NOVEL WEB Ch. 14
It took Lorvan and Fabrisse another three tries to get the correct invocation to access [Skills], which turned out to be a mimicry of the old mnemonic for self-knowledge rites.
As the motion ended with his fingers touching the center of his palm, a tone rang out, softer than before.
Invocation matched with Query Type — [Competency].
[Skills Interface Accessed]
[SYSTEM NOTE: Skill terminology is regionally adjusted. Refer to ‘Notes’ for local equivalents.]
[Only reliably repeatable skills registered. Incomplete or unstable forms excluded.]
Core Competencies:
Competence Level: Low-Basic
Certifiable Casting Rank: I (practical) / III (theoretical)
Emotion-channeling: Unreliable
Aetheric Sensitivity: Inconsistent
Mnemonic Retention: Above Average
Those look horrible already . . .
Below were more sub-sections. He carefully checked each of them and read them out loud to Lorvan.
Skillset:
[Earth-Based Thaumaturgy]
[Fire-Based Thaumaturgy]
[Water-Based Thaumaturgy]
[Air-Based Thaumaturgy]
[Concordance / Meta-Category]
[Earth-Based Thaumaturgy]
Stonesway (Rank I) | Active | Earth (Stone)
[Utility] [Combat] [Flavor]
Effect: Animates and levitates a small number of rocks (up to 3 pebbles) for light manipulation or distraction. Pebbles respond better to tactile familiarity.
Sedimentary Recall (Rank II) | Active | Earth (Mud) + Concordance (Emotion)
[Sensing] [Narrative]
Effect: By holding a stone that has remained in place for a long time, you can tap into lingering aetheric ‘impressions’ of significant emotional events that occurred nearby.
Gravelkin (Rank I) | Active | Earth (Stone)
[Summon] [Flavor] [Utility]
Effect: One particular stone from your collection becomes semi-sentient after repeated handling. It can lightly glow on command.
Path Synergy: Celestial Hoarding. For as long as this particular stone, Gravelkin, stays in your inventory, up to (1) Rock can grant attribute gains even as it stays in your inventory, unequipped.
Burden of Stones (Rank II) | Active| Earth (Stone) + Concordance (Emotion)
[Combat] [Narrative]
Effect: Temporarily imbues an object with weight based on emotional burden.
[Fire-Based Thaumaturgy]
Faultspark Ignition (Rank I) | Active | Fire (Fire) + Concordance (Emotion [Fluster])
[Combat] [Disruptive] [Flavor]
Effect: Generates unstable ignition via ambient focus error. Has a 70% chance of lighting small dry material; 30% chance of misfiring onto a random flammable nearby. Strength increases with emotional fluster.
Misguided Flame Anchor (Rank I) | Active | Fire (Fire) + Concordance (Emotion)
[Combat] [Disruptive] [Narrative]
Effect: Anchors flame to the nearest organic material not protected by warding. Typically triggers with flawed intent. Often burns unintended targets.
[Air-Based Thaumaturgy]
Joy-Sprint (Rank I) | Active | Air (Air) + Concordance (Emotion [Joy])
[Utility] [Flavor] [Narrative]
Effect: No verbal invocation required. Initiated through spontaneous bodily motion combined with emotional uplift. May manifest through running, leaping, or spinning.
Stillbrace (Rank I) | Active | Air (Air) + Concordance (Emotion)
[Utility] [Defense] [Support]
Effect: Stills the air in a fixed area (up to a circular surface 1 meter across) for up to 2 seconds, forming a suspended pressure plane.
Designed to absorb or redirect low- to moderate-velocity projectiles or gust spells.
Has limited effect against chaotic or fire-aspected air magic.
At lower Ranks, needs a glyphplate to form.
[Concordance / Meta-Category]
Stealth-Based Concordance Skills
Liminal Presence Drift (Rank III) | Active | Concordance (Stealth) + Air (Veil)
[Utility] [Disruptive] [Stealth]
Effect: Softens body presence and reduces cognitive footprint in a localized radius. Lowers likelihood of being noticed unless directly observed. Stronger in quiet environments.
Auditory Dissipation Field (Rank II) | Passive | Concordance (Stealth)
[Passive] [Utility] [Stealth]
Effect: Dampens minor sound emissions from the user’s movements, including footsteps, rustling fabric, and clinks from spiritually important rock collections. Slight emotional sync required to maintain.
Aetheric Veil: Echofold (Rank II) | Active | Concordance (Stealth) + Air (Veil)
[Disruptive] [Utility] [Stealth]
Effect: Briefly ‘echoes’ the caster’s presence a few steps behind them—delaying auditory, magical, or scent-based tracking. Especially effective against detection wards or scent-based familiars.
Shadowed Reposition Protocol (Rank II) | Active | Concordance (Stealth)
[Utility] | [Stealth] | [Combat]
Effect: Allows the caster to make a short, low-profile displacement into a zone of lower attention density.
Veil of Shame (Rank I) | Active | Concordance (Stealth) + Concordance (Emotion [Shame])
[Disruptive] [Stealth] [Narrative]
Effect: Momentarily warps attention away from the user. Dampens visual, auditory, and scrying detection by 10–20%. Duration and strength scale with intensity of shame-based memory.
Emotion-Affinity Skills
Shameflare (Rank I) | Active | Concordance (Emotion [Shame])
[Disruptive] [Combat] [Narrative]
Effect: Aetheric burst triggered by embarrassment, disrupts weak magics. Breaks light concentration spells, soft charms, or ambient glamours in a short radius. Most effective in formal settings where mortification is high.
Improvised Ritual (Rank I) | Active | Concordance (Emotion)
???
