A Virus Life For Me

Chapter 8

Magic

Ok, I am going to create my own magic. Let’s think of the steps I need to follow. First would probably imagine what I want to happen. Second, I will need to push some of the mana I stored into the “spell” I am imagining. Wait, that would actually be third. Second, I need to decide what type or combination of mana would work the best for the spell I am imagining. Man this is going to take a while. I mean some types are obvious, but others may not be. This is going to be especially tedious because I have access to all types of mana and thus theoretically should be able to create any spell or at least use any spell. I mean a fireball is obviously going to use fire mana, but what about a spell to boost memory?

This was the first spell I thought of. If I could boost my memory I could perhaps recall some of the non-harmful spells I glanced over in my dungeons and dragons phase of my last life. What type of mana would be best for memory? Maybe the pink creation mana? I guess I can try that first.

I picture as best I can the concept of increased memory recall. I imagine it as memories being part of a library, and this spell would be the catalog that will allow me to access any book or memory in it. I focus on this for a while to make sure it is locked into my mind. Now without losing the picture I “reach” inside of myself and try and grab some pink creation mana to merge it with the idea in my head. As soon as I start moving the pink mana I lose the image in my head and the pink mana flows back into the color wheel.

This is like horrible mental gymnastics. I have to be able to do so many things at once. The only good part of my failure is that somehow I just know that this approach will work. I don’t know why I have that feeling, but I do. I continue to strain my brain and after several more attempts I manage to infuse my mental picture of library/Memory with pink creation mana. I was rewarded with a slew of notifications.

Congratulations you have created your first spell, memory boost.

Memory Boost: Access past memories 25% X level of spell easier. Duration 5 minutes X Level.

You have unlocked the professions menu.

You have unlocked the Primary Profession: Sorcerer

Would you like to change your Primary Profession to Sorcerer? Y/N

First of all, YAY ME for successfully doing this. Next, what the heck is the rest of that about. Observe professions menu.

Professions Menu: the menu on your status that allows you to review your professions and in rare cases switch professions.

All right that was not as helpful as I thought. Maybe if I observe the profession itself? Observe Sorcerer.

Sorcerer: Those with this profession do not follow the traditional path of magic. Instead imagination and sheer willpower determine the type and style of their spells.

I like it. From the description it seems that I would only be limited by my imagination and my own power and affinities for spells. Since I have every affinity, this would definitely be beneficial. If I had to go to school to learn each affinity that would be ten types of schools I would have to go through just to learn spells. With this I can just create my own. If I see someone else cast something I like all I would have to do to copy it and figure out my own way I want it done. It is basically magic without limits. I talked myself into it. Please set my primary profession as Sorcerer. Alright let’s see what that has done to my description. Status.

Name: Mark Stefanopolis Race: Magic Chimera Mimic Virus Veriforma insectica - 3342 hosts

Level: 6 Formica flamensis – 2954 hosts

Primary Profession: Sorcerer +10% exp Formica earthenii – 1427 hosts

Secondary Profession: Not Assigned

Infect: 50% Hibernation: 10% Absorb: 40%

Traits:

1. Mimicry Level 10 – MAX

2. Hidden Level 20 – MAX

3. Greater Resist All Level 10 – MAX

4. Adaptable Level 10 – MAX

5. Greater Multi-Infection Level 10 – MAX

6. Devour Level 0 – 1%

7. Many Bodies One Mind Level 2 – 22%

8. Basic Tactics Level 10 – MAX

9. Photosynthesis Level 8 – 14%

10. Chemical Warfare Level 7 – 86%

11. Boost Level 0 – 1%

12. Mana Manipulation Level 10 – MAX

13. Toxic Level 2 – 42%

14. Steel Defense Level 2 – 33%

15. Direction Sense Level 0 – 1%

16. Play Dead Level 0 – 1%

17. Burrow Level 0 – 1%

18. Charismatic Cuckoo Level 0 – 1%

19. Strengthen Level 0 – 1%

20. Flexibility Level 0 – 1%

Interesting. I guess I get an experience boost whenever I use my Primary Profession. This would make sense. Everybody can still learn anything that they want, they would just be better at their chosen profession. So if I wanted to be a chef or learn cooking I still can, I just will never be able to catch up to the level of true chefs who have the profession. This seems like back on Earth just with numbers to represent it.

