She’s been watching us closely. “So, I take it an Emerald-level protection spell can block, what, dozens of hits from a cane instead of a couple?”
“One could devise an enchantment to do that at a much lower level. I could make such a thing myself. No, my vest absorbs mana from low-level offensive spells — yes, a dueling cane’s attacks are spells — and redirects that mana into recharging my other magical items. If you had managed to penetrate that defense with a powerful enough attack — which you don’t have, of course — one of my other defensive items would have stopped it.”
Holy Goddess. That’s... not even remotely fair. “If items that powerful exist, why don’t we see people using them all the time?”
“Keeping items like my tunic rare keeps the people who have them — that is, the people who already are in power — secure. Beyond that, they’re hard to make. It took my friend weeks to finish this single enchantment, and the materials were hundreds of times more expensive than what it takes to make a little shield sigil like yours. At least two of the components were from spire guardians.”
Ouch. Looks like I won’t be getting one of those any time soon. “Still, what about weaker ones? Shouldn’t everyone in the military have something like a, I don’t know, permanent version of my sigil?”
“A common argument. Some units do carry sigils like yours, but it’s more expensive than it sounds. A few large companies carry the patents on the most efficient permanent shield enchantments, and thus manufacturing them in mass requires going through those companies.”
I blinked. “You’re joking. You can patent combinations of runes?”
“I’m quite serious, I assure you,” she retorted flatly. “No one can stop you from making an enchanted item for yourself, of course, or even making a few for friends. But the minute you start to sell them on the open market? Be prepared for solicitors to take you to court.”
Ugh. “That sounds pretty abysmal. But if I found something unique, I could patent it myself?”
“Certainly, but the three main ‘rune manufacturers’ have a few hundred years advantage on you. Occasionally, someone still finds an unusual rune on a magical item high up in one of the towers, but most possible runes were found long ago through a combination of divination and brute forcing combinations.”
“Lovely. All right, so I couldn’t have harmed you. You’ve proven my preparations were inadequate. How could I have done better, when you’re clearly vastly more powerful, better informed, and have more resources at your disposal?”
“Ah. An excellent question. Sometimes, victory is not about being able to defeat your opponent; it’s about making it too inefficient for your opponent to even try to win. You had the right idea when you fired into the roof, and also when you yelled... although the latter was muffled by the rune I wrote outside your door before I came inside. A standard practice for any Enchanter planning stealth work. Sufficient to cover ordinary noises, but not quite enough to cover the gunshot. That would have gotten me into some trouble if I had been a true assassin.”
I nodded at that. “So, signal for help.”
“That’s one part, but a sufficiently prepared safe place — like your room — should have deterred me before I even entered. I won’t be breaking in again any time soon, but I will come by and check on your door at some point in the next few weeks. I expect defensive wards. Be creative with the ones you choose.”
“All right... but why do you think this is necessary? I have some idea about why my information might be dangerous, but I haven’t told you enough of it yet to warrant the kind of security you’re giving me.”
“On the contrary, young Cadence. As I mentioned before, the Voice wouldn’t have contacted you if you weren’t already involved in a conflict of great significance. Moreover, recent events related to the tower have given me an idea of why you were sent to me. I have a responsibility to make sure you are adequately prepared before I tackle that danger myself, and nothing inspires a student into action like the threat of death.”
I couldn’t argue with that logic, even if I didn’t like her method. I ground my jaw, continuing to listen.
“Did the Voice give you any indication of the larger situation we’re dealing with?”
I shook my head. “No, but I did see some things in the tower that certainly seemed noteworthy.”
“Interesting. Are you aware that no one has exited the tower since the day that you completed your test?”
My eyes widened at that. “No, I, uh, hadn’t heard.”
“Don’t be hard on yourself. We’ve kept that little tidbit quite tightly under control, and it’s why I took your claim about the Voice so seriously when you brought it to my attention. At the point you told me, we had just deployed a second team into the tower to investigate. To date, neither of those teams has returned. Both had Sunstone Mages, and they are normally capable of handling the first several floors of the tower.”
I didn’t quite know what to say to that. I offered, “Um.”
“At this point, you’re probably wondering why I didn’t follow up with you immediately or teleport you straight here once you mentioned the Voice.”
Sure, we’ll go with that.
She continued, “I needed to have a chance to vet you first. Believe it or not, students have been used as spies and assassins in the past. I had to verify that a Corin Cadence actually entered the tower, exited, and fits your description. Beyond that, I had to check and see if you had any unusual attunements beyond the obvious mark on your forehead, or anything else of note. Your sword was of some interest, but while it’s an advanced weapon to find in a Judgment, it was not enough to imply that you were an assassin. And you made no effort to conceal it.”