Zorian tore a piece of paper from his notebook and wrote a text message to Imaya, explaining that he had Haslush's divination class and would be late today. He still didn't understand what the big deal was about being late, but he really didn't want to argue.
Of course, writing the message was one thing, but delivering it to Imaya was another—he was at the academy now, and it was still a long way from there to where Imaya lived. However, he was pretty sure he had a solution. He has found a number of spells for communicating over long distances, and while not many are within his capabilities or suitable for his purposes, one spell combination seems promising. Basically, he was going to build a paper airplane and have it fly under its own power. A simple locator charm will guide it towards Imaya. When he tested it with Kiriel, the method worked, but at a much smaller distance.
He folded the paper into a paper airplane, cast a spell on it, and threw it out of the nearest window. It disappeared quickly, tracking its target.
Well... the class is over and the message is sent. It's time to find Haslush.
As expected, Zorian discovered that Haslush had arranged their second meeting at another tavern. certainly. Undeterred, Zorian walked into the place and tried to ignore the glances of the other patrons, looking for Haslush among them.
Haslush was not there. Did Zorian find the right place, or did Haslush just decide not to show up? He did have some trouble finding the place, as Haslush had given very vague instructions to it, but Zorian was sure this was the place. He was about to leave the tavern to see if he had missed anything, when he suddenly realized.
problem occurs. He had an almost unnatural desire to leave this place. He might not have noticed it if he hadn't been receiving Karen's "resistance training" over a dozen restarts, but there was a forcing effect on him.
He took out his divining compass, whipped out a quick locator spell, and looked for Haslush. The pointer immediately pointed to an inconspicuous brown-haired man wearing factory worker uniform sitting in the left corner. Zorian sighed and shuffled over to the man, sitting in a chair facing his desk.
"Can I help you?" the man asked in a voice hoarse with pain, staring at Zorian with empty, bloodshot eyes. Very creepy.
Zorian didn't answer, but muttered and quickly dispersed. A dispersing force rushed towards the man, disrupting the illusion. The creepy man disappeared and Haslush pouted at him like a child.
“I have to say, I didn’t expect this,” Haslush said. "I reckon you'd have to be in and out of the pub at least three times before you figured it out. I bet you just broke the pot - only two people voted for you and got it right off the bat."
Zorian saw two bar patrons out of the corner of his eye and gave him a thumbs up.
"Can the forcing spell be lifted now?" Zorian sighed. "I feel like this is stuck in my head and I won't be able to pay attention to you."
"Oh. Yes," Haslush said, snapping his fingers. Zorian's mind immediately cleared up, and the thought of escaping from the tavern disappeared.
"So what's the point of it?" Zorian asked.
"I wanted to see how observant you are," Haslush said, taking a sip.
"'Divination is one of the trickier magical disciplines because failure is not obvious. You can do a divination perfectly and still get nothing. You can screw up and not even realize you've done something wrong. Come up with the wrong Problems, misinterpreting results, or failing to account for an important variable are all just a waste of effort. Experience can help you minimize such problems, but natural insight can also help."
"I scored really well?" Zorian tried.
"Good start," Haslush said. "We're not done yet."
With that, Haslush reached across the table and caught his wrist before he could pull his hand away. All sights and sounds around Zorian disappeared instantly, leaving a dark and silent void. The only things he could see and hear were his own body and Haslush, who seemed to be sitting in thin air, his chair being swallowed up and the same darkness replacing everything else.
"Don't," Haslush warned as Zorian tried to free his hand from Haslush's grasp. "It's a harmless spell that goes away once we break skin-to-skin contact. If it makes you feel better, I'm going to suffer the same effects while this lasts."
"Then what's the point?" Zorian asked.
"How many people were in the tavern when I cast this spell on you?" Haslush said.
"What?" Zorian tried to look around, immediately realizing what the darkness would bring. "Oh. You want to see how attentive I am to the state of the tavern."
"How many people?" Haslush repeated.
Zorian racked his brains for a moment. He did get a good look at the patrons of the tavern as he scanned them, trying to find Haslush, but he never actually counted them. It's possible that someone left the tavern while he was talking to Haslush and he didn't notice.
