S&M Maid Chapter 4 (Patreon)

AN: I'll repeat this on QQ, but to those of you who have sent me messages asking about pacing, I feel its right to respect your interest in my work and say this: I may be working on a very busy schedule right now, like fuck I've never worked this hard in my life at rl shit, but I still love writing, I hope to one day make writing more official in my resume, and I want to re-ignite the spark that got me writing back in 2020. This story is going to take its time because I want to give it all I can to the best of my ability, and because I can only dedicate so many hours a week to fanfiction these days. If you want instant gratification, I'm sorry, favorite and come back in a few months. If you want to see Dante struggle and rise with the tools available to him, meet people along the way, and feel the world of Fairy Tail come to life in my own words, then stay along for the ride. It truly makes me happy that so many of you enjoy my work.The previous versions are not invalidated, but how we get there, Dante's character, how potions work, and many other things will be different.

Schedule remains the same: Every 2 weeks, or earlier if I get more work done.

Chapter 4: Please Answer the Question.

“You have questions?” Goldmine casually asked as he lounged at a table within the guild, idly watching two of his idiots wrestle on stage.

"Yes, Sir." Dante nodded. Thankfully, the guild wasn't blasting his eardrums into an early death, and the music was more laid-back rock.

"Take it slow, kid. There's no rush." Goldmine sipped his drink with a relaxed air. "I gave it to you only yesterday, just follow the content in the book, and it'll work out."

"I already did." Dante placed a hand over a mug, and in a small flash of a jade green magic circle, water trickled into the container.

Goldmine stopped to stare; an eyebrow raised in surprise. “Well damn, you really grasped it already.”

“Your book was very clear.” Dante placed said book on the table, having finished reading it over fifty times and thoroughly sick of it. “For all ages.”

“I’m glad you liked it.” Goldmine chuckled, clearly pleased to see his efforts pay off. “It was a real pain to condense the information.”

“The illustrations left little to imagination.” Dante responded dryly, almost seeing the damn cartoon images in his mind.

“You’d be surprised.” Goldmine subtly glanced at the rest of the guildhall, seeing many of his members drinking and smashing heads together, and sighed. “Some skulls are thicker than others.”

“I bet.” Dante smirked in amusement at the man’s suffering for running a magical frat house before tapping the book to get his attention. “It was very simplified and helpful, but it left me confused on a few things.”

“Alright, since you grasped magic casting so fast, I’ll answer whatever you got.” The older man sipped his drink and kicked his feet up, the full aura of a veteran mage entertaining a junior. “Fire way.”

"Right." Dante sat up and pulled out an old notebook that Bacchus tossed him after they calmed down and talked things out, along with about two dozen mini-colored paper bookmarks for important points Dante may or may not have cut from Bacchus's model posters. "I'll start from the top."

“The top?” The solid thud the notebook made as it shook the table caused Goldmine’s easy smile to dim as he eyed it like it was going to bite him. “This table is made of solid wood…”

Dante cleared his throat and opened to the first page. “What’s that solid material between the hollow space with the mana pool and the edge of the Ethernano Container for?”

Goldmine raised a brow at the unexpectedly targeted question. “Potential Mana, if you train hard with the exercise I provided, you can slowly excavate the material and grow your mana pool.”

“What happens when there’s nothing left to excavate?” Dante made a note.

“You hit your natural limit.” The answer hit Goldmine a little close to home, tightening his brows.

“Can the limit be expanded?” Dante’s eyes gleamed.

“Theories vary.” Goldmine frowned thoughtfully.

“What kind of theories?” Dante leaned in.

“Well…” Goldmine paused, wondering if this was a bit advanced to explain to a novice, before shrugging and listing off a few he had heard off the top of his head.

Dante nodded and made sure to write down everything important. "So, at the very least, I can grow my mana pool to the size of my container?"

“In theory, yes.”

“Why is it a theory?” Dante questioned.

“Not everyone reaches their full potential.” Goldmine didn’t say that the majority of mages never reached their full potential to avoid putting a damper on Dante’s enthusiasm. “The more you expand the mana pool, the harder it gets to excavate further.”

Dante nodded at that logic. “Does everyone have the same size?”

“That feels like an oddly worded question.” Goldmine sweatdropped and adjusted his crossed legs. “I assume you’re talking about mana cores?”

