Dimensional Sunder

Van opened a portal back into his room inside the Merchants Guild and immediately sat down. He was not only still pissed off, but he was also extremely depressed. Mrs. Cartwright was part of the team that was wiped out. He had lost another person that was important to him and had helped him through the toughest times of this life.

For the next three months, Van stayed inside his room only coming out to eat and relieve himself. He dedicated himself to the research of the dimensional magic that he had acquired. A week into his self-imposed isolation Ms. Etta informed him that Mrs. Cartwright's body was not found at the scene of the slaughter. This should have made him happy but it just made him worry even more.

He was worried that Asterism had put her in a dimensional space and that he had killed him without thinking of that possibility. Van became even more of a recluse, he didn't even see Ms. Etta when she came to talk with him. To everyone else in the Guild, he seemed to have a lot on his mind.

Van delved deep into research about how dimensional magic worked. He spent all of his waking hours referencing his Grimoire and writing down information. At the end of the three months he had come up with a theory and he couldn't wait to put it to the test. The next morning he left the city and walked to the crater that used to be the watermill.

Van knew that he was unable to create a dimension of his own, it was a Tier 9 spell and his Grimoire was only a Tier 6 but he had come up with a new spell called Dimensional Sunder. It was a Tier 6 spell that was supposed to be able to forcefully rip open another person's dimension. The only thing was, is that the location of the dimension must be known. There were so many variables that

Van knew he was essentially taking a shot in the dark.

Did the dimension owner have to be alive? If the owner was dead did the dimension even still exist? If it did still exist, was it located at the location of their death or the last place they used it? There were so many more questions, but he figured that if he continued to question he wouldn't get anywhere. As a scientist in his last life, he knew that not all questions could be answered before any data could be gathered.

Van's Grimoire started to float in front of him as he carefully and deliberately read the words of the spell. "Rip and tear asunder the world of the unknown, lay bare everything hidden."

Van felt a huge amount of MP leaving his body, he looked at his stats and saw that 750,000 MP had been used.

…

Nothing.

"Fuck… Well, at least the spell worked."

~~ {It is an original spell, it seems that the words of the spell just have to match what the creator had in mind for the function of the spell.}

~~ The makes sense. I will have to create a spell that can find other dimensions when we get back to the room.

Van walked back to his room to find Ms. Etta sitting on his bed waiting for him, "We need to have a talk young man, I have good news and I have bad news."

"Bad news first," Van replied as he shut the door and hung up his jacket.

"A man fitting the description of Asterism was seen crossing the northern border last week. He was gravely injured so we have sent some of our best people after him."

Van was shocked. He had watched as Asterism's red dot disappeared from his mini-map, and he had seen his Souls Harvested count go up by one. He also didn't see the red dot move before he bombed the building.

"What's the good news?" Van asked trying to hurry up the visit so he could think in peace.

"I am the good news," Mrs. Cartwright said as she opened the door and walked into the room.

Van immediately turned around and wrapped her in a hug. The amount of relief that felt at the moment was enough to cause him to shed some tears. He wiped his eyes and started to interrogate her. She explained that she had ended up on the eastern coast of the continent alone and without her fairy. She had just gotten back this morning and Ms. Etta had filled her in on everything.

After sharing a delicious meal with both of the women that evening and hearing Mrs. Cartwright's tale of adventure, Van headed back to his dormitory at the college. The next few days were busy as he had to catch up on all of the work he had missed. Van didn't find making up the school work difficult, he was used to working long hours so he put his head down and completed everything they sent him.

The rest of the school year Van spent it peacefully, he occupied himself with spell research and his business. He would go to the steel foundry and visit with Erynne when she had the time. He would then go back to his workshop to check up on his workers and review the books. Van was still trying to figure out who he had killed for the Souls Harvested count to increase. Mrs. Cartwright was alive and well and apparently Asterism was still alive Van couldn't think of who it was that died. He even checked up on the man in his inventory and found he was still alive.

Van had thought about this every day but after a couple of months of not hearing anything about someone going missing around that time, he put it to the back of his head. Until one day Mrs. Cartwright had informed everyone that her fairy was still missing and that the fairy community had not seen nor heard from her since the day that the mill exploded. Upon hearing that news Van immediately assumed that the fairy must have been trailing Asterism and that, that is who he had killed, while Asterism had somehow escaped.

Back at the school, Van noticed that everyone was getting excited about the class tournament. Rumors and bets were already being made throughout the school, about how long the different classes would be able to last against Van's and Camellia's classes. Those two were supposed to be the two strongest in the year because they had multiple affinities, so their class was already projected to win by the students.

For the last week before the tournament, Van could be found sitting in his room Researching Tier 1 spells that he would be able to use in the tournament. His Master Grimoire was getting thick as more and more pages were added. He was in the middle of some research when there was a knock on his door.

"It's open." He called out.

When he looked up from his desk he saw Sir. Helsing enter. "How can I help you, Sir," Van said as he got up from his desk to give the man a bow.

"I am sorry to inform you that you will not be able to participate in the tournament. But with that being said you have been summoned to the capital for an audience with the King. You are to leave in two days' time."

Van was shocked that he was summoned by the king. He wasn't too worried about not being able to participate. He was already stronger than every student in the school. "Yes Sir. Is there anything I need to know about the capital or the royals before I go?" He asked fully knowing that he wouldn't be able to contest a summons.

Sir. Helsing then went on to answer Van's question for the next hour. Van sat there and took in everything he said. The mannerisms of the royals, the etiquette required when in the presence of the different royals, and what to expect when in the capitol.

"Thank you for the explanation and the instruction on what to do while there Sir," Van said while bowing once more. "I will get my things ready to go."

Two days later Van got into an Arcane College carriage. He would be traveling with an escort of 20, There were two other people in the carriage with him. A Mage and a Heavily Armored woman. Van looked at them and saw the number 10 above their heads. He realized that with his summoning ability the danger rating of a person really didn't matter anymore. If he wanted to kill everyone here he could summon another bomb and portal back to his room and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

He and Alice both decided that the use of the danger rating system was no longer needed, so he removed it from his HUD. They then decided to revamp his system and how it was supposed to work.