-Excerpt from “My Talks with Glis’Merinda, Daughter of Exeter”
Written by Dak of Kell
The breakfast we enjoy is overshadowed by the giddy feeling building up inside me. Jess managed to secret some spices away from me, even managed to hide them somewhere I wouldn’t find while I snooped through all the supplies for any remaining shred of salt almost three weeks ago. The meat melts on my tongue; I swear the woman should be a cook if killing monsters doesn’t end up working out. We eat quickly, neither one of us fully able to keep smiles off our faces. I continuously feel energy spreading through my fingers along with my pulse, unable to keep my vision locked to any one thing.
The world has changed. There exists an almost haze about everything, a shifting of color that does nothing to obscure my vision, only enhance it. I see it most pronounced on Jess, the aura of her soul presence lapping off her skin and evaporating into the air. Just looking at the aura, something almost like a taste comes to me, some sensation that I cannot place as I stare at the wisps of silvery gray, feeling a heaviness on the back of my tongue. I know it, can feel the taste of her magic, but the feeling is novel, I have nothing to relate it to.
She catches me staring. “You finished already,” she says, looking at the wooden bowl in my hands.
“I suppose I did.” Grease slips from one of the shanks staked over our fire, sputtering and sizzling in the flames. There is a taste to the fire as well, far more muted, its spice almost undetectable. A glare catches my eye, the rising sunlight glinting off the gilded dome of the ship, and along its smooth exterior I sense magic as well. The taste of it is complex, an interplay of ingredients that come together in a recipe only possible for the most experienced of chefs to create. I pick something out in the flavor, that same heaviness, the same hard coolness, that I sensed from Jess. What is this magic’s flavor?
“We are leaving today?” Jess asks, snapping my attention back to her.
“That was the plan,” I say. It is hard to focus on her; constant flares of magic pop from the world, catching my attention, tasting of all manner of things. “We have no rush.” A tree, I can just see the crown of its leaves, captures my attention. It pulses with a green light, tasting of an arrangement of dust and something watery and green, almost like cucumber.
Jess snaps her fingers, and when I turn to her, I find her looking down at her own hand, as if she didn’t expect to get the right sound on her first try. Must be strange, one second having sharp claws at the tips of your hands, the next smooth, purple fingernails. She looks up at me, a sheepish smile on her face. “Are you going to be alright to fly the ship? You seem, distracted. It would be a tragic end to our tale for us to crash into a mountain on the way back to Grim.”
“I’ll be fine,” I say, spotting a bird radiating an aura of red. I realize that the animal is thousands of feet above us, just a tiny dot in my vision, but I can taste the cinnamon heat of its magic all the same. “Waiting a little while might be a good idea. I have nowhere pressing to be. Arabella Willian advised me before we set out that I would need some time after advancing to the second rank to allow my body to relax. I have been pushing my soul especially hard for reinforcement over the past few months. Diminishing returns on my effort have made these last few so much harder.”
“That is fine,” Jess says, setting her bowl aside in a basket. She stands, stretching her limbs and pointing down toward another flat space on the mountain. “I will see about packing up the forge. It will still take us days to determine the extent of our changes. We not only have new abilities to discover but need to learn how our previous ones have changed.”
“And there is the soul presence as well,” I say, tossing my own bowl into the basket and dusting off my trousers. “Remind me to purchase a tub when we get back to Grim, I want to install one in the ship. One that can produce hot water.”
“Can’t you just warm the water?” she asks.
I remember the tower then, attempting to boil that monster alive inside its tank. “I suppose so.” Then, I remember the glade. “You go and prep whatever you need to. I will see about finding us a bath around here. We might be able to show up to Grim all pampered and ready to display ourselves about town.”
She arches a brow at me, a movement I notice she is becoming more and more prone to do, but nods. Jess jumps off the edge of the stone, landing with incredible grace on the next ledge more than fifteen feet below. For a moment, I am tempted to try and perform the same feat, but I think better of it. Before I set off once more into the woods, I stop inside the ship, digging around for clothes that will actually fit. Unfortunately, I am unable to find any set of pants long enough that they don’t end and squeeze around my mid-calf. I do manage to find a simple black blouse that matches my new shape; it hugs a bit, but nothing too discomforting.
I find the glade just as I left it, solitary, but glittering with the light of the morning sun now instead of the moon. Next to me, Galea is practically bouncing in the air, her claws tapping against each other. She has been doing this ever since I came out of my meditation, but I held off on receiving her news, wanting to share the first part of my new rank two life with my friend.
