Chapter 218, 1/2

Chapter 218, 1/2

Three hours passed in blessed calm.

People talked. People planned for cooperation. No one yelled. Fairy Moon gave a rapid apology and no one denied her apology, but a few servants and Cook Donny accidentally thanked her. Fairy Moon just thanked them right back, thus equalizing the perceived debt. Erick hoped that wouldn’t become a problem. Having seen his distress, and looking to make another good impression, Bright Smile spoke of how Erick’s staff were probably fine, and if Fairy Moon were going to call in any sort of debt, she would call it in on him.

Which made him have some complicated emotions.

And then Bright Smile said, “I’m joking.”

“Oh? Ha. Ha. Good one,” Erick intoned.

Bright Smile smiled brightly.

Meanwhile! Zolan and his borrowed elites organized the cooperation for the securing of the Surface, rapidly drawing in every single guest who was not a servant or a Cook or cook. First Knight Harriz, from the Wasteland Kingdoms, who had come in with Shade Lapis, was incredibly excited about the loss of [Teleport] and the switch to a Gate Network, and let everyone know that.

“It will mean an end to angelic bombardments!” Harriz said, “This means no lightning fights, or death spells cast in town squares and then the perpetrator escaping.”

Fallopolis countered him with, “It means people will be learning proper magic and then how to do that properly, Harriz.”

Lapis said, “Going from 25% of all people being able to [Teleport], with most of those people the ones who actually matter for war, to .01% of all people on Veird, is still a great reduction. Harm reduction is still harm reduction.”

Bright Smile said, “Wars are just as deadly in Ar’Cosmos as they are on the Surface, but they take a great deal more commitment. All this means is that the cowards won’t go to war.”

Erick said, “This means that the cowards won’t be able to flee when their captains tell them to charge an impossible defense.”

“If you will permit me, my king,” Zolan brought the conversation back around, saying, “We have 20 hours before the Feast is over and we all need to work in order to prevent catastrophe in the coming week. Talk is great, but let us focus on solutions of all kinds, which, as we are locked inside this current space and unable to speak to the outside, means figuring out an organizational structure for others to adhere to, question and answer sheets that we need to be able to give to nations out there to answer all their questions, another questionnaire about needed and desired Gate access, and finally, for us to decide how we will include others in a rapid expansion of House Benevolence in order to meet these needs.”

Fairy Moon spoke up, “This is the perfect time to temper Surface society into the collective image of cosmopolitan Candlepoint. Demand laws of your lands be followed, and deny Gates if those laws are desecrated!”

That comment started a whole new debate.

Erick checked out of that debate as Quilatalap reappeared in the atrium, at the far side, looking at Erick. Erick went to him. Quilatalap furrowed his eyes as Erick walked his way. When Erick finally reached him, the big man said nothing.

So Erick said, “I’m glad you came back. I was about to start a Gate Version 6 discussion with others, if you want to join? There’s the rest of the discussion too, if you would rather be there.”

Quilatalap frowned a little, debating with himself if he wanted to be petty, or not. He chose to say, “The fairy apologized to me. That has never happened ever before, Erick.”

“She also thanked everyone who accidentally thanked her for her apology.”

Quilatalap paused. “... That’s different, too.” He whispered, “She hasn’t actually changed at all, you realize?”

“I know. She views what she does as good. I’m sorry I didn’t come for you sooner, Quilatalap.”

“... Accepted.” Quilatalap breathed deep, and in the process he dispelled whatever surface misgivings about all this he had, looking like a brand new man in that moment, but Erick could tell it was an act. He smiled a little, asking, “So what’s been happening so far? What’s Gate Version 6 look like?”

Erick returned the smile, and turned back to the gathering, speaking of plans as he walked beside Quilatalap, leading the way toward Aisha, and Lapis.

- - - -

Amid possibly the best magical minds of the world, Erick began casting lightwards into the air, as he spoke of Gates, and their limitations. Everyone knew how the spell actually worked, but Erick did go over that briefly, and then he moved onto ‘enchanting’ Gates themselves, and what that meant. For it wasn’t actually ‘enchanting’ at all.