"23?" he tried.
"No. How many trophies are lined up on the wall next to our table?"
Unfortunately, while Zorian noticed the trophies, he didn't give them a second glance. Haslush asked 15 more similar questions, and Zorian lost confidence. Hasloush finally let go, and the rest of the tavern immediately reappeared.
"Oh, don't be so upset," Haslush said. "You're not bad, really. Honestly, I'm not going to cancel our class just because you're bad at something like this. Anyway, what's your attitude towards divination? Standard second-year graduates still have extra thing?"
"I know a lot of library scrying, and I've mastered the north-seeking shaping exercise," Zorian said.
"What, Xiangbei has started exercising?" Haslush asked in surprise. "Okay, anyway, today I will teach you how to analyze objects."
He reached into the pocket of his long coat and placed a few things on the table in front of him: a sealed envelope, an old pocket watch, a locked box, some kind of giant nut, a spell stick, and a strange -Looking for gloves.
"Analyzing objects is something I do a lot, so I thought this would be a good place to start. Identify the purpose of the object, find out who last handled it, what kind of magic and protection was placed on it...
You can spend your entire career studying it, and some people do," Haslush said. "I heard you were interested in a job at the Spell Foundry, so that must be useful to you . "
"Then what should I do?" Zorian asked.
"Now I teach you the required spells, and then you practice them," Haslush said, pointing to the various objects on the table.
Based on various comments made by the man, Haslush was apparently high up in Cooria's police hierarchy. Maybe he could do something useful with the information about the invasion without tipping off the organizers? It might be worth dying once or twice to find out. ha.
"I really must thank you, sir," Zorian said. "You're much better at this than I first gave you credit for."
"It doesn't matter," Haslush said. "I actively cultivate a less-than-flattering appearance. It helps people around me relax. So what else are you trying to curry favor with me for?"
Zorian sighed. So what should he say?
"Can you build some privacy wards first?" Zorian asked.
Haslush raised an eyebrow at the request, but quickly nodded in agreement. He quickly cast some kind of spell on the table and waited expectantly.
"I heard there was a conspiracy to smuggle war trolls into the city during the summer festival after bombarding it with artillery magic during the fireworks," Zorian said.
Hasrush immediately sat up straight.
"I don't think you're going to tell me where you heard it?" Haas asked doubtfully.
"Can't," Zorian confirmed. "It seems pretty solid to me, though."
"I see," Haslush sighed. He poured some more wine into the glass and took a sip. "I hate summer vacation, you know what? Nearly every building is relaxing its security measures, the large number of tourists makes it hard to spot troublemakers in time, and the mayor and other bigwigs want to do all kinds of stupid things to do it Be prepared. This is the perfect time for criminals of all kinds to run amok in the city.”
hehe. Zorian never really knew that until now.
"So how do these people smuggle all the damn war trolls in, and what do they want to achieve?"
"Go through the dungeon," Zorian said. "As for the purpose, to be honest, I don't know."
"Is there anything else you can tell me?" Haslush asked.
"Not really, no."
"Then I have one more question," Haslush said. "Why are you telling me this?"
"There are some high-level people involved and I'm not sure who I can trust," Zorian said. "You seem to be a fairly influential man and unlikely to be involved. Also, I hope you won't drag me into a cell for questioning."
Of course, he didn't actually know if the higher-ups were involved, but he felt like they were a good bet. He did not understand how such a massive invasion could have been organized without the cooperation of some very influential figures in the city administration.
“I’m tempted,” Haslush admits. "But all you really have to do is claim it was just a prank, and I'm going to have to let you go. The Mages' Guild was formed because mages didn't trust civilian law enforcement to try them fairly, and they jealously defended their privileges .They'll get you out in a few days and conduct their own investigation. You'll get slapped for being stupid."
"Yeah," Zorian said. Haslush sounded a little bitter. He had no idea that Theoria's police force held such a grudge against the Mages' Guild.
"It doesn't matter," Haslush said. "I'm not mad at you. I thought I'd do some research and we'll discuss it in detail after our next meeting. You try to uncover more information from these cryptic sources."