Effect: Combines ritual fragments to create unpredictable effects.
Passive / Pattern Recognition
Pattern Intuition (Rank I) | Passive | Concordance (Veil)
[Passive] [Sensing] [Utility]
Effect: Detects flawed or unstable magical patterns subconsciously.
Fragmented Affinity Trace (Rank I) | Passive| Concordance (Meta)
[Passive] [Sensing] [Narrative]
Effect: Indicates latent alignment with non-classical affinity. Enables early activation of spellforms not yet tied to a fully registered element. Allows the user to unknowingly pre-register complex affinities (like Emotion or Sound) before formal recognition.
Self-Directed Query Invocation (Rank I) | Active | Concordance (Meta)
[Sensing] [Utility]
Effect: Examine the invisible residue left behind after you cast a spell—your aetheric fingerprint. It helps diagnose minor flaws in your technique by mapping areas where your personal resonance weakened or faltered.
At Rank I, the spell reveals:
Faded resonance zones (areas where your intent or focus dropped)
Surface-level fatigue marks (light strain left by effortful casting)
Minor emotional interference (where unstable feelings nudged your shaping)
Resonance Sense (Rank I) | Active | Concordance (Meta)
[Active] [Sensing] [Narrative]
Effect: Reveals traces of recent aetheric, motion, or emotional imprint left on physical objects within a small radius. Objects recently moved or emotionally charged resonate subtly with the caster’s awareness, appearing with varying degrees of clarity depending on the strength of the interaction.
At Rank I, the spell highlights:
Disturbed objects (light shimmer effect)
Emotionally charged items (vibration intensity scales with emotional weight)
Echoes decay rapidly over time or under high magical interference
Phase 1 of 4: Access your Aetheric Self-Registry—Completed. Please await further instructions.
“Why don’t you have a single skill that deals damage?” Lorvan finally asked, in that low, dangerous tone he usually reserved for disciplinary hearings. Fabrisse had just finished relaying the important information he had seen on the apparitions to his mentor.
You’re my mentor, you should know, Fabrisse thought, but decided not to vocalize it.
“I mean, I could throw the pebbles from Stonesway really hard,” instead, he offered. “That is, if I can achieve a better rank for that skill.”
“And all this slinking around and being slightly quieter than usual actually counts as a skill set now?”
“I didn’t ask for stealth,” Fabrisse said. “It’s just what my resonance is tuned to. Emotional echo, intent-manifestation symmetry—basic thaumaturgic theory. Apparently, shame has a strong aetheric imprint.”
To be honest, he was more than pleased those skills were recognized by the glyph. Many of the unofficial spells were labelled Wild spells by the Synod, as opposed to Formal Spells, the supposed optimal method of spellcasting. This showed that Thaumaturgy might be overlooking plenty of possible optimal spell combinations.
“Your primary affinity path is hoarding—and yet your skills are built around not being noticed. That sounds counterintuitive to me.” Lorvan pinched his nose. “But we could make it work.”
Fabrisse replied. “Think about it. If I’m collecting emotionally resonant objects, building magical charges based on history and memory, then stealth helps me increase my carry load without alerting anyone.” He stopped as he caught Lorvan’s face. That tone wasn’t curiosity. It was sarcasm—another one of those indirect social angles that always came half a second too late.
“I think you need to become some kind of intelligence-type mage with this skill set,” Lorvan mused as Fabrisse scrolled through the different sub-sections. “Or a professional carry mule.”
“Aetheric logistics specialist,” Fabrisse corrected, lifting a finger. “There’s probably a prestigious name for it in the archives.”
Then something showed up before him. “Hold on,” he said.
[NEW QUEST AVAILABLE: “Weight of the Words Left Unsaid”]
Type: Spell Unlock — Foundation Alignment
Target Object: Last Known Stupenstone — Status: Unretrieved
Last Known Location: The Sanctum of Emberrest (Crescent Hall) — Fifth Cathedral of the Twelvefold Flame
Objective: Return to the Sanctum of Emberrest, where the Trial of the Will of the Flamus Arcane took place.
Locate and recover the Stupenstone lost during the Vothiculum.
Reclaim it and channel resonance through it at the site of its abandonment.
Optional: Evade detection by current faculty. Bonus reward for stealth-based retrieval.
Reward:
Spell Unlocked: Stupenstone Fling (Rank I)
Launches a stored Stupenstone at high velocity with aetheric force.
Damage scales with Rank, emotional weight and historical attunement.
Bonus: Stuns or destabilizes wards if cast using items steeped in failure, shame, or regret.
[SYSTEM TIP: What was dropped can still be reclaimed. Especially if it’s a rock.]
Fabrisse blinked at the glyph hovering in front of him, then turned to Lorvan with growing urgency. “We need to get back to the Sanctum of Emberrest.”
Lorvan’s brow furrowed. “Students can’t enter the Sanctum without permission, Kestovar.”
“You don’t understand,” Fabrisse interrupted, half-standing from the bench.
“No, you don’t understand,” Lorvan shot back, voice suddenly sharp. “The Headmaster is asking for you to return to the Synod. You’re meant to report to the Department of Aetheric Irregularities by next week. If they catch you sneaking into the Sanctum, they’ll reassign you to Theory. You’ll spend the next five years diagramming invocation drift curves in a basement office without windows.” He was threatening Fabrisse with a good time.
“I will be the first person to weaponize a Stupenstone!” Fabrisse shouted.
There was a long pause.
From the hedgerow, Liene’s voice catapulted over. “Yeah, go magic rock boy! Make history with your weird pebbles!”
There was an even longer pause.