The First Magic

Chapter 11

In the city of Atur was home to three hundred fifty thousand non player characters, about fifteen thousand players that have taken residence and one master Enchanter. Not that he enchanted anymore. He retired from the craft to make way for younger enchanters, though he partially regretted that none of them could surpass him.

The man was one of four Master enchanters throughout Versailles that could teach me the secret Firelight Enchantments. I didn’t really need them, and getting most would a hassle, but the final Enchantment that I would gain after completing all the Firelight Enchanter Class Quests would be able to permanently change the rules of the world. Though it would take a few years to get without cheating or arousing suspicion. Still, it wasn’t like I needed to be anywhere anytime soon. One of the many perks of being able to travel through time is that I can be anywhere, any when I want.

And although I don’t really need it, this particular Firelight Enchantment would be very useful and make playing this game easier in many ways. Which was of course the reason I came to this city.

Although I could just walk up to his house and knock on the door, it would be a tad suspicious if I somehow found the master without any prior knowledge.

Traditionally, a Firelight Enchanter must apprentice an Enchanter, since that will allow them to level up their enchant skill without having to pay for the materials themselves. After the apprenticeship has ended, several Class Quests must be gone through, one of which has the Enchanter encounter someone who tells of the Master in Atur.

First I had to have someone tell me there was a master enchanter in this city, then I could go to his house.

I won’t bore you with the details but I eventually got an NPC enchanter to tell me that there was once a Master Enchanter in the city that was the best there was. After that I went to his house.

The one who answered the door when I knocked was a young woman, similar in appearance of age as myself. This was the current apprentice to the Master Enchanter Eldos.

“Yes, how may I help you?” she asked.

I bowed lightly in respect, “I have come to seek the secrets of Enchanting from Master Eldos.

She frowned at this and said, “The master is not seeking new apprentices. Go and seek another master.”

Before she closed the door I replied, “Has Master Eldos given you his blessing to speak for him, or have you taken this upon yourself without his knowing? How would he take the knowledge that you turned away one who seeks an audience with him without his knowing? If you are not willing to allow me passage, I will permit myself inside and ask him this question myself.”

The woman was not an actual apprentice, though she fancied herself the man’s apprentice. She was more of a stay in housekeeper that tried to get the Enchanter’s most powerful spell off him and make herself rich.

Of course Eldos saw through this from the start. He decided to use her greed against her and now she acts as a free housekeeper that can’t leave out of the fear that she may lose out on the opportunity to learn his final enchantment. She also cannot risk doing anything that would get her kicked out, like refusing a guest without informing Eldos.

That being said, she has no knowledge of what that Enchantment actually is, nor does she even know anything about Firelight enchantments.

The woman reluctantly allowed me in and said, “You won’t get anything from him.”

I smiled and entered the home’s study.

The woman left for the upstairs to get the master. I looked around the study. It had about forty books that lined the shelves. I did not know their content, but by looking closely I could discover their contents. A few of these were actually highly valuable books that would never be found in a library that would increase one’s stats by reading them. Books on Magic theory, Magic physics, Magic circle foundation and composition. These were not copies either, but handwritten volumes once owned by ancient, powerful, mages and sorcerers that were each once the top of the world in their time. As for their value, it was worth more than the total amount of gold I had spent on enchantment books and components since starting this game. By a large margin.

Besides proving that this was the study of one of the world’s five most powerful enchanters, this also proved just how rich enchanting had made him during his life.

Ah, before your imagination gets the better of you, know that the Firelight Enchantment I and the pseudo-apprentice seek is one Eldos discovered and mastered while researching ancient enchantments. However, it has little ability to make one rich just by learning it. The spell has thousands of uses to a clever person, and hundreds even to a dullard, but it is not an Enchantment that can be sold or used for profit. The pseudo-apprentice believes this Enchantment will be a short-cut to fame and fortune, and she can use it to become as rich as Eldos. But Eldos never used it to get rich, his money was earned through hard work and dedication to his craft. There is no short-cut.

