Clyde smiled at the professor, at his mentioning of Syliras. Clyde himself found it best to be careful when mentioning the city, lest he go against a ardent supporter of it. And considering how close to the place they were, it seemed only to likely that someone would be. He did not want to come off as anti-Syliras, especially considering the reason he was here. Better to toe the line, and if anything to be ambiguous in how he spoke on it.
However a small shiver went up his spine, as he felt the tingle of djed upon the air. This tingle turned into a shiver across his skin, as he felt something wash over him. By the taste of it in his mouth, he knew it was magic related. Considering the way Stonemiller was looking upon him, and the feeling, Clyde was fairly certain the man was examining him with Auristics. That or some other magic was about. But he doubted the chance of another spell being worked at the same time as he was with this wizard. The odds were not too favorable.
The other chance was that it was hypnotism, since that also was not visible, but he did not believe that was the case since he was doing no action. Though now that he thought on it, he really needed to find out more about that magic, and how it worked. But after a time, the feeling ended, as whatever magic was afoot ended. Clyde gave Stonemiller a look, but pressed on without mentioning the magic. But if he had been looking at him, and saw his reaction upon it starting, there was a good chance he knew Clyde knew.
"I originally hail from Syliras, but that is not the place of my learning. I found it was better for me to leave, if I wanted to... Freely work on my various skills. So I left years ago. And Syliras is not exactly open, when it comes to magic or the learning of it. So I would not lay my knowledge or expertise at their feet. As you said, Syliras is a bit lacking in regards to... Quality of mages..."
Clyde paused for a moment, deciding not to drive onward. Perhaps he would have mentioned he had done much of his training in Ravok, at the Institute there, but he thought better of it. Particularly due to his... Other activities.
As Stonemiller expounded the various qualities of a good teacher, along with why he was uncertain of Clyde, he said nothing. He could not fault the man on his clear logic, which was without fault. However, he had not yet posited a question or said no, so Clyde let him continue onward.
Then he gave Clyde a ultimatum, a task, which would mean either being hired, or not. He had to "display his skill in Glyphing." All he had was a piece of paper, and the tools to write on it. Simple ingredients, which were the staple of a Glyphers trade.
What could he do? What alone would be impressive. Best to be quick and simple, yet still layered in skill. Something that was not time consuming, and yet could not be done by a lesser Glypher. The only thing that came to mind, was triggers. They were one thing which did not matter what they were connected to, whether simple or complex, which could still truly show ones skills.
Clyde began to speak, as he wrote, writing on one corner of the parchment, a few lines of text in common.
"I could do quite a bit, but I assume you don't want me to waste your time. So instead, I will show you something which will represent my skill, without being overly complex. And as I have always told my prior students, a mage should find the simplest solution to a given problem, which uses the minimum of effort and energy to solve it."
Clyde reached into his pack, and took out a simple steel dagger in its scabbard. He slid it out of it, sliced off the corner of the parchment with the writing, and handed it to Stonemiller, before returning his dagger to the depth of the pack.
On the paper was written "I, Clyde Sullins, hereby give Professor Stonemiller of the University of Zeltiva, on the 60th day of the season of fall, permission to look upon my works of Glyphing."
"Please keep that upon your person, for now."
With that, Clyde began to Glyph at high speed, using the quill on the remainder of the parchment.
He drew on a circle in the middle of the page, and then in a 2nd long curving motion made a waving line all around it, just barely in contact. Thus was his focus. Then he made series of interwoven curving lines, which arced around the focus a half inch away. He kept overwriting this with more curving waves all around it, however setting each one slightly forward, so that a identical echo of it would be seen, with each line drawn shifted slightly to the right. He did another one of these, but by then the lines were so close to colliding he stopped. Thus was his barrier, drawn in short order.
Finally, Clyde turned the parchment, and drew a small triangle on one side, with the tip in contact with one edge of the barrier. Writing more text in common, Clyde wrote lines of text next to the flat side of the triangle. It said the following:
"Upon anyone without the express written permission of Clyde Sullins who is the maker of this parchments Glyphing, permission given upon the 60th day of summer by Clyde Sullins, looks upon this parchment, the trigger will activate, releasing the barrier and freeing the magic stored within."
With that, Clyde placed his left hand over the focus palm downward, exuded a small spurt of res, and retracted his hand. He then willed the res to move downward, and then transmuted it into air. A tiny gust was freed, and blew into the focus to be trapped.
And with that, Clyde was done. The entire process of Glyphing, res and all, perhaps taking a chime or less.
"There you have it. As I said, the main emphasis is on the trigger and its wording, which would be non-functional for someone without the requisite skill in Glyphing. Assuming my Glyphing has gone correctly, when you toss away that paper which was given to you on the specified time and gives you the required permission, and then look at the Glpyhing, it will go off destroying the scroll. But as long as you have the paper, it will remain dormant." |