“What is dao?”
Raul knew that in order to counteract and oppose the threat to magic in his world he would need more than brute strength. It was possible that he would need to recruit allies in this world, perhaps even become involved in it's affairs if that was what it took.
He was even willing to destroy it if that was the only solution.
But the most important thing needed to help him complete his mission was information.
To Raul's surprise the man didn't seem very confused with his question. He didn't look at Raul as though he was a fool, nor did he look at him as though he thought that Raul was messing with him. In fact, the man was taking his time to answer the question and looked like he was truly putting thought into it.
'Perhaps this 'dao' isn't as commonplace in the world as magic is in mine.' Raul thought to himself.
This was the most obvious chain of thought. Raul had initially thought that 'dao' was this worlds word for magic, but if he had asked what magic was in his own world he would have been laughed at because there was not a single being that didn't know what magic was after it had first been discovered.
Such was it's nature.
“The dao...” The man whispered underneath his breath.
'The dao.' Raul continued his thoughts, 'Then perhaps it is an object.'
The man took a deep breath, “You have asked me a deep question ancient one, and I do not know if I qualify to to answer it. In my experiences I have come across a single answer. The dao is a path, the dao is a way of life. There is a limit to the amount of dao's one can discover, I have estimated it to be within the thousands. But as is common knowledge, a person can only choose one dao. But in my experiences I hold this assumption to be wrong. Dao's intersect, and who is to say that a person can never change? And yet, who is to say that the person chooses the dao. I have discovered that the further I explore my dao the more I am convinced that I did not choose it, it is simply who I am and always was. A person may change their personality and their way of living, even their inner nature. But I do not think that a person can change their dao because they are their dao. The dao is your way of life. But at the same time I believe that a person and their dao are intertwined, so that one simply needs to explore themselves in order to find their path.”
Raul let in a breath, “Interesting...”
He had never encountered anything like this before.
From the description given, this 'dao' was neither magic nor spells, but something completely different.
And it was possible that this something wasn't affected by karma like magic was.
“A dao is a way of life...” Raul repeated and the man nodded patiently.
Raul's mind was working in overdrive, 'Could that mean that in this world it is someone's 'dao', their way of life, to destroy all magic in my world? Is a dao that powerful?'
Seeing Raul deep in contemplation the man hesitated, then spoke in a soft tone, “Ancient one... what do you think the dao is?”
“I do not know anything about the dao.” Raul spoke truthfully, “But I do not agree with your sentiment that a person is their dao.”
“Oh?” The man looked surprised, “Why do you say that?”
Raul thought about the inhabitants of his world, and then about his own life, “Because I have met people without a dao, yet still have power beyond imaginations.”
The man's reactions were subtle but the widening of his eyes and surprise in his brows couldn't be hidden.
“Truly you must have seen some mighty sights in your life ancient one. I have truly been enlightened by your words. You have met those without a dao and yet still have power. A true mystery. Then have I been wrong all my life? If the dao is not part of me, then is it only a chain constricting me from further improving myself? I have thought for so long that I needed to improve my dao to improve myself... but I only realise now that I have been restraining myself from improving. Who is to say that I cannot improve myself and concentrate on the dao at the same time? I have only harmed myself by thinking of the two as the same thing, and then only working to improve one. Your words are truly wondrous.”
Raul's body stiffened as the man suddenly exuded his aura again. However, he was not surprised that the man was releasing his aura. What surprised him was that the aura had increased.
The man had become stronger just from hearing his words.
What kind of thing was the dao, that people could become stronger just by hearing some words?
The man didn't even seem to be thinking of the same things Raul was. In fact, the man seemed to have gained some sort of deeper understanding into his words than Raul had intended. But why did this deeper understanding lead to an increase in the man's power?
The man's power suddenly began to fluctuate, sometimes strong and sometimes far weaker than he was before.
The man clasped his hands towards Raul and bowed, “Thank you ancient one. I have broken through the bottleneck I was in thanks to your words. I shall have to pardon myself from our conversation in order to stabilise the power within my body. Please...” The man looked hesitant, “I would like to continue this conversation after I am done. Would you honour me by acting as my guardian until I am done, so that we may then continue our conversation? I will not lie, I do not have many enemies, but I am aware that some have followed me and were waiting until I had my breakthrough intending to attack me now in my moment of weakness.”
