Chapter 122.
PART 1.
As the car drives automatically, and several companies rage for not being able to perfect that technology yet, Munshi is pacing back and forth, explaining the blood magic to Hatori. “Generally, blood magic basically refers to symbols drawn with blood, or sacrifice of blood for a ritual or a spell. simply, wherever blood is used for magic, it can be called blood magic.”
“I suspect it as wider applications then?” asked Hatori.
“Yes, though the use of blood makes people squeamish, so generally, you won’t see it being used.” Said Munshi.
“But what is so great about blood?” asked Hatori. “I mean I know why it is necessary for living people, to transfer oxygen and nutrients throughout the body. But what is so great about it that it is used in magic?”
“Because it can channel magic very well,” said Munshi. “You see, magic is flowing through all of us. our own energy reserves allow us to use that, and when you use blood to perform a bit of magic, it channels it well, because it is already doing that in your body.”
“You mean to carry the magic throughout the whole body?” asked Hatori.
“Indeed.” Smiled Munshi. “However, bear in mind that the blood must be fresh for this. Old and dried blood is useless for this. However, once you draw a rune with fresh blood, that rune will outperform any rune drawn with conventional ink. Only carvings can compete with blood.”
“But carving takes time,” said Hatori, being familiar with the process of carving runes in the wood. This is how Zeko has taught him, and even though they use runes written on ink during his classes, carving is the way he understands the runes.
“Exactly. Not to mention, it takes precision along with force. Whereas drawing or writing requires much less force, and you can create runes with better precision as a result. Blood is just another part of that.” explained Munshi.
“Okay. what about the blood itself? Does it have any significance on magic being performed, depending on whose blood is being used? Like human blood, animal blood, your own blood, or say, an enemy’s blood?” asked Hatori.
“Hm. Generally, blood is blood, there’s not much difference to it. unless you are performing a ritual. In that case, different kinds of blood can give you different results.” Said Munshi. “For example, if you are working against someone whom you consider your enemy, then their blood will help you in any ritual which you may perform against them.”
“Then there is magic entanglement. This refers to the use of magic through the blood of someone, to perform any kind of effect on them. this can happen because their magic is still to some extent, linked with their blood. That link gets broken after a while, this is one of the reasons why most of the time we just see memories of a dead person, and not resurrect their soul.” Said Munshi. “Anyway, getting back to the point, resurrecting the soul and magic entanglement are two different things. One is related to bringing back the dead, and the other is concerned with performing magic on living.”
“This does not need blood always. Even something like hair can work.” Said Munshi.
“You mean anyone can perform magic on me just by my hair?” asked Hatori, horrified by the possibility. To someone who is so paranoid, this is a nightmare.
“There is a way to break the link.” Said Munshi. “Here’s how. You have to be good at focusing and exploring your magic. meditation is needed for this.”
“Why do I hear Zeko laughing?” muttered Hatori.
“Once you start to focus, you will be able to find these links, and then you can sever them. I personally do that every night,” said Munshi. “It will take some time, but you will get good enough to do that with practice. For now, let’s move on to the final lesson of the day, ghosts.”
“Ghosts are of two kinds. First are like recorded memories. these are impressions left behind by the dead person. Second are the consciously aware ghosts, which can take independent actions, like the one which we saw in The City of Bhoj.” Explained Munshi. “You need to understand that ghosts are not like souls. Souls are basically the original dead person, just without a physical body. Ghosts are incomplete, however, and they seek to complete themselves, by either consuming the magic of others or by possession. They do not have any other purpose aside from this.”
“Now, note down the magic spells that can work on ghosts specifically.” Said Munshi, and Hatori started to take notes.
PART 2.
Bali, the professor of combat in the Academy of Magecraft and Sorcery is sparring with his apprentices. Praduman and Daphne are both trying to hit him, but their spells are easily batted aside by the professor. Daphne was awed when she saw him do that for the first time because she had seen Hatori doing that during his battles. Seeing a professor do that brought the point home how strong her friend is.
