---Maddy---

"Just have to start on it huh." Maddy muttered just under her breath – staring at the stack of wooden slates she had been holding for close to ten minutes now.

Her mind was blank – clueless as to where to start. She wasn't an artist, but it felt like…it felt like she had decided she wanted to draw, looked throughout the house, finally found a pack of markers from grade school, sought out some paper – pillaging the families printer – then. Just after sitting down, finally after getting ready, she suddenly realized she had no clue what she wanted to draw.

Madison thought about the lecture – thought back and tried to narrow in on her goals.

What did she want?

What did Madison Graves want?

Why did she want it?

Why did she think she wanted it?

Madison wanted magic. She wanted…fantasy.

I obviously want to survive and make my way but…

But magic.

This single goal had briefly consumed all of her thoughts. Who wouldn’t want magic? If you found out it really existed? Who wouldn’t dream of being able to use it?

From what the wizard had explained, magic wasn’t fully what she had been imagining – it was a bit too structured in certain ways…but that was probably true of any magic she imagined. Looking behind the curtain made it lose a bit of mystery.

What was her short-term goal?

The task she had been given was…well she was supposed to make her own skills from the ground up.

The broken system skill gave her the building blocks she could use to play with. After re-arranging them, she would be doing the same actions the system had done – only now under her own control.

She would understand what is happening.

That’s probably the best place to start right? Focus on what I have? Focus on the smaller pieces then put them together afterwards?

Maddy’s two most important concepts were application and sound. They were the two that were ‘complete’ – the rest were all ‘part concepts’ and limited enough they could only be used to make skills like her old ones.

She could actually focus on both at once – and despite herself, Maddy found it easier to multitask. The act of multitasking calmed her slightly – a side effect of her foundation?

'Application' was an incredibly general concept. It was vague in meaning – she could probably use it in tons of different scenarios…but because of that it felt weaker. Like a glue she could use to hold skills together.

When Maddy thought of how it was used in her original skill and how it felt…glue was what came to her mind. Something that tied the whole skill together – it seeped throughout the shape of the skill and made it somehow work – the skill itself was almost too complicated. The only reason such a wide array of effects worked together was because this glue was a part of it.

She imagined the shape application took in the skill …she realized it was being used twice. The skill was almost recursive – looping back on the same concept and double dipping its utility.

* Apply, applying to scythe.

…no, it was more recursive than that.

* Apply (apply (mana collects transfers ) scythe) Scythe .

...better.

Maddy's board took on a mess of squiggles as she pulled apart and put her skill back together with her new knowledge. It made sense in her head but became more and more convoluted the more she broke apart every part of her skill. The crocodile brackets were "shapes". The part of her skill that was being automatically filled in by her familiarity with the skill. The image she had, the way she moved her mana through the runes…she counted four – maybe five different times the mana looped back through her “application rune”.

Maddy was reminded of a mechanic – she could almost imagine herself taking apart a metaphorical engine and putting it back together to better understand it. The end result almost reminded her of how people talked about computer programs – not that she was confident enough to claim it was exactly like that.

…despite being a bit of a mess, this last result felt right – but it wasn’t at all like Renald’s spell example had been. He had simply written a rhyme beside some symbols – Maddy’s starting point was a probably hard-to-follow mess of concepts and shapes that might not make sense even to her when she came back to it later.

…should she try and untangle it? Try and copy Renald’s spell style more?

…he had spoken a lot about everyone’s style being different hadn’t he? What Maddy had written felt right…she would just work on making neater setups in the future.

The whole time Maddy was writing down and thinking about ‘application’ she was also considering sound.

Sound as a concept…it spoke to her as communication. Maybe if her affinity was with motion, she’d be better off thinking about it purely in terms of vibrations – she could actually think of sonic damage or sound itself being an attack.

Instead, after ruminating on the concept for a while, all Maddy could say is it felt like ‘communication’ more than simply vibrations in the air. The concept was like a microphone she could shove stuff through as long as it looked like ‘sound’.

