Haruka nodded as she picked up the large inscription and folded it in half, she held it just above the table while Reiki slowly moved the inscription with wet ink. He connected the two pieces of parchment with a line he drew and continued. Esta said. "You're only half… Done?..."
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Second Floor Library
Enora was sitting in a comfortable chair by a table that was in the center of the room. The table was surrounded by only a dozen normal shelves, every book on them was thick and their cover was made out of preserved leather. In front of Enora was a screen as she watched Reiki who was in the middle of writing an inscription. With big eyes, she watched in interest as she took notes on the table using her notebook along with a quill, and an ink bottle.
A couple of pages had a few inscriptions she had never seen before, Enora raised her head and turned around as a smile appeared on her lips. Enora said. "Hi, mom. Melanor." Elora and Melanor appeared by the door as they walked towards the table, Elora sat down next to her daughter while Melanor sat on the opposite side. Enora continued to write down notes of what she could make in her notebooks while Elora and Melanor stared at the sphere. Melanor crossed her arms and said. "That's a big formation... Did he write that by himself?"
Enora nodded, she looked at the screen and said. "He's made-. Well altered a total of nine including that one so far." Enora's eyes narrowed as she tried to analyze the formation that was almost halfway done. She crossed out a formation she drew with a mistake and continued. Elora was observing him with a fascinated expression, she said. "Have all of them worked?" Enora nodded, she flipped a couple of pages back on her notebook and showed both of them a rough but accurate drawing of a couple of formations. Enora said. "A hundred percent success rate."
She gestured at the notebook while Melanor and Elora stared at it. Melanor raised a brow and said. "That isn't in any books… It's not even invented… It's-." Elora said. "New, a brand new method of potentially making a new formation or at least a way to improve existing ones..." Enora dipped her quill in some ink and went back to taking notes. Elora softly tapped her fingers on the table, she said. "Does it have a pattern? Does the quality improve if he uses better materials?"
Elora glanced at her daughter while Melanor eyes were glued on the formation as she tried to discern anything. Elora said. "To a certain degree, yes. But at the same time… No…" Elora raised a brow in interest, she said. "How peculiar…" Enora made sure to keep her eyes on the screen, she said. "Reiki does follow similar steps on how to make one. Words, symbols, and mana. The slight difference is how he writes those words and where he places them. I need one made by him so I can get a better look." Melanor pointed at the screen, she said. "He's almost done." As all three of them watched in silence with a hint of anticipation.
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First Floor Library
Reiki let out one long sigh as he stretched his right hand that felt heavy to him, with one last push he connected the activation part of the inscription to the other half. He sat back on his chair and said. "Now you can chuck it into a fire for all I care…" He looked at the female elf who was next in line and continued. "I hope you don't mind waiting a few more minutes. My arm feels like it's about to fall off." The elf shook her head sideways and said. "I don't mind." Esta and Voxalen stared at the large formation on the table in scrutiny. Esta looked at Reiki from the corner of her eye and said. "Inscription?..."
Reiki looked up to Esta, he said. "What's the matter?" Vianola and Haruka looked at Reiki oddly as he noticed the stares on him. He said. "What did I do?" Haruka said. "Reiki, Those are called formations. You've been calling them inscriptions for a while now…"
Reiki's eyes widened in realization, he said. "Same thing." The old elf let out a scoff and said. "See mistress, he doesn't even know the difference between the two-." Vianola turned her head sideways and glared at him, she coldly said. "No one spoke to you." Vianola moved her gaze onto Reiki, she said. "Since you say that so easily you must have a reason for saying it in the first place."
Reiki held his right hand toward the female elf who was in line and passed him a formation along with a parchment. He took a look at the formation and started working, Reiki said. "When you place a simple inscription and a single word formation, how can you tell the difference?" Voxalen raised his hand, he said. "If I may be so brave I believe in the way they are written and the quality of materials."
Reiki used the feathery part of the quill to point at him and said. "The quality of the materials is correct, except for the way they're written. Because it's more or less the same since both of them have plenty of room for error." He passed both the altered formation and the original back to the elf as the next elf quickly gave him more.
