"Scott Anderson."

No luck. Probably not very auspicious that the first name on the list Dragon gave me doesn't work.

Man... it's going to take figuratively forever to try and scry on each and every one of the people that vanished from Earth Iota. I'm not even sure it's a good idea to do so now. Sure, I'm safe and secure in my room and surrounded by a forcefield that incorporates my Lucky Perks. Additionally, I'm supplying mana to my personal ones, so I'm as theoretically safe from information gathering powers and precognition as possible.

However, I know full well that everything produces ripples.

Scrying is no different. Information cannot come into existence without impacting other things. If seeing the future means to change it, what does seeing the present do? I mean, if I can sense when people are scrying on me, then others most likely have similar abilities.

Heck, I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to use Ears of Babel to detect scrying once I sacrifice a [Skill] to allow it to use mana.

In fact, I've been putting that off for too long.

Let's see... Since arriving at Wistram I've gained three new classes: [Boxer], [Gamer], and [Infiltrator]. Well, I'd had a level in [Gamer] since Calanfer, but I'd gained a second one since then. The two skills I have from it are... underwhelming: [Extend Battery] and [Comfortable Chair]. I could sacrifice them without any concern.

No. That's not true.

From my newfound understanding, [Skills] can evolve, merge, and be the basis for more advanced [Skills]. [Extend Battery] doesn't sound like that much, but it does give my lasers extra shots.

XXXXXXXXXX XX XXXXXXXX

Also, Optimize would probably try to kill me if I sacrificed it. Being more efficient was what Optimize was all about.

[Comfortable Chair] was similarly useless - at least at first glance. In practice, it seemed to be a very, very minor warping of reality. Reality warping for a trivial purpose, but reality warping all the same.

No. If I'm going to sacrifice anything, it has to come from [Boxer]. I'll keep [Lightning Jab], as that might come in handy, but [Adrenaline Rush] and [Balanced Posture] most likely won't. I mean, do I even have adrenaline in my Breaker state? I had wanted to keep them solely because they might interest Riley, but you can't be unwilling to sacrifice an advantage if it's necessary.

Hanging on to stuff was a good way to lose a video game. You had to use your potions!

Besides, [Infiltrator]'s skills were too good to waste. Well, two of them were, but sacrificing the others might lock me out of the stealth talent tree...

I equipped Limit-Breaker.

I know I just told myself that sacrificing an advantage wasn't something to shy away from, but it's still hard to do it. I think it goes against my nature as a human. I took a deep breath, and steeled my resolve.

I then mentally 'drug' [Adrenaline Rush] to Mana Enhancement.

...

"Montressa du Valeross"

I felt a little bad about invading Montressa's privacy, especially in the middle of the night, but my purpose in scrying on her wasn't to spy. I just needed a connection to test with.

An image of her room came into focus inside the center of the crystal sphere. So far, so good. Ears of Babel couldn't detect anything until I started poring mana into it.

There!

I could sense a string of information flowing from the orb out into the air. It went to a spot outside of Wistram before changing direction and plunging back into the school. Audio, Visual, and something else were piped through it - from Montressa's room to the outside and then back to my orb.

"Hmmmm..." I narrowed my eyes. Was this a man-in-the-middle attack? Was the scrying orb she'd given me tapped in some way? I focused on the spot.

There were four other connections branching out from it. Two went into Wistram, and the other two shot off into the distance. The data was flowing from Wistram and to the outside for one. The other had a two-way exchange. Ears of Babel let me examine them.

I started with the one only sending details. The information was different somehow... Oh! It was encrypted! Nothing that Ears of Babel couldn't handle, but interesting none the less. The sensor was moving through the castle, without apparently focusing on any one thing. It would move several hundred feet to the side before attempting to move upwards.

Each time in encountered a field that blocked it and made it start to fray. It would pull back, solidify itself, and then try again.

Was someone trying to scry on the upper floors? I'd been told that they were warded, but I'd also been told that of Wistram itself. I guess that some wards are easier to pierce than others. I traced back along its path. It stretched for thousands of miles, but I could follow it easily enough.

