C106: Magic, Magic....Medicine?
Overall Word count = 2067 on 6/30/2024.
After spending an enjoyable evening with Aisha and Haruhime. He awoke to find that he is lying on his side still spooning Aisha while Haruhime is attempting to do the same to him by holding his back. Unfortunately he is quite the big spoon in this case and Haruhime just ends up hugging his back which he finds endearing. He would turn around to give her a kiss but that would crush her.
He continues lying in bed as he holds Aisha's belly. His light rubbing seems to elicit a kick from the baby, as if responding to his touch. This brings a smile to his face and an hour passes like this before Haruhime wakes up first. She lets out light moans as she stretches before returning to cuddle against Axel. Axel messes with one of his arms to stretch in just the right way so that he can caress her foxy ears.
"Mmmm" She hums into his touch since her ears are quite sensitive. Soon her mewing stirs Aisha awake, Her neck has been supported by Axel's other arm and so she slowly gets up whilst holding her belly, takes a deep breath and gets redressed as her see through kimono was taken off during the night. With Aisha up, Axel was able to get up and then roused Haruhime to get up as well.
The fox put on her maid outfit while Axel also got dressed. He is going with a casual style today. After having breakfast with everyone he kissed everyone goodbye before heading out to Gorgon's place to continue his magic studies.
After traveling for a few minutes he finally arrives at the warehouse that the giantess calls home. Knocking upon the door grants him entry as the mage within uses something she calls mana threads or mana snakes due to their thickness and design. Mana threads is a special magic due to it's continuous usage and not like other spells which are more one and done.
Magic takes on two forms: Continuous and Instantaneous. Something like 'Create Water' is instant magic where you get a single use out of it before it stops. Some of Axel's gravity magic from Radahn can be considered continuous but they possess traits of Instant magic. An example of that would be the meteor spell.
Axel summons multiple portals from which rocks flow. What he controls due to the nature of continuous magic is how many portals he makes and which direction the meteors go towards, but once the rocks are released, he loses control. Also the first two factors can only be controlled in the first second of the spell before it transitions into instant magic.
On the other hand, Axel's hand made spell which he has recently been able to finalize after getting inspiration from the sun he unleashed on that strange beast, Firestorm. He first summons fires which heat up the underground to create lava and then releases that a moment later in all directions but he still has control of the fire, can add more or guide it to actually move the eruption to a second or third location. It's just a matter of him providing energy at that point which is why it's continuous.
The mana threads work the same way as it's a line of mana that must be regularly maintained to stretch, grab, and pull. It's a useful spell that has many usages since it is considered 'an extension of the body'. Which means reinforcement magic and if Axel ever learns spatial magic, he could affect anything the thread touches which allows for semi distant spell casting.
Gorgon has casually informed him that with enough power, the mana thread can be used as an extension for creating spells. This is good for traps or surprise attacks.
Though there are a few negatives to this type of magic as the mana cost increases as more the thread actually does something and if he wanted to use them as an extension of his magic then he would have to integrate the magic circle into the thread itself. That would allow it to be cast multiple times from the thread but the threads mana cost would skyrocket as well.
Overall it's a useful spell that he hopes to master one day but he currently has higher matters to focus on. As for why Gorgon calls it Mana Snakes is because it seems her monster bloodline has caused certain spells of hers to mutate so her mana threads are technically considered summons as they can do independent movement.
It does not help that the spell is invisible to the naked eye and needs 'Mana Eye', an analysis spell to counter it but that only heightens the threads usage against anyone that isn't a 'Caster'. Which is everyone that isn't an immortal/saint or a student of theirs like Axel.
Entering the warehouse, he sees it light up brightly while Gorgon seems to be lying down on the exponentially large couch she owns.
"Tulip and the sisters are out?"
"Tulip went shopping, so you will see her soon, while my sisters got another bounty mission outside Orario. Just another excuse for them to go to the neighboring cities and do some shopping while getting money at the same time." Gorgon lazily explains. She is wearing a black wooly sweater that can only ever fit her along with sweatpants.
Once he returned from his mission, he very quickly learned that Gorgon is quite lazy. It likely stems from the fact that she has to eat a lot to even move around. A truly reasonable thought process for why her mastery of mana 'snakes'(/threads) is so high.