From what I see I can also have a secondary profession. That will probably give me a smaller experience boost but will still be helpful. To continue with my chef example from earlier, it is probably how a chef can own a restaurant. They could have cook as their Primary Profession and Business Man or Trader as their Secondary Profession and do better than somebody who does not have that combination. It does not mean that others can’t do the work and succeed. Just that they will have an advantage, like an inborn skill.

I will need to be careful about what I pick for my Secondary Profession. It needs to be something that complements Sorcerer or gets me closer to my goal of revenge. Maybe something cool like Revenge-O-Nator, or Super-Kick-Your-Butt profession. Nah, those can’t possibly exist, but how cool would it be if they did. Anyway I should probably use the spell I created at the start of this whole thing to help me remember some other spells I could create.

Let’s see, now that I have created it all I should have to do is think the spell and express intent to use it right? Time to give it a try. I think hard about my new spell Memory Boost and try to will it to happen. Nothing, maybe I need to try harder. I continue at this for several minutes when all of the sudden I feel it work and receive another message.

You have unlocked the skill Voiceless Casting. Using just the force of your will you are now able to summon forth mana and make it do your bidding. All spells that are cast voicelessly are 25% weaker than their chanted counterparts.

Well that explains it. It seems that in this world magic is usually controlled by voice incantations. Since I do not have a voice yet, that is why I was struggling. Luckily it led to a skill that I can use now and in the future. I would rather give up 25% of the power of the spell to have it be a surprise against an enemy. I mean if I go around shouting fireball, they will know what is coming and then will be able to take measures to defend against it. I never actually understood that part of magic in stories.

I mean it should be a big advantage to just surprise someone with magic without having to shout something out. I guess it is kind of a cheat, but at least this time it is going to work in my favor. I need to use the time I have though with my new spell to remember some other good ones and then create them. Let’s see think Mark, non-lethal spells from games, movies, and books.

There is binding someone, grease, alarms, detection spells, shields, sleep, invisibility, hiding, teleportation, communication, cleaning spells, cooking spells, mending and repair spells, transformation spells, scrying spells, enhancement spells. Wait, what were the last two on my list? Scrying and enhancement spells. Mana Sight, if I create this I could finally have a way to see what is around me. This is definitely the next experiment.

Alright what do I visualize here. I want to see the world around me using mana. So just seeing the particles of mana is no good, I need to see shapes and outlines of all objects. What about Thunder Cats? Lion-O had the sword of omens sight. No, that would not be good that was for distance viewing. It might come in handy when I develop that spell, but right now I want to see what is around me. Mana should be in everything. Maybe concentrations and types of mana would be good, sort of like night vision goggles see concentrations of heat or the lack thereof.

I think that is what I am going to do, it will imagine a combination of infrared sight mixed with mana particles to show concentrations of them as well. Focus, Mark. Picture a rainbow colored infrared picture instead of the heat vision one. Now pull in one particle of each kind. I feel that since I am going to be looking for all the different colors I will need a particle of every color to power this spell. This is much more difficult than my first one. Holding onto more than one particle is ridiculously hard. What if I try and just pull the whole color wheel into it? That idea is actually working. Since they each have opposites and compliments, pulling them as a group is easy. They stick together quite well. Focusing on image and then insert mana.

You have created your first compound spell Infrared Mana Sight.

Observe Infrared Mana Sight.

Infrared Mana Sight: This spell allows the target to see in Infrared or Mana shades as they prefer. Due to the dual nature and ability to switch between modes the spell duration has been extended, but the distance has been halved. Duration = Level of caster X 10 minutes. Distance = Level of caster X 5 feet.

Not exactly what I was shooting for but it should work.