Arcane Apocalypse

8 – Recovery and Books ( + Illustrations )

[Free Attribute Points: 3 -> 2]

[Will: 2 -> 3]

[{Newcomer} Introductory (1)] is Complete!

Claim reward now? 

Yes / No

Even though Mia wasn’t really one for RPGs most of the time, she did play some of the better ones that seemed fun. She usually just went with the magic build, if there was one, but min-maxing wasn’t something she tended to do.

They were called Role-Playing Games, not Advanced Mathematics Class. Still, she knew that putting a finite stat point into a stat she could have gotten by training for free would have given a true min-maxer like Mark an aneurysm. 

Well, considering he did this quest already, he also spent one point. Mia hummed in thought. Doing so must have caused him considerable psychic damage, but if he did it, Mia didn’t feel bad about doing it too.

That one point in Will, felt like … nothing. She didn’t feel anything different. Though there was nothing testing her willpower at the moment, being encased in the soft embrace of her pillows and blanket.

At that thought, she decided to see whether it helped her magic. The winning spell this time was Arcane Shield, since she didn’t want to explode her bed or hit any holes into the walls with a Bolt — though she doubted that silly spell could do that.

Mia’s runic model moved, reconfiguring itself with the speed of an anorexic turtle, like always. Mia didn’t care. She didn’t know what was supposed to speed that up, but it wasn’t Will. 

When the model was done and the spell circle was fully formed in her mana pool, she commanded a bit of mana to her fingertips. The important part there was ‘commanded’. She’d replayed her frantic fight with the murderbird a thousand times in her head, and she came to the conclusion that her mana refused to act when she coddled it or was in any way gentle in her control of it.

She wasn’t sure whether it resembled a cat or a brat more, but as the mana rushed to her fingers with little fuss, she decided she was on the right path.

Alright. This thing worked two times. One time I was really damned angry, the other I was terrified. Mia squinted at her fingers, now softly glowing with a vivid pink light. I need to either have some extremely strong emotions to trigger it, or just pure focus and willpower will do. Either way, I have to order it with my entire mind behind the command … I think.

Hopefully, her increased Will would do the trick.

Mia focused. Shield. It was supposed to make a semi-translucent barrier the size of her torso a half a meter before her outstretched palm. 

Come on. Work. WORK. Mia felt it twitching, the mana in her fingers vibrating, but it wasn’t enough. No, she was still asking it to work, hoping it would. That wasn’t good. You WILL WORK. GET TO IT!

And it did. The circle shimmered into being around her wrist for a change and slowly rotated around it as mana streamed forth from her fingers to form a faint pink barrier in front of her palm. It worked. 

“YESSSS!” Mia exclaimed, and prompt ran out of mana, causing the barrier to fizzle along with the magic circle around her wrist.

She didn’t care. It worked. Oh, my god. That was awesome! 

She wouldn’t admit it aloud, not even under the threat of torture, but she thought the softly glowing and spinning magic circle around her wrist was cool. Oh, she would just have to see how it looked in a mirror. Did her hair float as if an invisible wind was blowing into it while she channeled the spell? Were her eyes glowing? 

For the moment, she didn’t even care about its distinct pinkness. It was magic. If anyone dared to call the colour of her magic lame — aside from herself — she’d feed them a bolt of lame pink mana. Fuck them!

Mia spent a solid minute giggling — definitely not cackling like an evil witch — and reveling in her newfound awesomeness. Then, decided it was time to get onto the problem: Why did the spell fizzle out? 

The answer was simple, because it ran out of mana. The problem? She just about had all the mana in her fingers that her tiny hair-thin mana circuits could hold. Mana circuits were sort of like veins, but a bit more … sleek? 

Well, the point was that she didn’t have half a billion mana circuits, only about a hundred or two. It reminded her of those oriental energy flow diagrams, Meridians. Maybe the ancient monks who came up with them really knew something? Were they mages? I’ll probably never know. Anyway.