When he made a wood and iron Gate, that was simply making an anchor to set a [Gate] into.

And then he went over the problems he had encountered in his implementation of [Gate].

“Four problems,” Erick said, “Problem one: Security, to prevent unwanted passage, to lock the Gate when not in use. A few people had already been asking for better security before today’s events, so that they can dedicate two or three hours per day to overseeing transport through the Gate, and then shut it off for the rest of the day. Not everyone wants a portal open all the time, letting everyone through. Extra security would also include a way to shut the Gate off, without needing to poke it with an antirhine knife and disable the [Gate] inside the Gate the hard way. Had one guy do that at the Gate to the Forest to prevent a sudden stampede of undead from breaking through to the Gate District. Ended up preventing the invasion, but he ruined a lot of work trying to shut the Gate off. They could have simply sent a message up the chain of command and I could have personally dealt with the invasion, but he made a fast decision. He recovered from the explosion of Benevolence plants, but he did almost die.

“Problem two: Cost of Gates. In time and effort and gold. Mostly time and effort, though, since I’m inscribing these all myself. The current design takes about 25-30 minutes to make a single Gate, and I am not going to live inside a [Hasted Shelter] for the rest of my life to meet the needs of the entire Surface. I probably will have to do that for the next week or month, but hopefully not more than that.

“Problem three: Is there a way to make a Gate that will automatically cast itself? I’m manually adding the [Gate] to every single one of these Gates, and that’s a fucking pain in the ass. I can only imagine that the rest of my entire life will be spent recasting [Gate] unless I can make an actual magical item that will cast [Gate] for me. I’m also not handing this task off to Yggdrasil, for I won’t have him do that job either.

“Problem four: Is there a way to make a Gate lead to other locations? Like if I put up one major Gate at the center of a hub, and then have thirty smaller Gates out there that the main Gate can flick between, with a touch of a dial, or something like that.

“These are the major problems that I have found with my Gate Network so far.” Erick said, “I am sure that we will run into more problems in the future, but these are the current issues. On the positive side, these four problems have some clear overlap, like with the ‘main hub Gate’ and the ‘I-need-to-shut-it-off security problem’. If the main Gate could be switched to a ‘null’ Gate option, like perhaps to the other side of the main Gate itself, effectively creating a [Gate] that was only a decimeter across, then that would solve the problem of needing to ‘turn it off’ well enough. So! Let’s consider it all. Let me know when you have your first questions.”

Aisha sat silently, standing back as she took in all the lightsculptures that Erick had made to illustrate the problems of [Gate], and making Gates to hold them.

Lapis studied the image of the Main Hub Gate idea.

Quilatalap asked, “Have you tried using [Teleport Spell] to shift either side of a [Gate]? The range of [Gate]s you could reach would be limited, but that could let you make a Hub.”

Erick brightened. “I have not tried that yet! Excellent idea, Quilatalap. I’ll have to try it once we’re out of the Feast Barri— Ah. Shit fuck.”

The brief joy in Erick’s heart faltered hard, because almost all of them realized what was wrong with this idea a second after Erick. Even though the idea might theoretically work, and by all rights it should since both sides of a [Gate] were affected by magic...

Aisha said, “The [Teleport Lock] of the Feast Barrier will go around the entire world, blocking all Spatial Magic. This [Teleport Spell] idea will not work as it does, but, there is a solution. The t-stations of the Geodes already push back the Dark, allowing for point-to-point Spatial Magics, as long as both ends of the spell are cleared of the Dark. I am absolutely sure that Archmage Tasar and Archmage’s Rest will work with us to come up with a way to make this Gate Hub work.”

Erick knew that setting up this conversation was a good idea.

Lapis said, “Those t-stations have already solved for the selection of different targets, too, as well as the boosting of range. This should allow for a ‘Gate Hub’, and you’re going to want to outsource a lot of your own efforts to Archmage’s Rest and Stratagold anyway. But they will not be able to help with the auto-casting problem. Allow me to assist with this task, for this solution will likely require the condensation of Benevolent mana into a [Familiar]-like being. Such a being seems to me the only way to make a deep magic like [Gate] be automagical. Solving this problem in this way does open up your gate space to intrusion, though, for someone could use some soul surgery to open up one of those creations and make them do their bidding.”

