Owen finished his meal. He placed his bowl near the other used bowls and walked towards the door to leave.
Because his hunger meter was filled, the [Hunger] debuff faded subsequently. At this moment, all Owen wanted to do now was to interact with Riang.
Tiduer happened to see Owen stand up from his spot.
"Hey, going somewhere?" Tiduer also stood up from the floor and followed Owen.
"I'm just going to go and get some fresh air." Owen went on his way outside.
"Alright then…" Tiduer raised his hand on Owen's way out.
Some of Tiduer's students glanced at Owen before going back to what they're doing.
Oslan was one of them.
When Owen left the wooden house, he stood in the middle of the grass and felt the wind hit his face.
When he heard that the nearest city is Mysteriea City, Owen already had a plan in mind.
'If I reach Mysteriea, I can go to the Grekhalt Forge to buy good gear and find an alchemist for potions… the only problem is the scaled up world. The maps I remember might not be the same here.' Owen then thought of Riang.
'That girl… she's part of the main storyline that hasn't even happened yet. If I get close enough to her, I can gain a potentially powerful ally. The only question is how will I convince her…' Owen didn't have that much knowledge of the entire storyline because he only finished about 85% of the game.
Apart from some snippets of lore from Rocky blabbering about it, that was the range of what he knew.
He turned his head and saw the dark red haired Riang training by herself.
Owen decided to approach her.
When he was only a few steps away from Riang, Owen cleared his throat and began to speak.
"You must be Riang… I heard a few things from Tiduer about you." Owen sat down on the grass while Riang swung the wooden sword.
"What might have piqued your curiosity to learn about me?" Riang slashed the air as she practiced her stances. Her attitude towards Owen was indifferent.
"I could tell that you're special from the rest. After all, why did no one else probe my background except for you?" Owen watched her closely to see any changes in her expression.
Riang exhaled warm air from her mouth. She stopped practicing and stood up straight while facing Owen.
"You noticed?"
Owen responded with a simple shake of his head. "So you were doing so.. I just happened to find it strange why you know so much about Silmoun Kingdom... Let me guess, are you from there?"
Riang sat down.
She looked around to see if anyone was there before she talked.
"Is it important to you? If anything, I don't have to answer your questions." Riang wasn't going to easily expose anything to Owen.
"I wouldn't be so sure about that, Miss Beisena." Owen smiled.
Owen's tone wasn't meant to taunt her. In fact, he spoke quite calmly. It was just that the meaning of the words struck a chord within Riang's heart.
Her expression slowly crumbled.
"So you do know who I am.." She discreetly gathered soul energy in her left hand, preparing herself to strike.
"Don't be so tense now, I'm here to ask you for help." Owen's question came in abruptly.
"?" Riang tilted her head slightly in confusion.
"What do you mean you're asking for help?" Riang initially thought that Owen was someone sent to assassinate her. But seeing how he was trying to negotiate says otherwise.
"Your mother is Thelem Beisena, the 2nd Commander of the Crimson Winged Eagle Infantry under Duchess Lophian. Meanwhile, your scumbag father Inderri Beisena is the 1st Commander of the Longwinged Cloud Lion Infantry. Am I correct?" Owen sat down in quite a relaxed posture while Riang was taking him very seriously.
She didn't hesitate to answer since the person before her seemed to have done their research. "Yes, but what does that have to do with you? What do you think you can achieve just by talking to me?"
"I want to help you go home." Owen stated his main intention.
Riang scoffed. "Go back home? Yeah right. You're saying we can travel from here to Silmoun Kingdom? That's a five day travel with a dwarf wyvern, sure.. But what makes you think it's going to be easier here on land?"
"That's why I need your cooperation. Help me settle down in Mysteriea and regain my strength. After that, I will help you go back home in return." Owen moved his hand as he spoke.
Riang snapped back with a hint of frustration from her voice. "What do you think I've been trying to do all this time? Even with your help, it doesn't mean anything to me."
Owen felt that he had to explain himself. "Listen, I-"
"Shut up." Riang cut him off.
"First of all, the bordering lands between the two kingdoms is dangerous for someone like me to cross. Not only that, unknown people are looking for me and it's a miracle that I'm even alive right now. And second, I've been burrowing myself here in this town for the longest time as I try to make as much money to even get a firm foothold in this situation that I'm in."
