As I put down the book I had been reading, I let out a slow breath. I had spend most of the morning and early afternoon with the first book Gelorin had given me to read, a thick and heavy tome, each page more akin to cardboard than the normal paper I was used to.

It had taken Gelorin just a few moments to realise I was able to read their words on my own and started working on a project on my own, telling me to ask any questions that came up, before handing me what he deemed to be the best book to start with. It turned out, said book was essentially a book on their material science, how certain materials reacted to Astral Power of different types and their individual concentrations. According to the book, each material had its own magical conductivity, with the inverse being the resistance, and a specific resilience to the different types of Astral Power. Those values seemed to correlate somewhat but not always.

What it meant in practise was that if you channelled Astral Power through something with a low conductivity, you’d lose most of it, partially to the environment but the rest, depending on the specific resilience, damaging the material itself. That had been the problem with some of my first experiments, trying to channel Dark Astral Power through Magical Ice, the Ice was almost non-conductive to everything but Ice Astral Power and its resilience was most likely dependant on my Ice Magic or maybe Ice-Rune Mastery. Or a combination of the two, with my Ice-Affinity thrown in for good measure. However the resilience was determined, the material was a terrible conduit for almost anything but Ice-Magic.

Those old experiments helped to give me context for the book and as I had continued to read, softly muttering notes to myself, I had become quite fascinated with the dwarven ideas. The whole book was discussing what amounted to artificial rune-stones, how they could be crafted, how they could be included into equipment and even how to use a particular material, composed out of crushed Runestones and a few other ingredients to directly engrave runes into equipment. Runesmith, that had been a title I had heard before and now it started to really make sense. If this was the foundation, it meant that their whole magic was based on what I would call enchantment.

Standing, to move around a little after the long stretch of sitting and reading, I caused Gelorin to look up from his work.

“Ah, Morgana. Are you already done with that tome?” he asked, looking at the book I had placed on the table.

“I think so. I don’t claim to fully understand all materials involved but the theories within are fascinating. I have had some observations and experiments myself and they fit quite neatly with what you already know. What book should I look at next?” I asked, relying on the dwarf to direct me. Otherwise, I’d have to waste a great deal of time, trying to figure out which books included what and the best order to read them in.

“If you understand the importance of a good base-material, I guess you should learn how the material is used.” Gelorin muttered, rubbing his bearded chin a little before standing and walking to another shelf, gesturing for me to replace the book where he had taken it from earlier.

Once I was done, he handed me another book, a similarly heavy tome with thick pages. part of me wondering just what the material was. It didn’t feel like animal hide or tree-bark, which I remembered as being used for early writings on Earth, and it certainly didn’t feel like some sort of solid rock. For I moment, I considered asking, while thinking of the Grimoire the Grandmother had given me, with its smooth and thin pages, before discarding the notion and focusing on my studies. I had limited time to understand and document a complete magic system, something I thought was a rare opportunity that I didn’t want to waste.

After a few more moments of stretching, I settled back down for the next few hours of concentrated reading. This new book was quite a bit different from the first one, discussing how to design an enchantment and incorporate it into an item or even a person, if the right inks were used. Those hadn’t been described in the first book, but I could see how they could be created and made a mental note to ask for a description on them next. Even in the new book, the idea to directly enchant a body was only mentioned tangentially, without details, making me assume that it was an advanced process that wouldn’t be taken lightly, especially with my own experience in carving runes directly into flesh.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

The book I had now focused on incorporating full rune-stones into items and it made me realise that I had underestimated the dwarves quite a bit. I had thought that their magic might be a little crude, limited to simple passive effects that could be achieved with a small rune-triangle maybe a pentagon but the descriptions quickly made me reconsider. Certainly there were such formations described but also how they could be incorporated with each other, how formations didn’t need to be on the outside of an item, as long as the correct channels for Astral Power could be crafted into the item. I realised that it was most likely how their lamps and doors worked, runes within the material, integrated during the crafting, protecting and reinforcing the item itself. To damage the runes and thus break the enchantment, you’d have to break the item first, which would likely be difficult if part of the enchantment was durability. One would have to block the channels that supplied Astral Power but if they were cleverly hidden, maybe integrated into the walls, things would get… complicated.

There was even something on materials that had the ability to store Astral Power almost indefinitely, slowly releasing it over time, similar to what I had tried with imbued blood before. Only that their materials didn’t have the drawback of generating miasma that might garner the attention of problematic beings from other dimensions. No, they merely needed rare and precious materials, often gems or, much more rarely, specifically treated bones, horns or claws.

It was quite fascinating how the dwarves had designed smaller runic-formations that linked together, almost like the half-forgotten memories of electric circuits we had discussed during high-school physics. Only that there wasn’t just one energy flowing through the channels, there were multiple, the dwarven designs used mostly earth with a little fire and two curious combination-elements, one described as Metal, the other as Gem. It made me wonder how they fit with what the Grandmother had told me about the elements, or if one side was mistaken.

While my runic formations relied on what amounted to magical brute force, the Intelligence of the caster forcing the runes into a pattern, the dwarven system started with single runes and using connecting patterns to form them into formations, some of them using the same number of runes I was used to, while others used whole formations, connecting them to the larger system. It was, quite frankly, mindboggingly complicated, only my instinctive understanding of runic patterns, which luckily included the connecting-patterns allowing me to parse what I was seeing.

But if they were, what did it mean for their views of reality and the role of magic within it? I had little reason to doubt that the Grandmother’s explanation had been, from her perspective, the truth, if quite possibly a simplified version of it. On the other hand, the dwarves had their own observations and results based on them, but came up with a different image of reality. I had a feeling that, unless Pantheon had messed up and didn’t create a world with a comprehensive and cohesive magical system, both sides had a piece of a greater truth. Which piece was greater I didn’t know, nor if either contained imprecision, but I was fascinated.

“What do you think, which side understands more?” I asked Lenore, using our mental connection. I had been feeling her interest quite keenly, her mind never far from mine as I was reading.

“I think the Grandmother was looking at a greater picture, looking at the Cycle of Life and Death, with its myriad complexities and intricacies. Maybe some details became lost or she simply didn’t deem them worth mentioning. She only taught you for a limited time after ally. On the other hand, the dwarves have their own speciality, working with metal and stone, delving into their inner workings on great details, possibly finding things you would otherwise miss.” Lenore reasoned, making me mentally agree.

I also realised that the Grandmother might have a similar detailed understanding of the processes of life and death but had simply decided not to tell me about it. Her teaching had been aimed at allowing me to make my own path, a path that had little to do with life and death but the pursuit of a full understanding of Ice and possibly Darkness. I hadn’t been, and still wasn’t, interested in the interplay between the natural cycles and the elements. No, I wanted to see what happened if Ice and Darkness were taken to the extremes, Ice and Cold so powerful that they could freeze everything, time included, Darkness so encompassing and empty that space itself seemed to vanish.

But I had still a long path before me, until I would be able to claim mastery to that point. And for now, my path meant to understand how the dwarves had gone about designing their enchantments, so I would be able to take what they had done with Earth and Fire and create something using Ice and Darkness.