==============================
"Man, I feel like I just sold my soul to the devil..." Magnus muttered, sitting on his bed, staring at the twenty-five spell catalysts scattered across his desk. Most were identical, but a few stood out with different engravings. Spell catalysts and magical artifices had no set form; as such, whatever they looked like was usually just for convenience, with catalysts typically being more disposable and artifices designed for long-term use.
For instance, a magical artifice that had the ability to release blades of wind might be created to resemble a sword, allowing the user to align the wind blades with their swings, making the magical artifice feel more intuitive. Meanwhile, spell catalysts meant to be placed on objects or people, like the one Magnus used to edit his skeleton, were often flat and sometimes made of bendable material so they could be placed on any surface. In Magnus's hand, however, was a peculiar magical artifice. It was thin, as wide as a hand, but shaped like a frustum—a pyramid with its tip sanded down flat.
As for what it did, it was related to why Magnus was just sitting on his bed and staring at it.
"The description said I need to hold it so it can bind to my signature... whatever that means. Hasn't it been like five minutes?" Magnus mused aloud.
[It's only been one minute and forty-three seconds.]
Magnus shrugged at Basker's response.
"Time always feels slower when you're waiting for something. Actually, that reminds me, Basker, whenever you get the chance, try to set up a mental clock in my head, just like our mental map. Do it around sunrise, so I can keep track of time even if I'm stuck underground or something in the future. Maybe throw in the day, week, and month too, just in case."
[Very well.]
Just as he finished speaking, Magnus noticed the runes on the magical artifice in his hand pulsing to life.
"Oh, I guess it's bonded. Alright, if I understood the instructions right, I just need to place it on my chest." He lifted the artifice and pressed it to the center of his chest, and it immediately stuck itself to his skin through some unknown method. The next second, Basker alerted him that something was trying to link to his mind, but it was being blocked by the constant effects of the Command Console. Magnus and Basker had anticipated this, even back when Luden first gave him a spell catalyst. They thought this might be an issue, and the only solution they could come up with was to temporarily pause everything the Command Console was doing to his mind.
The moment he allowed the magical artifice to connect, he felt as if his mind had expanded like a space had opened up within it.
Ok, I think it's working. Basker, any issues on your end?
[I have access to the magical artifice's memory bank. It's empty for now, but we have full control of its settings.]
Perfect.
This magical artifice had been the most expensive item he'd acquired from the exchange center and the main reason his bill jumped from ten thousand to twenty thousand Arcana Credits. To put it simply, it was a magical artifice device that memorized the state of a person's body. When first applied, it recorded the body in good condition. Then whenever a significant change occurred, it would essentially record, or memorize, all the things that changed in extreme detail.
Like a motion-sensitive security camera, but for your body.
It's probably a lifesaver for lower-level mages since they don't have aura protection like knights do, and only Master-level mages can keep protective spells active on themselves around the clock. If they get hit by something subtle, this thing not only alerts them but also shows exactly what the attack did, so they can counter it quickly. In a way, it's similar to what we're going to be using it for.
[Indeed, though we'll need to adjust its sensitivity.]
Magnus nodded. The artifice wasn't highly customizable, but since it had bound itself to his mind, he could tweak its sensitivity to suit his needs.
As it is right now, it will only activate if it detects a bodily change significant enough to be harmful. Poison, bruises, and cuts—stuff like that. We need to lower the threshold a bit—not too much so that it sees my own bodily functions as significant changes, but enough so that it can pick up on the more minute things. Only then will [Perfective Regeneration] be able to work effectively.
[Perfective Regeneration]
It was for this ability that Magnus bothered getting this magical artifice, and the name gave away its purpose. Right now, Magnus could regenerate from most injuries. Since Basker was technically a separate entity within his mind, Basker could activate [High-Speed Regeneration] for him, even if Magnus was in so much pain he couldn't think straight. And if he was, for some reason, knocked out, Basker could wake him up. The only time this wasn't true was in emergencies where Basker had to focus all their attention on regeneration and couldn't spare a moment to wake Magnus.
For most injuries—anything short of losing a limb—Magnus could heal. However, critical damage to vital areas like his heart, brain, or spine would still kill him before he had a chance to do anything, though that was unlikely since they were somewhat protected by his reinforced skeleton.
Still, even though healing is nice, it doesn't prevent the pain of getting hurt in the first place or stop it from happening again. It's useful for reckless fighting, and let's me put caution to the wind, but against someone strong enough, I risk getting knocked out or even killed right away.
The vampire woman he'd fought was a prime example. She had driven her hand straight through his stomach. He'd healed from it, but if she had known about his healing ability before hand and aimed for something more vital, it would have been over. Not even his reinforced skeleton would've withstood her raw strength. This realization sparked an idea: every time Magnus healed, his body reset to its 'normal' state. This was great for survival, but it meant his body wasn't getting any tougher. Take his reinforced skeleton, for instance. It hadn't broken yet, but if it ever did and Magnus used [High-Speed Regeneration], the bone would repair itself back to normal, not to the reinforced state Magnus had engineered.
His modifications weren't at a genetic level, so the body didn't recognize the reinforced skeleton as its default structure. It was like cheating in a game to give yourself extra money but forgetting to save. When you die and reload, all the cheated money is gone.
But with this magical artifice, I can change that. It won't just detect and record my injuries—it'll also capture the healing process. And as long as I can see and understand it, I can visualize and edit that very process using the Command Console, allowing me to customize the final outcome however I want.
