Von and Monica continued their magical education under the wise tutelage of Archmage Alden, the ancient tortoise, he reminded them of the attack by the demon which so recently occurred and the need for them to safeguard their minds and spirits against the threat of possession. The lesson turned to the creation of an anti-possession sigil—a powerful protective symbol designed to try to repel intrusive entities seeking to take control of one's being.
Alden began the instruction by explaining the intricacies of possession and the importance of establishing a strong defense against such mystical intrusions. "The mind is a sanctuary that must be guarded vigilantly," he stated, his ancient eyes focused on the young learners. "An anti-possession sigil serves as a barrier, a ward to help shield your essence from unwarranted intrusion."
The first step involved understanding the nature of possession and the vulnerabilities it exploited. Alden, with a touch of magic, projected ethereal images of shadowy entities attempting to infiltrate the minds of the unsuspecting. Von and Monica observed, the gravity of the lesson sinking in.
To fortify their mental defenses, Von and Monica were tasked with creating a mental shield—a precursor to the anti-possession sigil. Alden guided them in visualizing a protective barrier around their minds, fortified by their willpower and magical intent. The mental shield, though rudimentary at first, provided a foundation for the more intricate anti-possession sigil.
The next phase focused on designing the sigil itself. Alden demonstrated the creation of a complex symbol, explaining the significance of each line and curve. The anti-possession sigil, he clarified, helped those without a high affinity to myalomancy to resonate with the essence of the individual, to act as a personalized barrier against possession.
Monica, her brow furrowed in concentration, attempted to replicate the sigil. Her initial sketches lacked the precision needed, with the lines appearing disjointed and lacking the necessary magical resonance. Alden, recognizing the challenge, offered patient guidance, helping her refine the symbol to better align with her magical signature.
Von, displaying a keen artistic intuition and already attuned to the essence of mind magics, approached the creation of the sigil with a blend of creativity and focus. His initial attempts captured a fluidity resonating with the magical currents. Alden praised hid ability to infuse the symbol with hid unique essence, reinforcing the notion of the anti-possession sigil being a reflection of the individual's inner strength.
With the completed anti-possession sigils in hand, the final step involved activating and integrating them into their magical defenses. Alden guided Von and Monica through a meditation, during which they visualized the sigils glowing with protective energy. The sigils merged seamlessly with their mental shields, creating a formidable barrier against any malevolent entities attempting possession. Von having done something similar, but stronger, found these tasks fairly simple, while Monica struggled to get the energies to flow properly into the sigil.
The benefits of the anti-possession sigil quickly became apparent. In subsequent lessons, Alden conjured illusions of ethereal entities attempting to breach their mental defenses. Von and Monica, fortified by their anti-possession sigils, repelled the intruders with a strength and resilience that left no room for compromise.
After noting Monica's difficulty in creating the sigil, Alden decided to work primarily on a mental shield and dome. The dome was similar to the helmet Von could already create, but it would protect anyone on the inside against someone or something on the outside.
Finally, Alden began to understand Monica's severe limitations when it came to magics outside the realm of luck and chaos. With the exception of these two affinities, she was not likely to progress beyond the level of novice when it came to controlling the other magics. Due to this factor, Alden suggested she go to the "Cavern of Darkness" to meet the witch, Hellyne. She would be able to assist her in bringing out her agnomancy skills. He wasn't certain it was a good idea, but much like her tychomancy, few could help her learn, and preserve those around her. Von, on the other hand, he asked to stay here until lunch.
Once Monica had left, the old tortoise requested Von increase the time rate inside the bubble to help the young boy learn more about the various elements in as short a time as possible. During these next few hours, Alden assisted Von in learning a lot of the basics of hydromancy, geomancy, aeromancy, and how to combine various energies together for added effects.
By the time this training was over, Von had learned the hydromantic skills of removing liquid poisons in blood via an improved form of his purify water, enhancing his speed in water, using a form of hydro-electrokinesis to avoid lightning in the water or generate the same as an attack. He learned to craft weapons from water, sculpt it into shapes, form armor from both water and ice and even create vortexes in the water which could pull something under or toss it from the water.
