CHAPTER 75: RUNOLOGICAL STUDIES

If he had a favorite part to his routine, it had to be his time with Cassia. Even though her personality was a bit… Rough around the edges, she was still a fairly knowledgeable person when it came to Runology, just as she had proclaimed to him.

The first time he visited her ‘room’, all he could do was try to keep his jaw from dropping. Shelves full of books, beakers bellowing the smoke of strange chemicals, tables full of weird and fantastical tools. It was completely unlike Myrin’s room, which was an artistic mess. This one was, instead, a scientific mess.

It was as if he had entered an ancient laboratory, or a witch’s den.

As for the work itself, it wasn’t very demanding. Cassia was the type to enjoy handling most things on her own—she hated having to rely on others. Even so, mundane tasks, such as cleaning or assisting with her… Unusual experiments were things she didn’t mind sharing.

In exchange for him being her assistant, Cassia would in turn help him understand runology better. In fact, that was what most of her research revolved around.

The Records of Enigma, the strange and mysterious tablet that most magi utilize when conducting Runological Studies, was something that existed in the Beyond. To reach it, Astral Projection was necessary. And that was exactly why utilizing a medium was necessary. Because of this, a medium of interaction was needed, one that could be used to interpret the divination.

Every conduit, like The Records of Enigma, or the very gods themselves, needed a medium for that interaction. Astral Projection through a medium was the only way for magi to interact directly with the Beyond.

Of course, the same didn’t apply to him since his eyes themselves were practically a medium.

In a sense, anything could theoretically be used as a medium, as long as it had something magi scholars called, ‘Paths.’ Essentially, you need the medium to change its states based on the divination, and these changes need to happen through chance or luck to allow for subtle meanings to form.

When he first heard this, he immediately thought back to the Flower Divination technique Myrin used to find out whether it was safe for him to try and unlock his Soul Realm. Back then, Myrin simply plucked a random flower and allowed the petals to wilt and fall off. These changes were the ‘Paths’ of the medium, with each petal representing a different outcome.

In that same sense, other mediums also had different ways of differentiating the ‘Path’. For example, there was the Elderwood Seed Bowl he had examined back in the Wards & Hexes shop in Yadria. That bowl from what he could remember, had 5 different seeds within it, and depending on the representation each seed holds and their location within the bowl, a different outcome or result to the divination would be read. In that sense, these seeds in combination with their location in the bowl itself, were the ‘Paths’ of the medium itself.

Cassia on the other hand didn’t resort to using such methods. Instead, she would simply manifest a strange marble in her hand and allow it to float. It was only on the second day that he realized what it really was.

Her Soul Weapon.

The strange orb was something Cassia called Figments of the Serpent. That was the name of her Soul Weapon. He didn’t fully understand how it worked and also refused to use [Eyes of the Fairy] to find out to respect her privacy, just like he did with the others. He planned to eventually ask them for permission.

Even without seeing her status page, however, he did know that it allowed her to manifest… Body parts?

Draconic ones.

The orb he was staring at, was in reality, an eyeball. And a fairly interesting one at that.

From what he could tell, it too possessed some sort of method to look into the Beyond, although it seemed much more restrictive than his own [Eyes of the Fairy]. When he asked her about it, she simply shrugged and told him that while it did allow her to peer into the unseen, that unseen could only be false in nature.

He didn’t fully understand what she meant by it at first. How can the unseen be false? Everything his own [Eyes of the Fairy] could see were almost always the truth hidden beneath the veil of the material world itself. Rarely did Soren need to ever cross reference or doubt what he found within the Beyond, aside from rare cases like that illusion master they met in Yadria who was working for The Whispering Dream.

But then… he understood exactly what she meant. Her dragon-like eyeball ability twists everything it sees into lies, and projects it.

It wasn’t meant to be used as a tool to see into the Beyond and obtain knowledge.

It was meant to change the Beyond itself and twist the truth hidden within it.

He was able to understand this with his own [Eyes of the Fairy]. After witnessing her using the ability, Soren realized something when he focused his attention on the same thing she was focusing on. The item he would try to read would show one aspect of the information, then when Cassia uses her ability on that same item, the information in the Beyond would twist into either lies, or undecipherable nonsense that even his own [Record] would refuse to chronicle.

It was a truly strange ability.

Even so, despite its contradictory nature, Cassia managed to brilliantly find a use for it when it comes to Runology. Simply put, the knowledge that would twist or change into lies, was inherently random. A simple fruit represented in the Beyond could have its information twisted into reading as a piece of meat, or a chocolate bar, or some other delicacy. In essence, although the knowledge of its representation was being changed into something false, there was still some semblance of its identity left—in this case, it being a food item.

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There was also the fact that the changes to the representation of the item in the Beyond didn’t last forever. The Beyond on its own would reinterpret the item and change its representation back to what it was after some time.

With this inherent randomness, came chance. And from chance, came the ‘Paths’.

It shocked him when he first found out, but Cassia was essentially finding interpretations of divination through how this strange ability of hers twisted the truth of the Beyond into lies. Each lie within the Beyond represented a ‘Path’ and with that, she was able to form a connection to The Records of Enigma.

As he slowly remembered everything from the past few days, he couldn’t help but shake his head.

