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Chapter 32: Titans - Part 2
🕑 Added 2019-09-29 16:09:00 +0000 UTC--
Today is the first day of the cycle, Genn, the day of Light; also 1st day of the 9th month, the month of Combat.
I play with Hana's mane as she lays her head on my belly. I breathe in deeply and stretch.
"Darean is fucked and now we can relax," I say.
"Just one month of relaxation though," Hana says.
"You looking forward to leaving this place?"
"Not really, there's enough ways to gain a living here and nothing is really lacking for me," she turns her head to me and smiles wryly, her emerald scales on her cheek tickle my belly. "Though I'm worried about growing too soft, you pamper me too much."
"He pampers us too much," Alissa says.
"You all pamper me too much," I say.
"What was that thing you said once, tushy?" Hana asks.
"Uh... 'touché'?" I question.
"Yes, that, touché," she licks my abs and gets up.
My [Fire Magic] increased by 1 (now 0+3).
Alissa increased her "Charisma" by 1 (now 11) and her [Illusion Magic] by 1 (now 4). Her practice of [Double Image] is already giving results. That spell makes the target see a double of her that she can control at will.
This month the Coliseum is holding multiple spectacles. A few places on the town are reserved for public duels where hunters and guards participate en masse because there's a few talent scouts out there looking for the better warriors.
A considerable number of knighthood candidates start by showing themselves on these duels and then at the 1st of next month a martial arts tournament will happen. It's there that the nobility will compete for the best candidates.
I spend my morning researching improvements for the golems.
The soul "expands" and covers the entire of the body, knowing this I try to find on the soul where the heart is because that's where we normally gather mana for spells. What I did notice is that I can't really correlate pieces of soul to anywhere on the body, it's like I'm seeing a "window" into some different space. With this my search for the "mana organ" becomes a matter of scouring through every inch of the soul.
I recruit Alissa and Hana for this effort, I look into their soul inch by inch while they cast spells and then meditate. Finally I noticed a specific place where it seems like the complexity of the area reduces as they cast spells and then increases slowly again as they meditate. I assume this is the "mana organ".
Now on the golems, on the exact same place of where the mana organ should be there's a similar "construct". It slowly reduces in complexity until we fill it with mana, then it goes back to maximum complexity. With this I'm certain I found the "mana battery" and that my assumption of the mana organ was correct.
I spend my time observing the surroundings of the battery and organ. Hopefully the organ is what's responsible for collecting mana from the environment like we do. Then I use [Mold] on their souls and modify it to be similar to a mana organ.
Curiously I can't fill a mana organ with mana like I can a mana battery. At least there's a level 35 spell for [Nature Magic] called [Mana Transfusion] that allows me to do it. I'm rather interested in the mana battery, maybe I could teach something to Lina that could help her enchantments.
The "feeling" of feeding a mana battery is nearly the same as an enchantment or magic tool. When you grab a magic tool it is like you are standing in a slope, you "feel" like moving downwards and when you "let go" the mana is sucked. A mana battery feels a lot stronger the more "empty" it is, when nearing empty it's the difference between standing near a hole and standing near a valley.
"Ohohoh! Now you are self-suficient," I pat both little golems.
Both of them kneel and lower their head towards me.
"Oh, look, they are learning. Ciel taught them that," Hana says.
I must admit it's adorable to see a teddy bear and a cloth doll trying to look dignified.
"Raise, both of you," I say.
They stand tall (heh) and straight, waiting for the next order.
"Can you teach them spells now?" Alissa asks.
"I have to look where in the soul are skills stored."
"Everywhere?" Hana questions with a shrug, "I always thought it was like a box that increased in size with every Level we gain."
"Yes but the soul itself doesn't increase," I say. "How do you fit more things using a box that has the same space?"
"Tighter!"
"Or just better organized," Alissa says.
"Not sure how the second one would work and why would we need soul fragments for it," I say. "I believe it's something more like how warped-distances spaces work."
"You can use [Warp Space] now right?"
"Yeah, hopefully it will give me some insight. Well this will have to be left for later, let's go make our lunch."
This time we make some good milk roux for our lasagne, I have buckets of cow milk so they will last us a good while. We roast some Dragolite on garglic and oh Gods, it almost feels like home, almost.
"Logan has started his initiation at the temple," Ciel says. "He can quickly rise as a battle priest, maybe one day he can be a Templar."
"He certainly had the body for one," Hana says.
"Don't they learn magic too? Would he have the talent for that?" I ask.
