All in all, we were doing a pretty good job opening up the new Spellhouses on the sly. Acquiring the land and permits was the most difficult thing, but once the communities understood the amount of traffic that was going to be coming through them, we rapidly got them on our side. The farmers and ranchers who might be displaced by the move found themselves in possession of a lot of money, and the ability to move first on setting up hospitality services for the visitors, with us even offering to train up their families so they could make some really good money at it... or they could just take it and move elsewhere, and we’d help clear some land so they could resume their trade.

The mages of the world were paying for it, and while we didn’t accept being gouged, we didn’t mind being generous. Actually, the Earth Magic help we could offer them was worth a lot of money by itself.

The actual construction of the Spellhouses was something that was practiced at the Coralost Compound, so they could be put up swiftly and effectively. What Energized Elements were needed, along with the Scroll Podium, were trucked into place ahead of time, and the terraforming actually took place with what was considered breathtaking speed. The slowest part of the procedure was actually putting in the internal furnishings, fittings, decorations, and the like.

A mere screen of fast-grown trees was basically enough to keep the whole thing concealed from idle passersby, and when the Waterhouse was announced and opened in the suburbs of south Boston about a mile from the ocean proper down a small river, it took the whole city by surprise, especially the Mage Association there. The Boston Hunter’s Guild higher-ups had quietly known about it for months, but they blandly made preparations and said not a damn thing, while jumping for joy internally at the amount of money that was soon going to be flowing into their coffers.

The Shore Mages of Boston were also naturally eligible for their own guaranteed allocation of Spells, and quashed any attempted moves by the Mage Association to shut things down for inspection, testing, territorial infringement, jurisdiction, negotiations over compensation, and so forth. The Hunter’s Guild had it all set up, the first scheduled days online went up, and it was open for business the next day.

-------

Nobody was bothering me, although a lot of people wanted to. Briggs was looming in great stinking post-Boonie fighting grandeur over there, and even the Archmages who wanted to come my way, smug and superior in their power, checked themselves upon seeing (and smelling) him. The way the magic was pushed AWAY from him sent the hackles on their necks rising, the remnants of gore on him proved it wasn’t for show, that Hammer just radiated Go Away, and they decided introductions could wait for a more social time.

That wasn’t to say I wasn’t socializing and chatting. There had been a lot of quiet movement and cooperation with locals here and there, and they didn’t have monetary goals of finding out where we were going to be opening something next. I was naturally well-informed on everything, since a lot of my money was invested in this stuff, and I’d helped train a lot of low-end Typeless Casters who were quietly eager to make a good living off servicing the mages coming by.

There were many demonstrations of the Spells taking place. The Acid Spray was the big offensive spell that ended in the Light Star, able to corrode things and push them around if diluted, although it didn’t have much cutting force as a Novice Spell. Narrow hoses of barely-acidic Water were spraying into the air in all directions, and the air was heavy and wet with a lot of Water Mana as the Water mages here demonstrated the new magicks or their own.

Especially their own. I was especially interested in any custom spells Mages or Archmages were willing to display, decoding the many ways they were pushing the individual Starmaps and Nebulas to make the spell effect, and guiding us towards the extra Mage-class spells I did not yet have deduced... but I was building up a database!

The Lightning-Star spell was Fountain, which naturally enough summoned a geyser out of the ground. It was a disruptive tool, sure, but also a massive source of natural water which could be used for other spells, making it easier and faster to bring to fruition, or able to cover a larger area, almost a Domain effect.

The Fire-Star spell was Surf the Waves, which allowed Water Walking, or creating a stream of Water to skate/surf around on at speed. It was the spell with the highest demand, as it allowed Water users to zip around twice as fast as they could sprint or more, and really race around on the surface of the sea, closing the maneuverability gap with the Aquatics out there.

The Air-Star spell was Silverfish, which Summoned up a cloud of gleaming droplets of Water, which could be sent wherever directed. They could be used to quench fires, coat someone’s face, explode into mist or fog, mark something, refract lights into sparkles, just entertain the kids, casually dry yourself off, or keep the rain away.

The Earth-Star spell was the basic known spell, Water Shield, but my version was naturally about fifteen percent more effective, holding together more effectively and so making a better barrier. More adept mages could easily expand the area of it instead, making it more versatile than the normal spell.

The Ice-Star ending spell was literally Water Breathing. Combined with Surf the Waves, it allowed a Water mage to swim around underwater with nearly the speed and smoothness of an Aquatic, especially if they had experience and higher Levels. The river nearby was soon inundated with Water mages zipping around on the top and under the water... and some factories and farms upriver were soon going to be getting hassled by Water mages who didn’t particularly like inhaling pollution.

“Lady Fae, allow me to extend the thanks and congratulations of the Boonie Boys and Bonnies of Boston for a successful spellhouse opening.”

Boston’s Hunter’s Guildmaster, Seamus O’Bannon, came from a Family with some deep not-so-legal roots in this town, but he was from a lower-side branch who’d been given little to no support, and clawed his way up the hard way in this town, serving in the Boonies for years and watching a lot of friends and not enough rivals die out there. Him making Guildmaster was a result of popularity, grim reputation, and very hard work.

His Family naturally wanted to exploit the connection, but he gave them all the support they’d given him, which was mostly lip service. That unstinting support of the Boonie Hunters he had was probably the biggest reason we’d chosen Boston as the place to establish this Spellhouse. After all, Water Magic was basically the least effective Magic against Aquatics... but it was one of the very best to defend against other Water Magic, naturally, and a lot of the natives of the city wound up Awakening it.

