Chapter 6
“ALLOW ME to summarize.”
Hand in hand with Soul Howl, Mira sat and explained the Spirit King Network—which she herself had named, of course. Part of the Spirit King’s blessing was the power to link. By doing so, Mira could converse with the Spirit King anytime and request his wisdom and advice.
“As for Martel, allow me to correct her: she’s the progenitor spirit of flora, not love.”
“Aw, Mira, you’re such a meanie.”
Smiling, Mira explained that she’d recently met Martel and become able to chat with her as well.
“Progenitor spirit, huh? I came across some literature that mentioned those,” Soul Howl noted. “They were the first ones after the Spirit King, or something. And you’ve got both on your side…? That’s the Elder I know.”
The Spirit King was said to be comparable to a god, and this progenitor spirit was second in power only to him. How many people would believe it if they were told someone could chat freely with such beings? But Soul Howl accepted Mira’s claims without doubt—partially because she had no reason to lie to him, yes, but also because she was a close friend despite their recent years apart.
Not that either needed to consciously worry about things like that. Sensing the power of Mira and Soul Howl’s mutual trust through the blessing, the Spirit King and Martel admired the strength of the humans’ friendship.
“Well, moving on. I discussed things with them, and the Spirit King has a proposal,” Mira said, leaving the finer details to the Spirit King himself.
He spoke solemnly yet firmly. “Miss Mira told me everything. Sir Soul Howl, your heroic spirit has impressed me. I would like to take on your burden!”
After this initial declaration, the Spirit King repeated everything he’d told Mira: why exactly Soul Howl’s advanced magic was sealed, that the Spirit King could take on the spell’s burden himself, and that doing so wouldn’t affect him while he was in the Spirit Palace.
“What? Why would you do that for me?” The proposal startled Soul Howl. Although it would be a chance to keep the suspended-animation spell active and use advanced magic, he was also skeptical. It just sounded too good to be true.
In the back of his perplexed mind was Martel’s excited voice. “Isn’t it obvious? To reunite two lovers! Soul Howl, we know all about your burning passion!”
“Two lovers? Who is she talking about?” Unable to figure Martel’s comments out, Soul Howl looked at Mira dubiously.
At the same time, Mira casually averted her eyes, muttering, “I don’t think she quite understands.”
“Oh. I think I get it.” It seemed Soul Howl had already caught Mira’s drift: Martel thought he was in love with the zealot. “I don’t have a problem with the offer, but I told you, this isn’t about love or anything.”
“I know. That’s what I told them. From what he says, the Spirit King views you as a hero—but it turns out Martel adores love stories.” The progenitor spirit just wouldn’t believe Mira that easily.
Soul Howl accepted this explanation. “There was a girl like that in my class,” he replied with a snicker.
“We can’t do much about it,” Mira said. “Be patient with her, would you? She was alone for thousands of years until I came along.”
“Hmm… Then I guess I can’t refuse…”
With that, Mira and Soul Howl concluded their conversation, and the Spirit King mentally apologized for Martel’s behavior as the progenitor spirit watched the necromancer in obvious disbelief.
Soul Howl brought things back on topic, asking the Spirit King, “Is this really something you can do? There’s no risk of the suspended-animation spell cutting out during the transfer, right?” Even if he moved the spell’s burden to the Spirit King, the process would be for nothing if it disrupted the spell and allowed time to pass for the woman. This would be Soul Howl’s first time trying such a thing, so he was cautious.
“Indeed I can, but there are some limitations. First, I will need to know about the Forbidden Art you used, Sir Soul Howl. The technique, the theories behind it, and the mechanism suppressing the burden as well.”
According to the Spirit King, he’d initially need to understand the spell’s construction and transfer it to himself, becoming a vessel similar to the caster. Then, he’d need to connect to and harmonize with Soul Howl’s mana. Once that link was stable, it could transfer the burden. Even that simplified explanation of the procedure sounded very complex.
“All right, that makes sense. I’ll tell you about it.” Soul Howl seemed adequately convinced.