"There's different types of Templars, because they have to learn martial arts they don't have time to learn all spells," Ciel says. "Not even the healers learn all spells from [Light Magic]."
"Considering my cheats you might become the first one to learn all spells then," I say with a cheeky grin.
"That wouldn't count because of cheating," Ciel rolls her eyes.
"Yet you wanted to learn [Holy Spirit] from me," I say.
"Different, uh... that's a different case," she crosses her arms looks away.
After lunch it's return classes for [Space Magic]. The professor is skipping [Gate] and focusing on teaching us the level 40 spell [Warp Space]. Lucky me.
The skill has some uses for combat but mostly it is used for creating Bags of Holding, House Carriages, House Tents, or the Hyper Loop found on the Capital. What makes these items special is that they are much bigger on the inside, allowing for easier mass transport. They are so expensive you don't even find them for sale in Rabanara, they are almost exclusive to nobility or rich merchants.
Bag of Holding doesn't look very useful when you have [Item Box] but they can be used to transport items for quick reach. Like say storing a longsword on a bag tied to your arm for emergencies, or storing battle-potions where they won't be so easily destroyed in case you are hit. You can also apply some [Telekinesis] enchantment to it so they weigh less than normal.
We learned that [Gate] does not create a "wormhole", it merely switches the position of an object. It's quite literally someone editing the "coordinate" property of an object like in a game editor.
[Eternal Gate], the level 50 spell after [Warp Space] is the one that creates a permanent wormhole. A wormhole being bending space so much we can poke a hole and transport things from one place to another instantly. This is the spell that created those portals with a white veil inside the dragonoid maze of the Wisps of the Proud.
"So father is quite interesting in meeting you, Wolf," Lyle says.
Noo…
"Why is that?" I ask, containing the frown that yearns for release.
"Well you did save us from a large group of kidnappers, he only wants to show his gratitude," then he cringes and looks away. "I was kind of... vague with how the fight went so he got even more curious about you."
Oh I see, at least he didn't tell him of my Gifts.
"How did you describe it for him?"
"Yeah I can see how he would be interested," I massage my temple. "It's no problem, I will talk to him when the time comes."
Note to self, Lyle is terrible at telling stories, either that or he's very scared of his father.
"He wants to meet at the next class break. Are you going out for hunting?" Lyle says.
"I think nobody wants to leave next break so we should be free."
"The 11th then?"
"Sure."
"Thank you," he smiles apologetically.
"So, what did you guys do this break?" I ask.
"I spent most of my time practicing my magic, father says I can participate at the next battle," Lyle says, his savage gaze turns warm for a moment.
Garanae sighs and Hatara smiles wryly. "I have been trying to focus on [Fire Magic] but I don't have enough "Magic Power", I'll have to stand guard near the backup," he says.
"At least he will be right outside my position," Hatara says.
"Yeah but…"
"We get it," Lyle says.
"Oh, so your [Heal] is already powerful enough for you to act as support," Alissa says.
"Nooot really," She curls her ponytail on her hand in discomfort, "Just enough that I'll accompany a temple healer."
"Experience in battle is very important, do your best in there," Lina says.
Hatara blushes but nods in agreement to her words.
"You would know," Alissa says.
Lina smiles adorably.
"What about you? What did you all do this break?" Lyle asks.
"Deep exploration on the Sea of Trees," Alissa says, the trio perk up their ears to her words. "Met a nest of Hooknoses, avoided a bunch of monsters, ran away from poisonous spores, and finally met a Storm elemental."
"Oooh... how was it?"
"Like cracking a nut," I say.
Alissa recites our battle, omitting the instant-casting.
Ciel's turn for attention. She immediately initiates things during bath and makes sure my tongue is occupied, either with hers or some other part of her body.
The grabbing doesn't stop as she makes full use of the time reserved for her. Her tentacles keep me glued to her while we practice Andraste after dinner. Lina pouts and plops herself on my lap.
I casually [Massage] both of them until Lina decides to strip and mount me. Ciel gets irritated but waits until I'm done with her to have her turn.
Today is the 2nd. Yn, the day of Earth.
Ciel looks adorable as she sits down, naked, and yawns while while hugging Ted. Lina slept while hugging Suzy but she's currently away so she wouldn't be dirtied by a stray droplet.
My [Sense Soul] increased by 1 (now 4). I can now see the MP and "Magic Power" of other people.
"I will sell half the emellanat and most of the gnomic magic tools," Lina says.
"You can do it? Bartering, I mean," I say.
"Hana can do it for me."
