This was the first time in her memory that Lisa couldn't come up with anything reasonable to say. Any answer lost its meaning when she wanted to tell it out loud. She looked at Murai as if he asked the most ridiculous thing, but didn't know the answer to that. She silently watched him, as he stood there before those tomes, uncaring about them.
“No... Seriously, do I not?” Murai quacked again, blatant that pooping was an issue.
“Don't care...” Lisa sighed and pointed to the shelves. “Focus. We have something good before us that is more important than your shit.”
Murai opened his beak to make a statement but halted himself before doing something that he would've probably regretted. He straightened his neck, shook his feathers, and almost slammed his head down in a try to calm his head. He refrained from this move out of respect for the furniture, so he glanced at the tomes.
The covers on most of them looked like shit. That was the right truth as they were in terrible condition. They were right before the ones that were looking crisp, clean, and glittering in mana and quality. A crisp condition was for those worthy of some attention or history.
It was clear someone hated these dogshit tomes, so using them as a support for a shell provided their worth enough. It was a bit laughable and sad. They were placed directly beside the pretty-looking ones, reminding Murai how pitiful some things can be, but who was to change or question it? This was only fitting reality, and how worth spoke of age and quality.
Useless things were often ignored, or forgotten. There was no such thing as an ideal world. Such things happen all the time and everywhere.
“Hm? These things?” Murai walked closer, glancing at those tomes that Lisa pointed at. They were looking more than enough for a support of the shelf, as far as his eyes went. But as his eyes cast no doubt, he felt nothing out of them even with his Sonar.
“Are they good? Is it up to your taste?” Lisa spoke again.
“It really smells like dogshit too. Impressive.”
“...” Lisa smacked Murai at the corner of his beak, leaving the spatial pouch on the table. She made him focus when she grasped his head with both of her hands.
Voiceless, she spoke thousands of words with her face alone: serious, ashen-looking, and angry at the same time. She was making Murai understand that some things didn't have to make sense. He wasn't that either sensible either from his core, so who was he kidding?
“Right. A Mana Tome is a Mana Tome. A magical tool of dogshit. Why are you doing this anyway? It looks like they went through the digestive system of dozens of cows at least.”
“Doesn't matter how many. What's inside is still fine, no matter the cycles, years, cows, or piglets. Got it?” She said coldly.
“Are you telling me to not judge a book by its cover?”
“No. I am forcing it on your head. Just look at yourself, a cover speaks dozens of words, while literal heavenly libraries are in your head. So carry on before I will make you change your head.”
“Great... Now, you are forcing me...” He forced himself free, but she kept her hands close to his beak. “I thought I would have to force you to talk... but then, you are still yourself.”
“What are you trying to think? What about me?” She didn't let him go, hoping for a change.
“Haven't you said something about willingness to talk about some secrets? Or talk when I finish Gate 1?”
“Have I sai...”
“Lorry is fairly certain that Lisa said something like that,” Lorry added, floating above them, which ended up angering Lisa so she shot him an annoyed glance. “Promise speaks the rules, or so it is said in many Hell Havens. Even Chaos needs them.” He added.
Lisa let Murai's beak alone in order to fly upwards to slam Lorry across the room, which ended up cracking her spirit and shattering her arm. “Tsh..” she grunted. “So much for this body. Can't even smack a clown.”
Murai sighed, ignoring the clowns above him. He observed the tomes before his face more throughout their appearance, but he had no idea which one Lisa meant to show him. Each looked like dogshit anyway, but some of them may hold some secrets since they were all old.
And old things could mean complications or various issues, but also secrets. However, they were left out as support for a shelve for a reason. No one wanted them, so they were useless. They could be also so old, that nothing inside of them even mattered. Their magic may have long lost its uses, their truths failed to be conveyed enough, or pages became tatters.
Their usefulness was thus, lacking like their appearance. Using them as support for bookshelves would then be more than fitting.
