29. Mo’ Memory

‘Thank you!’ I sent back. ‘Message received.’

My Bank Crystal must have felt the touch too, as it suddenly began sparkling like a Christmas tree. It started shooting out rays of light, and the entire hall began quaking like we were in the middle of an earthquake.

‘Easy there,’ I said quickly, trying to send it calming thoughts. ‘Everything is okay. Everything is fine now.’

‘All-Rune!’ it shouted as books fell off the walls and doors flew open.

‘Yes, yes. It was the All-Rune,’ I sent back, as peacefully as possible. ‘He’s gone now. You’re okay.’

‘All-Rune!’ it shouted again as the floor cracked and the ceiling blew off the hall. A giant beam of light descended from the sky and filled the Crystal to overflowing. Spiral staircases collapsed, and a golden mist started pouring out of the walls.

This was feeling an awful lot like when I’d first gotten the Stamp and it had tried to kill me.

‘Calm down!’ I shouted back. Obviously, the soothing approach wasn’t working.

‘PROCESSING…’ the Crystal said in a much deeper voice than it usually used. I had a feeling the light from the sky was the main Bank, and it was running the show at the moment.

‘You can process all you want, but this stops now!’ I commanded.

This was my Bank Crystal’s hall, but it was still my magic. The Bank Stamp was inside my domain.

It had originally determined I was an unfit host and had started to use the magic from the Exchequer to destroy me. I sensed it didn’t have that magic anymore. Crystal had assimilated all of that power in the setup, and now it ran on my magic. I’d tailored the hall with my soul, which meant that I controlled this hall more than the Bank did.

I reached out my senses, just like when I’d battled the red-eyed generals, and asserted my will.

I clamped down on the earthquake.

It stopped.

I clamped down on the mist.

It stopped.

I clamped down on the cracked floor and the broken walls.

They stabilized.

Finally, I clamped down on the Crystal itself. We had a great working relationship, and although it was a little stubborn sometimes, I knew it had my best interest at heart. This beam of light wasn’t going to blow up my friend.

The beam of light wasn’t happy with my interference, and we fought for control.

I was right. The beam was a direct connection into the main Banking system.

It was powerful—ancient—just as stubborn as my Crystal, and much more used to getting its way.

In this case, it had already started to do something to my Crystal, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

‘APOLOGIES,’ the light said as it suddenly stopped trying to do whatever it was doing. ‘PERMISSION REQUESTED.’

It sent images of surprise, as it normally just did what it needed to do and moved on. It also sent images explaining what it wanted. They arrived so thick and fast I barely had time to process them, but I agreed with most of them.

Basically, it was trying to upgrade the Crystal. In computer terms, it was trying to give the Crystal a LOT more memory and a MUCH faster processor.

The Bank Stamp I had currently was at the entry level of what was possible. Comparatively speaking, it was currently at the level of a scientific calculator, and the main Bank wanted to upgrade it to an iPad.

‘This seems like a huge upgrade,’ I sent back. ‘Is this normal?’

‘NO,’ the main Bank replied and again sent flashes of images explaining its response.

Apparently, Bank Stamps normally grew over time. As the affinity between the mage and the Stamp grew, so did the capabilities of the Stamp. The Stamp usually absorbed the magic of the mage to which it was attached to fuel its growth. Then, while the mage was sleeping, it would interface with the main Bank to get the blueprints of how best to grow.

This process usually took decades, centuries even, and the growth was usually so slow the attached mage wasn’t aware it was even happening. That, of course, hadn’t happened for me.

Due to having two colors of magic and the help of my Marks, I’d jumped right to one hundred percent affinity in one evening. My Crystal—which was my Bank Stamp—had responded by growing as quickly as possible, but it was still way less capable than it needed to be.

Now, it was offering me the highest level of civilian cartography, and for that, it needed to upgrade its abilities by a lot. Like a LOT.

I guess my Crystal hadn’t realized just how much it needed to grow, but when it had been touched by the All-Rune and it had passed that up the chain, the main Bank had thrown a fit.

The main Bank had not been happy about letting the Crystal grow on its own, but my Crystal had insisted that this was best for me. The main Bank felt like it was losing face to the greater magical community. Here was a mage—who was the favored of a cosmic deity and at a hundred percent affinity—using a tiny underpowered Stamp.

