Chapter 142 New Spells
Life isn’t fair, it is full of hardship, but it is life, and it’s limited.
Life is too short to waste on things you can’t acquire.
Life is too short to waste on what others think.
Life is too short to waste on hate.
Focus on what makes you happy, and cherish it.
Lokamesh, Father of Mortal Kind.
Since Jerro had told me to distract my mind by learning new spells for an upcoming war, it's time to do so.
Sitting crossed legged on my bed with my spellbook against my shins, I stare at the empty page of my grimoire. I'm afraid to use these pages. I don't want to run out of this amazing resource the hag provided me with.
That being said. I don't have much of a choice. I do need a new set of tools. And I can use water spells now that I have some sowbread flowers so it's time to learn some.
I place my palm on the page. Please don't be soul magic! I want a spell that allows me to view, hear, and spy on another person from afar that isn't soul or death magic.
Goriaf’s Eye
Names: Goriaf’s Eye. Spying Eye.
Element: Divination
Sub element: Farsight
Level: 1
Language: Felul
Words: lul anftyxara ifanitoi, lulseni hii ___ tafila!
Translation: You useless farseer, show me name now!
Quicken: X
Patterns: 27
Gestures: Offering. > Caster touch their bare left eyeball with the right thumb. > touch the reflective surface with a little eye fluid from the caster.
Offering: Human’s eyeball/magical monster’s eyeball/Fae’s eyeball.
Requirement: A reflective surface. A true name of the target.
Range: Unlimited within the same realm.
Target: A named creature or object of choice.
Duration: 10 minutes.
Effect: The spell conveys view and sound of the desired target.
Cost: 140 wind gems. 25 light gems. 5 fire gems.
Bound cost: 100 wind gems. 15 light gems. 5 fire gems.
Altered cost: 10 wind gems 5 light gems per pattern.
Note: True Name Spell.
Ok... This is above my ability to cast at the moment. Both in terms of mana, and in terms of patterns. But once I'm capable of that many patterns I can finally check how my brother is doing! I can finally look for my sister! The range is unlimited!!! And what's with all the eyes for materials?
A warning from the Maven of Mysteries.
Goriaf the Mad's Eye is a reflective spell of the High Divination Element.
Should you cast a spell of the Divination element you shall be unable to cast Piercing spells of the High Illusion Element.
The elementals of Divination and Illusion are at war, they reject casters who deal with the other side.
While elemental-less cantrips of these elements can still be cast without angering the other side, should you summon an elemental for your spell, you shall be rejected by all elementals of the opposing element.
Illusion Magic has an association to the Earth Element, and Earth Affinity may influence it.
Divination Magic has an association to the Wind Element, and Wind Affinity may influence it.
I shall recommend that you chose the Divination Element due to your poor Earth affinity.
The choice between Divination and Illusion is yours make.
A note from the Maven of Mysteries.
Goriaf the Mad's Eye is your first True Name Spell, Marisha.
Aside from requiring the true name of your target,
True Name Spells are more dangerous for the caster and the target.
Failing to cast a True Name Spell will result in a Backlash for the caster.
Such Backlash can mitigated by mana abundancy.
You shall need twice the amount of mana as the spell's original cost in the form of enchantment storage, magical gems, or potions.
Failure to have the amount of required mana will result in mana dehydration and all it entails. (Headache. Bleeding. Loss of consciousness. Blindness. Death.)
Thread carefully when casting True Name Spells.
But do not shy from learning them, my daughter, they are an incredible tool.
Incredible tool, yeah... One that allows you to control people.
I'm not learning this any time soon, not before I have enough mana... What a waste of a page...
No. It's not a waste, I'll learn this eventually to find my sister...
I sigh. I wonder what's the high illusion element is about, what am I giving up to learn this? And what's difference between illusion spells and light magic. Light magic does let me turn invisible after all, so how does the illusion element even work, and why is it connected to earth and not to light?
I can assume that light magic works on sight, and illusion might work on all five senses? If there's a spell that fools all five senses at once it'd be rather scary... Divination also seems to work on more than one sense... Speaking of, I bet there's a light spell that let's me view far objects directly, I doubt it needs to be a divination related. What's the use for divination and illusion then?
Regardless. This is beyond me at the moment, and I'm not going to waste another page for the sake of a maybe. I should also study the water spells I've already looked up, it'd be a waste not to.
I wonder if there's a spell that allows me to cast a Kinetic Burst from afar like the one that killed Agilla... That'd be handy. No! No more attack spells. I've wasted enough pages on those.
But Jerro said to prepare for a war. I do need attack spells.
Later. For now I need more utility.
