Chapter 18
Passive Magic (Thought 4)
Sylvia laughs and then replies, “That’s because it is.”
For a moment they share an amused smirk before Mary adopts a considering frown.
How was she going to word this correctly? Her telepathy spell only had a few minutes of use left.
Sylvia raises an eyebrow and asks, “Something on your mind, princess?”
Mary nods, her frown deepening; aware of her rapidly decreasing mana reserves, she chooses to take the plunge and simply ask.
“Is there a way to have constantly active magic?” Mary asks quickly.
For a moment, Sylvia reacts with surprise; she visibly takes a second to consider her answer before opening her mouth.
“There is. Typically, it’s called passive magic.” Sylvia explains, “Because it’s passively active, see?”
Mary nods in reply, “And how do you make magic passive?”
Sylvia smirks and, instead of answering, chooses to tease, “Barely a day old and already thinking about passive magic? What’s your idea exactly?"
Cognisant of her decreasing time, Mary refrains from outright glaring at Sylvia for the non-answer and instead chooses to explain her idea quickly.
“Two things really. I want to build a mental library that I can store magic spells in. Otherwise, what I’ve done with this telepathy spell might be my limit.”
Sylvia allows both of her eyebrows to lift in surprise and interrupts: “Passive magic like that does exist, but it’s not often used due to the cost. The mage guilds encourage their members to use grimoires, magically enchanted books to store their spells in.”
Mary nods in understanding and continues, “Makes sense. The second thing I want to do is something I experienced on Earth; we could control and direct sleep so that we could have educational lucid dreams… I had a nightmare last night, and I’d prefer to avoid them in future.”
Sylvia frowns in sympathy and hesitatingly answers, “I’m sorry you had to experience that; do you want to talk about it?”
Mary glares at Sylvia, her worry over her decreasing mana reserves still rising.
“I can’t hold this telepathy spell for much longer.” Mary states, aggravated, “I got mind-controlled to my murder, went through being born, saw that my new mother is essentially a living corpse, and then got told that my fate is to be a slave. I’ve had a lot to worry about, ok?”
Sylvia looks at Mary sympathetically and answers, “I’m sorry. I should have realised most of that.”
After a moment of unwanted sympathetic looks, Sylvia opts to continue with some good news.
“I can’t help with the telepathy spell; delicate things like that have never been my strong point. But I can help you learn how to refill your mana reserves quickly. There are several ways; some require help, and some can be done alone.”
Mary sends Sylvia a complicated look, realising that she had latched onto the mention of nightmares instead of what she wanted to know about magic.
“And the matter of lucid or controlled dreaming?” Mary asks, her tone frustrated.
Sylvia blinks, the look of sympathy fading to an embarrassed realisation.
“Oh! Sorry. Having passive magic active while asleep is possible. I’m not sure about something like controlling your dreams.” Sylvia visibly considers it for a moment before continuing, “What would you even use it for? I’ve never heard of something like that, not even in my ancestors' writing.”
Mary allows herself to visibly sigh, “A basic benefit would be no nightmares. But it could be used to consume books if they could be scanned and added to the dream somehow or experiment with a magic formula. An appropriate amount of sleep needs eight hours a day; that’s a lot of time that could be used for other things.”
“Oh! You mean connecting it to your other passive magic of a mental library? I guess that might work.” Sylvia exclaims in surprise, “And that’s the sort of thing that Earth is doing now? That’s amazing.”
“It’s a big part of public education, yes. Some areas of science need a good ten to twenty years of dedicated study before you know it all. They needed a way to cram more material into less time.” Mary explains and then once again attempts to direct Sylvia's attention back to the matter at hand. “So how do I create passive magic?”
“Ah.” Sylvia exclaims, embarrassed again, "Well, I do know some passive enhancement spells. It’s actually very simple; with normal magic, you use magic externally, right? Draw out your mana and create a spell circle from it.” Sylvia explains.
“So, you probably guessed, really. To keep the spell circle running indefinitely, you simply need to create it internally and ensure it is continuously fed mana.”
“It’s similar to how this telepathy spell is working, but spells consume a lot of mana; it’s very difficult to have a passive spell working constantly.” Sylvia finishes, looking at Mary concernedly.
Mary frowns at the response; she had, of course, thought that creating a spell within herself would create a constantly active magic.
But she hadn’t considered the potential mana cost of a permanently active spell; Mary could barely keep a telepathy spell working for fifteen minutes.
How was she going to create a permanent mental library spell, let alone the add-ons she had thought of?
‘So that’s it; I give up until my nature as a reincarnator gives me enough mana reserves to work with? I don’t have the time for something like that!’ Mary rants to herself, her frustration momentarily boiling over.
Would she have to rely on one of these grimoires that Sylvia had mentioned? Anyone who could get their hands on it could steal or alter the item.
Mary frowns as she thinks on the matter further.
Could Sylvia even gain access to a grimoire for Mary to work with? It had sounded like Sylvia didn’t own one herself. Did Sylvia even know how to work with a grimoire, how to connect with one, and how to add or alter the spells and knowledge within?
‘There has to be something.’
