Ethan learned something very important about the more studious people in Gale House. He discovered that they were a lot like him, and thus his placement within the academy made sense. Bernard was an exhaustive person, not willing to leave any stone unturned when experimenting with this new barrier spell. They discovered its limits, determining that a Rank-Two fireball was too much for it. They tested the amount of damage it absorbed when expanded to its full size versus when it was small and figured out if it had any weaknesses to specific elements. The answer was that this was the most versatile Rank-One barrier the student had ever seen.

  “And now I’m exhausted.” Ethan collapsed onto a rock. His shoes were positively filled with mud, and the hem of his robes was stained with both mud and ash. As if that wasn’t bad enough, he looked up to see Luna finishing her task.

  “Yup, time for me to go,” Bernard said, gathering the bag he had set down and pulling up his robes. He ran off without saying another word.

  As Luna approached, Ethan folded his arms, looking up at her. “Why did that guy just run away like you were a demon? You’re not a demon, are you?”

  “That depends on the culture. Now, come on, we’re finishing up with the anomaly, and Alex is insistent that you see it all the way through. Otherwise, apparently, you don’t get paid. Not that you did anything to begin with.”

  Although Ethan hadn’t even had a chance to place the Lesser Barrier spell in any other attribute ring, he was too tired to care. He stood with a groan, rolling his shoulders as he felt something deep within him being restrained. During his practice with Bernard, he had confirmed a suspicion he previously held. If he wanted to strengthen his rings, which most other systems would consider placing a point into their attributes, he would need to practice in that specific domain. Affinity just so happened to be a domain of spellcasting. So, if he wanted Affinity to get stronger, he had to cast spells. Or emulate those spells and use the ability he generated from them.

  “Big man gets to sit around and reap all the rewards.” Alex didn’t actually seem surly as Luna and Ethan approached. He wiped his forehead, looking down at what must have been the crystal they had been working on and smiled.

  The crystal itself seemed unassuming. It was about the size of Ethan’s hand and pulsed with a muted energy. Surrounding the crystal were a series of chains that led to a metal frame. Both the chains and the frame looked as though they were made from clouds and had an inner glow that was equal parts ethereal and eerie.

  “This one wasn’t that bad,” Finn waved his hand through the air as though clearing away some leftover clouds. Ethan could only imagine how they had conjured such a thing to contain the crystal, but the man with the cards had an explanation. “Alex’s skill set was perfect for this one. He got to sit on a rock and take a nap while I exhausted myself.”

  “Don’t be jealous because my powers let me take a little nappy poo while I weave my magic.”

  Ethan settled in to observe an argument that seemed to be years in the making. He watched old friends skirt around the edges of insulting statements, seeming to push the boundaries of that friendship as far as they would go. Was this what happened when you worked with the same people for so long? It was difficult to tell how long each member had been with the group, but he knew Alex was the oldest. He seemed to be both the most jaded and the most hardworking. Eventually, the argument settled down, and the friends fell into the same familiar patterns.

  “Luna, I’m trusting you to take this back. We’ll escort the boy back to town and give him his first assignment.”

  Luna nodded, taking hold of a piece of the cloud and dragging it through the mud. Her sword appeared out of nowhere, and she jumped on it, flying away. That was apparently something that just happened, and Ethan had to endure the strangeness of it. But even that wasn’t enough to draw his mind away from Alex’s statement.

  “You expect me to deal with one of these alone?” he asked.

  “Of course. You were brought into the Anomalous Materials group. This is a class, and classes have assignments, don’t they?”

  “Well, that might be true. I’m not even remotely ready for it.”

  “Are you sure about that? Luna’s been observing you. While she cleaned up some of the excess mana, she told me that you stole a spell from a nearby student and adapted it to your own system. If you can do that, then handling a low-rank anomaly is going to be child’s play for you. Listen, if you need some incentive, remember that we get paid for containing these things.” Alex pointed down to Ethan’s ruined robes and shoes. “Maybe you could even buy yourself some magical equipment.”

  “A note for the future.” Finn pointed skyward, garnering Ethan’s attention. “Wear boots, not fancy shoes when you go into the field.”

  “Noted, I need some money for that… or points? Which one is more important?”

  “Last I checked, you’re in dire need of some points. You can either go and contain an anomaly, which I again remind you would earn you a ton of money, or you could drop even further in the ranks.”

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Collecting anomalies will get me Academy points? It’ll keep me from getting expelled?” Ethan asked.

  “That’s right. Now come on, we have a long walk back to town.”

  This just cemented Ethan’s idea that Alex wasn’t as lazy as he appeared. He was scheming in the best of ways, of course. The scribe wasn’t sure if he could contain one of those things. The steps they had gone through to create the prison around the water crystal were extensive, and all he had was a barrier spell.

  As the group walked along the dirt road, the scribe took the opportunity to do something he had put off. At first, he tried to simply apply the system sigil he had learned the Strength Ring, but it gave an error.