“... Let’s come back to the automagic topic in a moment, for I have realized another problem I need to solve before I thought I needed to solve it.” Erick said, “[Gate] has a range where I can freely use the spell. That range is a few thousand kilometers around every Yggdrasil at the moment. This will make putting up a Local Area Gate Network rather difficult in a place like, say, the Greensoil Republic. So could I [Teleport Spell] both ends of a [Gate] around, to plant a [Gate] pair into Gates that are far outside of my current range of [Gate]?”

Aisha was unsure. Lapis had no idea.

Quilatalap said, “You should be able to. But I suggest you drop some Class Ability and take Gatemaster, Erick, and then plant some more Yggdrasil out there on the Surface. One per continent should be fine. It’s time.”

Lapis raised an eyebrow, looking at Erick. She was surprised that Erick didn’t have Gatemaster.

Aisha half-rolled her eyes. She and Erick had spoken of Erick’s lack of Gatemaster before. She still couldn’t believe that Erick didn’t have that Ability. She was also a little weirded out that apparently Quilatalap knew that about Erick, but she got over it in the face of the coming disaster.

Erick said, “I suppose I must.”

Lapis still couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You were doing a Gate Network without Gatemaster?” A bit stronger, “And you could implant a [Gate] into a Gate at all?”

“What’s wrong with that?” Erick asked. “All the Gate has to do is not move and the [Gate] remains intact. My [Force Wall]-ish spell does that quite well.”

Lapis blinked a bit, saying, “I’m simply surprised that that actually worked. That this whole model of... everything... That it has worked at all without Gastemaster.”

Quilatalap smirked, saying, “He’s very good at runic work. Doesn’t have ‘Shifting Runes’ either. Not even the lesser version.”

Erick grinned at the praise in Quilatalap’s voice.

Lapis said, “Well that’s not news at all. But the lack of Gatemaster is.”

“The most common restriction is that you can only really use Book Magic on various things that are fundamentally yours. Spells qualify most easily for this restriction, and indeed, Book Magic is very useful for making new spells that have truly strange effects.” She began summoning light sculptures to illustrate her words. “For instance, under normal Script designs, you can take [Force Bolt], Mana Altering Fire, Altering Ice, and Altering for Elemental Book, and produce the tier 2 spell [Burning Frost Bolt]; a spell which hits with the sting of ice, and leaves a freezing fire behind that sucks the heat out of the target.

“But instead of making that one spell, you can use Elemental Book to have fun with all the various Bolt spells you have ever made, without needing to lock yourself into actually making [Burning Frost Bolt].

“You simply use [Editing Bolt], instead.

“Casting this spell will take some skill, because you cannot simply cast the spell like you would any other Script spell; simply flicking your intent and mana into your desire to cast, and it will be cast. To use [Editing Bolt] properly you must also mentally link with the two or more Bolt spells that you wish to cast at the same time, and you must also decide, on the run, which effects you desire from those input-spells.

“As another example, imagine a [Fireball] spell, and another spell similar in scope, but not in effect, [Frostbomb]. Now, you could simply combine the two spells, making a higher-tier spell based on that combination. You might end up with the standard [Frostfireball], which causes a creeping frost that deals damage over time, and slows all affected by the spell. But, under the limits of the Script, when combining magic, the outcome that you get is the outcome that you get, and you must break that combination if you wish to try for a different combination. This means your [Frostfireball] is static. Unchanging. What you cast was what you got, and if you want to make a different sort of [Frostfireball], leaning more into the initial damage, or the damage over time, or the area, or whatever, you must break that spell, wait the appropriate amount of time based on the tier of the magic, and then try again.

“But we’re going to do some Book Magic and bypass those limits.

“For this example you would use [Editing Bomb], since all of these input spells are based on [Force Bomb], and that is how Book Magic works best; between things that are already similar, but vastly different in specific ways.

