>>457843

>Go eat Tyrant meat.

"Hmm... Okay."
Tyrant meat sounds disgusting, but sure, why not?

Neloch isn't interesting enough yet to be a significant other. But hey, why not go out to eat lunch.

>>457843
"Fine, but only because you're treating me. Where are you?"

>>457997
Kinda tsun, don'tcha think?

>>458023
>Implying that Jaz isn't completely Tsun in Romance

>>457843
"I'll come, but no Tyrant meat for me. I got a cute pet Tyrant. In which city are you?"

>>457843
>Teleportation Gate
We have to visit all countries' national libraries to further our studies of Hermetic magic! Other capitals should also have Archmages we can contact, right?
>Neloch
Cool dude, liked our ancestor.

>>457843
"I have a pet tyrant. Wouldn't that be like going out to eat a dog?"

"Hmmm..."

You're not sure Tyrant tastes very good, but it's hard to ignore the siren call of 'free food'.

"It's always a good idea to eat what you've killed." Neloch says.

"Wait, was that my kill?"

"Sure is." He says.

For a moment you're less sure- The tyrant you killed was a bug.

But again, free food, and humanity's long since perfected the art of making monsters edible.

"Fine, but only because you're treating me." You say. "I needed a break anyway."

"Alright!" He says. "I'd make arrangements to pick you up, but that'd probably be less convenient for you than just meeting you there."

"I suppose." You say. "See you there, then. What city are you in?"

"City?" He asks. "Oh, I'm still in Romalia. I haven't set off yet."

The first time you met Nel he was just one man wearing scale and leather among a dozen other men wearing scale and leather, but today he's looking a lot fancier. When he'd told you he was an adventurer, you assumed he was like Brun, wearing combat gear constantly, but it seems like he has some sense of style.

Of course, it's wizard chic, so it's pretty eclectic- he's got only one flowing sleeve, and his hair is tied back into a long ponytail. He doesn't clean up too badly. His Implement is different now- instead of across the chest, he has it on his bared arm- a silver gauntlet.

"Glad to see you made it." He says.

"I did say I would." You say.

The Cafe isn't very upscale. In fact, it's closer to a mom-n-pop diner. The two of you make your way over to a booth and start to chat. Gareth scuttles under the table, and sits down right where you tell him to.

"So how's your research been going?"

"Pretty good." You say. "I'm actually getting somewhere now. The day where I understand actually what the hell I'm doing isn't far off."

You don't mention that you're actually finding yourself getting good at doing things you never planned on- like Astral magic, Shamanism, or even fabricating new parts.

"How's your... Whatever?" You ask.

"I've got a hint on where a monster took out a caravan." He says. "I just need to sneak in there with my magic and find the shipment. Then I should have the money to start work on a flying machine."

"You're actually building one?"

"Yeah." He says. "I've also been doing a lot of research on Gravity magic. I'm thinking that instead of using magic to propel it forward, I'll use some bog-standard aerodynamics. Like, you know, a giant electronic fan. If I make the thing's frame out of Mithril, I think I've got a real chance at it."

>?

>>458094
>aerodynamics
"That sounds like Fiend technology... no magic at all? Sounds like that Fantasy novel about a completely magic-free world." :)

>>458094
Eat.

>>458094
>research
We know a lot of researchers. Or is every mage always on the lookout for new techniques?
>mom-n-pop diner
Is the city or town different from the one where our Academy is? Is it famous for a kind of food? Or hot baths? Or a specially nice-looking landscape? We'll have to find a tourism office...

>>458115
>Eat.
:/ but it's our baby Tyrant's mother.
>>457843
>you've already earned enough
Hopefully we're already sending some money back home to support our single mother.

>>458094
"Say, I'm thinking about founding a transportation company, if your flying machine were a success, would you be interested in colaboration?"

>>458143
We're not compatible. Wrong type of transportation. It'd be like an adult asking a toddler for help moving boxes.

>Romalia is both the country and the name of its capital city- It's a huge city, and the walls are large enough to contain 'rural' areas too. It's in one of these farming districts.

"No magic at all?" You ask. The two of you make your orders, and you end up with noodles and ground tyrant meat with some kind of sauce. It's not as terrible as you thought. It's actually pretty good.

It's something universal, you've found, about wizards. Every single one will drop everything to talk about their projects. Even the most secretive wizard, or the one who cares only about the result could even be lured into a conversation.

"No, no." He says. "It's just, gravity magic is all about redirecting the kinetic energy gravity gives you, right?"

"Yeah." You say. "Prevent something from pulling you down, and you can transfer that into pushing you, say, forward."

"Right." He says. "So my idea is to redirect it straight upwards. Levitation."

"Like a slowfall spell?" You ask, and he nods. "That won't be enough to fly with complete efficiency."

"I know." He says. "Hence the fan. With some solar power, the right batteries, and if I keep everything as low-weight as possible... I think I can do it. I'm not good at the calculations, but might even be efficient enough to fly without magic. Definitely if I can make everything out of mithril, but I won't be able to do that unless I recover a lot more shipments."

"Hmm." You say. That would be impressive, especially for Nel. Then again, from what you've seen of his Arrays, he's pretty clever.

"Say. I'm thinking about founding a transportation company." You say. "If your flying machine were a success, would you be interested in a collaboration?"

The main difficulty of erecting a large network would be actually getting proper coordinates. If you had someone to travel there without teleportation and send you the coordinates wirelessly, it'd make things a lot easier...

"Sorry." He says. "It's not in me to work for someone like that. I'm the kind of guy who prefers to be free."

"Not even to sell the design for your flying machine?" You ask.

"That kind of thing just feels dishonest. Like I'm putting all this work into my project for nothing but money. I want to work on it for its own sake, and so that I can travel freely. Not to make money. You know?"

"Fair enough." You say.

Gareth buzzes up at you, giving you a hungry look. It's like he doesn't care that you're eating it's own species- hell, it's own progenitor.

You sigh, and order something for Gareth. Something not made out of Tyrant meat. You don't care about eating monsters, even one related to your new pet, but cannibalism is a bit much.

"So, I'm guessing your egg hatched?" He asks. "The little guy's cute, and his soul's definitely a bit tweaked."

>?

>>458190
>>?
"Yes, he's cute. I just tweaked a little bit here and there to prevent him from attacking me or other people.

Say, want to look for that Caravan together?"
Adventure time!

>>458190
>huge city
Gate network as public transportation! ...maybe those Mithril gates are too expensive for that purpose though...
>flying machine >Levitation
Make it light, fill it with air, balloon style? Hindenburg passenger vehicle :).

"Yes, he's cute." You say, putting the saucer on the ground so Gareth can chow down at it. "I just tweaked him a little bit here and there to prevent him from attacking me or other people."

"I can tell." Nel says. "You made him a bit more... human, is all I can say. Looks like he'll never get as big as a real tyrant, to me, but the loyalty is worth it."

"I probably could've done it a bit better." You say.

"You did better than I could." He says. "I'm much better at stealing powers than making any other changes. And I can't really do that until I dump the Shadow power I've got right now."

"I don't know much about how that part of shamanism works, to be honest." You say.

"... Well, it's pretty simple in theory." He says. "Reshape your own soul so that you can feed mana into a new core, beat a monster nearly to death, and then take one of the monsters' cores. It's a lot more complicated in practice, and you need to figure out how each power might... mess with you or your personality."

"And you have some kind of Shadow power, right? How does that mess with you?"

He gives you a half grin. "I'm nocturnal, now."

"Probably makes all-nighters a lot easier." You say.

"It also makes my eyes sensitive to light." He says. "I need a dweomer up to block out a bunch of light, or I'll get headaches during the day."

"How did you get into Shamanism in the first place?"

Nel quirks his lips slightly, and looks away for a moment.

"My soul's maladjusted." He says. "My cores don't... look right. Some of them are too weak, and other ones don't... exist like they should."

He shrugs.

"It was hard for me to bear, the idea that I might be broken. So I started doing research, and next thing I knew I stole the ability to breathe fire from a Devil Rat."

You're familiar with the feeling. If it weren't for your father warning you against trying to change anything without knowing more, you might have ended up trying Shamanism yourself, if you hadn't decided to focus on teleportation first.

>?

>>458287
Share a bit about our own soul?

On another note, how much longer until we share our discovery so we can achieve Magus status?

>>458190
Go home, read Ancestor's Book. The guy was a treasure. I wanna hear more about his adventures.

>>458301
>You need to figure out exactly how the portal/teleportation spell tunnels a hole through space first. You've got a few theories, you just need some more experimentation to figure out the truth.

>>458296
And yes.

>>458287
>Shamanism
Magic gene therapy?

>>458311
I vote we spend the next couple of days doing that.

>>458301
>share
Secret! All that power is ours! Forever!
>>458296
>soul
Ah, you mean manipulation of our ancestor?

>>458329
>couple of days
Spent weeks, months on that - coming along slowly but surely. And we have to still make sure all those mage competition can't learn our magic by reading the thesis, all secret!

>>458329
>You spend basically all of your spare time doing that between sessions. You don't need to worry about voting for that kind of stuff, because otherwise every person would vote just to 'research' and there'd be nothing else to the quest except grinding.

>>458331
>Jaz's soul is a bit weird, herself. Out of the seven cores a person has, three of hers are pretty robust, one is completely outrageous, and one more is... Broken.

Nobody else wants to read more about Angwaz's misadventures? How disappointing.

You pick at your food a little.

"I know how that feels." You say. "One of my cores are a bit..."

You trail off. He nods.

"Which one?"

"Devotion." You respond. Nel winces.

"I'm guessing that isn't very good for my chances with you, is it?" He jokes. You roll your eyes.

That was something you'd worried about. That you'd be unable to love. But Rathod, Ishelda, your parents... The people close to you are proof that you're not hopeless.

"Don't worry." You say. "You can have a little hope. A little."

"Sure, sure." He says, as you put away a third plate. Might as well make the most of Nel's purse, after all. "I've got a question, though."

"Shoot."

"How do you put away so much food?" He asks.

"There goes your hope." You respond, glaring at him. Nel just grins.

"Purity." He says. "My Purity core is... broken. My mana isn't always reliable. That's why I rely so much on dweomers. It also means I'm not good with... my emotions, a lot of the time. I need a lot of self-examination to know if I even should be upset, you know? I've been doing well right now, but sometimes it just gets hard to feel anything."

>?

>>458363
>>?
"Want to find that caravan together? The once you're looking for?" smoothly transition to nicer subjects.

>>458363
>I need a lot of self-examination to know if I even should be upset, you know?
You could always surround yourself with friends who you trust to point out when you are being ... callous.