“Please answer the question.”

Goldmine scratched his cheek. “It varies by person.” He recalled the distant days with his original team, feeling the vast distance in potential between him and Makarov. “Some people are simply born monsters.”

“Is there a big difference?” Dante asked in interest.

“Yes.” Goldmine gritted out, snapping away from his memories. “Next question.”

“Ah, ok.” Dante sadly made a mark on the section and flipped a few pages over. The sight caused Goldmine’s brow to twitch as he realized how much more Dante wanted to dig into that subject. “What’s my caster seed doing to my mana pool?”

“In what sense?” Goldmine sat up a bit straighter.

Dante recalled what happened when he connected with his caster seed. “When I want to cast the spells my caster seed gave me, my seed submerges itself in my mana pool and changes the feeling I get from my mana.”

Generally, he felt the simple warmth of his mana flowing through his body, like a background noise that was always on, but when he intended to cast magic, the seed dipped itself in his mana pool, turned the blue mana green, and jade-flavored mana flowed through his body, not being uncomfortable but simply being different. In fact, it was incredibly comfortable and brought a smile to his face every time he channeled it. Why Dante considered it a 'jade flavor', he couldn't say. His magic circle was a jade color, and it just felt right to call it that.

“Ah.” Goldmine rubbed his chin, his previous smile returning. “That would be affinity tuning.”

"Affinity tuning?" Dante quickly wrote the words and circled them. "I read about the word affinity in your book, but it didn't go into detail."

“It’s a complicated subject.” Goldmine shrugged. “In simple terms, ethernano is a jumbled mix of various elements and affinities. When a caster converts their neutral mana to their elemental mana, they can be empowered by their affinity.”

“How do I know what my affinity is?”

“Hard to say.” Goldmine sipped his drink. “Some mages go their whole lives without finding an answer. Some pick up on it instinctively. Just keep pushing forward, and you'll feel slight differences in how your mana responds."

Dante didn’t like the vague answer but was forced to accept it as he moved on. “Is it better to convert all my internal mana at all times?”

“That’s up to the user.” Goldmine raised a finger. “It’s one of the main issues caster mages have to face. Elemental conversion.”

“Which means?” Dante held his pen at the ready.

“It’s a balancing act.” Goldmine held up two fingers. "Neutral mana is what all mages have. It has its own important uses for the body, and can be used for other magic schools. For a Holder mage, it's the fundamental building block, and whatever they plan to do, focusing on it requires a hundred percent of their attention." He closed one and pointed with the other. "Caster seeds give inherent intuition and access to a branch of magic, automatically converting neutral mana to its elemental affinity to cast without a medium. You can think of the seed as its own medium. Conversely, this converted mana lacks the benefits of neutral mana. This means Caster Mages typically split their focus fifty-fifty between the two.”

Dante furiously wrote down the information. “But Holder mages can use mediums to access magic schools, right?”

"I'm glad you read those parts." Goldmine gave him an approving nod. "And yes. The mediums act similarly to a Caster seed. Still, as the conversion of mana is happening outside the core, the process is far more inefficient, and external mediums typically work for a single spell. Plus, losing or breaking the item will often make a holder mage defenseless. The goal of holder mages is to eliminate the dependency on an item and manually do the process themselves. Whether that’s through experience or study is up to the individual.”

“I see.” Dante finished writing and turned the page. “What does neutral mana do for my body?”

“All kinds of things.” Goldmine grabbed a fresh drink from a passing tray. “Passive mana resistance, physical durability, improved recovery speed for injuries, slowed aging, and so on. It’s the bridge between a mage and ethernano. Everyone feels things slightly differently depending on various factors, making it a lifelong study.”

Even Goldmine at his current age wouldn’t consider himself a master of neutral mana.

“So, is it better for a caster mage to keep all their mana in one form or convert it all?” Dante pressed.

“It’s up to the mage in question.” Goldmine shrugged unhelpfully. "Experience will be the best teacher. Many use a 50-50 split, others 80-20, etc. Just be careful, as the less neutral mana you have, the more unbalanced you will be.”

“Unbalanced?”

“Neutral mana reinforces everything to a minor degree. Converted mana reinforces specific factors and weakens others.”

Dante thought it resembled a stat concept from games and wrote it down before moving on. “What happens when you run out of mana?”

