Emerilia Box Set, page 59
part #1 of Emerilia Series
“When people cast a spell, the fewer words they say, the more thought they are using. With their minds, they are giving shape to the Mana within them. Higher Affinities allow it to be more malleable in their hands and they can better understand the effects of their actions. Higher-level mages’ spells are more powerful as they have such an innate feel for magic that they can cast higher level spells without words but by their connection to their spell. The more control they have over their mind, knowledge of their spell, and the Affinities it is created from, the more powerful it will be and the more power that will be used on their target instead of keeping it stable.”
“So, you’re saying that people casting spells is nowhere near as refined and clean as that of someone using Magical Circuits?”
“Yes and no. Magical Circuits are certainly very good at doing complex things, but words are fallible. Within your mind, you can picture the perfect tree, but imagine trying to explain it. No one is going to have the same idea, even if you give every damned detail, down to the bark and the roots. Everyone is going to see that tree as different in their mind. Take that to magic and if you have a high enough Affinity and understanding of the magic that you’re using, your mental image becomes reality. It’s why people who use voiceless incantation are so damned powerful. The only constraints on our power are our minds and our Mana reserves.”
“Well, that is something I’m working on.” Dave tapped his breastplate that was sucking out all but twenty percent of his Mana reserves. “So, what was that I was seeing in people’s spells?”
Malsour was quiet, hesitant to continue on. “I think that your Touch of the Land has been altered to such a degree that it could be called its own spell. As you’ve come to know the elements around you and altered your Touch to observe and understand all around you, you’ve come to create a kind of arcane sight. Working with Magical Circuits and creating magical circles and magic while using Touch of the Land refined your abilities.”
“Okay, so I went from seeing what was in the dirt, to seeing everything around me in a big sphere or really focusing it and seeing the details of my circuits and magic to get a better understanding.”
“With your knowledge of the Affinities and your skills with Touch of the Land, your mind converted the central aspect of the spell. You could perceive the core thought or thoughts that were able to control the spell and you viewed them in rune format.”
“A little dumber, please? I can talk astrophysics all day, but magic is still new to me.”
Malsour cracked a smile. “Those thoughts that turn raging Mana into an actual spell—I think that you saw them and your mind translated them into runes. When you conjured your Mana into those spells, you were changing the very core of the spell. With the spells attacking you, you overloaded them or spent their power elsewhere. With those you reinforced, you altered their very structure to strengthen them. You’ve studied multiple languages of power, more than probably anyone else. That gives you more words, more ways to bend the powers of the universe to your will.”
“Wow, so I can mess with some spells that people need incantations for and even those where people have a good Affinity and decent Mana pool. If I fight someone’s spells and they have a higher Affinity or they’ve supercharged their spell, then it’s going to be more difficult to defend against it?”
“Yes, though the more words of power you come to understand, the higher the Affinity and Mana pool of your own, the stronger you can become.”
“I can already feel a headache coming on from trying to think of doing that and then being in the middle of a battle with fewer people around to keep me safe.”
“And so, you should,” Malsour said with a severe look. “If someone casts a spell just feet from you, you’re not going to have the time to counteract the spell.”
“So, don’t get cocky and put my shield down as I’ll get my ass rolled by my attacker—gotcha.”
The silence fell as each thought to themselves. The others talked about different things. Suzy kept grunting onward as Deia watched over her.
Well, it is the fastest way to level up her Strength and Agility. Dave felt sorry for his best friend as he turned to Malsour. “It seems the more I learn, the more I figure I have so much further to go.” Dave snorted.
“Something amusing?” Malsour asked.
“There’s something of a saying back on Earth. A wise man knows he knows nothing. A fool thinks they know all.”
“Maybe you Earthers aren’t as dumb as you seem.” Malsour’s face split into a wide smile.
“Just ’cause you’ve been alive for a few centuries, you think everyone’s as dumb as a rock. I’d call that an unfair advantage.”
“It’s all biology to me.” Malsour shrugged.
“Damn beings of power,” Dave said under his breath, rolling his eyes and smiling.
Chapter9: To Indal We Go
Deia watched Suzy as she ran. She was faster than she had been on their trip to Omal.
“So, you really just need to have a soul gem or some kind of gem holding power and then form your creation around it. I’d need a few supplies but I think I could get you some decent-sized rechargeable soul gems.”
“What’s...the...difference?” Suzy asked, panting.
“Well, with a normal soul gem, it’s made as a disposable one-shot wonder. You can charge them again but the amount they hold degrades until the soul gem disintegrates. With the rechargeable, they won’t degrade for a few thousand charges. As long as you have the power in yourself, you can feed it into your creations, or you can pull it from the soul gems to increase your Mana supply. That’s what my armor is. It siphons off my Mana, storing it, so that I have it for later. Your Mana reserves are only a certain amount; you can’t hold more in your body, but if you bleed power into your body, you can use it to power spells well beyond your natural Mana bar.”
“Can you siphon off other people’s power?” Induca asked.
“Any wild energy such as broken spells or Magical Circuits or a soul’s energy is automatically absorbed. For souls, I have to cast soul trap, though there’s a Magical Circuit that I’m working on that will auto-cast soul trap on anything classified as an enemy combatant.”
