Chapter 27
Second Mind Spell (Mind 2)
‘How did I get a 6th-level rune?’
Mary asks in amazed disbelief.
Her surprise was not completely unwarranted, of course. While Mary had not explicitly aimed for a lower-level rune, it was still surprising to find out that, according to her new world's logic, her inherited knowledge, the relatively paltry knowledge of Alexander, of how the human mind functioned was apparently worthy of a 6th-level rune.
Had Mary truly thought about creating a higher-level rune straight away, then she would have accepted, expected even, a rune that was several levels lower than a 6th-level rune.
But upon reflection, the more she considered this outcome, the more she accepted it. Firstly, it was simply polite to graciously accept the gift.
There was also the simple fact that due to her life as Alexander, she had over a decade’s worth of medical knowledge from a technologically advanced world, and even more so due to the advent of cyberware and Alexander's subsequent usage of virtual environments, a great deal of that knowledge was related to the mind and its operation.
How much relative knowledge of the mind could Terra really have? Certainly, even an average Earth high schooler might know more about cognition and psychology than a dedicated Terran scholar, barring some obsessive ancients whose existence Mary wasn’t even certain of.
Was it possible that rune levels were created based on the collective knowledge of the world and its people?
Given that, it was more surprising that the rune she made wasn't a higher level.
Of course, if that were the case, it would mean that creating high-level runes would get progressively more difficult the more knowledge became known and widespread.
‘That could actually be why the guilds restrict the spread of knowledge so much.’
That was, Mary reflected, a remarkably good explanation—almost acceptable, even—for the supposed actions of the guilds that she had learnt about.
With the relatively short natural lifespan of humans, it makes some degree of sense to try and artificially lower the required knowledge to create higher-level runes.
‘I wonder what level of rune someone like Doctor Harper could have created. Would her boundary-pushing knowledge have allowed her to reach the 10th tier, which is allegedly the highest level a rune could be? Or would she know so much that the world would allow the advent of an 11th level?’
Mary shakes her head, dismissing the useless thought.
‘Still, this means that advancing further than a level six mind rune is going to be incredibly difficult; there won’t be any reading or study material remotely close to what I used to have access to. On the other hand, the mind wasn’t really Alexander's speciality, so this result is more a happy coincidence than anything else. His actual focus was more aimed at general biology, so in the best case, I might be able to create 7th-level runes for biologically related magic.’
Of course, to the people of this world, a 6th tier rune should still be an outstanding result; if a decade of education from the far more knowledgeable Earth results in merely a 6th tier, albeit in a very complex subject like the mind, then that is presumably on the level of a veteran, if not a nascent archmage.
‘Still, should I make use of this sixth-tier rune? Or do I pull back and restrict myself to something more primitive?’
That was, Mary reflected, a crucial question. However, was there a valid reason to refrain from using the sixth-tier rune?
Mary stares at her newest rune, for the moment intent on more properly scrutinising it now that her surprise at her excellent fortune has passed.
The most obvious difference between this mind rune and her other runes is, of course, its size.
To a degree, this size was to be expected, as it was always going to be a relatively small rune. This was due to the small amount of mana that Mary had used in its creation.
But the massive difference between the mana that she had used to create it and her knowledge of the subject at hand had created an objectively tiny rune, almost to the point of being minuscule.
The mind rune before her was small enough that it could be compared favourably to her infantile hand; no doubt, if she had been an adult, the rune would have fit comfortably in her palm.
The other standout difference between this mind rune and the other mental rune that she had created, the telepathy rune, is not its appearance but rather the feeling it exudes.
From Mary's memory, the telepathy rune evokes a sense of connected minds; this is unsurprising, as that aligns with its true purpose: to connect people’s minds and allow for communication between them. On the other hand, the mind rune radiates a feeling of thought that reflects the essence of a person, or more specifically, their mind.
‘Despite similarities between a mind rune and telepathy, it’s clear that their purposes are completely different. Unsurprising.’
With her more thorough inspection completed, Mary looks at her new rune in appreciation; based on the feeling it radiates, she is certain that she made the correct choice in aiming for this rune in particular.
‘Would it be worthwhile to create a lower-level rune for further investigation? Or should I proceed directly to the magic?’
Mary considers her options for a moment before dismissing the thought entirely.
‘All my efforts thus far have shown that level represents mana efficiency. There’s no reason to use a less mana-efficient rune for a spell that will likely be extremely costly to run, especially when energy cost has been one of my largest concerns thus far.’
With her decision made, Mary instead turns her attention to the second mind spell that is her current focus.
‘How do I go about this then?’
Mary wonders.
It was clear to Mary that she couldn’t simply use the mind rune by itself to create a second mind spell; some form of logic would have to be attached to the spell in order to get it to work correctly.
But then, what would that logic look like exactly?
‘How do I create a spell that will generate a simulated facsimile, a so-called simulacrum, of my mind?’
Thus far, Mary has used symbolism—the use of symbols in place of other logic, such as mathematics or programming—to create relatively simple spells.
But what type of symbols could she use to represent herself or a mirror of her?
‘Let’s break this problem down. I need a quick and easy way to represent myself.’
A symbol that could represent a person? That, Mary complained internally, was asking for too much.