The reason the Pseudo-apprentice thinks it a short-cut, is because Eldos already informed her of all Enchantments that he knows except the firelight enchantment. All of his spells are known in public record from when he was a professional enchanter. She assumed it was a spell others would pay him a fortune to use, but was a secret.

Eldos never corrected this, thus gained a free maid.

The old man came down the stairs and groaned a bit as he saw me. This is a reaction unique to one such as himself who lives with a bothersome beautiful young woman, and now sees another.

I bowed politely and said, “Greetings master Eldos. My name is Curi, I am a Firelight Enchanter. I became aware that you may know one of the spells I seek to master.”

My introduction caught his attention. “Oh? A Firelight Enchanter you say?” He continued down the stairs and sat at in the cushioned seat of his reading chair.

I moved to sit opposite him. Before the woman could join us, Eldos said, “Elena, could you brew us some tea dear?” She resisted at first but nodded and went to the kitchen.

Eldos shook his head. “Woman can’t make tea worth a darn, but that will buy us some time to talk.”

I smiled at the craftiness of the old man. I continued, “Would you be willing to teach me the spell?”

Eldos said, “Well, depends. Why do you want the spell? To make money? To become powerful?”

I smiled lightly as if those options were humorous in their absurdity. I answered. Not the exact answer I could see would get me the spell, but the honest answer. “What I seek is the means to make others great and the ability to do so.”

He looked me in the eyes for a tense moment. Then started laughing. “Make others great. I like that. That being said, this spell is not for making others great. Learning it may be pointless for you.”

I gave another smile and said, “Even so, I still wish to master the art of Firelight Enchanting in all its parts. And even if the spell cannot make others great, if it can assist me in any way to make others great, I will do all I can to learn it.”

Eldos nodded, “That it may, that it may.”

The old enchanter turned to the kitchen and said, “However, I cannot in good conscious simply give you the spell I have been withholding from Elena for so long for free. It would make her truly realize the pointlessness of her efforts, and I might lose my housekeeper.”

I knew where this would end so I hurried the man to the decision. “Why not test us both with something only someone worthy and capable of learning the enchantment can pass? I’m sure you have reasons other than keeping a maid to not pass on the enchantment. Make a test that demonstrates what she lacks.”

Eldos nodded at my suggestion and said, “Hmm, I’ll need a bit of time to think of something.”

I nodded and asked, “In the meantime, do you mind if I peruse your study’s selection?”

Eldos cocked his head to the side and said, “You sure? There is some very advanced stuff in there. Elena read through them, but she got nothing for it. It isn’t something for those below the level of master.”

“I think I’ll manage.”

“Oh ho. Well then by all means. Don’t fold the pages.” After that he returned upstairs.

Elena returned with two cups of tea, I informed her that Eldos would take his upstairs and that he would return after some period.

I opened the first book, Determinants of Causality, by Archmage Tharken.

Overall, the finer details of magic within Royal Road had quite a few more similarities to real magic than I first assumed. Instead of boring you with the contents of the many books I read, I’ll share a few details about the part of magic that Royal Road shares with most worlds, including your own. If this does not interest you, skip ahead.

I’ve stated this before, but in case you forgot, I’ll remind you. Throughout every part of the universe, great and small, there is a balance between polar opposites such as chaos and order. Magic is the separation of these opposites to use an effect that requires one over the other. For example, if you want to protect something, you want it to stay in the same state it was in. This continuity is a form of order. The opposite of order is chaos, therefore the magic that would protect this would separate the chaos and order that exist within and around the object, and expel the chaos. This is a standard form of protection.

However, there are consequences to such magic. The chaos that was expelled would not disappear. It would go elsewhere. For example. If a protection spell that worked like previously mentioned were used on a house, the expelled chaos may go to the houses or people around it. So while the protected house would have less chaos, the houses around it would have more, thus be more likely to incur damage that may have once befallen upon the protected house.