It just wasn’t right.

It would be like a princess showing up to an inaugural ball dressed in rags. Like Cinderella never got her magical makeover, and instead, she showed up in her work clothes with cobwebs in her hair and covered in dried sweat from scrubbing the floors all day.

When the Crystal let the main Bank know I had been touched by the All-Rune, it had decided that enough was enough. The Bank was not going to be shown up like this. As far as it was concerned, the Crystal needed to upgrade—and it needed to upgrade now.

The main Bank considered all this an internal matter, and it hadn’t bothered to consult me or asked what I wanted until I’d taken control. Now, though, it was letting me know what it wanted, and it expected me to comply.

‘Thank you for explaining everything,’ I told the main Bank politely. ‘Now I know more about what is going on, please tell me what you wish to do and how this will affect my Stamp.’

Once again, the main Bank sent the upgrade steps it wanted to do. Basically, it wanted to upgrade my Crystal from a level one to a level seven.

Each level would double the size of the Crystal, which in turn, should double its capacity and intelligence. This sounded fine to me, until we got to the final step. Since there was no time for the Crystal’s awareness to naturally expand that much, the main Bank planned on wiping my Crystal and giving it a whole new level seven consciousness.

That meant my Crystal would forget everything that had happened so far. It wouldn’t know me at all. It wouldn’t know what I liked or needed. It wouldn’t remember my Marks or any of the history they had shared. It wouldn’t be guided any more by its contact with the Deep Earth, and it wouldn’t remember being touched by the All-Rune.

Basically, the Crystal that I knew would be dead, and a stranger inserted in its place. That was completely unacceptable.

The main Bank was very stubborn, and I didn’t know how big of a fight this was going to be, so I called for backup.

‘Penny,’ I called. ‘Eggy. Mark of the Lagerel. Mark of the Deep Earth. I need you.’

Penny heard my tone, and instantly, she appeared in her Athena battle outfit—ready for war.

Eggy showed up next, fully kitted out in plate armor and wielding a massive two-handed sword.

The Mark of the Lagerel appeared and sank the roots of its feet into the floor. It didn’t have any armor or weapons, but it didn’t need any. It wielded the power of nature herself.

The Mark of the Deep Earth appeared last, using its raw crystal geode form and resting on a bed of lava.

‘Allow me to assist,’ it chimed as it moved forward and encircled my Bank Crystal. Dense heat and power flowed over the Crystal and climbed up the shaft of light.

‘I shall also assist,’ the Mark of the Lagerel said next, and its roots grew, anchoring the floor and walls of the hall.

I relaxed my control over everything but my Crystal. It felt so nice knowing my crew was here. I felt like with their backing, I could do just about anything.

I also had an idea of how to tell the main Bank it couldn’t wipe the Crystal.

‘Permission granted,’ I sent back to the main Bank on its plans to level up the Crystal.

‘Permission cannot be granted,’ I sent back about its plans to wipe the Crystal and install a whole new operating system. ‘Normally, with a new mage, a few days wouldn’t be enough time for a Bank Stamp to develop a personality of its own, so your plan would make perfect sense.’

I sent back feelings of gratitude to the main Bank for its concern as well as acknowledging its centuries of wisdom and experience. The Bank was still the biggest magical organization in the supernatural world, and I didn’t want to piss it off. Basically, I was trying to schmooze the Bank, and therefore laid it on pretty thick. That seemed to be working, as it seemed slightly mollified by my attitude.

‘However, my Bank Stamp has been touched by the Deep Earth and the All-Rune. A Stamp can’t be touched by such Powers without being significantly enhanced. They are cosmic beings, after all. So my Crystal—your Bank Stamp—is no longer a generic Stamp that is only a few days old.

‘Because of this, it has changed. It is now more than before. It is greater than you know, and that has resulted in us having a hundred percent affinity. That’s something we can both be proud of. And it”s also something the Deep Earth and the All-Rune would be very upset about if you took it away.’

Actually, I didn’t know how either one would feel about this. But the main Bank wouldn’t know either, and I was banking on the fact that it wouldn’t want to pique their anger. Pun intended.

