Sufficiently Advanced Magic (Arcane Ascension, #1)

by Andrew Rowe

The Kingdom of Feria had once tried to invade the fifth tower. It was nothing but dust and ruins, now.

Scholars argued about how many total attunements existed, but the best guess was at least fifty, each providing a broad variety of abilities associated with a particular theme. Their benefits were cumulative, so someone with two defensive attunements would be extraordinarily resilient.

There is no fencing term I’m aware of for drawing a pistol and shooting your opponent in the face, but that was what it felt like when I heard his final words.

I hadn’t been murdered in the middle of the night. Success!

I knew I’d be hurting for free time if I took an extra class, but that was a problem for future me.

There’s a common misconception that Enchanters can’t be effective combatants. The people who perpetuate that misconception are rarely aware of what an Emerald-level enchantment can do.”

most possible runes were found long ago through a combination of divination and brute forcing combinations.”

an instructor can probably repair the damage from a careless Elementalist. If an Enchanter makes a big enough mistake? You could probably wipe out a small town.”

“Never stop enchanting. Never stop creating. Never stop thinking. That is your greatest asset, even if it can also be your greatest weakness. No, I don’t want you to stop.”

meant I could focus on more important priorities, like not dying. That was one of my favorite hobbies.

No one seemed to be able to tell me why it was so bad to have my mana unbalanced like that; they just seemed to be regurgitating what they’d heard elsewhere.

“But, if I wanted to, how long would you expect it to take?” She shrugged a shoulder. “Hundreds of practice attempts. Most likely several months to a year.” I resolved to figure it out by the end of the week.

I decided that next time, I’d put my gauntlet back on before punching Derek.

“I think this might be the first time you’ve called me that without sounding sarcastic.” I ran a hand through my hair. “You’re probably right. I’m sorry. I’ll try to be twice as sarcastic next time to make up for the lapse.”

“I’ll have you know that I almost considered participating in a play once. I’m practically a professional.”

The minotaur was a good ten feet tall. Almost twice my height, and probably at least five or six times my mass and strength. But that wasn’t much different from a child of ten learning to fight against a champion duelist father.

“Does he always try to solve problems by making bigger ones?” Orden nodded sagely. “That would sum up Corin’s problem solving methodology quite appropriately.”