“Technically, we never run out of mana completely.” Goldmine tapped the side of his head. “Our brains don’t let us use 100% of our reserves unless you’re doing something dumb like using forbidden magic or you’re in a life and death situation. Otherwise, even if you faint from exhaustion, you’ll have a minimum of 1% left.”

“And having less means your defense gets weaker?”

“Typically, yes.” Goldmine hummed. “It comes back to how I said neutral mana reinforces everything to a minor degree. The less of it you have, the weaker the reinforcement becomes. This also applies to whatever your converted mana does for you.”

“Can you give an example of a converted bonus?” Dante asked.

"Hm." Goldmine pinched his chin. "Look at basic elements. Earth-type schools usually boost physical durability and resistance to lightning-type schools, but they can also make a mage slower to act and vulnerable to other elements. There's a section about the subject at the library you can check out."

“Fascinating.” Dante thought of dozens of things based on that information. “Back to my seed, without it automatically converting, I couldn’t cast my spells?”

“Correct.” Goldmine’s eyes trailed to someone about to use a table as a bludgeoning tool and shot them a hard stare, making the certain member freeze and slowly put it down. “Casting with neutral mana wouldn’t result in anything.”

“Could I learn to convert it without the seed?”

“With time and practice, yes.” Goldmine turned back and nodded. “Holders spend their lives trying to do just that. I wouldn't say it's meaningless to a caster, as it will make you far more efficient at understanding the process. Still, I wouldn't recommend focusing on it until much farther down the road. Your seed will be your lifeblood for a long time.”

“Is it that hard?” Dante tapped his cheek with his pen, thinking about how comfortable the feeling of his converted mana felt. “It feels pretty natural; wouldn’t it be a simple process?”

His words weren’t whispered, and Dante missed the unkind gazes that swept his way from surrounding tables.

Goldmine paused at the question and slowly put his feet down. “There’s a long list of holder mages that might hurt you hearing you say that, kid.”

“That’s their problem.” Dante waved and wrote down his thoughts with inner pride sneaking out unconsciously. “Just because they fail doesn’t mean I will.”

“Right, and this is your problem.” Goldmine stood up, stepped back, and thoughtfully asked. “Want me to hold your notebook for you?”

“What?” Dante finally looked up and saw that he was surrounded by burly guys cracking their knuckles, with Bacchus in the distance laughing up a storm and raising a drink in salute. "Um…yes, please."

Goldmine silently took the book and walked off with a chuckle as the mosh pit began behind him. He only stopped a distance away to refill his drink. ‘That kid has a bright future.’ He looked down at the colorfully savaged notebook. ‘I wouldn’t expect those questions from a novice; did he actually know about magic before?’

"Bacchus, get your ass in here!" He heard Dante shout from the dog pile.

“Why the fuck should I, dumbass?” Bacchus shouted back.

“You know damn well why!” Dante grunted and broke a chair over someone’s back before he was tackled.

“Oh, shit.” Bacchus’s eyes widened as he downed his drink and dove headfirst into the pile. “Off my golden goose, ya bastards!”

Goldmine raised a brow but said nothing, simply chuckling at how lively things were getting. ‘Or maybe he’s just a natural.’ He raised his drink as a salute. ‘Climb as far as you can, kid.’

If only Goldmine knew just how curious Dante was, he might’ve been tempted to burn the notebook while he had the chance.

0000

 "What's the hardest part of the mana exercises to train?" A bandaged Dante continued later that night without the slightest hesitation.

"Channeling speed." Goldmine chuckled at the pup's enthusiasm while idly wiping a mug behind the main bar. "Compared to the others, it's a real bitch to train up."

“Why is that?” Dante held his broken pen at the ready.

“The channel between core and heart is wavy, fragile, and narrow.” Goldmine lifted a straw and bent it at various points as an example. “Channel mana too fast, and it can be burned. Channel too slow, and your heart slows. Channel too hard, and it can crack.” He pinched the straw until it split. “You can think of it as the most vital part of a mage.”

“Is there a health risk?” Dante circled the subject on the page. “You said the heart could slow.”

“If you overly strain it, yes.” Goldmine tossed the straw. “You can look up the various illnesses a mage can face if they strain their channel past the breaking point on your own. Just train steadily, and you'll be fine. The exercises exist for a reason."