A communication between her and others. A communication between her and a spell. The concept blasted her words stronger than they would be otherwise…but that was it.

She could tell if she wanted to speak her spells instead of writing them, this concept would help shift her to that end. She could tell if she wanted to create songs of mana – magical melodies for ‘spells’ the concept would drag her through the motions.

Did she want that?

Drawing the concept for sound on a board then holding it, she looked at her friends. “Heal” she spoke – imagining any injuries on them being attacked by her life mana.

A faint splash seemed to come from her voice wafting over them. Weaker then her words of death had been – she had removed the emotion concept parts and hadn’t put in a lot of effort.

“Heal my friends – make all that is wrong with them right. Please heal Jess and Troy.” Maddy spoke watching as her mana was better directed – a lower amount of healing seemed to hit Renald, a lower amount was dissipated into the surroundings – it looked like the mana that did hit her friends was a bit higher…

Jess smiled at her – a grin at being called her friend.

They should all make sure to do something together soon – Maddy didn’t want them to start feeling like travelling companions that just so happened to be near each other.

Maddy focused back to the results.

Overall, they were much stronger – it was a better spell, the shape of words she had used was better…but it also took longer to ‘cast’ and sounded slightly dumb as she was put on the spot.

Is this how she wanted to do all of her spells from now on?

Looking over the side of the cart Maddy tried another sound-based concept – trying as hard as she could to stop focusing on the healing aspect of life.

“Grow the grass to be big and strong. Nutrient rich and full of Life.”

It would be hard to notice the result without her…life sense? It wasn’t fully a real ‘life sense’ but Maddy could see her own mana and what it affected. ‘Personal mana sense’ might be a better description – at least for now. She also felt a timbre in her already full of mana words. They seemed to resonate when she said life – she wanted to hold that thought.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Starting with her at the center, a wave of her mana flooded out in all directions – carried as far as her voice could reach at the speed of ‘sound’. Every single blade of grass lit up slightly in her sight – and she could have sworn they tinted greener in her vision.

It would be incredibly impressive if not for how little had actually happened. Maybe if she cast the same spell again and again for a day or two?

It was wide-reaching but maybe due to how much grass was being affected, the result was muted…

Waiting till her mana was full again, she tried a similar spell.

“Grow the grass just around the carriage. Apply and effect only the grass in a twenty-foot range. Make it nutrient rich and full of Life.”

This time the grass right around the carriage was affected – it definitely changed colour – like a blurry brush had increased the saturation in a circle around her.

…The spell had seemed to like her using Apply in the wording – she could definitely feel it in the words. It hadn’t quite been the same as actually using the symbol for it – but it was still there.

Renald was right. The more concepts she had the better. She should work to gather more and increase the range of stuff she could do. One day she might be able to speak a whole sentence using nothing but concepts!

There was a real question she wanted to answer though.

Would she want to add verbal activations to spells in the future?

Taking her scythe covered in reaper runes and activating her first spell, Maddy spoke at the same time. “Reaper’s slash” she looked around suddenly realizing she didn’t have a target.

She wouldn’t be testing her spell on her friends – people were not test subjects.

…she also didn’t know about testing it on herself. That seemed like a good path towards masochism.

…should have just used life mana shouldn’t she? It was so much safer for testing that death mana.

Waiting for the spell to dissipate, Maddy spent some time trying to undo it. It felt like she could almost bring it back. She could definitely straight-up break the spell – but that wasn’t nearly as useful as being able to retract it. Bring back the mana that never ended up being used…if she wanted that she would probably have to change the spell a bit but it didn’t stop her trying anyways.

Finally back to a clean slate, Maddy tried once again. “A living Reaper’s blade” Maddy spoke as she cast her spell.

Reaching out she touched the tip of the blade and saw how her worms flooded out and through her body.

Definitely stronger.

So back around to her original question. Did she want to start speaking every single one of her spells?

No…

No…she didn’t think she did. Would she speak a spell if it made sense? Probably. It was a free boost to effectiveness. The worms felt anywhere from a quarter to twice as effective just because she had spoken the words…yes that was a huge range – it was really hard to figure out just how much better just that they were.