“Alright,” I say, looking over at the fey dragon. “Show me.”
“As you wish,” she spits in a rush. “I am ever at your service.” A multitude of windows open in front of me, my eyes scanning across them all, the window showing my attributes the first to capture me.
Charlene Devardem
Human(Level 51)
Emperor Conflux
Attributes
Vitality: 81(93)
Strength: 70(82)
Magic: 653(885)
Defense: 90(100)
Magic Defense: 74
Speed: 386(446)
Recovery: 608(757)
Perception: 69
Healing Points: 930
Mana: 8855
Stamina: 3727
Presence: Emperror’s Presence(far)
“What?” I scan through the numbers once again, trying to understand. I knew that I would reach level fifty-one with my advancement to the second rank, and that the growth of my attributes would only accelerate the further into the ranks I advanced, but the numbers simply do not make sense. A second window to the side informs me that I have thirty free points remaining to spend.
“Thirty,” I mutters, eyes shifting through the information. “Three times the amount I had previous. Even if I assume that my effort values and the attributes I gain from being human likewise tripled, it still does not account for the changes.”
Galea opens her mouth, ready and willing to explain everything for me, but I hold up my hand to forestall her. For once, I want to figure this out for myself. I spend a good ten minutes, puzzling the numbers, guessing at where my effort values might have gone from the last level, and eventually arriving at the answer. When the last level is accounted for, it becomes evident that all of my attributes received an increase of one-fifth during the advancement to rank two.
I had been told that advancing through a rank provides a significant enhancement for a magician, but given that I have access to the inefficient runoff of soul reinforcement that humans usually lack in the form of free points, I expected mine not to be all that astonishing. How had I ever been able to compete with any of the rank twos in the competition, when merely crossing that threshold provides such a boon? It isn’t difficult to imagine that had the contest progressed further, I would have been buried in the dust as those fortunate enough to advance began to gain more and more levels, each of theirs worth far more than mine.
I banish memories of the contest, best not to revisit them. Looking at the numbers again, I notice something, pulling my attention to another one of the windows open to my side. My attribute in magic has surpassed six-hundred, meaning I have broken through the second threshold.
Thresholds Obtained:
Magic(1st Threshold): Reaching the first threshold in the Magic attribute has granted the magician’s own magic increased potency. If the magician’s Magic attribute significantly outclasses the Magic Defense attribute of a target, there is a chance for any magical resistance to be completely ignored. Additionally, passing this threshold grants a slight insight into magical affixes, helping the magician along their journey to true potency.
Magic(2nd Threshold): The potency of the magician’s magic has surpassed a point not seen by most magicians in the world. The power of your magic has cracked open the lines of thaumic corrugation within your body, opening your sense to magic in a way only known by those close to the third essence of reality.
Speed(1st Threshold): Surpassing the first threshold in the Speed attribute imbues the magician with a highly increased reaction time. Additionally, basic movement such as walking, running, or climbing will no longer consume stamina.
Recovery(1st Threshold): The effects of spent Healing Points is significantly increased, allowing you to recover from more grievous injuries than naturally possible. Even some previously mortal wounds may be unable to truly end your life.
Recovery(Specialist): As a specialist in Recovery, the duration of poisons, curses, and harmful magical effects upon you are significantly reduced.
Recovery(2nd Threshold): The effects of spent Healing Points are even further strengthened, allowing you to recover from even mortal wounds given enough time. Sleep has become a thing no longer required to keep your body fit or your mind focused.
Recovery(Specialist): As a specialist in Recovery, the ability of your body to regenerate organ tissue has significantly increased and the speed at which you heal has become terrifying.
“That explains the strange sensations.” I read through the description once again
Almost on a reflex, I conjure a mote of burning fire in my hand, the dragonfire climbing high and licking at the air in front of my face. There is a taste to this as well, I sense that same cinnamon I felt from the creature flying so high in the sky earlier. It must be the sensation of fire mana.
Galea applauds. “Mistress Charlene has become more potent than ever before.”
“I suppose I have.” I roll my hand, playing with the fire that spreads over my fingers like a liquid, bending this way and that. The fire shifts toward a blue light, and I feel an icy mint sit heavy on the back of my tongue, the sensation of cold mana. “How strange.”
The spirit manages to allow me a few minutes of playing with the fire, changing its affix composition, memorizing the sensation of magic that each inspires in me, before she almost begins to whine. I look up at her, unable to not notice the window she tries to nonchalantly bring my attention to be stabbing her claws at it over and over again.
“Something I should look at?” I ask her, enjoying her being the uncomfortable one for a change.