"All my resources that I have pooled aren't going to last long. So even if you help me, what difference does it make? Unless you're incredibly strong, you can't change anything."
Owen sat there silently.
It seems that she wasn't that easy to convince.
Owen felt a headache.
'Are people this stubborn here?'
Owen sighed inwardly and proceeded with calmness.
"How long have you been hiding here?" Owen asked.
"Two years." Riang snorted.
"And you're convinced whoever is chasing you is still doing so today?" Owen's tone was steady.
"Maybe so, maybe not.. Even if they aren't, it doesn't change the fact that I'm still stuck here." Riang shrugged.
"Since you clearly know what situation you are in, why not take this chance that I'm giving you? Sure, you can look down on me all you want but…" Owen reached his hand out, grabbing nothing in the air.
This momentarily confused Riang.
Owen called out his inventory.
*Vhwoooshh….*
Riang was shocked by what she saw.
To her, it looked like Owen was pulling out a sword from thin air.
"... I happen to know advanced spatial storage magic. If that doesn't show my qualifications to help, I don't know what will. That's why I need your help to settle in Mysteriea to regain my strength and to get enough equipment to use for myself.. Obviously, I will use those to help you get back home before returning to my own agendas." Owen's attitude towards her was truly genuine.
This made it a bit hard for Riang to reject his offer.
Owen pushed further. "I can store lots of supplies with me. I'm sure you can see the importance of my ability. And if you help me recover my strength, I can be there to protect you."
"The backstory I told Ezella and Tiduer are all fabricated. But the one about me being from Silmoun? That's real." Owen added.
Riang held her chin as he thought.
She began to weigh her options from what Owen showed her.
This man randomly shows up and says that he can help you get back home after being stranded in the town of Wiunlen for two years because you hid from unknown pursuers who are out to get you for who knows what.
Those same pursuers are the reason why you were taken out from Silmoun Kingdom. It was great that you escaped into a remote town before they achieved what they wanted with you.
You suspect the man is one of your pursuers, but you don't tell him that.
The man explains himself and what his plan to get you back home is. You then tell him that it's almost impossible because of how difficult the journey will be.
The random man reveals that he knows advanced spatial magic and shows you. He also tells you that he needs your help to regain his strength.
You're skeptical, but spatial magic isn't just something anyone can learn to use as easily as the man did.
In the end, this proves that it is probable that he is indeed in a weakened state.
Riang breathed in and out. Enough for it to be audible. "Alright, I am convinced that you are not at your peak strength. But what can you say to convince me that you aren't one of the people that are after me?"
Owen presented his current armor. "If I was one of them, would I be using crappy armor and come alone?"
Riang expressed her doubts. "Maybe you got separated because of an accident and you had to use spare armor to save yourself."
Owen found it nonsense and explained, "If so, I would be looking for them instead of going towards Wiunlen."
"And what if you got lost and only happened to find yourself in Wiunlen as you looked for your comrades?" Riang continued to express her doubts.
"I had a map, how the hell would I get lost?" Owen emphasized the word 'map' with a firm tone.
"I didn't see the map though." Riang smirked.
Owen sighed.
He was losing options.
He looked at his left forearm and showed it to Riang as he said, "I only have one hand, what can I do to harm you anyway?"
"Looks don't define strength." Riang shrugged.
"I know that just because someone lacks a body part, it doesn't mean that they are easy to fight.. If anything, someone as strong as you with a missing limb is even more dangerous." Riang gave him a sound explanation.
"Go ahead, think of another reason why I should trust you. I'm getting bored here." Riang said with a mischievous smile.
Owen's left eye twitched.
He said in a calm tone, "I'm happy that you don't discriminate, but I still want you to know that I'm not one of them."
Riang nodded and appeared to be contemplating deeply with herself.
"I believe you."
Owen felt that he heard wrongly.
With a bewildered expression, Owen asked, "Wait what?"
Riang said once more, "I believe you."
"And you changed your mind because…?" Owen rolled the last word.