Reiki continued. "I've even read that formations are another branch of inscriptions but are highly dependent on the scribe's quality of mana. Hence inscriptions using high-quality materials are just a means to make up for the mana as they only have the quantity. I've also heard the formations came from inscriptions since this method uses mana alone and the method of using quality materials was made by those who didn't have met the requirement." The elf behind Vianola said. "That's how you see it-."
Without missing a beat Reiki said. "I wasn't talking to you." The elf pointed at Reiki who held out two pieces of parchment to the elf, the old elf said. "Do you see this mistress? No respect-." Vianola turned around to face the old elf with a frown on her face, she said. "Vulre, one more word from you, and I'll have you fired." Esta and Voxalen slowly picked up the formation, Voxalen gestured at the formation Haruka was holding as she passed it to him.
He tidied the table and hid away the original while both of them carried on parchment each. Esta looked at Reiki, she said. "We're going to do a quick test, do you want to come along?" Reiki shook his head sideways as another elf handed him another formation with a piece of parchment using both hands. Reiki said. "If you know the result, why bother showing up." Esta nodded at him, she said. "Alright, see you later." Esta walked towards the door of the library with Voxalen behind her. The moment she was near the door Voxalen opened it and let her walk out first. Both of them vanished the moment they were out of the library.
Vianola stared at the parchment at Esta with unhidden interest, without turning around she said. "Reiki, if you don't mind I want to observe how the formation turns out." Reiki lazily waved his left hand as he didn't even look behind him. Vianola walked towards the door with the old elf behind her. Vianola opened the door herself and vanished the moment she set foot out of the library, the old elf glared at Reiki's back before vanishing.
Reiki let out a sigh as he passed another formation to the elf in line, he looked at the never-ending line and said. "Starting now I'll do five formations simultaneously." The first five elves inline placed a formation on the table along with a piece of parchment, Reiki dipped the quill in a bottle of ink and glanced at the formations. The quill in his hand started to glow as he suddenly stopped and looked at the door behind him, Reiki said. "They forgot their quills… And I also didn't give them a warning… They'll be fine… Hopefully..."
Reiki continued to make altered formations, Haruka who was sitting by his left said. "What do you mean by that?" Reiki already completed four formations and was halfway completing the fifth one. He passed all five of them to the elves as another five elves placed down more, Reiki said. "I didn't expect my alterations would have such a potent effect… As long as they don't use any high-tier spells they'll be able to block it."
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Somewhere In The Village
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
Esta, Vianola, and Vulre were standing in front of a large building made out of dark brown wood. As they were waiting Voxalen appeared beside Esta, Voxalen said. "Mistress, everything has been set." The house was surrounded by a transparent sphere, Esta glanced at Voxalen. Esta said. "Do it." Voxalen waved his hand as a sword made out of mana appeared, with a cross slash a wave of mana that was intertwined headed towards the barrier.
The wave of mana crashed into the barrier as the area it hit started to glow, after a split second the word return written in elvish appeared. The barrier fired a cross slash that glowed even brighter and was more than double the speed as it headed toward Voxalen. Esta prepared a talisman in advance as it was already glowing a sphere surrounding all four elves as they watched.
The wave of mana smacked the barrier of the elves as it grinds on the surface as sparks of mana were coming off. The barrier started cracking as it instantly grew as it broke down, Voxalen clapped his hands together and quickly spread them as wide as possible creating a mana wall. Esta was rummaging through her pocket and pulled out another talisman, she hastily inserted mana as it glowed and another barrier of mana surrounded the four elves.
The wave of mana started moving faster as the barrier instantly broke, Voxalen looked pale as Vurle extended his palm and made a wall of mana but was twice the size of Voxalen's. Vurle had a proud look on his face as the wave of mana only became faster as the wall of mana cracked, a web of cracks quickly spread as Vianola took out a golden inscription and activated it.
