From Blade To Spell

Late Night.

Aaron sat quietly in the boat, the soft glow of the lantern casting flickering shadows across the deck. He was surrounded by the loot they had gathered, and his attention was fixed on the thinnest book among them.

The book was made from strange materials, its cover felt like polished wood, while the pages inside were soft and oily, unlike any parchment he had seen before.

He opened the first page. A single mysterious word was inscribed in elegant, arcane script. He flipped through the others. Each page held only one word, twelve in total. None of them made sense to him.

But as he reached the final page, a voice echoed in his mind: "Wizard Visualization Method Learnt."

Curious, Aaron opened his stats panel. A new skill had appeared: Wizard Visualization Method. It required 1,000 experience points to reach Level 1.

He muttered to himself, "So this book is a visualization method…Is it some kind of meditation for wizards? To increase mana, or something else?"

Driven by curiosity, he invested the experience points.

As the skill reached Level 1, a stream of information surged into his mind. Inside his consciousness, a rune began to take shape an elegant symbol resembling an infinity loop.

From the memories he gained, he whispered, "This rune is Ather, the formless energy that exists everywhere. Across the universe… even in other dimensions. To become a wizard, one must engrave this rune into their consciousness to interact with it."

It had consumed 10 mana points, and the rune was perfectly formed.

Aaron glanced at his remaining 13,000 experience points. 

He could afford another upgrade, this time for 2,000 points.

He leveled up the skill to Level 2.

Again, a stream of knowledge flooded his mind, longer this time. Two new runes were engraved into his consciousness.

He examined them and murmured, "Two U-shaped magnets placed opposite each other… forming a broken O in between."

"This rune converts mana into attraction or repulsion. And there's a sub-rune, an arrow symbol, used for channeling."

It had consumed 20 mana points.

He chuckled softly, "It looks like a flowchart from my previous life."

Driven by curiosity, he upgraded the skill again, this time for 3,000 experience points, leaving him with 8,000.

The information stream was intense. Three new runes were engraved.

Aaron rubbed his forehead, a mild headache pulsing behind his eyes. He checked his stats, 100 mana points had been consumed.

He studied the runes and said to himself:

"One is a Space Rune, used to store mana. Then there's a Control Rune, a sub-rune like the arrow, which regulates mana flow, either increasing or decreasing. And finally, a Temperature Rune, another sub-rune that adjusts heat or cold within any rune it's applied to."

Aaron stared at the remaining 8,000 experience points, hesitation flickering in his eyes. He wanted to unlock more runes, learn deeper truths about wizardry. But his mana reserves were more than half depleted, and the mild headache pulsing behind his eyes reminded him not to push further.

Reluctantly, he gave up for now.

He stored the visualization book back into the magic storage bag, then pulled out three more books.

The first book had a clear, elegant script, and even included painted diagrams with detailed explanations.  But the language was unfamiliar. He could only study the pictures, various formations like stars, pentagons, and circles.

He flipped through the pages quickly, hoping for a prompt from the map system. Nothing came.

He closed the book and opened the second.

This one was written in the same foreign language, but the handwriting was poor, and there were no diagrams. 

Aaron lost interest almost immediately and shut it.

The third book was more promising. It had neat writing and illustrations beside the text. One image showed monster parts, he recognized teeth arranged in a strange formation.

But without understanding the language, the meaning escaped him. He closed it too.

Finally, he opened the last book, hoping for something useful.

To his surprise, it was well-written, with clear pictures of various plants. Each was labeled with detailed notes, though he couldn't read them, the illustrations were precise.

It was the thickest book of the bunch. He flipped through it quickly, absorbing what he could.

From the images alone, he could tell, this book was a botanical record.

He sighed, feeling helpless. But just as he closed the book, a system voice echoed in his mind:

"Map database has been upgraded.

Magical plants and their uses will now be displayed."

Aaron froze, then smiled.

This was huge.Until now, his map only showed natural resources. But now, he could locate rare and exotic herbs.

Aaron took a deep breath and turned his attention to the last three stone slates he had found.

He examined the first one carefully.

The runes engraved on it included the familiar:

Ather Rune, Temperature Rune, Control Rune, Magnet Rune, and Space Rune, but there was one more rune he couldn't recognize.

He sighed and moved on to the other two slates.

To his surprise, the five runes he had already engraved were present on all three slates.

That confirmed his suspicion: If he could upgrade the Wizard Visualization Method, he might be able to understand or unlock spells tied to these rune combinations.

He stored the slates back into the magic storage bag, then turned to a miscellaneous pouch.

Inside were small bags, each containing curious items: 

candles, animal teeth and nails, camphor, cloves, flour, seeds, and more.

Aaron muttered, "Maybe these are materials used for casting… or preparing magic circles."

He carefully packed them away.

Then he found an inkpot filled with black powder, a bottle of adhesive, a wooden bowl, and a brush.

He smiled, "So finally, I have an inkpot of my own."

Satisfied with his discoveries, Aaron decided to rest.

It was already late. He climbed into the hammock, the gentle sway soothing his thoughts. Within moments, he drifted into sleep, his mind filled with runes and upcoming day.