"I remember clearly that my pursuers didn't use spatial magic. Someone who can use spatial magic as well as you can has to be at least around the level of my mother's strongest troops… That spatial magic that you used doesn't leak soul energy at all, giving it impressive stealth, which means a scout shouldn't have it at all." Riang had a teasing smirk as she explained.
"What if whoever is chasing you has access to spatial magic?" Owen did not get why she gave in that easily.
"Why are you making me doubt you? Don't you want my help?" It was Riang's turn to be bewildered.
"I'm just saying." Owen's tone had a hidden amount of snark.
Riang cleared up her side. "But seriously, fine… I'll help you for now. But afterwards, you must find a job and earn money for yourself, understand? Of course, I'll be sheltering you with what I have for now. I'm not that harsh of a person."
"Is that a deal?" Riang extended her right hand forward for a handshake.
In her mind, she was 40% confident that she could return to her kingdom. Now that Owen, someone with spatial magic was going to help her, she calculated that her chances would be around 75%.
That is how highly spatial magic is regarded. The ability to store a lot of supplies without the need to physically carry them is already such an amazing thing to be able to do, but what's more impressive is that it requires a lot of strength, not just when it comes to the soul, but also physically in order to use such high level magic.
*Vhoom...*
==========
[Level 57 Quest: Escort Riang Beisena]
Objective: Help Riang return to her mother in Silmoun Kingdom alive.
Failure Condition: Riang's death, or if she returns with grievous injuries.
Consequence For Failure: Possible death.
Reward: +45,000 EXP, +30 Attribute Points, +2 Skill Points, +1 Perk Upgrade Point, +2,500 Gold Coins.]
==========
The panel appeared in front of Owen, further igniting his will to help Riang.
"Deal." Owen shook her hand with a grin.
He then stood up and stored the sword back into his inventory. It looked like it disappeared into nothing for anyone else who saw it.
Riang also stood up.
She then said, "I'll let you sleep at my place for the night. I managed to rent a small room for myself because I run errands around the town to earn enough for myself."
"Quite the hardworking fellow I see… That wasn't a trait I was expecting from you." Owen chuckled jokingly.
"My mother is a knight. As her daughter, I cannot disappoint her. What's a little work going to do?" Riang felt a little smug from her statement.
"But before we do anything, I need to finish my training here first… Can you wait?" She asked.
Owen gave her a reassuring smile. "Of course."
After hearing his words, Riang left to go somewhere else to train.
When Owen's hand landed on the spot next to him, he felt an object placed there.
It was his missing map.
"..."
Owen thought of Riang and chuckled. He put it back into his inventory and stretched his arms as he slowly laid down on the grass.
"I didn't expect that gaining a character's trust is harder now. It's not like I can level up my social skills.. The multiple choice in the game's dialogue is still easier." Owen sighed.
It was mentally exhausting having to deal with someone like Riang.
As Owen was laying down, someone approached him from behind.
Owen heard the voice of a young boy while he rested on the grass.
"Can I ask what you were talking about with Riang?"
Oslan, Tiduer's weakest student, sat next to Owen.
It was unknown how long he was listening to their conversation.
Not paying him that much attention, Owen replied indifferently with his eyes closed, "It's related to Riang.. I can't tell you much though."
Oslan wasn't swayed by Owen's answer. "So it's something important then…" Oslan sat cross-legged while holding a wooden training sword.
He then asked, "How did you learn storage magic?"
Owen opened his eyes to take one glance at Oslan.
==========
[Oslan Leifra - Level 6] (Main Storyline Character)
[Affiliation - N/A]
[Skills - Unavailable] (You do not have the necessary detection skill/s to view the following information.)
==========
Owen quickly sat up and looked at the name tag closely. This startled Oslan quite a bit.
'As expected, he's also a main storyline character.' Owen already knew who Oslan was.
When Owen first arrived in Wiunlen, he was already thinking deeply. The timeframe of the story didn't match up from what he remembered playing.
During that time, he remembered that there was another character in Riang's backstory.
What occurred in the original storyline was, Thelem Beisena saw her daughter die in front of her. The name of the daughter wasn't shown in the original game unless you do some digging from books and random NPC interactions. Owen now knows that she is Riang.
