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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1eb20G8nhE9U5WdtmDcrX2_hPcKCM0IsZ8J8EB0F8nuU/edit?usp=sharing
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Runa pulled at his eyelids, causing Alex to jerk, attempting to move away, but he couldn’t.
The woman grunted. “The compression is finally becoming too much.” She nodded to herself. “We’ve done as much as we can. If it’s not enough, then it cannot be done, and I’ll have fulfilled my bargain regardless.”
Alex tried to speak, but found that he didn’t know how. How long had it been since he’d uttered a word?
He couldn’t recall. In fact, it took him a moment to figure out how to remember anything, so muddled were his thoughts and mind.
Still, once he figured that out, his mind knew of his desire, so it dredged the bottom of the churning sea, passing through the receding tide of memories that would—and could—never be held within his brain. Finally, it returned with what he needed. “What?”
Runa gave a kindly smile. “You’ve done it, boy. You have absorbed all that I can teach you.”
He vaguely noted that she hadn’t said it was all she had to teach, just all that she could teach him. By this point, he instinctively knew her at a deep enough level to understand that she had meant the him of ‘now.’
He literally couldn’t learn anything more from her.
Not now. “Thank you.”
She gave a firm nod. “A reminder: Don’t try to remember specifics. The danger will fade within a day or two as your physical brain sloughs off that which it can’t retain, but if you try, it will as well. Very much of that and you will die, confused and in agony.”
“I understand.” Alex knew who he was, but at the moment, he felt… blank, as if who he had been had been scoured to the core. He somehow sensed that it would resurface in time, but for the moment, he didn’t really feel anything.
“Come come. We will exit this space, and you will see what this has gained you.” She fixed him with a piercing gaze. “Keep in mind that most of this will not be able to improve you. You will see some gains, but most will be concentrated in the selected skill.” She moved toward the open doorway once again.
Beyond her, he could see the clearing he’d arrived in, a beautiful falcon visible, frozen mid-dive in the static milieu.
Just before stepping through, she turned back. “I feel that this needs saying again. I highly recommend against taking any further time-compression as a reward for at least… a decade or so, or until you advance at least a tier. I’m sure the System would try to hold you together, but we’ve danced along the ragged edge. I would hate to watch your mind and soul burst. Understood?”
He gave a slow nod, despite him not remembering exactly when she’d told him that before. “Understood, teacher.”
He followed her out the door.
As soon as he stepped down, the cry of the bird of prey met his ears, and Alex dropped to his knees, weeping.
He didn’t understand his reaction for a long moment, but finally, as his body shook with great, wracking sobs, he realized that he’d heard nothing but his and Runa’s voices and slight sounds of movement for… he refused to try to think of how long it had been.
His entire being was utterly overcome with the wonder of returned sensation, of absolutely anything else. “Oh, tickle me with peacock-feathers and call me princess.”
Runa gave him an arched eyebrow before she snorted. “The System’s getting more creative in its replacement expletives.” Still, she didn’t seem surprised by his overall reaction. “There there, boy. Take your time. I’d have warned you, but others have refused to leave once they were warned, and I didn’t want to have to throw you free. It would have degraded the results.”
Alex retched, then vomited on the grass before him. What came forth wasn’t food. It was oddly geometric shapes that reminded him of the magical concepts of food that his mind had eaten while in the cognitive sub-space.
“Get it all out.”
The words prompted another gush, and he suddenly felt like a cat trying to hack up a hairball.
The mental image caused him to begin laughing even as he continued to cry and heave.
Soon enough, he flopped onto his side in the grass, continuing to weep, but no longer wracked with bodily… difficulty.
His face was near the ick in the grass, and he instinctively tried to draw magical lines in the air, but… nothing.
“What?” His voice was hoarse, but his confusion was obvious.
“My dear boy, you cannot simply draw in the air. Why would the mana stay put?”
He shifted his head ever so slightly to stare at her in abject horror. “What have we been doing then?”
“Learning the language, Alex. If I tried to make you carve every aspect or hold the mana in that form as well, that would have broken us both. The System facilitated learning in its purest form, isolating what we needed away from all the ancillary issues.”
HIs voice wasn’t hoarse, but it was strained. “But when I got here… the magic on my voice…?”
She huffed a laugh. “I can make free-standing magics, Alex. Come now. That should be obvious. But you? Give it a century, or a couple of tiers… Maybe sooner, but don’t count on it.”
He groaned. So… he still might need his carving skill? He grimaced at the very idea of conveying what he’d learned through such a crude method of creation. Wait…
He triggered his Shaped Force Blast, smiling when a symbol-set appeared before his mental eye.
