Regardless, here he was, "breaking in" once again. The first time the boy attempted it, Laird was gratified and humbled to find a kindred spirit, a true lover of knowledge. When he discovered that the boy was none other than the son of the High Elder, he couldn't help but groan. No wonder the boy was so intent on sneaking about. At his age, such intelligence and so voracious an appetite for knowledge would be seen as too peculiar to be anything other a mark of the death god's touch, according to the superstitious and the stubborn. Add to that the boy's odd behavior, and there was little chance the townsfolk would have a favorable reaction to him.
So Laird had decided to help the boy sneak about, placing furniture in ideal locations to provide cover or even causing distractions as needed. Lately, though, he'd actually been losing track of the boy, almost like he was disappearing from one moment to the next. The boy was getting better at this, but he didn't stand a chance against the eyes of a former Seeker. It had been years since Laird stalked the forests as a guardian of their quiet community, and he reveled in the chance to stretch his Seeker muscles with the boy's semi-weekly heists.
Except, the boy's visits couldn't really be called heists, as he never took anything. That was how Laird knew he meant no harm, especially since there were plenty of valuable artifacts in the repository besides books. But the child only had eyes for books, and even then, it was just to read them.
Noticing a flicker of movement behind the counter, Laird smiled and got to his feet, preparing to provide another distraction so the boy could get past the door. Yet before he could even think of an excuse to talk to the attendant, his eyes widened in shock.
The enchanted door, nearly indestructible and magically sealed, swung smoothly open and shut, seemingly of its own accord. The silent magical alarms in the hall beyond the door notified Laird that the boy had succeeded at his infiltration.
Noticing the stares and whispers of the villagers around him, Laird suddenly cut off the laughter that had escaped his lips. He didn't mind the incredulous stares. He had just witnessed the beginnings of a talented future Seeker, and he couldn't wait to see what the boy would accomplish in the years to come.
Aden closed the door gingerly behind him just as a burst of laughter erupted from the common room. Curious as the laughter was, the event was overshadowed in his mind by his success with the runic sequence at the door. After a few months of practice, he had successfully used his Spell Writing Skill to create an effect in the world. Better yet, his Skill had finally advanced again.
Skill: Spell Writing 0.7 activated.
Accessing rune codex...
Valid rune sequence detected.
Accessing user mana... success!
Command ACCESS-LOCK-OPEN initiated.
Code A674G accepted.
Command successful.
Skill: Spell Writing has increased to level 0.78
While his Skill had seen significant progress over the last few months, most of that was gained from hours of reading and analyzing the books of the repository. His attempts at practical application of the Skill had given far less progress. Eight hundredths of a Skill level in one go was quite a lot, when you considered that it took him only a few seconds of drawing runes in the air.
He was especially ecstatic at the gain because of the message he had received upon reaching Spell Writing 0.7:
Skill: Spell Writing has increased to level 0.7.
You have reached the limit of progress for this Skill through study alone.
Further Skill progress will require practical application.
He was relieved to discover that his studies had paid off, and now he could actually cast spells. It almost didn't seem real, though, as it felt more like putting a key in a keyhole than tapping into the esoteric energies that powered the universe. Still, it was a proof of concept. If he could use magic on this small scale, then what might the limits of his abilities be? He was determined to find out, though he knew it would be a long time before he ever found his limits.
Glancing at his characteristics, he found that the spell had taken one mana per portion of the command sequence and an additional point of mana for the passcode, for a total of four mana. His months of study had increased his intelligence pretty steadily, so his total mana had shot up to 203 points, and with the mana regeneration granted by his wisdom, it was already ticking back up.
The Skill increase was certainly a welcome reward after the last few months of tedium. He'd used the time to study the books of the repository as much as possible, but that was a lot less than he wished. He didn't want to make anyone suspicious by staying in the repository all the time, so he spent most of the time each week playing with his sister or pretending to be a child, which took disturbingly little effort.
Ryl had felt so bad about losing him the first time they played together that she practically smothered him in future games and refused to let him leave her sight. His plan to use Seekers to train up his Stealth Skill had been completely blocked, as Ryl always suggested a different game anytime someone brought it up. Even when Davin insisted on Seekers, Ryl stayed by Aden's side the whole time, making it way harder to hide without getting caught.
He couldn't blame her after his last solo performance, but it was a little frustrating that his progress with the Stealth Skill had mostly stalled. At least his repository trips yielded a bit more progress, but even that was limited for some reason. He suspected that he was doing it wrong somehow, yet his consistent success with sneaking in to see the books made him think that it was just that the Skill's progress had simply slowed after reaching level 2.
