With my hands finally on a healing spell, I am now trying to find ways to improve it. I have to actually use a chant when I am using the healing spell because my image of light is very different from what the books describe. I picture light as a wavelength and don’t see how that can heal. The book describes it as a holy light given by the gods. Maybe it is both? After a few hours of study, I decided to shelve my experiments for now and do something else. I might try my hand at dark magic.
Looking through all of the books, I manage to find several on the subject of dark magic. I also find some books about space magic so I set those aside for now. I did come across some peculiar books as well. They were not written in the common language called Basic so I couldn’t read them and decided I would study them later.
I grab the books about dark magic and head towards my desk to study up. Using the desk is the best, especially since I can only use one arm at the moment. Reading through the books, I find that the dark element as I thought it did, deals with shadows, hexes, and curses. I found this style of magic to my liking, especially being a disciple of Teona and for getting my revenge.
The shadow stuff so far that I have read is your basic shadowcasting. Creating shadows, being able to move between shadows, and even being able to muffle or mute sounds you make. There is even a mention of a shadow world but that’s about all there is. I might just try being a shadowcaster, sounds fun.
Hexes and curses work how you would expect them too. Hexes are mostly a minor and temporary type of misfortune you place on someone or something. The misfortunes could be as simple as one stubbing their toes every day for a week, or always lose something over a small period of time. Curses inflict a major misfortune on someone and can even cause death. These can be set to temporary or permanent as well.
I decided I was going to try the shadow stuff first as it seemed, probably, the safest and easiest. To learn shadow magic, I need to get a feel for the shadows. This needs to be done in a way similar to making a mana pool. I need to extend my manna out of my body and it needs to acclimate to the shadows around me. Several hours later I can kind of start to feel how shadows move, yes shadows move, but I can't quite figure it out how just yet.
Getting hungry I decide I will go and get some food. Hunting with a broken arm has been...a challenge to say the least. I can't use my bow and I can't use my spear. So that leaves me with magic as my only option. I have been slowly increasing my mana pool due to my arm so I can practice magic and have mana left over for hunting. I don’t know why but I feel as if I am close to breaking through to being a Tier 2 Mage and it is all thanks to those books. Especially the ones that teach setting up good mana paths and meditation techniques.
I found out that mana paths are just the pathways in which mana flows through a body. The paths can be set up for different functions, such as increasing one's natural strength or agility or even increasing damage done with spells. Before the dungeon I had a shoddy path made that would increase my agility a little. But after the dungeon, I realized that wouldn’t work for me. I also realized in my panic against the goblins I forgot about using any magic. I need more training to be able to overcome my weaknesses.
I managed to hunt down a small boar this time but carrying it back sucked and took longer than usual as I had to drag it back. Lunch was served with a grilled pork chop and a berry and herb salad. While I do love water, I really should try to make other drinks.
After my meal, I sit down and start up my meditating again. With my stomach full I can concentrate easier and grasp how the shadows move, or should I say flow. Shadows flow like water but because they are shadows, we cannot see how they move using normal means. With this I let my mana flow into the shadows, following their currents.
While this is going on a sudden idea hits me. I never had to do this with the other elements, but if I did would I be able to learn spells from them faster or at least use spells more efficiently? I would need to ask Teona next time I meet her; too bad I can't bake her a cake or something.
With my ability to use shadow magic now, I start to study some of the basic formulas and chants to do some novice shadowcasting. There really isn't a whole lot of magic to learn, it seems like it is better to play it by ear and make your own magic. I did learn how to muffle my footsteps though which is great, now I just need to work on a chantless version.
Before I go to bed, I decide to skim through the contents about space magic. This should be fun, I hope.
No, it turns out it isn't fun. Whoever wrote the information about space theory had no idea what space actually was. It was some obscure stuff about swimming through the aether and how space encompasses everything. Even gravity was, at best, shoddily explained. Something about objects with more mana attracts other objects. I think they are confusing magnetism and gravity and chalking it up to mana. I will try again tomorrow but replace things with my knowledge of space and gravity.
I woke up to the sounds of birds and sunshine. yes, I know sunshine doesn’t have a sound but if it did it would be morning sounds. I started my morning how I usually do. I cast some healing magic on my arm to help speed up the recovery, seems to be working well and I will be able to remove the splint soon. After that, I make breakfast and then sit down at my desk and open my books up.
