Chapter 3 #2
“Nothing at all. Come. We should read.”
In Byron’s world, magic could be cast manually as well as by the system, so a whole society of wizards practicing magic without the system wasn’t that surprising to my hitchhiker.
After a few hours of reading, it became clear to him that magic in my world was far less developed than he anticipated.
He said he could see commonalities in some ideas and casting techniques, but the apparent gaps in knowledge were significant.
Experts didn’t understand how many common spells actually worked.
They could follow the steps and cast them, but the true mechanics were buried in myth, folklore, and the sands of time.
What Earth knew about magic was cobbled together from fragments found across cultures and history.
A unifying theory of magic mechanics was still a work in progress.
Until then, wizards had to work around huge holes in understanding.
That no doubt contributed to the elevated danger of practicing magic.
Byron was disappointed by all this, naturally. His fears about the underdeveloped nature of magic on Earth were confirmed, which meant the road to finding him a body was going to be even longer.
“Can I ask you something?” It was a little after 2 a.m., and I wasn't sure how much longer I could sit still and read.
“Yes.”
“You haven't mentioned anything about your wives or your old life. Are you handling that okay?”
“I miss them, and I know they died the moment I did. I also know I'll never get them back.”
“Didn't they make phylacteries also?”
“They did, but I do not know how long I've been dead. For me, leaving my world and entering yours felt instant, but many many years are likely to have elapsed. One hundred? One million? Until I know when and where I am, thinking of them does nothing but hurt me.”
“I'm sorry.”
“We had many lifetimes together. For a love story, we are, perhaps, some of the most fortunate humans to ever live.”
“I don't think I could pick up and carry on like you have, not after losing so much.”
“Undeath will shift a great many of your attitudes over time. After about 200 years, the way I thought about life and death changed completely because undeath is nothing but loss. People die. Times change. The world decays.
“Since you live forever, you feel a loss forever. That is what your life becomes. If you do not learn to see loss for what it is, then undeath is a curse. Undeath is a blessing when you recognize the value of every moment and savor its sweetness while you can.”
“Was that adjustment difficult for you?”
“No, but I think having died before was an advantage in that way. All of my wives struggled with it at some point or another, but they also had never felt their souls drifting toward the underworld. Your challenge will be similar to theirs.”
“What will you do when we find you a body?”
“We have much time ahead for conversation. We should continue our studies for now.”
I didn't like Byron dodging that question, but pushing the topic could agitate him. Still, if he was hesitant to tell me, then it couldn't be anything good.
“I have made a decision, though. We should avoid the schools of illusion and restoration when you choose a specialization.”
“Why is that?”
“Unless your natural affinity lands squarely in either of those schools, learning shitty versions of the spells your class provides automatically is redundant. Why put so much effort into manually learning a Heal spell when your default is already better?”
“That assumes I can level, and wouldn't my class be assigned because of affinities as well? The system made me a cleric for a reason, right?”
“The system making you a cleric for the god you worship is not far-fetched.”
“I don't worship you.”
“You believed enough in my teachings that you agreed to carry my soul back to the world of the living.”
“That's not what happened at all.”
“The elemental schools seem to have a good balance of offensive and utility spells,” Byron said, deftly abandoning the argument.
“The defensive track is interesting, but if you do not have the tools to defeat an enemy, defending against their attacks can only go on for so long. The school of force magic might be the most versatile in that sense, actually.”
“I thought magitech, alchemy, or travel magic sounded interesting.”
“Very little of those schools will keep you alive in a fight.”
“I've been in one real fight in my life. In this world, we can drive from town to town without bandits or goblins attacking. There's much less danger in general.”
“Yet this University teaches combat magic as part of the base curriculum. Perhaps we will learn more about what dangers you face now that you are a wizard.”
“Fair. You make a good point about redundancy, though. That's going to be a tough sell to my teachers, I think. To them, I'm an illusion and restorative magic savant. They're going to expect me to lean into my ‘natural’ talents.”
“This is true. The more we learn, the better equipped we will be to maneuver in the manner that suits us. Study will be our best way through many of our obstacles, I suspect.”