Raul nodded and the man breathed a sigh of relief before sitting down on top of his bed and crossing his legs in meditation.
Raul was unsure as to what was happening within the man's body but the concept of having enemies was universal. If there was a good man here, then undoubtedly his enemies were those that would have sown considerable bad karma within his own world.
They were people he would not hesitate to fight against.
But killing them is a different story.
Raul walked outside and gazed at horizon. There were trees as far as his eyes could see.
'Why did the man call me ancient one?' Raul dismissed the question, intending to ask the man later on.
Raul sat down in front of the entrance and thought to himself.
'Elder protection spell, dragon's tears spell, fennel spell...' He thought of the various protection class spells he knew.
A spell to ward off evil spirits was probably unnecessary since the opponents were likely to be human. But since the man was so strong it was clear his enemies would probably be equally as strong, or maybe slightly weaker since they had to resort to surprise attacks.
Raul decided to cast spells that would protect from both the physical and spiritual opponents he could encounter.
Raul took two seeds out of one of his bags and frowned. He could cast a long lasting protection spell using these seeds but his reserves would eventually run low if he used resources from his world constantly. His bags had spells in place which increased the amount they could hold. There are enough resources within them to cast all the spells he knew a thousand times over.
But what if he stayed in this world long enough to need to cast them two thousand times over?
Raul still hadn't identified the threat to his world. Nor did he know how much time he would have to spend in this world.
He shook his head and began to plant the seeds, one on either side of the door.
The ritual for this next spell was simple.
He gathered a handful of dirt from near the doorway and then took out another patch of dirt from his bags, this one had been dug up by a bull's horns. He placed the dirt in one hand and with his free hand he put his hand back into the bag and took out some more dirt, this dirt had been dug up by a boar's tusks.
He placed the two seeds in the dirt pile and placed them and and equal amount of dirt into separate red bags conjuring bags.
“Spell of conception; Earth spell.”
Once upon a time magicians had sought the answer to hunger by asking the Earth's wisdom how to increase the growth rate of their crops.
The spell 'Earth spell' had been given to them in response.
The use of magic has always been to obtain benefits in one form or another. Wealth, luck, true love or a passionate lover. All of these things could be gained through the use of magic. But since the beginning of human history, humans have been focused on the mysteries of birth and life. And this is similarly reflected in the deep themes of magic power and spells. For what is magic, but something which is used to create something new, which did not previously exist?
And so magicians have long delved into fertility magic as a means of not only casting new spells, but exploring the nature of magic itself. Magic is about being fruitful and multiplying. Spells involving the control of fertility of all creatures boast the grandest repertoire. This is not limited to the fertility of babies, but also the enhancing and stimulating of traits such as creativity or courage, to name a couple.
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There was a more powerful version of the spell known as 'Earth spell enhanced', but it required a nearby shrine to a particular magical deity.
As soon as he spoke he felt the magic inside his spirit begin to swirl and the seeds within the red bags grew into full sized plants.
Raul placed his hands above both of the plants, “Spell of protection; Door guardian Ti Plant.”
Ti plants are sacred plants within his world. They provide protection against all kinds of evil, physical and spiritual, and also double as subtle guardians that are not easily spotted. They work best in pairs and so placing one beside each part of the entrance door would allow them to defend the house completely.
The spells in conjunction ensured that these particular Ti Plants recognised this house as the object of guarding.
They would also protect those that they saw as the houses' inhabitants.
'The sun is up. Are the say and night cycles of this world shorter than mine?'
Raul glanced over the horizon again and realised that sun had already risen into the air. He was unsure how much time he had spent in the forest and in the house but he was sure it wasn't enough for the moon that had been bright in the sky to descend.
'Come to think of it... How do the people of this world fight?'
If the people of this world fought with spells then the Ti Plants would still be effective, but because they had to use their bodies to defend against magic attacks it meant that they wouldn't be able to block everything. The man's house and the man himself could be in danger if they attackers used spells affecting a wide area.
Of course, if they only used their hands and fists then that would be fine.
For protection against spells that would affect the entire house there was a simple solution.
Magical circles.
