Zverius was on the verge of sharing his knowledge about the reincarnation spell which Zarius had casted for unknown reasons perhaps Zverius knew the reasons but David highly doubted that whether Zverius knew everything about Zarius's plans. David wasn't interested in this mess but since it concerned his own and his friends' lives so there'd been no choice but to involve himself in this. David just wanted to live a carefree, happy and peaceful life but fate wasn't kind enough to grant his simple desire.
'Ugh fuck! Why the heck my life is taking so many twists!? It really seems ridiculous that I'm stuck with some grey ass intradimensional humanoid alien shit organisms who suck on human dic- I mean blood! What's worse is that these shitty creatures can roam around freely in sunlight, I thought all human gobbling airheads were supposed to be nocturnal! Turns out my knowledge about this was as wrong as my parent's knowledge regarding contraceptives was. Only if they had been aware then I would be a single child.'
David grimaced in his chain of thoughts meanwhile Zverius was gulping down some human blood with neutral expression. After finishing his meal, he took out a handkerchief from his trouser's pocket and wiped off some traces of blood from his face and then sighed in satisfaction. His obnoxious yet pleasant sigh diverted David's attention towards him, everyone else was already staring at him in sheer anticipation, grimness and curiosity. Only Harold was sleeping without a care, he really deserved plentiful of sleep after what had occurred in the past few weeks. Eventually the tense silence was broken by Cerebius, he asked:
"You had your meal, right? now let's get to the business."
David glanced at Zverius and nodded, supporting Cerebius and voiced his opinion.
"That's right, we can't let enemies outsmart us again. We should devise a plan based on your information and awareness."
Zverius looked at David, his expression was bright as usual but there was a strange sorrow in his eyes but David wasn't sure of it so he didn't say anything. Soon Zverius crossed his hands and said, his expression turning slightly grim.
"The reincarnation spell, huh? If there is a spell which I despise the most then it's got to be this one. It subjected me to such a horrendous agony in all aspects, physical, mental and spiritual. First let me clarify the know-how of spells and techniques of crimson energy and the concept of dark crimson energy. Any ability regarding crimson energy is labelled as "Crimson Powers". It has two different types: crimson spells and crimson techniques. It is important to know what is the difference. To be precise... spells are something which you could call an algebraic equation. In algebra, you generally have to solve the left hand side of the equation to obtain the result. There are variables and constants present in an algebraic equation, it's synonymous for crimson spells. You cast it by chanting it's constants aloud or in mind, basically you chant the ancient runic formulas created by gods while simultaneously channeling your crimson energy according to the spell's needs. There are some variables too which partially decides the output of your spell.
The variables are your mental fortitude, physical condition, time taken to cast the spell and your control of crimson energy. Some spells have their own unique variables but most only depends on the ones I have stated, usually the complex ones have unique variables. Anyways, when you successfully cast a spell...your body might feel lethargic if you aren't a regular caster. There is a point to be noted that if you even slightly mess up in chanting runic formula or channeling your crimson energy then the spell won't be casted. Whereas, a little bit of room for error is available in case of variables of spell. Let's say if you are utterly stressed yet you decide to cast a spell then perhaps the spell's output magnitude will be significantly affected but at least it will be casted successfully."
David narrowed his eyes and asked cautiously:
"When the caster is casting a spell then he or she must be vulnerable during that period, mustn't they?"
Zverius smiled slightly and looked at a distant mountain which was covered in snow. He lingered for a few moments and said somberly:
"That's correct, so it is common practice to fight in teams if you are a novice caster but things are different for experienced casters. They can cast a complex spell in couple of seconds which pretty much covers up for their obvious vulnerability but still it is advised to always fight in teams. So I think this insight on spell equation stuff is enough, isn't it?"
Zverius looked at David, asking for his answer. David humbly nodded, Zverius then looked at Henry, he nodded too without any doubt taking place in his maroon eyes. After their approvals Zverius continued in a mirthless tone.