Archmage Alden aided Von in learning to feel the currents and to understand how things farther away disrupted the water's energies and how to use this information to determine what they may be. He also found he could combine other energies to improve his hydrokinetic shield and walk on the surface of water. Alden attempted to help Von learn to turn his own body into water, but his skill with of transformation energies wasn't yet up to the task.
Starting with the basics of the school of geomancy, sand sculpting was among the first thing he learned from the elder, followed by seismic sensing which allowed him to detect and interpret vibrations in the earth to detect events and determine how many creatures were walking nearby. Instead of using a stone bubble as protection, he was taught the basics of forming a geomantic blending with his skin which would decrease the ability for weapons to cause injury and once his transformation abilities increased, Alden told him he would eventually be able to cause his skin to become as hard as stone, or harder.
Among the other skills learned were stone shaping which allowed Von to sculpt solid stone into shapes, ore detection, mud manipulation, to control and shape mud, mudslide generation as a means to slow pursuers, earthquake sensing, which turned out to be an enhancement to seismic sensing, and earthquake shielding to prevent areas from being affected, territorial warding, which turned out to be another extension of seismic sensing. This allowed him to detect when people or creatures entered and area, or even create a barrier to prevent such intrusion. The final skill Alden aided the young man in learning was the ability to create cobblestone paths. He formed the essence of earth together to almost instantly lay down pathways or roads making travel easier.
Beyond this, the two of them discussed other hybrid uses of geomancy including lava control; golem creation/animation; cave creation; geothermal channeling, to harness underground heating and cooling within a building or cavern; stone vision, which would allow him to see through solid rock and perceive hidden items; sandstorm manipulation/creation and control; earth melding, which allowed one to become one with the earth and thus, virtually undetectable; earth travel, allowing him to travel through solid ground as if it were air; geomantic healing to aid in the healing of certain creatures who could become his allies as well as bringing out special properties of the earth to heal others; crystal enchantment, which Von was slightly familiar with. This ability could require one or more additional magical energies to bring out the natural attunement of crystals.
The final time spent on the discussion of geomancy was learning about two powerful abilities, petrification also known as petrifying touch, and the terribly destructive earthquake generation. Once Alden felt Von had a good grasp of these magics, he inquired the time outside the bubble from Von. Discovering the bubble was much faster than the rest of the world, they moved on to aeromantic magics.
Again, the ancient tortoise began by ensuring Von was familiar with the basics, air sensing, gust manipulation, air pocket creation and vacuum creation, air purification, and gas manipulation and wind amplification. Moving on from there, air displacement, which move air away from him, and aerokinetic infusion to infuse objects with the power of air creating various effects came next, followed by aero-shielding to create a shield of air to protect similar to the aerokinetic sphere barrier he had created earlier, but much smaller and easier to maintain.
Air solidification allowed Von to solidify the air around him. This lesson immediately led to aerokinetic constructs were next allowing him to create solid object out of the compressed air. Strangely, enhances speed was an aeromantic ability. This surprised Von, but not as much as the extreme speed Alden showed the boy the old tortoise was capable of using. Wind could also be used as an enhancement to reflexes and agility by infusing his body with the essence of air.
Staying with movement abilities, air-based telekinesis mirrored the abilities of choromancy. This was followed by sound manipulation allowing soundless movement which suppressed the soundwaves in the air, wind walking, to move by stepping on the wind, and finally levitation and flight. With enough strength and energies, the air currents could lift Von and allow him to move throughout the elemental nexus without touching the floor. Unfortunately, between the time dilation and flight, he was using so much magical power, he soon felt weak and fell to the floor.