(I see we have met a few people for our interdimensional adventuring party now. Still need someone to manage our on-world interests while we are away though.)

>>458363
Also since he told you that story about how he went to get a photo of the fungal dragon as if it were a big deal (which it was) you should mention casualy that one time you teleported there ummm, maybe say you were just looking for some solitude at the time.

>>458409
>interdimensional adventuring party
or Interdimensional Real Estate explorers, "Peaceful Forest House in Monster-free Dimension Z314, with its own Jasmine Portal for your daily grocery runs to Home Dimension 01"
>>458426
Rub it in.

>interdimensional adventuring party
or IDP for short

>>458363
>Devotion
Overrated anyway!
>isn't very good for my chances
He's not a book, so no.
>"How do you put away so much food?"
Maybe we subconsciously found a way to convert food to mana?

>>458460
or Inter-dapa for long.

Discovering Catpeople, Lizardmen, Ancient Ruins, a dimension where Monsters have a civilisation and Apemen are the danger... sounds all good!

>>458485
ahha
mybe we could be seen as a god like in El Dorado

>>458485
>dimension where Monsters have a civilisation and Apemen are the danger

I'm saving that as a note, because that has epic HFY implications all over it and I will find a way to make it a setting for a quest one day.

>>458504
If we can find a dimension where people don't have magic or inhabited by small Lilliput people - Godhoof obtained!
>>458519
Looking forward to reading that quest!

>>458519
that coudl be fun brign it on
>>458521
we can rule them like gods angery gods mahah

"You could always surround yourself with friends who you trust to point out when you're being... callous." You say.

"I don't really have a lot of opportunities to make friends." He shrugs. "But I'll look into it."

"So." You say, finishing up your plate. "Do you still have that picture of the Fungal Dragon?"

"I sure do." He says. He twitches a few fingers, and the display on the back of his hand lights up. On it is a photo, blurry and from far away, of the floating, tentacled monster.

You grin at him. "That's kind of impressive, that you got close enough to take a picture of it." You say.

"I know, right?" He asks. "It took me weeks to get there. Caravans won't even try to get that close, and the terrain is rough. I needed climbing equipment just to get there."

"Yeah, I had some problems too." You say, and show him your picture.

The bloated, writhing creature, covered in vines of many colors, floats above you, blocking out the sun. It's a majestic sight, and taken from right below the creature.

"Oh come on." He says. "That's cheating."

"It's not cheating. I teleported there properly."

Nel just sighs.

"At least I got there first." He says.

You shrug, and grin at him. "You were looking for that caravan, right?"

"That's the plan." He says. "If I can find the shipment and turn it in, I'll get enough ecu to get started."

"Want to find it together?" you ask.

"... I'm not sure it'll be a good idea to bring you along." He says.

"What? Why not?" You ask.

"Mostly because I'll be shadowing everywhere." He says. "You can't really follow like that, and there's like, zero risk for me. I wouldn't want to put you into danger, you know?"

You frown, but change the subject.

"Do you normally look for lost caravans?"

"That's basically my entire job." He says. "I don't usually join in on subjugations like that."

Something occurs to you.

"So, you're all about going to new places, right? Finding and exploring distant locales, places people haven't ever been before?"

Nel nods.

"I wouldn't even call it a hobby at this point." He says. "It's ... I suppose you could call it my purpose. Why do you ask?"

"No reason." You say, a plan already forming in your mind. You can open portals to other worlds already. Maybe you can use his help when it finally comes time to explore.

Not that there's much stopping you from exploring right now. You're nearing another dead-end from just research, and you always gain the best information by doing something stupid.

The two of you chat a while longer. You tell him about your home village, while he tells you about his explorations. It sounds like he's been traveling around the world since he was a kid. Eventually, your plates all clean, the waitress comes by. Nel goggles a bit at the price, but he pays up regardless.

"I had a nice time." He says. "I'm sorry I can't take you with me for the search. I just don't want to drag other people into danger, you know?"

>?

"It's fine, besides I'm likely to drag you into one of my experiments later anyway."

>>458549
>goggles a bit at the price
Go dutch and pay half?
>I just don't want to drag other people into danger
"Sure, I understand, no problem." He probably just wants to do it alone, it's his purpose as he said.
"Keep in touch." Then we can do some exploring ourselves, don't need anyone else for that!

>>458549
I understand the sentiment, It's unnecessary, but I get it.

>>458549
>Not that there's much stopping you from exploring right now
Weren't there two other countries that Romalia and Tark have little contact with? Couldn't we teleport to there and greet their king? Be a diplomat!

>>458549
"Call me when you found it, I can blink by to look at it - maybe carry some stuff back."

>>458549
Voting for this,
>>458566
then Krital's book. Figure out the best first world to go to.

>>458588
>best first world
Kid in a candy store. Muahaha!

"It's fine. I understand the sentiment. It's unnecessary, but I get it." You say. "Besides, I'm likely to drag you into my experiments later anyway."

"I'll look forward to it." He responds.

"Call me when you find it. I can blink by to look at it, and maybe carry it home through teleportation."

"That'd make my job a lot easier." He responds. "Normally I need to find it and cart it to the city in loads."

"Keep in touch." You say.

Nel nods. He gives you a wave, and then melts away into black mist.

Well, at least his own way of getting around has some style.

You stretch, getting to your feet, and you make your way out of the cafe, giving them a tip for dealing with Gareth, and then teleporting back to your testing chamber.

You've all but lived in here since you registered it, but the room has more security than your dorms. It's familiar, and comfortable. You pull your miniature iron-and-gold Gate out from your pocket, open a small portal to your Vault, and draw out Krital's two journals.

Time to figure out what kind of world to explore first.
I can't believe the forest burned that badly. It wasn't that big of a fireball, and the druid told me it that her magic would protect them. I just wanted some warm food for once.

The mention of a 'druid' is interesting. You've never heard of that kind of magic before. What few other notes you read about the world, it isn't very interesting. Krital got bored and left. But he's not the curious kind. Mention of Druids, and Sorcerers pop up, and there's even a mention of a library of magic. Whatever you're reading is probably outdated by a few hundred years, but there's probably a bunch of new and interesting magic...

This place is hell. I've never seen such a blasted, wasted land. On the upside, they've got all these cool artifacts and not nearly as many monsters as they have back home. I don't think any of them run on magic, either. The tongue enchantment doesn't help me understand what this 'phyz icks' is anyway.

Now this one's more interesting. If you read between the annoying segments where he writes about his paramour- a scavenger- Your ancestor writes about nonmagical gadgets that sounds somewhat like technology, only more advanced than what you have.

The princess remembers me! I'd left for the past decade or so, mostly because I was scared I'd get thrown into the arena again, but she greeted me by name! Sadly, she also had to arrest me again. They might have pardoned me the first time, but she had to arrest me because they found out about the whole, er, treasury theft situation.

You snort. That world- the one where your ancestor got very interested in the civilized fiend races and made himself into both enemy or friend of a particular kingdom. If you want to find anything more about him, here's probably the world you should go to- he's gone to there on three or four different trips, if his journals are right.

>?

>>458657
Start setting up the Trip, we'll need to go with help though. We're not as foolhardy as our ancestor.

>>458657
Is it Confirmed that Krital is dead? Because if we ever encounter him we need to give him a hug. Swiftly followed by a boot to the balls.

Take someone trustworthy with us whose job it is to record everything so we don't run into the same issue of "You're full of shit." Maybe offer one of the Archmages if they're not busy, their word is usually beyond reproach, right?
Maybe even Cera, as a former enemy her word might carry a good deal more weight in this regard.

>>458657
It's just going to be a day trip right? Take some selfies, that kind of thing.
Although maybe we should check that we can make hermetic magic work before we lit the portal close. In case the world requires a different star chart or something.

>>458657
>civilized fiend races
Forest, wasteland or civilisation? Gotta pick the civilized fiend races, talk to the locals, find out more about our great ancestor!
>>458692
We don't need anyone but our trusty pet Tyrant!

>>458719
well, getting stuck in the middle of nowhere would def. suck... but we have our artificial star rune, so nothing can go wrong! Travel away!

>>458657
Druid/Sorcerer world please

>>458657
How about that fiend world then

You close the journal, putting in your jacket. No reason not to bring it with you. After all, you won't be able to access your vault.

The world you chose, in the end, was your ancestor's 'favorite'. He'd visited it many times, and apparently rubbed elbows with royalty. That means that there might be some records on him, some kind of explanation as to who he was. More than you found back home.

For now, you'll experiment with your portal first, make sure that you can still use hermetic magic.

It's a simple matter. You've near-perfected your portal spell, so that it's easy to keep the portal open as long as possible.

It takes a large chunk of your mana to open the portal and prevent anything from crossing through to the other world, but it takes a lot less to throw a dweomer through. Once on the other side, the dweomer casts a simple spell for you- a hermetic enchantment meant to create a sphere of light. It's the simplest hermetic spell in your library, and has no components except for a few glyphs, so it's the most convenient for your purposes.

When nothing happens, you send another dweomer through- this one equipped with the Star rune.

The second dweomer's Star Rune activates, and then it creates the light spell. The sphere of light sitting in the field of grass in front of you is perfect.

The Star rune works. Whatever rule lies behind the function of Hermetic magic, it works everywhere. Does that mean that the constellations in every reality is the same?

You shake your head. It doesn't matter. You have an air-filtering dweomer attached to you, making sure no airborne disease either escapes or infects you, and you have Gareth with the same dweomer. You set down another dweomer that will summon you after nightfall, just in case the portal doesn't work, and you make sure that the portal's automatic-opening function works.

A moment later, you cast your hermetic

Finally, you pack some food and water- Better to be safe than sorry- and strap your mithril sword on your back.

You're probably being an idiot, but...

Well, you're the great grandaughter of an idiot, with however many 'greats' need to be stuck in there. You can't always fight your blood.

You disable the barrier between you and the other world, scoop Gareth up in your arms...

And then you walk through.

=== LEAVING HELIOS ===

>Continued!

>>458763
So this is what our world was called

I hope they don't hold Jaz responsible for Krytal's debts... and I hope we don't need to pay interest.

=== ENTERING SHAMASH ===

The grassy field is calm and peaceful. The trees are strange ones- long thin needles where their leaves should be- and a few startled, furry creatures run past. They're small ones, like rats, but have orange fur and floppy ears. Almost like small dogs. A strange domed building sits in the distance. It reminds you of Tark buildings, made out of clay and brick, but there's something subtly foriegn about it.