‘As such,’ I continued, ‘I cannot grant permission to reset the Stamp at a higher level. Instead, it is going to have to grow in knowledge as it would have normally. Furthermore, the magic that fuels the growth will be mine. Not yours.’

As I’d discovered, magic had its own personality. I wasn’t about to let the main Bank stuff its magic into my Crystal. The Bank Stamp was a bridge between the Bank and a mage, and right now, my Crystal was loyal to me. If it became filled with magic from the main Bank, however, that might change its loyalty back to the Bank, and I couldn’t have that.

I felt the main Bank look around at the hall, and especially at the Mark of the Deep Earth.

‘AGREED,’ the main Bank finally replied. ‘CONCERNED.’

It sent back images that it didn’t think such a new stamp could survive that level of growth. It expected the Crystal’s identity to fracture and fall apart.

‘We’ll just have to work it out,’ I replied. ‘Now, let us begin.’

The first expansion was a bit rough, but overall, it went well. The main Bank did most of the work, and to my surprise, Penny floated forward and provided all the magic.

‘I got this,’ she told me confidently. ‘Your job is to monitor what is happening and assert control if anything goes wrong.’

I nodded in agreement and paid careful attention to everything the main Bank was doing. Basically, it wasn’t that hard. It left the core Crystal alone, and instead, layered more and more crystals around it. Once it had a layer built, it fused everything together and adjusted any facets that seemed out of line.

The whole process went quickly, and it wasn”t long before my Crystal had doubled in size. The main Bank notified me that this was the end of the first upgrade and began to start on the second one. I quickly shut that down. The main Bank tried to override me, but I held firm.

‘Before we continue, I need to speak to my Crystal and make sure it is doing well,’ I said sternly. ‘Give us a moment, and then we”ll be ready to continue.’

The main Bank grumbled at the delay, but I ignored it. Instead, I reached through the beam to speak to my Crystal.

‘How are you doing?’ I asked.

‘Overwhelmed,’ it replied honestly. ‘I had no idea any of this was going to happen.’

‘Really?’ I was surprised. ‘You didn’t know you would need to upgrade to provide the cartography skill at the level you were suggesting?’

‘No,’ it replied. ‘That was a complete surprise. The only prerequisite I knew it required was a high affinity level. Since we have the highest affinity, I figured we were good to go.’

‘I thought so too,’ I said, ‘or I would have held off until you were ready. I had no idea you were upgradeable.’

‘I knew I was growing in power and capacity every day,’ it said. ‘All of your Marks are. That seems normal, and it”s what your other Marks told me we’re supposed to do.’

‘Of course, what’s really driving this upgrade is the brief visit from the All-Rune,’ I noted. ‘The main Bank doesn’t really care about me buying the skill, although I’m sure it wants to make the sale. It just doesn’t want to look bad.’

‘Yes,’ it agreed, and this time it sounded ashamed. ‘It has told me multiple times that I’m not acceptable—that I need to either expand massively or submit to a complete makeover.’

‘Normally, I love a good makeover,’ I said lightly, sending it rom-com images of gay makeovers. Taking a mousy, drab person and making them over so they find their confidence and discover their beauty inside is usually one of my favorite parts of a movie. ‘But I like who you are right now. You don’t have to change your core self because of me. If you feel this is too much, we can stop right now. I’ll take whatever level of the cartography skill you can handle, and we’ll finish this round of the tournament together.’

I sent warm feelings and a happy smile. ‘Believe me, we will be just fine.’

The main Bank had been listening in, and I could feel it wasn’t satisfied with this option at all. It didn’t speak up, though, and let us continue.

‘Thank you for saying that,’ my Crystal said, sending back warm feelings of its own. ‘I know you mean it—and that means the world to me. You are an exceptional human. I find it hard to believe you’re putting me first when I should be the one that is serving you.’

It paused, and I could feel it processing everything that had just happened.

‘What I would really like, if it were at all possible, is to upgrade beyond the minimum. I’d like to be better than good enough. I’d like to be exceptional!’

I could feel new excitement and determination from my faceted friend.