“Instead of making any higher-tier magic at all, you simply use [Editing Bomb], linking with your [Fireball] and [Frost Bomb] spells, and you mentally adjust the output spell as you desire. In this way, your [Editing Bomb] spell will produce a [Frostfireball], or a [Flashice Bomb] which explodes sharp ice in a large area, or a [Mistyfireball] which spreads a floating mist that burns and lingers. You can use the same three spells and focus on some different desired aspects each time, altering your arsenal, tailoring your destruction for what is actually needed, at that moment.

“Through a modicum of Book Magic, and heavy initial investment, one is able to switch around one’s magic at will.” Aisha asked, “Does that all make sense?”

“... Huh.” Erick said, “Never had it explained quite like that— So are you doing something Paradoxical when you use Book Magic? Like when you [Teleport], and what you’re actually doing is rewriting the past to put yourself in a different place in the present; are you rewriting the outcome of combining [Frost Bomb] and [Fireball] through Elemental Book, and Book Magic?”

“Ah! [Teleport] is actually a special case of where something looks like it could be Book Magic, and you can make a Book Magic sort of [Teleport], but it’s not the same thing at all.” Aisha said, “In [Teleport], you are changing a past event and propagating that change to the present, like, say, a decision to eat lunch in one city versus a different city. That’s the most common example of what it means to [Teleport]. This version of [Teleport] will put you in that different city.

“But [Reposition], the Elemental Book version of [Teleport], looks like this:”

Greater Reposition, instant, super long range, 1 mana + Variable

You change your location based on the transformation of one attribute.

“That’s my version, anyway.” Aisha continued, “And as you can guess it is a lot more limited than [Teleport], but it can do a lot if you know how to work it. For instance, for 500 base mana, I can [Reposition] from here to Oceanside, though I have absolutely no control over where I actually end up at Oceanside. Usually it’s some unprotected library.” Aisha allowed herself a brief excitement, and then controlled that excitement back down to normal levels, as she said, “I have been working on a [Benevolent Reposition] which hasn’t gone anywhere recently. The goal with that one is to enact the change from ‘I am here’ to ‘I am where I need to be’, which is a very large transformation. Difficult.” She added, “And just so you know, the wording change to get me from here to Oceanside or back is ‘I am here at the Gate District’ to ‘I am here at Oceanside’. If you switch around your language in which you conduct your formation of intent, you can make Book Magic easier, or much harder than it needs to be. Ancient Script is good for Book Magic in some ways, but harder in others. It’s all rather self-evident, though, once this has been pointed out... Yes, you get it.”

That was all so fascinating. Erick wasn’t sure where he wanted to continue his questions.

After a moment, Erick picked what seemed like the largest concern to get out of the way, and asked, “What are the limitations of Book Magic, with regard to the things altered, for example?”

Aisha gave a nod, beginning to speak halfway through the motion, “Book Magic works best on what is yours, and yours alone. ‘Bars of gold’ is something that you might own according to your bank accounts, but not according to Book Magic. Book Magic makes really good buffing magic, because you can temporarily do things like give yourself 200 extra Willpower— Which has very deep soul-problem-issues if you use something like that with any regularity at all. Once every year would be about all you could handle with that...” Aisha thought. She said, “Book Magic is also most used in information tracking. [Remember] is a version of a basic Book Magic buffing spell, which is a result of [Identify] and Mana Alter Book, and a self-buffing sort of framework, which allows you to sort your memories in a way that allows for easy retrieval and indexing. Most Book Mages keep that one running all the time, in a way that every mage casts a [Personal Ward] at the start of the day. It’s a cheap spell, and once you learn it, you don’t need it active all the time in order to still make use of the indexing that you’ve built within yourself...” Aisha paused. “And that’s a good start. Obviously you could write a book on Book Magic—” She grinned, having told a very old joke. “—but we’re not here to read books. Who wants to go next?”

Lapis and Quilatalap shared a look.

- - - -

Lapis began, “Most applications of Book Magic are limited to self-magics, but this sort of transformation is a much deeper magic than simple memory spells. The big example there is [Polymorph]. All the best mimicry magic is also Book Magic. [Duplicate] is considered Book Magic, but since [Duplicate] is so heavily controlled, no one really knows what category that falls under. Book Magic makes the most sense for that one, though.