She’s a monster…

He doubted he could have easily come up with such a clever way to utilize her abilities if he had them. After all, mediums for divination were extremely important, especially when the medium was more personal to the magi. The more personal the medium was, the clearer the interpretations became since the person in question would have a better understanding of the item.

And what could be more personal than a Soul Weapon? It was practically the best option for divination due to how closely related it would be to the magi.

Soren sighed to himself as he entered her room once again today. She had excitedly dragged him away from his meal to show him her new discovery. Snapping her fingers, the candles burst into flames and lit the otherwise darkened room.

Cassia smiled joyfully as she walked over a stack of unused beakers and measurement tools.

“This new material rune I discovered is going to be sooo helpful! I think I am fairly close to catching up to that damned elf, Myrin!”

Soren chuckled to himself as he made himself comfortable on the nearby chair. From what he knew, Cassia had only recently reached the second circle. She was planning to reach the third and bridge the gap between her and her senior apprentice.

“So what does it do? What affinity is it related to?” He asked with a gentle smile.

Cassia nodded excitedly, “Dragonflame! It’s a rune I am going to name Sulinar.”

His brain quickly interpreted the Vinuan word. Sulinar meant ‘Burst’ in the human script. As for the affinity, Soren knew that Cassia had two of them, one was Dragonflame, and the other was a bit more obscure—something called Gravitation.

Unfortunately for her, Cassia’s affinities were in a way similar to his when it came to rarity. Aside from a few pages of a grimoire she had apparently inherited from her family, she had no base of support to propel herself when it comes to being a magi. For the longest time, she struggled to even reach the first circle.

Still, despite struggling with discovering the runes associated with her obscure affinities and needing to perform countless experiments for even the simplest of axioms and spellforms, she managed to overcome it all and become a certified magi—one with two circles at that.

In a way, Soren couldn’t help but admire the tenacity of this little girl. It made him hopeful for his own prospects—if she could do it, what says he can’t? He refused to buckle or complain about his problems again. If he had time to have emotional outbursts, he had time to study and discover more about his abilities.

Who cares if I have one year? I'll reach the first circle in six months! Ah, screw it, make it three!

He didn’t want to lose to anyone here. Whether it was Cassia, Myrin or their famed mistress—all of them were going to have to catch up to him in the future.

With newfound determination, Soren watched as Cassia etched a new axiom combined with this new Sulinar rune she discovered. On another paper, equations for anima flow as well as a diagram of what the geometric shape of the spellform was simultaneously being drawn. There was a spark of enthusiasm in her eyes—one that was fairly similar to the childish enthusiasm he once had for chess all those years ago.

I can’t believe I am learning from a child… The thought made him chuckle. Back then, there were many international masters of chess that watched his games, even when he was young enough for afternoon naps.

Is this how they felt watching my matches? He brushed away the thought as quickly as it came. He needed to focus.

This was because helping Cassia wasn’t just about learning Runology. He was also closely observing her experiments and everything in between. Eventually, he would need to do what she was doing now, so what better way to learn than seeing it close up?

Soon, she was finished with her first rudimentary magecraft spellform that included the new rune. With sparkles in her eyes, she walked swiftly to the other room connected to hers—Soren followed.

The other room was devoid of anything aside from a few candles scattered across the floor to give lighting. This was the experiment chamber—as Cassia likes to call it. The walls were reinforced with wards to prevent external damage.

Seeing Soren hiding behind one of the designated areas, Cassia smiled.

“You can activate that strange ability of yours if you want.”

Soren nodded.

She closed her eyes and expanded her Soul Realm. With [Eyes of the Fairy] active, he was able to see what it looked like. Unlike Myrin’s which was populated by a blue, calming sky, hers was like an inferno. Red embers and sparks could be seen everywhere—the color of her anima.

Concentrating, Soren noticed a strange amber crystal attached to a ring on her index finger. It was only after the spellform came to life that he realized that it was a spellfocus. The rudimentary spellform of two axioms and the new Sulinar rune radiated faintly with anima.

“Yes!” She said excitedly. “It’s working! Let’s see how long it lasts!”

Just like that, the radiating heat from the spellform expanded.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Four, five, six… It continued for a few more breaths—Soren’s eyes widening with each second.

Did she succeed on her first try? Even he was getting excited now. He was expecting the spellform to fail.

Just as it was about to reach half a minute, Cassia’s face warped into a frown. Soren noticed the spellform cracking. Before she had any time to react, it exploded in her face, sending flames everywhere.

Soren’s mouth dropped, “Cassia!” He ran up to her in panic.

Luckily, aside from some minor burns on her cheeks and hair, she was relatively fine. He helped her stand up and sighed.

“I get that you’re excited, but shouldn’t you take it slow? That spellform you created should have gone through more testing…”

Cassia smiled with a somewhat pained expression, “Don’t worry, this is nothing! And I already somewhat expected this outcome. The equation I used for the spellform was something I theorized a few weeks ago. I just didn’t adjust the ratios well enough…”

She dusted her slightly burnt mage dress and activated her Soul Weapon. Almost instantly, lines of gold covered her body—her skin was rapidly restoring itself.

A regeneration ability… He took a mental note of that.