Experimenting further, I developed a better understanding of how the new boon affected my magic. The boon itself could be activated at differing levels of effect, as I had already found. The amount of mana I saved seemed to be proportional to the increase in difficulty casting.
When casting a spell for half the normal mana, it was about twice as hard to weave the correct mana forms. Similarly, spells cast with a quarter of the normal mana were around four times as difficult to cast.
I almost managed to cast a light spell with what I expected would be an eighth of the usual mana, but the increased difficulty proved to be a bit too much for me. I wasn’t discouraged. If I could almost cast such a hampered spell after spending several days languishing in bed, I had no doubt that I would manage it with a bit more rest.
The reduced costs of the spells struck me as a little strange. Everything I knew about magic dictated that all energy had to come from somewhere. If that was true, where was the extra mana for my spells coming from?
I did have a suspicion. The mana in the area around me didn’t feel quite as dense as it had before I started experimenting. To test my theory, I once again cast mana sight to observe the ambient mana as I cast my spells.
Weaving together another half-cost light spell, I watched as mana was pulled in from the world around me. Casting another spell, I noticed tiny mana forms drifting away from my body before gathering the extra mana for my spells. The mana forms themselves were a little too small for me to accurately identify, but their purpose was obviously related to moving other mana.
Before deactivating my mana sight, I took another look around the camp. The dazzling array of colors was fun to look at. The mana fueling the street lights took on a different hue from that running to the wall. The light magic hovering in the sky provided a lovely contrast to the hue of the barrier below it.
I did still wonder what that was and why it led off into the jungle. Perhaps I would ask someone about it after I picked my next boon.
Physical Enhancement: Variable
Select from a list of physical enhancements. May be selected multiple times.
Mana Form Simulation: Mana Form Analysis
Enhances simulations with the ability to identify and replicate observed mana forms.
Mana Form Simulation: Adaptive Suggestions
Enhances simulations with the ability to recommend corrections and improvements to mana forms.
Improved Environmental Analysis
Enhances local information gathering ability of the system.
Privileged Resource Distribution
Receive a greater share of collective processing, distributed mana, and other system resources.
Once again I had two new boons to consider.
The improved analysis sounded promising. Knowing more about the world was always an appealing prospect. Considering how strong the other boons I had already received from being a true caster were, I expected this new boon would probably be similarly useful.
I didn’t know how to feel about the other boon. Obviously, gaining more resources from the system would benefit me. My concern was where those resources would be coming from. Like energy, I doubted that these things could be freely created.
My best guess was that the boon would take a portion of what it would normally give to others and instead give it to me. I did not like the thought of that. These people, with the exception of a few rather unpleasant individuals, had treated me very well. I had no desire to become a burden, no matter how much it would benefit me.
I did also have to consider the two boons from before. Unless there was a strange coincidence, my illness was most likely the reason I had grown so dizzy. The simulation was probably perfectly safe to use and I shouldn't have dismissed improvements to it so readily.
Now that I was looking at them with a clear head, both of the boons looked very tempting.
I was curious what the adaptive suggestion might be able to tell me. Were there entire aspects of mana that I was overlooking? What sort of mistakes had I unknowingly made when crafting my spells? A second opinion was likely going to be a great aid when crafting new spells or refining old ones.
The mana form analysis was even more interesting. There were countless little pieces of magic throughout the world around me that I had yet to identify. Just looking at the mana forms in my own body from both nature and the system would probably keep me busy for quite some time.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.
The thought of using a boon from the system to learn how the system itself worked was strangely appealing. It may have been a bit impulsive, but I decided that was a good enough reason for me to select the analysis boon next.
With that taken care of, I decided to seek out someone who might be able to relieve my curiosity about the light magic spell hovering invisibly over the camp.
----------------------------------------
“What the light magic over camp?” I asked Liam as he worked on patching up a flickering streetlight.
“Umm… the sun?” He replied in confusion.
“No.” I spent a moment struggling with my translation boon to find the right words to make myself understood. “The enchantment. It is a little above the barrier.”
“I-I… have no idea what you are talking about.” Liam admitted as he squinted up at the sky.
“It examines light.” I explained, pushing my boon to keep up with the conversation. “It sends information out into the jungle.”
After a moment, Liam’s confused face turned to one of consideration.
“That sounds like a scrying spell… But why would there be…?” He trailed off before giving me a concerned look. “I-I think Martin needs to hear about this. He’ll know what to do… probably.”