Simple, yet incredibly efficient. This was the proper way to describe magical circles. A magical circle designates an area for a purpose, in this case safety. No malevolent spells or spiritual forces can touch or harm an area designated for protection within a magical circle. Of course, magical circles could be broken, but the Ti Plants would make sure that this didn't occur. Certain materials could be used to enhance the circle's powers.
Raul looked around and grinned. The tree that overlooked the hut had clearly been there for many years. It's leaves were covering every inch surrounding the hut, but strangely there wasn't a single one on the hut itself.
Raul stood within the leaf covered area and envisioned a circle, the magic allowing him to see the leaves being connected together in a circle without having to physically see the leaves in person.
Raul double checked that he was inside the circle and spoke, “Spell of protection; Circle spell basic.”
The leaves lit up with magical power and then dulled back to their original colours.
The circle of protection was complete.
'These two should be enough.' Raul nodded to himself.
Raul sat quietly as he awaited the arrival of enemies. He didn't even know if they would come since all he had to go on were the man's words. He could feel the man's aura fluctuating inside the house and knew that if he could feel it then it would be like a bright beacon to anyone else in the area.
The Ti Plants grew and slithered their roots across the ground, causing Raul's ears to perk up.
If the Ti Plants were moving it meant that they had sensed a threat the the home.
Somebody was thinking about doing harm to the man inside.
'This will be my second encounter with the people of this world.' Raul took out something from his bags, hiding it in his palm.
He had a feeling that this encounter wouldn't be as pleasant as the one that he had just come from.
The trees rustled and swathe of flames exploded towards the hut.
“Old man Gaisen your death is inevitable!” A voice echoed out from behind the flames.
As they flew towards the hut the flames gathered into three separate pillars and moved as though they had a mind of their own. They split off to hit the hut from three different directions and Raul whistled as he looked at them.
The flame pillars suddenly jolted in mid air right before hitting the hut and shivered, immediately dispersing as though they were being carried away by a gust of wind. They had hit the border of protection provided by the magic circle.
'Surprisingly weak.' Raul thought simply.
The flame pillars had clearly been sent with the intent to kill but they had barely tickled the most basic of circle protection spells.
Raul looked towards the source of these flame pillars and saw three surprised looking individuals dressed in lavishly decorated red and gold robes that depicted dragons swirling around their bodies. Each one was old with greying long hair and they seemed to have bags under their eyes.
Raul studied them curiously, 'So these are the enemies of the man. Did they call him Gaisen?'
Fights were uncommon in his world. There was a very specific line between good and evil when magic was involved. Those that used magic for evil often found themselves hit with punishment due to the evil karma their actions had generated and the good people simply benefited due to their good karma. As such, fights had mostly been eliminated and the world had settled into a peaceful equilibrium. If people fought it was only in order to test magic and it's application through new spells. Scheduled fights that had no killing intent behind them were more commonplace because using spells in real scenario's was a necessary skill and also helped people in their studies and understanding of magic.
The three old men walked cautiously towards the hut.
One of them glanced in surprise as he noticed Raul sitting there, still as a statue.
“Who are you?” The man asked him sharply.
Raul smiled, “I'm a traveller.”
The old man spat and his companions looked disgruntled.
The old man that had spoken to Raul looked him over and noted his younger looks, “Traveller my ass. You're probably one of those people that heard the rumours of Gaisen's power and wants to be his disciple. It's too bad that you chose to defend him as well.”
Raul tilted his head, “Oh. Why is that?”
The old man snorted and held a badge out for Raul to look at. It was coloured the same as the man's robes and had a dragon insignia on it, “We are elders of the Ancient Dragon Sect. We have come today to kill Gaisen. If you stand aside now we will reward you grandly. A young cultivator like you has yet to see the true limits of the world if you wish to follow someone like Gaisen. We offer you true power.”
Raul gave the men an amused grin, “It's true that I don't understand the limits of this world. That is something I am extremely curious about this limit actually. But I know that you can't provide me with true power. If you have the gall to speak to me about providing power and insult this man inside when you send three people to kill him then perhaps it is you that needs to be instructed in what true power is.
The old men flushed red at Raul's words and they released their auras, each one slightly weaker than Gaisen's had been.
Each one had the feeling of someone who had killed before and done great evil.
