"This place is enormous!" The elf exclaimed as she looked around the library. Before going in, the two ducked into an alley and separated.
"Yes, it is great. The fees must go somewhere."
"Oh, hello, miss Fleshforger." Gerrard, the dragonkin receptionist said. "And who is your new companion?"
"This is my assistant, Cynthia. Cynthia, this is Gerrard, the head librarian." Trader introduced. "Today I'm going to be finishing the nervous system. This shouldn't take long, so I'll also need introductory material on water elemental magic, as well as… you know, I'm feeling like expanding my horizons today. Basics of sympathism."
"Oh! How curious. I can see the intersection of body and alchemy, even water… but sympathism? I thought you were a naturalist, miss Fleshforger."
"I am, but that doesn't mean I don't see any merit in esoterism. Plus, it turns out I have some innate affinity in the discipline, so I wanted to explore a bit. Everyone needs a hobby, don't you agree?"
"I understand completely. Here is your key, the standard rates apply. I'll send someone over shortly."
The two women made their way to their assigned study room.
"I'll be honest, that went completely over my head. Esoterism? Naturalism? Sympathism?"
Trader arranged her work space as she explained.
"Sympathic magic is based on the principle of 《like affects like.》 Most famous example is casting curses on someone if you have, say, a lock of their hair. As to the two other terms, there are two main schools of thought in the academic circles. Naturalists, which I am one of, believe that in order to properly change the world using magic, you must first understand its natural state. Learn the rules before you break them, basically. Esoterics, on the other hand, focus on strengthening the mind so it can exert more influence on the world. Their motto is 《mind over matter.》 As I said to Gerrard, both approaches have their merits, but I prefer the former. Most of my self-modification is based on the natural knowledge of biochemistry. The two viewpoints are often associated with different magical disciplines. For example, there are basically no esoteric alchemists, and no naturalist would touch conceptualism."
"Are you sure all this dividing into categories is necessary, or even useful? Sounds like it's just more things to remember."
The symbiote chuckled. "I see you are an esoteric, then. That's actually good, you are supposed to give me a different point of view, after all."
The elf frowned. "Is there no one, like, in the middle?"
"Those terms aren't strict categories. It's more of a general leaning. Just know that esoterics also study magical theory."
At this point, their assigned assistant, Mithell, rolled into the room with a cart of books.
"Thank you, dear. We'll call if we need anything." Trader quickly pecked him on the cheek and dismissed the young individual. He left without a word.
Cynthia picked up a book titled "Aquamancy: an introduction." she opened it on a random page.
"What is this?" She pointed at the complicated array of lines and symbols on the page.
"I see we need to start with the basics."
Before Cynthia could throw the book at Trader, the blue woman quickly explained.
"Sorry. What you were taught is what's called 《freeform magic》. You draw a specialized thread of mana and push your intent at it.
It's easy, it does simple things, but it's not efficient, and cannot cause powerful, complex effects. For that, you need spells. Structures of mana, each thread imbued with a specific purpose and placed in the correct place."
The elf lowered the book onto the table.
"So this is a spell array? Instructions on how to build a spell?"
"Correct. The symbols are confusing at first, but they are necessary because the spells are three dimensional, while the surface of paper is flat. Also, the vast majority of books use the same three or so notation systems, so it's pretty easy to memorize, especially since there's a glossary at the end. Some texts can be weird though. Karrel was reading a grimoire written by a sorceress, and it read more like poetry than magical theory. So don't hesitate to ask for help."
The elf slowly nodded. "I'll jump around a bit, see if anything catches my eye. We can use this paper here, right?"
"Yes. We can even take it home, unlike books, so note taking is strongly encouraged."
They sat in silence for a while, reading their respective tomes.
"Okay… I've got a few spells that I'd like to learn. What about after that?"
"There are stages to learning any form of magic. First is the freeform magic I mentioned. Then, you learn to copy others' spells. Once you can reliably cast memorized spell arrays, you can start experimenting. Build your own variations on existing spells, or even entirely new ones. This is where most people stay for the longest while. The last step is mastery. A master doesn't need to check if the spell they thought up will work, and they don't need to practice casting it. They just build it on the fly, and cast it immediately."
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
"So it's like freeform, but more powerful?"
"I suppose you can think of it that way. But a master understands intimately the boundaries of their field, while a freeformer doesn't yet grasp what it can do."
"So, for example, you are a master healer?"
"I used to be, but someone," she pointed her hand upward, "gave me amnesia. But I'm getting there again. This book here is the last section of the body I need to complete the set. Well, that and blood, but there aren't any handbooks for committing blasphemy. Nevertheless, I won't consider myself a master body mage without that. By the way, you've been volunteered to be a test subject."
Cynthia narrowed her eyes. "Isn't there a distinction between body magic and healing magic?"
