The Third Step: Chapter Three

I found Meadow sitting on one of the top decks of the boat in a beach chair, with a large, floppy hat and cheap sunglasses on, reading a book and sipping on an iced tea that smelled faintly of shaved aniseed root. When I flopped into the beach chair next to her, she lowered her glasses and looked at me. I felt her mana senses sweep over me for a moment, then she gave me a warm smile. 

“Well done, Malachi! You’re in much better shape to start progressing again. Have you seen Dusk and Dawn?” 

“No, I kind of figured that they’d be with you,” I said, shrugging. “Ah, well. A peak third gate and early fourth gate mage are powerful enough to take care of themselves.” 

Even so, I mentally reached out for both of them, making sure they were okay. Dusk mentally sent back some cheerful notes of birdsong, while Dawn’s mind was as incomprehensible as it always was, while still sending me a sense of neutrality. 

“Yeah, they’re doing fine,” I agreed. “So, if you’re not too busy, I was hoping we could have a lesson on magic?” 

“Let me finish this chapter, and then we can,” she agreed. I waited patiently, trying to run Depths of Starry Night. The third layer of the technique was very nearly done, and I was hoping to have it completed before visiting Obsidian Forest. Eventually, Meadow stuck a bookmark in her novel and set it aside, then stretched, her old bones clicking as she moved. 

“Alrighty now,” Meadow said, standing and popping her back. “We’ve discussed this before, but you’re not taking the standard plant mage path. You’ve got far less of a need to conjure plants from forged mana than most, given Dusk’s existence. But less doesn’t mean none, and for right this moment, I’ve got three primary ideas for spells you ought to learn.”

She picked up a pad of paper from the table and a pen, then drew out a spellform, peeling the note off, drawing the second, peeling it off, then the third, before handing all three sheets to me. 

“This first spell is very predictable. Most plant mages would have taken it in early third gate. But just because it’s standard doesn’t mean it’s bad or predictable. In fact, it’s setting up something for the future. The spell is known as the Ivy Cloak.” 

I flexed my mana, shaping it into the spell, and felt as it forged mana around me into a long, sweeping cloak of ivy. The ivy seemed to rustle in an invisible wind, and I focused on Meadow, trying to send tendrils at her, like I could with Briarthreads. Nothing happened. I frowned, and Meadow just smiled at me, then flicked a seed forward, which began to turn into a sapling. A tendril of the cloak snapped out, batting the attack aside. 

“Ahh,” I said. “It’s like the defensive part of Briarthreads? I see how that’s useful, but Briarthreads already kind of does it?” 

“Go ahead and cast Briarthreads,” Meadow suggested, a small smile on her face. I did, and the instant the cage of briars appeared around my body, the cloak split threads off, wrapping them around them, making them feel much thicker and more stable. The mana cost of Briarthreads even decreased a little bit. 

“Their combined effect is more than the sum of their parts. Also, it’s helping you develop the link between your plant magic and your mindspace.” 

Clearly seeing I didn’t understand, she explained. 

“If you advance to Arcanist, you’ll be able to dig down and reach the second layer of the soul. All mages do this. There are a few names for this layer – Orykson calls it the soulself, but others call it the memory of the spirit, the will layer, intent, and other things besides. Mind spells , and some who achieve a parasitic sort of immortality do it by using this layer to rewrite the core identity, will, and memories of other’s souls.” 

“Both Briarthreads and the Ivy Cloak spell are automatic targeting, using tinges of mental mana and knowledge mana to do it. They’re accessing this layer to do so?”

“Not quite. It’s a bit like how ordinary mana comes from soul mana, and harvesting spells ingrained effects increase what you can draw, – you can use aspects of ordinary spellcraft to draw on things like will, increase mana production, so on and so forth. Indeed, most spells draw on will to some extent to aim the spell. Briarthreads and Ivy Cloak simply do so more, to focus the subconscious will, and act without focus from you.” 

“Alright, I can see that, but why is this necessary?” 