The death of Thelem's daughter sent her on a quest for revenge. She ended up killing the organization higher-ups who plotted against her, but it turned out to be a fail safe scheme from the Ardlew Kingdom. What she actually killed were innocent Ardlewan citizens while she was under an illusion.
It's a bit convoluted, but that's just the gist of it.
The Ardlew Kingdom abandoned the quest for Riang's blood because for unknown reasons, it was then revealed that they were going for Thelem's special blood now. And with her crime, they now had the justification to imprison her and take as much pure blood as they wanted.
The Silmoun Kingdom had to oblige unless they wanted to start a war from a simple conflict.
The reason why Riang no longer became a target for them was because she saved Oslan's life from an accident by infusing her blood origin into him. Making him a very powerful and important character later in the storyline. Blood origin infusion will be explained later.
Oslan was the one who helped her try to return to the Silmoun Kingdom. Riang's blood origin helped create a special type of blood within his body called the "Lion Headed Minotaur Bloodline."
It happened to awaken because it was revealed that some time back in Oslan's ancestry, he had the blood of a Bull Beastman and a Lion Beastman. However, their lineage was slowly replaced by humans until the beast bloodline was hidden deep within their descendants.
Meanwhile, the Beisena Blood is so coveted by others because of its ability to draw out soul energy by using the small crystals in the blood. Once these crimson crystals are expended, they can grow back within the user's body by eating and resting.
If Owen were to feel Riang's pulse right now, he would be able to feel small grains running through her veins.
The Beisena Blood was a way to speed up soul energy regeneration and even increase the soul energy reserves in one's body.
It is also important to know that the Beisena Blood can be stored easily. It's a cheap way to mass produce soul energy potions to regain one's magic reserves if it was drained during battle.
The reason why Riang's blood origin infusion was so much of a big deal was because blood origin is the main reason why she could produce the crimson crystals within her blood. Without half of her blood origin, Riang's ability to create the crimson crystals would be severely weakened permanently. Not only that, they would also be low quality.
The Ardlew Kingdom wouldn't settle for such low quality produce, so Thelem became the target.
So basically, Owen was in a time period where Thelem wasn't being used as livestock and Riang was still alive.
Saving Thelem in the original game will cause her to infuse all of her blood origin to the player out of gratitude. She will die out of exhaustion and this will also incur the hostility of the Ardlew Kingdom towards the player.
Now, what would happen if Owen were to save Riang and safely return her to Thelem? This would change the beginning parts of the storyline, but not to the point that it would be unrecognizable.
After all, this was an introductory story for the new players of the game. So since it didn't affect future events much, what could one gain from this?
That was something that Owen wanted to know as well. His instincts were telling him that the rewards he would receive is immense.
He smiled widely. Owen looked at Oslan like he was looking at a pile of treasure.
Turns out, the fierce long haired man that appeared to have a lion's mane, wielding a thick longsword in the future would be this scrawny little kid.
It feels a bit off for Owen to see.
Oslan felt goosebumps seeing Owen look at him so eagerly. "I- I'm sorry I asked.."
"No, no… it's actually fine." Owen's demeanor towards Oslan became more pleasant. "To answer your question, I didn't learn it. I gained the ability to use it."
"Eh? How?" Oslan was confused. High level magic was this easily inherited?
That didn't align with his knowledge.
"I don't even know… when I was born in this world, I already had it." Owen shrugged and appeared as if he truly didn't know. And somehow, he wasn't completely lying this time.
"Oh…" Oslan knew that it was either Owen wasn't willing to tell him, or he truly didn't know.
Oslan leaned on the former.
"And to answer your question, I'm trying to help Riang return to her home in Silmoun Kingdom." Owen watched Oslan carefully to see how he would react.
"What?? She came from Silmoun Kingdom? I thought she was a native here in the Eslahai Kingdom…" Oslan felt that his knowledge of Riang was flipped now over.
Owen obviously knew that the kingdom he was under is called the Eslahai Kingdom. It was just that, he didn't dare claim he lived nearby because of how easy it was to disprove.
Owen coughed. "Yes, you heard that right. And I am here to help her get back."
Oslan looked downcast. "Oh, that's the reason…"
Owen saw that Oslan seemed to be sad over the news of Riang returning to her home. "You seem to be gloomy about that. Why? Do you like her? That's why you can't bear to see her leave, isn't it?" Owen said teasingly.
