“I’ll think on that some more,” I offered, turning to head back out. “And I’ll get to looking up item identification spells.”
I’d already done a bit of research on the Lesser Identify spell, and I knew the theory of how to cast it, but I hadn’t practiced with it yet. Besides that, I needed a stronger spell to get much useful information.
“I’m sure you’ll come up with something that helps our enemies slightly less than a healing sword, if you try hard enough.” Sera snickered. “But one more thing before you go.”
I paused. “Hm?”
“I’m not just tinkering with a sword. I’m getting back in fighting shape in general. I appreciate you all putting up with my weakness during the last test, but I’m done with dragging everyone else down. Next time we have a group exam, I’m going to be the one leading the way.”
I grinned. “I’ll look forward to that.”
“I’ll need you to do more than just that. I’m going to need a consistent sparring partner.”
I frowned. “Why not just train with all of us?”
“I will to some extent, of course. But Patrick always holds back, and I can’t get as much out of fighting close-range fighters like Mara and Derek.”
I could see the logic there. Her attunement was built for summoning — which she lacked the mana to do effectively right now — and ranged combat. Training against melee fighters was still useful for her, but it didn’t let her practice her main skills.
Patrick was a better match for her, but I didn’t disagree with her evaluation. He’d want to go easy on her to avoid bruising her ego, but that would stunt her ability to train effectively.
“Okay.” I nodded. “You’re on.”
Sera grinned. “Meet on the rooftop in two hours?”
“I’ll look forward to it.”
Over the next few days, I spent a bit of my time practicing the Lesser Identify spell.
When I cast Lesser Identify on an object, another aura would appear around it that only I could see. Rather than demonstrating the power of an object like a traditional shroud, the aura displayed by Lesser Identify was color-coded to show the highest concentration of mana in the object.
For example, when I cast it on Selys-Lyann, it showed a blue aura, indicating water mana. Or maybe ice mana. I couldn’t actually tell the difference, because both water and ice had different shades of blue auras, and I didn’t have a lot of samples to compare.
Because I found the basic colors hard to tell apart from composite ones like ice and lightning, I didn’t find the spell particularly useful. It was a good foundation for more powerful information gathering spells, though, and I used it as a way to practice using my mental mana without causing myself the intense distress of draining it continuously.
Once I was confident I could cast it properly, I tested it on Ceris. The resulting aura was pure white and sort of sparkly, which didn’t correspond to anything in my book. That was neat, but not very useful. I told Sera about the results and promised to continue studying.
Beyond that, I tested it on Trials of Judgement. I’d been looking for good ways to figure out how it worked, and this was my first real chance that didn’t involve asking someone for help.
Unfortunately, the result was nothing at all. No glowing aura. The book probably had runes to protect it from detection magic, and they were stronger than my spell.
I was still tempted to take the book apart to find the runes, but I resisted the urge. It wasn’t worth the risk of causing the book damage.
I looked up some more powerful identification spells, but none of the ones in the Quartz and Carnelian range were powerful enough to break through the book’s magical defenses, and they didn’t give me any more information.
I did find a Sunstone-level version that was just called “Identify”. That would tell me several more piece of information about an item, but it cost eighty mana to cast, and I couldn’t manage that yet.
I’ll get there at some point, though.
The more important discovery from all of the practice was that I could cast information gathering spells in general, even if I wasn’t a Diviner. There were a few things that required the Diviner attunement, like making memory crystals, but most of them just required having mental mana.
That knowledge gave me several new options to explore.
I practiced another spell — one I’d first seen when researching Diviners — and left the manor.
I had some tracking to do.
The Arrow of Direction spell literally made a glowing arrow that pointed to my target. There were several variations, but I could only cast the most basic version, which lasted a few seconds. It also only worked on targets within a few miles.
Finally, it required a physical item connected to the target to use as a focus. Pieces of the target’s body were best — blood, hair, that sort of thing — but something invested with the target’s mana would work as well.
In this case, I used a business card.
I didn’t find my target at a bar or a seedy casino like I’d pictured.
Instead, they were walking at a park just north of campus, accompanied by a small, intensely fluffy dog.
I found myself hesitating when I got a few feet away, uncertain on how to start the conversation. Fortunately or not, they did it for me.
“Corin, when I told you to track me down, this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind.” In spite of the chastising message, Sheridan was grinning brightly.
I waved the business card. “I figured the rune on the card stored some kind of information on how I was supposed to contact you. But I didn’t have a spell for extracting that information, and honestly, just using your mana to track you seemed faster.”
Sheridan laughed. “I applaud your corner-cutting abilities. You pass the test.”
I nodded. I’d expected that there was a reason the card didn’t just have an address on it. “I thought about just asking Derek where to find you, but I figured that would have been less impressive.”
“You’re quite right. He’d have sent you to my house, and I’d have to be more formal there. Hold on a second.”
Sheridan reached into a bag at their side, retrieving a small ball and tossing it in front of the dog. The dog rushed toward it, barking lightly.
The ball began to roll away on its own.
“That’ll keep Mister Eviscerator entertained for a while.”
“…You named your dog Eviscerator?”
“Mister Eviscerator. The title is important. He’s very polite.” Sheridan clasped their hands together. “So, business or pleasure?”
That sounded like a trap question. “Maybe a little bit of both? It would be a pleasure to do business with you.”
Sheridan chuckled again. “I’ll give you credit for the effort, but your intentions are obvious. We can keep it professional today. What do you need? Sera doing okay?”
I nodded. “She seems to be recovering fine. That’s not what I’m here about right now.”
Sheridan expression shifted for a moment, giving me a hint that s my answer had been unexpected. “Good, good. What can I help you with, then?”
“I need information. Hard to get information.”
“Well, then you came to the right place, assuming you can afford it. Let’s go have a seat, shall we?” Sheridan glanced back toward Mister Eviscerator, who was still chasing the rolling ball, and then led me toward a nearby park bench.
There were other people in the park — mostly students, and a few other local civilians — but no one that looked to be close enough to overhear our conversation.