The Dao of Magic: Book II Read online

  fThe Dao of Magic

  Book II

  Andries Louws

  The Dao of Magic - Book II

  Copyright © 2019 Andries (WeirdWhirl) Louws

  Cover design & art © 2019 by Andries (WeirdWhirl) Louws

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  V1.2

  Index

  Index

  Acknowledgements

  Conversations

  Tests

  Irritation

  Probe

  Interrogation

  Retreat

  Fishin

  Pressure

  Encounter

  Abandon

  Unanticipated

  Unfeeling

  Bare

  ███████

  Verve

  Converse

  Examinations

  Assault

  Autonomy

  Ambitions

  Ruminations

  Cycles

  Heat

  Reunion

  Discourse

  Lesson

  Intent

  Absence

  Convert

  Escapades

  Disclosures

  Venting

  Abstraction

  Summit

  Impetuous

  Rapport

  Promiscuity

  Staring

  Ministration

  Shrubs

  Intuition

  Over-analyzation

  Squabbles

  Progress

  Step

  Space

  Reconstruct

  Wave

  Ligna

  Launch

  Instruction

  Patterns

  Underway

  Doorway

  Interests

  Hordes

  Devising

  Secession

  Dissimilitudes

  Contention

  Assuage

  Rationale

  Osseous

  Anticipation

  Beastnapping

  Cessation

  Theorising

  Bonus

  Afterword

  About

  Appendix

  Acknowledgements

  Lots of love and thanks to you, for being the wonderful person you are and for reading my work. Much love to my friends and family. I will deny having written this sentence if any of you ever decide to read this. And finally, many thanks to everyone who supported me in the writing of this book, namely all my lovely proof-readers and Patrons:

  Zivlanir, Zeiryu & Zivlanir, Zeiryu, xydra22, Wolfram Von Peterhausen, William mccarthy, William Hoyt, Wiljami Anttila, Vorquel, Visi, Viktor Thornqvist, Trevor Sales, Tomislav Fistrić, Tomislav Fistri─ç, Toc Anastar, Thubanshee, TheLunaticCo, tetsumora, tehlu, Taverius, Tate Anderson, t0tom, Stranger, Spooky Bones, Sparkey, Something witty and offencive, Siobhan NIghtshade, SideraX, Septimus, Seijax, Sean Rumler, Seadrake, Sanjay, Sanderson Dersham, saganatsu, Ryan Blair, RYAN, rwn, RR, Roland Hansson, Rodrigo Noronha, Rodrick Dusio, Robert Beine, Rhiannon Demeter, Rayna Veleva, Programan, Priddles, Pietr Alexander Dragonov, Peregos, Patrick Sylvester-Jose, Paichun, Ozzy, Oskar Nordström, Orims, NineYetis, Nigel Franklin, Nick Dubitsky, Nathan Fish, Nathan emerson, NA Young, mt2222, mr sparks, Michael Thaller, Michael Ruhland, Meredith Leu, Matthew Walker, Matthew M, mars kiyu, Marcus Seigman, Marcus, Marco A Enquel Ponce, Man of u, Magdragon, MaddoScientisto, Luke Baseley, Louis Bordessoules, Leonard Marchant, LAzza, Kyle f, Kosie van der Merwe, Konno Yumi, kirasakuya, Kharon Styx, Kenneth Stiles, Ken Johnson, Kalvin Dunn, Jule Hutzler, joshua strider, Joshua John Wallace, Joshua Henne, Joseph, Jose Miguel Diaz, Jordan U, Johnathan, Johannes karlsson, Jesse Palmer, Jerome, Jerad Stephens, Jared Spitzer, Jason Hogue, James Cohen, Jakob, Israel, IronJim, Hugh Legge, Hal, Graeme Kent, Glyndon Peters Hotchkiss, Gillium, Ghostingstar, GenericKane, Gardor, Gabriel Boudreau, Francisco J Guzman, Florian Deutsch, Flogoyog, Filippo sagra, Eric Jaschen, Eric Blanz, Enni Avoranta, Enaz the great, ElricFlairgold, Elrath, Elaborate, Edward Scott, earlj, Dragoon, Dom Ritter and T Lewis, Dom Ritter & T Lewis, DokkaN, Doggi, Dicky wongsonegoro, DesertWight, Derek Finnigan, Demian Buckle, Definitely not Dio, Dawn, Davide Dici, David Opseth, David n smith, David Madden, Dave The Technician, Dark Chaos, Daniel young, Daniel Stahel Christiansen, Daniel Rhodes, Daniel Mackie, Damayne Hyatt, Cory Cinquini, Corneel Louws, Cole Terlesky, CJ, Chrome, Chris Vogt II, Chris Flores, Chris, CharleyHorse, BukVyrm, Bud Terry, Bryan wiggins, bob Johnson, Bob, Bill Dixon, Azarek, Avartil, Athos Kieran, Athena Delacroix, Artherium, Argetsword, Antoine Cavaliero, Angel Diaz, Andres Madroñal Benitez, Amine Tahiri Alaoui, Alge, Alexei Azimov, Alexander Smith, Alex, Aidan Green, Adarsh BV, Adam Roundfield, Adam Andersson, 28th00

