Carrot and Stick - This is Where A Title Would go - Chapter XVIII (Patreon)

If I had one!

***

“And then you did what?” Silas asked.

“Oh, and then I used Rite of Dark Purification on the giant owl monster and slurped all of the evil juice out. Well, most of it? My new eternal rival actually asked me to stop and did something with this thing she had, and it took some of it too. But in the end, the owl was an owl again, and I didn’t know what to do, so I called animal control and they came and picked it up. Uh. it had kind of broken a wing and I felt really bad about it.”

“That’s... find, I think.” Silas replied. 

For a lack of anything better to do, he slowly raised the mug he’d been holding onto to his lips and took a slow sip. Carrot, meanwhile, was sitting on one of the chairs in the little dining room, bouncing up and down on the spot with frankly far too much energy for him.

The story she’d come here to deliver was a lot. Not only encountering another magic-user in the city, but a drawn-out fight with another daemon working for the so-called Master. It was a lot to process and he wasn’t sure he was entirely awake enough to do that, yet. 

“So,” he began, then paused. He didn’t know where to start. “Let’s begin with the daemon. Did you learn anything from it?”

“It called itself one of the Master’s lieutenants,” Carrot said. “And it said that it was the fourth? There was a cool tattoo and all. My mom said that I’m not allowed to get a tattoo until I’m twenty-one.”

“Because it would be wildly irresponsible?” he asked.

“No? My skin, would stretch and the art would all look weird. I’m still growing, you know!”

“Right, of course,” he replied. “Putting that aside, the daemon had a tattoo?”

“Yeah, of a four.”

He nodded slowly, then took another slow sip of his coffee as he taught. That was concerning and for two broad reasons. The first because tattooing a daemon would either require a lot of force, coercion, or the daemons' respect, and because there were a few magical arts that he was only vaguely aware of that used seals, glyphs, and other permanent marks as their anchors.

“Do you recall that doe daemon?” he asked as he wandered over to the kitchen where he’d left his satchel. He came back with a small notebook in which he had scribbled some notes. “I think... yes, I wrote down the spells it used. Cursed Seal Art: Spraying the Sunset. And Cursed Seal Art: Dazzling Burst. They were more formal than most spells daemons use.”

“Oh, the owl daemon did something like that too!” Carrot said.

“What was it?’ he asked. He clicked a pen and flipped over to a virgin page. 

Carrot shrugged. “Don’t remember.”

“Really?”

“I’m not good at that kind of memory stuff! I don’t even use the same chant for spells most of the time.”

Which was concerning in all sorts of ways because the chants were often mnemonics to remember how to form a spell to begin with and she was skipping that, but it was a problem for another time. “Fine, can you remember anything about the spell?”

She went on to describe the way the spell worked, more or less. It was clear that she’d seen the spell at work, but seeing a car roll by and understanding how an engine worked were two very different things. 

Still, from the description of the effects, the owl daemon was using some relatively advanced weather controlling magic and layering more effects onto that. 

“Okay,” he said after he finished taking what notes he could. He reached over and took his mug back, then grumbled as he discovered it half-empty. He downed the rest, then set about making a fresh one. “What about this girl you met, the other mage?”

“Is mage a generic term?” Carrot asked.

“Yes.” He returned, the coffee percolating behind him. “It’s a term for anyone using magic in a... more professional capacity. Someone specifically geared up and fighting Daemons would count. Magical Society tends to frown and frankly look down upon non-certified mages. They’re often a danger to themselves, others, and the secret of magic overall, but they’re not necessarily illegal or anything.”

“So would I be a mage, then?” Carrot asked.

He made a so-so gesture. “I don’t know if you’d be considered professional.” Also, anyone from the society he was from would be rightfully horrified at the way she used magic, but that was a whole other story. “Anyway, this girl--”

“Magical girl,” Carrot said. “She was wearing a dress, was magical, and was a girl.”

“Sure,” he replied. “You said she mostly cast physical spells?”

“I think so? She moved fast, like real fast, and her punches moved the air. She was a punch-wizard. Also, I don’t think she likes, uh, wizard-wizards.”

“Doubtful,” he said. “But alright. She might be an Ulvent.”

“What’s that?” Carrot asked.

He worked his jaw and tried to think of a nice way to broach a delicate subject. He was part of the wider Magical Society, but that didn’t mean that he was blind to some of its faults. Leaving the society and seeing the wider world had opened his eyes to a lot of issues with his home. 

“The Ulvent are a group that was part of the wider magical society for a long time, but has since peeled off and tried to blend in with the mundane world, though to limited success. They were... hmm, how do I put this... honestly, it’s a sad issue, and one that I’d like to think wouldn’t be a problem today.” Even if he knew well that it would be. 

“I’m not afraid of a few delicate things, you know,” Carrot said. “I’m a girl!”

“Uh, sure,” he replied. “Well, the Ulvent don’t use magic the way a wizard does, usually. They instead pull magic into items. Ulvex items are magically-imbued materials turned into usable items, like the hat.”

“Neat! So they’re magic item makers?”

