It wasn’t long before the other Immortal left. As soon as she did so, the illusionary environment began to crumble away, revealing the waterfall and forest from before. It would’ve felt like a dream, if not for the multiple gifts Jeanne had given her remaining firmly in reality.
She checked over the feather, dress and necklace just to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating (in a way, the dress was a hallucination), after which she just sat there for a while to comprehend the information she had just been given.
It wasn’t too hard. In fact, the explanations fit perfectly for most of the mysteries that had been swirling in her head.
Ruminating over the many connections and links that had now formed, Alice nodded to herself. This was a much needed relief. Like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders. This whole time, the newly born Immortal had been agonising over the reason and cause behind her existence. It sapped her mental state every day.
Even if the answer wasn't wholly satisfactory, Alice was content. The next order of business was, of course, to explore the gifts that had been given to her.
She brought the ring up to eye level, studying it closely. Her vision focused on the hundreds, possibly thousands of tiny inscriptions all over the ring. It was a bit hard to see at first, but as she looked more and more, Alice began to understand it.
The inscriptions were esoteric symbols, imagery and script that made up the Spatial Storage Device's function; to compress objects into a smaller space. Usually, such a mockery of the Primordial Laws was impossible, but the Immortal of Space could do it. That was the power of a Concept.
Although Alice had never seen this script before, she could instinctively understand its meaning and intent. It was yet another wonderous thing about her inherited memories.
She slotted the ring onto her ring finger and waited.
Nothing.
'Maybe I need to use Energy?'
A smidgen of Energy separated itself from her core and made its way to her finger, dispersing into the ring's inscriptions. At once, the ring glowed and pieces of information flooded into her mind.
Its contents, its functionality, its methods of use, and all other sorts of data became known to her instantly. Just like that, Alice knew everything there was to know about her Spatial Storage Device.
There was a large stack of leather bound books, a series of potions, a wooden staff, a large map and a large shoulder bag made of canvas. Each item had a corresponding note. Deciding that looking through all those books would be cumbersome, Alice pulled out the wooden staff. The ring flashed and the staff instantly appeared in her hands.
The main body was dark yet smooth, sporting uniform lines with a mesmerising grain. At the tip of the staff was a pulsating gem, shining a pale green. Small breaths of wind were emitted from it, making Alice feel energised. She read the note that came with the staff.
[This will be your weapon and tool for manipulating mana. I've used a Wind Elemental's Core as the nexus to synergise with your Concept Manipulation. The body is also made from the wood of an Elder Treant. Treat it well and it will reciprocate.
- Jeanne]
'Nexus? Concept Manipulation? Mana?' Each word conjured slight familiarity, but it still evaded her grasp. She frowned and picked out another item. This time, the map, still rolled up as a scroll, appeared. Unfurling it, Alice widened her eyes to see a huge, detailed map of the entire world. Not only that, but the map was animated, showing moving symbols and landmarks. Each time her eyes wandered to another area, the name of that area would ink itself onto the map before disappearing as she looked away. Many of the areas would also display a short description if she pointed her finger at it. No doubt, this would be an invaluable tool in her journey.
[This is called the Seeing Map. I don't think I have to say much about this. Using it will come naturally to you.
- Jeanne]
'Did another Immortal make this? It feels very special... Probably not. Jeanne would've told me if it was.'
The next item, or perhaps items, were the potions.
Each potion was beautiful. The glasswork was immaculate, with ornate metal casings on the base showcasing elegant vine-like imagery crawling up the side of the potion. Alice counted fifteen bottles, three groups of five with different coloured contents. The first was red, the second blue and the third yellow.
[These potions will help you in a time of need. Red potions can heal severe injuries and diseases. Blue potions restore mana. Yellow potions clear your mind. Use sparingly. Don't drink more than two of any in a day.
- Jeanne]
She held a red potion up, swirling the liquid slightly. It was as dark as blood, shimmering from the sunlight.
Alice put back all of the items she had taken out to make space for the books. They dropped to the grass floor with a thump, four stacks of books standing in front of her. Each book was varied in size, colour, decoration and contents.
[Read at your discretion. Start with the smallest books first. I highly recommend you finish reading everything before setting out into the wider world. Your lack of knowledge will be a great weakness. Have fun.
- Jeanne]
The last item, the one which confused her the most, was the shoulder bag.
[Wear this at all times to make sure nobody knows you have a Spatial Storage Device.
- Jeanne]
Her eyes crinkled. Each note, though brief, was full of care. Alice didn't know why seeing the signature at the end of each note made her heart feel warm, but she didn't dislike that feeling. That inexplicable sense of intimacy she had towards Jeanne was the exact same feeling she had right now...
"Let's get to reading then."
A few more days passed. Alice made excursions across the forest every day, taking breaks late in the afternoon beside any water source she could find. If she couldn't find any, she simply trekked back the way she came and started reading her books.
