Augmented Aspects: Chapter 256 A Moment of Doubt (Patreon)

Chapter 256

A Moment of Doubt

Magic, well not magic, at least not as I’ve come to understand basic magic of the world. But ephemeral energy, that is a wholly unique form of energy that is capable of many different things, and nothing.

Unlike Mana you cannot simply change a spell’s focus by changing its oscillation pattern. Simply causing the wave of energy to shorten with more energy or elongate with less energy will not be enough to use the ephemeral energy of the Fae.

With the denser energy wavelengths of Qi, you can make minor changes, but mostly you have to focus on different realms of energy. Mortal for golden living Qi, silver for spiritual Qi, Light blue Qi for Air, Dark Blue for Water, and so on.

Yet, everything changes with ephemeral energy.

Quite frankly, ephemeral energy has to be the true power of the universe. All it takes is enough energy, enough of a mental image, and most of all enough intent, and you have a new spell.

Want to stop time? Something previously thought impossible, just focus and with enough imagination you can make it happen.

Whoosh!

Another ephemeral time capsule is broken thanks to my Fae Dispel.

Honestly, ephemeral magic is the most fun. Where all you need to do is believe in yourself enough, and have enough ephemeral energy available and you can apparently do anything.

Flash.

The moment the next of my students are awakened from their slumber, I feel our binding contract come to life between us.

Personal Medical Royal Bloodline Awakening Release form.

This is intended to be a binding contract between Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight and Loganigan…

Not only do I feel the contract awaken between the two of us, but I feel the damage that their body and soul have gone through to get to this point.

Healing Magic and Spiritual Qi mixture number 007.

“Ahh,” Loganigan lets out a long moan of relief as this mixture works.

I’ve had to make unique energy combinations for each student so far, thus the naming criteria. Each student needs a unique blend of Healing mana, mixed with the perfect amount of silver Spirit Qi for their particular set of injuries, and also where they are on their path of enlightenment.

Students who are part of my Qi Manifestation classes need more silver spirit Qi, while students who are part of the three magical classes need more green healing mana. Then students who are in both a magic class and my Qi Manifestation class hover around the center of needing the two energies to be balanced.

Odd, but I’m learning.

I think Arcane Geomancy might have ruined Qi and Mana mixing for me, as it shows what happens when both are awakened. But this is not optimal in most cases.

That said, all of the progress I’ve made in understanding how mana and Qi blending together to perform different effects has gone a long way in letting me understand ephemeral energy.

Ephemeral energy while clearly different than Qi and Mana both seems to have some overlap with the way Qi and mana blend together. Again, more testing is needed, but for the moment, I feel better about getting to floor 350 of this tower. On that level of the tower I should get my Doctor of Science in Mixed Martial Mana.

Before this point, I had felt that a Master’s degree was almost too much, but now that I have had time to review the two types of energy and mix them. I think I am close to understanding exactly what is required of me to get my Doctorate. Especially as skill level 75 is apparently the standard for getting doctorates. A benchmark I passed a long time ago and can more than triple with my current skill cap maximums.

And of course, now that I finally feel that I am getting a slight handle on mixing Qi and mana together, now is when I am shown a new standard of magic.

One that I also have freely available to me, thanks to my wings being generated from this odd source of energy. Why can I fly with ephemeral wings? Simple, I believe I can and should be able to fly with them.

Why is Mallory’s scythe able to cut through both physical and spiritual objects while not truly residing in either plane of existence? Simple, she and I both believe she should be able to, as such she can.

Still, I have a task to do, one that is instantly highlighted by the relevant sections coming to life.

Primary focus of the Royal Bloodline should include (Insert magical Intent, or speak out wants): Fire Resistance__. Magical thumb print here Loganigan.

Secondary focus of the Royal Bloodline should try to include (Insert magical Intent, or speak out wants): Enhanced Fire Qi Control___. Magical thumb print here Loganigan.