  Please enjoy!

  Chapter zero

  Conversations

  “M an, it’s been quite the ride, no?” I ask of my rabbit. Lola looks at me with her big eyes. She seems about to respond but starts furiously scratching her ear with her hind paw. “Yeah, totally.”

  It’s the middle of the night, and I’m chilling on top of the deck of a medium-large sailing vessel. The sea is as calm as I’ve seen it, letting the ship below me rock gently back and forth. I seem to be inside of one of those rare peaceful moments, when someone seems to have pressed the universe’s pause button, letting everything be still for a bit. “I’m still angry, you know. I spent hundreds of years making preparations for my ascension. It took me so much effort, scrounging and stealing all that stuff while avoiding all the big players on that stupid Cultivation World. And then some asshole of a voice just denies me entry to the higher planes.”

  I take another sip of my qi-enriched drink as I drown my sorrows. “And that’s not the worst. A thousand years of clawing for energy, stripped. Every single bit of power, ripped from my body, leaving me a weak mortal for the first time in centuries.” I take another big gulp while feeling sorry for myself.

  “At least I got you, my lovely pet.” My eyes tear up as I look at the bunny, who seems to be chewing on my shoes. “I might have killed your mommy before eating her, but she was munching on your siblings, so I think we’re even. At least I got you. Come here, fuzzy butt.” I hold out my hand to the small critter. She senses my outstretched palm, looks at it for a fraction of a second, and ignores it. Unwilling to be ignored by my pet rabbit, I snatch her with lightning speed, saving my footwear from further nibbling. She squeaks indignantly, but I forcefully start rubbing her between the ears, making her melt in my lap.

  Not really sure why I feel the need, I continue monologuing. “The valley was before that, though. My first taste of this world’s fucked-up ecosystem. Feather-covered cats, massive skin crocodiles, hairy snakes, nothing is normal here. Not even the plants. They all got these asymmetrical geometric leaves. And the grass doesn’t grow longer than twenty centimetres or so. Super weird.” Even though my rabbit is melting in pleasure as I rub her between the ears, she manages to glare up at me.

  “Except for you, Lola. You’re a perfect specimen of Leporidae if I ever saw one. I just ignore the fact that all native people think you’re some freak of nature, so be nice. For example, my students. They are nice.” I spread the mysterious force known as qi across the ship by breathing it out, feeling the sleeping shapes belowdecks through the energetic ext
ension of my senses. “Did you know that the conversation between the sect leaders and me during my ascension fight was the first time I talked with someone in years? Looking back, it’s kind of sad.” I sigh.

  “Right. I was reminiscing. The stuff that happened in Tower City was pretty wild. The beast clearing where I cultivated for a bit was also pretty cool. First, you saved Tess, then I created Tree from that one tree I had taken shelter in, and then I kidnapped some more kids.” Now that I think about it, isn’t my life here pretty cool? My students have these affinity-based things inside their bodies, Rhea’s transformation ability is a mystery, and the dungeons are also a good subject of study. Whenever I wasn’t fighting or running for my life back in the Cultivation World, I was studying and learning stuff. The amount of things a braincore cultivator can learn is not to be underestimated, and I had this sinking feeling I was reaching the limits of what there was to learn back then.

