Chapter 39: Chapter 33- Playing with Magic

The creation of complex spells is a sort of artform. Layering mana types is difficult enough when simply having them coexist in the same space, but weaving them into sigils that constitute a proper spell is another matter entirely. Great care and great ingenuity is needed in spellcraft and runecraft to elicit the proper effects from a sigil or rune.

-Excerpt from ‘Might of Magic,’ By Noctian Verluc

 

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Mori sat back down on her stool as her death knights filed into the dining room after a few minutes of bedroom arrangement. Each of the living passengers were given a room to themselves while the death knights shared a pair of hammock-laden barracks. Mori herself took another, bare room she planned to use as a quiet personal office in case the spectre of paperwork decided to torment her once again. 

As the room filled with light conversation between the remaining eight undead, Mori began to think, ‘Have I really been thinking about magic that much?’ While she had been reading from the book, she had not truly considered the ways most of the mana types she read about could apply to spells before her uplifting spell. She was used to working with basic concept mana types, like ‘Lance,’ ‘Light,’ and ‘Burn’ that made up her favorite attack spell. After a moment, she did not really know what part of the spell did what. ‘Sure, ‘Lance’ is easy, but what causes the laser in the spell? ‘Light’ or ‘Burn?’ Theoretically, light could work on its own, but it might need a lot more raw mana to work like it usually does… Does that mean I can add other effects to it?’ 

She pulled the book she had looted from the pirates’ barracks in front of her and looked through it. After a few moments, she found something that piqued her interest. It explained how to create a mana type labeled ‘Quake.’ While a lot of the mana types were very simple, only needing a basic understanding of what actually caused them to create the mana, ‘Quake’ seemed to need more than that. The explanation listed numerous stories about apocalyptic earthquakes that leveled cities or mountains or some other important landmark. She read the passages and decided to try her hand at emulating the mana.

She imagined the way an earthquake was created, how it was the plates of the planet smashing into each other that vibrated the crust of the planet, and how those vibrations reached the surface, causing earthquakes. Despite her immaculate mental imagery, nothing happened. No mana was compressed into a new form. After a bit longer, she sighed and stopped. ‘What did I do wrong?’ she thought, clenching her bony fist, face full of thought, ‘Is it because what I’m thinking about is not what the word ‘Quake’ really means? Now that I think about it, the word quake has more meanings than earthquakes. It means to tremble… tremble can mean so much, really. Fear, delight, rage, it all involves trembling to one degree or another. But… it’s never small. Trembling in rage is wrath given form. Trembling in delight is joy given form. Trembling in fear is terror given form. But tremble, and by extension quake, simply means to shake, given new context by the connotations of the words. Okay, backtrack a bit, Mori. 

‘So, to quake means to shake the earth. But what’s at the core of the word quake? It means power. Power enough to shatter the ground and make the land beneath you bend to your will, perhaps? So, quake means power overwhelming… Let’s see if that works.’ Her mind sharpened once more and she imagined her new interpretation of the word ‘Quake.’ She imagined power that tore the land in twine and swallowed the world whole. She imagined it again and again, letting her mind feel the power of the word. Before long, the mana began condensing in her hand. It shrunk and shrunk, taking mana from the air around her before reaching her ribcage. It stole the mana from her body, spooling it into a new, brownish-blue form. For a moment, she simply felt it in her hand, in her control. She then, carefully, wove it into her gauntlet’s palm, remaking her light beam spell by replacing the ‘Burn’ component with her new not-quite-‘Quake’ component. The sigil formed on her hand and she looked around to find something to test the new spell on.

Around her, the death knights, including Megaera, Allecto, and Tisiphone, all shied away from her gaze. After a moment, Zubov stood, “Alright, you have a new mana type, right? Can you use just a tiny bit?” Mori nodded, “Good. Use just a very small bit on me then. I think I can take it if you do.” He stood tall at the end of the dining room, arms held out in front of him, and ready to take the full brunt of whatever Mori held in the palm of her hand.

Mori glanced at Fara, then to the death knights, then back to Zubov, “You do realize that I can just use a dummy target, right? I mean, unless you want experience for it, then I won’t question it, but…” she trailed off, still holding the sigil in the palm of her hand. 

The orc shrugged, “Eh, most mages have someone there to tell them the effects of whatever spell they made. Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Trust me,” he said with a smirk. Mori looked him over, shrugged, and put the smallest amount of mana she could into the sigil and fired. A blindingly bright beam of light shot through the hall and directly into Zubov’s chest. After a short moment, the light receded and Mori could see what was done to the guard. Zubov still stood there as he looked at the small hole burned in his chest. It was hardly a flesh wound, with a small, almost insignificant hole dug through his leather armor and burning a tenth of an inch deep into his chest. Almost as soon as it was wrought, the hole filled with flesh and mana, becoming perfectly healed in a matter of moments.

Mori’s skull formed into one of deep thought, “Hmm… Well, I have no idea how powerful that is,” she said, “I took out the part that does stuff, so I’m not entirely sure what would happen if I put it back in…”

Zubov’s grin, which had become less pronounced, fell away entirely, “That wasn’t even affecting the important part of the spell?” he asked, “Then that means that it’s an advanced power booster. That’s some dangerous stuff. I hope you know what you’re doing with that,” he said.