Oslan's face reddened. "T- That's not.. uhm... that's not true…" Oslan covered his face out of embarrassment.
"Your face says otherwise." Owen laughed. But when he saw that Oslan was even more embarrassed, he knew that he had to stop.
Owen changed the tone of his voice.
"Alright, I'll be honest with you… I actually want to ask for your help too." Owen sounded more serious than how he was speaking earlier. It shifted the meaning of the message that he was trying to tell.
Oslan regained his composure.
"My help? What do you need?" Oslan wasn't sure why Owen asked him for help. He couldn't recall anything he had that was valuable.
"Before I answer that, do you have any family members here?" Owen shrugged with his hand extended and his palm facing upward.
Oslan wasn't expecting that kind of question.
"Not anymore… My parents died because of a masked demon." Oslan seemed to be unaffected by it from how he casually delivered his words.
"Oh uh, that wasn't what I was trying to know but… erm." Owen cleared his throat to shift the awkward aura away.
"What I want is for you to help me escort Riang back to Silmoun. Can you do that?" Owen finally answered Oslan's question.
This took the fifteen year old Oslan aback.
"What? What can I do? I've heard that the journey back would be treacherous. I'd be nothing more but dead weight." Oslan spoke about his concerns.
"That's true, but I am sure that if Riang told you that she was worried about being pursued by people who want nothing more than to capture her, you'd step up and proudly proclaim that you will help her return to her home." Owen clenched his fist as he spoke. Acting out the determination that Oslan would have for visual effects.
There was no need to be dramatic, but it helped.... somewhat?
His words seem to resonate deeply with Oslan.
But he remained quiet.
'There it is… the last push that he needs.' Owen grinned inwardly.
Oslan pushed out the words stuck in his throat. "But why would Riang do that..? I'm the weakest amongst all of us under Teacher Tiduer."
"You're special.. And what if I can tell you that I can help you become stronger?" Owen smiled confidently.
"After all, you persevere so much and even train with Riang as much as you could with no effect. Don't you think that's weird?" Owen added.
"You just got here, how did you know about those things?" Oslan thought about it for a few seconds and asked, "Did she tell you that?"
Thoughts rang in Owen's mind.
Owen wanted to say that it was painfully obvious. Instead, Owen nodded at him.
"Mhm." Owen lied as naturally as he breathed.
"I know it's abrupt, but you are the only one who I can trust with Riang that wouldn't hurt her. I admit, I cannot do it by myself. I need as many allies to guarantee her safety. So please, help me protect her throughout our journey and I will help you gain the strength that you deserve." Owen's words directly pierced through Oslan's doubt.
Oslan used to be a listless kid who did anything that he could just to get by in life. But with what Owen told him, Oslan felt that he was now given some kind of purpose.
Oslan nodded. "If that's what's troubling you then… I will help you with all I can."
Owen's smile crept up on his face. He didn't feel any guilt at all from tricking an emotionally confused teenager.
'Wait, that sounded bad.' Owen said in his mind.
"Thank you… Now let's talk about the specifics soon. It seems that you still have to train." Owen pointed at the other students getting ready to train once more.
"Oh, right." Oslan got up with his training sword in hand.
"Good luck." Owen waved his hand at him as he left.
Left alone sitting in the grass, Owen began to contemplate his next move after this. The only thing around him was the audible shouts of training and the soft whistles of the wind.
He wasn't left alone for too long though.
There were footsteps behind him.
"Owen? What are you doing all alone here?" Ezella's voice could be heard behind him.
Owen turned around.
Seeing that it was just Ezella, Owen decided to wave at her.
"I was just thinking about random things. Don't worry about me. This is one of the rare times where I get to rest and not worry about anything." Owen faced the river once again.
Ezella stared at his left forearm with deep meaning.
"It must have been hard on you…"
Owen looked back at her and noticed her looking at his forearm.
"Ah, you mean this? I've mostly gotten over it."
That was a lie.
"How did you do it?" Ezella placed her left hand on the side of her hip.
"Do what?" Owen gave her a simple glance.