I also need magic that allows me to see in the dark, that would've come in handy against the Blood Fae and back at the inn with the robbers and the assassins.
I touch the next page. I need magic that allows me to spot people in darkness.
Effrat’s Ember Vision.
Names: Effrat's Ember Vision. Ember Vision. Heat Vision.
Element: Fire
Sub element: Ember
Level: 0
Words: Fero Teste
Translation: Ember Vision
Quicken: X
Patterns: 3
Gestures: Form a round circle with index and thumb and held against the eye of the target.
Offering: X
Requirement: X
Range: Touch.
Target: A creature capable of sight
Duration: Channel spell.
Effect: Creates an ember between the caster's thumb and index, viewing the world through the ember will show every heat source above 20 degrees c as glowing red or yellow. Heat sources below 20 degrees will show blue. The ember will blind the caster to objects below 0 degrees c.
Cost: 4 fire gems 1 light gem for initial cast. 1 fire gem and 1 light gem per 5 seconds channeling.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: extra 1 light and 1 fire gems per five seconds for each pattern.
This isn't bad... Oh.. I thought people in darkness... I should've asked for threats in darkness... Or maybe general spell that warns me of potential threats? How would that even work? Would that be divination again? Is it worth a page?
A spell that warns me of threats before they happen? Yes. It's worth a page. I wouldn't have been hit by arrows during the war with Janara if I had an early warning. I'd be like that Shaf of Tiyadi who could predict attacks. It's worth a damn page!
But how would it work? Drain mana constantly at all times? Maybe it something that'd work for mages with a higher mana regeneration than what I have, but even if it would be like that, it's worth for me to learn. I have a high crown affinity, and my mana regeneration is supposedly my stronger side. For now I'd be able to use such a spell right before a battle, and in the future I'd be able to use it at all times, assuming my mana regeneration will increase...
I touch the next page. I want a spell that predicts and warns me of direct threats to my life similar to how clerics of Tiyadi fight.
Goriaf’s Premonition.
Names: Goriaf’s Premonition.
Element: Divination.
Sub element: Future Sight.
Level: 1
Language: Felul
Words: lul anftyxara ifanitoi, fiki hii, gulsan.
Translation: You useless farseer, warn danger me, fool.
Quicken: X
Patterns: 28
Gestures: Holds the offering high. > chant. > holds the offering in the mouth between the caster’s lips.
Offering: Human’s eyeball/magical monster’s eyeball/Fae’s eyeball.
Requirement: X
Range: Self
Target: Self
Duration: 5 minutes.
Effect: The spell will bring threats to the caster’s awareness 5 seconds before they reach the caster. The awareness will be internal to the caster, and will not visually show in the caster’s sight. The spell will automatically adjust the caster's instincts causing the caster to avoid dangers in ways that are within the caster's abilities.
Cost: 180 wind gems.
Bound cost: 110 wind gems.
Altered cost: 15 wind gems per pattern.
Yeah... Divination again. Why am I not surprised. And 28 patterns is a lot... And how am I supposed to have 180 wind gems... At least it lasts for five minutes. I'll get there eventually. For now I should specify spells that I can cast...
Ok. Due to my flying, it'd be great if I could actually spot things from afar with my magic. I need a simpler view spell, one that just allows me to see things from a distance.
I touch another page.
I need a spell that allows me to view things from a distance, a spell that I can cast, preferably a cantrip.
Lako's Enhance Vision
Names: Lako’s Enhance Vision. Enhance Vision. Eagle’s Eye.
Element: Light
Sub element: Light
Level: 0
Words: kari revisor atarisor
Translation: Far light view
Quicken: X
Patterns: 4
Gestures: X
Offering: X
Requirement: caster having an eyesight
Range: self
Target: self
Duration: 1 minute
Effect: Enhance the caster’s vision by x10 for distance. Does not allow view of very small objects.
Cost: 8 light gems.
Bound cost: X
Altered cost: 1 light gem per alteration pattern.
Good. That's what I needed.
Now. Back to actual offensive magic. I need a spell that kills a large group of people. Preferably a gravity spell... I have the push spell and the boiling wave I intend to learn soon, but I need to get close for both of them to work. I want a spell that allows me to eliminate a charging army at range. Jerro mentioned battles ahead, so it'll be useful for sure.
I need a gravity spell that lets me eliminate a large group of people at a distance. I need a larger kinetic burst, and I need this kinetic burst to hit multiple targets at a distance.
Nothing appears on the empty parchment page.
I need a distant kinetic burst!
My uncontrolled thought slips in, and the page is written with a new spell on it.
Lumina Kinetic Blast Bolt.