Zorian left the tavern in a good mood, although a little depressed due to his fear of the assassins. Hopefully Hasloush will exercise caution in the investigation.
When he arrived at Imaya's place, Imaya told him that she had received his message, but that she was still rather unhappy with him - apparently, while delivering his message, the paper plane hit her directly in the back of the head , this is dangerous. What if it hit her in the face and poked her eye out?
Some people are never happy.
. . . . . two. . . . . .
The house was peaceful, the only two residents present currently being Zorian and Kiriel...and thankfully Kiriel was doodling in his notebook instead of pestering him. That's good, because trying to levitate a snail like Zorian is doing now isn't easy. Not only is the snail alive and therefore inherently resistant to magic, but it actively fights the levitation effect, twisting and bending in the air in an attempt to break free from the unseen forces holding it aloft.
He's cheating a bit - he's actually levitating a snail shell, which is essentially immobile and much sturdier than a real snail. The real test of skill would be levitating a slug or something, but... well, he had enough trouble with that damn snail right now.
"Poor snail," El said from the sidelines. "Why don't you let this one go and find another one to torture? If you keep doing this, you're going to get hurt eventually."
"I'm not torturing it," Zorian protested, trying to focus his attention on holding the snail in the air and talking to Kiriel. "It was completely uninjured. I'm not even sure a snail's brain is complex enough to be traumatized. The damn thing was obsessed with escaping."
Kiriel looked like he was going to argue, but then just grunted and sat back in his chair.
"Where is he?" she said after a minute of silence.
"I don't know, Kili," Zorian sighed. "Be patient. He's not late yet."
"Maybe we should start without him?" she tried.
"No, we shouldn't!" Zorian snapped. The snail swayed in the air, its eye stalks swinging violently, feeling the restraint weakening. "
"You're the one who talks about callousness," Kiriel complained. "You'd rather help a stranger you met a week ago than your own sister. I'm grateful, I just-"
"Then just wait." Zorian interrupted her and slowly put the snail into his hand. He obviously wasn't going to get any more work done today. "He'll be here soon. If you want to do something, put the snail back in the garden."
"What? Never!"
Zorian raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you just advocating freedom?"
"Well, yeah, but I wouldn't touch it or anything. It's sticky and gross, duh."
Zorian rolled his eyes and put the snail into a small box next to him.
The sound of the door opening signaled Kyle's arrival.
"I'm here," Kyle said. "I hope I'm not late?"
"How did you know he was coming?" Kiriel turned to Zorian and asked doubtfully.
"Alarm spell," Zorian said dismissively. "No, Kyle, you're not late. Although Kyriel is still as impatient as ever. Anyway, you said you needed my help catching up on third grade, right? Which part of it do you need help with?"
"I really don't know," Kyle said. "As I said, my education is somewhat uneven, so while I know a lot of things, there are some things that formally trained mages take for granted that I simply don't know. Why don't you give me a brief overview Let’s take a look at your first two years and let’s see where this goes from here? Ilsa said she’ll be testing me in three months, so I’ll have plenty of time to work.”
Zorian gave his sister a knowing look, but she avoided his gaze.
To be honest, he cares about his sister and likes Kyle, but he probably won't take Kiriel with him to Sioria very often. He spent most of his time at home dealing with El, Imaya, or Kyle, leaving little time for self-study. Relatively speaking, of course - El complained that he spent too much time studying and not enough time entertaining or paying attention to her.
He could also relax once in a while. How many hours could he set aside to help Kyle study for the test, even if he never lived to take the test in the time loop?
He briefed them both on the first two years of the academy. Magically, much of the first year is spent teaching students how to consciously and consistently tap into their magical core, primarily by having them activate various magical objects. There's even a first-year course called 'Magic Item Handling', as the title says. They also practiced memorization through increasingly complex gestures and chant strings that their teacher showed them, an exercise in later learning to pray.
The rest is theory: an introduction to the various magical traditions and disciplines, and learning how to understand the basics of Ikosian language, biology, history, geography, law, and mathematics. Not all of these are strictly magic-related, but - wait, who is that?
