A Tyrant, Sort Of

Since Sable was low on mana, she couldn’t train as extensively as she wanted. Fortunately, even low-mana applications of her abilities provided practice in the form of raw mechanical ability. There was a difference in handling a large amount of mana—perhaps analogous to swinging a heavier sword versus a lighter one—but she could conserve that valuable resource while still learning. Just not as effectively as she’d prefer.

More than actual practice, though, Sable had wanted to talk with Roman.

Like usual, Aylin relayed Sable’s words. It was growing tiresome, not having her own voice, but she didn’t have much choice. She could [Dominate] Roman, technically, but that was off the table for obvious reasons.

[My newest skill gave me a specialty for the ‘enchant’ keyrune,] Sable said. [What types of spells can I make with it?]

Roman considered the question. The three of them were out away from her cabin, with Roman and Aylin taking refuge underneath the shade of a nearby tree. Sable sat underneath the sun; she quite enjoyed the warm glow. Evening dwindled toward twilight, and it wouldn’t be long before the sun set.

“Charms, compulsions, illusions,” Roman said. “Wards, bindings, enhancements. Other stuff. Those are the big ones that come to mind.”

[Enhancements,] Sable said. That application stuck out most; she had assumed the rest. [What kind? To people or items?]

“Both. Depends on the spell.” She snorted. “Good luck, though. It’s not a tenth as simple as something like a primordial element. Runes like ice and fire are easy, relatively speaking. But manipulating a person’s mind or layering magical effects onto items or people?” She gave Sable a significant look, and Sable picked up the implication. While Sable had unlocked a specialty with the keyrune, that didn’t mean she could make full use of it.

“Especially when I can’t train you properly,” Roman added. “It’s hardly a field I have practice in. Guiding you on something as simple as a fire derivative was more than possible, but a difficult sub-specialty unrelated to my own? No. You’d need a proper teacher.” Roman chewed her lip, then conceded, “Maybe we could work out some basic applications. But that’s it.”

[A proper teacher,] Sable said. [How would I find one of those?]

“Out here? You won’t.”

[And that means?]

“These backwaters?” Roman asked flatly. “You could find a teacher, maybe. But a proper one, definitely not.”

[I would want a scholar,] Sable said. [From a more civilized kingdom. A classically trained mage.]

“That’s … yeah. What I meant.” She gave Sable an odd look, and Sable realized she had, again, spoken in a way that didn’t make sense with her origin as a newly born beast. But Roman was already suspicious of Sable, so, whatever. “If you wanted to earn any real sort of competency, at least. Which it seems like you do.”

Aylin had adopted a frown at the conversation, obviously not pleased about her entire people being called ‘uncivilized’, but she didn’t comment.

[That’s troubling,] Sable said. [I don’t intend to reveal myself to stronger territories until I’m better prepared.]

“Smart,” Roman said. “You’d be mounted in some king’s banquet hall within the week.”

Sable bristled at that, but she pushed it away. Roman was just speaking exactly what Sable’s own concern was. Still, this woman should show some respect. She was several times more casual around her than even Aylin, who had also adopted a demeanor rather unfitting of a minion.

On the other hand, Sable appreciated the casual tone. She had a lot bigger to worry about than ‘making friends’, and Roman certainly wasn’t even that, but some regular human interaction was nice, too.

[So, a solution?]

Roman shrugged. “I can teach you some basics, I guess. Fumble through it, but we could get some basic spells going. Illusions and wards probably aren’t too hard. Minor, straightforward enhancements too, like a strength buff, or something.”

[But what would a longer term plan be?]

“You think I know? I’d figure you need to head to a city. No way around it.” She paused. “A human one,” she clarified. Then, she paused again. “Or an orc one, I suppose. Brutish sort, but they’re good mages. Better fighters, but not horrible at magic. Else the war wouldn’t be lasting so long.”

[But how, without revealing myself?]

“Beats me. When do you get your halfdragon form?”

Another confirmation that that would be coming, eventually. [I don’t know.]

