Soulforge Legacy Series

The dwarven man stomped his way over to the far side of the field. Not once checking to make sure that I was following him. Not that I cared. In fact, I took this and my first chance to pull my mana together in a bit of a different way. Something I had been thinking about for a while but hadn't tried yet. Mostly due to how difficult it would be to get right.

Mana trickled from me and into the ground beneath us. It wasn’t much. Not even enough for me to notice, given my natural regeneration. Finally, he turned to face me.

“What do you know about array magic?” His question confused me. In part because I had never heard of such magic, but also because he sounded genuinely curious. Acting completely differently from before.

“Never heard of it.”

“And here I was hoping…” Without warning, a group of twelve people parted around the two of us. They weren’t merely running. They were sprinting. Moving as though their lives depended on it.

The world around me slowed as I tried to find the threat. To catch a glimpse of what had these guys scared. Not so I could fight it. Even I wasn’t that stupid. No, I wanted to see it and find out where it was going so I could go in another direction. Any other direction.

But there was nothing. No monster. No beast. Only dusty dirt and a few others deep in concentration as the mana around them flared with ever-increasing intensity.

“Hey,” it sounded as though someone was trying to catch another person's attention. “Hey!” God, would the other person pay more attention? “Would you listen to me already!” This time the voice was coupled with something smashing me into the ground. Specifically into the spot that my mana had managed to gather.

For a brief moment, I had a flash of inspiration. Well, that or my brain was fried by the charge I had managed to build up. It wasn’t much more than what someone got when they touched a doorknob after racing around carpets while wearing socks. My issue was that my head was the point of contact.

“What did you break?” While he sounded annoyed, there was a tinge of worry that seemed to lace his words. But why did he think I broke something? The only snap that I could remember was the short, sharp snap of electricity.

“Your nose if you don’t get off.” I managed to get out. Within seconds, he was up on his feet. “Do you know why those people were in such a hurry to get away?” The reason for my sudden faceplant, while important, was something that could wait. At least until I found out what we might be facing.

Brows furrowed in thought, he looked around. Almost like he was trying to figure out what the fuck I was talking about. As soon as his eyes landed on the group racing around the other side of the space, he let out a groan.

“They aren’t running from something.” Eyes narrowed, he looked almost annoyed at them for making him explain something else to me. “None of them can use magic.”

That made no sense. Surely that wasn’t true. Magic was something I thought everyone had. Otherwise, what would be the difference between here and Earth? Furthermore, most of them weren’t even human. A fact that meant they had used the Soulstone, something that required a person to pour mana into to activate it.

My eyes caught upon one of the runners as the group rocketed toward us. “There is no way in hell she was able to move so fast without mana. Surely you are jerking my chain.”

He shook his head and returned to the topic at hand. Making it abundantly clear that we were moving on. “Mana spells are separated into a few categories. For now, however, we are going to focus on the two we care about. SPS and GPS.”

Great, more fucking acronyms. Even on another world, the fucking things follow me around. What was with people and creating the damned things?

“SPS stands for single point spell. That is where one person provides the mana required for a spell. Most of the spells you have used have been of this type. They are the easiest to learn and are thus the most common out there. But they are limited in quite a few ways.”

With a hand, he gestured at a few of the people nearby who looked to be struggling to cast a single spell. It didn’t even look all that complex. From what I could tell, it was just a modified fireball spell. Albeit one that used nearly no mana and resulted in little more than a finger-sized flame.

“Those in the numbered squads….”

That was the second time I had heard that phrase. “The what squad?”

“Numbered.” He sounded like he expected me to get it, only for it to dawn on him why I might not. “Oh, right. This unit is made up of eighteen smaller groups, or squads. Each is given a designation. Specifically what one would find in a playing deck. The numbers squads are squads two through ten and each are made up of people with nearly no aptitude for magic.”

“And the magicless group?”

“That would be the Clubs Squad. Known for their physical power if nothing else.” He shook his head. “Anyway, there are those out there with mana, but find it practically useless for anything, let alone spells.”

Which would explain why they were struggling with something so simple. “GPS, or group point spell, is when a bunch of mana sources are used to cast one spell. Typically by channelling through a single point.”

Oh, it was group casting. Why didn’t they just say that? And why wasn’t this something used everywhere? Just gather a small army of mages and you could destroy any demon.

