NOVEL NEXT Chapter 12: Absorption Magic
The next two years were spent slowly adapting to my new mind and body. As I grew older, the time I was able to remain fully conscious became longer, and my intellect and clarity of thought grew closer and closer to normal. I also realized that I wasn’t fully ‘unconscious,’ even during the times I had a terrible headache and couldn’t remain awake. Instead, it was more like the instincts of my body ruled over me, leaving me on some sort of strange autopilot state. As I started to have an easier time interacting with the world around me, I studied the language my mother and father spoke, and by the time I turned four I was able to communicate a bit beyond a normal four year old’s standards.
I learned that there was no written language in this place, unfortunately. My mother and father seemed to have no concept of reading or writing at all.
From that, along with a few other clues such as the construction quality of our house and the tools I saw my mother and father use, as well as some of the tools I used when my mother asked me to help out with chores around the house, I realized we were either living in the stone age, or just barely beyond it. Nobody knew what farming was, there were no domesticated animals, and tools were made of bones that, for some reason, were incredibly sturdy, and might have been able to outperform even copper tools. I had no idea whether they were as sturdy as bronze or iron, and no clue why the bone tools were so abnormally sturdy, and since my parents had no idea what metal was I had no way of asking them why the tools were so strong. As far as they knew, the bone tools being incredibly sturdy was perfectly normal, and I had no idea how to extend the conversation beyond that. For now, I chalked it up to some local property of this world and decided to investigate more later.
Despite the lack of technology, there were some major ‘oddities’ in our lifestyle that hinted at major unique aspects of this world. We didn’t have farming, but we still lived a settled lifestyle. We ate massive quantities of fish about nine months of every year, making me wonder how the heck the water in our area could possibly produce enough food to sustain the entire population in our settlement. We ate roots, vegetables, and occasional berries for the other three months. Even though nobody knew how to write here, a calendar did exist in this area, comprised of twelve months consisting of 29 days each. There were only two seasons the people here bothered recording - storm season and fishing season. Adults came to visit my parents sometimes, but I never saw other children below the age of six. Everyone I saw had blonde hair and blue eyes, just like my parents and I. I was beginning to think this was just a common physical trait in this area.
My parents were also VERY explicit about the fact I was never to leave the house. I was not allowed to take a look out the front door. There were no windows in the house. The door leading outside of our house consisted of multiple doors that needed to be opened one after another in succession, meaning it was very hard to sneak a glimpse outside of the house unless I could open several heavy doors in a row without being noticed. My mother made sure I was away from the front door entryway whenever it opened. When I asked why I wasn’t allowed to look outside, I was told that I would understand when I was older. For now, it was dangerous, and I was never, ever, supposed to look out the door until I was older, or I might go mad since I wasn’t mentally mature enough to survive seeing the outside yet. I had to wonder what kind of environment could possibly cause death upon sight to young children, but with every adult I came in contact with warning me of the same thing, as well as the physical impossibility of seeing out the door, I grudgingly put away my curiosity for now.
My mother stayed in the house with me most of the time, taking care of me while we did the housework together. The clothes in this area looked incredibly odd in my eyes, often being made of a mixture of large, hand-sized scales mixed with furs. Pearls were a common accessory for most people, and the villagers treated them as pretty but unimportant decorations and pieces of jewelry.
As time passed, I became increasingly bored and frustrated with my lifestyle. Being restricted to a small area for multiple years was maddening. I began working on a small exercise routine, in order to keep myself in shape. I had no clue whether or not this actually helped when I was a four year old child, but it kept my mind off of the mind-numbing boredom.
I had also begun to notice how massive a hindrance my low intelligence stat was. At four years old, my brain was at least developed enough to fully house my soul, but that clearly wouldn’t fix my grade four intelligence. I still felt like I was drunk all day. I was mentally operating well below what I would have previously considered normal, which was an incredibly frustrating and maddening feeling. I was getting used to the constant struggle to think and put together information, but that didn’t make it any less frustrating to deal with. I hadn’t previously felt what it was like to gain or lose a grade in a Stat, but now that I was experiencing it, I could tell firsthand just how important going up or down one grade was. My two points in Agility at the Market had made me feel a little bit faster and more dextrous, but losing an entire grade of Intelligence was enough for me to feel drunk all the time. My low intelligence was also the greatest hindrance I encountered when trying to learn this world’s language - if I had grade 5 intelligence, I was sure I would have been able to communicate easily and fluently with adults. However, since my Intelligence was only 89, while I still picked up the language faster than a normal four year old due to my adult - level brain, it was still a struggle to learn new words and figure out grammar sometimes.
If there was an upside, it was the fact that my Willpower was 130, putting me firmly into grade six. Even though my Intelligence was terrible and thinking was hard, I could tell that it was easier for me to concentrate and focus on something than it had ever been before. I could spend hours on a task if I wanted to without any lapses in my concentration. When performing my exercise routine, I could very easily push myself to improve my muscles and bones, even though I hadn’t confirmed whether it was useful after a full two years of trying to improve. Even if I had no clue whether this was the right way to improve my body as an infant, I certainly appreciated my vastly improved focus and concentration. It gave me some relief after the incredible frustration I felt when trying to wrap my head around ideas that should have been simple for me to understand.