The road is cobbled, and your phone's GPS refuses to react. You do know exactly where you are, though- your ancestor's notes were clear that crossing over from one world to another is to the exact same location on the other side.

The other world's version of the Arcane Academy looks like a farmer's field. Tall vines stretch to the sky, wrapped around poles and juicy berries hang down from it.

"Excuse me!" Someone snaps. You whirl around, and Gareth chitters in your arms. She's a short, tanned woman, with sun-colored hair and a frown. Her mouth is moving wrong, like she's saying something you're not used to, but you still seem to understand her.

Two small antlers stick out of her head, tips pointed.

She's frowning at you, eyes locked on your hair. Then her eyes dance down your body, as if looking for something. "... What are you doing here? This is my land."

>>458789
>And I forgot the prompt again, so here goes

>?

>>458789
>moving wrong
Inherited translation in our genes, next to the white hair? Nice!
>This is my land.
"My Lady, I come from afar. I seek audience with your Leader." Diplomacy on!

>>458789
Make plenty of pictures.

>>458789
"Sorry, this is where the portal leads and I don't think I can move it. Say, have you ever heard of a man named Krital? Probably was last here a few generations ago?"

>>458763
>A moment later, you cast your hermetic

>A moment later, you cast your hermetic spell- another from Krital's journal- that should allow you to speak other languages. You hadn't had the opportunity to test it out until now, as all of Romalia and Tark speak the same language, so you hope it'll work.

>>458814
Sorry to be rude man but that was cringeworthy. Besides, you're asking what appears to be a farmer to lead you to some sort of leader?

>>458827
Nice spell!
>>458834
Kings, Princesses, sounds like time for My-Lady and other things from our fairy tale books.

"Go away peasant, I claim this land now, in the name of Krital the Great!" Option 2.

>>458789
I'm exploring, may have got a little turned around, can you point me to the closest town please?

>>458840
Might as well mess around I suppose.

>>458789
"I'm trespassing. I'm a professional trespasser."

>>458789
>woman
She looks human? Apart from the antlers? Like a fiend? Yeah, like >>458818 wrote, photos!

>>458834
We can always blame the translation spell for sounding cringeworthy.

>>458789
We should just quickly move towards the town and ask them about historical archives (containing our ancestor's adventures in this world).

btw whoo-hoo! We made it! First to travel to another dimension!

>>458852
And I'm not scared of ptichforks either.

>>458840
>Keep in mind, all of Krital's journals were written a few centuries ago. Things are probably different now. There's no way to be sure that kings and princesses are still a thing.

"Sorry, this is where the portal leads and I don't think I can move it." You say.

She tilts her head. You take a picture.

You point at the portal.

Her eyebrows meet, and she wrinkles her nose, tottering closer to it. She's moving strangely, like her legs are-

Oh. Under her dress, her legs aren't human. She's got an extra reverse joint in her leg, and her feet end in wide hooves. You're surprised that she's able to walk as a biped, with that kind of structure... But then again, Fiends figure it out all the time. You take another few pictures, of both her and the area, but she doesn't seem to notice.

"What is this thing?" She asks, carefully poking at the edge of the portal. "Is this somewhere else? Why is this on my land?"

"Er, yeah. It's a portal." You say. She turns her head to face you. "It leads somewhere else."

As you say that, the portal vanishes to save energy. It'll reopen a few hours later so that you can head home.

"Say," You ask. "Have you ever heard of a man named Krital? He was probably last here a few generations ago?"

She frowns.

"No, I have not heard that name." She says. "It is familiar, but I do not know much. Why are you on my land?"

"I'm exploring." You say. "I may have got a little turned around. Can you point me to the closest town please?"

"That road." She says, pointing to the cobbled one you noticed. "Walk north. You will find a town there."

"Alright." You say. "Thank you for your help."

She nods deeply and curtseys. "You are welcome. May god be with you, traveler."

"Er, you too." You say, making your way down the road.

Once you're out of sight, you begin taking more pictures. You have plenty of space on your phone, after all. But soon enough, you get bored, and begin just blinking down the road.

The town, as it turns out, is a rather small thing. There are only a handful of wooden buildings, all of which are ramshackle and wooden, save for a large water fountain in the center. The words on the town's sign swims in front of your eyes, but somehow you can understand it. That hermetic 'gift of tongues' spell is actually super useful. You have no idea how it would even work without a hilariously complicated Logic Array that beggars belief, so you try not to think about it.

The villagers all look like they're in simple clothes, and in some cases leather. They're all peering at you strangely, like they've never seen someone like you before. Most of them are human, though you see one young man in the back with red eyes and scaled arms, and a woman with fangs and slits for a nose.

"Excuse me." You ask one of the few pedestrians. "Do you have any kind of historical archives?"

"Hm?" The man just gives you a look you can't understand.

"A library, or records..."

>Continued!

"No such thing." The man says. "We're a humble town. No library here. What is a woman doing with a sword?"

"It was a gift." You say.

"A sword isn't a good gift for a woman." He says. "But I'm sorry, that was rude. Far be it from me to question you or your kind. What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for information about a man named Krital." You say. "He last lived a few generations ago, so he's long dead, but-"

"Never heard of him." The man says. "Was he human?"

"As far as I know." You say. The problem with the journals being all out of order is that you're not sure if he had your hair before or after he came to this world.

"Then there'll be records in the capital." He says. "It's a few dozen leagues yonder. A majestic city. You won't miss it."

"Thank you." You say. You look around the village, but they don't seem like they're very used to outsiders. People still seem a bit surprised by your sudden appearance, but they're moving on, getting back to their work.

>?

We'll have to bring some generous gifts with us next time for that deer woman.
She'll be less inclined to be fed up with us if we're coming and going frequently.

>>458925
"Hey Jaz, get up to anything interisting yesterday?"
"Sure. I went on a date and then visited a world full of autistic monster people."
"..."

>>458971
No white-knighting the deer-woman, please.

>>458970
I guess we should head to the Capital.

>>458925
Head into the city without making a big fuss with the portals. We're not interested in paying old debts.

>>458970
Well then let's move onto the big town with the presumably big library

>>458925
>Krital's journals were written a few centuries ago
Forgot that for a second.
>Most of them are human
So, it's not a fiend world at all!
>>458970
>>?
To the capital then!

>>458970
The capital surely has some historians that explain this world to us.

Did Jasmine expect more exotic people and places in a different dimension? Like people walking on their hands, talking giants, walking trees...

You turn, and set straight off toward the capital. The road is pretty rough, but at least it's cobbled- A dirt road would've been a lot harder to deal with, even with your boots. Once you're out of sight, you begin blinking forward. As far as you remember, a 'league' is about as long as a person can walk in an hour. You don't want to spend twelve hours walking, so you decide to cut it short and teleport whenever there's nobody around.

You might not want to pay for your ancestor's crimes, but that's no reason to waste time.

You weren't sure what you expected from a different dimension. You kind of thought that things would be really really weird. People that spoke backwards, or had completely alien personalities. Giant talking trees, or buildings that flew. Maybe even a world where everything was made out of floating islands.

But instead, this place just seems... Calm. Things are a bit strange- the trees and animals particularly odd- and there are no monsters, so it's just a peaceful time. What's more eerie is how normal things are.

Then again, when you finally reach the capital, you're a bit distraught. The villager said it was majestic. It's nowhere near the size of Romalia, so it's a bit disappointing. But these people seem a lot less technologically advanced, so you're not too surprised.

The walls around the capital aren't even real walls. They're barely guarded. The place must be peaceful. No reason to guard the walls if there aren't any threats, after all.

You wave to the guards and plain stroll into the city. The place isn't very crowded- at least, not to what you're used to- so you're able to pull someone aside and ask about records, or the library. People don't seem nearly as weirded out as the folks in the village did, which is good. But eventually your questions and their answers lead you toward the keep.

The squat stone structure looks like the old pictures of fortifications, back home, from when people tried carving out little safe roads to use to avoid monsters. Make a line of forts, man them with hunters, and kill the monsters to secure a road. The plan didn't work, but the forts are still around here and there.

Unlike the walls, there is a guard in front of the keep. He's got a conical helmet and a long, sharp spear, both made out of steel.

"'Ello!" He calls. "I assume you've come to challenge the Baron?"

"Challenge?" You ask. "Er, no. I'm looking to get into the library. I'm looking to find out about someone."

"The Baron would like to meet all visitors, so you can meet with him. I'm sure he'll grant you permission to use his library."

You blink.

"Sure." You say. You've never met a noble before.

The Baron is an older, portly man- complete with a grey mustache. The moment the guard announces you, the baron's eyes suddenly widen.

"Greetings, greetings." The portly man says. "I am Markus, the Baron of Jeuren. I always like to meet outsiders. For what reason are you here?"

>?

>>459101
I am attempting to follow in the footsteps of my ancestor. It is said that he passed by this area a few generations ago. I had hoped to peruse your library in search of any mention of him.

>>459101
Trying to retrace the step of my ancestor. Preferably with more sense and less shenanigans. Do you have any record of him?

>>459101
Curtsey, or do whatever you do to be polite to nobility, and ask to see if there are any records of Krital.

"I'm trying to retrace the steps of my ancestor." You say, curtseying with your jacket. "It is said that he passed by this area a few generations ago. I had hoped to peruse your library in search of any mention of him."

"Hmm..." He says. "Of course I'll allow you to check my library." He says. "Can you read in the common tongue?"

You're not sure what he means by that, but you nod regardless. You can read anything, with this hermetic spell on.

"Good, good." He says. The portly baron smiles and nods. "Then I won't take up too much of your time, young woman. May I ask who you're searching for?"

"Well... I'm looking for the wizard, Krital." You say.

The baron stares.

"Er... Are you certain?" He asks. "I might be mistaken, but by Krital, you mean the lost prince?"

"Lost prince?"

"Well... You might have to research him yourself." He stands, and gives you a low bow. "I need to go draft a letter, but I hope you find what you're looking for.."

You sigh, pushing your fingers to the bridge of your nose. Gareth chirps at you.

You were expecting something like this. Now you get to go play in yet another library.

>End of session!
>Sorry things got slow near the end, I ended up getting distracted.
>I'm pretty much always on the #exabyte channel on Rizon, and my twitter is @FutureExabyte in case you'd like to get updates on when I'm running.
>I'll also hang around in the thread to answer questions!

>>459216
Intercept the letter. Yesterday.

>>459216
Were are totally getting a parade! Gareth is going to be so surprised!

>>459220
Yoo let's do that

>>459216
Thanks for running Exa.

