I rubbed the mark on my forehead where she threw her pen at me and asked, "Jokes, that some people can't take, aside; aren't we already immortal without that Summit stuff?"
She gave a wry grin, "I said we are immortal, not that we were Immortals. If completing is legendary then rising above it is mythical, and this is coming from a world of Gods and Demons. You see, the Summit is reached by manifesting your Palace into reality. You hold it within an inner world and people can enter it. Within this world you are like a god to those who walk in. However, you are still very much mortal, even if it can take millennia for you to perish, assuming you aren't an immortal race like High Elves, Vampire Lords, or a few others. To avoid confusion most use the term Eternal Races," with a mischievous smile she added, "I just wanted to fuck with you."
It was my turn to roll my eyes, "All right, all right. Sounds like all that is a long way away for me. So why didn't you draw the stage past the Summit?"
She shrugged, "No clue what's beyond it or how to even start on that path."
"Kay, so tell me about what I can do now."
"Right, So first things first, you need a core. In order to form a core, you must first train your meridians. Also called mana pathways, they are how mana flows in your body. Mana enters through gateways located around your body. Unfortunately, this isn't the case for Vampires. You can manipulate mana outside your body, but your body won't accept it. You must gain your mana by feeding. You close the gateways and push once mana floods your pathways. Your meridians will expand and strengthen. Once it gets unbearable, release the pressure. Do this until you feel your meridians stop expanding. The harder you push before they stop expanding, the more mana you can handle at once. It's different for everyone. Some can only expand twice, some dozens of times. After expansion is finished, you then take in as much mana as you can handle and instead of pushing out, you squeeze it. You compress the mana, adding more mana each time more room is available. Once you reach critical mass, your core will form. This is what we will work on."
"So I can't cast magic yet?" I asked, disappointed.
"I didn't say that," amusement touching her voice, "You see there are three essential types of magic. First and foremost are called cantrips. Basically the most simple expressions of mana. The second type are spellforms, these are woven mana that form structures to cast spells. Difficult and takes time to cast, faster you form the diagram, faster you cast the spell. The biggest difference between the two is that cantrips can function on ambient mana." A runic tapestry appeared in front of her hand and the next instant, there was a softly glowing orb of light in the palm of her hand.
“Oh, that’s handy. We will not have a need for flashlights.”
“Yes, but it’s less handy than you’d think. The light cantrip forms a solid orb of light that emits no heat. It is easily destroyed, like crushing chalk. It also cannot be stuck to any surface nor float. I will teach you as you once taught me. You were an artist back then. You criticized the mages of the current era for their lack of creativity. I may not be able to weave cantrips that are overly useful, but you were able to cast cantrips on par with true spellforms. This made you a powerhouse since you could save your own mana and use the mana around you to defend yourself. The most impressive part was that you mastered cantrips of such power and efficiency without needing even simple diagrams. You called it free-casting." Her eyes had gone distant and a wistful smile touched her lips.
“I hope I can live up to your expectations, then.” I smiled. I didn't have the heart to correct her that I wasn't her old master this time.
“You better, I spent the past eight hundred years looking for you. You best not die this time.” She crossed her arms.
I laughed, “Not on my itinerary anytime soon. By the way, what's the last form of magic?”
"Dao Skills. We'll cross that bridge later."
I shrugged, "Then let the magic lessons begin McGonagall."
She sighed at me but obliged. This was a lot more complicated than I was expecting. Spellforms needed to be exact to the nanometer. Completing a flawed spell had a random effect ranging from nothing occurring to exploding depending on the intended effect. For example, my first attempt at the light cantrip caused the light to flare when I left the mana channel script too wide which allowed mana to flood the spellform. We were blind for about five minutes. At least that mistake could be useful if done intentionally. I am not even sure what mistake I made on my fifth attempt but what I summoned burned the ever-living hell out of my hand. Asha was almost as baffled as I was as the spell had no component that could have produced heat. She was adamant that my old life's talent was coming out.
About two hours in I finally got the hang of it once I looked at it as a combination of engineering and programming, the two things I did at the factory. What tripped me up was that there was a splash of sculpting in the mix. The spellforms looked like M.C Escher decided to cosplay as Dr. Strange. Magical runes were intertwined with twisted fractals whilst inlaid with intersecting lines that reminded me of electrical blueprints. I would have never been able to comprehend a fraction of this stuff just a day before, but now with my increased intelligence and wisdom it’s only as difficult as AP algebra; difficult but not insurmountable.
