Chapter 39 - Light Array
When the woman appeared in the doorway Rasp’s tail began to lash furiously from side to side. Recognizing the signs of an unhappy dragon, Ash once again rapped one of the Rasp’s horns to halt the dragon’s growing agitation.
When he looked back to the headmaster, the stern-looking woman was pulling on a pair of tan leather gloves. As Ash mused on what the gloves were for and where they'd come from, another pair of gloves appeared in her hands. Oversized ones. The headmistress then ordered, “Come over here and put these on.”
Feeling Rasp leaning forward in his arms, "Uh, can you just set them down and close the door real quick. I don't think my partner has quite settled in yet."
"How about you come out and I'll explain out here."
Ash nodded rapidly and when the door slid shut, the boy set the crystal down for Rasp to pounce upon while he rejoined the archmage in the corridor.
While he curiously pulled on the provided gloves, the Archmage casually whipped a ivory white, lacquered box out of nowhere.
Ash's eyes widened, holy shit, a magic inventory? Those're supposed to be super rare isn't they? Taking a second to think about it, he shook his head with sudden understanding, yeah makes sense an Archmage would have one.
The archmage had meanwhile lifted the lid, and then withdrew a small obsidian brick and carefully held it out to Ash, “Be careful with this. Don't let it touch your bare skin. Press this against your dragon when you get back in, anywhere is fine as long as it touches. And don’t let the dragon look at it when you do. You should be careful not to look directly at it either.”
A little confused at the instructions, but paying heed, Ash gingerly took hold of the mysterious obsidian object. Considering how solid it looked, the dragonboy was mystified at its lightness.
A minute later, Ash was sitting once more beside his antsy partner and convincing Rasp to lie down. It was slightly more difficult than usual, considering how interesting his gloves and brick were to the curious dragon.
“Remember, don’t directly look at it. Maybe close your eyes,” the mage called out from the door from her slight opening.
The puzzled dragon twisted to growl at the mage, but Ash distracted Rasp by passing a gloved hand before Rasp's snout. Finally, his partner relaxed enough to drop his head onto Ash's knee and closed his eyes with a huffing sigh, the moment Ash had been aiming for. The boy remembered to look away before he gently pressed the obsidian brick against the dragon’s back.
In an instant, fierce white light poured out, brightly illuminating the large stall.
“What the heck!” HISSSSSSSSSS!!!
The light cut out as Rasp violently recoiled away. HISS!!! The startled dragon was really unhappy!
Ash was just as startled and dropped the brick as spots danced across his vision.
As the riled dragon loudly voiced his grievances, Ash recovered himself enough to to rapidly pat Rasp’s back in an attempt to calm his partner down.
When the bright light poured out, the Archmage had been wholly focused on a crystal plate in her hand. But her handsome features melted into a gleeful smile the longer she stared at the number that had mysteriously appeared on the crystal plate. She started cackling, “HahahahahahAHAHA EEP!”
“Why, Lady Kalie, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you quite this happy before? What's the occasion?” A calm voice had intruded just as the woman’s laughter was beginning to ramp loudly out of control.
Striding up from behind the surprised mage was houseleader Oneer, trailed by Tocc, even as the archmage quickly regained a measured demeanor after a small hiccup.
The female mage calmly answered, completely glossing over her crazed laughter, “Oh, it’s nothing; I was just testing this dragon’s magic potential.”
Oneer politely dropped the matter in order to question her further, “And the result?”
Kalie’s eyes shone, “The Skyfort General mentioned it had manifested magic, but I still needed to measure it. The highest affinity in history and it’s from a dragon. HahaHA, cough cough.” This time Archmage Kalie caught herself before she could repeat her earlier outburst.
Oneer took the information stoically while Tocc’s mouth dropped open.
Ash, who had just exited the stall, was staggered and his voice trembled, “The highest magic potential? Ever?”
Kalie’s eyes glittered and she showed him the crystal plate, “There is no mistake. This magic reader accurately measured the blinding potential, hehheh, cough cough, brightness emitted given off by the light array.”
She tapped her chin and adopted a pensive gaze, “To be honest, I suspected the credibility of General Lukes report, since he’s not a mage. That’s why I came here personally. But now, I guess all that’s left is whether or not we can successfully teach it.” Kalie glanced at the houseleader, “I was informed I would have a few years to try. Is that similar to what you've been told.”
Oneer nodded, “Yes, Ash’s dragon is a new, unseen before variant. Even the most optimistic predictions of his instructors was that it be a juvenile for a few more years at least. Maybe even-"
Ash winced.
"--longer since it has been growing slowly. So until it get large enough to bear young Ash here, its at your disposal.”
The Archmage pondered, “There's one big problem I can foresee already. Teaching a creature that can't speak. All beginner magics require incantations after all. To use spells without incantations requires high familiarity through frequent use.” Kalie continued, “At the very least however, the academy will take on this challenge and see how far we can go. The fact it has already used magic though combined with its huge potential, makes it a worthwhile investment. If our efforts are successful and the Empire gains a dragon mage, heh heh heh.”
The woman didn’t halt her quiet chuckles this time and houseleader seemed to agree with that sentiment, “Indeed, it would be of great merit to the Empire.”
The academy mage stopped her daydreaming and pointed to the Ash, “I’ll be needing my light array back now.”
