Abuse of Magic

Chapter 97: Recap, Life is Good

It took roughly four days for Joseph's AMCC to power through basic comprehension on a rune. He was learning to speak a new rune every other day, and spending the in between days working on FIREPROOF. When he finally got through all of the runes, he planned to learn from the mage notes and to start on the unknown runes.

It took him over a month. He couldn't thank Enacra enough for the AMCC soul graft. No matter how much he begged, the system refused to tell him the price of getting another one.

In mid-September he learned thaumatology. He had been spending 5 hours every day learning it. It's amazing.

(ACQUIRED THAUMATOLOGY SKILL LEVEL BASIC.)

(ALLOWS USE OF SIMPLE RUNE SENTENCES, TREATS ALL ATTEMPTS TO DEVELOP NEW SPELLS AS 1 LEVEL HIGHER IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE BASE RUNE, I.E. BASIC UNDERSTAND IS TREATED AS INTERMEDIATE UNDERSTANDING WHEN MAKING NEW SPELLS)

(SIMPLE MAGIC CIRCLES AND CIRCUITS MAY BE ENCHANTED IF ENCHANTMENT IS KNOWN)

(SIMPLE INSTRUCTIONS MAY BE PROGRAMMED INTO CONSTRUCTS)

He couldn't wait to get to intermediate if this is what basic allowed!

Keeping up 5 hours a day on thaumatology, he hoped to make it to advanced soon. It would simply be too helpful not to.

Finally, in the middle of October, he felt ready. Thaumatology had reached intermediate, letting him use complex sentences and magical circuits and arrays. He finished learning FIREPROOF, and was 2% away from FIRE becoming intermediate. With less than a month until his father arrived, he had finished all of the runes from the kingdom, and from the ruins in the north where the avatar was sealed. He now had the base rune for FOOD, FIRE, AIR, EARTH, WATER, WEATHER, PLANT, HEALING, MIND CONTROL, COMMUNICATION/EMPATHY, KNOWLEDGE, MAKING/BREAKING, CREATION/ILLUSION, GATE, BODY CONTROL, PROTECTION, ENCHANTMENT, NERCROMANCY and LIGHT/DARKNESS.

The AMCC also finished up ENCHANTMENT, the spell itself, this week. Now he could start to make magical items of his own! Thinking about it, he finally decided that he should probably take the base rune, and the spell, to intermediate, before he started making magical items. It would only take a little less than 2 weeks.

Maybe he could make his first item in time for his dad to arrive? Stephan had mentioned that people didn't make magic items anymore, and after reading the notes from the mages, on how they learned magic, he wasn't surprised. While thaumatology made it easier, the absolute minimum requirement was understanding of at least 10 runes before you could comprehend the subtleties in enchantment. With thaumatology being lost, and no human learning more than 3 runes, the rune was lost.

He had steadily gained more students, mages from the kingdom that chose to sign contracts with him. And with a few months to study, and not have someone, or something, trying to kill him, he was starting to feel as if the next time someone tried to kill him, or his people, he would be ready.

Maybe he could focus on making a few gifts for his mom and dad, maybe Stella and Selena, too. The day of new beginning was approaching and he would have a birthday right after. With that thought, he wondered when Stella's birthday was, and what he could get her for it. This would take some serious thought.

XxxxX

Joseph woke up feeling off. Stella sat up in her bed. His breathing was off, and Stella smelled wonderfulwait.

His mana cycle was off!

Ah! While he was asleep, she must have had an accident. Fix that. That part shouldn't loop like that. Hmm. Maybe he should study this more? Ahh...so this part reinforces the charm effect. That means, that bit must be responsible for the suppression of normal circulation. That bit isn't as strong because it slows down when he was asleep. Ah, that stopped rotating, so that's how he was affected. Hmm. Why would this bit start circulating in reverse?

"Master Joseph, are you ok?"

Oh! Stella looks nervous. Oh, well, not worth worrying her.

He restored his mana circuits almost instantly, to dispel the charm effect she had been exuding. His face lost its flush and his breathing started to even out.

"Stella, what were you dreaming about that made you let off such a powerful charm? Don't do that in public by the way. It would be annoying fixing that in others."

"Wait, it's my fault?"

"Yeah."

"How? If you were really affected by my charm, how did you get rid of it?"

Joseph yawned. "Oh, I use my memories. Sylva was the only person I ever felt in lust with, in my memories, so I figure until you're at least 20, I'll just focus on her instead."

He yawned again and stretched. "None of my memories were attracted to girls your age, so I just put their preference in place. I also fix my mana, where the charm affects me, and that restores my sanity. I really don't want to lose you as a friend. Maybe when we're older, but definitely not right now."

Laying back down, he decided another hour of sleep was in order. Throwing her a smile, he was relieved to see her lay back down as well.

"Some might be upset with it, but remember, I've never had a childhood friend. I don't mind at all. There's plenty of time to fall in love when we're older."

Her face was funny. He didn't often win, when arguing with Stella.

"It's nice to know that you feel that way. You've been literally chasing me since before we were both born."

"Yeah, well, I plan to live as long as I wish to. Literally. Even if you said you were desperately in love with me, right this moment, we couldn't do anything about it for years. And I love having you as a friend I can laugh with."

"I like having a friend, too. The last time I had friends, I lost them when I was banished to that island."

"When my parents get here next week, and I have you and my family together, I'll be the happiest I've ever been in any of my lives. Besides, we'll have centuries to enjoy together.

"Also, I think I've figured out your charm magic. Give me a few weeks, and I might be able to magic you a bracelet that can suppress it. Normally, it doesn't effect me, so I haven't had a chance to study its effects, but I took the time to see what it really does. It's a magical effect that doesn't evoke a rune, so it's kind of neat.

"You seriously stayed under the effects of my charm, so you could study yourself?"

"Of course! It's way easier to study effects on myself if I get the chance."

Stella sighed, closing her eyes.

"Stella, I'm getting stronger. Nobody is trying to kill me currently. Mom and dad are going to be here in a week. My best friend is here. With the war on, dad won't have to travel, so I can stay with both my parents. People have mostly settled down, and figured out what they are supposed to be doing. Soon the whole problem can be left to dad, so I can study more magic and play more. This is awesome. You should cheer up!"