Chapter 2

The Replicator

Akaly had forgotten to bring one of his spellbooks to Spellweaving, so he borrowed Gishea's for a second and said, "Replicator, copy Gishea's book," and the replicator complied. Gishea watched in amazement as her lab partner's new invention enlarged from about a cubic centimeter to a cubic inch, and apparently made some calculations. It then wheeled over to Gishea's spellbook, and it made some more calculations. Then, suddenly, it began constructing part of itself into the likeness of the book, then built another section. After about a minute, Akaly's new temporary spellbook stood on the table. Of course, it was discolored, but Akaly sent his mind out to search for mana. Akaly quickly found some, and he channeled some of the white, red, and green mana from the plains and forested mountains near his home. After refining the mana in his spiritual recesses, he released the mana, encircling the replicator with the mana. It now became an exact replica of Gishea's spellbook.

"Wow," Gishea said. "How did you do that?"

"Gishea, you've seen dozens of my inventions."

"Yeah..?"

"Well, shouldn't it be obvious?"

"No, Akaly. artifice may be easy for you, but I don't get it," Gishea looked as if she just had an idea. "My artifice is pretty bad... D'you think that you could.. maybe help me learn how to do it? Like, after school?"

"Sure thing, Gishea. Class is starting in fifteen minutes. Let's start preparing the artificial mana pool," he answered absentmindedly.

(Hey. I'm back. And don't you think there are too many verbs telling you who's saying what?)

"Alright. Just remember what you said."

They flipped to the mana pool page and started working.

Gishea Goes to Artifice

"Hello."

"Hey."

"How are you?"

"Good day."

"Howdy."

"Ready to learn?"

"Awesome!"

"Let's start."

This was Thoed and his way of greeting everyone.

(There's really no need for me to repeat all of that, so let's continue. I want to get to the exciting part.)

Most of Thoed's 6th class of the day was thre by the time Gishea got there, so she got into her seat- seat 48- and sat down to examine what Thoed had set out on every single desk. There seemed to be a gem sitting next to 2 disks of some kind, and a ring next to that. Gishea thought they looked familiar.

Let's see... Oh! That ring seems to fit around the gem! So... yes! The ring fits inside the disks! By this time, Gishea knew how to subconsciously channel mana, and so she refined the mana to create a set of protective armor. This was the first spell they had learned, on the first day of first grade. They were in sixth grade now, and it was completely mastered. They could change the colors, change the size, and will it to fly.

Since the desks and the rooms of the entire school were already protected by artifacts, creatures, and enchantments alike, she started to experiment. Refining some red mana, she sent it into the artifact and attempted to take some out.

Oh! It worked! If I put in mana, I can take it out whenever I want?

Gishea used a Telepathy- outside of a duel, it could be used to both read minds and communicate- and connected with Thoed.

Thoed, can I Time Warp myself to see what it does?

Sure. Just remember the rules of time travel.

OK.

Gishea appeared next to Gishea as she cut the connection.

"Should probably get going," she said to herself, and warped herself into the future. She was next to herself, who let her do what she needed to do. She took out some of the red mana. Her theory was right: it was a mana pool. How did it work like that? Her curious mind was dying to know. So, she headed back to her class, casting another Time Warp and vanishing in a flash of blue.

Once everybody was done learning all that the artifact had to offer, Thoed took the class back for teaching.

He put up a screen, and projected four designs on it. One looked exactly like her design, and the others had a slightly different design. Thoed took out a pencil and pointed to the first design. This one was the design Gishea had, with one disk on the bottom, the ring with the gem inside of it holding up the second disk. Gishea had also added mana to hers so that it wouldn't break.

"This is the neatest design. The disk supports the ring which supports the gem and the other disk. Many of you also put mana on it so that it would hold," he said. Now, he pointed to the second design. The ring was on top of the disks and the gem was on the bottom. "You would have needed to insert mana into this one."

He pointed to the third and fourth. The third was just everything lying around with the gem on part of the first disk, the disk on the gem, and the ring on the first disk. The fourth was just as bad. "'Nuff said," he said.

"Let me guess: you all found out these were mana pools." Thoed shut off the screen.

"Yes," came a chorus of voices in the class.

"Well, let me guess: you don't know what any of these are."

The class was silent this time, but most of them were smiling.

"This," he said, conjuring a gem, "is a Prophetic Prism."

"This," setting aside the gem, he found a ring in thin air, "is a Sol Ring."

"And these last two," he said, "are imbued with enchantments. One charges (untaps) up to two artifacts, and one holds mana."

Thoed magically assembled design one, then let one drop of blue magic drip into the artifact- artifacts now, Gishea reminded herself- and waited for a minute.

Gishea appeared next to Gishea in a burst of blue mana. The present-time Gishea stepped aside and let past-Gishea do what she needed to do. After ten seconds or so, past-Gishea was gone, and Gishea sat back on her seat. Now, Thoed spoke.

"Who thinks that the mana will have multiplied?" Everybody raised their hands; this was a very smart group.

Thoed drew out all of the mana, and they saw that there was four times the amount of mana. However, only half of it was blue mana and the rest was colorless. Everybody saw this was because of the circuit of the ring, gem, disk and other disk.

"Well," Thoed said, "that's all for today. I have to get ready for my last class. Oh, and keep the pools. Never know when they might come in handy."

Akaly Teaches Gishea More, Part 1

After school, Akaly and Gishea met in the meadow next to the school campus.

"Sit down," Akaly told Gishea, sitting down in he grass.

"Thoed told us about the Prophetic Prism-Sol Ring-Twin Disks Combo to store and multiply mana."

"Well, you know, Gishea. It doesn't have to be a specific Prophetic Prism or Sol Ring."

Gishea did not seem to know this, so Akaly opted to explain.

"Artifacts are enchanted pieces of technology, right?" Gishea nodded. "Well, you can weave those enchantment yourself, right? You take Enchants course two, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Well, you should be able to enchant disks and rings and gems by yourself. So...oh! I know what to do to help you learn more!"

A/N:

Who thinks that Gishea's totally not going to learn how to make a mana pool? Raise your hand.

(Count: 0)

My count was 0. Are you sure you can count correctly, Stryc?

(Didn't you agree not to say my name? At least until the second chapter?)

Your counting is messed up, Strikey.

(YOU INSULT ME, YOU INSULT ASERA-)

Dude. I'm the embodiment of Asera. Shut up, Strikey.

(OK then. Just stop calling me Strikey.)

'K then. Good night, Stryc.

(Night.)

…

…

'Night Strikey.*Snicker*

(…? Oh... YOU'RE GOIN' DOWN!)

Night. Readers. Want an extra duel between me and Strikey here next A/N? Review, like, and flame. See yah!*Is tackled by an enchantment creature*