Names: Lumina’s Kinetic Blast Bolt. Blast Bolt.
Element: Gravity
Sub element: Repulsion
Level: 1
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah! Dadet lahi ba di se nikit fel ritsa
Translation: Gravity, I command you! Compress yourself in this one focal point and repulse away
Quicken: Myrsha, dadet se nikit, ritsa!
Patterns: 18
Gestures: open left palm pointing up holding offering> right middle attached to the left middle, right index attached to the left thumb, right thumb touching the base of the left palm near the wrist. > right thumb, index, middle touching each other. > point at the target with right thumb.
Offering: 15 rose petals/lion’s claw/queen bee/eagle's beak/killer whale's tooth/bull's horn
Requirement: X
Range: 50 meters.
Target: aimed bolt. 100 km/h velocity.
Duration: instant.
Effect: The spell will create a black translucent bolt that launches at the target. Once a bolt hit a target, it’ll create a kinetic explosion blasting everything in a radius of 1 meter around it. And will repulse away anything within 5 meters of the blast.
Cost: 80 gravity gems
Bound cost: 50 gravity gems
Altered cost: 10 per pattern.
Really?! An aimed bolt?! A radius of 1 meter. That's not enough! I wanted a spell that allows me to attack a large area, not another snaking bolt spell. Five meters repulsion doesn't help me! I want a square five meters killing spell! This thing wastes way too much energy to achieve a single kill in a distance, and it can miss too. It's a useless dumb spell that takes too much power! Why can't I focus?! I wasted a snaking page now!
Regardless, it can't hurt to learn it... I do have an odd affinity with Lumina's spells. And there are a lot of patterns here I can use to craft my own blast spells, between this and Kinetic Burst, I now know which patterns are the one that are causing the blast I want. I wonder what happen if I combine the blast patterns with the patterns for a bolt, it's only 10 patterns to make a spell like that.
What about a chant? Should I use the same one as Blast Bolt? How do chants even work? I never looked into that. I only crafted cantrips until now, but a 10 pattern spell should be a first level spell and it'll need a chant for sure.
Enough! I'll leave that sort of research for later. I want a proper gravity spell that allows me to directly kill an area full of people from afar!
Alino’s Crushing Weight
Names: Alino’s Crushing Weight. Crushing Weight. Heavy zone.
Element: Gravity.
Sub element: Weight.
Level: 1
Words: Myrsha, nia tsaf lah, myrsha se hod fel dian tamitsilah.
Translation: Gravity, I command you, rule that earth and strengthen your essence.
Quicken: Myrsha. Dian tamitsilah. (Gravity, strengthen your essence.)
Patterns: 20
Gestures: Offering> Thumbs attached > Thumbs raised to eye level to mark the chosen ground.
Offering: 15 rose petals/a lion’s claw/a queen bee/a queen ant.
Requirement: 5x5 meters patch of visible ground.
Range: 20 meters.
Target: Area of Effect: 5x5x5 meters.
Duration: 5 seconds.
Effect: Multiplies gravity by 5 in the chosen area, crushing any creature present to possible death or injury.
Cost: 80 gravity gems. 10 earth gems.
Bound cost: 55 gravity gems.
Altered cost: 10 per pattern.
Finally! This cost around the same as that rotten Blast Bolt, but it's so much better! Five by five meters for a marching army... I can get rid of a small group of soldiers like that. Even if they won't die from such a crush, they'll break a bunch of bones which is as good as dead for a soldier in battle.
Ok. I've wasted enough pages. I should also learn all the spells I already have in my book and haven't learned yet.
I flip to the right pages.
Lako’s light clones.
Names: Clones, Light Clones, Mirror Image.
Element: light
Sub element: light
Level: 1
Words: Revatol revisoroar, revatol revisarisoroar, volni to atarisor ni orafoarni! Revatol revisoroar, Atudanar revisor at revangni!
Translation: Spirits of light, spirits of truth, split and multiply to show each of your sides! Spirits of light, become light and colors!
Quicken: Revisor, volni to atarisor! Soriler! < Light, split and multiply! Distort!>
Patterns: 16
Gestures: attach: thumbs, index, ring, fingers to one another.> Put index and ring fingers of both hands on the caster’s chest.
Offering: 10 lavender petals.
Requirement: X
Range: 100 meter.
Target: self.
Duration: 5 minutes.
Effect: Produce a clone of the caster (numbers can increased with alteration patterns). The clone/s will carry the caster’s mental orders. The clone/s are made of light, and cannot effect anything physical. The clones cannot go out of the caster’s range. The clones are the exact visual copy of the caster, they’ll cast shadows, and the caster can speak through the clone/s.