...But not stealthily enough apparently as the connection cut off as I felt I was approaching the end.

Odd.

The other two connections to the spot above Wistram remained. They showed a conversation between a man with a pointed beard and combed hair and a younger looking [Mage].

"-magicore. The supplies of crushed gemstone are also running a bit low. Mainly rubies, but we could use more of everything."

"I'll speak with some [Merchants]. Anything else?"

"We've run out of apples."

"Anything else important?"

"Rodger is showing promise. I think we should invite him to join."

"Rodger?"

"He's a minor noble from Oztera. Decent mana shaping skills. No notable [Spells]."

"I see. Tell me what his opinions are on half-elves."

The two continued to go on about... the most banal topics. Ugh. I was almost happy when my mana ran out. Using Ears of Babel to connect to my scrying orb was draining.

The 'drained' debuff I got from having no mana was annoying. The stat penalties weren't dangerous to me, but I really should've kept track of my current mana better. Apparently, other [Mages] had a hard time using all of their mana, and doing so was as dangerous as getting too much.

In other words, mana was just like everything else. Too much and too little were both extremes to be avoided - at least by the people here. If they could go into mana-withdrawal, then it must mean that there's a physical change associated with it. Humans from Earth didn't have such issues - at least for now. The fact that Aaron could cast [Spells] was proof that he'd gained an internal well of mana.

In any event, I would replenish enough in less than an hour for the debuff to fade naturally. Too bad it didn't permanently increase the size of my pool when it vanished - unlike the 'oversaturated' debuff.

I'd also figured out what that spot was: the coordinate marker for Wistram.

That explained their haphazard placement. It was because they hadn't been added all at once. It was a piecemeal process that had occurred at sometime in the distant past.

In fact, it probably had happened multiple times. I know that I was annoyed by it, and I bet that other [Mages] had been too. Enough so that they'd doubtlessly try to 'fix' it.

Whatever. At least I specifically wasn't being spied upon. It did mean that scrying wasn't a secure system. The existence of an encrypted version meant that other people had to know how to hack the network like I'd done.

Well, I couldn't do any more tests until I refilled my mana. I could play some video games... or I could go and visit Cognita and try to get to know her better. There had to be a solution that wouldn't leave her a bitter shell who'd had her world figuratively destroyed.

"Pixel." Cognita nodded at the [Artificer] as he rounded the corner and walked towards her. He'd exited an empty room that she'd just looked over. He had to be using teleportation magic, but she couldn't see any threads of mana related to it on him. That meant he either had a technique she didn't know, or he was better at masking his magic than she'd initially thought. Probably the former. She still hadn't found a trace of mana in the stone floor he'd time-locked.

"Cognita." He inclined his head. "How are you this fine night?"

She gave him a flat stare before turning back and resuming her patrol. "Busier than usual, thanks to you."

"Me?" He asked with wide eyes as he fell into step beside her.

"Yes. You."

"I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."

Cognita turned her head to regard him as they continued moving through the hallways. "The little stunt you pulled with Archmage Amerys has caused quite the uproar and no end to the demands of my time."

"My stunt?" Pixel's look of surprise seemed genuine.

"Yes." Cognita turned back to her front. "One [Mage] lost a finger yesterday morning. Telim is most wroth with the situation."

"Telim?"

"The [Mage] who'd lost his finger." Actually, he was technically a [High Mage]. Cognita didn't think such information was relevant though.

"How?"

"Why, Archmage Amerys bit it off in her escape attempt, of course." Pixel stopped walking, and Cognita deigned to pause her patrol as well.

"Wait. You're telling me that Amerys tried to escape and bit a man's finger off?" He sounded incredulous. "Nonsense, I would've-"

Pixel stopped his outburst just as it was the most revealing. He would've what? Stopped her? Known about it? Helped her?

"Yes." Cognita resumed walking. "That's exactly what I'm telling you."

"And this happened today?" Pixel sounded confused.

"No. It was two nights ago."

