Chapter 29
Causational Epiphany
Have you ever had a eureka moment when you were in the middle of doing something mundane like washing your hair? I almost wonder how bald people get anything accomplished, though maybe they have more time to think about superficial things like deciphering ancient encrypted elven texts because they don’t have to worry about washing their hair?
Needless to say, I had an epiphany, or at least I think I am close, which is almost worse. Sort of like knowing you need to sneeze, but catching yourself right before the right moment and stopping the whole momentum of your body. Yeah, I was in the middle of chapter seven of book two, when Rahul had taken the love interest for book two to his secret chambers, where he is priming the protection wards with a reverse current, when I suddenly realize there is something to this story. Something that seems pertinent to my current struggle with understanding the spell book I have been given.
The only problem is I don’t know what.
“And?”
“What?” I ask, shaking my head, while trying to figure out what happened.
“And then what. He just got Victoria to the safety of his workshop when the evil duke came after his bride. You said he reversed the flow of energy into the wards, but then you stopped.” Tobias, says recapping the portion of chapter seven that I have already gone through for the moment.
“You know the story sounds really lame and cliched when you put it in such clear-cut terms.” I say.
At that Tobias visibly sags.
“Sorry, you are right, that is an accurate description of what has happened so far, but I just realized something. I need to work real quick.” I say, holding up my hand as I move away from the clearly depressed Tobias. Honestly, I am so tired right now that I am certain I am missing something, and am glad I decided to take a nap to think about what my next step was before I pushed through. Not that I got the nap, but I was able to use the time I was recalling and reenacting the story of Rahul to help puzzle my way through this cipher.
See the decryption was just part of it. I realize that now, in fact I had been so happy to identify the easy cipher that I missed the fact that it was too easy. Yes, they would likely make it so the decryption key was easy to identify, and write down in near real time. The only problem is, if you were going to go through the effort to hide your work and only instill a minor encryption cipher, particularly one where vowels equaled other vowels, you either didn’t really want to encrypt the text and were being forced to. Or, what was most likely the case, that was just the first layer of defense.
Thinking about the decrypted text from that perspective, I realize a few things. First, the diagram is backwards, or at the very least it is backwards from what I would need to do. I don’t quite know how I know this, but the more I think about the directionality of the energy current being depicted. Looking at the flow the nodes in the body are off. It is minor, but something that makes sense, particularly if you think about how the author of the diary would be able to view the nodes and their patterns and then jot them down.
“They used a mirror.” I say, realizing why the energy nodes are all wrong in the body.
“A mirror?” Tobias asks.
“Yes, just like Rahul used to invert the flow of energy into his wards. The writer of my book used a mirror to draw themselves as they channeled mana.” I say, then turn away as I try to work the rest of this concept to its final conclusion. If they used a mirror to draw their mana flows, they must first have a spell active that can catch the magic flowing in mirrors. While I am not aware of such a spell, or skill, I am assuming something like that exists. I can do similar things with my Angel’s Sight, but I have never been able to focus outwardly to see the way others circulate their mana. That said, I don’t think it would be impossible, but that is a task for a different time. As I think that particular skill is secondary to what is needed at the moment.
Thinking back on it, the deep line that was written by a second author might have actually been their attempt to draw the correct circuit. As on of the nodes clearly goes to the right chest cavity, in a node that clearly depicts where the heart should be. Yes, for all you would be magicians the heart is a major node point and the lungs are minor node points that are connected to the heart. The brain is also a major node point, with the eyes being secondary sub-nodes connected to the brain, along with the ears. But I’m getting distracted, because even flipping the image for a mirror the flow still makes no sense.
Even with a reversed image the flow diagrams are still off. Then in my sleep deprived stupor I realize something that likely should have been apparent earlier.
“Dextrocardia?” I say, blinking in surprise as this is the only thing that seems to make sense.
“Dextro what ia?” Tobias asks, apparently still listening in on my personal epiphany to myself.
“Shh.” I say, holding up a finger for silence, but then answer him anyways as I still need more time to work this problem into existence. “Dextrocardia, where the heart is on the right side of the body, versus the left side.”
Silence.
“Okay, so why is that important?”
I shake my head almost in how stupid of a question it is. “It is important in that this spell doesn’t work the way it is drawn up, because there is supposed to be a straight line down from the heart to the right lung secondary node, then to the appendix node.” I say, mentally recalling the diagram from memory at this point.
“Okay, so just rework it.”
