Path of the Pioneers

I awaken to the sight of the checkerboard floor, my head resting against my folded up arms. I have no knowledge of how much time has passed since slumber took me, only the lingering dregs of exhaustion. Though my sleep was dreamless and undisturbed, it was only slightly helpful in making me feel actually rested.

My hands move towards my face and I rub my tired eyes.

My goal in this place is to reduce a spell's mana cost. To do this, I'll have to make the spell's casting process more efficient. It means that most of this process will be casting the spell over and over until my mana pool has been exhausted and I fall asleep once again.

It won't be pleasant, draining my mana like that.

I wearily stand, my knees in a world of hurt from the way that I slept. I don't plan on spending a great deal of my time thumbing through the pages of this library's books. But just one couldn't hurt. My eyes scan over the different books lining the tall shelf in front of me. If Cress was to be believed, every last one of these were books about spellcasting. I read the titles on all of them with great interest.

"On the Intricacies of Light", "Introduction to the Art of Reflection", "Synthesis & Genesis"

All of the books are different from the last, and their titles are all very promising -- just not for my purposes. There must be something more generalized here, more about the act of casting itself instead of a specific spell. After all, if I only chase after a book for one specific skill, I may never find it..

My heart was rather set on reducing the cost of [Barrier], but perhaps [Light] could do with improvements after all?

Reluctantly, I reach out towards the book titled On the Intricacies of Light

, pulling it gingerly off of the shelf. It's a rather thick book, bound in some kind of lightly-colored leather. On the binding, just above its title, there's a small symbol that looks to be something akin to the sun.

[Light] was one of the first skills I learned. My master taught me how to cast the spell when I first began my studies on how to manipulate mana. She had told me that it was one of the perfect spells to begin with, because of the ease of casting. I hold my free hand aloft, raising it to my face. Although I can cast it through executing the skill, my body remembers how to do it.

A globule of mana emerges from my hand, floating up into the air. A thread of mana acts as a small tether, keeping it attached to me. It only raises up about a dozen centimeters before stopping short, the tether allowing it to go no further. All that remains is to activate the magic.

In essence, [Light] works by priming and activating the energy within mana, slowly "burning" it bit by bit, almost treating it as if it's an oil lantern. One casting of the spell gives me a bright light that can last for an hour, all at the cost of ten mana. I give the tether a small tug, and the energy begins to activate. Before long, a gently glowing ball of light hangs just above my hand.

It's possible to make that tether longer by extending out more thread, but...

I've spent far too long delving into a spell I already know how to cast. With another tug on the tether, I release the spell. The ball of light cracks delicately into small, luminous fragments that scatter off into the air and eventually dissipate. After a brief overview of what I do know, my focus would be better spent on this new book.

I crack open the book, beginning my reading from the first page.

"Light as an existence has baffled many a sage and scholar, and the nature of its state of being has left many at wit's end. Contained herein are the records of my own studies of light, and the myriad number of properties that it holds. To begin, let us go through a brief overview of the posited theories for the generation of light..."

The text is written stiffly, approaching the contents within from a scholarly perspective. I'm ashamed to admit that I still struggle to parse these kinds of books. It all feels so flowery. And though I understand the need to explain every last piece of information with excruciating detail, I find myself growing more and more frustrated -- especially so as a gnawing hunger begins to settle into my stomach.

How long has it been since I last ate? I'm unwilling to count the visroot as food, even if I had felt sustained by it for a time. I have no food on my person, and I doubt that giving me any is within the scope of Cress's duties.

Though it may ache and groan within my body, I know that starvation is something that takes time. Though the problem of water may be more tricky...

I sigh, eyes peering back at the shelf behind me as I take to standing once again. It may be in my best interest to grab whatever books I may need and make my way back to the desks of the lobby. At the very least, Cress must surely be allowed to direct me towards water.

A thread runs up to the third row down on the towering shelf, plucking The Art of Reflection and slowly gliding it down under my arm where the other book rests. For good measure, I also take the copy of Synthesis & Genesis. It may be wishful thinking to believe I'll finish three of these tomes during my stay, but I want nothing more than to never have to travel up and down the stairs of this place ever again.

It takes another ten minutes of walking, half of which is my precarious ascent up the stairs. I quickly realize that I can't get a firm grip on the railings carrying as many books as I am. Rather than risk walking up the steps without the support of them, I simply use [Telekinesis]

to carry the books close by as I make the trip.

It isn't much longer before I spy Cress at their desk, poring over all manner of books. They hardly even take notice of me as I gently set the tomes on one of the few desks hugging the walls. After taking a seat and letting out a deep breath, I open the book I began once more.

The book is filled with a vast number of things that fly directly over my head hopelessly. There are so many terms and names contained within that it feels as if it was a necessity to read a few dozen other books before even attempting to tackle this one. I get halfway through the monumental tome in front of me before eventually calling it quits.

There are only a few things that I've digested from this. The most important one is the simple fact that heating an object causes it to emit light. The hotter something is, the more brightly it will appear. It was something that I should have known before, all things considered. It makes me wonder just how hot the sun is.

In the context of casting spells to create light, the book mentions forming rods of mana contained within a hard shell of energy. The shell must be so tight as to take out most of the air within, and then those rods of mana must be heated as much as they can be without being destroyed. To me, it sounds like utter insanity.

There are a few problems with the method described within the tome. These rods of mana must be incredibly good at dispersing heat or, failing that, must be incredibly durable when it comes to taking heat. But, that problem is supposedly aided with the other part of the spell.

The tome specified drawing out all of the air contained within the shell "utilizing simple air control" in order to create a "vacuum." Of course, it also warns that the shell may shatter if too much is drawn out too forcefully. A frustrating thing, then, that I haven't the slightest inkling about how to control the air itself.

Was this truly more efficient than the spell I used? Certainly, it was literally burning through mana in order to generate light. Still, this talk of forming structures of mana and moving air about, all in order to return to the method of burning mana in the end...

There must be something for me to incorporate here... I'm sure of it. I just need to keep studying. I know that a grand revelation sits just moments away from me. I know not if it's at the end of a tome, or at the end of some long train of thought. All that matters is that I keep moving forward.

I open the book once more.