Axel himself sat down in the reasonably sized chair as he looked up at his magic teacher. "What has your progress been like since I last saw you? I can tell you have been busy down South" She questions and Axel answers. "I've mastered three of the 'beginner' spells from the book and was able to finish my own personalized spell though my recent mission has brought up some things that I didn't like and now i'm not too satisfied with my current level. "
"There is no way to speed up your training"
"I'm aware of that but is it possible for you to teach me something that might strengthen my physical attributes? I know reinforcement but it is only good for external objects as using it on my body does little to help me strike harder or better. "
"I see. I'm surprised that Raikou hasn't tried to teach you mana burst yet. Though it might have to do with the fact that her own is flawed and it agitates her emotionally" Gorgon suddenly drops a bomb on Axel who begins to contemplate what Mana burst is and how it works.
'Mana burst ... .a skill where the user can coat themselves or their weapon in dense mana to enhance their physical attributes by a great measure. It's energy intensive so it's best to do it in short bursts or to enhance a technique to greater measure. I've only ever seen Raikou use it once. It was against mordred-san when she tried to kidnap me. She certainly was powerful then but I don't know the exact details of how it works as i've already tried coating my body in mana and it was even weaker than reinforcement'
Gorgon seems to grin while looking at his facial expressions."hehe, i'm sure you must be pretty annoyed with mana burst but since Raikou has failed to teach you it. I'll do it then. But first, do you know acupuncture?" She slightly jokes with him before proclaiming that she will teach him…..but
"What does acupuncture have to do with mana burst?"
"Well if you are content with only knowing mana burst itself then you are welcome to it but if you wish to learn or make your own personalized version then you better start studying" She waves her hand and a medical book related to acupuncture appears before him. It is of…reasonable size and thickness.
He spends the next 3 hours studying the book while Gorgon had collected a green chalkboard and began to draw the body in astonishing detail. Granted Axel didn't notice this until he finished the book and set it down.
"I still don't understand how acupuncture or any of this other medical knowledge is supposed to help me"
"Then look this way and behold my brilliance"
Axel can only blandly look over to the board that Gorgon set up. "Now Mana burst doesnt have anything to do with acupuncture but it does with the acupuncture nodes. In the far East they are referred to as the Tenketsu nodes while we just call them pressure points. Mana burst is simply a method of using our mana to boost ourselves or our weapons, It takes personalization to enhance an attack (Saber from Fate/stay), create new spells through it (EreshKigal [1]) or create a new version based on your own nature (something like Mana burst (Courage). It improves defense)."
"So you had me learn about acupuncture to understand my nature?" Axel says very much more confused. Gorgon can only shake her head.
"Mana burst is like it's name, a burst technique, only specialization allows it to be used like a coating as what you have described with reinforcement. You use it when you need a boost. And it is from these pressure points that the energy is concentrated for greatest efficiency. As for why you needed to learn all the pressure points in the book is because you are going to meditate and find where on your body, or rather, your pressure points, does it manifest the most. Once you figure that out, you are one step closer to personalizing it to yourself."
She kindly explains in more detail and with tons of energy which truly shocks Axel as he didn't think she would ever get off her couch.
On the other hand, her explanation clears up his confusion and he gets to work on meditating. He already knows his nature and affinities, so now it's just a matter of finding the 'sweet spot'. Gorgon returns to her couch as she let's out a 'quiet' sigh of relief that she was able to even explain this as her, her sisters and 'Tulips' Learned Mana burst through instinct or just seemingly knowing how to. Much different than how Axel is trying to learn. Maybe returning to the basics would allow her to create a variant like what she just told Axel about.
Gorgon shakes herself out of her thoughts as she is too lazy to diligently work like that. Instead she opens the door to let Passionlips in as she sensed the roommates energy just outside and saved her the need to knock. The larger than life lady 'walked' inside with her groceries hanging via mana threads just behind her. Now it has to be noted that she absolutely sucks with magic but has trained a long time to be able to do normal grocery shopping when she cant actually touch anything without it being crushed under her giant metal hands.
Axel is stuck meditating for quite some time but not due to difficulty, no, he found that the location is just in the middle of his spin but while he was pondering this. He was dragged away into …. Something.
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[1] This is an excerpt from the Mana burst (Cage) page from the type moon wiki.
Ereshkigal is a diligent, earnest, and somewhat pessimistic goddess. On a regular basis, as long as she has the free time, she'll store up her mana in her spear cages to release in battle
Plain to see that it's a unique form of mana burst. Even Raikou has a unique mana burst-> (lightning) due to her connection to Raijin and whatever Indra has to do with it. Here is the (lightning) page text for reference. Maybe someone will understand it better than me.
Because Gozu Tennou is the incarnation of Śakra (the god Indra), Minamoto-no-Raikou possesses the power of Kitano Tenjin (Raijin). As a Servant, it is expressed as a Mana Burst Skill.
Maybe drop a comment on what you all thought of my explanation of magic and/or mana burst.