“Though is there any other way to take power from a willing participant?” Induca pressed.
“Well, with the right magical rune, say on a necklace? Or if I made another set of armor. Deia’s and my own armor have a function where we can transfer power to each other.”
“Well, make me up one of those necklaces,” Induca said.
“Why?” Dave asked.
“Using your Mana increases your ability to make more of it and have larger reserves. With you constantly pulling it away, my body will fight to make more, just like running.”
Dave was silent for a while.
We’ve been doing that with the armor and the results have been great. It keeps our energy down but our Intelligence and Willpower have been climbing up steadily. Deia felt a little annoyed with herself to have not brought it up sooner.
“Only makes sense. Pretty boneheaded move by me.” Dave scratched his head as they continued to run.
“Make ones for us, too,” Kim said.
“Would be useful to have some stored power lying around if we need it in an emergency,” Lucy agreed.
“If you can make those necklaces and make it so that it draws people’s power and we can alter how much and then allow them to pull it from one of your soul gems by request, then I’d be happy to pay,” Josh said.
“You—paying? Where was this kind soul back in Omal when you left me with the bill?” Dwayne asked.
“What? I said I had a call to take.” Josh jumped out of the way of Dwayne’s hand.
“Was it from your girlfriend?” Kim asked, a glint in her eye.
“Maybe,” Josh said.
“Josh and Cassie sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S—”
“Shut up, Kim!” Josh said.
“I-N-G.”
“Is this because I banned you from doing experiments in the apartment?” Josh asked.
“Maybe...”
“YOU BLEW YOUR DAMN WALL OFF. IT TOOK THREE DAYS TO FIX IT AND WE HAD TO SLEEP OUTSIDE!”
“Well, I doubt that you were getting much sleep with Cassie anyway!” Kim put out her tongue.
Deia pressed her lips together as the others chuckled or outright laughed at Kim and Josh’s argument.
“Come here, you damned wizard!” Josh ran after Kim.
“That’s mage to you, Shadow Pervert!” She laughed, throwing spells back at him as he dodged them and chased her down the length of the Stone Raiders’ caravan.
“Who you betting on?” Dwayne asked.
“Kim,” Lucy said.
“Same,” Dwayne grunted.
Deia saw that the rest of the Stone Raiders were betting on their two leaders as they yelled at each other, smiles on their faces as Kim threw spells and Josh dodged out of their way.
“Looks...like...hell,” Suzy said.
“Don’t worry, we’ll soon get a game of tree tag going,” Deia said.
Suzy gave her a look that Deia might expect a Demon’s torture victim might show.
It was all Deia could do to stop herself from laughing.
“I fucking hate trees,” Dave said darkly.
“This sounds like a good story,” Malsour prompted.
Dave kept his silence as Deia snorted.
“First time he tried to run up a tree, he slowed down too much. Panicking, he grabbed a tree branch. Unfortunately, the tree branch wasn’t all that strong, and there was another right underneath him.
“He tried bartering with the tree branch and gravity, but gravity won out and he landed on the branch right below—landing right on his jewels.”
The males in the group winced and shook their heads in amusement; the women just snorted at Dave’s misfortune.
“Swore I busted a nut. Hurt for two days,” Dave complained.
***
“Good, good—now just think of the creation as a balloon. Fill it with Mana to inflate it. Not too much that it becomes unstable, but not too little that it can’t support itself. Starting out, it’s better using less.” Anna watched Suzy as she concentrated on what looked like a gray amorphous blob.
Suzy put her hands to it. Anna could see with her arcane sight as Suzy pushed power inside the creation. It wasn’t much and it stuttered a few times but after a few seconds, it settled down and continued to flow more uniformly.
These bleeders are rather impressive.
Anna watched as the amorphous blob started to move, four non-uniform legs connected to a body. It looked like a kind of squid.
“That’s good,” Anna said before Suzy put too much into it.
Suzy cut off her Mana and watched the blob that got to its feet awkwardly.
“So what makes it move? Or, like, follow commands?” Dave asked.
“Well, essentially it’s part of Suzy, a combination of soul and Mana energy turned into a form. Otherwise known as Willpower and Intelligence stats. Making the body is about the hardest part of it, once you get into customizing it. But the center of the creation, what makes it go—act and react—is Suzy. When she makes something, her mind is sort of printed onto the creation. Suzy, think of it jumping,”
Suzy did as the squid thing tried to jump. It was quite cute.
“How?” Suzy asked.
“Well, your mind resonates with your creation. As you think of something, your imprint understands what you mean and carries it out. While I might say fish and we both think of different fish, when you say fish to your imprint, you’re both thinking of the same fish. That is, unless you’ve gone through a mental shift. The best way to fight a creation summoner is through their mind—hit you with a few psychic tricks and your whole army falls apart as they’re all linked to your mind.”
“Is there any way to take control of the creations?” Dave asked.
