Chapter 134 – A Mystical Programming Language
Chapter 134
A Mystical Programming Language
Date : Day 24 of Grimleaf 1024 Aethellgard Concord Year.
Oria let Hyoren sink into his thoughts without interruption. She was patient enough to wait.
Her gaze drifted toward the window. The twin suns of Kresneger still hung in the sky, though their positions had shifted noticeably since they had begun this conversation. The warm golden radiance of Sol had already almost gone due to the approaching winter, leaving Luna's pale silver light to spill gently through the glass.
The angled rays stretched long shadows across the room, quietly reminding them of how much time had passed.
Tiny dust motes drifted lazily through the air, glimmering faintly beneath the silver glow. The particles caught the light as they floated—creating momentary sparks that appeared and vanished in an endless cycle that seemed almost hypnotic in its simplicity.
Hyoren was already digesting the information, and he nodded slowly.
"This actually sounds pretty easy to understand when you explain it like that."
Oria gave a satisfied nod before flipping through several more pages of the book. The pages rustled softly as she searched, the sound accompanied by the faint scent of old paper that seemed to permeate every volume in her collection.
"Now, there's another important thing you need to understand."
She tapped the page lightly.
"Once you successfully form a spell and the System etches it into your mind, you can't unlearn or fundamentally alter how that spell works anymore."
She glanced toward him. Her sapphire eyes met his dark ones.
"If your first spell becomes Water Arrow, then that spell will permanently remain Water Arrow. You can improve it, strengthen it, or add duplicating runes..."
Her delicate finger traced the page. .
"But you can't suddenly turn it into a Water Ball afterward."
Then she gestured vaguely with her hand.
"Also... Like I mentioned before, if your Attunement Level toward an element is low, you may need to stack additional runes just to achieve the same effect as someone with high affinity."
She smiled.
"For example, you might need to duplicate certain runes two or three or even four times to stabilize the spell properly. That's why low-attunement mages end up with much larger runic arrays even when casting the exact same spell."
Hyoren tilted his head.
"Huh... is there a difference between duplicating runes and simply using the same rune multiple times?"
His hand moved across the spellbook before stopping at one particular entry.
"Like this second-tier spell. These two are both categorized as Wind Slicer."
Then he began reading them aloud.
"The first one is, Wind. Blade. Sharp. Silent. Shoot. Forward."
His finger shifted to the next variation.
"But the second one is, Wind. Blade. Sharp. Sharp. Shoot. Forward."
He looked toward Oria curiously.
"What's the actual difference between them? And is the second one what you meant by 'duplicating Runes'?"
Oria smiled immediately—the kind of reaction that came from a teacher who was pleased to see their student asking the right questions.
"Good question."
She lightly played with a strand of her silver hair while organizing her explanation.
"The second spell is still fundamentally the same Wind Slicer spell."
She pointed toward the first variation. Her finger hovered over specific syllable—emphasizing the key difference between the two versions.
"But the first version sacrifices raw cutting power in exchange for stealth. The Silent Rune suppresses sound and disturbance, making the blade of wind much harder to detect."
Then she tapped the second variation.
"Meanwhile, replacing Silent with another Sharp rune increases the slicing capability instead. So the second version is louder and easier to notice... But it hits harder."
Hyoren slowly nodded in understanding.
Then Oria continued.
"And no, that still isn't considered rune duplication."
She pointed at the repeated Sharp Runes. Her delicate and small finger traced the six-rune sequence.
"Each rune here still occupies its own proper syllable slot inside the structure. This is simply using the same rune twice as part of the spell design."
Then she grabbed another sheet of paper and quickly began drawing a much larger Runic Array. Her pen moved with confident strokes—creating lines and circles that seemed to grow more complex with each passing second. The array expanded outward from a central point—adding layers and connections that transformed what had been a simple four structure Runic Array into something far more elaborate array.
Hyoren immediately recognized the base pattern.
"Water Arrow?"
Oria nodded.
"Yes. But modified for someone with extremely low Water Attunement."
