Magic.
Why did it always have to be so…. Stubborn?
“Professor?”
I’d felt so sure of myself, knowing what I needed to do to prevail in my upcoming duel, the final completion of my fifth ring.
“Professor?”
But I was still missing something. I’d been hoping the threat of urgency would inspire some sort of epiphany or that perhaps-
“Professor!”
“What?” I snapped out of my thoughts, eyes drifting over to the tall blonde boy, his brow beaded with sweat.
“Is this good enough?”
Elios was straining, hands pressed on either side of the Standing Stone, arms shaking, but nevertheless, from the Standing Stone, I saw what he’d been unable to produce for some time now finally puffing out.
“Affinity, Force.” I smiled proudly before nodding to the boy. “You did it.”
The boy whooped, dropping his arms at least as he began to jump about, pumping his arms in excitement.
“You know, I’m not surprised it was as difficult as it was for you; given your struggles, having a force affinity would only make things much more difficult.”
The boy paused, looking at me with curious eyes.
“Really?”
“As I said, given your situation, yes. I’m impressed you’ve achieved this so soon after our last lesson.”
“Well, I’ve been working hard.” Elios beamed, raising his hand to indicate at the mana suppressor I’d given him.
I frowned briefly, remembering the lecture I’d received at the hands of Isania.
“Just how much time have you been dedicating to practicing?”
“Uhh….” The boy sheepishly kicked his feet about until finally shrugging. “A few hours.”
“A few hours?”
“A day.” The boy added quietly.
“Ack.” I groaned like I’d been struck. “Please tell me you haven’t been neglecting the rest of your studies.”
“No.” Elios waved his hands in front of himself quickly, attempting to dismiss my admonishment. “I’m still doing well in the rest of my classes.”
“Good, because I don’t want to hear it from the other professors.”
“Not like they’d care anyway.” The boy shrugged. “I’m not important enough for that.”
“Hey, don’t be hard on yourself like that.” I shook my head at the boy. “You’re probably-”
“No.” Elios cut me off. “You probably don’t see it since you don’t get around the academy much -”
Was that a backhanded insult?
“ -but the rest of the professors aren’t exactly… equalists. Some professors aren’t as bad as others, but the more important your family or lineage, the more they care. For me, whose only a ‘technicality’ noble, I may as well be mud on the boots.”
“Mud on the boots?” I raised my eyebrows, having never heard that phrase before.
“It was a saying at the yard. ‘Mud on the boots’ something that’s always there, but something you wish wasn’t.”
“Oh.” I found myself frowning some more. “Well, at the very least, you don’t have to worry about that in my classroom.”
“Yeah, I know.” The boy halfheartedly smiled. “But you’re the only one.”
Not pleased with the negative note of the conversation, I decided to change course, gesturing to the boy.
“Stick your hand out.”
“Why?”
“Just do it. I’m going to show you something.”
The boy did as I told him, sticking his hand out.
“Now, I want you to hold this imagery in your mind. Imagine as you’re drawing mana inward that instead of circulating it through and into your core, you take that same mana and begin to wrap it around your wrist.”
“My… wrist? Why?”
“Just do as I said,” I answered with a snap of my fingers.
I knew what I was about to have to kid try was logically stupid. I was just grasping my fifth ring, yet I was about to lead another down that same path.
But.
But seeing how he seemed insistent on improving, of how he was dealt a bad hand in life, and yet he kept his chin up all the same.
I can understand that.
“This is not public knowledge, nor should it ever become public knowledge.”
The expression on Elios’s face hardened, instantly understanding how serious I was if I, of all people, was saying that.
“The mana core is not the only path of a mage. It is perhaps the most direct, but the issue with a mana core is that it is unequal. Some are simply more talented than others. Take, for example, the crown princess. That level of talent isn’t once in a generation. It is once in generations.”
“Meanwhile, I can barely manage even using a Standing Stone that you modified to be easier to use.”
“Not the point.” I shook my head. “Regardless, magic is just like the color of our hair. It’s tied heavily to genetics, to our innate ability. But, that is only a single path, a single way of the mage.”
“Really?”
“Yes, or else why would I say any of this?” I chuckled. “There exists another way forward. The issue is it has been all but eradicated from the history books. While not forbidden in any written law, this way forward will see one inside the cell of a crown dungeon in short order if found out.”
“Why?”
“Several reasons, I assume.” I sighed. “But, likely the foremost, is that in general, anyone can achieve it, can walk this path. That’s very dangerous.”
“And you’re telling me this -”
“Because I want to give you the shot you deserve,” I said honestly. “I’m not going to pretend I’m some prophet, but I generally have a pretty good read on people. I can empathize with your upbringing and situation. You’ve got a good heart, kid. So, make the best of the chance I plan to give you. Now, are you wrapping the mana around your wrist?”