Unfortunately, “free-casting” as Asha had called it, was insanely difficult. After a couple of weeks alternating between training my meridians and learning cantrips, I could now easily perform the light cantrip with about as much trouble as calculating two plus two. Attempting to modify the spellform was like trying to build a house without looking at a blueprint.
“Gah, why is this so hard? All I'm doing is a simple tweak. It's not like I'm trying to make my own cantrip. Why bother anyways if real spells are so much more powerful anyways?” I asked, after the umpteenth failure. My brow was furrowed in frustration.
Asha chuckled and I glared at her, “No, no. It’s just that I asked the exact question to you so long ago. ”
“This is getting too confusing for both of us, it’s going to cause misunderstandings or false expectations if you keep thinking of me as your late master. I think it’s better to view me as a descendant of Lucien rather than the second coming of the guy.”
She thought for a moment then shrugged, “I suppose, I’ll try. Though it will be difficult with you talking like he used to. Anyways, to answer your question, you- I mean, Lucien, said that first and foremost it’s a matter of pride. Just like you, I made that same expression. The practical reason is that cantrips don't cost your internal reserves of mana. While an enemy is burning mana to kill you, you can chip away at their defenses while staying completely refreshed. When the moment comes and there's an opening, you can unleash your reserves to wipe them out. Since Lucien was just one necromancer against the world, he needed a way to increase his endurance against multiple opponents.”
“I see. I'm just frustrated that I'm having this much trouble and I still need to figure out how to free-cast.” It was more than my failures that weighed heavily on me. I was feeling less and less like myself and I kept having strange dreams. I can't remember the details, just the intense fury and violence within them.
About a week of lessons later, we heard a knock on the office door. We decided to keep magic training private, partly to avoid distractions and partly so we didn't spook the others. “Come in.” I called out.
The door opened revealing James, “Hey Victor, sorry to interrupt.”
“Not a problem James, what’s the issue?” I waved away the apology. He arrived moments after I managed to complete a fire spellform with a slight modification that allows me to shoot it out. At this point it was less of a flamethrower and more of a lighter in front of can of hairspray... or maybe a sparkler that was trying extra hard?
James paused for a moment, gawking at the floating spellform before I snuffed it out. He jolted slightly and continued, “Not so much an issue, as an idea with roadblocks. I don’t really understand it, but this woman, Maya, has an idea on how to get us electricity.”
I nodded and stood, Asha following suit. James led us out of the employee area and to the electrical section. There was a tall black woman with her hair done up in a frizzy bun excitedly talking to a group of people who were smiling at her contagious energy. She had a large, portable whiteboard set up with some electrical plans drawn on it. I knew little about that stuff, so I ignored it. Though I was proud to recognize the Ohm symbol. Several of the small group’s smiles vanished when they saw me approach as their gaze grew cautious, as if I were a snake they couldn’t tell was venomous or not. I guess a week still isn't enough to get used to me.
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At least Asha looked human, these people couldn't look me in the creepy Uroboros eye. How rude.
This Maya lady, however, brightened more when she saw me. “Ah, Victor! Good ta’ see ya’.” She beamed, “I was just telling these folks my idea. So, you know how that cutie Asha over there said that fuel is more powerful for some reason? Well, putting aside experimenting with new fuel ratios that will take some time, if everything is enhanced, then isn’t the sunlight enhanced too? So, I decided, why not put up some solar panels?"
She stood and tapped the panels affectionately, "Normally, the average house takes about twenty solar panels in order to completely replace the needs of the power grid. I won’t get into the nitty gritty, but if we assume that a building this size needs about two to three times that many, then we would need roughly sixty give or take. That’s how much would be needed normally, but since we don’t need a good chunk of the electrical load like cash registers, intercom systems, things like that, our needs should be a touch lower. I won’t know be able to figure that all out until I get at least one set up and measure how much output it has. Of course, we won’t have as much power at night, but if its powerful enough, the reflected rays off the moon, er, moons, should be enough to at least keep some lights on.”
