Combinatorial Explosion (Worm/Original)

With an imperious frown, I raise my hand, magic flashing inside the cerulian blue glass gem embedded in my bracelet.

"Cobold Gleam," I say, the idea of calling out what I'm using feeling a bit more appropriate here.

Instantly, the room is awash in a vibrant blue glow, the ball of mana in my hand acting like a little lantern.

With my other hand, I summon up a ball of Eye Attuned Mana, flinging it at the door to seal the corners and absorb any light coming in from upstairs.

With that, the only thing illuminating my garden is the mischievous glow of Cobold Gleam Mana, a magic whose light blurs any important details that it falls on.


The whole fucking room is blurry.

I slap my forehead with a groan, then a shriek as I forgot about the ball of light magic inside it that came along with the slap.

Blinking stars out of my eyes, I grumble unspoken curses about how a mischievous magic should at least have the decency to be easily exploited.

After that, I decide to check my eye plants, plucking all the fruits and staring through them to see the image inside.


Unfortunately, that's a bust as well, as I suspected. The eyes only absorb a new image when the old ones are squeezed, or when they are freshly grown, and without my direct intervention or someone else's, neither of those things would happen.

Obviously, whoever did this was smart enough to not show up while I was here, and not dumb enough to squeeze any of the eyefruits.

But most importantly, they were dumb enough to enter the room. The room filled with mana from my various experiments, mana that I know is able to interact with and seep into organic and inorganic material.

In other words...

---

I close my hands around the fly that was saturated with my intentions and will, gently, but furiously too. I was growing angrier by the minute, and if my suspicion turned out to be correct, I was going to get very very angry indeed.

"See the Unseen, my little bug," I whisper, a violent miasma of energy flooding into the little fly I had subsumed with my power.

I was in my old Sage Costume, the bright blue wooden plates not that much better looking than they were the last time I donned them. I didn't have time to come up with anything better, however. This had to be done tonight, before any of the mana on them could decay.

With shaking hands, I released the fly, and it immediately began buzzing off into Emma's house. She was the first candidate. The most obvious culprit in my mind.

She knew my home inside and out. She had visited it for most of our lives, day in and day out. She knew when I would be there, and when I would not.

But none of that mattered. My fly would find out the truth.

I stared across the street into the lit windows of her house. It was all too easy to imagine it. To imagine her in there, laughing, smiling with her family, or perhaps even her friends, if they were in there as well.

I frowned with my arms crossed to stave off the night air, as well as to simply have something to do with myself while I waited.

My fly returned minutes later, and I plucked the magic from its body, looking at the image stored within.

Darkness. Pitch darkness. At one point, the fly turned around towards me on its little flight, and I saw myself, as miasmic to the sixth senses of my bug as I looked when I actually used my powers. The shifting liquid mana I had infused into it would only store the sight of magic. Normal light wouldn't be registered at all.

But there was no mana in Emma's house. Not even a trace.

I knew where I would check next, though.

I turned to leave, stalking down the street towards where I knew the Hess family lived.


After about a minute of walking, I suddenly got an overwhelming premonition, turning my head in time to see something whiz by it, past the light of the streetlamps, then disappearing into the road without a sound.

My eyes trailed up to where, standing on a lamp post, a figure in all black was perching, reloading a sporting-goods crossbow. I couldn't see their face behind the hockey mask they were wearing.

My frown turned into an outright sneer at this, and I was already channeling twin orbs of mana into my hands, ready to form them into whatever I deemed fit.

Before I could do anything though, the person dispersed their body into some kind of wispy smoke, falling through the road and disappearing entirely. They had seemingly done what they had come to do. Like some kind of dumb animal. "See? I'm dangerous! Don't get closer to my territory!", their action seemed to say.

I sensed mana on her. My mana. Not enough to track, but enough to know. The evidence is too clear.

With nothing else to do tonight, now that I had my proof, I prepared to walk home, but before I did, a thought crossed my mind.

With my fly buzzing around her, Emma had already been touched with traces of magic. I could see bodies inside her home, ever so faint, using my Mana Vision.

I raise my hand and extend my pointer finger at her house. It would be so easy. A ray mana would travel unbelievably fast, and a strong enough one, or at least, one that I had enough of my will in, could probably pass through the cheap walls of her home. I could fire an Elemental Ray, or even merely a regular one. It would be instant.

I choked on my own breath a bit as saliva pooled in my mouth. Dozens of mana types, almost a hundred of them flashed through my mind.

[][Revenge] Before I leave, I fire a bolt of magic through her house, aiming it to pass her by. I can make threats too. (Write-In Mana Type)
[][Revenge] I lower my hand, turn around, and walk home.
[][Revenge] I aim at Emma's head, and fire directly at it with the strongest magic I can muster. (Write-In Mana Type) (LOCKED)

---

I got home without any more surprises or threats for now, but as I stood in my room, dad sleeping just a few meters away, I knew I wasn't going to be sleeping tonight.

I stalked down into my lab to begin testing once again. As I closed the door, I stared at that stupid photograph, still pinned up there on the door. I hadn't bothered to remove it, but now...

