Chapter 18 – Messing With Magic
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I settle down in a small clearing deep in the woods, deep enough that the elf won't be able to see the light from my magic. I take a moment to sit still and listen, focusing all my attention on my senses. I hear small animals in the underbrush, something runs through the canopy to my left, a birds startles and takes flight behind me. Moss spread around the forest has begun to glow a dim blue as the sun's light fades, providing some amount of light in the otherwise pitch black night. I can't hear anything large or particularly fast moving, nothing passes between me and any of the glowing moss I can see... Good, no signs of wolves or other dangerous animals nearby. It's the perfect place to practice magic.

 

Let's get the light magic out of the way first. I want to dim the light... May plan of using a modified form of Night's Veil seems like it would work, but that's assuming that I can actually modify spells. I tried creating claws on the Black hand, but that was still doing what the spell was meant to do. Drawing in Night's Veil to only cover such a small area isn't what the spell is meant for, how do I go about changing it? Elvira said something about intentions being important for magic, so I suppose if I think it hard enough it'll happen? It's worth a try.

 

I begin by casting Illuminate, the bright white light causing chaos in the forest around me as various small animals startle and begin running away. At least some creatures in this world have a proper response to bright lights. Once the illuminate spell is in place I cast Night's Veil, the light dimming to something more bearable. That alone might be good enough, but I can make out areas beyond the light's reach where the shadows have become exaggeratedly dark, the light of the glowing moss fading to nothing. Not dark enough to completely obscure my vision, but enough that it's noticeable. As it is dark and light magic would noticeably be mixing every time I do this, and I don't want to alert anyone to my existence just yet. I turn my attention to the exact area that Night's Veil is affecting, imagining it shrinking, the light returning to the edges of the area that it affects.

 

Nothing happens. I spend a long time concentrating, but the shadows remain just as dark as they were, not a hint of brightening. Alright, maybe I need to think about it differently? Maybe something more akin to a piece of cloth being lifted, the edges drawing inwards as the middle is pulled upwards, only the area beneath the cloth being affected by the spell. No, still nothing... How about the edges being removed, cut away by an invisible force. The severed areas shrivel and die, cut off from the supply of magic power, losing their effectiveness. The edge seems to waver slightly, a few patches of glowing moss flickering as the spell's edge fluctuates, but ultimately it does very little. If the night is the same length as the day was I should be about a quarter of the way through it, I may have to leave this for another time, there are other things to try. But I do seem to be getting close to an answer... Alright, just one more. What about if I imagine it as a piece of paper, folding the edges inward until-

 

Generating Skill <Magic Alteration>

 

...

 

Skill <Magic Alteration 1> Has Been Added

 

<Magic Alteration 1>

A skill that allows for the alteration of magic spells cast by the user.

 

A new skill? I wasn't expecting that, I can just generate new skills? Although I don't know exactly how it works, does just practicing something for long enough do it? Are there other factors? Something to ask Elvira in the morning, I suppose. For now, I have a new skill to play with.

 

I try make another attempt at modifying Night's Veil, going back to the idea of pulling a piece of cloth. I see a bit of blue light flicker into existence as a patch of moss is released from the spell's influence, then another, and another, each one closer than the last. After a minute all the moss around me is unaffected, only my body and the glowing ball hovering above me are dimmed by the Night's Veil. I spend a few more minutes trying to force the spell to only affect the ball of light, but it seems that I can't have it centered on anything besides me. A bit annoying that I can't completely do what I wanted, but this should be more than enough.

 

Wait... If I can modify spells now wouldn't I just be able to dim the light directly? I dismiss Night's Veil, instead focusing on the light, willing it to look the same as it did under the Veil. After a moment of concentration the light dims, continuing to dim as I will it to decrease in brightness. So all that practice was... I suppose not worthless, it allowed me to gain the skill I need, but still. That combination of spells is unnecessary now. At least I gained the skill, it wasn't time wasted. Nothing to do now but move on to something new.

 

The idea of forming a White Hand is interesting, and it may actually be possible with my new skill. I don't have much to base it on, but perhaps if I reshape Illuminate into a hand it will work? Making a basic hand shape is easy enough, extending five appendages in a vaguely hand-like shape and flattening the ball makes something that's close enough for my needs, but moving it is more difficult. I can move the entire thing with little trouble, but bending the fingers is much more difficult. The original spell isn't supposed to move like that, just form a ball and float in the air. Still, having a wide, flat appendage might be useful to hit things with... And it passed directly through a tree. The light is intangible. Of course it is. I don't have any reference for how to make physical light magic, so I have no idea how to even begin doing it. I can't make a White Hand, then, might as well move on to the next idea.

 

Making a blade out of dark magic sounds enticing. I already know that I can form physical items out of it, it isn't a combination of spells, this one should be useful. The claws I tried earlier to skin the deer weren't particularly sharp and it was difficult to even slightly reshape the magic, but that was before I got Magic Alteration. It isn't effortless, but this time reshaping the spell is much easier. The fingers fuse into one, the entire thing lengthens and thins, one edge narrows and sharpens until it looks like the blade of a knife. I swing the newly formed blade around a few times, and find it just as easy to move about as the hand. The real test is next, I swing it with as much speed as possible at the trunk of a tree at the edge of the clearing and it bites deep, getting it stuck in place. Dismissing the spell and reforming it proves easier than pulling it free, though I note that it defaults back to being a hand. I won't be forming blades from nothing in combat any time soon. However, if I find the time to make one it should prove effective, the mark left on the tree is deep enough that it should have no trouble whatsoever cutting through flesh.

 

It's only when I pause for a moment that I notice how... tired I feel. Is that what being tired is? Understanding has provided the word, the feeling is new to me. Is this from over using magic? I did keep Night's Veil and Illuminate active for quite a long time, I should be careful about that in the future. I'm not entirely sure how to recover from being tired. The humans sleep, but I don't think I can do that. Elvira sits still for a long time, I'm not sure if that will help me but at the very least its something I can try. I settle down in the center of the clearing, tucking my tendrils away and preparing to sit as still as I can. At the very least, I can take this chance to look over my status.

 

Name: Umbra

Race: Voidspawn

Level: 5

 

Skills:

<Form Shifting 4> <Absorption 3> <Enhanced Perception 4> <Magic Alteration 1> <Dark Magic 5> <Light Magic 1>

Unique Skills:

<Understanding> <Black Core> <White Core>

Hidden Skills:

<Thrane's Blessing> <Yehma's Blessing>

 

I've grown a bit since last I checked. Not as much as I may have liked, but I also haven't spent much time training any skill in particular. I'll have to ask Elvira how fast skills are meant to level up, and how fast people are meant to level up, and... I'll think about it in the morning, it's not as if I can ask her right now. For now, I look up at the night sky, a beautiful expanse of empty black. It almost looks like a part of the Void stretching out over head, prepared to swallow the world at any moment. The thought is comforting, I continue to watch the sky until the sun begins to rise and blots out the darkness with its light.

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