The magic circle—Runic Array in this case—she drew had additional outer rings surrounded the core spell. Each one adding complexity and size to what had originally been a compact and efficient design. Despite its increased complexity, however, the structure still appeared divided into four main sections. The fundamental architecture remained intact, just heavily reinforced in ways that made it appear almost unwieldy.
Oria pointed toward each section one by one.
"This section is Water/Water/Water."
Then another.
"Arrow/Arrow/Arrow."
Then another.
"Shoot/Shoot/Shoot."
And the final one.
"Forward/Forward/Forward."
Hyoren's eyes widened slightly. The spell was still fundamentally divided into four syllabic components. But each component had been reinforced multiple times. It looked less like adding new commands and more like excessively strengthening existing ones.
Hyoren nodded thoughtfully.
"I see... Now that I'm looking at an actual example, Runic Arrays for low-attunement users are enormous."
He traced the array with his finger.
"It's still fundamentally a four-structure, four-syllables spell..."
His eyes narrowed while analyzing the layers.
"But the array itself becomes huge and complicated because the duplicated runes need to be written and woven together intricately."
He pointed toward the outer circles.
"The second and third rings are interconnected with additional lines to stabilize the reinforcement process, right? So even though it's technically still the same rune repeated multiple times... the structure itself becomes much more complex."
Oria smiled, clearly pleased. Her sapphire eyes gleamed from genuine satisfaction.
"That's right. You understand surprisingly quickly. Not many academy students grasp this concept that fast."
She absentmindedly played with a strand of silver hair again.
"That's exactly why mages are usually advised to stick to elements with naturally high Attunement Levels."
Then she tapped the oversized Water Arrow’s Runic Array.
"To avoid this kind of excessive Runic Array inflation even for something as basic as a first-tier spell… Now, could you imagine how absurd the structure would become for a fifth-tier spell."
Hyoren could already picture the nightmare. Massive layered circles. Interwoven reinforcement structures. Dozens of duplicated runes. The mental burden alone sounded horrifying—the kind of complexity that would overwhelm anyone who was not specifically trained to handle such intricate mental constructions.
He nodded slowly in understanding. Then another thought crossed his mind.
"But what about people with high attunement levels? Can't they also stack duplicated runes to strengthen the spell further?"
Oria smiled faintly—the kind of smile that came from someone who had been expecting this question and was pleased that her student had thought to ask it.
She leaned back slightly before answering.
"So you already understand the implication. Yes. Theoretically, even high-attunement mages can duplicate runes to further increase a spell's potency. But there's a diminishing return."
Her expression turned serious again.
"The larger the Runic Array becomes, the heavier the burden on the mind. Maintaining an enormous spell structure while simultaneously controlling Aethell is mentally exhausting."
She tapped the side of her head lightly.
"That's why talented mages usually prefer the smallest and most efficient arrays possible. Smaller arrays are easier to stabilize, easier to visualize, and significantly faster to cast."
A small grin appeared on her lips.
"And if they need more power? They simply pour more Aethell into the spell instead... Because someone with a high Attunement Level transfers Aethell far more efficiently into the specific element Runic Array."
She tapped the compact Runic Array again.
"A highly compatible Runic Array can hold vastly greater amounts of Aethell even while remaining small and simple. That's the true advantage of high attunement."
Hyoren nodded thoughtfully.
"I see... that's true. So it was truly better to stick to the element we have an advantage with."
***
He looked at Oria. The question had been lingering in his mind since she had explained the permanence of spell formation—a logical concern that arose from understanding that magic was not simply a tool to be picked up and discarded at will.
"Another question, Oria... if spells become permanently etched into our minds, then how do we learn new spells? Can each element only have one spell?"
Oria smiled, clearly amused by the question. Her pointed ears twitched slightly.
"Of course not. Basically, you gain one spell slot every two levels in a Magic Skill."
Then she began listing them one by one. Her small fingers extended with each count—creating a visual accompaniment to the numerical progression she was describing.
"Your first spell unlocks at Level 1. The second at Level 3. The third at Level 5. The fourth at Level 7. And the fifth, and final, basic spell unlocks at Level 9."
Hyoren blinked.
"So only five basic spells?"