If Magnus's body were akin to a castle, then any damage his body took would be like sections of the castle crumbling. On the other hand, his regeneration would rebuild the castle exactly as it was before it crumbled. But now Magnus could remodel the rebuilt parts to improve them.
Not only will this let me stop my bones from returning to normal, but it will also let me apply what I've done during my skeletal restructuring to every part of my body!
If Magnus's reinforced skeleton ever fractured or broke, he'd see precisely how, where, and why. This would allow him to spot weaknesses he hadn't noticed and refine his design upon healing. This process wouldn't be limited to his skeleton either; if he was bruised or cut, he could analyze the damage and figure out a way to enhance his skin's durability. If he suffered burns or frostbite, he'd be able to look and understand how his skin reacted to each case and make it more resistant to extreme temperatures after healing.
By adjusting the sensitivity of the magical artifice, this logic could extend to more mundane aspects, like illnesses. He'd be able to pinpoint failures in his immune system and improve them too.
This was the essence of [Perfective Regeneration]!
Each time he healed, he'd grow tougher. Every challenge his body endured would make it stronger. Every attack would allow him to adapt, rendering it less effective the next time around.
My body will constantly be sublimating itself, becoming more and more perfect! And at the end of the road, I can see it! A body that has adapted to everything and is resistant to everything, even magic!
==============================
"So yeah, that's basically how we got here," Magnus said, leaning back in his chair, still covered in blood. Celia stared at him with a mix of confusion, disbelief, and horror etched across her face. She buried her face in her hands, taking a deep breath before trying to piece together what Magnus had just explained. Thanks to Eveline's interference, which blocked their dorm room from being monitored, Magnus could speak more openly about magic, making it easier for Celia to grasp the details, even if she struggled with the implications.
"Okay, let me get this straight," Celia began, her voice a bit shaky as she tried to process it all.
"You're changing your body again, but this time… you're making it so that every time something hurts you, it won't hurt as much the next time?" Magnus nodded, sitting backward on his chair, seemingly unfazed by the bloodied towels scattered around him.
"I mean, yeah, if you want to simplify it. Honestly, I think it's the best idea I've had for an ability yet." Ceia had caught the clear hints of excitement in Magnus's voice as he gushed over the possibilities his [Perfective Regeneration] could bring to life.
Celia didn't even know where to start as she took another deep breath and asked, "Alright, and what does that have to do with you cutting yourself?"
"Well, there were two reasons for that. Even though I mostly focused on bones before, I've got a pretty decent grasp on the rest of the body too. But I still spent most of my time studying bone structure, not other tissues. So I thought by cutting myself, I could get a real-time view of the changes recorded in the magical artifice. Then I can use them to study the other parts of my body I'm not really familiar with more closely. After all, if anything goes wrong, I can heal myself and regenerate my blood when I'm done. And it's way more effective than examining the cold corpse of some human-like animal, right?"
Celia watched and listened to him carefully, noticing that Magnus showed no hesitation, no trace of doubt in his voice as he casually talked about harming himself. It unnerved her, seeing how matter-of-fact he was about the whole thing.
"Plus, once I have a solid understanding of how everything works, I can start improving my resistance to the obvious stuff—cuts, punches, burns, that kind of thing," Magnus continued, gesturing to the blood smeared across his arms. Celia followed his gaze, seeing the crimson stains on his skin and the floor. She understood his logic; every step he took made perfect sense when looked at clinically. If something went wrong, if he messed up some part of his body, he could just heal it. There really was no risk to himself.
But that was exactly what worried her.
Why can't I shake the feeling this is self-destructive?
Magnus was experimenting on himself, hurting his own body without a second thought. The only thing that seemed to bother him was the pain, and even that was just an inconvenience. He didn't seem to consider the impact on his body or his mental well-being at all. Celia had already been uneasy about the skeletal restructuring Magnus did on himself, but when nothing immediately harmful came of it, she let it go. Now, though, she felt things were accelerating. Magnus would keep pushing, making changes for the sake of improvement.
It was his body now, but what if he moved on to his mind—or something even more fundamental? Would he still be human then? Would he even care? The thought chilled her, but she also knew there wasn't much she could do. Even if she told Magnus to stop and think things through, he'd probably just brush her off, saying she was worried over nothing.
Celia sighed, locking eyes with Magnus for a moment before standing up.
"Alright, I get it," she said, her voice tinged with frustration.
"But if you're going to keep hurting yourself, at least do it in a cleaner, less painful way. Just look at the mess you made," she added, pointing to the bloodied chair and the towels scattered on the floor.
Magnus glanced around and realized he had been a bit careless.
Looking around, even Magnus had to agree, "Yeah, I guess I wasn't really paying much attention to how much blood I was spilling. My bad."
Celia shook her head, rolling up her sleeves as she prepared to clean. "Take a break for now and go take a bath. I'll clean this up. When I come by tomorrow, I'll bring you a smaller, sharper knife—something sterile, unlike that one which you probably grabbed from the cafeteria."
Really? Thanks, Celia. And yeah, a bath sounds pretty good right now," Magnus said, getting up and glancing down at the blood smeared on his chest and pants.
Good thing I have more clothes to change into now. These pants are the easiest to clean, but they match a lot of my other stuff, so it would have been a pain considering how long it would take for them to dry. Oh, and speaking of baths, I wonder if magical artifices are waterproof...
These were the thoughts running through Magnus's mind as he headed to the bathroom.
As Celia watched him go, her expression conflicted looked conflicted as she muttered under her breath, "Sure... no problem."