I haven't managed to catch a live session so far, and I just wanted to say how glad I am you're back. Been participating in your quests since pretty much the beginning and I really missed you when you went on hiatus. I feel Samsara quest is a real return to form though - it's my one of my favourites right now.

>>459216
Cheers mate

>>459256
D'aww.

I'm glad I'm back, too! My hiatus was something I really needed, but I'm a lot happier now that I'm back.

>>458981
Oh for fucks sake, I gave a good goddamn reason why it would be a good idea to do that which you'll notice does not include the word "pussy".

That's not white knighting, it's simple bribery, and you can take your shit right on back to Banished Quest if you can't tell the difference.

>>459655
Funny you should say Banished Quest. See, I've never been there. Is there someone else there who's telling you that you white-knight?

>>459677
I saw it as a bribe.

>>459216
>>End of session!
Thanks for writing! Great read!
>I need to go draft a letter
Any chance, he's going to write to his liege lord about us claiming to be a descendant of the Lost Prince?

Are we Royalty now? :)
>library
The library should enlighten us in that department - the great influence Krital had on this backwater world.
>>459101
>capital
Why is there only a baron for the capital though? Wouldn't the kind/queen be there?

>>459101
>challenge the Baron
Personal combat to capture the capital? Have to ask him. I wouldn't mind having Jasmine advance to a leadership position for these savages.

we are witchqueen now

also dose time move differently on different worlds? so we could be here for a year but only a week has passed back home? we should get on that

>>460168
Hopefully not the other way around...
"Yo, I'm ba- wtf, why is everyone so old??" That would suck.

>>460201
yer everything and one we loved is now died but we would seem immortal course of time skips sorta.
really makes me wanting to see how much time has passed back on home

>>460216
wait a few weeks, teleport home, be the oldest Archmage anyone can remember, Jule is long forgotten,
"Gather 'round, lil' Mages, I'll tell y'all a story about how we did stuff in my time" :)

>>460223
we would be like a gate garte ach mage, would have to cheack on to see if fiamly bloodline is still going stong

>>459216
Hahaha, Krital you absolute madman. The library should be safe though, it's probably not magical.

>Welcome back!

This library is, without a doubt, the worst organized pile of books and parchment that you've ever poured through. There's no reason or rhyme to it, books just shoved wherever they fit on the shelves. Most of it isn't even academic in nature- there's fiction mixed in among fact, magic mixed in among beastiaries.

It might be just because this world is rather primitive, but it pisses you off. Not only did a shelf fall on you the moment you tried to grab what looked like a records book, you couldn't even find any kind of historic records just by looking around.

Something to consider, though, is that you haven't seen a single hint of magic in this world, other than the few part-humans running around. Even when you did a little bit of astral probing to examine their souls, you only felt standard humanlike cores, and nothing out of the ordinary.

You're sure your dweomers, if you make effort to keep them from emanating any light, won't even be noticed.

You did have a dweomer with you that would allow you to search a bunch of books for something... if it weren't for the fact that none of these books were written in a language the dweomer has recorded.

With a frown, you settle back among a pile of fallen books and start tweaking the array. It's not hard to get the dweomer to recognize images instead of text, and then simply input the otherworld's version of your ancestor's name as the image... It's just time consuming. You're halfway through when something occurs to you.

The moment the Baron heard about you and who your ancestor was, he mentioned drafting a letter.

Maybe the letter's something about you. You're pretty sure the Baron knows something you don't. Maybe the letter has something to do with it.

Or you could finish your searching dweomer to cut your library time down to the minimum.

>?

Add in the search term for the Lost Prince as well.

>>460619
I say finish our business here as fast as we can while also searching for info about this lost prince thing and then get out. If the baron is writing a letter about us, I'd rather not stick around to see if it was good or bad. Too much of a hassle.

One thing to consider is that they might not have anything but hearsay here. This guy is only a baron and our ancestor apparently was hobnobbing with princesses. Letting him get a word out might actually aid us in our search.

>>460619
Let's finish the dweomer. Even if the letter does concern us, it can't get delivered very fast.
If we get our business in the library done, they won't be able to delay us in the event that there's a bounty or something on our head.

>>460619
Let's continue searching, we can always ask about the letter after we are done with the library.

No reason to intercept or stop the letter, you decide, and you settle back to work more on the Dweomer. More than just searching for Krital's name, you also decide to look up the 'Lost Prince' as a search term for the dweomer. It adds a few more minutes to your tweaking, but eventually you slap out a dweomer. You feel it roil through the room, scanning through the books, but it takes much too long. So you slap out a half dozen more, sending them to different areas of the library. Soon enough, they begin dumping books in your lap, and you begin looking through.

Stiffly, you stretch, your head aching from the swimming letters that the Gift of Tongues spell causes, but you have a few useful books all scanned with your phone. But now you know who your ancestor was, here.

He was the princess' love interest. The imperial princess, from the Venan Empire far to the east. Essentially all of the known world, here, is part of or pays tribute to the empire. The princess, after Krital left, declared that he was only man she would love. He was also a troublemaker, bringing up problems and conflicts with various parthuman- who you read are called 'demihuman' clans and groups. In one case he was declared national enemy of a 'catkind clan', which was later repealed a few days later, and the entire imperial treasury vanished for a few days, before being returned- this time with more than had gone missing.

But the Princess. She waited for him her entire life, and then she died. He never came back. The complete asshole.

He still has a tower all his own, in the Imperial City-fortress of Thaln. Apparently the 'capital' you're in is for a much smaller, weaker country that pays the empire tribute. He stayed there for a few months before he vanished. None of this was in his journals at all.

Someone clears their throat. You turn, and the portly, elderly Baron is looking down at you. His eyebrows are raised at the glowing sphere of light you're using to read, but he doesn't mention it.

"I hope you've found what you need, Miss." He says. He doesn't mention the books strewn about the entire dark and dingy room, the fallen bookcase, or the angry spitting cat who's glaring at you, kept at bay only by the sleepy Gareth sitting atop it.

Libraries don't agree with you, you've found.

>?

>>460688
>Yeah it was pretty swell. What are you going to do about human-killing bookcases, though? Wasn't there something about a letter as well?

Indeed. Thank him for his time, clean up after yourself and leave.

Time to go check out that tower I guess.

I agree with Jazz. What an asshole.

>>460688
>>?
"I’ve found out some of what I wanted, but it seems I know some more of Krital than you do."
Offer to help them fill in the gaps on roughly what happened to Krital (i.e. he was an asshole who left for new adventures and new love interests, leaving scores of lovers behind. We’re sorry their Princess had to put up with it and promise to be less of a womanizer."

At some point we might also ask if we may use the tower. After all, Kristal will probably not use it.

>>460688
Ask him if the letter was about us, he came alone so I'm guessing it isn't going to get us in shit.

>>460688
Time to ask about that letter and apologize in behalf of our ancestor.

"Indeed." You say, getting to your feet. Gareth springs off of the angry cat, which wisely springs out of the door behind the baron. "I've found some of what I wanted, but it seems that I know more of Krital than you do."

"Oh?" He asks. You carefully heft up the bookcase, and Gareth begins handing you books to put up there. Always polite to clean up after yourself.

"I know what happened to him, after he left Thaln the final time." You say, and sigh. "Essentially, he was an asshole who left on new adventures and new love interests, leaving scores of lovers behind."

He wrinkles his nose.

"I suppose one can't fault a man for loving adventure more than a woman, but..."

"I'll be sure to apologize in behalf of my ancestor. I'm sure I'll be less of a womanizer." You say. "I'm curious, though, Baron Markus. Was that letter about me?"

The baron looks a bit sheepish, but he nods.

"It's not every day that the descendant of a legend arrives in my dreary keep." He says. "I thought to send a message to the Empire, let them know of your appearance. If I may ask... From where do you hail? Where did the wizard go, when he moved on?"

>?

>>460760
Time to geek out on multiverse theory and our thesis on teleportation and dimensional travel!

>>460760
>>460768
Oh and tell him a bit about the city of Romalia and our home town.

>>460760
>Sometimes, magic users would invent, or reinvent a magic so special and so powerful that they are no longer classified as mere wizards or witches. Krital managed to do such a thing. He created portals that connect different worlds all-together. After him, the knowledge was lost until I managed to revive the art. So, to answer your question, I hail from another world and Krital left this place by moving to a third world. After which he visited a fourth and so on. The exact details are no longer known, but he wrote some haphazard accounts of some of his exploits.

(Not sure about the terminology here. Do they even call people wizards and witches, or is everyone a mage?)


>I should probably mention that I set up a spell back home that should summon me back home within the day, so if at some point a seem to vanish I probably just left home. In that case I will probably come back after a while.

>>460760
Activate maximum smug and explain that he was a master of the lost art of teleportation, only recently rediscovered by us and was capable of travelling to other worlds. What's the worst that could happen?

Ask if there are any hard feelings left over from his shenanigans, we're not likely to get locked up or anything once that letter arrives, right?

If we ever find Krital, we need to give him multiple kicks to the balls.

>>460796
We invent time travel magic just to go back in time to kick him in the balls... Then he seduces us and we become our own ancestor.

"Sometimes, magic users would invent or reinvent a magic so special and powerful that they are no longer classified as mere wizards." You say. "My ancestor managed to do such a thing. He created portals that connect different worlds."

"Worlds, lady?"

"An entire new reality, near-identical if not for the people and cultures that inhabit it. Krital supposed there were as many worlds than stars in the sky, but I'm in progress of putting together a theory of reality- I'm supposing there are as many worlds as there are possible worlds. That is to say, infinite."

It's hard to resist the urge to expound more on your theory- supported by your knowledge of quantum mechanics, experiments on the nature of Nothingness, and a few thaumaturgic rituals you've done with stars, once you found out that each world has the same constellations- but the Baron doesn't have a magical or academic background, so you restrain yourself.

"The exact details of where he went after he left this world are no longer known, but he wrote some haphazard accounts of his exploits." You give the baron a predatory grin. "He might have discovered the art of teleportation, but I've rediscovered it, and I'm improving it beyond what he knew."

His eyebrows raise.

"Regardless, whatever happened, he settled down in my world, in the country of Romalia, in a small village in the mountains. He died there. I've seen his grave. It's a small village, but it's where I grew up."

"I see." He says. "But to throw away an empire for a village..."

He frowns.

"I should probably mention that I may vanish at any moment." you say. "I've cast a spell that should summon me back home within the day."

"I understand, Lady... er..."

He cuts off.

Oh! You forgot to introduce yourself.

"Jasmine." You say. "Jasmine Angwaz."

He nods, and bows.

"I have a question, Baron." You say. "How likely is it that... I get locked up or arrested once that letter arrives?"