A person is a complicated thing; to render them down to a single symbol, or even several symbols, is essentially impossible without a great deal of preparation and, more importantly, the weight of history.
‘A relative handful of famous people might be recognised by a symbol that they were famous for wearing; some noble families or their individual members might have recognisable sigils or even personal heraldry. There are even many gods who could be presented by a singular symbol. But I’m not any of them.’
And would this world even acknowledge a sigil that represented Alexander if such a thing existed?
‘Now that is certainly a thought experiment.’
Mary thinks sardonically.
It was clear that Earth culture had influenced this world heavily; even the name of this world, Terra, was created by that influence.
But would the magic of Terra acknowledge the cross as a representation of Jesus, given that it is influenced by what appears to be a completely new, native religion?
Attempting to make a Christian holy spell by jamming a crucifix into a spell?
Surely, someone from Earth has attempted that at some point.
But would such a thing actually work in a world that did not have a notable number of Christians? No doubt some otherworlders throughout history had attempted to convert populations, but when the local goddess was apparently capable of frequent magical miracles, would such attempts have even worked?
Mary frowned at the thought. Alexander had not been remotely religious, but some cultural expectations remained; it was strange to think that such famous symbols might be almost complete unknowns here.
Mary shakes her head again, dismissing the strange tangent.
‘I don’t have any symbols associated with me from the old world anyway. But what about this new one? I’m a princess of Midgard; is that an option? Surely the Midgard royal family has personal sigils and heraldry?’
That was an intriguing thought at least.
She was a princess of this new kingdom; she was also an otherworlder.
Both facts were acknowledged by the world in the form of her status.
‘…Status?’
Visibly, Mary pauses, running through the thought again.
‘There is something that the world has acknowledged as representing me. It even changed the way I thought about myself when it happened.’
Mary notes, still somewhat frustrated at the mild form of mind-control she had been subjected to when she had been named.
Could it really be that easy?
Surely, if all a mage needed to do to create a second-mind spell were a mind rune of some variety and their name, then not only would all mages have such a spell, but everyone capable of even a minor degree of magic would also use such spells too?
‘So, it’s either not as easy as I think it is, somehow, or this is another example of the guilds' reach suppressing the spread of magic.’
After a moment's thought, and despite the trouble it would mean for her in the future, Mary tentatively hopes that it is the latter.
‘Well, there’s no time like the present. Let’s see if this works.’
Mary exhales deeply, reaching into herself and pulling at the metaphysical part of herself that represents her akashic record, and she begins to form her latest magic circle.
In the centre is her brand-new 6th-level rune, the mind rune, and surrounding that rune is a spinning circle.
At the edge of that circle are the words she had pulled directly from her soul.
Mary Midgard
Instead of allowing the magic to activate externally, Mary drags the spell into her soul and tentatively activates it.
She blinks, wondering for a moment if her spell had failed, and then from the depths of her mind she hears a voice, one that is recognisably her own.
{It worked.}
“Wah!” ‘Yes!’
Mary exclaims in celebration and then turns her attention inwards to the nostalgic presence lingering just beneath her conscious mind.
‘This is familiar.’ {This is familiar.}
Mary smiles at the familiar echoing of the simulacrum. Alexander had rarely talked to himself like this; it was a bad habit that tended to form the ultimate version of an echo chamber.
But she had not forgotten what it had felt like to be able to truly multi-task in a way beyond a regular person, to be able to properly converse with someone without having to jump through hoops.
A large part of Mary had expected that she would either not feel the soothing presence of additional minds again in this new world or only after many years of effort.
‘But it had turned out to be even easier than I had expected.’ {Yes, with this we can properly start to progress, although we're going to need to develop this spell further.}
Other Mary had a point, Mary reflected, annoyed.
In her rush to see if her idea concerning the mind rune and her akashic name would create a second mind spell, she had forgotten to add her ambient mana rune to the spell, ensuring that it would be a relatively short-lasting spell instead of a permanent passive magic as she had intended.
Already Mary could feel the drain on her mana reserves.
‘Although the drain is not anywhere near as bad as I would have expected.’
{In retrospect, it’s unsurprising. The mind rune we used was level six, after all; objectively, this should have been our most efficient spell by far.}
That was true, of course, but Mary would have expected a second mind spell to be an extremely draining spell; it was, after all, creating a simulacrum of her mind.
Mary frowned, turning her attention to the drain on her mana reserves.
How bad was it really?
{Roughly similar to the telepathy spell by the looks of it.}
At that conclusion, Mary grimaced.
‘If that’s the case… there’s a five-level difference between my telepathy and mind runes. If I were using a level one mind rune, then what would the draw be?’
Mary's first mind wonders.
{Ruinous, no doubt. And there is the power to consider; we will need to investigate what increasing the power of the mind rune impacts.}
Mary nods at that; currently there is no telling what increasing the runes' power would do to the second mind spell.
Would it increase the base speed of the second mind? Or perhaps it would naturally cause an increase in the number of minds that the spell creates?
Something else?
{All of that can be investigated later; first, redo this spell with our ambient mana rune included. We need to confirm that there will be no mana drain, and then we can get to the real task at hand.}
Mary nods in agreement.