Last time: Led found a strange shop, picked up a mysterious book and met the boy imprisoned inside it, who promised to teach him Magic(Spirit Arts). A journey about using magic in an apocalypse resumes.
Florence 「 Let’s walk and talk, servant. 」
Led 「 What’s a servant? 」
Led tilted his head with a puzzled look at Florence, the little boy floating next to him. The two are walking down the sunlit wilderness traveling on foot to find a place to rest up.
Florence 「 A servant is like a royal guard serving their king. 」
Led 「 I’ve never seen a king but I’ve seen plenty of guards before. One robbed me the other day. 」
He mentions the armed robbery that left him wandering the wilderness empty-handed, all while keeping a bright smile on his face.
Florence 「 Well a servant is like a guard but not quite. It’s a, uh… a fun job that not many people can handle well. So you should be thankful I’m making you my official servant. 」
Led 「 Thanks? 」
Led tilted his head and responded while a bit confused by the nuance. The two had long left the Estranged Curio shop and started to journey to a nearby settlement. Florence used Spirit Arts to locate the nearest location and steered Led in the direction.
As they moved at a snail’s pace they had plenty of time to talk and learn about each other.
Led 「 By the way, I was wondering, Florence, why were you inside a book? 」
Florence 「 You ask that now? It’s a little late for that. 」
Florence’s eyebrows scrunch up then relaxes with a sigh that escapes him.
According to his explanation, he was a powerful Sage back in his world who lived for over a millennia. He spent his life researching the secrets of Spirit Arts but sadly could not resolve old age, so he passed away.
The sage felt regret that he could not continue his research but most of all he regretted that he did not leave behind a legacy. He had taught countless legendary students, but in reality he only taught them on a whim, and the longest he taught was two months.
You could say that he never had a true disciple which he could leave his research behind to. If he had, perhaps that person could have picked up where he left and found the secrets he chased.
But the time for regrets passed along with his life, and he resigned to his soul being dragged into the afterlife. During that process someone or something reached out to him, offering him a way to live longer while leaving an inheritance behind for a future disciple.
He took the offer of dubious origin and that’s when he found himself stuck inside a book. He was trapped in the book waiting to be sold but that store was unfortunately an oddity among a many things.
The shop only encountered a few customers in the past couple of hundred years, and they could only leave with one item they were destined with. For ages Florence waited in agonizing silence for someone to pick him up, lamenting how he ended up in such a ridiculous prison.
Without a method of communication aside from direct contact, the sage could only helplessly watch as customers came and left. These people would pick up strange baubles and go on to become renowned figures in their homeworld.
In the beginning he was holding expectations for an amazing disciple to come and sweep him up, but with the torturous passage of time his disappointment dampened his enthusiasm. By the time Led picked up the book he was more than glad to take the boy on as his disciple, even if he didn’t seem studious.
Florence was in a good mood as his soul could finally leave the book as freely as he wished. It was the first time in centuries that he could speak to another person since the shopkeeper just ignored him like a souless machine. That’s why he answered every question Led posed him, in no immediate hurry to begin his lessons.
For him who had all the time in the world, he would take his time to teach Led and watch him grow into a master Spiritualist.
Led 「 Hey Florence, how far are we from the town you found? 」
Florence 「 Approximately 2 hours by walking, give or take. 」
Led 「 But we’ve been walking all day long. Can’t you get us there quicker using your magic? 」
Florence 「 As I said, call it Spirit Arts! There’s a fundamental difference between Spirit Arts and magic, and besides, I don’t have any way to cast Spirit Arts right now. 」
Led 「 Why is that? 」
Florence 「 Without a corporeal body, I wouldn’t be able to maintain a connection to the spirits. If anything, I’m closer to being a spirit than a human. The problem is that Spirit Arts were designed with human usage in mind, so I have to investigate how to manipulate the Aether. 」
Led thinks hard in silence about what he heard and shakes his head in defeat.
Florence 「 What part of that did you have a hard time understanding? 」
Led 「 Um, what’s corporeal? Why is that bad for using Spirit Arts? And what’s an Aether? 」
Florence sighs
Florence 「 Just know that I don’t have a solid body, and I’m not used to using Spirit Arts like this. And Aether, well, it’s a type of energy that composes Spirit Arts. 」
Led nods his head but more questions enter his mind. In anticipation of that the floating boy continues.
Florence 「 Spirit Arts, in essence, isn’t like magic which a human casts. Instead it’s about forming a connection to spirits in nature and having them do the hard work. It’s more efficient than a human trying to do it. But because my body isn’t like a normal person’s I have to relearn everything I’ve used before. 」
Led 「 Spirits? Are they like fairies? 」
The notion of fairies made Florence nostalgic as that was a conclusion one of his students had as well. He explained in great detail to that student the intricacies of fairies and spirits, but elected to forgo the explanation as it might cause Led more headache.
Florence 「 Well some spirits are fairies, but it’s the same concept. People can’t see them but spirits abound in nature. In laymans terms, we give the Spirits our mental energy, something indispensable to the spirits, and they weave Aether together into a spell. 」
Florence notices that Led has a blank look on his face like he hasn’t comprehended a single word. After repeated explanations that further simplify the concepts of Spirits Arts, Led finally nods in understanding.
Led 「 So… we make friends with the spirits and give them a treat, then they do their magic? Is this Aether something like the spirits that we just can’t see it? 」
Florence 「 Actually, you should be fairly familiar with Aether, considering you see it everywhere these days. 」
As if a giant question mark floats above Led’s head, Florence proceeds to astound him.
Florence 「 That miasma you Earthlings are so afraid of, that’s a phenomenon that happens when Aether reaches high density concentrations. At that point it becomes lethal and poisons normal people. Only spirits can process that Aether into Spirit Arts, hence why I mentioned that miasma is not a problem you have to worry about. 」
The realization that miasma is this mysterious Aether, the source of Spirit Arts, shocks Led’s entire being. Miasma is that dark fog-like substance that completely changed the world in its inception.
The strange miasma that ruined nations and reduced humans to savages, tainted the food supply and birthed mutant beasts, that same miasma was a key to using Spirit Arts.
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