“Got it.” Dante made a note to focus on it. “Can the channel be straightened, widened, and strengthened?”

“With time.” Goldmine hummed.

Dante faintly recalled something from the anime and asked. “I’ve heard that emotions play a strong role in increasing channeling speed.”

"Ain't that a flash from the past to hear." Goldmine didn't recall that being part of his book, but shrugged as it was a decently well-known theory. “Theoretically, yes. Some people believe that more than others, but I like to think it’s more about intent than emotions. Emotions are just fuel for intent, like opening the faucet wider, but it kind of burns you out without control." Goldmine knew his old teammate Makarov lived and breathed the emotional theory. "It can also be a crutch, that's why I prefer controlled intent over it. Burning everything you have in a single moment is all fine and good if you have allies watching your back, but I prefer to go for sustainability. That's my opinion anyway."

Goldmine wouldn't deny the sheer power it could display. Still, if a mage used such a method while alone to win one battle, they'd be laid helpless if another enemy appeared. Not to mention the potential issues if your emotions became unstable and inefficiency issues.

Finding the right balance was the path to the best results, but Goldmine didn’t bother saying such a thing now. It wasn’t a matter of talent but a state of mind that could only be achieved through experience. Mentioning it now could lead a novice mage to an early grave.

"I see." Dante made sure to underline the main point about intent. Relying on distant anime memories wasn't reliable without confirmation. He turned the page. "Your book says mages can grow continuously beyond the human limit by strengthening their mana fundamentals. What does that mean?"

"Hm, that's a loaded question." Goldmine grabbed a new mug to wipe and casually dropped a knowledge bomb. "Civilians have their own methods to gain strength with weapons, martial arts, and physical training, but without mana, they will face a wall they simply can't climb. Veterans and scholars consider it the wall between [E Class] and [D Class].

The older man pointed to the quest board beside the bar, where rows of paper fliers described jobs with clear red markings for E > A Class difficulty levels.

“We rank non magical people and threats at [E Class]. Mages fundamentally start at [D Class] thanks to mana, even if their physical bodies and skills are not up to par. Mages have mana flowing through their blood, and through that, they can strengthen the base qualities of their body. The greater the physical body, the more mana can grow. The greater the foundation of your mana fundamentals, the further mana can push the body.”

Dante’s eyes sparkled at the new information. “Does that have a limit?”

“Theoretically.” Goldmine shrugged and tossed his towel in the sink.

“What stops most people?” Dante held his pen at the ready.

“Age, time, effort, potential.” Goldmine listed off with mixed feelings, getting a bit tired of the questions for the moment. “The more talented one is, the further they can go.”

“Is there a way to overcome those obstacles without talent?”

Goldmine’s fingers twitched at the self-damaging question, and he decided his waiting paperwork suddenly seemed appealing. “If you find out, let me know.” He moved from behind the bar, walking to his office.

Dante flipped the page, casually following behind the older man with his notebook held high, making a few guild members on his path shy away from it as if they were undead to holy light. "How many days would it take to walk from the north shore of Fiore to the south shore?"

“Why don’t you go test it?” Goldmine opened the office door and shut it behind him.

A thud was the response. “Ow.”

0000

"What's the average population of Ishgar?"

“Check the public library.” Goldmine rubbed his brow and wondered how he ended up in this position.

“Is a grapefruit-sized core considered large?”

Goldmine twitched again at another self-damaging subject. “Slightly above average.”

“How much more durable am I compared to before I awakened magic?”

"I can punt you, and we can find out."

Putting word to reality, Goldmine did just that, angling Dante just right to land on a group's table, and he smiled at the sounds of another bar fight erupting.

Everything was right in the world.

0000

“Can a Holder mage do everything a Caster mage can?” Dante popped into existence on another morning.

“Gah!” Goldmine nearly dropped his coffee. “Where did you come from, you demented chipmunk?”

“Please answer the question.” Dante’s eyes gleamed, seemingly uncaring of the numerous bruises and bandages covering his face as he held up a badly taped-together pen.

Goldmine sighed and rubbed his forehead. “With enough time and talent, potentially.”

“Is either mage type stronger?” Dante pressed.

“Casters have a better start, long-term, it varies.” Goldmine was already speed walking toward his office. “Casters tend to get lazy and overconfident.”

