As ready as I was to finally use the mana within me to cast spells. As determined as I was. I was in front of a huge problem.
"How the fuck does one use magic? Seriously? I get Mana now. To an extent. But what was it again that you needed to actually use magic?" I facepalm myself repeatedly while muttering to myself.
Trying and failing to knock some kind of memory of this boy loose, which could help me. But as before, I come up blank. Not the slightest clue on how to actually activate magic.
How to actually use the mana I finally managed to find within myself. `Fuck. In the game, it was just a button press to activate a spell if you had enough mana. How the hell do you translate that into real life?`
I already tried a few things I could think of. I already tried if command words worked. Gathering my mana with my wand in hand and shouting a word in my head to activate spells. Rattling off different names for spells from the game.
But none of them worked. Then I just tried random words. Also, to no effect. Nor did switching to other languages work. Even thinking about the chemical or theoretical principles behind certain spells didn't work.
Though that at least got a reaction. Even if it was just a headache and my chest stinging for a few minutes every time I did it.
"Fuck. What was it?" I mutter in frustration. I walk in circles and occasionally kick at the snow while I try to figure out what to do. "It was words, right? I thought I remembered words."
I dig deep into my memories. Remembering scenes of the game, I had almost forgotten. Things in between the fighting I cared so much about.
But I still come up with nothing. Well. Not nothing. But nothing helpful. Because I do remember a blurry memory. While watching a detailed and kind of annoying guide once. I saw that when a character learns a new skill, there is a short animation.
I always skipped it. I wasn't interested. But I let it play while watching the guide because the dude was talking about something important about the boss I was stuck on. So I saw it.
It was just them opening a book and reading some words on a page before they glowed and boom. New skill. It was pretty generic as far as skill-acquiring animations went. So I didn't think too much about it.
But now it kind of stuck out. It kept creeping up in my mind. Like it was important. Like I was missing something. "Tch. What? What is it? What the fuck am I not seeing?"
I continue to mutter and curse as I walk in circles. Kicking snow and rocks as I grow increasingly more frustrated.
Until I kick a rock against my backpack. And then I pause. Looking at it blankly. Just staring for minutes on end. Like it holds the secret to my conundrum..
"Hmm." I hum while walking over and searching through it. Of course, finding nothing. It wasn't like a book with instructions on how to use magic would suddenly appear in my backpack just because I wanted it to.
What I do find, however, is the letter I had stored away back at the airship wreck. The letter that was in my coat pocket, and I had put into the backpack somewhere along the journey.
"Ahhhh." And then I finally connect the dots. It finally clicks. The language in the letter and the language I saw in that skill-acquiring cutscene were distinctly different.
Sure, there was a chance it was just another language. Or a different writing style. But it was at least something to think about without getting more frustrated at my own ineptitude.
Yet I soon realize I'm still standing before the same problem. It changes nothing that I'm assuming Mana can be activated by knowing this other language. Because I don't know the language.
And unlike with the language in the letter and on the storage crates, there was no way for me to figure it out either. Not from here. Not in my current situation.
I can't even make an educated guess because all I know is those few signs I saw on that skill-acquiring animation once. The letters weren't even clear in my head. I barely remember them.
They were just fuzzy shapes. Yet as I think about them, something happens. All this time, I kept circling mana back and forth from my chest to my brain.
Doing it on instinct at this point. And by sheer coincidence. Or just dumb fucking luck. Whatever you want to call it, I thought about one of the fuzzy shapes while Mana was inside my head. Wand gripped in my left hand.
That is, until the wand recoils out of my hand. Flying some distance away and clattering against a nearby wall.
My shock was evident as I just stared at my empty hand for a minute. And when I finally snap out of it, I rush over to my wand and pick it up again.
Holding it firmly and pointing it forward, as I do the same thing again. Thinking about the fuzzy shape while drawing mana into my head. And it's not even me thinking about what the shape could represent. Just thinking of the shape alone has an effect.
I get pushed back a centimeter or two as some kind of invisible force or just straight-up wind is shot forth from my wand. My mouth hangs wide open as I finally crack the code.
Before a wide grin spreads on my lips. `It was those fucking shapes all along that I needed to think of to channel my mana into actual spells.`"Oh, fuck yeah." I fistbump the air triumphantly.
"Hell fucking yeah! Who is the GOAT? It's me! Fuck you, world. And fuck everything that lives in it." I fall to my knees and lift my hands to the sky in prayer. To myself and my amazing memory.
"Bruh. I'm telling you, anyone who isn't as smart as me would have been cooked. Because I'm like that." I pat myself on the back some more. Celebrating for a few minutes before I shake my head. Calm down and try my best to remember the rest of the shapes.
Strangely enough, only three of the five I saw back then do anything. Or at least something noticeable. And luckily, this time my knowledge of the game's combat mechanics actually helps.
I know all the spells at my disposal. The first is referred to as a "force shot." Pretty straightforward and self-explanatory. It's one of the most basic magics in the game. And probably in this world as well. It just concentrates mana into a point and shoots it out at your opponent as an invisible ball of kinetic energy.
Its power isn't great. Even when stronger characters use it, it isn't all that. At most, you could bring down some 1-star threat with it. And even that would take dedication and, like, hundreds of attacks.
It also won't help me in my current situation. Nor will the second shape. The spell behind it. Or rather, the effect it has is literally just a stiff breeze. The spell is appropriately called Breeze. Part of the aeromancy school of magic. With the same level of effectiveness and usefulness to me as Force Shot.