I watched Liam get the far off look other people did while looking at their interfaces. I still didn’t know why I couldn’t see other people’s interfaces most of the time, but I suspected that it had something to do with an update I hadn’t looked at yet. I didn’t have time to check before Liam focused on me again.
“The l-leaders want to see us… or well… you.”
I followed Liam into the first building I had visited when I first arrived at the camp. Now that I was paying attention, it was clear that more effort had been put into this building compared to the others. The lighting and cooling runes were more elaborate, and there were decorative elements not present in any of the other buildings.
Instead of heading to the room where we first met with Lady Halrand, Liam led me to a different doorway. He looked even more nervous than normal as he motioned me to head inside.
Like the rest of the building, the room beyond the door was of a notably higher quality than the rest of the camp. Inside, five people sat around a table arguing. I recognized Martin, Halrand, and Alexander the botanist, but the other two were unfamiliar to me. One was a man who was around the same height as Martin, but was muscular enough that he could probably out-wrestle someone as large as Norbert. The other was an older man with an unpleasant scowl on his slightly wrinkled face. The five of them put aside whatever they were discussing to turn towards me.
“What’s this nonsense about a scrying spell?” The weathered man demanded impatiently.
“It is above ca-”
“Yes yes, Martin said as much.” He cut me off dismissively. “What I want to know is how you somehow noticed a magical effect conveniently out of range of the senses of every magic user in the entire camp.”
“Come on Roy. Don’t bite the girl’s head off just for being better at your job than you are.” The red-bearded botanist playfully teased the grumpy man.
“Don’t overstep yourself, Zwick.” Halrand coldly instructed. “I too want to know what makes this savage think it has any insight of merit to us.”
“I used a spell.” I replied hesitantly. The way Halrand and Roy were glaring at me made me wish to be anywhere other than that room.
“A spell she says.” Roy snorted dismissively. “How and why would you have a spell designed for detecting scrying?”
“N-not… just scrying…” I stammered in explanation. “Sees mana.”
“If your mana sense is really so underdeveloped that you would need a spell for that, I highly doubt you would even have a clue what aspect of mana you were looking at, let alone what it does.”
“Roy, I am afraid I have to disagree.” Martin spoke up in my defense. “While traveling, I personally witnessed Kyo utilize a range of fairly sophisticated magic.”
“Bah, like you could tell the difference between a 1st tier spell and a 4th.” Roy retorted.
“Nevertheless, I believe it would be wise to look into her claims.” Martin calmly continued, seemingly indifferent to the other man's dismissive attitude.
“Sounds like a plan to me. If her magic is really as inferior as you seem to think it is, it shouldn’t be hard to cast it for yourself, now would it?” Alexander prodded with a smirk.
“Fine. Send me the spell. Now girl.”
I hurriedly opened my codex and focused on sending Roy the mana forms for my mana sight spell. I didn’t particularly want to give anything to the rude man, but it would be a small price to pay to get this over with sooner.
“Hmph. Not quite as crude as I expected. Let's see how this wor-” He cut himself off with a groan and an even more exaggerated grimace than he was already wearing. ”Gah. It’s like a drunk tried to paint the world with rainbows!”
“Are you able to get anything actually useful from the savage’s spell?” Halrand asked impatiently.
“It’s a sun-scorched mess, but I guess it could be used as the girl said. These obnoxious colors do seem to correlate to different aspects of mana.” Roy grunted before rubbing his eyes. “No way this was worth the headache though.”
“The girl may have found something then.” The muscular man finally spoke, though he still sounded rather disinterested. ”It’s not like we lose anything investigating a potential threat. Worst case, we explore a part of the jungle we were going to check eventually.”
“Oooh, that means a chance to find new plants. That has my vote.” Alexander rubbed his hands together eagerly.
“Very well. We’ll investigate.” Lady Halrand sighed. “If this proves to be a waste of time, we will need to reconsider whether or not it is worth continuing to let the savage remain as a drain on our resources.”
I really did not like the sound of that.
“I believe that conversation will not be necessary. I’ll head the investigation team myself.” Martin volunteered.
“Very well. Now someone show that out so we can get back to more productive discussion.” Halrand waved dismissively in my general direction.
I didn’t need anyone to show me the way to the door. Escaping from her and Roy was incentive enough for me to rush out of the room under my own volition.
I was starting to see why Catherine held her leaders in such low regard. Some nobles seemed to fit with her view of them rather well.