Mori raised her brow, “Really now? Hmm… what if I use something like… this?” she said as a new sigil formed on her gauntlet’s palm. A sudden flash of light enveloped the room, making them all shield their eyes from the light’s power. After a split second, the light vanished and Mori sighed, “Yeah, that seems about right. Is there a downside, then?” she asked herself more than anyone else. 

Instead of silence, Zubov coughed, “Well, boosting spell components all have the same weakness,” he explained, “They need a lot of space to fully impact a bigger spell. If you wanted a spell the size of your palm to be boosted by a bulk standard boosting component with as much mana as you want, then you would need to cover the rest of your hand in boosting components. Even then, just having some boosting component there increases the amount of power you can get out of a bit of mana. Though, like I said, it has diminishing returns. Actually, aren’t you a lich? Why don't you know this stuff?” he asked, a critical eye watching her every move.

Mori, while surprised, had the perfect answer, “It’s complicated, Zubov. And personal,” she said, her eye-flames narrowing, “Please, don’t.” While she was not lying, she hated having to dance around the issue with someone who had helped them out so much. 

The orc shrugged, “Fair enough, then. Do you know anything about magic, then?”

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She shook her head, “Nothing, really.”

“I see…” he sighed, “Are you a freshly born lich or something?” he asked, “You know what? Don’t answer that, I don’t want to know. So, what got you making that interesting bit of mana?”

Mori picked up the book from the table and showed him the pages describing the ‘Quake’ mana type, “I was trying to add this ‘Quake’ component to my normal attack spell. It was a test of what happens when I replace important components, but I eventually thought long and hard about what ‘Quake’ meant and got this after trying to turn it into a mana type.”

Zubov looked at the page dubiously, “You got a booster from an earth-aligned mana type? What were you thinking about?” he asked. She gave a brief explanation of her thoughts, of the power that moved the earth beneath them, leaving Zubov satisfied, “Okay, that’s understandable. Man, just when you think you’ve seen it all…” he muttered.

Fara, who had stopped sketching a while ago, propped her head up with her arm on the table, “You seem pretty knowledgeable with this sort of stuff,” Fara stated, “How much magic theory do you know?”

The orc shrugged, “Hey, when you’re dealing with any number of people, some of whom are mages of great knowledge, it pays to know what’s a simple spell booster circle and what’s a fire pillar trap. Turns out, whatever one hurts the most is the fire pillar trap,” he said with a grin. 

Fara nodded, “Alright, I get that,” she said, “So, I think I have the rough draft done and I need a break. Mori, do you want to learn a bit about runecraft?” she asked wearily.

Mori laughed, sitting next to the woman. By that time, the undead had either gone back to their own devices or were listening into the magic discussion with keen interest, in Pride and Avarice’s case. “Sure, I’d love to, but aren’t you tired after sketching…” she leaned over and peered at the sheet of paper on the table. It was of the Kharon, modified into becoming more of a walled keep on a skiff than a normal galleon. Walls with crenelations surrounded the edges of the Kharon, punctuated with three towers at the front and back corners of the skiff. “…A castle on a skiff… is that what you’re going for?” Mori asked.

Fara smiled slightly, nodding, “Yeah, I wanted to make a moving fortress and this is my time to have fun designing it, so I’m going to make the most out of it. I do need a break, and I do enjoy runecraft,” she explained, “So do you want to hear the basics first?”

Mori nodded, “Seems like fun,” she said, “Didn’t you say something about it being really similar to sigil casting?”

Fara nodded, a small smile cracked on her face, “I did say that. The main difference between sigil and rune casting is how long they last. Sigil casting makes sigils that can be used once and disappear after using them. Runes, on the other hand, have lifespans that last several years in the cast of pure mana runes, and as long as the runic paint lasts for painted runes.”

“Hmm…” Mori hummed, “So why use sigils if runes can do the same?”

“Good question. It’s because runes, while being similar to sigils, are not the same. Runes are most effective when bonded to a material while sigils are most effective while simply occupying the surface of one. If you were to try to use a pure mana rune like a sigil, then it would simply not be as effective. Sure, putting a painted rune on a piece of metal works just as well as sigils, but they are far from versatile. That’s exactly why mages are mages and runesmiths are runesmiths. Mages can be runesmiths and vice versa, but anyone who is one knows when a rune is more effective and when a sigil is.”

Zubov, sitting across from them, nodded along with her lesson, “She pretty much hit everything. Pure mana runes are best for runeslingers because they can store a spell in their bullet, fire it, and have it happen wherever they hit. Painted runes work best for runesmiths because they last a hell of a lot longer than mana runes, especially if painted into groves in a material. And Sigils are best for mages because they can adapt to any situation that needs their attention. While they all have similar rules for how they work in terms of actual physical setup, they are needed in different situations.”

“He’s right, you know. Any questions?” she asked.

Mori thought for a moment, “Nope, not really. I think I got it all.”  She could almost feel, with great amusement, that Pride and Avarice were displeased at not hearing Zubov’s explanation. She smiled a bit, “Are we going to be making runes now?” Mori asked.

Fara shook her head, “No, not right now. It’s pretty late right now, so we can do it tomorrow. I’ll edit this design after dinner, and add the stuff you guys wanted,” she said with a grin.

Mori’s smile grew a bit wider, “Much appreciated.”

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