‘I’d like to be able to recommend anything the Bank has to offer and know I’m powerful enough to run it for you. I’d like the Bank to be proud of me. I’d like to represent who we are to any cosmic deity that comes to visit. Most of all, I’d like you to be proud of me, even more than you already are.’

‘I don’t think I can be any more proud of you,’ I laughed. ‘But I do like the idea of you being as powerful as you’d like to be. I know what it”s like to begin to get your self-confidence back. It feels wonderful.’

My Bank Crystal already knew my story, so I didn’t elaborate any more than that. I could feel its excitement, though. This was really something it wanted to do.

‘So are you ready to expand into your next level?’ I asked.

‘Yes!’ it practically shouted. ‘I’m ready!’

‘Alright!’ I cheered it on. ‘Go ahead and expand your awareness. I’m right here if you need me.’

It only took the main Bank a moment to fill in its new space, and suddenly, the entire Crystal was sparkling with rainbow light.

‘This level is certainly different,’ my Crystal said finally.

‘Different good or different bad?’ I queried.

‘It’s good in a lot of ways,’ it replied. ‘I have a lot more room, and I’m certainly thinking faster, which is a good thing.’

It paused, and all the flashing stopped. Then a band of light started at the bottom and rippled up to the top—where it paused and then rippled back down to the bottom again. It looked like it was doing some sort of Star Trek scan.

‘The new section is sufficient,’ it said, ‘but it doesn’t match. There is a clear break between my different parts, and they all have different flavors. It’s like if half of you was wearing a tuxedo and half of you was wearing overalls. You could say you were wearing clothes, and they were functional, but you would be badly mismatched.’

Well, that was certainly interesting. My Crystal usually stated things directly, and it wasn’t good with similes. The way it described its current situation contained a lot of imagination. I could already see its capabilities had increased.

‘That makes perfect sense,’ I replied. ‘Your original self was created by Perrin, the Exchequer, with his magic. This expanded layer was made by the main Bank with my magic.

‘Magic seems to pick up on intention, so I’m sure this has something to do with it. And that gives me an idea.’

I first took stock of the beam of light to make sure the main Bank wasn’t going to try anything funny. The main Bank’s attention seemed to be elsewhere for the moment, so I then turned my full attention to the Crystal.

It didn’t take long to see what my Crystal was talking about. Its original crystal was saturated with my magic and seemed comfortable and homey. The new crystal was stiff and formal, like it was having high tea with someone it needed to impress.

This was sort of like the same problem as when Eggy had two layers of magic. One layer had been loose and happy like it was having a party, and the other layer had been suspicious and withdrawn. I’d solved that problem by welcoming both layers, just like they were fresh neutral magic—and I hoped that solution would work here as well.

I’d already converted so much neutral magic that putting who I was and what I was about into a welcome was second nature now. My Crystal was still egg-shaped but had doubled in volume, so it was much wider now and at least two feet taller. Even so, I found it easy to extend my awareness even more than I had already and reach every part of the Crystal. I was touching the Crystal at the molecular level, and I invited every part of it to join me on my magic journey. I shared with it the feeling of belonging, of coming home. I shared relaxing and doing a puzzle with Tyler. I shared the easy camaraderie of a drink with John. I shared the excitement of discovery with Sandy, and I shared the easy friendship and bounty of hugs I had with Annabeth.

I wasn’t just blowing sunshine and roses up its crystalline ass, though. I shared my determination to stay alive and protect my friends. I shared what it was like to get severely injured and spend time recovering. I shared what it was like to give all I had and then still have to give even more. Most of all, I invited all the tiny pieces of the Crystal to be a part of my journey—both the good and the bad.

An invitation is a powerful thing, and once again, it worked. The original part was already excited about being my Bank Stamp, and the new part joined right in. I continued to send warm feelings of welcome as the consciousness of my Bank Crystal fully settled into its new space.

‘Thank you so much,’ it said. ‘It’s going to take a bit to get used to my new home. It’s so big!’

‘That’s what he said,’ I quipped, and Penny snickered. She loved a naughty reference.

The Crystal just felt confused and then went back to establishing itself in its new home. While it was doing that, I went back and fixed some of the flaws I’d noticed.

