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73.84% Black Onyx - Forgotten Magic / Chapter 288: All Form, No Substance

章 288: All Form, No Substance

Well, not completely empty, the concentration of Mana inside the Crystal was greater than outside, but it was quickly draining. It was understandable, of course. Pure Ether Crystals weren't something that held onto Mana, instead, it simply let it flow through.

It was like an old bucket full of holes. As long as you keep filling it up fast enough, the water level inside would rise. But, as soon as you stopped adding, it would quickly drain most, if not all the liquid you put in.

For it to be of any use, first the bucked had to be patched up.

"The solution is easy! Even a child could figure that out," Gerald murmured, but his expression carried no joy. That's because…he had no idea how to do it!

"I can try a few things, but…" Gerald hesitated. He knew a few Runes that were made for containing Mana in magic scrolls, but this was completely different.

The ink for scrolls was made by mixing Elemental Crystals and blood, making it a substance that loved to hold onto Mana.

The pure stuff, not so much.

He tried writing a few runes directly to the Crystal, but that didn't work. The blood immediately became over-saturated and burst into flames.

Perhaps using silver or gold to draw runes instead of blood would do the trick, but the molten metal was difficult to work with, and Gerald had no experience with it.

But then, just as he was musing over it, he remembered the Flame Barrier. That thing originated from the wall and somehow the stone could hold onto Mana and turn it semi-solid? It was definitely something to be examined up close.

***

Gerald stood on the wall in front of the Flame Barrier.

His eyes, glowing with the enhancement of magic, were staring intently into the pulsing reddish curtain of fire.

Seemingly unaware of his surroundings he struck any monster that came his way, beating it into a pulp. Soon the beasts realized the futility of their attacks and avoided coming anywhere near him.

As time went on and the peculiarities of the barrier became clear to him, Gerald stuck his silver hand inside. He was especially careful at observing it growing stronger, more solid, and hotter with each pulse.

In the beginning, he felt like sticking his hand in honey, but now he felt the Flame Barrier gripping him like a vice. His hand also started to glow from the heat produced by it.

A few moments and his hand would surely melt and be cut in half.

"Hmph!" Gerald exerted some mental pressure and created a small but powerful disruption in the flow of Mana. The barrier around his hand immediately degraded, turning first into mist before returning to its incorporeal form.

His hand was free.

He froze the glowing metal and then rubbed his hand where the barrier gripped him. A small deformity was left on the surface.

He stared at it for a few moments as he contemplated the significance. He then sat down and closed his eyes, completely immersing himself in the fresh memories, the feeling of magic he just experienced.

Having become stronger, he realized many things he previously didn't even know existed, and after looking at them from another angle, he decided to mull them over.

He just sat there in deep meditation while the war was going all around him. Many soldiers were surprised at the sight, how the monsters avoided him, but they didn't have the leisure to investigate as they fought for their lives.

Slowly Gerald spread his hands and pointed his palms forward. Swirls of Mana formed at his fingertips and gradually increased in size, forming a gray misty circle.

Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he concentrated on increasing Mana density on his creation. He was going slowly, advancing by millimeters, all in hope of not making any mistakes.

He opened his eyes and gave an even stronger push with his mind. The swirl stabilized and slowed down while becoming increasingly solid and real-looking.

It had some similarity to a round shield, being the thickest in the middle and gradually thinning towards the edge, where it transitioned back into thin mist.

This Mana Shield, or whatever it was, carried a lot of similarities to the Flame Barrier. And it took all Gerald's power and concentration to make it.

As for its defensive capabilities… Well, there was only one way to find out!

****

"Hey, how's it going?"

"Gerald?! Where have you been?"

Suddenly appearing before them after being gone for an entire day clearly didn't sit well with some members of his team. Specifically, the female half.

Blum with his broken hand wasn't able to help much, so he just found a safe place to read a few of Gerald's books.

Warren, on the other hand, fought like mad, only retreating when he couldn't lift his sword anymore. He was already full of fresh scars and the only thing keeping him going was the great amount of potions they had.

Nobody seemed concerned with his excessive use of 'drugs, stimulants, and steroids' so Gerald also didn't say anything. The guy seemed in good health anyway.

"I was just...helping other places," Gerald responded. "It's not like you need my help here, right? It seems the beasts are avoiding this place."

"Well, yes, we are fine, but-" Xilia started and got immediately interrupted.

"Excellent! Then you can give me a hand to test something!"

Gerald started forming the Mana Shield again. It took a while and he was clearly struggling, but upon completion, he grinned and beckoned her to come closer.

"Alright," he said. "Now punch me as strong as you can!"

"Huh?" Xilia stared blankly at him.

"Come on, this thing is extremely tiring to control," he urged her. He wasn't kidding, it was much more difficult to sustain it than it appeared.

"Okay…?"

"Just do it!"

"Alright, fine!" She eventually gathered her strength and punched right in the middle of the Mana Shield.

"Ha!"

Bam!

"Ow, my arm!" Xilia screamed and held her hand, clearly in pain. "What is your chest made of? It's like punching stone!"

"Um," Gerald looked under his shirt where she punched the black crystal growing out of his chest. "Well, technically you are not wrong… Wait, the shield!"

The shield was gone, broken apart the instant her fist touched it. It broke into shards like glass and then disappeared like a puff of smoke.

"Tell me, how did it feel?"

"What?" Xilia held her hand, wincing in pain. "I think I broke something."

