novelraw Book 2 Magical Proof
Book 2 Magical Proof
"Welcome aboard the Nary Pioneer Company's passenger cruise ship. This is the captain's office of the Jack I-class 'Lauren', extending our warmest greetings to all passengers boarding the ship."
"This journey will last approximately thirty-five days. If you have any questions, please immediately contact the ship's cabin service staff. The destination of this route is Saint Nary. Please ensure your entry documents and materials for Saint Nary are properly prepared."
"The captain's office reserves emergency decision-making authority during dangerous situations. In case of storms, tsunamis, pirates or other emergencies, please follow the captain's office instructions to avoid accidents. We greatly appreciate your cooperation. We will depart shortly. Please enjoy your voyage."
The passenger cabins were individually designed, generally consisting of a small living room, bathroom, and accompanying bedrooms. For instance, Fischer and Renée's cabin had two bedrooms.
"So, since you could return directly to the Western Continent, why hitch a ride on my ticket?"
Having left the perilous Southern Continent behind, Fischer's tense nerves could finally relax briefly. At this moment, he sat with legs crossed by the window, enjoying cabin service coffee, while across from him sat the beautiful woman in black - Renée.
"A 1500-Euro ticket in exchange for a lovely maiden accompanying you for quality time - isn't that worth it?"
Renée's black tulle dress swayed slightly as she gazed out the window, where numerous larks had gathered to preen their feathers. The cleaning crew looked helplessly at the dense flock of birds, confirming they meant no harm before reluctantly moving to clean elsewhere.
"Speaking of which, many young women in Saint Nary have been wearing this style of stockings lately. Want to see?"
Renée tapped her lips with a finger before standing up, lifting her long skirt slightly to reveal semi-transparent black lace stockings. She appeared merely "innocently" sharing recent fashion trends - if one ignored the mischievous glint hidden deep in her eyes.Fischer didn't even glance up, instead spreading out a sheet of paper and dipping a quill in ink, seemingly deep in thought.
"Hey, Fischer, I said come look."
"...Stop bothering me."
Renée floated up wordlessly, hands cupping her face as she peered at the article title he was writing. Her playful teasing gradually faded, replaced by profound seriousness. In a place Fischer couldn't see, her starry-deep eyes flashed with surprise.
This kid...
How did he learn so much from one trip to the Southern Continent?
The paper's title read:
"Theory and Proof of Magical Soul Origin - Fischer Benavides"
Fischer tapped his fingers on the table, pulling out a cigarette from his pocket to light.
Caleb's soul theory had already extensively covered theories about soul properties and origins, yet human academia remained embroiled in debate. Fischer had been pondering how to provide proof these past few days. After much thought, nothing seemed simpler than creating magic that could touch the soul.
But ordinary magic's [Resonance] typically interacts with the world's fabric, producing phenomena within physical reality. To create soul-touching magic, there were two approaches.
The first was straightforward - redesign the magic sigil's [Ring Head] to target the soul. The Ring Head is a sigil's core, determining a spell's nature. For example, the [Gravity] Ring Head was designed by Miles, a master of magical theory during the technological revolution, making gravity-based spells technically modern magic.
The second method involved using other spells like [Healing] magic. Since these simultaneously repair both magic circuits and physical bodies, they must partially interact with the soul. One simply needed to isolate and amplify this soul-touching component.
With this framework, Fischer pulled out another sheet to sketch the [Healing] magic's Ring Head. This spell's origins were ancient, traceable to the earliest church period when people ran around barely clothed with just cloth wraps.
No, wrong approach.
Fischer suddenly realized - since all magic originates from the soul, and engraving sigils requires mobilizing soul energy, then sigils must contain a universal soul-activating component. Otherwise, simply writing normally would randomly activate soul energy, which was absurd. Therefore, there was no need to seek spells affecting the soul - just identify this common component across all magic.
Regardless of how many rings a spell has, their structure remains consistent.
First comes the [Ring Head] determining the spell's nature - which aspect of world resonance it activates. Next is the [Main Ring] defining specific effects - how world resonance is manipulated. Then comes the [Sub-Ring] governing intensity and details - skilled engraving here differentiates masters from novices. Finally, the [Ring Tail] specifies physical targets.
Typically, the Ring Tail is most flexible since spell targeting can be manually adjusted through casting - like Fischer's Dance of the Bees technique where one simply flings it at enemies.
So why is the [Ring Tail] essential? Academia primarily considers it necessary for structural integrity, but Fischer now suspected it served more purpose - repeated Ring Tail elements appeared elsewhere too.
Fischer recalled dragonkin magic structures, noticing their tooth-shaped sigils began with three or four strokes identical to human Ring Tails.
No wonder dragonkin sigils activate immediately upon engraving - they place the soul-activating structure at the beginning, whereas humans position it at each section's end.
Eyes lighting up, Fischer sketched this component on paper, then casually assembled a spell using standard sigil parts to create a soul-specific Ring Head. Upon completion, his magic circuits glowed but produced no effect.
Frowning, Fischer realized his Ring Head was flawed - energy was mobilized but couldn't resonate with the world, wasted effort.
Was this incorrect?
Fischer's thoughts hit an impasse. After prolonged deliberation yielded no answers, he crumpled the botched sigil draft. Renée floated nearby reading Nary newspapers, her pleasant fragrance permeating the room.
Suddenly, Fischer had an epiphany. Frantically smoothing the paper, he noticed his designed Ring Head resembled something familiar - two bracket-like arcs above and below a central dot.
It resembled a peculiar eye, though the upper and lower parts looked more like lips.
Shocked, he engraved an intricate circular pattern around the dot, completing the sigil's transformation into a hieroglyphic representation of the giant eye he'd witnessed in the Southern Continent.
The moment engraving finished, all his magic circuits ignited simultaneously - and the paper sigil emitted profound radiance.