Studying magical theory with Simon was nice. The guy clearly knew his stuff and Gabe found it amusing the way he talked with hands. It was as if he was weaving spells with every sentence. While the book didn't have too many life mana specific subpatterns, there were some general ones that Simon was able to show Gabe that might be able to utilize once he knew some more spells.
He was disappointed to learn that he couldn't just add new components to his spells as he liked. Seeing the flexibility Simon exhibited in his casting had led Gabe to hope that he could use his spells in new ways as well, but it wasn't meant to be.
"It's a limation of some spells, particularly lower-tiered ones," Simon had explained to him. "Take Repair for example. You can boost the effect by adding more mana to it, but other than that there aren't any additional parameters to manipulate. You might be able to add something to increase the range so you could heal from a distance, but the original spellform has such a tight weave to it that you'd likely destabilize the whole thing."
Simon was able to modify his spells so freely primarily because earth mana naturally allowed for more freedom and the base spells he used had been designed to accommodate changes. Apparently, spells could be classified as either static or dynamic depending on how much their base spellform could be manipulated. Dynamic spells were much more difficult to master, but after watching Simon and Professor Alrik, Gabe couldn't help but think that they were definitely worth it.
Even though Repair might have been solidly a static spell, both Aura of Vitality and Restorative Shield had some dynamic components. In addition to the parts that allowed him to increase the strength and area of effect of his aura - a subpattern the book called Yawefa's Extension - Simon pointed out a section that controlled the intensity of the light the spell produced.
At first, this confused Gabe because he'd assumed the light was caused by his mana being spread out to buff his allies, but it was just a cosmetic feature of the spell. When he'd asked Simon why it was part of the spell, the young man just shrugged his shoulders.
"People feel better about the magic they can see. Makes them think that it's more reliable or something. In my opinion, it's a waste of mana if it's not necessary for the function, but hey what do I know? I'm just an apprentice."
They spent an hour or so going over subpatterns, magical theory, and just talking in general. Whatever reluctance Simon had about discussing his most recent travels didn't apply to his childhood or when he first met Professor Alrik. He'd grown up in a large city on the west coast of Pelios, the son of a sailor and a seamstress. His dad was often out at sea so he spent a lot of time with his mother playing with string and watching her sew. He reckoned that any skill he had with magic came from his mother as she was well-known for the quality of her work.
They'd fallen on hard times after his dad had been killed when his ship had been attacked by pirates and traveled inland where his mother had some family. Things were tough but he'd never had to go without. One of the main reasons he had decided to apprentice under Professor Alrik was so that he could learn enough to provide for his mother. He'd set up an account at one of the central banks for her and made regular deposits when he could.
In turn, Gabe told Simon about growing up in Forlet. When he recounted the story about Geoff and the wild boar, it suddenly struck Gabe that he most likely could have saved the man as he was now. It was difficult for him to appreciate just how much he'd grown since then, especially just in the last few weeks, but talking about that moment just highlighted the gap between who he was and who he is now.
They likely could have talked for hours but eventually, they were both fighting back yawns. Ostensibly one of them would have to take over the watch rotation in a short while so that Drevock could get some rest as well, though the large man gave no indication that he was fatigued in any way. After he'd finished going through his forms, he started playing with that puzzle cube Gabe had noticed that first day he'd spoken with Professor Alrik.
“Hey, what’s up with that cube Drevock-” Gabe cut off his question when he turned around and saw that Simon had his eyes closed and his book resting open on his chest. He chuckled to himself quietly as he whispered “Guess I’ll have to find out another time. Sleep well friend.” before closing his own eyes.
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Gabe woke with a start, looking all around through bleary eyes. It took him a few moments to remember where he was. He’d been having the most vivid dream where he was fighting a pack of wyverns alone while flying through the air in only his underwear. He sat there blinking slowly as the last remnants of the dream faded from his mind and he started to feel more awake. He yawned as he stretched out his arms. Without any form of natural light, he couldn't gauge how long he’d slept, but judging by how he felt it must have been at least six or seven hours.
Next to him, Simon had cocooned himself within his bedroll and the faint murmuring of him snoring could be heard. For some reason, this sight brought a smile to Gabe’s face as he stood up and stretched his back. He glanced around the chamber, this time fully awake, and noticed that the fire had gone out. He hadn’t realized it at first because the chamber was still suffused with a soft light. Looking up, he saw one of the balls of light that Professor Alrik could conjure floating up near the ceiling. Gabe took this to mean that the professor must be feeling better, which he was able to confirm when finally noticed the remaining two members of his party standing a good dozen feet or so down the central pathway.
Leaving Simon to sleep for a little bit longer, Gabe lazily walked other to where Professor Alrik and Drevock stood. They were having a conversation in a language Gabe didn’t understand, though he reasoned it must be Drevock’s native tongue since the bodyguard was speaking much more fluidly than he did when he spoke Lochian Common.
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“Good mor-,” Gabe stopped himself. “Actually, I don’t know if it's morning or not. Regardless, it’s good to see you up and about professor. I hope that means you’re feeling better?”