“There are certain materials in the Dreamrealm which can interact with, improve, and alter your will,” Meadow explained. “Take them out, and they’ll fade. But an Arcanist can – theoretically – keep them in the fragment of the Dreamrealm within their soulself. Mind mages can do this with no risk, and begin as early as second gate.” 

I nodded as Meadow continued to explain.  

“As a plant mage, you need to ensure your mana and will are linked enough to plants to be able to do it. Now, given you keep plants and fungi within your soul mana, there’s probably not a compatibility concern, but having spells with ingrained effects boosting plant magic will help them grow faster. It will also empower your Briarthreads, Fungal Lock, and use of every other plant.”

“What am I looking for?” I asked curiously. “Some kind of plant, obviously, but what?” 

“I’d recommend a petalmind clematis, focal jadevines, or essence carob. Each one will handle a portion of your spellcasting for you, just in different ways. Now, we’re getting rather off track – we should look at the other two spells.” 

“Oh. Uh. Yeah, sorry,” I agreed, flushing a little bit red at the tangent I’d managed to go off on while holding two other spells, then looked down at the next one. It was a bit on the smaller side, clearly a meta spell, and it looked like it connected to draining spells? A moment later, I realized what exactly it was – it would connect to Fungal Lock. There were also some similar conversion chambers to what I’d seen in Harvest Plant Life before. 

“Fungal… Drain?” I guessed. 

“Close! Fungal Siphon is the spell’s official name. Fungal Lock already drains energy from the target in order to sustain itself, but this spell allows you to siphon off a bit of the energy its draining from them, which is then automatically converted into life or death mana. It also slightly increases the strength and toughness of the mycelial threads, making it more effective at binding.” 

“Definitely useful,” I agreed. “I can combine it with Enhance Forging and either soul mana or mana from my ninelight morels, and it should work wonders against non-spiritual opponents.” 

I studied the third spell that Meadow had given me. It was clearly another piece of mushroom magic, and it looked somewhat like a meta spell, though not one that was specific to a single other spell, like how Mass Enhance only worked with Enhance Plant Life. It was more like Enhance Forging, a spell that could apply to multiple spells with similar effects. Despite that, there were still parts of the spell that were more like Mass Enhance, something about spreading? And there were elements somewhat like Fungal Lock, but not? 

“Alright, I’m a bit lost. Enhance Mushroom size?”

“Mycelial Spread,” Meadow explained. “It’s designed to rapidly, if temporarily, expand the mycelial network of mushrooms, both real and conjured. It won’t be the most effective with your yin-caps, since they’re bound up in a synergistic effect with another plant, but it should let you expand your Fungal Lock to target other people, or let your Spirit Lanterns empower multiple spirits in a wide area.” 

“Oooh,” I said, quickly casting the spell. I didn’t have any mushrooms conjured, so it didn’t do anything, the mana just swirling away, and I let it go an instant later. “That should help me get more use out of it in large scale fights for sure. Though, will it be of any use in the tournament?” 

“Some – the first round is a battle royale. It should potentially also allow you to spread copies of your armor to Kene and others, though that will probably have an exorbitant mana cost.” 

I bobbed my head quickly in agreement, then Meadow tapped her walking stick with her fingers. 

“The real trouble, if I’m being honest, is your Beastgate. I assume you’re going to be taking the Gemstone Loupe, to improve your harvesting spells and regeneration?” 

“I am. There just aren’t many well-suited harvesting spells for hudau mana, even if mine’s got too much life and telluric to be pure. It’s a good fit.” 

“I agree, it’s just unfortunate that you’ve such a limited selection. I can think of several useful spells for your final slot.” 

“The obvious one is trying the world tortoise spell again – this time with plain, ordinary plants,” I said. “It would have a beneficial synergy with my plants.” 

“It would,” Meadow agreed. “That said, there are other options as well, some of which I think might be equally suited, if not more. We’ll set aside Antburden and Stone Gate for now, since those will likely fit your spatial mana. I think there are six other main contenders for your final slot.” 

