Chapter 3 (1/2)

Chapter 3: Spell Archive

The way to use my spells is all inside my head.

More than 20 years ago, with the D&B rulebook as the base, the game master of the time and I had fleshed out the settings to an almost unnecessarily detailed degree.

I’m impressed that ‘The Guardian’ could understand everything in that messy notebook.

“...... Guess there’s no other option that to just do it, I guess.”

I take a deep breath, then close my eyes.

What I am about to do now is dive deep inside myself, deeper than even ‘instinct’ and the ‘unconscious self,’ to the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ and release the energy needed for spellcasting from there.

I regulate my breathing and concentrate my consciousness.

First of all, I image the ‘Inner World.’

A s.p.a.ce enveloped by darkness.

Normally speaking, it is very hard to imagine oneself in elaborate detail. However, almost immediately, a duplicate of myself—wearing a wizard’s robe—appears inside the darkness. This is most likely due to Gio’s abilities.

I carefully superimpose the ‘imagined me inside the Inner World’ over ‘the real-life me standing in a jail cell.’

When the two are completely overlapped, I imagine my real self dissolving into my imagined self, then slowly open my eyes.

…… Pure darkness.

The jail cell that my eyes should have registered is nowhere to be found. I am clad in the robe that my imagined self had on.

This place is inside myself, the ‘Inner World.’

Raising my right hand, I visualize a lantern illuminating the darkness.

At once, a lantern materializes, s.h.i.+ning on my surroundings with a powerful light tinged with red.

“Amazing…… isn’t this a bit too realistic…… uwah!?”

The weight and heat of the lantern, as well as the smell of oil, is all so realistic that I am shaken for a moment.

Being shaken—it is the doubt, to be more exact—causes the ‘Inner World’ to buckle.

An unnatural sick feeling a.s.saults my entire body. The sensation is as if I am being pulled in all directions at the same time.

“Haa~..... Fuu~......”

Despite my panic, I steady my breathing and refocus my consciousness. Somehow, the buckling stops.

“That was a close one……”

This is still inside the ‘Inner World,’ so a slip in visualization is only going to be punished with a sick feeling, but if this happens further down the stairs, my imagined self could be erased along with my real self’s consciousness……. Who the h.e.l.l was it again who came up with such a dangerous setting.

After taking another deep breath, I raise the lantern.

The soft light illuminates a ‘door’ standing in front of me.

This is the ‘Door of Wizardry.’

It is roughly 3m in height. Unsettling carvings depicting all sorts of magical icons cover the door in its entirety.

This is the intersection between the ‘Inner World’ and the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ the entrance and exit, and the symbol of its protective wall.

The ‘Expanse of Chaos’ from here on is, at the same time, still the inside of my own consciousness. If I’m to express this in the terms of psychology, then it can probably be called the ‘collective unconscious,’ a place even deeper down than ‘instinct’ and the ‘unconscious self.’

As if in invitation, the ‘Door of Wizardry’ opens, revealing stone stairs heading downwards.

I slowly descend the staircase while relying on the lantern’s light. It is a counter-clockwise spiral.

The is the path to travel to send my consciousness from my own heart’s ‘Inner World’ to the ‘Expanse of Chaos.’ Just like the ‘Door of Wizardry,’ this too is a construction of my heart from long years of training (or so goes the setting).

If the visualization of the door, walls, or stairs was in an incomplete state when my consciousness makes contact with the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ then I would be swallowed by an overwhelming chaos and turn into a vegetable.

But well, as expected of the level 36 Gio’s visualization. The coldness, hardness, and coloring of the walls, as well as the flow and smell of air,are both so realistic as to be indistinguishable from reality.

Subjectively speaking, after descending several tens of steps, I come across a landing with a door. This here is the 1st floor.

There is a plate on the door indicating that beyond is the [Spell Archive of the Novice].

If it was for the purpose of practice, then it would be fine to find a level 1 spell from here and use it, but what I’m looking for this time is on the lowest floor.

Crossing the landing, I continue down the spiral staircase.

2nd floor…. 4th floor…… 7th floor…….. 8th floor…