“Because, at its base, Book Magic is about categorizing everything, and then, if you pull and push and snip and rearrange well enough, Book Magic is also Editing Magic. Indeed, many Book spells are named ‘editing’ in some way. Overseer Aisha touched upon how one can only shift around one’s own stuff, but the deeper answer is that one can only shift things that are minor, and only between similar circles of interaction.

“If you have a reed basket of apples and a thin-wood plate of limes, and everything is the same except for the nature of their containers, you can use a basic editing-focused spell in order to easily transform the reed basket into thin wood, and the thin-wood plate into reeds. To transform the positions of the apples and limes, you’ll have to use more mana and have a better visualization of the change you are enacting upon the items. One of the hardest things to do would actually be to tip the apples or limes out of their containers with a Book spell, since that would be completely transforming the nature of the situation, from one of order, to one of random disorder. Some of the other hardest things for Book Magic to do is to change anything that the user doesn’t think is easy to change.

“Teleport will get you out of a welded-shut cage. Book Magic will have a tougher time.

“The most basic editing spell is something with [Identify], Altering for Elemental Book, and [Force Wave]. This working creates a splash of power that you must then focus on the things you wish to edit, and if you can visualize the shift easily enough, then it will happen. Normal people will fail at all applications of Elemental Book, for their visualizations are terrible. You will likely find this part of Book Magic easy, due to your various senses.

“For the purposes of making a simple [Gate Redirector] —tentative name, non-Soul Magic— what you will be editing is the location of the other side of the [Gate], to predetermined locations, primed to accept a [Gate]. The editing process should be rather simple in this case, for the shift will simply be ‘this [Gate] connects to pair-Gate 1’, and then you shift the ‘1’ to any of the other options in the system.” Lapis ended with, “I am completely unversed in what sort of editing-level power one must be able to achieve to move a [Gate], but the Mind Mages use a version of this ‘connection selection’ when it comes to their Crossings; their [Telepathy] network.”

And Lapis was done.

Semi-excited, Aisha said, “It might not be nearly as difficult to switch the end-point of a [Gate] as I thought— I mean. Well. A ‘Gate Hub’ would need to have some codes and such in order to prevent someone from making a theoretical ‘Gate #11’ in a 10 Gate system, and then flicking the Master Gate to an unapproved location... But then again maybe that’s a good thing? Room for expansion and contraction of Gates, as necessary?”

Lapis, having a weird moment at sharing excitement with a wrought, said, “Adjustable Gate Hubs seems like it would solve a great deal of future issues, like mismanaged expectations on travel loads here and there causing a buildup or dearth of Gates.”

This was very, very good. Erick had known that Book Magic was exceedingly useful for the editing of worked objects, and books, and even one’s mind. From what Lapis and Aisha had already said, it seemed like Book Magic was the way to go in this project.

Erick felt better and better about this. One more person was here to speak his ideas, too, though, so Erick asked, “Quilatalap? I’d love to hear your opinions.”

From their expressions, Lapis and Aisha dearly wanted to hear the lessons of the Archlich of Necromancy, too, but while the Shade was openly interested, the wrought was still coming to grips that this was happening. Aisha was working alongside beings she knew of as unrepentantly evil, and yet they were working toward a common good. It was messing with her, a lot. She was coming to accept this new part of her life, though.

Quilatalap stood from his chair, as Lapis sat back down.

- - - -

“Book Magic is a crude tool that can do anything you want it to do, if you’re good with mental shifts and if you’re okay with having a crude final product.” Quilatalap said, “If you want a plant to grow in a certain way, you use a directed [Grow], carefully using the Elemental Water and a variation on Ooze called Wood or Plant, and adjusting the whole transformation from seed to tree. You do not do a Book-shift, violently changing the plant from ‘seed’ to ‘tree’, for you will end up with a dead tree, or a stunted thing, or any number of other problems. You don’t use a Book-shift to heat your water, editing its ‘cold’ status to ‘hot’, because you might end up with boiling tea, or bath-water tea, or a flash-transformation into steam. The [Reposition] of Book Magic can get you from here to another city halfway around the world, but you’ll end up in some random location in that city every single time, and [Reposition] certainly can’t get you to any specific place like [Teleport] or elementalstepping can.

