Reeling on Douglas, Evot starts staring at the skeleton. “Then where are the water to earth and earth to water spells? Your magical nonsense is making this magical and happy triangle, but there seems to be a rather significant miss-”
Her mouth falling open, Evot shuts up immediately. Radiating from Douglas’s upheld hand is a circle of immense complexity. Where the previous circles she was shown could be compared to a few chapters in a book in terms of character complexity, the dense weave of lines and runes projected in the air is akin to an entire library of information.
“Death.” The single word shocks her heart. The rattling noise coming from between the black skull’s mandibles is horrific and terrifying on a deep level. “This is you.” Her soul shakes as Douglas continues talking unbidden. “Renovate death,” is the nail in the coffin of her anger.
Drained, scared, and feeling very small all of a sudden, Evot sits down, slowly scuttling away from the amazing pattern still radiating from the skeleton’s hand. The pulsing blue light has an ominous feel now. Where before, it was just lines and symbols and glowing holograms, she fears this projection very much. The small green ball of smoke hovering in front of the skeletal palm puts Douglas into a whole new perspective. Where she saw a bumbling idiot before, now she is looking at a grim specter of death; a harbinger of the end of all things.
“Don’t know life,” Douglas continues with a shrug, the heart freezing spell shape winking out like it was never there. “Don’t want life, maybe.”
Evot tries to calm her racing heart. Just when she was getting a grip on her emotions again, the stupid skull does something like this. Just when she was getting back to her old self, her righteous anger at the stupidity of the universe is cut down mercilessly. “So that made me? I’m pretty sure I can remember something else, though. Just flashes, but I think Katare was put in a cryotube. Those things might make someone look like they are dead, but apply even the simplest of recusci-kits, and they’ll wake right back up. So Katare wasn't dead.”
Evot isn’t sure what she was expecting with that accusation, but Douglas not reacting to the severe crime she just accused him of fits him pretty well. “Ah, who cares. Not me, that’s for sure.” They sit there in silence, Douglas apparently waiting until his mana is full again, Evot thinking over things. “How do you cast the magic, though? I can understand the concept of creating a logical circuit boards made up of a symbolic set of constructed runes and power guidance lines, but how do you actually make it do stuff?
Douglas holds up a hand, and without a single blue line in sight, a fireball forms above his palm. “Put mana in spell shape.”
Evit wants to pull her hair out. “What?”
“Blue is just effect.” Replies Douglas, a blue circle slowly materializing around the slowly burning fireball.
“How?”
“Take spell shape in your mind. Then add mana from here.” Evot is too distracted by recent events to react in time. The fireball sputtering out in loose strips of fire and smoke, Douglas reaches out and taps against the horn sticking from her forehead. Reeling back from his sudden action, she holds a hand to the base of the stumpy black item, holding it protectively.
Instead of doing the first thing she would like to have done, as that would probably be an overreaction, given the circumstances, Evot thinks for a bit. Just thinking about her forehead makes her notice something odd. Evot is pretty sure that it is below freezing in the small stuffy cave. She is also pretty sure that it is below freezing on the entire planet. But even though she has been trouncing around in her birthday suit for this entire time, she hasn’t felt cold even once. Instead, a steady flow of muted heat seems to suffuse from her forehead, directly from under the place where her horn justs from her skin. Now that she notices it, she feels the stream going towards her chest area, namely to the middle of her back.
The muted pain coming from the raw wound around her spin, where Douglas had held on to her, presents itself again. Oddly so, because the warm flow seems to be gathering there, muting and calming the screaming nerves in her exposed and torn flesh.
[ New skill learned; Mana Sense lvl 1 ]
And the odd knowledge flowing into her brain is back again. This time, though, everything makes sense. The fact that consciousness projects a field through which the universe is both experienced and controlled has long since been a known and proven fact. In fact, this field of study is one of the few areas in which progress into the study of warp-madness is still being made. So instead of rebelling at the unscientific nature of a wrong way of looking at the fundamental universe, Evot learns with all her heart. She diligently tries the breathing methods, the hunger suppressing chants, and the ways to sit comfortably without getting sleeping and dead limbs after a while.