The point was that her fingers had a single channel each, and shoving more mana into that finite space than it could fit, was how a mage lost their fingers. By the way, a good tenth of her implanted knowledge was about how to not mutilate yourself while doing magic. 

Backlash, chaotic mana, overtaxed mana channels, ruptured mana circuits and many, many more nasty things she was now aware of, and would have to be careful about. Back in that fight, she probably overtaxed her circuit a bit, but that was more like sore muscles than anything else. Rupturing was where problems started.

So, she’d have to somehow keep refilling the mana at the same pace the spell ate it up if she wanted to keep it going for more than a few seconds. Mia could already tell that’d take more finesse with mana than she currently had, but she wasn’t one to give up without even trying!

… Anymore. From today onwards, she was a new Mia, one that didn’t look at a problem, find it bothersome, and gave up without even trying. A Mia that didn’t convince herself every single girl she found herself crushing on was straighter than an arrow and would find her advances annoying … not that she ever attempted anything that could even vaguely be called flirting outside the bounds of her overactive imagination.

With renewed vigor, she jumped right back into playing with magic.

She tried filling her circuit up with mana up to her wrist first. That ate up almost a tenth of her mana pool by itself, but that wasn’t the worst part. That happened just when she managed to cast the spell again and it tore away a finger’s worth of mana and let the rest loose.

Mia almost lost control of the remaining mana right then and there. Sweat poured down her brows as she wrestled it back under control, even ignoring the shield spell dying off.

Okay, let’s not do that again. Mia stared listlessly at the ceiling. That was about 5% of her mana, about ten times what would be needed to rupture her channels if she let it go wild.

Mana was only dormant in her pool, where her spirit suppressed it. When she took it out, she had to keep it suppressed. 

It was easy, almost effortless, when it was the only thing she had to do, but actually casting a spell took every bit of her focus and will, leaving not even scraps to keep the mana controlled.

Arcane mana’s chaotic nature didn’t help either.

Mia came to the decision that she would try again once she had her Mind stat above 10, since that would supposedly boost her multitasking. Getting crippled wouldn’t be fun. Especially with monsters around to weed out the weak. She had to be strong.

But slow and steady was the name of the game, not quick and dead. Those people jumping headfirst into groups of monsters without knowing anything might have saved many people’s lives, but Mia wouldn’t have survived if half of them got munched on by the week’s end. Knowledge would be just as important to her survival as magical might.

On that note, she had a book to pick. She went to the Quests tab and hit ‘yes’ under her first and only completed quest.

[Reward: A system generated book of the User’s choice]

[Compiling …

[Available books:

• Basic Bestiary
• On Mana and Magic
• Elements, Affinities and Attunement
• The History of the Halvyr
• First Steps of Arcanism
• On the Arcane Element and its Applications
• Introduction to Water Magic
• Introduction to Earth Magic
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Abjuration
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Alchemy
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Kinetomancy
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Thermomancy
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Alteration
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Summoning
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Conjuration
• Novice Grade Runic Lexicon: Arcane / Rudimentary Illusion

[Choose one book]

“Oh damn you, System,” Mia mumbled, but inwardly she was drooling.

She wiped her mouth. Okay, maybe she was drooling outwardly too, just a bit. But the list of offered books was definitely drool worthy.

Mia wanted all of them. Every single one of those books seemed either interesting or useful. She’d have to toe the line in the middle.

The bestiary would be a must have … but she was sure one of the knuckleheads fighting monsters already had one she could borrow. If not, she could get one later. For now, there was zero magic promised in that book, which was a giant glaring con for the bestiary.

Mia read through each of the other books’ titles carefully, glaring at them for more information, but for once, it didn’t work. All she had to go off of were the titles.

Runic Lexicons would have the new runes she needed to expand her runic model with new runes, and maybe unlock some new spells. So those were all top contenders, but she had all the essential spells she needed for now — since she doubted there was an arcane healing spell out there — which made her want to expand her knowledge on magic or her element in general.