“The best, most controlled way to use Book-shifts, and to end up with a proper result, is to target two or more objects and to edit their parameters, moving desired and undesired parameters around until you’re happy with one of the objects, and willing to throw away the rest. If your Book Magic isn’t targeting two or more things that are fully under your authority, then you’re going to have a bad time.

“Gaining authority over an object for the purposes of Book Magic is only truly achievable through a Book Domain of some sort. An Elemental Book aura can be used to exert authority, but this is a half-measure at best. Same goes for any other type of Domain, while any other aura spell will do less than nothing; it will actively harm your attempts to use whatever Book spell you’re using.

“There are some spells you need to experiment with before you attempt to make [Gate Control], or whatever it ends up being called.

“The best combination for making a basic, all-around editing spell is something close to what Lapis suggested. [Identify], plus Altering for Elemental Book, which is to add directable Book into the [Identify] spell, and then [Force Wave]. When made properly, which means no damage from the Wave and all power turned into classification and malleability, this sort of spell looks like it should cost around 100 mana. If you make the version for 100 mana, then you have done it wrong.

“If you make it correctly, it will cost 50 mana plus Variable, and still be rather difficult to use. You will only achieve a measure of skill with the spell when you get the hang of mentally labeling the things you wish to edit before you cast the spell, and then you use the spell to edit those things, while also pumping enough mana into the working to ensure that the edit actually takes place. If you spend too much mana, then you will have unintended edits, causing shifts in areas you did not intend to shift. If you don’t spend enough, then you will have accomplished nothing.” Quilatalap finished with, “Literally anything you can do with Book Magic, you can do cheaper, and more exact, with other schools of magic, except when it comes to the one thing Book Magic excels at; the generalized editing of the attributes of two or more things.”

Erick felt a lot better about the future as he listened to Quilatalap. “Thank you, Quilatalap. I feel I’ve been neglecting Book Magic for far too long, and now I think I need to actually go make this spell.”

Quilatalap said, “You haven’t been neglecting anything. Book Magic is unwieldy. But yes. I’ll make this magic with you. To the throne room?”

Erick’s heart soared. “Yes.” He turned to Aisha and Lapis, saying, “Do either of you have any other suggestions for Book Magic workings? Any necessary things?”

Aisha said, “Try out something simple like [Editing Bolt] and a bunch of assorted Bolt spells to get the feel of Elemental Book before you try to make a generalized [Edit], which is the name of the [Identify], Book, and Wave spell that Lapis and Quilatalap suggested. It’s a fine version of [Edit], and can easily be transformed into an aura spell, so I have no qualms about that.”

Erick nodded.

Lapis said, “You’ll need a Super Long Range version of [Editing] in order to make the [Gate Relocation]s spell, which is... I’m not sure how difficult that is, but it seems doable with Spatial Magics, and using runic devices to push back the Darkness... Certainly not a normal spell, though.”

“I have some suggestions on that front, Erick,” Aisha said. “But getting through the first round of spell creation will be important to do, long before we get to making [Gate Relocation] magic.”

Erick said, “Think of other options besides [Gate Relocation] while I’m working on this, and also whatever Soul Magic that might be good, too. But, I’m rather sure that [Gate Relocation] will solve a myriad of security issues, from allowing the shut down of a [Gate], to minimizing the need for Gates here in the District, to making it so that there aren’t open [Gate]s just... Every-fucking-where— Wow, that’s going to be a security nightmare... I want this to work.” He glanced over to Zolan, and everyone else planning out Gate Network expansions. “I think Zolan knows the new plan—”

Zolan looked up from what he was doing, and nodded, then he went back to talking about Gates in Nelboor. He had been listening to the discussion happening over here while he was also working over there. A lot of people had been, actually.

“—but we can’t actually expect this to work until I get it to work. So. Thanks for being here, and helping to stem this tide of horror.”

Aisha gave a half bow. Lapis swelled with sudden pride, and gave a bow slightly lower than Aisha’s.

And then Erick grabbed Quilatalap and stepped the both of them back to the throne room for magical experimentation.