“I’m trying, but it’s not… not easy. I’m not sure what I’m trying to even do.”
“It will take some time,” I answered the boy without outright answering him. “The idea is that you will form a sort of external mana container, a ring which will become both a conduit and refiner of mana.”
“That sounds complicated.”
“That’s because it is.”
“Question.” Elios raised his hand as if there were anyone else in the room for me to somehow call upon.
“Yes?”
“Does it have to be on the wrist?”
“Well, anywhere on the arm works, as long as you start from either end.”
“Why? Why the arms? Or could it be anywhere?”
“Yes, it has to be the arms,” I answered. “As for why, that’s because different parts of our bodies have a stronger affinity for different aspects of mana. The mana structures we consider earth elemental are most strongly aligned to the arms. Why? Well, the answer to that question I don’t have myself.”
I briefly recalled staring at the first two pages of the Living Tome I’d read under the tutelage of my Void Mane mentor. Even years later, I still hadn’t the slightest clue as to why the different parts of the body reacted the way they did to mana or how the Sages of old had even learned of such, but at the very least, if I didn’t know why, I at least knew of the result of that why.
“Because our arms are more aligned with heavily bonded mana, Rentar, it is easiest to affix magical constructs, of which these rings are, to our arms.”
“I guess I can sort of see why.” The boy nodded.
“Now, as for why we don’t use the rest of our bodies, that would be because….”
My words withered away, as like two snails sat on opposite ends of a road, thoughts of what should have been obvious finally converged.
Oh. That’s it!
I’d been desperately searching, constantly trying to decipher what I was missing, what secret of mana I felt I was missing. Obviously, the answer was within mana itself, perhaps some secret type of mana bond I’d never considered.
Except I’d finally put two and two together. It wasn’t my understanding of mana that I had feelings of inadequate knowledge of.
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It was my own body.
The sixth ring, or the integration ring, is where a sage uses mana to reform their body, becoming faster, stronger, and smarter. While I’m not yet at that stage, nor do I really understand how that is done in the first place, there should have been an obvious question I was asking myself. How? Mana doesn’t just ‘change’ you, or else any ordinary mage would be walking around with a body of a chiseled statue. And that’s the answer I’ve been looking for!
If my theory was correct, then my understanding of the fifth sage ring’s purpose lacked a dimension of depth. It was never just about the ring itself.
I glanced at the nearby clock above the doorway of my classroom, faking a reaction of surprise.
“Oh, would you look at the time?” I announced, perhaps a bit too loudly. “Elios, we will have to conclude today’s supplementary lessons, as I have things that must be taken care of.”
Elios seemed obviously dejected, but the boy nodded after a moment.
“Yes, Professor. Thank you for today’s lesson.”
“It was no problem. Taking what I told you, from now on, while you attempt to refine your core, some of the mana you are drawing into yourself, I want you to also revolve around your wrist. It will make things more difficult, but in time-”
“I’ll do it.” His eyes shone as if the thought of facing the challenge head-on was the noblest thing one could do. “Thank you for confiding in me the secrets you have.”
Bowing low, Elios remained that way for a second longer than was necessary before jogging out of my room, only to stop short of the doorway.
“Is something the matter, Elios?”
“I was just wondering.”
“Wondering what? I will not divulge more arcane secrets today.”
“No, not anything like that.” The boy smiled briefly, shaking his head. “Will we have lessons over break?”
“Break?”
“Yeah, our mid-semester break is coming up in only two weeks.”
“Already?” I was baffled, taken off-guard by the realization that in what felt like only days, already, it had been nearly two months.
“So I was wondering-”
“No,” I answered, cutting him off. “We will not be having lessons over break. It’s your break. Enjoy your ten days off since the second half of the semester will be focused on preparing for exams and more challenging topics.”
“Right.” Elios nodded vigorously. “Well then, I should be off.”
Waving, the boy jogged out of the room in a rush to where exactly was a mystery.
Though I did have my guesses.
Now then.
Reclining, I stared at the ceiling, thinking for several minutes before nodding to myself.
I do believe I have my own ‘training’ to undertake.
--------------------------------------------
Much like many things that exist, Mana prefers to take the path of least resistance.
Something that I was keenly reminded of as I lay in a sweaty sprawl on my floor, my monster kitten pawing curiously at me.
“Mrow?”
“No, I’m not dead; you cannot eat me.” I huffed, watching my cat pad around me slowly.
“Mrow?”
“Yes, I’ll feed you soon. Please do not eat your bowl again.”
“Mrow.”
“It’s not an insult since you’ve eaten several bowls already.”
My cat, looking indignant, began to strut off, tail flicking about as she stopped for a moment next to her empty bowl, leaned over, and took a bite out of the solid steel as if it were a crunchy cracker. Satisfied, as if her goal was to spite me, she turned a corner and disappeared into my room, likely looking to nap on my bed.
