BXBX NOVEL Chapter 11: Blood Pact
Chapter 11: Blood Pact
"I'm really not sure." Silas shrugged. He'd decided he was still going to keep the system a secret for now. At least until he knew he could trust them fully. "One second I was daydreaming about Rowan's familiar and the next, I had made the construct."
Rowan made his usual frown which Silas was coming to realize was his thinking face. "Let's get back to your mother. She's from Earth. How did she get here?"
"Hold on." Silas tried to cast barrier of silence around them. It took a few tries, but eventually he got it. Now no one could hear them talking. "She was experimenting with portal technology and ended up stranded here. She met my dad when she was just trying to survive out here."
"That's crazy! So your mom's a scientist?" Jace asked.
"Yes."
"How long is she going to be in prison?" Rowan asked.
"I don't know. The police didn't say. They just took her."
"Can they do that?" Jace asked.
"Yes they can. My mom briefly told me about it one time," Rowan said.
"So are you gonna bust her out?" Jace asked Silas.
"Time out. We need to pause this convo," Silas said, breathing heavily, overwhelmed. "Before I say anymore, I need to know I can trust you guys."
"I don't know about Jace, but you can trust me," Rowan said. "I don't talk to anybody."
"Hey I'm trust worthy," Jace said, with a hurt look on his face and his hand over his heart. "I might be a bit of a blabbermouth, but if a secret is important, I'll keep it."
[System Notification: (2/3) requirements met for Blood Pact.]
[System Message: Would you like to initiate Blood Pact?]
"Uh, yes?" Silas said unsure.
[Hold the hands of the participants of the Blood Pact]
"Hey guys, this is going to sound weird, but do you want to make a magic pact?" Silas asked hesitantly.
"I don't see the need, but I'll do it." Rowan said, his usual stoic self.
"Yeah that sounds awesome. I'm in," Jace said, excited.
"Apparently, we need to hold hands," Silas said.
Rowan nodded, a serious look on his face. Jace nodded a non serious look on his face. Silas put out both of his hands and his new friends grabbed them.
[System Notification: Initiating Blood Pact]
"Ow!" Jace said, pulling his hand back. "Something stabbed me!"
Rowan pulled his hand back but not like someone who just been stabbed in the hand. "Something bit me." Rowan said, calmly.
Silas looked at his hands and noticed two drops of blood welling up on his palms. He wiped them on a napkin to get the blood off.
[System Notification: Combination skill unlocked! Blood Pact successful]
"Mom! What does a blood pact do?" Silas said in his head.
"Silas, why do you only call when you need something?" Evelyn said.
"I'm sorry Mom, but this is important."
"Ok, ok. A blood pact binds the members of the pact to not go against the intent of the agreement. In this case, it would mean Jace and Rowan can't reveal your secrets to anyone."
"Ok. Thanks. I'll call later," Silas said.
"Ok. Good luck," Evelyn said.
"Ok," Silas said out loud. "So we just entered into a blood pact."
"What does that mean?" Jace asked. "Am I going to die?"
"Shut up Jace, you're not going to die. I don't think. Silas, is he going to die?" Rowan asked.
"No one is going to die. You just can't reveal my secrets to anyone. That's it." Silas said, wincing, bracing for backlash.
Jace straightened up. "Oh. That's fine. I wasn't going to do that anyways."
Rowan looked at Silas with his eyebrow raised. "I don't think that was necessary, but I did agree to it. Now continue with what you were going to say."
"Oh yeah," Silas said. "Jace, yes I'm going to bust her out, but not until I get stronger. And when I find out where she even is."
"Can we help?" Jace said. "This sounds exciting. Like some kind of heist movie."
"I'll help with what I can, but I'm not risking my life or jail time for you, Silas. I'm sorry. I just met you," Rowan said, honestly and firmly.
Silas waved his hands in front of himself. "Whoa hold up! I'm not asking you guys to help. I'm just telling you guys this stuff because you wanted to know."
"Now I gotta go," Silas said. "I'll tell you guys the rest later."
"Ok," Jace said, disappointed.
"See you later," Rowan said.
* * *
For his independent study period, Silas headed to the university library to start really learning spells. Using his Learn and Speed Reading skills, Silas started destroying every spell book he could find. Every spell book contained one spell.
'Learn' gave him perfect recall of anything he read, and 'speed reading' allowed him to read faster. It only took him about 20 minutes to go through each spell book.
He learned fire blast, water spout, wind gust, earth spray, and many more. He learned every tier 10 spell he could get his hands on.
The things about affinity tiers is the concepts were foundational. You had to learn tier 10 spells in an affinity before learning tier 9 spells in that affinity and so on. For some reason he could only find books on the big four affinities, fire, air, earth, and water. And they were all tier 10.
There were higher floors to the Grand Athenaeum. He supposed more complex spells were on the higher floors. He would bother with that another time though. He had enough to worry about just learning the spells that were available.
