You don't really know how important something is to you until you lose it.
All of this traveling around has been an interesting change of pace for me, and it has allowed me to do and see many things that I never imagined before. But I also lost so many of the things that I had always taken for granted.
Basically, I was starting to get homesick, I don't think I'm made for that kind of lifestyle after all. And that's why the sight in front of me is moving me to the point of bringing tears to my eyes, I seem to have finally found a place I can call home.
"There's really a library in this castle."
I was not expecting to find something like this in a castle that used to belong to the demon king and has been mostly inhabited by muscle heads. It's not anywhere near as big as the one I used to work at, but it's full of interesting and rare books I have never seen before.
That said, after being disused for so long this place is in quite a sorry state. The books are not properly arranged, the shelves are damaged and dusty, and... There are books on the ground. This is unacceptable.
Well, I don't mind having to organize all of this a little. Ah... The smell of old paper, the sound of each book sliding into place, the gentle touch of the leather covers, the sight of all the books being ordered by name and theme, the taste of... I'm not actually tasting anything, but anyway, I had missed all of these sensations so much.
It didn't take long to make this library at least somewhat presentable. And now, it's time to actually read something.
"I don't know where to begin."
There are some novels here, I wonder what kind of fiction demons write? Or manaborn, I guess, they were still called that when these books were written. Or perhaps I should read some historical accounts to see what things looked like from their point of view. No, it's obvious what the most interesting thing in this library is.
A collection of notes, the research of a dark mage named Zanon that called himself a 'manaborn', meaning that it's at least 2000 years old.
I have to say that this is quite impressive. I used to think that the reason all of the writings on dark magic I could even find seemed so lackluster was that the prejudice against the dark element made people not want to put much effort into it. But recently I was told that I was the one who was out of the ordinary... This means that this Zanon guy could not have been ordinary either because even by my standards this seems somewhat acceptable. Well, a lot of it is obsolete or based on disproven theories, but that's to be expected considering how old it is.
But not all of the research here is about dark magic, there's some other interesting stuff.
Let's see, first of all, I found some notes of the investigation of some special locations around the world. The infernal caverns are one of them... while there are earth and dark leylines in there, the fire ones are by far the most numerous and powerful. And apparently, there are five other locations where one can find a similarly high concentration of leylines for each of the other elements.
In the west continent, there's the 'green kingdom', a massive forest where the plants grow to gigantic size as a result of the great concentration of earth mana.
In the north continent, there's the 'frozen labyrinth, where a large number of passing clouds were frozen in the sky and held in place by wind mana, creating an icy maze floating a few kilometers above ground. As there are not many walls around there, it's important to watch one's step.
The east continent has 'pandora tower', a structure formed as a result of light mana's propensity for order arranging the nearby mountains into a shape that appears manmade. Also, there are apparently a lot of spiders in there, I don't know what to think about that...
Then, in the middle of the ocean, one can find 'the dreaming isles', an area that all ships try to avoid due to the gigantic monsters that live there and the fact that people tend to be unable to avoid falling asleep when they are there, a curious effect of large concentrations of water mana.
And finally, if you dive down from the dreaming isles and descend a few thousand meters under the sea, you'll end up in 'the infinite abyss', a place where no light can reach and the large amounts of dark mana have broken the very laws of reality. The monsters that lurk there are twisted abominations that seem to have been taken from the nightmares of a madman and space itself has been twisted in ways that a mortal mind cannot comprehend. It sounds like an interesting place, but swimming a few kilometers underwater seems like it would be complicated.
All of those locations are filled with powerful monsters, like the infernal caverns, with 'pandora tower' and 'the infinite abyss' being particularly dangerous. They are places that cannot be explored by normal people, so the information gathered here is quite valuable.
"Uh... I'm afraid that, now that I know they exist, I'm going to end up in at least one of them somehow..."
Moving on, there's also some research done on a strange phenomenon that occurs when a demon dies. Their element will spread into the surrounding area, not their mana, but their element itself, and that causes the surrounding mana and any spells being cast to very faintly take on the traits of that element.
For normal demons, that effect is so minuscule that it's almost impossible to notice. However, it's more pronounced for demons that were formed from mana that came from near the source of a leyline.
There's also a copy of a record from the death of the manaborn that people called the goddess of water. For an entire day, in an area around her the equivalent to half of the continent, every spell anyone would cast took on the properties of water magic. People called it the day of water, many mages attempted to recreate something similar by various means but nobody was successful, and after a long time, everyone forgot about it.
But there's more, after the elements return to normal, it's possible to observe the appearance of... void mana... The amounts are really small and it's impossible to detect unless you're specifically looking for it, but the weird thing is that the void mana in these cases is not normal mana that loses its elements, instead, the mana appears from nowhere as if it was entering our world.
And the creation of void mana is the part that interested that Zanon guy the most. That's weird, you'd think that the possibility of altering the elements would be the thing anyone would focus on, what did he want void mana for?