“How many types of magic schools has a holder mage mastered before?”

“Check a history book.” He slammed his office door behind him, distantly hearing the screams of despair as Dante shifted his questioning target to the guild members in the hall like a bloodhound after a bone.

In other news, the Magic Council was surprised and pleased to see Quatro Cerberus dutifully completing its paperwork early this month.

0000

“Does the king of Fiore have full control over the Magic Council?”

“I just sat down.” Goldmine sighed in suffering and put down his utensils, staring longingly at his lunch before turning to his newest problem. “Who the hell starts a conversation like that anyway?”

“Please answer the question.” Dante had more bruised skin than healthy skin at this point, and Goldmine was beginning to be concerned.

“…I hesitate to question why you’re asking about the king, but technically, yes.”

“Why is it technical?”

"Our king is not a mage and chooses to be very hands-off with the magical government." Goldmine was reaching his limit with his new brat. Wait. He wasn't even one of his official brats. Goldmine's brow twitched violently at that realization.

“So, the council still answers to the king?” Dante inquired eagerly.

“I assume so?” Goldmine scratched his head, unnerved by the topic and Dante’s interest. “I’m not a council member, so I can’t give you a straight answer.”

Dante nodded and turned the page. “Why are there speed limit laws for mages?”

"Let's find out." Goldmine grabbed him by the back of his shirt, and football tossed him away, even if his act was gentler than usual out of concern for Dante's accumulating injuries. "I'm eating in my office."

0000

“Where is the Mana Core connected to my heart located?” Dante hung from the ceiling outside the bathroom, wrapped like a Halloween mummy. “Is it in my body?”

“Are you a woodpecker?” Those birds literally gave themselves concussions and died from their efforts, and the guild master of Quatro Cerberus was starting to think he got stuck with a human version of one. “And why are you hanging from my ceiling?”

“Please answer the question.”

Goldmine was beginning to hate those words. “Theories vary.”

“Is it in my soul?”

“Theories vary.” Goldmine repeated with gritted teeth.

“Does the soul exist?”

Goldmine looked up and silently asked why. “Magic that affects the soul exists, so I assume so.”

“Is that where eye-based magic comes from?”

Goldmine went to refute before pausing. “That’s…actually an interesting question.”

Dante took that as an answer and turned the page in his notebook with a sound that was far louder in Goldmines ears than it had any right to be.  

“How does my caster seed transmit knowledge to my brain?”

“Blunt force trauma.”

“Huh?”

Goldmine coldcocked him and left Dante swinging from the ceiling.

0000

“Can I file a restraining order on another mage?”

Goldmine blinked at the odd question and lowered his sunglasses to see how many bruises this pain in his ass was now sporting. “Are you ok?”

“Please answer the question.” Dante definitely didn’t slur his words from a swollen lip.

"…yes? I'm a bit concerned now." Goldmine put down his drink and stared. He knew his boys were rough, but they weren't mean-spirited and wouldn't go this far. 'Has someone been bothering the pup outside the guild?’

Dante casually pushed on. “What does the color of one’s magic represent?”

“Style points.” Goldmine didn’t care for the real answer. “Some say it’s due to your affinity.”

“Affinity?” Dante perked up at the topic. “Your book mentioned affinity in how a caster seed forms."

“It did?" Goldmine scratched his head as he tried to think about where he had written it.

“When you were talking about how Caster Seeds are like winning the lottery.”

“Oh, right.” Goldmine nodded. “Different mages can have an affinity for various things. Some say a caster seed is a specialization from those affinities." He pointed at Dante. "Take yourself, for example. I know you have a water spell, so your magic has an affinity that could be anything related strongly to water."

“What kind of water affinities are there?”

Goldmine waved like it was too much work to go through them. “Things can get weird, don’t think too much about it.”

“How do mages gain an affinity?” Dante wondered what his Brewing magic came from.

“Some say birth, others say it happens through experiencing things.” Goldmine shrugged. “I’ve never heard a solid answer.”

Dante nodded and finished his notes before turning the page. “Why is a caster seed called a seed? Is it supposed to sprout into a tree?”

