EdgeCases

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 31 — Red Weave, Pt 1

Cale held his breath as the Gift did its work. He'd been a little wary about evolving [Taunt] for obvious reasons—he couldn't imagine many evolutions of the spell that wouldn't involve driving someone into a berserker rage, and even tangential evolutions seemed likely to touch too close to emotional mind control for his liking. 

His reservations with mind control didn't really extend to people that were already under a compulsion, though. Even outside of the fact...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 30 — Of Knights and Souls, Pt 3

The name [Ten Tongues of Vesuvius], Cale quickly learned, was a bit of an understatement. Which made sense for a tenth-tier spell, although he would still have been more than satisfied if it had simply created ten particularly mana-dense fire whips that wrapped around the Red Knight to restrain it.

Instead, what happened was that an aperture to the elemental realm of fire opened up in front of him. Thick coils of blistering flame whipped viciously forward, moving in a w...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 29 — Of Knights and Souls, Pt 2

Cale was thankful for a particular quirk of shared visions, which was that he didn't actually need to process everything he'd seen immediately. They hadn't all been sucked into the memories Flia had experienced, exactly. Instead, her Spark had drawn it out into a sort of mental package, which allowed Cale to step back the moment he realized what it was going to entail.

It still left him with conflicted feelings, though. That temple was certainly a temple to Vital, and if it hadn't been ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 28 — Of Knights and Souls, Pt 1

Angus had no real idea how much time passed between then and now. He only knew that at one moment, he was in the temple, having accomplished his life's work; he stood at the precipice of having answers for every question he had ever had, and he had so many questions. He hadn't been certain before, but once he was in the temple, he was sure that the temple was the source of all those legends about the Wanderer.

What else could it be? Who else might have had knowledge of...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 27 — Angus of the Golden Sands

Many years ago, there lived a young lizardfolk named Angus of the Golden Sands.

He was, by all accounts, a relatively normal mage of his clan. He had an equally normal mana core and a natural affinity for breath magic, just like all the other lizardfolk that lived within the Golden Sands. Wild mages in general were a rare thing for the beast clans of Illwyld, in truth; something about the continent they lived on gave them very strong natural affinities, or so the scholars of Utelia had ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 26 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 6

Cale was aware, technically speaking, that a sufficiently powerful magical phenomenon had the potential to create a sort of pocket realm within itself. It was a phenomenon roughly similar to how dungeons were created, though pocket realms weren't anchored into one of the realm's leylines the way most dungeons were. Despite that awareness, it was so rare an event that he didn't really consider it a possibility most of the time. Across the thousands of lives he could remember, he had encountere...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 25 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 5

It took almost an hour for them to figure out all the intricacies of the new plan, but it was a good hour. Cale had forgotten what it felt like to blaze with this kind of energy, to work for possibility instead of destruction. Most of the time, when he had to get involved, it was a destructive sort of thing. He would slay a dark lord, destroy a cage, blow up a ritual meant to sacrifice hundreds of innocents. His expertise was rarely required for an act of healing, and the victims of ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 24 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 4

Cale stood before the storm, drawing out his power.

It took time, for something like this. The strike had to be precise and efficient, controlled enough he wouldn't take a chunk of the realm with it. His mana had to reach a certain density, and it needed to churn within itself in a complicated pattern that would rip apart anything it made contact with.

Even if that something was a soul.

Soul destruction was more complicated than it seemed on the surface. The bare essence of ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 23 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 3

There was a bit of a downside to this method of transportation, and that downside was the fact that it was pretty much impossible to miss the giant sandstorm and castle soaring through the air. Nothing about this would be stealthy. The upside was that there was so much magic imbued into it that almost nothing could scry in, and even if someone managed it, Syphus's presence would automatically subsume that spell. So they did have some privacy with which to talk.

Not that they we...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 22 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 2

Damien was a little surprised by how much he enjoyed talking to Izzik.

It took some time for them to open up to one another, of course. Damien had no idea what to even say, at first, and Izzik had taken his silence to mean he was there to rebuke the lizardfolk for his part in the whole shimmerdust poisoning incident. With everything else that had happened since then, Damien had forgotten that had even happened, and so the two of them spent the first few minutes of the visit awkwardly ap...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 21 — Eye of the Storm, Pt 1

Cale generally tried not to be angry too much of the time. Mostly because it was unhealthy, and he had it on good authority that it was bad for his heart. At the time, he'd pointed out that he would just end up with a new heart, because that was how reincarnation worked.

