was not sufficiently trained or skilled

enough to see it. Now he felt like a tool and a moron.

He decided to experiment, to try to consciously perform something which can be

deemed remotely magical. He picked up the jug of water and placed it in the center of

the small table. Sitting down opposite the jug, he focused his mind on it, wanting it to

move back. If only by a little bit. Unfortunately, the jug was obstinate. His eyes started

to water from his unblinking and concentrated stare. He wanted it to move. He was

getting irritated. Damn it! What will it take? Some abracadabra? Annoyed, his hands

made some random passes over the object. Move! He inwardly shouted. The jug

remained at peace.

Mentally tired from the exercise, he decided to take a nap, cursing the jug all the time,

until he fell asleep.

The call for the night-meal brought him down to the dining hall and he took with him

the finished book on runic magic. The priest was waiting for him and he returned the

book with his thanks. The food was again excellent, roasted beef and flatbread with a

variety of fruits. After dining, he engaged the Gothi with some small talk, intending to

inject Odin’s suggestions somewhere along the discussion.

He was informed that the merchant guild talks were still ongoing. But the idea of adoption of Grecian measurements was finding a favorable reception. But talks bogged

down on the terminology to be used, with some pushing for equivalent Nordic terms.

Despite the current impasse, the priest appeared to be in high spirits.

“At least we got through the main issue of adopting the measurements,” said the Gothi,

“the present problem is minor.”

“How about your coinage idea? I think it is really important and economically

significant.”

“Well, I didn’t want to put it on the agenda considering the measurements issue but I

did discuss it with some merchants whom I found receptive. Apparently, their exposure

to foreign cultures had made them a bit envious of the rational way currencies are set

up in other civilizations.”

“Well, that’s good to know. It would make adoption of your idea much easier.”

“I hope so. Then we can properly refer to the coins in an enlightened manner instead of

the current ridiculous “large” and “small” references. So, how did you find the book?”

inquired the priest, holding up the thin tome.

“It was interesting reading. Though I can’t understand some parts.”

“Like?”

“The point of how to manipulate the energy to manifest desired results. I guess there’s

more to chanting than it appears.”

“Oh, chanting only helps focus the will of the person through the rune. Some mages

even dispense with the chanting altogether, their minds trained to focus without it.”

With the priest’s statement, Tyler heard a loud “DING!” in his imagination. He felt giddy

and excited. But he still had to continue the conversation. Otherwise, he would have

rushed back to his room to experiment some more.

“Then how is the energy harnessed? I mean it has to be collected in some form, right?

Before being shaped and channeled through the rune by means of one’s will. But as

you said, the effectiveness and strength of the spell are determined by a person’s

magical affinity. A limiter of sorts.”

“Knowledge and awareness of the energy itself are crucial. To collect or harness

something, one has to know it exists and how to find it. Then manage and manifest it

through the appropriate rune.”

“So the rune determines the kind of spell?”

“Yes. That’s the basic principle behind runic magic. Otherwise, one will still have to

shape the energy to the form of the looked-for result before it is manifested. A shaping

ability deemed to be beyond mortal magic’s capacity. Runes make it far simpler and

faster. But as I said, it has its limits. Magical affinity is like… Let me first think about an apt analogy.”

The priest thought for almost a minute before he looked at Tyler again.

“Got it! Think of every Adar inhabitant as an electrical wire. Insulated with a conductive

material. Now, as with such hardware, we have many kinds of wires with varying

thickness of the conductive material within. The conductive material courses the

magical energy through a person. The bigger the wire, the more energy can be

channeled. Use more than what the material can handle and you can guess what the

result will be.”

Tyler nodded his head. The images of electrocuted people ran through his mind. Not a

pleasant experience. Again, he blamed his active imagination.

The two discussed magical matters for a while, with Tyler being able at last to insert

the idea of a central learning establishment for mages with a healing center for non-

mages, as Odin instructed. The priest was excited about the concept. Apparently, no

formal structure existed. Though training was handled by temples, mages usually work

alone in conjunction with the fiefdom they found themselves in or are grouped in

informal associations. Organizing matters would be fairly easy for the priest. With his

status as a Favored of the head of the Nordic pantheon and the fact that magical

training was handled through temples, the Gothi was highly confident of accomplishing

the task.

Maljen was also the perfect site for the center. Far enough from the capital and the

politics of the nobility, yet important and wealthy because of being one of the two

major trade ports of Skaney. Moreover, the Jarl and his line have always been

supportive of the priesthood, probably because of the need to balance out any

aggressive ambitions towards Maljen from neighboring fiefdoms. The priest was also

confident enough to see the guaranteed support of the Jarl as well as the grant of land

for the center.

As the after-dinner talk was