Bali is surprised by Daphne’s performance so far. She appears to be the typical girl from an Albion family, meaning looks elegant, and avoids combat at all costs. Fighting is for those barbaric men, not for the refined ladies. Bali shook his head. His time in the Albion land was a strange one.
But she is nothing like that. She never abandoned his class, always attended his lessons, and she is now apprenticing with him as well. ‘Unlike that no-it-all brat Hatori.’
Once more, the professor shakes his head to clear his thoughts. Why focus on the students who disrespect him? he rather put the energy on the ones who listen to him, and are willing to learn from him. and Daphne is one of those students. Each year he gets a lot of boys who want to either go to the military or become duelists in the future. While nothing is stopping the girls from participating in the same activities, Bali has learned that females are not so combat-inclined, unlike the majority of the men.
But Daphne has a competitive spirit, one of the rare female students who has it, and despite the physical workout necessary to stay in this internship, she is not quitting. Instead, she is giving the boys a run for their money. Bali enjoys using her name to kick the ass of the lazy boys to motivate them.
“If a girl can do better than you, and you have no will to try and surpass her, then you don’t belong in this class!” he roared at them daily.
Daphne manages to tag Bali with a spell, his distracted thoughts gave her enough time to do that. “Good job, Miss Blake.” He complimented her. The spell hit hard, but it failed to leave a mark due to his protective clothing. “I think we should conclude this lesson. Please come by tomorrow for the daily run in the morning.”
“Of course, professor.” Said Praduman and Daphne together.
PART 3.
Ravina carves the runes on the wooden board. She has heard other students complaining about why Professor Krodhatma does not let them just write down the runes, and how he makes them carve on the wood all the time. but she does not mind, the activity itself is quite relaxing to her. This also results in the completion of her homework, and the professor being happy with her. Some students tried to slander her reputation with unsavory rumors, due to their jealousy of her work, but some quick brutal violence took care of that.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
As she goes to the office of Krodhatma to submit the work (he said the students should complete this as soon as possible, and submit the work in his office), she observes the projects of the previous students. All throughout the office, the professor has put the most interesting projects of his students on display, with their names given right below the cases where they are being displayed. One name surprised her, however.
“Welcome, Miss Lohar.” He motions her to take a seat. “You’re done with the work I see.” He checks her work. “I don’t see any problems with it, you can relax for now, I won’t give any more work until next week.”
“Thanks, professor.” Said Ravina gratefully. She needs the time to absorb the knowledge she has gained.
She once more glanced at Hatori’s name. ‘Why is his name here? he is not even attending this apprenticeship!’ she thinks.
“I see Hatori’s project has caught your eye.” Said Krodhatma, tapping his table and bringing the runes of Hatori’s project into focus. “Do you see the purpose of these symbols?” he asked softly.
Ravina tried to make sense of these runes. She cannot make the heads or tails of them. “I can’t,” she said with a frustrated tone. “I don’t understand where they start or end.”
“These are the runes for the ritual that he created to modify the animals that invaded this school nearly three years ago.” Said Krodhatma. “He used these same runes as the base to modify himself later. truly, that boy has been the most promising student to have joined my class in the past five years or so.”
“He did that by himself?” Ravina could not believe what she was hearing.
“Yes, he did.” Said Krodhatma. “Aside from making me review his work, he didn’t take much help from me.”
“Then why didn’t he join your class?” asked Ravina, puzzled.
“Because he did not need it,” said Krodhatma. “That boy does not need any guidance. The only thing he needs is some ideas and some pointers to accomplish those ideas. Rest, he can do that by himself.”
Ravina wonders whether she is wasting her time in this class. But the professor’s next word brings her out of her thoughts. “Do not worry Miss Lohar. While symbols may come to Hatori naturally, you have your own gift. You are persistent, and you will make a wonderful teacher, should you decide to share your knowledge one day. Whereas Hatori will struggle to explain the runes to anyone.”
