"Curious? Why that word apprentice?" The way she raised her eyebrow at me when she asked was kinda funny to look at. Never gonna say it out loud as my intuition was screaming at me to not be such an idiot. "Part of the whole way we came here was because i inherited what can be considered as a Dedric Lord's sphere. At least this is the best way i can explain it. The Powers i was given fall under the Authority of three different Ways to the top. In short, I'm in a form of Mantling that eventually grants me the powers overtime. One of these powers will be relying on Magicka to support the abilities. Considering them as racial abilities isn't wrong as overtime I'll be less "human" But the main Concept behind them will be "Door" if i can use that as a way to manipulate space that would be my best bet for Magicka training. At least in theory."
"Sigh, I really do end up with the crazy one's don't I. This process by which you are mantling? how does it work. if I'm going to end up training a person to eventually become someone else we will need to rework our strategy." huh, Ain't that nice, "No need to worry. The process was stripped of his and any past entities will. Essentially what I'm doing is becoming a new one with their powers as a base. But i have to add more to the pot so to speak to build back up to what their level was. This process make it to where I am the final product not the past."
"Fun... So ill be helping someone become a god. Never thought that would be a thing I'd say even with my longer life. 200 years and this world is still surprising me. Sigh" damn, she is old. and no sooner had the thought crossed did a stick appearing from nowhere bonk me on the head. "No rude thoughts, brat."
"Ok, so we have the boy who will become a god and his brother? What's his deal then?" ahh, i turned to Shirou for this one.
"In the universe we came from i was apart of what is called the counter force. This Force is considered a primordial force of our world under the jurisdiction of an entity know as Alaya. Alaya is the collective will of humanities will to survive. Do to a deal i made in pursuit of my ideals I became what is known as a Heroic Spirit. Heroic Spirits are individuals who through their deeds and legend following after them have had their legend follow through the ages. My case was a bit special since i was one of the latest heroes to be created. Unlike them I, through my contract with Alaya, was made into one upon my death. In truth I am a future version of one like my little brother here. We were both possibilities in our universe."
he took a pause to stare at his cup, "Now, Heroic Spirits can't exist on their own. we survive off of magical energy which was know as Mana in our universe. Typically a Magus would summon us from the Throne of Heroes, a place outside of time and space, to fight in what is known as holy grail wars. Another way in which we may be summoned is the need to preserve humanity. Either way we can be considered a highly advanced familiar summoned as an aid. This in turn means we get summoned as class archetypes. i myself am of the Archer Class. While i myself fit into multiple classes we gain abilities following this idea." pausing once more to look at her he said, "Do you have questions Madam?"
"Hmm, interesting. what qualifies as a "Hero"?" i raised my hand for this one to answer. i did always find it interesting how even "evil" people could be summoned. smirking she looked at me and said, "Yes, apprentice?"
"Heroes of the Throne of Heroes are individuals who made a mark on history. This could be compare to how Talos before his apotheosis could be considered. Other individuals who also made a mark such as Manamarco in the second era would also count as their legend and mark on history has survived till this day. Anyone with enough fame as well as deeds dedicated to them would build the legend of them. This legend would be translated to abilities or magic they would be able to use as a Heroic sprit." "Hoh, and what abilities do you carry then young man."
Shirou looked at me for conformation. It was still a normal practice for a Magus to keep secrets. "Go ahead, She would be the best person to determine if its possible to recreate some of our magecraft." and so he raised an eyebrow at me for that one. I was putting a lot of trust into her but I also had a strong intuition that it would help in the long run.
"First, ill go over Magecraft, our version of Magicka if you will." Shirou started. "Magecraft is the study of the use of mana to recreate every possibility of the natural world. This is typically in the search of a path to the [ROOT] or the concept of the well of all knowledge. It is more than that but it will have to suffice as an explanation. Magus use a pseudo soul organs known as Magic circuits to use mana to interact with and change the world around us. They can act as a secondary brain storing the spells we learn inside of them. They are the lifeblood of Magecraft. The other side of it is individuals are born with an Origin and Element which dictate what you are most compatible with. I myself have Sword as both. This led to a synergy where my body, mind, and soul all resonated to create something. This something is known as a reality marble. A self contained world that i have full control over. This world has the property of Tracing any and all things that could associate with the name of a blade. With enough magical energy i can project this onto reality for a time. That is the only magecraft i have available to me. It is also my noble phantasm, The main ability i have as a Heroic Spirit."
"And these mage circuits, do you believe we have them?" she asked. That was an interesting question. "Doubtful, They're a result of our universe lacking magical energy to support normal magic like yours after the Age of Gods receded. So people created a new system. There is a similar system known as Runecraft but it is unpopular because it is rigid and inflexible compared to others."