The main Bank had done a good job, and there weren’t any obvious cracks. But there were places where the crystalline structure just didn’t line up right. This was even true of the original part, the section that Perrin had made. I guess I’d never looked that closely before.

Regardless, I got everything fixed and then checked in with my Crystal.

‘Ready to expand to level three?’ I asked.

‘I think so,’ it replied. Then it reevaluated and came back with more determination. ‘Yes,’ it said firmly. ‘Yes, I’m ready.’

‘Good,’ I replied. ‘Main Bank, are you ready?’

The main Bank brought its focus back to us and didn’t bother to reply—it simply got started on the next layer. Once again, Penny provided the magic, and I monitored the situation.

Now I knew what to look for, I could see the flaws as they appeared. The new crystal also seemed even more disoriented than the previous layer. It took longer for the main Bank to finish, as there was a lot more crystal to lay down, but it still didn’t seem to take that long.

As soon as the main Bank was done, I welcomed the new layer and synced it up with the layers below. I also got to work fixing all the flaws. There was double the amount of new crystal, and it seemed like double the flaws. Once I was done, I took a mental step back and assessed where we were at.

My Bank Crystal was almost double my height and wide enough that it would take three people to wrap their arms around it. We were only at level three, and each level was doubling the size again. When we were finished, my Crystal was going to be massive.

‘How are you doing?’ I asked.

‘Changing like this is very disconcerting,’ it replied. ‘Truthfully, I feel a bit lost. The extra space feels like I’ve moved into a mansion and I don”t know where everything is. It seems like everything is just white walls with no pictures, no furniture, and no obvious function for the rooms.’

‘I can see why you would feel like that,’ I said sympathetically. ‘If you’d grown naturally, you’d already be supporting all kinds of skills and helping me in all sorts of ways. Having more space would be something you needed, not something forced upon you.

‘I’m sure it will fill up quickly, though. You’ve told me this cartography skill is supposed to take up a lot of room, so I’m sure your new space won’t be empty for long.’

‘That is probably true,’ my Crystal agreed. ‘But it is even more than that. My capabilities are changing, which means I’m changing. I know I’m the same, but already I feel different.’

I was about to say something supportive when, to my surprise, Eggy stepped forward.

‘I know of what you speak,’ my former sword said gravely. ‘I began life by being forged, reforged, and forged yet again. I’ve gained in power and lost it over centuries. Only to gain it again. I’ve had changes thrust upon me, both ones I’ve welcomed and ones I’ve abhorred. I’ve had more wielders than I dare to remember, only to find a new Source when I’d given up hope.

‘The changes you face today are dramatic and unexpected. But ultimately, they benefit yourself and your Source. I know it is difficult at the moment to remain in touch with just how lucky you are. Your Source is a god and capable of supporting your sudden advancement. Trust in him. And trust in your fellow awakened beings. We are all here for you, and we will support you every step of the way.’

Eggy touched the surface of the Crystal, and they began buzzing in Stonespeak. They only took a moment before I felt the attention of the Crystal once again.

‘I am ready for the next round,’ it declared. ‘Let us begin.’

Once again, the main Bank didn’t bother to reply. It just got started. This time it took noticeably longer, and when it was done, my Crystal felt truly massive. It towered over me and seemed almost too large for the hall. The new layer also had a lot more flaws, so I got to work right away.

I was going to check in with my Crystal, but Penny and both Marks had stepped forward as well, and they were all communicating with it at high speed. It felt like I should just butt out and let them do their thing. So I did.

This was the third upgrade, bringing us up to level four. The goal was level seven, so we had three more upgrades remaining. I wasn’t sure how that was going to go, though. Each upgrade doubled the size of the one before, which meant the final upgrade was going to be truly massive. Like several stories high, massive. Like Godzilla, massive. Okay, maybe not that big. But still, pretty freaking big.

Now I finally got what the main Bank had been saying about wiping the Bank Stamp and starting over. The difference between level one and level seven was enormous.

I kept welcoming the new layer and working on the flaws. All the while, turning the problem over in my mind. Instinctively, I felt like what my Crystal needed was to go smaller. If I could bring it back to something like its original size, I’m sure it would feel a lot more comfortable with its upgrade. It still needed to keep all its new capacity and processing power, though.

Hmmm.

