"Well, as I said, everything that you can do with a smartphone you can do with a manadial. Though there are also more things that can be done with manadials. Like the enchantment that I placed on all of your dials that allows me to use manalysis through any of your dials. They are fully modifiable, though if you don't know very much about the spells required to keep them running, it might be for the best that you don't mess with their programming." Felix explained.
It appeared that everyone had received their dials. Jessie left briefly and came back, wearing a new outfit, an outfit that Felix had never seen before, and he surmised it must have been a traditional garb of the summoner.
"Onto the next and last order of business, Our mission. I am to guess that most of you know nothing or next to nothing about Paragons and what they do. Most people know nothing about them next to whispers of legends. One of my biggest duties at the Vatican was researching Paragons. Doing any and all book research I could get my hands on. I poured over tomes after tomes of information. I even at one point had to go on an expedition to excavate a tomb that had a scroll that could possibly lead me in the right direction. What I had found was a slew of useless information, but a few bits of information that we could use. I am going to lay everything I know bare for you guys." Felix sipped on his coffee and then stood up. As an instructor he knew it was important to have good posture when wishing to communicate with conviction, and sitting down only hampered that.
"One of the most important facts I learned about the Paragons, was that not only were they near endless powerhouses of mana energy, but that each one had specific purposes. Or if you would... they each had different readily available abilities. They could, with the right runes and tampering, all be used to fuel any spell, sure. But, it would take an expert to harness the mana to do whatever you wished with a Paragon. There are nine in total, this much has been corroborated by at least four documents I had read. Each one, also corroborated by many documents, has their own unique abilities. As the name implies, Paragons embody specific ideals. It seems that the abilities each have are where the names for the ideals come from."
Felix looked down, scratched the back of his head and began pacing, "Or perhaps it's the other way around, maybe the ideals were instilled into the creation of the Paragons. The problem is that there is no proof they were created, or if they were formed by random happenstance. But I digress."
Felix stopped pacing and looked looked back at the table of people.
"The idea that each Paragon has an individual ability is what spurred me to look at various places for tales and legends of artifacts that granted extraordinary powers. This of course lead me through many ancient documents. Even the Bible has many mentions of artifacts with powers. The Ark of the Covenant, the Budding Rod of Aaron, and many others. Though, just because an artifact was mentioned doesn't necessarily mean it was the work of a Paragon. But around the time I was looking through these ancient documents from various places, a scroll came across my desk. The scroll was papyrus, and about seventeen-hundred years old. It was written in ancient Greek, and damaged just enough to almost be illegible. But it's contents revealed the name of each Paragon, the ideal of each of the nine. Unfortunately that was all I could salvage from it, I am sure the original contents also listed the direct abilities of each and not just the names. But the names themselves gave off hints as to each ability."
Felix paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts before continuing.
"The first paragon is the Paragon of Espial. The name suggests that its power is related to watching, more importantly watching people. So I began looking into different documents that told stories about artifacts that allowed extraordinary sight. One of these documents told me about the formation of Societas Academia. Before Societas Academia had a large base of Enlisters, they had no way of finding potential students. This was back around the 1800s. The document went on to tell about an artifact that allowed them to find anyone suitable for a student position, simply by asking. I believed that this was the Paragon of Espial. I began to investigate closer, and found out that after they gained a solid student base, they had developed Enlister spells to locate potential candidates. No longer in need of the Paragon's help, they sealed it in a catacomb under this very forest."
Felix paused once more, this time to allow the information he had stated to sink in to the ears that were listening.
"After Raiya had left the Arcanocracy, I began to have my own doubts about the Church as a whole. These doubts are what led me to build this cabin out here, close enough to the known Paragon site that we could get there first. Far enough from the site to not be located. I have the location, the exact coordinates of the catacomb containing the Paragon of Espial. This is where you will all be going today." Felix explained.
"Unfortunately, I will not be going with you on this expedition. One of the points of today's mission is for me to examine your magic and fighting styles. I will be watching closely to figure out how to best put your abilities to use. Also, if anything gets too hairy, I am always one spacial rift away from helping. Which leads me to an important sub-item, team formation. Since I am not positive of all of your abilities I will be entrusting team lead to Nemo, and Raiya. They will both take point, I will be in constant contact with everyone and instructing you all closely, so I will still be calling the shots. But if anything happens to me while you guys are out, or something interferes, Raiya and Nemo will call the shots from there. As for rear guard, Artos, I know your fighting style relatively well, so you take rear guard. Everyone else stick close and follow Nemo and Raiya."
Any questions?
Raiya gave Nemo a bizzare and disgusted look.
"You're insane." Raiya stated.
She pushed away her plate, as she was done eating. And poured herself another drink.
Raiya listened closely to the part about Felix making this cabin after Raiya left the Arcanocracy, but dismissed it as a lie to get back on her good side. Her expression turned into a grim face of anger.
Nice try, Felix. Trying to be passive with such a blatant lie? Hoping you might make amends? It's going to take a lot more than that.
She didn't quite seem to mind that she was going to take point, she only got a hint of anger at the thought of having to share point with Nemo. But the anger faded when she realized that this was the fate she had resigned herself to by allowing herself to be tempted into a bet with someone like him. 