Why? Especially with her implanted knowledge? Because Classes. Mark left his class lexicon behind for her perusal, and almost every mage class seemingly had some form of knowledge not granted by the class itself as a prerequisite, along with some sort of mana manipulation secondary skill.

She only got Arcane Mage because she had a stupid high affinity for the element, according to the book. ‘(Major Arcane Affinity, Mana Manipulation secondary skill and knowledge of advanced mana theory) or (Superior Grade Arcane Affinity)’. That was the prerequisite for her class. 

Superior, it seemed, was the highest affinity one could have for any element that wasn’t light or dark. Though she didn’t get why those two were so special yet, which was also why she was leaning towards the book with Affinities or the Elemental one.

“Decision paralysis, my old foe,” Mia grumbled, remembering how she spent embarrassing hours deciding on the name of her characters in one mmo or another. This was much worse.

No, it isn’t. Mark said it’ll offer this up again as a reward again. He had half a dozen books! I just need to choose what I want to read first.

She wanted to slap herself for being stupid, or smash her head into a wall. 

[‘Elements, Affinities and Attunement’ chosen]

Without any fanfare, a regular paperback book flopped onto her lap. Mia didn’t see where it came from, nor did she care by this point. 

She snatched it up and looked it over. It was a book, a simple paper book. On its front was the title in a nice calligraphic script, but nothing else. It was a bit bland for a book on magical elements in her humble opinion, but who was she to tell the system how to style its books?

Not wasting another second, she got to reading.

******

“Heya, whatcha reading?” The peppy voice made Mia yelp, almost dropping her new book.

Mia looked up just in time to see the invader — the bunny woman who healed her up — hide her giggles behind her hand. “Uhm, Hi?” 

Nice. Real smooth. 

“Hello,” the woman said, coming in and plopping down into a chair next to her bed. “Hope you don’t mind me coming in? I came to check up on you.”

Mia blinked, stared at the woman already sitting next to her very much in the room and shook her head. “Sure?”

“Alright,” the woman nodded, her ears flopping forward and catching Mia’s eyes before she caught herself. The woman just huffed, flicking the fluffy ear back like a rebellious lock of hair. “So, did you eat? At least I hope you drank some water.”

“Ehm,” Mia scratched her cheek. “I might have forgotten to do so.”

“Do you not have something to eat?” She asked, then her eyes found her book. “Or were you just … preoccupied?”

Mia shifted on the bed under the woman’s stern gaze. “Well, I don’t have anything to eat, but I have this.”

What she had was a bottle of water Mark chucked her way before he wandered off. It was lukewarm and tasted a bit like her shampoo, but it was what she had.

The woman grumbled under her breath as she snatched the bottle out of her hand and sniffed it. “Could be worse, I suppose … Anyway! How are you holding up?”

“I feel fine,” Mia shrugged. “My shoulder hurts when I try to use it, but that’s about it.”

“No dizziness, nausea or faint spells?” 

“No,” Mia said. “I feel like I could run around without a problem.”

“Don’t do that,” the woman — Lara, wasn’t it? — glared at her. “I don’t know how this … magic stuff works, so we have to be careful.”

“Maybe I could help?” Mia asked, then elaborated as the woman gave her a strange look. “My class gave me basic magical knowledge, plus I’ve been reading this book for the last few hours.”

“Elements, affinities, and attunement?” Lara read the title with a raised brow. “I don’t know what those words mean, or how they would help, but I suppose I’ve got nothing to lose. Alright! I have about an hour of free time — if nobody gets themselves messed up in the meantime.”

“Okay,” Mia said. “So, first of all, can you tell me what the element of your class is?”

“The element?” Lara frowned, then went cross-eyed as she likely browsed her interface for an answer. “Uhhh, Life? I think.”

“I see,” Mia said. “Then you should have earth and water affinity, right?”

“Yes.” Lara nodded.

“Can you tell me the grade?” Mia asked, grimacing a bit inwardly. The book said affinity grade and Traits were very personal information and asking about it counts as a slight in most societies.

