Bonded Summoner

Book 4. Chapter 12.5: Magical Research

Jake was now in the magical workshop of Life’s Haven, a facility created for magical research. He poured over the books obtained from both the [Multiverse Market] and [Epic+ Contribution Store] in front of him, cross-referencing details to understand the many complicated magical topics contained within. When a paragraph contained several complicated, interlinked processes, it was a real struggle to understand the information being presented.

Then, the information was often incomplete or misunderstood by the author, leading Jake to have to come up with experiments. Skill books were perfected knowledge within the Framework, or at least what it considered to be. But most of what they purchased was knowledge gathered by magical researchers, their information was not always perfect.

Thankfully, he had other seekers of the truth to help.

Amara, the magical tome, was floating near Jake.

Jake said, “These magic circles are interesting. I had seen the runes on Odin’s armor, and noticed he arranged runes in a hexagonal shape or design, so I began using them. This says the circle balances the mana flow, the scripts manifesting the intent of the casters. One only has to meet the mana requirements of the spell by channeling mana into it. Should I be using this?”

Amara shook herself back and forth. “I think not. While Magic Circles are much easier to use, there is loss. While the circle balances the mana flow well, there is still loss as mana is channeled. Then, the rules and complexity of Runic Magic is empowered by the Nordic faith and contributions to the Framework itself, enhancing the outcome. I’d estimate your flaming spears and similar spells are enhanced by nearly thirty to fifty percent, when considering mana cost, power, speed of casting, and more.”

Jake sighed. He had hoped to be able to make a Tier 2 spell using magic circles. But losing that kind of effectiveness would mean he’d spend such a large portion of his mana, it’d hardly be worth it. He could use runes instead of scripts within the circles, but the runes would then lose their advantages by bypassing the rules.

“Maybe you can help me here. I know with group circle casting, Morwen can achieve several Tier 2 spells with her priestesses. I’ve been struggling to create any, even though I’m pretty sure I’ve met the quantity, quality, and complexity requirements. My divine hearth flames and core solve the quality and quantity issue, while the magic circle usually accomplishes this. As for complexity…”

Amara’s book bobbed up and down, before opening to a page in her book, mana drawing lines within. Jake saw several diagrams being drawn out about magical formations to manage mana flow and balance, and his eyebrows rose in surprise. They were quite detailed, which meant Amara had researched this knowledge deeply.

Her borders lit up, and Jake guessed pride was radiating from her. “I’ve done much research on this topic, as formations and Runic Magic is commonly used within the Framework. I prefer scripts and spell forms, but I can see the power in runes. Maybe, if we take a step back first, we’ll be able to find a path forward. Crossing the Tier on your own would be a near impossible challenge, normally. Let’s start here, you said Odin used hexagons?”

Jake nodded, and a magical pointing stick appeared, looking like a hologram. Jake did his best to feel it with his mana and looking it over with his [Arcane Eye], trying to see if he could replicate it. His musing was interrupted by it pointing to the runes, the uruz rune.

“Many of these runes can be used as a sort of cantrip. I’m sure you’ve used the uruz rune to make a spark of flame. A few require at least one, but sometimes two more, making a runic phrase.”

She then began casting a few runic cantrips, combining different runes. But what Jake noticed, was that she floated them all into the same hexagon shape. Usually, the runes either floating in the center, or into several corners.

She continued, “Still, there appears to be a clear cutoff of when cantrips end and true spells begin. Do you know what that is?”

Jake frowned, thinking back to his original spells. He had not floated the runes into a hexagon, and even his functions put the runes in a simple line.

“I don’t think I could make any true spells without three runes, or three runic phrases.”

“That’s right. Spells don’t need to be arranged like this to manifest, but it’s easier to understand the limitations or restrictions for why a spell might not work, or why it might not be balanced by arranging them this way. Now, at what point did the runes become a Tier 1 spell?”

Jake thought back to his first exploding ball of flame spell. A total of twenty-four runes were meticulously crafted and balanced around what was essentially four spells strung together.

Jake did his best to reproduce her hologram, using what appeared to be a light spellform that allowed him to push his intent and create the shapes he chose, needing to make a grid of them every few inches. He floated the light constructs that represented the Nordic runes into the four hexagons. The runes rested in each side of the shape, the six sides of the hexagon. Arranged like a diamond, the four hexagons each connected to two others.

