บท 68: ARCANE LORE
"FUCK!" she yelled, scooping the flask from the obsidian fire and chucking it in frustration. Said flask hit the cave wall and shattered, spilling a simmering green liquid on to the floor.
"Another failure isn't it?" Nyx asked from the shadows somewhere.
"Shut it!" she yelled, taking an empty flask from the stone table and flinging it at him.
She missed. The cat had already used his [Shadow Travel] to move somewhere else. Over the past week and a half he had gotten used to the fact that she would throw whatever she could get her hands on when faced with multiple failures. In that time Sage had learned that her aptitude for alchemy was non-existent. She had lost count of the amount of times she had failed at concocting the simplest fucking spirit potion!
"Maybe you should try something else Master," Nyx's voice came from below her. "Watching you fail the first couple of times was funny but now it's just sad, not to mention boring."
As much as she wanted to rebuff his comment, she begrudgingly admitted her current actions were yielding no results. When she first opened the alchemy books she had obtained and tried her hand at it, she had begun to formulate a plan. Since the likelihood of finding an Elixir, specifically the one she wanted, was practically nil she would learn how to brew her own concoction until she reached a stage of mastery where she could learn to create her own Elixirs. Then, she would just have to find someone with the recipe and steal it from them, which was much a much easier thing to do.
That plan had completely fallen through. Even though she had only been doing this for a while compared to the amount of time alchemists spent on their art, dozens of failures to brew the simplest potions and she was thoroughly convinced it was not meant for her. The shit was not easy! No wonder only two alchemists in history were capable of making Elixirs. From her attempts earlier, it was a fair assumption she would never add to that tally.
"What should I try then?" she asked harshly, looking down at her shadow where she could feel the cat. "Enchanting? I already read that fucking book and learned it's out of my hands!"
As a magician of the 9th Order, the Cryptmaker had obviously been very knowledgeable. Apart from books on alchemy and the obvious necromancy, there had been plenty of books on magic theory, spell formation and rituals. Those she grasped surprisingly easily, perhaps because of her nature of as Darkborne. She even understood the mechanism behind enchanting, probably because it was a branch of magic with roots in necromancy.
It was actually surprising just how many branches of magic had been influenced by necromancy.
To start off, the idea of enchanted items began before the Arcane Era. In that time, which some refer to as the Beast Era, humans were incapable of magic, so it was a difficult time for them. They survived by finding corpses of beasts, especially those with abilities, and fashioning weapons out of them. After the death of a beast some of its powers would remain behind in its corpse. If the beast had been strong, those who crafted clothes from its hide or weapons from its bones were able to dominate an area with just that.
Unfortunately, those enchantments wore off over time. Within a year or even less the beast's mana dissipated, leaving them with the usual mundane animal products.
With the appearance of Argun and the subsequent overhaul of the previous Era, humans learned how to engrave the hides and bones to make the enchantments last longer. Some of them even devised rituals to imbue ordinary items with arcane properties.
Unfortunately, the enchantments would still fade over time. Even the best prolonging enchantments could only delay the inevitable for a while.
It was after the fall of Vatran that the newly emerging necromancers found a way to make items retain their properties; attaching a soul to the item. So far as to say, it was obvious why such a method was scorned.
Even so, this opened up a new avenue of understanding for the magic branch. Alas, the usage of human souls in such a manner was deemed profane and unacceptable by the populace, so scholars tried using animal souls as a substitute. That turned out to be a catastrophic failure. In the end the practise was abandoned… in the light of day. The Cryptmaker's tomes made mention of a kingdom of Tel'sir in which the general populace vanished over time as their number of enchanted items and army of golems grew. Suffice to say, the Imperium had made an example out of them by confining them to the pages of history; a warning for all who would tread the same path.
A viable solution to crafting permanent enchantments was only discovered recently in the year 2142 of the Arcane Calendar; precisely thirty nine years ago. An Ultra Order sorcerer from Methos, Theo Grant, innovated the method of attaching an elemental to an object in order to maintain its magical properties. This method had few dissenters.
The Cryptmaker had recorded the process in his tomes; it was surprisingly easy. Unfortunately it came with a revelation Sage had not been aware of.
Many sorcerers below the higher Orders opted to have a Familiar as a companion. However, the number fell steeply among senior magicians. Sage wanted to kick herself for not ever asking why.
[Summon Familiar] was the only spell below the upper Orders where magicians came into contact with other-planar beings. From the fact that the summoned Familiar was an immortal companion that would accompany the summoner until the end of their life, it was easy to see why it would be so popular. If the Familiar had good abilities it would be a boon for the mage.