“Re…rework it?” I say, “It can’t be reworked, because the power you can gain from a straight line down is faster than it would take for me to traverse my body going to the right lung, where I would all but be forced to pierce the right kidney, on my way to the appendix.” I say, demonstrating the fact that the natural method would require at minimum one extra node.
“So what is the purpose of the appendix in this circuit?”
I pause, I know what the appendix does, and I know that the appendix node has a sympathetic bond to that purpose of final decomposition. But I never thought of the purpose for the different nodes actually serving a purpose.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
“This…” I begin, as I start to pace to help my mind to think. “This…”
Again, I was onto something, but what? There was a complex network of circuits and nodes within the body, but I never factored into account what the sympathetic nature of the nodes might be able to provide a spell. Earlier my newly acquired spell Spirit Sight had to go through my eye nodes first and then merge into my brain node. Thinking about this, the spell made it so I could infuse my eyes with spirit mana, which would then have the newly heightened input flow into my brain, where my brain would then interpret the new input from my eyes. From there the mana would flow back to my core, or stomach area and flow back up in a continual loop.
With the knowledge of that spell, I began trying to puzzle out what this spell was doing. Even after a vague description of the spell workings and its process, there was no real clear cut definition of what the spell did. To understand this, I had to go back to my Anatomy class days, with my Biology minor and think about the purpose of the appendix, something I also had to look into when Tom, my youngest, had an appendectomy. There it was posed that the appendix was where good microbes for the body were stored. With that knowledge and the fact that these microbes were directly related to the human gut, where the core of our magical centers were located, I couldn’t help but feel there was a connection to this.
This meant this spell needed to reach the appendix for something, before getting channeled back into the core. I am still working out this problem when Tobias keeps yammering on, but I accept his talking as a means to help.
“Well how much faster would the flow go from the heart to the lung to the appendix, versus going from the heart to the lung to the kidney to the appendix?”
“About twice as fast.” I say, mentally going through the math and process in my mind.
Hearing that Tobias nods to himself, “so the solution is easy, just split your current, run it through both lungs and kidneys then have them merge in your appendix at the same time, if a certain level of flow is needed.”
I am about to dismiss the idea as idiotic, but then I pause as I run through the process in my mind.
“Have you already done this?” I say holding up the encrypted diary.
“What?” No, I was never part of the Spirit school of magic, I was more of a generalist anyways, but the core basics for all classes are roughly the same. Circulation, Focus, and Power are the three components that go into any spell. Remember it is not just a matter of circulating your energy correctly and applying enough energy that will make it so this spell works. You also need to clearly imagine what the spell is doing, in order to get it to work properly.”
As he says that, I nod to myself as suddenly a lot of different components of what I have been doing subconsciously make sense. That is when I am met with a system message.
New Skill Gained: Spell Theory has increased to level 1.
Spell Theory is a Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
With that I nod in acceptance, before trying to puzzle out the next portions of the spell.
Realizing I am still close, but at a relatively dead end, I decide to read through the rest of the diary, but sadly only that section seems to be about that one spell. The rest was the actual diary portion. Reading the text it was clear that the diary was written by a female, and not just any female, but a dark elf mage.
1248-A
Today, I managed to destroy and consume the soul of another one of my enemies. I have already grown stronger than most of my contemporaries. It has been confirmed my being shade touched means I am able to fully absorb the broken pieces of souls around me.
Reading that, I feel my heart begin to pound in my chest as I realize this is likely a set up of some kind.
“What’s wrong?” Tobias asks, clearly seeing the distress on my face.
I pause, but then I ask a question that is on my mind. “Did you ever run into Vice Principal Umbra?” I ask.
“No.” Tobias says with a shake of his head.
I let out a breath, of course it would be too easy for him to know of the vice principal that gave me this book.
“Though there was a dark elf magician named Doctavia Umbra who applied for a teacher’s assistant position. She was hot.” Tobias said, and I disregard his comments about her appearance, and instead focus on the seemingly pertinent parts of his comment.
“A dark elf, was she Shade Touched?” I ask.
“No, I don’t believe so, no one went near her, let alone touched her.”
I just shake my head at Tobias.
“What, it was funny.”
Huff.
“No, I was given this by her for a reason. I think I might know why, but I am not certain I should go ahead with my research.” I say, holding up the valuable diary.
“Why would you stop yourself from at least determining what was in the book?” Tobias asks.
“Because it likely contains a spell that will allow me to consume the souls of slain enemies.” I state.
“Okay, but are you going to learn that spell?”
“No.”
