Ryo's eyes opened slowly, his body attempting to pull him back into sleep. His irises flickered around, reaccustoming themselves to light. "Even though I like it, sleeping on a chair is definitely not something I should be doing every day…" Ryo said to himself, standing up slowly, cracking his back. Three distinct popping noises rang through his ears, allowing him to breathe a sigh of relief. "Ah, much better."
He looked around, noticing nothing seemed out of place. The doors were still open from when he had left to go fight that Hollowkind. "I really need to figure out if it's possible to put a lock on those doors." Ryo commented, grabbing the magic book that he had decided to read the night before. The page was still open on the new spell that he wanted to learn.
[Mental Magic Daughter (Sub) Spell]
'Sensory Manipulation'
'Sensory Manipulation: The manipulation of senses such as sight, sound and touch without altering reality. Used for torture, discombobulation and other nefarious purposes.'
'This spell allows one to change what people smell, hear, see, feel and taste.'
'In order to perform this spell, you must channel mana into your mind, and then choose a target. You must then project something for them to see, hear, smell, taste or touch. This will make a fully realistic vision for the afflicted person, and they will believe that what is happening is real, unless they are immune to spells of the Mental Magic variety.'
On the page beside it, it had diagrams similar to the ones for Psychokinesis. However, instead of it being through the spine and up to the head, there were diagrams for the fingers, the tongue, the head, the nose and the eyes. Each involved touching that specific point. Ryo noticed a small line of text near the bottom of the page.
'Spell effect is dictated by where the mana is sent and where the user touches on their body. Categorized into types. Fingers are touch, tongue is taste, nose is smell, eyes are sight, ears are sound. The mana direction and touch must be in the same place, otherwise the spell fails to activate.'
"So the description isn't properly correct. I see. Could it be a translation error?" Ryo asked himself, putting that information to the side. 'Who do I test this on?' Ryo pondered, before realising he had two perfect targets, himself, and one lovely little enemy to test it on. "That'd be quite petty, honestly." Ryo commented under his breath, deciding that he'd test it on himself.
He channeled mana into his spine, shooting it into his right hand, specifically the thumb and index finger. He pressed those two together, imagining the pain of having his ribs break out from his chest like when he was attacked by the glittery-skinned bronze Goblin in Aragoth's dungeon. His body tensed up, a distinct pain shooting up through Ryo's body, piercing his senses as if a blade had been passed through. His chest ached, hotspots where his ribs shot out flaring up with pain.
'Oh fuck…' Ryo thought to himself, separating his fingers. The pain quickly died down, and his breaths grew short. 'Okay, I now know it works.' He admitted, growing slightly more curious of what limits this power had. He concentrated mana once more, shoving it into his eyes, his ears and his nose. The sounds of mana washed into his ears like that of a crashing wave. It sounded agitated, as if it was ready to be used.. He placed his left middle finger to his nose, while his thumb moved to his ear and his left index finger touched his eyelid.
The position looked quite awkward, but he didn't care. He imagined the scene of him standing in front of the Hollowkind, the village on fire with the sound of screaming villagers and the smell of charred flesh and soot. His vision was filled with that exact scene, as realistic as he had experienced it. The Hollowkind moved in the way that he directed it to, but his eyes couldn't believe what they were seeing.
He made the Hollowkind pierce his chest with its tongues, but as his fingers weren't touching, all that came were the audio, visuals, and smell of coppery blood. It disturbed Ryo deeply, as he placed his right hand onto his chest, unable to feel the damage that his eyes could clearly see.
Ryo was tempted to see what'd happen if he pressed his fingers together and also touched his tongue, but he decided that he didn't feel the need to relive that. He took his left hand away from his face, watching as everything quickly reverted to normal. A bead of sweat dripped down his forehead, his body growing slightly tired due to the large amounts of mana needed to alter the senses in a synchronised way.
Ryo sat back in his chair, noticing that he hadn't walked out from behind his desk throughout that entire event. There were so many things in that book. He flipped to the end, checking the page number. "Five hundred and twenty-four." He said to himself, unable to believe the amount of spells contained here. "Inquisax says this was written over two hundred years ago, which means that there have definitely been a lot more unique spells created!" He exclaimed, looking at his hands.
"What if I made my own spell?" He asked himself, closing his hands and reopening them a few times, running through various possibilities. 'Would it be a combination of existing spells? A new, unseen idea? Who knows?' He thought, actively getting giddy at the possibilities.
"Hey, Inquisax!" Ryo yelled, his voice echoing down the library, reverberating off the walls. Inquisax teleported beside him, resting his arm on Ryo's head like he was a disrespectful kid leaning against a statue.
"You called?" Inquisax mockingly responded, a playful tone in his voice. "Did you learn a new spell?"
"Yes I did." Ryo said, pushing mana into his right index finger and thumb, touching them together with a smile on his face. Inquisax dropped to the floor, placing his hands on his legs. His face was filled with a fear that Ryo hadn't seen yet.