However. The third shape is where it's at. The spell is called motion. It's of the same rank as the other two spells. But unlike the other two, it's useful to me in my current situation because of what it does.
As the name implies, it moves things. Including yourself if you point your wand at yourself while casting it. Allowing you to move in a direction dictated by where you point the wand next, regardless of other kinetic influences. Like if you are already running forward while casting this spell and flick the wand to the right, you will be moved right by a bit, regardless of how fast you are running forward.
It's the most basic dodge and movement-type spell in the game. Part of the school of Motus, like Force Shot. A school of magic that deals with all things kinetic energy and force.
"If I can make it stronger. If I can train it and make it more precise, then I can cross that gorge no problem." And knowing this, I get right to work. Training to more precisely control the motion and the strength behind it.
Training that isn't easy. But oh boy, am I dead set on doing this at this point. Even if it takes me weeks to get it right. Even if I almost starve to death. I will make it across this ravine. I promise myself that.
And it's indeed almost a week before I finally feel confident enough to attempt to cross the gorge. Partially because I'm sick of waiting. And partially because I ran out of food yesterday evening.
Leaving me with no other choice but to finally face the deep cut in the mountain that has blocked me for a solid eight days by now.
But even as I stand before the gorge once again. I don't just throw caution to the wind and jump. No. I do one more experiment.
By casting motion on my now mostly empty backpack. Before I let go and flick my wand forward. Launching the backpack cleanly across the gorge.
"Wait a second, bro. I'll be right there." Then I step back a few times. The area I had cleared and flattened out with my shovel beforehand served as my take-off ramp.
"Hfff." I take one last deep breath. Gather all the mana I can into my head. Into my brain. And start running. As fast as I can, right towards the cliff. Jumping towards the other end with every ounce of strength I have.
Which isn't enough, of course. But with the shape taking form inside my head and my wand flicking forward, I am thrown further. Just enough to clear the gorge with both of my feet. And to avoid tilting back from overcorrecting, I just throw myself forward into the snow.
Just lying there for a few minutes as I laugh to myself and celebrate my victory. A big grin is still plastered all over my face as I finally get up and collect my backpack.
"See. Told you I would be right behind you." I press out past gritted teeth. As a pounding headache assaults me. A clear sign of what I call mana overuse. But unlike the last few days, when I had suffered many such events during training, I did not go down from it.
I just clutch my head and move forward. As I always do. Always moving forward as best I can. Now, with many more abilities to do so in my arsenal.
My stubbornness was soon rewarded as I reached the other side of the mountain. The slope gives way as it descends. This allows me to see far into the distance thanks to my high elevation and the clear weather.
And there it is. In the distance. Unmistakable. Eidralore. The capital city of the northern kingdom is Eidralûn. Also referred to as "jeweled crown of ice." The magical dome surrounding it glittered in the sunlight like an actual diamond.
My destination. And the starting point of the game.
"Only about a hundred kilometers away, I would say." I estimate with the good old thumb trick. A dry chuckle escaped me at the impossibility of the task before me. There was just no way I would be able to cover that distance up and down mountains with my current supplies.
"Ahahahhhhhhhh," I sigh as I close my eyes. Wondering if I should just give up and die right here. Just strip naked and lie down in the snow. Letting the cold take me.
"I heard dying from hypothermia isn't even that bad." Yet despite my words, I adjust my backpack straps. Grab my trusty spear. Hold my wand in my right hand and set forth on the next leg of my journey.
The wind whistling through the gorge behind me is ominously.
—-------
It was just a routine patrol. Nothing special. I and the other outriders were just supposed to check the hills and mountains directly around Eidralore for monsters.
Just a routine patrol. Like we had done a hundred times before. We check these hills almost every other week. And there is never anything unusual. Any monsters we do find, we quickly deal with.
"This won't be easy or quick to deal with. Right, Cap?" I ask my captain as I look at the body halfway sticking out of the snow.
"Ehh. It's probably just a dead Thurnvakari or Skavhildir. Let's just ignore it and keep moving." He replies with his usual casual disregard for protocol. And usually I would agree.
But this body wears unmistakable colors. The colors of an initiate of the prestigious magical schools in Eidralore. I know because my little sister also goes to one of the schools.
"I don't think we should leave this corpse here, Captain. He is wearing the clothing of a magic school initiate." I reply with a bit more urgency and seriousness. Hopefully, conveying how serious this is to my Captain.
But he just shrugs and shoots back in his usual callous, nonchalant tone. "Sure. Go ahead. Feel free to dig out a cold corpse, drag it over to your sled, and tie it to yourself until we are back home. The paperwork is all yours."
But I'm used to dealing with his carelessness. So I just roll my eyes and get my shovel. I walk over to the corpse with a sigh as I prepare to dig him up.
"Ahhhh." I jump back in horror as the hand that sticks out of the snow starts moving. "Fuck. Is it an undead?" I drop my shovel and reach down to grab my wand. Fumbling with the strap until I feel a large hand land on my shoulder.
"Ahahahahahaha." Captain Oswald laughs uproariously at me. And I feel my ears heat up instantly in embarrassment. But before I can stutter out even a single word, Oswald points his chin forward. "I don't think that's an undead. That guy is simply still alive."
The news causes me to freeze mid-motion and look over at the half-buried initiate with an open mouth. His hand grasps and digs into the snow around him for a few moments before falling still again.
Like he finally left his mortal coil. But if he hasn't died yet. I doubt he did now. I don't know how. But he was still fighting. Fighting to stay alive and seemingly get to Eidralore. Like on an important mission worth more than even his own life.