Chapter 79: Master
Valens halted with one hand about to knock on the entrance. He wanted to learn and ask every question that came to mind, to seek knowledge about the arcane and how the Magi of this world approached magic, to understand the intricacies of the System and the secrets behind the spells, and to pry into their world with an open mind.
He just wasn’t sure if he should keep to himself while doing it. Even in the Empire, a Resonant Healer’s approach to magic differed from that of the common Magi. Mastery over the songs of the world granted him the ability to hear and manipulate the frequencies while common Mages had to rely on spell formulae and conductive tools to even begin spellcasting.
Once he got a clear idea of the spell he was working with, Valens could just bend the frequencies to fit that particular formula to conjure the effect in the outside world. It wasn’t as fast as the spells the System registered as skills, and it demanded a clear understanding of the spell, but laboring over the preparation and handling all the complications that could arise from human error wasn’t something he had to deal with.
In this world, however, the System acted as a register, an outer mind that could hold the spell formulae and present them in pristine clarity should the Mage ever seek them in his mind. In a way, this saving function handled the preparation phase for the Mage, but that didn’t change the fact that to make a Skill out of a Spell, a Mage had to first learn how to do it from scratch.
I’ll keep my cards close to my chest for a start, then.
Taking a breath, Valens reached and knocked on the door. Faint pulses of mana wavered across the entrance. Gears shifted unseen to the naked eye, grinding and rattling as the golden star carved atop the door’s surface shed its golden lights with each pulse. It wasn’t long before the entrance went completely dark, looking like a simple slab of stone save for the pocket grown outward from the middle of the star, which took the shape of a hand.
Interesting. So not anyone can enter the Tower without first proving they’re a Mage, is it?
Valens placed his hand on that part, face perfectly still, and released a wave of mana inside the stone as he was demanded.
The door groaned loudly open, revealing the antechamber inside busy with warm lights. Fixed on the walls were antique chandeliers each fitted with bead-like manastones, casting long, dancing shadows upon the marbled ground, inviting alluringly the visitors to a cozy stroll across the entrance.
Valens obliged, taking a step in. The door closed gently after him even as a wave of mana settled around his shoulders. Not ambient mana, no, this was mana distilled and released from a number of manastones hidden inside the walls, pouring from the little holes about the walls like tiny fountains made just for the Magi to welcome them to the Guild.
With a flick of his fingers, Valens could use this mana at his will. Command it with such ease that it wouldn’t take a single second, but it wasn’t the sudden welcoming of this invisible shroud that got to him.
No, it was something else.