44. On Magic And Trees
You give Amanda a few minutes to get settled in, waiting outside her room and idly using your spare metals to place a few light fixtures in your as yet unbuilt rooms. When she emerges she looks surprised to see you.
“Is there something you need Red Scale?”
You wobble your head. “Possibly. How much of your magic did you lose when you were abandoned?”
Amanda's face closes off, and she half turns away from you. “I told you, I can't use my... it. It's all gone.” She goes to brush past you, but you hold up an arm.
“I know, sorry, that didn't come out right. What I mean is, do you still have the knowledge that comes around magic? The theory side?”
She stops, but still doesn't turn to face you. “Yes, some of it. I never really studied it in any case.” She offers a half smile, or perhaps a grimace. “That's the upside of having a god do the heavy lifting for you.”
You nod as she talks, and then ask the burning question. “Then, what can you tell me about Elements?”
“What?”
“When I first lived here, there was a spring of water in my cave. When I claimed the land, the water was listed as a 'natural resource' and taken away, only for me to replace it in the water pool. When I was experimenting with rooms, I found reference to something called a 'Fire Element' which would let me make a fire pool, and several of the traps reference something called 'Poison Element'. What exactly constitutes an Element and how would I get one?”
Amanda is quiet for several seconds as she mulls over your question. “That's a... hell of a question Red. And not one I'm super qualified to answer.” You give her a flat stare, and then slowly look around at the dungeon, in particular the goblin who walks by, picking his nose. “But I guess I'll do my best.”
She spends a few seconds more marshalling her thoughts. “OK, so I guess in the end it comes down to the nature of magic. Skipping a lot of the theory, magic is about convincing the world that it's how you imagine it, rather than how it is. That's easier the closer the world is to how you imagine it. So, a spell that crushes the target under a rock slide is much easier in an area of rocky terrain, because it's easy to tell the... memory, for want of a better word, of the world that it's only natural for rocks to fall here. Water magic is more powerful near water, fire near fire. It's most obvious, with the common elements, with fire. Very few places in the world are truly dry, very few truly air or earthless. Quite a lot of the world isn't on fire.” She takes a deep breath.
“So, while water magic is hard in a desert, it's not impossible. Fire, on the other hand, can be really hard to call up, because it's hard to convince the world that there's a fire when there isn't one. That's why high level pyromancer gear often includes things like Ever-burning Staves or Crowns of Flame; terromancers get Stone Plate Armour; aquamancers Infinite Amphora. Interestingly, most scholars believe that fire's ephemeral nature is balanced by the fact that less natural fire is needed to fuel powerful spells, proportionally, than any other of the basic elements, and-”
She cuts herself off and looks somewhat embarrassed. “Uh, anyway. So, in basic terms, magic is made easier by the amount of naturally occurring, or at least not magically sustained, of whatever it is you're messing with. What is commonly referred to as Element however, is a naturally occurring concentration of self sustaining mana. Kind of like how diamonds can be made by crushing coal, and then they don't try and expand back out, if you get a large chunk of mana that is heavily aspected in one way or another, and then apply magical pressure to it from every direction, eventually you end up with a sort of crystal that is both self sustaining and refines, or infects, nearby mana with itself.”
You interject, before she can go off in a direction that isn't helpful and sensing you;re close to your goal. “And how does that happen?”
“Well,” Amanda starts. Despite her earlier reticence, it's clear that she's enjoying herself. “Spells are, by nature, semi self sustaining. They're mental constructs, shapes, designed to do as much as possible with as little power as possible. So, big spells, with a lot of power in them, and especially cast in places where they would stand out, mysticly speaking, can eventually cause these crystals to form.”
“So my water spring was a spell remanent?”
“Maybe? It could be that the system doesn't differentiate between these small crystals with a lot of power in them, and much larger areas of less power. Your lair may have just eaten an underground spring, detected a sudden influx of water based mana, and simplified that into an Element for ease of use. Now, however, I'd bet that somewhere under the pool's surface is a hidden chamber containing a blue crystal about the size of a finger.
“There is also the possibility that the crystal was formed naturally. That does happen, and is in fact most common with water crystals. When bodies of water undergo sudden droughts, it's possible that the water will be evaporated but the water mana will be unable to escape, and end up trapped. Then, crystal.”
You look up at her when she pauses for breath. “What happened to 'not being qualified to answer'?” She blushes, but you wave it off when she goes to speak again. “So is it possible to make them, in a way that's easier than waiting for an unknown amount of time after casting powerful spells?”
“Well, some monsters drop them, but often in small shards that have to be added together if you want an actual Element. Something about an 'aspected soul', but that's about where my knowledge ends.”
You cluck your tongue in disappointment, and then jerk back to look Amanda in the eye. “Sorry, I don't mean to be ungrateful. But I had an idea on something for Mercy that doesn't look to be feasible after all.” At Amanda's confused look, you elaborate. “She was saying at one point that having a tree to bond with would help her with her power problem, so I figured if I had some sort of demonic essence I might be able to make a tree that's perfect for her.”
Amanda hums and starts walking up the stairs towards the spring. “I can see why you'd want that. She said she was heading out to feed after you set yourself down to plan the lair, but she seemed out of it. It wouldn't be very good if she were to accidentally bring more attention to here before you're ready.” You're both silent while Amanda takes a drink from the spring. Then she opens her mouth again. “Maybe you could just get her to cast some big spell somewhere? In the mountain there's enough earth aspected mana that it should work to compress her spell down eventually. It might take a while but it's better than nothing surely?”
You think about it for a few minutes while Amanda begins to remove her clothing and bathes in the cool water. It's not a bad idea, all in all. You'd prefer to have an instant solution, but that doesn't look forthcoming. You nod once again, and leave the redhead to her bathing.
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