We had no floating platform this ti, even with a trio of nobles in the group. The noble dorm was right next to the main building, that might be the reason.
The halfling [Crystallomancer] focused on our bond and talked to without making a sound. It still wasn’t second nature to her but I knew from reading mom’s biography that it took ti.
I replied.
Barbara smiled as she gripped my cover and adjusted the strap of my dust cover with the other hand.
Collins didn’t say a word as he led us through the broken pathways of the campus. I could tell he was keeping tabs on us, apparently fearful we would run away. The ominous dust cloud lingered in the air, drifting from the city and… out of the rubble? I faintly sensed sothing nostalgic at the back of my mind regarding that cloud but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
She continued.
She scrunched her nose at my accurate but crude description of ourselves.
I rebutted with fake indignance.
she backtracked and pretended to be disinterested.
I asked, fishing for praise.
she replied nonchalantly.
You gained 1 point of Appraiser.
A windfall. We should have these inquisition sessions every day.
"Barbara Ambrose," he started in his lowest record, a deep bass that was ant to sound ominous and foreboding. "You are accused of trespassing into my personal vaults and stealing an important cursed artifact from it."
Took him long enough to check on the vault.
Barbara spent a few monts thinking before she delivered the perfect rebuttal. "I stole nothing, Headmaster. I admit I entered an abandoned, open, and unguarded vault without any defensive wards, but I stole nothing from it."
"You stole my book!" He accused. "I believe this cursed book I had sealed in the vault is what you call 'mother' of this mimic you have for a familiar!" She said nothing. "Answer !"
Turns out we weren't out of spittle distance. Not when he was roaring like that. Nothing fell on Barbara though I sensed the shields ready to spring into action and keep her safe from contracting that man's cooties.
"Sorry, sir," she said without eting his eyes. "I didn't understand the question."
He slamd the desk. "When you entered the vault, was there a book in it?"
"Yes."
"Did you make contact with that book?"
"Yes."
"Did you carry the book with you when you left?"
"No."
"Were the book inside the vault after you left?"
She grunted as the spell told her what she was about to answer was a lie. "You must rephrase the question, Headmaster. Obviously, the book is no longer in the vault or we wouldn't be having this conversation. Soti after I left, the book was vacated from the premises. Was it my on my designs? I am certain it was not."
Now it was Mr. Collins' ti to be proud of her. Barbara wriggled herself out of that trap with aplomb.
The Headmaster ground his teeth. "Certainly, Miss Ambrose. Do you know how the book vacated the vault?"
"Yes."
"Care to enlighten us?" He sniggered. "To avoid ambiguity. Please tell us how did the book vacate the vault."
"It floated by itself."
Soone in the gallery snorted a single peal of laughter.
He seed satisfied enough. The [Archmage] then sprung his other trap. "Was your book familiar born from that book from the vault?"
"I didn't witness the mont it was born. I was unconscious," she misdirected. It didn't work.
"Answer the question," he said with an 'ah-ha!' tone of voice like he'd finally caught us.
She reluctantly did, "Yes. Nethe was born out of that book."
I was confused as to why she tried too hard to keep that little inconsequential tidbit out of the Headmaster's grasp but it was due to my lack of understanding of the sentient mind. I an, I was a book and I was less than a year old.
The [Archmage] relaxed on his chair. "I want my books back," he demanded. "Your punishnt for trespassing will be dealt with at a later eting."
Barbara sniffled, and I almost ground that snug bearded grin into Exp right there and then. "No. You can't," she whimpered as she clutched close to her.
He pointed at as greed flashed in his eyes. Barbara's eyes were shut. The girl trembled.
"I can. Hand over both books. They are my property!"
My anger was imnse. I felt my pages on fire.
Not only he was hurting Barbara but also threatening to split us apart. Mom had killed stronger people for less. I had to exercise all my restraint to stop myself from turning the whole room into Exp for Barbara and . I knew the kind girl wouldn't like it if I did that. That was the only lifeline they had right now.
But before I could reach a decision and take action, sothing happened.
"OBJECTION!" A male tenor voice shouted. A faint mory flashed. Ace... sothing?
