Technomancer: Birth of a Goddess

“Not at all,” Emily replies, internally casting a first circle earth spell to raise a small mound of rock in the shape of a chair before sitting back into it. “Would you like a seat?”

Colette barely reacts to Emily’s casual silent casting and calmly nods.

She’s either not surprised, or very good at hiding her reactions.

Emily snaps her fingers, forming a small brown magic circle above them that melts into the floor, raising a second earthen throne behind Colette.

“Thank you,” she says, sitting down and pulling a pen from her skirt. “Right, let’s start by confirming the boring details. Your current name is Emily Coldstone. Correct?”

“Yes.”

“Have you ever gone by any other names or aliases?”

“No.”

“Perfect,” Colette nods, tearing her eyes away from carefully inspecting Emily’s face and looking down as she jots something down. “Next, where were you born?”

“Eimdon City.”

“When?”

“The seventh day of the seventh month of the year four hundred and ninety-six in the Modo calendar.”

“You’re an incredible liar, I’ll give you that,” Colette says without batting an eye. “But I’m going to need you to be honest with me here. If my report isn’t accurate, it will only cause you problems when it’s checked at headquarters.”

“But I am though,” Emily says innocently, not a single muscle on her face moving out of place as she projects an image of clear honesty.

I’m telling the truth here! Besides, even if I wasn’t, it’s been a while since a third circle mage would be able to tell that by looking at me.

“So, you expect me to believe that you’re a third circle mage at seventeen?”

“Yes.”

“Haaa,” Colette lets out a sigh, raising one of her hands to rub her brow as it creases in frustration. “Whatever, this is a problem for whoever has to verify your account, not me. Sure, you’re a seventeen-year-old prodigy.”

She shakes her head and continues writing in her notes before looking back at Emily again with a resigned expression, the bags beneath her eyes seeming to stretch even longer.

“Next then. Have you formally studied magic, and if so, where?”

“I studied in Modo’s Covenant for a little over a year and a half.”

Colette writes down her answer without any further comment this time, not even bothering to look up as she continues.

“Have you ever lived in Denros?”

“No.”

“Have you ever had any contact with anyone from Denros?”

“Still, no.”

The tired soldier slowly nods her head as if the answers were expected, before finally glancing up again as she makes a request.

“Okay, can you give me a brief explanation for why you’re leaving the Modo Kingdom please?”

“Sure,” Emily says with a nod, taking a moment to consider exactly what to give away before starting. “I was a commoner who knew nothing of magic, but I self-awakened on the twenty-sixth day of the sixth month of the year five hundred and twelve, and the Mandrago family, who controlled Eimdon at the time, found me. They killed my father and attempted to use mental magic to enslave me before sending me to train in The Covenant.”

Colette’s eye twitches as Emily mentions self-awakening, but any of her mistrust is pushed to the back of the mind the moment mental magic is mentioned. Her expression crumples in anger, and she voices her discontent the moment Emily pauses.

“Scum,” she practically spits before taking a breath and quickly recomposing herself. “Sorry about that.”

“It’s fine.” Emily waves off her apology and continues. “Their mental magic didn’t work properly, but I went along with them and stayed at The Covenant to train, and I quickly rose to third circle before returning to my home city. However, when I returned, I found out that the Mandrago scum, as you so accurately put it, had already killed my sister. So, I wiped out their family and fled.”

Colette’s expression shifts to one of sympathy as she places her right palm on her chest and lowers her eyes to the ground.

“I’m sorry for your loss. May her soul return to Ulea’s embrace.”

Emily nods, remaining expressionless and empty as she watches the woman offering condolences.

What religion is that from? The books in the library called this land faithless. Is that inaccurate?

Colette writes down her account as Emily distracts herself wondering about New Denntimo’s religious standing.

“You said it was the Mandrago family you wiped out, correct?” she says after a few moments, glancing up to clarify.

“Yes.”

“Are there two Mandrago families?” Colette questions, tilting her head in confusion. “What about Nicolas Mandrago?”

“I killed him.”

Colette stares at Emily for a few moments, seemingly torn between wanting to believe her and doubting every word coming out of her mouth.

“Okay,” she says, shaking her head to clear her doubts as she continues her questioning. “Moving on now then. Why did you choose to come to New Denntimo?”

“I would have been pursued harder and marked as a worse traitor if I fled to Morzea. Denros is friendly with too many of the Mandrago’s old allies for me to go there, and I would be unwelcome in Lebard as an outsider,” Emily explains.