  [Sigil In Use]

  This sigil is already in use in your Affinity Ring. Please unequip it if you wish to use it with your Strength Ring.

  Navigating into his Rings interface, Ethan removed the sigil from Affinity and added it to Strength, along with a weird sensation that spread over his skin. He heard a pleasant chime confirming it was a success. He navigated deeper, finding where the barrier spell had attached and inspecting the resulting ability.

  [Lesser System’s Second Skin]

  Strength Ring Ability

  Generated By:

  Lesser Barrier (X-13, Mage, Rank 1)

  Description:

  When striking targets with your fists, a barrier made of system-based magic will appear over your knuckles.

  Effect:

  Creates a barrier over your fists that increases damage done, and decreases damage to your knuckles. Consumes mana based on damage prevented.

  Passive increase to unarmed damage.

  Although Ethan wasn’t sure what he had expected, it wasn’t that. It made sense, though. He had attached a barrier spell to his Strength, meaning that it adapted. Realizing that the spell would adapt to every single one of his attributes, Ethan couldn’t help but go crazy and try each one of them in turn. Agility ensured that upon falling too far, he would take less damage. Dexterity surrounded thrown weapons with a barrier, turning piercing damage into blunt damage. Vigor created a constant barrier around his body. It wasn’t as effective as the spell version but was interesting enough. Endurance generated a constant field that reduced the chances of him getting sick, either by magical or mundane means. Mind was just like the affinity version but always on and focused on repelling mental attacks.

  For now, he left it in his Affinity since that was what he intended to train most for now, and it seemed the most useful. Each other was interesting, but there was a certain alignment of the system sigil that attributed best work with it. All of this just showed him that he needed to get more. He needed to study the other students in Gale House.

  Although Alex and Finn were chatting about something all the way back to the portal outpost, Ethan couldn’t focus on a single word they said. The only thing he could think about was which spells and abilities he could absorb. Spells were easy enough for him to approach, but he couldn’t figure out how he would obtain an ability from another system. Perhaps it was just a matter of observation and replication, but that was something he wanted to get on right away.

  As the group approached the gate, Alex turned to smile at Ethan. “You did fine today. Not that you really did anything, but you got to see how we work. What are your first impressions?”

  Ethan wasn’t sure if he wanted to give his impressions. He had a few choice words to say about the way the Anomalous Materials Group worked, but he doubted anybody would like his assessment. For now, he’d keep his mouth shut and his thoughts to himself.

  “I’m not sure if I can live up to what you guys do, but I’ll do my best. If the benefactor thinks I’ll fit in here, then I guess I can’t argue.”

  “That’s the spirit,” Finn said, patting him on the back. “We’re going to drop off a list of possible anomalies for you to tackle, or if you want to find one on your own, that would impress us even more. You have until next week.”

  “Oh, yeah. We’ll drop your money along with the list,” Alex said, chuckling to himself. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, there’s a tavern somewhere around here with some excellent wine. Shall we, Finn?”

  “We shall,” Finn said with a wide smile. “We’re still going to that musical, right?”

  “Yeah.”

  Ethan watched as the pair walked off. Those were two men who didn’t care about their job anymore. That sucked, but it made sense. Something was wrong with the Anomalous Materials Group. Something was wrong with the way they handled anomalies and the structure of their organization. The scribe withdrew the pen from his soul, looking down at it and clenching his jaw. Maybe he was still wet behind the ears. He was too young in this academy to change the way everything worked. But the only way he would make any changes was to master this power.

  The first step to this scribe’s path was to rewrite something small. Then he could work on the bigger things.

  After returning to Gale House, Ethan gathered all of his dirty clothes and visited one of the laundering facilities. To his surprise, he found that the services were not free. They were cheap, but he had to pay a fraction of a coin to get all his clothes cleaned. Unfortunately, he couldn’t have the pair he was wearing cleaned, and the attendant wouldn’t even approach his shoes. This forced him to go to the market areas in the inner ring. He scanned around, eventually finding a few seamsters to get an idea of the price. With both Amelia and Barry busy with their history study he had nothing better to do.

  The school-issued first-year robes were rather cheap, coming in at a single coin apiece. With his current funds, Ethan could buy a few pairs, but his eyes were drawn to more expensive items. The higher-end clothing shops sold robes with basic enchantments. Those started at 20 coins and increased in price the more complex they became. More importantly, he found a shop that sold an assortment of footwear. There were the hard-soled shoes he wore as part of his dress uniform, but also traveling boots with enchantments that repelled dirt and water and made walking more comfortable. The sores on his feet begged him to buy those, but he simply didn’t have the capital.

  For now, he settled for a single pair of robes and some normal shirts and slacks. After hitting the free showers, and with quite a few hours left in the day, Ethan planned to enjoy his free time by learning as many new spells as he could. After hand-cleaning his shoes, of course.