CHAPTER 12: LAST DAYS OF SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
Beginning First Round of Combat.
The Pyramid seemed to realize that Jenna was feeling unsure in her body. Rather than send a wave of strong goblins, she saw a single goblin armed with a sharp stick.
Even though it should not have been a difficult encounter in the slightest, Jenna wasn’t sure if she would be able to make it through the combat. The goblin rushed towards her, and she tried to move to meet it.
Each step felt like she was trying to tell someone how to move their legs, rather than just moving her own legs. She saw the goblin start its swing, but she couldn’t make her arm move to block with the mace.
Thankfully, the Pyramid had given her a weak goblin. The blow still stung, sure, but it didn’t cut into her like one of the more recent goblins would have.
Wincing from the pain, Jenna swung her mace at the goblin. She had always been able to capitalize on the weaker goblins’ tendency to over-commit to their strikes. This time, though, she watched the goblin jump back as though it was sneering at her.
She followed up her swing with a fist. Her swing connected with the goblin, but she felt it brush off her strike as though it was nothing. That first encounter set the tone for the rest of the fight.
Jenna was on her back foot constantly, despite the fact that she knew that she could fight far better than she was. It was a humbling and humiliating experience to be hit so many times by such a weak foe.
When she finally dispatched the goblin, she could barely breath. Each breath came as a heaving gasp. Jenna felt like she was about to lose the grip on her mace from how sweaty she was.
“Is emptying myself of Magic still the best way for me to increase my Magic levels?” she asked. If the Pyramid said no, Jenna would never empty herself of Magic again.
Query imprecise. Best guess: Given the resources available to me, is totally emptying myself of Magic the most efficient way to increase total Magic capacity? Accept guess?
“Guess accepted.”
Guess accepted. Query answer misleading. Do you need an explanation why?
That stopped Jenna, and she tried her best to think about what would be misleading about the answer.
“I don’t think I follow why the answer would be misleading,” she finally admitted.
Would you prefer to have explanation given to you or leading questions asked? Suggestion: leading questions.
“Suggestion accepted.” Jenna remained committed to her plan to trust the Pyramid’s advice. Thus far, at least, it seemed to have worked. She didn’t know if a little over two weeks was a normal amount of time to learn a first Spell, but she privately hoped that it was fast.
Is the goal of your time in the training grounds to increase Magic capacity?
“Not directly,” she responded, waiting to see where the Pyramid was going with the question. When no new table popped up, Jenna realized that the Pyramid thought it had led her to the right answer already.
Rather than stew in silence, Jenna thought aloud. “Please stop me if I get too horribly off track with my logic,” she began. “Increasing my Magic capacity is only my goal here insomuch as it helps me to stay in the program.”
Suddenly she felt ridiculous. It was so obvious. “The question of whether or not emptying my Magic will increase my capacity is not the question I want to ask. Is emptying my Magic pool at the end of Enchanting practice my best idea for training my skills, or am I better served by keeping some Magic in myself at all times?”
Congratulations! You figured out a better query with only a single hint. Current recommendation given demonstrated skills: practice control over body without Magic. Suggestion: move Enchanting practice to beginning of schedule so rest of day continues without Magic. Accept suggestion?
“Why?”
Demonstrated skill level while Magic remains within body easily sufficient to clear next available rift. Skill level while body is deprived of Magic is insufficient to clear next available rift.
“So by putting Enchanting first thing in the morning, I’m forced to do my running, mace training, strength training, and so on while hindered?” she asked.
Correct.
“Where’s the benefit in that? I’m not planning to Enchant anything in the rift, so my Magic should be within me for the entire time.”
Direct information about contents of rifts prior to first delve forbidden. Suggestion: move Enchanting practice to beginning of schedule so rest of day continues without Magic. Accept suggestion?
“Suggestion accepted.”
Suggestion accepted. Schedule beginning tomorrow will put Enchanting practice first, followed by schedule as normal. Combat Training will now occupy extra time by conclusion of meal.
Jenna realized that the goblin was still lying on the ground. It was slightly disconcerting that the blood it had leaked out was starting to pool. “Did I not finish the first round of combat?” she asked hesitantly.
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Congratulations! You have completed the First Round of Combat. Generating report.
Jenna watched, but the goblin didn’t seem to disperse. “Why is the goblin still there.”
Query imprecise. Best guess: why, unlike prior experience, where goblins disperse into essence when Combat Round ends, is this goblin lying dead on the ground, slain by my hand and mace? Accept guess?
“That seems needlessly graphic,” Jenna replied, “but guess accepted I suppose.”