"We must postpone it for now," he said, looking at the door. "Someone is—"
Before he could say anything, the door banged open and Taivin barged into his room with an aggressive attitude. She quickly scanned the room and strode towards him as soon as she spotted him.
"...Here we come." He let out a long sigh.
"Cockroach!" she shouted excitedly. "You're me...wait, did I interrupt something?"
"Yes?" Zorian tried.
"It's okay, it only takes a minute." She thrust a newspaper into his face. "Did you see this?"
He sighed, took the newspaper from her hand, and placed it on the table. There, now he could actually see what she was doing. let's see…
Academy students killed Ogunji!
Yesterday morning, Zach announced in front of reporters that he had killed Oga
j), this fearsome dragon has haunted northern Artazia for more than a century, shocking the world. Of course, such bold claims require evidence, and the young Norvidal heir had indeed made good on Norvidal's promise when he summoned the dragon corpse for inspection. Alliance officials invited to the event have confirmed that the body is definitely that of the infamous Northern Terror, although further examination will be needed before they are willing to offer Zach the promised bounty for slaying the beast...
Zorian read the article indifferently. He was vaguely aware that El and Kyle were staring over his shoulder so they could see what caught his attention, but he didn't let that distract him.
Is this the reason for all these brief reboots? Because Zack wants to kill a dragon? Zorian didn't know what to think. On the one hand, the mage dragon is a threat and killing him is a great feat. But on the other hand, it seems like a waste of time and energy - what does Zack really get out of it, other than combat experience? Dragon magic is of no use to humans, and Zach is already so wealthy that he won't stand to gain much from the hoard of Oganji dragons.
Whatever game Zach was playing, Zorian couldn't figure it out. Or did the other time traveler just do whatever comes to his mind at any given moment?
"Hey, Roach, you have class with this guy, right?" Taiwen urged after a while.
"Yes," he confirmed. "He was supposed to be in my class this year, but he didn't show up when class started."
"He ran away from home," Tevin said. "There was a recent scandal a week ago. They asked him about it in the article, but he dodged it there."
Zorian nodded. Zucker simply told reporters that he had "a lot of disagreements with his former guardian."
Zucker also told the newspaper he plans to return to school for "a few months." great. He would have to keep a low profile for the next few restarts until Zach tired of the academy again.
"Ogunji is the dragon that my mother used to scare me?"
"A small army, Ogunji lured it into a trap," Kyle said. "The general seemed to think that Oganj would be waiting in his lair as the army approached. Instead, he decided to do something about it before it got to him. He carved explosive runes into the canyon walls and lured the army away Get in. The only reason people survived is because some mages teleported people out in time."
"And I heard he killed one of the Immortal Eleven," Taiven said. "So how the hell did this Zack guy kill that thing? Was he some kind of legend or something? Why didn't you tell me there was someone like that in your class?"
Zorian sighed. What on earth was he going to tell her?
"Let me put it this way," he said carefully. "For the first two years, Zach had trouble with just about everything. He was such a bad mage that people weren't sure if he could pass the certification, and you know how easy that thing is."
"This... doesn't make sense," Taiwen said. "Even if the whole killing Oganji thing was some kind of ruse, he still summoned the corpse of an adult dragon. Even I couldn't summon something that big.
"I guess everything changes during the school holidays," Zorian shrugged. "Somehow he went from a borderline loser to an amazing talent between his second and third year."
"This is ridiculous," Tevin huffed. "How about that?"
"Time travel?" Zorian suggested shamelessly.
"Like I said, ridiculous," Taiwen immediately retorted. "Are you sure he's not pretending to be incompetent?"
"I'm not sure of anything, Taivin," Zorian said. And he really wasn't - even after being trapped in a time loop for an entire year, he still found the whole situation crazy. "The few things I know are so crazy you won't believe a word of them."
"Oh, now I just need to hear them," Tevin said, crossing her arms defiantly over her chest. "Come on, try me."
"Tell, tell!" El agreed. Kyle said nothing, but Zorian could tell he was curious too.