Amara chuckled. “Not bad, that was your first time to make a managram, wasn’t it? Your skill with mana is impressive. Now, I think what you’ll find is that your first spell was actually a little overkill. I believe you can make a Tier 2 spell with only 14 runes.”

Jake thought over the many spells he crafted, and remembered one that he had made. She was right. He floated the runes over, and realized that two portions of the spell were in fact seven runes. One would sit in the center pf the hexagons, and he realized that most of these types of spells were not ones that worked well when used as functions, typically.

Almost all the functions that he used were only six runes or runic phrases, spells that usually did little or almost nothing on their own, enhancing or modifying others. The 14 rune spell was [Runic Magic: Nova of Frost], which was a combination of a powerful frost and explosive ice spells.

Not many of those could easily be combined with a function to enhance or supplement other spells, especially when he included any of his working spells that used or mixed Demonic Runes. They required a complex balance to manifest, and Jake was starting to formulate a theory.

“Do you think that helped? Of course, I don’t know how to cast a Tier 2 runic spell, but sometimes breaking down what changed across Tiers and why, might allow you to understand what the next level could be. Perhaps forming a hexagon with the hexagons is what is needed, and that would take seven spells strung together. Six runes times seven would be 42 runes, something not normally possible within this Tier. Advanced Runic Magic 1 was 15 though, just enough to make a Tier 1 spell, if it was perfect. Only at level 2 could you make a large assortment of them, more or less forcing them to be possible with three six rune formations, as these are much more balanced than three rune spells. Of course, crossing the Tier at Tier 1 to Tier 2 would be even harder than that.”

Jake nodded, thinking over it. Most likely, the earliest it could be completed was with 7 perfect 7-rune hexagons, for 49. With Hearth Runic Magic level 3, his limit was actually 24 as his limit jumped by six, which could be doubled with his staff to 48. Still, in all his testing, this wasn’t enough.

Most likely, level 4 would grant 6 more again, and level 5 would grant 6 more in his limits, making his limit 36. Perhaps, Tier 2 level 1 would jump him all the way up to 49 or 50. He really needed to reach Hearth Runic Magic Level 4 to accomplish one, even after much experimentation.

Or: Use Group Runic Magic. He would use [Group Runic Magic] to come up with the spells and test them with his girls. Then, when he had the capability, he’d be able to accomplish them on his own.

“Thanks for your help, Amara. I think with this I should be able to make some group runic magic spells. How about I add the runic spells I’ve learned to your compendium here?”

“Oh! I’m so happy to be of service, and thank you so much for sharing your knowledge!”

Jake smiled at her, as he flipped through her pages of runic spells. He saw many he hadn’t recorded for himself, and some even gave him ideas on what additional spells he could make too.

“Looks like you got some that help me out, too. It’s only fair I share in kind, don’t you think?”

Jake used the managrams to show Amara the runic spells he’d devised, and she glowed with happiness as she inserted the information into herself for storage. He even added most of his enchanting recipes he used.

“That’s amazing, Jake. While runes were not the focus of my people’s research, we had still gathered knowledge from several Guilds. How many spells you’d managed to create on your own is a major accomplishment.”

Jake chuckled. “I can’t say I did it all alone, but I’ll accept the praise for the girls as well. I do hope we get some more magic casters soon, to benefit from our research and your own.”

Amara bobbed up and down. “It would be nice, wouldn’t it? There are some Adventurers that have joined, but they are very few and busy earning CP, aren’t they? I do believe the dryads and fauns may have magical aptitudes beyond being nature focused casters, any that show interest will definitely receive the best magical training we can provide. But who knows, we may be able to learn a lot from them as well, like with Morwen.”

Jake was glad for Morwen and her people, they all had various talents that added to the knowledge of Hearthtribe significantly. He knew that, thanks to the Eternum and Emberborn, his people wouldn’t be lacking in the next few years. Jake certainly hoped to add the people from the mass migration as potential magical casters to supplement their forces.

“I got one more thing that maybe you can help me with. I have a skill, [Hearth Enchantment]. My wives and I all have hearths either through a core or some other means, but the core connects to the soul, and the soul is a scary thing to test on. Even your people have flames that resemble hearths. You got any ideas on how I can practice this?”

Amara just floated for a while, her flaming eyes within the book cover staring at him.

“Are you crazy?! You can’t enchant a soul! You’ll kill whomever you try to enchant!”