"There are mainly four types of spells: Elemental, Sensory and Communication, Healing and Martial arts. Elemental has six elements in it which are fire, water, thunder, earth, ice and wind. Healing has two types: first one is direct and second one is indirect. Sensory and communication don't have concrete types, I would like to say that their understanding is pretty vague but generally they are classified in waves, particles, field, hybrid and abnormal types. The last one is crimson martial arts or the combat spells. Honestly...their understanding among the Zarden and mage community is so less and clouded that it is hardly ever considered a proper spell type. Back in the mage society versus Zarden kingdoms conflict era, the mage society used to have organised academies to train young aspirant mages so they had prepared a proper syllabus curriculum assigned to every student who excelled in a particular spell type but even the academy staff didn't know what syllabus should be assigned to a student who excelled in combat spells. That was kind of funny how both Zardens and human shared the same problem."
Zverius slightly smiled as he completed his sentence but the grimness perisisted in his eyes. Henry raised an eyebrow and asked indifferently.
"How do you know so much about the mage society? And what happened to those students who didn't excel in any spell type? Were they not assigned any syllabus curriculum?"
Zverius glanced at him with an amused smile, he shrugged and said nonchalantly:
"They were assigned a general syllabus curriculum which consisted of basic knowledge regarding all the spell types. Also, I know this much because I have been a spy, you know! I infiltrated in mage academy as a disguised mundane human no less. Studied there for three years and did my job fair and square but..."
Zverius's voice trailed off as a deep frown appeared on his face, soon he regained his friendly composure as if nothing had happened. David always considered Zverius as a mysterious creature, he always radiated a sense of supressed sorrow and longing, perhaps he had his share of secrets and pain. After all, David too hid many secrets from Henry and Kyle. Dylan knew about some but mostly he was also blind to a fair share of truth about his older brother too. Especially about their parents....the dark history about his parents and their job. Well, it wasn't the time to reminisce about the past but to take decisive steps in order to avoid the incoming harrowing future. So David glanced at Zverius and offered him an awkward but sincere smile. After looking at David, Zverius couldn't help himself to stop a comically horrified expression appearing on his face.
"Can't you atleast offer back that fuckin' obnoxious smile of yours, huh?"
David cursed angrily which made the other four laugh. Now David regretted his decision to console Zverius by offering him a nice warm smile. He wasn't the type to care about strangers and a total Zarden stranger not to forget! Maybe he had really grown sort of fond of Zverius and his kind and friendly demeanor.
'Still such an ungrateful bastard though, is this how you thank someone's kindness?!'
After laughing for a while everyone grew quiet and solemn. Zverius offered David an apologetic smile for ridiculing him but David responded with a spiteful scowl. Truth to be told, he was smirking in his mind but Zverius needn't know that!
After a few moments of silence, Zverius resumed from where he had left, he continued with somber intensity.
"Despite being shrouded by mysteries, crimson martial arts or combat spells still have sub types: close range, mid range and long range. Oh, it has also five classes. Each class is vastly different from the rest yet there are some basic similarities to be found. Except Zarius no one knows much about them, he has actually pretty much mastered this spell type. He is so proficient in using combat spells that it sometimes seems absurd. No one knows much about combat spells except him, generally an individual would share his or her knowledge of some unknown powers for public welfare or some good reasons but sadly Zarius has never been a good being, he is not a monster who was created by society's cruelty but a monster who was born to destroy the cruel society. The list of atrocities he has committed is just endless.
Combat spells are a mystery to us but if used correctly they could be tremendously devastating. I'll give an example how much of a threat they are. Once Zarius splitted a whole island in two pieces by simply using a fist chop. However, one can evade weak and intermediate combat spells by mastering the other three spell types or their techniques.
Now let's move on to the topic of crimson techniques. Crimson techniques have two subtypes which are innate and developed. It is a common knowledge that everyone has different body types and affinities. Innate crimson techniques work on the same principle, it is your default technique which you unlock after you gain the ability to wield crimson energy. Developed techniques are those which you develop on your own or it may be developed depending on your lifestyle, mindset and life experiences. A technique is a pure constant, you may discard it as useless or hone it to mastery but it will stay the same. Let's say you have a bow which lets you shoot arrows upto several miles but you don't want this type of technique in your arsenal, so you choose to convert this technique into a different one but unfortunately you won't be able to change this crimson technique into a different one like a spear which can be thrown upto several miles or a sword which can cut through anything. However, you may enhance the range of arrows significantly but the basics will be the same. That's how a technique works. When a human receivies a considerable amount of raw crimson energy under strict conditions then they turn into a crimson energy wielder, which allows them to unlock their innate crimson technique provided that they have trained their bodies properly, if not then the recipient would inevitably die so it's very important to keep that in mind.