Magical affinities just marked what people were naturally good at. A mage could learn any spell they wanted, but it took five times the mana to cast. So people tended to stick to their affinities.
Affinities were also easier to cast. You didn't have to use incantations or hand symbols. You could simply cast them in your mind.
This gave an advantage on the battlefield because opponents wouldn't necessarily know what you've cast, whereas non-affinity spells are far more telling.
Since Silas's affinities didn't offer much in the way of spells and were mostly skills or abilities, he would need to learn non-affinity spells.
This was only a temporary stop-gap. Eventually, he would need to stick to his affinities if he wanted to reach his full potential, but this would help him shore up his weaknesses for now.
Every time he would learn a spell, the system would alert him and reward him with experience.
[System Notification: New tier 10 spell learned: Air disc! +2 Exp (16/40)]
After nearly 5 hours of reading, Silas heard the sound of footsteps coming his way. Looking up, he saw the librarian, an elderly mage with a long black velvety robe decorated with runes and symbols.
He murmured an incantation as he approached. There were silver streaks in his hair and beard. He looked at Silas over his glasses with mismatched eyes, one green, one pale blue.
"Ah, a fellow scholar, I see. Balthazar Arcanelius, curator and guardian of the Grand Athenaeum," he said.
"Silas Blackwood, sir. I was just trying to relearn the basics," Silas replied.
"The basics indeed," Balthazar said, looking over the stacks of books Silas had on either side of him. "You seem to be making incredible headway in that regard. Are you actually reading these books you're flipping through?"
"Yes, sir. I guess you could say I have a spell that allows me to read quickly," Silas said.
"A spell, he says. What's your affinity?" Balthazar asked.
"Neuromancy, biomancy, and essomancy."
"Three affinities! That's almost unbelievable, and I yet I do. Believe you, that is. And affinities I've never heard too. Did Al tell you that?"
"Yes, it did, but how do you know its name is Al?" Silas asked.
"I know a great many things. For instance, I know you're not relearning these spells. You're learning them for the first time, aren't you?"
"How did you know?"
"It's obvious by the excitement and curiosity in your eyes." Balthazar said.
"Huh." Silas said.
Balthazar leaned in close. "If you want to get a leg up on your competition, I suggest you check out books on alchemy, enchantment, and artifice. Unlike spells the effects are cumulative."
"I'll do that. Could you point me in the right direction?"
Balthazar pointed down the row of books. "Go down two rows, make a left and the sections will be on your right. Happy hunting."
Having finished the last book in the pile, Silas got up to check out the section Balthazar recommended. As he walked away, Balthazar said, "Also, make sure you research divination, conjuration, and abjuration. Very useful for any mage, regardless of affinity."
Balthazar cast a spell and the books Silas had stacked on the table started putting themselves back on the shelves.
After another hour of reading, Silas had learned one potion, one enchantment, and the basics of weapon forging. Not a massive accomplishment, but it was a start.
The potion he learned was the always useful health potion, and the enchantment was a tracking enchantment. You enchanted an object like a rock and shoved it someone's pocket or an object they owned and you'd be able to tell where they were at all times, unless they were out of range. The range was about a mile.
Silas practiced it on pieces of paper and after about a dozen attempts, he was able to produce it well enough for it to work. One would assume that because he had perfect recall of anything he read, that meant he'd be able to perform the magic right away, but apparently that was not the case. There was just no need to physically reference the book every time he tried, because he could reference it in his head.
The way it worked was if he concentrated on the paper with the symbol on it, he could see a small green light that could penetrate through solid objects like walls and book shelves. The light would get bigger or smaller depending on how close he was to the tracking object.
After he was done practicing, he had several tracking papers to work with. He put them in the books he checked out of the library so he wouldn't lose them. The thought of seeing Balthazar's face, when Silas told him he'd lost a book filled him with dread.
Silas felt himself getting tired after his long study session in the Grand Athenaeum. Figuring it was time to head back to his dorm, he packed up his belongings and headed out the door. As he made his way across campus, he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.
Silas activated his sound isolation skill. The volume on everything was turned way down except the footsteps. By the sound, he figured there were 4 people roughly a hundred feet behind him.
As he neared a hedge, he hopped over it, hoping to slow them down and give him some time to put distance between him and them. Unfortunately that hope was dashed when he heard a muttered, "lamina venti," as a wind blade sliced through the bushes.
If he hadn't realized it by now, this made Silas certain he was being hunted. He broke into a sprint and the foot steps behind him quickened to match. As Silas rounded a corner, something grabbed hold of his ankle causing him to trip forward and slam to the ground.
The wind knocked out of him, Silas turned over on his back to face his pursuers. He saw 4 second year students, he could tell by the emblems on their cloaks, with their hoods drawn up to hide their faces.
The one in front slowly walked up to him, grabbed the top his head by his hair and slammed the back of his head into the ground. After that, everything went black.