Merkovah lead Truth from the enchanted conference room to a small interview room. It was just big enough for two chairs, a desk, and extremely robust privacy protections. Truth wasn’t entirely fit to talk. The old monster gave him time to pull himself together. Flipping through the books in the room while he waited.

Truth eventually drew a heavy breath and focused on Merkovah. “Etenesh doesn’t practice body cultivation.”

“True. Though she isn’t too far from Level Four. There might just be time for her to reach it and start practicing the sort of specialized cultivation that will get her through the collapse. Alternatively, I know some of the old families are surrounding their estates with enormous cosmic ray gathering formations. Turning them into Holy Lands, for lack of a better term. The Heaven Beseeching Clan is deep, deep in the mountains, and their ritualists are very good. I don’t know if their work will last for millenia, but it should keep them vital and fighting for centuries at least.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes. In their tiny little bubble of safety up in the mountain, they will be very strong. I just hope they don’t need anything from the outside world.”

“Ah.”

“Mmm. Well, it buys them time. Time enough to make those body cultivators. I rather imagine them like deep sea divers, being sent to retrieve treasures from the ocean floors. Perhaps a special caste or class will develop within those ancient clans. “Guardians” or “Roadfairers” or “Steel Knights.” Some romantic drivel.” Merkovah gave him a lopsided smile.

“Spell Blades.”

“Just that sort of thing. Though I suspect that there will be a great deal of prestige attached to being able to cast magic unaided. Their pride will discourage them from picking up a sword, even as practicality demands it.”

“Spear. Easier to learn than a sword and more versatile. Good for hunting, solo fights, group fights. I’d train my kids up on spears before swords.”

“Really? Given the way you became inseparable from the Tongue, I had thought you fell in love with the romance of the sword.”

“This and that are two different things. That is the Tongue being awesome, not all swords being awesome.”

Merkovah chuckled. “I can see how that would be true, though in defense of swords, they have been the exorcist’s weapon of choice since time immemorial.”

“Really? Not spells?”

“Both. You need both. Spells to restrain, castigate and drive out. The sword to prove what will happen to the demon if it stays.” The young looking old man chopped through the air with his hand.

“Do you have a sword?”

“Many. I wind up collecting them, or inheriting them, then giving them away. For example, to promising students.” Merkovah smiled at Truth. “What, did you think I just randomly had an angelic sword in the boot of my carriage?”

“It honestly never occurred to me. Your go-to weapon was always that thumb ring of yours.” Truth shrugged.

“Hah! That’s a loan. And a long story. Ready to pick your next spell? I brought a selection and, while I know you might find this an uncomfortable change, they are all good and not horrible jank.”

“Actually, I keep seeing that people “fixed” Cup and Knife a hot second after it was published. Do you have any of those spells around?”

“I don’t, but I’ll ask around. Someone in the embassy has an alchemical reference book somewhere. Or there is one in the Capital here, it’s hardly a secret. That being said, even the corrected and improved versions of the spell are now badly out of date. Never mind that, see what I brought. I am rather proud of these spells, so read them over carefully.”

“You wrote them?”

“I don’t have that kind of creativity. No, I collected them, and you may be certain they were not easy to come by.”

Truth nodded and started reading the summaries.

Earth Folding Step: High speed movement spell. Each step can cover a progressively longer distance. In essence, the mage “folds” the space between where their foot starts and lands, then instantly unfolds them again. This folding only affects the mage. Anyone or anything within the “folded” space is completely unaffected and unaware. Distance traveled and speed of casting depends on skill with the spell and the level of cultivation. Level Five is the bare minimum level necessary to learn the spell and cast it once. This spell is an off world import that dates back to the initial settlement of the planet.

Four Elements Annihilation: Takes advantage of the four-element nature of matter to identify the elemental ratio of a given object, and to overload one of those elements. The ensuing instability results in the collapse or destruction of the targeted matter. For example, overloading the “fire” element in a wood frame building would cause it to spontaneously ignite, the fire coming from the interior of the wood and spreading outward. The same technique can be applied to humans and demons. Particularly useful because it can affect a very wide area for a comparatively low energy cost. It does, however, require a considerably long casting time.

Doomsday Book:

“You have a spell called Doomsday Book and you didn’t lead with that?”

Merkovah rolled his eyes. “Of all the spells I selected, it’s the one I think you are least likely to choose. It might as well be called “The Census Taker,” but everyone has to be a self promoter, apparently.”

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

“Eh?”

“Just read the summary.”

Doomsday Book: The spell is constantly active, but requires almost no expenditure of cosmic energy. Every person the mage meets is cataloged, as are their personal possessions. As the mage goes about in the world, meeting more people and seeing more things, the catalog of existent people, items, possessions and their interrelations gets larger and more detailed. The mage will instantly be able to recall every entry, and with a minor effort of will, comprehend the cataloged connections. As mastery improves, so does the ability to form and understand linkages between entries.

Truth blinked. Reread the description. Blinked again.

“Do you have this spell memorized?”

“That’s rather rude to ask.”