Um. He could tell them about the time loop, but even if they believed him, what would that accomplish? They're no more qualified than he is to solve the mystery, and if they go around telling people the story, they can reveal his identity to Zach or possibly a third party. Then again, he had already told Hasloush about the invasion, so he was already playing with fire this time around...
Oh, hell, as if they were going to believe him anyway.
"What would you say if I told you that Zach and I were time travelers, forever reliving the first month of school, and a massive army of monsters and hostile mages invaded the city during the summer festival ?”
Taiwen raised his eyebrows at him.
"Okay, go ahead," Zorian prompted.
"You're right," Taiwen sighed. "I don't believe a word of it. So crazy that you're paranoid?"
"At least," Zorian confirmed.
"Uh," Taiwen said thoughtfully. "Sounds fun, but you'll have to tell me those stories another time. I think I stayed long enough. Goodbye, Roach!"
Zorian watched Tyvin leave, then turned to Kyle and Kiriel. "So. Are we going to pick up where we left off?"
Both of them were silent and looked at him.
"Yeah," he said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Is it true?" Kiriel asked tremblingly. "Are you really a time traveler?"
Zorian opened his mouth and closed it again. What?
"Your friend might be too oblivious to recognize the hypothetical answer, but we're not," Kyle explains. "You do believe that, don't you? Are you a time traveler?"
"I...yes. If this is an illusion, it is very convincing." Zorian said carefully.
"I don't understand," Kiriel complained.
"You and me, Kili," Zorian sighed. "Both you and me."
"Maybe you should explain it from the beginning?" Kyle suggested patiently. "Tell us what you understand."
"I've been through this month before, and for the first time, before I knew about the time loop, I didn't take my sister with me to Seoria."
"What!?" my sister protested. "Zorion, you bastard!"
"I live in an apartment provided by the college, and I go to class as usual," Zorian said, ignoring her. He glanced at Kyle. "You did the same, but I didn't know you at that time. However, we have one more classmate."
"Zach?" Kyle guessed.
"Yes," Zorian confirmed. "Unlike the previous two years when I was in the same class with him, this time he was amazing. He solved every test perfectly, he mastered hundreds of spells, and his alchemy was enough to impress you."
Kyle raised an eyebrow at him.
"Yes," Zorian promised. "It was like he completely changed over the summer. I didn't really care at the time - I was curious how he did it, but snooping was none of my business. Then summer came and everything went to hell. Fire started falling from the sky, Falling on the city, hordes of monsters follow. As I walk through the burning city, I witness Zack fighting the invaders. He throws advanced magic like candy, fighting with skills that a third grader would never possess 's. He behaved well at first, but then a lich arrived and wiped him out."
He paused to consider his next words, but El clearly didn't want to wait that long.
"Then what?" "What happened next?"
"What else?" Zorian scoffed. "We died. The lich cast some strange spell on us - a necromancy spell, I understand - and we were killed instantly."
"Then how did you go back to the past?" Al asked doubtfully.
"I don't know. All I know is that I was suddenly back in bed on Kooria, and you wished me good morning in Kiriel's uniquely charming way. At first I thought it was the work of a lich, but I It soon became apparent that this was not an isolated incident. Every time I died, or at the end of the summer festival (if I didn't die), my soul would be transported back to that morning in Silin before I could take the train Go to Keoria.”
They stared at him for a few seconds, and when El decided to speak again, Zorian was already sure that they would suddenly start laughing and mocking him.
"So you're a time traveler, but you can only go back one month in time, and only to a certain day." El said carefully. Zorian nodded. She knew this better than Zorian thought. "You have no control over anything other than intentional suicide."
"Yes," Zorian confirmed.
"You're the lamest time traveler ever." El said smugly.
Just like that, the tense atmosphere was broken.
. . . . Four. . . . .
Three more days passed, and to be honest he was a little disappointed with their reaction. They all seemed to believe him, but neither was too affected. The two of them still asked him questions about the subject whenever they could see him, and he knew Kyle was researching the topic in his free time, but they continued to do their own thing as if nothing had happened. Didn't even look at him strangely!
