Hi guys, Ars here. I'm sorry this one took so long to come out. I've just been busy the last little bit. Hopefully you guys still like the next part. This wasn't meant to be so... expositioney/explainy, but considering what Dante's character is... well you try get a researcher to shut up about their subject.
This is the final list of concepts:
Heroism
Cat
Analysis
Death
Game
INSIGHT
Analysis
Information
Archive
Truth
Mind
Soul
Apex
Endure
Conquer
Growth
Battle
So New question, how many of these do you want to vote between, all of them, 5 of them, how many?
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
You stare in shock at the marking across your arm, your lack of concentration causing the flames to disappear, although the symbols remained. For the most part, the markings simply looked like lines and patterns styled together on your arm. However, the symbol on the back of your hand was different.
Where the lines across your arm were thick, those on your hands were thin, and where everything else looked like individual designs, skilfully placed together they may be, the back of your hand was one complete design. "W-what are these?" You stutter out, bringing your other hand to trace the lines.
Dante sighed, relaxing back in his seat on the desk as his eyes finally shifted from your arm, to your face, emerald orbs having lost their intensity. "So, you don't know, huh? Well, it was a long shot anyway." Muttered the man, snapping his fingers. A surge of purple… something, began to coalesce in the air above them.
You stare in shock at the display, coming back to attention as Dante spoke. "You asked what the symbols on your arms are? Well, let me show you!" Exclaimed the man, twisting his hand as the purple mass began to swirl in the air. The substance formed into hundreds, if not thousands of small symbols floating randomly in the air.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Roll(1d100)-10:
74,-10
Total:64
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Gesturing around, Dante continued to explain. "This is cuneiform. Developed by the ancient Sumerians it is widely considered to be the first proper writing system to exist on earth, or at least, the oldest one we know of." Explained the man, tracing a finger along the lines upon lines of floating, purple script.
His eyes seemed to glaze over for a little as you stood there, gazing in awe at the ancient pictograms that hung mid-air. These were the things that covered your arms? 'Wait, arms?' you question, glancing from your glyph covered arm, to your plain hand. It was normal, no black marks, no intricate markings… nothing.
'B-b-but so was the other before I used the spell!' you realise, focusing a little mana into your blank arm, causing a second set of seals to appear, appearing as a perfect mirror to those along your other arm. Dante's voice broke you out of your daze, as the man finally began to continue his explanation.
"It's a bit old fashioned to use, and definitely rare but nothing abnormal. This, however, is the problem." To show his meaning, Dante twisted his hand once more, causing a shift in the sigils in the air. The cuneiform came together, forming into strings of symbols which you couldn't be called anything but formula for… something.
The swirl just continued to condense, until a purple, three-dimensional skeleton of some occult structure occupied the air above the two of you. "That is a thaumaturge circuit, but not one using any construction I've ever seen. Tattva, kabbalah, hell not even advanced enuma bear any resemblance to the keystones this thing uses." Explained the purple haired man.
You glance from the construct to Dante, noticing how he stares in both confusion and fascination at the alien construct he had projected, his lips moving in the familiar motion of muttering as his emerald orbs raced across the strings of pictograms. "T-that's amazing and all, but w-what does it have to do with what these are?" you question, gesturing at the symbols across your arms.
Dante shifted his eyes to stare at you, eyes shining with the gleam of curiosity, "What does this have to do, you ask? In short kid, everything. This system is old, older than the oldest shit on record, and that means I barely have a clue what the purpose of these focus seals are." Stated the man, swiping his hand causally across the air, causing the matrix to fade to nothing.
You catch on to that phrase, focus seal. He'd used that before to describe his arm, but… "Y-you keep calling these a 'focus seal', w-what does that even meant?" You question, shifting uncomfortable under the intense gaze to which you were being subjected.
Dante snapped his fingers, dragging his hand down his face. "Sorry, sorry, I keep forgetting that you're just learning about all of… this." He states, gesturing widely to the labyrinth of bookshelves, and the book tucked under your arm.
