Chapter 56: Sherblanc’s Magic 101, Pt. 2

  After a brief discussion, one in which Theo’s rosy cheeks were not up for debate, he received what he dreaded about having a teacher again: homework. Whenever he and Sherblanc did not have lessons scheduled, and Theo’s mana pool had been filled, he had to spend the mana creating any of the elements—and he was to do this until all six of them reached Level Three. It would take quite a while, but the mana regeneration bonus from Arcana’s effigy would be a great boon in his long endeavour.

  With his current stats, Theo would regenerate all his mana in just under an hour whilst within Sigil Lake’s borders. He’d double-checked his stats just to be sure and calculated how many iterations of a single ‘Create’ combination could be cast at once. He hadn’t done this in a while, so his mouth opened wide in awe at the number.

  Theo’s stats and skills (Advanced view)

  Health: 295 | Mana: 153 | Stamina: 100%

  H-regen/hr: 1.42 | M-regen/min: 2.9

  Physical: 142.8 (1.0x) | Mental: 153.3 (1.0x) | Vital: 142.8 (1.0x)

  Luck: 1

  A hundred and fifty-three mana, where fifteen were spent on weaving the three necessary sigils ‘Loop’, ‘Create’ and a last one for the element to create. After that, it only cost a single mana per repetition of the loop. One hundred and thirty-eight. That was how many repetitions he’d be able to cast. One hundred and thirty-nine ‘Create’ ‘Water’ casts. It was an obscene number. For the last several days, Theo had only cast it a few times to refill the water storage near Willam’s fields. This might not even take that long, he realised.

  “None whatsoever?”

  Sherblanc was fuming at the mention of something, though Theo couldn’t figure out what exactly. It wasn’t the number of his Level Three skills, he figured, because they’d been over that already. The past few minutes had passed with a few quick calculations from Theo’s side and some intense bewilderment from Sherblanc’s—getting his head wrapped around Theo’s magic after finding out about the looping proved more difficult than Theo had thought.

  Theo eyed him questioningly, some nervousness peeking out from behind his eyes. Sherblanc calmed himself with a signature scratch of his beard, exhaling before saying: “You don’t have a single multiplier?”

  Theo ‘oh’-ed. It wasn’t so long ago that he learned about them, and he wasn’t sure how people earned them except through diligence. He was pretty diligent, he thought, so they might pop up one of these days. Maybe Luni’s trait only helped him earn skills. It made the world watch him—for lack of a better word—more closely, giving him more opportunities to be given whatever the world could give. It had given him skills faster, Theo figured, but the horrifying realisation he made just then gave him the shivers. What if it were also more generous with boons and effects? Some could benefit him, but he’d be pretty upset if he had to suffer Blue again. If he had to suffer Bulbousness again? Pissed off.

  To get closer to an answer, he asked, “Does Aera give out the multipliers, or are they self-contained within us?”

  “Interesting question. Supposing you are identical to us who come from Aera—if not, could you even earn them—then no, they are thought to be wholly…self-contained, as you put it. But before you start getting any ideas, let me tell you a bit about them. First, they are multiplicative after all other multipliers, be they skill, trait or effect-given.”

  Theo nodded his understanding.

  “Second, they are finite. That is to say, there’s no maximum multiplier that we know of, but each addition to the multipliers is harder to come by than the last. Third, branching off from the second point—and the third is by far the most important point for you to remember—is that the difficulty scales with all multipliers you earn, not just in a single category.”

  “Just to make sure I got it, give me an example,” Theo asked.

  “Consider you have one stage in the Physical and one stage in the Mental multipliers. One stage is ten percent, by the way. You have two stages earned. Thanks to that, earning your first multiplier stage in Vital will be much, much harder than if you had no other multiplier stages. Equally difficult as earning a stage in the other categories, actually.”

  “Meaning, reaching the roof in one raises the roof for all of them?”

  “Exactly.”

  “But what about the progress you’ve made before that? What if you were otherwise close to earning a ‘stage’ in mental when you gained the first stage in physical?”

  “The consensus, be it good or bad, is that you save your progress in all other categories. They are then closer to reaching the ‘roof’ than the one you just earned a stage in.”

  “How is that bad?”

  Theo realised the moment he asked, but let his tutor answer anyway, despite this being a tangent.

  “Because since they are so limited, many would rather focus their multipliers on one or two categories. There’s a chance to reach the next threshold with an unwanted stat on accident, which will raise the bar on the stats you’re focusing on.”

  It would require one to do things that increased one’s progress in that stat, but it was theoretically possible. Why wouldn’t a brawler sit down and read a good book at the end of his day, or solve some puzzles?

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  With that out of the way, and Sherblanc revealing some side-activities Theo could do to gain some multipliers, the lesson started in earnest. As Theo had hoped, Sherblanc’s spell repertoire wasn’t too focused on offensive magic, but utilitarian or supportive spells. He had no fire-based spells on hand that he had any experience in, but he revealed a large book, its cover plain and boring, with jotted down glyphs inside, as well as some side-notes. Theo struggled to read the minuscule writing.

  Sherblanc looked around. “No spellcasting inside,” he said. “Weaving-practice and theory only.”

  Theo nodded. “Agreed.” He looked around as well, seeing all the wooden walls and floors. Despite practising with utility magic, there was no way of knowing what might be affected if something went wrong…or right. Then, his head tilted to the side as he faced Sherblanc again. “Theory?”

  “While not too important in actually casting spells, I find the theory behind it to help me visualise the glyph as I weave it. It will also help one understand the spell cast against them, if they see the glyph, of course. Also, creating new spells, if you were ever so inclined.”