“Guess if you get good with illusions, you could masquerade around, even with your current form. Doesn’t fix the physical issues, though.” She ran an amused look up and down Sable’s body, which would decidedly not maneuver well inside a city. “Anyway, that’s for you to figure out. Besides, you’ve got some work to do with the basics before you need to worry about complex applications.”

That was fair. It was a problem Sable would have to mull over and solve in the future. A real tutor, or tutors, specific to her enchantment magic—and maybe one specialized toward frostfire, as well. Though simple ice or fire would be more likely to find.

She had intended to explore more complex societies at some point, regardless. Simply for the experience and knowledge she could glean.

[Let’s start with illusions,] Sable said. That would be crucial toward that goal. Maybe illusions, combined with a half-dragon form, would mean she could navigate regular society without immediately being found out. Though when, or even if, she would be receiving a human-like form was up in the air.

Plus, illusions sounded useful in general. When Sable’s livelihood depended on her image, then something that created images was sure to be helpful.

Roman snorted. “Just start with illusions,” she said. “Yeah, sure. Let me do that.” She grumbled, then unlatched a pouch and pulled out a notebook. “Let me see what I can figure out. This’ll be an ordeal for both of us, I suspect.”

***

It was, as Roman had suggested it would be, much clumsier progress than with learning frostfire. Structuring an illusion took far more nuance than a bolt of icy flame. And not just that, Sable was on a budget. With her mana pool unfortunately drained, she kept her spells to using only a few points each. Which was enough to activate them, but, with the added complexity, and reduced efficiency of spell design considering this wasn’t Roman’s area of expertise, the results were quite shoddy.

Still, as time ticked by and the two mages practiced, Sable started fumbling simple illusions together. Along with that, they designed a warding spell—something that influenced entities to avoid a designated area.

Obviously, Sable focused on the ability because of its use for her hoard. In its current state, it wouldn’t do much more than be a vague deterrent to weak creatures, but in the future, with proper supplies and mana, it could be as effective as guards themselves.

Finally, they experimented with basic enchantments—of the magical effect-granting kind, as would go on a person or item. Those were the weakest of the bunch as far as mana efficiency went, and also the most difficult. Sable was interested in them for practical reasons, though. To help Aylin. Layering offensive and defensive enchantments onto the goblin, and her weapons and armor, would make Sable feel much better about letting the woman go out and about, fighting monsters.

She couldn’t keep her minions from danger entirely, but if one of them got hurt under her orders … well, the tyrant-monster facade was just that. Sable would feel awful.

Since she wanted to start working on regenerating her mana, she didn’t let herself get carried away. Sooner than she’d have liked, she cut their training off. Before heading back to rest on her hoard—and perhaps she’d seek out some monsters to hunt in the interim, since it wouldn’t be time to sleep—she had one more topic she wanted to talk with Roman about.

[Our skills give us specialties with certain keyrunes,] Sable said, [but does that mean we can learn any keyrune we want? For reduced effectiveness?]

“To an extent.”

[To an extent?]

“Potency doesn’t just mean how effective the spell is,” Roman said. “Or maybe it does. I’m unsure. But I’ll tell you this—it’s much, much harder to use keyrunes you don’t have affinities to.”

[How much so?]

“Far more than twice as hard, despite what the description would suggest. But possible. In fact, it’s standard practice for most mages to learn basic utility spells. Lanterns, heating and cooling effects, sound blocking—though that last one is trickier.”

[I see,] Sable said. [And if I wanted to learn those? You could teach me?]

Roman seemed perplexed. “The answer is yes, but why?”

Sable paused. She guessed, though they sounded useful on a superficial consideration, she couldn’t imagine much actual use. She was immune to extreme temperatures, had fire breath for light—and perfect night sight besides—and when it came to sound blocking, she only spoke through telepathy.

[Perhaps not immediately useful,] Sable agreed.

That said, she did want to learn more mundane spells simply for future usage. While honing her specialties took highest priority, having a breadth of abilities to call on felt simply wise.

Always better to have more tools in the toolkit, in her opinion.