'Truly there is no karma in this world. For if there was then these men would have died long ago as punishment for their actions.' Raul internally shook his head.
“If you refuse to stand aside, then you will die alongside the old fool you protect.” The old man sneered.
Immediately the three spontaneously combusted into flames. Each flame was more intense than the combined pillars from before and the old men seemed to be supplying them from within themselves.
'How can they cast spells so quickly.' Raul gazed at the flames in surprise.
They had appeared in an instant.
This was something Raul had never encountered before.
The old men suddenly disappeared and Raul flinched.
He heard a loud crunching sound and they instantly reappeared with their faces smashing into the shield the circle of protection had summoned up. Because the shield was invisible they looked like they had flat faces and noses. Raul looked at them and burst into laughter.
He had never seen such a sight before.
While it was true that the circle of protection was invisible, that was only in the physical sense.
Any magic user could easily sense that there was a magical circle nearby because they were used to feeling the magic in the air around them.
But these men hadn't even sensed the magical circle and so had smashed directly into it.
All three of them had their noses broken and one had directly fallen unconscious. Raul had envisioned the circle with the notion of protection and not killing. So the shield would never kill the people that touched it. Even if these men had thrown themselves at lethal speeds into the wall it would compensate and at most make them fall unconscious.
Raul suddenly cut off his laughter and grimaced, 'But still...'
He hadn't seen the people move at all. Not only did they surprise him with their spontaneous spell casting but they had also moved with such speed that the shield had directly knocked one of them unconscious from the impact.
That meant that at least one of the men was moving fast enough to kill himself against what was essentially air.
If the circle wasn't there then he would have died instantly.
'What an interesting match up it would make... This world's inhabitants against mine.' Raul watched the conscious men cautiously backing away from the invisible shield.
The unconscious person was the one that had previously talked to Raul.
The remaining two men were still wreathed in flames but they no longer attempted to go near the hut physically.
One of the men pointed his hand at Raul, “I am unsure if this is a particular magical art, or perhaps a magic treasure. We will not be taken by surprise a second time. You have not killed our ally so I can assume that you do not wish to offend us. I will emphasise this now, you cannot come out of this unscathed. You have already offended us simply by obstructing our way.”
'Magic, He said magic.' Raul contemplated in his mind.
Outwardly, Raul chuckled, “It is not up to me whether or not you are caught by surprise or not.”
The men hesitated at his words and they grew looks of horror. Raul looked at their feet and was satisfied to see the roots of the Ti Plants had wrapped around the men's legs while they were distracted talking to him. The men struggled for a second longer before the plants completely consumed them from head to toe. The plants wouldn't kill them but they would suck the oxygen out of the space inside, causing the people inside to pass out. A few more seconds later the plants retracted from the men's faces but continued to constrain their bodies, including the body of the man that had fallen unconscious in the first attack.
'What arrogant people. Turning their concentration away from potential threats while boasting about how powerful they are.' Raul mused.
If this had been a fight where he was unprepared it would have been his loss without a doubt. He didn't know enough about the fighting methods of the people of this world. Their spell casting speed and their movement speed surprised him. Clearly they were also physically strong because these speeds would be unattainable otherwise. At the same time they could have simply cast another instant spell.
There were too many unknowns.
He had won because they were similarly disadvantaged against him due to their lack of knowledge. Clearly spells such as the protection circle didn't exist in this world or else they would have sensed it and prepared for it. They were clearly used to fighting close up and physically or else they wouldn't have jumped towards him. However, the flame pillars in their initial attack clearly indicated that they had long ranged attacks.
'Why did they switched tactics mid fight?' Raul stared at the unconscious men.
The door guardians hadn't been ripped apart by their struggles. So that meant that they weren't so physically strong that they could pose a threat to the plants. Nor had their fire harmed the shield or guardians.
Their attacks were instantaneous, but their overall power was far, far weaker.
Raul sighed.
Maybe using the Ti Plants was too much preparation. It would have been much easier and less resource consuming to put in place guardian Fu Dogs or Gargoyles. This was something he was going to remember for later when he made his own base of operations in this world.
But at least the Ti Plants weren't the strongest of his guardians.