Sylvia watched on in concern as Mary's face twisted and turned, but before she could interject, Mary threw her a new, desperate-sounding question.
“How do grimoires and other enchanted items power themselves? Is it all from the owners?” asks Mary.
Sylvia frowns in confusion but dutifully answers, “That depends on the complexity of the enchantment, I suppose. Some enchanted items need to be regularly powered; you saw it yourself with the other maids.”
Sylvia explains, not quite noticing the depressed pall that takes over Mary's features at the answer, “But some enchanted items can rely upon absorbing ambient mana; they tend to be very long-lasting and powerful. But also, very difficult to create.”
Mary immediately brightens at the words, an almost blinding smile briefly taking over her features, before she squeaks like a squeaky toy.
“That’s a cute smile!” Sylvia exclaims while squeezing Mary.
Mary's bright smile disappears as if it had never been there at all, replaced by a violent glare.
“Don’t do that!” Mary telepathically growls her demand before sighing over the still-connected telepathic link, “How do you get a spell to use ambient mana? Especially passive spells.”
Sylvia hesitatingly pauses her hugging as she considers the question.
“I’ve never heard of a rune that can be used to absorb ambient mana; if it exists, the guilds or heroes have kept it a secret.” Sylvia answers thoughtfully, “An [ambient mana] rune? A [mana] rune? I’ve never heard of either.”
Mary frowns at the answer, reflecting on how conceptual runes have performed so far; either option should be possible, although she cannot begin to guess what the effects might be.
“Maybe a formula could be used? Sorry princess, I just don’t know.” Sylvia continues apologetically, “We don’t have grandmaster enchanters in Midgard, and they’re the only ones who can create long-life, self-charging enchantments. But they would know… maybe.”
‘Gaining access to a high-level enchanter isn’t going to happen in the short term; I’ll have to postpone that. So, I either need to create a completely unknown or intentionally hidden rune to power my spells, or I need to create the right formulaic logic to do the same.’
“But ambient mana can be used for powering things?” Mary states as much as asks.
“Oh yes, on the highest levels at least.” Sylvia answers regretfully, “Sorry I couldn’t help more, princess.”
Mary nods distractedly, her mind already elsewhere.
‘What sort of logic would I need to use in order to absorb ambient mana?’ Mary frowns as she considers her options but blinks as a thought comes to her, ‘Sylvia outright said that you can speed up your mana regeneration; that presumably relies on ambient mana.’
Mary nods to herself firmly.
“Earlier you mentioned recharging my mana reserves. How do I do that?” Mary asks.
Sylvia blinks before smiling, “Well, it comes down to meditation, I suppose. You draw in the ambient mana around you to fill your reserves; efficiency isn’t outstanding, but it does speed things up somewhat.” Sylvia starts with the answer that Mary had expected before continuing, “The other is generally called the dual-cultivation method.”
Cultivation nonsense once again intrudes upon Mary's western magic fantasy, causing her eye to twitch. If Alexander's memories were correct, wasn’t dual cultivation generally very intimate, even sexual?
“And what exactly is dual-cultivation?” Mary asks with dread and expectation in her voice.
Sylvia smirks down at Mary, apparently knowing what she is thinking.
“Two people cycle their energies between each other, stimulating their energy regeneration. There are other benefits, though; all the mana qualities can be improved with no found limit.”
Sylvia's explanation almost causes Mary to sigh in relief before Sylvia continues joyfully, “The cycling of energies acts somewhat like a whetstone; each participant's mana gets continually sharpened. Of course, for soul-related reasons, the more intimate the participants are, the greater the benefits.”
Mary sighs in exasperation, her expectation of what dual-cultivation likely meant having been confirmed.
“I see.” Mary answers, annoyed, “So that would be hugging all the way up to sex then?”
Sylvia blinks in surprise at Mary's blunt assessment before pouting.
“Yes, that’s right. The more intimate the dual cultivation, the closer the participants' souls touch, and the more benefits there are. But hugging works fine too; it’s more efficient than taking in the ambient mana yourself at least.”
Mary nods, having confirmed what she had expected.
“And meditation to draw in ambient mana is what it sounds like, then? Grasping the mana around you and drawing it into yourself, is there anything else to it, or is that it?” Mary asks for further confirmation.
“No, you’ve got it right, princess; the only thing I’ll add is that the qualities and elements of the ambient mana determine how efficient your meditation will be.” Sylvia answers, “I think mana qualities are obvious; how much and what quality the mana is will determine much of the efficiency of drawing the mana in. But element matters too; you lose energy turning elemental-aspected mana into your personal mana.”
Mary nods at Sylvia's explanation; it is indeed self-explanatory.
‘I need a formula that actively absorbs ambient mana to power my passive spells. Maybe I should take inspiration from solar or wind farms? I need to get a feel for and understand how to use ambient mana; that should help me figure out what sort of logic I need to progress further.’
At that moment, both Mary and Sylvia feel the telepathic link between them snap, Mary’s mana reserves having been exhausted.
Sylvia smiles at Mary and says, “Well, how about we see about refilling your reserves then? Do you want to try meditating or hugging?” Sylvia says mischievously.