Forever and a day | Glowfic Constellation

"What is it that you offer, then, in this dream realm?"

"Over there are eight pools. Four correspond to the types of magic we offer, the one in the center is undifferentiated magic it can be transformed to any of the other four. The three empty pools are for favor earned by upholding one of our ideals. Also worth noting are those three sparkles, each is a bit of magic that will allow you to learn any language you wish. Conversational fluency will be immediate though full comprehension of the nuances will take time to settle in while your mind is still mostly contained within your body."

"The flexible one should be precious, then. What are these ideals? The gods' favor is to be held spent like coin- An odd thought."

"The three ideals are challenge, comradery, and swagger. Each is a short word for a multifaceted concept. To be somewhat more detailed: challenge is earned by creating challenges that others overcome, comradery is earned through shared experiences in the pursuit of adventure, and swagger is earned through moving beyond your comfort zone, showmanship, and sharing stories of your deeds with others."

"Do you suppose all this can be explained as it becomes relevant, rather than here and now? What would you have me do, precisely?"

"It can indeed be explained later or learned through experience. Your first time here is intended to allow a safe venue to answer any questions you have.

"Most choose to use at least some of their initial magic before departing but that is in no way mandatory. Beyond the lack of time pressure the only advantage of doing so now is that magic applied to your body will come into effect immediately rather than over a period of time."

"Some people will be impatient to have many possibilities revealed to them at once, without practical demonstration of their use... I have found for the past considerable amount of time that my body and my conversion is all I need, but do explain the magics available, then."

"There are four types of magic we offer. Body magic can change your body to be better suited for particular tasks or otherwise to be more to your liking. Your conversion ability as it is grounded in your body could also be influenced by this type of magic.

"Mind magics expand your mind beyond your body offering new senses, enhanced memory and many other such enhancements.

"Aura magic allows you to exert your will on your immediate surroundings this can reduce the impact of attacks or heal you or those around you among many other possibilities. It is a reactive flavor of magic with limited conscious control once put in place.

"Spirit magic allows your to accumulate power and use it to fuel specific abilities expressed either inwardly or outwardly. This magic is the most suited to offensive use but it's also the fastest magic to take effect for healing."

"...I think practical examples are necessary to get an idea here. Like, 'you can heal faster' or 'your vision will be like a lyral hawk's'. Perhaps sense-impression demonstrations? In my case I'm most fascinated by ways to improve my salk, it is an accumulation of special stones that must then be activated through hard work and training. Would body magic be able to create more salkstone within me, to expand my total capacity? Would mind magic make it easier to perform conversions? I do think a way to heal myself is important here, if there is no Soul Well to reincarnate me when I die. And I don't particularly understand aura. An aura of heat such that I will always have something to tap into? A defense that triggers without requiring I recognize the threat?"

"Healing is difficult to improve past a certain point with body magic. It is the most grounded or the magics. Vision as good as a lyral hawk is absolutely possible. You can test changes here before commiting to them though some changes are unpleasant or disorienting to reverse.

"We have analyzed these salk stones, producing more of those you already have is within the abilities of body magic. Mind magic can most likely make conversions easier.

"Spirit magic can be used to create an anchor somewhat similar to your Soul Wells. Even without an anchor though death is not the end for those within Adventure's reach. The spirit realms are simply another place to adventure in and it is possible to return to the natural realms with effort."

"Give me a heat aura that I can convert to kinetic energy?"

"An aura that continually creates heat is certainly possible. Spirit magic could also directly fill your salk stones on demand."

"An aura that maintains a temperature differential, either warmer or colder than the surroundings? I can extract energy from that quite efficiently and it may serve to keep me comfortable as well. I have other ideas for spirit. I cannot push off air with salk sufficiently to fly, for example, but perhaps spirit can apply sourceless force?"

"That is something you could indeed do with aura though the greater the differential the more magic you will need to invest. Spirit magic is quite capable of sourceless force. Flight is a common enough desire that there are several implementations premade. Your starting allotment of spirit would suffice to allow indefinite flight or more limited flight if you wish to split your resources."

"I am more picturing the ability to suddenly dodge in mid-air, or make short leaps or bursts of speed, than flight qua flight. How do I actually go about using these? Simply ask you? How controllable is aura, can I turn off an effect I do not wish for at the moment, such as cold in the dead of winter?"

"You could certainly do those as well. I can control any of your magic at your request but you can also setup other control systems according to your preference: movements, verbal triggers, and mental commands are all possible. Mental commands do require a small investment of mind magic but you can control additional powers without further investment of mind magic."

"I'm used to mental actions. Definitely want to use those. Can mind points help with the infuriating literacy block?"

"Mental points can easily improve your reading ability. Removing the aversion would be a more delicate operation but it could be done with an investment of body magic."

"Hmph. Nobody but me will think of it unprompted, in all likelihood. I want to reduce the nerve delay in my muscles and improve my fast twitch generally, mental power control and ability to track the environment, a spirit power for sudden changes in momentum, and I'm unsure on aura. The more I think on it the less I feel the heat is critical. Aura to defend against hostile aurae? Aura that makes me seem wise and mysterious?"

"All of that is within your reach, though an aura which influences perception may be taken poorly by some and some defensive abilities would negatively its effect. The most common use is a general defensive aura that reduces incoming damage and fully negates weak attacks."

"Aura, pah. Let's do it, then. The non-Aura ones, at least to see what it feels like, as you said is possible before fully committing."

"Certainly." She feels something warm ripple through her body and in her mind she feels a new something, with a bit of focus she can control focus and magnitude, with practice it will be as easy as using her stones or moving a limb.

She goes through a kata at a pretty standard speed, and then as quick as she possibly can, to feel the differences. At this level, momentum acts differently. Sudden starts and stops, far sharper than before, but tugging on her body in new ways, not the familiar pattern-worn motions flowing without thought. She's a bit unsteady, a bit hesitant. It's nice. It's new. She doesn't quite know how to fight like this, not really.

She's smiling.

How does this direct-momentum-applying thing work, exactly... She lunges forward and tries to push herself FORWARD with it at the same time.

She asked for enough momentum to leap great heights if she applies the strength of that in a direction not fighting against gravity the results are impressive. She collides with one of the foggy walls brought to a gentle but sudden stop. She feels that she's used perhaps a sixth of her new reserve of momentum and she'll recover that much in about thirty seconds.