“Mistress Charlene is of course obligated to move at her own pace; I would never suggest otherwise. However, I find it my obligation to bring to her attention that the number of essentia abilities she possesses have doubled.”
“Oh,” I say, dismissing the fire. “They have?”
Likely, she can read the sarcasm in my voice without needing to read my mind. Galea groans, sinking to the ground at the edge of the pool. “I thought you might enjoy how I organized them,” she laments.
Snickering, I turn my attention to the final set of windows, each of my essentia and my conflux now having their own. I begin with Gold.
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Gold Essentia:
Disenchantment(Rank 2):
By touching a dead monster or a magical natural resource, you are able to break down their residual essence into component parts and solidify their magical residue into physical objects.
- Gold: this ability also produces an amount of coin commensurate with the power of the monster.
- Multiplicity: using this ability has a low chance of producing an additional, duplicate item and will always produce two to five times as much coin as it would without this affix.
Emperor’s Vault(Rank 2):
Gain access to the Emperor’s Vault, every ruler requires a sanctum in which to store their belongings. You are able to summon the door of the vault that will allow you into a space of total safety.
It is as if reading the description triggers some bit of understanding in my mind. As when I first gained the abilities, a natural feeling occurs to me, a pathway toward manifesting these magical abilities solidifies. I do not miss that the description for my disenchant ability has changed, now stating that I can disenchant natural magical resources, natural treasures I reason. That will save me quite a bit of money.
I next plan to concentrate on developing a real foundation in enchantment, and with all of the monsters I have turned into pink mist over the last months, I am at a glut for magical treasures. As far as I was aware, the only method of extracting the mana from them was to use specialized enchanting equipment, expensive equipment. If the ability really functions how it sounds, that will be an incredible boon.
My attention falls to the second ability, the vault. Halford once told me that the Adventurer's Guild back in Westgrove kept its supply of funds inside of a vault, but I never saw it. I was never an officially licensed adventurer after all and was not allowed in the restricted sections of the Warehouse. Now that I think about it, I’m still not an officially licensed adventurer.
I cast my hand out in front of me, activating the magic. A door of solid gold manifests out of the air, circular, looking far sturdier than any door I have ever seen. But that is it, simply a door hovering half a foot off the ground. It is seven feet across at least but doesn’t appear to do anything more than simply float there.
“Huh.” I step up to the door, tapping its metallic surface with a nail, soliciting a high-toned ping. Then, the center part of the door, a golden wheel with six spokes, begins to spin rapidly. I jump back, and the door swings open on non-existent hinges to reveal a room beyond that should by no means exist.
Without any idea as to whether or not a magician’s essentia abilities can be harmful to them, I hop over the threshold, my bare foot slapping down on golden tile. I do not know what I had been expecting, but it certainly isn’t what I find. I stand at the top of a landing, twin stairways descending to either side of me, down to a huge room that appears to be made of solid gold. It is square, at least thirty feet on any given side, and disappointingly enough, completely empty.
“It’s…big.” I look out at the gaudy room, immediately finding the wall-to-wall gold more than a bit off-putting.
“Mistress Charlene was just yesterday complaining about running out of space inside of her storage ring,” Galea says, looking around the chamber with a big smile.
“That’s true.” I consider for a moment what the likelihood that having somehow affected the power my gold essentia granted me but dismiss the notion. How strange would that be? “Useful,” I decide with a nod, turning and striding out of the vault once more, hopping down to the grass of the glade. With a thought, the door to the vault swings shut, the wheel in the middle of the door spinning and clunking to a stop before the entire door begins to shimmer and vanish. “Magic is next.”
Magic Essentia:
Dragonfire(Rank 2):
Conjure flames of consumption, a fire that seeks to grow and consume all that it can reach. Dragonfire is a native ability of all dragons, and its aspects take on the properties of the user’s native mana affixes.
Black Sands(Rank 2):
You have gained a primal connection to the black sands, a rare and primal material. Finding and recovering this material is a terrible task, but by its nature, the black sands are the source of renown and power since ancient times.
Of course, I notice that my Dragonfire Bolt has now simply become Dragonfire. I did harbor a suspicion before that might happen, I have long since moved past the point where my fire has been restricted to only being bolts. My notice drifts to the second ability that my Magic Essentia has now granted me. It is impossible not to think back on the competition now, the two experiences I have had encountering black sands. One of those had been a nightmare inflicted upon me by Coriander though, and the other had been a hallucination while on the verge of death. There was no way that those visions could have actually influenced anything, could they?