Oria nodded, her silver hair swaying gently with the motion.
"For each elemental branch, yes. But once your Magic Skill reaches Level 10, you gain access to the advanced branches of that element."
Oria smiled.
"That's the gist, we will talk about advanced magic later, for now, do you have any questions?"
Hyoren nodded once more.
"About creating spells... How creative can someone actually get with it?"
At that, Oria's sapphire eyes immediately lit up. The transformation was striking—the composed scholar giving way to something more enthusiastic, more alive.
"Ooh, very creative."
She sounded genuinely excited now. Quickly, she opened the Basic Light Magic Spellbook and flipped through several pages filled with runic arrays. Her small fingers moved with practiced efficiency. The pages rustled softly as she flipped them.
"These are standardized spells researched and curated by scholars over countless generations. You can use them exactly as they are. Modify them slightly. Or create entirely new ones yourself if you're talented or... insane enough. Haha."
Hyoren stared at the countless rune combinations filling the pages.
The pages were dense with Runes and Runic Arrays—each one representing a specific command or function that could be combined with others to produce magical effects. Magic really was closer to a language than Hyoren had expected.
No… more than a language. It was closer to a programming language. Runes were essentially codes.
The realization immediately clicked inside his head. You combined commands together in a specific structure to produce a result. In his previous world, people wrote lines of code to create programs. Here—in Kresneger—people wrote runic arrays to create magic.
The more complex the desired outcome, the more complicated the ‘code’ became.
A simple spell like Water Arrow only required a few runes because the command itself was straightforward.
Create water. Shape it into an arrow. Shoot it forward.
But if someone wanted a spell that tracked enemies, split into multiple projectiles, exploded on impact, or changed trajectory mid-flight—then the runic array would naturally become far larger and more complicated.
The more Hyoren thought about it, the more absurdly similar it felt. The mental image acted like visualization software. Runes acted like code. Aethell acted like the energy source powering the entire process.
Hyoren’s eyes slowly widened.
Magic in this world… was basically mystical programming language.
Seeing that Hyoren had understood enough for now, Oria pointed toward several Runic Arrays inside the book. Her finger traced the outlines of the structures—highlighting the patterns that connected one spell to another.
"There are still rules to all of this, of course."
She grabbed a blank sheet of paper and quickly drew a small circle—Runic Arrays—to help visualize her explanation.
"For a first-tier spell, you generally use four rune syllables."
Then she drew another circle beside it—larger and noticeably more intricate, with six interconnected Runes.
"Second-tier spells usually require six."
A third Runic Arrays followed. Much larger than the previous two. The structure had expanded significantly—eight interconnected runes creating circle that seemed to build upon the foundations established by their simpler predecessors while adding new elements that increased both the complexity and the potential of the spell.
"Third-tier spells use eight."
She put down her pen and continued her explanation.
"And it keeps increasing from there. The higher the spell tier, the larger and more complex the runic structure becomes."
A faint smirk appeared on her lips.
"That's why magic becomes exponentially harder the higher you climb. Not everyone can properly visualize, construct, and stabilize massive runic arrays inside their minds."
Hyoren flipped through the pages of the Basic Light Magic Spellbook, skimming over the curated spell lists and the Runic Arrays beneath them.
The pages were dense with information—each spell accompanied by its complete Runic Arrays, detailed annotations, and notes about proper execution. The progression from simple to complex was immediately apparent, the increase in complexity mirroring the tier system Oria had just described.
"I think I'm starting to get the pattern here..."
He pointed toward several entries while speaking. His finger moved from one spell to the next.
"Most first-tier spells seem to be simple single-target attacks. Second-tier spells are still mostly single-target, but with added effects."
Another page flipped.
"Third-tier spells seem more utility-focused. Fourth-tier becomes large area-of-effect attacks... And fifth-tier basic spells are basically devastating magic."
He looked toward Oria.
"That's the general structure, right?"
Oria nodded, silver hair swaying slightly with the motion.
"Yes. Correct. That's the standard structure scholars and academies eventually settled on after centuries of experimentation."
Then she began explaining further.