"How did you go through all of that like it was nothing?" Ezella's gaze grew soft as she spoke. "It's admirable, really… I can never imagine acting the same way if I were you."
Owen didn't clarify her misunderstanding.
"I didn't go through that kind of pain without scars. But then again, if I bawled my eyes out on the ground, I would be just waiting for my death. If I die, I want to die trying… I guess that's what went through my head at those times."
Although Owen was unfamiliar with this world and its people, that didn't mean he couldn't speak out his true feelings from time to time.
Unexpectedly, Ezella sat next to Owen.
"You know, I am curious how strong you are to survive against all odds.. How powerful is your ability to use soul energy? You don't have to answer if you feel uncomfortable." Ezella assured him.
Seeing this as an opportunity, Owen requested, "My knowledge and power shouldn't be as great as someone who learned from Sir Jiun. Maybe you can teach me what he taught you about soul energy?"
"Why not? Here, I'll teach you how to use a magic circle that Sir Jiun taught me… consider this as a gift." Ezella's tone was innocent and kind.
Her smile was like the warm comforting sun. She wanted to teach Owen magic because her way of cheering someone up was to give them a gift.
"While I make it, what do you want to learn exactly?" Ezella inquired.
"Everything. Even the basics."
Ezella blinked twice. "Are you sure?"
"Please." Owen said seriously.
Ezella extended her hand forward and began explaining.
"Alright… so, from what I learned, soul energy is deeply connected to the mind. It is controlled by a person's will or to say, their intention." She explained with uncertainty since it was her first time relaying her own understanding of something.
"And to use it for magic, you must draw a magic circle first." Ezella began to demonstrate.
Owen's eyes narrowed while watching. He became as observant as possible to avoid making mistakes.
Ezella extended her finger and began to sketch in the air. The tip of her index had red swirls floating around it. The swirls converged into a stabilized point and began to leave trails visible to the naked eye.
This was soul energy.
She used her soul energy to draw a circle suspended in the air, undisturbed.
It was like a red halo of light.
Ezella's arm moved smoothly, allowing her to draw a somewhat perfect circle. She then started to draw a strange symbol in the middle of the circle.
"From what Sir Jiun taught me, he said that magic has to operate on an abstract concept. But the more complicated the concept is, the more soul energy it requires to manifest as a symbol."
Owen pointed at the red circle in the air. "So what symbol are you drawing in the middle?"
"It's the Effari symbol for fire." Ezella said as she continued to draw.
The symbol had a dot in the middle as curved lines enveloped it all around, creating a spiky hollow shape that pointed upwards.
Owen, having thought that he misheard her, asked. "Pardon?"
"Effari, don't you know what that is?" Ezella spared Owen a patient yet questioning glance.
"Ah, you mean the language of the universe? Sorry, I didn't hear you correctly." Upon remembering the term from the game, Owen showed a look of realization.
Ezella waved her hand at him to gesture that it wasn't a problem. "Don't worry about it.. Now, when Sir Jiun taught me magic, he also said that Effari letters are at its core, a language."
"Why is that so?" Owen asked. He had a hunch what the answer was, but he kept his mouth shut.
Ezella touched her chin and thought, "From the Epitomus Bible, it is said that the Mother of Existence, Saeffaria had simplified the essence of the universe into the Effari language… Some experts even said that theoretically, if someone has enough soul energy and fluency of Effari, they would be able to mimic the abilities of Saeffaria herself."
"What an interesting theory." Owen's interest was piqued.
"I'm glad you share the same thoughts as him." Ezella replied with a beaming smile.
Owen wanted to learn the rest, so he said to her, "It's just one of my thoughts, you can continue now."
Ezella was more than happy to do so.
"Alright, going back to the topic of Effari, as Sir Jiun said, there must be a core concept symbol in the middle of a magic circle, and then there has to be supporting symbols around it to make use of the magic circle as desired."
"What happens if you activate the magic circle without these supporting Effari symbols?" Owen wanted to explore the different aspects of magic circle creation, so this was natural of him to ask.
While drawing the smaller symbols around the large core symbol, Ezella said, "Then it will just be fire... Like a small ball of fire that floats in my hand."
