CHAPTER 74: STUDY ROUTINE

The following days turned into a fairly simple but monotonous routine. First, he would work with Nicholas for the first few hours of the morning, sorting through countless books and scrolls while dealing with grumpy scholars trying to navigate the labyrinth of knowledge. Turns out, missing two days of work was not something Nicholas appreciated.

After that came his self-study sessions. By now, he had already finished reading both The Axiom Codex and Dictionary of Scripted Runic.

For the most part, The Axiom Codex’s later chapters were mostly about describing different equations and combinations of Material Runes of Reason to create certain effects. For example, combining two runes with an Etiva in between meant that both runes needed to be activated at the same time for the entire axiom to function. And when you add implications, which were runes that pointed to other axioms, complex circuitry could be formed. The same could be said about the Velia rune. With two runes connected to it, the entire axiom would instead branch into separate circuits, depending which of the two runes was activated first. There were many other laws about the flow of anima and other aspects of how these combined axioms could be utilized.

All of this logic in combination with one another was enough to form mind-boggling spellforms. It almost made him shiver—battle magi were supposed to invoke these complex spellforms on the fly within their Soul Realms, and only from their own imaginations and memory. This was why many magi resort to carrying grimoires around with them—it was much simpler to imagine the spellform when it was in front of you.

And that logic also applied to the imagination part as well. Aside from those at the third circle or above, being able to imagine a spellform perfectly, all with its complex geometry and axioms, and perfectly project it as an image made from one’s own anima was a truly daunting task. Without a spellfocus, he doubted he could do it, even with his higher control over his Echo of Mind.

Dictionary of Scripted Runic was much simpler. It was nothing more than a list of material runes, ones used by the most generic of affinities—those being fire, water, earth, and wind. With his [Eyes of the Fairy] and a bit of patience, using [Record] on them only took two days. Even so, he had to resort to skimming through only the most important segments to save time and energy. The strain he faces every time he uses that ability had still not diminished—only his pain tolerance had heightened.

As for the material runes themselves, it surprised him how many there were for each of the affinities listed in the book’s sections. It made sense, however. The Beyond was a truly archaic place with no obvious pattern to its machinations. And so, even a simple flame could be represented in countless ways. In some instances, even the geography of the location itself could affect the spellform’s material runes. For example, with Spirit anima being prevalent in the Feylith Forest, a different set of Wind-Affinity runes were needed. What was curious was the design choice as well—some of the runes clearly had distinct styles to their form that seemed to mimic the local area. Wind-Affinity runes that come from Yadria were awfully similar to ancient Yasini in design.

All of this only made his search for his own set of runes all the more daunting. He couldn’t imagine how much effort it would take.

But this also made him realize something else. He had finally understood why some places were far more isolationist than others. If you were a magi who relied on a grimoire whose runes would become obsolete the moment you traveled elsewhere, you would have no choice but to remain where you were. In that sense, Yadria’s isolation—aside from their unfriendliness to their neighbors, was perfectly logical.

Of course, that only really mattered if the material runes you relied on had a geographical element to them. Many others didn’t and so, they had no reason to worry about such things.

Aside from those two, the only book from Sienna’s report that was giving him trouble was Arcane Geometry. That book was truly his nemesis.

Ugh, fuck that book especially!

The more he reminded himself, the more annoyed he became. This was because the knowledge stored inside it didn’t require his memorization nor did it require his ability to process the logic behind spellforms. No, what it required was far more terrifying.

Drawing.

A fuckton of drawing. Unfortunately for Soren, even an ape had better hand coordination when sketching a circle. For hours, he continued trying to create the sigils needed for the spellform to function, every design—if he could even call them that, looking worse than the one before it. Eventually, surrounded by piles of crumpled paper and ink splatters, Soren simply gave up and decided to pick up Intro to Runology instead.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

During his struggles, he had contemplated asking his artist companion Myrin for assistance, but decided against it. Even after these past few days, there was still an awkward air between them. Tina had sort of forgotten the whole ordeal, however—not that it mattered since she was constantly out on missions throughout the city. It was rare for him to see her around.

Sighing to himself, Soren closed the book and stood up. In a way, this ordeal reminded him of that ritual he had conducted that started it all. The amount of ingredients he used up back then trying to draw the sigil perfectly cost him a fair bit. Even still, his efforts were only rewarded with him being thrown into a random creepy forest in another world to fend for himself.

He shook his head with a smile. One day, I am going to find the asshole who made that website… One day…

In the meantime, he needed to eat lunch. For the past few days, his meals had slowly rolled further and further down the day. He was simply too busy with reading and chronicling things in his Soul Weapon, resorting to food only when his stomach reminded him of such. Of course, that didn’t mean he wasn’t enthusiastic about it—quite the opposite actually. Joyce truly knew how to cook. It made sense to him why her sister was such a foodie.

Entering the familiar lounge, he was greeted by the woman’s bright smile. He too smiled back at her:

“Hey Joyce, anything happened?”

She shook her head, “Not much. Oh, aside from the mistress and Myrin leaving for the castle.”

He frowned. “The castle?”

“Yes,” she responded. “It's to report the results of their negotiations with Yadria’s Saintess of Dreams. The materials for the Greenfather festival were also arriving soon so they had to let the Church of Nature know.”

I see… He had completely forgotten about that. There were too many other things for him to worry about.

“What exactly does the mistress gain from this mission?”

Joyce tilted her head, “You mean you don’t know?” He shook his head in response so she answered:

“If they succeed, the Aelloran government will allow Star Fate Guild to join the expedition into the Avalon Ruins.”

“The Avalon Ruins?” His frown deepened. From what he remembered of seeing it at the cliffside, it was fairly close to the Celestine Citadel, right across the hill it was perched on.

Now that he was thinking about it, Myrin did tell him once before that there was going to be a joint expedition with Aellora, Yadria, and Statella joining forces to explore the inner depths of the labyrinth. A combined force of three powerful nations not seen in five hundred years.

I wonder what they found there for it to be this important… And now, Star Fate Guild was being allowed to join this expedition as a reward for their mission in negotiating a deal with Yadria.

From this, he also came to another conclusion. Soren had always wondered why a small guild like this one was being tasked with securing such an important deal with Yadria, a nation that was still fairly hostile to Aellora and humankind alike. Yes, Myrin being an elf would have been a great advantage, but there were countless elves in Celestine. Even if their existence was hated and they were fairly hard to find in a crowd of people, it was still possible to spot a few.

But now that he knew that Sienna was being escorted by Myrin to the castle, everything made sense. Myrin must have revealed his royal connections to the Aetolus Royal Family. Or… They must have found out about his status on their own. Either answer led to the same conclusion—that Myrin’s connections, even though they were strained, still held weight enough to give them a chance at negotiating.

And they weren’t wrong. Myrin managed to pull it off, after all.

That prince bastard might be even more crafty than I thought… He smiled as he dug his face into the plate of steamy rice. His eyes widened as he glanced at Joyce in shock.

“This… This taste?”

She giggled, “You like it? That’s Yadrian Rice. It's from the batch Tina brought home with her.”

He suddenly remembered the four crates Tina had brought back with them on the trip. She monstrously carried them all like they were nothing more than a pile of pillows.

I guess it was worth it pushing up that cart… He continued to enjoy his meal.

Suddenly, the door to the lounge flung open. A short little girl wearing what one back on Earth would assume to be a halloween costume stepped inside. She smiled from ear to ear as she corrected her witch hat.

“Soren! Come with me, I finally discovered it! The rune I was searching for!”

He sighed to himself with a smile. The second part of his usual routine will now begin.