The Quantum Wanderer

Next morning, during breakfast, after I finish eating, Muninn hops to my side of the table.

“Father, I have some news regarding Elator and Romuela.”

“Hum, what happened?”

“The people that were going there to take over arrived. It is a big non-fighting group from the Holy Kingdom. They have a rather large military escort.”

“Thank you for the information.”

Shortly after, we leave the table. Dávrin’s Comm Gem vibrates, I start the call.

“Good morning, friend! How are you?”

“I am doing well. I had a very… relaxing day yesterday. How are you?”

“Sparkly as a diamond. I am calling because uncle asked me to inform you that the pieces are done.”

“That is great! I am going to go get them today. Thank you. Should I offer to pay? How much?”

“Only if you want to be kicked out.”

“Thank you for the tip.”

I close the communication. Cecilia looks at me.

“What are you building?”

“I don’t know if it will work yet… I am trying to make a permanent small portal from here to the dryad’s forest. I am going to have to do some testing, though.”

“Why? Isn’t this unsafe?“

Actually, it is for the seward thing. I know I can just go outside and open a portal, but once I connect those, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

“That sounds interesting. How long do you think it is going to take?”

“I have no idea. The whole thing is very experimental. I am not even sure it will work. What about you girls? What are the plans for today?”

“We are going to go to school, my lord. We are going to have the exams in a couple of days, so we have to see what it is going to be like. It would be most shameful to you if we fail.” Opal answers.

The other girls nod, with a smile.

“Just remember, try to use as much strength as a human knight would. We don’t want to look too atypical.”

“Don’t worry! We are good at that!” Ruby answers, hiting her own chest. The noise made by it is like a small explosion, the utensils shake on the table.

Somehow, it is really hard to believe her. I smile.

We finish the breakfast. We all go up to dress appropriately. The girls portal to the school, I portal to an alley close to Ildra’s inn.

The line is still there. I wonder what amount of spices she got, and how long they are going to last. But then again, we have just been to the elves, some days ago. I go inside, and I locate Brokkr’s table. He gestures me to come over and sit.

“Good morning, master Marcelo!”

“Good morning, master Brokkr!”

“Can I assume that my nephew told you that I have created the platforms?”

“Yes.”

Brokkr reaches into his bag of holding. He brings out the gems I had left with him to create the devices.

"The gems are not in the devices yet, I think that you are going to draw the runes by yourself. Once the runes have been draw, you have to heat up this ring here. Enough heat will make it expand, you can place the gem and let it cool. It is not going to break the gem, but it will hold it very tightly. Is this what you wanted?”

I take a look at the two devices. One has a flat bottom, the other one the bottom is in the shape of a hemisphere. Both of them have little arms going up, ending in a ring. The arms and rings have micro mana channels in them.

“This will do very nicely, thank you. I appreciate immensely. Your ability always amaze me, master Brokkr.”

“And then you start from where I finish and build something truly outrageous…” He laughs, slapping the table.

I keep the devices and gems in my bag of holding. I turn to Brokkr.

“And other than that, how are things? I noticed that the line outside is always big…”

“Yes, Ildra has been making a lot of coin.”

“Do you have any idea of when she is going to need to replenish her stock?”

“Oh, another 2 weeks, at least. She told me that she actually expected a lot of people wanting to try these spices, but the results are higher than she expected.

“My nephew is also sending a delegation to the elves. We might have some new commerce routes with them in a couple of months.”

“Well, if you let me know, we can always visit them once in a while.”

“I really appreciate the offer. I will let Ildra know.”

“Of course. Now, if you excuse me, I have a lot of rune designing to do.”

“The mine calls.”

That is their expression for goodbye, I guess. I wave at Ildra, she waves back, and I leave. Back to the alley, back to home.

I go into my study. I open a portal to Drakonia, and I analyze how the mana flows to open the gate, and to keep it open.

The gate is a worm whole. Since it is a whole in the 4^th dimension, it’s projection in our 3 dimensions is a sphere. My memories of the destination allow me to have the two points, and then generated the connection.

I turn to Muninn.

“Muninn, can you help me? Is there a way to associate a rune to a place? Or to a memory?”

“Well, father… There is the mind magic related to placing a memory…”

“Try it on me…”

I pay attention to the mana patterns. They are interesting. I open my eyes.