Ezella then looked at him seriously as she warned, "Owen, I must tell you though. To use a magic circle, you need to absorb it using your soul. The absorption will carve the magic circle on your soul and it will be difficult for it to be removed. That's why you shouldn't absorb random useless magic circles because that will overload your soul with rubbish spells…"
"Think of it as a basket of eggs. Your soul is the basket, and there's only so many eggs you can fit inside it. Just think of the eggs as something very hard to remove from the basket, that's why you must pick high quality eggs or eggs with passable quality." Ezella added.
Owen understood the warning clearly. It also changed how he would manage his magic usage in the future. All of these were taken into consideration.
"Is there a limit on how many a person can absorb?"
Ezella replied with an affirmative tone. "Yes, but you can increase it by consuming soul related resources. Like what I said earlier, these resources could be said to increase the hardness and the size of the basket. Thus allowing you to carry more eggs."
"Why can't I just draw the magic circle without absorbing it? Wouldn't that save me a lot of the space in my soul?" Owen kept asking.
Ezella wasn't tired of answering them because it only meant that Owen was indeed curious about what she's teaching.
"Uhm, about that… Magic circles cannot be used without a physical medium and a steady source of soul energy. Since magic circles are made of soul energy, using it while it is still unabsorbed will force the magic circle to use the soul energy that makes up itself to activate. So, it's not really an efficient method… Absorbing isn't just carving the spell on your soul, it allows the magic circle to tap into your soul energy reserves and will instead use it to activate."
"Although a magic circle can still work despite being unabsorbed, the efficiency drops so low that it's not even worth mentioning." Ezella shook her head.
Owen was struck with another light of realization.
"You mentioned that a magic circle requires a physical medium.. What counts as a physical medium?" Owen could vaguely think about certain possibilities, but he still posed the question.
Ezella answered without a hitch. "Anything solid, liquid or gas. It will be easier to work with solids because of how stable it is compared to the other two."
She wanted to add, "You should also know that activating a magic circle-"
"Consumes the physical integrity or durability of the physical medium, I know about that." Owen at least knew that much.
Taken aback for a moment, Ezella's face returned to her usual smile before saying, "That's… that's right. And because of that reason, most people utilize soul energy by using their body as the physical medium because it will only get fatigued for a while before recovering."
Realizing that Owen seemed to know more than what he's letting on, Ezella doubtfully asked, "Hold on, how much do you know about soul energy?"
"Not that much…" Owen's response was vague.
She could notice that Owen avoided the specifics. So, Ezella narrowed down the topics by asking, "Do you at least know what dynamic and static magic circles are?"
Owen looked up at the sky to think before looking back at her, saying, "I assume dynamic means it can move, and static means it cannot."
Ezella chuckled. "Close, but the best definition I can give is that dynamic magic circles can be activated without much decrease in its quality no matter what kind of physical medium you use. Whether it's your arm, your leg, a rock, a stick or a sword. It doesn't matter."
"Static magic circles on the other end, are very reliant on a specific physical structure and can only work well in such shape or composition of the physical medium. That's why static magic circles made for a sword, armor or a shield can only activate well if used with the correct shape." As Ezella finished speaking, she was also done drawing the fire path magic circle for Owen.
"Here, you can absorb this magic circle that I drew for you." Ezella willed for the magic circle to shrink.
She grabbed it from the air and presented it towards Owen. When she opened her hand, the magic circle was floating above her palm as it spun.
Owen gratefully accepted the gift.
"Thank you."
Owen reached his hand towards the magic circle.
Once it touched his hand, he felt a weak attraction force from it. When he continued to sense this feeling, he could somehow 'see' it more clearly.
It was as if a thin mist emerging from his body was reigning in the desire to swallow the magic circle. The mist even behaved like another limb that could be pulled away if Owen wanted to.
He controlled the mist to cover the magic circle, eventually absorbing it into his soul.
The magic circle shrunk to a pin's size before entering his soul. It looked like as if a miniature red star that pierced through his palm.
*Vhoom..*
A panel appeared next to Owen's face.
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You have acquired the spell [Firestrike]
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With a brief glance, Owen thought to himself..
'This spell could be useful in some situations for my current level… It's worth getting.' Owen turned to look at Ezella, his gaze turning even brighter.
Receiving a free gift indeed makes a person happy.