Wolf explained the general idea of converting Internal Energy to Soul Force. He also said that he planned to make a spell or a maneuver capable of making this conversion.

Archibald was stunned as he listened. He tried to find any obvious problems, but so far there were none. His son’s idea was a revolutionary one! Even more importantly, it was theoretically feasible. The big man quietly nodded and patiently waited for his son to finish presenting the outline of his plan.

Patiently listening to a hypothesis and inwardly trying to disprove it seemed like a natural thing for Archibald. Finally, Wolf was done with his short and on the point speech.

“That sounds very interesting.” The man said with a thoughtful nod.

“As far as I can tell it should be plausible. I would suggest you make this a maneuver rather than a spell. Also, if you ever want to reverse the process you should use a spell.” Archibald wanted to praise his boy, but he couldn’t say anything that wouldn’t over-inflate his boy’s already giant ego.

Instead the big man offered a bit of advice, mixed with a proud smile and an approving nod. He didn’t feel overly excited though. Sure, as a mental exercise, Wolf’s idea sounded grand. However, making a usable art or a magic spell out of a concept was a process that took many years, if not generations.

Even if by some miracle he was able to do it, by the time Wolf developed anything usable Archibald would be long gone…

Wolf thought for a moment about his father’s suggestion, but didn’t see the reasoning behind it. If anything he wanted to make it a spell so that his father could learn it quicker. Since the man used to be a Mage that would’ve been the optimal solution.

“Why?” The boy finally asked.

“Because casting a spell expends Soul Force, which you’re trying to conserve in this case. Same goes for the reverse process. If you wish to conserve Internal Energy you should initiate the process by using Soul Force.”

Wolf nodded in agreement without saying a word.

Seeing that his son was silent, Archibald asked about something that never before interested him. Yet, suddenly it became a topic of great importance…

“Did you figure out anything else? About maneuvers and being a Sword-Sage I mean?”

“A couple of things. Using a martial maneuver expends Internal Energy. It’s kind of like preparing spells uses up Soul Force. The body should be able to slowly recover it using the environment, much like how Soul Force is slowly replenished after preparing spells.”

“But, unlike spells, I was able to figure out the way Internal Energy flows and is released when executing a maneuver.” More accurately Wolf saw it when contemplating the two columns in his Mind Hall.

“I should be able to put it to practice once I get a hang of it. Right now I can only vaguely feel what’s going on. I’ll have to train a bit to confirm that concept, but I’m fairly certain that you can chain maneuvers in such a way that only the last one really expends Internal Energy.”

“But that’s just a theory I came up with to conserve Internal Energy as much as possible. Simply enhancing one’s body should also consume a relatively small amount of Internal Energy. But there are some issues.”

“There’s bound to be loss when shifting between maneuvers, not to mention I would always have to use the same attack pattern. The enemy could read it and make a counter when they figure out the exact sequence I’m using.”

“You know son, using patterns when making attacks isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can even come in handy. During a battle you repeat your pattern a couple of times, lull your enemy into thinking they know what’s coming next and make use of their knowledge.” After an instant Archibald could tell that Wolf didn’t really understand what he was trying to say.

“If you’re following a pattern and your enemy is countering, that means they too are following a pattern. By anticipating their move you can set up a trap for them.”

“Let me use a different example. When setting up Spell Formations, you can use a couple of textbook Spell Formations. Then draw a seal that looks extremely similar to something that belongs in that sequence, when it’s actually the killer move. The enemy is lulled by their expectations and that’s when you get them…”

“While we’re on the subject, it’s high time I start teaching you a bit about Spell Formations. Even though I can’t activate them, I can scribe the seals just fine. To see them in action all you have to do is feed them Soul Force.”

”What do you think?” Archibald asked expectantly. His opinion was rather obvious.

“A crash course would take a month or two, but we wouldn’t be able to move during that time. Since we can’t just go around leaving half destroyed Spell Formations wherever we go. What do you say? Do you want to learn how to set up Spell Formations?”

Wolf hesitated for a moment and Archibald continued promoting this new course in his curriculum.

“We should find a comfortable place to stay, then make a Spell Formation minefield hidden away by repulsion and illusion spells. Who knows, you may even find that site useful one day, if you end up on a run from someone.”

Wolf was still hesitating, but Archibald could see that he was about to cave in. He really wished to teach Wolf about how to arrange Spell Formations because this was the last remaining bit of his expertise he had left to teach. And it would serve as an excellent excuse for Wolf to leave Dragon’s Forest.

“I’ll even let you make our meals. That would be a great opportunity to polish your cooking skills. What do you say?”

“Um, sure. Thanks. Won’t you be bored dad?” Wolf asked while hesitantly nodding his agreement.

This suited him just fine. He could use the downtime to come up with a technique for converting Internal Energy into Soul Force. From his point of view this should solve, or at least mitigate his father’s problem.

“Why would I be bored? I can teach, eat and sleep while you take care of everything. It would be a nice change of pace for both of us. Also, you can consider this a part of the training for your independent life… You know, once you get into the Mage Academy.” Archibald hurriedly added the last bit. He should really stop reminding Wolf that he wasn’t going to live much longer.

As for the setup, it actually sounded like a vacation to Archibald. His son would eventually have to get used to living like this, so having someone to help him out with the transition should make it easier…

***

It had taken two whole days for Archibald and Wolf to find a convenient place where they could take residence for a couple of weeks. The two of them settled with a cave, which was a dozen meters deep and had a spring of fresh water trickling inside.