But sometimes he had lives that he wanted to keep more than others, and this was one of them. Which meant that it wasn't a great sign that he'd gotten truly angry more than once already, despite only having bee...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 20 — Magical Critters, Pt 4

Akkau had to admit, he was surprised by how much the Orstrahl delegation changed as soon as Kazza left the room. Their vapid expressions vanished, replaced by sharp, calculating ones that wouldn't have been out of place on a dragon; their magical signatures sharpened until they matched the archmages they were, rather than the mages they pretended to be.

He wasn't that surprised, of course. These lot were old hats at what they did. "Was there a particular reason you felt it nece...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 19 — Magical Critters, Pt 3

Kazza was clenching his claws so tightly into the armrests of his chair that he was pretty sure it would leave a visible mark.

Not that he cared. What was happening on that spell projection was far more important. His tribe had always suspected that flickerants were more directly linked to the Aspect Cascade than was apparent, but they had never been able to confirm it. The bulk of flickerant nests resided in Golden Sands territory, but attempting to delve deep into any of thei...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 18 — Magical Critters, Pt 2

Cale watched with amusement as Professor Tarbloom practically vibrated in enthusiasm. In fact, the professor ended up having to stop and calm themselves so they could make a few needed modifications to the teleport array. Apparently, while Tarbloom had hoped that Cale would have some revelation that would require it, they had also planned around it just in case he didn't. In which case it would have been used to teleport a different specimen in from Illwyld for the next part of their...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 17 — Magical Critters, Pt 1

Cale thought in retrospect that the class specifically using the word critters—as opposed to beasts, creatures, monsters, or any of the other words more commonly used to describe the mana-twisted species that roamed the Great Realms—should have been a sign as to what its professor would be like. He hadn't really thought too much on the matter the previous night, mostly because he was tired and had dropped straight off into a dreamless sleep.

Now, though, he was forced to fa...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 16 — Apprenticeships

The so-called exchange program with Haelforge Academy ended with little fanfare.  Sort of, anyway. Cale wisely decided not to ask what the Haelforge students had done with Dekora and the rest of the Red Hunters, mostly because he'd been exactly like them once and had a pretty good idea already. Plus, he'd seen the kind of threats they wrote on their desks for fun. If they actually answered him he'd probably be morally obligated to intervene or something.

Besides, it couldn...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 15 — Scattered (Rewrite)

Author's Note: I ended up rewriting this chapter so the next one will be a little delayed - sorry! Gonna try to get it out ASAP tomorrow. Chapter 15 itself is now significantly longer (a total of 4.2k words), though.

I'll elaborate more at the end of the chapter and highlight the most important changes; plot/content wise the chapter has the same beats, but with the characterization smoothed out and some bits of lore expanded on.

--

There was a nervous sort ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 15 — Scattered

Author's Note: This chapter is deprecated! Please see the rewrite.

--

The good news was that it didn't take that much longer for the Gift to piece the two spells together. Cale hadn't quite expected it to take that much energy, but apparently whatever the Gift did was magically intensive. Who would've thought it would shut itself down for ever...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 14 — Storms

Combining two spells, it turned out, was a little more complicated than simply attempting to cast them both at once. Cale listened carefully as Leo explained everything he knew, which unfortunately wasn't all that much. His knowledge was mostly theoretical, everything he'd managed to learn from poring over books in the library. Damien didn't even have that—he'd been too fixated on his mana aspect problem to worry about combining spells.

The one thing that every book on the subject agr...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 13 — Locus

Cale went straight for what he knew to be the classroom where Professor Aurs held his Household Magic class. Interestingly enough, there was a rather strong intersection of mana right in the center of the classroom, which was unusual.

Then again, mana flow intersections like these were unusual to begin with. Cale hadn't said anything about it so as to not alarm either of his apprentices, but ambient mana didn't typically behave like this. It was why he was interested in investigating to...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 12 — Retribution, Pt 3

"I'm afraid you have the wrong person," Professor Aurs said as politely as he could, trying to hide the fact that his heart was pounding. He folded his hands delicately behind his back in the way he imagined a proper elven professor would, then did his best to quell the nervous tic that made his ears twitch every few seconds. He was pretty sure he was screwed. Why had he even agreed to this assignment?