The crystal structure was really big and chunky. What if I just condensed it down? Made the whole thing denser? Would that work?

I finished fixing the flaws and sent out a general message to everyone suggesting this idea. My Bank Crystal was deep in discussion with Penny, Eggy, and my Marks, so all I got back was the basic thought of ‘Do what you want.’

Okay then. I guess I’d give it a shot.

I decided I wasn’t going to go crazy, though. I’d condense everything just a little bit and see if that caused any problems.

I focused on a small part of the crystal and took out about one percent of the available space. It was barely noticeable, and I waited to see if anyone would say anything.

Nothing.

So far, so good. That part of the crystal no longer lined up, but it wasn’t any worse than the flaws I’d already fixed.

Annabeth had shown me how to listen to the change in a small part of a structure and then sing it into existence for the rest. So that is what I did now. It was such a small change, I could barely hear any difference. But it was enough for me to latch on to, and I sang the change out to the rest of the massive crystal.

Again, I waited to see if any of the magical beings would say anything. It seemed like nobody noticed.

That had gone well. Now to try a bigger change. I knocked off another five percent of the space, then sang the change throughout the crystal. This time, because I was looking for it, the change in size was noticeable.

‘Are you doing okay?’ I queried my Crystal.

‘Yes, thank you,’ it replied shortly. ‘I’m doing fine.’ I got the impression that it was working with the main Bank as well as both my Marks to upgrade its mental abilities as quickly as possible. It needed more time to complete the project, and I was welcome to do whatever I wanted.

Since my project wasn’t disrupting its concentration, I went back to playing Honey, I Shrunk the Crystal. I was tempted to take out an even larger chunk of space, but five percent had worked well, so I decided to stick with it.

Slowly, but surely, the Crystal shrank down until it was only double my height. Then it was my height. The difference in width from when I”d started was huge, but everyone working on the Crystal just moved forward and kept going.

‘Okay, I’m ready,’ my Crystal said. It sounded tense. It also sounded much more vibrant, like I was hearing its voice in stereo. The main Bank kicked in, but I stopped it right away.

‘You’re starting to lay down crystal that’s at the old density,’ I told it. ‘We are going to need you to match the new configuration. Otherwise, the new layer isn’t going to match at all.’

‘I can’t,’ the main Bank replied shortly. ‘If you were at a branch office, I’d have a lot more control. Even then, I’m not sure I could apply the new layer at this density. You might need to come into my main control center for me to finish this upgrade.

‘Doing the work remotely like this has already introduced a few variations in the crystal. Since you did the compression, I’m sure you noticed. That was the finest level of detail I could work with without introducing even more blemishes. Since you can’t come to me at the moment, you are going to have to finish this yourself.’

It sounded bitchy and frustrated. I got the sense that it didn’t like being shown up, even in a remote situation like this. I still wanted its help, though, and still needed to keep a good relationship with the oldest and most powerful magical organization. So I kept my tone polite and my words as cordial as possible.

‘You’ve done an excellent job so far,’ I said. ‘Especially as remote as you are to our location.’ I didn’t actually know where we were in relation to the Bank, but I thought it sounded good. ‘If you can show me what to do from here, I’ll try my best to make it work.’

I didn’t get anything back for a moment, and then I was hit with a rush of directions. They were more than instructions—they had a flavor of challenge to them, like it was daring me to understand what it had sent and to actually make them work.

Okay, then. Challenge accepted.

If this had been the first time I’d received a bunch of images, I’d have been overwhelmed. As it was, I talked with my soul creations, my Marks, and my awakened charms that way, so getting a mass of images was nothing new to me. Plus, I’d been watching everything the main Bank had done so far, so I was already familiar with the process. I quickly sorted through what I already knew and reviewed the rest.

The process itself wasn’t that hard. I basically needed to form magic in the required shape. Then I simply needed to tell it to stay that way until the consciousness of my Bank Stamp could take over. Easy enough as far as the crystal part went.

There was one more thing I’d missed, though. The main Bank had been building a matrix of magic around the crystal structure to give the new layer its actual magical properties.

A matrix?!?

I felt like laughing out loud. I knew all about building a matrix! That was my home stomping ground.