Tertiary focus of the Royal Bloodline should attempt to include the following if at all feasible. (Insert magical Intent, or speak out wants): _Enhanced Fire Mana Control__. Magical thumb print here Loganigan.

Reading the prompt, I can all but guess at the reason for such a specific focus. But before I can even try to dismiss the prompt and focus on options, I am granted a flashback vision of why he is so adamant to conquer fire.

Psychometric Telepathic Link: You have mentally connected to a past memory of Logan Smyth.

A shiver ran down my spine, as I began seeing not the Loganigan that was before me, but the mental resonance of the person that molded the mental reflection that I see before me in this virtual world.

BWWANNKKK-HONK-BWWAKK

The loud alarms of a fire truck roaring past a stationary viewpoint were seen.

“Help me dad, please!” A crying girl called out from a seventh story window, as a blazing fire burned up from somewhere on the fourth floor upwards, cutting off all signs of escape.

In that moment, I felt the fear, the all-consuming fear of watching my daughter cry out, begging for help. All while I was powerless to stop the flames. Or rather, I wasn’t powerless, but the person who could only watch on as firefighters worked desperately to position themselves on a mobile ladder that rose up into the air, while other members of the team aimed and fired hoses that made an approach possible.

FWABOOOSH!

Then just as the water got to where the girl was calling for help flames and hot steam poured upward.

“AHH!” My daughter cried.

Finally, the workers were able to rescue her, but it was bad. Tears of joy, pain, and relief filled my eyes. From there, the image blurred forward. Next I knew I was transported to a hospital, the burn ward.

There I cried, died inside, and then came back in to be brave before my daughter. Yet, despite how strong I tried to appear, my daughter saw through me. She saw my pain at just witnessing her face, and the scars that line her body.

Healing Waves.

On reflex I send out waves of Healing, the pain is so intense that I instinctively try to heal the girl, but I know the damage was done long ago. This is an echo of pain that still resides within this binding contract. An echo that still haunts and pushes Loganigan onward, to master the flames. Flames that still to this day scare him, make him feel like less of a person, less of a father for not being able to be there.

Breathe.

I exhale, and with that, the Psychometric vision that has held me is suddenly released.

I am once again in my own body, staring down at one of my students that was hosting so much pain. Mentally I wonder if his daughter is here, then with but a minor application of my Family Tree Finder (Branches to Leaf Edition) spell. This is the same spell I used to find the parents of missing children. But in this case, I used it to find the linked children of Loganigan.

 New Mixed Spell Created: Family Tree Finder (Branches to Leaf Edition) (C): A Tier IX Life Magic and Silver Spirit Qi spell created by Cassiopeia Spiritlight that attempts to find the immediate family members related to a sample of DNA evidence. By focusing on the unique chromosomes of the target sample, the caster of the spell can identify likely genetic matches for the children of a caster.

Oh wow, even now I am able to create spells with the faintest traces of Qi in them, to help strengthen previous spells. Here, originally I only needed Life and Spirit magic to find the parents of children. Now, to do the reverse, I need Life Magic and Silver Spirit Qi to force a resonance with any and all children.

For a moment, I wonder why I needed to make this spell to be so powerful, until I get the results.

Spell Success: Twelve possible matches found.

Then with that, I mentally feel the pulsing of twelve unique dots within my mind. Unfortunately, all of them appear to come from outside the Arcanarus Tower, making the spell all but useless at this point. But good to know that I have created a new spell.

Also, not quite certain what to make of Loganian’s children there. I’m assuming they are all from the same… nope, never mind. “You can’t use magic to solve all your problems Cassie. Also, sometimes the answers you find are not what you wanted to know.” I say, and with that, I dismiss thoughts of a badly burned child, and hopefully eleven other, known, brothers and sisters, and focus on my binding contract.

Fortunately, given that all three requests all have the same theme, finding a combination of powers and abilities that fit this theme are easy.