[ New skill learned; Meditation lvl 1 ]
[ Mana Sense lvl 5 ]
[ Meditation lvl 4 ]
Blinking away the notifications one intense meditation session later, Evot smiles brightly. She finally understands. She finally gets why Douglas is such a broken, idiotic, and massively powerful dummy. She understands how the white ship had managed to withstand the attacks from the Histaff Behemoth before the departure from the station. She understands the fireball, the ice pick, the de- Stopping herself from becoming overconfident or arrogant, she grumpily admits that the death spell Douglas showed her still scares her to her core, and that she has no plans to get near that level of power, complexity, or terror anytime soon.
Her good mood falters only slightly as she cracks the stone around her once again, this time having to put in significantly more effort before regaining her freedom and mobility. The power flowing from her forehead might still be just a small stream of warmth, but she feels it a lot clearer now. Her zen state broken, she feels the effects of meditation fade away, lowering her mana generation to its base level again.
Walking over to Douglas, who is once again chipping away at the rock, filling the air with magically evaporated stone, she starts studying the spell shape in earnest. She has some inkling of what she wants to try, but lacks some key components and knowledge.
Time passes by as the duo slowly moves through the still earth. Evot doesn’t really know where they are going, and suspects that the skeleton doesn’t really either, but that’s okay for now. Although she can clearly feel hunger gnawing away at her guts, this feeling is muted and far away, just like the slowly fading pain coming from her back. She also realizes that they wouldn’t have stood a chance against the artillery specialized Histaff Behemoth that had struck down the so suddenly appearing hover bikes. Military issue, if she had seen correctly. Refusing to let her thoughts linger on the probably false hope of rescue, Evot continues studying.
A small part of her old self wonders why there seems to be no difference in classification between a Behemoth in the shape of a very large walking Reworked, and the mountain-sized Behemoths they have come across so far. Deciding then and there to call the massive immobile Histaff lifeforms Gargantuans, Evot stops thinking about that also and continues studying the partially muted spell shape.
[ New spell shape learned; Decalcinate ]
[ New skill learned; Spell Shaping lvl 1 ]
Blinking at the sudden intrusion of the same spell shape she had just been studying in the forefront of her mind, she stumbles backwards. Sitting down, it takes her a few minutes before she can get over the sheer discomfort that comes with having the intricate shape branded into her consciousness. She tries to not think about it at first but finds that impossible. She tries all kinds of mental techniques, from thinking about sex to trying to let it go, to meditating some more.
[ Meditation lvl 5 ]
Then she manages to make the intrusive shape smaller, shoving it to the side of her mental space. Breathing a sigh of relief at not having to think about her hard-earned spell shape constantly, she stands up, pats herself down, and walks over towards Douglas.
“Hey, you big bony doofus. Watch this.” Smiling from ear to ear - she i
s about to cast magic for the first time in her life, after all - she holds out her own hand. Then she forces the stream of warmth from her forehead into the shape in her mind. Her grin falters as nothing happens.
“Guide.”
Looking at the grinning skeleton with an askew glance, Evot tries to guide the flow into her mind.
“From source,” says Douglas after a few more minutes of spectacular nothing. This time, Evot can swear she heard mirth in his fake voice. Deciding to listen to the spell-slinging skull, she takes a strand of power right as it emerges from her forehead, gently coaxing it into the shape in her mind. Her eyes open wide as she feels the power flow into the mental construct.
“Now put in all.”
Evot does as he suggests, and a large clump of the warm power emerges from her forehead. She watches on in fascination as the power soaks the spell shape. Her eyes bug out completely when the hard rock in front of her starts crumbling, small chips floating towards her outstretched hand. Then the large clump of power reaches the spell, and large boulders rips themselves free. The ground under her feet destabilizing as it disintegrates, Evot loses her balance, briefly wonders why it is so dark all of a sudden, and blows up.