"It's metaphorical." Goldmine was getting tired of the questions, yet lacked the energy to stand up and walk away; he could only sigh and give a real answer. "Magic isn't identical between individuals. No matter if you're a Holder or Caster, no two mages will be the same. Starting points may be similar, but how a mage uses their magic will determine how their seed grows. Similar starting points, different growth paths.”

The answer made Dante perk up. “Does that mean a seed can be changed from its initial form?”

"I wouldn't say changed." Goldmine swirled his drink. "More like shifted. I've met a caster mage who transitioned from a steam-based seed to a water-based seed.”

“Did he lose his original spells?”

"In a way. You could say they shifted." Goldmine thought back to that crazy mage and chuckled. "His affinity was related to volcanoes. He was obsessed with hot springs, and it took a lot of time and effort to get what he wanted.” He shook his head. “He could have just commissioned others or bought magic items, but he was determined to do it himself.”

"His affinity was related to volcanoes, and he had water magic?” Dante tilted his head in confusion.

“I told you things can get weird.” Goldmine shrugged. “Affinities don’t follow the same logic we understand.”

“I see.” Dante finished his notes and suddenly shut the notebook for the first time in the days he had been hounding the master of Quatro Cerberus. “That’s all I wanted to know. Thank you for your help.” He bowed his head.

The noise in the guild nearly went silent as over a dozen pairs of ears perked up at the magical words they’ve been wanting to hear.

Goldmine stopped to stare at the kid before him and suddenly felt his irritation from the week flow away with a token of respect. “Anytime, pup.”

Dante nodded resolutely. “I’ll be back when I have more.”

Goldmine immediately sweatdropped at the collective groan of his boys and desperately set down a new rule. “No more questions until I’ve tasted fresh rabbit meat.”

“Understood.” Dante took the words like gospel. “I’ll be back.”

Goldmine had mixed feelings about the sheer confidence in those three words. “Wait, I changed my mind. I want Shepherd’s Hare meat.” Those little buggers were a pain in the ass to handle for even a C Class mage. Not from danger, but difficulty in catching.

“Understood.” Dante repeated undeterred and turned with heavy footsteps, marching out under the eyes of a dozen guild members who felt their heads hurt when they looked at Dante holding that cursed, colorful notebook.

“No more questions!” A dozen voices practically shouted in unison once he was gone. “Master, please ban him from asking more questions!”

They hadn't had to think of so much theory in such a short amount of time in years, and the guild's hard liquor supply had dwindled under Dante's onslaught.

Goldmine stared at the response from his boys and ignored the cold sweat covering the back of his black shirt to seriously ponder a hard point. ‘Have I been too lenient on them? Maybe I should start quizzing them or something?’

He wanted them to grow as mages, but at the same time, he shivered at the idea of another Dante getting curious. ‘No need. I like my pups as they are. If they want to grow, that’s their choice.’ 

0000

Back at the dorm, Dante had just opened the door when Bacchus called out from where he was doing handstand pushups on his thumbs.

“Done tormenting the boss?”

“For now.” Dante held up the notebook with a tired grin. “I’ll buy you a new one later.”

“I’d rather ya got me a new takeout menu.” Bacchus grumbled.

"I don't get your obsession with that thing. Aren't they free?" Dante dropped onto his bed, groaning as he felt all the pains of his body flare at once.

“That’s not the point!” Bacchus flipped back to his feet with clenched teeth and finally admitted the truth he had been withholding. “The server at that place was super into me and wrote her address on it, an address ya crossed out with your nonsense.” Bacchus shot him an annoyed look. “I can’t just go back and ask again, that’s lame as hell.”

"I said 'my bad' already." Dante scratched his head; he thought it was a favorite dish at the restaurant or something at the time and didn't pay attention with how inspired he was. "I thought you just forgot what you ordered or something. I can go and talk to her if you want?”

“That’s even lamer!” Bachus kicked a pillow at him and grunted. “Are ya done procrastinating already?”

“It’s not procrastination, it’s research.” Dante countered with a lazily raised finger. “But yes, we can go in the morning.”

“Alright.” Bacchus dropped his training set of armor, which Dante found out had a stupid amount of weight to it, with a sigh of relief. “Earlier we set off, the better.”

Dante hummed in agreement, already half out cold.

Bacchus scoffed out loud but still sent Dante a grudging look of respect for how hard the guy had worked that week. ‘Keep going strong, bro.’

Chapter End.