"Oh." His tone was that of someone who'd just realized something.

"So you do admit your involvement?" A door one floor below them burst open. The Cleaning Golem that was nearby saw green flames billowing out. Cognita picked up her pace.

"Well..."

"There is little reason to deny it." She took the stairs four at a time. "The signs of your involvement are clearly there. The day after we talked, Blackmage asked me to deliver a note to Archmage Amerys. She, in turn, then requested to see him." Cognita flung the door at the end of the stairwell open. "Early the next morning, Amerys attempted to escape by ambushing the person who was assigned to feed her."

"Ambushed? How?" Pixel had to jog to keep up with her.

"By biting his finger off." Cognita spared a glance at the culprit as she hurried down the hallway. "The guards don't know how she managed to get her gag off, but they are resolute in denying that they placed it back on her improperly."

"Ah, yeah..." Pixel frowned. "That's my bad. I took it off of her to speak with her and I forgot to put it back on."

Cognita smiled as they came to the engulfed room. It was nice to have confirmation. "Stand back. I'll handle this." The fire was magical. She could see it, and it was a simple mass of uncontrolled mana that empowered it. Dispersing it wouldn't take but a moment.

"Let me." Pixel strolled past her and raised his arm. The heat was intense, and the stone in the room was already melting. The [Artificer] didn't seem to notice, even as his clothes combusted.

The green flames jerked as if something pulled on them before they spiraled into Pixel's palm. Cognita stopped to watch. She could see Pixel literally pulling the mana that was empowering the flames into himself. The bottom of the fire turned orange as the green color flowed with the mana. Once they were normal flames, Pixel ceased his action and instead motioned to his side.

A white box appeared before a shimmering field smothered the last of the fire. It vanished the next moment.

"Thank you, Pixel." For showing her more of what he could do. That [Skill] that let him drain mana... such a thing could destabilize a lesser golem's core.

After finishing up with Cognita, I had another task to add to my list: Power Drain magical effects to overload my mana pool. Back in my room, I smiled to myself. I love grinding.

Well... I loved it right up to the point that I started hating it. Even now I couldn't think about doing a push-up without Gamer's Mind activating.

The point was that I had a viable way to increase a stat. In theory, I could've used Power Drain on the various golems around Wistram to do that same thing. I was confident that I'd be able to drain their mana in a way that didn't permanently damage them.

...Eventually.

It kinda made me feel like Riley. Or rather, Bonesaw. The amount of time I could save by doing unsafe (for my targets) experiments was tempting. If it wasn't that I was one-hundred percent certain it would enrage Cognita - she'd been radiating suspicion after I'd drained the magical fire...

Let's just say that draining golems was off the table.

Besides, I could get far more use out of them in other ways.

Power Drain couldn't pull mana in from the air. So far, only my [Ambient Mana Gatherer] skill could do that. Instead I'd have to target artifacts. It was getting closer to the time when I planned on revealing myself, so I was willing to take more risks. On the other hand, items that I could drain without arousing suspicion were few and far between...

So the logical solution would be to use Power Drain on [Mages].

Not a lot. It wouldn't do to take so much that my victims suffered negative effects.

Besides, this would also be good data to see how effective it would be in a fight. Hopefully, it would be a quick and easy way to de-power opposing magic users. It might be my inner-Dragon talking, but ways to subdue opponents non-lethally were incredibly valuable.

...

The good news was that I could successfully drain mana from [Mages]. It wasn't hard to sit in my disguise and target those around me.

The bad news was that it apparently wasn't subtle. My half-elven escort had immediately noticed and reacted poorly. Thank goodness that the Ullsinoi have such a terrible and pervasive reputation.

More good news was that doing it to a [Mage] that was actively casting a [Spell] was, apparently, much less intrusive. I'd guessed that was because they were already feeling their internal mana levels decreasing, so my added drain went unnoticed. Still, I'd best not try it on any of the higher-level individuals. They seemed much more adept at keeping track of their personal mana levels. There was a good chance that they'd immediately notice something was wrong.