"We do not believe in punishing the child for their father, no matter the crime." He says. "I'm sure you will be safe. In fact, if you intend on traveling to the Empire, could I perhaps implore upon you to take the letter with you? It would serve as an introduction, I'm sure."

You look back at the library's map of the world, making sure to snap yet another picture of it. The empire's city-state is pretty far west of here. In fact, it looks almost about as far away as your village is from the capital. Your mana isn't completely full, but you're not exhausted, and your teleportation spell is streamlined enough that it won't drain you at that distance like it used to.

>?

>>460814
Then he tries to create a teleportation barrier against Frostwolves and accidentially takes Jaz’s white hair instead of a wolf’s.

>>460825
>>?
>Sure, I’ll go there now. How accurate are your maps?

>>460825
>>?
"I will take the letter with me, Baron."
Let's travel to the Imperial capital!

>>460825
This whole world is magic-free... are we now like a god among children? New title: Jasmine-Empress of Venan.

>>460825
Thank the nice baron for his help.
Time to go check out the Imperial Capital.
Oh and ask him about the state of magic in this world.

Can we cancel the dweomer that automatically teleports us back? Seems unnecessary. Don't want to be called back in the middle of everything... what could go wrong anyway.

>>460688
>Imperial princess
Somehow I think she just didn't want to get married off, so she swore undying loyalty to our ancestor to prevent that fate...
>tower >City-fortress of Thaln
Our own mage tower, excellent!

>>460858
>It's necessary because you don't know the 'coordinate' for your home reality. You literally can't teleport back without aid.

"I will take the letter with me, Baron." You say. "How accurate are your maps?"

"They're accurate enough for a person to travel somewhere." He says. "I know that many cartographers complain that distances are very distorted, sometimes."

You frown. There's no easy way to get exact coordinates through this map, especially if their standards aren't up to your world. You know that the Romalian world map is inaccurate in parts, too, which makes it a hell of a time to travel far distances.

You'll just have to do this the hard way.

"I do have another question, though."

"I will do my best to answer."

"Do you know about the state of magic in this world?"

"Most magic has... stopped working, in the past centuries." He says. "Practitioners nowadays mostly only bind creatures to ourselves, as Familiars."

He gestures- and you feel a pulse of mana from him. A small, winged lizard lands on his shoulder. It arches it's back, wings popping free. It's like a very small dragon.

"My Grimvalk is one of the best. " He says. "None have his command over fire. Many people challenge me, but I have never been bested."

>?

>>460902
Aaah shamanism and it seems that this world is seeing the same kind of decay in hermetic magic that our home plane has gone trough.

>>460902
"Ah, the same occurred in my world but we discovered other sources of magic."

>>460902
>don't know the 'coordinate' for your home reality
Hopefully nothing happens to that dweomer... maybe the tower contains the coordinates.
>?
"Good for you. Hopefully we will see each other again. I will go now." Blink away towards the capital.
Muahaha, little familiars have no chance against us!

>>460928
>other sources of magic
Do we want to reveal all our knowledge for free though? Seems different from Jasmine's prior behaviour...

>>460937
We can hint but giving anything away for free? Bah were a wizard.
And i just realized this realm is pokemon!

>>460937
It's not our world so it doesn't matter. That said it might give people funny ideas about taking our shit and becoming the only legit wizard in the setting,

>>460953
It matters if we ever plan to open a portal here or come back.
It also matters a LOT if they ever figure out teleportation.

>>460953
>the only legit wizard
Could it be that they developed non-magic solution for problems that are solved by magic back home? We could take some inventions back with us...

>>460987
>People have developed a lot of non-magic solutions for problems originally solved by magic. Back home, wizards may be pretty common, but magic can only be used by people that know how. Non-wizards are forced to come up with clever solutions for things.

"Ah. Good for you." You say. "The same thing occurred in my world, but we discovered other sources of magic."

"So I've seen." He says. "May you travel safely."

"Thank you for your help." You curtsy. Your jacket isn't a dress, but it's long enough to lift.

"No problem. No problem indeed." He says. "It was a pleasure."

"Hopefully we'll see each other again," You say, and then you scoop Gareth up in your arms again and vanish into a black sphere.

Your overpowered slowfall spell sends you screeching through the sky, pushing you upward just as hard as your weight pushes you downward. You snap a few photos of your environment, mark your location, and then teleport again- this time a few kilometers west. Then you snap another photo, floating, and compare your environment with the map you'd copied. Then you teleport again, winding your way westward and compiling a more useful map for yourself. It's a bit tiring, and your mana runs a bit low, but eventually you see the Empire in front of you.

It's a single building. It's an enormous marble structure, hewn from the mountain it sits atop of, huge on a scale you can hardly believe. As uninspiring as the Baron's castle is, the Empire is so much greater than Romalia that you can't believe it.

You reduce the mana you're pouring into your slowfall spell, and you begin to descend.

The guards at the gate stare when your boots slam home on the pavement, Gareth still sitting on your shoulder. At least you know now why nobody made a big deal about the monsters, if shamanism is the main mode of magic here.

"Er." It takes the guard a second. "Welcome to the Citadel Thaln, heart of the Empire." The guard says. "For what reason have you come here?"

You hold out the letter. He takes it, raising an eyebrow at the seal.

"This is meant directly for the Imperial Prince." The guard says. He eyes your familiar, and then your sword. He bows. "Are you here to deliver it?"

"Among other things." You respond. "I intend on doing some research."

"I see." He says. He hands the letter back. "The prince sits within the first level of the palace. Do not cause problems, or you shall be removed."

"I understand." You say.

He steps aside, and a large serpent slithers away from the gate. Carefully, the portcullis opens, and you walk straight in.

The palace sits at the heart of the city- it's a tall, tall tower, stretching further into the sky than the tower back in Romalia. It's large enough to fit an entire peoples' population inside, and many seperate towers spring off the edges like branches off a tree.

The guards at the palace make you wait a bit longer, but they don't even ask you to leave your sword or familiar behind.

Soon enough, you see why.

>Continued!

>>460998
The first floor of the palace is an enormous, empty room, enormous windows open to all sides. Sunlight streams in, and the room is brilliantly lit.

In the very center, upon a dais, is a handsome young man. He's got long brown hair, bags under his eyes, and he's wearing golden and silver finery- but not as much as you would expect royalty to have.

Behind and around the throne is an enormous monster, filling up roughly a quarter of the already-enormous room. Two pairs of wings twitch on it's back, and pure white scales the size of your sword sit. You have no idea how something that large would have the dragon template- it's bigger than the Fungal Dragon, and even with magic its weight would be too much to fly...

Then the color clicks in your head.

The dragon is covered in mithril scales.

The young man meets your eyes, and gives you a slow, sleepy blink. A storm of mana rampages within him, but he doesn't look like it.

The prince of the empire your ancestor once abandoned. Rikar.

"Hello." He says. "I was told you have a letter for me, from the Baron of Roma?"

>?

>>460937
They cannot really use our solution without implements and analytical magic. From what we have seen their technological level is far away from creating either, so it should be save to tell them that hermetic magic depends on the alignment of the stars and that the stars a slowly moving, therefore they need to adjust their rituals to take into account the new alignment of stars.

---------------

Actually, this gives me an idea. Considering the power hermetic magic derives from the stars is gradual depending on how well it matches the stars, and that no one knew this fact, could it be that pretty much no ritual is every perfectly matched with the star? Or rather, the rituals are just matched in so far that the magic worked some hundreds of years ago, but whether they are well-matched or barely work is random?

If this is true, it should be possible to test different star-charts from over the centuries to perfect the stars best fit for each individual spell. This would guarantee making them the most powerful ever.

It would also let us create gimped versions of spells by slightly misaligning the stars for a spell. Maybe in order to give away lesser versions of our magic to others?

Indeed. Introductions, be flowery!

>>461017
>That's a good idea.
>As always, when someone comes up with a clever idea like that, Jaz will figure it out next time she does a bunch of studying. Though she's very logical as a wizard- she's a lot more intuitive and instinctive- she'll be able to tweak the Star rune to work perfectly with the hermetic spells she uses often.

>>461016
>?
>Indeed. He said it might also work as a letter of introduction for me. The short version is, that I am a distant descendant of someone whom you apparently know as the lost prince. Only a very rudimentary history of his life has survived the centuries, so I would like to find out more of what happened in this world. I would also be willing to share what I already know in exchange for your side of the story.

>>461016
Present letter and make Formal introductions.

I wanna know if that dragon sheds.

>>461032
Yeah, I figured it would be too bothersome to test each spell with dozens of star charts, so I expected her to only do it with a couple of spells. Hopefully, this will make her teleportation etc even more efficient, though.

Hopefully, we can also get some other neat hermetic magic. Now that they don’t work anymore, it should be possible to get some pretty cool stuff. I would really like some powerful protective wards, for example. And find out how they did long-lasting magic (like that family we are supposed to help revive their hunting magic).

>>461017
>technological level is far away from creating either
True. But then telling them about it is like showing them the cake but not letting them eat it? :)
Great idea!

>>460998
>much greater than Romalia
Huh, so their magic was far greater, when it worked, then our home world's?
>>461016
>enormous monster >mithril scales
Woah, too op! Look at it with Soul Magic - or does the mithril from doing that?

>>461039
>Hopefully, we can also get some other neat hermetic magic
Yes, all that Magic is ours for the taking!

>>461016
>>?
"I am a descendant of Krital Angwaz, the Lost Prince as you know him. I'm here to find out more about my ancestor and research more about Hermetic Magic... with your permission, Your Majesty." Smooth talk on!

"Indeed." You say. You simply walk down to him, and hand him the letter. You're tempted to be flowery, but you're not very good at that kind of thing- nothing comes to you. "The kind Baron also said it might work as a letter of introduction for me."

He appraises you with a look, and then pries open the letter to read it.

"... Krital Angwaz. Hair like mithril. Wizardly miscreant. The user of strange magics." He says. He gives you a Look. "And you are his descendant?"

"Indeed." You say. "Only a very rudimentary history of his life has survived the centuries in my homeland, so I'm here to find out more about my ancestor and research more about magic."

"I see." He says. He tosses the letter to the wayside and the dragon's tongue steals it away. The letter didn't even touch the ground. For a moment, you expand your mana sense, feeling out...

You can see a strange link, from the dragon to the prince. The two are connected, intimately, mana leaking from beneath the monster's scales. For a moment you wonder how mana would leave the dragon's body at all, before you recall that monster-made Mithril and Orichalium is nowhere near as perfect as the synthetic stuff. No matter how powerful or amazing the dragon is, your sword is still more pure.