He used his Mana Sonar quite a few times just in case, feeling the tomes in a surge of Sonar that allowed him to perceive anything under this wave of mana. There was some mana within them, but it seemed old, barely holding on. #
The Soul Read could also provide some benefits. It wasn't useless, because some Mana Tomes could have soul imprints, which he can discover thanks to this ability. He did feel one in Rudolf's Tome for example. That one had an old imprint, which was a fancy term for the signature and intent of a mage. Those generally lasted for much longer than mana, but Murai couldn't feel anything out of those tomes in terms of soul powers.
These before his face didn't have anything great, as far as their senses went. It may change if he opens them, just like with Rudolf's tome.
Waves of Sonar went ahead, and not once, or twice. He was curious but felt nothing specific. He was happy to experiment with his new ability, so he took his time and even concentrated on those pretty tomes before this shelve. They were more vivid, and even his Soul Read felt some shimmers of intent that were like thin whispers.
If he truly tensed up, it worked much better than before.
Alas, glaring at them was useless, let alone reading them with his Soul Read. Their mere price was in thousands of points; few were even above 5000. He didn't want to waste too much time on them since he couldn't buy them.
Those acting as the support of the shelves were weird choices since they had no price, so he turned up to Lisa once more.
“Alright. I am listening. Come down and talk. Secrets or not, you are talking and acting for a reason. Right?” He spoke to her through his Will, watching how her cracked hand folded back together from the light of her body. It had some lesser physicality afterward, but without Soul Read, he would've noticed nothing. It was like watching the water droplet repair itself. He couldn't feel much out of her otherwise, and he didn't want to use Sonar on her without thinking.
Lisa floated down, flicking her arms around her chest, and flashing her body which looked like a long dress she didn't deserve. She pointed to the pile of old Mana Tomes. “So, have you seen them, and felt them with your new things?”
“Should I've not?”
“I mean... Seeing them is useless. What about the feelings?”
“Can't tell you much, can't I? Stop being so mysterious. Tell me what you are getting out of this. I don't like a waste.”
“Then you are probably hating yourself...” She mumbled and went to the pile where she struggled to revive one of the tomes she recognized. Others besides this one were useless to her. She couldn't move it with such a body, so Murai had to help.
A surprising amount of patience and care went into picking an old-looking Mana Tome out of this pile. It was thin, hidden beneath all of the filth of others. It was so thin, pressed like a piece of wood, but it was a tome with some paper pages that were still apparent and firm. They were not wooden pages, that some of the older and more ancient races used for pages.
“Oh, impressive. Now I see that dogshit may be a dogshit in disguise. Impressive.” Murai still joked, speaking of excrement as if it was the only thing he was thinking about. Alas, he couldn't help but notice something that surprised him, when the tome flew out of the pile, the cover was visible under the light.
This tome was about Magic Technique and not one for a Spell.
Magic Technique was a term for the fundamental structures of magic, and those would be often very expensive since they touched on something specific. Those could be core-focused techniques, ranging from breathing exercises and cycling mantras to full-blown magic Paths. Those that focused on Mana Cores were impressive, along with all kinds of Handler types of techniques.
Magic Technique Tomes were extremely potent because they took a long time to develop. Calling them significantly important for every mage wasn't far-fetched. It was their blood and sweat, and taking and finding a good technique could help a new mage advance leaps and bounds faster than without them.
They could also include Shaping or even Conjuring styles of countless kinds. They were the foundation, whilst Spell Tomes were directly helping a mage figure out some specific spell in a short time. Those would be less complicated, often sold and viewed like currency, as Spells were immediate help, while Technique Tomes were the foundation.
Such help in the long run gave a clear edge over the major hurdles of magic. There were countless potential bottlenecks, and having a strong foundation early on helped solve or diminish their troubles.
They made learning countless times more efficient, depending on the grade of the Magic Technique Tome. That included all sorts of things, but it generally didn't provide too deep of a look at many Spells in detail. Rudolf's Tome was also Technique kind of a tome, but it was much throughout in its structure. It had some spells within it too, but that was only because of the tome itself, which was fairly advanced and special.
