《A Sky of Star and Strength》Chapter 6: learning magic
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as I walked I started to notice some serious changes to my environment since the previous day.
everything just seemed more, vibrant.
the air was crisp and clear and even in the early morning sky I could still clearly see the stars.
when I reached the next road along my path I noticed it was cracked and broken with greenery pushing its way up through the cracks.
taking another deep inhale of the crisp air I started to ponder a rather abstract concept, magic.
the screen from earlier had very specifically said "happy discovery!" at the end of the announcement. this lead me to believe that it was entirely possible to lean magic with no outside help.
Considering what I had read previously from other apocalypse novels that featured magic there were generally two types of magic: "curated" magic where you had predetermined spells, and "freeform" magic where you create your own spells. judging from the discovery comment I figured it would be the second as it was much more associated with self-discovery than the first type.
thinking about some of those novels I considered how magic might actually work.
having been walking for about 3 hours and no longer feeling as worried as the day before about outrunning whatever was happening in Seattle I sat down for a moment to think.
the first thing I considered doing was the most common way I remembered having seen. sitting in the grass is started to "feel" inside myself. after about 10 minutes of sitting and making a real attempt at meditation, I started to feel silly. about to open my eyes I started to pull out of my meditation when I felt something weird.
I nearly facepalmed when I realized the obvious clue I had missed. in fact, I had even made a mental note about it when I first opened my status screen and it was even slightly mentioned in the "happy discovery!" message... ambient life-force. while sitting with my eyes closed if I focused it felt like I was surrounded by a maelstrom of energy. all around me I felt a powerful force pressing against my body.
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working on instinct at this point I mentally reached out to the energy and recoiled when it snapped at me. reconsidering my thought process I moved my conscienceless to the very edge of my skin on my arm and attempted to coax a little bit of energy inside, I was thrilled when the energy formed a little stream into my body. thinking quickly in case the energy had any negative effects when it collected inside me I stretched out my arm and imagined a hole at the tip of my finger for the energy to escape from. just as I thought the energy left my body with a little "pop" closing off the entry hole i opened my eyes and was not very surprised at what I saw.
Ambient Life-force Manipulation Acquired!
messing with raw life-force outside your body is a dangerous task, luckily your body can shield you from most of the ill effects allowing you to mutate the life-force to your will!
considering the flavor text that came with the ability I figured that what I had just discovered was the keystone to magic in this apocalypse.
knowing that my body could shield me from some of the bad effects of raw life-force I started to do some tests. to start I opened another point for life-force to flow inside of my body on the back of my hand and was pleased to see that after some time life-force stopped flowing inside my hand. considering my next move I figured I would try for something like a traditional magic missile. opening my eyes I willed the life-force in my hand to shoot out from a point on the tip of my finger in a small bullet shape.
"FFFWOMP"
with a loud noise, a small bullet-shaped mass of what I could only assume to be life-force flew out of my finger and hit a tree about 20 feet away leaving a splintered crater on its surface.
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Spell "magic missile" Created!
Spells do not appear on your status screen. in order to replicate the spell, you will need to repeat what you did originally to manifest the spell. however, there may be other ways of using magic... have fun!
looking at the new popup I started considering what I had learned so far. from what I could tell letting life-force build in my body had no ill-effects so I opted to leave the in-port on the back of my hand.
the fact that spells could not be easily cast once you discovered them worried me slightly as it may become cumbersome to cast more complex spells in the future, but for now with my magic missile being extremely simple to cast I wasn't all that worried. however, I still did want to look into alternate casting methods in the future perhaps crafting external items may be able to help with ease of casting.
putting aside that thought for later I started to do some experiments as I walked, the first was with the measure of ambient life-force around me. leaving my status screen open as I walked I noticed that the number constantly fluctuated. getting on to my next experiment I cast a magic missile off into the distance, at first I was puzzled when the number remained the same but when I felt more life-force entering my hand and the number started to decrease it made sense to me.
in all, it took about 100 ambient life-force to cast a "full power" magic missile but I learned i could preemptively cast it for less cost and less power.
messing around a bit I figured out that I could control the general direction of the missile when it was in the air if I wished for it to follow my command while casting it.
this reminded me about the whole reason I prioritized learning magic in the first place. mentally I said "activate star power" nothing changed that I could notice immediately but I did feel as if I was a tiny bit lighter. it was only when casting magic missile again that I noticed a real difference. when I ordered the life-force to shoot out of my body I felt a slight pulling feeling that went up my arm and noticed a stream of something else mixing with my life-force, it was an iridescent white strand of energy and when the missile shot out of my arm it was the same color as the strand.
I noticed a difference immediately, for one the missile was significantly quieter than previously, and the fact that it exploded into white flame when it hit the tree I was aiming for was another feature that was pretty obvious. for a second I thought I would start a forest fire but luckily it went out after a few moments leaving only scorch marks on the tree along with its customary crater.
considering the outcome I mentally turned off star power. it didn't necessarily make my magic missile more powerful in a literal sense, though I still have no idea how powerful the white flame will be. it just augmented it.
pondering on magic, in general, I continued my journey north.