The prince is suddenly shoves himself out of the throne, his spine and arms cracking loudly. He's taller than you, of course, and he walks straight past you- tapping your shoulder as he does.

"Follow me." He says.

You shrug, and follow him. Why not?

Rikar walks back toward the entrance to the enormous chamber that makes up the heart of the tower, and walks up the stairs.

"Tell me." He says. "Do you speak this language, or have you used magic in order to understand me?"

"Magic." You say.

"How did you arrive to this land?"

"More magic." You say. "I rediscovered my ancestor's art of Teleportation."

"Were you born with that hair?" He asks, stopping a moment to glance at you. You nod.

The two of you walk in silence for a time, going up the long curving set of stairs that spiral around the outer edge of the tower.

"What is your name, again?"

"Jasmine." You say. "Jasmine Angwaz."

"Like the flower. Hmm."

He doesn't say anything more for a few minutes. Then...

"It fits."

He stops at a landing, and whirls around.

"This tower," He holds an arm out to the balcony that leads out to a smaller tower- one of the branches from the main palace. "Belonged to your ancestor. It was his place of research and rest. My own ancestor wished for him never to be forgotten, so she sealed it by magic. Nobody since has understood how the seal works, but she was certain that he would be able to unseal it. And if he can, you can."

The two of you walk out onto the balcony, and then to the tower. The door is made of the same stone as the rest of the tower, and when you try to tug it open it refuses to move. Hermetic glyphs you've never seen are carved on the door, glowing.

Rikar just watches, hands folded behind his back.

>?

>>461093
Teleport past the door, see if there's anything on the other side to open it, or at least some windows to wave from.

>>461124
I love this idea

>>461093
Check those wards and analyze them.
We should be able to mess with them by replacing the star alignment they need with a modified version of our star rune.
Or just teleport past them.

>>461093
>>?
>>461124
Yeah, teleporting in seems like the obvious choice. Maybe it can only be opened from the inside? We can wave to the prince from a window :).

>>461093
>she sealed it by magic
All the treasures inside! The coordinates of our home dimension!

If we could fuse some mithril to our pet Tyrant, that would be rad!
>door
Or instead of teleporting in, we teleport the door away.

You don't hesitate.

You just teleport past the door.

The tower is full of stale air, but there's no dust around. No cobwebs, no dead creatures- like there's been nothing living in the tower over the past few centuries. The windows are covered somehow, through some kind of smooth object. It's dark, and you can't see much except for a green gleam coming from the door.

You whirl around, and you see a simple glyph on the door's latch. Curiously, you unlatch it- and the glyph shatters into sparks.

The material on the windows begin to dissolve of their own accord, lighting the room up. The door slides open, a gush of fresh air coming in. The prince, on the other side, raises his eyebrows.

The tower is a cluttered mess of books, notes, and the occasional circle carved in stone platforms. A long-mummified corpse of a monster sits in one corner, the remains of a long-broken monster capture ward sitting around it. A ladder leads up to the higher levels of the tower.

All in all, it's exactly like you expect an ancient hermetic wizard's workshop to be. Books strewn about, half-completed spells sitting in places, long-forgotten alchemical mixtures in jars covering shelves...

And in the very center, a portal circle, carefully carved into the center of the tower. In the location part of the circle sits a glyph you've never seen in any of the journals. And Krital was extremely particular about marking down the location glyphs, which means that there's only one this can be.

Rikar takes in a deep breath, eyes closing.

"Huh." He says. "I never thought this would happen in my lifetime."

He turns to you and bows his head. "I'm very glad to meet you, Lady Angwaz. I apologize for being... brusque, I just wished to make certain you were telling the truth. There have been pretenders before."

>?

>>461166
"Oh, that is okay. I would think that some people might want to try and take advantage of a pure maidens love."
Time to go geek out at all those new journals and improve even more on our ancestors magic!

I wonder if these guys can teach us better shamanistic techniques.

>>461166
I get it, Famous jackass relative and all. But yeah i'm the real deal.

>>461197
Most likely.
We can always ask about them later when we come back with our shaman adventurer friend.

>>461166
>Your caution is rightly so, thank you for showing me this place.

This is the glyph for home isn't it?

>>461166
"Oh, no problem. Most people in my world still don't believe I can teleport either. It's been such a famous problem and so many people have faked it. Even Krital was considered a fraud."

>>461208
The chances are high it is the glyph home.

>>461166

"That's a first. In my homeland, Krital Angwaz is known as a madman or a fool. Most wouldn't want to be associated with him."

Interesting that these glyphs remained active.

inbefoe we have to marrry this prince coouse of what has happened to the princess

>>461275
Before long we will realize we are just like our ancestor but instead of breaking the hearts of women everywhere we break the hopes of men allover the multiverse.

"That's a first." You say. "In my homeland, Krital Angwaz is known as a madman or a fool. Most wouldn't want to be associated with him."

"From what I know, he was certainly both a madman and a fool. But he was a hero too." He shrugs. "But I digress. Now that you've been confirmed the descendant of Lord Angwaz, you will gain his rights, his tower, and his title."

"Title? He had a title?" You ask, stacking up the books.

"... Your ancestor was a knight of the empire." Rikar says. After a few moments, he picks up a book and examines the cover, eyebrows meeting. "To be entirely honest, it was a loophole so that he could legally marry the princess. But it was a noble title, and you are eligible to claim it as well, despite being a woman."

He hands you the book.

"Thank you for showing me this place." You say.

"You've very welcome, Jasmine." He says, with a nod and tilt of his head.

You look back down to the circle in the center of the room.

"One second." You say. "I want to test something."

He raises an eyebrow when you kneel at the rune circle, and takes a few steps back. Rikar seems incredibly permissive- or perhaps he's more curious- so he just folds his arms behind his back and watches.

The circle isn't the portal variety. It's pretty complicated, but it looks like a heavily modified version of the teleportation variety. Maybe even modified enough to teleport something to a different world, something you've tried and failed at for a while.

You cast a few dweomers first- security ones to protect you from errant energies, sensory ones, some to feed just enough mana into the spell, and one to erect the Star rune around the hermetic spell...

Then you cast it, sending one thaumaturgic half of a sensory dweomer away.

The second half chimes, receiving information from it's brother.

Swimming into view, transmitted light becomes a translated image.

And in front of you, you see the center of the village you grew up in.

Not only is the location glyph the one for home, but the exact parallel to the Empire's palace is... Well, it's home.

The dweomer winks out. Maintaining a thaumaturgic connection across dimensions is rough on the mana supply, so you can only really get a few seconds duration out of it, but it's enough to confirm.

Your phone begins to chirp loudly- your warning. You'll be summoned home in the next ten minutes, when the summoning dweomer calls you back to the testing chamber.

>?

>>461284
Let's not and say we did.

>>461284
yes i want this
the blood runs strong in us
we then link all the world together and couse we are queen of theis worlds we form a galactic empier though out the stars
so in sted of going out for cigs what would we say?

>>461286
not wanting jaz to find love though out the stars
>>461285
say to the prince soon il leave you but if you want you can come with me i promise il cant you back here once we are done back home(or kidnap him)

>>461285
"Aaah, it seems my time is up for today but i will come back soon. I thank you for your time your highness, I hope we meet again when i am not in such a hurry."

>>461326
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kl4hJ4j48s

>>461349
take him with us

The prince tilts his head, listening to the chime.

"Aaah." You say, tapping your bracer to stop the alarm."Sorry. It seems my time is up for today."

"Your time?"

"I'll be heading back home, soon." You say, tying the books together and scooping them up into your arms. Gareth leaps up on your shoulder, sensing your eminent departure. "I thank you for your time, your Highness. I hope we meet again when I am not in such a hurry."

Rikar smiles, and bows.

"I hope so too, Jasmine." He says. "You're always welcome here."

You quirk your lips.

"Want to come with me?"

The prince raises his eyebrow, and shoots you a smile.

"Perhaps next time, Lady. Hopefully after I make preparations, rather than running off in a mad quest."

His grin grows broader, as a second alarm begins chirping. "I am not your ancestor, after all."

A black sphere consumes you, and then crumbles away.

You're home.

And immediately your phone rings. Thod.

"Yello?" you ask.

"Where have you been?!" He snaps. "You've been out of contact all day."

"Why, is something wrong?"

"... No, I just called earlier today and you didn't have service." He says. He sounds upset. "Where were you?"

>?

>>461379
out of this world

"Think some about what your empire might want from another world, and what it might offer in return. Large scale materials are probably infeasible, but knowledge would be easy enough."

>>461379
Exploring a different plane of existence to verify they exist and Krital had been there.

travaling the stars to find new worlds full of princess and other hots then bang them in my quest of star wide domation
turns out im just like my ansector
also i could be a kinght/ princess/queen

>>461379
"Getting myself knighted."

>>461379
>>461385
Too good!

Traveling the dimensions to find new worlds full of hot princes and other hot people to bang in my quest for multidimensional domination!

>>461379

>>461385

>>461379
>Aw man, I forgot the 'LEAVING SHAMASH / ENTERING HELIOS' thing. Oh well.

"Out of this world." You smirk.

"Out of... Did you actually go to a different world?"

"I verified they exist, and found one where Krital had been. Also got knighted, apparently."

Thod audibly sighs.

"I regret taking my eyes off you for a day." He says. "One of these times I'm just going to blink and you'll be gone before I open my eyes again."

"Probably, but no promises." You respond.

"... So. You got knighted?"

"Apparently it's a hereditary position." You say. "Though the prince was pretty hot."

Rathod snorts.

"Well, I've got some time off from Haron for a few days." He says. "He's off on some kind of convention for a while, so I've got some free time. Want to go out and get something to eat? We can talk about your adventures then."

"Well..." You say, looking down at your new pile of books. The top of which is written in Krital's own hand- a third journal, sewn together from a bunch of shuffled pages.

If you can read this, you've either discovered the Gift of Tongues spell or you come from the world I left behind. In which case, you're either a genius or one of my descendants. In either case, let me tell you about my life.

My name is Krital Angwaz, and I'm a fucking genius.

"I think I'll be a bit busy for a while."

>End of session

>>461476
fuck yer
good read as always
i hope he has a good reasion for leaveing the princess alone like that( thats ok couse we can keep the the dragon prince)

>>461476
>in the country of Romalia, in a small village in the mountains. He died there. I've seen his grave
>or you come from the world I left behind.

Either our ancestor is indecisive or one of the above isn't true.

>>461560
he naver died
and the gave is fake one

>>461560
The 'or you come from the world I left behind' part was written before Krital went home and retired.