Now that I think about it, everything about him is weird. Why would his research notes have ended up in this castle? And if he was such a talented dark mage, how is it possible that I've never heard of him until now?
Anyway, let's take a look at the notes that actually talk about dark magic. He also seemed to have invented a few spells of his own, so perhaps I'll be able to find something new I can learn.
Mmm, most of these spells are basically weaker versions of ones I already have. I don't think this would even work for raising my level or anything. I guess that it makes sense since all the knowledge he had access to was from 2000 years ago.
"Ah! This is..."
I found a good one! A really good one! A spell that belongs to the field of dark magic that deals with the manipulation of space, 'Black gate'.
In theory, this spell should be able to connect two distant locations in space and create a portal that can be used to move from one to the other instantly. And to make it better, the fundamentals are the same as my 'storage' spell, so it should be easier for me to learn.
But let's not get ahead of myself. I don't think I need to say that a spell such as this would be incredibly useful, but that also means that there have probably been a lot of people who tried to create something like this before. Since I don't think that anyone has, it must mean that it's incredibly difficult. Actually, I myself attempted it once but I didn't even know where to begin.
Of course, having the notes of a mage that already did it should make this way easier, but there's a problem. Half of the pages that explain how this spell works have been badly damaged and are unreadable. I guess it cannot be helped, after all this time I cannot expect everything in this library to have survived intact.
Mmm, looking at the bright side, this will make it more interesting. As long as I have something to go on from, I should be able to figure out the rest myself. After all, researching magic is the one thing I do best.
Moving on, there's also some research done on a strange phenomenon that occurs when a demon dies. Their element will spread into the surrounding area, not their mana, but their element itself, and that causes the surrounding mana and any spells being cast to very faintly take on the traits of that element.
For normal demons, that effect is so minuscule that it's almost impossible to notice. However, it's more pronounced for demons that were formed from mana that came from near the source of a leyline.
There's also a copy of a record from the death of the manaborn that people called the goddess of water. For an entire day, in an area around her the equivalent to half of the continent, every spell anyone would cast took on the properties of water magic. People called it the day of water, many mages attempted to recreate something similar by various means but nobody was successful, and after a long time, everyone forgot about it.
But there's more, after the elements return to normal, it's possible to observe the appearance of... void mana... The amounts are really small and it's impossible to detect unless you're specifically looking for it, but the weird thing is that the void mana in these cases is not normal mana that loses its elements, instead, the mana appears from nowhere as if it was entering our world.
So does this mean the manaborn act as a stabilizing influence on the world that keeps foreign things (void mana and true demons) out? And the result of their death (after elements go back to normal) creates a small chink in that protection? Edit: I was thinking whether a continent would be plunged into darkness for a day (or spells being dark spells) if MC died until I remembered she is an elf and thus such a thing shouldn't happen (unless being the queen of darkness is that big a deal).
Cool MC can get a teleport spell. Even if requiring her to have been to the place and set it down as a waypoint and gate, still useful as it means she can return to castle at the very least. Could even use it for trade routes depending on the exact rules and limitations. Nothing makes people less likely to shy away from something than usefulness (dark magic getting some love without being dismissed). Also do demons/manaborn have a fixed lifespan? Or is it dependent on their power? At the very least Vorte as king of fire (god of fire before) has been around for a long time.
Examples are limited, but I'm guessing that reaching a high level allows your mana to sustain your body in various ways, including by extending your lifespan.
There was talk of an elderly orc, so we know that manaborn do age in general.
The level 500+ elemental gods lived for thousands of years. Since it seems to be part of a deliberate trap, the level 500 hell dragon guarding Vilde's prison is also probably thousands of years old.
Examples aren't entirely limited to manaborn, the human mage Alber is 200 years old at level 375.
Not directly related to age, but there's also the fact that Vilde and that Hell Dragon don't seem to need to eat, and Luna was able to do research for 2 weeks without sustaining herself.
@scout821 ‘and Luna was able to do research for 2 weeks without sustaining herself.’ She stilled suffered the effects of pushing herself that far even with her understanding of the body and spells allowing her to push herself (plus willpower). Well it could be certain beings like the original deities of elements (elemental deities/manaborn) are exceptions to the rule than a standard. After all, they were born from what was essentially a crystallization of elemental power and rules so their longevity could be more related to their origin than their level (not to say level doesn’t make you stronger and your bodily functions lost much longer since they do but would that be enough for the lengths of time they have lived?). Nice to discuss regardless of what “word of god/author” decides (has decided).
@Ediav42 That might be due to a difference in how long they've forced themselves. Even after collapsing after two weeks, Luna still had the option of sustaining herself and took it. Vilde and that hell dragon didn't have that option, and the high level mana forcibly sustaining their bodies might have adapted that into a "Needless" skill after surviving for long enough. Maybe Luna would be able to do the same if she starved for a month instead of 2 weeks.
Course, it is also possible we are overthinking jokes and settings details!
@scout821 Plus her collapsing was when she was a lower level than now soooo….