Still, the normal mages didn’t have anywhere near the number of rounds of work to do that I did, which was a counterbalance for having multiple Elements to work with.

But they didn’t complain, either. None of the boys had ever expected to make Mage, or many of the other ones even get to Adept, so it was literally an awesome problem to have.

If they stuck with the proper methods, they were also practically guaranteed to make Archmage, after all!

From a functional standpoint, I got about six hours of work done on my Stars a day, so it took five weeks for me to crash through my Mage Tribulation, then cycle through my initial empowerment to Low Mage, grind through the second empowerment to mid-tier Mage, and then finish up the standard power assessment at Three Tiers. I became a half-Archmage as soon as I applied the Soul Crystals to advance to Tier-4 on all Stars, and I had enough Gems to advance them all to Tier-6.

The boys all screamed at me in disbelief at how fast I climbed up, but sheesh, this Magery system of theirs was absolutely crazy. All you had to do was get good at Mana-drawing, Tempering, and Infusion, and you could rise in Magery Level. You didn’t need to actually get good at Casting spells at all. You could sit around, contemplate your navel, build up your Stars and Will, and you were freaking golden and able to reach Archmage if you had just the minimum amount of Talent.

I considered their empowerment system as big a cop-out for them as they considered the ability to Level up Wizard by slaughtering stuff and not having to really learn anything was to me, even getting some free Spells Known every Level from instinctual knowledge as we Leveled up... of our own choice!

Yeah, some of the Coralost internal boards were quite devoted to poking fun at the differences between the two Leveling systems; the necessity of Karma for the one, and so much dry, boring time in abject counterpoint for the other. It was also funny how the Magery system only required knowing one spell per Element and you could get along fine, with combat completely optional, while the Wizard system opened up the possibility of so, so many spells you could learn, combat and non, but fighting was almost mandatory to advance with any speed.

It really was funny. The Magery system had a lot more power, much less intellectual investment, and so was much more suitable for combat... but didn’t reward you much for combat at all in terms of power, only incidental proficiency and familiarity with magical combat.

The Wizardry system, on the other hand, could literally bury you in magical research, knowledge, details, versatility, and such, but didn’t reward you with much Karma for all that stuff. It was vastly inferior in staying power in combat to Magery, yet it gained the most by fighting.

The intellectual system profited most by being a thug in terms of power, and the thug system profited most by sitting around and contemplating your navel.

Quite funny, and why when you combined the two, you suddenly had all the magical stuff in the world to profit from. Magery increased your staying power in combat, which sped along your Wizardry, whose versatility vastly increased your ability in combat, and the ever-improving Caster Level bonuses practically guaranteed your advance to the next Level of Magery.

Learning Waking Meditation so your Matrix could slowly pump Mana into your Stars without having to sit around contemplating your navel also freed up a lot of time, but the demands on brains were pretty onerous. Nevertheless, everyone wanted the 20 in the Casting Stat that would enable it, and were striving urgently for Ten and so forth.

---

“-in today’s news, Babe the Blue Ox made an unusual appearance in Lansing, the state capital. Riding him at the time was Master Hunter Briggs, most widely known for the establishing of the Coralost Compound and his management of the Earthhouse of the new Earth Magic spells nearby. He arrived to speak with legislators on behalf of Babe the Blue Ox about a project the venerated Guardian Beast of Michigan seems to be interested in, details of which are yet to be fully forthcoming...”

Cheers went up all around as the coverage of the event continued, but we already knew the results, so it was all appreciative at knowing it was out there and the people could talk about it with enthusiasm publicly. The energy and drive for doing something for Babe was infectious, and would spread rapidly to the public at large.

There were hoots and handshakes and back-slappings all around. More and more people were being brought in every day, especially Typeless sorts who never thought they’d be wielding magic at all, and the restoration of their sense of self-worth was a constant bubble of inner joy throughout the Allegiance and Markspace.

They could do stuff, and it mattered!

The KIA boys turned from the flatscreen TV reporting the process, one of the expensive new ones being made here, all the components having to be produced in various buildings and brought together. The feed was clearer, the definition was better... and it had no problems conveying magical images, if the proper camera was also used.

Naturally that meant we had to supply cameras to the local news services, which would mean eventually revamping the whole communication system for the country, an immense and endlessly profitable endeavor. After all, someone also had to repurpose all that Isotopic wiring that was being thrown out, right?

“Awright, awright. Eyes here, everyone.” The KIA crews had naturally expanded a lot, but the boys were still the core of it, teaching and leading the others, although the new teams naturally had their own combinations and flavor. They were good-naturedly envious of the relationship I had with The Mick and the lads, but my clear favoritism on who I worked with only meant the boys got to try the stuff first, and had to work the hardest to learn the ins and outs so they could teach it all to the others.

I indicated a very simple device before them all. It looked like a large disk on the ground, with a pole coming up with bars to grab, and a curtain around it which could be closed tight. It didn’t look like much, but everyone there could see it was magical, their Awareness pricked by the Runes inside it and out from some very precise work, and they were all eager to see what it did.

Startling them a bit, I held up a chunk of grey rock in my off hand. “Anyone know what this is?” I asked them, making sure they could all see it. The sheen of it was obviously magical, but in a weird way, almost deflecting the way their eyes fixed on it.