Another example of magic consequences. Say you use magic to fashion a ring that ensures the wearer always has good luck. This magic splits the luck that a person has into the polar opposites, Good luck and Bad luck, and expels the bad. So, same point as last time. Where does the bad luck go? Well, it might go to some stranger and if you are uncaring that may not bother you, but more likely it will gravitate towards those you spend time with, friends and loved ones. So as you receive good luck, they receive greater amounts of bad luck.

There are ways around these consequences, but only a learned practitioner can use them. Simply put, when separating the polar opposites, both must be used in a way that benefits towards the desired outcome.

A simple example would be a spell to keep oneself healthy. The splitting of opposites here yields the body’s ability to maintain health being heightened and reduced. The proper way to do this, would be to split the time between them to make your body suddenly sick, then make it healthy afterwards. The lasting effect is that your body’s final state will be healthier than the original. This is because the momentary illness followed health, acts similarly to the way a inoculation works in your world.

The power behind true magic exists everywhere, it just cancels itself out.

Now, a powerful spell splits dozens of opposing effects, combines them in ways that either cancel out the unwanted effects or makes the opposite effects work towards the desired outcome. For most minds, this entire process is very difficult. Not solely for the complexity, but because the way of thinking required to use such spells requires a way of thinking that your entire civilization has grown away from.

Some worlds have civilizations that were built around magic. The talented wielders of magic within can split more than fifty different opposing forces and recombine their energies to do wondrous things in only a few moments. Of course, the energy field that magic exists in, the field that contains the balanced energies that usually cancel each other out unless disturbed, these fields are weaker in your world than they are in others. Even if a person who could focus their mind to split a hundred forces and allocated them properly existed in your world, they would not be able to do much outside the areas of your world where magic is strong.

Of course, that is only for those who must rely on the fields around them on this plane. For those who can access the magic fields that exist on other planes, magic of a far greater power can be realized.

Now, on to how to command these forces. Simply put, they respond to pure will power. A pure desire for something to happen. Spell incantations and the like are tools for purifying one’s intent to the point it can affect the energy field. The words themselves do not matter. They are a tool to attach the pure desire to, a simple feat that can be done with repeated practice. Spell circles and diagrams are also tools that assist in directing the forces while splitting and combining them. They lessen the load on the mind and allow more complex spells to be done more easily. Same goes for rituals.

---

Eldos returned to the study after about six hours. After seeing that I was interested in his books, he had taken a nap.

In that time I flipped every page of every book that would grant me bonus stats and thought the words in my head to make the system think I was speed reading them. Of course at my rate of ‘speed reading,’ the bookshelf was ‘read’ in an hour and a half. I have complete control over what the system sees in occurring in my mind, so making it appear that I was speed reading was not difficult.

In total I had gained 53 Intellect points, 46 Wisdom points, and 33 Insight points.

As I mentioned before, they were one of a kind books.

Eldos looked over his bookshelf once and saw that each book had been moved a bit from their original position. “Did you really read them all?”

“Yes, a fascinating collection.”

“I see. And if I were to ask you what Romor the sage’s thoughts about definitive allocation through total comprehension..?

“Then I would say that nothing is certain and nothing lasts forever.”

Eldos burst out laughing, “Haha. You really did read it.”

Elena was watching me the entire time. She likely thought I was simply going over the pages of the books to glance them over. She had likely done the same a few times.

Eldos calmed down and addressed Elena. “I am going to give this young lass a test. If she passes, I will teach her my secret spell. However, I will give you a chance as well. If you pass, I will teach you instead.”

Elena looked uncertain, “Truly?”

Eldos nodded. “Yes, the test is this, one simple question. I’ll ask you first Elena. If you are correct, then I’ll see this young lady off, and I will teach you the spell without a moment’s waste.”

Elena looked even less certain. “Does the question have to due with the contents of Master’s study?”

Eldos chuckled a bit at the reasonable fear, but replied, “No, that is material that is only useful to a master. Comprehension of the subjects will help in the path to becoming a master, but it is not required before then. The question is one that lies at the very heart of the magic of Enchanting. No enchanter shall ever become a master unless they know the answer to this question. Are you ready?”

“Yes master.” we both answered.

Eldos turned to Elena and asked, “Where does the magic behind enchantment come from?”