"I already told you, I was only in the time loop for a little over a year," Zorian told El.
"I can't believe it took you so long to go to school," El complained.
"I gave up after the second time."
"You will soon be mind-wiped or become Zack's slave," Zorian retorted. “There’s a reason I do this slowly and carefully.”
A soft knock on the door interrupted their argument. Zorian had been a little paranoid about visitors ever since he told Hathlus about the invasion, and telling Kell and Kirill about it only made that paranoia worse. Although he told Kyle and Kiriel not to spread the "festive invasion" part of the revelation to others, he could never be sure if they listened to him. Especially not Kiriel. He had been expecting an assassin to break into the house at any moment, but thankfully, with only Kyle knocking lightly on the door, Zorian knew exactly who it was.
"Come in," Zorian invited.
However, Kyle did not come in, but stood at the door.
"We need to talk," Kyle said, a hint of nervousness in his voice. "Can you come into my room for a moment?"
"Is it about time travel?" Al said excitedly.
Kyle sighed. "Kirill, I know you won't like this, but can you stay in your room while I talk to your brother? It has something to do with time travel, but it's a little...private."
Zorian shrugged and followed Kyle into his room, where the Morlock boy quickly pulled a box from under the bed and took out a mysterious black book.
"I've been looking into your...questions for the past few days..." Kyle said. "I may have discovered something."
"You did it?" Zorian asked excitedly.
Kyle opened the book he had brought with him and thumbed through it for a few seconds before he found what he was looking for. He handed him the open book and pointed at the pages.
"Based on the lich spell you memorized, and everything else you told me, I think that's the most likely spell he used," Kyle said.
"Soul Fusion," Zorian read aloud. "Requires at least two targets. Causes the target souls to fuse and become one. Often used as a component of more complex rituals, which severely alters the effects. If the spell is used alone, the resulting entity will actually always be Crazy or otherwise flawed by the stress of merging. Often used... to create familiar bonds, as well as general soul ties..."
This does sound like a likely candidate for the spell, but where exactly did Kyle find this? Zorian frowned and flipped through the rest of the book. It was filled with soul magic spells, most of which were written in several unknown scripts that Zorian could not read. This... isn't something you'd find in an academy library.
This could be Kyle's personal book.
"Kyle...are you a necromancer?" Zorian asked cautiously.
"A difficult question," Kyle replied after a pause. "I will not enslave the dead, nor will I curse people. However, the meaning of soul magic is much more than that."
Well, that's pretty cool - he told his secret to the few people who could actually do something about it.
But hey, the deal is done, at least Kyle doesn't look too hostile at the moment. If anything, the other boy seemed more afraid of Zorian.
"If that's what you're worried about, I'm not going to report you," Zorian said. Partly because he was so afraid of what the other boy would do to him if he tried. A necromancer, especially... "Do you agree to keep my secret, or, necromancy? Uh, I mean, soul magic?"
Kyle gave him a weak smile. "It's an interesting subject. My teachers were interested in it and I wanted to continue the tradition."
"So, if the lich performed a soul fusion on me, why am I still... well, me?" Zorian asked. "As far as I know, such a spell would completely merge my soul with Zach's. We would both cease to exist as individuals."
"Well, I have to admit I'm not an expert in soul magic," Kyle said. "My main strengths are alchemy and medicine, soul magic is just a sideline. That said, I think the spell was stopped before it completed its effect. It's entirely possible that Zach realized his soul was being targeted when he suicide."
"That would be a wise course of action," Zorian agreed. "Although when I spoke to him, he didn't give me the impression that he was aware of the danger. I thought it might be the amnesia playing tricks on him."
"Or he may have been cast with an emergency spell that will kill him if unauthorized tampering with his soul is discovered. You've already stated that he may not be the originator of the time loop. Whoever cast the spell on him no doubt also You are aware of the danger, because the time loop you are trapped in is obviously the work of a master soul master."
"Correct. So, since the spell is only allowed to work its magic for a moment, we are protected from the worst effects," Zorian said thoughtfully. "Eventually I gained some kind of soul tie that pulled me along. Maybe. Anyway, there's obviously some soul merging involved. Can you find out what exactly this spell does?"