Cost: 50 light gems, 5 wind gems.
Bound cost: 30 light gems, 5 wind gems.
Altered cost: 5 light gem, 1 wind gem.
Tolste’s Icy Escape
Names: Tolste’s Icy Escape. Icy Escape, Mocking Ice.
Element: water
Sub element: ice
Level: 1
Words: Numakee numali nim, oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu! rum ni rumnum! Riss ni rissgimo
Translation: Dear lovely water, here is a flect humble flower! Split me a clone! flow me away
Swift: Rinim rumnum (ice clone)
Patterns: 18
Gestures: right or left – middle finger touches thumb in a fist > middle finger perked out. (can be used in as a flipping gesture but doesn’t have to be.)
Offering: 15 belladonna petals/sharp fish tooth/5 fish scales
Requirement: a prepared pillar of ice capable of containing the caster within range.
Range: 1 kilometer.
Target: self.
Duration: 1day/instant.*
Effect: the spell will teleport the caster to a prepared chunk of ice. The spell has to be prepared beforehand and the ice needs to be big enough to contain the caster.
Once activated through its swift chant, it’ll leave behind an exact ice copy of the caster.
This faulty spell will not teleport any items the caster wears or any objects they might carry. It’ll Teleport the caster naked into a chunk of ice.
This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.
Cost: 70 water gems, 5 gravity gems.
Bound cost: 40 water gems, 5 gravity gems.
Altered cost: 10 water gems, 1 gravity gems. Per alteration pattern.
Mayan’s Boiling Wave.
Names: Mayan’s Boiling Wave. Boiling Wave. Mayan’s Frenzy.
Element: Water
Sub element: Water
Level: 1
Words: nim, oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu, aloki niam fainega nimuwal nimgafir, uwallota ri, asano walgafir gafir nia rissalwue.
Translation: water, here-a flect bending humble flower, cover them with red hot sea wave, stretch up a line, may the sun cast fire on your agile skin.
Quicken: Nimgauwal nimgafir
Patterns: 15
Gestures: Attach middle fingers > point middle fingers forward.
Offering: 5 belladonna petals.
Requirement: temperature above 1c and below 150c.
Range: 25 meters.
Target: advancing wave from the caster. 10 meters wide, 5 meters tall.
Duration: instant
Effect: 25,000 liters of boiling water (90c) form a wave from the caster’s hands. The wave will sweep creatures and objects in its wake. The wave will advance swiftly at first but will lose speed and water over time. The wave will be depleted of water after 25 meters.
Cost: 60 water gems, 5 fire gems.
Bound cost: 40 water gems, 1 fire gem.
Altered cost: 4 water gems and 1 fire gem per pattern.
I turn, going back and forth in my room holding the thick grimoire.
I'm going to have a long few days until this works. I hate meditating to recover mana, but each of these have a high cost. Let's start with the cantrips and go from there.
No! Let's start with the Blast Bolt! Myrsha ritsa!
The mahogany desk in my private chambers explodes violently, showering the blue carpets with wooden splinters.
What the snake is wrong with me?! And how did I just do that without any patterns and barely any mana?! Can I repeat that? Myrsha ritsa!
Nothing happens this time. I sigh. For an hour I attempt to replicate the effect, but there are no results. Annoyed, I turn to the various spells I've got in my grimoire, leaving the Blast Bolt to the very end.
*
I move to my window, practicing the cantrips first. "Fero teste."
Putting the glow in front of my eye, the glow disappears entirely. Instead, I can spot a lot of red-orange people below in the city. They glow to my eye in a world of dark blue. I even spot smaller creatures such as cats and crows.
Definitely useful. I just wish it didn't take the use of one hand. The glow might also give away my location in the darkness, at least until I put it before my eye. Can I cast it with the gesture in front of my eye directly?
"Fero teste."
Good. I wonder if the mastery of this will allow me to cast it without my hand...
Ok. Next! "Kari revisor atarisor."
The downside of this cantrip is how much it narrows my vision. The wide view I'm used to is gone, and I'm blind to anything my eyes won't focus on. Nevertheless, it'll be useful for spotting things from high above, and I can always cancel the cantrip.
Time for the spells... Light Clone first, the ability to create fake duplicates can really come in handy...
Looking at the grimoire, I attempt to form the 16 complex energy patterns. To my dismay I get stuck at around 12. I noticed back with the invisibility spell that 13 was pushing it, but here I'm stuck at 12. I've handled 20 patterns already, why am I stuck?!
I attempt to add gravity patterns to the mix, and don't encounter any difficulty. My patterns mix and mesh into a weird form of light and gravity. The mana formation explodes. A ball of glowing darkness forms in the middle of my room and winks out of existence. What the snake was that?!
