Anima, Aura, Breath and Psyche: Mundane Magic Signup

[ohaiyo_isekai]

(A note appears on the bulletin board, in neatly handwritten print:)

To my fellow Editors:

It is a fact of supreme importance to me that I am still capable of the feats of evocation that I became capable of on Mundus. I am both curious to know if others could learn them as I did, and know more than one person for whom it would be of practical use in self defense and the protection of others.

For these reasons, I am offering to teach the practice of arcane magic as it is taught on Mundus to anyone capable of using it with full awareness of the risks.

I would like to meet a week from tomorrow, on the 16th, in the Changing Room - hopefully as a garden. If you are interested, sign below. If you have any questions, leave them.

Sincerely yours,

- Hikaru Aozora
光 青空

Comments

[ohaiyo_isekai]

1: Without seeing them in action I couldn’t say, but they may draw on similar energies and principles.

2: There are shortcuts to power that do carry those risks, but in the immortal words of Adam “Knight Owl” Young, they are the tools of the enemy which we do not need and shall not use.

3: I’ll go into more detail in the lessons, but the term used by Mundane thaumaturges is Pneuma - a word cognate with Breath, Ruach, Mana, Prana, Chi. It is present in Mundus’ atmosphere, and apparently this one, and we breathe it in, store it up, and with practice we can deliberately exhale it.

4: Most of the difficulty is in learning the basics. Once a student can shape and exhale Pneuma at the same time I expect rapid progress from there.

- 光

[awreck]

[ Damn. He'd thought maybe there really was someone out there who was just born with the power to do amazing feats of magic or physical strength all on their own, but... he supposes it makes sense that so far, everyone has had to rely on an external energy of some kind to power those abilities. ]

Everything else makes sense, including the Pneuma essence. At least I think it does anyway.

But the whole shortcut thing? That's fine with me. I'm a patient guy, and even if this doesn't work for me, I still have my own skillset. But there are a lot of curious people here, and they might go snooping if you tell them there's a shortcut. Especially if they're impatient.

How did you even find out that kind of shortcut exists?

破坏王

[ohaiyo_isekai]

One of our foes took it and regretted it.

- 光

[awreck]

That's no fun. For your foe.

[ But also for him, because he was genuinely curious how Hikaru came to know. He'd been expecting some great ~tempted by fate~ situation. ]

When you say they regretted it, I take it they're not around anymore?

破坏王

[ohaiyo_isekai]

Oh, they're still around, but when you ask the Goddess of Slavery to tweak your character sheet for power you deserve exactly what you get.

It usually includes a class change to "Cultist of the Goddess of Slavery" and some slight edits to your Personality and Motivations sections.

- 光

[awreck]

[ Wreck has the restraint to refrain from asking THE GODDESS OF WHAT? Instead, he asks something else. Mostly because while he does like to learn new things, he doubts he has the patience for that kind of history lesson. ]

Did we switch from real life to video games???

破坏王

[ohaiyo_isekai]

Oh thank THE FOURTEEN that someone knows what a video game is. I've been going crazy trying to explain that my current situation is from being trapped in one.


- 光

[awreck]

[ ...Okay. If Wreck is being honest, he wasn't actually expecting Hikaru to say yes. It was a joke!! ]

The fourteen what?

The library is in a video game, or you were stuck in a video game before you came to the library?

破坏王

[ Both are outlandish, but given the fact the library exists at all, he can be open-minded. Also, good to know the level of technology most people might be used to, apparently... It's kind of funny to think about a world where "arcane magic" is a thing that co-exists with video games. ]

[ohaiyo_isekai]

This may be a conversation to have in person, but the short version is that my current form and my current magical abilities were those of my avatar in an MMO. I am originally a human from my Earth.

- 光

[awreck]

I'd ask you if you were joking, but I'm afraid you'd tell me no. Your situation wouldn't be the wildest thing I've seen, so I'll tentatively believe you.

[ He thinks about it, and then adds on: ]

Sorry you're a video game avatar. At least you can still use your powers, though, right? That's something.

破坏王

[ohaiyo_isekai]

I won't pretend there aren't advantages. I'm not entirely sure this is worth them. Thank you.

- 光

[awreck]

Fair enough. I'll see you on the 16th, hopefully in the Garden if I can get to it. Looking forward to seeing you in person if we don't see each other before then. Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions. I appreciate it.

破坏王

[ He's pegging Hikaru's avatar as an elf. Arcane magic? Complicated and unfortunate backstory? He has to be an elf. Someone who can use magic like that wouldn't pick something like a dwarf or a cat person. He'll die on this hill. ]

[ohaiyo_isekai]

[Partial credit; the Pixies are as elfin as they are Lillipudlian...]