After that, I had another decision to make.
Was I willing to use the Jaden Box during this test?
Using the box would potentially save our entire team from having to carry camping equipment, as well as other general supplies. The Jaden Box theoretically had a maximum capacity, but from what Keras explained, we hadn’t gotten anywhere close to reaching it.
It was clear we would be observed to some extent, but mostly by a second-year student, not a teacher. It wasn’t likely they would recognize the box, or understand that I wasn’t supposed to have it. But if I used it to carry all our gear, there was a high chance they would talk about that in a report to the teachers after our assignment was over.
I talked to Sera about it.
“What are the odds you could get the box officially released into your care?” Sera asked.
“Doubt it. It was being researched by Professor Orden. With Orden gone, it’s more likely they would want it returned to the Divinatory, or maybe another member of her research team. I can claim that Orden wanted me to hold onto it, but ultimately it was never really her property in the first place.”
Sera nodded. “Okay. What about disguising it?”
I blinked. “Disguising it how?”
“There are other items that can hold things in a storage space, right?”
I frowned. “Sure, there are bags that can summon linked items that are held in another location. They’re kind of the reverse of jump bells. But they summon everything around the anchor at once, and they’re also extremely expensive.”
“I’m a Summoner. You’re an Enchanter. How plausible is it that we could have made one? Maybe with some unusual altered characteristics so we could summon one item at a time?”
I rubbed my chin. “I don’t know. I haven’t really studied that type of item in detail. Maybe we could sell another student on it, but I doubt a teacher would believe it.”
“People tend to believe things if you don’t give them a reason not to. As long as we can make a somewhat plausible explanation, I doubt they’re going to dig into it. Our team is going to be carrying tons of items you made. Do you really think this one is going to stand out that much?”
I frowned. “I…don’t know. It’s too hard for me to see from an outside perspective.”
“Let’s go with a middle route, then. We’ll still all bring bags, but we’ll put most of the heavy stuff in your box. Tents, that sort of thing. If all you’re storing for us is the tents, and you summon the tents all at once, it will probably look much less suspicious. Does that sound right?”
I nodded. “Sounds plausible. I’ll see if I can study up on other storage enchantments tonight, just so I can have a plausible explanation if necessary. I’d rather still say we got the box from a teacher, though, and just not explain that it’s the Jaden Box. That would make having a higher level item more likely. One more thing, though.”
“Hm?”
“If I’m going to do this, you need to go shop for our supplies. I’m not going to have time.”
“You just hate shopping.”
“…That may true, but I’m still making you do it.”
Sera sighed. “Fine. Deal.”
I spent the rest of that evening studying storage and summoning enchantments, just as I’d promised. Much as I’d suspected, they were all higher level than I could possibly accomplish.
The most basic were Sunstone level, and those just summoned a single grouping of items that were within a few feet of an anchor.
Higher level enchantments were required for longer range, for a higher summoning area of effect, or for transporting larger objects. More importantly, however, I did find that it was possible to connect a single item to multiple anchors, and to tie summoning effects to different key words for activation.
In essence, it was possible to fake most of what the Jaden Box could do with standard enchanting, at least in theory. I didn’t see any established item designs for multiple anchors, though. I was just speculating.
The Jaden Box’s function for summoning people was the hardest part to mimic, but I didn’t intend to use that, so I didn’t have to figure out a way to fake it.
Learning this all was useful — both because I did intend to make a copy of the Jaden Box for myself in the future and because it helped me realize just how potent the box was.
Even if I used high level enchantments to get similar functions, the box had the advantage of actually storing things — it didn’t need anchors in other locations. That made it far more secure and easier to use.
It did raise the questions of how and where the box was storing things. The notes had indicated that it was somehow utilizing an extra-dimensional space, which was outside of the scope of any enchantments in my books — even the advanced ones I’d taken from the restricted section.
Maybe there were higher level Enchanters or Summoners who knew more on the subject, but I didn’t have the time to ask them.
I finished my studying, packed the supplies that Sera asked me to, and went to sleep.
The next few days were going to be exhausting.
On the way to the train station, I checked my mana levels.
The Arbiter mark on my right hand was up to 138/138 mana, and the Enchanter mark on my forehead registered at 105/105. It had been about two weeks since I’d last marked down my progress, and I’d been going up by just about one point of mana per day.
That wasn’t the most I’d ever gained, but it was pretty consistent with what I’d been getting recently, and I was happy with it. It meant I was still on-track for hitting Sunstone in the following year, which would put me easily toward the top of the class.
Sera had been pushing herself hard in training, and as a result, she’d recovered substantially. Her mana was up to 44/44, which was almost twice what it had been two weeks before. At that rate of growth, she’d be back to Carnelian-level in another two weeks. It was unfortunate that she wouldn’t get there in time for the exam.
I didn’t bother checking the others — they wouldn’t have had significant changes in the last few weeks.
We reached the train station. Finding our second-year student guide wasn’t hard — she was holding up a giant sign that had “Serpent Epsilon” written on with sparkling letters.
I hadn’t even remembered our division name from the paperwork, but Sera headed that direction immediately and the rest of us followed her.
“Hihi!” The student greeted us. “I’m Katherine, but you can call me Kathy! You must be, what was it, Seiran?”
“Sera.” Sera smiled and extended a hand.
“I am so bad with names.” The student fumbled with trying to hold the sign and shake Sera’s hand at the same time, failed, and dropped the sign with a loud thump. “Ack! I am so sorry, let me just…”
Marissa picked up the sign and handed it back to Kathy. “Here ‘ya go. I’m Marissa, but you can call me Mara.”
“Thank you! And that’s a great name. I really like it.”
I could already tell that this person was extremely nice, and that she would make me horribly uncomfortable.
I was not good at handling people that were that energetic.
Still, I made my introductions along with the others. Kathy visibly jumped when Jin said his name. Apparently, he still had his Mesmer abilities that prevented him from being noticed active.
Maybe he couldn’t turn them off? It was worth asking at some point.