Despite his Skills' setbacks, he smiled to himself as he made his way down the stairs toward the repository proper. He had made a mental map of the repository's layout, and he had even done his best to estimate the schedules of the attendants who were generally on duty. At this time, they were usually at lunch or something, the repository left empty of supervision in their absence. It seemed kind of unwise of them to leave the place unattended, but maybe they just hadn't expected anyone to crack the door's runic sequence.
Aden felt a surge of pride at the thought. He had made it in, and he couldn't wait to search the repository today. With his spellbook studies temporarily on hold, he had originally planned to focus his studies today on the history and geography of the world. He wanted to understand his people and the place they occupied in the wider world. With his recent spellcasting success, though, he'd add some spellcasting practice after a bit of studying. He had to practice in secret, and there was likely no place as safe from prying eyes as the repository.
So far, all Aden had learned about his people was that they were called the Eld among themselves, but other races had different names for them. He knew the Seekers frequently interacted with other races, especially the scattered human towns and villages that shared the plains just beyond the forest home of the Eld. He'd seen several books that would suit his needs quite well, with topics ranging from the region's history and genealogies of rulers, to literature and nursery rhymes. He would read them all, which would take a long time at his current rate. That was just fine with him, as he didn't need to worry about a bunch of books suddenly trying to kill him for being an avatar of Death.
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As he advanced through the repository, a presence entered his mind, along with a soft tinkling sound. On every trip to the repository, he'd been similarly greeted by the odd rock creature he'd met the first time, and they'd developed on odd sort of friendship. When Aden's mind grew tired of the mental grind of constantly assimilating new information, he'd wander back to the shelf where the little rockling was kept. He hadn't had any further visions, but he'd taken to talking to it nonetheless. The creature listened attentively, even chiming in with odd little chirps and sounds that tickled at Aden's understanding, even though their exact meaning was out of reach.
Aden wound his way through the stacks, stopping by the creature's cage to say hello before arriving at the bookshelves. Last time, he'd made a mental note of a few books that he wanted to study next. He now pulled out the first one, A Record of Kingdoms, and sat down to read. It was a heavy tome detailing the rise and downfall of many kings, kingdoms, and civilizations, with author commentary explaining what each king had done wrong. It wasn't exactly a fun read, and Aden was sure he'd never need to know about the best methods of governance. Still, the book at least gave him an introduction to the kingdoms at large. It was written over a hundred years ago, but based on what it said about those kingdoms, the current kingdoms probably hadn't changed very much.
He skipped around in the book to read about his people first. The Eld considered themselves their own rulers, but their relatively small population was claimed by the nearby human kingdom of Darumir. There had been many disputes over the kingdom's insistent claims that the Eld's ancestral lands belonged to the king, but the Eld refused to be subjected to the whims of short-lived human monarchs. Eld Seekers had used guerilla tactics combined with superior magical and martial skills to defend the forest for generations, rebuffing all attempts to drive them from their homeland. Despite this history of conflict with the Darumir government, the Eld remained friendly with the common people of Darumir, openly trading with them and providing support in times of trouble.
Beyond Darumir to the north were the lands of Dol'vihr. The land was occupied by many human tribes, but the eponymous people who first claimed the land were known colloquially as Frost Elves by other races, though they were far from the pointy-eared folk Aden had read about back on Earth. The Dol'vihr were half again as tall as any human, possessed of a lithe grace that defied their stature and a grim wisdom born of the harsh frozen wastes. The author of Record of Kingdoms shared a folk song written about the giant elves:
In a land outside of time,
Live the children of the frost,
So tell we now their ancient rime,
A memory of a home now lost.
Snow, both lover and sweet Mother,
Birthed a people stout and sure,
Yet in her folly loved another,
And wrought affliction without cure.
In a land outside of time,
Live the children of the frost,
So tell we now their ancient rime,
A memory of a home now lost.
The people of the icy breech,
Despised by their once-welcome womb,
Set wandering far across the reach,
In search of hope amidst the gloom.
In a land outside of time,
Live the children of the frost,
So tell we now their ancient rime,
A memory of a home now lost.
But Mother reared her hoary head
To bind them to their land of birth
With chains of blood and creeping dread
No more to wander o'er the earth.
In a land outside of time,
Live the children of the frost,
So tell we now their ancient rime,
A memory of a home now lost.
Now dwell they all in frigid waste
Until the day, no longer cursed,
They again of freedom taste,
And all shall be as at the first.
In a land outside of time,
Live the children of the frost,
So tell we now their ancient rime,
A memory of a home now lost.
The poem was accompanied by commentary explaining that by some curse of the land, the Dol'vihr were unable to leave the frozen lands. When they tried, they died within a few days, their blood defying the warmer climates to freeze them from the inside out. The author cited verified accounts of Dol'vihr deaths, so it wasn't just some wild superstition. It was a grim reminder that Aden's new world played by different rules. Magic and curses were real, and he would have to be careful not to dismiss such things as impossible anymore.
