Technomancer: Birth of a Goddess

Chapter 26 – Jenny Forsythia

“You’re all dismissed!”

At Miss Forsythia’s call, everyone gives a bow and begins filing out except Emily, who remains standing in place. As they leave the room, she sees Jeremy and Kyle look back and fix her with a glare.

Damn, I guess I can’t avoid having problems with them.

Finally, Tom steps through the door and lets it shut with a loud thud behind him, leaving Emily and Miss Forsythia standing together in silence.

“So, Emily, why don’t you tell me a little about yourself and how you ended up here,” Miss Forsythia says, walking over to the desks and taking a seat.

“Sure,” Emily agrees while taking the seat next to her. “I lived in Eimdon city working for a clockmaker. An airship of the Mandrago family crashed one day when I was out in the scrap piles, and I found a magic crystal in the wreckage. I obviously didn’t know what it was at the time, so I took it, did some experiments with it, and ended up awakening as a result. The Mandrago family came and found me soon after, forced me to come with them, and then attempted to use a spell to brainwash me. Then they sent me here. That about sums it up.”

A look of anger spreads across Miss Forsythia’s face as she listens to Emily’s account.

“Those shitty excuses for nobles!” The air around her begins heating up, causing Emily to flinch back.

She’s this angry about the edited version?

Noticing Emily’s reaction, Miss Forsythia quickly calms herself down and apologises.

“Sorry about that, I should be setting a better example.”

“It’s fine. What was that though Miss Forsythia?” Emily asks with a look of eager curiosity.

“Please, just call me Jenny. You’re making me feel old,” Jenny says flashing a gentle smile. “That was me losing control of my anger. As we grow in circle, our control of and connection with mana also grow, which leads to phenomena like that when a mage feels strong emotions.”

“I see. Why are you so angry?”

Jenny sighs and begins to explain with a sad tone:

“Many years ago now, I was a commoner growing up in a small territory of the Hawthorne family. I was approached by a member of said family, and told I had magical talent. The family treated me well and sent me here to learn. As I grew, I made a lot of friends with other commoners who had been brought in like me, and even started dating.” A small smile grows on her face as Jenny reminisces.

“However, unfortunately, our happiness couldn’t last. One day my partner suddenly said she had to leave for a dungeon with the heir of the family she served. The dungeon was estimated to require third circle mages, but she and the family’s heir were only second circle. I told her not to go, but she said she had no choice.” She silently wipes a few tears from her eyes as her sad expression morphs into a look of seething rage that strikes a chord in Emily. “She died in that dungeon. Afterwards, I was allowed to go through her belongings and found several letters giving her orders. The family backing her didn’t have any third circle mages and wanted to use her as fodder to help their heir gain the resources to become one. Knowing this, when I reached the third circle, I requested to separate from the Hawthorne family, so they didn’t get dragged into it if I got punished. I gained my own noble title in return for fifty years of service as a teacher here and, after being given the name Forsythia, the first thing I did was purge the offending family from this kingdom.”

With a look of grim satisfaction, the shimmering heat surrounding Jenny slowly fades.

“It should have ended there. However, when I was going through the family’s records, I found information on how they’d been using mental magic to control all the commoners they brought in. When I returned here again afterwards, I started checking with my students and my commoner friends, and found a large portion of them gave strange reactions when questioned about the noble families backing them. Since then, I’ve been looking into mental magic to try and find a way to break these rotten nobles’ control, but my search has yet to bear fruit.”

Jenny goes silent, giving Emily some time to process the flood of new information.

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I knew it wasn’t just the Mandrago family. I’m not sure if I can trust this woman, but the fact that she was willing to talk about this is promising.

“You said that you tested a lot of students, right? Do you have a list of which families I should watch out for?”

“Yes, I’m not sure if it’s one hundred per cent accurate, but I can write it out for you if you’d like?”

“Thanks.” Emily passes Jenny her notebook and quill.

After a couple of seconds scribbling, Jenny hands back the notebook with a dozen noble families written down. Reading over the list, Emily lets out a small sigh of relief, the last of her caution towards Juliana washing away.

No Madonna family!

“Do you know if the noble students from these families know what they’re doing?”

“I’m not sure. I’ve tried to avoid asking any questions directly to family members that could draw suspicion. I don’t want to risk turning half the nobles in the kingdom against me yet. However, given the way they act towards commoner mages, I wouldn’t be surprised if they know,” Jenny answers with obvious disdain for her students.

Emily nods, then asks a question she suspects she knows the answer to while narrowing her eyes at Jenny.

“Now, why did you approach me and tell me all this?”

Jenny smiles as she answers.

“Simple, you’re a vassal of one of the families I know do brainwash commoners, yet you were able to freely insult them and clearly hold them in contempt. One of the major tells of brainwashed students is being unable to insult their ‘masters’. So, of course I would be curious as to why you weren’t brainwashed: as you confirmed yourself, they tried and failed.”

Jenny’s eyes light up with intense curiosity and excitement.

“So this is a great opportunity! I’ve mentioned my fruitless research into mental magic. This is mostly due to the knowledge being considered taboo and being illegal in this kingdom. I’ve failed to find much, other than scraps of knowledge buried in the library, but if you still remember the process and can talk about it, I can finally start some proper research!”

Emily silently considers what to do.

I don’t really want to gather too much attention from the other families while I’m here, and I don’t have much of a reason to help. But, it would probably leave a bad taste in my mouth if I ignored innocent people being brainwashed and sent to their deaths. Besides, maybe I’ll get the chance to learn mental magic if I help her.