After what seemed like hours of rest, Von learned to enhance weapons with the energies of wind creating cutting winds when swung. These wind-charged attack added additional impact against an enemy. The next phase of this line of magic was air blades which he could send scything out in front of him without the use of a weapon at all! The additional skill of removing the air from an enemy's lungs to deprive them of air suffocating them was the last individual combat ability learned. Finally, Archmage Alden went over the hybrid ability of weather manipulation and whirlwind summoning.
Other abilities were discussed as well, including the summoning of air servants, transforming into air allowing one to travel through seemingly solid objects by dispersing into air, temperature control, wind healing, and shockwave generation. They spent several days in the dilated time discussing these magics and how to sculpt the various energies with the other energies to create hybrid effects. During this study time, he was constantly receiving notifications from his system about his growth in abilities and stats.
By the time it was done, both student and instructor passed quite a number of days in each other's company and Von's system informed him he had become an expert hydromancer, journeyman aeromancer, geomancer, and apotropaic wizard. The lesser title of beginner had been earned during this training in the areas of cryomancy and illusionist.
Ending this long training session, he provided gifts to his adept student. The tortoise informed Von he could one day be an archmage himself before handing him an elegantly and ornately crafted handheld fan and a circular rock. Von carefully examined the two items knowing they were obviously magical focuses for aeromancy and geomancy even before the system told him.
Closely examining the fan, the main body of which was constructed from a combination of lightweight yet durable materials, designed to withstand movement. Its surface was painted with intricate motifs inspired by swirling patterns of the wind, delicately engraved in shades evoking the essence of air. The frame of the fan was made of some flexible yet resilient material resembling the bones of a bird, yet it allowed it to be opened and closed with ease. Each panel of the fan were crafted from a semi-translucent material which refracted light and created mesmerizing play of colors reminiscent of the sky at dawn or dusk. Once fully opened, the fan resembled a delicate wing, creating an incredible effect—the motifs appeared alive as if dancing with the wind.
Yes, responded Von. Unlike the amazing shows before, the fan merely became nearly transparent before expanding and becoming one with the young boy.
The second artifact, the earthen coin was a smooth circular rock about two inches in diameter with a rich deep brown hue. Its surface, meticulously engraved with various symbols each representing different aspects of earth magic and the natural world, was weathered and polished, revealing the passage of time and hinting at the natural forces which shaped it. In Von's hand, the coin was dense and weighty, providing a reassuring heft as one expected from something creating tangible connection to the grounding energies of the Earth.
Looking closely at the engravings, at the center of the coin was a small depiction of the Tree of Life, the roots of which delved deep into the rock, symbolizing grounding and connection to the Earth, while its branches reach skyward, representing growth and spiritual expansion.
Surrounding the Tree of Life, intricate geometric patterns reminiscent of sacred geometry were engraved. These patterns symbolized the harmonious balance of natural forces and the interconnectedness of all things while around the outer edge of the coin, ancient runes and glyphs associated with earth magic were carefully inscribed. Each symbol carried specific energies and intentions, enhancing the coin's potency as a magical focus.
Running his fingers over the coin, Von felt the cool, solid texture beneath his touch. The engravings, although subtle, created a tactile experience, allowing him to trace the lines of the symbols with his fingertips. As he held it, the coin emanated a subtle but palpable energy as though the wisdom of the ages was held within the rock ready to support and guide him with his earthly magics. Unlike the crystal focus from before, he could feel this talisman provided grounding as well as alignment to the rhythms of the realm of earth while due to the infusion of age, had some small feeling of transformative and healing energies causing the boy him to feel refreshed as he held it in his small hand.
Of course!
Von's released his aura into the coin. His skin suddenly changed color to match the brown hue of the coin. As this happened his movements became slower as his skin took on the density of the stone as well. For a brief instant, he could feel the elemental tower reaching down well into the earth below, its stone foundation having been created by magic to secure it and prevent its sinking into the swamp surrounding it. At the same time, the coin appeared to sink into Von's now deep brown skin becoming one with his essence. Once fully absorbed, his skin returned to normal, but he felt something else change about his body. He wasn't sure what it was, but something else definitely changed.