Rather than looking at each Glyph individually, Jeb called up all four Water Glyphs he knew at once. Straining what he could visualize, he overlaid the four Glyphs on top of each other. To his surprise, the four Glyphs overlapped at the first five points.
Even as Jeb considered what that could mean, he felt like he was missing something else. He’d been thinking of the Glyphs as tied to their Elements, but what if there was something more? Jeb dismissed three of the Water Glyphs and pulled up the other three Destroy Glyphs that he knew.
It took more manipulation, but Jeb found that the four Glyphs all shared their final twenty points. The idea that Glyphs took five points to attune the Element and twenty to attune their effect felt wrong. Not just wrong.
It was the same feeling as playing his lute when it was horribly out of tune, except within his soul. Jeb pulled the Water Glyphs back into his mind on an impulse. This time, rather than aligning the first point in the Glyph, Jeb felt an instinct to align the final point.
When he did, he saw that the final ten points were shared within all of the Water Glyphs. In fact, as Jeb kept pulling more Glyphs to mind, they all shared the final ten points.
That revelation seemed to remove the dissonance in his mind. The First Tier Glyphs, at least, spent five points attuning the Element, ten attuning the effect, and ten that every Glyph shared for some reason. Something about that numbering still didn’t quite fit, but it was close enough that Jeb felt like he could make a new Glyph.
Somewhere in the back of his mind, Jeb remembered hearing about Elementally Attuned Mana, though he couldn’t quite place what it was. A Glyph that had no effect but still attuned the Mana passing through it seemed like that might be what he would need.
Jeb looked at how the first five points of the Water Glyphs connected into the next. Thankfully, it was always fairly similar. The same was true in reverse. The last ten points all connected more or less the same way to the eleventh from the end.
Jeb dismissed all but a single Glyph from his mind. After all, any of the Glyphs had the points he would need, and he knew that he would need all of his focus to make the new Glyph. On top of his mental image of Least Conjure Water, Jeb traced out its first five points.
Light flowed through them normally, which he had expected. After all, he’d learned eighteen Glyphs by this point.
Jeb placed the sixth point in the same place as it was for Least Conjure Water. It was as good of a guess as he could make, even though he was sure he’d need to shift it around. With that point placed firmly, if only for a moment, Jeb mentally shifted the Glyphs in his mind.
Or at least, he tried to. Shifting one ended up shifting the other. Then, when Jeb managed to separate the two Glyphs from one another, he started losing his image of the new Glyph.
After a few trials, though, he managed to get the two Glyphs to move separately from each other. Now instead of lining up with the first part of the Glyph, the last two points Jeb had created lined up with the eleventh and tenth from the last points. He filled in the last points of light.
Sadly, he didn’t feel the burning in his soul as a new Glyph etched itself into him. Looking more closely at the Glyph, Jeb saw that the point he’d guessed on a location for was restricting the flow.
He tried shifting it so that it didn’t restrict the flow, only to realize that he’d need to move the entire section of the Glyph together to find the right location. Jeb had barely been able to move the single point, so trying to move a whole section at once felt beyond him.
As he considered how he could move the Glyph, he let the images fall from his mind. Immediately, he remembered that he was supposed to check in with his family before doing anything potentially dangerous. Even though nothing about making the new Glyph felt dangerous, Jeb supposed it was probably still a good idea to let someone know what he was doing.
That realization reminded him that he hadn’t spoken to his bees in a few days again. He really needed to remember to check in on them daily. His grandfather was working at the forge, if the sounds coming out of the door were any indication.
“Grandfather, in the interest of informing you when I’m about to do something dangerous, I’m going over to my hive to try and create a new Glyph,” Jeb said.
“Thanks for letting me know,” his grandfather replied, “if you aren’t back by midnight I’ll come look for you.”
With that settled, Jeb made his way over to the beehive.
“Hello, I’m sorry that I haven’t been by in a few days.” The bees buzzed something that felt like a shrug. Rather than continue anthropomorphizing his hive, Jeb moved on to talk through his plan for creating a new Glyph.
Jeb called Least Conjure Water back to mind and once more filled in the first six points. Shifting the Glyph over was far easier this time around. As he finished filling in the Glyph, he saw the same hesitation in the flow.
He had an idea. Right now, the Glyph he was working on was still untied to Least Conjure Water. Jeb tried binding the last points back to the Glyph.
To his surprise, he was able to move the ending points relative to the attuning points, though still with some difficulty. Shifting it slightly to the left made the block worse. To the right made it slightly better, so Jeb kept shifting it until he went too far.