Rudolf made a full-on Ancestral Technique Tome, which was a rundown of his Path, its intricacies, magic, and whatever he could've found. It was of high quality, including affinities, troubles of his magic, and everything that came out of his Path.
Even a clueless mage would learn much from it, but Murai will never figure that time ever again. He won't be a beginner ever again. Not with his soul full of memories.
The Spell Tomes created and taught powerful and more direct knowledge about specific spells. In the case of this tome before his beak, it was something quite interesting. There was a name for it that was previously hiding below a pile of trash.: Heavenly Shaping.
Two words were glowing beneath the dust, scratching the cover that only a powerful sense could see. His Mana Sonar did, but it looked like someone truly took shit on it. It looked intentionally damaged. Ordinary eyes didn't see the name, but it went ahead under his all-out Mana Sonar efforts. It did hurt his brain and head, but the pain was temporary.
Anyone else shouldn't even care about it, since it was looking many millennia old.
“Heavenly Shaping? Huh? No points under it...” Murai almost sighed and glared at Lorry who was returning from his quick flight over the room. He chortled something along the lines of complaints but seemed intrigued by looking at that piece of shit.
“Oho? An old trash? Interesting.”
“What is the price?” Lisa asked him.
“Could be various. How about 2400?” Lorry chuckled.
“That's like... almost everything I am left with!”
“That means you will take it? I wasn't sure before.” Lisa innocently said.
“Th... This expensive thing? This dogsh... tome?”
Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.
“No, Murai Hisagi. It's actually very cheap. Technique Tome won't come so pitifully cheap. That never happens. So much so, that it makes me kind of suspicious... Do you want to get rid of it, Lorry? I never figured the price of this before, you see? It was useless to me, like to many others.”
“Oh, what did b.... Lisa thought of this before? Does Lisa know its truths, or how long it is even here? Is it a choice for Murai or Lisa? Let Lorry see.” He forced his way forward, moving closer to the tome even though he asked her questions which Lisa didn't answer.
Seeing the dogshit tome piqued his interest, as well as highlighted his laughter that began to echo in the room. “What a bitch! Lisa is giving Murai this sort of thing? What a hilarious way to end this Gate. Lorry is dying!”
Lisa gestured to Murai to ignore the laughing and annoying skull. Instead, she insisted on keeping his senses sharp to research this tome. She pointed to her head and flowed beside Murai and the Heavenly Shaping Tome.
“What made you think this is useful to me? Of course, I already know why you insisted on the left Vault. You've seen this before, didn't you? Though of it too before we even came to this cave?” He asked through their connection, figuring that verbal talking was annoying all day long. Lorry was also loud, so this telepathic talking was rather useful in such conditions.
“No surprises here. You figured it, but it is about a few other things,” She said out loud.
“Are you gonna tell them or not?”
“Uhm... I will. Not out of respect for the previous things I've yet to tell, but because of you. It is the fundamental knowledge that you have about magic that is interesting. It's magnificent, to say the least. Magic, techniques, or spells. You lack a few things, but the most crucial one bites your ass to no end. That is time, right behind the Beast Core itself. But those two are connected and put you at a vast disadvantage. Beast Core will calm down the further it goes, but as far as I see it in myself, it takes time and a large amount of issue because your soul and...” She hesitated.
“And what?”
“Your soul... Instincts of the Anatidae are nowhere in your body. No wonder you have had troubles for so long. Well... You will keep having some troubles one way or another, but I have no idea what will help you. Unfortunately Not even this could help, as it is individualistic what it could even do for you.”
“Huh? I guess that is not surprising. You had no clue about my circumstances since I have none either. If you would, that would be surprising. Is there anything else that you know? Any help?
“Nothing major that would shatter your head. You have your head.” Lisa said in her voice speaking to his head.
“Agreed. What about this tome?” He pointed down to the tattered cover with his beak.
“Heavenly Shaping already provides its worth by its name. You can see it like I did in the past. I think its worth will help you reshape your issues since I heard and know something about this Technique Tome from my past. No matter what is in your head, it will outstretch it, I reckon, but your Shaping is already extremely advanced.”
