An Anti-Hero's Origin

Socioeconomics

^^ Irene Fontaine ^^

As the snow in the air melted and I dove for cover, the charcoal Draft Sigil had burned to create the blaze of light which had darkened my retinas for a moment, but the air and ground did warm up considerably for a brief period of time before the light faded and the air quickly chilled itself again. "Interesting... how much Mana did that take, Evander?" I stood up and dusted myself off, retaining some dignity from diving behind some rubble to avoid a harmless Sigil of Heating.

"Negligible, .1% of my Reserve. It seems it would require approximately 25% of your Mana Sea to maintain itself across an area the size of the city; with just this much, there's almost no drain at all. The Mana was recovered as soon as it was gone." He responded promptly, answering several questions all at once; 1: he was capable of seeing and speaking anywhere there was a connection to the Tower. 2: he thusly had control of any Sigils connected to the Tower. 3: with the proper treatment, I could have him defend the entire Tower autonomously. And 4: the Mana Reserve of the Tower was freakishly huge... and thus capable of all sorts of interesting things.

"Well, that one works!" Aster grinned, politely ignoring my panicked reaction and moving on to the second plate. "Now for the Protection Sigil... it'll need to stop wind, but not rain or snow... that's a bit difficult, choosing what to let through..."

"Actually, it should exclude rain and snow, as well as leaves and acorns and anything else; the pipes will carry nutrient-rich water that isn't infected with Mana, to ensure none of the trees turn into Monsters, and any outside interference will be a variable I have to consider, so I'd prefer none of those, if possible." I corrected her quickly, sitting beside her once more.

"Really? Alright, that does explain the pipes... alright, I'll make it exclude everything on the exterior of the Copper Cage, and only allow light through; I'll have to leave a doorway, to allow you in, but it'll shield the dirt below as well, is that alright?" She clarified, poised to begin writing.

"Yes, that's perfect, actually! I don't want any worms or things in the soil messing with the results, so that is exactly what I need!" I nodded enthusiastically, and watched her work.

Again, she used Destruction Runes for the Shield Sigil, and again, it lit up and caused a bright flash; I did not flinch this time, besides covering my eyes, and we moved on after checking that it did indeed work.

The Third Sigil was for the Water, and this was where we began the Restoration Runes. To move the nutrients into the plants and increase their speed of growth without mutating them, you needed a pair of Restoration Sigils; one to move the nutrients, to push them wherever the plant needed them the most, which would just naturally increase its speed of growth, (a fact I was not aware of, that plants and creatures simply grew as fast as they could absorb nutrients, and that increasing the intake of nutrients would increase the speed of growth, that required some research,) and another to withdraw all Impure Mana from the plant and purify it, returning it to the plant in a non-mutative form.

"So, Non-Pure Mana is what Mutates Plants and Monsters?" I asked her while we ate a lunch of elk-dumpling soup that I'd had simmering on the fire at a medium-low temperature for almost twelve hours to get rid of the toughness and gaminess of the elk-haunch before turning it into dumplings and frying them, finally replacing them in the broth they'd sat in for twelve hours. It was very delicious, and I was quietly proud of it.

"That's right! No one really knows what causes it, though." She smiled and fetched herself some more Soup.

"Mm... so if I flooded a Monster Plant with Pure Mana... what would it do?" I questioned her while at least a thousand thoughts ran through my mind.