Chapter 07 (part 1/2) - Blood Transfusion

  Studying came naturally to Vincent. He had once been considered the greatest genius of his generation, and now he devoured the three books Lily had brought him in a single sitting, even if it meant cross-checking multiple times between different languages to fill in the blanks his memory had forgotten.

  Reading them didn’t mean he mastered or fully understood them. Much of what they explained made little sense, lacking any clear logic. None of it could be directly mapped between magic and science. But he read and memorized them anyway.

  If the custodian catches me reading, I might not get another chance to do it.

  Vincent repeated to himself as he tore through the volumes without rest. He also drank the tonics and potions Lily had left him, though he decided to extinguish the incense for now, he wasn’t yet ready to make proper use of it.

  The other artifacts didn’t make much sense to him. The clay-carved magic circle and the bronze tube were useless for the moment; the marbles weren’t much better, though he understood their purpose. They weren’t magic stones, but simple pieces of glass, quartz, and polished rock shaped into spheres, small enough to roll between the fingers and sized perfectly to fit into the grooves of the clay circle. Their polished finish made them beautiful, which allowed them to act as small attractors of energy.

  As Lily had explained, fragments of the soul (or spiritual energy) still retained a primal, instinctive attraction to things of perceived value. In essence, they were drawn to beauty, brilliance, and power; to geometric patterns, spirals, golden ratios, and fractals. What was valuable in life remained so in death: gold and silver were great mana catalysts, but so was perceived worth. In theory, even paper money could hold the same weight as the brightest gem.

  Value is what people decide it is, arbitrary and meaningless.

  He repeated as he read those passages, recalling the economics books he once studied.

  How powerful would I have been if magic existed on Earth? The person who possesses value is also valuable… being the richest man in the world would’ve surely let me command an absurd amount of energy.

  Vincent moved his hand, trying to perform some kind of spell, but nothing happened.

  What am I doing wasting time with that… I need to focus on generating a flow.

  According to what he had read, the meridians were permeable, capable of absorbing and releasing energy along their entire surface, though they were most sensitive at the extremities. They didn’t need a heart to propel the current; the energy moved through contraction, like an esophagus. Within them circulated a sort of liquid that carried the energy, but the books Lily had given him didn’t go into much detail about that point.

  Without knowing the language or where to look, Vincent found no way to clean his meridians. The book Lily had shown earlier was useful only to give him an idea of how his own meridians compared to those of others. He simply didn’t have enough energy to purify them, and relying on external sources was dangerous. He didn’t know how to extract energy from the marbles, and asking the husks for help could be fatal. His channels were narrow and weakened, and an external or irregular flow could severely damage his meridians… which, for a newly awakened husk, was extremely dangerous. The inner membrane of his meridians was the only thing protecting Vincent’s soul; breaking it would mean death.

  But I think I could do it… I won’t have the power, but I’ll have control. I have Lily’s knowledge and experience. If I could just get the husks to include me…

  He thought about it seriously. It was risky, but he feared his current self might cease to exist if he lost more memories. He had nothing to bargain with, aside from the tools Lily had entrusted to him, though they didn’t belong to him. The tonics, on the other hand, were his, and he hadn’t finished them all.

  No… better to wait for Lily. She’ll know what to do.

  So he decided to keep studying. For a while, he flipped through the book on the common language of that world; if he wanted to thrive, he couldn’t afford to be illiterate. But the pulsations from his bracelet had become unbearable, leaving him no choice but to grab a duster and start cleaning to calm it down. It wasn’t the kind of work he was used to, so he stuck to dusting the higher shelves, the ones that didn’t require much physical effort. He spent half an hour working in silence, trying to circulate a bit of energy through his body as he went about his chores.

  If I really want to master it, I need to be able to do it unconsciously.

  This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

  Vincent told himself, completely absorbed in his own thoughts… and that was why hearing the trio whispering behind the shelves caught him so off guard.

  “Are you sure the custodian didn’t follow you?”

  Asked Charly to the girl with the long face and yolk-colored hair.

  “Yes, he went to eat. Ben made sure of it.”

  Ben, whom Vincent had at first taken for a big kid, turned out to be a man of about thirty-five with shy, almost childlike manners. He was at least a head taller than Charly, and the way he moved his body made him look awkward.

  It's as if he's not used to such a large body... Could he be a child resurrected in an adult's body? No... Maybe he's just lost his memories from the last decade and suffered a regression.

  The thought of becoming a child-minded man sent chills through him, but the trio kept talking, so he had no time to worry further. They were looking for ways to increase their power, and Vincent, with the patience of a hunter tracking a deer to its watering hole, followed them stealthily.

