Chapter 103: 102: Star Child: A Keepers Ascension VI
Jane, Iris, and I all walked up onto the stage and stood beside Baset. I patted her on the shoulder and smiled.
"Thank you for that riveting introduction Baset, we'll take it from here." I said. Baset arched a brow at me but said nothing as she turned and left the stage taking a spot beside Alberto's group.
<Jane repeat what I say…> I said telepathically.
"Esteemed guests and my honored Paragons I am Jane Yearwood and these are my teammates Iris Stone and Chase Kingston…" Jane parroted what I told her through our link while I watched the bleachers. When Jane mentioned my name a few people in the bleachers looked up from their personal conversations and turned their attention to the stage. "…my teammates and I have prepared not one spell for Lady Baset's assignment…"
A few more guests looked up and turned their attention to Jane but all of them were on the first three tiers of the bleachers, not the top tier where the Paragons were.
<Hold on a second Jane…> I instructed her as I pulled out a spell sheet I slipped into my pocket before we got off the shuttle and channeled mana into it. I casted a utility spell sigil and held my hand up. A small rainbow colored ball formed in my palm and then shot into the air, it exploded several feet above the top tier of the bleachers in a vibrant array of color and thundering loud booms.
All of the guests screamed and jumped up, looking from my magical fireworks then down to me with distain.
"I'm sorry did I interrupt everyone's conversations?" I asked sarcastically. A few disgruntled guests opened their mouths to speak but I interrupted them before they could. "Well I'm sorry! The three of us are doing a presentation! Now I don't know how they do things in other countries but where I am from when someone is presenting the audience shuts the fuck up and pays attention!"
Everyone looked shocked, out of the corner of my eye I saw Astrid and Baset looking at me with their mouths wide open and their eyes blank like they'd mentally checked out of their bodies. Nobody said anything for a few moments until The Morgan stood up from her seat and glared down at us.
"I don't know whether your impertinence is because you have a star farm crystal or because you are an American but a unproven and nameless Splicer does NOT address a Paragon in such a manner!" She snapped. I chuckled and shook my head.
"Yeah you can ask Baset, I have little time for all the pomp and ass kissing that a lot of you paragon's seem to need to survive." I said then turned my back to the stands. "All of you accepted invitations by the dean to come and witness our first assignment from Baset and offer criticism. If all of you are going to do is sit and talk amongst yourselves, not even bothering to pay attention then you can leave. A bunch of self important ass holes too wrapped up in themselves to take five minutes out of their time aren't going to help me advance or learn."
<STAR CHILD WHAT THE FUCK!!!> Iris bellowed in my head. With my back turned to the bleachers and facing Iris I could see that she was barely managing to keep the her outrage from reaching her face. While Jane looked like she just mentally checked out and went to her happy place.
"So you want us to pay attention to you? Is that it?!" The Morgan exclaimed. She turned and sat down in a extravagant and regal manner then threw her arms up to address everyone in the bleachers. "Well congratulations Chase Kingston! You now have my undivided attention!"
<Got her!> I told Iris as I looked over my shoulder up at her and the other guests I rolled my eyes and sighed unimpressed.
"I'm so thrilled…" I drawled. <Jane cut me off!>
"Okay! Thank you so much Chase! I'll take it from here!" Jane exclaimed in a faux cheery voice then discreetly pushed me to the back of the stage away from the bleachers and the Dean's guests.
<Laying it on a little thick aren't you?> Iris asked telepathically as she walked around me to stand beside Jane. I turned to look up at the bleachers and saw that all of the guests were watching Jane intently.
<Nope, my plans working perfectly.>
"As I was saying earlier esteemed guests, my group has prepared not one but three spells that have been personalized…" Jane started and was interrupted.
"Three spells! "The Morgan exclaimed incredulously then chuckled loudly. "You only had a months time and you are telling me that you managed to personalize three spell? Highly unbelievable for first year college students!"
"Well we're not ordinary first years, we are in Lady Baset's advanced class." Jane replied calmly. "The three spells we customized are in types that each of us specialize in. Offensive, Utility, and Defensive type spells."
"And they are?" The Morgan asked.
"Flame spiral, ice wall, and invisibility." Iris answered stepping forward. "Defensive magic is Lady Jane's specialty, Utility is mine, and offensive is Chase's. Though almost any spell he uses ends up being destructive."
"That's putting it mildly!" Baset exclaimed with a chuckle. I rolled my eyes and crosses my arms.
The Morgan looked down at us with obvious distain as she curled her lip and crossed her legs.
"Ice wall and Flame spiral are both introductory spells in both offensive and defensive magic. A child could personalize them." The Moran chuckled.
"Invisibility however is a very advanced utility spell…" Dean Baxter said. "…I'm surprised you chose that spell to personalize, only two splicers in history have managed to successfully personalize it."
"Not even I could personalize it, despite my numerous attempts." The Morgan added. I rolled my eyes and huffed.
"And we should care that you couldn't do it because….?" I asked drawing out the last word to bait her into answering.