At first Wolf thought about opening a couple of windows with Sculpt Stone, but in the end decided against it. This was just a temporary residence and wasting Soul Force like that would be hubris…

Father and son settled in and started following a steady rhythm. Wolf’s food wasn’t any good at first because Archibald refused to help him while he cooked. The big man would only comment once the meal was finished. This was to make sure Wolf was relying on himself, rather than asking his father’s approval on everything.

Wolf’s cooking skills, as well as his knowledge on Spell Formations improved rapidly. Archibald lectured five hours a day. Each lecture ended with Archibald scribing a Spell Formation’s seal on the cavern wall. Wolf would then infuse it with Soul Force and observe the effect.

He was very much surprised that spells which generally couldn’t be used for offense made for better traps than spells that directly damaged the opponent. Using illusions to alter the look of the terrain or Sculpt Stone that could instantly create a spiked pit five or even ten meters deep under a person were but the most basic of examples.

An excellent advanced mechanism of scribing Spell Formations was to incorporate safety words and pass-phrases. Archibald never mentioned it as an additional feature and just taught Wolf about adding them from day one. If you don’t tell people something is a complicated addition they just might not notice it’s difficult to learn…

The very first Spell Formation the duo scribed together was that of two trees and some dense bushes to cover up the cave entrance.

“Back in the day we used fruit for safety words. The most popular one was melon. Now, let’s try it. If we properly made everything we should be able to just say melon and enter.” As soon as Archibald said the word the illusion disappeared. When the mouth of the cave became visible Wolf smiled happily.

Over the course of the next few weeks Wolf got to see first hand how and why Spell Formations were an excellent addition to any Mage’s toolbox. Especially after hearing one of his father’s lectures.

“There is an alternate way of creating Spell Formations. If you use various enchanted oils to draw the seals you don’t have to supplement the formation with Soul Force. A Spell Formation can also be powered by Monster Cores. Theoretically a low Order Mage that has high proficiency in Spell Formations could cast Tenth Order spells through the use of Spell Formations.”

“It’s just that doing things this way is convoluted and a very expensive endeavor. I’m not talking just about the cost of the Spell Formation’s components, but the learning process as well. You can only learn how to make Spell Formations through trial and error. That is why most novices start using chalk and spells that they are already able to cast.”

“The reason why only a handful of Mages stick with Spell Formations should be obvious. It takes a long time to learn how to scribe a proper seal for a Spell Formation. Even the width of the lines matters. And the thing is you can’t really learn just by using chalk. Sure, you learn how to draw the shapes, but drawing is different with every material you use.”

“Only someone that has completed their first Mind Hall has perception high enough to succeed with unknown materials after drawing a couple of practice lines. Everyone else tends to waste a lot of money on precious resources for drawing until they get a hang of it.”

“Another thing is that, by the time a Mage’s Mind Palace grows enough for them to easily learn how to scribe new Spell Formations, the boost Spell Formations provide to their abilities becomes almost negligible.”

“The greatest use for Spell Formations is in fortifying and securing buildings or cities. A Mage with a high enough proficiency is a welcome guest in any duchy. The demand is so great that even race doesn’t matter as long as two empires are not at war. The second most popular use for Spell Formations is war. A Spell Formation Scribe is an incalculable tactical asset on any battlefield. Just like a powerful Mage, a capable Spell Formation Scribe can easily influence the end result of a battle...”

Wolf paid a great deal of attention during his father’s lectures. Once the lectures were over Wolf would prepare food. After meals he would meditate and simulate using Third Order maneuvers, trying to find the right combinations of maneuvers that wasted no Internal Energy.

When it came to memorizing and drawing seals, those were child’s play for Wolf. Archibald said that once a person had ten columns learning Spell Formations was a trivial issue. Currently Wolf had eight columns in his Mind Hall. While he didn’t know how easy scribing Spell Formation seals would be once the number hit ten, the boy found it very easy to pull off even now.

Unfortunately the joy he felt from progress in these two fields was overshadowed by his failure at creating a maneuver which resonated with one’s soul. No matter what he tried he couldn’t convert Internal Energy to Soul Force.

***

Five weeks passed in a blink of an eye.

Wolf was now preparing decent meals that nobody would find an issue with. He already knew around sixty Spell Formations and hadn’t touched his sixth Mind Hall column in a while. Whenever he spent time in his Mind Hall he was trying to come up with that one crucial maneuver.

Wolf’s desire to heal his father had turned into an obsession.

The bare minimum the boy would settle with was to restore Archibald’s ability to wield magic. Better yet would be to restore his status as Archmage or Truenamer, with the best result being Archibald’s full recovery.

During these few weeks Wolf developed a habit of measuring the rate at which his Mind Hall was expanding. Wolf checked carefully every evening, making sure not to miss even the most minute difference. Unfortunately, despite his diligence and constant change of techniques he came up with there was no change.

Tonight, just like any other night, Wolf entered his Mind Hall and tried to find any boost from today’s regimen of circulating Internal Energy. After checking once Wolf’s Mental Aspect checked again and then once more!

Each time the smile on his face grew wider and wider. There was a slight increase in speed at which the Mind Hall expanded!

It was so minuscule that under normal circumstances Wolf would have missed the two percent difference. However, after spending weeks making through measurements every night he couldn’t fail to notice this improvement. Finally Wolf knew that he was on the right track to healing his father.

“Yes!”

Archibald’s lessons:

Servants of the ten gods are not allowed to intentionally practice Soul, or Energy Refining. The energy they use is Faith. Relying on yourself, rather than believing in your deity, to gather Soul Force or Internal Energy shows lack of faith.