"Keep her safe, then," I tell Hana.
She grins and pats Lina's head.
"Take, me!" Aoi says. She reduces in size and then glides from the second floor, landing on Lina's head.
The gloomy girl giggles as Aoi's little claws tickle her head.
I meet with Kyros and this time I put 2 points into [Godly Language].
"You improved a little," He says.
I want to put all points on it but the least Vanea knows about my Gift the better.
"Yeah...," I mutter. The extra point reduced the nausea but not completely.
Breathe in, breathe out. Breakfast, you stay down.
Hey it rhymed.
I will focus on not puking first, this way I can at least use the skill to buff us. Then I need to be able to dual cast so I can create the shield vortex to be able to use the skill offensively. I tried once but the skill doesn't give me enough muscle memory so I can dual cast, I will have to learn this the proper way.
"You mentioned that there's a way to train my "Mana Points" using these vortexes."
"I guess you have enough talent to try it out" Kyros caresses his goatee. "Well then, if I remember correctly you created [Sense Soul], correct?"
"Yes."
"Then you should know how a soul looks like."
"Chaos, complex chaos."
"Exactly," he smiles, "it's not a space we can compare to our reality but the inside of a soul still has space, it still has 'locations'."
"Yes. I can see 'structures' inside the soul, with some effort I could eventually understand what all these structures are for."
"Hm, 'structure' is a better way to describe it, yes. Continuing, one of these structures is where mana is stored. You remember what happens when too much mana occupies the same spot?"
"A mana storm happens."
"Exactly. Some people call MP 'Mana Particles' instead of 'Mana Points', it makes a little more sense since you can't divide a mana particle in two. Mana also has no mass and no size but we can still 'feel' where it is. Mana has basically one attribute, 'location', or 'coordinates' if you are one of those space mages," he smiles wryly.
Not even in fantasy can scholars avoid schisms due to meaningless semantics.
"So even inside the soul mana still has its property active, which means that our mana organ can't put all mana on the same spot, each particle has to be separated. The interesting thing about the mana organ is that it's not like a box for mana, it doesn't increase in size but rather, it increases in complexity."
"Ooh yes, I saw that with my skill."
His smile grows wider and I see the fire of excitement in his eyes.
"Perfect! I knew it was true!" He leans back and looks embarrassed for a moment before going back to his usual stoicism. "Anyway, mana has no size so why should the mana organ increase in size when it can keep subdividing infinitely? Oh, do you know what subdividing means?"
"Yes, increasing the number of rooms by breaking the rooms down in equal parts."
"Good. So you see, the mana organ has to subdivide itself to increase its capacity but it can't do that while it's filled with mana. I believe the subdivision could negatively affect mana, nobody can prove it but it's the most accepted theory."
With [Golemancy] maybe I could. It would be an extremely precise test but I could.
"And now finally, to increase your mana you have to maintain the mana vortex outside of your body without losing a single mana particle. The mana is bound to your soul until it is spent on the gathering phase, this means that the mana particle 'slots' aren't filled again due to recovery, allowing the mana organ to subdivide.
"Though the organ does not subdivide infinitely, it needs some 'stimulation'. So the cycle you need to perform is to keep all your mana outside on the vortex for about a minute, flood the mana back to your body, and then create the vortex again. This is the best way to improve your MP."
I see, so this is why training by using all my mana eventually stops being effective to increase MP. The high amount of mana I have to use always causes some overuse side-effects, making it difficult to "dry up" my mana organ.
"What about 'Magic Power'?"
"You keep all your mana out with the vortex except for a single particle, then you try to cast a spell with it. You have to force your spells to do more with less."
"So it's dual casting?"
"Yes, unfortunately. This is the most controlled and safe way to do it so learning dual casting is a small price to pay."
"What about blackout? Wouldn't my mana go to the negatives to create the spell?"
"Not while you maintain the vortex, if you try to spend all your mana and cast a spell then it uses your vitality and your mana goes to the negatives. The vortex being out of your soul but still bound to your mana organ prevents the spell from using your vitality."
This sounds so much like... a glitch in the system. What an odd interaction, it reminds me so much of abusing game logic. Then again, this cycle is called "Playground" and the realm "RPG" so it's not unexpected. I'm just getting so used to this reality that I forget its game-like elements.
I will leave the mana training for later, I will focus on [Godly Language] for now.
Lina comes back with a pale face. With a poof she pulls out a sack of coins and opens up for us. Dozens of rose coins spill out the sack.
We are rich, so goddamn filthy rich.
