He checked his surroundings; Bluebottle nodded, then moved around to hopefully keep an eye out while Oskar worked. Oskar reached out to Penny to make sure she knew he was safe but couldn’t really give her more information than that. The others would use her as a gauge as to if he was in danger or not, and he didn’t want the distraction of knowing they were worried. He did the same to Sara, but she didn’t seem remotely worried.
Fox is already gonna have a million questions for me after flying off after an invisible jellyfish.
The thought didn’t exactly ease the tension of the moment, but he pushed all nonessential thoughts away and gently pulled on a perfect balance of Sora, Talau, and Rakiyu to experiment. The Seed Forge responded much in the same way it did with the Resonating Ward, but Oskar didn’t move on immediately. Instead, he focused on the details. That plan eventually paid off when a minute later he realized the Seed Forge was growing warm inside of him.
It didn’t hurt; it wasn’t a physical thing, but the sensation was similar.
When Sora is the primary element of a spell, it’s like steering a river. When Talau is the primary, it’s more like weaving… allowing it to fall into patterns and then locking them in. Passive Rakiyu makes them a little more intense, and requires focus and control, like a cultivator or something. It’s harder to maintain focus and a little more difficult to control the other two when I'm adding in the Spirit Magic.
Now that I’m trying to nail down the exact feeling, I’m just realizing how hard it is to describe what I do when I use magic. I could never teach this stuff.
Oskar made a slight adjustment to Talau, but immediately realized it wasn't the answer and reversed the increase as the Seed Forge shuddered inside him. An odd chill went down his spine, and he had to stop himself from looking around nervously; it hadn’t been external, it was the Forge.
That was oddly unsettling. I can’t just try stuff blindly.
It had seemed to react well to his Ward and so he’d thought Talau would need to be the primary magic. His Resonating Ward was, as near as Oskar could measure, around 34% Talau and an even 33% Sora and Rakiyu.
So maybe it’s looking for an even balance.
As the thought occurred to him, he felt Bluebottle nearby go still, and this time Oskar did look around nervously. Seeing and sensing nothing, he raised an eyebrow at the floating creature.
“What?”
“Why couldn’t you do it? Why did you give it to me?”
The answer came as it did in the dream, and he felt like he was answering himself.
It is not a physical thing and was not gifted to me. It is a part of my magic that I have only been able to access in desperation. Bluebottle simply awakened it. Even if Bluebottle could access it, it would not work. Bluebottle is primarily a spirit creature. A creature of Rakiyu that has use of Talau and Sora, and the Seed Forge requires balance.
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Sensing Oskar finally understood, its long tendrils began swaying again, almost touching the sand far below. Over a few seconds, though, the tendrils split into three even groups, and then Bluebottle nodded at him and spun around again before swaying off out of sight again.
He almost started laughing at the ridiculous, surreal moment he was experiencing.
I’m hanging on a peak in a purple and blue sky, talking to a jellyfish and answering myself… and I feel saner than I’ve felt in three years, easily. But… I’ve got a job to do, he finished, and turned his attention inward.
Summoning a perfect balance was much harder than he thought it would be. He assumed Sora would be the problem, but all three magics naturally made tiny, almost imperceptible adjustments, making a perfect balance almost impossible, and eventually had to use Rakiyu’s Willful Synergy to force the other two to settle down. Slowly, so very slowly, he drew Rakiyu back and brought Sora and Talau up to match it.
It took a few minutes, but something odd was happening with the magic, and he could feel the PUB reacting excitedly. It didn’t comment or interact with him, but Oskar was getting really good at feeling its mood. He froze until his mind was clear again and then right as all three magics were in perfect balance, he locked it in and held the magic around him.
The Seed Forge sang inside him, and two options appeared in his vision.
// Fully empowered itself, the Seed Forge can Empower, Grow, or Absorb magic.
In this situation, you have two options:
- You may Absorb this Oasis as you did before. You will grow in power, but the lives within the Oasis will be forfeited.
- You may Empower the Oasis, giving it longevity. This option will cost you some of the power you received from Bastet and the Oasis you absorbed previously. This power will slowly return, as long as Wayspring Magic still exists in this world.
Choose wisely, as all choices have consequences. //
The decision was easy since Oskar wasn’t a monster, but that last warning gave him pause nonetheless.
All choices have consequences.
He’d been warned the second option would cost him some temporary power, but doing nothing wasn’t an option either, so he chose the second option and braced himself for what might happen.
The drain was noticeable, but not as impactful as he expected. He knew without looking that the Oasis now had the power to last as long as Bluebottle, and the little ones inside the Oasis, needed it to. He looked anyway, though, curious.
The little creatures in the Oasis were noticeably bigger, and Oskar wondered if he’d inadvertently added in a little of the Grow aspect of the Seed Forge instead of just Empower. Their purple hue was a more balanced swirl of colors now, and their spins created shimmers in the water that were not part of water’s normal magical shimmer.
He used some of his own Rakiyu to reinforce the protective layer over the Oasis, just in case the newly empowered Oasis was more than the previous protection could hide. He watched the creatures dancing in the water and looked up to see Bluebottle hovering nearby doing the same. This time, the creature was perfectly still, and Oskar watched Bluebottle in silence for a moment.
Eventually, Bluebottle lifted a tendril and gently touched Oskar’s face in the sweetest, most uncomfortable thank you Oskar had ever received.
// Gambit Completed: Assist Bluebottle.
Reward: You have been given partial instruction on how to use the Seed Forge. You are a Wayspring Wanderer, and the Seed Forge will one day be your greatest asset. Keep yourself, and therefore the Seed Forge, safe. //
So, it can repair Waysprings and Oasis, that might come in handy if we ever make our own base of operations. That means killing Valla, though.
The name put a bitter tinge in his thoughts, and he instead focused on the perfect balance of magic inside him, wondering what it was capable of.
What I’m capable of.
He looked away from the rock and noticed the sky had changed color. Shifting, flickering blues dominated the horizon and he focused, squinting his eyes as he looked for the source of the light.
The colors of the sky opened in front of him like a dissolving illusion, and he could see the raging fire of the setting blue sun dominating the sky. The red sun was long gone, but any tiny amount of purple that had remained was absent now.
This… this is how the Wayspring Magic is supposed to be used. I’ve been so blind.