“Can you try another place?”

“Sure, father.”

Again I close my eyes and pay attention to the mana patterns. They have an inittial similar pattern, and then a different ending. As if there were a carrier mana pattern, followed by the memory itself. Both patterns are very different than what I am used to. It is a lot finer than other magic I am used to.

I take a look at how the mana interacts with itself. If I take out the carrier, I can actually see how the place is encoded.

“Can you cast a locate spell?”

“On what, father?”

“Anything you want.”

“Ok.”

He casts it. I pay attention to the complicated patterns.

“Locate spell, something else.”

Part of the pattern changes. The middle of the pattern changes, the outer part changes. Two pieces of fractal mana designs that interlock to produce a result that is the direction and a sense of distance to the target.

“Can you please close the spell?”

“Sure.”

“I am going to do something.”

I invert the locate spell, and I target the signature that I would use for him as the target of the spell.

“OOOhh… This is weird, father.”

“How so?”

“I feel as if I had cast a location spell to locate you… But no spell.”

“Great, that is the desired effect. Thanks.”

I enhance my eyes, and I start creating the mana channels in the flat device. The target for the spell is going to be the round bottom one. It is a very meticulous work. I am focused completely on the device.

Brokker used adamantite as the source material. Good thing he didn’t use enchanted adamantite. Drawing the runes on adamantite is demanding enough. I keep pushing the material appart, heating the very small point I am working on, opening micro channels of mana, one by one.

Once I finish with the inverted location spell, I stop for a little bit. I take a look around, already night. There is a light spell going on. I stop it for today, and get to bed. Apparently I didn’t notice how much time has gone.

I stop at this point, and I retire for the day.

Next morning, during the breakfast, Cecilia is intrigued.

“So, my villain, how is the rune crafting going?”

“I finished a first part, I am going to try to do another part today.”

“It must be really tough to make it. Were you extending you sensation of time by how much?” Cecilia asks.

I tilt my head to the side. That would create a mana pickle, but if I channel… There would be an increase in energy needed… I wonder if I am perhaps just cheating too much…

“I hadn’t thought about that. I am going to do that today, though. Thank you for the suggestion.”

“Oh my, did I just thought of something that the all powerful great adventurer had not thought of?”

I laugh at that.

“I think that that happens a lot of times. I mean, I wasn’t the one that came up with the idea of greeting your parents on top of dragons, was I?”

“Ouch! That hurts. But they already forgave me, right? Papa? Mama?”

Lucille nods first. Charles shrugs and then nods.

Muninn and I laugh at the scene. I notice that Aquamarine laughs a little as well. After I finish laughing, I turn to the girls.

“Are you girls going to school again today?”

“Yes, my lord.” Opal answers. “The exams are going to be tomorrow. Today the class is going to be a little bit of a recap on strategies.”

Ruby snorts.

“Can you believe the morons yesterday?” She then laughs a little.

“What happened?” I ask.

“The other students were trying to press the teacher in to splitting us in different groups. As if any of us would go with any other group!”

I laughed. The problem with group projects in school and college apparently does not change, even in another universes. I have always been the nerd, as can be assumed from someone that tries to be a physicist, and that lead to always been called to participate in groups of people that would not give me the time of day otherwise.

“Why are you laughing, my lord?” Aquamarine asks.

“The school that I studied in had the same kind of issues when dividing the class into groups for school work… That being said, I will make sure to watch your exams tomorrow! I am sure that you are going to excel, even while trying to hold your power down. And remember, I will love you no matter what happens…”

The girls all blush, each in their own way. Cecilia, Opal, Aquamarine, Shandon, Ruby, each reaction a testament to their own personalities.

“I think we had better get going, otherwise we are going to spend the day sighing on our own villain lord.”

I laugh.

They go to our room. They dress and open the portal to their room in the school by themselves. I go to my study.

This time, I enhance my brain. I open the small portals to the ley line, and I start the work. I continue with the meticulous work. I match the two platforms to each other. I imitate what happens to the Comm Gems.

Once I have the matched the two devices, and I start adding the portal magic rune. It is a harder work. I end up having to do some mana channels bellow the surface, creating a three dimensional fractal lattice instead of the more normal and simpler two-dimensional ones.