"Oh god, you found Sensory Manipulation." He said, his eyes wide and his voice hollow. "That feels wrong. So wrong. Let me have feeling back in my legs." He demanded. Ryo, feeling sorry, pulled his fingers apart. The relief on Inquisax's face was something he also hadn't seen before. "That's a terrifying spell to have cast on you, as you can make the person see, smell, feel anything. Imagine just losing the ability to walk, Ryo. I need you to imagine it, as I never learned that spell."
Ryo put his fingers together once again, but this time, it was his own legs that fell numb. He collapsed to the floor, legs out as he hit the ground. "Christ, you're right. That feels horrific. It's like pins and needles that won't go away. I know for myself that it's not real, but my body is refusing to let my legs function." Ryo admitted.
"The spell was originally designed to make fun creations for kids to look at, but it was quickly soured by some particularly nasty Demons that used it to make people think their arms were broken, or that their family was being slaughtered." Inquisax informed him. "As such, most people stopped using it out of disgust."
Ryo looked at his hands. "You know what? I can understand that. However, it's still an incredibly useful tool. So, unless a person is really deserving of its full effects, I'll use it sparingly." Ryo told Inquisax. He cracked his fingers, looking over at the magic book. "Still, I want to learn more spells. That way, I can defend the dungeon better, and maybe make use of that Compendium."
"You know what? You do you. Just don't use that Sensory Manipulation on me, okay?" Inquisax reminded him. He teleported away, reminding Ryo of something that made him curious.
Why was he able to use spells without incantations now? Humans don't enter dungeons, but it happened while he was in a dungeon. Does that mean that entering dungeons, being surrounded by Monster and Demon mana allows humans to bypass their natural restriction? It still persisted after leaving the dungeon, so is it a permanent change? He had so many questions about it, but no book would be able to tell him anything, as it was a first.
Ryo looked back over at the book. It was calling to him, tempting him to read more. He wouldn't deny a book its purpose, so he sat down, letting his hand guide him to a new page. His hand fell to page one hundred and ninety-nine and page two hundred. There was a large bold text on the left, not too dissimilar to the text about "Forbidden Magic".
"The High Tier Magic; Stronger Spells For Those Who Wish Harm In More Ways Than Just Mental".
"These spells, known to Demons as the High Tier spells, are the result of a person's improved strength and mana quality, with more room for experimentation in a specific branch of spells."
Ryo flipped the page, landing on page two hundred and one, his eyes widening.
[Conceptual Magic Canopy Spell / Parent Spell]
'Theoretical Advancements'
'Theoretical Advancements: The ability to see past what is deemed possible, delving into magic that is not considered natural. These spells have vaster, more terrifying effects, but in turn, rely on more mana to function.'
'This spell allows one to learn Conceptual magic.'
'In order to learn this spell, moreso a technique, you must be willing to disregard the meaning of all that is considered natural. You may be surprised by the spells, but to learn them, you must simply accept that they are real.'
Ryo read this with increasingly widening eyes. He looked around, making sure that nothing would get in his way. He looked at the words here and had to bask in the glory that was a higher tier magic. However, he did notice that one thing would be stopping him. His mana pool. He was aware that Inquisax had mentioned a Mutation before that could help him.
He grabbed the Mutations book out from under the desk. "Magnificent Magic Mutations and Where They Come From" was its name, and by god would it tell him where to find the Manabound mutation. He poured mana into it to read through, and began flicking, locating the Manabound description near the front of the book.
[Manabound: A creature with this mutation possesses an extreme amount of mana, with the natural ability to harness that mana to cast magic. This mutation also makes it so that magic costs less mana overall to cast, further increasing the utility.]
[There has been one (1) method known to artificially add it to a creature post-conception with relative consistency.]
[The creature must slaughter a Glasya-Labolas, and consume its core. This only works if it's the same person who kills the Glasya-Labolas who eats it. It also only works once. You must face it in head-on combat, as it is the short-lived adrenaline that provides the Mutation.]
"What the hell is a Glaysa-Labolas?" Ryo asked himself, before realising he had the perfect person to ask. "Hey, Aragoth!" He yelled, prompting Aragoth to pop out from behind the same bookshelf, this time holding a book on how to create pseudo-replicas of relics.
"Yes, Ryo?" He responded, walking over to Ryo's table, resting his arms on the top. "You're making a decent way through that book, aren't you?" He asked, nodding his head towards the still-open magic book.
"Yeah, I am. I have a question though. What's a Glasya-Labolas, and where could I find one?" Ryo asked, prompting Aragoth to burst out laughing. "I'm serious. I want to kill one and eat its core." Aragoth kept laughing, wiping a tear away from his face as he looked at Ryo.
"They're an incredibly strong monster that isn't found all that often. It's a fusion between two different monsters. A Glasya, and a Labolas. It's an incredibly tough, incredibly fast attacker that can use every type of Human magic to a high degree." Aragoth explained. "You could beat one, maybe, but it'd be difficult. About as hard as the bronze Goblin, I'd bet."
Ryo gulped at the mention of that glittery menace that turned out to be alright. "As strong as that? Quite scary, thinking about it. However, I want to do this, so I just have to rush headfirst in."
"Well then, I guess we're going Glasya-Labolas hunting." Aragoth said, smiling. "It'll suck if you die there, but how and ever."