  Now though, my to-do and to-study list are only getting longer, not allowing me to catch up and finish projects properly. The speed at which everyone around me is cultivating is also out of the norm. I still haven’t even looked into how the entire mana system present on the planet works.

  Before I know it, my melancholic mood is lifted, and I’m looking forward to the future again. I look down and see a twitching rabbit, eyes half closed, her small pink tongue hanging out of her mouth. I look at the finger with which I was petting the little ball of fur and wince as I see how much qi is inside the digit. I might have overdone it a bit. I drop the half-conscious rabbit on the deck and stand up, stretching my cracking spine. I cast a glance upwards and barely see a small white speck illuminated by the moon, high up in the sky. I’ve got her hooked. She will just need a slight push before I can reel her in, I viciously think while rubbing my hands together. I look ahead and see a faint orange glow coming from over the horizon.

  I physically and metaphorically gaze forwards as I stand on the gently bobbing prow, looking ahead at things to come.

  Chapter One

  Tests

  I take a deep breath of fresh ocean air. Salt invades my senses, the smell of brine overwhelming my nose. I rub it in irritation. The fact that my body and senses are automatically growing stronger has its downsides too.

  “Here is the button. Twist and push it with quite a bit of force. See?”

  A small section of the steering wheel pole sinks in under my finger. Mechanical noises are heard as the rowing oars retract into the hull, wooden hatches falling back into place. I press it again, and the entire process reverses, the many oars splashing back into the sea. I move my finger to the opposite side of the wooden pole.

  “Here is the basic protection formation control. Twist it in the opposite direction, like so.” A refractive field shimmers into existence around the boat, flattening the waves in a circle around us. The entire thing becomes invisible a second later when the start-up of the formation finishes. “An entire mountain can fall down on this ship, and we would only feel a slight rocking.”

  I admit I am bragging at this point. Only Ket seems impressed though; he is also the only one that slightly understands how powerful these enchantments are; the rest are just staring at my gloating face with dead fisheyes.

  “Those are all the controls so far. Take care of the ship, I’m going to do some experiments.”

  Tess speaks up in a slight panic. “Where are we going again?”

  I reply with a single raised eyebrow. “Do I look like a man with a plan to you? Just float wherever you want to.”

  I see that she wants to retort several times but fails to find the correct words to say. With a skip in my step, I leave the clump of disciples standing on the upper deck above the captain’s quarters. I walk to the blue bear chilling on the foredeck. The rest of the animals are scattered around the ship. Vox’s snake is coiled around the mast while Selis’ rooster is sitting on top of the crow’s nest. The rest are either on the deck or inside the ship itself. I scratch him across the spine, and he lazily opens a single big eye. All the animals are very calm, the qi forming in their hearts must have some sort of influence on them. Pretty fascinating, how these previously qi-less beings react to the higher power.

  I open a hatch on the deck and make my way down the stairs. I rub Lola under her chin while humming a tune. She didn’t even whine at me while I gave my mount some attention, so she deserves a good scratching too. I have a rabbit on my shoulder instead of a parrot, and I’m totally fine with that.

  The belowdecks is entirely empty except for some supporting beams and pillars. I pull some planks from Tree’s processed material storage and make an improvised room in the ship’s bow. The improvised wall is rather slipshod work, but it isn’t load bearing, so it’s fine if I just haphazardly nail the stuff together, right? A rough door hanging on crude wooden hinges gives me a private laboratory.

  I pull out a small wooden table. I made several of these knee-high things in preparation for the following tests. I manually burst a blood vessel in my finger and let a small droplet of blood fall out. I then make a very simple circle similar to the very first circle I designed. This one only attracts two sets of mana, positive and negative fire and nature mana. A small compression symbol in the middle completes my first test setup.