I fired a bolt of Clay Mana at it, transmuting the photograph into dust, and took my helmet off, throwing it at the ground with a silent shriek caught in my throat.

My breathing was heavy, and my thoughts were racing. I wasn't safe inside my own home. Either the trio had access to a cape, or one of them WAS a cape.

I run to my table, shoving my projects aside. This can't be allowed to continue. They can't be allowed to invade my place, my home. I won't allow it. Not from them. Anyone but them.

[][Home] Life Magic: Your little fly is the most loyal creature in this universe. It's time to reward that loyalty. (Create a protective minion using the magic at your disposal)

[][Home] Plant Magic: Thorns, Brambles, Thick wood and magical plants. Eyeball Plants with stronger enchantments as well. Wherever you can hide plants, you will. (Fortify your house with the magic at your disposal)

[][Home] Blood Magic: Magic infused with your purest, most powerful intentions. You'll take complete control over the things around you. An army to watch out for you, even as you sleep. (Master the critters around your home using the magic at your disposal)

[][Home] Transmutation: Your armor won't save you from much, but it could. By god it could. You'll sleep in yours. Dad gets one too. (Transmute your Armor using the magic at your disposal. Taylor will not sleep without it on.)

[][Home] No. You're safe. They know better than to attack you. You've made sure of it. (Requires [Revenge] Option A)
-[][Home] Tell Dad what you did, as soon as you can. (Lower Trust now. Higher Trust Later)
-[][Home] He doesn't need to know. (Lower Trust if he finds out what you did)

As I put away my extra materials with shaking hands, I can't keep a low keen from leaving my throat as I pound the table with the palm of my hand. It's starting to set in. I don't want it to, but it is.

This is real.

I collapse in my bed and fall asleep.

---

Dad doesn't know what I did when we both get up in the morning. Since it's the weekend, he doesn't have a problem with me going out on my own.

I decide to investigate the attack on the Barnes family. I need to know what happened. Something burning in my soul won't let me ignore this. Not when I can learn the truth. My first stop is the Library.

Along the way, I pick up a nice potted cactus at a local gardening store, a few ideas bubbling up in my mind when I see it. If nothing else, it's one of the prettier cactuses they have, a brightly colored flower present on the tag attached to the pot. I doubt the cactus would bloom a flower nearly as nice looking, unless it were in my hands, at least.

When I get to the Library, I settle down to do my due diligence, starting with newspapers. This particular library kept a bunch of them in the back, and the lady at the front didn't seem to have too much trouble with letting me have a look at them.


I'm surprised to see exactly what I was hoping to find. Turns out an assault on a lawyer and his family is something of a big deal, at least in the newspaper circles.

Emma was attacked by members of the ABB. The Azn Bad Boyz.

Online Articles confirmed this, but the whole thing didn't get much attention, and the details weren't the best. I needed to know more.

There were seven of them, all named as instigators. One was dead, four were in prison. Three were broken out of prison four months ago during a jailbreak.

Apparently, the attack was stopped by an unnamed vigilante who arrived and incapacitated the gangsters until the police could arrive.

The case got poked and prodded by the PRT at one point due to the vigilante, but eventually pulled their hooks out of it and let the police do their job, at least for as long as it took for the gangsters to get broken out or killed.

I knew all I needed to know now, and logged out of the computer. I had experiments to do on this lovable cutie I had. "Who's a cute little cactus, you are!" I muttered, smirking at the thorny little mass huddled up in its pot.

It reminded me a lot of myself. ...Small, prickly, and patronized by someone bigger and stronger.

'Wow, and now I've made myself sad. Good work Taylor.'

Shaking my head, I make my way to leave only for a girl to bump into me as I merged into the crowds going about their business. I only noticed seconds later that there was something stuck to my pants.

My brow furrowed. 'Who the hell velcros their business card to people?' I thought, pulling off the little slip and reading it.

"hey cactus girl, let's talk sometime", the paper read. On it was a string of numbers- a phone number.

I longed to return to my magical basement of wacky plants and unnatural substances. Where things made sense.

---

Safely entombed in my basement once again, I took my lovely little cacti and began charging it with magic. This time, instead of something that produced mana, I needed something that would store it. The ambiance would take a hit as the plant absorbed it, but it would make the magic last a bit longer by storing it in the organic material.

Quickly, my experiment bore fruit, no pun intended, and the cacti swelled up with vast amounts of liquid mana. In fact, what was really interesting was just how little mass I needed to add to it. The cactus was able to absorb the liquid magic effectively, using the same structures it used to store water.

Though, instead of water, it was plant-mana polluted ambiance.

It seems Mana, at least in its liquid form, is more than capable of making organic targets larger, at least as long as the magic lasted. I wonder if there is any use for that on my own body... I shake the thought away.

With my mana battery problems safely solved, I decided to do a few more experiments.

I summoned up multiple mana types, Copper and Coal, blending them together before attuning them to a mix of Calcium Carbonate, Plant Mulch, and some of my own Blood.


The resulting magic is... Unpleasant.

