12 A core to be used

[Ah! At last my voice… yesss yesss… good good… most excellent…] said the kobold acolyte with thunderous volume his voice, it had an unearthly tone to it, it was a truly mind rending tone, unnatural as I was it was met by a smile from Throzahk who then spoke.

[Good… good… you will need to control the volume and tone of your voice… it will be more convenient... and you the spell will use less mana… that way you will avoid overexertion] said Throzhak, moving his hands in strange gestures while looking at the alligator corpse, it seemed like he had begun the ritual.

[What? Controlling the volume? How do I...] asked the skeletal acolyte before becoming silent, the spell he had casted had stopped working, muting him, and making him feel feeble, tired, drained and slowly fall to the ground, he tried to stand but his failed him.

Seeing this Throzahk shook his head, before speaking [Hmm that's to be expected… nonetheless it is troublesome… I needed you to tell me what the scroll says, only High seeress Faldrari was able to read it… anyhow go, take Jashiel tome and read, it should help… and don't forget to read its part in the use of mana cores, you will make use of the core, now be quick!] ordered Throzahk, pointing at the tome near him.

"Understood! Will do! Yess yesss…. Precious Core… useful… yesss..." Thought the now muted skeletal acolyte, patting the core in his pouch.

He then stood up, his strength had returned somewhat but he was still weakened from the drain that the spell had exerted on him, he took the tome and went towards the chairs near the egg and began reading.

The contents of the tome were both in Álfar Speech and Draconic, the acolyte focused on the parts written in Draconic as it was the only thing he could understand on the tome "I guess that even if I know Elder Speech I won't be able to understand other languages if I don't study… most bothersome, yesss….. yesss…." Thought the skeletal acolyte, seeing that most of the writting were complex explanations and theories on the handling of mana and mana veins, said to be created from the remains of truly powerful creatures, these pools of power laid scattered on the world, some of them were tapped by madmen and egomaniacs looking for the secret of immortality, and some others were used by Ullrdergar craftmen, as the fuel for their endlessly working furnaces and smelters in the deep mountain ranges of Quel'Ashandra.

The tome explained the origin of mana cores, as they were similar in function to the hearts in living beings, these objects were once called mana hearths, the furnaces that fueled most constructs of the Ullrdergar, but all of that was for now useless to the kobold acolyte "Interestig… wonder what those construct thingies are… sound useful… yesss yess…" thought the skeletal acolyte, it seemed that he had something in mind that concerned the use of mana cores.

The tome continued the explanation on the handling of the cores, with certain runes of Draconic or Ullrdergar language you could make a core do simple or complex things, like releasing mana into its surroundings or condensing mana from the surroundings and sending it to veins in constructs in order to activate them, however this runes required specialized tools or genuine control over one own mana, as it was almost impossible to even scratch the things unless of course you were to be a dragon.

It concluded that mana cores were one of the most useful things for those who had the abilities to handle them, but at the same time the things could be sold to the highest price to the correct buyer.

It then began to explain simple concepts pertaining mana, the author agreed with most scholars on the topic, so he didn't stoop the reader, the author simply explained the concept and wrote in details the exercises for proper manipulation of mana, it was a most astounding thing, as one had to imagine a myriad of slim veins running through one own body, and will the fluid in them to move, this was the first and most basic exercise, however the veins had a structure that condensed on the heart or the core of the creature in case of undead, were one to mishandle the movements of the mana dire consequences would come, such as one suddenly going BOOM in a mist of gore and blood, explained the author.

The author explained that for the simple spells, the level of finesse in the handling of mana needed not be high, however the more complex the concept, such as creating light or a fireball, the more fine the use of mana had to be, and more mana was needed in the words and in the gestures.

The first exercise was possible to bypass if you were to have a natural understanding of the mana veins, such as a baby being born with mage eyes, explained the author, however such events were rare and far apart, making difficult to find a natural occurrence of the mage's eyes.

The tome continued explaining exercises, such as drawing the runes on the air with one's fingers, once one mastered the first exercise, this was done with the intention of bettering one finesse in the handling of mana.