“Yeah, but if I was the king and knew I had an immortal spymaster on hand, I’d damn well order you to learn it.”

“I’m not immortal. Just long lived. And you aren’t wrong. Not this spell but one very similar. I didn’t think the particular theological bent of the spell I learned would appeal to you.”

“These days, you might be surprised.” Truth rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Your little assignment has kind of messed me up, you know?”

“Oh?”

“You would not believe some of the people I have asked about defining what a human is.”

“Any good answers?”

“No. People kind of lock up when you put them on the spot like that.”

“Heh. Yes, they do, don’t they? Keep reading.”

Soul Hunter: Allows the mage to fix the position of a given person’s soul in their mind and track them over any distance and through any non-magical barrier. The spell works through most magical barriers, and all ordinary household wards. To be effective, the mage must meet the target or have a meaningful personal possession of theirs, or some part of their body. At higher levels, the requirements lessen dramatically and the potency of the tracking power increases greatly. The quintessential “You can run but you can’t hide” spell.

“Nifty, if less useful than it initially appears.” Truth shook his head.

“You don’t think the ability to find almost anyone on the planet is useful?” Merkovah looked outraged.

“Got any of Starbrites meaningful personal possessions? Does it track bits of soul as they fly back towards him?”

“No.”

“Yeah.”

“Still, an incredibly subtle, powerful spell.”

“When I collect Starbrite’s head, I think I will be well and truly done with playing assassin. At least for a good long while.”

Merkovah snorted and waved him on to the last spell.

Thunderchild: Spell uses the entirety of the Magus’s available magic, only ceasing when there is not enough magic left to sustain it. Upon activation, the Magus increasingly aligns their body with the primordial sky-fire known as lightning. The body’s elements shift heavily to air-fire. As the body becomes more aligned with those elements the Magus’ speed increases exponentially. At highest mastery, they move so quickly the world appears frozen. Their thought processes speed up, they hit harder, their everly blow carries primordial sky-fire within it, and they become almost impossibly elusive. Should they need to flee or persue, they can travel vast distances, only getting faster and faster as they go. However, upon the expiration of the spell, the Magus will collapse and likely need several days to recover, as well as the assistance of potions and ideally a high magic chamber.

“What?!”

“Good one, I think.” Merkovah smiled at the battered book like an indulgent uncle. “A bit tricky to use, definitely not for everyone, and the requirements to learn it in the first place are downright grotesque, but despite its drawbacks, it is one of the most effective single combatant spells on the planet. In terms of sheer damage output, Incisive really cannot compare.”

“I can imagine.” Truth really could, too. He was already blindingly fast. The idea of becoming exponentially faster without increasing his level, even with the days-long recovery time, was almost sickeningly appealing.

“Interesting story there. It was the guardian spell for a small kingdom. They were able to dominate a small area thanks to the power of their top-level combatants, but they couldn’t expand for the same reason. Just not enough powerhouses, and the ones they had consumed most of the resources generated by the kingdom. Making it very, very hard to create more powerhouses.”

“Huh. Makes sense. What happened to them?”

“The borders of Siphios expanded. Their experts were few, ours were many, and our summons were so many, they blotted out the sun. The whole war lasted three days.”

Truth grunted. “Might have been a better idea to cut a deal.”

“Easy to say. Much harder to do.” Merkovah shook his head. “By the end, they were drinking potions and depleting spirit crystals like they were nothing. Trying to keep the spell running constantly and shoot down the bombardment against the palace wards. It worked, for a while. We could keep the bombardment up. Their bodies collapsed.”

“Good lesson there.”

“I always thought so. Still, easily one of the most powerful spells of its sort on the planet.”

“So why offer it to me?”

“Because you are one of very few people on this planet who meet the requirements to use it. The body cultivation requirements alone are astonishingly brutal. If I were to give it to any random Level Five, their body would just explode the first time they tried to cast it. The energy requirements are likewise obscene. If you want to be able to fight for more than a fraction of a second, deep, deep energy reserves are required.”

Truth looked up at the ceiling and thought about it. Not from the perspective of immediate need, but from the perspective of self definition. Who did he want to be?

Soul Hunter was easily discarded. He could see it now- the silent, invisible, unshakable assassin. “You can run, but you can’t hide.” He could put that on business cards. No, that’s not who he wanted to be. Even if his life was spent in violence, he had no desire to become some kind of evil urban legend. Besides, going back to the question of utility, it wasn’t useful. Maybe Merkovah could see the use case. He couldn’t. So that was out.

Four Elements Annihilation was likewise discarded. Instead of becoming a pursuing ghost, he would be a saboteur. Walls would collapse, vehicles, spell arrays, armor, heck even personal wards would all come down for him. But was that all he wanted to be? Someone who just destroyed wherever he went? No. Not after everything. Not after seeing what he had seen. He didn’t want to add that to his soul. Useful, certainly. There would be plenty of barriers and people between him and Starbrite. But he didn’t want to define himself as a God of broken homes and shattered dreams.

Which just left the Earth Folding Step, Doomsday Book and Thunderchild to choose from. And now, things got a lot harder.