Published at 16th of February 2024 2:23 pm

Chapter 2.19 A Mentor's Advice

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

“Good mage. That is such a subjective term. Anyone can gain power with enough hard work, dedication, and deep pockets. All it takes is growing one’s star through steady mana absorption—occasionally using alchemical reinforcement or dungeon-born relics—and access to spell weavers to fill the planets and moons. A good mage is an individual who understands the in-and-out of their mana system. This means designing spells and regularly growing or updating them. A good mage is a spell weaver, scholar, and practitioner. Slinging powerful spells and flattening one’s foe with a barrage of misunderstood spells isn’t enough. Half measures and not acknowledging one’s shortcomings aren’t enough.”

—Professor Francis Lorenzo, the Living Fortress.

“Please ignore the mess,” Kris said as she waved Nox into her apartment. Even though several days had passed since they returned to the city, the professor’s luggage littered her living room. She had opened most of them. It appeared as if her version of packing involved balling clothes and cramming them into the container. Kris had pulled pieces out of the chests and cases and left several untidy piles around them. Nox wondered how she kept track of clean and dirty clothing. “Apparently, I did too good a job last semester. Dean Woodson wants me to teach Artillery Magic For Delvers.”

“Your magic is ideal for boss killing,” Nox replied. “It makes sense why she’d want more such mages in parties. Lillin will jump on the opportunity to learn magic like yours.”

“I’m mostly opening the class to more advanced students, but she fulfills the mana requirements.” Kris retrieved a roll of parchments from her office. “Pass these to her. If your mimic is willing to put in the work, she could turn into a major asset for the party.”

Thanks to her power to increase her star size by consuming mages' and boss monsters’ cores, Lillin’s star had grown at an alarming rate over the past eight months. Unfortunately, the memories she picked up regarding any stolen magic did little to improve her mastery of them. She had raw power but insufficient skill and understanding. Just because Lillin’s star was on the verge of reaching adept didn’t mean she had sufficient mastery to count as a mage of the rank. Mimic-born powers currently compensated for the shortcomings.

Nox glanced at the content and knew that the Spell Weaving was beyond Lillin’s current understanding. However, if anyone could power through such limitations, it was her.

“So?” Kris cleared the underwear and petticoats on the lounge chairs, starving them across the living room floor, and gestured NOx to take a seat. “What did you need my help with?”

“Two things.” Nox passed her his system journal. “I know you asked me to solve the star upgrade problem alone, but I have an interesting idea and would love some feedback.”

“You know what I’m going to tell you,” Kris said. “I’m not giving you any feedback on the project without a spell demonstration.”

Nox had come prepared. He rolled out a long piece of parchment. It contained the necessary spell diagram. “Most of the runes are for separation and containment,” he explained. “I stole Lillin’s gravity orb concept and used Animation models to put these together.”

“Are these Haste vortices?”

“I linked them with mana direction scripts,” Nox answered.

“Clever. You’re trying to create miniature mana maelstroms.”

“Precisely. They’ll pull in mana faster than essence.” He pointed at the next layer in the spherical spell. “Whatever gets through will meet a Slow field before the next Haste vortex.”

“I changed my mind,” Kris said.

“About what?” Nox asked, thrown off by the sudden change of tone.

“I don’t want a demonstration,” she replied. “The current spellform is too chaotic and will make a bigger mess—” Kris paused, glancing around her already untidy living room. “I’m too busy to accompany you to a secured space right now. You’re on the right track, and some of this doesn’t make sense because you’re following alchemical rules again. But I think I have a few ideas about how you could improve it. You’ll need to figure out the implementation, though.

Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

“Firstly, replace mana direction scripts with mana absorption. It will make the vortices more efficient. The absorption will also force them to feed on the energy and speed up instead of relying on natural growth.”

“So, the longer I have the spell going, the more powerful it will get,” Nox mumbled.