With each day, she learned more and more, each piece of knowledge like a puzzle piece being slotted in smoothly. This information, this knowledge... it was as if they were always there, just waiting to be unlocked. Of course, she wouldn't have been able to 'unlock' this knowledge without Jeanne's aid.
Like the other Immortal suggested, Alice started reading the smallest books first.
[Beginner's Guide to the World of Magical Beasts - Elizabeth Hunter]
This was the second book she read, and also one of her favourite. Although short, the book managed to introduce the idea of Magical Beasts in a neat, concise manner while giving a wide range of examples. Each Magical Beast had their own quirks, traits and rules that she read ravenously.
For example, the most interesting land-based Magical Beast to Alice was the Mountain Worm. It was a Magical Beast indigenous to the Northern Line Mountain Range, where food and warmth were scarce. As a result, this Magical Beast thrived by digging into mountains and creating great tunnel systems that could span kilometres. They used these tunnels and looked out for any vibrations to find prey such as mice and other small animals. Its greatest assets were its grinding teeth and its sensory abilities that allowed it to detect vibrations in the earth from hundreds of metres away.
Alice simply found it fascinating. Where life struggled to thrive, the Mountain Worm made it a paradise.
Another book she read was called [The World and its Weirdness - T. Reiner].
For many years, great scholars, explorers and researchers have been trying to find out their world's boundaries. Almost a thousand years ago, they found it. This world, called Terra, was actually a plane. A flat piece of land situated within a bubble, floating in the Great Void.
The Terra Plane was estimated to be in the range of ten billion square kilometres, so it was no wonder that it took so long to discover the boundary. Discoveries of other planes have been made ever since that realisation, and many civilisations have been discovered. It was then calculated that the Terra Plane was the largest and oldest plane in the vicinity. At least, out of all the planes that had been discovered.
These were just two examples of two books that she had read recently. And they revealed so much that she didn't know how long it would've taken to find out without the books. For that, she was very grateful.
By far, her favourite book she had read so far was [Magic Theory Volume I, Platinum Edition - Grand Nier Institution of Magic and Sorcery].
In actuality, the pile of books contained Volumes I to IV, but Alice had barely gotten onto Volume II because she was so enraptured by Volume I in trying to understand its contents. Volume I was the beginner's introduction to basic magic theory, as the title suggested. It was also the biggest book she had read so far since magic was a very diverse and well-researched field.
"The most basic definition of magic is the exertion of influence on the Primordial Laws and inducing unnatural phenomena. Then, is my manipulation of my Concept also considered magic?" She wondered to herself.
Alice had found out that the thing she called Energy was called mana. All things contained mana, no matter its composition, size or significance. Even a pebble on the side of the road contained some trace of mana. It was the everpresent energy of the universe. Mages were beings who used mana to induce unnatural phenomena through complex runes and techniques. They were unable to directly tap into Concepts like Alice did.
She wiggled her index finger, causing a gust of wind to blow. That was not a magic spell. That was a casual prodding of her Concept of Freedom, which caused ripples in the Primordial Laws. There was no use of runes, magic circles or rituals whatsoever.
Many of her thoughts and conjectures on this subject were based on the books she had read. The minority was based on instinctive feelings she got from experimenting with her Concept Manipulation.
Alice didn't have a solid idea of what Concepts or Primordial Laws were. Only a page-long section on the latter was included in [Magic Theory Volume I], and it didn't answer much for Alice, who was more curious than ever.
But her enthusiasm for learning wasn't dampened. It became stronger. That she had barely touched a quarter of these books and learned so much meant that she had barely touched the iceberg of knowledge. Alice didn't think that she was a bibliophile before this... though perhaps that was because she had never touched books up until now.
The giant boar stopped in its tracks, completely restrained by the winding branches and roots that had sprung from the earth.
Even as the wood strained and creaked against its furious struggle, the mana enhanced roots stayed strong. Alice walked up to the boar cautiously, ending its life by decapitating it with a blade of wind.
In the beginning, the young Immortal was leery of confrontation and death. Even when she was attacked by wild animals and Magical Beasts, she rarely outright killed them. After three weeks of living life in the wild, however, her perspective had changed. To be born, to live and to die was a natural process that shouldn’t be interfered with.
Alice had watched many animals be hunted down and ruthlessly killed by their predators. The bloody scenes had been imprinted into her mind. Even so, she observed that most of these predators weren’t malicious in any way. No. They were just trying to survive. Where else would they get sustenance from?
The prey and predator dynamic existed as long as time, and that wasn’t something that Alice could change. As a result, she resolved herself to willingly take her first life today.
The girl closed her eyes and bowed slightly to the corpse for a minute. She didn’t know why she was doing this action, but it felt right.