*
*
Lord Isaac Hamilton stood from his chair and shouted. Eleanora was thrilled while Elizabeth couldn't believe he had the gall to interject. But interject he did.
Druxius glowered at the young noble. "Lord Hamilton, you have no right to object."
"I do, sir," he rebutted and flashed the sponsorship contract. "This morning, right before we were summoned to this inquisitorial charade, Miss Ambrose signed a sponsorship contract with our three Houses. As Royal Law states, a sponsor has to lend legal aid to their wards. You made a criminal accusation against Miss Ambrose and now are on the verge of committing a cri yourself. I cannot let this happen if I want to keep my conscience clear.
"Therefore, I nominate myself her attorney, unless one of the other two sponsor Houses next to object to it."
"We don't," Elizabeth quickly said as she grasped Eleanora's hand, causing the other Lady to nod.
I felt Barbara's heart skip a beat. She was Hamilton's fangirl, I dourly reminded myself.
"Give that docunt!" The cantankerous wizard demanded. The session was adjourned for several minutes although nobody left their seats. The Headmaster poured over the contract and fud but eventually relented. "We recognize your right to give miss Ambrose legal aid. State your case," he grumbled.
"I'll remind everyone present that as a Lord of the Crown, I am also an Agent of the Crown. Headmaster, dear [Archmages], does this Academy condone slavery?"
The church might be corrupt, I might be powerless to clean it up, but the core tenents remain. Everywhere the Matriarch has a strong presence, slavery is banned.
"That's preposterous! Of course, we do not!" The Headmaster quickly denied it.
"Then why do you lay claim to two sentient creatures? Netherbane Syllabus and his mother are both sentient creatures. That they take the shape of books is not an issue according to the law. The only requirents are the ability to behave in society and maintain rational thought. We know for a fact that Netherbane and his mother displayed these characteristics several tis. The book mimic on Miss Ambrose's lap even healed our delving party, which I know is part of Mrs. Blatherwick's report."
"It's a monster!" Druxius retorted with an accusing finger pointed at .
Isaac sighed, "The King's law state that a monster is, and I quote, 'a vicious creature with which it is impossible to parlay, that desires harm upon sentient people'. Netherbane does not fit this description. Netherbane is capable of humor, kindness, compassion, leadership. And so does his mother, I believe."
I sensed he was forced to add the last two words to skirt around the truth spell. Several teachers, especially those focused on social sciences, nodded. The Headmaster was quickly losing his case but he still had a few cards to play.
"They are not a recognized species. Go ahead, young Lord. By all ans, make the Crown recognize book mimics as a sentient species. While you are there—"
Isaac had the gall to interrupt the [Archmage] as he dropped a bomb, "While I am there, I'll also report I'd found two new Transcendentals, Headmaster. I know for a fact that Netherbane has {The Leader}. Miss Ambrose might also be a Transcendental..."
Barbara flinched and wheezed. With the reveal, the pressure of all those {Appraise} attempts beca massive.
> You gained 3 points of Appraiser.
"...No. Let correct myself. Miss Ambrose is too a Transcendental," Isaac stated after his probing speculation yielded fruit. He grinned and stared at the ceiling, savoring his success.
The [Archmage] stared at the halfling girl. "Are you?" Druxius would shoot eye lasers if he had the power.
"Yes, I am a Transcendental," Barbara admitted. "And so is Nethe. Lord Hamilton is correct."
"I am filing a petition to have the Crown knight both of them," Isaac revealed. "As you know, all Transcendentals in the country are awarded a title, the least of them being [Knight]. Go ahead, Headmaster. Claim both book creatures while you can."
I suspected keeping nobles as slaves due to a legal loophole was bound to attract bad things. Especially from the other nobles. They were a tightly-knit group when it ca to defending their rights from other groups.
I raised a ribbon and morphed a cartoonish face made of lace to avoid the "uncanny valley", a concept I read about in mom's book. I had to nail the Headmaster's coffin. "I have a confession to make. I have three Transcendental Perks of the Attribute {Capstone} series. Charisma, Ego, and Luck."
"Attribute {Capstone} Series?" Thydor gasped. "Are you implying there are more?"