“I’m not gonna lie, sir, I needed to hear that,” she said with a smile.
The professor chuckled in response. As Ravina walks out of Krodhatma’s office, she thinks about her father’s reaction. ‘He would be shocked to see me working on runes.’ She thought. Her father is aware of her rather tomboy nature, and her habit of responding with physical violence.
PART 4.
Lavinya follows the instructions of the Sultan and adds the ingredients upon his prompting. She took the potions for her sixth-year apprenticeship, to understand the art which altered her life so much. For 300 years, she existed as a ghost, and when she regained her physical existence, she found herself in a new age, and no family of her own. All the people whom she knew are now dead, she is effectively an orphan. She thought of connecting with the descendants of her relatives, but given their rather lukewarm response after her first few attempts, she quickly abandoned that idea.
Now, if she can stop herself from coming off as cold to others, she might say she has started to rebuild some semblance of normalcy. But until she succeeds in that, she has potions to master. Professor Dhiraj is happy to teach her since she has attended the classes for 300 years, meaning she has seen the beginners learn and fail for 300 years. He does not have to supervise her, unlike the apprentices he gets every year.
PART 5.
Shin and Sangita come off the stage, done performing their act for the day. “Did you hear that noise?” she asked Shin, once they were in their room. “Did you sense their happiness?”
“Yes.” Answered Shin with a wide grin. “I felt that.”
“This entire area was devastated by a flood. Some might argue what is the point of holding a concert here?” said Sangita. “But people need happiness. And if we can make them forget their misery for a while, then I believe we have succeeded in our purpose.”
Shin’s lips curl up in a smirk. “And we didn’t have to perform any spell for that either.”
“Exactly.” She agreed. “Now, this is a new place, if you want to explore it, go ahead. Don’t go far though, and do not pick any fights. Do you understand?”
“Yes, professor.” Said Shin.
He changed his clothes and ran outside of the hotel. Outside though, he found destruction. He never realized how destructive water can be. ‘I will never make fun of Josh. What if he decided to do this?’ he thought.
Shin is horrified to see how helpless humans are before nature’s fury, even with magic.
PART 6.
Hatori goes over his notes of spirit magic. souls and spirits have different frequencies, and unless spells are performed at that frequency, it won’t affect them. so far, Hatori has managed to perform spells like Stinger, Slice, and Blaster at this frequency. The last one caused a lot of destruction in the car, so Munshi forbade Hatori from practicing inside ever since.
The problem is not just the different frequencies. Souls and spirits do not have the same frequency, meaning, anyone who is dealing with them has to learn both these different frequencies. Aside from the basic spells, Hatori is having trouble performing the elemental magic or conjuring at this frequency. He folds his notes up neatly and assumes a meditative pose.
He tries to take his magic at the frequency of spirits. Once he has managed to get this frequency down, he will try the soul frequency. That one is harder to achieve anyway. he misses the room of frozen time. he could have made so much progress with that room in a short amount of time.
PART 7.
3000 years ago, when the Magecraft and Sorcery Institute was creating its network of schools across the world, many people tried taking control of these academies, and the Subcontinent was no different. King Dushiant, the second king of the Subcontinent, tried to take over the Academy with the support of the then-noble families of the time. To do this, they sent their people inside the school, who brutalized and beat up the students and staff alike. During this time, the Academy did not have defenses to face this attack. however, Saraswati, the then-head of the Academy united the staff, and they resisted the invasion any further.
Once the Institute learned of this incident, they sent their own mages to help out Saraswati and drove the people of the king and the noble families. The relationship between the Academy and the throne was strained for many years after this, but by this point, the academies throughout the world were given adequate defenses to weather any such invasions from authorities around the world. the Institute also proved its power in the next few wars, and afterward, they all decided that interfering with their operations was a bad idea, especially since these mages were, and still are, responsible for keeping their dimension stable.