B4 - Chapter 26 - Astral Mana Core

"W-what happened?" Lily whispered, still in shock.

[Firstly, congratulations are in order. I didn't expect you to both compress your Mana Core and convert it to Astral Mana at the same time. I've already amended my research notes to include that little tidbit, as I cannot believe the Astral mages forgot to mention that in their texts, but I digress… Next, I'll remind you we should probably stick to telepathic conversation, as you never know who might overhear us.]

{Sorry!}

[Don't apologize; if I were capable of talking normally, I probably would have made the same slip-up in my excitement. This is something I've never witnessed in my entire existence, so I'm very interested to see what is next. Why did your Nebula Veil change? Can you now draw constellations? How will this affect your current and future spells? You've provided me with a fountain of knowledge to drink from.]

Arakil spent what must have been a good five minutes rambling, and she let him continue with his hypotheticals and theories uninterrupted. He wanted to measure her Mana during their next visit to the labyrinth to see if the dungeon reacted to the change, and so many other things. She hoped he was keeping a list, since she had already forgotten most of it.

I'm just glad that I can finally do something for him. Even if I'm the one mostly benefiting from all of this… I don't think a bit of research and notes can pay back even a fraction of what he's done for me.

But Lily didn't let that get to her. She knew there was only so much she could do right now, and only when she was older could she tackle the problem of setting him free. It was frustrating to admit it, but she was still just a kid in the eyes of the world, and probably no matter what she did or showed to the world of magic, that wouldn't change. Arakil also seemed opposed to bringing someone else into the fold, as if he would only allow Lily to help him. It had been a big relief to her past self when he turned down her suggestion that someone like Headmaster Fabrelis could help him better.

While Arakil continued to think out loud, Lily took the opportunity to examine herself more closely, although admittedly she felt pretty much the same. That was both reassuring and a bit puzzling, as wasn't this supposed to be some upgrade to her magical abilities? She scrutinized her Mana Core and, after a brief period, noticed it was spinning slower than before, yet each rotation seemed to contain far more Mana.

I wonder if I should call it my Astral Mana Core now?

Lily tried to make her Astral Mana Core rotate faster, but it was a genuine struggle, as if, somehow, despite being much smaller than before, it was heavier. Thankfully, she recalled Arakil's previous words and realized the compression must have made it denser, which was why it was harder to spin. Yet the spin speed didn't matter; it was just as good as before, if not better.

To confirm this, she started trying to draw in Mana; the ambient Mana was still horrendous, but it was enough to test her assumption. The first thing she noticed was that her range had increased tremendously, as Mana seemed to be drawn to her almost automatically. Was this just because of the compressed Core? Or was it because it had turned into a star? Lily wasn't sure.

Well, this should make gathering Mana in the dungeon easier. I might even be able to compete with Rose's greediness if my Core really does have a strong pull.

Next, she turned to her Nebula Veil, which still had its strange new appearance. She willed it to move, and to her relief, it didn't suffer the same fate as her Mana Core; it moved with the same speed and precision she had practiced so hard to achieve. She wrapped herself in the cloak tighter and felt the same comforting warmth as before, and it had the same pleasant texture when she touched it, so that was also the same.

Was it just a visual upgrade? I suppose the defenses might be improved, but I can't shoot a spell at myself in the courtyard, or I might get in trouble.

That would need to wait for her next PMC class, or her next trip into the dungeon where she wouldn't need to worry about potential repercussions. She couldn't test Starburst for the same reasons, so she cast Starlight and summoned over a dozen twinkling stars with the most casual of castings.

Oh! Is this how Rose feels when she controls fire?

Lily was awed by the experience; it really felt like the Astral spells were now waiting at her beck and call. However, she quickly realized this change came at a cost, and she became very concerned about her other spells. The first thing she tried to do was conjure a small spark of flame, just a candle's worth, but to her horror, it actually outright failed.

{Arakil, this is way worse than you said it would be!}

[Lily, my dear… You were still intentionally holding back; of course it would fail.]

Lily's mouth opened and closed a few times, as if she was doing her best fish impression before her face went scarlet with embarrassment. She was so used to pretending that it was basically natural at this point, and she had to mentally prepare herself to cast it normally. Without her restriction, the small candle flame finally appeared, although by her own estimation it was worse than her faked one.

I guess it's a good thing I'm not being graded on my other spells, only my Astral spells… I've basically gone backward now.

Lily was now genuinely worried and quickly pulled out her wand. Arakil was trying to say something to her, but she was ignoring it, and she began to draw a small flame glyph from start to finish without missing a beat. When she activated it and it worked just as she designed it to, she let out a long, drawn-out sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness…"

[You're talking out loud again. Also, I said your glyphs would be unaffected, as the wand transforms your Mana appropriately.]

{But it didn't work for Professor Ollie, because his water bloodline affected his Mana, so I thought my Astral Mana Core might be the same.}

[I'll remind you that your professor was using the wand incorrectly; that was just the excuse we gave for why it worked for you. But considering the effort you've put into making people forget the wand even exists, that might not matter anymore… Anyway, there are no, and there won't be, any issues with your Astral Mana and your glyph or inscriptions unless you suddenly want to start studying necromantic glyphs?]

{N-no… Sorry, I was just panicking after that horrible fire spell.}

[It was worse than I thought it would be, but that might just be because you are out of practice casting them without holding back. Not that it really matters since we still have your glyphs, and hopefully soon constellations as well!]

