When the Final Seal Breaks

10th Entry

I'm fairly certain I mentioned it in the previous entry, but I'm not going to read it back now. Having the ruby in direct contact with my skin has made it much easier to charge it full of magic. I woke up early this morning and spent a good half an hour meditating while charging it up. I don't feel anything off in my body, the only issue is that the stone is still connected to the earring and necklace. It limited my movements just a little. So once I finished meditating, I pulled the chain free, then I heated the earring part up between my fingers until I could pull it off the stone. It was a much better idea than trying to yank on it till it bent, the o-rings weren't the same as the feeble materials used for cheap jewelry back home and, though I know there's no need to repeat it, the stone is literally attached to my bone.

Its right smack dab in the middle of my chest. I considered for a bit that maybe the clothes of this world were a blessing in disguise. If this world was a standard fantasy game, the reveal of this thing would have come with a costume change that made it visible at all times.

I know I need to stop joking about this world being a game. I was just thinking about games I've played that have characters with relevant physical attributes to their abilities or character stories. Its just good character design to accentuate those parts. I should move on before I talk too much about clothes again.

After removing the necklace and earring parts to leave the ruby 'free' on my chest, I went out to finally get a feel for magic combat again. I asked Orleris where the training grounds were, and he was confused. I knew they wouldn't have a reason to train to fight but how could they not even have a place to practice magic?

After calling Navar, we worked out a plan to use the courtyard. He had Eloitte bring out a device she had made that absorbed magic in a dome radius. She said I could aim anywhere around me as long as I was inside the dome. Heh.

Quite a few people came out to watch. It not as if magic is completely foreign to the people here, but I suggested to Navar that it might be a good idea to gather a crowd since people might need to start learning more combat magic for when the seal breaks, and a little show might not be out of place. While Eloitte and I were setting up in the courtyard, he was meandering about, mentioning to anyone he found that there was something interesting starting soon.

Once Eloitte confirmed the dome was fully operational, I got started. First, I tried out summoning some fire daggers. I liked them for close combat when I was younger, because I would just summon a bunch, let them spin around my body, then close my eyes and wait until whatever was attacking me had stopped or backed away. I flung a couple at the barrier to make sure it was really working. They made fine projectiles, I just didn't use them that way in the past.

I tried out my old flame sword too. Back in past, once I had a little more guts and could keep my eyes open in a fight, I started mimicking what the sword fighters around me did, though I had no need to actually touch the hilt. It was functionally just a larger version of those daggers, with fine tuned control. I launched that sword into the barrier as well, powered up a decent amount to make sure that the barrier could stand some power.

And, finally, I held my hand out and summoned my bow of flames. The nostalgia was overwhelming. It's already been three hours since I finished playing around with fire in the courtyard, but I still don't have the words to describe the feeling holding that fire directly in my hand again. Maybe...It was as if the bow was made out of my soul itself, a part of me that is always missing. Even if I tried to hold the swords or daggers in my hands, I didn't feel anything. The bow just... felt right.

In the past, I kept a comfortable supply of arrows on hand. Usually, I would launch them with fire on the arrowheads, but the bow itself was just a magically powered physical weapon in the end.