“Alright. What do you plan on doing here in New Denntimo, and are you interested in helping us in our fight against Denros?”

Emily flashes her a cold, battle-thirsty smile that doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

“I plan on building my strength and developing my magic and weapons in preparation to return home eventually. I’m very interested in helping you fight. What better way to improve myself than through combat?”

Colette takes her response in her stride, a light of recognition flashing in her eyes as she observes Emily’s expression.

“As long as you’re fighting on our side, we’ll happily welcome another battle-maniac. I assume since you intend to return to Modo eventually, that that’s an interest in helping as a mercenary, not in joining the Defence Force?”

“Correct.”

“Okay, and I assume then that your magic is combat-specialised? You aren’t here to join our utility mages.”

“Actually, I’m a well-rounded mage,” Emily corrects her. “I have a keen interest in enchanting, alchemy, and even mechanics. I’m very interested in your utility developments.”

“Oh, well that may be a bit of an issue then. If you plan on returning to Modo, there’ll be certain limits placed on what you’re allowed to observe. But you can negotiate about that with someone else later, it’s not my area. I should have everything I need for now.”

Colette finishes scribbling something in her notebook before flipping it shut and tucking it back into the folds of her skirt.

“Right, as long as there are no issues with your crew, we’re going to escort your ship to Liberte. Once we arrive there, I’ll take you to the Defence Force’s headquarters, where you’ll be questioned again by someone else with the ability to confirm if you’re telling the truth. As long as you haven’t lied to me, you’ll have no issues. Are you alright with that?”

“Of course, I have nothing to hide,” Emily replies.

“Perfect,” Colette says, glancing over at Calypso’s crew being questioned one by one by her subordinates before relaxing her posture and leaning back comfortably in the stone seat Emily made for her. “It looks like they still have a few minutes left over there, so now that the official stuff is out of the way, do you have any questions for me? Being questioned like this probably doesn’t give the best first impression of our country, so I’d like to help fix that however I can.”

Is she letting me ask questions to see if I’ll slip up and reveal that I’ve been lying, or does she genuinely want to help?

Shrugging off the sudden shift in formality, Emily follows Collette’s gaze, catching sight of the soldiers questioning Calypso’s crew, holding small magical tools that are glowing a soft white.

“What are your soldiers holding over there?” she asks, gesturing towards them with her head. “Are they using truth magic?”

“Good eye. They are,” Colette nods without elaborating.

“Interesting… What religion do you follow?”

“I don’t,” Colette responds without batting an eye, taking the random question in stride. “At least, not properly. It’s pretty hard to keep faith once you gain the ability to casually perform the miracles attributed to gods. If you’re wondering about my condolences though, it’s a saying we’ve kept from Old Denntimo’s belief in the earth mother. Even if we don’t really believe it, it’s nice to imagine our loved ones are resting peacefully, right?”

Emily nods silently, noticing a flicker of old pain surfacing in Colette’s eyes. She gives the woman a quiet moment of reflection before speaking again.

“When we were flying over, I spotted a large whirlpool out in the middle of the ocean gathering mana. Do you guys know what it is?”

“I’m not sure, to be honest.” Colette shrugs. “It’s been there for a little over a year already and we had some of our more scholarly mages look at it, but they weren’t able to uncover its true nature. They check on it occasionally, just in case, but we have bigger priorities at the moment so we can’t afford the manpower to give it more attention until it becomes a real issue.”

“That’s understandable. I imagine a war is quite draining.”

“You have no idea.”

A soldier runs over and stops beside Colette’s seat to report.

“All clear Ma’am,” he says, standing to attention with his hand on his heart. “We’re ready to depart on your command.”

“Good,” she responds, dismissively waving the soldier away without looking away from Emily. “It appears your crew has passed our checks, and we can leave now. Would you be willing to join us on our ship for the trip to the capital? I think I should send one of my men to help guide that ship to a shipyard for some repairs while we visit headquarters.”

Emily glances over her shoulder and realises the sagging, half-melted metal at the rear of the ship is visible from their seats.

“Is the shipyard close to the capital? I promised I’d help with the repairs.”

“Yes,” Colette says with a nod, pushing herself out of her seat. “It’s only a short drive away and we have transports running back and forth daily. You can head straight there after we finish if you want.”