Gerald took a Health Potion and handed it to her, "Yes, it's a common boxer's fracture, nothing dangerous. We'll fix it in no time. Now, tell me, how did it feel breaking my Mana Shield?"

"It… It didn't feel much of anything," she said. In all honesty, if he didn't remind her she would have completely forgotten she punched anything other than Gerald's chest.

That was not a satisfying answer.

"Come on, you have to be more precise than that. Think! Was it perhaps like punching through paper? Or maybe wet paper?"

"Um…" Xilia furrowed her brows and thought deeply about it.

"Oh, I got it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "You know how in winter when water starts freezing for the first time, a thin layer of ice forms at the surface?"

"Yes?"

"It felt like breaking that!"

"It felt like breaking a millimeter of ice?"

"Mhm!" Xilia nodded like a proper bobblehead.

"Fuuuuuu-"


クリエイターの想い
GoldenShadow GoldenShadow

Felling depressed today :(

+25% more words for the delay, enjoy!

章 289: Divine Name

Gerald took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and slowly exhaled. "Okay, I give up."

He could clearly copy the form, but apparently not the essence.

"A millimeter of ice…" he muttered and tears nearly welled up in his eyes. He was sure he did everything exactly the same as the Flame Barrier, and yet... That was all he could do?

Depressing!

He held Xilia's hand and set her finger bone back in place and immobilized it. He reconnected the bone together, but the break was now extremely brittle. For it to properly heal it would still take a few weeks, even with potions.

Having nothing else to do except rest, she went up to Blum and sat down.

"Hello, would you like to read something?" the guy queried, and after she nodded, he handed her a book about Wind Magic.

"It's about Gerald's magic theories and theoretical Wind spells for flight, though I think he abandoned those… Still, I thought you might like it."

Xilia smiled at him and took the book.

"Thanks," she said and opened the book to start reading.

Blum also looked down at his book and continued with his [Mental Imaging of a Spellcaster] book.

***

"I did my best," Gerald sighed. "It was a perfect copy of the magic structure, and yet…"

Whoever made the barrier had to be much stronger than him, or there existed another way to do things that he wasn't aware of.

He turned towards the Royal Palace and squinted. "King Robart III, huh? I wonder what he's hiding…"

He wasn't delusional enough to think he could just go there and demand to know. The government, or in this case, the Royalty, always had some secrets that the common folk would be ignorant of.

It was how they kept their power over the centuries. Those honest and open rulers were fools as they would easily be exploited and replaced in no time. The tyrants would also quickly crumble, usually because the number of enemies they would make while climbing to power would be too great.

The sweet spot was right in the middle. Open, honest, and just to the outside, while being scheming and full of tricks on the inside.

Gerald was all too aware of how politics worked and that's why he wanted to stay as far away from it as possible.

It was best to stay away from their twisted games and corruption if you wanted to have an easy life. As such, he stuffed the thoughts into the back of his mind and went inside the warehouse.

Niter production was going well. Actually, the workers proved themselves to be quite capable. They already refined a full barrel of the stuff!

Perhaps they were just terrified of war going on just on the other side of the wall and wanted to finish quickly to go home. In any case, Gerald was satisfied. It was enough to make one bomb for now.

Gathering charcoal to make black powder was all too easy. He just had to take a step outside and he could see it everywhere. So many buildings burned down in the attack, it wasn't even funny.

Getting his hands of sulfur was much more difficult. That was mostly because it was used in large quantities in combination with the Earthen Blood to burn the beasts.

Luckily he managed to scrape together a barrel full of it after visiting various shops around the city.

The following hours were spent carefully grinding and mixing the ingredients together to create the most violent concoction to date, excluding magic.

The space inside the two metal halves was filled with black powder and packed tight. It was just that, at the bottom, he carefully placed a few vials of Bottled Thunder, armed and ready, before covering them completely. That was his trigger.

As soon as a strong impact broke them, all hell would break loose and the ensuing explosion would probably be strong enough to demolish a mansion.

It was a long shot, but hopefully, it would be enough to kill the Giant.

Just in case it was not enough though… Gerald returned back home and slew the Pixie.

It was a good thing he did it too. The damn beast nearly escaped from its cage and once it was free it would be nearly impossible to catch again.

Who knows what kind of damage it could do before being stopped. Normal people certainly weren't up to the task.

He cleared out the intestine and stored the meat for later consumption. The Light Crystal was quite big for a small creature like this, about the size of a chicken egg. Still, it was not much, for five spell scrolls at most.

But even though making a laser manually was simple, putting it on paper was a whole different game.

Unlike other spells that could take a bit to completely form, this one had to burst into action nearly instantaneously for it to show its strength.

Runes for energy gathering and containment had to be overlapped and then Mana had to be guided along multiple channels from the energy source until it could be triggered all at once to form a single burst of concentrated light.

He used the blood of the Pixie as a base for the paint and the skin of the Ogre as a canvas. Crushing the Light Crystal and mixing it in, he created a one-of-a-kind bloody spell scroll, powerful enough to instantly burn through the skull of even the toughest of opponents.

That was probably an exaggeration, but Gerald was certain it could at least permanently blind the Giant if nothing else.

And now, after spending hours of designing and making the first spell scroll of its kind, he copied it and made four more…in thirty seconds.

Oh, and he gave it a much cooler name.

He called it…


クリエイターの想い
GoldenShadow GoldenShadow

Been busy playing Gothic 2 with L'Hiver mod. It's great, you should try it out.

Oh, and feel free to suggest a name for the Laser spell. I have a few, but you never know what people might come up with.

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