Aoi nabs one and scurries away.
"Ask before you take it!" I yell to her.
"Kay!" Her response is muffled by the distance.
"You did it. Good job, both of you," Ciel smiles at them.
Lina twiddles her thumbs and her ears redden. She nearly topples as Hana gives her a strong tap on the back.
"We actually make a good duo," Hana says. "A few signals to put pressure at the right moments and they all fold to my 'Charisma'."
"Her 'Perception' doing work," Roxanne says.
I give a kiss on the forehead of each.
"Good job," I say.
Upstairs Aoi plays with her coins like a baby plays with toys.
Nature class is about [Life Transfusion] and [Mana Transfusion]. Coupled with [Regeneration] these were the common healing spells before [Light Magic] was created. They also were the precursors to [Martyrism].
And of course, the transfusion spells can have some "interesting" side-effects between lovers. I'm not surprised anymore when [Nature Magic] turns everything sexual.
Well I guess it makes sense, the jungle is basically a bunch of animals screaming "HAVE SEX WITH ME!"
I wince waiting for Lina to strike but it never comes. I open my eyes and see her wooden axe blade touching my neck.
"Oh..." I let a sound escape.
She learned very well how to smile with her eyes.
"You are acting much more, uh, calmer today," I say.
"I guess..." She answers in a whisper.
"Anything happen?"
"Well no, but…"
"Giiiih...?" From the top of Roxanne's head Gify prods her.
"After I talked to Gecynd I have been thinking. Thinking about what I want, what I wanted."
"And what did you want?"
"Power and revenge," she smiles faintly, her black bangs covering her eyes. "Now that I have both I have been thinking about the future."
"You may be a slave but that's basically just on paper, I want you to be happy," I grab her cheeks and pull her head up. I stare into her deep black eyes.
She smiles adorably.
"I know. This is why I have been thinking, there's also your destiny as a hero to take into consideration."
I chuckle and kiss her lips.
"Fighting for you is not so bad but I want to do more," she continues.
"You are also enchanting our equipment little by little."
"Yes but I want to do more."
One Alissa opens her eyes and smiles.
"We all do," one Alissa talks while the other keeps meditating.
"And me too, I want to do more for all of you," I say.
The meditating Alissa flickers and disappears, the real Alissa clicks her tongue in frustration.
Hana bashes Ciel to push her away and lowers her wooden sword.
"I know my limits but I'm always thinking in how to exceed them," Hana says.
"Were you even paying attention to our spar?" Ciel asks.
"Hah! [Battlefield Perception], you have the same level as mine and you don't use it like this?"
"Oh..." Ciel purses her lips and starts thinking deeply.
I hug Lina closer and push my tongue inside her mouth. After a little teasing I push her away and grab my weapons.
"Pull up your guard!"
She smiles and her vigor comes back. She gives me a few bruises but I make her scream during the bath.
Tonight I summon a [Holy Spirit] for Ciel. A light blue [Spirit Light] surrounded by fire materializes in front of me. Then forms from light two long transparent crystals that act as feet and a small oval metal mask with two holes that acts as a face.
"Oh Gods, it looks so cute, I want to hug it so much!" Ciel gushes at the spirit.
"You want to hug fire?" Roxanne lifts an eyebrow.
"It uh, it's not real fire. It just look as cute as the drawings so I just want to hug cute things. They have no real form and I heard they feel good to hug," she awkwardly makes excuses.
"Kweh! Bad, fi-re!" Aoi huffs smoke at the spirit which answers by tilting it's mask.
"Awn," Ciel gushes harder. "Wait, are you controlling him Wolfy?"
"No, I can feel it wants to look cute though."
This spirit feels weird. I share my senses with the spirit the same way as normal summons do but I can control it directly if I want.
Spirits are more commonly used as simpler spell casters, they use the lower-level spells mostly for defense and occasionally for offense. This way the mage can focus on casting the higher level spells without being completely vulnerable.
"Wait, it feels like I'm doing two things at once, could this be the secret to dual-casting?" I ask.
"I dunno," Roxanne shrugs, "I learned it by my own so I skipped the dual-casting classes."
The problem with talent, Roxanne is a terrible teacher for dual-casting.
She goes back to meditating alongside Hana, Alissa, and Lina, they are all trying the MP enhancement technique that Kyros taught me.
Practicing magic naked with Ciel is harder than the others, I almost fell asleep on her softness. Seeing my vulnerability she decided to attack me by filling me with kisses, the battle against sleepiness was long and hard-fought.
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