3 Phantasm-
It was two days after the fair ended that I was approached by father.
Considering that the only times when he left his Workshop were when he would educate us in Magecraft, and go to town to do Root knows what, I was just a bit miffed by his curt order.
"Bring whatever combat Mystic Code you have created and meet me by the boundary edge. We will depart by sunset."
Oh sure, I was only SOMEWHAT salty that the man didn't really bother to take care of us as children - that task was left to the summoned spirits that were bound to the castle - but I'll give him points for succinctness.
I had to practice professionalism, after all, and pushing away one of the only two people that I can socialize with in this castle didn't sit right with my fragile social skills.
So, opening the door to my room, I breathed a sigh of relief as I walked to my large nondescript table of trinkets. The air immediately lightened, my personal Bounded Field separating the small but oppressive malignance of the Forvedge estate.
I had years to get used to it, but that was the primary reason why I made my magic resistant glasses.
On one corner of the table of mahogany were piles of books from our family library, many topics of Mystery that took me days to read, weeks to theoretically grasp, and months to apply in intermediate practice. A majority of them being books that were shared to us by virtue of being absorbed into the Yggdmillennia family.
The Forvedge art was tied within the realms of the Department of Spiritual Evocation, the department that focused on evoking spiritualit. Specifically, since we were only a mediocre family to begin with(the castle being the only thing left by my great-grandfather), our research lay into summoning low level spirits to due our bidding. Such that our Thaumaturgical Attribute, the magical specialty of a lineage that was honed into a Magus' bloodline through age and practice, was classified as "Spiritual Binding".
Laden in every other part of the table were the assortment of experiments that I made, ranging from highly Reinforced materials to a pigeon spirit that was binded into a plastic puppet as a Familiar.
Almost every ounce of the different metals I could get were stored in several boxes, physically [Altered] into the shape of cubes to fit neatly in their respective sections.
Some of these trinkets were even [Projections], products of the mind given form by my magical energy. In one corner, a [Traced] object was sitting next to its original iteration: a (balsa)wooden stick laden with the runes of torch, energy, and harmony that I fashioned as a sort of fire wand; it was cool as shit for a spontaneous first attempt at the runic craft, but it was still weak and inefficient as a paltry D- rank Mystic Code.
The Traced stick wasn't properly sticking(heh) to this plane of existence, the edges of its form slowly dissolving into motes of blue light, its existence as a magical phantasm with no true physical basis being rejected by Gaia, the consciousness of Earth.
I checked the time: 2:30. Meaning that the Traced wand was still holding on after 31 hours of a fake existence.
Eat my dust, Shirou.
Again, I checked all the things across my room, searching for whatever would be useful.
The man specifically said 'combat Mystic Code', and whether that pertained to some manner of field work or (unlikely)engaging in combat with him myself, I wasn't sure.
I didn't have time to create something new within the timeframe father gave me, so grabbing and sacrificing another tarantula from my terrarium for a combat familiar was a no go.
…
Ah, that should do it.
A pair of silver bracelets sat parallel from a small loom covered in silver string.
It was a prototype, made from the cheap materials that I could easily get my hands on, but it was one that I was proud of making and was something that I still had plans on improving upon.
"Grasp." I muttered, seizing the imaginary light once again and feeling the pronounced heat from my circuits.
I wore the bracelets, pointing towards the loom and chanting the runes carved into them.
"Ansuz(ᚨ). Ingwaz(ᛝ). Dagaz(ᛞ)."
Communication. Harmony and Unity. Transformation.
All at once, the strands of silver jumped straight into my hands, enveloping them…like a spider pouncing at its prey.
After a few seconds, the strings were woven around my hands and wrists as neat gloves, lustrous through both my magical and physical sight.
I was mostly inspired by future Fiore's Bronze-Link Manipulators, with the way she binded the spirits of four dogs into each mechanical arm to sport her Doctor Octopus getup, so I thought 'Oh hell, why not?' and succeeded in making the nifty Code.
…Walter Dornez also served as my secondary victim of plagiarism, but that was neither here nor there.
Each strand was imbued with the spirit of a several month old spiderling, that I 'programmed' with certain commands that I had yet to properly test on a living target.
The binding and magical programming process was a tedious thing. Taking around 40-50 minutes now, instead of around 2 hours when I first started(and that was for EACH string, mind you), but the result was worth it despite the cheap materials.
Safe to say, Fiore always kept at a distance from my room for fear of the cutesy arthropods; father, though, gave a suitably impressed yet reluctant hum at my magical advancements.
"Hey, Peter, get down here!" I looked up at my ceiling.
Looking up was a mistake, as I then had to pick a 3 inch large red euathlus tarantula off of my face.
