Nora stood frozen; that last part of the book hadn't been there the previous time she translated the book. It knew her name.
'This is a lot to process, the language that I thought I was just learning is the language of the universe? No wonder the system rewarded me heavily for taking this pocket watch, I've earned great rewards just for completing one part of the trial.'
Nora felt a little giddy inside; she had a newfound power at her fingertips, and she began fantasizing about what she could do now. Her thoughts were quickly pulled back to reality as she got the next system notification.
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witches' grimoire added to inventory
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Trial one complete, library unlocked
Do you wish to proceed?
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Nora took a deep breath; this time, she hesitated with the choice. She had just spent an untold amount of time within an empty library, nearly pushing herself to the brink of madness for this reward, the next trial is surely going to be worse… right?
However, the rewards for this trial were amazing; the next trial surely had even better ones.
Eventually, Nora decided; she slowly reached out her beak and clicked the yes button.
.
.
.
The room transformed from the dim, cozy, and somewhat creepy library into a brightly lit workshop. It was large, but not as large as the infinite library. It has walls of every kind of tool Nora could imagine, and some she hadn't even thought of. Off to one side was another room, filled to the brim with all sorts of materials, some Nora recognized, and some she didn't.
The system notified her of the second trial.
Ding!
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Trial 2: The Artificer
Description: You stand here in the workshop of one of the greatest artificers, a revolutionary who believed magic was just machinery we hadn't figured out yet. When he uncovered the Everturn Dial in the ruins of Lyselra's village, he thought it was just a watch. He dissected it, mapped it, and tried to replicate its mechanisms, and failed; however, the clock helped him find this workshop, a place where his creativity soared, and he became one of the greatest in the world, until one day, he vanished. It was said that he retreated into a tower, buried under an unknown forest.
Task: Recreate the artificer's first invention, a music box
Hint: Use all the resources you have
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A small box appeared in front of Nora. It was weathered and damaged in places, but still seemed to be in good condition.
On the side was a small hand crank. Without thinking, Nora reached out with one of her talons and turned the crank. Eventually, she felt some resistance, and she let go.
The music began to play, and Nora suddenly was no longer in the workshop. She found herself standing on a wooden beam, watching through an open window.
Inside, she sees a young boy who couldn't be older than a teenager. The boy sits cross-legged on the floor, surrounded by sketches and broken gears. His hands were shaking slightly.
The boy was staring at a little box in his lap. Nora recognized it. It's the music box she just wound. Nora watches as the boy winds it and waits, but the box doesn't work. For a moment, the boy looks ready to throw it.
But instead… he laughed.
He wound up the box again, gently this time. The music box made a quiet sound, then another, an off-key melody.
Then… one note chimed perfectly.
The boy went still, then faintly smiled.
The vision held for a moment, time going still. Nora watched as the boy's eyes flickered towards her, just for a heartbeat, looking as if he knew someone would be watching, long after he was gone.
The music faded, and Nora was brought back to the workshop.
Nora stood still for a moment, processing, throughout the entire vision, a quiet melody was playing in the background, a lullaby of sorts, it calmed her mind, grounded her. She couldn't remember it exactly, but the way it made her feel stuck with her.
'ok… I think I could work with that,' she paused, shaking her head slightly to clear herself of the vision. 'I think just reverse engineering it should work, although I don't know how I feel about taking apart this boy's work.'
She sat and pondered for a minute, taking apart the work was the only way that she could make another music box, since she had no idea how to make one herself. But she didn't want to; the way that boy had looked at her, the way that the music played, it all felt surreal.
'No, I have to take it apart, I can't be mourning the loss of someone I never even knew, he disappeared a long time ago, why should I care about his feelings? She thought, indignantly, 'Although, if I do manage to make my own, I should probably also put his back together again as well, wouldn't want to be rude…'
Nora began to look more closely around the place, and she instantly noticed the big problem with this area; there was no way that she could use any of the tools.
'Shoot, they made this entire place for humans, not crows… What am I going to do?'
For a few hours, Nora tinkered around, trying to grab tools with her beak and talons, but they seemed to just slip out of her grasp every time that she tried to use them on the music box.
'Ok, this is not working, I'm going to need a different strategy if I want to complete this trial.' Nora felt incredibly frustrated; she racked her brain for a solution
That's when she looked at the quest again, the hint line, she had skipped over it before, but now it gave her an idea.
'Hold on… use all of my resources? But this is all I have…. Unless, wait,am I able to open my inventory?'
'Inventory'
Ding!
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System inventory
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Coin
Soldiers Lace x1
Witches Grimoire
Everturn dial
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'Coin? No, that wouldn't help it, soldiers' lace wouldn't either… the grimoire!' Nora's eyes widened with realization.
She brought it out of her inventory, pacing it in front of her, and she began to flip through the pages.
Eventually, she found the chapter that she was looking for:
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On shaping mana into a form:
1. The Intent
Hold in your mind what you wish to create—not its name, but its meaning. Think not of what it is, think of what it was always trying to be. Mana is fickle; it doesn't conform to names, it conforms to purpose.
2. The Shape
Do not mold with fingers. Mold with breath, sound, and emotion.
Spin the mana like silk. Speak its name—not aloud, but in the language of the world, the way leaves speak when falling, or the way bones creak in sleep. Each shape wants to be made. Let it make itself through you.
-I find the best method is to think of the physical world, try and engrave the word onto the mana around you, then shape the mana around it.
3. The Anchor
Mana will not stay in shape unless bound to a cost. This is the truth no one teaches.
This is why most fail. They want creation without conviction. Tether the mana to an emotion, tie it to something physical.
Final note: On stability
What you create will not last unless it is needed. Unnecessary magic unravels. That is the rule. To make a permanent form, it must be missed by the world. It must fill a hollow. Become the answer to a question not asked. You may think this is a metaphor. You would be wrong.
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'That seems pretty convoluted, even knowing the language, and I'm not even sure I'm going to be able to do this.' Nora steadied her breathing, focusing on this new concept, until now she hadn't used mana all that much.
Sure, when she used one of her skills, she called upon the well of mana inside of her, but she hadn't necessarily used it herself.
She began using a technique she had heard of, 'meditation-focused' intent. She calmed her mind and then felt where the energy in her body was flowing. After a few minutes of searching, following the energy through her body, she noticed that it seemed to travel to one spot near her sternum. It collected there and then spread out through her body once again.
Nora began to focus on that one spot, gathering the energy near that part of her body. She focused on channeling the energy outside of her body from that one spot, and imaginary sweat began forming as she tried to gather a ball of mana outside of her body manually. Once she was sure she had mana, she then began shaping it. She started at step one, she had a strong intent to create, she needed to use this mana to make hands.
Picturing the hands in her mind, Nora focused on them in incredible detail. Moving on to step two, she started to physically form the hands, her nonexistent brows furrowed in concentration as she felt a resistance in the mana. She quickly searched her mind for the word for 'hand', coming to it, she tried to inscribe it onto the mana in front of her, instantly she felt the resistance melt.
Finally, she needed to tie the mana to this world, a physical need. She tied it to her intention of creation, feeling an invisible strand attach the mana to her…
Ding!
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Skill upgraded: Shiny distraction -> Creation(basic)
Description: Use mana to create physical objects, whether they be extensions of yourself or physical objects. Mana consumption is based on strength and complexity.
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