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Hunter Or Huntress
A human engineer named Tom accepts a deal to travel to a Fantasy world with the mission of changing it forever. He is given a week to prepare before setting off. Once on the other side, he is greeted by a fantastical world and its inhabitants. his original mission to change this world and have some fun while doing it quickly turns into him making a home for himself and defending it and his new family against whatever ends up coming their way. The story will also follow the POV of Sapphire a local woman who Tom encounters early on in his travels to yield a closer insight into our local population. The story focuses mainly on the interactions between the characters with intermittent action, romance, and the technical side of trying to bring a medieval-high-fantasy people up to speed with more or less modern technology. There will be discussions of mental illness, immense loss, and joy, ranging from the truly heartbreaking to the properly heartwarming. The first chapters are on the short side but eventually escalate to the 3000-5000 word range. especially the early chapters suffer from poor grammar and I am sorry. they are slowly going to be brought up to spec. The story is originally posted on Reddit r/HFY https://www.reddit.com/r/HFY/comments/jfgpie/hunter_or_huntress_chapter_1_the_offer_oc/ If you can't remember a character or just wanna see what's what. there is also the wiki here: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1sqP9B7Mqh2D1tpboFHqpk6f0284wX-HE?usp=sharing Cover art by the amazing Uwnycorn: https://www.deviantart.com/uwnycorne If you want to support this odd little project I do have a patreon. You don't get anything for supporting except gratitude though. https://www.patreon.com/HunterOrHuntress?fan_landing=true
8 76Zoomchard: The Battle of Dominance(Cancelled)
The planet "Metalet" was wrecked by an episode of a destructive war that is still ongoing and had its 1000th anniversary. It was a war of dominance that got out of hand and became a struggling battle for life as many nations with the appearance of a humanoid robot divided by the colour of their eyes join aside the two nations that began this endless war; Green-eyed robots named Province of Conaire and yellow-eyed robots named The Tretse Federation. On the other hand, a fearless shopkeeper named Zoomchard had an average life, besides the fact that he was born with "The Unchosen Illness." An illness where the melanin coding failed and gave the eyes an appearance of a grey colour. It was a rare illness that only affected the 1% quadrillionth inhabitant planet. The illness never stopped him from living a normal lonely life with only one friend that saved him from the death of his parents that were bombed in their home city while Zoomchard explored the southern borders of Conaire. Zoomchard one day had contact with a friend who is a medic and both were excited to see each other again, but that never lasted like three days after the reunion party - Zoomchard's friend's home city was bombed and they went missing. This affected Zoomcharrd and it changed his mindset entirely, he went from a peaceful guy that hated the idea of revenge because it will ruin his mind to a guy that needed the most revenge he can grab hold of. So he was recruited for The Conaire Army and had his first-ever mission, the mission to save all the soldiers imprisoned behind enemy lines. This is a journey of a Rookie Soldier exploring the war while searching for a way to revenge his family and locate his missing friend.
8 92Scarlet Finale!
This is the story that takes place when everyone's worlds come together in the City of Light. A strange invitation led Faith, a quiet and serious prodigy who closed off his heart, and Wish, an eccentric girl who didn't belong in this world, to Glint City – a desolate and mysterious metropolis. From the small ambitions of a single heart to the hidden truth of the world, they have all gathered here. Choosing their own path, each protagonist will now step into the secrets of the city that stands at the crossroads of luminescence. Now, let the velvet threads entangle it all and burst beyond the event horizon.
8 140He Came From the Forest
After being left on a doorstep by his birth mother, Joseph is adopted by a childless couple and raised as their own. In a world of magic, however, random babies who mysteriously appear are rarely human and he's no exception. Raised by his father who sought to teach him right from wrong, Joseph becomes a young man, ready to explore the world. However, after war breaks out and everything he's known vanishes in one fell swoop, he's left with nothing. Knowing only a bit of his heritage, Joseph sets out on his own..Not only to find his place in the world, but to discover more about who his birth parents might have been.
8 203Defenders of Fantasmyth
DROPPED: this story is unfinished and will likely remain that way. If you are looking for quality work that is still being updated, you're better off checking out my fanfiction. No, really. That wasn't a joke. Jakyra, a young-adult coairse* dragon with an affinity for wordplay and skill in fighting, is a pest to her government the Dragon Crown. This odd relationship leads her to make contact with a long-lost magical, draconic construct of great renown called Ismat, leading up to a string of bizarre, humorous, and troublesome events. Chance brings together the impulsive dragon, her quiet, resolute elven friend Sauda, amiable, honor-seeking dwarf Gunnar, and the construct Ismat. The Omniguards, Defenders of Fantasmyth, are born. *No, that is not a typo.
8 220Dreams of the Aasimar Cleric
These stories are the dreams and visions of the aasimar cleric in my fantasy setting. They are given to her by the celestial beings of the world and give her peeks into the world around her and visions of what is to come or that which has already occured. They are for her, both a blessing and a curse. Please feel free to ask questions or point out any errors. These have been written over a very long period of time so may contain some discrepancies.
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