“Kind of? Their entire magical system is based on item use. Which has a few obvious downsides. It’s not as versatile as internal or even external casting, they can be stripped of their magical gear, and most importantly... when you’re in the magical society, your position as a wizard is determined in part by your strength. That is partly knowledge and achievement based, but it’s largely based on  raw casting power.”

“Ohhh, and they don’t have much, since they use items? Can’t they just... learn normal casting too?”

“No. For the same reason that most mundanes will never learn to cast anything. Their magic is different. We can replicate it as wizards, they can’t always do what a wizard can. So they often served as crafters. Even the most prominent of the Ulveny were... subservient to higher ranking wizards.”

“Oh,” Carrot said. “That’s no good.”

“And it’s why they left, yes,” he replied. “Some remain, of course. They’re widely considered to be the best enchanters, and modern Magical Society has a secondary ranking system in place now for non-wizards, though it still doesn’t carry the same weight.”

“Why does the ranking matter so much?” Carrot asked.

He shrugged, then jumped as the coffee-maker beeped. He returned with a steaming mug. “Basically, it’s about what power and knowledge and responsibility you’re allowed access to. As a Rank IV wizard I can expect a certain amount of pay, access to tools and resources of a certain quality and rarity, and access to a wider range of spellbooks and techniques and even tutors that a rank III wizard wouldn’t have.”

Carrot taught about it for a long time, then sighed. “I don’t know if I like that?”

“That’s okay,” he replied. “It’s changing, slowly?” Too slowly, in his opinion, but it was coming along. He’d spare Carrot a few other details. 

“Okay then! She did feel real strong.” 

“Just because their strength is difficult to measure doesn’t mean that the Ulvent are weak,” he replied. “In any case, it’s interesting that you ran into one, and one who was firmly against our... common enemy. I’m kind of concerned about these mentions of lieutenant daemons.”

“Yeah, they sounded strong. That owl was someone I could beat, but I think if he was twice as strong that I wouldn’t have been able to.”

“I’m also not fond of the title for its military connotations,” he said. “It implies a level of organization and more importantly... well, you can’t be a lieutenant without troops.”

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Carrot said. She frowned, then bounced to her feet with a movement so sudden he flinched and spilled some scalding coffee over his thumb. “I need to get stronger!”

He grimaced. “Not so loud, please? And... yes, I suppose that couldn’t hurt. I’m nearly back to full capability myself.”

“We could spar or something!”

“I’d rather not,” he said. “But... I don’t see any reason why we can’t continue to train you. You’ve improved a lot in the last couple of days. I suppose you had something of a good foundation with a lot of cracks in it, and redressing some of the issues in that improved your spells greatly.”

“Thanks!” Carrot said. “I think I want to meet the magical girl again. I have a spell that I want to perfect called Abyssal Bloom of Moonlight Manifest. I bet she can help me with it. But I need... urgh, should I try to learn more spells, or just make the ones I have even more OP?”

“Oh...pee?” He repeated the letters. 

“You really need to spend more time online,” Carrot replied. 

“I really don’t think I do,” he said. “So, would you rather improve your existing spells, or learn something new?”

“Both!” Carrot said.

He sniffed. “We don’t know how much time we have. Both is maybe a little too ambitious.”

“Ah, but... okay, what if you teach me something new, and then I’ll keep improving my spells on my own time and you can help me refine them?”

“Sure.” That sounded reasonable enough to him. “What’s that Abyssal Bloom of Moonlight Manifest spell do?”

“Right now? Mostly make my clothes explode. It’s a work in progress.”

He pinched his eyes shut. “Yes, let’s see if we can do something new. Maybe something useful? I have some utility spells?”

“No no, combat! Utility makes me lazy, I want to explode things.”

He didn’t want to teach her to explode things. He could think of one thing that wasn’t explode-y and which could be useful. “How about something to keep yourself safe? Shield is a well-beloved spell that will keep you alive a little longer.”

Carrot pouted, then shrugged. “Okay!”

***

She wasn’t sure if Shield was something she cared to learn, it didn’t sound super cool, but it didn’t take much imagination to see herself casting a big shield to like... protect a bus full of screaming kids from a massive unfriendly monster, or casting a smaller shield to protect a fair maiden, or standing on a cast shield to aura farm while standing in the air...

She needed to learn a spell to cast a light breeze and find a cape.

Silas guided her outside, and then started to explain the basics of the spell, which mostly involved casting magic through a specific form very rapidly and then pushing it outwards while thinking the right things and anchoring the spell to a spot.

It was... relatively easy? After an hour, she was able to cast a small half-dome shaped shield the size of a dinner plate. It wasn’t perfectly round, and she had to be careful to only feed it a trickle of power or else it bubbled out of shape and popped, but it was working. 

Then they headed out for a long walk through another part of the city, one that they hadn’t scouted out yet. While they walked, she asked a billion questions and in her head she was refining her spells as best she could. When they met one of their lieutenant daemons she’d be ready!

By noon she was back home. They hadn’t found anything, which she supposed was overall a good thing. 

Now... how could she make this shield spell better? 

***