Bah, little tyrant.
She was already the size of some full-grown cats at approximately two months old. Her heritage as a monster was beginning to show itself; she was looking to grow even larger than her mother.
Don’t get distracted.
Sitting up straight, I wiped the sweat from my brow before mentally turning my vision inward, grimacing as I did.
This is going to take a bit.
Inside myself, a small change had begun to happen. Like a layer of gilding that could only be sensed by my inward-turned mana sense, my arteries were slowly being changed, mana permeating through them.
But not nearly enough.
Ugh. Screw this body.
After concluding that my body needed a change and not my understanding of mana, it had been a matter of brainstorming what that might be and how it might look. Aware as I was of how the integration ring changed the body at a fundamental level, it was through backward causality one could reference that for that to be possible, one would have to lay the foundations, much like the creation of a sage ring itself.
Except at a much, much, more expansive level. I wasn’t just ‘carving’ a foundational track for a singular band wrapping around my forearm. I was laying that ‘track’ throughout my entire body.
Considering my body had a knack for rejecting mana, it was slow going. With a strange sense of fondness, it reminded me of the first time I’d learned the Ruptured Body technique, propelling mana through my body to act as a catalyst, pushing my bodily functions to their peak performance.
Yet even that couldn’t measure up against my current struggle. I wasn’t just one-off pushing mana through me. I was flooding my system with energy, mana continuously coursing through my veins. It was already tricky, given that prior to my fifth sage ring and receiving the mana matrix, such a task would have been impossible. Simply put, I would have lacked the ability to sustain that amount of mana with my… handicap.
Coupled with the fact that there was no natural ‘path’ for the mana to travel through, the biological pathway my blood flowed through mattered little to mana, a metaphysical force. Every few minutes of work left me gasping for breath on the ground, covered in sweat.
I can’t do this.
Progress was…. Slow, to say the least. After hours of work, I’d only managed to transform my veins halfway up to my elbow into suitable mana conduits, the walls of the veins saturated with sage mana to the point that the mana couldn’t easily escape.
But.
But I couldn’t relent. Perhaps if I had a normal body, I could handle it piecemeal, coming back to it when I pleased and laying more ‘track’ for mana to seamlessly flow through, but with my body, if I spent too much time away from my grueling labor, my veins even as saturated as they were with sage mana, would inevitably expel the mana, forcing me to start from the beginning. I would have to complete the pathway fully so that my body was one single circuit connected to my sage rings. Only then would I succeed; the mana constantly flowing at all times of the day would eventually integrate fully into my body. With constant exposure, there would be no opportunity for the mana to escape the closed circuit that was my circulatory system.
“The first step.” I laughed, my voice shaky from exhaustion. “And that’s only the first step.”
With how my body was, I needed a fully functional system of mana channels through my body if I had any hope of ever achieving the integration ring.
Whenever that is.
Thoughts of the sixth sage ring were perhaps premature, given I hadn’t even fully manifested the fifth ring yet. Something rather crucial in the immediate sense, given my impending duel.
Knowledge is power, but power itself is also power.
The Director had been correct. It was true that I may have a comparatively extensive knowledge of mana and magic. It was also true that all that knowledge meant nothing if I couldn’t keep pace with the magical output of my opponent. I was like a surgical knife; my precision remained second to none, but it wasn’t hard to guess which would prevail if one faced a surgical knife against a claymore.
So I need to bridge that divide.
Even if I gained my fifth sage ring, ounce for ounce, I would still be nowhere close to the raw mana capacity of even the weakest of nizeium level mages or adventurers. That was a fact of life I’d accepted for several years now, that I would never measure up to my peers regarding mana capacity.
But, a Sage wasn’t limited by the mainstream belief of what made magic powerful.
Still, more important than even the boost in mana capacity gained from another ring is that I expand my arsenal of word magic.
As a fourth ring Sage, I had Flow, Null, and Rainsplitter, all of which had proven exceptionally useful. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said for my latest spell within my arsenal of word magic. Upon achieving my fourth ring, thinking I’d come up with a rather clever spell, I’d vested the word magic crawl within my fourth ring. In theory, the spell was meant to slow my perception of time, mentally slowing the pace of a battle so that I might more critically analyze the flow of a fight.
The reality, unfortunately, was that while it did slow my perception of events unfolding, it also restricted my ability to process information to the same degree. It gained me no advantages, all while wasting my precious mana reserves.
And thus, I’d learned the vital lesson of thoroughly thinking through the effects and potentials of a spell that I would vest within a new sage ring, lest I end up with another dud of a spell as I had with crawl.
Which is why I’ve put so much thought into this next one.