New Questline Opened: Bloodline Breakthrough Balancing System (Ongoing): You have begun the process of helping Loganigan make the transition from to a Royal level bloodline. Help make the process as seamless as possible for the newly awakened being. Current steps remaining: Fixing/Modifying/Altering Auras (0 / 1), Balancing Merits and Flaws (0 / -10), Balancing Attribute Distribution (0 / 4), Physical Alterations Required (0 / 3), New Bloodline Theme (0 / 1). Rewards: Experience, Skill(s), Title, variable.

In fact, I can get them all with just two major purchases, and one alteration. Also, the theme was already taken care of by the contract. Now it is just a matter of making it all one cohesive mass.

The alteration is the easiest and comes from taking his Fire Resistance Aura, which causes a mild resistance to fire damage and enhance it, a lot.

Enhanced Fire Regeneration Aura: An aura created by Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight that takes the ambient energy of heat, and particularly the energy of flames and converts it to either health, mana, or Qi depending on the biggest need for the aura wielder at the time.

Note: Keeping this aura active costs a permanent 5% of the wielder’s permanent mana and Qi reserves.

Physical Alteration: The flames have permeated the hosts body, causing streaks of red flame mana to pulse wildly in their hair.

The hair was so cool. At least from my sight, originally they had normal dark hair that most people have, at least as far as I can see with my sight. Then suddenly they had wild pulsing red highlights that denoted them as being different.

With that one Physical Alteration done, I felt a bit better about the Merits, knowing that I could hopefully get two merits for ten points that required physical alterations, that would allow me to prevent getting any major flaws.

That said, first I decided on helping out on the Attribute breakout. Fortunately, this is the first bloodline advancement, meaning I can update their base Elven Attributes. Going from a base +1 Dexterity, +1 Attractiveness, and +1 Intelligence each level. To a now amazing: +1 Strength, +1 Dexterity, +1 Endurance, +1 Attractiveness, +1 Perception, +1 Intelligence, and +1 Willpower.

I honestly can’t remember having Attributes that low, but then again maybe mine were there. Also, it was odd that I could barely apply one point to Willpower, while most of the others could be advanced to two or three points a level. Not that I wanted Loganigan to be that unbalanced, but still it is odd seeing what others are capable of, and then being disappointed on their behalf.

Still I had a lot more to go. The process went relatively quickly, despite my taking time to make sure each option fit perfectly.

With all the major things out of the way, it was time to do the fun part, shop for Merits.

There were plenty of amazing Merits out there, but for the budget I was under I decided to go frugal.

Fire Eater (Cost 7): An ability to absorb smoke and flames through exposed skin and convert them into energy usable by the body. Physical Alteration: Causes skin to have a slight reddish tan look that will change in color depending on how much flame energy has been consumed through touch absorption.

Fire Converter (Cost 5): An ability to convert stored energy into fire at a rate of one to two for turning normal mana or Qi into fire attributed mana or Qi. Or an internal conversion rate of one to one for switching fire based attributed energy from or to mana or Qi.

With those two I got the three wish lists, but I needed to compensate by two points worth of flaws, along with getting one Physical Alteration.

I tried to get the converter ability to have a Physical Alteration, but that apparently wasn’t possible. Sadly, I think I am the problem with that, as I could not imagine how a physical alteration could help with this process. Except for maybe a flaming appendix or something equally absurd.

In the end, I was up to playing Bloodline roulette with the flaws.

Then, as if the world was mocking me, I was shown the ultimate honey trap of a flaw. A flaw that was almost too good to pass up, which made me wonder what the actual catch was.

What Is Your Name (2 Point Flaw): Dr. Cassiopeia Spiritlight will give you a last name that will be shared with all your progeny that you wish to share this bloodline with. Additionally, the bloodline regardless of quality will have one Physical Alteration associated with having the surname.

I paused, wondering what exactly was the flaw. Other than me giving a themed based last name, I truly didn’t see a drawback to this. Maybe the Physical Alteration?

Still seeing it, I couldn’t help but choose it, as it seemed the easiest, and least damaging.

Providing A Unique Surname: You have been tasked with providing a unique surname and Physical Alteration for Loganigan.