Trader hummed in thought before answering. "Yes and no. The schools of magic are artificial distinctions created for the sake of convenience. Technically healing is about bringing a body back to its 《template,》 the state it considers natural. But that means that regular healing can't restore lost limbs after a while, because the template alters to exclude the missing part. And don't get me started on auto-immune diseases and tumors. But altering that template requires designing the tissues anew, and you can't do that if you don't understand how said tissues work. So yes, in that narrow scope of healing magic I am a master healer, but my perfectionism won't let me consider myself one until I achieve total mastery of the body."
"I think you are expecting too much of yourself. I don't know where the line between fixing the body and changing the body is, but I'm pretty sure you're beyond it, especially after what you did for me. You'll become the ultimate Fleshforger eventually, but for now, I think you are the best healer in the country."
Trader looked into the distance, lost in thought. "I suppose you are right. Thank you." She looked Cynthia in the eyes and smiled.
"It's literally my job. Now, come here and help me figure out this spell. See, I get that this thread is supposed to go in a spiral, but it intersects this other thread here, and when I try it, it just completely interferes with itself and collapses."
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After their research session, Trader has, as she expected, re-mastered her magical influence over the nervous system. It was both great news and bad news. Great, because it was another milestone; bad, because now the training wheels were off. There was no more locked knowledge she could draw on anymore, unless she somehow found a blood magic manual in a country that exterminated blood mages on sight.
In a way, it was also exciting. Now, she started a completely new discipline: sympathism. Despite being one of the abstract disciplines, she found it engaging, proving that she did indeed have affinity for it. The learning was still slow by her inflated standards, but she did learn the basic principle of creating a link between two objects. Such links were the foundation of the whole discipline. By manipulating what the link could carry, one could pick and choose which changes were mirrored on the linked entities. For example, she would, in the future, be able to link to individuals so the healing one would receive would also affect the other, but the wounds would not be copied in the same way. An entire new world of experimentation was open to her.
Cynthia, too, made progress. She was actually a quick learner, and managed to memorize a spell and cast it with 90% reliability. On the first day of learning, with only the basest of foundations, it was something worth celebrating.
And celebrate they did, with additional participation of Mitchell the library assistant. The two beautiful women left him thoroughly drained of more than energy.
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It was Monday, named in "honor" of the moon god Monte. It was fitting that the start of the work week shared its name with an almost universally reviled deity.
Not everyone was upset, however. Trader was excited, as Mondays were the day for combat training.
Morgan was allowed to stay and work on producing basic manasight potions. A day of unsupervised work would be a sort of test for the apprentice. The rest of the crew, that is, Trader, Karrel, Isabella and Cynthia made their way to the forest clearing that has been emptied of vegetation that fateful evening when Isa died.
There was a clear difference in attitude between the excited combatants and the normal people.
"Let's review the rules again." The symbiote spoke. "Everyone against Isabella, she's not allowed to use lethal force. If you get hit three times, you're out for the round. After every round, we use the mana sweeper to clean up any residue. No one is allowed to cause a chaos magic burst on purpose."
"Why even state that last one?" Cynthia inquired. She wasn't informed of the incident.
"Rules and regulations are written in blood." Isa kept it short and cryptic, and while it left the elf with some questions, she decided to keep them for later.
Everyone took their place and readied their weapons. Trader had the dagger she'd "bought" from Cynthia, re-enchanted by Karrel with a few blood spells, and her claws. The smith, for his part, conjured his sledgehammer. He didn't feel he was good enough with the gun to use it in sparring yet.
Cynthia had settled on a staff as her weapon. She liked that it didn't look threatening until she conjured a blade of ice on its tip, turning it into a spear. The staff was sturdy, but not magical. Even with a friends and family discount she couldn't afford Karrel's masterful services. Now that her debt has been paid, she was saving up, though.
Isa had her trusty twin daggers. She signaled the start of their bout by whistling.
The trio spread out, trying to surround the demon. The light mage used her standard trick and disappeared into the shadows. Isa easily surprised the inexperienced elf and slashed her right shoulder before warping away.
Karrel tended up before swinging his hammer in a seemingly random direction. The anvil appeared, and Isa had her leg crushed between two chunks of mana pretending to be steel. He was getting better at sensing magic with his own senses, something that was helped by him giving in to Trader and allowing himself to be experimented on.
The demoness decided to pester Cynthia again. This time, the elf had wisely moved into a place that was mostly lit, meaning Isa had to materialize a few meters away from her. This allowed her ample time to block the attack with her staff. The demon jumped back, but instead of teleporting again she raised her hand to cast a spell.
Cynthia had heard about the light beams, so she knew there was no dodging. She decided to try casting a spell she hadn't tried before.
The elf clicked her tongue a few times, and just a fraction of a moment before Isabela could burn her, a wall of ice appeared before her and took the beam instead. The heartbeat it took for the light to melt through the ice was enough for the elf to duck.
It took learning how to draw fire mana, but Cynthia had found her speciality.