Arakil sounded especially excited about that last part, and Lily was too. Of course, now that she had the Astral Mana, she next needed to actually learn how to use it correctly. It had taken all of this effort just to prepare the tools she required to start the work, but hopefully the road ahead wasn't too long, as she desperately wanted to achieve it.

Looking at her Nebula Veil, she arranged the stars into the simple flame glyph and tried tracing it; this time, when her finger touched the cloak, a visible line connected the stars. Lily nearly gasped but pulled on her well-developed concentration and focused until she finished drawing the glyph.

Visually, it looked like the glyph was on her cloak, just waiting to be activated, but when she tried to activate it with a pulse of Mana, nothing happened. She then tried willing it, as if telling her Nebula Veil to activate it, but there was still no reaction.

[Unfortunately, you'll need to learn how to draw constellations before we can make this a reality; however, seeing you come this far makes me fully believe we can do it.]

{It really feels like it should work, which is the most frustrating part… If only I could activate it.}

[Which is why you need to learn Astral Invocation first. Then once you can do that, we can work on my modified version that should work on glyphs and then inscriptions. But that said, you might be able to do something now.]

Arakil's grimoire plopped down on her lap, and the pages unfurled, revealing a section she had almost forgotten about—Duncan's notes! These simplified enchantments ultimately led to this idea, and she felt guilty for neglecting them until now.

{Enchantments don't need to be activated…}

[Precisely, which is why I think these have the potential to work even though you cannot cast Astral Invocation. You haven't practiced drawing these, but Duncan intentionally kept them as simple as possible so he could create them in the midst of combat, so it shouldn't matter.]

The pages turned again, revealing another design.

[Here, this one is a very simple defensive enchantment. Even if you make a mistake, there's no risk involved.]

Lily nodded and then began arranging the stars on her cloak to match the design. This process might have made things simpler for her, since she got to lay out the initial design with stars before she needed to trace it. It wasn't foolproof, but it let her make corrections before finalizing it.

In this enchantment's case, it was intentionally simple, so she finished her arrangement in very little time, especially since manipulating the cloak's stars was almost the equivalent of drawing with her mind. Arakil gave her the go-ahead, and Lily quickly traced out the enchantment, making sure the encirclement was the final step per his warning.

As Lily drew the boundary, the enchantment flashed, then pulsed outward like a surge through her Nebula Veil. It happened so quickly that it gave her a bit of a fright, and she nearly fell backward.

[Sorry, I should have warned you that enchantments activate like that. Well, correction: you usually do need to feed them some Mana to get the ball rolling, but your Nebula Veil is Mana, so you skipped that step entirely.]

{So… It worked?}

[I believe so. Try moving your cloak around, maybe even try hitting it?]

Brimming with excitement, Lily immediately did as he asked, and the first thing she noticed was that her Nebula Veil was stiffer than usual. She could still move it, but this newfound rigidity kept it from flowing like it usually did, and it reminded her of clothes that had suffered from too much starch.

This was the first sign that the enchantment had been a success, and when she willed it to reinforce, like she usually did when blocking an attack, it felt almost like it had become as solid as a shield. Unfortunately for Lily, she hadn't thought through the next step, and when she threw a fist at the cloak, all she got was pain and discomfort. She just barely managed to stop herself from yelping.

As Lily was clutching her throbbing hand, she faintly chuckled at her own stupidity, but also couldn't help but smile as her old cloak could never have done that, which meant the enchantment worked!

[You might want to put some ointment on that…]

{I will, but it worked! Arakil, my cloak is enchanted!}

[Indeed it did. I suppose tomorrow you can start learning the incantation for Astral Invocation.]

{But—}

[No buts. It's already past the agreed-upon time, and I'm worried your lack of sleep is already affecting your judgment after you punched your own cloak…]

{How else was I supposed to test it? It's not like I had a stick or weapon to swing at it.}

[A rock? Or maybe you should've just tried pushing against the cloak instead of hitting it? The point stands; it's very late, and if someone catches you past the extended curfew for this, you could get in trouble.]

Lily gulped and nodded. Arakil was right, and now that her hand's throbbing was dulling, she finally noticed how late it was. As if on cue, she even let out a little yawn.

{Okay, tomorrow then…}

[Excellent. Again, very well done, Lily. Tonight was a one-of-a-kind experience.]

Lily couldn't help but smile, even as she dismissed her cloak and brought the exciting night to a close. Thankfully, she made it back to her room without anyone calling her out, and she sighed in relief as she rubbed herbal ointment on her hand, just in case.

However, even though she had said she would go to bed, two things were on her mind that she had to check, or she would never get to sleep unless she used a dream glyph to force herself to slumber.

First, she summoned her Nebula Veil again and saw it hadn't retained the enchantment she'd applied. This was expected, though she wondered if she could improve her mastery over it enough to make it do that if she wished. She was also relieved it still had its new appearance, which had been a tiny worry in the back of her mind.

Lastly, she turned to her chair and began casting telekinesis. She'd already seen that basic elemental spells were poor, and even though Arakil said this spell was neutral, a creeping doubt had been pestering her ever since she failed the first candle flame.

To her relief, the spell formed without issue, and similarly she lifted the chair without trouble. But, as Arakil had mentioned, there was a catch, and her telekinesis had indeed taken on a new property. While the chair was lifted, it now twinkled, as if tiny stars were speckled across its surface.

"As far as side effects go, this isn't bad at all," Lily giggled.

[Well, it's lost all sense of subtlety, but considering the alternative could've been burning or melting… No, it's not bad at all.]