The Third Step: Chapter Four

“I don’t suppose there’s any way I could fit the Cwn Anwnn spell in my death gate, is there?” I asked hopefully. “Between my Magister’s Body and the organshield providing some more telluric flavor to my spirit. And I mean, it’s a spirit interacting spell, and I’ve got death mana.” 

Meadow hummed and seemed to consider it for a moment, drumming her fingers along her cane. 

“I don’t think you could do it without help,” she finally said. “Your Magister’s Body does give you a shot, but the spell just contains too much abnegation and desolation mana. You’ve built up decent reserves to cover the knowledge, mental, telluric, solar, and lunar parts of the spell. But abnegation and desolation are too necessary to enable the interactions with intangible dominions.” 

“The death mana–” I started to protest, but Meadow held up her hand to indicate she wasn’t done. 

“Is great for interacting with a variety of spirits, but not all of them. You can’t spirit trap a forest spirit, it’s too much of a real thing. But there are some options. You could rework part of the spell to lean on death mana instead of abnegation and desolation, which would put it well within your range to cast. It wouldn’t let you interact with all spirits equally, but it could serve to help a bit, like how you were able to use a spirit gourd on a spirit made of dreamstuff. It should also help empower your ghost’s dominions, at the very least. Quite likely also Dusk and Dawn, as you’re connected to them via your spellbonds, so extending out to help them is very much in line with the powers of the bond.”

“That’s not too bad,” I said, relaxing back on my chair. “A bit less potent, but also taking up a less limited resource, and it’s also still going to help me shore up at least some of my weaknesses. Even if I couldn’t punch a shadow or light elemental, I could at least do it to dream spirits, asomatouses, and other things that straddle the line.”

“Indeed, and it’s where I’d recommend you start. But if you can find a sufficiently large pack of the Cwn Anwnn, it’s possible that helping complete their hunt and lay the ghosts and shades of their fallen packmates to rest could create a gift that lets you extend the integration of the spell, to make it closer to the original.” 

She raised her hand again, this time managing to forestall me before I could speak. 

“It’s not guaranteed, not even close, but the shades mana could be seized upon by the passing of the ghosts. Maybe. These sorts of gifts do happen with fairly regularity when observed across hundreds of species that integrate ghosts into their communal structures, but that doesn’t mean that it’s liable to happen with one specific pack of one specific species you meet. Then again, it might. It’s truly a roll of the dice.”

“Really?” I asked. “I hadn’t heard of them.” 

“You haven’t?” Meadow challenged. “You mean you don’t know of a ghost that, upon dying, seized environmental elements and infused them with its power to create spirit lanterns? Or stones that can allow a person to cast a spell outside of their normal abilities? Or integrating a crystal to give enough earthen flavor to spatial mana to allow portalant spells?” 

“Alright, alright,” I said, grinning. Meadow was smiling too, making it clear she was teasing me even as she continued. 

“Or even the mind-axe taken from the duel of the masks in Crysite?” 

“I didn’t actually hear about that one,” I said curiously. Meadow waved her hand and shook her head. 

“A bunch of dream spirits and ghosts were holding one in a fragmented chunk of the dreamscape, and a mineral mage won a treasure that allowed them to cast a spell manifesting their minerals within the dreamscape, and even cut into the mind with them.” 

“Huh,” I said, wondering if it were the same person I’d seen in the Idyll-Flume with a sunmetal sword before shaking my head. “Anyways. Sounds good to me. I’ll try and restructure the spell, and hope I get a treasure to help me cast it. If not, oh well.”

“Then what are you going to put in your final beastgate slot?” Meadow asked. 

“Kludde’s Weight,” I said firmly. “It’s too useful for me. Being able to turn my mana senses into a physical pressure fits with my unusually high number of sensory spells, my ability to infuse resonance into my senses, and my spellcasting focus on less lethal tools. Other than mantle dragon’s breath, at least.” 

“A solid choice,” Meadow agreed with a nod. “Not what I would have done, but it’s very well suited to your skillset and goals.” 

“What would you have picked?” I asked curiously, only for her to shake her head. 

“This is your path to walk, Malachi, not my own. I can’t simply point you in the direction of spells and tell you to take them.” 

I grumbled, but she made a good point. That was one of the reasons I’d picked her as a mentor over Orykson, despite him being much wealthier. He wanted me to move along a very specific, delineated track, while Meadow wanted me to find my own way. I wondered just what I’d have looked like if I had stuck to Orykson’s perfectly calibrated regimen… 

I shook my head and thanked Meadow, and she launched into a second topic. 

“Other than standard advancement, I’d recommend that you do two more things before you advance to fourth gate. The first is simple enough, and I’d bet you can guess it.” 

