Turgan shook his head in amazement and looked at Pax like he was nuts for the offer he’d made. He wasn’t the only one.

  Pax grinned, enjoying himself. “We’ve got a huge stash of beginning spell scrolls we recovered from the student vault in the basement. We can bring those out for you to go through for ideas.” He stopped as he realized how his Team Tribal friends could help him out at the same time. “If you want to pay me back for these amazing scrolls, how about you help me design a fair and logical way to distribute these scrolls? When the committee finally agrees with me, we’ll be having a lot of mages needing new spells for their minor elements, just like you.”

  Shock flashed across Turgan’s face. “You have enough extra scrolls for all the rebel mages?”

  Pax frowned in thought before slowly shaking his head. “Probably not right now. But we haven’t found the main vault yet, so we’re hoping to find some there. If we do, they’ll likely be stronger and more advanced spells. So, for our friends, you’re welcome to grab a spell from the ones we have, but if you want to take your chances, you can wait until we finish exploring this place in case we find something better for you.”

  “And we can just pick whatever we want?” a mage next to Aliana asked, a touch of greed lighting up in his eyes.

  “Not exactly.” Pax exchanged a look with Turgan before shaking his head. When he saw expressions fall around him, he hurried to reassure them. “Of course, you’re each a big part of the decision-making process, but we need to put thought and planning into who gets what spell and how to distribute the scrolls we have here. Anything we find a single copy of, we’ll want to give to a more advanced mage with instructions to level it enough to make copies.

  “Plus, I’d like you to consult Incedis and Eldan for advice. There are a lot of scrolls, but they aren’t unlimited. And though you guys get first look, we need to set a logical procedure for how we do this for the rest of the rebels. Any good ideas?”

  “That makes sense.” Turgan looked thoughtful. “We should also check to see if the senior mages and crafters here have any plans to make new spell scrolls.”

  Rin looked suddenly interested and made a motion for him to explain.

  “Well, the first requirement to make a new spell scroll is at least level 10 in the spell. If we find some rare or valuable spell scrolls, it might make more sense to spread them out amongst the strongest rebel mages with instructions to power level the spells. Then they can eventually work with a master crafter and produce more scrolls, so we don’t lose access to the spell.”

  “If the spell starts at level 1, wouldn’t a junior mage be able to level it just as quickly?” Pax asked, his mind running through the implications.

  “Sure.” Turgan shrugged. “But who’s less likely to die? If it’s a unique spell, then we lose it forever if the mage with it dies.”

  “Oh.” The logic struck Pax and explained a lot about how the empire had lost so much knowledge over the generations. He shook his head. “So, the best solution is to make as many scrolls as possible and spread them far and wide, so there’s no chance of permanently losing the spells, right?”

  “Right.” Rin gave him a grim smile. “Unless you selfishly hoard all your spells to keep them out of the hands of your rivals, or any possible rivals. Then you end up with a crippled empire like we have.”

  “Well, we’re going to change that, right here, right now.” Pax was done with the stranglehold the Inquisition had on every aspect of magic. “Let’s make our plan with spreading the knowledge far and wide in mind, alright?”

  “Except for the empire, right?” Rin asked, raising her brows at him. “We don’t want any of them getting these new spells during the war, right?”

  Pax’s dreams of magic for everyone skidded to a halt and his shoulders sagged. “I guess that makes me a hypocrite, doesn’t it?”

  “More of a realist.” Turgan gave him a supportive look. “And you can still follow through with your plan once we win this war, right? Then we’ll all be on the same side against the beasts. The offer of new and more powerful spells might even help soothe some of the hard feelings on the empire’s side after we trounce them, right?”

  Pax wasn’t the only one to grin at Turgan’s encouraging words. “Perfect. Then let’s get you the case of beginner spell scrolls, so all of you can help sort them by element and rarity.”

  The mages gave him eager nods, reminding Pax of his own excitement every time he got to choose a new spell. He knew he needed help with this and thought Turgan was the perfect choice. But he still wanted to check in with his crew.