Anyways when a person unlocks their innate technique after suitable time period of receipt of raw crimson energy but begin to practice it in a slightly different manner which they are not supposed to be then the chances of developing a new technique arises. Let's suppose that they want to master their innate technique but their way of training is wrong then they may be able to develop some other crimson techniques which are variants of the innate one. Basically developed crimson techniques are just the variants of your innate crimson technique. Let's take the previous example! If the user posses a technique which allows them to shoot arrows upto several miles but they desire to develop a technique which allows them to throw a spear which travels several miles then the correct approach would be to start the process of developing a technique like that. Since, this is a distant variant of the innate technique so it will consume plenty of time but the user will succeed to develop a technique like that provided that they resort to correct measures and process. Close variants of innate technique are easy to develop and distant ones are difficult and time consuming to develop. For a close variant it takes few months to a year mostly and for a distant variant....uh...it may take a decade. It is certainly possible for multiple people to have the exactly same innate crimson technique that indicates towards their same body type, mentality and many more factors. For this reason people tend to develop a technique which is different and not thought of.
In the flow of time there have been several innate techniques which have been observed in each generation but there are also some rare techniques which are seen once in a century, those are called as unique crimson techniques. They are extremely rare and powerful, generally young prodigies posses those innate techniques but not every prodigy does. So you could say that if anyone posses an unique innate technique then they are a bigshot!"
David tentatively raised a hand, Zverius glanced at him in curiousity and gestured him to speak up, David asked thoughtfully.
"Is it possible for one to develop someone else's innate technique?"
Zverius remained silent for few moments, as if lost in thoughts but then he slowly shook his head.
"No, it's impossible to pull something like that off. Oh! I almost forgot to include this, it's that the developed techniques are always more or less similar to innate technique. The user whose innate technique is walking on fire can't develop a technique which is simply flying or floating in air but they can develop a technique of walking on water and it's a close variant thus, it can be developed earlier than distant variants. An individual always has one innate crimson technique but can have multiple developed crimson techniques. That's all about techniques, David and Henry, you both may ask something if you want to otherwise I'll continue."
David was not having a hard time to digest all of this but he felt overwhelmed. It was quite complex in application rather than in theory. It was also just an overview, so the details would be surely much more intricate than the overview. David couldn't help but feel a little hyped about what would be his innate crimson technique. He also wanted to learn some spells especially elemental ones because he thought it presented least hassles to master it. And surely knowledge and lore regarding the crimson elements was well known. As David was thinking more and more about this it was turning more and more interesting but more questions were also arising in his mind. However, he disposed the idea to ask such questions which would force Zverius to dive in the cumbersome details. He wanted to avoid detailed explanations for now.
"Is it possible for someone to use both techniques and spells?"
David turned to Henry who had asked this question suddenly out of nowhere.
'Still it's a good question.'
David thought while he looked at Zverius, Zverius blinked and shrugged.
"It's not possible. If that would be the case then I'm sure that those who didn't like their innate techniques would try their luck in spells and those who weren't good at using spells would try their luck in unlocking their innate technique, hoping that it would be unique which just defeats the purpose of individuality of both the types."
David scratched his head, trying to make sense of it. Well, he couldn't complain about that after all you can't be a professional sports player and rocket scientist at the time. So techniques and spells were vastly different but their root cause was the same. But still David believed that there must be something which should make a wielder special after all the idea of a technique user not being able to use spells was quite boring to David. So he asked blatantly.
"What is dark crimson energy? I bet that's something special!"
Zverius's bright demeanor suddenly changed to a somber one as he heard those words. He looked at David darkly and then few passed in eerie silence. After a while Cerebius answered David's question instead of Zverius, his voice sounded slightly hoarse.
"An energy which makes impossible things possible."
To be continued...