Raul spent the next few hours guarding the hut but nobody else attacked. The old men had gained consciousness several times but were instantly knocked out by the Ti Plants. The Ti Plants made sure there were no long lasting effects by supplying them with healing magic. It was an unspoken law in Raul's world that mental effects and well as physical injuries be prevented, kept to a minimum or even healed after inflicted. This was because magic itself would be affected by the mental state and physical state of the user and a maimed user was more likely to corrupt magic.
Clearly these old men would have no such qualms.
Just as the sun was straight over the middle of the sky Raul could feel the aura of Gaisen turn stable and retract. He was able to see that the aura was much more solid, as well as more powerful, than when he had met him.
Raul was curious about this.
In his point of view an aura is simply another aspect of magic, used for attacking at times but mostly just there to gauge how proficient a magician is in magic.
But clearly Gaisen's aura had increased separately from magic and all other aspects of his being had stayed the same.
This meant that the way he was using his aura was far different to the way Raul used his own.
Perhaps he had even thought that when Raul had used the domination class spell earlier that the aura he had released was an indication of his power.
But in reality the aura's were one of the most useless aspects of attacking magic, used only to intimidate or for controlling others. A magician's true fighting power lay solely in their casting of hexes. To seal or bypass an aura was a simple task for Raul. On top of that there were also death class spells and dream class spells. When putting these all together the use of aura's was nearly non-existent.
'Hmm.' Raul waited patiently for the man to exit the hut.
The fire pillars weren't auras, which meant that the auras weren't the only things used to attack in this world.
But the old men had clearly released their aura's with the intention of using them to attack.
With the exception of love and money spells there are no classes of spells than can be directly summed up as wicked. Magic power is most often used benevolently, drawing and aiding health, wealth, stability, love and fertility. But magic power can also be used aggressively.
This use of magic takes the form of hexes.
Using magic as a punishing conduit of frustration, anger and resentment towards others and the world itself. It is these spells that are the source of fear within the world, they are the reason some beings grow up terrified of magic.
These spells are not those used in a social setting, and they are not even the types of spells you would use against your enemies.
This was because of the cardinal rule; as you reap, so you shall sow.
If a hex is used then in turn the user will be punished for it by the world.
This is the nature of karma.
However magic in it's essence is a neutral power, neither good nor evil.
But spells are not neutral, and their use generates evil karma and good karma.
It was a young genius magician that discovered the reason for this change in magic and spells after he chose to delve into the magic of hexes that the world shunned. He discovered that even though magic is in it's essence a neutral force, malevolence or benevolence depends entirely upon what is intended and what is done with the magic.
Nobody can truly fool magic, and so if they have even the slightly malicious intentions the spells they cast to manipulate magic will sow evil karma that will eventually cause them to be punished. So when hexes are cast they mostly generate evil karma not because the spells are evil, but because the people using them have evil intentions. Which meant that hexes could be used as long as the person did not have evil intentions.
This was a huge find.
Magic itself was always known as an entity that had it's own will. There were people who argued later against this young genius's findings because they had used hexes for good reasons and yet had been punished. The young genius could only state that maybe the people had good intentions and believed their actions to be right, but the world did not agree with them.
So people continued to fear hexes and their usage as they could not determine whether what they were doing was what the world truly thought was right.
Of course using hexes came with it's own risks apart from sowing karma.
If any of the materials used in the hex touched the caster then the magician would have to immediately cancel the spell and cleanse themselves. And if they tried to use the spell within twenty four hours of that incident they risked it backfiring on themselves.
It's main strengthening colour was dark green, which was the colour of Raul's right hand's pointing finger.
Raul was broken out of his contemplation by the sound of the hut door opening.
He turned around and saw Gaisen looking at the tied up men in surprise.
Raul grinned, “I gained a lot from this trip. Do you want to talk some more?”
Gaisen smudged his fingers against his cheeks as though to double check that he wasn't dreaming.
“O-of course, ancient one. I would be happy to converse with you. B-but I feel guilty, it is as though I am gaining benefits and protection from you without being able to give you a single useful thing in return.”
Raul let out a dark grin as he thought to their conversation and the fight that had just occurred.
“Oh you don't have to worry about that. I assure you, I am benefiting a lot more than you can imagine from this visit. Come. Let us talk.”