That, of course, was the other shocking thing we’d done: unveiling the Earth, Light, and Water Awakening Stones, all at the same time!

A one hundred percent chance to Awaken the chosen Element was nothing at all to sneer at, particularly with the other Scrolls right over there telling them that there was no inferior Element anymore. While everybody and their mother wanted Fire and Lightning to be great combat mages before... well, shit, Light was just as good for fighting now, and Earth and Water had far more application outside of combat!

If you didn’t want to be a combat mage, but could still serve as one if needed, Earth was definitely awesome, and now Water wasn’t that bad, either! At least, if the videos of those people playing with Silverfish and Surfing around was any indication...

“Any pushback from certain parties, Guildmaster?” I asked him calmly. There were numerous specialists in the art of Awakening specific Elements, who doubtless felt very threatened by the sudden revelation that we could one hundred percent Awaken a specific Element, IF the person could be Awakened.

“Yes, great complaints, trying to find excuses to shut this place down. The Metrics room you installed is a wonder. Wish I’d had it all those years ago,” he replied with a snort of contempt for those people, obviously not giving much credence to their arguments.

“Probably wouldn’t surprise you that a good twenty percent of those using it are just ignoring the recommendations,” I informed him.

“Nah, idiots abound,” he replied fatalistically. “Can’t have a proper world without proper fools, yah know?”

The Metrics room was basically an Assay, just re-aligned to display Intellect, Wisdom, and Charisma as attunements to Light/Ice, Air/Water/Earth, and Fire/Lightning, respectively. Taking the wrong Element meant you were going to suck at using that Element and find it very hard to get stronger... if you could be Awakened at all.

Naturally the clamor was for us to immediately build the Lightning and Fire Spellhouses, as everybody who wanted to fight wanted to Awaken them. Existing Lightning and Fire users had some severely mixed feelings about that, as they knew that there was suddenly going to be a huge influx of Fire and Lightning mages in the future, as well as new spells for them.

The KIA boys were not shy about demonstrating the fact those spells existed, too!

Harvard University and MIT were already deep into setting up a joint true school system of Water Magic here, Magic School through Archmage-class training, anticipating that this area would soon have more Water Mages than anywhere else in the world. The combination of the Boonies and an elite Water Magic training course would quickly make their students some of the most formidable Water Mages alive!

“You got a bone you can throw the Awakeners? They’re a powerful and influential bunch, and you’re really threatening their livelihood by doing this. Is there a limit on what you can Awaken?” the guildmaster asked me.

He was fishing, but he was also right. I was also of the opinion that it was better those people see it coming, rather than have it crashing down on them all at once.

“The correct answer is no, there’s no true limit on what can be Awakened, if they’ve the potential. However, I will not be building any Spellhouses to Dark Magic.”

He blinked, and I could see he realized he’d just come into possession of some very important information. He had the Shadow Element, so that was not a casual statement. “Religion, difficulty, some other reason, Lady Fae?” he asked carefully.

“Metaphysics, animosity, and hypocrisy.” He gazed at me cautiously, wondering where all that was coming from.

“Metaphysics: every exercising of Dark Magic pulls more Dark Mana into our world from the Dark Realms, increasing the power and influence of the Dark Lords here. I am NOT going to be responsible for accelerating their rise to claiming this world as another part of their Realm.”

The older man’s lips pursed. “You sound pretty sure of that...”

“I wouldn’t be, but the Beast Lord of the Beast Realms and the High Emperors of this world are absolutely certain of it, and I trust their judgement in this matter.” He blinked again at the source of my information. “Which part of this are you unclear on: the source of the Dark Mana, or the increasing power of the Dark Lords? Both are very easy to verify.”

“I... huh.” His eyes flashed with blackness for a moment. “Never had it said to me so bluntly like that. Everyone kinda talks around the topic.”

“Mmm. Dark Magic tends to gather to those with Darkness in their souls, people who don’t like being denied whatever they want. I have no specific grudge or enmity against the people using Dark Magic. However, I am not a hypocrite. I know that using Dark Magic has incredibly dangerous and deadly implications for our world, and I do not support its use in any way, shape, or fashion.

“If the Dark Lords weren’t stopping them from doing so, the Beast Emperors mostly likely would have moved out and slaughtered every user of Dark Magic alive. Your own records should indicate that unless a Beast has its origins in the Dark Realm, there are very, very few of them with Dark Magic power.

“That is not an accident. Most Beast Emperors will kill Dark Beasts out of hand.”

He sucked in a long, slow, breath, staring at me. “That is very, very concerning news, Lady Fae...” he murmured.

“The Synod and many Archmages have known about it for centuries, if not millennia. It is not fresh news. The problem is that there are a great many powerful Dark mages who simply do not give a shit what it means for the world. Their power is their power, and they will not give it up for anyone, let alone some nebulous and unprovable assertation of ‘for the good of all.’”

Guildmaster O’Bannon nodded slowly. “Yeah, yeah, that’s true. You try to take away my Shadow Magic, I’m going to fight you with everything I have,” he said grimly, glancing at the Spellhouse. “I got no problem with not Awakening someone to the Dark magicks, though, especially if that’s the truth of the matter.”

“I will float this past you, because you’re a hard, cold, mean bastard who’ll think it through.” He grinned at the back-handed compliment, his eyes intent on me. “If I could Burn your Shadow Magic Stars clean, down to Typeless Stars that could be used to supply your other three Elements, would you be open to that?”