179 Rosebuds & Spells (2/2)
The item's creator is a mysterious god of knowledge, creation, magic, and nature named Althos. This is a replicable relic, and thus it's possible that elsewhere in the universe there are others or will be others who also possess glass rosebuds.]
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As she finished reading the notification I watched Agatha's lips curl upwards in a smile. There was an excited look in her eyes, even though they were radiating blue light.
”Althos...” She whispered, being just one of the two beings in the room who knew my name. James also knew it. There was a quiet reverence in Agatha's voice as she uttered my name. As soon as she was done reading the first notification, another flooded her vision. This one was written by the system, and I performed a surface level reading of her mind to see what it said out of curiosity.
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[Alert: Explaining Magic
Congratulations! You've gained access to magic, a somewhat orderly and supernatural way of influencing the world and the universe around you through the usage of your spiritual energy, which is consumed to cause a number of supernatural events to happen, in precise and ordered formulas known as ”spells”. Or at least that's normally how it works, for now you'll instead use the rosebud's spiritual energy to cast spells.
Magic comes in twenty schools, 10 basic, 2 intermediate, 3 advanced, and 2 expert schools. For now, you have access to the 10 basic schools of magic though at an extremely limited level. Evocation, conjuration, alteration, healing, necromancy, enchantment, environmental, spiritual, divination, and contractual magic.
The rosebud in your possession is linked to its creator. He will know each of the spells you cast, and at some point in the future will decide what to do with his rosebud and whether or not to give you real access to magic.
Htraeian humans do not possess sufficient spiritual energy to use magic on their own, normally. Althos is capable of changing that, and can also grant even this world's humans access to real magic.]
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For not the first time in my life I wondered about the mysterious anomaly in the system's explanation of magic. It listed 17 total schools, not 20. During the few weeks I spent in my tower I had asked about that and been told that there was no information on the total schools of magic aside from what I had already been told: there were 20 schools of magic, and 17 expert or lesser schools of magic.
In all honesty at some point I had just quietly come to the conclusion that there must be three ”lost” or perhaps ”supreme” schools of magic that were just beyond my awareness.
The rest of the notification that was scrolling through Agatha's vision was about spells and how to care for the rosebud though I think it was pretty easy to figure out. So long as whoever had it in their possession gave it water and regularly exposed it to the sun the thing would be fine.
Stylistically the thing was supposed to tie me to nature in the minds of whoever possessed it. I quite liked it, and I thought it went well with Agatha's apparent style. She was still gazing at me, awe in her eyes as she did so. She realized who and what I was now, and I found that amusing.
I turned to leave, even as she continued to read through the notification, but not before sending her a quiet mental message that we'd meet again. I grinned as I left, and as I opened the door I made eye contact with both her and James, smiling wildly at them. The second I closed the door behind me I teleported out of the hospital and back to the farm-home of Geoffrey Finigan.
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As I appeared near where I had first been teleported too when I arrived in this world, I had a new goal in mind: I was going to go ahead and acquire the second tier of influence over magic. And I knew that to do so I needed to acquire influence over the basic schools that I hadn't yet gained the ability to influence.
I needed to go ahead and acquire influence over the contractual, environmental, divination, and spiritual schools of magic. It was only by doing that that I could gain access to the quest needed to gain the second tier of influence over magic. As I set my heart on that goal, I heard a joyous peal of laughter fill my mind. It was a radiantly beautiful sound, and it was immediately followed by words flowing into my head.
”Finally! Now the fun begins...” The voice told me. It was a curious, almost chaotic voice that radiated power.
”With this newfound determination of yours, I can go ahead and give you the quests you need to complete to finish acquiring the first tier of influence over the basic schools. Now go and have fun, so that together we may influence the entire multiverse!” The voice commanded, sounding both authoritative and also innately chaotic.
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[Alert: New Quest(s) Acquisition and New Spell Granting
Divination: To acquire the first tier of influence over this school of magic, use some of your new spells to view a world you've never been in a place beyond the reach of your sensory abilities.
Spiritual: To acquire the first tier of influence over this school of magic, use magic to strike a deal with a spirit.
Contractual: To acquire the first tier of influence over this school of magic, strike a contract with a mortal that grants them magic.
Enviromental: To acquire the first tier of influence over this school of magic, completely transform an area using magic. Not your divine or elemental powers, but spells and sorcery.
You have acquired spells in each of the respective schools you seek to gain influence over. You will gain more spells when you complete the respective quests you've been tasked with completing, as well as the powers over the subdomain, as usual.]
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One of the quests was the easiest quest I've gotten so far. It was so easy in fact that the moment after I got it, I rose into the air and began to use one of the spells I had just acquired to alter the environment.
I rose into the air just above the barn I had teleported into when I was first brought to this world. I then conjured a fireball, using one of the environmental spells, and I lobbed it at the barn. The building quickly caught fire, and I chuckled as I watched it begin to burn up. A moment later I received the notification that I had completed the quest.
It was at that moment that I targeted the barn and immediately rewound time to when the thing wasn't on fire. That was when I began to grin, thankful for unexpected synergies, even as I began to read the notification altering me to the powers I had just gained.