* * *
Our boring but peaceful life continued, until one day, my father came back home injured. His leg was broken, and two villagers were helping him get back home. Other villagers came into the house, one after another, and most gave us a sack of fish meat while smiling gently at us. After that, many of them left, although a few remained standing around. One of the villagers, who had a slightly swollen arm, walked up to my father and gently hugged him with his good arm. He was obviously in pain, but he still managed to grin at my father, even though it was a little strained.
“Thanks for saving me, Silas. If it hadn’t been for you, I might have broken much more than an arm! I can’t believe the back of the boat cracked from just one hit and dropped us. That thing flailed around way more than most of its kind. I won’t forget what you’ve done for me - let me know if you need anything in the future,” said the man, giving my father a grateful look. “Olav says we won’t be sailing until we get the boat repaired. The hunters have already found some more floatwood, so we’re just waiting on Arne to finish reconstructing it.”
My mother was already walking up to my father, while holding something I couldn’t quite make out. I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. I had never seen anyone seriously injured in this area, and I knew that we were probably living in an era with bad medical technology. What if we didn’t have the ability to cure something serious? If my father’s leg got infected, we didn’t have any modern medicines to cure it.
Then, my mother pulled a blue rock out of a small container made entirely of bone. Unlike the other furniture in our house, the bone container was exquisitely crafted, and decorated with pearls and bits of wood. It looked very fancy, and I couldn’t figure out why my mother was storing blue pebbles inside of it. She handed one of the blue pebbles to one of the other villagers who had stayed behind. The older man took the rock, then placed his hand on my father’s leg. Before I had time to wonder what he was doing, the elderly man closed his eyes.
Various runes began glowing on his arms. Each of his arms contained three runes, for a total of six, and a seventh rune existed on his forehead. Three of the runes were red, two were white, and two were green, A moment later, five green runes lit up on my father's chest, glowing just brightly enough that I could make out the light through his clothes.
The wound, which had previously been an angry red and purple color, started wriggling around as my father grunted, trying not to scream. The broken bone straightened itself out, while the swelling began to quickly disappear and the edges of the wound began to pull together. At the same time, the stone the elder was holding started to lose its color, changing from a light blue color to a dark gray color. A few moments later, it crumbled into dust. The elderly man looked considerably more tired than before.
“I’ve corrected the bone and dealt with the infection, so all that’s left is to let your body heal itself. If you want to spend another fish stone, you can probably speed up the healing process, but I recommend just waiting a week or two. Since your boat is out of commission right now anyway, there’s no point in wasting a fish stone when it’ll heal just fine anyway. Let me know if there are any complications and I’ll take another look.” The man took his hands away from my father’s leg, and the runes on his skin slowly faded away. After a few moments, I could no longer see them. The man began walking towards the door, before he paused for a moment and turned back to my father. “It’s rare for things to go this wrong during a simple fishing trip, but it’s good that no one was seriously injured. Well done keeping Claus safe, Silas. You did an excellent job making sure he didn’t fall into the water.” Then, he gave my father a respectful nod.
My mother, who had been holding another blue rock, put it back into the bone and pearl box before nodding at the magic healer.
“Thank you for treating my husband.”
“Anytime,” said the elderly man, giving my mother a more solemn nod before leaving.
Then, my mother turned to the man who had hugged my father. “Claus, now that Silas’s injuries are dealt with, are you okay?”
“I’m fine - the healer already took a look at my arm,” said Claus, rubbing his swollen arm ruefully. “It’s still a bit painful, and I don’t have a fish core laying around since I condensed a rune recently, but he still dealt with the infection for me. I’ll take a bit longer to heal, but I should be fine.”
My mother smiled at Claus. “Glad to hear it.”
“I’ll visit again in a few days, Silas. Thanks again for saving me. I thought I was a goner the moment I was in midair, but you managed to pull me up. I’ll never forget this.” With that, he gave my father one more one-armed hug before leaving the house.
“Papa? Are you okay?” I asked, trying to process what I had just seen.
That had been… magic. It had very obviously been magic. Suddenly, I felt excitement well up in my heart. This world really had magic in it!
“Yeah, sweetie. I’m okay.” He gave me a wider, happier grin and ruffled my hair. I pouted at him, before straightening my hair. I suddenly felt like my previous worries and my excitement were both silly. Sallia and Little Six had both come from worlds where magic was well known. The Market had directly referenced magic multiple times, and the note Sallia and I had stumbled across when we were exploring had even mentioned that worlds with no magic were fairly rare. The messages I had seen when being reborn in this world had even mentioned something about ‘absorption-essence magic being possible,’ and the skeletal Mage we had encountered in the Market had nearly killed the three of us before we were pulled into the ocean of souls by Sallia.
However, seeing magic performed in front of me by something that wasn’t trying to kill me was incredible. The idea that an elderly man had just fixed my father’s bone and dealt with an infection just by absorbing a ‘fish core’ was amazing to me.