20 patterns of an unknown meaning should have some effect... That was about fifty light gems and thirty gravity gems...
I'm lucky I'm unharmed... I should really find a better place than my room to experiment. The gardens probably. I'll test the Crushing Weight spell in the garden later, I want to see what it does to the practice dummies. I'll also save the Boiling Wave for a garden test, I'm not going to flood my room.
Why can't I go above 12 or 13 light patterns but going over 20 gravity patterns is fine? Or adding 8 gravity patterns to 12 existing light patterns is of no issue?
Maybe it has to do with my affinity? My light affinity is rather low, maybe it's limiting me? Let's try fire patterns. Waste a page on a fire spell? No. I'll just use existing fire patterns I know.
I focus, creating and mixing fire patterns together. The highest I reach is 8. I have no problem repeating the same patterns or duplicating spells up to 20. That's easy. But 8 different ones is near impossible.
I switch to air patterns, and the limit is around 16.
I switch to earth, and the limit is 8 again.
Water is like gravity, 21 is my current limit.
Ok. Yes. This is clearly affinity related. Something else is effecting it too, but affinity is surely a factor here.
I guess I'll need to increase my ability to focus on light patterns for that Light Clone spell... It's annoying.
I'll practice the Icy Escape now.
I ring my bronze bell with a Minor Telekinesis, and a young maid enters my room. "Could you please get me a bathtub? An empty one please." I ask her.
"Right away, Your Grace," she says with a bow.
It takes three minutes of waiting. I use the time to weave the 18 water patterns together in my head and learn how to hold them together.
The maid gets there with the tub and places it in the corner of my room where there are no carpets.
"Nimuwal."
I ignore her. "Nim."
I eye the frozen pillar warily. "This might be dangerous. You may wish to step out of the room," I warn the young woman.
"Can I stay?" she begs in a desperate voice.
I raise an eyebrow. "Why?"
"I... It's magic. I get to see magic!"
Right... The people here worship magic like a bunch of snowy pea brains... I imagine it'll be rather cold being teleported into a pillar of ice, I could use a maid here for that... "Alright. Bring me some hot water then." I order and wait for her to do so. Once she enters the room with buckets of hot water, I cast the spell. "Numakee numali nim, oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu! rum ni rumnum! Riss ni rissgimo."
Nothing happens. I just lose my mana.
Out of mana I sit down and meditate. After fifteen minutes of recovery, I'm surprised to see the maid is still there, eyeing me with wonder.
I shrug and attempt again.
"Numakee numali nim, oue-rissu nirissu asuli fenu! rum ni rumnum! Riss ni rissgimo."
The world turns white. Then blue.
*Crack*
I step out into the bathtub, bone chilling cold coursing through every part of my body. The pillar of ice collapsing into shards and frozen water behind me. I hug myself with an intense shudder. "What are you waiting for?" I ask the maid with the bucket of hot water.
"R-right!" she spills the now lukewarm water over my head and I heave a sigh of relief.
A small winged creature flies very close to my face.
It's a blue woman at the size of my pinky. Her skin is made out of flowing water, her hair an icy braid, and her figure is overly voluptuous. As if someone took Balusha and shrunk her into the size of a tiny pixie. She's not wearing anything, but the moving watery nature of her skin makes it impossible to notice any features on her body or her face.
She lands gently on my nose, icy cold legs prickling my skin, and six dragonfly wings fold neatly on her back.
The elemental turns around and sits on my nose, dangling her legs around my nostrils.
She sings. Her voice is a beautiful and pleasant soprano.
"Nim nim nimtulla
tulla riss nim nim
Walgafir ga fir walgafir
uriss nim riss shanim fir
numakee nimasul
asuli rissu nirisul
Aloki nim rissunim
nimakee nia uwalasano."
Water water ___
___ flow water water
sun hot power sun
change water flow vapor power
____ ___
___ ___ ___
____ water ___
____ __ _____
I try to eye the creature that's sitting on my nose, but she's too close and her blue back seem like a blue stain on my vision. Why is she singing about the sun? Doesn't she want more flowers? Water elementals are weird... But I like it. It's refreshing after the greedy arrogant gravity elementals, or the stiff light elementals.
I examine the sculpture of ice I left behind on the carpets. It's a petite replica of me, down to my face. The middle finger of the last gesture of the spell stays up with the statue, mocking a supposed enemy who would've tried to kill me. It also wears my clothes, including my enchanted belt and my mana storing necklace. It's really a last ditch escape spell... I hope there's something more reliable in the first level... I should waste a page on a proper escape spell... I wonder if there's a gravity escape spell, or a gravity teleportation spell...