He almost chuckled at what it ‘said’, but his throat was still raw and his muscles aching. It was the equivalent of ‘small force here.’ With ‘here’ actually specifying a start and direction.
It was so ridiculously imprecise, limited, and emergent? That sounded right.
He moved it to be positioned as he desired, aiming at the sick before his face and mentally began filling in the proper aspects and lines, specifying that it should only affect the grossness and leave the grass alone.
His mind understood what he wanted perfectly, but just like a thought that refused to come from mind to mouth, it simply would not form within the clunky restrictions of this version of the System facilitated spell.
He felt like a man with no artistic talent, striving to copy a master as she painted, unable to even lay down a single stroke.
He actually let out a little whimper as understanding began to dawn within him. “Oh… by all that is holy…”
Runa looked down on him with a sad smile. “Yes, yes. It seems that you have begun to understand how I have cursed you with my impartment.”
Alex glared up at her ineffectually. “You gave me perfect pitch and sheet music for the most beautiful piece ever composed, and then left me with only a kazoo for an instrument!” Alex forced himself up into a seated position. “You… You!” He grimaced at his own rebelling body. “GAH! What madness is this?”
“Balance, Alex. Balance and doing the best that I could, given your… limitations.”
He didn’t let himself consider how his flailing and furious noises could easily be likened to a child throwing a tantrum. When he finally collected himself enough—body and mind—he sat up once more and glared petulantly. “I would ask what good this is, but I already know how you’ll answer.”
She arched an eyebrow. “Oh? Do tell.”
He grimaced. “I’ve now earned an incredibly high level understanding of magical symbology—runewrightmanship?—and I can work on the application of that knowledge.” He chuckled humorlessly. “I’m a far-future, post-masters, engineer who has been dropped in prehistoric times. I’ll have to build generations of tools and technology before what I know will be directly usable, but it’s a direction. The foundational concepts are invaluable, and I can hardly claim to be worse off than the fellow in the next cave.”
Runa huffed a laugh. “That’s a bit of a stretch at every level, but if it helps you grasp what’s happened, I won’t argue with you. So?” She gestured at his mess. “Are you going to finish?”
“I’ll give it a try…” He smacked his lips, tasting the concept of regurgitated food. “Actually, no. I have a better idea.”
He released his attempted Shaped Force Burst and changed to Create Water.
He did so almost instinctively, using the spell as he had numerous times in the scenario as easily as he had each of those times despite it having been—
Runa was snapping in front of his face. “Stop thinking about what you just went through. Let your mind heal.”
Alex groaned, coming back to himself. His Create Water spell hadn’t completed, so his mouth still felt gross. As such, he attempted it again, specifically not thinking about how long it had been.
As it formed, he knew that it would create exactly seven tenths of a cup of pure water of ambient temperature. It would create it in his mouth, originating from a point above his tongue, one inch behind his front teeth, and it would dispense the created water in every direction at a rate of half a cup a second.
Sure enough, the water flowed into being, taking just over a second to fill his mouth to a comfortable degree.
His eyes widened before he swished and swallowed. “I didn’t see the lines, not directly. How…” He gave a slow nod. “You taught me the written language, but still communicated the ‘sounds’ of it. I’m sensing the magic and interpreting it?”
“Exactly, but keep in mind that you will not have a perfect sense of magics around you until you improve that sense sufficiently."
He grunted. That was logical. Tentatively, he cast the spell again, this time specifying a bit more water, a bit cooler, and changing the placement and flowrate.
It cost more mana, but not by too much, and the result was exactly what he wanted, as precisely as if he’s spoken the desires out loud despite it being effectively instantaneous.
He smiled. “This will make utilizing spells within their limits so much easier! I’ll be able to upgrade them in…no… time.” He groaned. “No…”
She gave him a sad smile. “So, you understand yet again.”
“I can’t upgrade them by increasing my understanding and finesse, can I?”
“Not any more, no. That is the realm of your new skills. You will have to expand what the spell can do to upgrade it now, or find other means.”
“That… That is ridiculous! Aren’t the most powerful spells those that the user has learned perfect control and finesse over?”
Runa’s eyes twinkled. “Precisely.”
He opened his mouth to object, then hesitated. “So… I will have the control and precision without using my ‘upgrades’ to achieve it. Leaving those for power or scope… or other things.”
She nodded. “Well done. You might not be a failure or embarrassment after all.”
He gave her a withering look that she utterly ignored.