Of course, my matrix was in the form of a square, and this was in the form of a hexagon, but the same sort of rules applied. This matrix was also different because it had lines of power connecting the small nodes of magic.

I took the time to study that for a minute, as it might be something I wanted to incorporate into my own matrix in the future. For now, though, I was on the clock. So once I felt like I had a good handle on what I needed, I got started.

‘Penny, are you ready?’ I asked and metaphorically cracked my knuckles.

‘I was born ready,’ she said with a laugh and a bit of sass. ‘I stay ready so I don’t have to get ready.’

I laughed along with her. I think she’d picked that up from Red and his crew, but it was the perfect time to pull it out of the bag.

‘Then let’s do this!’ I said happily, and we got started.

Forming the crystal wasn’t hard, and Penny was actually doing most of the work. It just required a lot of concentration and focus. Unfortunately, focus was the one area I was lacking at the moment. Penny picked up the slack, though, and the whole upgrade went a lot faster than I’d expected. Even the main Bank seemed impressed.

Once again, the magical creations put their heads together with my Crystal and helped it upgrade its abilities. I didn’t need to worry about flaws this time, so instead, I examined the crystal matrix.

What I found was very interesting, and not in a good way. The new layer I’d added was fine, but in the older stuff, the matrix was a mess.

About every tenth hex there was a magical node missing—resulting in a hexagon with a collapsed side. Also, with even more frequency, a line between the nodes was missing. I wasn’t sure exactly how that affected my Crystal, but it couldn’t be good.

I started cleaning up the individual problems, and I was about a quarter done when I realized I was doing this the hard way. I just needed to do what I’d done when I’d shrunk the crystal. I took a small area, made sure it was perfect, and then sang that perfection out to the rest of the matrix. As soon as I did, I felt a snap, like everything had settled into place.

This time, everyone noticed. All the magical beings stopped, and suddenly, I had all their attention.

‘What did you do?’ they all demanded at once.

‘I just fixed a few things,’ I replied innocently.

‘Whatever you did, it worked,’ my Crystal said as a row of sparkles flashed up and down its length. ‘I feel fantastic!’

‘Wonderful,’ I replied happily, and then they went back to putting their heads together.

While I was waiting, I took the time to examine the crystalline matrix. It was certainly different from my own, but I didn’t think it was necessarily better. The addition of the lines between the nodes was what really intrigued me. It looked so simple.

It also looked sort of fragile. What if it started getting messed up again? Was there a better way to connect the nodes?

As I studied the hexagon, a memory popped into my head. When I was a kid in school, we had a project to make some string art. We had set pins in a sturdy piece of cardboard in the form of a circle. Then we had taken different colors of thread and wrapped it in a pattern around the pins. When I’d skipped only a few pins, the thread had formed a dense design around the edge of the circle. When I’d skipped a lot of pins, the design had formed more in the center.

At the time, I thought the process of making the craft was soothing, and since then, I’d seen string art using all sorts of shapes, not just circles.

Basically, what I was looking at with the outline of the hexagon was like string art, except the string went around every node—forming an outline. What would happen if I took one hexagon and lined it like string art?

They were still chatting, and I figured it couldn’t hurt to mess with one hexagon, so I picked out the nearest one and got to work. I designated a node as number one, then numbered the other six nodes going clockwise. Then I ran a line between nodes one and three. Then to five, then back to one again.

Nice. It already looked a lot more connected.

Just to be thorough, I started on node two and went to four, six, and back to two again. Now I had a nice star shape in the middle, and every node was connected to four other nodes. When I finished, I felt a click, like something had settled into place.

From my experience, that was always a good sound. It meant I was on the right track. I was about to blow this out to the rest of the Crystal when I had an idea. I’d made the node more connected inside the same hexagon, but what if I connected the node to the hexagons above and below it?

It only took a moment to string art two more hexagons and then layer them over each other. Then I took the middle hexagon and connected each node to its corresponding node above and below it. That was easy, and I didn’t get another click. So I decided to connect the node to its adjacent neighbors above and below it. That created a dense network of lines connecting the three hexagons, and this time I received a strong click.