I sigh and turn to the remnant of the icy pillar. "Rinim riss nim."
Either way. I'm not going to bind this faulty spell. It's a shame, I really like the singing elemental. I wish I understood Nim
I sit there. Listening to the beautiful haunting voice of the elemental's song. The young maid is still there, eyeing me and the creature with awe. I don't mind her, if anything, I enjoy the flattering attention. My bloodline have a mild reaction to it. If it were twenty maids it'd probably react more, but I don't want that right now. I need to study, not indulge myself.
At some point the elemental gets bored and disappears with a puff of blue smoke in my face.
I get out of the tub and wrap myself in a towel. I make sure my hand is dry before I put a hand on the grimoire's page. Wait... The grimoire is indestructible, I don't have to dry my hand. I shouldn't develop bad habits with books. I want a gravity based teleportation escape spell like Icy Escape! One that can save my life in a pinch!
Lumina’s Spatial Step.
Names: Lumina’s Spatial Step, Spatial Step, Space Fold, Short Range Teleport.
Element: Space
Sub element: Spatial Bend.
Level: 0
Language: Myrsha
Words: lafaf viarai, h’afit ni
Translation: space my dear, fold for me
Quicken: H’afit
Patterns: 7 (6 gravity, 1 elemental.)
Gestures: A step.
Offering: Not needed. Black roses or Earth affinity magical beast's pelt in order to bind an elemental.
Requirement: Clear visual of the destination.
Range: 5 meters
Target: an empty destination within range.
Duration: 3 seconds.
Effect: Connects the space between the caster and the target, allowing the caster to cross five meters in a single step. It might distort onlookers' vision and minds. It doesn’t look flashy, no magical portals or extra effects, and onlookers will see it as if the caster actually took a single step forward, one that stretches for five meters or less.
The extra elemental cost depends on the destination. If the caster steps into the air, it’ll cost extra wind mana. If the caster steps to another path of ground, the extra cost will be earth mana. The same applies to other elements.
Teleporting into solid objects is only possible with true mastery of this spell. Teleporting into liquid is possible, and will leave behind a splash of the said liquid. Connecting the space without stepping through it is possible as well.
Cost: 40 gravity gems. 10 earth/wind/water/fire/wood gems.
Bound cost: 25 gravity gems. 10 earth/wind/water/fire/wood gems.
Altered cost: 10 gravity gems and 5 earth/wind/water/fire/wood gems per pattern.
Lumina again! Am I happy to see her magic. This is better than what I thought, a cantrip! A 50 gems cantrip... But it can be bound and it'll only take 35 gems if I bind it.
A warning from the Maven of Mysteries.
Lumina Spatial Step is a wide cantrip of the advanced Spatial Element.
Advanced element cantrips can be bound like spells.
Should you bind a Spatial cantrip or cast a spell of the Space Element you shall be unable to cast the elongated Chronomancy spells of the Time Element.
The elementals of Time and Space are at war, they reject casters who deal with the other side.
Space Magic has an association to the Gravity Element, and Gravity Affinity may influence it.
Time Magic has an association to the Wood Element, and Wood Affinity may influence it.
I shall recommend that you chose the Space Element due to your poor Wood Affinity.
I shall highly recommend that you chose the Space Element due to a hunch I have about your bloodline.
But.
The choice between Time or Space is yours to make.
As long as you cast the cantrip unbound, you did not choose a side.
If you won't bind an element, you’ll only be capable of casting chronomancy or spatial cantrips at a higher cost, and you won’t be able to cast 1st level spells of the said element.
Her suspicions about my bloodline, huh? This again... This can't be a coincidence. First a Psyche spell, now a Spatial one. So she knows what my bloodline is? Or just strongly suspects? And if she does, why give away that she knows anything, what kind of game is she playing here? What is she trying to achieve by saying that?
Could be simple. Could be that she simply wants to press me hard into picking Spatial Magic, and that can be indeed extremely useful for me. But I would've picked it without the additional warning, simply because my affinity for Wood is really bad.
Maybe this warning would've showed near a Time Spell too, and is meant to turn me away from a very tempting Time Spell that I'd want to learn.
Then again... Comparing affinities would've been more than enough to do that. She's playing another game here.
Well... I won't find out by gawking at the page. Let's learn the snaking thing! I want to bind it, but I have no idea where I could find black roses, I wish Tiom was still here... Earth affinity pelt... I assume it applies to a magical beast with an earth affinity that have a pelt. I have no idea where to find one, but I'll keep an eye out during hunts. At least it doesn't use human eyeballs...