Dragonfire springs forth in my left hand, and on a whim, I manifest a second flame in my right. There is a strain, but it is not an insurmountable effort to turn the fire in my left hand cold and blue. That is something I have never managed before. I snap my hands shut, the fire vanishing, and focus on this new ability.
A dozen minutes pass as I strain, grasp, and squeeze at every bit of magical know-how I have gained over the past months, but no matter how hard I try, I cannot seem to manifest even the barest iota of the dark sands I saw in my vision. I read the description over and over again, coming to the terrible realization.
“This ability only allows me to control the black sand,” I say.
Galea reads the window over carefully. “That does appear to be true.”
“Have we ever seen black sand?” I ask.
“Not that I can recall.”
“Tits and honey!” I dismiss the window and the cruel joke. Given how vital my dragonfire has been for me, I had hoped that my magic essentia might gift me with an equally useful ability. When I return to Grim, I will need to look into this black sand. “Dragon Essentia is next.”
Dragon Essentia:
Dragon’s Eyes(Rank 2):
You possess the sight of dragons, eyes able to pierce darkness and veils alike. This ability grants the ability to perceive magical auras and soul presences. The eyes of dragons empower a dragon’s ability to recover its magical and vital energies. Grants a substantial boost to the Recovery attribute and causes the Recovery attribute to be 75% more effective.
Dragon’s Wings(Rank 2):
Having taken more steps upon the draconic path, you have obtained the wings of a dragon. Allows the magician to summon draconic wings, gaining the aerial prowess only afforded to the lords of the air.
A giddy laugh escapes my throat as I read over the words again and again. Sure, the boost to my recovery attribute is wonderful, fantastic even, but all thought of my Dragon’s Eyes are displaced by the second ability.
“There it is!” Galea exclaims, all of the nervous energy she has been carrying seeming to bubble up in her all at once. “There it is, Mistress. You have gained another asset that sets our kind apart from the everyday godbeasts.”
I put aside the new term of godbeasts for a moment, my own excitement overpowering. Without putting in any thought to the action, I activate the ability immediately. There is a terrible sound of my blouse being ripped to shreds as two marvelous, scaled wings sprout out of my back. I am almost pulled over backward by the sudden weight on my back, having to tip forward, but finding my movement supported by the new limbs. One scaled wing of crimson touches the ground in front of me while the other leans back, each working to balance me. Standing bare-chested in front of the calm pool is a bit distressing, but the worry is easy to push aside given the gods-damned dragon wings spreading from my shoulder blades. Besides, who would be around to see me anyway.
Only a moment passes before I become comfortable with the new weight. The sensation is so strange, but I cannot call it foreign. It is as suddenly I feel two new arms sprouting from my shoulders, and my attempts to manipulate them are clumsy, not impossible. I step up to the water, staring at my reflection, wincing as I concentrate with all of my might to spread the scaled limbs as wide as they will go. There is some resistance, almost painful, but also a spine-tingling sensation as sinews running down the rigid bones snap and pop like a knuckle. I shiver, staring out, seeing the tip of each ending almost fifteen feet away from my body.
I stare at myself in the pool, standing half-naked, but looking so powerful in the moment, perhaps what I might have once thought a goddess to look like. Lifting my hands, fire burns away from my palms, burning high and bright. I like seeing myself that way; I like it very, very much. The fire dances in the light of my reflected eye, and I cannot wipe the grin from my face.
“I can fly,” I say, delighting in the sensation that the new limbs grant me as they move and twist slowly with my will.
Galea appears in front of me, looking like she has bad news to give. “I might suggest that Mistress Charlene first attempts to glide. True flight is a skill, like any other.”
“No use dawdling,” I say. I stretch the crimson wings high like I have seen a bird do once before. How difficult could it be really, if something as stupid as a duck can manage it?
I put all of my strength into bringing my wings down. A cup of air pushes against the leathery membrane stretched between, the same sensation as trying to scoop my hand through water quickly. My feet leave the ground, and for a moment I really do fly. Then I notice that my right wing came down significantly faster than the left. My body spins as it climbs. I try to correct, only to find myself spinning, and then I am upside down, flailing at the air, unable to find that cup of air to push against.
Water rushes over my face as the pool envelops me. I choke out a breath at the impact, sucking water down my throat, leaving myself sputtering. I claw forward, a sudden panic coming over me, my left wing folding over my face and blocking out the sun above. I can’t swim! Thrashing, my body has become a clumsy mess with the added weight and discoordination of the wings. Just as I am wishing they were gone, they are, vanishing into a bright strobe of red light.