"Because I am The Morgan Paragon, the worlds foremost expert on spell craft and the runic language!" The Morgan exclaimed.
"The world's foremost expert and yet you couldn't figure out how to personalize the spell when a couple of lowly first years could?" I jeered. That remark earned a scornful look from The Morgan as she held her hand up and started casting a utility spell sigil.
Her body shimmered to nothingness as the invisibility spell took affect. I felt a pulse leave my body as Bone-lasher shared his senses with me. His electromagnetic vision highlighting her body even as my other senses told me that she'd disappeared. Iris, Jane and the others stared astonished or impressed at the display of magic I looked around and pretended to not be able to see where she was.
She got up from her seat and made her way down the bleachers, careful not to make any noise as she stepped on the stage and made her way towards me. I kept up the charade until she was just a arms length away and reached out to grab me. I grabbed her wrist then smirked and looked her in the eyes.
"Nice try Morgan." I said. The Morgan's spell shattered when it came into contact with me and she shimmered back into visibility. To say she was shocked would be a understatement.
"How…?" The Morgan started but I quickly interrupted her.
"Thank you for demonstrating how invisibility works, but if you wanted to get closer to see our spells all you had to do was ask." I said with a smirk. That earned a few chuckles that were disguised as coughs from some of the guests on the bleachers. The Morgan snatched her hand away and glared at me.
"Impressive that you could tell I was there." She said trying to play it cool.
"Not really. You're not that great at utility spells. Iris here casts better invisibility spells…" I said motioning over to Iris.
<Chase you dumbass, leave me out of your insults!> Iris hissed.
<You'll thank me later.> I replied.
<NO I WON'T!> Iris snapped.
"…and speaking of better invisibility spells Iris and Jane why don't you two show off the personalized invisibility spell." I said pointing to the girls.
They both shared a look then sighed and stood next to each other and started casting utility spell sigil. A small transparent bubble formed in the girls hands, as the light hit the bubble rainbow light filled the air. The girls both reared back and threw the bubbles to the edge of the stage. They hit the ground and popped.
The Morgan and all the guest watched with bated breath in the space that the bubbles popped for something to happen but nothing happened. The Morgan reared her head back and laughed loudly.
"Oh my gods! All that talk and predictably you failed." She cackled.
"No we didn't the spell is working perfectly." Jane said as she walked over to where her bubble popped. Suddenly Jane's body started to disappear as she walked closer until she was gone completely. Iris walked over to where her bubble popped and the same thing happened.
The guests in the stands gasped and whispered to themselves. I looked over at The Morgan and smiled smugly.
"This is our personalized invisibility spell: invisibility field." I said loudly so everyone could hear. <Girls poke your heads out.>
Jane and Iris poked their heads our of the fields and smiled. To everyone on this side of the field it looked like two disembodied heads were floating above the ground. One the other side however they had their full bodies.
"How….?" The Morgan breathed.
"I just added form, sphere, pop, expand, and area runes to the spell. Nothing too difficult." I said. The Morgan's expression turned serious as her head snapped to look at me.
"You can read the Runic language?" She gasped. I nodded then turned my back to her.
"I'm not a master at it or anything but as long as the runes are simple I can read them." I replied.
"So young…too young!" The Morgan exclaimed then snapped her fingers. "There is no way that a freshman college student would be able to understand a language even at the fundamental level that many of the world's brightest splicers have struggled to understand for thousands of years!"
"Sure! Just because you didn't have the talent to do it at eighteen years old that means nobody else in the world could possibly have the talent!" I exclaimed mockingly. Her face turned bright red as she glared at me.
"Well if you're such a world class talent why aren't you casting the spell?" The Morgan yelled. Baset took that moment to clear her throat and speak up.
"Chase can't learn any new spells, he learned the mana manipulation and conversion spell before he learned any other." Baset said. A hushed silence fell over the bleachers as Baset's words sunk in. The Morgan blinked a few times then threw her head back and laughed.
"You acted so pompous and superior and yet you can't even cast a spell! That means you can't compete your assignment!" She cackled. Most of the guests laughed along with her, though their laughter sounded forced. I let them continue laughing while I pulled my back pack off and pulled a note pad and pencil out of it and started scribing a spell sigil. When I was done I ripped the spell sheet off and and looked at the Morgan.
"I don't know why you're laughing. I can cast spells…." I said as I channeled mana into my hand and it jumped into the page. The spell sheet burned away as I started casting a utility spell sigil. The invisibility field bubble formed in my hand and I threw it over to where Baset and the other three were standing at the base of the bleachers. The bubble popped when it hit the ground and they all instantly disappeared. "…I just can't cast them spontaneously like all of you can."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn World Fact: while spell personalization seems like a common thing, for those in Advanced Courses it is not. For the average splicer it takes years or even decades of study to personalize a spell. This is mostly in part of the fact that very few people can read even the simplest of runes. For this reason very few people specialize in it making it a easier speciality to become a Paragon in.
[HUTEXA_THE_DJINN HERE! More chapters on the way! If you haven't please leave a review! Thanks!]
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