EdgeCases

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 9 — Library Woes, Pt 1

As much as Cale was worried about Leo, he suspected he was the source of much of the minotaur's woes at the moment. He had promised to turn Leo into an archmage, and while he was still certain he could, this was admittedly a complication. One that would take a while to turn into an advantage.

He would need to think about it. He didn't want to go to Leo without any answers or solutions; that would only make things worse. In the meantime, Damien had promised he would keep an eye on Leo, a...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 8 — Divine Studies, Pt 5

Cale had no idea what the big deal was.

Or, well, he understood on some level what the big deal was. But it wasn't his fault that Colin had decided to pick a "human" name in memory of him and had ascended into divinity as a result. That was just how divinities worked; the very last thing they needed, the final step, was very often a name with enough power associated with it.

It just so happened that names that Cale gave out technically fulfilled that requirement. Sometime...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 7 — Divine Studies, Pt 4

Once Cale was sufficiently satisfied that he had produced an awe-inspiring sight (and this trick had always worked on people he was trying to impress before, although he was a little concerned about the expression Syphus was now directing toward him,) he let the flame die out.

His apprentices stared at him. Cale grinned right back, waiting patiently for one of them to say something.

"How long have you been waiting to do that?" Flia eventually asked.

"So long," Cale ...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 6 — Divine Studies, Pt 3

Cale wasn't sure what reaction he had been expecting, but it wasn't quite the exasperated incredulity he got. He supposed he couldn't blame his apprentices, though. He'd been holding out on them for a while.

"Finally," Leo groused. "Do you know how long I've been trying to get anyone to talk to us about this? Everyone talks about it like it's just something you should know, but I can't find it in a single book. Not even in the restricted section!"

Cale reached over to fli...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 5 — Divine Studies, Pt 2

Cale would have snorted if it wouldn't have undermined Akkau's lesson; the old dragon was using the exact same excuse he always did when he didn't want to explain something. Ancient magic indeed.

More likely it was some sort of self-censorship enchantment woven into the artifact itself, a protective mechanism that prevented too many people from knowing about it at any one time. Perhaps after the tournament, memories of what it was and what it could do was erased again, preventi...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 4 — Divine Studies, Pt 1

The classroom for Divine Studies was really more of a massive lecture hall, with rows of seats available for nearly every available student to attend. At the center of it was essentially a magically neutral stage, perfect for demonstrating spellwork or performing complex rituals.

Today, there was an enormous and fiendishly complex summoning circle drawn in chalk on the stage. Akkau hadn't arrived yet, but he'd clearly prepared in advance, and every student that arrived was eyeing it wit...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 3 — Catching Up

While Cale had technically been aware of the existence of crablins—which were, as the name implied, crab-goblin hybrids of a sort—he hadn't been expecting to learn about them quite so intimately. Which felt like the only word he could use to adequately describe having a pile of them tied up on his bed.

Admittedly, he'd been hoping his apprentices would have a surprise waiting for him when he returned. This wasn't quite what he'd had in mind, though.

He stared at the p...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 2 — Dungeon Delving

Leo hated delving.

Mostly because he'd been designated as the group Taunter. He was the largest and lumberingest among them, and apparently the best at drawing undue attention. He also had the greatest defense that wasn't outright offense. Damien could disintegrate anything that attacked him with a decay barrier, but that was too violent for him. Flia could conjure a barrier that would just send whatever attacked them into the Abyss, but she claimed it was littering.

Among the fou...

Just Add Mana — Book 3, Chapter 1 — Noblesse Oblige

Cale Cadwell Cobbs wanted to go back to studying at the academy, which was odd enough that he wondered if he needed to get his head checked.

Probably not. This was technically well within his expectations. He just hadn't expected it to wear on him so quickly.

Now, he'd known even going into this deal with Naria Greenthistle that it would be. Nobility in general was exhausting as a matter of course; they existed in almost every realm he visited, and they were almost universally arr...

Just Add Mana — Intermission — Realmwatcher's Diaries — Fishing Magic

If there was anything Cale hadn't quite been able to get over, it was the sheer expanse of the grounds that technically constituted Kazix Brightscale's Academy of the Attuned Arts. Not that he was any stranger to how large magic academies like this one could be, and he did understand the purpose of it; the academy's placement at the confluence of all these different elemental biomes allowed it to be a ripe ground for all sorts of magical development.