Even once he’d found the best lateral position, the flow still seemed blocked. It was a two-dimensional shape, so Jeb tried shifting the point up. The block seemed to be clearing, so he kept going. As he kept moving it, something changed.
Jeb suddenly felt the Glyph burn into his soul. Checking his Status, he found that the Glyph already had a name. Rather than question if the Glyph existed before he’d made it or if the System just named Glyphs on its own, Jeb realized that he had not finished his Quest.
Looking closer, he saw why. The new Spell Glyph was Attune Water Mana, a Tier 0 Spell. Jeb pulled up his Quest to see why.
Glyphmastery Minor Quest First Tier Scribe a First Tier Glyph Before you learn to create your own spells, you first need to learn how to copy the work of others. Engrave an existing Spell Glyph onto a physical medium that others may learn. (Repeatable, Scribe Chain First Quest) Minor Quest Third Tier Create a New First Tier Spell Glyph No true Glyphmaster uses spells others have created. Create your own First Tier Glyph. (Glyph Chain First Quest)
He needed to make a First Tier Glyph to finish the Quest. Jeb tried modifying the Glyph, just to see if he could. To his slight surprise, not only was he able to modify it, he even saw a Quest Notification after he did.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Modify a Spell Glyph. Keep changing the Spells you know to fit your needs, rather than the opposite. Rewards: 39 EXP, Magic Affinity +1, Mana Depth +1.
That was nice, though Jeb realized that his Magic Affinity was rapidly outpacing his other Mental Statistics. Whether or not that was a problem he wasn’t sure, but it certainly wasn’t ideal. Future Theorycrafting aside, though, Jeb had a new Glyph.
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More than that, Jeb had a new Glyph that had an effect he didn’t understand yet. He called the Glyph back into his mind, making absolutely sure to use the unmodified version. Then, feeding in the slightest trickle of Mana, he watched what happened.
To his eyes, there was no change other than the steady decrease in his Mana. As he looked at the Glyph, though, he saw that there was a steady pool of clear blue Mana building around him. The bees seemed to notice it as well.
They flew in and out of the pool, not seeming to disturb it in any way. Hmm, Jeb wondered, I wonder what that could be about. Was it possible that his bees were able to recognize areas of increased Mana?
Again, that was a question for the future. Now that Jeb knew what he was doing, he decided to make the other three First Element Attuning Spell Glyphs.
Since Jeb had Least Mud Magic, he assumed that Earth would be the next easiest for him to create. Pulling Least Move Earth into his mind, Jeb again affixed the first six points. He was able to shift the Glyphs relative to each other much more easily this time through. As before, there was a blockage when he finished adding the final points.
Shifting the two parts relative to each other also seemed easier. Not only that, Jeb was gaining an instinct for how to move the two to improve the flow. Jeb soon had Attune Earth Mana and quickly modified it as well.
Unlike the Water Mana, the Earth Mana he made did not pool. Instead, it seemed to form a heap in the air. Jeb noticed that the bees were continuing to fly around both areas. As he watched, he noticed that some preferred to fly in the Water Mana while others preferred the Earth.
Attuning and modifying Fire and Air went even faster, even despite the System discouraging his experimentation with the Manas.
Jeb tried making Attune Mud Mana, since he did have a Mud Spell Glyph. As he looked at it, though, he was confused. There were more points, certainly. As he looked at the last twenty points, they did line up with the last points of any of his other Least Create Glyphs, but the first seventeen made no sense to Jeb.
As he sat there thinking, he stifled a yawn. That broke him out of his trance. After all, while learning was important, being well rested for Smithing training the following morning was probably more important. Jeb bid the bees goodnight and went back to his room.
He woke up the next morning and went out to the bees. “Good morning hive,” he greeted. A few bees came out to greet him as well.
Jeb took out his lute and made sure that it was in tune. The Enforcing he was doing was clearly helping it stay in tune, at least. He quickly fell into the Song, watching the hive join in.
For whatever reason, Jeb’s attention was drawn to the thread that flowed into the lute. He knew that he could control it at least a little, if previous experience was any indication. Out of curiosity, Jeb tried moving the thread.
He was careful not to disconnect the thread from the lute. A shiver ran down his back as he even thought about that. Still, Jeb was able to shift the way the thread came together and into the lute. As his Mana ran empty, he considered what use that might have.
Lacking any obvious idea, Jeb packed up his lute and went back to plan the day with his grandfather.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 4064/100
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Total Statistic Load: 273 Physical Load: 124 Strength: 28 Dexterity: 21 Endurance: 30 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 149 Intelligence: 25 Willpower: 25 Magic Affinity: 51 Mana Depth: 25 Charisma: 23
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Mana: 570
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Glyph Attunement: 22 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)