I stopped myself before I could get carried away, thinking about what I had planned for my next vested magic. If I let my mind wander too much, it would only hinder my ability to focus on my most pressing task.
I took a moment to suck in another breath, holding it as I caught my breath, steadying myself.
On second thought.
I struggled to my feet as I approached the kitchen, grabbing a slab of ribs from some large animal out of my ice box. Dropping them into the metal bowl, now missing a bite-sized chunk, I clapped my hands together.
“Dinner.”
Instantly my cat darted out from my room, zooming across the floor as she desperately began to tear chunks out of the ribs, biting through bone like nothing.
Still must figure out what I’m going to do with her.
It was a thought for a different day as I returned to my prior position on the floor, crossing my legs as I slowed my breathing, almost in meditation.
It wasn’t meditation, but slowing my breathing and the beating of my heart made it easier to concentrate.
And here.. we… go.
-------------------------------------------------
When I opened my eyes, I fluttered them, confused by what I saw.
That can’t be right.
When I’d last opened my eyes, the sun had just dipped beneath the horizon. Yet, now the sun was reaching the horizon again, ready to drop beneath for the night as if the clock had turned back.
Strange.
I frowned, glancing to my right, only to sputter in surprise.
“Seriously?”
My ‘cat’ was lying on the ground, napping. Next to it was the mangled corpse of her bowl, shredded to unrecognizable steel scraps.
“You little monster,” I grumbled, and as I did, the Shadow Blossom kitten stirred, noticing me. With a surprising amount of intelligence in her eyes, she rushed over to me, smacking me with her paw like she was the one reprimanding me.
“What? What did I do?”
“Mrow!”
I stared at the cat, trying to make sense of the behavior until a strange thought occurred to me. Getting up, I pressed a small gem embedded in the wall near my door as a voice came through a moment later.
“Ahh, Mr. Koor, do you require services of sorts?”
“Not quite,” I spoke; my voice had a raspy touch. “I just wanted to remind myself of something. Did I check for any messages left for me at the front desk earlier today?”
There was a pause over the line momentarily before the desk worker’s voice returned.
“No, last I see is you stopped by yesterday afternoon. Why, were you expecting something?”
“N-no,” I answered, voice shaky. “Thank you.”
“Our pleasure.”
The line went quiet, the voice transceiver cutting the connection as I pressed the red gem again.
Yesterday afternoon. Meaning…
Meaning I’d been at it for over twenty-four hours straight.
I almost tentatively turned my mana sense inward; the last day had been a haze of effort that I hardly recalled.
Well then.
Pleased with what I saw, I released the magical vision. It had taken more than a day of effort but, thankfully, hadn’t been in vain. Instead, it had been, in vein.
No, I will not apologize for that pun.
Like a massive, interconnected waterway, the veins where my lifeblood flowed had changed, now ferrying the mana of my sage rings through just as it did my blood.
“I did it.” I sighed, surprised.
The mana would still take some time to truly settle and integrate. Still, now that the mana of my sage rings flowed continuously through me, I wouldn’t have to fear the prospect of re-saturating my veins with mana due to the mana within the walls of my arteries being forcefully expelled.
I’m almost there.
I wasn’t sure exactly how long it would take for the mana to settle fully, but I would be ready once it had.
My fifth ring was all but within my grasp.
I glanced at where I’d hung a calendar, cringing momentarily.
But.
While my fifth ring was all but inevitable, I had less than a week until the duel. If the mana hadn’t settled before then, I would be forced into battle with only four sage rings under my belt.
Well, more like upon my arms, but I digress.
Cutting it a bit close.
I felt a jitter of nervous energy pass through me. I’d talked a big game to the Director, but the truth was I was worried. The strongest foe I’d faced head-on, with nothing more than my own power, had been Iris Steel-Haze. She had been high-gold rank one, and while I’d come out victorious, it had been closer than I cared to admit. The dungeon had driven her mad, and she had only recently broken through her own limits and genetic shackles. Had she been in the right frame of mind and had more time to become acquainted with the newfound strength she’d gained from the dungeon, I could have easily lost. She had the power to overcome all the tricks I had in my bag through brute force alone.
And she was only high-gold rank one. I’d grown stronger since then, but so had the caliber of my opponent. This wasn’t a high-gold adventurer just entering the realms of nizeium. Chances were, this would be a veteran nizeium ranked adventurer. Flow, Null, and Rainsplitter were powerful, but with only those three in my arsenal, plus my standard range of Aulous-affinity spells, I would be hard-pressed to chart a course to victory that wasn’t hinging upon the lords of luck smiling upon me.
I need my fifth ring.
I stared at my arm, dismissing the divine wrap as I examined the four visible rings and the space upon my forearm where the fifth ring would manifest.
“Please,” I whispered, almost pleading.
But my arm didn’t answer.