She openly scoffed at that, "They probably didn't try hard enough to see through it. This magecraft seems to hold similar principals to the Thaumaturgy school in the past. It has since been known to be split among the other schools of Magicka. Dumb fools fighting over what spell belongs with what school, blasted idiots the lot of them to be honest."
Staring at Shirou she said, "Young man, While you may not be my apprentice you will at least learn our form of Magicka. This should help you alleviate some of his burden. From what i can already sense Magicka is already doing work through your bond to alter your form to be... more. I can't quite describe it, but, in time i believe you could develop your own pool separated from his own. If nothing else you can learn something new. I recommend you follow my footsteps with using wind as a foundation. From what i remember you change the very air to create those projections. So follow the rabbit hole so to speak. It may very well surprise you."
Stretching a little she said, "Its comfortable yet rough sitting like this, Anyways lets continue our lesson. The final forms of spells in this world are Tonal Magics and Powers of the races. Each individual race has the potential to obtain the racial abilities inherent of their race. Typically stronger members of the race will be able to unlock these abilities to their fullest. I wont go over all of them but i can for the Nords. Our frost resistance which is inherent and War Cry which can be Learned/Earned."
She huffed a little and drank a bit more tea before continuing. "Tonal Magics are a different story though. Each race could potentially use every Tonal magic given enough study and dedication to their practice. The two known forms of tonal magic to the public is The Way of the Voice or Thu'um of the Nords, and the Art of Sword Singing of the Redguard people. This form of magic relies on the world to complete the action of the person in question. For the Voice it is using Dovahzul to tell the world what to do. For Sword singing it is theorized that their swords sing and so the world responds to the music. Most records are very subject to bias, in my own experience with the Voice, I only learned a few words to utilize in the praying of ceremonies. I never truly had high attainments in the art."
"huh, so they use it in ceremonies?" she answered with a smirk, "The did, when they had someone who could use the voice. It was one of the few changes going forward we had to discuss among our clergy. I'll admit it was funny to see them scramble." A chuckle leaving her as she finished. "Any questions for anything we have covered. If not i have a few of my own now that i have put my thoughts together." "None that i can think of right now. I already knew about the different schools for the Magicka system so there isn't much to go over on that."
The schools were an interesting thought since they tried to divide the spells into categories to make things easier to learn. Which just spiraled into everyone having pissing matches to say their school was better.
"So, Your magecraft system. You both said it was to use Mana to recreate Magic as Natural phenomenon. Explain a process for me."
"Ahh, Shirou you got this. You're the one who got actual lessons." Not touching that with a ten foot poll. Magecraft was weird on its own compared to more fantasy stuff. "Sigh, A simple one would be a process for Trace, my magecraft, called Structural Analysis. In the process of understanding an object i can use my circuits to follow the structure of an object. Like From it's individual pieces to recreate it once more with my projection craft. This spell is also considered one of the very basics of Magecraft. Another would be Reinforcement. Utilizing Structural Analysis to understand an object then "filling in the gaps" so to say with Mana results in strengthening an object beyond what was "normal". What Magecraft as a whole seeks to do is turn the Mysterious to reality. Hence some spells could rely on the "mystery or legend" as a concept to also strengthen a spell. All In all, change the magical into the mundane and use Mana to fuel it."
"An interesting interpretation young man. Thank you for your answer. Now since my new apprentice will be going about his education ill be staying at the Inn for the meantime. If you have questions feel free to drop by whenever Im not around. In the mean time for the next week you will have this to study." Reaching a hand it sunk into a blueish black portal. When she drew it out it was a book. Setting it down she said, "This is a book of the Runes of the Dedric system. The most commonly used runes for Magicka."
"Um, Master is it alright if you could help with something before that?" "Hmm? Sure go ahead." "So in order to awaken my Magic Circuits energy magical energy needs to be flowed through them. Shirou can't since even with his changing due to Magicka it wouldn't work since its just more of mine. They essentially need a "jumpstart" to awaken. Since you are also a master of restoration i think it would also help as Shirou said the process was quite painful."
"Doesn't seem to be an issue on my part. Not to mention it would be quite the interesting sight to see these Magic Circuits up close. What's the process."
"Shirou already designed the circle and placed it in the spare room since he refuses to sleep, as he doesn't need it he says. Which i think is bonkers! Who doesn't like sleep! anyways, everything was already set up to make it easier and as an alternative if you refused the circle could also act as a catalyst." Shirou had the Gaul to glare at me.
"Apprentice, Sometimes sleep can be just as much a burden, remember that. Especially as your own future self is like that. Give him some time, now i am quite interested how this will go." Placing a hand on my hair and ruffling it as she said so.
Shirou chimed in and said, "I'll lead the way."