“Hold on,” I said, lifting the vibrant brown potion and chugging it. I split the stream of magic equally among my three new spells, so none of them advanced, but it made progress with all of them. Then I nodded for her to continue. 

“The first is Kludde’s Weight. You’ll likely be able to encounter a Kludde in Obsidian Forest, and their spell is rather uniquely suited to your powerful mana senses. It allows them to transform the sphere of their senses around them into a corporeal pressure, using a mix of telluric, physical, tempest, death, creation, mental, and lunar mana.” 

“Lunar and mental?” 

“Lunar for water pressure, since the spell also works on or underwater. And mental to access and sharpen the senses.” 

“Huh. Yeah, I definitely see how having a semi-directable sphere of weight and pressure that has potency tied directly to my mana senses would be a good tool for me to hold and disable people.” 

“Indeed,” Meadow said wryly. “The next spell is Denglong’s Might. What do you know of the Denglong?” 

“Not much.” 

“They’re dogs from Central Daocheng, bred to be dragon hunters,” Meadow explained. “This spell allows them to concentrate their bodily energy to massively empower a single spell or physical blow. With your body’s large reserves and spells, having a method to concentrate the power could be useful.” 

“Definitely less dramatic than a sphere of power around me running through my mana senses, but also equally useful, and on par with being able to fuse some of my ordinary plants into myself to empower them. What’s next?” 

“Ermine’s Prey,” Meadow said. “You should be able to take this one from your Hex Ermine today, if you were so inclined. The spell allows them to mark, almost like a forcibly imposed anchor, then their senses extend far further while looking for that person. The real benefit, however, is that the prey they hunt have trouble resisting the caster’s magic until they can force the magic out of their body.”

“Making them easier to forcibly teleport with Foxswap, or even making some of my attacks hit harder,” I reasoned. “Alright, I can see the utility. What’s next?” 

“Cwn Anwnn’s Hunt. They’re a type of hunting hound that’s able to be found in the Obsidian Forest,” Meadow said. “Their hunting spell is an interesting one, as it enhances  the senses to help them to interact more directly with intangible spirits, while also empowering the dominions of allied spirits. Often, packs of Cwn Anwnn are mingled with the shades and ghosts of their older members, and are able to hunt down evil spirits.” 

“Oh, that would pair wonderfully with my ghost magic. I had a couple of hard fights were my only method of attack was with spiritsheild lichen, too. But what’s the last option?” 

“Kanko’s Blessing. Kanko are a type of tiny fox spirit, only the size of your thumb, and they can be found in shrines all across Greater Daocheng,” Meadow explained. “They’re said to bring luck, and their mana does have some resemblance to Ninelight mana, artificial fortune mana.” 

“I’m guessing it’s a sort of… luck based ability, then?” I asked. 

“It’s a blessing you can bestow upon others,” Meadow said. “It’s a lingering effect, and each additional blessing causes the spell to eat up more mana within your mana-garden. The blessing protects and brings slightly better fortune to those you use it on.” 

She sighed and bit her lip, then spoke. 

“But as is the way of deep mana, even the pale imitations of deep mana, abusing it tends to cause the blessing to turn into a curse. If they attempt to use the blessing with malice, to cheat their way to wealth, or other things of that sort, it’s likely to use its mental and knowledge components to read that, then turn on the user. Same if the person with the blessing tries to cast it on themselves.”

She sat down on her beach chair and tapped the top of her cane. 

“Do you have any thoughts?” 

“Wait, what about the other spells from Elio?” 

“I’m sure he could teach you gemstone dragon’s breath if you offered, but he had planned to show you a fourth and fifth gate spell, not another third. Though Gemstone Fyre is also worth considering – it’s not nearly as powerful as Mantle Dragonfyre, but it’s able to refract and hit multiple targets, and even able to bend and ricochet at specific points, like your Pinpoint Boneshards can. Actually, that alone makes it worth considering.” 

“It does. Annoyingly. Alright, give me a bit of time to think.” 

“There’s no rush,” Meadow agreed. “It’s best to pick the spell that fits with your magic, and with who you want to be.”