Red blinked, naturally the first to speak up. “Hey, that’s Mindstone,” he murmured for everyone’s benefit. I just pointed at him, and he went on. “Guys, that’s the meteoric rock that is used to hone Will. It’s rare as Hell, and prized by Void Mages. It’s sorta like a whetstone for your Will, one of the very few magical components that can enhance Will. That chunk there is worth millions!”

“Twelve point five million dollars, to be exact.” They all sucked in their breaths, eyes fixed on it, and then I tossed it over my shoulder into Hammerspace dismissively. “I used the standard of its behavior in making this minor little toy.” I stepped aside and swept a ta-da! gesture at the stand behind me. “Let me ask you a question, if I may. If a Mindstone that can advance one person one Will category is worth twelve point five million, just how much is a Phobos Stand that can potentially raise an unlimited number of people multiple Will categories?”

They all sucked in their breaths as I let the fact dangle in front of them.

“Fifteen goldweight!” someone piped up in back. I burst out laughing despite myself, and everyone turned on Jineel, who’d fetched the goldweight I’d used to empower it.

“Plus construction materials of half a goldweight!” I agreed, and everyone grinned, their eyes gleaming. I was introducing another mind-bending item that was going to bring some extremely rare and powerful individual-boosting benefit down and make it available to everyone, again!

“The fact is, a lot of mages have no ready ability to test their Wills. There are two ways we are going to change that. Why, you might ask? Is there any reason or need to really work on Will?” I pointed at Burt, who stepped forward promptly.

“Many of the most potent and dangerous magical forces are directly opposed by your Will. Psychic Magic’s ability to invade your thoughts, spin illusions, and command you. Sound Magic’s ability to disrupt concentration. Void Magic’s ability to make the world itself crush you. Chaos Magic’s ability to alter the very rules of the Magic you are using.

“Your Will is how you withstand these things. It is an incredibly important defense against basically one-shot kills and some very lethal magic.

“Very importantly, it has no direct relationship to your Magery Level. You can have a monstrously powerful Will without being an Archmage or anything. Having multiple Elements IS known to increase your Will and mental force, simply from the repeated efforts of manipulating all the different kinds of Mana and the stress and mental exercise involved in doing so. However, that is nothing like the constant practice that comes from using the types of Mana that react to Will, and Will alone.”

I waved him back as the men around him nodded thoughtfully. “That is absolutely correct,” I stated firmly, looking over them all. “You are using a general defense against specialists in wielding Will magic for offense. If any of you have ever fought Psychic, Sound, Void, or Chaos mages, I’m sure you can relate how damnably hard it is to overcome them in the area of their own experience.”

There were murmurs and nods from several of the men, especially those who’d had to suffer the attentions of various users of Sound and Psychic Magic among the Aquatics at the Boonies.

“The second reason for doing this is similar, but less well-known. Will represents both strength of mind and breadth of mind. A high Will is essential to mastering higher Levels of magic, although it is so automatic that it basically never inhibits anyone... until they reach the very top.” I looked over them all in the sudden silence. “Yes. There has never been a Sage who has not had a terrifying Will compared to normal mages. You cannot make that great final step without a mind that is broad, deep, and powerful.

“Every Element you unlock is your breadth. Every spell you know is your depth. Your Caster Level is your power.”

Their breaths hissed out. The path was laid out in front of them, and it was plain that Typeless mages actually had an advantage in spells that counterbalanced an Elemental mage’s multiple Elements!

“Sages, in the past, have advanced to the next step by staying focused on their magic, taking all the right advances... and then, at Mage and Archmage, devising or learning many different ways to use the magic of their Elements, increasing their depth and understanding until they were capable of stepping beyond, going from half-comprehension and power to the greater understanding of a Sage by overlaying the knowledge and skill of wielding multiple Elements.

“It is only one of the strictures you need, but without the Will, nobody makes Sage!”

I let them think about that as a Disk floated over from the side, with several metal spheres inside it.

“There are two methods here to improve your Will. One is passive, the other is active, or competitive, even. We’re going to go first with the Phobos Stand. Captain Mick, guinea pig time!” He winced dramatically as I nodded at the contraption, although he’d been testing it for weeks now with the other KIA men. “Step on the Stand, close the curtain, grasp the bars, and trigger the magic. The test ends when you step out from the curtain.”

He made a big show of flexing and working his jaw, to the hoots and catcalls of the mages and artificers gathered there. He hopped on the Disk flamboyantly, looked around with exaggerated care, wagged his finger at everyone, and then sniffed haughtily as he whisked the curtain closed.

Then the inside of the Disk went black, and the startled watchers about to cheer or jeer all went silent in surprise.

“He can’t hear or see you right now. He’s isolated in his own little world, and the universe is opening up to him, bearing down on him, bringing out all of his little worries, anxieties, fears, and phobias, and dragging them up and out for him to confront.” Several of the watchers went absolutely white at my words. “The effect goes up one level every six seconds, testing your Will. It starts at a base of 10, and then progresses fairly rapidly. The scale is sliding compared to normal Will tests you might see administered, because this is quite basic and straightforward: it is resisting the effects of magic upon your mind.”

I let them digest that a moment as they kept their eyes fixed on the silent curtain, which somehow seemed to be growing more ominous by the second.