So how did she want to carry around her sound concept?

It felt separate from the rest of her spell parts. Something she could use or not…a amplifier that only activated when she spoke and wanted it.

The more Maddy felt around her concepts the more it felt like there was meaning to how they were used. A meaning to placement and a meaning to…Maddy had an idea but it felt like a commitment.

Did she want to try it?

…should she wait?

…it felt like this was the best time to do it. It felt like she should commit while she was still thinking of it – like if she waited till later, it would no longer work how she was hoping.

That might just be superstition, but it might be true – Maddy wanted to follow her gut for this but she didn’t have to. She had someone to ask.

“Hey, can you help tell me what you think of this plan? If it sounds good I’ll also need some help setting it up.” Maddy turned to her temporary teacher rousing him from his dazed position.

“Of course, tell me what you want” He responded and listened.

…

“Bit to the left.” Renald spoke magnifying the light sculpture in front of Maddy’s face.

She was currently carefully drawing [Apply -> Sound] on her tongue using the charcoal of her marker. The rune for sound took up a massive area of her tongue while apply was drawn small and attached with an arrow near the back.

Renald was acting like a mirror – looking down at her tongue and mimicking what he saw with an illusion. He had said she had to draw it herself if she really wanted it to work how she was hoping – so this fake mirror was their best option.

Slowly but surely, she drew the shapes as cleanly as she could. Her tongue felt dry and saliva was building in the back of her throat – she could taste the charcoal and it was making her salivate for some reason.

As soon as she saw the last line was in place Maddy pushed her mana through the rune.

A race of death killing her tastebuds. Melting into her flesh and making her wince. A race of life, healing her damage, fixing immediately afterwards.

The runes burned deeper and deeper into her tongue – they felt almost like they were living creatures. Her tongue vibrated and Maddy found herself gagging and choking – involuntary tears rushing down her face as the worried eyes of her friends watched.

…she waved to them that she was fine. It didn’t hurt that bad – and she wanted this.

Finally finishing up, she channelled life throughout her head clearing up any lingering signs of damage.

All this on a whim…but it felt right.

She still wanted more concepts – she hadn’t even finished making a new skill – but now felt clearer than she had.

“Thank you, don’t worry I’m fine” she told her friends – the barest slip of mana leaking into her words.

They didn’t seem to notice her slip – that might get dangerous if she wasn’t paying attention – but…Troy seemed to relax at her words.

“I finally figured out something I want to do. It's dumb that it took me this long, but I have a plan.”

Maddy finally started once more, a goal in mind as she drew on her board and then shifted straight to her scythe.

Testing was all well and good, but this needed to be written on the scythe itself.

Step one was to section off a majority of the spell. She wanted death leeches that could be sent out to attack…and life worms that could be sent off to heal.

What she really wanted was to attach those worms to sound – send them off to attack anything that could hear her. Essentially combine her two skills – the problem of course was that words on their own were indiscriminate. Sound was by nature an area of effect.

What Maddy wanted was to attack only the monsters they would face and not her friends. To do that she couldn’t send them out with sound…she had to combine it somehow?

Somehow the transference ‘part concept’ transfers the collected death energy back to me on a kill. Can I change that slightly? What does that look like?

Messing about with her part concepts for the first time Maddy was more and more aware of the limitations. She couldn’t just immediately use them to get the result she wanted – but what she wanted was already mostly done.

...

Several hours of drawing, erasing and redrawing...a sleep through the night and then a return to the project in the morning. Finally she got the result she had wanted. She had taken small breaks to learn more from the wizard – how she might be able to gain a second affinity for example – but the largest gain was her spell.

Maddy had gotten it working!

“Apply a link to all that can hear me.”

Maddy started out with a ‘sound’ attack. Her attack was limited in scope to the point where it was drastically strengthened. All she wanted was to ‘plant a seed’. That symbolism was written out in her ‘shapes’ description and held in her mind. She didn't want to hurt anything, just forcefully plant a seed that didn't do anything alone.