“Okay, sure then,” Emily agrees, standing up as well and dismissing both seats, letting them crumble and join the shifting sand underfoot. “Thanks for having me aboard.”

***

After grabbing her bag from her room and making sure Anton, Angela, and Tony can handle flying through the night without her, Emily reassures them she will find them in the shipyard later and leaves to board the other ship.

She climbs the steps following Colette, who has taken it upon herself to guide her. They step into the ship and the entrance hatch behind them slides shut before locking into place without either of them doing anything. Emily pauses and curiously places her hand against the door, releasing a flood of machina from her palm.

“It’s controlled from the bridge,” Colette explains, noticing her interest.

Emily nods, inspecting the intricate mechanisms hidden in the wall.

This is fascinating. They’re using a secondary low-pressure piping system to send commands across their ship… They even have some simple mechanical logic gates here to control emergency shutoffs! This is ingenious. If I hijack this system and make some modifications, I can set up some decent weapons for Angela to control from the comfort of the bridge without needing electricity at all.

She removes her hand from the wall and follows Colette deeper into the ship while making notes in her virtual notebook. The corridors they walk through are all lit in a cold white light by a glowing channel along the ceiling, similar to the light channels outside the ship.

Emily spreads machina through her feet with each step, closely inspecting the lighting and frowning as she works out what the channel is.

It’s a long tube of a non-metal material with a thread of metal in the centre… Why is that metal glowing though?

Her perception spreads, and as they turn into the corridor containing the crew cabins, she finally spots the source of the light.

A cluster of mana? I see. They must be spreading the raw light mana from those crystals using that thread, and the material around it is diffusing it into the room. Interesting.

“You can use this room while you’re aboard,” Colette says, pushing open the door to a small room with a single metal-framed bed, a desk, and a chair. “You’re free to move around this ship as you wish, but I ask that you please stay away from the armoury and weapon placements for now. There will be food available in the mess hall in thirty minutes. Food will be available again at oh eight hundred tomorrow morning, and we should reach Liberte an hour later.”

“Thanks,” Emily says, slinging her bag onto the bed and stepping into the room.

“No problem. If you need me, I will be on the bridge or in my quarters, and if you can’t find me just ask any member of the crew.”

Emily nods and shuts the door as Colette heads back the way they came towards the front of the ship. She climbs onto the bed and settles down cross-legged, not planning on sleeping at all.

Time to compare.

She pours machina into the ship, beginning the slow process of completely mapping it out as she pulls on her system’s description of it.

¯¯¯¯¯

[Border Patrol Ship #042]

[Rank:] D

[Description:] A heavily enchanted, medium-sized patrol airship built to protect New Denntimo’s borders. Designed for stability and durability with a mixture of kinetic and magical weaponry.

_____

The end of the description catches her eye, the mention of magical weaponry sparking her curiosity.

Is that what those white rods were on their hull?

She directs her machina towards the outside of the ship, quickly locating the metal rods protruding out in line with the nearby gun barrels. Each rod begins in an accessible room inside the ship and ends in the open air, with a complicated twisting pattern of runes coating their entire length.

“They’re mostly white iron with a touch of mithril and silver. Are they for focusing a spell provided by the operator, or does the operator just provide mana?” she mutters, unable to read the mana-touched runes with her machina alone. “It doesn’t look like there’s a way to change the angle of the rod, so probably the former unless they plan on turning the ship to aim. Though I guess that’s possible.”

She turns her attention away from the weapons for now and continues mapping the entire ship in full detail, trying to copy its blueprint. Unfortunately, even after four hours of close inspection, she’s unable to make a perfect blueprint.

¯¯¯¯¯

Machina scan incomplete.

Blueprint created: Border Patrol Ship #042

[Border Patrol Ship #042]

[Type:] Steam Airship

[Tier:] 1

[Rank:] D (E)

[Description:] A heavily enchanted, medium-sized patrol airship built to protect New Denntimo’s borders. Designed for stability and durability with a mixture of kinetic and magical weaponry.

_____

“Damn,” she mutters under her breath, looking at the window with a frown. “It’s meant to be D rank, but it dropped because I can’t map the magical enhancements with machina alone. I could finish it if I use mana too, but they’ll notice that. I guess I’ll reset tomorrow.”

Her frown only grows as she looks at the tier as well.

It’s still the same tier as Calypso despite being a higher rank and using a lot of magic. Steam power really is low-grade.