  Theo perked up, his head straightening. “Create new spells?”

  Sherblanc grinned as if he knew that would catch Theo’s attention. “Spells aren’t invented, technically speaking, as glyphs all mean something. That doesn’t stop anyone from discovering brand new spells, though. Like your ‘sigils’, I imagine, each glyph is a series of instructions. More obtuse than what you’ve told me the sigils are, but still the same.”

  “Show your work,” Theo said, flashing his teeth in a grin.

  Sherblanc did, opening the book, turning a few pages until a familiar glyph caught his attention. Sherblanc stopped there despite Theo thinking he wasn’t showing any reaction. Then, his tutor turned more pages, keeping the ‘Fireball’ glyph pages open underneath the page-gathering hand. He soon stopped.

  “Notice the ‘Fireball’ spell here,” he said, lowering the bundle of pages between the two glyphs towards the other spell. “See this section here, with the twirls and that jagged edge?”

  Theo nodded as Sherblanc traced it with his finger. Sherblanc lumped the pages between onto the ‘Fireball’ next, revealing the new spell. The writing above it was bigger than the notes and said ‘Light Sphere’.

  Sherblanc traced a similar twirl, placed even in the same location on the glyph as it had been on the ‘Fireball’ spell. The jagged edge that split from the helix wasn’t there, however—a wavy line replaced it.

  “Those are very similar,” Theo said first, showing his tutor that he was seeing what he pointed out. “But the last part is different.”

  “Astute observation,” Sherblanc said. “The jagged edge you will find in many other fire-based spells. The waves in light spells.”

  “And the helical twirls?”

  Sherblanc frowned and eyed Theo. Theo shrugged.

  “‘Ball’, ‘Sphere’, ‘Round’. You will also find these helices in ‘Water Globule’, for instance.”

  “I thought no one understood the language,” Theo frowned. Chaste had said that.

  “Understanding it and recognising parts of its structure are different. I read people, but sometimes I don’t understand them or their actions.”

  Theo thought about it. It sounded wise enough, but recognising certain parts was the first step in understanding, wasn’t it? Though Sherblanc hadn’t said it wasn’t, just that they were different. That was accurate enough.

  “Theory first, then?” Theo asked. He wasn’t as interested in the theory, but he recognised the value in it. He had enough on his plate with his sigils. While he was seeing the resemblance and might even learn a thing or two about how to structure sigils by studying glyphs, he knew far too few sigils and their function to even begin casting advanced spells with them. ‘Water Bullet’ was far more complex a spell than he could ever hope to achieve with sigils given his current understanding of them. With no one to teach him sigils like they did pre-known glyphs, the only way to get there was the slow, meticulous route.

  “No,” Sherblanc said, shutting that down in an instant. “Theory might make you overthink your weaving. Better to have a few spells memorised before that. Theory works well to fill in the gaps between your experiences, after all, but the other way around isn’t as easy.”

  “So…” Theo said as a pregnant pause filled the large room.

  “Take a look,” said Sherblanc, smiling as he passed the book over to Theo.

  With wide eyes, Theo accepted the book in his hands, surprised at Sherblanc’s trust in him. A book like this, filled with spells and notes, must be worth a fortune. Mages seemed particularly hard to come by, so spells must be just as difficult, if not more. That said, Chaste had shared it with a stranger, Grace had freely offered the spells she knew, and now Sherblanc was doing the same. Maybe spells weren’t such a luxury commodity as Theo thought they were—what if there were just not enough people able to cast them?

  Theo flipped the pages, looking both at the titles above the glyphs and at the glyphs themselves. He wanted something that spoke to him, something that might help him with his own progress or that could help his friends and fellow villagers. Except for Grace, and now Sherblanc, there was no one else capable of magic. Theo had learned that Hank’s projections still cost mana, even though they weren’t literal spells, so their mana and mental stat still played a role. The mental stat offered more bonuses than simple mana, of course, meaning everyone stood to gain from a higher mental value.

  Among the pages, Theo found several interesting spells, but which of them would help him the most? Some, like ‘Rainfall’, would’ve served well for the farm and for storing water, but the notes specified it caused precipitation. It fast-tracked rain from the ingredients found in the surroundings—wonderful and complex a spell, both—but Theo’s water was better, the farm and his garden had proved so. They also had the lake nearby, so it would only save time, not water.

  To get his Water Affinity skill to Level Three, Theo would have to create an enormous amount of water, so he was planning on dropping all of it into the lake as well. Hopefully, it might eventually prove a benefit to the fish or plant life within the lake.

  ‘Light Sphere’ seemed useful if Theo ever found himself somewhere dark and without a source of light, but might not be the best first choice. Despite Sherblanc comparing it to ‘Fireball’ earlier, it was only their shape that was similar, not their function. ‘Light Sphere’ was a hovering light, dealing no damage unless you touched it, in which case it might burn one’s skin if their vital stat was too low.

  Then, he found one. It was of the book’s more complex spells, but it was more than helpful despite it being more of a time-saver than anything else. It also sounded cool, which helped. Maybe it would also even the playing field if Grace started dashing about the place again with her ‘Blink Step’. Unlike that spell, though, this one was ‘external’, so it didn’t require engraving.

  “‘Shadow Veil’,” Theo said. It was as good as any to start with. It would save him time in a rush, or might even save his life if he was ever in danger—though casting it would still take time, so maybe not. The cool-factor won it out.

  Sherblanc grinned. “A personal favourite of mine as well.”