After trying to go into a trance state for several hours, I ended up wondering if it would have been better if I smoked this weed and ended this long and boring workout.
"No!" I exclaimed.
(I must not give up so quickly, I have to find another solution with mom.)
On my way to my mother's study on the third floor, I realized that I could not climb the huge steps in front of me and had to ask Cooper, who was strolling down as usual in the reception, to help me.
"It would be useless since she left this afternoon for her laboratory located at the other end of the city center. But maybe I can help you, what is it about?" he said.
"Do you know how to do magic?"
"Well, you have to know that all the main servants of House Lizharte, of which I am a part, are all at least at the level of apprentice mage so in a way yes"
"In this case, I would like to know how to be in a trance to be able to unlock the etherization"
"Hmm… I personally remember unlocking it when I was 21 after several weeks of boring sessions of focusing on my breathing and then poof! One day I felt the ether. But don't be in too much of a hurry ah ah ah! The average age to achieve this is 15, you are still a long way from that."
"Hey? 15 years! but why Lucy… Master Lucy makes a 3 years old do it then? And you haven't smoked any suspicious herbs either?"
"*sigh*. You bourgeois and nobles have a good life as I can see. The weed you mention is a well-known ploy to scare children, oops I should have shut up (again)"
"…I see, (Damn! she tricked me!) anyway, can you take me to see my mother?"
"I haven't been of much help apparently. But unfortunately, I can't do much more, we have been forbidden to take you outside this house."
"…I get it, thanks anyway, Cooper."
(I guess I'll wait until tonight, for now, let's go to the library!)
My parents' guests tended to say that our library rivaled that of Count De Trienne. I want to believe them, many rows of two floors faced me. Subjects ranging from politics to magic via alchemy, gastronomy, and history made up this large personal library.
"So… 'The ocean, between myth and reality', where did I put it away?"
To better find my way around, I set up over time a universal system based on the Dewey decimal classification by reorganizing the library around it with the help of Cooper.
Once the book was found, I sat down at a table at my height and opened it.
'First of all. I have to thank the sailors brave enough to head right into the maelstrom of the ocean surrounding our continent to bring back what little information we have today. These reckless men without whom this book would not have seen the light of the day, have over time forged a whole myth and even a religion around Panthalassa, the eternal ocean encircling us.'
(Eternal ocean? They may have never heard of plate tectonics, but let's move on.)
'Here we are going to try to disentangle superstition from reality by starting with an inventory of marine mythology and reported facts, then we will analyze everything to deduce traces of truth.'
'Let's start with this short excerpt from a book of one of my colleagues who interviewed one of these survivors: -When you pass the volcanic island to the north about 3 weeks away, that's where hell begins. It starts with the impression of being observed, then by totally healthy men the day before who disappear into the sea as if called by it. Finally the storms and the maelstrom increase drastically. The advanced mage who was supposed to protect us from these whims of nature said he was suffocating under the flow of ether which he described as corrupt. Lacking food and fresh water, we had to turn around as quickly as possible, at the cost of the life of our mage and more than three-quarters of the crew.-'
'First, we can see that there is a fairly common reference to feeling like you are being watched from the depths. Academicians are divided into two camps on this subject, some simply think that it is a collective effect due to the time spent on the ocean as well as rumors spreading among the sailors. Others think that this phenomenon is justified by the existence of intelligent underwater creatures with hypnotizing powers, a fact not demonstrated by their detractors.'
'Secondly, a question arises. Why do the storms as well as the maelstrom seem to increase in intensity and why the flow of ether becomes corrupt as described by most expeditions composed of mages?'
'Well there, mystery. Everything that is reported to us, whether it comes from the north, the east, or the west, consists only of strange mythology around an underwater civilization that dominates the entire ocean and which would be the source of all the civilizations of the continent except the demons. Some have also created a religion over the millennia, centered around the Aedificator, their creator deity who would observe us from the celestial vault and whose apostles would be these amphibian beings...'
"*Yawning*. I'll have to ask Mom what Ether Corruption means later. But for the moment I have time to take a short nap…" I said, falling asleep on the little table.
…
…
…
"My little Mayron, wake up."
"…Mh? Hello Mom."
I got up from my chair, rubbed my eyes then wiped the saliva from my chin.
"I was told that you were looking for me to help you unlock etherization, let me carry you, we will talk about it in my office"
Mother took me by the arms and led me into her study. This one could be described as being an impossible mess, parchments of runes and treatises on all kinds of subjects filled the room, I could see there the attitude of a scholar.
"If I remember correctly, I remember imagining very small particles making up the air around and inside me and then imagining a viscous liquid that filled all the space and finally an interaction between the two" explained Laore while sitting down and putting myself on her knees.
"Really? Master Lucy told me to clear my mind and focus on my breath."
"It's a method like any other, it doesn't surprise me that she omits this kind of detail, she must have been late. But excuse her, she has a very busy schedule after all and it's already a godsend that she comes to teach you magic when I'm not there."
"She did mention that we will try several techniques over the days, but she didn't specify anything… Other than that, I wanted to ask you about Ether Corruption, what is it? exactly?"
Laore took a serious look then answered me "It is a very vast subject that I can only skim over this evening. But to explain it simply, I would say that it is what is at the source of the wave of ether which you have undoubtedly heard of but it is above all a deficiency of ether in a given space."
(Finally, a way on how to solve this problem!)