The purple haired man sighed, pacing around a bit before turning back to you. "Focus seals basically do what it says on the tin, they act as a focus for a lot of different things. You see, magic isn't the easiest thing to keep stable, since mana is an energy that is as… amorphous as it is." Dante explains, reaching over his desk and grabbing a black wood cane with a golden lion head for a handle.
"Think of mana like water, they both don't have a defined shape until you put them in a container." Dante continues, beginning to twirl the cane in his hand whilst the purple substance of before once again appears, forming a clear orb in front of you.
"Now, imagine that a spell is the container, and you preform it once you've filled it with enough mana." Flicking his fingers as he speaks, the clear orb slowly turns opaque, starting from the bottom to the top, as if being filled by the ethereal substance.
"Spells are formed by the mind of the caster, but in normal circumstances, the mana is also drawn by the mind. Now, what do you think would happen if you tried to draw water from a pump, whilst also trying to hold that water?" questioned the man, a smirk on his face.
"It just wouldn't work! S-so the seals act as a way to cut down the work?!" You exclaim, realizing where this path of explanation had been going. Dante's smirk only widened, the gleam in his eyes growing.
"You're a smart one kid, ain't ya? Yep, focuses act to draw mana to where you want it, so you only have to focus on the container, the spell. Course you'd be able to use something as simple as a specific sound or a stick or a cane…" Dante stops twirling the cane and holding it forward for emphasis, "…for that, so there's probably more to those glyphs than either of us could now." Chuckles the elder male.
You go to ask for an example but a ringing sound cuts through the air, causing Dante's eyes to widen and glance down at his desk at something outside of your field of view. The man groans, taking his wireframes off and placing them on the desk, grabbing a phone from the table.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I, just checked the time… I get it, I get it, I've just been having to deal with something… I'll head over now." Dante spoke to the person on the other side of the line, groaning in exasperation, although he did actually sound apologetic. Placing down the phone he reaches over to his chair, grabbing a long coat of the back of his chair.
Standing up he turns to you, a frown on his face as he turns to you. "Sorry kid, but it seems I'll have to cut it short today. If you want
to chat a bit more, come by tomorrow, but it seems I need to be elsewhere right now." Apologises Dante, tapping your shoulder with the cane.
A muttered word, and the world warps to a view of the street outside the store, causing you to stumble and fall to the floor, dropping the book. Dante chuckles at the result of the teleportation. "Heh, sorry kid. You seem nice, but it's a bit to soon to leave you in the store alone." Stated Dante, waving back at you as he again vanished into thin air.
You scramble to your feet, carefully grabbing the codex off of the floor as you do so. You sigh, finally placing the book into your bag before heading down the side alley, quickly heading home, muttering to yourself. "At least I got some answers, but now I've got more questions." You mutter.
You stop and glance down at your hands, or more specifically the twin glyphs on the back. 'And how am I supposed to explain this to mom?!' you question.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Luckily for you, the door was still locked when you got back, meaning your mother wasn't home yet. Placing your bag next to the couch, you sit down, sighing tiredly as you do. You managed to get some answers from Dante, but even more questions now existed.
How many other locations like the bookshop were there? Dante did speak of other people to explain, and a church. But the only church anywhere near was the ruin by the cliff. Was that just another illusion? And where had these marks come from? Dante had spoken as if these things were usually created to solve a problem, so they couldn't be natural.
You push these to the back of your mind. Keep thinking about this and you'll only go deeper into the rabbit hole. Maybe doing something else would help distract you.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
[ ] Try looking at the screen again, that might have some further explanations to all of this, or at least some new information. It wouldn't be the first time an event suddenly added something.
[ ] The quirk registration! If this mana is as adaptable as the screen and Dante suggested there's no way to easily explain it with one quirk. Maybe the Codex has something covering registration to solve this problem.
[ ] You don't have much time left for choosing a school club, so if you're going to choose sooner is better than later. Doesn't help that all the clubs bar the sports ones had a member limit as well as a minimum at your school.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Vote closes 2:00 PM Tuesday