“If I help you, can you guarantee that no one will know it was me that helped so they don’t target me if you do succeed?”

“I swear upon the name Jenny Forsythia that I will never tell anyone about your involvement in this,” Jenny says solemnly, with her hand on her heart.

A small smile slips onto Emily’s face as she watches.

“Fine, what would you like to know then?”

“Great! Could you please recount to me the entire process of their attempted brainwashing?” Jenny asks while tapping her wrist.

Immediately, a faint lilac mana spreads from within her robes and a book and quill appear on the desk in front of her. Shocked, Emily looks closer and sees the outline of a bracelet holding a glowing purple crystal within Jenny’s robes.

Seeing Emily’s curiosity, Jenny chuckles and pulls back her sleeve.

“It’s a spatial storage item. They’re quite hard to make, only a skilled mage specialising in space magic can produce them, but the convenience totally makes it worth the price.”

Gazing at the exposed bracelet, Emily sees four bands of intertwined metal, two silver and two black, with delicate runes engraved across every inch of their surface. The four bands are curled around a purple crystal and each of the runes closest to it glow with the same lilac hue.

After giving Emily a few moments to inspect the bracelet, Jenny drops her sleeve and opens her notebook. Seeing her expectant look, Emily begins recounting her run-in with mental magic. She explains every detail she saw, from the elder's staff, to the order of the runes breaking against her mental defences.

“Is that everything?” Jenny asks with a slight frown.

“Yes, why? Is there a problem?”

“No, I’m honestly surprised you can remember so much. It’s just everything you told me about this points towards breaking the spell being even harder than I had hoped.” She sighs and leans back in her chair, rubbing the bridge of her nose.

Emily silently waits for Jenny to collect herself and explain properly.

“Have you been to any lessons on chants yet?”

“No.” Emily shakes her head.

“I see. To put it simply, this spell seems problematic from the wording of the chant and the state of the caster. You said the elder looked decrepit, right?”

“Yes, his back was crooked, and he looked shrivelled.”

“Then I suspect it’s not his age that makes him look old, it’s probably a limitation placed on the spell to make it stronger. Mages don’t visibly age past their prime until they only have fifty to sixty years left on their lifespan, unless they do it intentionally. And when a mage does age, they usually don’t gain deformities, due to having a far greater vitality than a normal person. You see, when making spells, most chants are just used to give a mental image. But there are some where the words of the chant are used to designate rules and effects on your spell. For example, this part here,”

Jenny underlines the first passage from the chant written into her notebook, ‘With gnarled mind and twisted flesh’, then she scribbles down a note next to it as she speaks:

“This probably strengthens the hold of the spell, at the cost of deforming its caster. However, this is bad news because the rest of the spell” - she underlines the last two lines of the spell, ‘An oath forged with no strength to resist; till the end of her life, it shall always persist’ - “can be interpreted as: the target will be given a chance to resist, however if failed the spell shall last till the target's death.”

Emily nods in understanding before leaning over and underlining: ‘Broken and bound to our family tree’.

“Then this would explain why a blood member of the family came to give me instructions when they were sending me here. Does this mean it’s impossible to break the spell?”

“Goddess no! Nothing is ever impossible, especially with magic! If I were multiple circles above the caster then it would be relatively easy even with the extra strength from the conditions, but otherwise, it just means I will need a more perfect counter spell and possibly a lot of resources.”

“Okay, is there anything else you need to know from me, or is that all?”

“That should be all. I’ll let you know if I think of anything else I need to know. Thank you for your help.”

“No problem, I’m happy to do it.” Emily stands up and starts walking towards the door.

“Oh, and Emily,” Jenny calls out to her before she leaves. “While it’s great to be cautious when dealing with someone you don’t know well, you should work on managing your expression better. I easily spotted the moment you decided to use me, and so will most experienced mages.”

Looking back at Jenny’s knowing smile, Emily blushes and bows lightly before stepping through the door.

***

Back in her room, Emily sits down at her desk, dropping her notebook down in front of her along with a new spell from the information hub.

Well, that was embarrassing. I thought I was better at hiding my thoughts, but I guess living a long life among so many nobles will make you adept at reading people. I’ll avoid having that chat again with her till my final reset. Hopefully I’ll play it better then.

Shaking her head and putting her talk with Jenny behind her, Emily opens her system to look at her quest notifications.

¯¯¯¯¯

Chain-Quest completed: True Magical Genius #1

[True Magical Genius #1]

[Rank:] D

[Description:] Living up to your title of technomancer, you have manifested an element using your understanding of physics! But are two manifestations truly worthy of a magical genius?

Requirements:

-Manifest 3/3 Elements in your first manifestation attempt (Complete)

Rewards:

-Mechanic Knowledge: Basic Material Science

-Mechanic Knowledge: Basic Kinematics

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Chain-Quest Generated: True Magical Genius #2

[True Magical Genius #2]

[Rank:] C

[Description:] Three manifestations down, three more to go!

Requirements:

-Manifest 3/6 Elements in your first manifestation attempt (Not Complete)

Rewards:

-Mechanic Knowledge: Basic Waves

-Mechanic Knowledge: Basic Thermodynamics

-Skill: Basic Metalworking (passive)

_____

Seeing the increased manifestation count on the second part of the quest, Emily grins and mutters:

“Ha, guess I need to show off again!”