The first objective is reading this precious new “Spacial Magic for Merchants”. The initial chapters of the new magic manual focus on how to get to your first level in Arcane transformation(Spacial). It says that Arcane perception(Spacial) should be trained as high as possible before attempting transformation. That way you can tell whether you're practicing correctly. Then you pay a teacher who alternates between showing you simple demonstrations as well as “running the transformations through you”. I’ve no clue what that means. Regardless, I can safely ignore all this crude advice since my advanced dream teacher and profound genius renders it moot.
Congratulations on getting your first spacial transformation level! Many never finish their arcane foundations, either lacking funds or the required personality and drive. Many, many more never break through to any arcane specializations at all, which daunts many practitioners as a significantly more difficult challenge than the foundations. Moreover, it is popularly believed that out of all the arcane specializations, spacial is the pinnacle of difficulty. So your reaching this point is indeed to be celebrated since it’s quite an admirable achievement.
Yes, yes, I already know of my brilliance, you stupid book. Get on with it!
However, that doesn’t mean your new ability is useful. You must first travel down the long path of repetitive, arduous practice until the first milestone at level 5: Pocket permanence. A treasure to all travellers, not solely merchants, this allows your spacial pockets to retain their structure forever. Or, at least, until you or someone else chooses to unwrap it.
I can unwrap the big ones’ pockets? What might they keep inside? Wait, they can also unwrap mine?!
What is a spacial pocket? In short, it’s a volume of space that you create by stretching other space around it in order to completely isolate the contents. Easy to say, hard to imagine and perform! In fact, you probably won’t be capable of creating your first pockets until transformation levels 3 or 4. Before that, it’s best to simply practice by manipulating space in any way at all.
Your specific approach will depend on your natural nodes. These are by far your best tools to manipulate space, and you will deeply struggle when using any other part of your body. If those nodes happen to be your hands, then you’re in luck! In fact, that providence is probably why you got this far in the first place since hand nodes provide the most reliable long term path to arcane spacial mastery. Simply massage the space around you with your hands as though kneading dough. Feel how it pushes back, watch how it bends and folds, and work at growing a basic intuition. It may take years of discipline, as specializations and syntheses take significantly longer to level than foundations. However, with enough perseverance, success is inevitable! Now, if your natural nodes are elsewhere, then some alternate training paths include…
I clap the book closed hard in frustration. That’s it? Learning of these pockets and their permanence is helpful, but the rest I was already doing. Looking down at my hand, I realize that, even now, I’m fidgeting and grabbing at the space there subconsciously. It’s almost second nature to touch it and stretch it, if only for the comfort it brings.
For the next three days, I switch my dedication over to mixing all the dark night herbs I can get my hands on. Occasionally, I sneak out through the sewage output in order to restock. It’s trivially easy to collect them in the fields outside the walls at night. I'm practically a ghost, creeping and crawling amongst the high grass. The distant, watching guards at the gate never stood a chance.
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My little alcove is constantly ringing as I crush more and more of the dried plants into powder in the pot. The bucket is incredibly handy for keeping mixing water collected near the sluice gate nearby. The whole process is going much faster and more consistently as I grow in confidence. Finally, after days of constant, obsessive effort, I take my rewards.
Throughout it all, I always keep one hand mixing space while the other makes my mixtures. The space is somewhat easier to move now. It stretches further, bends more. Sometimes I’ll play around by wrapping a single finger inside it. The first time I did it, I laughed so hard. The finger completely briefly disappeared before popping out again as the space naturally unfolded.
Another new change is my lovely, little potion.
It’s not the extreme potency from my mud pool, but this certainly sounds better than mild. In celebration of the achievement, I dump out all the previously filled potion bottles and slowly fill them with my newly improved concoction. When my big one experiments come, this will make for far better testing.
First mixing goal achieved, I start tearing down all of the sad merchant’s leathers to make giant piles of scrap. Then depleting the piles, I render piece after piece of my twisted, wretched arts and crafts. Surprisingly, one actually useful thing I ended up creating is more pouches. After brutally fumbling the initial attempts, eventually I punctured holes with a dagger around a square patch of leather in imitation of the pouches I already have. Then I cut a thin strip from another piece of leather with my knife and ran it through the holes of the first. In the end, it’s a strip of material mixed with a leather square object, which properly counts as practice.
My pride swells after making so many more pouches than I’ll ever need. I scoop all the stupid coins back into one. I take all my remaining, unused powder and put it in another. These are so useful, no wonder the big ones seem to love them.
It took the rest of the week, but this progress is worth it. After researching more about repair in the mixing book, I’ve also treated both my packs to seal all the tears and holes. At least I won’t be losing these precious treasures any time soon.