[Slimy Slime] Chapter 28: Time for a Magic Lesson!

I had far too many things to work on. The only saving grace was time. I had all the time in the world! Technically, kinda. Well I had a year before someone equally as strong as me was going to try to do unspeakable horrors to me but that was okay! If they’re my equal in strength, I’d just need to beat them with variety.

And what a better place to start than Magic?

The problem is… my magic is really disappointing. I know, for a fact, I can become an immaterial shadow some day. But until that time…

I spawned an orb of darkness. My Dark Magic was now at T3. I’d used it to good effectiveness, essentially shooting orbs to cover wolves' heads and blind them and deafen them but… that was it. I was quickly realizing that at least at my level, that was the best I could hope for. Utility.

And that was great! Unless something doesn’t have eyes or ears, it’s an absolutely terrible power to use on someone. Suddenly they find themselves in a dark void, not knowing where the enemy is or where they’ll be coming from.

I started back up though, on where I’d left off. Magic was strange and it was probably one of the things I understood the least. I idly practiced my self made shaping exercise while I thought on it more. I wasn’t using the cuffs this time, but I’d used them enough. I remembered the feel between a T4 and a T3 skill. A strong, potent difference. Control, control was the key and the issue. But there wasn’t anything for it but to practice. It kinda felt like trying to learn to juggle without anyone or anything to teach you.

But that was something I could do while also using my brain. Magic magic magic. Not new applications for it but it iself. I had a soul, my soul was… most likely in my body somewhere. Or was it? Plenty of things had life, did they all also have souls? Did amoebas? Plankton? Insects? Did size even play a part? These questions were important. Because my magic skill came from me but I didn’t exactly have a good understanding of where. If I was a human, I’d probably just think it was somewhere in my body.

But I’m not a human anymore.

So where? If I was a single speck of blue goo, my magic would probably remain unaffected. So how can magic be purely connected via my body of all things? I’m sure it plays a part somewhere and somehow, but where is it coming from? Hell, I can even do this. I summoned a spirit hand and launched a dark orb from it. That’s what made me think magic is connected to the soul. I can spawn it basically a foot from my body or my hands. But it wasn’t forged in there, like some of my abilities. It could grow. Are all skills part of the soul? I know I can do it without the system but the system makes things infinitely easier. But I’m not sure all skills can be done without the system.

I needed some way to ‘see’ where the magic was coming from. I needed a, a fantasy equivalent of a magic anatomy lesson. If I were to use my ‘juggling’ metaphor, what I want to do is go a step further and see and understand the bones and muscles of my hands, to understand the blood and chemicals, to understand their connection to the body and their full range of movement. Nothing you’d need to learn how to just ‘juggle’ but I wanted to master magic. Make shadow clones, turn into shadow, envelop a field in darkness, and more. To do that, I needed to study and understand every single detail, not just go by feel.

Hmm. But I don’t have anything like that. But what’s the closest I can do? I turned my dark orb and shot myself in the face. I felt a brief sense of being blind, my ‘true vision’ subconsciously saying ‘I should be blind’ so I was. I would have to work on that part of that skill later. It’s my magic, so of course I can see through it. Even regular dark mages probably could! Still, the results were lackluster. I could feel the darkness but that’s the product, not the process.

I focused on the mana, bringing it forward to make a dark orb, and then stopped. And then did it again. And again. Whenever I used mana it felt like there was a wave inside of me coming out. Like, an actual real physical energy. But it all came out in a wave.

But that gave me an idea!

Quickly, I summoned and brought four hands in each direction from me and had all four of them summon a dark orb. Hmm. Too close. I had them farther and farther apart, closing my ‘eyes’ and focusing more. Still nothing. I’d have to leave the cave for this.

I went outside and was surprised. Krrrgg wasn’t here. Unless she ran into a pack of [Dire Wolves], she’d be fine, but I still wasn’t expecting my roommate to leave so soon after our discussion. Still, it would be easier to practice alone so that was fine.

I focused again, bring my hands farther apart this time and-

There!

It felt like… the wave split, going in different directions. But I never told it to ‘split’, I merely tried to summon the orbs. And four dark orbs did appear. Well… kinda. ‘Appear’ and ‘orb’ may be very strong words for an absolute fizzle of dark magic. But I wasn’t deterred!

I kept practicing, trying all sorts of different things to try and map out those ebbs and flows. Mana almost felt like water to me, as it flowed out. I wonder if water mages had an easer time because of that? Either way, I focused. I summoned as much darkness around me as I could, summoned a bunch of dark orbs around me, had my hands fly around while ‘holding’ a dark orb, had one hand ‘summon’ and another get ready to summon only to stop, had one hand go further out, and more and more.

Time began to fly by but I didn’t really notice. I knew it was passing but… but I was engulfed in the process. I had to drink my mana potion at some point but what I was doing wasn’t really that mana intensive. Not for my mana at least. And as I kept changing up the distance, speed, time, effort, size, control, and more variables back and forth, something began to form in my mind.

A Map.

It was like… veins. It was like blood flowing through veins but only when called. Maybe. I couldn’t tell but that… didn’t sound right. Maybe magic was already and always flowing through them but I needed to actually exert force to bring them into existence. Either way… I could feel them. Well, no, no that was wrong. I could feel them only in the moment. Like being able to tell one of your veins is throbbing and there, only when it’s throbbing.

But my mind began to remember. Remember the different ones, remember where they flowed. I looked deeper, focusing on bringing more out of the most ‘distant’ veins. Give myself a better view. And I could finally feel it. I could always feel my magic leaving, traveling through me and out but… now, I felt like I could feel the ‘heart’. My ‘core’ of magic. It wasn’t anywhere that could be probably matched. It wasn’t on earth or Altraisa, in my slime body or in the air. It was somewhere… other.

And I could feel it.

[Magic Skill (Dark) Level up!]

YES!

But my excitement only lasted for a moment. Was this… really enough to reach Tier 4 in magic? That felt… wrong. I still had so much to learn! I had just barely begun to map out these veins, just barely felt my own core! I haven’t even scratched the surface of magic and I’m already Tier 4? I smell shenanigans.

But I’ll take it. I could noticeably tell my control increased. Not only that, the amount of dark magic I could bring out increased and it almost felt like the magic itself was going… smoother through my veins. No, not veins.

Meridians.

My experiments and control continued for some time. I won’t stop! I won’t stop until I’ve mastered everything you are Magic!

Reveal your secrets to me!