My father limped over to a chair and sat down. Then, he closed his eyes and seemed to fall into a trance. The five runes in his body began to faintly glow again.
The color of his skin around his injury began lightening even further, until it returned to his normal skin tone. My father's pulse and breathing started becoming slower and slower, but my father began to look healthier as the seconds passed by. A few minutes later, he opened his eyes, as his pulse and breathing sped up again. He still looked injured, but his body looked a little sturdier than it had before. He smiled at me again, mussed up the hair I had just straightened, and then began slowly humming a little tune as he went to take a nap.
* * *
It took a week and a half for my father to recover. During that time, Claus visited every few days. Sometimes he would bring a meal, sometimes he would bring a toy for me (which I didn’t have much use for, since I was mentally a grown woman), and sometimes he would just chat with my father and check up on him. At one point in time, he also brought over a wooden hairpin studded with pearls.
During the time my father spent recuperating, he spent a fair amount of time playing with me and spending time with my mother. I spent a lot of that time trying to tease out the details of whatever magic system this world used. This was my first real opportunity to learn magic, since Sallia was unable to use spells in the Market, and I didn’t want to waste it if there was any way I could learn magic in this world.
However, mother and father both deflected my questions, telling me they would think about it. If I tried to persist, they would change the subject.
Finally, my father’s leg fully recovered. He went out, saying something about thanking the other villagers who had helped out while he was hurt. A few hours later, he returned, and had an unusually thoughtful and serious expression on his face.
“Miria, your mother and I have made a decision. We were planning to wait until you were a little older, but we’ve changed our mind. You’ve always been focused for your age, which is why we think you’re ready.
“That being said, if I catch you messing around, you’ll wait until you’re five before we talk about this again. Condensing your runes is hard, and it’s hard to get together enough fish stones for everyone. As a fisherman I have enough fish stones for our family to use, but wasting them would set your progress back by a lot, and you need to take the subject seriously and not mess around. Do you understand me?”
“I understand, dad. I’ll be careful and listen,” I said. I couldn’t help but feel a little thrill of excitement. Was I finally going to learn about magic?
Father made a somewhat doubtful expression while he was looking at me, but after that, he reached into the exquisitely carved bone box used to store blue stones. From inside, he drew out one of the blue rocks, and he solemnly handed me the stone.
“All right, Miria. The first thing you need to do is close your eyes and try to feel the energy inside of this fish stone. All humans can do this, although it gets easier when you turn six and starts to get harder again when you turn twenty. This stone has far denser mana than the air around you, making it easier for you to feel it with your Absorption Essence. For now, take the stone, and close your eyes. I want you to feel the stone with your mind. Tell me when you feel something… different.”
I closed my eyes and placed my focus on the stone in my hand, trying to feel it.
However, the exercise proved incredibly frustrating. I couldn’t feel a thing when I focused on the stone. I closed my eyes even more tightly, and tried to feel the stone, but no matter what, I couldn’t feel anything at all.
I spent an hour concentrating on the stone, but in the end. I couldn’t sense anything unusual from it. Frustrated, I opened my eyes to see my father's encouraging smile. He looked both amused and unsurprised to see my irritation, and chuckled when he saw me open my eyes.
“You spent a lot longer working at it before giving up than most kids too. Don’t worry - it’s very hard to feel mana and absorb it for the first time. It took me four days for my first success, and I was faster than most kids. And I only started when I was five. It’ll be harder for you since you’re younger. Even if it takes you a few weeks, don’t feel bad.”
For a moment, I feel impatience boil up from inside of me, before I pushed it down. My incredible focus and tolerance for boredom finally had another use besides allowing me to persist in my questionable exercise routine - apparently, it was now linked to my progress in this world’s magic system.
Another hour of no progress passed, before I started to get a headache. It was similar to the ones I had gotten when I was younger, though I could instinctively tell that the source of the headache was different.
My father, seeing me knead my temples and wince, gently smiled and patted me on the back.
“That’s enough for today. Give it a rest and get back to it tomorrow, all right? If you spend too much time and energy trying when you aren’t ready, it might do more harm than good. You’re trying to use your Absorption Essence for the first time, so it’ll take a while for your body to get used to it. Don’t push yourself past what you can handle, okay?”
I nodded, and did my best to quell my interest and be patient. I would succeed sooner or later, apparently. I just needed to keep working until I got what I wanted, and I didn’t want to ruin my chances to learn magic by being too hasty.
Still, even though I hadn’t succeeded today, I couldn’t help but feel excited. I was learning magic.
I wondered how Sallia and Little Six were doing. I could sense that they were nearby through my friendship bracelet, but I didn’t know anything else. Were they all right? Were they learning the magic system of this world as well? I hadn’t spent long with Sallia, and it had been a few years since I had last seen her, but I considered her to be a potential friend. Little Six was someone I had spent even less time with, but I had liked him as well. I hadn’t seen them in this world yet, since my parents were adamant that I not look at the outside world, but I hoped they were doing well somewhere nearby.