Yes, her name is Peter, female tarantulas generally lived longer than their male counterparts.
And yes, the name was a reference to a certain friendly neighborhood super martyr.
"I'm glad to see you too." I said, putting the tiny menace on my shoulder like I was a Pokémon trainer.
Now, what else?
I looked to the box overflowing with de-rusted scrap metal and the piles of 2 by 4 planks in another side of the room.
I mean, I could make a Runed sword?
Wait no, dumb idea, I'm a 7 year old with mediocre combat skills(courtesy of Muay Thai from my past life) and no practical experience to speak of. High-level Self-Reinforcement may remedy some of that, but even then I'd only be as strong as a somewhat fit adult in their prime with my current body.
I may not be a complete expert of Reinforcement (yet), but I was confident in maintaining it on my body at a medium level without breaking anything. Anything being my literally anything in my body.
So, sword is out, but maybe… I could take a page from the fallen knight of Zero?
Huh, okay, decent idea.
I picked a 2 by 4 plank and 3 of the 2 inch metal cubes, Altering them into a spear shaft and blade respectively.
Sure as hell wasn't going to Alter a runic carving into the thing; I already learned my lesson from the first explosion that happened in my Workshop just a year ago. Said explosion also destroyed my terrarium…letting out the hundreds of spiderlings in the process.
Fiore didn't come close to my Workshop or me for a week after that.
Anyway, "Trace, Start." I hypnotized myself for the spell.
"Retrieving the memory of analysis."
Mainstream produced oak. 109 years old by time of being cut down. Very minor contact with few phantasmal species, otherwise, no notable history. Bought in bulk by Heinrich Forvedge 58 years ago. Analyzed by Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia approximately 86 days prior.
Steel cube. 700 grams. 1.32 inch in size. No notable history. Retrieved and Altered into current shape approximately 306 days ago.
"Reconfiguring the structural elements."
Material altered: hilt.
Material altered: blade.
Completing the item of choice.
"Projecting the resultant image."
I now found a Traced dagger sitting in my hands, practically an 9/10 replica of the original materials it was made from, mentally Altered into the form it now was.
And since it basically had no Mystery to its name, it wouldn't be rejected by Gaia as its existence was all but mundane.
Magical plagiarism was technically a real thing that was looked down upon in Magus society, but since the one known as Shirou Emiya(emphasis on his last name) probably didn't even exist in this timeline, he didn't need this technique now, did he?
It was simple in concept, but horribly difficult and headache inducing in practice, without something like his Reality Marble to soften the mental blow. Just use a high level of [Structural Analysis] to obtain the structure, composition, and complete history of the thing, and you got half the steps done already.
But seriously, 109 years of ultimately mundane history for a piece of wood? That really didn't feel so good in the gnoggin to memorize.
Then I went into carving the Elder Futhark for the 5 foot short spear.
Hagalaz(ᚺ)(Disruption) was placed at the blade, to disrupt the magical phenomenon it struck;
Uruz(ᚢ)(Strength) was carved into the middle of the shaft, for obvious reasons;
and Raidho(ᚱ)(Travel) was at the bottom, in case I needed to use it as a javelin.
More runes on such a simple item meant a more complex flow of prana was required, so settling on just 3 was about as good as I'd get it for now.
I would've thought to draw runes on my body, but if I haven't read the basic theory and records on the subject, my body would be one limb less by now.
And so, my off brand version of Gáe Dearg: The Crimson Rose of Exorcism was complete, and it only took me about 20 minutes to make and 90 units of prana, about a tenth of my total reserves, expended in the process.
Except it wasn't a Noble Phantasm, and it was still a pretty basic Mystic Code that would barely qualify for a D rank in pure magical capability.
"So, what do you think?" I asked the furry little gal on my shoulder.
The spider summarily nodded with a satisfied look, making me internally squee at the adorable sight.
The time was 2:53, and sunset was in about 4 and a half hours.
Well, looks like I had time to kill to practice swinging this thing.
-0-0-0-
AN: Next chapter will come out in, like, 2 weeks or so, which should be enough for me to post about 2 or 3 chapters in a week after that time. Finals are popping up and I gotta get my coffee in the system and my head in a book for the moment.
Prana is stored in the circuits for future expenditure. Mystery is a fancy way of saying 'magical effect'. Mystic Code is another word for enchanted item. The Counter Force kills anyone with malicious intentions, who has a clear and successful chance at reaching the Root. Bounded Fields are magical territories that separate(or create) an effect of what is inside from the outside. And Zelretch is going be a somewhat important…figure in this story, probably not in the way some would think.
Anyway, those were some of the mechanics and terminologies I'll be using in this fic for those wondering.
See ya' later.