⁂
Douglas wipes the bits of flesh from his skull as he wonders why he just did that. He has clear memories of his own first magical escapades, and had initially truly just wanted to give the woman some help. Then something else had snuck into his thoughts, encouraging him to tell her to pour all her mana into the spell. The results turned out as predictable as they are messy. Rooting through the pile of viscera, it takes Douglas a good few moments before he finds the piece of her body that contains the important horn.
Douglas had managed to get out of the way in time, only losing a single leg as he slammed into the back wall at an odd angle. His leg was rather quickly reattached, a slight blue glow fixing the break slowly. Instead of wondering about the ethicality of the prank he just pulled, he continues partially casting his spell. He actually starts humming the GalaxSec jingle from the commercial as he continues his work, holding Evot’s broken head by her horn, slowly leaving the bloody mess behind him, covering it in layers of condensing stone.
Chapter Thirteen – Overtaking Failure or Failure to Overtake?
“I’m sorry.” Douglas wonders why he just said that. “Stupid joke.” Douglas then wonders why he is looking at the ground as he taps his toes awkwardly. He is once again waiting for his mana to regenerate, and Evot’s head has been staring at him in a manner he finds hard to bear. Even though he hasn’t looked at the slumped woman for a while now, he still feels her gaze burning more holes in his back. Then Douglas figures that he can just fix what he helped cause, and all will be well. Bringing up the relatively new spell shape that forms mana stones, he puts all his attention into casting it the best he can.
Never has he more carefully draped the power coming from his forehead along the runes as his current casting of the spell. Sensing the power with all his might, Douglas loses himself in the creation of a new mana stone the best he can.
[ Meditation III lvl 21 ]
[ Mana Control III lvl 27 ]
[ Mana Sense III lvl 24 ]
[ Spell Shaping III lvl 27 ]
[ Mana Stone Production III lvl 25 ]
Looking at the small marble shining with a fierce light, Douglas knows he has done a pretty darn good job. He isn’t sure how much time he has spent focusing on the spell he was casting, but the result speaks for itself. Instead of the dull yellow mana stones he had made before, this gem sparkles with luster and light. Douglas has barely put any mana into the stone, and already the slowly moving power is refracting in dazzling patterns inside the small gem.
Douglas walks up to the now slightly less gruesome remains of Evot, and drops the stone in her mouth after emptying the remains of his mana pool into the thing. She starts thrashing a bit, the first sign of life Douglas has seen from her in a long time, as her glowing wounds start glowing brighter. Douglas ignores the woman, satisfied in the knowledge that he has done all he can to make up, and promptly forgets that he ever gave her less than optimal instructions in the first place. He sits back down and does his version of closing his eyes. The flames in his sockets dim as he lets his mind sink into a further stupor, the world fading away as his mana regeneration increases.
Outside his field of perception, Evot regenerates at a visible pace. Where previously, her entire body would have gradually healed over months, now her head and upper torso rapidly regenerates over a few hours. A relatively short time later, the sad heap of woman stirs. “What did you say? I couldn’t really hear.”
Douglas, his mana full again, stops standing up. “What?”
“You said something, but I couldn’t hear. Why do you move your jawbone? You don’t need to do that to talk.”
Douglas finds the cold and impassive way in which he is being spoken to slightly disconcerting but pays it no further heed. “I said, I’m sorry.” Walking to the wall, he remembers the other thing he said. “Stupid joke.” Humming extremely softly to himself, the skeleton holds out his hand, a partially illuminated circle popping into existence around the outstretched limb. A soft wind starts to deposit stone onto every surface in the cave shortly after.
“You stupid skeleton. Come here!”
