I had a theoretically possible answer to my problem, if my three rules were actually correct. And that answer was programming. Not anything remotely similar to programming on computers, but rather setting limits, or rules, to what my magic does. If I could give people magic that could do only what I wanted it to do, or kept something that I had given it, then I might still, in theory, be the one controlling the magic. Like how someone can play a video game, but in that game they can only do what the game designer made it possible to do. It was why I called the idea programming.
If I could create some device that shoots magic forward when someone pressed a button, or give magic for temporary use to someone, then so long as the person using the device couldn't use it outside of my intentions, the universe would consider the magic mine. The first step in achieving that would be to figure out a way to keep my magic mine, even if it was outside my domain or under someone else's control. I just needed to figure out how I could do that, and that's where Testy the first came in.
Over the course of days and weeks, every time Testy would go to sleep, I had tried something new, and see how it worked. At first I attempted to make a sort of perpetual motion device out of magic. I hoped that if the magic kept moving how I wanted it to move, then it would remain mine no matter where it was. Then if testy absorbed the perpetually moving magic, and it stayed in perpetual motion, the magic might be mine even though she could use it. Against my hopes, it didn't work. Even after a few different iterations, each using a different method to try and keep the magic moving, I couldn't figure out how to make perpetual motion. It sounds like something obvious, but I was dealing with magic on a subatomic level. Who knows what might be possible?
I needed a different idea, it was pretty clear to me that perpetual motion wasn't exactly possible with my current knowledge of magic. It might not even be the best way to do what I wanted to. So I went with my second approach, figuring out more about what humans could do with their magic, and if I could do anything they couldn't.
I had already noticed a few different people in the village, who seemingly used magic. They were nowhere near the skill of the two magicians who tried to kill me, but they were good enough for my experiments.
Through extensive tests of dropping and throwing all kinds of matter at them, and watching how they interacted with said matter and the magic around them, I was pretty sure that they couldn't manipulate magic on the subatomic or even atomic level, like I could, and neither could they really change the shape magic had in that scale. They would just have clumps of the stuff that they could push out of their bodies, and use to move relatively large things around.
It was truly an eureka moment, as I realized that research was a much better idea than trying things without proper information. That evening, when Testy returned to their home, I tried giving my magic a complex grid pattern, and held it around Testy until they absorbed some of it.
For a slight moment, I could feel my domain encompass the space in her lungs, before the magic lost its shape through turbulence. It wasn't perfect, but it worked as a proof of concept. If I could just make something that would hold the shape of the magic, a kind of mold for it. I wasn't entirely sure if that would work, but it definitely wouldn't hurt to try.
I started simple, combining carbon atoms together so they formed an absolutely miniscule hollow carbon sphere. Magic could flow in and out of it naturally, but while inside the sphere, the magic would be in a specific shape designed by me. I tried it by forming dozens of the spheres on the outermost layer of Testy's skin. They really were a perfect test subject, since unlike so many other people and animals, their magic didn't extend even a single atom outside of the living cells of their body.
The effect had me delighted. Testy naturally absorbed magic through the carbon spheres, forcing bits of the magic into the shape I wanted it in, and just like I had hoped, it was under my control. Not only that, but I could feel a second, miniscule domain where the spheres were. Unfortunately, the magic shifted out of shape by itself in just a few seconds, still breaking my ownership of it. But it did mean that I absolutely could have multiple smaller domains attached to people.
I hadn't managed to figure out how to get magic to do what I wanted, meaning that I couldn't just loan my magic to people and then take it back whenever they happened to die. But I could make it so that I would temporarily own all the magic someone else gained. It definitely had potential.
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I decided to take my test a bit further. Using my magic that testy was absorbing from the spheres, I made millions of the sub cell sized carbon spheres inside of Testy's skin. It was a kind of tattoo on the palm of their hand, but one that would make a small part of her body be within my domain. I would have laughed out loud if I had a mouth, and lungs.
I decided to do the same for a few different animals in my domain, and watch how it would work with their, and Testy's magic. After that, I could experiment with them, and see if I might be able to find a nice symbiotic relationship with everyone infected by my spheres. But that could be a secondary objective, since I finally felt ready to start the construction of my tower.