Jake chuckled. “Technically, I already enchanted Fhesiah’s hearth…somewhat. I guess it’s more like I inscribed demonic runes that reflected her path on it? I think it helped quite a bit, made her resonate better with her path.”

“T-This is amazing. Come to think of it, the Framework skill must help it be possible? It should provide some level of guidance and safety. Perhaps you could practice enchanting some magical hearths first?”

Jake did have the hearth of the refuge to enchant, but he felt like it would be a real waste to screw that one up. He did realize that the Tier 0 ones for the Refuge were certainly cheap enough, but they still weren’t a soul or connected to it like the hearth core or the one in Fhesiah’s spiritual palace. Was Jake really just going to have to rely on the skill alone?

“I’m up to Hearth Enchantment 3, as it seems to be an evolved skill of Runic Enchantment. Just like my Mana Control was replaced with Hearth Control. I’m worried as getting to 4 and 5 will be quite a challenge, not doing what the skill is supposed to do to advance it.”

Amara bobbed. “That’s right. I don’t have many records of these types of evolved or merged skills, as they are extremely rare at Tier 1. Typically, it requires a special race or a class at the epic level or above, or to simply be above our Tier. That might change as we increase in Tier, but it’s hard to say. Skills certainly improve more when advancing the main aspect of the skill, rather than individual subskills or adjacent ones. You can buy skill books for a path forward, but I’d wager an evolved skill such as that might be far too expensive due to its rarity.”

Jake sighed. He had already checked, and both skills didn’t have skill books available to him, even for Tier 2 Credits. Even the contribution store they had access to didn’t have them, so just where could he get them?

“Thanks for your help, Amara. I’ll give the magical hearths for Refuges and other locations a shot and see how it goes. Still, I did wonder if maybe I could enchant your people.”

“Enchant us? Whatever for?”

“Aside from the obvious, you mean? Enchanting things adds mana and empowers them, and that usually makes things stronger or more powerful. Well, my hope was to stop the corruption for if the Eternum fight. While a peaceful path is great, your people should have the choice. At least allowing for self-defense, or something along these lines.”

Amara’s flames appeared to just stare at Jake for a moment. “I do know of some Eternum that would be very interested in this–being able to fight. Still, it’s a scary thing to experiment. I may have a volunteer for that, however.”

Jake frowned. “They’d be willing to take such a large risk?”

“We have a few members who have had to fight, and as a result, they have gone…a little crazy. You might see them as a little senile, or…like they have tourettes? They are unstable. I think at least one of them would rather take the chance that you might be able to help them and the rest of us, than to continue to live this way. The others…can hardly tell they have a problem. But their loved ones could be willing.”

The door to the research room burst open, and the pink armor, Rhia flew in. Followed by Berri, with a beaming smile.

“I’ll get you! Light bolt!” She pointed her finger, forming the runes for [Runic Magic: Light Bolt]. They coalesced and shot at Rhia who flew around the room, dodging left and right.

Berri shot several more with a feigned malicious smile, managing to nick Rhia on the fourth shot.

“Yow! T-The light mana kinda hurts. Can you switch to just a mana bolt?”

Berri frowned. “Sorry, Rhia. Let me try.” She scrunched her face up cutely like she did when changing her armor, pointed, and said, “Mana bolt!” Jake saw her using some regular mana, using very similar runes to manage the light bolt. It shot and struck Rhia, but mostly just bounced off her armored body like a small tap.

Berri said, “Tag, you’re it!” and snaked around the room, dodging over and under or around tables and other implements as Rhia gave chase hovering over the ground, shooting back at her with mana bolts of her own. The two giggled and laughed, as the two played.

“It’s so wonderful to see her having fun. She never got a real childhood, always lacking energy. This place is truly special! Our people are so glad you called us, Lord Jake.”

“And I’m glad your clan is the one that came when I used that token. I appreciate all your hard work, and your experience. Well, I’m going to get back to the Refuge. I’ll do some experiments with the hearths, and when I’m comfortable we’ll talk about that volunteer. It could be a while yet.”

“Of course. I’m excited about the possibilities if you are successful, there is much to learn about the soul and enchantment here. I will do as much as I can to gather some more information on adjacent topics.”josei

Jake bid her farewell and headed back to the Refuge. He would have to work hard on Tier 2 spells with Ophelia and Fhesiah, along with thinking about his path.