Startled from his productive haze, Douglas turns to the source of the noise. Evot is aiming a lightly wounded arm at him when a rather simple spell shape slowly creeps into existence, hovering in front of her palm. “Look quick, because this is very difficult. Why didn't you tell me casting spells is such a pain in the bum?”
Douglas doesn’t hear a single thing she says. His burning eyes are affixed upon the new spell shape, greedily drinking in the half-familiar lines. He recognises the core of the decalcinate spell he has been using, but with some new-ish elements thrown in. The area designation runes are there, along with the ground to air runes. Surrounding that are mangled control runes. Regulation circles that seem too small are plastered here and there, fine threads of glowing spell shape making a fine weave of flows. The entire thing seems to wobble rather unsteadily, however. Details blur and lines blaze brightly before dimming into dark grey silhouettes at random.
[ New spell shape learned; Sublimate ]
His jawbone falls open as far as it can. For the first time since he learned the ever so simple yet useful Mana Hand spell, ignoring the weird case of the mana stone generator, another spell shape joins the ranks in his mind. He immediately turns around, aims his hand at the wall, and starts casting the spell. Where previously a soft wind would be the result of casting the partial decalcinate spell, now Douglas is nearly blown over.
“…DON’T YOU DUMB-BUM CALCIUM CHEWTOY! DON’T LEAVE ME AND BURY ME ALIVE PLEASE!”
Feeling oddly ashamed at his actions, Douglas turns around, chips away at the thick layer of rock encasing Evot’s lower body, and drags her along. Holding her by her horn, Douglas starts casting the spell again. Both humanoids are oddly silent as their previously shuffling gait transforms into a slow walk.
“How?”
Evot cough, a sudden gust of gasified rock condensing inside her mouth. “How what? Ask proper questions, you dumb walking rock.”
“How new spell shape?”
“Slightly better. I made it.”
Turning his head to look at the wounded woman, Douglas jawbone falls open again. “MADE?”
“Yes, yes. No need to shout in confined spaces, alright?”
“Yes, I will not shout.”
“Good. I merely took some elements from the decalcinate spell and created a new one from that.”
“You can do that?”
“Apparently. It gave me a new skill.”
Douglas wonders what the new feeling he is experiencing is. It is not made of the slowly simmering yet explosive anger. Nor is it the slightly crushing feeling of regret and shame which made him wish the ground would swallow him up. Nor is it the full-body warmth he feels
when looking at bones. This one is similar to the last one, though. Instead of the pervasive warmth and need to be near, Douglas feels himself become small as a result of this new feeling. The fact that Evot can conjure new and functional spell shapes from nothing makes Douglas feel like she is an entire planet, and he is just a small speck in front of her blazing glory. The fact that he is unceremoniously dragging her along by her horn does not decrease the feeling at all. Despite being a good few centimetres taller than the woman, he feels somewhat insignificant in the face of her skills.
The two are oddly silent once again, Douglas content in basking in the new feelings of awe he is experiencing, Evot closing her eyes as her wounds start glowing slightly brighter. They walk through the dirt, rock turning to air in front of them, condensing back into featureless stone behind them.
“When are you planning on going back to the surface?”
“Surface?” Looking at the woman he is holding, Douglas wonders what she is talking about.
“Are you planning on living underground now? I don’t really need to eat, somehow, but I’d still like to do something with my life other than tunneling for eternity.”
And the awe is gone, replaced feeling that he is small, for a whole different reason. Instead of the other becoming bigger than he ever thought possible, now Douglas just feels himself shrinking into nothingness. “Okay,” is all he manages to squeeze out. Tilting his hand upwards slightly, Douglas wonders how fleshly people get anything done at all. He vaguely remembers that the amount of emotions he is now experiencing is but a fraction of what any normal person would go through. Douglas feels like a small raft in wild waters, with the way his mental state is being battered back and fro.
GalaxSec: A Sci-Fi LitRPG (Skeleton in Space Book 2) Page 15