  The husks slipped between pillars and shelves toward the service cores: huge hollow columns where hammered lead pipes full with water and other fluids ran, along with the irregular, organic circulatory system that fed the tower with magic. Leaving the dim light of the study rooms behind, they took out their own lamp, similar to an oil lamp but with a polished quartz at its center. Subterfuge was clearly not their specialty; when they lit the lamp, they blinded themselves, clumsily illuminating their path and allowing Vincent to follow unnoticed.

  The tower kept a deliberate architectural style on the outside, walls, cloisters, and halls, but inside the monumental columns its organic nature took center stage. The corridors were curving and irregular, the doors looked like natural orifices, and the floor felt like a living skeleton. Tracing the reddish roots that covered the walls with his fingers, the trio reached a small room with no apparent function, a cavity of natural formation.

  “Is this the smallest artery you could find?”

  “Yes… I couldn’t go down more floors to check. They almost caught me this time.”

  Ben answered nervously.

  Arteries? So that’s what they were looking for.

  The memory of having touched one of those roots still burned in his mind, but curiosity was stronger. Vincent moved as close as he could to the threshold of the door, hidden by the shadow cast by the lamp… and by his companions’ carelessness.

  “Give me one of the belts, Tammy. The one with the simple buckle.”

  Charly held out his hand and the girl passed him the belt without a word. Carefully, he wrapped the artery with the strap while Ben used a rod to separate it from the wall.

  “Don’t tighten it so much… if you damage it-”

  “I know what I’m doing. Don’t distract me.”

  With the belt tightened, the artery began to swell with each pulse. The bulbous, violet conduit started to emit a faint glow from the point where the flow had been constricted.

  Irritated that he hadn’t been the one to come up with the idea, Charly grabbed another stick and pried a second artery from the wall, right where Tammy was already working. His goal was to create a manageable flow, diverting the pressure into another channel and regulating the stream, forming a new bulge with another belt. The trio watched their work in silence, alert for any fissure or sign of bleeding. The artery throbbed, swelling more with every passing second.

  “Are you sure this will work? It looks really swollen.”

  “Weren’t you the one who said we needed a stronger flow? You know… like a muscle. You have to tear it so it can grow.”

  “I’m not sure my personal trainer knowledge applies here… but from what I read, it’s better if it’s bulbous. If a controlled turbulence forms, the flow becomes easier to direct.”

  “Bah, what are you afraid of? The higher resurrected do this all the time.”

  Arrogant, though with a hint of fear in his voice, Charly took the first step toward the arterial bulge. He extended his hand in a V-shape and touched the conduit carefully. At first, nothing happened, but when he pressed harder against the bulge, his body jolted violently, as if he had stuck his fingers into an electrical socket.

  “Charly!”

  The others rushed to pull him away, but he stopped them with a gesture. After the initial shock, his body relaxed, though he was clearly struggling against the flow.

  “Don’t come closer… I need to focus. Slow, slow, through the forearm… run straight through the-”

  Charly tried to guide the flow through his body, muttering the start of a mantra under his breath, but before finishing it, he had to pull his hand away.

  “Ah… I can’t. The flow’s too strong… I damaged my meridians at every turn.”

  Tammy grabbed his arm to inspect it. His fingers were red, twisted, and trembling with small spasms. Even though he tried to stay composed, the damage was obvious.

  “What if we all do it together?”

  “It won’t work… we’ll never be able to handle such a strong flow. I’m the best among us, and I couldn’t even get it past my elbow.”

  The other two fell silent. It was true, Charly was the most skilled of the group, and if he wasn’t willing to let the others try, it meant the risk was real. Piercing an artery had been a stupid idea, far beyond their capabilities.

  “Charly… are you going to be okay?”

  Ben asked timidly, watching as a bead of sweat ran down Charly’s temple. His hair stood on end, and his face was paler than ever. His pride, however, wouldn’t let him show weakness.

  “This? It’s nothing. It’ll probably just itch during the night.”

  “If they hear you scream, they’ll know what we did. Meridian damage isn’t something you can take lightly…”

  “I’ll be fine!”

  “You don’t have to act tough, Charly.”

  Tammy wasn’t intimidated by his tone. They were friends, and she was worried.

  “If we use our savings, we could buy a restorative potion for your channels. It’ll help you get through the night.”

  Charly bit his lip, furious. His reckless move had gotten him hurt, and now everyone would have to pay for it. But if anyone discovered trauma in his meridians, they’d start asking questions, and that would be even worse. Not to mention that spending a night like this would be torture.

  “Could you leave the belts where they are?”

  Vincent’s voice cut through the tension as he stepped out of the shadows. The scare was so sudden that Ben fell backward and Tammy let out a muffled scream.