Heck, they might even be able to tell in which direction their mana was being pulled away. Worse, they might be able to counter such an attack by tainting it or something.

Also, the rate was abysmal. Although, the final piece of bad news alleviated that concern somewhat. After all, if I couldn't drain their mana quickly, then there was less theoretical poison that they could slip me. Silver Linings and all that...

Okay, fine. I was just trying to look for an upside to the low flow. It was like trying to drink a can of soda with one of those tiny, red straws instead of a regular one. (What was the point of those things anyways? I assumed it had something to do with coffee.)

When all was said and done, I had a workable method to increase my mana pool. I didn't even have to drain a lot from one of my victims either. A single mana over was enough to debuff me, and then get an increase when it wore off. Not that I could bank on that always being the case. If mana was a 'natural' phenomenon, then it probably would take increased effort as I went along.

It was like exercising a muscle. I was damaging something, but as it recovered it grew back stronger. If I had to bet, I'd say that the amount wasn't a static number, but more of a percentage. Casting [Light] drained me of fifteen mana at first. I'd gotten that down to ten with a little practice. That meant that my current pool of thirty-one mana was on the low side.

Way, way, on the low side.

While I was sure that other mages were more efficient with their expenditures, they also had to have much bigger reservoirs to accomplish what I'd seen. It's a good thing that Optimize is better at this sort of stuff than I'd ever have any hope of being.

I mean, that was kinda its thing.

I don't know how much mana a [Mage] would have to use to accomplish the same feats that my mana-enhanced skills could, but I suspected it would be several orders of magnitude larger.

Heck, it might not even be possible.

Despite my closeness to my Shard, the Shard Network, and the Shard Administrator - I still didn't have the first clue about how Optimize did what it did. It was so far beyond me that... it was like a fairy.

I'd heard a nice viewpoint once. That wild animals would view humans the same way that we had myths about the fae. A person found a wounded chipmunk and they might tenderly heal it back to health and let it go. Or keep it as a pet. Or have their child play with it. Or kill it. Or torture it.

Or the person that'd found it might've done any combination of those things too. As a whole, humanity was very fickle with how we might react to different scenarios. If you compare that to what a cat would do if they found a wounded chipmunk... Well, let's just say that there wasn't much variance there.

So, to extend that metaphor, Shards were like fairies to humans. They could do things we couldn't understand. They could support us (like Optimize did for me).

XXX XXXX X

For the most part.

Or they could do what Surgery did for Riley, and basically twist her up in knots - and she wasn't close to the worst parahuman in that regard. I'd encountered Shards that had fundamentally altered their hosts in truly disturbing ways. Heck, I'd even found a Shard that had been actively TRYING to get its host killed.

And that wasn't even getting into the Fairy Queen. Perhaps she'd seen this relationship between Shards and Parahumans, or even between Parahumans and humans, and THAT was the 'logic' the fueled her delusions.

As such, I wasn't either surprised or upset that my Shard was leagues beyond me in using mana already. Heck, I'm pretty sure that this world's Grand Design is giving me a helping hand with my [Spells] too. [Light] feels like a programed function that I just have to provide the right parameters instead of writing the whole thing from scratch.

Teura looked down the beach, but Boxer wasn't there. The Earther had been doing his morning run around the island. He'd moved behind the castle, but had yet to reappear on the other side. There were no clocks out here, but it FELT like he had been gone too long.

Perhaps a time-telling [Spell] would be a useful thing to have after all. Not that she'd thought that Blackmage's idea was without merit. Instead it was a question of implementation. It would take a [Time Mage] to come up with such a thing.

In fact, there had to be a least one [Chronomancer] that had done it in the past. Just another piece of magic locked inside of the upper floors.

Teura tapped her foot. Where was he? Even if Boxer had slowed down to walk once he'd gotten out of her sight, he should be back by now.

...Unless something had happened.

She cursed softly under her breath and started to walk counter-clockwise around the beach. If her sense of time was off, or Boxer was just moving more slowly than normal, she'd run into him.