Asha interrupted with a head shake, “If it takes solar energy, then it won’t work at night at all. The light off of the moon is lunar mana, not solar mana.”
Maya short circuited, looking aghast. Asha might as well have declared the Earth to be flat, “Um, the light off of the moon is just reflected sunlight. It's the same energy, even if substantially weaker.”
Asha chuckled, “Listen human, you need to break your preconceived notions of reality if you wish to survive. This is not Earth anymore, this is Veru. Mana breaks the laws of reality as you know them and even sometimes as we know them. Even time can be affected by mana. When solar mana hits the moons, it is converted to lunar mana which is fundamentally different from solar mana. This is why lesser vampires do not burn in the moonlight, what triggers werewolves to change, and is key to certain rituals.”
Maya contemplated that, “Well, either way, the point is moot until I head up to the roof and get these set up.”
My eyes widened with a thought, “Hold on. There’s something we have not thought of. If we get this set up and connected to the building, will something terrible not happen? The wires and cables are not exactly built to handle extra load, right? If the power is more intense, it could cause a fire or worse.”
Maya paled a little, “Shit, you’re right. I got too excited to get the damn power on. I can still run small scale tests to see how much higher output there is.” She grabbed a single panel along with a bag full of wires and tools then paused before grabbing some thicker gauge wire.
Frank, Asha, and I followed her up to the roof. There was only a ladder that led to the roof, but it was no issue to take the large panel from Maya and jump up from the outside. Maya got to work setting up, judging by the suns it was a couple of hours before sunset. Maya assured us it would be enough to get a simple reading, though the max load would need to be tested tomorrow at noon.
She finally got everything connected and stared at some sort of measuring device. Her face got a really confused look. “Hey, Vic. Can you go grab me another panel, I think this one is busted.” I raised an eyebrow at her shorthand of my name but nodded and hopped down. A couple of minutes later, I returned with another panel as well as a different brand just to be sure.
After another slight wait, Maya cursed, “What the hell is going on? None of these panels are working.”
Asha pounded her fist into her palm, “Ah, so that’s it.”
I glanced at her, “Care to share with the rest of class?”
“This technology is meant to convert sunlight into power, yes?”
Maya nodded, “Yep, photons from sunlight bombard two layers of crystalline silicon. It strips electrons from one layer and creates holes. The holes go to the ‘P’ layer and the electrons to the ‘N’ layer. There the electrons flow through the metal fingers and into whatever work it's connected to, whether that be a building, lights, charging a phone, whatever. It then flows back to the ‘P’ layer to be recycled into the holes for the process to start over.”
“I see. I am no expert in light magic... or whatever it is you just said, but thanks to the solar mana light no longer behaves the same as it did on Earth. We really need to come up with a name for this new world, but that’s beside the point. The point is, mana is now the driving force behind light now, not these photon things. Which means, solar panels are now obsolete.”
Maya got up and pushed over the solar panel angrily, “Which means, I just wasted my time. Dammit, ten years of experience and school down the drain. The only way I can make myself useful in this hell on Earth is gone. Fuck, shit, God fucking damn it!” She began to stomp on the solar panels, her voice breaking as her cursing tirade choked with tears.
“Not necessarily.” Asha refuted.
Maya stopped her ranting and cautiously glanced at Asha, a warning in her eyes at any false hope, “What do you mean?”
“I know a little bit of artificing from my Master.” She gestured at me, “Unfortunately, his memories are not fully recovered, and even he only dabbled in it. You appear quite intelligent and there might be some crossover between engineering and artificing. However, if you are to truly become a boon for my Master, you will need proper training. I can get you started with the basics of creating mana devices, but we should get you to the dwarves. They’re city is at the base of Godspear.” She pointed at the enormous mountain.
The sparkle came back to Maya’s red rimmed eyes, “Dwarves? Like Gimli?”
“I don’t know who Gimli is, but yes, Dwarves. They are not as advanced as the gnomes, but the Mithra’Veen dwarves are quite renowned for their artificers. Less secretive too, but the gnome’s city was a thousand miles from Godspear back on Veru, gods only know where it is now. We were quite lucky to have such a landmark appear here.”
I sighed, "First Star Wars and now Lord of the Rings, you're breaking my heart."
Asha rolled her eyes and flipped me off.