"Yes, my dear [Archmage]. The System calls these Perks {Capstone}. But your definition of Transcendental Perks, the Perks one is born with, allegedly a boon from previous lives. I can affirm they are indeed boons from previous lives, the Church of the Matriarch is correct on this issue. These are the easiest ones to obtain. Reach the level cap of one hundred, and you'll have your pick among those Attributes whose base value is at least equal to a hundred points. Class bonuses don't count."
Thydor was in awe and so were several of the teachers in attendance. I could see so of them were dismayed, their current build too ssed up to beco eligible for a {capstone} Perk. Silence reigned in the room as I could see several pairs of eyes unfocusing as people delved deep into their Status windows.
"Of course, there's a way to make these Class bonuses count, but it is a hard one and demands a few free Perk picks. I can't tell you what it is, though. Not in this hostile environnt!"
Then I rested my case and stared at the [Archmage].
The self-imposed win condition for this scenario was to get out of this without any heavy sanctions imposed on us and without revealing my true self. I an, my true self was a [Bibliomimic]. Let rephrase it. Without revealing I was the Goddess' reincarnation. We might get it.
Of course, I had to jinx it. The Headmaster decided that yes, that was the hill he wished to die on.
"I cannot accept this! The book monster is ly--unn--gah! Argh!" He stood, once more tipping the chair loudly on the floor. "He's ly-ugh-guh-gzzz." Then he choked on his own {Zone of Truth} spell.
The spell lost stability and ca close to unraveling and sending a nasty backlash to the casters. They could stabilize it since they had three [Archmages] in the gestalt. But I could also interfere and magnify the backlash, killing all of them.
However, I couldn't do that. I would gain their Exp and level up, dragging Barbara along with . She would never forgive . So instead, I hijacked the backlash.
I surreptitiously snagged the spell with my magic and used the innate understanding of Curse magic from my evolution. Taking advantage of the backlash caused by the caster trying to subvert his own spell, I tugged and twisted as I tinkered with the {Zone of Truth} spell. People were distracted and it took a special kind of magical perception to see what I was doing if I was an amateur.
But I had hundreds upon hundreds of Proficiency points in furtivity.
Monts later, as Druxius had almost recovered his bearings but before the Truth spell could stabilize, I was finished. The Curse flowed through the spell frawork, upriver on the mana streams, and found its way back to the casters.
Then hell broke out. Druxius, Thydor, mustachio-forehead, and other teachers, Mrs. Blatherwick included, scread in pain as my retributive and vengeful gift found its way into their beings.
Curse of Psychological Ineptitude.
This curse does not show on the target's status window unless it is detected.
Detection Difficulty: 780
Caster's Magic Score: 382
Dispel Cost Modifier: x3
Sets the Attribute cap of all ntal, Spiritual, and Magical Attributes to (1 - Current Path Bonus).
Sets the Proficiency score of all Magical and ntal Proficiencies to 1.
Sothing mom had to deal with a lot, even to this date. It didn't matter if you had {Pinnacle of...} and was immune to Attribute drain or damage if the cap was lowered and the System suddenly redistributed your points against your will.
And these points went to the only place they could. Strength, Dexterity, Endurance. They were now the strongest mages of their generation, but their Classes were completely useless. Even if they could form coherent thought with a Mind score of 1, they would never again use magic as they once did. Worse yet, the points would overflow the Physical Attributes and get unceremoniously dumped into {Surpasser}, a hundred at a ti.
To , it was a rciful resolution. They were alive, bodies healthier than ever thanks to their overinflated Endurance. They would never again wield magic, though. Even if they gained so levels, they would still have the Attribute scores of children in the bodies of Olympian Athletes. That they beca imbeciles in the clinical sense was of little consequence. To , they were too smart for their own good.
However, to soone who coveted the mountain peaks of the magical world, they would forever wallow in the shallow marshes. A fate worse than death? Maybe, but they invited doom upon themselves. Such was the nature of their punishnt.
To everyone else, it looked like the millennia-old geezer Druxius had finally royally screwed up a spell and caused a massive backlash.
Nobody shall ever dare threaten to separate us without suffering the consequences.
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