I feel whole again, almost graceful, and turn over in the water, finding my balance. My feet fold in beneath me, ready to propel me toward the surface, but suddenly finding soft, watery soil pressing between my toes. Still a bit out of it, my legs uncurl, and the surface of the water passes over my face. A splash of water comes from my sputtering mouth, and I find myself standing in the middle of the pool, almost naked, the water shallow enough to end just below my shoulder.
Three deer, the doe and the fawn I saw earlier, now joined by a stag whose antlers have just begun to grow back, stare at me from their lawn of purple and white flowers, their black eyes judging. I cover my reddening face with my hands and plod out of the water, knees falling back onto the cushion I set at the edge of the pool, not caring at all for the water soaking into the fibers. The deer still stand there when I build up the courage to pull my hands away from my face a few minutes later, still judging me–some goddess. Might the goddess enjoy a shirt?
I snag a blanket from my inventory and throw it around my shoulders, rubbing the water off my skin. Galea floats into my vision.
“That will never be mentioned,” I tell the spirit before she can say anything.
“What will never be mentioned, Mistress Charlene?”
“Good.” Exeter, I still feel like my face is on fire. If anyone I knew ever saw what just happened, I don’t know how I could ever live it down.
Galea motions to the last window that is open. Despite the attainment of wings from my Dragon Essentia–Exeter, how had Kendon and Samielle made flying look so easy–I don’t doubt that we have saved the best for last. It is typical for a magician’s soul presence to appear on their conflux rather than any of their three essentias when they attain rank two, but there was no guarantee. For me, the rule would appear to be proven. I try to manage a smile and look to the last window.
Emperor Conflux:
Emperor's Prerogative(Rank 2):
A true emperor is unbound by the limitations of the world, and as such, the emperor is not bound by any mana affix affinities, capable of pursuing any magical paths they might choose. Provides a substantial boost to the understanding and attunement of different mana affixes.
Emperor’s Presence(Rank 2):
The presence of the emperor is oppressive and far reaching. The weight of your presence presses down upon your enemies, growing more powerful as they draw nearer.
“What’s gravity?” I ask Galea, reading over the ability. Unlike my other abilities, Emperor’s Prerogative seems almost unchanged.
“It is a term for the weak attractive force of materia,” Galea supplies.
“Helpful.” I read over the description once more, not exactly understanding all aspects, but understanding some.
From what my books on magicians have explained, soul presences can be broken down into three categories, each a description of their reach: close, medium, and far. It is generally accepted that the power of a soul presence is most dependent upon the extent of its reach, close presences being far stronger than far ones, but exceptions exist. Lady Forendous is likely one such exception, her own soul presence easily falling into the far category but being by no stretch weak.
The extent of an aura’s reach for close is typically around six feet–for some reason dependent upon the race of the magician. Medium presences range in distance between twelve and twenty-five feet, while far presences are classified as anything further reaching than twenty-five feet. All of that, of course, is in context of a rank two magician. With each new rank that a magician obtains, the extent of their ability to extend their soul presence expands at an incredible rate. There is reference in the texts claiming that there exists some magicians capable of blanketing entire countries with their soul presences, but that seems unlikely to me. I cannot even fathom that kind of power.
Again, as if merely reading the description of the ability unlocks something in my mind, I know at once how to bring it forth. It is different than merely activating an essentia ability, a soul presence is the very manifestation of the soul, my soul, my soul that I have now trapped inside of me. A chord of my consciousness makes contact with that spinning geometry housed in my chest, and I can feel a resonance, a pathway to pushing its power outward into the world around me.
The aura peels off of my skin like a flood, a snap lancing through my head like I have finally let go of a band I have been holding taut without realizing it. A wave of red and gold races away from me, flashing across the pool in an instant, racing over and enveloping the animals grazing on the other side of the pool without their notice, vanishing into the forest all around me. I cannot even see how far it goes away from me after it has left the glade, but sensation starts to buzz on my skin. Prickling, the movement of insects in the bark of trees tickles the back of my neck, worms burrowing in the dirt wriggle between my toes, a mother bird tittering to its young is like a dagger in my ear. The deer across the glade grind flower petals and grass between their flat teeth, and it is like they are chewing on my bones. I squeeze my eyes shut, try to push away the sudden noise, but my head is pounding with all of it. It’s too much; it’s all too much. Then, mercifully, everything vanishes, everything. I am left with enough vague awareness to fall sideways as consciousness recedes, collapsing onto the grass rather than back into the water.
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