CHAPTER 10: CARVING WITHOUT TOOLS

That was an alarming message. The “Congratulations” did nothing to allay her fears. Sitting up in surprise, Jenna called out, “what?”

Congratulations! You have dispersed your Core.

“What does that mean?”

Magic no longer needs to be drawn from an individual location within your body. Instead, you will be able to cast Spells from any part as needed.

“Why doesn’t everyone disperse their Core then?”

Query imprecise. Best guess: What are the relevant detriments to dispersing a Core? Accept guess?

That was more or less what Jenna wanted to know, so she agreed.

Detriments listed in order from most to least relevant to current situation Spells to grow Magical Cores will not work Magic Density is lower at Lower Tiers Magic Control must be trained differently Other reasons lack applicability to current situation.

“So what are the benefits? That seems like a fairly comprehensive list of detriments.” She wouldn’t be able to grow her Core the normal way and what Magic she did have would be less effective.

Query already answered. Would you like a repeat of the reasons?

“Saying that I can cast Spells from any part of my body isn’t really an answer,” Jenna rebutted. She knew that it was ridiculous to try arguing with the Pyramid. The fact that it worked almost made it worse.

Primary benefits include: More complete Attunement to Schools of Magic Faster Magic regeneration More efficient Spells for increasing Magic Control and Capacity

Jenna hoped that the Pyramid hadn’t lied to her. Out of curiosity, she picked up the etching tool and tried to activate it. Nothing happened.

“Why can’t I use the etching tool anymore?”

Etching Tool was designed as beginner method to learn how to move Magic from Cores into Spells. You lack a Core.

That made some amount of sense. “When will I learn how to make Hardened Glass without an etching tool?”

When you have control over your Magic.

“Do you have an estimate for how long that will take?”

Query imprecise. Best guess: best estimate for time until Magic Control is sufficient for making D Grade Hardened Glass? Accept guess?

“Is that markedly different from the amount of time until my Magic Control is sufficient for making Hardened Glass at all?”

Query updated. Estimate for time until Magic Control sufficient to make Hardened Glass: 3 days, 90% confidence. Estimate for time until Magic Control sufficient to make D Grade Hardened Glass if training Magic Control until then: 5 days, 85% confidence. Estimate for time until Magic Control sufficient to make D Grade Hardened Glass if switch back to making Hardened Glass when F Grade is achieved: 12 days, 60% confidence. Suggestion: Train Magic Control until sufficient to make D Grade Hardened Glass. Accept suggestion?

Jenna considered it. The extra two days before she could start earning points again would hurt, especially since the D Grade Hardened Glass was only worth slightly more than E Grade. Once more, she stopped herself.

Her goal was not earning points for their own sake, or even for the rift. Her goal was to master this Spell and every Spell after it. “Suggestion accepted.”

First exercise: Increasing Magic Density throughout body.

It was a fairly straightforward exercise, at least in concept. Once a part of her body grew used to a certain level of Magic inside of it, it would replenish to that level when Magic was pulled away. Unfortunately, as it was, her entire body was at its alleged peak. The first direction she was given was to push all of the Magic from her hand into her right index finger.

While Jenna could feel the Magic inside of her, getting it to move was still difficult, especially since she only wanted a localized portion of her Magic to move. By the time that the Magic control lesson was over, she had managed to make a slight Magic differential between her index finger and the rest of her hand. It wasn’t much, but Jenna knew that it was progress.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Without time for combat training, she moved straight into her geometry work. “Should I be trying to hold the Magic in my right index finger for as long as possible?”

Query imprecise. Best guess interpretation: Assuming that the focus needed to hold Magic differential in right hand does not interfere with other training today, is it beneficial to keep the Magic differential? Accept guess?

“Yes.”

Yes.

Over the course of the rest of the day, Jenna realized how much of a difference having Magic inside of her made. She felt more in touch with her body. It wasn’t quite the same feeling as when the world sharpened, but there were absolutely similarities between the two. The fact that the Pyramid didn’t consider that one of the primary benefits of breaking her Core was a little strange, but Jenna had two hypothesis for what that could mean.

First, it was possible that this was not a universal experience, and the Pyramid wasn’t certain enough that it would happen for her to list it. Second, it was possible that the gain to her body and mind weren’t on the same level of benefit as the gains that it had listed. She really hoped that it was the latter.