“Then why would you stop before you can prove one way or another what the spell does. Just because you know what something does, doesn’t mean you have to memorize it, like the time when Rahul learned the dark rune set. He figured out what they were, and then stopped himself.” Tobias says, quoting a good portion of what happened in book one of the series.
I am about to point out that his avoidance of the knowledge only lasted until book five when he needed to reverse craft a cure to one of the dark runes, meaning he first had to learn the rune and then a counter for it, but then realize that would be a huge spoiler. Also, it would negate the whole lesson the book was trying to convey.
“You know, you are right.” I say, as I begin breaking down the aspects of the spell. I have worked out the channeling aspect, which has helped me fix the power quotient for the spell. Now the last thing I need is the focus aspect of the spell, what is the purpose of this particular spell?
From context clues of the diary, I assume it is some form of super soul absorber spell. But then thinking about the design and layout of this spell I realize that can’t be the case. The spells and powers described far later in the diary have nothing to do with this spell, I am almost certain. This spell seems to be a way to cycle mana back and purify it is some way. That is the only logical reason for using the appendix I can think of, at the moment. With that as my hypothesis I begin replicating the diagram and altered spell flow. Then something clicks in my mind.
New Skill Gained: Spell Deconstruction has reached level 1.
Spell Deconstruction is a Perception, Intelligence, and Willpower based skill.
With that marker letting me know I am on the right track, I begin to channel the energy and feel a sudden surge in the quality of my spirit mana.
Hidden Quest Updated: The Lost Spell Form: You have managed to reconstruct a variant of the spell you were given to analyze. You have found the spell Spirit Mana Potency, continue channeling spell to unlock new spell. Rewards: Experience, Hidden Skill (X2) (Already Unlocked), New Spell: Spirit Mana Potency, ready to be learned.
Additional Requirements: Tome must not be lost, damaged, or stolen. Must complete conditions of this quest within 39 Hours, 22 minutes, 07 seconds…
Once again, there was no description of what Spirit Mana Potency did, but I could tell that while being a channeled spell, it seemed to be one that would increase my mana pool. Well not necessarily increase it right off the bat, but it would force me to cycle my mana into a more refined mixture in my body that would effectively increase my mana pool. While this spell would be a channeled spell, I also had the feeling it would likely grant more of a percentage of mana back after it was complete.
Focusing on the new current flowing through me, the converted spirit mana within my body circulated around my body, through my lungs, down through both sets of kidneys, then converged into my appendix, which then cycled that seemingly purified mana back into my core.
The more I thought about this, the more I realized I was likely missing a lot of functionality with spells and their creations. While this channeled spell likely meant I couldn’t cast Shadow magic, I didn’t care, at least not for the foreseeable future. Right now I only had Spirit magic spells, and since one of my channeled spells was literally the act of taking my regular mana and converting it all to spirit mana, I didn’t mind. This also meant that all that converted spirit mana was being used to cycle through my body in a condensed manner back to my core, which is likely why this spell was called Spirit Mana Potency, while I believe references to what the diary’s author had was just Mana Potency. I’m hoping that with mine being specialized towards spirit mana that my version will be better, but I have no way of truly knowing until it is complete.
Seeing that I am close, I continue to cycle my mana while realizing that with a bit more study, I can likely unlock the Spell Creation skill that I originally came to this school for. With that, I should have enough knowledge and theory to be truly dangerous, at least when it comes to Spirit magic. I will likely need to sit in on a few more channeling classes like Master Groa signed me up for to begin to unlock spells for that school of magic, but that is far lower on my list of things to learn right now.
After a few minutes of this circulating of my condensed mana, I decide to sit down as I realize that with a ten plus hour timer for this spell to become memorized, or a total time cycled of twice that, I will likely need to be comfortable.
“So I take it you learned the basics of the spell?” Tobias asks, sitting down in front of me.
“Yes, thank you. I don’t think I could have solved this nearly as quickly without your help, so thank you.” I say, and truly mean it.
Tobias nods, “so how long until you are able to internalize the spell?”
“Ten hours.”
“Eww…” Tobias says, as he all but grimaces in sympathetic pain.
“I know.”
“Well since you have time, and will likely need something to keep you awake for the next ten hours, we should probably talk about something…” Tobias says, pausing long enough for me to catch up, but not long enough for me to stop him before he states his next comment. “So, read any good books?”
I chuckle, but then nod to myself, he deserves this much. “So, Rahul had put himself between Victoria and the Duke’s evil henchmen…”