Maya cleared her throat, "So, Dwarves?"
I replied, “Right. It’s a good idea to interact with natives of your world. With luck, they’ll take us in as refugees and we won't have to rely on ramshackle defenses. However, I do not wish to leave the group undefended, and it is not feasible to take such a large group on foot such a distance, especially with so few combat ready people.”
Asha nodded, “I agree. It isn’t certain that they will even speak to us, let alone take us in. Your clothing alone will tell them you are not from Veru.”
“Speaking of which, how will we speak to them? I’m sure you can act as a translator, but coming from another realm, I can only assume they do not speak English.” I asked.
Asha grinned before speaking that strange language she used when we first met. It had the flowing romanticism of French with elegant yet harsh combination of consonants combined with the blade-like precision of Japanese, the “T” and “K” sounds ringing sharp and defined. The most shocking thing was that I could understand it, barely. It was like trying to remember high school Spanish while listening to a native speaker, “The most frequently spoken language on Veru is called Verum, obviously named after the world itself.” I looked at the other two and saw blank looks on their faces. Obviously, they had no clue what she said.
I attempted to replied in broken Verum, “I understand. Little. Because soul?”
She clapped in delight and said in English, “So you can understand me! That is fantastic. Do not worry however, there is a simple translation spell we can teach everyone. It is an easy and intuitive cantrip called Soulspeak. As the name suggests, this spell uses your soul to transmit your intent into a language that the listener best understands. Here let me show you.” She performed a quick spell, I was barely able to detect the tingle of mana being worked. Asha then spoke Verum to Frank and Maya, “Can you two understand me?”
They both looked confused. Maya cautiously replied, “Yeah?”
“Of course.” Frank nodded.
Asha nodded, “Pay close attention to my words and my lips as I talk. Does my mouth match the English words you are perceiving? Am I truly speaking English?”
Their brows raised in unison. Maya said, “Well damn, that would have made Spanish class so much easier.”
Asha chuckled, “There are downsides to Soulspeak. First, it translates intent, so some words can be translated oddly or not at all. For example, the word Ouxika. It is a bird like monster, picture an ostrich mixed with a Triceratops and you’ll get a rough idea. Ouxika actually means something in Verum too. It roughly translates to ‘the one who disembowels’. It is named after a scary urban legend, basically the Verunian version of the boogeyman.”
“Charming,” I said, “What are the other limitations?”
“Well, it only translates one way, so the Dwarves will not be able to understand English, even though to you, they are speaking it fluently. Which isn’t a problem for you and I. Thankfully, Soulspeak is so simple that it is enchanted onto rings that are so cheap a beggar can afford one.”
I nodded, “That’s good. We will depart in a few days I think, perhaps a week, I do not wish to leave the group undefended. We should use this time to teach some of the others the basics of fighting and some simple combat spells. Is anyone able to learn magic?”
Asha replied, “Yep. I am aware that some of the Earth stories have magic systems where only a few blessed individuals can learn magic or something of that manner. Thankfully, reality is not that strict. While higher level spells are limited to skill and cultivation level, basic spells are just that, basic to the point anyone can use them. Now everyone does have their own unique mana pool and affinities. Most people can use any affinity to some extent with a focus on a few. This is the advantage of being human and why humanity is the most common intelligent race. Other races have adapted so heavily to their environment that they are shut out of some affinities. Elves, for example, typically focus on nature, light, or shadow magic depending on their subrace. Shadow Elves cannot use light magic at all. Ironblood dwarves can rarely use any magic besides earth and fire magic. Us vampire noblesse cannot use holy magic and healing magic of any form does not affect us.”
“I see. What manner of mana does Soulspeak use?”
“That’s the thing, it’s magic anyone capable of magic can use, neutral, or pure magic. Magic that has no ‘flavor’ of mana.”
I nodded my understanding. “In any case, the suns are beginning to set and I for one am feeling fatigued from the day’s stress. We shall begin training tomorrow.”
I frowned to myself as I walked away. The others were whispering to each other thinking I was out of hearing range. James muttered, "It's really weird, right? He's lost his accent, it sounds almost European now?"
"Right and the way he gets when fighting monsters, I'm just glad he's on our side," replied Maya. I could smell fear on them. I didn't like this at all.