Chapter 37: The Abble Tree Root Cellar, Pt. 2

  “So?”

  Grace was all up in his face already. Didn’t she have some more abbles to pick or something?

  “What? I said it would take some time. I know what the sigils look like, but I still need an example to look at how it’s supposed to work. Does it go before or after? What kind of variables are there? Which should I use, ‘Target’ or ‘Vector’? Just having the sigils narrowed down doesn’t make everything else any easier.”

  “Okay, relax. Won’t the System help you?”

  “No, it-” Theo answered before even considering it. He’d forgotten the Sigil integration. “Maybe,” he answered much more calmly, almost teddy-bear softly, in fact. Luckily, she didn’t reprimand him. She flashed her soft smile instead.

  Theo decided to try it. He weaved the sigil for ‘Target’, then waited for his System to activate.

  Sigil Weaving System

  Sigils function: on Target (Missing parameter): (Awaiting further directives)

  Theo looked the message over, considering it. As he expected, he needed a parameter to fill in. How else would the sigil combination know what his target was? This was also his first glimpse of what the remainder of an incomplete sigil combination looked like. ‘Directives’. An odd word to use, for sure. Were sigils just orders for the world to do a certain interaction? Could be.

  “This seems fine, though I need a par-, uh, something to target, and I don’t know how to do that.”

  “Okay, check your book, then. We’ve got the time and you have great company. What more could you wish for?”

  He looked at her casual expression and couldn’t help but chuckle softly. He then opened his Primer and got to work.

  Minutes passed as he checked, rechecked, triple-checked and cross-checked to the point he became dizzy before he found what he was looking for. The combination itself was far beyond his understanding for now, but he found a symbol idiotically resembling a rather basic crosshair on the lower right of the ‘T’-shaped sigil. He soon found another combination with the very same symbol. At this point, the minute or so the unfinished sigil he’d weaved earlier had passed, meaning it had dissipated along with his five mana expended on it. He had nearly regenerated it all, though.

  He weaved it again, then made the crosshair. Nothing seemed to happen. Theo checked the book again. He was sure it was done correctly. His System hadn’t changed its message this time, either, still missing a parameter for the target. He waited a few more seconds, hopeful as he did. Nothing changed. He then tried looking through the targeting sigil and its added supposed parameter, even getting Grace within the crosshair. Nothing.

  The sigil vanished along with its lacklustre parameter.

  “Well, that didn’t work.” Theo checked the book again, hoping to find something along the lines of the numeric system for the loop function in the back of the book. There was no such thing. He might have to try the ‘Vector’, after all. He closed the book and eyed its cover hard enough for the System to trigger its name unhelpfully. He then frowned, finding the message a bit longer than he thought it’d be.

  Item: Rookie’s World Primer

  Do you want to use this item?

  Since when? That hadn’t been there before. With zero ducks given, Theo agreed to use the primer. A wide and very short rectangle appeared across the book in his hands, made from the System itself. Grace didn’t seem to notice, so this was just like Theo’s messages, he figured. A text appeared below, the letters small. ‘Uploading Data’. The long shape started filling up, its left-most edge sneaking ever closer to the right. It stopped about halfway, then the text changed. ‘Processing Data’ it said.

  “You fell silent,” Grace commented shortly after. She was sitting on the broken bodies of treens, gently kicking a half-stub of lower tree-body.

  Theo didn’t respond. The progress bar atop the book was filling a bit more slowly as it ‘processed’ the data, but it was making steady progress. Soon enough it filled entirely and vanished. A System message appeared.

  Sigil Weaving System

  Registry update complete! See patch notes?

  Theo frowned and waved the message away. Surely no one had time to read through that? Instead, he weaved ‘Target’ again. The System triggered, but now, the first directive was highlighted, a bit like the functions in the town management system was. He focused on it.

  Target (1 parameter required):

  Parameters available (2):

  ‘LOS’: Requires line of sight. Requires mana thread attachment. No limit on number of targets.

  ‘Designated Target’: Designated Target possible. Rules of Designated Target apply.

  That was kind of unhelpful.

  Theo found the reticule symbol he’d found in the book next to the ‘LOS’ description. While the ‘line of sight’ requirement was sort of obvious, Theo had no clue what a ‘mana thread’ was. Luckily, someone else might.

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  “What’s a mana thread?” he asked. Grace perked up.

  “That’s a pretty rare thing. Usually it connects two enchantments together in items. Not many people know how to do that, mostly items with two linked enchantments are only found in dungeons.”

  “So what are they?” Theo repeated.

  “Exactly what it sounds like. It’s a thread of mana. The thread itself is pretty basic. Here,” she said, flicking her index finger in his direction. He didn’t see much of anything happening at first, but then, a few seconds later, he saw the faintest of blue tinges in a spider’s web-thin line stretched between his head and Grace’s finger. “It requires a bit of patience to learn, but you’ve probably mapped out your mana network so it shouldn’t be too hard.”