>>461564
We'll just have to dig up the grave to find out! Maybe we could just selectively make the grave invisible to see its contents, is that something we can do? Do we have a family tomb or is communal burying a thing?

>>461560
Knowing anything about Krital, He probably discovered teleportation and portal magic and went trough it without any safeguards or a way to get back
So he just decided that fuck it i left that world behind when he wrote the book and later on found the right rune to go back.

>>461642
This is entirely conjecture, but looking at the opening lines to this third journal, he might have actually been more cunning and subtle than his first two journals suggest.
Nobody would suspect that the magic slinging buffoon is actually conniving and fully aware of what's going on around him.

>>461476
>My name is Krital Angwaz, and I'm a fucking genius.
´Jasmine and Krital have much in common :).
>knighted
We have to change our business cards? "Jasmine Angwaz - Academy Adept and Knight of the Empire".
>>461379
>Rikar
Interdimensional trading? And only we have exclusive access? Muahaha!

>>462534
>more cunning and subtle than his first two journals suggest
How come though? He writes something which makes little sense, everyone comes to believes he's just a madman, leaves him alone and he can live his life in peace and ease?

>>461476
>>End of session
Great fun to read! Looking forward to Jasmine the Tourist Guide, who leads groups of Romalian tourists to other dimensions for tours of different cultures in other dimensions :).

>>461166
>Curiously, you unlatch it- and the glyph shatters into sparks.
So Jaz had an extremely well protected secret tower, which no one managed to enter in centuries, but which she could enter easily.

And the first things she does is destroy the protections? That’s really not very bright of her.

I mean, if she just turned them off temporarily, that’s kind-of acceptable, but even then she left the tower full of secret knowledge undefended in another world.

>>462673
>destroy the protections
Didn't know, a touch would destroy it.

And I think the tower wasn't sealed against a real attack, but just so that people have a way to prove if they're connected to this legendary Lost Prince/Teleportation ability.

>>461476
We've had such great progress, we can skip a little to make time for Thod. Best friends after all.

>>461476
Like >>462799 wrote: Spending time with friends is nice, bff! Jasmine can brag about her adventure. Can we buy a golem from Thod's Master to defend our mage tower in the other dimension?

>>460881
Good point.

>>463057
i think people will know who we are from how we act just like grand dad
we are more like him them we care to adment

>>462764
>Didn't know, a touch would destroy it.
Reaching out to undo the magical latch holding it together is a bit more than a touch.

And it was literally "If you manage to enter this tower at all, you get the tower and a free knighthood as well." People tried, no one got in. So at least it was a great protection against burglars, even if a "real" attack might be able to destroy it.

>>461285
Hey Exa, the female version of the knight title is damsel.

>>465062
But women in SHAMASH aren't allowed to become knights so it's not surprising they don't have a separate name for it.

>>465062
Hereditary knighthood seems strange... why not just have our ancestory ennobled? Or is "knight" a noble title in that world? Or are we really just members of the Order of the Knights of the Empire?

Did we bring back an alien illness into our world? Will everyone die?

>>465062
The -honorific- for a female Knight is Dame. As in, Sir Kirital's descendent, Dame Jasmine. The title is still Knight.

>>466888
Knight is the closest translation to the noble title that Krital had been given. It wasn't meant to be hereditary, but the princess was pretty hasty in establishing it and decided it didn't matter, since any of Krital's children would be hers.

The real meaning of the title is closer to 'hero' or 'exalted outsider', but the Gift of Tongues just makes it 'knight'.

>>467364
I've personally always been a fan of Sir even for women, but Dame is good too.

>>467372
Well, you're free to keep using Sir.

>>465062
...incidentally, "damsel" means an unmarried young woman, and is a derivative of "damoiselle" (the root of "madamoiselle"), which is a derivative of the -male- honorific "damoiseau," analogous to the now-archaic formal usage of "Master" to mean a young unmarried man.

>>465062
>>466888
>>467364
That depends entirely on what system of knighthood the country uses. Some can't have female knights at all, some just use knight, some use dame, some use damsel. It's a title, and titles are not universal even when they're supposedly the same title. The position isn't even always the same, since some "knights" are just jumped up men-at-arms, while others are exclusively members of specific groups, some have no special functions or privileges, and others still are just super-low tier nobility.

>>467372
Dame Maggie Smith sounds better than Sir Maggie Smith.

>>467372
Hero! Hero of the Empire!

"Good day to you, good merchant. I want to buy that thing."
"That will be 50 gold pieces."
"I am The Hero, you buffoon!"
"My deepest and most sincere apologies, your Heroness! I'm honored to gift you the thing, of course!"

Free stuff?

Your head pounds, and your soul aches.

This has been, no doubt, the most fruitful set of experiments to date. Not only did Krital's third set of journals have even more notes in the margins than the other two combined, but there were other books by the hand of other wizards, and some books that were written in a language foriegn to both worlds. With that and the notes from the tower... You've gotten somewhere.

The simplest breakthrough was a slight modification to the teleportation spell, allowing you to teleport through dimensions. Much more convenient- and quick- than opening a portal, but it takes significantly more mana to do so. It's a good emergency option, but not very good for more casual travel, especially with the Gates.

The most useful breakthrough was a heavy modification to the Star Rune. More specifically, a variant of the star rune. You'd carefully tested the spells with constellations from varying different times, finding the most efficient constellations to use in order to cast teleport spells. It's too complex a process to use on every hermetic spell, but you've cut down the mana cost by a good ten percent.

But despite your progress in those places, there's a much more complex breakthrough you're working on right now.

The hermetic spell you found in one of the exotic books is known as Knowledge Demon- a conjured analysis tool. As far as you can tell, it's a temporary soul-construct- one based off of your own knowledge. It hurts, to cast- like it's a taking a photo with a flash so bright it burns- and it doesn't last very long.

Right now, the Demon is hovering next to you, a wobbling blood-red sphere, spitting out mathematical formulae you couldn't do.

Formulae on the nature of reality. The fabric worlds are made out of. Most of your data comes from your experiments on Nothingness... which of course, came with it's own breakthrough.

Nothingness isn't Nothingness, when you inject enough mana into it. Instead it becomes an incredibly small universe of it's own, the rubbery border of the pocket being the outer edge. You'd been carefully injecting mana into the air, letting it free for no purpose, and the pocket's been growing larger and larger. It's already as large as your testing chamber.

The Demon slows, stopping it's mad scrawling on the sheets of paper you set out for it, and your soul buzzes in pain again as it fades.

You slump back, nursing your head, and your phone buzzes. Wearily, you take a look- Kristoph, saying he'd wired you more money. With some of your money going to your family, you've still earned a lot. Enough for an Adamantine gem for your existing portal gate, to amplify the mana you put into it. Or enough to buy warehouses in Tark and Romalia, and portal gates there to set up your own company.

Maybe even a house, or a force of Haron-made golems, or enough for any kind of large purchase.

You sigh and stretch; Time for another break if you don't want to go insane. At least a break from research.

>?

>>469260
See if your friends arent doing anything, if they are free ask if they would like to go drinking.
If they do have something to do go mess around in Krital's old tower and see the prince.

>>469260
Let's go back and check out the Tower. We didn't really get a good look at it last time. Maybe see if any of our friends want to come with?

>>469260
Friends to hang out, maybe also inspecting places to set up business.

>>469260
Did we ascertain that the rune we found in krital's tower was our home plane's address?

Anyway, go hang out with Thod (and brun), maybe ask them for some input on the spending.

>>469358
>You did. It's the glyph for your homeworld, which Krital's third journal called Helios.

Closing your eyes in hopes that your headache abates, you quickly tap out Rathod's number. Since going out to eat with him and Brun just after you returned from the other world- which Krital's third journal named Shamash- you haven't had a lot of time to hang out with him.

"Hello?" Thod asks, picking up. "What's up, Jaz? I heard you've been doing pretty well for yourself lately."

"Yep." You say. "At this rate, I might be able to present things by next week."

"Next week? That fast?" He asks.

"Well, my otherworld trip paid off." You say. "I've come across my ancestor's entire collection of magical lore. And with the Star Rune..."

"You can use everything you found."

"Essentially." You say. Other than the two or three books that the Gift of Tongues spell doesn't translate, for whatever reason.

"... You sound pretty tired. Everything okay?"

"I'm fine." You lie. "Just a little headache. And soulache. And I'm not sure the last time I slept."

There's a silence from the other end, and you can imagine Rathod's disapproving expression.

"So anyway." You say. "I'm thinking that I might go out for drinks at the Dryad to unwind. You up for coming along?"

"Sure. Who'll be coming?" He asks.

"Everyone I actually like."

"So what, me and Ishelda?" Rahtod snorts.

"First of all, Ishelda's too young to drink." Not that that stopped you, when you were her age, "and there's also Brun and Nel."

"What, you're not going to invite Cera?" He asks, teasing.

You respond by hanging up on him, and then you call Brun and invite her too, chatting for a bit. Finally, you say goodbye to her and call Neloch.

"Greetings." He says, after a long wait. His voice sounds rather clipped. "Hello, Jasmine."

"Are you in the capital right now?"

"I am." He says.

"Good- I'm going to hang out at the Dryad with some friends. It's a bar. Lots of alcohol. Want to hang out for a bit?"

"I am not sure I'll be the best company right now." He says. "But I would like to come."

"Then I'll come pick you up. Where are you?"

After picking up Brun- who was actually out in the wilderness, hunting a particularly large and angry Dire Rabbit- and Neloch- who is dressed in the same wizard chic he was wearing last time- you end up in front of the Dryad, Rathod already waiting there.

Rathod's arm looks new. The previous brass plating is replaced, and it no longer looks like someone who really had a thing for steam engines had built it- now it's more like Haron's work- full of swooping shapes, silver and gold trim, and shiny steel plates.

"Hey." He says, giving you a wave a second before Brun pulls him into a hug.

"Hello." Neloch says. The adventurer's slight smile looks plastered on. Fake.

Right, you'd never introduced Neloch to Rathod, though Brun knows him from the subjugation.

>?

>>469260
>buy warehouses in Tark and Romalia
We need capital to develop our Empire in Dimension 02! We will conquer it with a huge army of battle droids- I mean, golems!

>>469410
Looks like Nel just recently shaman'd something nasty and is feeling the effects on his soul.
Or he's an imposter sent to kill us all and steal our research.

>>469410
> Dire Rabbit
With a holy handgrenade? :)
>picking up
really useful
>Neloch >not sure I'll be the best company right now
Mystery? He will tell after some drinks!