Finally, it recommended combining the first exercise with the proper gestures and words dedicated to the spell, making it possible to cast the spells with some ease, however talent was needed for one to become able to manipulate mana in the proper way.

Reading that last passage, the kobold acolyte wondered "Hmmm…. Maybe that's why the curses haven't been lifted? Hmm… interesting… yess…." Thought the kobold, feeling his strength had returned, he looked towards Throzahk, he had one of his hands on top of the alligator's remains, his eyes were wide open, showing only the white of his eyes, and being covered time to time by a transparent film, his spectral body showed no sign of movement "Hmm better not disturb him… yess yesss…" thought the skeletal kobold seeing Throzahk's state.

The skeletal acolyte resumed his reading, finding himself almost finishing the tome, it seemed that the parts written in Draconic amounted to more than half of the tome, the last parts were explanation in elemental magic, and their variants, the author described twelve base elements, the formed the twelve-pointed star, these were the pillars of the fabric of the world, the more common were listed, Air, water, fire, earth, light, darkness and acid, these formed the upper half of the star, then followed the less common ones, these being, the holy element was usually used only by priests making it the most uncommon of them, then followed void being truly difficult to find mages capable of using this element, lightning, soul and life, then the author explained that some spells did not need the use of elementally attuned mana, spells like spectral voice were the prime example of this.

And then the tome ended with a signature of the author, followed by the date of its writing "Jashiel Quicksilver… Year of our lady 2025, Faelda, 25… wonder if that's the name of the month… and this year of our lady thing… no matter… yesss… yess…." Thought the skeletal kobold, looking once again towards Throzahk, who now had moved toward the skeletal acolyte.

[Hmm interesting… you have already finished reading the tome… well done! Now we shall move onto important matters, first we must make use of the core… as you need more mana you must engrave it, then you must attach it near the place where your heart would be if you were to be alive] said Throzahk, who then gestured the kobold to place the tome on the slab, and to move away the remains.

After the kobold acolyte had done as he ordered he spoke again [Now… you may be wondering why I asked you to move away I'tzhal's remains… it had indeed been mutated by tainted mana… however the most important thing is not letting the bones touch the core, as it will attach once again to it, causing it to reanimate… it will be weakened however… it seems you were able to absorb some of its essence, maybe that's why you gained some strength… no matter, we have a core to be used and curses to lift… it is essential that we use this precious resource] said Throzahk, at which the skeletal kobold trembled [Worry not, we will place runic shackles on it, it will make it obey the simple commands of 'Provide and Condense' which will make it provide mana to you while gathering mana… although I don't know what effect will it have on you… considering that we are surrounded by tainted mana… however that's the extent of I can teach you to do, as this wasn't my area of expertise… even when I'm a Theurge… well no matter, place the core on the slab, right there…] said Throzahk, pointing towards a slot in the stone slab, his request was swiftly completed by the skeletal acolyte.

[This seems to be a dual element core, possibly water or lightning with something else, maybe void or holy, more likely void… seeing that this core came from an animal… hmmm…. Let's begin! Try to condense mana in the tip of your claws, in the shape of a sharp knife or at least like a pointy stick, both should serve] instructed Throzahk to the skeletal kobold, waiting for him to begin.

"Yesss…. Yess… pointy and sharp… yesss…" thought the skeletal acolyte, trying to collect some amount of mana in the tip of his claws, it moved with ease, flowing without complication, however the difficult part had been to condense the mana in the shape of something sharp, so he made it into a pointy stick, that came out from the tips of his claws.

[Good good, now do this!] said Throzahk while making a finger purse hand gesture, to which the kobold acolyte obeyed, the mana coming from the tips of the claws of the skeletal kobold became one very fine beam, with an extremely small point, seeing this Throzahk spoke again [Good…now you will practice the following runes, do them on the slab, I won't allow you to waste a mana core, now begin we will do this until you run out of mana!] instructed Throzahk whose hands made fast movements, and then in the air floated thirty runes.

"Good gods… yesss… this is… well… better get to it then… wouldn't want to embarrass my draconic ancestry…. Yesss…" thought the skeletal acolyte, following the pattern of the runes, carving them slowly in the surface of the slab.