Let's see...
"Lafaf viarai, h’afit ni."
The mana whirls in my forehead and channels out. It feels like I've just cast a 1st level spell, yet nothing happens. Nothing looks different. Oh wait. The gesture is a step? Okaay...
I step forward. And ten additional mana gems of the wind element are drained from the pool in my right shoulder.
I find myself in the air, right above my palace. I have a split second to yelp, before I drop into the stables' half broken rooftop with a scream.
My back hits the straw with a thud that knocks the air out of my lungs. My heart nearly bursts out of my chest. Snakes! This spell is dangerous to practice. I didn't expect to get it after the first attempt!
Loyal nuzzles my face in his horse form. His bloody snot is a mixture of warmth and discomfort for me.
I chuckle "Heyy." I breathe deep and check myself to make sure nothing is broken, but other than a mild backpain I seem to be fine. I got lucky! That was 10 meters high! No, more! 15? If I didn't have this straw under me... No. A pile of straw wouldn't have been enough to get me out unharmed... I either teleported lower, or I used some unconscious gravity magic to protect myself? I would test this if it didn't involve a risk, but I can't afford to risk a broken arm. Wait... didn't I just teleport past the wall of my castle? I didn't look at the window, I looked at the wall. The spell clearly states that I need a clear visual of my destination. How did this happen? I bet I have some really good affinity with spatial magic to bypass the very basic requirement of the spell. It's probably a part of its mastery... I wonder if I can repeat that. Can I teleport back to my room? It's probably too far...
Loyal licks my face enthusiastically and only now I notice that I'm fully naked, my towel beneath me on the straw. I shove his head away. Ew! Yuck! Get away from me! Wait... Why does it even bother me now? It wouldn't have bothered me before. Maybe because he can change into a human form with an actual dangling snake that he flashed to me a month ago?! I've been avoiding him for a reason! Snake this! I'm not letting him lick my face again!
He's Fae. Or close to it. I don't think it's has anything to do with sexual attraction for him. But it's still disgusting... I do need to keep such a loyal pawn, alienating him over a foolish notion of disgust won't help.
Loyal steps back, looking into my eyes. "I hate you!"
He turns and walks away, his tail whips toward my face and I barely dodge it in time. The other horses shy away from the massive creature with the carnivore teeth, but he never harmed them. He picks his section of the stables, and gorge on wide bowl of flesh, bloody pieces flying around with his messy eating.
"I'm sorry..." I get up, wrap my towel properly around me, and stand by his side. He's huge. His back towers over my head. I try not looking at the dangling bits that are very much at an eye level. I pass them and pat his neck. "I'm a little weirded out by your human form if I'm honest, Loyal. Can u not be naked when you transform into a human? It's weird. Yes. I'm naked now, and it might sound hypocritical, but it's an accident. I know you probably don't care, but I do. It's a silly thing to be bothered by, but it bothers me."
"I hate you! Go away!"
"Fine..." I turn to leave, and his bloodied nose nuzzles my cheek from behind. "Heyy. Want me to stay after all?"
"No. Go."
"Very well. I'll go then."
He bites a mouthful of my hair and tugs it gently. Ew! It'll take hours to wash all that blood out!
I turn and hold his head. "I'll come visiting you more often, Loyal. But no turning into a human, and if you do. Please make sure you wear something, ok?"
"No."
"I'll take that as a yes." I pick the brush. "You're a bloody mess. Did no one brush you for a month? You need washing too. You know you can go to the river whenever you like, right? No one will stop you."
"Everyone brush me all the time. I love them. I hate you."
"If you say so..."
*
A few minutes later I leave the stables and approach a group of stable boys who play a game of dice on top of a barrel by the entrance. "Your Majesty!" They all get up with a bow, ignoring my messed up bloodied hair or the fact I'm only wearing a crimson stained white towel.
"Does no one cares for my horse?"
"He-He bites and kicks anyone who dares to get close to him, Y-Your Majesty!" a blue eyed black haired man in his early 20s says. "We have to wait for him to sleep before we can care for the other horses," adds another, dark eyed and haired teen.
"I see. Arrange a separate place for him. Let me or Lord Kolag know when you do and we'll move him there."
"Th-thank you, Your Majesty."
Oh great. Now they're all going to think I have been doing something weird with my horse. This is the second time now. Rumors will spread. I hate this!
*~*~*
Power level: 3rd stage apprentice.
Mana pools status:
Crown-knot: Affinity 10: connected: 1 gem replenished per minute.