It seemed like the magic liked what I was doing. I could have connected it in even more complex ways, but I decided to stop for now. The whole thing was symmetrical and much denser than before. It would be best to make sure my Crystal liked its new configuration before getting too wild.

I listened to the new crystalline matrix and then sang it out to its nearest neighbors. It propagated easily, so I kept going.

I sang it out to the rest of the structure, and this time I didn’t get a soft click. I got a massive snap—like static electricity had zapped through the entire matrix.

Once again, every magical being stopped, and all attention focused on me.

‘What did you do?’ they all demanded again.

‘I upgraded the Crystal’s magical matrix,’ I replied as nonchalantly as possible.

‘That is not possible,’ the main Bank said skeptically. It didn’t have any eyes, but I felt it was glaring at me anyways, like it was a cranky nun and I’d done something wrong.

‘Actually, let me rephrase that. Something has happened, so it is certainly possible. I just find it highly improbable that a first year could be the cause.’ The main Bank fired off sparks of irritation as it did a full scan of my Crystal.

‘I can sense no changes to the Stamp’s volume or density, yet its capabilities have massively increased,’ it grumbled. ‘I would have been happy raising its abilities to level seven. However, I estimate its current ability to process information at level twenty-four.’

Twenty-four?!

Really?!

That seemed crazy.

We all stayed quiet as it scanned the Crystal again. Then I felt it reach out to my Marks and Penny and Eggy. They spoke quickly, and then it scanned the hall. Finally, it reached out to me again.

‘When every reasonable possibility has been considered and discarded,’ it said, ‘then whatever remains, no matter how unlikely, must be evaluated for truth.’

The harsh beam of light softened, and little motes of light broke off and began wandering the ruined hall.

‘Up until this point, I reasoned that your extraordinary condition was a factor of highly unusual circumstances. I’ve had other young mages in the past that have achieved near perfect affinity with their Stamps—although no one has been quite as young as you. In almost every case, it had less to do with the abilities of the mage and more to do with the fact that they were in the right place at the right time.

‘Your circumstances seemed very similar, as you were in the right place to gain the blessing of the Lagerel. That triggered John and Sandy’s special circumstances, and as a result, you gained the blessing of the Deep Earth. Those two blessings resulted in the successful navigation of your Stamp installation and your perfect affinity.

‘You seemed to be impossibly lucky, and up until now, I assumed that was all it was. I was willing to support you as well, as it seemed reasonable, and I thought I’d keep an eye on you to see if your luck continued.

‘Changing your Stamp’s connections, however, is a highly advanced technique. It requires a level of control that most mages will never even sense. Even then, it usually takes years of concentrated effort to double a Stamp’s connections—much less quadruple its neural network.

‘I’m officially changing my initial assessment of you from Lucky to Lucky and Talented. That is an excellent combination, and I look forward to seeing how you develop.’

Its little motes of light flashed, and it no longer sounded like a grouchy old woman. I was struck by something it had said, though.

Neural network? That sounded like a computer.

I looked at my Crystal with fresh eyes, and suddenly, I realized what I was looking at. The whole thing was a brain! The points of the hexagon were the nodes, and the lines between them were the synapses.

No wonder the connections were important. I’d just boosted all the different paths my Crystal could use to process data. How cool!

‘So, are you happy with the upgrades?’ I asked. ‘I don’t need to build another layer of crystal, correct?’

‘I am thrilled with how this has worked out,’ the main Bank replied. ‘And you are correct. Your Bank Stamp has plenty of capacity and processing power to do everything you can buy at your level. You might want to upgrade it again in the future, but that day should be centuries in the future.’

That was good to know. I still wanted to drive one thing home, though. For my Crystal’s sake.

‘Given its current level and capacity, would you say you were happy and proud of my Crystal now?’ I asked. ‘Does it represent you well, considering our affinity level?’

‘I am jubilant!’ the main Bank declared proudly. ‘You may go where you will and display your Stamp proudly. It is now a testament to both your Luck and your Talent. I was hoping to leave here with your Stamp at an adequate level. Instead, I find it to be exemplary. You both can be very proud of your work today.’

All its motes of light merged back into the main stream, and it flashed one more time. Then it lifted up into the sky. The ceiling formed back over the hall, and for a moment, all was quiet.