“Cuz Shaping is very related to feelings. My soul is stronger to make it work.”
“I acknowledge that, but it lacks the critical mass of its full potential. Why? I have known it for a long time and mentioned it before. It is because of your Beast Core that is yet to fuse right with your spirit, and the Core itself is wild. All Anatidaes are like that. Almost all of their magic potential is of a very chaotic element that stems from the quality of their bloodline, which serves as a catalyst for wild mana. I have no idea about your direct ancestors, but if anything, all Anatidaes that could lay an egg aren't fine, let alone ordinary. Your Mother may be worthy of an Elder Name, you see.”
“So you are saying that my body is the biggest hurdle? Tell me something new... Please.” Murai sarcastically said.
“You lack time!” She argued.
“Says someone who was stealing my pile of pie. How or why? I don't care about that any longer. Let's be sufficient and efficient about it, alright?”
“I won't deny that. I did what I did without seeking any sense of redemption.” Lisa said without a speck of shame. After this exchange, Lorry stopped laughing, noticing a total silence. He was left alone, since they both started to talk in their heads, making their conversation private so that Lorry wouldn't hear them.
“So direct... and messy,” Murai said. “No matter what, your succubus nature is showing its fangs to no end. I hope your soul will seek the salvation you deserve. Wait, you are already dead. I guess killing a soul isn't really that great of an idea. Hehe.”
Hearing his joking matter, Lisa smacked his beak again. “Focus.”
“Until you tell me the logic behind this tome and your actions.” Murai sent back, resolutely looking into her eyes.
“F-fine... I would talk about it regardless of your problems. But before that another topic is... my guess?” She said, unsure and questioning even herself.
“Guess?”
“It's your strange demeanor since I woke up along this temple I forced upon you. It has been not my intention, but this place can and will gift those worthy of challenging views. It attracts seekers of power. Mana Essences is one idea I had to strengthen your Core. It takes some precedence, but it is mainly what you do with this opportune that is in my mind.” Lisa kept her face close to him.
“What about them?”
“The thing that you do with those essences is weird. I see and feel it, yet I don't understand it. But I see a power when I see it, and the truth behind it is less than comforting, I bet. You are quantifying your Beast Core by secondary Core, making some sort of fusion out of... or what? No idea, but I see problems straight away. It will cause instabilities, won't it? It is dangerous... Very dangerous, as far as this heaven-defining technique you do goes.”
“Oh, I fear you didn't understand it as high as I thought. Good, or not, it doesn't matter. I am surprised by your worry, but it's not warranted. What I do is something I already did before. That is all to it. I will continue on it by the way.”
“Before? Well, not like I can even remotely stop you, so whatever. How does it even work though? It needs... What does it even need?” She asked, agitated but curious like never before.
Murai gave her no answer, so she took her guesses to the source.
“Does it need perfect handling of the dissolved Mana Essences within Mana Space? Is the fusion what is troublesome? Two Cores speaks of clear, to no clear troubles, fusions, and workings. Let alone one, there are already problems in upgrading or handling the Beast Core. Working with two? That sounds so hard in itself since the true Core shouldn't like the presence of the other core. Shaping within the other could be harder because of it, or impossible, but again, you work just fine for some reason.
Murai kept his silence in order to see the extend of her guesses.
“My guess is that you are distributing your care, Shaping them but under something... unfamiliar, and weird. Restrains? Cage? Formation? You are essentially trapping external essences in your mana space, outside of your main Core's influence. Mana Essences went ahead, forming a core under your own eyes. How does that work? The start was peculiar... I remember how it went. You gobbled up those essences and into the mana space they went. Then you Shaped them in the middle of it, caring, or not caring at all about your Beast Core. You hoped it would work, and created an Artifical Core. What it does, I have no clue, but you do nothing with it apart from feeding it more essences.” Lisa made her guesses, speaking clearly and loudly to his head
“These are interesting guesses. All have some validation, which surprises me, since it answers you aren't as stupid as you seem.“ Murai nodded and heard her loud grunt. He insulted her at the end, which she didn't like, but before she smacked his beak again, he asked. “Have you ever heard of the dying stars?”
