1.22 Inscriptions 101
In the quiet, warm darkness of pre-conscious slumber, a soft warm strand of fur tickled the inside of his nose. He shook his head deep into the fur, pushing his face deeper into the strange pillow, while pulling it closer to him with his arms.
The lovely pillow arched its back, pushing against his lower half. Its tail sweeping gently between his knees.
"I would say good morning, but I don't actually know what time it is."
Vicktor awoke, realizing exactly what kind of pillow he was holding.
"Oh, uhhh, yeah. I have no idea..."
Vicktor turned his head, the wooden ceiling of the small room was illuminated from a soft blue light from somewhere out of sight. Vicktor released his grasp, then slid a hand down zir side, feeling both zir warmth as well as the cool thin sheet on the back of his hand. After taking a moment to put the moment to memory, Vicktor shifted the sheet to the side and rolled off the bed into a comfortable standing position. The room was not particularly frigid, but the absence of a second warm body was missed.
In a moment, Quinn was on zir feet, rounding the corner of the bed and standing beside him. There was no doorknob, only a circular inscription that shone with a faint light. Quinn reached out and placed a finger on the glowing spot. There was a small hiss and the door slid into the wall.
A wave of sound and light bore down on the newly conscious pair. Shifting patterns of blues, reds, and purples moved across the walls and floors. The deep rhythmic thumping of drums forced itself into their naked chests.
They stepped forwards and Victor could feel the vibrations into the stone floor of the shop, with a little effort, he could feel the movements of at least fifty people in the floor below. There were three small groups of people milling around the floor, carrying bags of merchandise.
Near the entrance stood Violet, in the same purple silks from before the eventful shopping trip. The spiderkin immediately noticed their arrival and gestured towards them, before ducking under the counter to grab two filled bags with her two left arms and two folded robes in her right two hands. She scuttled around to speak to them, her four humanoid legs allowing for both an unsettling quickness and an impressive level of coordination.
"I hope you had a good rest, here are your clothes and peculiarities, I can't chat, there are too many flies to keep track of on my web. Feel free to come back anytime!"
They thanked her, dressed quickly and were almost out the front door when he heard her call out to Quinn. "Keep that boy around, he'll be trouble, but the good kind."
Quinn called back. "Already on it!"
The doors opened and they stepped foot back in Allium, the sun was still up and there were a number of people on the street who all gave Quinn and Vicktor and knowing smile.
Quinn sniffed the air, then sniffed at themselves and Vicktor. "Back to my place, quick shower, quick meal, then I have something I need to do alone."
"Let's be off then. Thoughts on that sandwich place?"
Vicktor returned to the builder's guildhall after a short shower, a quick meal of bread and soup, some light exercise, and another short shower.
Carrying the books and bag back from Quinn's apartment had been easy physically, his training had made him plenty strong. It would, however, have been quite a bit more difficult if he had needed his staff with him. He only had two hands.
'Do I need some kind of bag or satchel? What about some way to keep my staff on my back? The easiest option would be some sort of dimensional storage but that's not exactly cheap...'
Passing deeper into the building, he saw Mx. Reshka at the reception desk. Viktor adjusted the books to the hand with the bag and waved, trying not to feel too embarrassed about what he and their great grandkid had done earlier.
They gave a small wave, then returned to their paperwork. He thought he detected the hint of a smile.
Continuing on to the barracks portion of the guild hall, he passed more familiar faces. Or rather, familiar silhouettes. Bryn and Zorra were making out on Zorra's cot.
'What am I going to do tomorrow, Selia is gone for gods know how long. I guess I could read these books and make the day of it, but that feels wasteful.'
Vicktor's musings were interrupted as he set down the books and the bag on the cot with a satisfying clink.
"You know, for a classically trained mage of the Academy, this is the first time I've seen you actually holding a book." Alar spoke from behind him.
Vicktor turned, the avian was sitting with his talons off the cot and a textbook in his lap. His beak showed off a smile.
Vicktor smiled back and spoke warmly, but with a hint of past trauma, "You aren't wrong, I had the manuals drilled into my head, I can recite them from memory if you want. Give me a soil type and I can tell you its angle of repose."
"I couldn't verify it even if I did", Alar said, "anything fun today? You were kind of in a sulk this morning."
Viktor responded, "I very much was, but I'm in a better headspace now, I could regale you of my misadventures, but I don't kiss and tell."