Whoever Kazix Brightscale h...

Just Add Mana — Intermission — Realmwatcher's Diaries — Old Magic

"This is old magic," Cale said.

Flia turned to him and frowned slightly, trying to understand what he meant. "You mean magic from before the thing with Yggdrasil?"

Cale blinked. "What? No," he said. "That's just what I call any magic I don't understand yet. It sounds more impressive than just saying I don't get it."

Flia stared at him. "Is that... allowed?"

"No one's stopped me yet," Cale said, shrugging. "Besides, there's power in names and declarations. Saying you do...

Just Add Mana — Intermission — Realmwatcher's Diaries — Moon Magic

Realmwatcher peered suspiciously at the orb in front of her. "You are certain you have managed to lock on to Brightscale Academy correctly?"

"Yes, madam," her "apprentice" said. Realmwatcher glanced up at the other starling, who fidgeted nervously. "...Mostly sure, madam."

Realmwatcher sighed. "How sure?"

"68.2%, madam."

"Please stop saying madam."

"Yes, ma'am."

"That is not..." Realmwatcher pinched the bridge of her nose. Were starlings supposed to get hea...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 49 — The Gift

Cale didn't fall asleep immediately that night. Instead, he sat at the edge of his bed, staring out through the window at the stars burning in the night sky.

It was interesting how those stars differed in every realm. Some realms were expansive, large on a scale that was difficult to truly comprehend, even with how long he'd lived. Every star in those realms could host an entire system of planets, and even a single one of those planets could hold the equivalent of a normal realm's worth...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 48 — Contractual Obligations

Kelegas Thornblight did not particularly appreciate being disturbed.

Of course, disturbances were part and parcel of being a dark lord. Perhaps other, lesser beings would be content to delegate the greater duties of the role to their minions, but Kelegas Thornblight was not among them.

It was not that he did not trust the aberrations that served him. They were loyal to a fault, and Kelegas had little doubt that they would be all too eager to please him, if he only asked. ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 47 — Aftermath, Pt 4

Cale's apprentices, it seemed, had been busy.

Ridiculously busy. A little more than a week had passed, which was apparently enough time for the room he shared with Damien to be completely remodeled, among other things.

They were loaning out access to the Karmian Well labyrinth to wyldfire students now, whatever that meant? But that necessitated giving those students a preparatory space, re-enchanting the door so that Damien—and Cale, when he came back—wouldn't lose the privacy...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 46 — Aftermath, Pt 3

Attending classes without Cale there felt... weird, to Damien.

Which was probably a little weird. He hadn't been attending classes with Cale for long, after all. But the man had a way of making his presence felt, and it was strange now to be without it. Even with the other classes he'd attended without Cale, he'd always known his mentor was around. This was the first time he truly didn't know how long Cale would be gone for.

Or if he'd be coming back, Damien supposed. He ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 45 — Aftermath, Pt 2

Even before Cale met with the spiderlings again, he decided he was relatively pleased with how everything was going.

Admittedly, he wasn't back with his apprentices yet, and there was a possibility that he was being a little avoidant about it. They were probably worried about him by now, and it wouldn't take him that much effort to conjure up a [Fortress of the Gilded Storm] to make his way back. There was a small chance he would get lost along the way, but the position...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 44 — Aftermath, Pt 1

Cale eyed the corpse of the Red Commander in distaste for a long moment without speaking. He could sense the two spiderling children behind him, trembling and staring in shock. He was going to have to deal with that before he gave himself the time to process everything that had just happened.

Torment's Shadow was a side he had thought thoroughly locked away. He didn't like how easily the mask had slipped on and how much he had wanted to keep it on, even when he'd known it was no longer ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 43 — Red Symphony, Part 4

Torment's Shadow hesitated.

In and of itself, this was strange. Torment's Shadow was not a creature of hesitation, yet it had already hesitated twice. It wasn't sure how long it had been fighting with the Red Commander, but magic came easily to it now in this mana-fused body it had been granted.

Perhaps some of this was because the spell wasn't operating at its full potential. Torment's Shadow was aware, in the abstract, of how the Gates operated and the various stages of divinity...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 42 — Red Symphony, Part 3

The Red Commander did not understand what was happening.