  I repeat this process five times in total, each one attracting one set of positive and negative mana. I figured out five of these by myself, namely nature, fire, earth, metal, and water. I learned about air mana and its connected emotions from Rhea. I look at the five tables that are now bearing increasingly complex circles and snap my finger. The circles all activate at the same time. I made sure not to overdraw a single type of mana, only water is used relatively often. But we are in the middle of a shitload of water so that mana is abundant here.

  I freeze it all a single second later. I approach the first table and flash joy, anxiety, compassion and anger in quick succession. I do it again while looking at the other tables. The amount of gathered mana is similar enough for my tests. I grab the gathered mana in a qi-sphere and breathe it in. Instead of letting it flow through my lungs, I manually guide it to my braincore. A small shiver runs across my spinal column as the clump of mana and qi crosses through the back of my mouth, through my spine and into my brainstem. Here I let it combine into qi.

  I do some quick measurements and calculations, making an arbitrary quantification scheme. The small formation gathered half a unit of mana from each element. Four types of mana times a half unit gives me two points of mana in total. I keep the qi generated from this mana separate, that amount will be two units of qi for now.

  Walking over to the second table, I grab hold of the three units of mana that have gathered. I look at the six different shades. Encapsulating the emotional energies in repelling qi allows me to move them around with ease. I stuff all six spheres of mana into one and breathe it in. I then measure the amount of qi my braincore makes from the mana. I raise a single eyebrow. Instead of the three units of qi I expected, I’m left with three point five units worth of qi.

  I do the same with four types of mana, eight shades in total. That produces five units of qi. Five units of paired mana produce six and a half units of qi, and six units of paired mana give me eight units of qi. This is very weird. I expected that merging more types of mana would provide me with exponentially more qi; this is not the case. The formula I have found for generating qi from mana is one point five times the amount of mana sets, minus one. That formula is strictly linear, not an exponent in sight.

  I start a process, letting it brainstorm ideas. It then eliminates these ideas through simple deduction, leaving only the most reasonable explanations. I ponder my find some more, unable to come to any conclusions.

  I walk back up the stairs, emerging into the sunlight of the deck. My disciples are having a small fight, similar to children that don’t want to share a toy. They freeze when they see me emerge from belowdecks. They are all grabbing the steering wheel with one hand, using the other to
try and dislodge the others.

  Bord is the only one not in full combat mode, Selis is covered in water, and Angeta is dressed in a leafy exoskeleton. Vox’s eyes flash with white light while Tess is holding a pitch-black club made from her qi. Even Ket is surrounded in floating lumps of metal. Bord’s nose is being stretched upwards like a pig’s, roots digging into a single nostril, tendrils of water pulling another. I see some singed hair here and there, Angeta is missing some fur again.

  I stare at the frozen tableau for a couple of seconds, blinking my eyes rapidly. I shrug my shoulders and walk over to the side of the boat, leaning over the railing. I pull a dozen wooden bowls from my ring and drop them in the sea. I spread my qi senses through the deep blue water, searching for fish. We are still rather close to the coast, so the seabed is a mere fifty metres below the waves.

  I sink my qi further down to the bottom, searching for life. I sense a large school of sardine-like fish and am slightly relieved at the fact that they are covered in fish scales. I almost expected the weird skin and coverings of the land animals to be representative of the sea too.

  The adult fish are all the same size, so I can’t tell how old they are, but the entire school is divided into three roughly similar sizes. Those must be the one-year-old and the two-year-old fish; they appear to be fully grown after three years. I tie qi-threads around thirty of the one-year-olds and haul them upwards. I then deposit two in each bowl; that leaves me with six for the control group. I dump those in a bigger bowl I pull from my ring. I fill the containers with seawater and haul them upwards. The fish are a pale grey with light streaks. I see none of the tell-tale bright colours that indicate that they can control types of mana; perfect for my planned experiments. They are a few centimetres long, and from the size of the adults, I can tell that they won’t grow bigger than a handspan.

  I craft some quick qi constructs on top of the bowls, keeping the water and fishes inside even if I hold them upside down. I walk back down to the belowdecks, a conga line of floating bowls following me. I hear the fight break out again just before I close the hatch. I’m not worried; they will have to go all out to seriously damage my boat. Whistling a tune, I walk back to my lab.