Unfortunately- it was apparently common knowledge- a sorcerer could not concurrently summon more than one entity from the same plane. For example, if Sage used [Summon Undead] twice in a row, the first undead would be cast back to the Deadlands to make room for the second. This sadly applied to elementals of the Primordial Plane as well. If she wanted to summon an elemental she would have get rid of Nyx first. Regrettably, the bond between summoner and Familiar was so strong it could only be shattered by death. Even if Sage made it to Ultra Order and used a summoning spell of that tier there would be no response due to her already having a connection to a being from that plane.
Fuck! Just thinking about it made her want to throw something again. When summoning elementals, for either combat or another purpose, the connection dissolved after it returned to the Primordial Chaos. The enchanting method devised by Theo Grant shifted the elemental bond from the summoner to the item the enchantment would be applied on. Since Sage already had Nyx she could not even get to the starting line; if only she could do away with the fucking cat!
"Why are you looking at me like that Master?" said cat was out of her shadow and looking up at her uncomfortably.
She looked away. "It's nothing."
Her gaze shifted to the right side of the table, where the alchemy book sat open on the page with instructions on how to brew a low-grade spirit potion. With an angry sigh, she closed it and tossed it to the corner next to the tomes she had already finished reading. The notes on the Scions were there as well.
After reading about that particular group she realised just how much of an advantage they had over other beings. The most obvious of these was a Scion's ability to grasp magic, learning what took others days or months in mere moments. This made them advance much faster than their peers.
Fortunately, most of the Scions mentioned in the notes were not sorcerers. The notes detailed eleven Scions, many of whom were dragons; the Scorchborne offspring of Vestrava. Most glaring among them was Niagorath, the infamous Sun Dragon. It was said the flames of his Breath were so intense that even those not caught in them would burst into flames. That was how- it had been documented- he destroyed an entire kingdom in mere moments.
When a Scion's mana turned green they obtained a manipulation ability, which helped them freely manipulate the element of their parents as they saw fit. It was not much considering the array of spells in existence, but it was at least something for Sage to look forward to when she reached the 9th Order.
One thing she was relieved to learn was that, unlike the Darkborne, other Scions could not control those of their kind. If such had been the case the order of the world would probably not be as stable as it was, with dragon Scions controlling all dragons, or beast Scions ordering other beasts. Also, the thought of the Life Goddess' children controlling all living beings was a scary one. Fortunately, such a scene would never come to pass.
That said, they could still boss them around like how a king would his subjects.
If no ill fate befell them, all Scions would eventually achieve Transcendence, at which point they would gain a part of their parent's authority; allowing them to restrict usage of their element to individuals in their vicinity.
Fuck that bastard! She had raged when she learned of it.
Instead of turning her into a ghost, the arsehole should have made her Arcaneborne! Although she had not had any intention of being reborn she might have been grateful to him if he had done that. Scions of the Magic God, like King Leras Magnus of Methos, were human; that was one thing they had over being Darkborne. At Ultra Order they could restrict magic usage of others in their vicinity. How great would that be? Furthermore, Arcaneborne had an affinity for all elements and magic types so they did not experience pain or discomfort during Advancement.
It was totally unfair; she felt cheated when she learned of it.
All living beings of the Main Plane had a lifespan. For example, when looking at humanity, each specie had a different lifespan. The common humans could only live for close to a hundred years, same with the orcs. Those with superior physiques could double that lifespan, while magicians could extend it to a couple of centuries. Dwarves had a lifespan of two hundred and fifty years while elves could live up to four hundred. The same parameters applied to them. The lifespan of a Transcendent though, it did not matter which specie, hovered at a thousand.
Even so, in the end they were fated to die.
Not Scions. Once they attained Transcendence the limiting factor of lifespan vanished. Saint Leah of the Shean Holy Imperium was the hero who ended the Days of Gloom over a millennium and a half ago, yet she still walked Aran to this day and was apparently as vibrant as ever. As Lightborne, she would live until she was killed. This and many of the above mentioned factors was why Transcendent Scions were referred to by another name… Demigods!
"When will I become one?" she wondered aloud.
As an undead, there was no need to worry about ever reaching the end of her lifespan. However, the power that came with reaching Ultra Order was something she desired. When it happened she need not be wary of anyone except other Scions. Even if other Scions turned out to be more powerful, having a smaller number of people to worry about would be a welcome change.
"Maybe when you stop procrastinating and do what you should have done since the first day we got here," the fucking cat's unsolicited response came from behind her.
She did not bother to spare a glare in his direction, opting to snarl and leave it at that.
As much as she hated to admit it, the little shit was right. The moment she learned [Telekinesis] after [Teleport], she had been eligible to learn a spell of the 8th Order. The days spent reading and failing at brewing chemicals would have been better spent trying to reach 8th Order.
But… fuck! She really did not want to go through with the ordeal.
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