None of this was like in any of the reports he'd read on Yggdrasil's End. Everything they knew indicated that while he was startlingly capable, but he couldn't cast any spells. Instead, he relied almost exclusively on powerful barriers that could be shaped and adjusted in an instant, and the sheer amount of mana he could pack into them gave him the ability to respond to nearly any type of magic directed at him.

That, combine...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 41 — Academic Revelations

"...and that's why they're all here," Damien finished explaining, hoping against hope he didn't sound too ridiculous. He still didn't know why he'd been chosen as the one to explain everything to the Headmaster. Surely it would've been better for literally anyone else to do it? He was just a student here! Meanwhile the group that had flown over included the entire Golden Sands clan, including their matriarch and someone that was technically an avatar of a Monolith.

But...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 40 — Red Symphony, Pt 2

Fortunately, Torment's Shadow had cast [Blistering Physique] before all this. It might not have had the edge it needed without the spell. With it, it noticed the slight give in the air around the Greater Indictment a moment before the swipe would have made contact, and it leapt backward, eyes narrowing.

Even with the distance it had created, the Greater Indictment had managed to steal a chunk of the speed and power currently flowing through its body. Not much, thankfull...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 39 — Red Symphony, Pt 1

The biggest problem with [To Dance Upon the Web of Life] was the amount of subjective time Cale had to experience. The specifics of the spell were lost to him, though Vital had explained it once before: it had something to do with potential mycelium networks and information transfer and using magic to play around with the definitions of both.

It was all very impressive and a clever workaround for a Monolith whose domain didn't usually involve teleportation. It was also ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 38 — Temple of Vitality

Cale was almost surprised by how familiar everything in the temple felt to him. It was only to be expected, but the sense of nostalgia was almost overpowering. If not for his knowledge of the Red Commander and what he had done, Cale would have liked nothing more than to spend a few days here soaking in Vital's presence.

Grieving him, really. Because for all that this place felt like him, it also told him in no uncertain terms that his old friend was gone. What remained...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 37 — Homecoming

Halia of the Golden Sands missed Angus.

She was the matriarch of her clan, but these days the title felt like it meant increasingly little. It wasn't that no one in the clan respected her—they definitely did, and anyone that didn't learned very quickly why she was so respected, aside from her age—but there were too many problems they faced that weren't within their power to solve.

Angus had always had a way of making her feel like the problems ahead of them weren't hopeless, t...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 36 — Differing Perspectives

"I'm sure you have questions," Cale said quietly after his apprentices finally broke off from him. Flia and Leo both nodded, though Damien seemed less curious and more concerned, and Syphus looked like it wanted to ask things that Cale would probably really not want to answer.

But before any of them could say anything, Icon's presence rose up within Angus. There was an awkward pause as the Monolith hesitated, waiting for Angus to nod his assent; when he did, it took control just enough ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 35 — The First Time the Universe Ended

Cale had known this was coming. It had been coming for a long time, really—long before he'd met these particular apprentices. It wasn't even the first time he'd come close to telling the truth about everything. How many other people had he met that seemed deserving, that he wanted to confess to? Allies, friends, lovers... the moment had never seemed quite right to explain, but Cale was beginning to realize that it never would be.

There wasn't a perfect time. Not for something like thi...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 34 — Return to Form

Angus had spent most of his life dreaming about meeting the Wanderer, but in none of those dreams had he ever considered that he might already be dead when they finally met. Or that the Wanderer might be human instead of a lizardfolk, though that was something of a lesser concern. He'd always thought that something about the legends were strange, anyway. What sort of legend about a lizardfolk hero didn't include any mention of them using their tail?

"You're oddly put-together," Flia obs...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 33 — Of Knights and Souls, Pt 4

In retrospect, Cale thought he should have known something like this was coming, considering how many named mythologies had shown up in his newer spell evolutions. He'd been hoping it was just a coincidence, but clearly, it hadn't been.

This was something that tended to happen whenever the Named were paying attention. Not like this, necessarily, since other realms didn't exactly have the Gift, but even the weight of their attention had an impact on magic and how it functioned.<...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 32 — Red Weave, Pt 2

The Red Knight felt a foreign magic seize hold of its very existence like the hand of a god attempting to shake something loose. The spell Cale was using was like no spell it could remember seeing—there was nothing of substance for it to block or cut or dodge. It couldn't remember the last time it had encountered a spell like that. Even most instantaneous spells operated through invisible causal lines that it could see. It was one of the reasons the Red Knight was so hard to fight.

Bu...