"This is Neloch, an adventurer and explorer. Met him and Geroth on the Fiend extermination mission."

>>469447
>steal our research
Paranoia on! Everyone is trying to steal our research! Everyone.

So, we have to develop a weapon of deterrence: A weapon that can collapse a dimension! What could go wrong?

>>469410
>"At this rate, I might be able to present things by next week."
Official Magus title, then big public Archmage status reveal, gloating in front of Cera? Muahaha!

"This is Neloch." You say, gesturing to him. "An adventurer and explorer. I met him and Gareth on the Fiend subjugation mission."

"You're the one who had that really clever knockback dweomer, weren't you?" Brun asks. Neloch nods.

"Pleased to meet you." Thod says.

"This is Rathod." You say, gesturing to the big guy. "Basically my little brother, and Archamge Haron's apprentice."

"You as well." Nel says. A moment later, as if on a delay, he smirks. "Little brother?"

"She's two months older than me." Rathod says, rolling his eyes.

"And two feet shorter." Brun pipes up. You glare at her, and she just titters. "Let's go!"

The four of you find a table somewhere, and start getting drinks. Instead of going straight to the hard stuff, you unanimously decide to start out with something softer- at least until you're all a bit more comfortable. The three of you begin chatting, but as things go on, you're more and more sure that there's something off with Neloch. You know it's him- his soul has the same general feel, though it's impolite to look any closer- but he's acting rather subdued.

"So." You ask Neloch, when Brun and Thod get up to get more drinks. "What's going on? Did you try some kind of shaman thing that didn't work out?"

"No." He says. "I'll be okay. It's... My core is acting up."

"Do you mind if I take a look?"

He tilts his head, thinking for a moment.

"Go ahead." He says.

You reach out with your mana, and carefully touch him, being careful to feel out his soul without pushing too hard.

The problem is simple. His soul doesn't have the energy to run properly. Whatever infinite wellspring of mana powers human sentience, in your friend Neloch, is weaker than normal, meaning his cores- those that you can actually sense- have less mana flowing through them. You know enough metabiology to know what that means. His emotions are suppressed, or delayed, and he's slower. Not to mention that he doesn't have any spare mana or even mana generation, right now. You also feel a dweomer attached to his Implement, ready to feed it pre-supplied mana whenever he attempts to cast a spell.

You've never heard of a debilitation like this. The Purity core is sacrosanct- every born human has the same mana flow for their soul, the same amount of overflow. Nobody's ever had a smaller 'income' than anyone. Not that you've heard of.

"It's okay." Neloch says, shooting you a smile. This one looks a bit more real. "I'll still receive these pleasant memories when I am more myself."

"Oho." Brun says, raising an eyebrow at the two of you. You realize that you're leaning over, hand on Neloch's chest. "Is the third and fourth wheel pairing up?"

Thod just rolls his eyes and sets down the drinks.

>?

>>469631
>>?
"Don't make fun of Soul Magic.
Have you consulted a Healer, Nel?"

He was able to cast spells when we met him, right?

>>469631
>he doesn't have any spare mana or even mana generation
Does that mean, he's like a muggle now? No magic, just a normal human?

Did the other anons lose their internet? You can't hide under the table for the whole quest!

>>469631
>never heard of a debilitation like this
Next up: Human experiments.

>>469631
Having 100% of the votes behind me atm, I vote to quickly buy the warehouses in Tark+Romalia (call up a realtor now) and name our company Angwaz Interdimensional .

>>469766
I vote for this too

>>469766
Now is not a good time for business.

>>469631
Wow he really should go and try see an expert on souls

>>469766
Now is friend time. No works.

>>469699
>Even completely normal humans even have mana generation, though unused mana vanishes to wherever it comes from once a soul is at capacity. It's more like he's explicitly magic-crippled.

"Don't make fun of Soul Magic." You say, perhaps a bit harsher than you intended.

Brun wrinkles her nose.

"Right, sorry." She says, this time completely seriously.

"Have you consulted an expert or something, Nel?"

"I have." He says. "Nothing they can do. I will return to normal soon, however."

"This normally happens?" You ask.

"Once every few weeks." He says. "I have adapted. It generally lasts six to eight hours. It began this morning."

Rathod and Brun share a look, and you pull your arm away from Nel's chest.

He grins. "I suspect I'll begin to get more cheerful as the night progresses."

"Glad to hear it." Brun says, raising her glass. "Anyone who can kick Fiend ass like you can deserves to have a good night out."

"I use a spear. Not my feet." He says.

"Nobody's perfect." Brun pipes up.

The four of you begin drinking, and Brun gets simultaneously more cheerful and more cuddly with Thod as the night progresses. Rathod, as always, seems to get quieter and careful, like he's afraid he might accidentally smush someone. Neloch, true to his word, starts to return to his normal- especially when you get him talking about his flying machine.

"So what, you want to emulate the Hunter platforms?" Brun asks.

"Not exactly." Neloch says. "Those platforms only work because of Archmage Sirius' help with mana generation. I want something that's as efficient as possible."

"Efficiency is always worth it." Rathod says. "If you'd like, I could talk to my Master about it. He's damn good with gravity magic."

"No thank you." Neloch says. "This is one of those things I want to do myself. No point in it if someone else does the hard stuff, you know?"

You're starting to get a bit woozy. Your head and soul might not ache anymore, but you're feeling pleasantly buzzed. Maybe a bit more than buzzed- you're having a lovely time. Before you know it, you speak up.

"I'm going to start my own company." You decide. "Not right now, since, you know, drunken hundred-thousand ecu purchases are proooobably a bad idea. But soon."

"A company?" Rathod asks.

"Simple." You say. "Portal makes things go from Point A to point B. I make portal, people pay me, I pay wizards to fuel portal with mana. Boom."

"Didn't you want to finish your thesis before you did anything like that?" Rathod asks.
You give him a Look.

"I already finished the portal part." You say. You open your hand, and carefully contort your mana, funneling it elsewhere. It's a bit harder to focus, but after a long, painstaking moment...

A portal opens, from above one of your palms to above the other.

No Implement needed.

"Good enough to emulate it with Astral Magic anyway." You say, and take another drink. "Can't do it outside of arm's reach or with pure Analytical magic though.."

Everyone just stares.

>?

>>469795
True. More friend time than business time.

I would also be interesting in what Brun knows about Cera's doings. We didn't read any newspapers lately, I think.

>>469631
>pre-supplied mana
Is that a mana battery?

>>469631
>You can see a strange link, from the dragon to the prince. The two are connected, intimately, mana leaking from beneath the monster's scales. For a moment you wonder how mana would leave the dragon's body at all, before you recall that monster-made Mithril and Orichalium is nowhere near as perfect as the synthetic stuff. No matter how powerful or amazing the dragon is, your sword is still more pure.
Holy shit he can be cured if he learns the magic from the other plane!

>>469788
should have mentioned in the future, not right now as >>469828
said

>>469833
"What? I've been practicing."

>>469833
>"Once every few weeks."
Maybe once every four weeks, moon cycle?
>Everyone just stares.
Soul Magic genius? Yes!

>>469839
Sounds like a great idea!

>>469864
I think we should be able to do portals with pure analytical magic if we use our knowledge demon spell to do the majority of the calculations for the portals.
>>469833
And now is the time to relax and unwind

>>469839
Would suck if his familiar is a magic mouse with little mana, though - and wouldn't solve his problem.

>>469876
>knowledge demon
That sounds like a spell, Thod's Master would kill for...

>>469895
It also seems like one of the ones we should keep for ourselves.

>>469895
I guess he would love to have more calculation power.
>>469881
It does not need to be anything super strong just have enough magic surplus to offset his leakage.

>>469902
All knowledge is ours for the taking, us alone!

Few weeks later, meeting of the Archmages, Jasmine goes "Yo, with my super-magic, I learned all your individual magic systems and accomplishments."

>>469872
>>469833
>Maybe once every four weeks, moon cycle?
A good hypothesis. Let's ask him to have confirmation.

>>469872
>You're not a genius with Soul Magic- you just know the theory well enough. You're barely past adequate, astral-magic wise. Which is a lot better than the average Adept, or even the average Magus. But compared to Shamans or actual Astral Wizards, you're lackluster.

>>469895
>Knowledge Demon is a pretty painful spell, the way it seems to wrest knowledge from you and you're pretty sure it's not good for you to use for an extended time. That's why you wait a few days between uses.
>The interesting thing about it is that a 'Demon' in the language of the book you got it from means 'artificially-constructed soul'. Which implies there are ways to artificially create souls.

"What? I've been practicing." You say.

Everybody continues to stare for a few moments, and eventually Brun raises her glass.

"Good on you." She says. "I'm never really sure about how you Adepts do things, but you're apparently doing something right."

"Simply," Thod says. "Any kind of spell can be emulated with astral magic if you know how it works well enough, and if you can do Astral Magic. The 'how it works' is basically what you need to get your thesis done and become a Magus."

"So you could become a Magus like, tomorrow?"

You snort. "If I wanted to. But I don't have Teleportation down yet, or how dimensional travel works."

"You've confirmed dimensional travel?" Neloch asks. He looks excited. "Like, you've seen another world?"

"I went to one for an afternoon. The people there liked me." You say, and finish your drink. Then you lay your head down on the most convenient cushion- Brun's shoulder. "Say, Nel, about your soul thing."

"Yeah?"

"Does it happen during a certain phase of the moon?"

"Not really." He says. "It's not always at the same time. Sometimes it happens sooner, sometimes it happens later... There's no real rhyme or reason to it."

>?

>>470025
>"Sometimes it happens sooner, sometimes it happens later... There's no real rhyme or reason to it."
Oh well atleast he is not truly hampered by it.
But now let's get his party started with some wizard poker. Time to cheat like a motherfucker.

>>470025
>artificially create souls
:D Can we try to fuel it with pre-packaged mana? Fuse it with a golem, another object?
>convenient cushion- Brun's shoulder
Muscles? Well, Brun is cute, axe cute.

>?
"I will take you with me on my next interdimensional travel, they have some sort of mana enhancing familiar magic there, that could help you."

>>470025
Do we know what Cera is up to? Her magic seems like competition for our super company.
>Soul Magic >lackluster
We need to become immortal, because we have so much knowledge to absorb.

>>470025
Guess we'll have to figure out where mana comes from. Since technically as far as we know souls generate mana out of nothing? That can't be right

>>470091
>mana out of nothing
Maybe we can connect a portal to the Source and have Unlimited Mana? Jasmine wins. Empress of Everything.

>>470113
Until the source runs dry, that is.