The liquid mana sparks and sputters, and I back away when one of the sparks of unstable magic fall onto my apple sapling, making it briefly revert back to a seedling before almost instantly turning gnarled and leafless for a moment.

After a second, the effect fades on the tree, and it returns to being a sapling once again.

I decide I don't want this magic in my damn ambiance, and pump it into a piece of Voidstone to get rid of it, shuddering a bit at that. It's a good thing I didn't actually test what that would have done to a human...

Next, I decide to test how much damage I can do with Ashes to Ashes. It's meant to erode whatever I apply it to, but can you even erode a living thing? A plant?

Pointing a finger at one of my tomato plants, I use plant magic to rapidly bloat up one of the tomatoes into a sizable target, before firing a bolt of Ashes to Ashes mana at it.

Sure enough, the mana does indeed have an effect on it, the tomato withering somewhat and breaking apart with enough of a blast. Of course, with the tomato infused with my will, there's every chance in the world that it was at least partially trying to fulfil my wishes. I'd have to make a point of testing it on a tree at some point, next time I go out as Sage.

Next, I grabbed a bundle of plants, and started to study it for new noises to test out on my magic.

Bending the bundle of tomato stalks and branches produced a low creaking noise, waving it around produced a faint swooshing, and dropping it on the floor resulting in a sort of thump alongside rustling.

After about an hour, I had nailed down three Phonems that felt "Right", testing them properly so my power could record their effects.

Creakle had the power to make any open-air mana I spoke it to bend 90 degrees, Shhshh made the mana whip around wildly, which I slowly realized was due to movements in the air affecting it dramatically, and the last one was... Weird.

Tash, as it turns out, was a bit more complex. When I spoke that phonem to mana in the right way, it made the mana branch out, little copies of itself on the branches. Repeating it sadly didn't make a fractal like I had hoped, as it struck me that I would have to repeat it a hell of a lot of times, due to how it only affected one branch at a time when repeated like that.

I also tried some plain English words, like Age and Destroy, but their effects didn't seem to have anything to do with their definitions. Thaumic Mana, it seems, wanted no part in my English speaking sensibilities, in favor of weird noises that "seemed" right.

Maybe other wave manas would react more predictably to plain English.

Tempted to continue my experiments, I felt the energy drain out of me as I heard the door opening, and dad coming home.

Seems as though today's experiments would have to go on pause while I explained things to him.

---

---

Research Obtained: 5

Stats

Research: 23
A good start.

Overall Health: 12
You're a very small and squishy human who is less small and squishy than she once was.

Overall Magical Power: 5
You are a Low-Level Magic User, but a magic user nonetheless.

Abilities

Magical Soul: F
Rating: Trump ???
Your soul emits magic. The stronger your soul, the more powerful your magic.

Magical Body: FF
Rating: ???
Your body contains some magic, your soul empowering your body without your direct intervention.

Magical Power: C
Rating: Trump ???
You are a parahuman with the power to create this anomalous energy known as "Mana", at will.
Boosted for One Month.

Composition Detection: S
Rating: Thinker ???
You have a parahuman ability to detect the exact composition of materials. So long as you apply mana to them, that is. Fairly Niche.

Eidetic Memory: A
Rating: Thinker ???
You have a parahuman ability to never forget what mana attunements you have learned, their applications, and their nuances. You will also never forget any word or noise you test on mana, or the effects it has.

Equipment

Wooden Armor: Bright cerulean armor, made of magically transformed denim.

Glowstone Powder: A sack of brightly glowing powder. It leaves spots in your vision to stare at for too long.

High Carbon Steel Knife: A simple folding pocketknife that you bought from the Boardwalk.

Secret Base-Taylor's Garden: A room in your basement. In exchange for charging the plants inside it with magic once per day, the room is continually filled with ambient magic that enchanted items and other magic consuming things can feed on.

Dadbought Plant Supplies: A variety of plants that dad bought you, including, but not limited to:

Saffron Seeds
Apple Sapling
Tomatoes (Nonvampiric)
Aloe Vera with Magical Eyes
Pepper Plant
Wheat Plants

Ambiance Generator (Dirt): A grove of weeds and grass. The weeds have been mutated to turn dirt into powder, while the grass has been covered with aluminum shreds, and mutated to produce a white flame that consumes dust and turns it into mana. It can supply most minor enchantments with crude ambiance.

Ambience Battery: A large cactus enchanted with your will. It absorbs mana, turning it into a liquid inside itself. Converts Crude Ambience into Polluted Plant Mana.

Resources

Suburban Home: You have access to materials that could be found in and around a dingy old house.

Boardwalk Trinkets: You have access to materials that could be obtained cheaply from the Boardwalk.

Neighborhood Garbage: You have access to materials that could be found in local garbage bins and around the neighborhood.

Dad's Budget: You have access to things you can convince your father to get for you.

Ambient Mana Supply: Your home is now charged with low-grade Ambience, which can be tapped for some forms of magic.

Polluted Plant Mana: One of your creations contains a supply of heavily attuned plant magic.

Mana Types and Phonems

Combinatorial Explosion Mana Types

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