Professor Alrik cut off his conversation with Drevock and turned to face Gabe, a smile on his face.
“I am doing much better, thank you for asking Gabriel. And if my estimates of our time within the tunnels are correct, then the sun should just be beginning to rise outside so good morning to you as well.”
“It’s just now sunrise? Strange, I don’t usually get up this early without Freya pounding on my door acting as an alarm.”
Memories of all the times Freya had ‘helped’ him awake flashed through his mind, especially the time after he’d drunk too much Wypsi ale the night before and she had to douse him with water from the rain barrel to wake him up. He missed his friend and was looking forward to sharing drinks and stories with her when he got back to Aranthia.
“Sounds like quite a friendship you two have,” replied Professor Alrik. “You can blame me for your early rise this morning. My need to recover caused us to make camp earlier than we normally would. In the absence of the wyvern fight and the steadfast maintenance of your aura for my sake, I daresay your slumber might not have been as undisturbed as it was.”
The professor’s explanation made sense to Gabe. His sense of time wasn’t the best to begin with and it had only gotten worse once he didn’t have the sun to help him out. All he knew was that he felt well-rested and ready to keep exploring. Maybe if they were lucky, today would be the day they’d find what they were looking for.
“Is the plan still to head down this path?”
The light from the chamber only extended so far down the hallway so most of it was obscured in darkness for Gabe. The way Professor Alrik and Drevock had been looking down it, he figured the professor must have recast Nightvision.
Last night Simon had clued Gabe in on the fact that Drevock had attuned his soul to body mana which granted the man increased senses in the same way that Gabe’s attunement improved his vitality. This explained why Professor Alrik never had to cast Nightvision on him, though Simon guessed that Drevock also had a few buffs of his own that he used when needed. That had come at the tail end of a discussion about Simon’s earth mana attunement, which granted him increased strength and durability, and Professor Alrik whose soul was of course attuned to both light and mental mana, which Simon said gave his master “increased intuition and spontaneous insight”, which basically meant that sometimes certain information would just enter his mind and other times he’d get a feeling that let him know something he’d just heard or seen was important.
While that sounded cool and definitely useful for someone like the professor, Gabe personally preferred the feeling his own attuned soul gave him. He couldn’t wait to see how it would develop and change if managed to unlock another node.
He focused back on the path before him when Professor Alrik started talking.
“That was the very subject Drevock and I were just discussing. I remain steadfast in my conviction that this is the path we must take, though I cannot help but worry that it shall be fraught with greater danger than the path that led us here.”
“I sort of figured it would only get more dangerous the deeper we went, but I assume if you’re mentioning it now that must mean you see something?”
“Inspect the path for yourself.” He followed up with a short, melodic incantation and suddenly Gabe could see the length of the passage. The path continued straight for as far as Gabe could see, and just like the chamber they’d camped in, this hallway was smooth worked stone. Curiously, about 10 feet past where they stood, the floor transitioned into a brick path. The bricks, if that indeed was the proper term for them, were square cut and appeared to be about a foot on each side. They were made up of the same beige-colored stone the rest of the tunnel had been carved from.
“Well, that’s not good. The path is definitely trapped, and I’d be willing to bet all the gold in the world that they’ll activate when we step on the bricks.”
“My sentiments exactly,” replied Professor Alrik with a sigh. “And thus our current predicament. We know, or at least possess a reasonable amount of certainty that this path will lead us to our objective, yet it is also ladened with an unknown quantity and assortment of traps. I could employ Futureweaver’s Insight once more to gauge the viability of the other paths, though that would necessitate our remaining here within this chamber for an extended period while I recover again. This is less than ideal for a number of reasons, chief among them being that we run the risk of squandering our time if the other paths prove not to be viable.
Additionally, we still do not know what caused the desolation of the previous occupants of the chamber and it does not seem wise to spend more time there than necessary. Beyond all that, it is highly probable, if not an absolute certainty, that we will eventually come across a hallway rigged with traps, so even if the other paths are feasible, they are not guaranteed to be safer.”
He’d evidently put a lot of thought into their situation. Gabe mulled it around himself before an idea came to mind.
“Do you know a spell that could reveal the traps?” This seemed like the sort of thing illumination magic would be perfect for. If they knew where all the traps were, it would be a cinch to avoid them.
As soon as Professor Alrik began to shake his head, Gabe knew that things wouldn’t be that easy.
“That was a wise suggestion, Gabriel, unfortunately, whatever magics permeate this place continue to interfere with my spells. Casting Clarity’s Gaze does reveal some of the hidden traps, however, unless there are only a half dozen of them throughout the length of the passage, it appears that the remaining ones remain veiled from my spell. I suspect void mana to be involved, which makes this all the more curious.”
Gabe could understand the dilemma well enough. Only being able to identify a few of the traps would mean that they would still need to proceed with caution down the hall. It would be helpful if they had another way of sensing the traps. Looking at the stone floor, Gabe suddenly smiled as an idea came to mind.
“Professor, I don’t think the traps are going to be an issue. I think I may have thought of something that will help us out in that regard, and it involves a certain earth mage.”