On the other hand... She drew her wand and started layering defensive spells on top of herself. "[Impact Ward]. [Armor of the Mage]. [Floating Shield]. [Eagle Eyes]."

She thought about adding [Stone Skin] to the mix, but she wasn't confident enough in combining it with [Impact Ward]. The later [Spell] created a barrier that was flush with her skin - just inside of [Armor of the Mage]. So, in theory, [Stone Skin] could be used without any issue. In practice, your skin turning to stone tended to make it grow, even if just a little.

Besides, it would make her heavier and she might need her agility.

Teura started to jog once her defensive measures were in place. Scenario after scenario was playing through her mind - each worse than the last. Had Boxer slipped on the rocky section? Had another faction kidnapped him? Had a rogue golem gone berserk? Had a monster somehow slipped past Wistram's wards? Or escaped the confides of the castle itself?

She got past the rocks and back to the sand. There. She could see his tracks. They curved away from the water as Boxer had approached the rocks. He was smart enough to avoid the slippery section. She turned around and walked back.

No corresponding footprints on the other side.

She frowned and walked back across the rocks. Her enhanced eyesight let her pick up the traces of sand the boy had left as he'd walked on top of the new terrain type.

Where was it...?

Yes! There!

The trail of sand grew fainter, but it clearly curved towards the castle itself. She followed it until it left the beach and continued on the worked stone. Here the tracks were more obvious. Boxer ran bare-footed, and was sweating. Even with less and less sand, and his tracks literally drying up, they were still a simple thing to follow.

She quickly strolled after them while making sure to keep her gaze moving around her. This was a potential combat situation, so she couldn't afford to be caught off guard. There were no other visible prints, but that didn't mean the human had been alone.

She followed the tracks to the docks... and onto a boat.

Feor clenched his wand beneath his desk so hard that it hurt. He slowly raised it and set it on top of the parchment he'd been reading. He'd lived a long time, and he knew that being impetuous wouldn't do him any good. "Vincent." He glared at the young Earther. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

The [Boxer] sat with his arms crossed. "I ain't got nuthin' ta say." He sneered. "Least of all to you."

"My dear child." Feor looked down and rubbed his temples. "What possessed you to try and stow-away on one of our ships? That is a clear rules infraction."

"Naw, man." Vincent shook his head. "A prisoner has the right to try and escape."

"I'd hardly call you a [Prisoner]." Feor raised his eyebrows.

"'Course you wouldn't." The boy scoffed. "But you not callin' things sumpthin' don't make it true. Look here." He uncrossed his arms and leaned forward. "I'm 'bout to lay down some truth, see? A story from my world, dig? My country used to have slaves." He snarled. "Shit. America was built on the backs of my people. Now, not everyone was cool with dat shit. In fact, there were a lot of people that opposed it. A real clusterfuck from what I've been told."

"Is that so?" Feor leaned back. Blackmage hadn't spoken of any such incidents.

"Now, this was before that. When America still embraced slavery, and was tryin' to win its own independence from another country. There was this man named Billy. No last name 'cause he wasn't nuthin' but property." Vincent leaned back again. "Billy here, he went and joined the British. Or at least was put on one of their boats and given a gun." He shrugged. "He might or might not have gone willingly. The British promised freedom for the slaves that fought with them, but Billy? He ain't got no freedom to choose where he goes anyways."

"I see." Feor nodded.

"Well, long story short, the British were defeated and America won its independence. Slaves like Billy, those dat were on the British side... Well, they were charged with treason." Vincent shrugged. "Billy said he didn't do anything willingly, but he was still sentenced to be hung."

"Wistram opposes [Slavery]." Feor interjected.

"Uh-huh." Vincent's reply was short and non-committal. "Now, some other people objected on Billy's behalf." He let out a snort. "Good people. People that were upstanding in the eyes of the law. White people. Those that da courts would listen ta. They claimed that Billy was incapable of committing treason seeing how he wasn't no citizen and had no allegiance to America in the first place."

The boy fell silent and just looked at Feor.

