I resolved not to stand too close to Keras for an extended period of time.
After spending some time with my friends eating the cake, I spent more time studying foreign attunements, and more time thinking about how I’d just used my own.
I’d managed to increase my Enchanter attunement’s power permanently — and the improvement was more than the expected two percent.
Was that because it was my own attunement?
Or maybe because I’d converted the mana into a type that my attunement could easily process before I transferred it?
It could be an extra-large boost because it was the first time I’ve ever done, it, too. Maybe the efficacy of mana transfers decreases over time, and the percent that Researcher told me was an average taken over a long period.
I paced around my room, considering more possibilities.
Maybe the boost that people retain is actually closer to a flat value, rather than being a percentage.
Or maybe it is a percentage, but the percentage varies based on current attunement level.
Oh, could it have to do with the relative level of the target attunement compared to the level of the Arbiter attunement? That might explain how Katashi was able to increase Marissa’s mana pool by such a high amount all at once…but no, that seems less likely.
The source of mana should be irrelevant, as long as it’s pure. Even if the mana density was higher, the initial mana amount isn’t the issue, it’s how much mana your body can safely generate in the aftermath that matters.
Hm.
I wanted to ask Katashi for more information, but I knew I might never see him — or another visage — again.
In the meantime, would it be safe to charge my own attunement regularly?
I didn’t have enough information.
Taking risks with my mind was not appealing, but the benefits of that single action had been significant. My capacity had been going up by roughly two per day, and I’d been at 56 in the morning before classes. That meant that I’d gained roughly 4 mana from that transfer — maybe a little less, depending on rounding.
That was a tremendous boost. An extra 4 mana per week…or, even better, maybe something more like eight percent, if it was based on a percentage of my maximum?
That would be an incredible boost if I could manage to figure out a way to do it routinely.
But what if I was doing myself permanent damage?
I needed to know — or at least have a better idea — before I risked it again.
If I didn’t have access to a visage to ask, my best bet was to find another Arbiter. I didn’t know of any, but maybe Researcher did.
So, I paid her a visit. I expected her to be mad at me when she found out that I’d used the Arbiter attunement on myself.
Her reaction was a little different.
“Ooh! What did it feel like? How high did you increase your mana pool to? And you said you retained more than a two percent increase? How much?”
I spent a few more minutes filling her in on everything else. She was practically bouncing — and I understood why, now. She was a creature of knowledge, and I was teaching her something new. In essence, I was feeding her a meal that she’d never tasted — and, presumably, a good one.
“Okay, so, you want to know if you hurt yourself? Hrm, come here.”
I hesitated, but drew closer.
“Aww, don’t be shy! This won’t hurt, honest.”
I came close enough to her enclosure for her to kneel down and put her hand on my forehead. Fortunately, the contact was brief and clinical.
“Hmm…hmm…hmmm! Okay, all done.” She folded her arms. “I can’t sense anything amiss with your mana. I’m not as good with diagnosing physical problems — you’d want a Mender for that. But there’s no mana scarring, and I don’t sense any problems in the functionality of the attunement itself. It’s working normally.”
I nodded. “Thanks, that does make me feel better. If I asked a Mender to check me for physical problems, what would I ask about?”
“Eh, hard to say. I honestly don’t expect there to be any issues — damaging your attunement was the main concern, and that didn’t happen. I suppose you could check to see if your brain is bleeding or something?”
I really didn’t like that image, but fortunately, it also was pretty clear that Researcher had no idea what she was talking about in that regard. “Okay, thank you. Do you have any insights on where I could find another Arbiter to talk to?”
She shook her head. “Unfortunately, no. There aren’t any that are still at the university, and there haven’t been any entering the Serpent Spire in the last couple years — or, at least, not declared as Arbiters. People usually only put their first attunement on the entry forms. It’s not necessary to include all of them.”
“That’s inconvenient.”
“Arbiters and other people with restricted attunements are usually pretty secretive about it, since it gives them a competitive advantage if no one knows exactly what they can do. The Valian National Library might have documents with listings of other Arbiters and contact information for them, but we don’t have anything like that here.”
That was tricky. The national library was in Estermark, the national capitol. It was hundreds of miles from Beaufort, the city where the academy was located. I could get to Estermark by train, but it would take a while.
“That Arbiter that disappeared. Any idea where he might have gone?”
“Warren Constantine? No indications of his whereabouts, unfortunately. Perhaps Ferras knows, but if she does, she hasn’t said anything publicly.”
If I could talk to Ferras, the Visage of Creation, I could probably solve a number of problems. Assuming she’d actually give me the help I wanted, of course. My Arbiter attunement would probably help with diplomacy with any visage, but it still didn’t guarantee any results. And she was all the way in Caelford, as far as I knew. Going there would take weeks or months.
I considered my other options. “What about experts that might know more about the restricted attunements?”
“Some of the Whispers might know how they work, or high-ranking members of the priesthood. Or people with other restricted attunements.”
Sheridan.
It was an obvious lead, now that I considered it. Sheridan presumably had been using a restricted attunement for a while, but I hadn’t asked them for any information.
Of course, that might necessitate another trade if it was considered forbidden knowledge…unless I could convince them that information about my own attunement didn’t count as forbidden for me.
It would be best to prepare for a trade, if only to keep Sheridan interested in dealing with me in the future. They were a valuable resource, and I didn’t want to squander that by asking for favors with nothing in return.
Of course, it also occurred to me that Tristan might know more — but I wasn’t going to ask him. I didn’t want to even think about the idea of owing him something, not when I was so conflicted about his situation in general.
“I think I know who to ask. Thanks, Researcher.”
Researcher gave me a little bow. “You’re quite welcome, Arbiter. Please come see me any time you have further questions…or more information to share.”