“Hold on, Attributes?” Sharline said.
Back at Celeste's Citadel, Sharline and Blair sat in her classroom in front of the blackboard, learning more about Void Magic.
“Yes! You probably already know that Void Magic involves different types of aura. However, there's another layer to it. To put it simply, there are Aura Types, which is the functionality and properties of a person's Aura, and a "trait" that determines the nature of one's magic ability which are ‘Attributes’. The Attributes are…”
Celeste pointed her stylus at the board behind her.
“Inertia: One's ability involves stabilizing/neutralizing things.
Abundance: One's ability revolves around strengthening and enhancing things.
Chaos: One's ability will be centered around instability, destruction, and the unpredictable.
Neutrality: One's ability will involve the negation of outside effects, whether positive or negative.
Entropy: One's ability will center around death and decay.
Purity: One's ability will involve reversing damages to things and cleansing them of imperfections.
Order: One's ability will center around balancing things/keeping things in order.
Illusion: One's ability will involve bending or warping reality.”
The students nodded along as each Attribute was represented before Celeste continued. “With the Attributes, a Void Magic user's ability will be based on whatever their Attribute is. For example, Augmentation, which is all about strengthening and enhancing, and Illusion, which revolves around warping and bending reality itself. An Augmentation user with an Illusion Attribute would be able to "augment" the effects of an illusion. They may make the illusion more immersive and real to make it more deceptive, or perhaps even make it more potent. Another angle could be that they could augment themselves to be more believable in the illusion, or even to better fool and deceive someone, like an actor!”
The two girls took a moment to process the new info, but for Blair, more questions were raised than answers. “Uh, hey Cel? I have a question…”
“Yes, dear? Ask away!”
“Yay! So the hiccup is the overlap here: like Augmentation and Entropy for example. If Augmentation, by nature, revolves around strengthening things, then how can an Augmenter with the Entropy Attribute come up with an ability when Entropy revolves around death and decay?”
Celeste thought: Wow, this girl is really inquisitive, never took her as the type to ask such a question…
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Ooh, I see! That's quite the conundrum.” she replied. “However, I have a few ideas! Perhaps the ability to "augment" a decay? They can use their power to increase an infection's speed and make a disease lethal much quicker. Perhaps there's a sort of power "balance" wherein they can't increase the life force, but can increase the decay and destruction instead? Perhaps they can "augment" the damage caused by an impact, rather than the durability, making it deadly and harmful. Maybe they can even "augment" the decay of themselves.”
Blair's eyes widened as her question was answered, beaming as she went into thought once more. “Ooh yeah, I see, that gives me a new perspective, it works! But uh…how ‘bout Extraction and the Abundance Attribute though? Extraction is to absorb life-force or energy from someone or something else, while Abundance involves healing and enhancement - what kind of an ability can an Extractor with the Abundance Attribute come up with, with this in mind?”
“Hmm, another good one. Extraction is the ability to absorb life force and energy, and Abundance is the ability to heal and enhance. Perhaps they can steal the life force of someone, and be able to give it to someone else to make that person's life force "abundant", or in other words, make them healthy and healed. Alternatively, perhaps they could "enhance" their "extraction" ability, making it stronger and more able, thus making it more abundant. Or, they can extract energy—and thus life force—from themselves as an energy reserve.”
“Those are good usages, neat! Now, how about Emulation and Order? With Emulation being the ability to copy or mimic the auras of other people, and the Order Attribute revolving around controlling things, how could an Emulator come up with an ability while following the rules of Order?”
“Aha! Emulation, which is the ability to copy or mimic the auras of other people, and Order, which is all about the control of things. An Emulator with the Order Attribute would be able to mimic the ways that people control things, and thus control them in a similar manner. Maybe they can emulate a master warrior's way of controlling the battlefield and use the same tactics to make the battle "ordered". Perhaps they can imitate and mimic the way someone orders their body around so well they can even use their fighting styles, or even something more general like copying a way someone controls their emotions!”
“Sounds neato! I'm probably being annoying now, but how about Emulation and Neutrality, how do you think that would work out?”
“Oh, dear! You're not annoying me, you're just asking questions about Void Magic, as you should since this is what class is about! Anywho, we have Emulation, which is all about mimicking and copying, and Neutrality, which involves the negation of all things, whether it be good OR bad. Hmm… An Emulator with the Neutrality Attribute would be able to mimic the negation, and thus negate in the same manner. That means they could potentially negate their own aura by copying the effect or power of someone else. Perhaps they could cancel out another's power by copying it and then turning it against them. An alternative could be that they can copy and emulate other's neutralization or negation, and use it upon a target.”
“Wild! So these combinations can really work!”
“Of course! It all depends on the Void Magic user's creativity and ability to think outside the box. Any combination is viable and is able to be used in any fashion.”
"So how do we find out which type we have?" Sharline asked.
"Just take this!" Celeste pulled out a crystal, and unlike the one from before that determined their Aura Types, this one was black like obsidian. "This crystal is how you will find out what Attribute you have! You must infuse this crystal with your aura and what happens to the crystal will determine your Attribute! If it vibrates slightly in your hands, your Attribute is Inertia. If it glows brighter, your Attribute is Abundance. If it begins to crack, it's Chaos. If it does nothing, it's Neutrality. If its light dims, it's Entropy. If the light within it turns black, it's Purity. If the crystal changes color to match the light in its center, it's Order. Lastly, if the crystal and the light within it flips colors, your Attribute is Illusion. So give it a shot, girls!" she ended, handing Blair the crystal first after seeing her eagerness.
The crystal cracked in her hands, making her grin wider. “Ooh, is this Chaos?!”
“Yes it is, dear. So your Aura Type is Augmentation, and your Attribute is Chaos.”
“Me next,” Sharline said as she took the crystal from the excited Blair and watched as the crystal grew brighter.
“Abundance?”
“Abundance indeed. Your Aura Type and Attribute are Augmentation and Abundance respectively. So there you have it! Blair, your Aura Type is Augmentation of Chaos, and yours, Sharline, is Augmentation of Abundance.”
“Great news,” Sharline chirped, looking down at the crystal which still glowed. “So what do we do with this new information, Celeste?”
“Well, there's no training associated with it. At this point, you must continue to train until you develop an ability. Both Abundance and Chaos are quite flexible in what they can do, especially in conjunction with Augmentation, so hone in on what you specialize in and work from there.”
My kicking prowess, Sharline thought.
My wrestling skills, Blair thought.
“Understood, we'll keep training with you so we can be the best versions of ourselves!”
“That's a good thing, because not only do we have the Depraved to worry about, but now the Aranaki. So you must prepare for the future ahead!”
“We will, ya can bet on it!” Blair said, flashing her signature toothy smirk as she crossed her arms.
…I wonder how Alice and the others are doing out there… Sharline thought as she looked down at the glowing crystal once more.