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Evelyn had returned to a relatively normal life. Her days reverted to the same old pattern of going to the city in the morning, spending her day there looking for work, and then return to her small hut in the village to sleep. The only differences being that she had to walk longer distances because of the bloody spirit, and that Evelyn had asked Audrey's wife to teach her the basics of mana manipulation. Evelyn hadn't liked admitting that she had never even learnt to push a feather away with mana. But Evelyn didn't want to ever feel as helpless as she had when the evil spirit had frozen her in place, so the embarrassment was worth it.
It was during one of her lessons, surrounded by all the villages six young children as Michelle was teaching them, that she realized she had a tattoo in the palm of her right hand. Evelyn stared at the near pitch black circle for a good few seconds before her surprise was interrupted as one of the kids sitting next to her asked "What is that?"
"I- I don't know?" Evelyn said.
"Michelle, Evelyn has something in her hand and I want it!" The kid shouted.
"I didn't know you had a tattoo, where did you get it?" Michelle asked.
"I didn't."
"So you just woke up with a new tattoo out of nowhere?"
"... Yes?" Evelyn realized she may not have sounded entirely believable.
"But mom said I can't get a tattoo unless I'm old enough, and have money. How did you get a tattoo?" Another child asked.
"I didn't," Evelyn nearly growled. She was starting to get frustrated, even more so since she hadn't had breakfast yet. Sure, she didn't have a bit of money to her name, but she was old enough to live on her own, damnit. Just cause she was in a classroom for little kids, didn't mean she was one.
"That's enough questions for everyone. Continue with what you were practicing," Michelle said, earning a grateful smile from Evelyn.
With Michelle's words, the students continued getting used to moving their mana within their bodies. It was a warmup they did every morning, and could be used for reinforcing parts of the body, using the mana to help lift things up, or even pumping blood without a heart, though that last part needed very fine mana manipulation. Only mana users were generally the people who could do the really amazing things, and they were people who manipulated mana for a living, like the priests, members of the helpers guild, and Michelle, who was a teacher.
About ten minutes later, the class was done with warming up, and moved on to the next bit. Lift up a feather in the palm of your hand, by pushing mana out of the body towards it.
Evelyn frowned when she placed the feather on her right palm, being reminded of her new tattoo, before she concentrated on pushing mana out of her palm. The feather blasted upwards with a bang, tearing to shreds as it crashed with the roof. In her shock Evelyn didn't even notice everyone staring at her with astonishment in their eyes. she was looking at the shards of feather stuck in wooden roof instead.
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I had been preparing the foundation for my tower, while at the same time observing all my test subjects. One of the benefits of being what I was, was that I could multitask at a whole nother level. I didn't have a brain to process information, instead I could sense everything in my domain as what could only be described as information in its rawest form. Just to make out something I could feel, and think at the same time required concentrating on multiple different things at once. Luckily, when my magic amount grew, so did my mind's processing speed, though my intelligence probably remained the same, it allowed me to concentrate on an ever growing amount of things at the same time. I did still get distracted a lot.
When I was digging for matter to build with, I felt more magic than normal be converted to mine by the carbon spheres. It was Testy, they were pushing their magic through the spheres, which I hadn't thought was possible since humans couldn't push their magic through solid matter other than their bodies. Then again, the tattoo might be considered to be a part of their bodies by whatever made the rules.
Even so, the magic took the shape that I designed the spheres to give it, and it became mine. The tiny amount of magic there grew the size of my domain, and I could feel that Testy was trying to push magic towards a feather. The spheres made that magic mine, but it still had momentum. The feather was pushed upwards a very slight amount, but I was a polite whatever. I might still hold a grudge, but I wouldn't pass down an opportunity to show that my carbon spheres gave power. I grabbed the magic Testy was feeding me, and accelerated the feather to mach two. After a few seconds passed, I realized that the magic was still under my control. Testy had given it to me, I had helped them with the magic they gave me, and now the magic was mine to use however I wished. I could definitely make my project work, I thought as I brought the mana in my main, tower shaped domain.