It takes a lot of time. When I fell the last two channels connecting, I relax. I let the enhancements go, and I close the portal to the ley line.

I compare the rune to a cast, it looks like it is going to work. I look at myself. My clothes are drenched in sweat. My breathing is hard. Muninn is on the table, looking at me.

“Hi Muninn. Are you alright.”

“I am. The one I am worried about is you, father. Are you ok?”

I smile.

“Yes, I am. Can I ask you some help to test this?”

“Sure. What do you want me to do?”

I heat up one of the rings by induction, it become red and bigger. I place the gem in it, and cool it with some breeze. When the temperature gets to room temperature, I hand the device to Muninn.

“Can you take this one to the beach in Drakonia?”

He picks the piece, takes flight. A portal the he created himself opens in front of him. He goes through it. I pour some mana on my brain, and stablish a connection with him.

“Please place the device on the ground, and stay away.”

“How far?”

“As far as you while still being able to see it.”

After some several minutes, I have a feedback from Muninn.

“Will 30 miles do, father?”

“Can you still see it?”

“In detail.”

I shrug at the absurdity.

“Sure. If anything too weird happens, just run, ok?”

“Ok.”

I heat the other device, and place the gem in the ring. Once the ring closes around the gem, the mana starts flowing the runes light up. A portal, 5 feet in diameter, opens right above the device. I take a look, the end of the portal is at Drakonia.

“It opened a portal, father!”

“Yes, thank you.”

I heat up the ring again. Once it disconnects from the gem, the portal disappears.

“Is it done, father?”

“Yes, thank you. Can you please come back?”

A couple of minutes later a portal opens, and Muninn comes back, carrying the device. I take a look outside, it is around noon. I am thinking about the order of things.

“Aright, it is done. Thanks for the help.”

“Of course, father.”

“Let’s go visit the dryads.”

I open a portal to the floor of the forest, right on top of septic tank the dryads had created to receive the stuff.

Muninn and I jump through the portal. I look around.

“IPÊ! Are you around?”

“Always, big brother!”

She says that from my back. I turn around. She is smiling.

“Big brother hasn’t been coming around… We have been missing big brother…”

I giggle.

“Yes, I have been busy for a couple of days now…”

She pouts. Not for long.

“So, what can little cute Ipê do for big brother?”

“Actually, your big brother came with a present.”

I take out the device with the flat bottom. The runes on it are shining faintly. I had it to Ipê. She inspects the device.

“It is casting a spell, but a weird one… An inverted find… It feels strange…”

“I want you to put it inside the chamber, “ I say, pointing down, “but it has to stay stuck on the ceiling upside down. It has to be held by the base, pointing down, in the middle of the chamber. Can you do this?”

“Sure… What is it supposed to do?”

“You are going to learn in some time. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.”

She looks at me with a suspecting expression, but places the device on the ground nonetheless. The roots keep opening a space, and the device gets swallowed by the ground and roots.

After some moments, she turns to me.

“It’s there, big brother! That being said, when are you going to provide us the food?”

I laugh.

“I am going to have to ask you to wait a little bit.”

She crosses her arms and pout. I laugh.

I open a portal to the back of my home. I go to the place that is on top of the middle of the pyramid. I start the process with a breeze shooting up. I want to avoid everyone’s stomach from twisting. I heap up the ring in the device, and I put the gem in.

The portal opens. I hold the device by the base.

With some earth magic, I open a whole, right up to my septic tank, 10 feet wide. The smell that comes out is terrible. But at least it is going up. I let the device fall right in the middle of the hole. Once it is inside the septic tank, I close the hole.

A little smell lingers, but I let the breeze run for some additional moments. I extend my mana, to look at how things are going. The device is sinking in the tank, creating a kind of pipe between the two tanks. While it sinks, the matter is sent to the elves’ forest. I wonder what kind of face Ipê is making, I end up opening another portal and jumping there.

She has this face I have had so many times in the past, after a brazillian barbecue. Or an American thanksgiving experience. An expression that only a truly full stomach can provide. The portal was worth the scene.

“Hi Ipê… Did you like it?”

“How long is the magic going to stay open?” She says, passing her hand on her stomach.