  Hey, everyone. What do you think about putting Turgan in charge of deciding how to allocate the spell scrolls we already have, plus any more we find in this place? We’ll have him also work out a plan to make sure we can reproduce the most valuable scrolls, so we won’t lose access to them in the future.

  Murmurs of agreement filtered over his Echo.

  Just have him run things by you before he makes any permanent decision, Titus sent. A final check is always a good way to avoid mistakes and prevent any kind of fraud. I don’t think you realize how valuable all this stuff is.

  True. Pax knew all his exposure to new magic had likely skewed his perspective on the values they held. Thanks, I’ll do that.

  He smiled at Turgan as he explained what he wanted and how he hoped the spell scroll allocation would work.

  “And you want me to be in charge?” Turgan looked around, a bit perplexed. “There are a lot of mages here with much higher levels than me.”

  This book is hosted on another platform. Read the official version and support the author's work.

  “But none I trust as much to have the welfare of us and the empire in mind. My brother reminded me of how valuable all this is—”

  Turgan snorted in disbelief, interrupting Pax’s words.

  “Hey.” Pax couldn’t help the touch of defensiveness in his tone. “If you had nine elements of mana, maybe you’d take all of this a little lightly, too.”

  Turgan’s eyes almost bulged out of his head while Aliana and the other mages’ mouths gaped open.

  “I thought you understood the number of elements when I explained things earlier.” Pax flushed, trying to remember exactly what he’d said when they’d arrived earlier.

  “No. I’m pretty sure I’d remember the nine elements thing. You just told us you had that new element, light, and how you’d had to keep it hidden so the Inquisition didn’t just kill you.”

  “Yeah, well, light mages don’t start out with the largest pool of mana, but they can unlock and use all the other types of mana. So, that makes them pretty versatile and eventually extremely powerful.” He shrugged, not sure how to handle the awe in the looks aimed his way.

  “Which makes us very glad to be your friends.” Turgan’s words broke the tension, getting laughs and sounds of agreement from the others.

  “Alright. Then I’ll leave you to it.” Pax was ready to get away from the awkwardness that had sprung up between them. Hopefully, more exposure to him and his unusual magic would ease that. He waved for Rin to follow him, leaving the Team Tribal mages with the container of student spell scrolls. Excited chatter echoed behind them as the mages dug into the treasures.

  He motioned toward Rin and Amil and they hurried out of the workshop. A trip into the Wilds was exactly what Pax needed. Sitting down all morning had made him antsy.

  The trip to help Bryn turned out very successful. They followed Bryn’s planned path until Eris spotted them from above. Once they got close enough to contact them over the Echoes, it was easy to meet up. Pax heard them from a distance away, the angry growls and rattling metal sounds of cage bars being put to the test.

  When they jogged up to the clearing, they found a very proud crew surrounding three furious beasts doing everything they could to break free from the sturdy cage walls holding them captive.

  “We’ve got a Crimson Bladeback and two Earth Wardens.” Bryn waved at the cages while doing her best to keep a professional expression despite the excitement flashing in her eyes.

  Pax was just as happy to see their initial success, more than happy to have help with the overwhelming prospect of Taming companions for the entire rebellion. “Who’s taming who?”

  Three of Titus’ warriors stepped up, looking both eager and worried as they shot nervous glances at the cages.

  “Um, we haven’t talked much. I’m Slate, by the way, and want the bladeback. It’s got a tough carapace and can even shoot those sharp spikes at enemies when necessary. I figured it would be a nice supplement to my arrows. The spikes take some time to grow back, but they’ll be a nice emergency feature. The beast is exactly what I need to shore up my defenses, especially at melee range, where I’m more vulnerable.”

  Pax nodded at the reasoning before aiming a questioning look at the other two.

  “Girrec and Tamsin.” The stocky dwarf pointed at himself and then at the lady warrior who was a good foot taller than him standing next to him. He made a proprietary motion toward the caged earth wardens.