“Exactly! The drain on your star will be minimal.” Kris paused. She frowned, tracing the outermost layer’s runes. “Your initial cast will be significantly more expensive than your basic Crystallize Essence. However, it should become self-sustaining after feeding on a couple of spells. You might just need to top up the Slow slayers and perhaps the Crystallize Essence in the center, but neither should be too expensive.” Then, she diverted her attention to the runescript’s center. “I don’t know why you’re not using a Hasted vortex for Crystallize Essence, too. There needs to be some attractive force to pull the filtered essence through each layer. Otherwise, the vortex will spit them back outside or trap them in the Slow fields.”

“I get why you didn’t want me to test the spell in your apartment.” Nox chuckled. “I don’t know how I overlooked that. We’d burn the place down.”

“Or worse.” Kris smiled at her apprentice. “This is impressive work, though. Next, I think you should use the control runes you learned last semester. Four layers of vortices and Slow fields will make your star too crowded, not leaving much room for future improvements. Instead, consider if-then gates. Use mana measurement scripts in your Slow fields.”

Nox frowned. “Why didn’t I think of this? It’s so bloody obvious. I really only need the two mana absorption vortices, Crystallize Essence in the center, and the slow fields separating them.”

Kris shrugged. “I overlook faults in my work all the time. Good Spell Weavers almost always have a second pair of eyes check their scripts. Use the if-then gates and measurement scripts to decide whether you need more mana absorption vortices.”

“Then use a looping script to spawn more vortices if necessary.”

“See. You almost got there all on your own.” Kris placed a hand on her apprentice’s shoulder. “Honestly, this is impressive work. I’d expect this level of detail from an adept or even expert mage’s work.”

“I almost have my adept alchemy license,” Nox said. “I know you advised me to limit the amount of alchemical influence in my spellwork, but I’ve gone in the opposite direction.”

“Perhaps I was wrong,” Kriss replied, shrugging. She studied the parchment once more. “You’re an arcane pioneer, Nox. We can only advise you on how to develop. Figuring out what works is up to you. This has the potential to create an excellent defensive spell against dungeon bosses and lords. It could be in high demand for delving someday.” The professor rolled up the spell parchment and returned it to Nox along with his mana system journal. “What else did you need help with?”

“Apprentices and assistants,” Nox replied. “The party is helping now—”

“Dean Woodson said her grand-nephew and niece were hoping to join your party,” Kris interrupted. “Did you let them in?”

“Without hesitation. Caitlin is a formidable vanguard. When we start training again, I’ll suggest Ernest move to a more bruiser and support frontline role. We’re not using his monster physiology as much as I’d like. I’m not sure what Alexander learned during the break, but I expect him to fill the hole Annabelle left behind without issue.”

“The boy is a better combatant and mage than Lady Oakheart ever will be—for delving, at least. Anyway. Sorry, I got sidetracked. You need to find assistant brewers for your shop?”

Nox nodded.

“Professor Das returned early for once. Why don’t you ask him? There is no one better at finding alchemical support.” Kris glanced at her coffee table. A colorful rectangular container sat half-buried by paper and clothes. Nox recognized it as the sweet box Akash Dash brought to class on his first day the previous semester. “I hear he’s started some new project and is causing trouble for the university requisitions team. You’ll probably find him in his laboratory.”

“Thank you, Professor,” Nox said. “Sorry for interrupting whatever you were doing. I’ll see myself out.”

“Once you have the planet sorted, start looking into moons for your Shaping planet, alright?” Kris told Nox, showing him to the door. “It should be powerful enough to hold a couple. Speeding up arrow and container creation will make your life a whole lot easier.”

Nox nodded as the door closed behind him. He checked his manameter and smiled. Over the past eight months, his mana system had grown by leaps and bounds. He owed most of his progress to his contract with Lillin. However, Nox liked to believe his body was compensating for the years it spent stagnating.

Nox Ratra

Journeyman

Crystalize Essence | Essence Shaping | Essence Animation

96/99 | 33/33 | 17/18

Share