《Darkness Rising》Chapter 8: Technology and Magic

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Ciar's second class of the day was Basic Technological Weapons. He truly did not know what to expect from the class, but from what he had seen of the school so far, he was pretty excited. He kind of expected to find something along the lines of portable shields or mana rays. Sadly,the first explanation of how the technology works from Sir Rydo quickly quashed his hopes.

"The use of mana in technology at the current time is very limited, due to its design. Currently, we infuse a small mana packet into an object, and when given a slight push with more mana, it will explode in a certain direction. This force can push things, such as knife blades, at extremely high speeds. Using this method on a larger scale, you can power doors or other similar mechanisms. However, it has still not been discovered how to direct this power stably at a large quantity. Little progress has been made in large engineering projects because experiments are often fatal to those who perform them."

Ciar's expectations dropped significantly after that. At first he had thought massive technological weapons would have been possible, but with the mana being to hard to control in large quantities, it was currently impossible. However, his spirits were lifted by Sir Rydo's examples. The teacher brought out a variety of different weapons that ranged from swords to knives to strange spheres. One by one he activated each of them. The knife blade was ejected from the hilt at startling speed, embedding itself almost completely in the unshielded wall behind Sir Rydo's desk. Ciar already had several applications for this weapon in mind, most of which involved assassination. Next, Sir Rydo activated a shield that walled off the students from an open space in the middle of the room. He then activated the strange sphere and tossed it inside. Seconds after it hit the ground, it exploded. The mana shield shook from the blast, flickering a little before stabilizing.

"That is called a mana pulsor. The shell is made out of an enchanted metal that is designed to withstand high densities of mana. The activation button is made out of a mana conductive material called Pyrutite. This causes the activation mana to be transmitted slower than usual, giving you time to throw it. The mana packet inside is calculated to be just below the threshold for the enchanted metal. When the activation mana mixes with the packet, it reaches past the metals breaking point. When a mana resistance enchantment breaks, it creates a violent explosion. This explosion is harnessed as a weapon. Now, while I used that pulsar as an example, these are incredibly rare. The mana resistance enchantment is incredibly hard to perform, and being able to put in just the right density of mana to not break it is difficult and deadly. As a result, the school only has about 30 of these, and you will not be making them."

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The demonstrations continued for the rest of class. Ciar was just becoming bored with them when something finally caught his notice. It was a sword with a double edged, straight blade about 80 centimeters in length. The blade stayed the same width throughout, save for the razor sharp tip. What was strange about the weapon was the handle. The hilt was about 30 centimeters in length, despite it clearly being a single handed blade. An additional, curved blade traveled from the base of the sword to the pommel, protecting the hand while also giving plenty of room to maneuver. Where the pommel should have been located, another blade extended about 10 centimeters. When Sir Rydo input mana into the hilt, the 8 centimeter blade extended to 80 centimeters, forming an identical blade on the other side of the weapon.

"This is called an Endo, and is one of our greatest accomplishments. The pommel is home to two small packets of gravity magic. In its dormant state, the packet that pulls the blade in is unblocked. This keeps the second blade securely in the hilt. When mana is input into the system, the mana packets switch positions, with the second gravity packet now pushing the blade out of the hilt. The blade is actually four layers of enchanted metal that can extend to form a 80 centimeter blade. The tip of the blade is a 10 centimeter segment that always extends out of the hilt. The next two segments are each 20 centimeters in length, and make up the middle of the blade. The final segment completely fills up the handle, with a length of 30 centimeters. The segments are perfectly crafted and enchanted to the point where, despite one fitting inside the other, the difference in diameter between each segment is negligible. In fact, the only way it can extend is with the assistance of magic. The blade itself is made with a special alloy called Enderite. This alloy is one of the hardest metals known to man, while also being almost weightless. The handle is enchanted with gravity magic, making it almost weightless as well. Because of its lack of weight, the blade can only be used by someone who is extremely skilled. It is nearly impossible to stagger your opponent with this weapon, but it's enchanted Enderite edges can cut through most armor, bone, and flesh with ease. While these are much less dangerous to make than say, mana pulsors, they are much rarer. They require a level of enchanting and metalworking that few can achieve, and its materials are priceless. Lunaris has created only three of these weapons, and they have not been distributed to the outside world." Rydo explained, his voice filled with pride.

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Ciar knew immediately that was the weapon he wanted. Currently, it was taller than him in its extended state, but that would not be an issue when he was older. Besides, in its non-extended state, it would work perfectly fine at his current age. He wouldn't even have to worry about the weight, as it was nearly weightless according to Rydo. Ciar knew he had a special status in the academy, so he decided he would ask the Director for one of the blades during his lost arts class.

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Ciar extended his Void Power around him, searching for the essence of gravity. According to Sir Cyrus, every type of magic had an essence. If one could grasp this essence, they could harness the magic. Mana, or Void Power in Ciar's case, is usually invisible to anyone but the owner. Only when given from through a spell or essence did it become visible, and this was only with some essence. For example, grasping the essence of fire and using it in a spell would create flames. This was the physical manifestation of someone's mana in the form of fire through the harnessing of the fire essence. In contrast, time essence gave no distinctive form to the mana when it was harnessed, and neither did reality, gravity, or space magic. Many magicians guessed this was why it was much harder to use certain forms of magic. If the essence had no real form to it, it would be much harder to grasp and control. After 40 minutes of searching, Ciar finally felt something. A particle with a certain weight to it, invisible to the naked eye, but visible to his Void Power. Ciar wrapped his power around the particle, attempting to grasp it and control it. He siphoned his Void Power into the essence, trying to not only understand it, but also bring it under his control. 5 minutes later, he succeeded, and was greeted with a message.

Skill Gained: Basic Gravity Manipulation (lvl 1)

The basic ability to conform the essence of gravity to your will.

Smiling, Ciar opened his eyes. He knew the other three students in the class would not succeed in this for several days. A mixture of his Primordial Oblivion racial skill and his 100% affinity had allowed him to succeed so easily. Glancing around him, he saw everyone still deep in concentration. Closing his eyes, Ciar went back to meditation for the remaining 5 minutes of his Basic Space and Gravity class. He had decided to keep his advancement a secret, and only pretend to have success when the other students did. While the other students worked to find the essence, he would already be increasing his control and understanding of it. Spells took incantations to cast until one had a great enough understanding of the spells function to cast it silently, so using spells right now was out of the question. The class had given him a much needed rest after his 3rd period body training. That class had gone exactly as he had expected. Hard work in a more advanced training room in order to hone the body into a perfect physical specimen. When the period was up, Ciar quickly went to his next class, grabbing a sandwich from a passing staff member as he walked.

Classes in Lunaris did not stop for people to eat lunch. Instead, staff members walked around campus with food that students could grab as they walked. The staff members were present at all times of the day, so students would not go hungry as long as they actively sought out refreshments.

Ciar's next class, Basic Time and Reality, was about the same as his Basic Space and Gravity period. The teacher's name was Sir Bolarg, a old and grouchy man who simply told the class to search for the essence of time before returning to his meditation. Ciar thought perhaps the initial process would be easier now that he had experience, but he was wrong. It took him 50 minutes to finally find the essence, and he just had time to learn to control it before the period ended.

Skill Gained: Basic Time Manipulation (lvl 1)

The basic ability to conform the essence of time to your will.

Happy with his results, Ciar headed to his next class, Basic Alchemy. When he entered the Alchemy building, he saw a familiar figure sitting alone in the corner. Heading over to Luna, he plopped down beside her, waiting with anticipation to discover the mysteries of Alchemy in this world.

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