Guess accepted. Monsters do not disperse into essence while delving a rift. Getting used to fighting around the corpses of those you have slain is an important skill for any rift delver. Does it bother you that your actions have consequences that last longer than the few seconds between dispatching a goblin and it dissolving?
“Yes,” Jenna said.
Noted.
She was beginning to understand why there was a large contingent of people who believed that the Pyramid was malevolent.
The combat report was more or less what Jenna had expected. She recognized her own failings in the fight, though she remained unsure how she could fix them. It wasn’t that she didn’t know what she should have done, it was that her body felt wrong and unresponsive.
Beginning Second Round of Combat.
Thankfully, the Pyramid seemed to recognize that as well. She faced another goblin, identical to the first.
It was strange. Even though she was still somewhat out of breath from the first round of combat, this fight felt much smoother. Jenna realized that she was just relearning how her body moved when it was empty of Magic.
As the goblin tried to charge towards her, she quickly understood what a difference the corpses of past foes could make on the battlefield. She nearly slipped on its blood as she began her charge forward. Though she was able to catch herself before falling, it still meant that her own charge was aborted.
When the goblin swung at her, Jenna was able to block the blow. She still wasn’t fast enough to take advantage of the goblin’s undefended body, but she take any hits for the rest of the fight.
If the tone of the first fight was shame at being so weak, the tone of the second was toying with the goblin. By the end of the second round, it almost felt like she belonged in her body again.
The rest of the day passed more or less normally. In the morning, Jenna Enchanted another two C grade pieces of Hardened Glass. When she’d finished it, she could tell that she wouldn’t have enough Magic to both cover the glass in a primer layer and etch it, so she pointed her finger away from her workstation and emptied her body of Magic When she did, the Pyramid prompted her.
Query: Are you attempting Unformed Magic?
“I don’t know what that means,” Jenna said. Despite the fact that she knew what it would feel like to be without Magic, it was still a horrible experience the second time through. She was bent over with her hands on her knees, trying to clear her vision from the stars that suddenly filled it.
Unformed Magic is the practice of making Spell effects outside of formal Spells.
“No?” she replied hesitantly, “I’m just trying to get rid of the Magic in my body as quickly as I can.”
Good. Recommendation: Do not attempt Unformed Magic before Eighth Year at the earliest.
“Why?”
Risk of death unacceptably high.
That was a sobering thought. “Is it dangerous for me to empty my pool like this?”
Query imprecise. Best guess: Do I take on a significantly increased risk of injury by emptying myself of Magic through this method, rather than another method? Accept guess?
“Guess accepted.”
Given current skills and abilities, method to empty self of Magic within one standard deviation of other known methods in terms of safety.
That wasn’t quite the same as an endorsement or calling it safe, but it was close enough for Jenna. After all, there was always some risk in Magic.
Her vision had cleared enough to see her feet, which made her realize that the Pyramid had given her another table.
Congratulations! You have pushed yourself to your limits, completely emptying yourself of Magic. As a result, more time spent working on Enchanting would be wasted today. Suggestion: Move remainder of schedule forward. Accept suggestion?
“Suggestion accepted,” Jenna said, beginning her run.
The rest of her quarantine passed in the same way. Each morning Jenna woke up and started Enchanting. When she didn’t think that she had enough Magic left inside of her to Enchant a full piece of Hardened Glass, she dispersed the remainder of her Magic in a single burst.
The feeling of emptiness hit just as strongly each time she emptied her Magic, but she became far better at ignoring it. On the twenty first day in the Pyramid, she finally managed to make a single piece of B Grade Hardened Glass.
First Tier Hardened Glass. Rank: B Value: 2 poinst Would you like to sell your Hardened Glass?
“No,” she said, emptying the remainder of her Magic. Even though she was exhausted, the rest of the day made her feel like she was walking on clouds. She had gotten another rank higher in her Spell. It wasn’t much of a difference, but it was worth almost half a point more per piece of Hardened Glass, which was nice. More than that, though, seeing explicit progress was always nice.
When Jenna woke up on her twenty second day in the Pyramid, she saw a different table than she was expecting. Rather than the normal “You are ahead of schedule. Suggestion: Move schedule up” that she was used to, it had a completely different message.
Quarantine has lifted. Would you like to meet your fellow students?
Jenna’s Status:
Jenna Fredrickson First Year Spells Known: First Tier: Hardened Glass Expected Years Completed: 7 Prediction Confidence: 40% Points: 40 Qualified to Ascend to Next Year? Yes