I wonder what societies it was talking about though … It stands to reason that Earth isn’t the first and only world controlled by this system.

“Major? That’s what you’re asking?” 

“Yep,” Mia said.”I guess that fits. Life is supposed to be an advanced fused element. Getting a class with it in Rank 0 should be rare.”

As the woman stared at her, Mia coughed and explained. “The book went into great detail about this stuff. Everyone has some level of affinity for some of the essential elements, that is: light, fire, air, arcane, water, earth and darkness. It’s like a scale with those seven pins on it and you are randomly placed on that scale at birth … or when a magical lightning bolt pumps you full of mana.”

“Okaaaay,” Lara said. “And how does that help me with my skills?”

Mia stopped. “Skills? Don’t you use spells?”

“Honey, I have no idea.” Lara shrugged. “I touch people’s skin, get an idea of what’s wrong with them, then do my best to fix it. I also have a skill that lets me just … mend skin and flesh like it's Playdough.”

“Huh,” Mia frowned. “Well, okay. Guess that makes it easier, spells are much more annoying to use. Anyway, Life affinity should be more about control and manipulation, so that fits too. If you were a Light based healer or something, you could probably just heal people up with a touch.”

“Ain’t that a little unfair?” Lara scrunched her nose up. 

“Well, Light magic is supposed to be all about energy projection and buffs,” Mia said thoughtfully. “I don’t think they could deal with some stuff that a Life mage could. The book mentions, for example, that Light healing can’t deal with the more finicky stuff like cancer and stuff stuck in your body.”

“Oh,” Lara said. “Wait! You said I could heal cancer?”

“Maybe?” Mia said. “In the future? The book didn’t give much beyond a general mention of the element’s pros and cons. I do know, though, that Light Mages wouldn’t be able to.”

“Well, that’s big.” Lara leaned back in her chair, staring up at the ceiling. “If that’s true … maybe this system isn’t so bad. Though I really could do without the monsters.”

Mia forced a smile at that, matching the woman’s wry grin with her own. As the silence stretched, she quickly thought of something to ask. “Sooo, how did you get that class, anyway? Were you a doctor before this or something?”

“Or something,” Lara snorted. “I was just a nurse, nothing as fancy as a doctor. What about you? I told you all about my unfathomable magical powers, but I know nothing of yours.”

“I got Arcane Mage,” Mia said after a moment.

“What does it do?” She asked. “‘Arcane’, isn’t that just a word for magic?”

“Well,” Mia said. “It’s supposed to be good for playing with non-magical energies like kinetic and thermal … and for blowing things up. Mostly blowing things up.”

“No lifting stuff with your mind?” Lara asked. “Always wanted to do that. I’d never have to stand up to get the remote ever again.”

“Actually,” Mia said. “I have a spell called Mage Hand. It’s supposed to conjure up a spectral hand that can lift stuff for me … but-“

“Let’s see it.” Lara sat up with a smile. “Or does it tax your body? If so, please don’t. Even if you feel fine, your body must have been strained from healing.”

“It’s fine,” Mia shrugged. “It only strains my mind and my mana channels.”

Her runic model formed the spell circle with the same laziness as before, her multiplied Spirit and increased Mind attributes doing nothing to hurry it along.

Mage Hand was, surprisingly, her most complex spell. Where the rest of them only had simple spell circles with nothing more than a handful runes dotting them and one or two geometric shapes surrounding them, Mage Hand used all of her available runes aside for the three she knew had to do with exploding her projectiles and other shapes like bolt and the shield.

It also had four shapes to go along with them. Two squares tilted to make an eight-pointed star and two circles, one hugging it from the inside and one from the outside. The resulting triangles were filled with runes.

Mia took a deep breath and let her mind empty out. Then she focused, letting the entire weight of her psyche collapse upon the small blob of mana already in her fingers, like an avalanche.