“If you are a creation summoner as well and you have a greater affinity for the type of medium that the creation is made from—so in this case, Earth and water because we made it from mud—and your mind is stronger, then you can override the creation, destroying Suzy’s consciousness within them and replacing it with your own. Also, distance plays a factor. The closer the creations are to Suzy, the greater control she has over them.”
“Hmm.” Looking satisfied, Dave nodded and went back to working on the simple black necklaces.
“Okay, now let’s see how far your range is,” Anna said. “Push your creature out as far as possible and we’ll see when it falls out of your control.”
“Well, here goes nothing,” Suzy said.
Anna glanced at the girl’s Mana. She was at around twenty percent for just filling the creature with power. It had taken Suzy two hours of meditating and casting to build the creation.
The creature walked toward the forest, its movements wonky but workable.
Few can get their first creations to do more than twitch a limb. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that they know Emerilia is real. They’re obviously putting more effort into their training and they’re both pretty driven, something that they’re passing on to the other Players and even the POE. Anna looked at Suzy and Dave, wondering just where the two bleeders might take them.
“Babe! Can you heat something up for me?” Dave asked Deia, who was a bit away from camp, talking and training with Induca and a few other Fire mages from the Stone Raiders.
“How hot do you need it?” Deia yelled back.
“Blue flame, right out of the campfire would be fine!”
The flames of the campfire turned from red to blue, focused in a single flame.
“Thanks, babe!” Dave said.
Most people took some time to get used to the magical properties of Emerilia. Dave treated it as if it was just another tool. Few people had the strength of magic as Players, but Dave seemed to have been surrounded by it or adjusted to it so that it was his new norm.
Dave placed some silver in the fire. “Let’s see what you’ve got there, Malsour,” Dave said.
Malsour tossed him over a rune that was no bigger than a copper piece.
Dave inspected it. “Nicely done.” He tossed it back to the Dragon.
“It’s harder than I thought it would be,” Malsour said.
“Just takes practice and determination. If you ever get interested in hammering a bit of metal, let me know. I’d be happy to show you the basics.”
Suzy grunted a bit.
Anna looked over to the wobbling squid. It was still going but from Suzy’s expression, it was getting harder and harder to send signals to it.
It got another meter and then collapsed.
Suzy rubbed her forehead. “Well, now I’ve got a headache to add to my body feeling like it just got rolled over by a bulldozer.”
Anna laughed. “That’s just your body telling you that you’re out of Mana and that you’ve done something that was previously hard for you. As you do more complex spells and magic, then you’ll get worse headaches. It’s a sign that you’re stretching your limits.”
“Sounds like a great time.”
“Well, your creation made it about a hundred and fifty meters. That’s really good for your first try. Now I’m going to teach you how to circulate your Mana to help get rid of those headaches.”
“Then what?” Suzy asked.
Pretty smart one. Anna smiled. “Then we see if you can make two of them, and try to get them to go the same distance.”
“This sucks,” Suzy muttered.
It might for now, but I have a feeling that just like Dave and the others, you’re going to advance much quicker than anyone else might be capable of.
Anna only had to look at the Stone Raiders, who were practicing their various skills around the camp. While the POE saw it as a chore to raise their levels, the Stone Raiders focused on raising their stats and pushing their limits in a way that the POE never would. With no need to fear death if jumping between trees or dodging arrows was a good way to level up, they’d try it out.
The people I knew when I went to sleep might all be dead, but there is still hope in their descendants.
Chapter 10: Indal
“Well, seems like the locals are friendly.” Dwayne kept his voice low.
“Well, not everyone is going to like Players because of the way that they treat the POE,” Josh said. “I’ve never seen anything like this kind of level of AI. It’s so life-like, even their reactions to us.”
Dwayne nodded in agreement. As they had become E-heads and Emerilia became their land, they’d come to respect and interact with the POE more. It was hard to treat them as just simple AIs there for their enjoyment. If they hadn’t felt that way before, Boran-al’s Citadel had solidified it in their minds.
Indal was a farming community and just another stop on the way to the northern cities. There were more people coming through the city than when Josh had made the trip up from Nadorf last time. Their farms and fisheries helped to supply the north with food throughout the year. Winter might be ending but the majority of people were still in the city, waiting for the ground to defrost more, so that they could get to planting this year’s harvest.
Omal and Milheilm were both large starting areas, which put Indal right in the middle of them.
If early Players were into something that might be not viewed well in the eyes of the law, then they usually drifted to Indal to carry out their murders and other atrocities. More than one villager had disappeared due to a Player trying out a new spell or making a sacrifice to the Pantheon.
Certainly, won’t make things much easier here.
“I think that we’ll get supplies and then be on our way. We’ve still got a few hours of daylight left and I don’t feel all that good about staying here tonight. Not only will they gouge our wallets—I’m wondering if they won’t gouge something else to make up for those who died by other Players,” Josh said.
The other four nodded their heads and Josh put out a message to the rest of the Stone Raiders. There wasn’t as much disagreement as he was expecting. It seemed that they had clued into the odd vibe coming from the people and were happy to keep going. They were only two days from Komo and six days from Nadorf, if they continued at their pace. Everyone’s Strength and Agility were increasing so Josh was betting they could slim that down a bit.