"I see." The Archmage stroked his beard. "And you are claiming that you are the same? I do not see how, since you are no [Slave]."

"I might not be a slave, but I sure as hell am a prisoner!" Vincent put his hands on the arms of his chair and started to stand up before lowering himself back down. "Just as a [Slave] cannot have any allegiance for their owners, a prisoner cannot be guilty of tryin' ta escape."

"That's hardly a law I've ever heard made by any [Ruler]."

Vincent spat on the floor. "I ain't talkin' 'bout no damn law! I'm talkin' 'bout morals and shit. You say that I can't leave, and I say I can. I'm completely justified in tryin' ta do so!"

"Your opinion is noted." Feor picked his wand back up. "However, I fear my stance differs from yours. You know nothing of this world. To let you leave on your own would be a moral failure on my part."

"So whachu goin' ta do 'bout it?" Vincent looked up at him challengingly.

"I am going to stop you from hurting yourself." Feor stood up. "There is a binding spell that will restrict your movements. You will not physically be able to leave the island."

"Uh-huh."

"I am warning you, Boxer, for your own good." Feor started going over the insanely complex [Spell] in his head. He would need to link up with other [Mages] from his faction to cast it. "It will act as a wall to you. If someone tries to carry you across, then you will still run into it. If you are riding something like a boat, you will be crushed."

"Fucker."

Feor sighed. "I fear I will also have to seal you as well. I cannot have you speaking of such things to other people and upsetting them." He'd already re-familiarized himself with that [Spell]. Admittedly, he'd planned on using it to ensure that the Earthers did not speak of their world to any other factions, but it would also be appropriate to use it here. "This part we can do now. [Bind-egh!"

A burning sensation pierced his back and erupted from his chest!

The pain was exquisite, and Feor watched with wide eyes as three blades of pure light shone from his front. His eyes were drawn to the movement of his wand falling from his limp fingers.

Was this how he died? He felt strangely calm.

"An [Assassin]!" Teura drew her wand and pointed it at him.

Feor blinked. No. Not at him. At the person standing behind him. A hand grasped him underneath his arm at his shoulder and held him up with a strong grip.

"I am no [Assassin]." A voice from behind him spoke. "In fact, I do not plan on killing Archmage Feor today, but I had to stop him from casting such a [Spell] on one that I protect. ...You may consider this to be Cowboy Diplomacy and that I will be negotiating from a position of strength."

"That is a mortal blow!" Teura nearly screamed. "Do not try telling such brazen lies to me!"

Feor raised his head. There were tears in the corners of Teura's eyes. How nice that she cared about him. How sad that he was about to perish. How ironic that it happened in the room he had felt safest in.

"Archmage Feor, please tell your subordinate that you are okay." The voice behind him paused. "Or at the very least that you are still alive."

"Teura..." It was hard to speak. It felt like something was blocking the air that flowed in and out of his lungs. The [Light Blades], no doubt. "I have not yet died."

"And you shall not, at least as long as I continue to use a [Spell] to heal the damage I'm inflicting." What? How was it possible that his attacker knew of such magic? "Now, I'm going to pull my weapon out and heal the damage. Then we can all speak like rational people. Okay?"

Teura nodded.

"I need to hear the words come from your mouth, Teura. If I don't, then we'll have a problem." The voice behind him rose in cadence. "Now, lower your wand and let me know that we're cool, and that we can resolve this without further violence."

Feor saw his ally swallow before nodding her head. "We can." She then lowered her wand.

"Good."

Feor sagged as the blade that had pierced him vanished. It was only the hand of his assailant that kept him on his feet. The same person who'd just stabbed him gently helped him to one of his chairs. His chest still burned, but the sensation was fading. Once he was seated, he finally got a look at the person... or golem, that had stabbed him. "What are you?" Speaking was easier. Whatever damage that had been done to his lungs was being healed.

"What I am is a the protector of the Earthers." The humanoid made of cubes replied. "Who I am is Pixel. I am a [Superhero], and I wish to become an official Archmage of Wistram."