Vurle removed his palm as a semi-transparent golden barrier appeared around them. The wave of mana hit the barrier as it pushed the barrier itself backward forcing all of them to take a step back to stay inside. With one last push, the wave of mana speed increased drastically as it cracked the barrier and suddenly vanished. The golden talisman in Vianola's hand withered as she stared at it, Esta looked at the ground and measured how far they were pushed using steps. Esta said. "That was more than twice the power…"
She turned her head onto the pale Voxalen who opened a blue potion and took a sip, some color returned to his face. Esta said. "How many crystals? And what grade?" Voxalen took a slow and ragged breath, he said. "Four crystals, middle grade." An elf wearing a large and baggy cloak opened the front door and walked past the barrier towards them. The elf took a deep breath and said. "What's all this ruckus about?!"
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First Floor Library
Reiki let out a sigh as he finished five more formations and passed them to the elves on the other side of the table. He said. "Haruka, what time is it?" Haruka let out a chuckle, she said. "Only a little over five minutes passed." Reiki crossed his arms on the table as he laid his head down on it while looking at the five formations the elves in line placed down that were next to a piece of parchment.
Reiki dipped the quill into a bottle of ink, he said. "Is it me or is time passing slower than usual?" Haruka gave him an odd look, she said. "What do you mean?" Reiki shook his head sideways, he said. "Don't mind it…" He looked at the never-ending line and thought. I am not going to alter all your formations… The moment it's lunch, I'll never alter formations for free ever again...
Reiki made altering formations look easy as he was already done and passed them to the elves. The next five elves were already holding a formation and a piece of parchment, he thought. Your majesty, I know you're trying to take advantage of me… But you're not gonna make me alter all of them… Right?... He picked all of the parchment on the table and started analyzing.
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Outside The Large House
The elf wearing the baggy cloak was about to say something else but saw Esta, the cloak-wearing elf said. "Mistress… I know your mother put you in charge, but you cannot just use this formation whenever you fancy. To activate this thing you need six high-grade crystals… What are we supposed to report?" Before the elf could continue, Esta said. "Don't worry we used a different formation."
The cloak-wearing elf pulled down his hood and revealed an old male elf with half of his hair already turning white with some visible wrinkles on his face. The old elf had a small frown on his face making his wrinkles more prominent, he said. "Mistress, what do you mean?"
Esta rummaged through her pocket and pulled out two large parchments and passed them both to Voxalen as he unfurled them using magic as it floated in the air and showed it to the old elf. Esta pointed at the formations and said. "Master Selmer, what do you think of this?"
Selmer walked near the two floating parchments and pulled out round spectacles and put them on. He looked at the parchment, Selmer said. "There's nothing particular about it… It's the same thing I made a few centuries ago-." Selmer looked at the bottom and saw it was altered, he easily crouched down and placed a finger on it as he started examining it with a serious expression. He said. "I never would've thought of that…"
While crouching Selmer took a step to the right while his gaze was glued on the parchment, he said. "Was it that obvious?..." He looked at the top right of the bottom and saw it was completely different from the four separate activation formations he made. It was three overlapping circles, in the center where all of them met was the elvish word activate, and in each circle was the elvish word boost. Selmer said. "Beautiful…" He placed his finger that was slightly shaking in the center of the circle as he admired it.
The small comment made all elves look at him in complete disbelief, Selmer continued. "Not only does it reduce the number of crystals but it also increases the power… Such craftsmanship…" He looked slightly up and admired the second half of the formation. With shaking hands he carefully held it, Selmer said. "And this one… I thought that doubling the size would've increased the number of crystals… But not only are they cleverly placed, but they also allowed the barrier to grow even bigger. And have a shorter cooldown due to the lines the mana has to travel… Making it spread evenly across the entire formation..."