"Maybe," Kyle said slowly. "Soul magic, to be more precise. Are you sure you want to trust this to an evil, slimy necromancer?"
"Yes," Zorian confirmed, rolling his eyes at Kyle's dramatic display. Maybe it wasn't the smartest thing to do, but he really wanted some answers, and he sensed honesty from Kyle.
"I'm sorry," Kyle said. "I thought soul magic on such a grand scale was obvious, but I guess I was wrong. Maybe if I tried it on Zack...?"
"You can't examine him without telling him the truth," Zorian said. "I'm not sure I want to do it yet."
"Of course," Kyle said. "I'm not sure what else I can do though. I'd have to become a better soul mage to help you with this, and if you're right, I just don't have the time to be a soul mage. Even if you were in time loop one To begin with I was convinced of all this - and I wasn't sure you could do it so quickly, before I got to know you a little - a month isn't enough time to make any progress in the time loop. Like soul magic field of."
"Uh," Zorian stammered after a few seconds of silence. "Perhaps you could teach me soul magic?"
"Are you willing to do this?" Kyle asked calmly.
"You said soul magic is more than just damning and enslaving the dead," Zorian said. "Answers that only soul magic can provide."
And if he learned soul magic himself, he would no longer have to trust strangers to mess with his soul. If someone had to perform soul magic, he'd rather it be himself.
Kyle said. "While most soul magic can be cast by ordinary wizards like you, truly complex spells require a degree of soul sensing - a skill that can only be gained by drinking a special potion made from the appropriate Dirge Moth pupa. .”
"Is the potion rare?"
"Most of the turning moths spent the ground," Kyle said. "They have lived for 23 years in the way of larva, and then they appear from the soil like a group of toxic singing moths. The moths must die after spawning."
Zorian realized: "At least there will be no song moths in the next ten years."
Kyle nodded. "And potion requires fresh pupae-."
"Then there is no other way except the soul perception?"
"Maybe, but I only know this," Kyle said. "There are some rituals involved in the living sacrifice claiming that they can provide the same benefits for the mage, but I have never tried it. I suspect that you don't want to try."
"Absolutely," Zorian agreed.
After a few minutes of discussion, Zorian left Kyle's room and fell into thought.
He will not give up learning soul magic, but he has enough things now, so he will not force it. There are many other restarts to try later.
The moment he walked into the room and closed the door, he felt a very familiar touch. This is not different when he adventure into the sewer with him and Thailand, but it is more subtle and not so strange, just like the spider web brushing his edge of his thoughts.
He immediately panicked, and his eyes turned from one corner of the room to another corner, looking for an attacker, and attempted to stop his existence in spirit. Although he had practiced with Karen, he found that he could not do it.
[So you are open? ] A clear and confident voice sounded in his mind. Different from the last time, there was no pain and chaotic pictures this time ... but somehow, this is even more terrible. Last confrontation, the opponent was obviously not used to dealing with humans. This person knows what he is doing. [interesting. Have you seen one of us before? This will be easier than what I think. ]
There! Did the shadow in that corner moved? He was about to show magic missiles on the spot, and suddenly his body was stiff, not listening to him.
A dark shadow suddenly jumped out of the darkness in the corner of his room, fell on his bed, and was in front of him. As he doubted, it was a spider, but it looked completely different from what he imagined. For giant spider varieties, this spider is relatively small, not larger than Zerian's breasts, but also more compact than people usually linked with spiders. Zali Anbian exhausted his brain and recognized that this was a spider.
When the creature turned to face him, Zorian suddenly found himself staring at a pair of huge, solid black eyes, and the spider had a surprising face like a human. It has another pair of smaller eyes on its "forehead", because it can't find better words to describe it, but these two big eyes have always attracted Zorian's attention. Of course, another thing he noticed was a huge pair of huge teeth, which seemed to be able to pierce his skull easily.
[Hello,] Spiders speak with their minds. [I want to see you for a while. _You and I need to talk about it ...] _ _ _
