Author's note
As we were flying more, I was just a soulless drone, listening blankly to their conversation. Once something came up later on that I was interested, I decided to chime in.
“Spellcraft? What is that?” I ask.
“Spellcraft is the art of forming magic arrays and spells. Earlier, Mr. Shield said that there was an array near the pillar, which got me interested. Apparently, a lot of the investigation has taken place on the magic formation rather than the pillar’s meaning, which is why the pillar’s meaning isn’t fully described.” Said Emily.
“Yeah. Magic is something that Emily is veeeery interested, but never seriously pursued. She is more concentrated on making friends and the social hullabaloo that surrounds that, not that I blame her for it.” Replied Fil.
“For as long as I’ve known you, Fil, you’ve been supportive to me with anything I’ve done and not bothered me much with it.”
“Oh, really? I recall pressuring you many times to start learning magic. You seem to have a talent for writing new magic.”
Writing new magic? What is Fil talking about? You can do that?
What the heck is my hair for then?
“So, you can just create new magic? How easy is it?” I ask.
“It’s actually very complex. Researchers have not fully grasped the meaning behind the symbology for spellcraft but it’s complex because there isn’t much you can do with just a circle formation. Wizards and researchers are constantly on the prowl for new ways to write magic and as a result we have come a long way to solving this planet’s mysteries.” Said Emily.
I actually kind of get it.
Magic is something that flows in from an unknown source, but practically it requires some kind of catalyst to activate. Whether people know it or not, they have reserves of MP that their body is limited to. It seems to evolve as you do battle with equals or superior monsters.
You could even gain experience by constantly farming weaker mobs, though it is much slower.
There seems to be a contradiction in her explanation, so I suppose I will start there.
“If I were to write magic that could be used widely, what kind of formation would I try? It seems their research couldn’t bear much fruit if they are unable to conquer the demon realm.” I state.
“That is true. I don’t really know what is going on at the top, but I heard that once you build a sufficiently complicated circle, something called “Saturation” forces down the power of the spell. No researcher to this day in the hundreds of thousands of years magic has been around has been able to circumvent that factor.” Added Emily.
That is indeed the case.
When I scoured my memory to see what the symbology for “Flame Finger” looked like, it had a really weird and complex equation with many connecting lines leading to other spell modules I couldn’t read. They are labelled “Limiter”, “Display” and “Source”.
Emily then goes on, “Spells always start with a hollow circle in the middle. This produces magic for the formation. Different shapes placed around the circle give the spell special properties. In general, the more symmetrical the spell is, the less saturation the spell gets. However, if the spell gets bigger, the saturation also increases. Once you’ve reached a certain threshold, the saturation is completely full and the spell loses all effect, making it a mana drain with no visible effect.”
Wait. Mana? So they are going with mana anyways? On my display it shows “MP” and in the system’s writings it makes no reference to that word.
Maybe my understanding of it being computer programming is just fundamentally different from their interpretation of magic? In that case, is there a possibility that I will break through, cutting off the deadlock researchers have been reaching for thousands of centuries?! I feel that is a little overblown.
“When your magic formation is being drawn, mana gets depleted from you as well. You need to make sure you plan what you want to draw on a piece of paper or some other medium.”
“Magic is something possible to memorize, but extensive research on a given topic is what separates the strong from the weak.”
“There are 4 fundamental types of magic. The first is “Kinetic.” Kinetic magic moves the magic through a formation generating both a tiny amount of thermal energy as well as the possibility of telekinesis. Targeting something with such a magic makes construction very easy as well as building foundations.” Said Emily.
Huh? Then why does nobody make skyscrapers? Would it not be most suited for that very use?
“The second type of magic is “Enchantment.” Binding a weapon or tool with enchantment magic is known as a famous way to gain reputation in the Industry. Being known for owning a well-designed enchanted weapon is what most people yearn for.”
“I forgot to mention, you need aptitude for the field you are pursuing, or you will not be able to use it as many are not suitable to use it. The third type of magic is known as “Transportation” magic. It’s an umbrella term used to describe magic that buffs people with moving mana. The reason why it’s called “Transportation” instead of “buff” magic is because for a very long period of time, the magic was only used to enhance movement speed of people and objects. Now, it can be used for many things from enhancing your brain’s processing power, albeit not that effectively, or increasing your strength and awareness. Of course, some people still call it buffing magic but that is not it’s commonly used name.” Said Emily.
“The final type of magic is simply known as “Offensive” magic. It’s also an umbrella term used to describe magic that is capable of being projected and fired off and shot to enemies to cause damage. There exist a few types of offensive magic like gathering dirt in the ground to throw and creating and igniting wood to produce a flame. Something not commonly known is that you only need an aptitude or Fabrication related to magic to be able to use it. You can also learn it if you aren’t talented in it but it takes a lot more time. To use Transportation magic you need far better aptitudes and that is why it is not commonly used.” Concluded Emily.
Interesting.
Throughout the rest of the conversation, shapes and sizes were described. How circles increase the power of whatever is in it, using triangles increases the longevity, using half circles acts as barriers to the flow of magic, et cetera et cetera.
While looking over the “Flame Finger” spell, I found some similarities to her explanation.
However, there is no filled in circle in the middle to act as a conductor for magic, instead there is a strange vortex drawing in the middle. Why is that?
Around the vortex drawing is two triangles nearly overlapping each other with the same rotation slightly distanced apart. In the middle of the two triangles is a circle drawn around the vortex. I assume this is to increase the power of the middle? I wonder what it is?
Then, I finally look at the outside formation. This is where it seriously deviates from the explanation. There is a top and bottom half-circle which connect to the top of the outer triangle and the bottom vertices of the lower end of the outer triangle. Is this related to its ability to conduct magic?
The strangest part of them all is there is a hollow larger circle and a smaller filled out circle on the two sides, with an opposite orientation on each side.
On the left part of the broken up circle, there is a slightly bigger hollow circle on the top and a filled circle on the bottom. On the right, there is a filled circle on the top and a slightly bigger hollow circle on its bottom. Does this relate to the flow of magic?
From her explanation, the hollow circle produces magic. Does that mean the black filled circle removes magic? I have come to that conclusion because when Emily described half-circles to me, it appeared as the “barrier for magic” can also be used as a conduit to direct the flow.
If magic is constantly moving around the formation, then I suppose the flame that appears on my finger is being supplied magic by the rotation of MP?
Ehh, this is getting complex.
At least, saturation and complexity values are properly displayed on the sides. It makes it a lot easier to try tinkering with the formation, but I think I will try that later.
This gives me a whole new appreciation of the magic known as “Flame Finger” as well as my absurd power to create such magic without any knowledge in advance.
Is this not cheating?
What does the vortex mean?!