Everyone and everything in range – including the merchants below actually – was hit by this ‘primer’ spell.

…she willed the seeds attached to the passengers below to wither – she didn’t want to be rude.

Everyone had been hit of course except for Renald. He simply smiled as he listened to her spell – did he have such high defense it didn’t activate for him? Some sort of protective spell?

That wasn’t important.

Now that she had a link, Maddy cast the reapers slash into her other modified skill.

Standing far back on the carriage she aimed directly at Jess and cut the air – “Healing slash”.

The seed inside of jess sprouted – bursting into an intangible sprout that quickly grew. It thrust vines of life throughout the already fully healed girl's body and then faded.

Turning to look over the side of the carriage, Maddy saw what she had felt.

A creature that looked like a puffer fish with legs and large red eyes stared at the carriage as they passed its nest.

“Necrotic slash” Maddy swung her blade – pushing the effect down the connection she had made towards the monster.

The seed it turned out was actually an egg – an egg that burst open and hatched dozens of deadly leeches. Her spell grew as it activated creating several creatures that burrowed through fishy land-flesh and caused the surprised monster to shriek like a banshee.

The cart below her sped up slightly – she should start being more understanding of their situation – and it wasn’t till they were far away from the nest before it slowed once more.

📗 Achievement get: Apprentice mage: Joined paths. (unique)

Description: Create a fully functional spell or combination of spells that can be used with both sides of your mana effectively.

----------------------------------------

Stat: +3 mental power.

Stat: +1 mental speed.

Stat: +1 soul power.

“I think you’ve finally reached a point where you’ve found your own path” Renald jumped up onto the side of the caravan and began walking along the railing – impossibly balanced on the tightrope. “Do you have any more questions for me before I leave?” he spun and jumped to the front of the carriage.

Yes.

Maddy had tons of questions. Tons – she hadn’t milked the teacher for all he had.

What did she want to ask? Why was she blanking?

“What about using pips in spells? What about using something like a core in a spell?” Maddy spoke the first thing that came to her mind.

Her question caused the wizard to pause and grimace slightly.

“A practice I’m not that fond of – sorry for creating a gap in your explanation but I really don’t think it’s something you should focus on. Basically…You as a young mage have your element concept and shapes. Those are yours – those are the spells you can cast freely.” The teacher sat down dangling his legs off the railing and staring at them.

“Using components in spells is a method of making up for something you are lacking. It’s a way of essentially giving yourself an extra disposable single use concept or even element. It can let you create spells you never would have been able to otherwise – depending on how meaningful or how magical the component is it can allow you to create incredibly strong effects…but it also adds a resource to magic that doesn’t need it. Wizards that rely on components but can’t create any real spells without them…they are not real wizards in my mind.” Renald spoke and Maddy could hear the derision on his voice.

“Sometimes it’s the only way to go about doing something however – Pips are basically eggs for cores. They don’t work well – its incredibly hard to get them to give you a status screen – but because they have that…that sort of innate concept you can use them to cast a status ritual…the bigger they are the easier it is to do so – if you have a big enough pip however you’ll end up with a core and using a core that can already give you a status screen for a single use spell to achieve the same result…” Renald’s face gave off what he thought of such an effect.

“Basically, if you rely on it it’s a crutch. But…It's also the only way to achieve some results – I’d hold off on using it for anything but some sort of permanent spell or as a last resort. For example, creating a familiar or escaping a monster a rank above you. Do you have any other questions?” he asked.

Maddy paused. She did but she didn’t...he had already given her so much – so much more than the amount of effort she had put in helping him. It felt…the more she got to know him it felt like this was just a charity. He hadn’t needed her help in the first place – he just wanted to set her on the right path.

That felt right.

Nodding her head Maddy said goodbye. “No, I don’t have any other questions – thank you for your time.”

Wiggling his fingers, the wizard jumped up once more then bowed and blurred.

He was gone.

“Finally, that guy creeped me out.” Jess spoke up causing Troy to nod beside her.

“Really? He seemed nice.” Maddy wanted to defend him more but…that was fine.