“Of course, there cannot be too much mana in the array lest the person controlling it end up burned from the inside out. Not even respawning can fully heal the damage such an event can inflict on someone.”

Wait, there was a way for us to get permanently damaged? Until now I thought there was no more worry about such issues. Hell, now that I thought about it, I had yet to see anyone with any missing limbs. At least, not permanently. But if what he said was true, then what else could do such permanent damage?

Unaware of my tumultuous thoughts, he continued. “Still, the trade-off is worth it.”

For the numbered and those like them, sure. But not for me. There would never be a reason for me to do something so dangerous.

“Given the right partner, or time, the act of bouncing mana between two people can grow exponentially.”

Okay, so there might be a reason I might use it. Though maybe not unless I found myself in a position that required it.

“The process of linking two or more people is called forming an array.”

Sure, but why chance it by adding more than two people? I needed to know, but I was also sure the act of asking the burning question would take more time than just letting him continue.

“As more people are added to the array, the buildup of power grows at an exponential rate.”

Oh Jesus. That…that was broken. That meant I could get a whole city together and instantly blow up a moon or something. Well, minus the whole issue of the mana burns that would result from that much mana flowing through the caster. Actually, the whole mana burn thing made a bit more sense now.

“Unfortunately,” Of course there was another fucking issue with this method. “Each additional person added to the array takes an ever-increasing amount of time.”

Welp, there went the idea that we could just use one massive array to blow up the demons. Sure it would have cost a person their ability to use mana, but even I would be willing to take that spot if it meant dealing with those monsters once and for all.

“That, and the potential dangers, are why no one else seems to use this method.”

What other dangers were there? You only listed one. Fucking hell.

“Still, our unit has managed to find a few workarounds. Tricks to make the process less dangerous and much more useful.”

Something about how he said that had me questioning if he was just repeating what he had been told. Mostly because someone would have spread the secret to others long ago if they had truly found ways to make this method safe.

“First comes the amount of practice. Every person in a squad is assigned a partner. Someone they practice linking and transferring mana with. The more they do this, the faster it forms.”

He took a second to pick up a small stick to draw a group of twelve people, each with one line to another person. “This person ends up becoming your partner in battle. The person who guards your back and whose back you guard.” His words made me wonder who had been guarding his back while the team had been short-handed.

With a swipe of his hand, the dirt stick men were erased, only for him to draw a small cluster of eleven around a single one. “If absolutely necessary, the squad can form a link with the captain. While this takes a bit longer, there are times where such power is necessary. Especially for those that are unable to cast higher-powered spells.”

He didn’t have to gesture at the numbers. Something told me that I could probably cast a single spell more powerful than even one of their groups clustered in such an array. Well, that is assuming that they weren’t given time to build up too much.

“And,” he seemed to hesitate at the next part of his lecture. “If an event warrants it. All of the arrays can form a bigger array, a meta array as it were, to allow the Captain to cast a spell of disastrous proportions.”

I did some quick math and found the number of people who would end up participating in such an array. It was a fairly impressive, if a bit outrageous, number. Especially if the build-up was exponential, shit, even if it only doubled with each person, the mana that the focal of such a group could throw around was staggering.

His voice dropped. “But it would have to be an emergency. Even testing such an array was banned after our last Captain was turned to dust by the influx of mana.”

Oh, fuck. And judging by his expression, that person was either burned out completely or just gone. Having never made it back from the other side of the veil.

“Still,” He seemed to find some steel for his nerves as he moved on. “No matter what has happened, you and I are partners. I expect only two things from you.”

His eyes met mine as he outlined his apparent demands for me. “That, no matter what happens between us, the moment we enter a battlefield, it stops. And I expect you to do your best. No half-assing anything.”

Both expectations were quite reasonable, which surprised me. I had almost expected him to demand something else. Maybe to demand my orb or to see me naked. Then again, it wasn’t like anyone knew about the thing embedded in my necklace. As for the whole naked thing. I could also see that making the whole situation worse. Especially if I were to get hurt in a battle.

With a nod, I agreed to his requests. Proposal agreed upon, he got to work sketching out a small circle. One that forced mana to go in odd directions as it seemed to almost tear the mana apart before weaving them together again. Honestly, the whole thing made no fucking sense.

But it didn’t have to for me to use it. “This is the current iteration of the array spell. Take your time and memorize it. Once you have that done, we can work on forming and linking two such circles.