Despite their cursed existence, the Dol'vihr were, by all accounts, a peaceful and personable people. There were many stories of elves emerging from a raging blizzard to offer aid to the frostbitten and forlorn. The author also mentioned that though they weren't governed by any central body, there were certain sects of the elves that claimed allegiance to the Frost Mother, the potentially mythological entity from their legends. Apparently, she would talk to them from time to time, but there wasn't any evidence beyond the ancient curse to suggest that she was real. Ultimately, though, the Dol'vihr were a largely solitary people, living scattered throughout their homeland.
The record told of other peoples in various places, but Aden had grown bored of studying, as his mind kept drifting back to the topic of magic. It had taken him far too long to read even a single page of the book. He mentally made a note of the page number and closed the book. Glancing at the action log, he confirmed that the page number had been recorded.
Creating bookmark...
Bookmark created: Record of Kingdoms, page 84
Aden had discovered that convenient feature after a few visits. He'd been lamenting that he couldn't mark the books lest his little infiltrations be discovered, and then the bookmark feature just appeared. It seemed the features of the system adapted to meet his needs.
He stood up, stretched a bit, and smiled before grabbing a nearby book about runes and heading toward his caged crystalline friend. Aden liked to practice his runes near the creature because it inspired a sense of wonder in him. Right before him sat an undeniable reminder that what was impossible on Earth was normal here. All of his studies told him that visualization and the ability to imagine the possibilities was the most important aspect of spellcasting. "The imagination creates a container into which runes can direct their intentions," he remembered reading in a simple primer, "Without the container, the mana passing through the runes remains unbounded, and the effects of each rune will be dangerously unpredictable."
As his mother had previously explained, mana was the energy both released and absorbed by living things. Ether was visible mana that was used to inscribe runes on the world, and runes themselves were like instructions given to the world on how to use its mana. Just as different dictionaries on Earth had different definitions for each word, each with its own flavor, each rune could be interpreted differently to create varying effects. Theoretically, the difference between a water dispersal spell and a water summoning spell was intention.
Now, Aden wanted to try it himself. Before his success with unlocking the repository doors, he didn't want to experiment too much with new runes, lest his fundamental ignorance create an accidental catastrophe. Even the door's spell took weeks of testing before he learned what he was doing wrong, relying heavily on the action log for feedback regarding the spell's success or failure. Now, he was going to try something more difficult.
The book listed WATER as a fundamental rune, generally safe for new mages to practice because of the relatively harmless nature of the element. As long as you could accurately picture water or a source of water, you could create water. As a former chemist, Aden melded his previous understanding with his new magical knowledge to theorize that mana was made up of subatomic particles that combined into specific atoms based on the runic sequence they passed through. The runic sequence gave the streams of mana instructions on what elements to become, and the visualization gave those new atoms form.
Congratulations!
You have discovered a new Skill: Basic Runic Structures, Level 1
Runes define the structure of the material plane, a structure that you can see and manipulate.
Because of your knowledge of the basic building blocks of matter, you have gained a greater understanding of how to manipulate matter through more complex spell forms.
EFFECT: Increases efficiency of mana transfer through rune patterns by 4%. Cumulative with other effects.
A whole world of possibilities opened up in Aden's mind as he thought of what he could do with runes and chemistry. Admittedly, he first thought of the fun experiments from high school and college chemistry, but as he thought more, he realized that, theoretically, he should be able to create any element if he could discover the right runes to define the mana. The problem was, in this new universe, where magic was possible and free-floating mana saturated the air, could he be certain that the basic elements remained the same? He'd have to take it slow and find out.
At the very least, his knowledge of chemistry could help him visualize how to create water. Two hydrogen atoms bonded to an oxygen atom could create a water molecule, the great and terrible dihydrogen monoxide. The trick was in knowing how much mana he needed to put into the spell to get the amount of water he wanted. He planned to start with just one point of mana and slowly, carefully ramp it up from there until he could fill a whole glass. Since he didn't know the standard units of measurement in this world, he'd have to develop his own to measure the exact output.
He was excited to get started, but he chose to study the WATER rune one more time, just to be sure that he had it correct. Then, he finally started forming the rune with ether. Since he didn't want to make any mistakes, he took his time drawing out the rune. It consumed more mana to convert it to ether, but it seemed to make the runic pattern more stable, which could only be a good thing. He could feel his Skill picking up the slack from his imperfect understanding, and he smiled widely as the simple rune came together in a matter of moments. Once it was complete, he took a deep breath and sent a single point of mana through the design.
A single drop of water fell from the floating rune, and Aden had split second to be proud of himself before a sudden geyser tossed him backward against the nearby shelves.