“So? Are you going to check on your gains?”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “Why do you care?”
“Because when you do, we’re done, and I can depart this ridiculous existence.”
He grunted. “I see.”
Part of him thought that he should exploit the moment, but he still felt vaguely like his mind had gone through a cheese grater before being reassembled by toddlers… toddlers packed full of all the sugar they could consume.
He was ready for this to end.
“Alright… I suppose, thank you?”
She huffed a laugh. “You are welcome, boy. If we ever meet in person, I’ll expect you to have made quite a bit of progress.”
He gave a half smile. “I’ll try not to disappoint.”
“See that you don’t. I’d hate to have to remove a stain from my record.”
He blinked a few times, not seeing any evidence of humor in her eyes. “Well… On that note, let me check my notifications.”
Basic Mana Sense (Rare)→Mana Sense (Common)Mana is everywhere within the System, now you have the ability to actually sense it.Through exposure and intentional practice, you have learned to sense details about magical workings and effects created by those of around your tier.Moreover, the lingering feel of magics are open to you for your perusal like a book, waiting to be read. Only practice and effort will improve your reading speed and comprehension.Mental Power and Agility have a slightly greater effect when you are trying to detect and interpret magic, mana, or other forms of power around yourself.
Basic Mana Manipulation (Uncommon)→Mana Manipulation (Common)Mana is everywhere within the System, now you have the ability to actually interact with it. Moreover, you have gained some proficiency.
Through exposure and intentional practice, you have learned to lay out lines of power, temporarily stabilizing them until the working can be completed within a fully stabilized medium, preprimed for such infusion.Mental and Magical Power and Agility have a slightly greater effect when you are trying to manipulate mana around and within yourself.
Linguistics - Magical Symbology (Epic)You have a burgeoning understanding of Magical Symbology in all its myriad forms imparted and cultivated by the master of the field.
In addition to being able to translate most spell shapes that you are able to perceive, you can do the same to the resulting mana that you sense.
System Notice:New Attribute Acquired
Basic Cognition - Magical (Lvl 1)
Details:Innate ability to understand concepts—and surrounding the application—of magic.Your mind has mildly increased resistance to degradation in the face of higher concepts.
Description:Oh? You’ve met a ??? now? Good for you. It’s too bad that your mind would melt if you actually understood what that meant.
Even so, you are now better able to both tolerate and comprehend the truly arcane.
Attribute Increased:Basic Cognition - MagicalLevel 1 → Level 7
Alex reeled a bit at the flood of information, and looked askance at Runa out of the corner of his eye before he continued.
The woman was entirely ignoring him by this point, reading a book that had come from somewhere.
The book itself seemed to have clear pages with nothing on them… Alex shook his head and turned back to the notifications.
System Notice:A choice lies before you, and as this is your choice, it will not violate the previously chosen training offering.
How would you like your skill improvement to manifest?
Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Common)→(Legendary)You have taken the idea of finger painting to the level of an art-form… for some reason. Good for you? The symbols you facilitate will be longer lasting, more powerful, and more efficient than any other crude expression of magic under the System… partially because no one else is making such crude creations.
Some take the advice of ‘Excel where you are’ far too literally.
OR
Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Common)→Runic Inscription(Epic)You have studied under the master, and few can equal your abilities to impose magic into symbols and runes found or created in the world around you. This is a blank slate, awaiting the direction you choose to take it. Will you carve your own symbols? Hunt those already existing in the wild? Take those in possession of others and make them your own?The choice is yours.
A good teacher is but the first step. Where will the student go from here?
OR
Crude Magical Symbol Facilitation (Common)→Life-Based Runewrighting(Rare)Despite the insistence of your teacher—the undisputed master of magical symbology—you insist on using your own health for magical creations, and if your words and actions are to be believed, you’d like to use your Life, if not for power, at least as structure.
This is not advisable, but you don’t seem to mind, and your secrets are your own.
Will your wanton disregard of advice lead to an early grave or new frontiers of knowledge?
The System, for one, is curious.
This skill would facilitate more efficient use of health and Life in the empowerment of magical workings, while still allowing the use of mana due to the skill’s origin, even if to a less efficient degree.
Alex stared for a long time, considering. His health refilled faster than his mana, and Runa had warned him time and again that longer term mana fueled creations on newly integrated worlds were notoriously unreliable. She’d taught him the sections of language and communication that were needed to mitigate—if not fully remove—that limitation, but he was realizing that his knowledge of how was not going to be matched by his ability to enact that ‘how’ for a long time.
He frowned, considered, then nodded.
He’d made his choice.