“I don’t know how long the gems are going to last, but that long…”

“Big brother just does so much! Isn’t there anything we can do for big brother?”

I feel a tug on my shirt, and she is by my side all of a sudden. She gestures me come down to her eye level. I kneel. She looks to one side, then the other. She puts on this really pervy face. She looks like an old pervy man that keeps bothering the nurses in a retirement home. She whispers on my ear.

“What does big brother think of the elven women? They are pretty, no? Doesn’t big brother want some…? I am sure we can manage a thousand or two…”

I really didn’t expect this. Muninn is laughing his ass off.

“Well, huh… See… Huh…”

Muninn interrupts.

“He already has a harem. It was organized by the demons. And if you want my suggestion…”

The dryad disappears on the ground. When I look, she is laying on the ground, in front of Muninn, her chin on top of her hands, looking at him.

“Yes…?”

“You have to negotiate that with his wives, not him.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

“Hey, I am right here.” I say.

Muninn makes a gesture towards me. As if he was fanning a fart away. Both of them start talking, and a silence spell is put up.

I sigh. I open a portal back home. Rudolph is in the living room, where I arrive.

“Lord! Good evening. Wasn’t lord Muninn with you?”

I shrug.

“He stayed behind, he is talking to the dryads.”

“Of course, lord.” I see that Rudolph moves his nose around.

“Should I prepare your bath now, lord?”

I laugh. Apparently I didn’t escape the whole operation untouched. I go upstairs and wash up deeply. I wonder if the smell is gone already.

I come downstairs. Rudolph is there, waiting.

“Rudolph, please be honest. Am I still smelling?”

Rudolph comes close, and smells.

“I can’t smell anything, lord.”

“Thank you. Please have someone pick the clothes upstairs. I am sorry about that.”

“It is our job, lord, don’t worry about that.”

I tilt my head. I feel like deep down there is some judgement. I wonder how he thinks I got the smell. No use explaining, though. They are going to gossip whatever they are going to gossip, I guess.

I go to my study, I decide to lay down on the couch a little bit. The day was intense. I fell like I have been awaken for several days, the whole thing was really tiring.

I relax a little bit, a couple of hours go by. I hear some noise from our room.

“BY THE GODS! WHAT IS THIS SMELL??!!?”

Yes, the deep shower was not enough against Opal’s nose. The girls come down the stairs. The dragonesses have a hand on their noses.

Cecilia is right behind them, but she is not quite understanding what is going on. The dragonesses get close to me, their faces get worse.

“WHY, MY LORD? WHAT HAPPENED?” Shandon asks.

“BY THE GODS, I AM TRYING TO BREATH FROM MY MOUTH, BUT INSTEAD OF SMELL NOW I AM FEELING THE TASTE!” Ruby says.

I put on my best puppy face.

“I am sorry girls… It happened as part of the thing for the dryads…”

“My lord, we love you more than life, but please…” Opal says.

Aquamarine is the one to suggest a solution.

“Why not a lava bath, my lord?”

The idea is actually good. I have seen the way Skylar got rid of the tar.

I go to our room, and I open a portal to the dwarves forge. I make my regeneration active, to make sure I will not burn. I take a look around. There are no dwarves near. Probably no one would be working at this time in the night. I find a corner that is a little more secluded. I undress, and I go slowly into the lava.

It is less bothersome than I would think. Probably my fire immunity is playing out a big role, but it feels more like a bath with hot water than lava. I immerse myself. I come out. I take a look at my arms. My hairs are gone.

I sit in lotus position. I apply regenerative magic to my follicles. I can feel my hairs growing. My hair is a mess, but at least I am not completely hairless.

I open a portal back home, back to my room. I go hit the showers. After some time, I get dressed and I use a lot of perfum. I go downstairs.

Opal still twists her nose.

“Still very strong smell, but this time it is perfum. Definitely an improvement.”

The dragonesses are nodding. Cecilia and Muninn are laughing their butts off. Huginn is hiding her laughter behind a wing.

I shrug.

“Can we have dinner now?”

Aquamarine grabs one arm, Shandon grabs another, and they take me to the dining room. The girls tell about their day, how they were revising the subjects, the teachers telling them to keep it simple for tomorrow.

We retire for the day.