“A dying star? Like.. A star that is so old it's on the brink of destruction? Those are Celestial Objects. A topic that isn't fitting for normal stakes in the Path, let alone in talks of Mana Cores in the current era.”
“But you've heard of them. Does this world have what it takes to know it? Iris was clueless about it. More or less...”
“I am not her!” she argued. “I mean... I am not a clueless brat.” She grunted and positioned her chin up.
“But you are right. A celestial object is unfathomable, similar to their End. It is a special occasion, full of light and countless mysteries. It is a true event of world-shattering properties. In this sense of my... explanation, I am creating something of that caliber. My Beast Core is yet to be stable so that is whatever. You've answered some of my wonders from before, so I appreciate them, even though they won't change what I do at all.”
“If it's good, why change it.” Lisa acknowledged.
“Exactly. The fusion of two cores under my Shaping is like an explosion that will make them connect anew. My case is not an old star, but the exact opposite of that. The dying start can be saved, you know? However, it's extremely hard and it needs to be done with absolute care and unfathomable power. You can plant explosives, reshape.... them with your own hand, fill them with high magnitudes of energy, and so on. What I am getting into is that power can help jolt the star back to its shape. Do you get it?”
Lisa blankly looked at his open and serious face, imagining the dying star filled with explosions under one's grasp. It wasn't hard imagining it. Not for her. But something was. This was just an analogy for Mana Cores, and letting the light be the rule for a star is not fitting in terms of the Mana Cores. What did it need? How much energy? What kind of power and in what Pathway, or.. Divide it even worked on? No God can fathom this. That was for certainty.
“Wait... What sort of comparison is that? Did you just compare a massive dying star to a core the size of a peanut? What sort of reasoning is that?” Lisa snapped at him, not knowing whether he was making a joke or not. Alas, Murai was dead serious, even though it sounded straight out of the overly exaggerated book.
That was his belief over the matter of what he was doing inside of him.
On all fronts, it was a dangerous prospect, and Lisa figured out most of the issues around it without many problems. It surprised Murai a little, but not much. If anything, if she had been clueless about it before, yet hadn't asked him about it. That would have been more suspicious.
Anyone unfamiliar with the Core Defining Fusion Technique may as well die in an explosion at the actual start, let alone the fusion, leaving nothing behind.
Of course, when talking about the Initialization Stage Core, nothing wild can even happen. He considered some explosion in a brief contemplation, but nothing world-shattering would've happened. Not at the failure at this stage. Exploding a mountain, or a small hill was about the limit of a failure.
But it depended on the amount of mana that was stored in his Core Defining Fusion Technique, Artifical Core and his Shaping put together. His Beast Core as well, and the quality of his mana space mattered too, but that thing was set like a law: pointing to his bloodline as one can't change it.
“I am serious, Lisa. Your reactions are good. But for this shit of a tome, I suppose you remembered it from a long time ago because of my situation? Why, or why do you think it's something I need?”
“You don't need it?” She asked as if she was asking herself. Doubtfully.
“I can take it if it is good, but I've asked about it before. Answer that first.”
“So a trading then? Fine.” She turned serious in a flash. “Reason is simple. Because it's Magic Technique Tome under the Pillage Emperor.”
“Never heard of him.”
“If you would... Well, the name is various. Pillage Emperor, or Elder Emperor, or Monarch. He had various titles, but one thing was clear. He was a pioneer of the beasts 14 240 years ago.”
“This book is that old? No wonder it's such a dogshit.” Murai giggled again, uninterested in that number, which caused Lisa some hiccups.
“Uh... I won't argue about age, but its content is plenty interesting for you. Should be, I mean.”
By this point, Lorry was getting nervous and fed up with the utter silence around him. He hated being ignored, especially when he was holding many responsibilities as a Guide. He began to tremble, but that was about what he did. One still has to retain professionalism, especially in a position he had for a long time.