He quickly explained the Forbidden Art he’d devised, Otherworldly Stasis. That spell was one of Soul Howl’s original syntheses—a combination of multiple spells. It was based in necromancy, with various additional elements of Ethereal Arts and the magics of exorcists and mediums.
While explaining, Soul Howl pulled a bundle of paper out of his Item Box. Countless complex procedures covered the sheets. “As for how I reduce the burden, this is the mechanism. I made synchronized seals and installed them in my wives.”
The papers indicated that he had modified the women in maids’ clothing on Nebrapolis’s bottom floor. Those modifications embedded special magical seals inside them, enabling him to turn them into extensions of himself. Their souls were gone, but their bodies were intact, so the right amount of tinkering through necromancy could make them into vessels to bear some of the burden.
Indeed, Soul Howl had prepared hundreds of them. By doing so, he’d dispersed the enormous burden of defying the laws of nature.
“If you start by making vessels, it might help a little,” he added, then described the procedures for the magic seals and how he’d altered the corpses.
One large vessel, or multiple small ones—while the construction and mechanisms differed, the logic was the same, so Soul Howl expected this knowledge would help.
“Hmm… Incredible that you managed to devise such a technique. Now that you’ve offered so many details, I may not even need to use myself as a vessel as planned. I may be able to create a more perfect vessel.”
Soul Howl’s explanation, including the advantages and disadvantages of his processes, had proven quite effective.
The Spirit King used Mira’s link to analyze Soul Howl’s mana wavelength before getting to work on a vessel. This would require Martel’s power, too, which meant things would be quiet for a little while.
Before they got to work, Martel hotheadedly demanded, “What do you mean by ‘wives,’ exactly?!”
No doubt she’d give Soul Howl an earful once they were done.
***
Once she and Soul Howl had finished discussing the process’s details, and were left waiting for the Spirit King to do his magic, Mira snatched Soul Howl’s bundle of papers up with great interest. “You put a lot of research into these.”
They were full of considerations, research results, and hypotheses. It’d be fair to say the papers were a collection of the wisdom Soul Howl had accumulated over many years.
Soul Howl glared at Mira as she skimmed his notes, holding out his hand impatiently. “C’mon, Elder. Show me yours if I’m going to show you mine.”
“Ugh, fine…” Unable to withstand his constant cheek-poking, Mira took out a notebook. It was her research journal, to which she’d gradually added in her spare time. It was full of as many procedures and thoughts as Soul Howl’s bundle of papers.
“Wow. There’s a whole lot about spirits in here. Deep, too…as one would expect of the summoner who bears the Spirit King’s blessing,” Soul Howl muttered as he eagerly paged through Mira’s research.
“But of course, but of course.” Mira grinned smugly while she likewise consumed his notebook.
Danblf and Soul Howl, like the other Elders of the Linked Silver Towers, were simultaneously rivals and comrades, working diligently for the sake of their country’s future. Thus, they’d once shared most of their knowledge, and exchanges such as this one had been commonplace.
Mira, Soul Howl, Martel, and the Spirit King were each absorbed in their own work, so a moment of silence fell upon the group. All one could hear was Mira or Soul Howl occasionally flipping pages.
Oh ho ho! This is incredible. I was curious before, but this all makes sense. So this is how you synthesize spells!
Synthesized spells, as the name implied, incorporated various spells to create a new one. Mira had heard about them from Cleos, since they were being researched at Alcait Academy. However, he’d been vague, leaving her curious yet unable to follow up with her own research.
Now her knowledge had grown by leaps and bounds. Soul Howl’s research documents included innovations far beyond anything the school had discovered.
Soul Howl was among the most passionate of the Wise Men—was perhaps the most passionate Wise Man—in this field. His competition would’ve been Flonne, the Elder of Ethereal Arts.
Mira’s eyes lit up at the practical techniques and theories in the bundle of papers. However, while she would be able to comprehend them, it was a difficult feat she couldn’t do overnight.
