The Third Portal: Chapter Forty-One

“There are any number of useful third gate spells that you could take,” Ikki informed me from his seat on the other side of the table. “Outside of the obvious spells like Haste and Slow, which we have already discussed and you have worked for your own solutions for, there are several that are worth learning.”

“I fought a woman who had the ability to move her echoes, even after they were constructed,” I said, recalling the fight that I’d had with the Glowing Soil Guild. “She was also able to echo the magic of her domain weapon. And create a copy of herself that lasted a long time.”

Ikki nodded his head to me in agreement. 

“Those are three separate spells, each of which is worth discussing. We will begin with Converge Echoes. I assume that she placed a Capture Moment on you during the fight?”

I frowned and shook my head. 

“No, nothing like that. Why?”

“Then I cannot say for certain how she used the spell. Perhaps she spellbonded the Capture Moment spell, and is constantly creating them. Perhaps she used some sort of magical item, her legacy is involved, or it was some life variant.” 

He pursed his lips for a moment, then shrugged. 

“I cannot say. However, I believe it is a spell that would be well suited to your skillset. Converge Echoes allows you to bring all of your spells together at an anchoring point. Typically, this is a Captured Moment, but a variation of the spell exists that is capable of interacting with other anchors. I recommend this to you. Time magic is flexible, but it is exacting, and particularly its use in spatial transit. You would be better served with a Spatial Anchor, in most circumstances.” 

As he spoke, he began tracing the spell in the air for me, weaving light together in order to create the array.

“That makes sense,” I said. “It’s a powerful effect, even with the limitation. Makes me consider getting a sword, just to use in conjunction with it.” 

“While I do not believe that you are a suitable swordsman–” 

“Hey!” I interjected, but Ikki held his hand up, cutting me off. 

“I do not mean this disrespectfully. Setting aside your personality, look at how you have built your magic. You are not finely honed battlemage of raw destruction, and you did not create a sword as your domain weapon, despite it being the most common manifestation. You are not a sword, you are a multitool. You may not be as good at cutting as a pure blade, but you can do much more. This is why you manifested the staff, in my opinion. A staff can attack, but is largely a defensive tool. It can be used to keep one’s balance on the road, to test a floor for traps, to bar a door.” 

I sat back, mollified by his comment as he continued. 

“With that said, if you have the money to commission one that will last, or when you are selecting a prize from the Elysian Mastery Tournament, it may be worth considering acquiring an autonomous flying blade. It can serve as a partial defensive tool, and you can capture and converge echoes of it at an opponent. But you are also failing to apply your full imagination to the spell.”

With that he punched the air several times, Material Echoes manifesting with every blow. When he turned and punched the air off to a different side, all of his manifested fists shot in, converging with his strike. 

“It can be applied in a variety of ways,” he finished dryly. 

I was already moving my hands in the air, sketching the spell in preparation to cast it. I repeated his echoing movement, allowing all of the blows to rush in at once, then grinned.

“Oh, this will be fun,” I said. “I’m definitely going to use this as a pretend kitsune during the tournament.” 

“Oh, you are pretending to be a gumiho? That is a fair ruse, though it will not stand forever.” 

“I know,” I agreed. “It’s more about letting people draw assumptions and then catching them off balance. I’m not limiting myself to fighting as an imitation of a nine tailed fox, only using it to hide the full scope of my abilities. Speaking of which, what was the other spell you recommended for me?”

“Magical Echo,” Ikki said, smiling fondly. “This is one of the most versatile tools in my repertoire, though the version I learned was a sixth gate spell. Spell engineering has come a considerable way.” 

I let out a whistle. This wasn’t the first time I’d heard of this sort of thing – Orykson had mentioned something similar with portals, after all – but it was still a good reminder of the fact that every spell I knew was standing on the shoulders of titans. 

“I assume it works similarly to Material Echo, only instead of creating a copy of something’s physical form, it copies its magic?” 

“Precisely. Unfortunately, the version that you are going to want to learn is a rather cumbersome one compared to the version that modern time mages often learn. The version that is currently in use copies mana, and nothing more. As a partial plant and fungal mage, you will need to be able to copy actively flowing energy, as well as mana.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” I agreed. “I did once use Material Echo with blademoss, and while it copied the physical part of the moss, the projected force blades weren’t echoed. I’d actually been wondering about that, given that it is still energy. But if it’s unstable energy in motion…” 

Ikki nodded his head sharply, then began sketching it in the air for me to mimic. Once he’d finished, Ikki held up two fingers. 

“The final pair of spells I recommend for you are both meta-spells, one of which applies to Lesser Psychometry, and the other to Lesser Image Recall. The first is called Area Psychometry, and as you suspect, it improves the ability to use psychometry over an area, rather than a small spot. Technically speaking, Lesser Psychometry already has a degree of range to it, but Area Psychometry does help.” 