“Okay, Flamesworth, with glowing fire blue eyes.”

Physical Alteration: Fire Blue eyes Accepted, flaw locked in.
Note: Surname Flamesworth already in use, please choose another.

Well, it accepted the idea of blue flames being more powerful than regular flames and let that go as an accepted iris color. I already felt like the hard part of this flaw was over. Now all I needed to do was come up with a decent last name, and I was good to go.

“Inferno,” I stated.

Note: Surname Inferno already in use, please choose another.

“Flame, Flamey, Flamingo, Flaming-Flamingo, Lighter, Sparklighter, Warm, Warmly, Kindle, Kindling… Tinder.” I was grasping at straws, and then finally I got the notification that I had been looking for.

Note: Surname Tinder has been accepted.

“What?” I asked, wondering how that name was accepted. Then I thought it was a terrible name, especially given its connotations towards that dating app. Then I remembered the twelve genetically linked children and realized this might be the system’s way of telling them something.

Fortunately for me, my part with Mr. Tinder here was over.

New Questline Completed: Bloodline Breakthrough Balancing System (Ongoing): You have helped Loganigan Tinder make the transition from to the Royal Tinder bloodline. Steps Completed: Fixing/Modifying/Altering Auras (1 / 1), Balancing Merits and Flaws (12 / 2), Balancing Attribute Distribution (4 / 4), Physical Alterations Required (3 / 3), New Bloodline Theme (1 / 1). Rewards: Experience, Skill(s), Title, +1 Ephemeral Power.

I of course got the rewards, but was able to dismiss most of them easily. The one that got me was each time I fully fulfilled the contract provided, I received a completely new notification.

+1 Ephemeral Power.

I assumed this had something to do with the variable options that were always present. In these cases, for whatever reason, while I could ignore the experience gains, I could not ignore the subtle increase in my ephemeral capacity.

Honestly, the increasing of ephemeral power was still a mystery to me, but I accepted it.

Particularly as I seemed to need more and more to break through the harder stasis locks that were being applied to my students.

Then finally, I was done with my thirty-second student.

Each student had vastly increased in power and trajectory for future capabilities. Mr. Tinder was on the low end of the spectrum, with four additional Attributes, and ten points of merits to work with. While others had up to six Attributes and fifteen points of Merits to work with. While most were just somewhere in between.

I did note that the system seemed to love offering me the chance to name other students who didn’t have a surname as well. Though again, each time I was met with a myriad of bad options and was finally able to get away with only a mildly terrible surname.

In reality, I couldn’t help the fact that this world had been around for decades and most of the cool but meaningful last names had been taken. Still, that likely won’t matter once I leave here, as I’ll just be heralded as a terrible name giver.

But oh well, that is a problem for future Cass. Current Cass has her three spies to deal with at the moment.

Pausing before the first of the three pods I mentally reach out and relax a little knowing that this pod does not contain Charlaine.

For a moment, I wonder if I should just stop my questline here. Yes, I have been given the task of helping assist all thirty-five people to awaken their Royal Bloodlines, but I realize that once I open these protective shells, that will be it. I will be all but forced to give them terrible fates.

Taking a breath, I realize that when I first got to class I was filled with rage. I had just finished a long mission in Legrand territory to rescue dozens of kids, some of whom were killed. Some whose deaths were so horrific that they left residual scars on the machines that killed them.

Yet, despite that, these three spies were not the ones who killed or even tortured those kids. These people were just spies for a terrible country that allows terrible things to happen for the sake of progress.

By targeting these three Legrand spies with this level of karma, it is actually proportional? Yes, these are enemy spies within my territory, but does that make them as evil as the others?

These are my thoughts, then I decide to do this as fairly as possible.

Using my Telepathy, I decide to read their minds. If they are innocent and had no clue about these camps and their operations, I will leave them in these shells. And if they knew, well, they should be thankful I will stop at just fulfilling this contract.

With that in mind, I mentally reach out and probe the thoughts of the first spy.