Before I can begin, I need to list all of the misconceptions the author has of space and inject what I know instead. The first one is the space outside of this planet is called the aether. It is described as a viscous liquid that can birth gods and stars. To avoid confusion for myself I will just label space as the void and I pretty much know how it works from my past life. Second is the perception of gravity. They seemed to be combing both magnetism and gravity together and saying the working force behind it is mana. Now I can't say for sure If any of these perceptions are entirely wrong as this is a different world but I just feel like they are.
With these out of the way, I then start trying to learn space magic. According to the book, I am reading, the best way to start is with a spatial inventory spell. This again requires some meditation. I need to use both my knowledge of space and my mana to create a pocket dimension, which I can grow over time with more mana. I sit down on my bed and began meditating.
.
.
.
It wasn’t even 30 minutes before I could create my own pocket dimension. I then move on to the second part which is creating the spell that will act as the doorway to my dimension. Creating the spell didn’t take much longer either and now I can store stuff in my inventory. As I was thinking this a window popped up.
System
Due to learning spatial magic and creating our own pocket dimension you have unlocked the inventory feature. Your inventory stops the flow of time and will negate the weight of objects in your inventory. Inventory space is limited at the moment and can only store 65 kg of weight. Only non-living objects can be stored. Items can be removed at will at any designated location within 1 meter of the host. These limitations can be raised or removed by spending mana to upgrade the inventory.
I stare for a while at the screen before shouting.
“That freaking awesome! I don’t need my satchel anymore.”
After closing the menu, I start storing stuff in my inventory and I notice another window pops up. It is a grid and it shows each item I stored in my inventory. The same items are stored in the same square and have a number in the bottom right of that square indicating how much I have of them. I should have learned this way earlier. My max limit is 65 kg, which is about 140 pounds I think, give or take.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
After my excitement dies down and I have stored my important stuff, I continue my magic training. I go back to the dark magic wanting to learn some hexes and curses. To cast a hex or curse all I need to do is basically infuse my mana with the intention of the hex or curse and direct it towards the target. The longer the duration or the stronger the hex and curse, the more mana it will consume. It’s the easiest dark type spells to cast but can also be the most mana intensive.
For practice, I decided to hex a bird I see flying around. I imagine up a hex to cause the bird to fumble while flying for one hour. After having the hex in mind, I direct my hex towards a large colorful bird perched in a tree. Sensing something is wrong the bird takes flight, following its path with my eyes I eventually see the bird drop a little before continuing flying. I give out a slight laugh as I watch the bird disappear.
“Seems like my revenge on my dear older sister will be fun.”
I spend the rest of the day formulating curses to use on my sister before turning in for the night.
I continued to experiment with my spells for the following week and a half. I discovered with light magic I can create laser beams as well as invisibility, however, they both drain my mana extremely fast. This where I discovered mana sickness. When I drain my mana close to zero, I get dizzy and nauseous and I usually have to lay down for a better part of the day to recover.
After the mana sickness event, I decided to stop learning spells and focus on increasing my mana pool. At the end of the second week, I found my arm was pretty much healed and took off the splints and sling. I examined my arm and found no abnormalities and its functioning was good as well.
“Got to love healing spells.”
I chose to take it easy with my right arm at first just by doing daily tasks with it to slowly strengthen it back up. During this recuperation time, I decided to look through the mystery books I found.
...I can’t read any of this, but if what Teona told me was true I should be able to learn the language after studying it for a while. The symbols written in the books were of some kind of rune format, reminding me about a game about taking arrows to knees. The common language here uses an alphabet similar to that of German from my old world but these are just runes. I decided to try and study it some more writing down each character and trying to find correlations.
As the day draws to an end I decide to go to bed. I also would like to visit Teona maybe ask her some questions but I mainly just want to talk to someone. I lay down and prepare my dreams.
I awake back in my old familiar apartment bedroom. I look around and don’t find the goddess anywhere. I then hear some noise coming from outside the room. I get up and walk towards the door and see a hallway.
“Looks like she expanded to the whole apartment now.”
I walk down the hall and into the living room. Sitting on the couch is Teona and she is watching some Sci-Fi Show on TV.
“Hey, Teona. Was up.”
“Hello. Visiting me again huh?”
I walk over to the couch and sit down next to her.
“Expanded your realm yet again huh?”
“Yeah. I brought the beach back and made a house on it that resembles your apartment on the inside.”
“So, what brings you here?” she asks while digging some potato chips out of a bag.
