134 Chapter 132 All Grown Up (1/2)
”Ready, Stella?”
”Always, Joseph. Though I never thought the FOOD rune would be able to control time.”
”Well, MATURE simulates time pa.s.sing more quickly, so that wine and cheese and stuff is ready sooner.”
There was a flash, then forty magma missiles shot out, hitting forty of the demon wors.h.i.+ppers directly in the head. They fell to the ground dead. The others were too stunned to move.
A shadow jumped at the demon overshadowing the dragon, holding two daggers as black as true darkness, capable of cutting even the incorporeal. The only thing that could be heard was the whis.h.i.+ng of air, and bodies. .h.i.tting the ground. Then there was only the whisper of flames, as the magma caught the cloth of the dead bodies on fire.
A young man stood in the middle of the room, surveying the damage. An ancient fey warrior came to stand beside him, not even breathing hard. Then six more fey, exact duplicates of the first, landed all around him. They had long ears, that were pointed, long hair that was tied back with a sprig of ivy, dark red eyes, that flashed like rubies, and lithe bodies, capable of incredible feats of dexterity, and speed.
”That felt like it should have been more difficult,” Joseph said with a frown.
”Please don't say that,” said Stella.
The demon screamed, and she sighed, disappearing from sight as she jumped through Joseph's shadow towards it.
(OH MY G.o.d! WHAT HAPPENED?)
'Are you allowed to say that?' asked Joseph as he watched Stella carve pieces out of the demon. She had been looking forward to killing it for a long time.
(SERIOUSLY! WHAT DID YOU DO? I JUST GLITCHED, LIKE A SYNC ERROR, AND THEN THIS! JOSEPH, HOW MANY SPELLS DID YOU…)
'All of them,' he said, 'that I could.
'TELEPORT is both MOVEMENT and GATE so I researched it until I understood MOVEMENT. I found a spell under KNOWLEDGE that let me understand SOUND.
'Animal was a true pain as I didn't have any spell that directly trained it, but I was able to reverse engineer it after I discovered most of the others.
'A BODY spell, ALTER VISAGE, to change my throat and larynx so I could directly speak origin words if I needed.
'I discovered TECHNOLOGY was the rune heavily related to so many other runes. Energy spells for FIRE. Plastic spells for PLANT. Metal spells for EARTH.
'I even invented an entirely new rune, LIFE, for people without magery to learn a few spells to enhance their quality of life, such as CLEAN.
'But despite all of that, I can't figure out META. It's a rune that exists above all the others. I was able to invent LIFE because it relates to so many others. I could discover ANIMAL because it was equal to all the others, but I still can't get META. It was quite frustrating, system.
'I studied every rune and every spell until they became advanced, but I feel like I was only able to reach master level in thaumatology itself.
'Without you as a stop, I went through the memories of every life I have ever lived, from dying on a colony world when the dome was pierced by an orbital bombardment, to dying as a child gladiator, to studying how the bus was enchanted that took me to school before the terrorists attacked. Always looking for runes and magic techniques, but still, I couldn't see META.'
(YOU SOUND ANGRY…)
'I'm p.i.s.sed. I have the equivalent of eighteen years of frustration trying to learn META. Have you finished scanning my changes yet?'
(STILL PROCESSING ACTUALLY. THE CHANGES ARE RIDICULOUS FOR ONLY NINE YEARS, MUCH LESS HAVING TO UPGRADE IT INSTANTLY.)
'I also invented fusion magic. It would take a human a life time to synchronize a spell with another human mage perfectly in order to use this technique, but Joe and I completely avoid that problem.'
Combining the rune in rune technique with the fusion technique, he cast a ma.s.sive WEAKEN WILL on the demon. The rune filled the cave with a blinding light. The demon never had a chance, as the full will and rage of both Joseph and Joe were channeled into the spell.
MINDLESSNESS.