Elena looked astonished by the question, she quickly answered, “Mana.”

Eldos shook his head. “No my dear, that is the source of power. Where does the magic come from?”

Elena looked thoughtful but only for a moment before answering, “The components.”

Eldos shook his head. “No, no. The components balance out the forces of the magic by sacrificing items that shared similar bound principals. If components make the magic, there would be no component-less enchantments. Now, this is your last chance. Where does the magic come from?”

“The magic script?” She knew this answer was wrong, but she never thought to question such a basic concept before.

Eldos answered, “Enchantments existed before magic script. They existed before incantations and rituals.”

He turned to me and asked, “Where does the magic behind Enchantments come from?”

Elena looked expectantly at me. Like a lost child trying to find her way home. I knew the answer of course. I knew it long before I knew of this game. The answer was the same as it was in the real world. “Love. Enchantments are born from love.”

Eldos smiled, satisfied. Elena looked even more confused. Eldos explained the answer, more for her sake than mine. “Love it is. Tell me Elena, did you know that Enchantments were the first magic? Love is as natural as breathing, and as pure as sunlight or rainwater. Through love, desires could come true. Loving a child and wishing for their protection, loving a person from afar and wanting their happiness. Although primitive by our standards, these cast the first enchantments, the first working magics.”

Elena bowed her head down in shame. She was an Enchanter as well, but she had not bothered to consider such a basic thing as where the power of her enchantments came from. She understood now why she had not been given the secret enchantment.

The woman left the study to go upstairs. likely to either sulk or rethink her life.

Eldos continued and asked me another question, “How much do you know about the one who created the firelight enchantments and your class?”

I revealed only what I had gained through gameplay. “She was a powerful Enchantress who lived long ago. She wished to create powerful enchantments that used sources for their power other than components.”

Eldos nodded. “Yes, but more than this, she wished to pioneer new enchantments that could do things no other enchantment could do, she was truly a visionary. The spell I discovered of hers pioneered something I had never before seen. A enchantments that could enchant anything. All enchantments have a limit on what they can be cast on, whither it be a body, a tool, a weapon, or a wall, but this one can be cast on anything. And to whatever it is cast on, it does the same thing.”

Eldos picked up a book from his shelves and placed it on the table. He touched it, and a red line spread from his fingertips and made a familiar pattern that surrounded the book. When the book was completely covered in glowing red lines, the lines suddenly glowed bright, and the book disappeared. In its place was a card, with a picture of the book on it.

Eldos picked up the card and let me see it. I knew what it was of course. The enchantment could turn almost anything into a card if you had enough mana, (bigger, more complex, means more mana, more difficult, and less likely to succeed). The source of power for the enchantment, other than mana, was time. Any object turned into a card had the time it should have experienced, turned into power to preserve the enchantment. In other words, objects turned into cards are locked in the moment they were turned into a card. This was a perfect example of using the good and bad aspect of magic and directing them towards something beneficial. Realistically this wasn’t a bad thing at all. The cards themselves could retake their original form immediately if broken, or after a few seconds if the one holding it said 'release.'

Of course using the spell required an Enchant skill of advanced, but I had gotten the skill up to Intermediate level 9 at 94%. Learning the spell would advance my Enchant knowledge and increase the skill enough to achieve the next level.

Eldos held out his hand and I took it. His hand glowed for a moment before I received a few messages.

You have learned a new Spell: Enchant CardYour Enchant proficiency has increased.Enchant has reached Intermediate level 10 and becomes Advanced level 1

Intellect Stat +20You may now learn the Enchantment: Love

“Thank you master.”

Eldos gave a smile only given by kindly old men to their grandchildren and said, “No, thankyou. You have given me some hope for this younger generation. Perhaps Elena too, shall in earnest, change her greedy ways and devote herself to the true study of Enchanting.”

“In which case, I wish you both well.”

Eldos nodded again and said, “Remember your answer young lady, and spread the magic born through love throughout the world.”

I hugged the old man for a moment before leaving on my way.

Chapter 12

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