As Jenna thought a little longer, she came up with a third hypothesis. There was also the chance that the Pyramid knew that she would be running on empty, Magically speaking, for most of her time, and the dispersed Magic was only a benefit as long as she actually had Magic in her body. Rather than stew in that thought, she asked the Pyramid.

As it turned out, it was a combination of the three reasons she’d given. Part of why it was not as useful as the other benefits she’d been given was that it was only effective as long as she kept Magic inside of her. The gains that she would see to her mind and body were also variable, though the Pyramid did say that she was in the upper half of benefit in that regard.

She managed to keep the Magic in her hand concentrated in just her index finger until she fell asleep.

When Jenna woke up the next morning, she found that the Magic in her body had, unsurprisingly, returned to its default density. What surprised her was just how much more dense the Magic was in her index finger. It felt like there was as much in her finger as in the rest of her hand combined.

In the absence of any new directions from the Pyramid, she again pulled all of the Magic from her hand into her index finger. As she did, she wondered about the metaphor. Why was it pulling into her finger rather than pushing from her hand?

She had apparently been thinking out loud, because the Pyramid answered her.

There are differences at Higher Tiers of Magic. For now, whichever variation is more helpful to you is the better one to work with.

Jenna considered those words. When she thought about how the Magic was flowing, was it from a push or pull? She ended up deciding that it was, in fact, easier to visualize the Magic being pulled into the region of higher Magic density, rather than something somehow pulling it in.

Over the course of the next three days, Jenna gradually increased the Magic in her body by forcing larger and larger parts of her body’s Magic into smaller and smaller parts of herself. By the end of the second day, she was able to feel when each part had adjusted to the increase in Magic, which made the process go by far more quickly.

On what her point history told her was the seventeenth day that she was in the Pyramid, she got the message she had been hoping for as she ate her meal.

Congratulations! You have demonstrated sufficient Magic Control. Estimated Probability of successfully making Hardened Glass: 90% Suggestion: replace Magic Control practice with Enchanting Accept suggestion?

“Yes,” Jenna said, nearly leaping with joy. She hurried to finish her food, excited beyond words to finally get the chance to Enchant again.

You are seven minutes ahead of schedule. Suggestion: Move schedule forward seven minutes. Accept suggestion?

“Suggestion accepted,” she replied, already moving to her workstation. She picked up a piece of glass, hopeful that she would be able to Enchant it. As she looked at it, she realized that none of the Magic control exercises that she’d been doing had taught her how to externalize her Magic. They were all focused on moving it within herself.

“What do I do?”

Query imprecise. Best guess: How do I move my Magic to Enchant the Hardened Glass? Accept guess?

“Guess accepted.”

Guess accepted. Focus on pulling Mana into right index fingertip and then push out from there.

She tried. The Pyramid didn’t tell her how much of her body to pull from, so she started with just her hand. As she did, she felt her now Magic depleted hand pull the Magic from her arm, which ended up cascading into a gradient across her whole body.

It felt like she had as much Magic density at her fingertip as she had while working with the etching tool. With an effort of will, Jenna pushed the Magic out of herself. It came out in what felt like a pressurized beam, though it dispersed quickly.

Already feeling the drain on her Magic, Jenna took a piece of glass and, with the Pyramid’s help, overlaid the Spell she needed to carve on it. She temporarily halted the flow of Magic out of her finger as she lined it up with the glass. Jenna started carving the glass.

It was a strange feeling. Unlike with the etching tool, where her primary feedback came from the sound and texture of cut glass, here she felt no physical feedback. The practice she had controlling her Magic had made her much more aware of how it moved, though. The Magical feedback more than made up for the lack of physical sensation.

As she carved, she could already tell that she was making mistakes. For all the practice that she had with moving her Magic, she hadn’t focused as much on maintaining a perfectly even flow rate. As a result, when she saw the Pyramid’s analysis of the Hardened Glass, she couldn’t find anything she would dispute.

First Tier Hardened Glass Rank: E- Primary Flaw: Inconsistent Magic density within piece. Other Flaws will not improve quality of product without fixing Primary and Secondary Flaws. Would you still like to see the other flaws?

“No.” Rather than dwell on the mistake, Jenna started carving again.

Jenna’s Status:

Jenna Fredrickson First Year Spells Known: Expected Years Completed: 7 Prediction Confidence: 35% Points: 45 Qualified to Ascend to Next Year? No