From my old days, I learned that routines can make days go by faster. Up until now, I had nothing in this world that felt repeatable. I had eight coins to learn. Even if I thought the metals were the same, even if I could sense they were the same I was going to go through with it.
“Alright, Ink bud, we’re going to live life on repeat for the next few weeks. Here is the plan. I’m going to focus on learning materials and destroying them for you to learn. One coin each day or so. After we get our learning on, we will skip over Mord’s monologue and go straight into fighting Mord. After the fighting, no matter how tired we are, we are going to run up the stairs at least twice. Then we will nap at the top of the stairs. Once we are back in the recovery room, we will wait until we are full health and we will repeat, ok?”
trill
trill trill
trill
trill trill
I had to laugh at his definition of both ‘repeat’ and ‘boring’ at the same time. Oh, I'm sure he was interested in the new materials, but I felt his true love was fabric, not gold. I may have inherited a fashionista.
We had a plan and we set to it. I made a quick litmus test for each of the coins. If I could do my atomic deep dive, I would, if not, it got set to the bottom of the stack. I was successful on half of the coins on my first go. It was, incidentally, the first one I tried that led me to adopt the rule of shifting to the bottom of the stack. I knew what it was before I tested my deep dive. As soon as I took a good look at it, I could feel the magic protecting it. It was Auricum. Not the same coin that I learned it from, as this one had a five-pointed star with the gaps between the points having triangles, and the other had a crown. Even though I recognized the material, I still wanted to try a deep dive on it. It was the mental equivalent of diving into a frozen lake, with the same amount of headache. I could look and just make out enough information for the periodic table in my head to highlight ‘Au’, but I couldn't jump in. Just watch the fish swim under the glass, so to speak. I noticed a different feeling from another of the gold-ish coins I had. The best description was that this coin, despite being of similar weight, felt more solid and more real. I suspected that was the magic depicted in the description. It dawned on me that this was literally enchanted money. I filed that tangent away for later as I returned to my routine.
Eventually, I only had magic coins left. I had two that I was pretty sure were silver, one I knew was gold, and the white one. I had unlocked, discovered, or whatevered silver a few days back, and I noticed the same frozen shell effect as the gold. I could still see the silver structure, though. The white coin was just a haze within the shell. It appeared that I needed to know the base material if I wanted to see it within the magical protection. This time, I had more practice with my destruction skill. I was hoping not to frag myself with flaming hot whatever. Patience, though, made me pocket the coin. I pulled out the silver one, a memory of one of my science teachers ringing in my ears. ‘If you can, design experiments to test one variable and one variable only.’ Her words should have been my guiding light in dealing with new powers, rather than the ‘just send it’ approach I had been using.
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I knew silver. I knew what was on the other side of the shell. The shell was what I wanted to know. I wanted to know what it was. How to break it. And now to make it.
I dropped into what I was calling my atomic sight. My perception stood at the very edge of the shell. I tapped on it a few times to get a feel for it. It pealed like a glass bell. On the second tap, I noticed the tell-tale sound of a redshift. My knocks were physical in what was a metaphysical realm. I tapped again, ignoring the redshift, looking. After a few more taps, I finally found it, a weak increase in frequency, a slight blue shift as the wave if the tap came back. I kept tapping, allowing the blue shift to come around each time. The shell was almost perfectly harmonic. The reflected wave almost completely interfered with the incoming wave. I tried a series of rapid taps. Yep, no real gains in amplitude. The blue shift indicated that something was still slightly off. I wanted to get constructive interference with the reflected wave. I don’t know why I wanted it, but I did. I knew for a fact I could give the shell the sledgehammer and shatter it. Thats probably what I did before. I didn’t want that explosive of a reaction. I wanted the shell to vibrate itself apart.
I started to tap in time with the blue-shifted wave. I messed it up a few times, but I began to notice the gain in amplitude. Every tap, the ring got louder. After about a hundred taps, it was loud enough for me to hear it cycling in a direction. I kept tapping.
Tap
Tap
Tap
…
Tap
At about five hundred taps, I noticed the bubble started to shimmer. It was gaining energy that it couldn’t dissipate. I kept tapping.
Tap
Tap
Tap
A geometric pattern in the shimmer
Tap
Tap
Tap
Shimmers within the cells of the geometry
Tap
Tap
Tap
The walls of the cells are starting to delineate, common walls becoming two.
Tap
Tap
Tap
The shimmer in the cells becoming a symbol
Tap
Tap
Tap
Almost mess up because of the appearance of a clear symbol
Tap
Tap
Tap
No change
Tap
Tap
Tap
No change
Tap
Tap
Tap
I must have hit a critical point so I add just a little umph to the taps
TAP
TAP
TAP
I can see the energy coursing allong the joints of the cell structure. I adjust my tap point to a hub of three cells.
TAP
TAP
TAP
The cells are drifting apart and vibrating. I want to study the symbol but can’t because I need to focus on the tapping.
TAP
TAP
TAP
A solution to the stalemate comes to mind, I start focusing my taps along one line of energy coursing through three points
Tap tap tap
Tap tap tap
Tap tap tap
One final Tap, and the shell begins to collapse. The individual cells begin to slip loose and fall away. In my regular sight, I can see an aquamarine blue glow surrounding the coin. The light intensifies as more of the cells fall and evaporate into nothing. The cell I was tapping around begins to fall, and I reach to catch it. I feel it in the same hands I was using to tap with, but I know I can only stabilize it for a second. I instead focus my mana on it. I know it for what it is, a Rune. I’m hoping my Thoughtful Destruction ability will let me learn it.
The blue glow reached peak intensity and promptly blinked out. Leaving a dull lump of stamped silver in my hand. In my deep sight, though, I watched as I tore the rune to shreds. I had destroyed the enchantment, but more so, I had systematically destroyed the source of the enchantment. I had held the rune in my head for a second. In this new world, a second is all I needed.
Rune learned!
Rune: Greater Durability