Neck-Bridge: Affinity 6: formed: max amount of gems drained per day: 91
Abdomen-storage: Affinity 5: connected: 41 neutral gems. Conversion ratio: elemental : neutral-3:1, neutral : elemental-1:1
Air: Affinity 4: formed: 34 gems
Fire: Affinity 2: formed: 17 gems
Light: Affinity 3: formed: 16/26 gems
Water: Affinity 6: connected: 75 gems
Earth: Affinity 1: formed: 8 gems
Wood: Affinity 2: formed: 17 gems
Gravity: Affinity 9: connected: 102/113 gems
Cantrip known:
Air: Shavi’s Breeze, Shavi’s Sword. Shavi’s Hair Dryer, Aria’s Enhanced Hearing. Aria’s Sonic Scream. Aria's Increased Voice.
Fire: Nuriss’ Flame. Effrat’s Firefly, Effrat’s Fire Breath. Effrat's Ember Vision. Sorladika's Lesser Heating. Nuriss’ Ignite. Oniga's Soap Creation.
Light: Noxi’s Light. Lako’s Enhance Vision. Lako’s Blinding Light. Rika’s energy hand.
Water: Water Evocation, Water to Ice, Ice to Water, Water to Vapor, Vapor to Water, Mayan’s Icy Spike, Ayla’s Water Jet. Ayla’s instant freezem. Ayla's Flowing Shield. Ayla’s Freezing Vapors. Hot Water Conjuration. Boiling Waterjet.
Earth: Alice’s Oil Summoning, Reiko’s Acid Spray. Alf's Copper Bolt
Wood: Arigor’s Lesser Vines. Kolosu’s Vegetable Summoning.
Gravity: Lumina’s Kinetic Burstm. Tukado’s Repulse. Tukado’s Lesser Shield IIm. Imari’s Minor Telekinesism. Imari’s Jump. Leo’s Pullm. Leo’s Grounding. Alino’s Light Body. Alino’s Heavy Body. Alino's Orbiter.
Transmutation: Oniga's Laundry.
Space: Lumina's Spatial Step.
Spells known:
Light: Wassho’s invisibilityb2x2. Rika's Electric Channelb1x3
Water: Mayan’s Boiling Wave. Tolste’s Icy Escape.
Gravity: Alino’s Weightless Bodyb1x2. Tukado's Pushb1x3. Tukado’s defense IIIb1x4m. Imari’s Lesser Flightb2m. Lumina’s Kinetic Blast Bolt. Alino’s Crushing Weight.
Psyche: Lumina's Mind Touchb3
Life: Brigit’s Lesser Cure Poison. Brigit’s Skin Restoration.
(Little letters by spell sides: m=mastered. a=advanced. b=bound spell, number near the b is how many gems of the mana pool binding the said spell takes.)
Focus capability: 21 patterns.
Patterns Foci:
Air: 16
Fire: 8
Light: 12-13
Water: 21
Earth: 8
Wood: 8
Gravity: 22
Social status: The Queen of Red Cedar City. Inara, Daughter of Mysteries. Apprentice to the Maven of Mysteries. Sorceress.
Carried Wealth: 39 Golden Peas, 27 Silver Scales.
Personal Items:
Magical necklace. Contains 100 gems of general mana, can be drained like a mana pool. It’ll recharge by itself at the rate of five gems an hour.
1 potion of lightning body.
1 potion of mana, medium grade.
1 potions of Lesser Healing.
5 potions of Pain Tolerance.
An enchanted belt with eight pouches, the enchantment keeps the pouches’ content fresh. Each pouch may contain 10g of petals or six potion flasks.
40g Rose petals.
4g Lavender petals.
10g Sowbread petals.
10 empty soul bottles. Glass with a diamond stopper, put in scaled leather wrapping.
The Great White Egret grimoire. Dedicated by the Maven of mysteries to Inara. 39/100. Unlocked.
Present Companions:
Kolag of house Befar.
Jerro.
Sharlafyn Nettledew.
Berthold.
Ryon.
Loyal.
Languages:
Toml’a
Sinteo
Myrsha
Felul
Nim
A'arkalu
Injuries and scars:
Curses: unknown extracted parasite, possibly bloodline related. Gone due to an unknown bloodline magic.
-
Kingdom’s treasury: 26,123 Golden Peas. 965 Magic Gems.
Kingdom’s citizen:
Red Cedar City: 3,609 adults. 1,654 children.
Apricot City: 1,877 adults. 504 children.
Total: 7,644 souls.
Kingdom's army: 123 Footmen. 16 Peacekeeper Knights. 500 Blood Spears.
Notables at Court:
Tasiya Keyholder.
Jolla SilverQuill.
Talbot Bookkeeper.
Aisha?