  Theo hadn’t, actually. Not consciously, anyway. It started with just the valve on his finger, way back in the forest along with Chaste. He hadn’t taken the time to do anything after that, but now that he was trying to feel it out instinctively, he could. He felt it run all throughout his own body. The first time he’d sensed it, sensed all of it, was when his body acted as a signal tower for Luni’s message. It had devastated his entire network, carved through it like molten magma through underground canals. Grace had healed it, and as a matter of fact, after that, he’d kind of felt it. Whenever he weaved, it was there. It was no more or less than his lungs simply holding air. It didn’t trigger any particular sense, it just happened. It was just there, like the blood running through his veins.

  Even now, if he focused on it, he could feel it. Trace it. From his finger and circling his forearm, going through and around his biceps and past a mana blaster on his shoulder. The network around his torso was infinitely more complex, yet he had no difficulty tracing the same vein into the intricate system of tunnels and pathways, circling this way and that, running into his heart at the end of the specific string he was following before a hundred more attached paths opened up to him. Whichever one he followed it would loop back, it seemed.

  Was it cheating if he hadn’t exactly mapped it out himself, that it had simply just been burned into his consciousness like it had?

  “Instead of releasing a gentle stream of mana like when you’re weaving, try instead to tighten it as if it was a spring. Some people actually form it into a spring, rotating it around and around while still keeping the string taut. The end result is the same, so whichever you prefer. Try it on me,” Grace explained and offered herself.

  Theo pointed his index finger at her and opened the valve. Trying to withhold the mana was counter-intuitive as it wasn’t conducive to his sluice system, but it didn’t take long for him to be able to hold it back by his willpower alone. The valve and the gate remained in an open position, yet his mana listened to his mind and stayed back. The pressure increased and when Theo released it, a string of magic was let loose. It came just short of Grace. Theo felt it slap onto the ground, then it vanished as he cut the cord, as it were.

  “Good! Excellent first try,” Grace congratulated, though Theo wasn’t entirely sure she meant it. Still, the words did provide some comfort, and he tried again. This time he managed to hit her skirt with it, just above her knee. “Next, try it with the sigil.”

  Theo did. He released the thread connected to his most recent friend and drew the ‘Target’ sigil and the ‘LOS’ targeting marker. Then, he added a few more sigils, knowing he was most likely wasting his mana, though if it worked it would be hilarious. While Grace could easily see the sigils, he was sure she didn’t know them by heart, and somehow, she was likely not to be able to weave the same symbols for any effect considering Willam hadn’t been able to. Still, despite being able to see the completed line of sigils, she didn’t seem to care and just stood there waiting politely.

  Theo put a lid on the mana rushing out of his finger channel the moment the final sigil was completed. He figured he could likely increase the flow a bit to make it go a bit faster, but all he needed right now was a few seconds. It was more than quick enough on a still target. He released the thread and hit Grace’s shoulder. It wasn’t too far from her face, which he had originally aimed at. Without further ado, he guided the thread on his end over to the ‘LOD’ marker and detached it. It automatically pulled itself taut between Grace and the marker. Grace raised her eyes at this, yet said nothing.

  With everything complete, Theo finished the sigil order with an underbracket after seeing the parameter lock in on his Sigil Weaving System. The sigils flashed with a chorus of chimes and Grace sputtered water next.

  A globule of water had suddenly appeared and splashed all around her shoulder, hitting her chin and cheeks as well as running down her arm and torso. The blue top then clung to her skin tightly, growing ever so slightly transparent from the pale colour and the wetness. This was far from Theo’s intent, though it was still an hilarious bonus effect.

  Grace wiped her face after emptying her mouth of the refreshing liquid before observing her own shirt and the visibility of her own skin through it, then eyed Theo. He wasn’t entirely able to read her expression, though he was also laughing pretty hard.

  “Do it again,” she dared him. After wiping his grin from his face, he did. She didn’t seem upset in any serious way, which was the only reason he’d ever even consider accepting the challenge. It was good practice either way.

  He drew the sigils in the air and attached a new thread on her, this time he hit her right on the nose, a bull’s eye if ever there was one. As the magical marking chimed and flashed into bright light and water started forming around Grace’s face, she vanished.

  Cold, refreshing water splashed over Theo’s neck and torso an instant later, along with the sudden impact of a soft and light person who wrapped around him as they both fell to the ground. She spat water that had entered through her nose onto his chest as she laughed along with him. They were both soaked now, Grace’s hair sticking to her face as if she’d been sweating profusely.

  “What did you do?” Theo both laughed and screamed playfully as he struggled to wipe his face with another head in the way.

  Grace giggled along. “It wasn’t supposed to follow me! I timed it right, I know I did.”

  Theo realised that she’d blinked away just when the water appeared in her face to counter, but the water had somehow followed her even after the blink step. She seemed as surprised as he was.

  “So that’s a hidden benefit of targeting with mana threads. Interesting. I wonder if it would help if I blinked away, out of range. What if I had a barrier up? Is the thread even functional after the spell is cast?”

  “You’re on top of me,” Theo let her know as she rambled on, never minding him lying underneath her. He had to admit the sight above him was pretty good, all things considered. The pale blue shirt hugging her skin tightly, its semi-transparent nature when wet and the attractive, moistened face of the brunette looking down on him…

  “So I am,” Grace said. She lingered. She then climbed off and reached her hand out in assistance to help Theo back up on his feet.