“Complete my mana meditation,” I said, nodding. I was an inch away from managing the feat. Meadow nodded her agreement, then began producing papers from nowhere. 

“The next is a bit more esoteric. It’s an artistic project, in a way, though there are a few different standard designs you can start with.” 

I cocked my head as I looked them over. To an extent, they resembled spellforms, but… that wasn’t right. I’d seen hundreds of spells in my mana senses, but none of the parts that Meadow was laying out were comprehensible. One of the sheets had a bit of spellwork that vaguely resembled the conversion chambers helping me to convert mana up and down through my full-gates, but even then, it was like comparing apples to oranges. And yet, there was also something oddly familiar about them. 

“You need to carve your gates,” Meadow said. “As they are now, they’re just gates made of iron, correct?” 

“That’s right,” I agreed, nodding. “Dusk already carved her first gate, and when she broke through to fourth gate, she had carved her second and third. What’s the point of carvings? What do they do? Are they necessary?” 

“Their primary purpose is to channel mana through the mana-garden for an ascension. When I was a girl, they were beginning to fall out of fashion,” Meadow said. “When Orykson was a child, they were almost a requirement to advance to even second gate, given how terrible mana manipulation skills were at the time. Now, they’re a minor benefit usually not seen as worth it until you’re already third or fourth gate.” 

I vaguely recalled Orykson mentioning my understanding of advancement being good enough for now, years ago when he’d first taken me on as an apprentice. I wondered if this had been what he meant?

“They do look pretty complicated,” I agreed. “And they have to be carved by hand, there’s not just a spell to do it, right? My spiritual chisel should be a big help with that.” 

“They do, yes, and they are indeed complex. Worse still, the design of the carving needs to reflect the individual: their gates, their source of resonance, their spellbonds, and their spells.” 

I let out a whistle, but Meadow wasn’t done. 

“And worst of all, they have to reflect you. A portion of you, aligned with one of the truths you’ll need for the arcanist breakthrough: clarity of purpose, intrinsic limitation, or origin of power.” 

“I thought that you couldn’t know what those were before you ascended? I’m pretty sure I was told that anyone who thinks they know exact details on all of them fails to ascend and takes large spiritual backlash, or manages to force the ascension by burning out all of their future potential, leaving them a true fifth gate that will never be able to go any further. 

“That’s correct,” Meadow agreed with a nod. “In a few extreme cases, it even damages a person’s psyche. But you don’t need to get all three, and the one you get doesn’t need to be fully correct. It just needs to be close enough.” 

“What was yours?” I asked curiously, and Meadow’s smile grew slightly sad. 

“I started carving at second gate, and I thought that my clarity of purpose would be that I would create peace in the world wherever I went. In the end, I failed to manage that, but I came close enough.” 

“What was your clarity of purpose in the end?” I asked curiously, and Meadow glanced around, eyeing the sky. I felt a twist of power as her Title suddenly enveloped us, squeezing me slightly. 

“All three of your resonance empowerments grow in power and complexity as you do, and I cannot share the full breadth and depth of mine now. But when I ascended, it was that I would do what I could to improve the world wherever I went. I got quite close, in all honesty.” 

The Title relaxed, and the world went back to normal. Meadow smiled and tapped my heart. 

“You have already touched onto a source of Arcanist resonance a few times, or at least come close enough. When you touch on it, your resonance spikes, improving all your rooted spells and your general boost from your staff and Nascent Truths.” 

“When?” I asked, blinking. 

“You stood up to Orykson about the sacrifice of the small for the greater good,” Meadow said. “You threw yourself into danger to protect your family and friends from an assassin. And you stopped the assassin with an absolute refusal to kill.” 

“Do you think that’s my Intrinsic Limitation, then? I won’t kill? That seems destined to fail. I’ve killed slaughter spirits and didn’t feel bad about it. I killed desolants, and while I did feel a bit bad, it didn’t destroy me.” 

Meadow just shrugged, a twinkle in her eye. 

“I think you need to think about that for yourself. For now, let’s look at some of the designs for the gates. I mentioned that advancement was their primary purpose, but it wasn’t the only one. It also improves mana flow, and there are a few different types and ways this can be accomplished. Some help convert mana up and down, others help guide mana within the gate into specific patterns, others still help improve your mana meditation.”

“All of those sound useful,” I admitted. 

“They’re not the only kind, either. Some of them help draw on a resonance source and integrate it into a person – that’s what Dusk uses. Some of them…”

Meadow and I continued going over the various different designs that she’d retrieved from the library, and all of their different variations, and how to integrate depictions of my spells, mana, and more.