“I think it’s worth it,” I agreed. “Like you said, I’m a multi-tool. I use ghosts, so being better able to scatter my psychometry over a wide area is helpful.” 

A shadow of a smile flitted over Ikki’s face, then it was gone. 

“The second spell that I recommend is Refine Image. I am sure you have noticed that Lesser Image Recall creates images of a reasonable fidelity, but that are somewhat translucent, and which can be identified as illusions on sight.”

“I have,” I agreed. 

“Refine Image does exactly what it sounds like. It improves the image, refining it until it appears relatively real. This does naturally increase the mana cost, but using it in conjunction with psychometric spells can be interesting and disorienting, even in a fight. It will also be useful for pulling off your gumiho deception.” 

I hadn’t considered using psychometry in a fight before, and made a mental note to try it out during one of my next sparring matches, then sketched out the spell. 

“What are the ingrained effects of each of them?” I asked once I’d finished. 

“Refine Image improves the clarity of all illusion spells, even when not actively powered. A minor boon to you, but still useful. Converge Echo reduces the cost of echo magic. Perhaps a touch basic, but it compounds with the ingrained effects of all other echo spells to make you a true menace. Magical Echo is similar, though it improves the strength of echo spells.” 

“And Area Psychometry?” I asked, noting the one he’d left out. A grin stretched Ikki’s lips, though it seemed more tired than usual, and was gone quickly. 

“Area Psychometry improves the user’s mana senses, in particular, assisting with their sense for temporal mana and energy.” 

I laughed, and Ikki smiled a second time, a tad more demurely. 

“That’s great. Now I’m doubly happy that I picked up the spell. But there is one spell left to talk about.”

“Indeed. Combat Echo. It is another large and extremely powerful spell, and one that a time mage traditionally reserves the entirety of their peak third gate for. There are times where traditions should, or even must, be broken, but this is not one such instance. I recommend waiting.” 

“Consider it done,” I agreed. “But to sate my curiosity, how does it work?” 

“When simply cast, it creates a brief copy of the user. Enough to take a blow, or deliver an attack. Its ingrained effect is… more interesting. It allows the cultivator to funnel mana into the spell ahead of time, pre-charging the spell to be unleashed in the future. The copy is still short lived, but when fully charged, can last for a minute. If enough extra power is poured into the spell, it can even give the copy a magical core of its own, like a constructs, allowing it to power effects and spells quasi-independently. It is a powerful combat spell, and a taste of what can be done using more advanced temporal magic based simulacra, such as myself.” 

“You said if enough mana is pre-charged into the spell, it can use some magic independently? So it’s still linked?” 

“Yes. Short lived copies draw on your mana directly, and one with a core can use that for power, like a construct or magic item. But all of them are shells, copies from which your soul projects outwards. When they dissolve, the memories come back to you.”

“So they have some degree of self-awareness that’s separate from me? Since it comes back after it dies?” 

“No,” Ikki said, shaking his head. “It comes back after it dies because it is easier for the mind to process memories than active streams of information. It is still imbued with your intent, and some knowledge mages use spells to see through some or all of their simulacra at once. It is not another entity, it is just a projection of you.”

“Huh,” I said. “That’s a little hard to wrap my head around.”

“Be that as it may, it is true,” Ikki said. “Now, our time is running short. Do you have any further questions for me?” 

“Two, actually. First is about a treasure they’ve got for sale here, called a Timemind. Do you think it would be worth purchasing? It would eat up a bit of space in peak third, or crowd my mid-third a lot.”

Ikki’s body flickered for a moment as he closed his eyes, and when he opened them, he had a considering look on his face.

“It would pair extremely well with your Foxarmor’s ingrained ability to guide your body via your spatial sense. Given that there is only one left, I would consider it, though you should have no more spells eating up additional third gate temporal mana if you do,” Ikki said, then held up one finger. “But I would also consider a different solution to speed up your mental faculties. Given you are delving into ghost magic, during your fourth gate, you should be able to learn a spell that allows you to integrate some of your ghosts into your mind, to ease the burden on your subconscious. Orykson frequently boasted about how he did not need such a spell or much ghost magic at all, due to Aerde. Having both would be additive, not multiplicative, but that is not worth dismissing.” 

I snickered at the comment, then considered. 

I hadn’t checked the list for a while, as evidenced by the fact Ikki had been the one to inform me that one Timemind had been sold so it was distinctly possible something else had popped up on there. And knowing what I did now about the Timemind, would it be worth getting both it and the Organshield Crystal, assuming I didn’t see anything that immediately took higher precedence? Should I purchase the crystal once I had the points, then aim for something else, like the spiritual tools, or anything else that caught my eye, like something the guild training revealed? Or should I keep saving and aim for something really dramatic at the cost of all else? I might have too strained of a spirit to take on a bond for a Crystalheart, but something like the Fossilized Primeval Ginkgo completely restructured the paths of the entire body's energy.