Hrmm. I should at least copy these, she thought, opening her Item Box to search for a notepad and writing utensil. Just then, an item she’d bought at Dinoire Trading a few days earlier caught her eye. Aha. As I recall, this sheet of paper can copy any text!
The main intended use of the large sheet of synthetic paper was to copy the intricate magic circles some spells required, removing the drudge work necessary for the spells each time. The spell types requiring special magic circles could serve as potent trump cards, but each had the drawback of requiring preparation ahead of time. All you really needed to do, however, was draw the required magic circles on mana-infused paper. In the past, people who used those spells had typically drawn the circles one by one in their spare time, then put them in storage. Some even made stamp-like templates to mass-produce the circles.
The advent of the copy paper had changed everything. It could easily reproduce magic circles at a low cost. Once someone drew a single magic circle, that was it; they didn’t need to draw it anymore. They didn’t need to carry around heavy, bulky templates either. In short, the copy paper was a revolutionary product to mages who used magic circles.
Mira tried using the copy paper beloved by magic circle enthusiasts. “Ooh! Now, this is convenient.”
The piece of copy paper was huge, so she traced Soul Howl’s research notes page by page onto the single sheet, starting at the top-left corner. After a while, the characters began appearing on the copy paper, a perfect facsimile. This wasn’t quite the paper’s intended use, but it was far more efficient than copying by hand, and Mira smiled at its effectiveness.
Meanwhile, Soul Howl—who’d been engrossed in Mira’s research notes—spoke up. “Ah, damn it. I can’t remember all this!”
He considered Mira’s notes a wellspring of useful wisdom, and he’d tried his best to simply commit them to memory, but they contained so much information he wanted that he’d reached his limit. Resigned, he grabbed a pen and paper to copy them as Mira had.
Before he began writing, he asked with a tinge of hope, “Hey, Elder, mind if I keep your notebook for a while? I’ll give it back at some point.”
“Of course you can’t keep it.”
“Figures…”
Mira denied that, obviously, since she still had many things to write in her notebook. She’d show Soul Howl her notes, but even he couldn’t abscond with them for an extended period. Soul Howl gave up and decided to start writing, but then noticed what Mira was doing.
“Elder…is that copy paper?!”
His sudden shout startled Mira, who was still copying his notes. At Soul Howl’s outburst, Mira realized he didn’t have any copy paper and smirked. “Indeed it is. Oh my goodness…how convenient it is! It works for so many things beyond magic circles.”
Since she’d just finished writing out his last page of notes, she held up the large sheet of paper onto which she’d copied them perfectly. The copy paper was quick, painless, and low-cost to boot.
Since the copy paper for magic circles was three meters to a side, there was still plenty of blank space left on the bottom half of the sheet when Mira finished copying Soul Howl’s research notes. The necromancer reached toward the sheet, pleading, “Elder, share the wealth. I’m begging you. I’ll even take that little extra blank space.”
“I suppose I could. Cutting these sheets is such a pain, though. Why don’t I just give you a fresh one?” Mira accepted his request readily, since she knew his pain.
Many spells in all fields required magic circles, so even to Mira, the paper was extremely convenient. It wasn’t as vital to summoners, given their unique ability to draw magic circles in midair using mana, but this boon would delight magic-users from other fields.
That certainly included necromancy. However, despite knowing of copy paper’s existence, Soul Howl hadn’t procured such a convenient item on his own. Why? Simple: all the necromancer spells that required magic circles were advanced. Ever since he’d placed the woman in suspended animation, the paper had been useless to him.
“I’m sure you’ll need more before long,” Mira said before casually handing Soul Howl a whole stack. He wouldn’t just need the paper to copy her notes; if all went well, he’d be able to use advanced spells again. It might even be handy soon in the battle against the Machina Guardian.
“Speaking of, I should get ready. Thank you, Elder.” Understanding why Mira gave him extras, Soul Howl began copying her research notes.
The reason Mira herself had brought the paper, despite not needing it as a summoner, was special refining. She’d procured the copy paper on the off chance she might need it to make herself stronger someday.
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