54 Elder Codex

{Magic won by a fair margin, Dragonborn starts next chapter. Poll will be taken down. Peace!}

[Complete Magic Conversion, then perform Sub-Firmament observation or extend data collection artificially]

Yuri had sent Toni off to classes. She was improving in magic without the need for any of his help, only asking questions sometimes or complaining about how the teachers were worse than him which was normal.

After he did so, he kept pondering on his mission and how to employ it in a world that pretty much uses mana already.

'Capture their methods of mana use and power systems to record. Then, use the Akashic Record to create a magic that produces the same effect or ability that system allows. That's what she said to me that day. It can't be about repeating spells, right?'

Yuri was sitting cross-legged in the practice area with a face of consternation. Savos was reading the Grimoire on Light magic Yuri gave him, which he also gave Mirabelle so he wouldn't get ahead, over by his balcony chair a hundred feet away.

A minute later, inspiration struck. He pulled out a parchment the size of a canvas and a marker while opening a Spirit Language book as a reference since he wasn't perfectly fluent quite yet.

'Spirit language is acceptable to the Record, I just have to use it to make a spell that encapsulates the way the Magic orthodoxies here attempt to alter nature.'

Yuri drew a wide circle across the whole square canvas two feet in diameter, then another circle a mere inch less in circumference on the inside of the other one. In the center of the canvas, he drew a circle the size of a grapefruit with another inner circle the same way. In the center circle was a five-pointed star.

'Alter, Project, Summon, Afflict, Restore' He wrote starting commands within each point of the star, then set the ability to channel and rotate it on its outer edges so that when mana was input, the point facing up would channel mana further into the next ring. He also set a small circle made of two semicircle lines bordered by commands labeled for 'Self' and 'Away'.

A column leading in a somewhat conical shape from the ring surrounding the star into the outer ring and forming a semicircle slightly past its outer edge was then drawn, while another concentric ring was made right outside the 'Star ring'.

After the Star Ring came the Element ring. Spirit Runes lined the inside of it in lined segments that were the same size as the column, now called the 'Active Column'. Any rune in the active column from now on would produce an effect from the combination that would respond to the runes, the caster's intent if sufficient enough to tune it, and the mana input before a release command.

The Element Ring contained the elements Destruction mages were already familiar with as well as Sunlight from Restoration and basic light for spells like Candlelight, and would work with the 'Without' and 'Project' command and the casters intent to form and project whatever element was selected in the shape and style they would attempt. The Element ring also contained a few of the more common metals like iron and gold. If someone selected 'Away' and 'Alter' in the Star Ring then selected one of the metals in the element ring, it would attempt to turn whatever the caster touched with the Star into that metal, providing a basic Transmutation palette. Without enough Mana or will, like the rest of the spell, it would fail. Lastly, there was a blank selection to avoid using an element.

Yuri then drew a Telepathic ring outside the Element ring. Using the Summon command, one would then select their element and move on to the Telepathic ring which had the commands 'Atronach', 'Person', 'Undead', or 'Daedra'. If someone skipped the element in the ring and used Project then 'Person' in the Telepathy ring, it would let them have basic telepathic communication for as long as their mana allowed to the person it was pointed towards, though it worked it wasn't very subtle. But that wasn't the point anyway. Keeping the Element area blank would also be necessary to use the Undead and Daedra 'Summon' options, but 'Atronach' obviously needed an element. Another Blank segment would let them bypass this area and a gap in the containment runes along that ring.

Choosing 'Alter' and 'Self' in the Star ring, then moving past the Element and Telepathic Rings, they would run into the Flesh ring, which was another very small ring that only provided runes along the ring's edge to target the skin only and runes inside in more segments to specify the type of Flesh spell, such as Stone or Ebony Flesh. If one chooses Project instead and bypasses the other elements and rings, they can also go to this ring and perform Ash Shell with a specific rune or choose Ice and find the unmarked Shell rune as well.

Past the Flesh ring lies the Target ring. In here, runes for Fear, Frenzy, Courage, Anger, Calmness, Silence, Invisibility, and Telekinesis could be found. Choosing 'Project' for any rune other than Invisibility while leaving the rest blank would cast a spell that would give that effect either targeting a single object or an area depending on will. Choosing 'Alter' and 'Self' then selecting Silence or Invisibility would apply it on the self. This is the last ring bordering the Containment ring, any other effect like Light, Shadow, Curses or Blessings would be things Yuri invented and wouldn't be needed to pass the condition.

"Alright, let's try it out."

Yuri used a mana construct to light up with every detail on the page a few inches above it before lifting it and bringing it toward his hand.

The star ring and the 'Self, Away' options were right in front of his palm and the Active Column pointed up, then the rings broke away from the whole and started circling and shrinking around his arm and up to his middle bicep where it landed. The Active Column drew two lines all the way up the front from the back of his hand to just past the containment edge ring in a small semicircle.

Yuri spun the rings around his arm all at once while the Star in his had rotated and chose Project and Away, then Fire. He felt mana coat the star before it followed one side of the active column that started between his middle and ring finger, then traveled along the edge of the column and lit up the runes inside of it, most of them blank. It received the runes then made a loop in the semicircle past the Containment ring and traveled back to the star before generating the spell.