Alice’s first kill also served as a way to train her skills. Having her head in books all day wasn’t the most efficient way of learning magic and manipulating mana. It needed to be paired with a more practical experience.
“Yes… yes… I can do that better. Maybe I should try forming runes and magic circles soon. That would be interesting…”
When she finished her musing, Alice realised she had been standing pointlessly for ten minutes. She was now left with a problem…
“How do I deal with a body?”
A few more weeks passed. Alice was busy learning and memorising magic runes recorded in the book. It wasn’t too hard. For some reason, she just seemed to understand each rune’s meaning, making it easier to remember. Now, she was going to attempt her first formulaic spell.
Willing herself not to interact with her Concept, Alice pooled mana into the tip of her finger and began writing symbols in the air. Wherever her finger went, a blue trail followed. Within a minute, Alice had managed to write out a long sequence of mystical blue runes in the air. They pulsated periodically, giving them a mysterious air.
The instant she finished, she waved her hand, activating the mana stored in each rune with a thought. The runes glowed brightly, vanishing in the next moment and causing a powerful gust to form. It blew harshly in the direction Alice was facing, causing leaves to fall off a dozen trees.
Although it looked a bit impressive, she had no doubt that it would just cause annoyance to any beast she aimed the spell at.
“Not to mention the long cast time… No wonder the book advises to use this as a practice method, to let newbies like me get used to the feeling of formulaic spells.”
Casting magic spells relied on the user's ability to formulate a sequence of runes into a cohesive form. Magic was expansive and free, meaning there were many ways to do this, with each one called a Spell Form. The Spell Form she used just now was the most basic out of all forms, called the Linear Spell Form. It entailed simply writing out the runes in a simple linear sequence, going from left to right. It was the easiest yet weakest Spell Form one could use.
With a casual thought, Alice could form several sharp wind blades capable of felling trees. At first glance, investing time into learning formulaic spells wasn't worth it. Yet, Jeanne had included magic theory books in her gifts anyway.
'I don't think my situation is uncommon among young Immortals, but Jeanne still gave these books anyway. There should be some kind of benefit to this. Plus, learning about magic is really interesting...'
Unaffected by the poor showing of her new spell, she picked the book back up and read it with newfound gusto.
One of the first books she read was called [The Building Blocks of Civilisation] and it detailed the theoretical requirements needed to build a new civilisation. It was quite a general book, glossing over many details and instead focusing on giving a wider perspective. To the Alice who was clueless about such a subject, it was a perfect book.
Even though the meaning of civilisation was implanted into her head from birth, she didn't really know what it meant until she began reading more.
Civilisation was the crystallisation of a concerted effort by a group of people to live. It was the framework that held everyone together. It was the complex melding of social, economic and cultural factors. And there were many, many facets to such a thing.
Alice realised that she had a deep interest in new subjects. Whatever book she picked up, she would soak up the knowledge like a sponge to water. Even if two books were completely unrelated, she would read them with the same enthusiasm and interest. She didn't know if this was an innate nature of all Immortals or part of her personality, but she welcomed this trait very much.
One of the more tangible things she got from reading this book was a new hobby of fishing. After all, fishing was one of the topics that the book brushed over. To be more specific, fishing was part of the category called food production. To many early civilisations, fishing was a very important method of food production because it was easy to implement.
She wanted to try her hand at it, to see what it was like. Her habit of settling down next to water sources meant this was already an easy option for her.
The only slight issues were crafting a fishing rod from scratch and finding bait.
After deliberating for half an hour, Alice used her Concept to grow a long and straight branch that was as strong as possible. She then grew out a few vines and weaved them together with her amateurish skills to create a durable fishing line. Making a hook out of a small piece of branch wasn't hard either. By boring a hole into the end of the stick using a wind bullet, Alice was able to loop the weaved vine through the whole, tie it together and finally end up with a fishing rod.
She was no expert at craftmanship so it took more than a few tries and about an hour to make. Even so, Alice was quite proud of her creation at the end of it all. Although the main body was slightly crooked (she found it very hard to grow a completely straight branch), it felt quite sturdy in her hands.
The problem of bait was solved by probing with her wind to find worms and other small bugs. She then stored them in a small wooden basket she had created and sat down on a rock next to a flowing river, rod and bait in hand.
She had underestimated how hard fishing was. The book only mentioned the uses of fishing, not the intricate techniques behind it. Combined with her nil experience, it took Alice almost two hours to catch her first fish. Before that, she had almost caught two other fish but they escaped in the end due to her unskilled handling.
But she didn't care. The satisfaction of holding the trout in her hands was simply too intoxicating. Even the satisfaction of making a fishing rod by hand was incomparable.
In the end, she let the trout go back into the water.
Alice continued fishing well into the sunset.
thanks for the chapter