The spell circle flared to life and a translucent pink hand shimmered into view. It floated a metre away from Mia and mirrored her own hand, which was also covered in a soft pink glow like a glove.

She waved her hand around and the Mage Hand swam through the air in response. When Mia made a fist, so did the spectral hand, and when she waved, it mirrored her.

“That’s … kinda creepy,” Lara said as she stared at the floating hand. “But also kinda cool. Can you lift stuff with it?”

“I should be able to,” Mia said, then searched for a target to check. An old plushie up on the shelf just two metres away from her was the unfortunate winner.

Mia shuffled around to face the little stuffed bunny and aimed the hand at it. With there still being a metre between the Mage Hand and her target, she frowned.

I should be able to make it go further or come back closer mid-cast, but how? With a mental shrug, she decided to go with the simplest option first. Her mind flexed again, and she glared at the soft pink spell circle around her wrist. Extend!

It did not, in fact, extend. And she didn’t think it was because she didn’t push hard enough. What else?

Mia was just about to examine the runes to maybe figure out whether one of them was the one she could use like a joystick to extend and retract her Hand, but the spell ran out of mana just then.

“Ran out of mana?” Lara asked with a worried frown. “Sorry for pushing you-“

“Just the spell,” Mia cut in, a new blob of mana already flowing through her channels to reactivate the spell. “I still have a couple more spells in me.”

After a short mental wrestling, the spell reactivated, and Mia went back to where she was. Which rune could be the one? 

Mia squinted at them, digging up her implanted knowledge of runic theory. In the end, she narrowed it down to two strange runes that she didn’t know the meaning of. She poked at them, both with her other hand and with her mind. She prodded her runic model too, with zero results.

I know I can extend it. But how? Mia delved deep into her alien knowledge, and when she finally found the most likely answer, she wanted to strangle whoever made the spell circle.

‘Rotary variable input’ was supposedly the most common way to change a variable in an active spell. It only worked when there was only a single fluid variable in the entire spell, but that was most of them.

As for where the ‘rotary’ part of the term came from?

With her face twitching, Mia gave a mental nudge to the spell circle. The circle turned, slowly rotating around her wrist, and the spectral hand flew forward.

Okay, that’s kinda cool, actually. Mia squinted, slowing down the rotational speed as the hand closed in on the plush bunny. There, a little more.

She stopped the rotation and gingerly closed her palm into a claw. Mia squinted at the bunny, slowly lifted her hand and watched the spectral hand lift the bunny. Victory.

She sent the spell circle spinning in the opposite direction and the plushie flew back into her hand, the Mage Hand wrapping around her fleshy hand like a second glove as the circle froze.

“I’m so jealous,” Lara said. 

“I’d give it up for healing powers,” Mia grumbled under her breath. Being able to mend her flesh like Lara could would make her chances of surviving another bird ambush skyrocket while a fancy floating hand that had trouble lifting anything heavier than a plushie would be basically worthless. Thankfully, Lara didn’t seem to hear it.

“Do you think I could learn that?” Lara asked. “I have a Minor affinity for Arcane.”

“Maybe?” Mia shrugged. “My class did most of the work for me, but I think if you could shape your mana into the exact shape of the spell circle, it should work.”

“And how do I do that?” Lara asked.

Mia just shrugged. “Lots of practice and a bunch of points into Spirit, I guess. I’ve tried to shape my mana into shapes, but I’m struggling with just making triangles and cubes. Anything as complicated as a spell circle is out of the question for quite a while.”

“Well, it can’t hurt to practise,” Lara shrugged. “It might as well help with my healing. God knows how many times I almost melded someone’s organs with their muscles.”

Mia just stared at her, horrified.

“It was a … joke?” Lara scratched her cheek awkwardly, earning a chuckle from Mia.

The two spent a few more minutes chatting, then Lara left to get Mia some food. Minutes later, she left Mia with a few slices of bread and some cheese to nibble on.

Then back to reading it was. She still had half a day to kill, at least. She planned to finish up the book by the end of it.