"First-tier spells are difficult to modify heavily because they only contain four syllables. The structure is too small and restrictive. Second-tier spells become more flexible because they contain additional Runes space for secondary effects."
She played with her silver hair. A faint smile appeared on her lips—the expression of someone who genuinely enjoyed the subject they were discussing.
"But the third-tier is where creativity truly starts. That's usually the point where mages begin creating utility spells, support spells, environmental manipulation, and more specialized effects."
She spread her hands wide.
"And fourth- and fifth-tier spells become terrifying because the number of possible Runes combinations increases massively."
Hyoren nodded slowly. The motion was one of comprehension—the kind of gradual acknowledgment that came from someone who was beginning to see the full picture of how magic functioned in this world.
"But technically... we can still ignore all of these conventions and create whatever we want, right?"
Oria grinned immediately.
"Of course... You can completely abandon the curated spell structure if you're dedicated... or insane enough. These standardized spells only exist because they're stable, efficient, and easy to teach."
Then she leaned forward slightly.
"But if you truly understand runic theory, you can create almost anything."
Hyoren's interest immediately sharpened.
"Anything?"
Oria tapped her chin while trying to think of an example.
"For instance... You could create a fifth-tier Fire Magic spell that's still technically single-target."
Then she began counting the effects with her fingers.
"A fire beam that travels faster than sound. The beam tracks multiple targets automatically. It bends mid-flight. It penetrates through enemies to seek additional targets afterward. Then explodes on impact and leaves lingering flames burning the target afterward."
She spread her arms dramatically.
"That's the truly fun part of magic."
Then she laughed softly.
"Though most mages don't bother experimenting too wildly."
Hyoren tilted his head.
"Why?"
Oria smirked mischievously.
“Because if you create some bizarre spell combination and the final result turns out terrible… You’re stuck with it forever.”
She tapped lightly against her temple.
“Once a spell successfully forms, the runic structure becomes permanently etched into your mind. So if the spell ends up useless… then congratulations. You’ve permanently wasted one of your spell slots.”
Then she burst into laughter.
"Hahaha!"
Hyoren smiled wryly—the kind of smile that came from someone who could already imagine how disastrous it would be if he permanently etched some weird unusable spell into his mind.
He did want to create unique magic someday.
The desire was genuine—the ambition to develop something that was distinctly his own rather than simply following the paths that others had established. But after hearing Oria's explanation, he decided he would be extremely careful about it. If he ever created his own spell, he would think it through properly first—and probably consult someone experienced like Oria beforehand.
"I see... I don't think I'll experiment recklessly then. Hahaha..."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
***
Oria took the Basic Runic Theory book. Her small fingers closed the cover with practiced ease—the motion of someone who had handled countless books over the years and knew exactly how to treat them with the respect they deserved.
"Now that you understand the Basic Magic, let's delve a bit deeper. Let's talk about Advanced Magic."
She gestured lightly as she explained. The motion was expansive—as if she were opening a door to reveal a much larger room beyond the threshold they had been standing in.
"Water Magic could branch into Ice Magic, Liquid Control Magic, or Advanced Water Magic. Each advanced branch possesses its own spells and progression."
Her sapphire eyes gleamed with excitement as she spoke. She flipped through the Basic Runic Theory book until she reached the pages discussing Advanced Magic. Her small and delicate fingers pointed toward the text.
"These are the advanced branches. Neither this book nor I will explain them in detail for now. Reaching this stage takes months... sometimes years."
She smiled faintly.
"But knowing they exist is good motivation."
Hyoren lowered his gaze toward the page.
The book listed all six basic elements alongside their advanced branches. There were no explanations or diagrams, only names—the names were almost self-explanatory—yet somehow, that alone made them feel even more mysterious.
Fire Magic : Burning Magic, Explosion Magic, Advanced Fire Magic.
Earth Magic : Terraforma Magic, Lava Magic, Advanced Earth Magic.
Water Magic : Ice Magic, Liquid Control Magic, Advanced Water Magic.
Wind Magic : Lightning Magic, Storm Magic, Advanced Wind Magic.
Light Magic : Healing Magic, Sacred Magic, Advanced Light Magic.