His students just stared disbelievingly at him. Aurs's gaze flicked to the very uncon...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 11 — Retribution, Pt 2

Observer #28 was being forced to make decisions.

He hated making decisions. He wasn't built for decisions. His purpose was simple: he was to observe the Red Hunters under his care, which in this case was one Dekora Filtrop, the minotaur that had been personally recommended for their ranks by Mr. and Mrs. Telwis. They were among the Commander's most reliable Hunters and had proven their loyalty time and time again, so a direct recommendation from them meant special consideration...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 10 — Retribution, Pt 1

Cale sat in the so-called grass of the Inverted Spires, humming quietly to himself.

Sternkessel sat across from him. The Greater Indictment still wasn't whole, but he was a lot better than he had been after his encounter with the Loomweavers. He hadn't yet regained his ability to speak, for some reason, but most of the blackened metal had faded and been replaced with something closer to a dull bronze. He was also mostly humanoid again, though still too large for his suit to fit complete...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 9 — Alchemy 101, Pt 4

Quick Note: Just a heads up that I added the Next Chapter link on Chapter 7 a little late, so if you're new you might want to check if you missed the last chapter. Here's the link to Chapter 8! Sorry for any inconvenience, and thanks for your support!

--

Cale, Flia, and Orguk sat on the rim of Professor Rinkle's cauldron, watching the so-called Grand Warden Sidyrnus as ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 8 — Alchemy 101, Pt 3

The good news was that Professor Rinkle was entirely for the plan to experiment with the Orstrahl Kingdom's mystery ingredients. The bad news was that she was unwilling to allow this until the end of class because, as she put it, "the potions might not like one another." Strangely enough, Cale was starting to understand what she meant by all of this, and he couldn't decide if he needed to be worried about that or not.

Ah, well. It wasn't really a problem. Cale was more than happy to wor...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 7 — Alchemy 101, Pt 2

Cale's relationship with alchemy as a practice was... complicated.

He considered himself decent, he supposed. He'd dabbled with it more than a few times across several lives, in large part because he'd thought that he might be able to use them to circumvent his usual problems with mana. Unfortunately, it turned out that brewing a magic potion often required magic, which left him right back where he started.

If anything, adding too much mana to a potion had even greater ri...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 6 — Alchemy 101, Pt 1

"You know," Cale said. "I can't help but feel like having the alchemy class inside a cauldron is a little over the top."

"Nonsense," Professor Rinkle said. "How else can we come to truly understand our potions? We must live as our potions do! Breathe as our potions do!"

"I think breathing in potion fumes is usually bad, actually," Cale said, although that did explain a lot about their professor. She appeared to be a hobgoblin of some sort, but by Cale's best estimates he ...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 5 — Sword and Sorcery, Pt 5

The stench struck them long before they arrived at the chamber Sternkessel was apparently rampaging in, and if there had been any doubt about Serof's claims before, those doubts vanished as soon as it hit them. Damien and Leo's faces both turned ashen, and though Syphus had no sense of smell of its own, it could clearly tell that something was off. Its lone eye dimmed as it glanced around.

Cale didn't slow down. If anything, he sped up. This was nothing he hadn't encountered be...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 4 — Sword and Sorcery, Pt 4

Instructor Solsburn had discovered rather early in his new career that the best way to teach swordsmanship to a group of mages—who were really only interested in the sorcery part of his class—was to ensure that they didn't realize they were learning it.

This was a task easier said than done, of course. Swordsmanship was not something that could be taught without its students realizing, especially when those students refused to wield a blade to begin with. How could he corre...

Just Add Mana — Book 2, Chapter 3 — Sword and Sorcery, Pt 3

Syphus was having the time of its life.

For one thing, it finally had a sword. A sword! For some reason the academy's professors had refused to allow it to wield a sword until it received official "safety training" from any one of the academy's instructors. It had difficulty actually getting that training, unfortunately, mostly because it didn't have Sword and Sorcery on its schedule until the next term.

(Which was why it was delighted when it happened to be brought along on this ...