New Magic

Having spent a good chunk of time to reorganize the whole mess, he could now dive into the mass of information and start unveiling the mysteries therein.

Making his way to the fourth shelf, he snapped his fingers and a dozen or so magic tomes flew off and stacked themselves in a nearby lounge. He merely followed behind and sat down, mentally preparing himself for the pain.

Taking deep breaths and clenching his teeth in anticipation, he finally opened the book and steeled his will to accept the information.

'Ah, let's just get through all of them.'

Resigning himself to his fate, he took one book after another and shuffled through them. Before the pain could even be eased, he'd open the next, all the way until his stack was empty and he nigh-collapsed on the floor.

He noticed that his own figure was becoming more transparent with each transfer of information.

'My will essence is being sapped?' he pondered seriously before noticing the pattern. 'Seems the old man was right, time is very limited. I had best meditate on this information later and just use the library to absorb new ones.'

Clapping his hands to swap the stack for another, he continued in this way for another hour.

His spirit form grew blurrier as time went by, and then popped like a bobble just as he was about to reach for a new stack.

- — ☯ — -

Leonardo slept for a really long time.

Having had his will sapped, his soul was fatigued and his mind drained.

It was only in the evening of the second day that his eyes opened like rusted shutters. His stomach audibly churned in protest, waking him quicker than the most obnoxious alarm clock.

Rummaging through his things, he found a few half-dried fruits and groggily munched through them, knowing he'd already missed dinner. Once the ravenous beast was settled somewhat, he settled back on the bed and started to seriously ponder over the new knowledge.

Immediately, his excitement was sparked and he muttered a short mantra to aid his first casting. As he concentrated, the dimly lit room saw light bend slightly, with shadows warping around his figure and concealing it in plain sight.

Now that he was a Virtus 2 mage, he could access the second tier of Dharmas. Provided he had the understanding required to employ them, he could do a plethora of new things. Whereas before all of his powers were limited to perceiving certain aspects of the world, now he could begin to actually influence them.

For example, light. As a concept, it wasn't hard to understand. Whether by studying it with his Elemental perception for a long time or by poring over Muchen's physics class memories, he already had a fairly comprehensive understanding of it from both angles.

As he grew more intimate with interacting with it, he would perfect his spells tied to it. But, for now it was enough to have an embryo to work with. A spark could grow into a prairie fire. All he needed was time.

The new spell he performed sought to bend light around him rather than reflect it — effectively an invisibility spell. This could outright replace his stealth mode and make him much more daring in sneaking around.

The caveat, however, was that bending light was a defiant spell. There could not be an invisible man in existence, so the moment he was exposed, he'd be hit with a good dose of baleful Karma.

If nobody saw him activate it, and he managed to remain unseen throughout by sticking to the shadows, he might get away with it. In any case, it wasn't a power he could activate too loosely, lest he get burned.

Aside from Invisibility, he could also use light to confound his enemies in combat. This would let him enhance or refract light to either blind enemies or trick their senses, allowing him to dodge attacks and make it harder for others to target him.

Elemental Dharma was not limited to light, however. The prospect of lowering gravity in an area to let him leap across obstacles, or causing a simple torch to flare up into a small fireball — all of these exciting spells were now theoretically possible.

However, his soul was still too weak to perform them at the snap of a finger. It required preparation and practice. Only when he grew intimate with each aspect of the Dharmas could he make apt use of it in combat.

Spatium could now allow him to warp small items, or project his Spatial Sense at a distance, effectively allowing him to scout out areas out of reach. This was a very powerful tool in the right hands.

Of course, it was rather limited at the moment. At most he could peer into places he's familiar with and not too distant. He could sneak a peek at Fino's hot aunt, but would be unable to project his senses all the way to Sicily.

Vita was another Dharma that unveiled great applications. He could alter small aspects of his body, changing his hair or skin color and such to perfect his disguises. Other than that, he could use it to heal his surface injuries and lightly reinforce his body's sturdiness.

The other Dharma would require him to study more in-depth before he could use their effects. He had the library as a crutch, but his understanding of their respective mysteries was insufficient. He had to observe more facets of nature corresponding to them, but such comprehension could only be sought with diligence.

His Dharmas rankings as of now were: Vita II, Materia II, Elemental II, Spatium II, Tempus I, Amimus I, Primal I, Fortuna x, Spiritus x.

And finally, what pleased him the most was that his soul was now complete and he could support up to three concurrent Perception effects without having to suffer a headache.

Unlike before where he could only use them for a few minutes, now he could effectively employ Vita, Spatium and Elemental senses all at once, for as long as he was conscious! Naturally, this would disorient him a little, but the price was well worth paying.