Dark Magic : Curse Magic, Necromancy (Soul) Magic, Gravity Magic, and Time-Space Magic.
"So... five spells for each base element."
Hyoren rubbed his chin.
"And after maxing the element, I unlock advanced branches. Fire, Earth, Water, Wind, and Light each have three..."
His eyes narrowed slightly—the look of someone who had noticed an inconsistency and was trying to understand its significance.
"But Dark has four. And unlike the others, there's no 'Advanced Dark Magic.' Why?"
Oria smiled knowingly. The expression was familiar—the kind of smile that came from a teacher who had been asked a question they had been hoping their student would think to ask. It was a question almost every academy student asked sooner or later.
"Actually… We scholars still don't know the true reason..."
She admitted quietly. Her voice carried a note of academic humility.
"One theory says it's because Noctynara's domains are ambition and knowledge. According to that belief, she possessed the deepest understanding of Aethell itself, which resulted in Dark Magic becoming broader and more dominant than the other elements."
She absentmindedly played with a strand of silver hair—a small gesture that seemed to help her organize her thoughts as she navigated the complexities of theological and magical theory.
"Another theory, especially widespread in Altaria, is that Noctynara was never truly part of the Kresneger Pantheon. She was too different... That belief is also why her followers are often branded as heretics."
Her expression grew thoughtful.
"Especially thanks to Soul Magic."
Hyoren nodded.
"Because of Necromancy?"
Oria nodded slightly before answering.
"Yes... but that's only how most people see it. Originally it was called Soul Magic. But as most people only used it for Necromancy, it was called as such now."
Oria leaned forward slightly.
"In truth, Soul Magic is far purer than that. Necromancy is merely one application of it. Soul Magic was never meant only for raising the dead. In its purest form, it is the magic of anchoring existence itself."
Her finger traced slowly across the page as she smiled faintly. The motion followed the text that listed the branches of Dark Magic—lingering on the entry for Soul Magic as if emphasizing its true nature.
"But personally, I believe this last theory."
Her sapphire eyes softened with genuine fascination. The light that appeared in her gaze was different from the academic excitement she had displayed earlier—this was something deeper, the look of someone who was sharing a belief rather than merely reciting established knowledge.
"It's not as widespread as the others, but to me… And to the few scholars who support it… It feels like the most logical explanation."
She lightly tapped the section discussing Dark Magic.
"This theory claims that Noctynara was the First Pillar of the Aethell. The first God to exist. Or perhaps the first to manifest. Honestly, no one truly knows how the gods came into this world. We don't need to dig deeper into theology..."
Oria leaned back slightly before continuing.
"But think about it..."
She looked directly into Hyoren's eyes. Her sapphire irises met his dark ones.
"Soul. Gravity. Time-space. Those are fundamental laws that anchor reality itself, aren't they?"
Realization struck him almost immediately. The pieces fell into place with a clarity that seemed almost obvious in retrospect.
"Now that you mention it... Yeah..."
Hyoren frowned thoughtfully. The expression was one of deep consideration.
"Three of those are absolutely necessary for the world to exist. And even Curse Magic could be interpreted as manipulation of reality itself."
His eyes widened slightly as the thought fully formed.
"So all four of them could basically be considered the true anchors of the world."
Oria's smile widened at that.
She looked genuinely delighted that Hyoren had arrived at the same conclusion so quickly. For a brief moment, it felt as though she was speaking to another version of herself—someone who understood the thrill of discovery and the satisfaction of seeing patterns emerge from what had seemed like chaos. It was like she was looking at a mirror.
"That's exactly what we believe, Hyoren."
A brief silence followed.
The quiet stretched between them—filled only by the soft hum of magical equipment and the distant sounds of the city beyond her shop walls. It was the kind of silence that accompanied deep thought—the pause that came after a significant revelation, when the mind was still processing the implications of what had just been learned.
Hyoren quietly digested the implications surrounding the Dark Goddess—Noctynara. A Goddess who was feared and slandered because her followers twisted her teachings into heresy. Or perhaps because people feared what her domains represented in the first place.