Somewhere else in the arcade realm, a wisp kept flying higher and higher, breaking through a mysterious barrier that seems to hold the arcade realm as one.
Quickly enough, the wisp began to dim.
Instead of disappearing, the wisp suddenly turned into dirt.
From within the emptiness, mystical energy flowed towards this piece of dirt which made it multiply.
A piece of dirt turned into two, then four, then eight.
Unknown tomes had passed, and the piece of dirt had become a cubic meter worth of land.
Even more time passed as the land became a kilometer in radius.
At that moment, the same barrier that held the arcade realm together formed around the piece of land.
On a broader range of vision, just beside the arcade realm is another realm much smaller but similar in quality.
Then, before the barrier settled, a tall metallic tree grew at the center of the new realm.
It was very much like Vygdrasil, except it was much small and seems to be more rigid.
If the real Vygdrasil looked like an actual tree painted with dark metallic paint, then this tree looks like a low poly tree with a dark, metallic texture.
In the trunk of the tree, an insignia carved itself out.
A '^' with three dots below it.
The new realm began to drift away.
——
After successfully integrating the key card into the password system, Trex decided to check out the fruits.
As he stepped out of the dome where the throne lies, Trex realized that he could actually cast spells because of the knowledge he had from the mercenaries.
No. Not just spells, Trex could also do hex. If he had a grimoire of various cantrips or a mojo, he could definitely use them too.
Now that he knew about this, he finally learned that each category has different ways of getting stronger.
For spell casters, it was writing a more profound sentence with the runes.
For mages, being able to hold magic without bursting is a sign of strength: the more magic, the stronger.
For wizards, cantrips are similar to spell caster's runes but placed in a book. The more a wizard could read legibly and personally write runes in a single cantrip, the stronger the resulting magic would be.
For sorcerers, the mojo system is incredibly diverse as most mojo grows along with the sorcerer. Not to mention, besides one's mana pool. There really is no limit to how many mojos a sorcerer can have or how many they could use simultaneously.
Only spellcasters have a systematic way of pointing out their strength, especially since it has barely any specialization that actually deviates from what a spell caster is.
"Viden Zastan, the party's scout. He uses hex on his feet for speed, core for balance and strength, legs to increase jumping ability, and skin to reduce his presence. Besides his speed boost, there's no one else who has magic that boosts mobility," Trex concluded after a quick scan of the knowledge he had. "If he could do it for feet, maybe I could hex my hands for grip strength and climb the tree that way."
Trex inhaled deeply. Feeling a little giddy about his first time using magic.
First, the mana.
Trex guided the mana contained in his ethereal heart at the other side where his heart is. For a human, most of the time, their hearts are found slightly to the left. This also applies to Chede, whose shape is of a humanoid. What this means is that his ethereal heart is just slightly to the right side of his ribs.
Sensing the mysterious energy known as mana, he began to guide the flow towards his hands, which started to glow.
Second, the intent.
Magic, in all forms and purposes, is similar to a wish. As long as you know what to wish for, it may come true.
Using Trex's mother as an example, she uses her hex whenever she does something like cooking. One finger with the intent to stir the soup, a ladle-shaped mana formed. Invisible to the eyes, a very thin to the point of invisibility string connected her finger to the mana ladle.
Then there's also Viden, who uses hex to augment his physical abilities. One apparent sign that a mage is augmenting himself is anything hexed glows.
With that concept in mind, Trex already knows what he intends to do for climbing.
Lastly, the theory.
This time, a mage talks to mana in runespiq. The spoken language of magic. Unlike spellcasters who only need to write the runes, mages and spellcasters are required to be able to speak the runes. And while it is known as the spoken language, it doesn't need to be conveyed verbally. Most arcanist knows how to talk to mana directly through their ethereal heart.
For the mana ladle, the intent is to stir, but the theory to actually stir is to make a physical object that can redirect the flow of the liquid.
For augmentation, to increase speed, each step gets a boost of strength while reducing weight. To reduce the presence, the skin gets coated in a layer of intent that is very suggestive to the mind to look away instead.
So, for climbing, the theory should be… sticky hands, right?
Remembering a certain superhero in his past world, Trex felt like he was right on track.
Looking at his own hands, which are now glowing red, Trex was confused. To his knowledge, the color of the glow usually corresponds to the elements.
The elements in this magical world correspond to the laws of physics. For example, if one wants to create fire, one will use the elements of thermodynamics. To create lightning, one would refer to the utilization of the elements of electromagnetism.
Of course, those words are only used by thaumaturgists, the title of the scholars who study magic—this world's equivalent to scientists who study science.
To make it easier for the population, a set of rules with thermodynamics as the core is created for creating flames. This became the commonly known element of fire which handles extremely high temperatures. Inversely, the widely known element of water handles the extremely low temperatures. Then there's also the law of kinetics, where the element of earth is known for being solid and stable while the element of air is known for being able to move freely.
Everything he now knows about magic astonished Trex. As someone who came from a world without magic, the way people could bend reality just by communicating with something that could is incredible. Of course, it's not that simple, but it's the only summary he could think of.
He had to admit that he thought magic was just bullshitting things into reality. Now that there is an actual reasoning for the magical phenomenon, Trex felt enlightened.
With all these pieces of knowledge, maybe even without the smart mind's help, he'll be able to create a heaven that his gamer father would be happy to retire on.
Looking at his glowing hands, Trex began to climb the Vygdrasil.
The tree is visibly at a minimum- five kilometers tall.
After the novelty of using magic faded away, he began to command the arcade realm instead. Summoning a platform where he could stand and hover, he moved towards the fruit.
Manually climbing is just too damn slow.
After a short while, he finally reached the first fruit.
Staring at the golden peach, Trex was absolutely astonished.