Murai and Lisa kept arguing about the topic of the Heavenly Shaping, until Lisa finally snapped, and understood what Murai was trying to tell.
“So... You mean it? The reshaping of the Core can be done?”
“Yep. It's like a reaction in the middle of the sun, but It needs corresponding energy in the shape of essences, enough familiarity, a sense of mana, and mainly, the Core itself needs to be under constant watch before and after all procedures. That is known as Stabilization. Now, my question. What about this Pillage Emperor? What do you know about him? How come you recommend this thing to me?” He asked a few questions after giving her a satisfactory answer.
“As someone with a fairly good amount of demonic and beast experiences, I am well accustomed to and aware of a lot of powerful individuals of the greater Paths and histories. Battleworld especially is filled with all kinds of figures, leaving a lot of legends behind. Deaths, fights, and all kinds of stuff have been written down over the ages, creating all sorts of stories that may sound exaggerated, but most remain quite factual. Pillage Emepros was a beast, like you, but not like you as well. I don't know the greater details, nor was it passed down that well. From what I know, he was someone in the feral group of species. Wolf, or something along those lines. Some say dragons too... The depiction of his demeanor is often demonic, so apologies for the lack of a better picture.”
“No worries. Continue.”
“He uncovered a lot of secrets over the possibilities of Shaping the wild mana of the beast. He constructed what was known as proper Beast Core. That doesn't directly mean only a Shaping, but the fundamental structure of the magic abilities that became, or formed around many parts of the demonic magical beasts. As we know it today, succubus originates from such direction too, even though we are of more human nature and could be born out of them too.”
“Hm... What about Anatidaes?”
“Those... It is a rather peculiar topic, as you heard before... Wait! My turn! Don't skip!”
“Yeah... Leave it. Anatidaes used to be godly pets or something. Don't they predate the Pillage Emperor by dozens of millennia? I will get more out of this topic one day.” Murai sighed and let Lisa resume her talk.
“That is right. In this case, this tome underneath you should be something left after that Emperor. He was the tip of the power back then, closer to the gods than any other beast ever before. It was fairly a big deal back then, as it went against the universe, let alone this world.”
“Oh, something close to the true limits this world had? In terms of power or something else?”
“I am unsure, but in terms of fame and legendary status, he was like no other,” Lisa revealed, almost revealing a speck of reverence towards such a figure.
“So, why has no one, nor you, taken this tome?” Murai asked a well-thought-out question that even Lisa was unable to refute.
As if she long waited for this question, she smiled in an obvious reply. “Because it's impossibly hard to perceive it, hard to read, figure out, or comprehend it. Let alone the time consumption of his technique, it was crazy to think of this as anything useful because it is playing along with the chaos of the universe. It is extremely specific to be a Tome Technique. It takes an unprecedented topic over the chaotic nature of mana. The kind that you have, I suppose. If no one can take it. No one will.”
“Oh, so you are telling me no one ever dared to touch it because it was outside of their understanding?”
“Pretty much.” Lisa nodded, unafraid of the truth that she would never accomplish anything with this sort of technique. “But also because its use is universally subjective. Just how much time has passed since this tome was created? How many Paths changed? Its difficulty is truthfully ridiculous. Also, the beast and their reputation have been quite terrible since then. Technique Tomes from 14 thousand years ago are rare to find, and this one is a relic and part of many that had been left behind.”
“So it isn't that weird to find these things?”
“It isn't as if this is a huge rarity. Finding and realizing their truths is. I've seen similar things in many other places. Even in a similar state as this, and from him too. It is a piece of shit that few would find useful.”
“Yet you remembered it so much, that it became useful when you are with me? What a timing, I suppose.”
“Is that weird? I was a fan of Pillage... I mean I heard of him a lot.”
At this point, the cup of patience was overflown within Lorry. “How about including me for my lady's sake!?” He shouted between those two, ending their inner conversation that had been happening in their heads for quite a few minutes.