Vianola nudged Esta's left forearm. Esta glanced at her as Vianola nodded at Selmer, Esta cleared her throat and said. "Master Selmer?" Selmer shook his head sideways, he said. "No… If I did double the size it would have increased the crystals…" He moved his face closer and continued. "How did they manage to accomplish this…"
Esta rolled her eyes at him, she screamed. "MASTER SELMER!" Selmer managed to pry his eyes away from the inscription, he moved his gaze onto Esta and said. "Mistress? I don't mind you visiting my workplace, but if you have anything to say, you could've called me via talisman. I don't want you to waste your time on an old elf like me." Vulre and Vianola looked at him oddly, Esta had an expression as if she was used to dealing with him while Voxalen was taking small sips of the mana potion in his hand.
Selmer faced the formation again as he raised his left hand and reached to his left, his hand passed through nothing as he looked around. Selmer said. "When did I go outside?..." Vulre had an odd look on his face, he glanced at Vianola. Vulre said. "This is supposed to be a master? He looks like he has one foot into a door labeled senile…" Selmer carefully rolled the parchment in his hand, he said. "Mistress, is this formation already implemented?" Esta nodded, while Selmer pocketed the parchment and grabbed the other one that was floating in the air, and started rolling it.
Selmer nodded, he said. "Wonderful, I'll be keeping this to admire-. I mean study… With that, if you need me I'll be at my workplace." Selmer took a step toward the house when Vianola immediately raised her hand and said. "Master Selmer, a question if you may?" Selmer turned around, he said. "Make it quick child." Vianola pointed at his pocket where he hid the formations, she said. "What is your personal opinion on those?"
Selmer confidently said. "A new sapling, this has the potential to not only enhance current formations it could also open new possibilities." Selmer turned around and quickly walked toward the door, Esta said. "Would you like to meet him?" Selmer suddenly appeared on Esta's left, he said. "I am busy today, but I can make an exception since the mistress is personally asking me." Vulre eyes were narrowed as he crossed his arms. Selmer placed his hand inside the same pocket he placed the formation, he moved his gaze onto Esta. Selmer said. "How old is the creator?"
Esta had a playful smile on her face, she said. "Twelve." Selmer placed a hand on his chin and said. "Interesting… The creator of this is just recently turned a thousand and two hundred years old… No wonder…" Selmer moved his gaze onto a slightly pale Voxalen, he waved his hand at him and said. "Take the day off little Len, you are in condition to protect the mistress. I'll take over it for the day."
Voxalen gave Selmer a deep bow as he limped toward the building, Selmer said. "Before I forget, what happened regarding the test of the new formation?" Voxalen froze in place, Vianola pointed at the ground beneath them. Selmer looked down and saw a large gash on the grass, he said. "What happened here?" Vianola raised her hand and said. "A cross slash was cast by." Vianola pointed at Voxalen using her thumb and continued. "It broke two talismans, a mana wall from both of them, and a special talisman my father got me."
Selmer pointed at Voxalen who slowly turned around to face them and took a step back. Selmer's hand was shaking in anger, he said. "Y-You endanger the life of our mistress?! The moment the head comes home from her hunt she'll have you castrated if you're lucky! If not she'll take your life! Pray she comes home in a good mood for a chance to live another day. If I wasn't so eager-. I mean, needed to steal some knowledge of the creator of this formation. I would've done it myself!"
Esta grabbed Selmer's collar and started dragging him while she walked towards the library followed by Vulre and Vianola held a glowing talisman with her hand. Selmer turned his hand that he used to point at Voxalen who looked at the ground in shame into a fist, he continued. "I'll be the one to personally report to the head! So don't expect to get out of this without taking any-!" All four elves vanished using a teleportation spell.
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First Floor Library
Reiki finished another five formations and passed them to the other elves, he took another glance at the long line. Reiki thought. Did the line just get longer? Haruka was by his side sitting on a chair with a couple of books opened while taking down notes. He thought. At least someone is doing something productive…
The front door of the library opened while another five elves passed him more parchment with formations. Esta, Selmer, and Vianola walked to the table where Reiki was sitting. Esta gestured at him while Selmer had a frown on his face, the elves in the library started whispering to each other as they saw Selmer. Their eyes containing admiration and respect, Selmer looked over Reiki's right shoulder as he saw him alter formations like a machine.