“I was studying some new language and it kind of exhausted me. So, I thought I’d visit you while I slept.”
*Rustle*
*Crunch, Crunch, Crunch*
She seems to enjoy those chips.
“Yeah, I saw you were studying that language. I'll tell you that you are on the right track. Just keep it up and you will learn it.”
“What language is it anyway? Elvish or something?”
“Ha, no it's not. I won't spoil the surprise for you but I will tell you that it is an ancient language formed a very long time ago. It hasn’t been commonly used in at least 5000 years.”
“Wait! Those books are over 5000 years old?”
“No, those books are just a couple hundred years old. The previous owner was the last person who knew that language.”
Well, this is interesting; I am on the verge of learning something ancient and it makes me excited.
“I am kinda pumped up now. I got some learning to do tomorrow.”
“Just be sure you take breaks ok. I don’t want anything too bad happening to you...which I suppose is weird seeing as how I need bad stuff to happen to you. You know, because me being The Goddess of Misfortune and all.”
“Aww, so you do care.”
She gives a slight blush before punching me in the arm.
“Oh, shut up. Anyway, want to play that Italian plumber game with me?”
As she asks that she conjures up 2 controllers and hands me one.
“Yeah, I'll play as long as I am the green plumber.”
Some time was spent saving princesses and dying in horrible ways. It was fun. I woke up again in my bed. Letting out a yawn, I got and made a light breakfast. I did some light exercises to wake me up as well as trying to get my arm back in shape.
Warmed up and awake, I go back to my desk to learn this new language. I am starting to piece together some of the language. I can find vague meanings behind all of the runes. I still couldn’t speak it yet but reading, it is becoming clearer. A couple more hours and I finally get a notification.
System: You have learned the ancient arcane language. You can now read and speak the language.
OH! What!? What is the arcane language? To answer my questions, I decided to start reading some of the tomes in front of me to gain a better understanding. Hours flew by and I was caught up in my research I dint even realize that it was morning again. Feeling exhaustion creep over me I go to my bed and lay down. I go over everything in my mind sorting through what I learned before falling asleep.
So, the arcane language is a language that holds power over a primordial force that is the very building blocks of this world; Arcane Mana. Arcane magic is several hundred times more powerful than spells cast by regular mana, but the drawback is that you can only cast so many arcane spells per day. After creating your mana pool, you then have to create your arcane pool. The differences are that the arcane pool doesn’t actually store arcane mana but instead stores your arcane spells to use that day. How many spells you can store depends on how big your arcane pool is and how powerful the spell is. Weaker spells take up less but can store more. It also takes roughly a couple hours of meditation to create and store spells.
Now here is the real kicker, you have to create your own arcane spells. The only way to do this is to have an understanding of the runes as well as mathematical knowledge. The best analogy I can come up with is designing a spell is like making a circuit board. You have to have the right voltage, the resistors have to have the correct ohms, etc. The best way to do this is by creating a magic circle with the correct runes and symbols and then studying that. Once you have that image down, you can then recreate that image in your head and store the spell in your arcane pool.
Once the information has been processed, I fall asleep.
I must have slept for a long time because I am super hungry now and the sun is just barely rising in the sky. To fix my hunger I decide to get something to eat. With my hunger now gone, I sit down and try to detect arcane mana so I can start to build my arcane pool in my soul palace.
I am not sure if it is because I know the language now, but by trying to detect the mana, I am hearing some odd and quite frankly creepy whispers all around me. As much as I don’t want to, I decided to focus on some of these whispers.
By doing this I find that the whispers contain bits of knowledge and I am slowly getting accustomed to the flow of the arcane mana. I am sensing it easier and easier; it has such a wild, raw, and primordial feel. Almost like something no living being should be able to even look upon. After finally grasping the arcane, I open my eyes.
System
After spending 10 days in deep meditation you have finally acquired the skill Arcane Spellweaver. Understanding and the creation of arcane spells can be completed three times faster than normal.
System
Congratulations you have unlocked a new title. Initiate of the Arcane.
Holy crap! I got a new title. Wait what did it mean by 10 days? When I thought that I felt my stomach growl letting me know I was hungry. I also felt a bit dizzy and nauseous as well, this gives me an idea and I look at my MP.
MP: 19/420
Oh, that explains it, wait why is it that low in the first place? Did my body use my MP to sustain its self for 10 days?
It doesn’t matter, I now know how to cast arcane magic and I intend to train in it diligently.