  They were huge, shoulder-high, creatures with six sturdy legs and a mottled gray and brown coloring that blended with the dirt and stone around them. Thick, overlapping plates of armor ensured they’d be difficult to injure, making Pax wonder how Bryn and the others had captured them.

  “Those beauties will easily flesh out our shield wall and should have abilities to mess with the surrounding earth and sand.” Girrec was practically drooling over their imagined uses.

  “I’m hoping they’ll be able to open up pits right in front of an attacking enemy.” Tamsin looked just as eager to claim one herself.

  “Well, let’s get busy then.” Pax pulled out his equipment and motioned toward Girrec. “You’re up first. Everyone with a Taming ability or earth alignment, please join in. Those with flame, you’re up next to work with the bladeback, and then we’ll do the second warden. We need to get everyone leveled fast. I don’t want to be doing this on my own forever.”

  The rest of the group, companions included, sorted themselves out, and they got started. Dahni came over to join in the first Taming while setting Neptid up to buff everyone while they worked.

  After a few rough starts, when Pax let the others do as much of the work as possible, they finished up. He, Rin and Amil headed back to the base, leaving the two front line warriors experimenting to see whose companion could summon the best geyser of dust and sand while Slate admired his prickly new friend. They’d been so giddy, they’d made everyone else smile, too.

  That just left Titus’ archer, Armin, without a companion. Well, and Crissim. But the mage was still holding out for a beast with a healing ability to help his crew.

  Overall, the Taming had been a major success. Pax’s friends with Taming skills had been just as giddy at the incredible number of points they’d gained by helping Tame adult beasts.

  He’d made decent progress toward his own level of Taming, too and was really looking forward to what Level 5 Taming would bring him. Maybe a third companion slot?

  As they jogged back to base with his Sphere and Eris keeping an eye out for danger, Pax couldn’t resist scanning over everything the Taming had done for his progress.

  ***

  Crew Quest: Part 2: Help rebel mages and warriors Tame adult beast companions - 7/100 (+3)

  Reward: +1 level for each crew companion and +1 to the Taming level for each crew member who aids in this process, along with a bonus choice from all possible system evolutions for the skill.

  Skill Boost: +17 to Universal Beast Tamer Level 4 (Rare) - 96/400

  Improvement to your Path of Understanding Flame: +12 Level 4 - 122/400

  Improvement to your Path of Understanding Earth: +19 Level 4 - 128/400

  ***

  For a moment, Pax wished they had access to beasts with secondary mana types instead of the primary four so he could level both his Taming and his secondary understandings.

  At least the managers had assured him that the rest of the training rooms for those elements would work as soon as they handled the altar’s basic power needs. And there was always the ice room that was up and running.

  By the time they finished a hurried lunch and made it back to their crafting workshop, the littles were happy for a break from crafting grunt work. Pax set up a small semicircle of comfortable chairs arranged in front of a sofa, one of the multiple cozy areas they’d been organizing in the open space of the workshop for magical work.

  Tyrodon. I’m ready. Want to send over four of the littles over? Maybe leave Tomis and Fenix supervising the rest until it’s their turn? I don’t think I trust them unsupervised with what I’ve seen your devices do in the past.

  Sure. Any of them in particular you’d like to work with first?

  Pax thought about his plans for exploring how unawakened children differed from awakened ones. How about you choose ones that have flavors of the different classes for me?

  What?

  Do any of them seem to have a talent for crafting? What about a warrior mentality? Is one of them mercenary about money and numbers like a merchant? I don’t know if you can guess who might be a mage. But that’s what I mean. Does that make sense?

  There was a long enough pause that Pax turned to look across the workshop to where Tyrodon was.

  How about I send over the four littles who seem the most different from each other?

  That works. Pax stretched up to look over the busy workshop. It was time to figure out exactly how the Awakening changed a child and if he could figure out how to do it without an artifact.

  Read and Review !

  Thanks to everyone who is helping fund the next audiobook and reading 20 advance chapters on !

  Other places to find me:

  M Zaugg Amazon Page!

  My webpage

  My Facebook Page