A steady stream of Fire came out just like the 'Flames' spell. He concentrated and turned it into a Fireball, then the Fire Wall spell, then a fire arrow, and all were successful. Only a mage or someone who used the ring long enough could do this, the rest of the people who were given this would just manage the Flames spell without any practice or talent.

He bought a block of Iron for 5 RP due to lack of patience and then held it in his hand before switching to 'Alter' and 'Away' in the Star ring and 'Gold' in the Elements ring.

He switched to 'Self' and tried to do the same and it failed just like he planned due to the safety features, most combinations with 'Self' simply wouldn't be allowed to work like coating the Self in an Ash Shell or Fire spell.

He switched to more rings and found every combination he thought of either worked correctly or didn't work, which was also correct.

He looked at his arm with a tinge of success and stated, "I now name you... the Elder Codex"

[Magic Conversion 90% Completed, Record 90% Completed]

[Record of Elder Codex Obtained - 300 RP]

'Heh, it wasn't worth much but I got what I wanted. I couldn't add the Voice without making it too complex anyway. The Spirit runes on the Codex are making it more potent and malleable, so adding Time magic would've made it a disaster since I plan on giving this to the College to spread to those willing to pay for it, Jarls can get their guards equipped with the Codex and even a schmuck with a little bit of mana can cast a small stream of fire for a bit. If this thing spreads, the Continent will be safer and less safe in varying ways, like looser gun laws. We'll see how it pans out. Now to make a Draconic Codex with all the basic Shouts in it.'

And by basic, Yuri meant basic-ally all of them. Even shouts typically unavailable to the Dragonborn like the one the greybeards used to project a phantom image of themselves, 'Fiik Lo Sah', was compiled into a Draconic sentence in a ring segment and could be projected from the hand by channeling mana into it, without having to speak it. This would require more will since it wouldn't be spoken, but it technically worked. Yuri projected an Unrelenting Force shout using the words 'Arn Volei' on his arm and not talking at all, though it was about as weak as the one Jyrik Gaulderson blasted him with some time back. He included a few more Time shouts than just the Slow Time one to cover all his bases since he knew Time magic would have to be included at some point.

This Dragon Codex would not make it into the public here. He sold it to the Record that same day, which garnered him these messages.

[Magic Conversion 97% Complete, Record 95% Complete. Data Satisfactory, Attempt Sub-Firmament Observation]

[Record of Dragon Codex Obtained - 300 RP]

'Good thing I didn't need to create more Time spells or include Dark Magic. I'm going to go to bed and try out this Tower stuff tomorrow'

───※ ·❆· ※───

Yuri was a bit miffed.

Observing the Tower, the sign of someone who had seen the makeup of the universe and understood their place in it, was not something that one could simply sit down and work towards. He knew this before starting.

The Tower is described as the subjective view of reality brought upon when one sees the wheel sideways and 'knows the name of God, I'. I, being the shape of the Tower. Being in Mundus meant that he is in the smaller wheel in the center of the bigger wheel that was the Aurbis. Mundus was a reflection of the wheel as a whole being its hub, and the Tower could be seen from within it without leaving the wheel entirely.

But how would he go about doing so?

He meditated on the memory of his arrival here, the wheel denoting Aurbis and what it might look like sideways, his sense of self, and how he would not only fit in but direct the Laws surrounding him. But nothing happened. It was like he was subtly gaining some ability in Time and Space, but it was barely noticeable and would take years to bring fruit. Years he didn't have.

Because there were two problems and he knew it.

'I have never come into contact with actual laws other than Time and Space which is a very muted contact, and I don't believe I have any place in this specific universe.'

Yuri didn't belong here. Not only did he hesitate to delve into the perception of the laws here at their rawest for fear of diving too deeply and investing too much, but it felt unnatural. People don't meditate and find Godhood, Talos probably ascended by a freak combination of the fact that he mantled Lorkhan through mirroring his tale and/or the gods invited him, thereby taking the place of the lost god.

And then he had an idea.

'Tower, what if I create a Dragon Break beside the Adamantine Tower, the site of Lorkhan's death and the decisions that shaped the mortal plane? Supposedly it was the very first structure in Mundus and should parallel the real Tower in its design and Laws pretty closely. No one has ever been inside it, and no one has fully understood it. Creating a Dragon Break close beside it is probably the best idea around to possibly get a look into the real Tower. But to do it confidently and successfully, I should become an Arcane Spirit first.

If I need to be the epicenter of a Dragon Break, then I would feel much safer if I had the power that comes with being a Spirit that can survive in the vacuum of space and is beyond even the power of someone like Vivec. It wouldn't kill me even if I wasn't but it would be much easier and much safer.'

His soul wasn't ready to be bound to his body, he still had a few months of effort to lend to it before he was assured of success. The Dragonborn would arrive before he would get the chance to try out his method, but he was already excited to try it out.

Almost two months later, the 17th of Last Seed arrived at Helgen, and so did Yuri.