"We're at the kissing stage hmmm? I thought you didn't like that, except I guess you did kiss--"
Vicktor interrupted, "Let's not talk about her and her party while they are on a mission, you are looking forward to their return as well, no?"
The avian blushed, the crimson almost showing through the small feathers, "Yeah, fair. Fair. Any plans for tomorrow?"
"Might read, but nothing big. Any ideas?", Viktor said.
"Let's go over some inscriptions right now and tomorrow" Alar pointed to a set of books under his cot. "If you can pay attention for long enough, I'll give you an idea for a battle magic inscription I've been thinking about."
"Sure, why not? We've got a few hours and I took this exquisite nap", Viktor responded.
"Let's go find a table."
"Alright!", Alar was smiling again. The two had found a study desk and they were now shoulder to shoulder looking over loose sheets of paper and some books opened to several large tables.
Alar spoke, pointing at a page of dozens shapes and descriptions. "Inscriptions have a few simple rules that can produce nigh infinitely many combinations and permutations."
"First", the avian pointed to a smaller tome, "Inscriptions always require mana to function. They require a power source, whether a mage's ruakh, a mana vault, or from the ambient neutral mana. You know this, but mana is never created or destroyed, it only ever changes energy levels or changes 'flavor' to synchronize with the caster's signature. The more aligned to the caster's signature, the more efficient the mana usage is."
“What’s a mana vault, I don’t think I know what that term means?” Vicktor asked.
“The technical term for storing mana for later use. There are a few ways to do it. Let me know if you have any more questions.” Alar smiled, the avian seemed quite happy.
“Will do!”
"Second, every element responds to mana differently, each with different effects. We mostly care about the metals and metaloids. Purity of the material matters a lot. Alloys are potentially useful like inscription ink, but need to be designed around purposely.
Third and finally, Inscriptions use a moderate pool of symbols to perform complex actions. For example, this symbol creates heat, but this similar symbol moves heat from this part to this part. You can read over the list later.
"Let's start slowly. This Inscription right here", Alar pointed at two lines in a book, one was drawn in all one color and one was drawn with the same gray color except for a circle of a reddish color. "You can either put mana into the inscription for light or you can channel mana into an element like carbon, which glows red."
Vicktor could feel a frown of confusion on his face. “Is this like our mage-sight tattoos or?”
Alar pointed to his face, near his wide moon-shaped eyes and drew a large loop. "Our mage-sight tattoos, our personal inscriptions, allow us to process exponential mana density as a semi-linear progression of the color spectrum, that is entirely separate from the wavelengths of light that are emitted when mana is channeled through the medium."
Vicktor could feel another frown cross his brow. He looked at his hand, had it even glowed when he moved tons of soil. “What about when we use magic, why don’t we glow like a rainbow?”
Alar pointed to a sketch of a prismatic beetle.
"Oh yeah, biological matter tends to emit white light when mana is put through it, too many different elements. But it really depends on its efficiency. Your hand doesn't glow because your magic is in tune with your body. Its pathways and patterns are etched into it."
Alar pointed to the stone floor beneath them, "You entirely guide materials, it's your fundamental principle, you could move this floor with ease, assuming it's not protected somehow. But, if you tried to create the immaterial, say by using mana to create heat inside the stone, you, and your body's fundamental principle would reject it. You might be able to raise its temperature by a few degrees, but you would glow like a lamp and probably raise your own body's temperature more due to all the efficiency losses."
"Alright, I think I get that. How do I start practically? What materials should I use?"
"We don't start practically, not til tomorrow, we need to find something that conducts mana that you are able to move. For now we go over the basic symbols and how they interact. You will need to memorize these as well as be able to draw them by hand as well as in your mind."
The two spent several hours into the night, pouring over the contents of the books. Vicktor at least gained a passing knowledge of all inscription glyphs.
He focused more on the glyphs that were in his primary discipline. Glyphs of hardening and strengthening, glyphs of transferring force and momentum.
He also learned of glyphs that were specifically taught to never be used without extreme care and skill. Glyphs of creation and dissolution, glyphs of time and space. The most common danger was apparently creating glyphs for radiation when one meant to create light. This was carefully monitored in cities. That kind of damage often required divine healing to repair.
The bell struck midnight.
They gathered their things before departing to their cots. Vicktor fell asleep the moment his weary eyes hit the pillow, the heavy books from Quinn still at the foot of his bed.