Ranma glared across the camp site, his father’s loud snores reaching him even here. With a wave of his hand, a magically created wind rose, not strong enough to damage the man’s shelter, but enough to blow in a tickle of water that ran off it, and activating the man’s curse.
Thankfully, pandas apparently didn’t snore.
Nodding at the quiet, he was thankful he hadn’t been tempted to try that with chi. His old man was sensitive to the stuff, and as such would have probably awoken instead of transformed and remained slumbering.
“Now I can concentrate,” he muttered, before pouring a little of his canteen’s water on his arm, activating his curse.
Jusenkyo’s magic was still fascinating to him. It was chaos magic, that much was certain. It also seemed to only cast a template of the curse onto the person, drawing energy from the subject’s one natural mana pools. The fact it did so with such a minimal use of mana—thus allowing for the curse to be turned on and off repeatedly without tiring the person out—was either a freak accident of nature or hinted that whoever or whatever was responsible for Jusenkyo was of a talent long since forgotten.
Glancing over to her left, she looked upon a crystal item that was currently displaying a map of Jusenkyo. An icon at the top indicated that it was receiving data, data sent by small crystal probes Ranma had left after her father ‘insisted’ they follow the Guide’s advice and head to the Amazon Village.
“Shouldn’t have done that,” Ranma murmured, checking over the device created from Mercury Path magic.
Mercury Path was founded on crystallization magic: making the materials you need by ‘crystallizing’ them into the form needed. They used this for cities, jewels, and computers.
Of course, this wasn’t of much use in battle, since it took too long to set up. But when one of those on the path realized ice was just crystallized water, the use of ice became the battle style for the Mercury Path, since ice only needed a moment to crystallize.
Not that Ranma cared too much that the path was basically science and making crystals. It was just as cool as all the other paths. Plus it allowed her to really advance her studies, as some of the spells she learned required something to ‘sense’ the effects of them to ensure she was mastering them.
Aside from the book, the computer and the sensors she could make for it were her greatest tools for many years, after having the book literally drop on his head during his digging of the pit for the Nekoken training.
“Well, three things actually,” Ranma murmured, hand clutching the large crystal pendent she was wearing around her neck—especially spelled several hundred ways to keep her Old Man from running off with and pawning it. “Ain’t no way in hell he’s getting this,” she growled, before turning her attention back to the book to work on her studies.
The power offered by a Toueihouseki, even one only at nine percent, could only spell trouble if her Old Man ever got it.
Toueihouseki: Otherwise known as the Reflection Gem, was created by a Serenity around 9827 BS (Before Sol). During the long struggle known as the Sailor Wars, the side led by the Serenity Clan were at a disadvantage. During one confrontation, Serenity noticed that if she channeled her power through her daughter, her daughter’s spells grew in power exponentially.
As the battle progressed, she became gravely wounded. Using the last of her mana, she expelled her soul out in the form of a crystal whose tones varied between black and white, no matter what angel they were viewed from. This was the creation of the first Toueihouseki. Since it was created from the life of a Serenity, it always worked best in the hands of one, magnifying spells beyond measure at times.
It was used by Clan Serenity and their allies from then on, making them a powerful force and the Wars and devastating several enemy nations. It remained a tool of the Clan, cementing their place in power, long after the Wars ended and they arrived at Sol to begin anew.
However, this changed with Queen Serenity XXIV. The Toueihouseki was able to draw upon the emotions of the wielder, whether they be good or bad, positive or negative, to accomplish the desired task. Not wanting to be seen as ‘tainted’ by something that could feed on the darker impulses, she used her power to separate the Toueihouseki into two crystals: the Ginzuishou—which channels positive emotions and energy—and the Jakokusuishou—which channels negative energy. After which, the Jakokusuishou was sealed away on the farthest planet in the Sol System.
Sadly, this created a flaw with the remaining Ginzuishou. Due to the now imbalanced nature of the magical construct, it required more energy from its user to generate the needed effects. As such, several Serenity matriarchs have lost their lives using the Ginzuishou.
When Ranma had first read that, he immediately figured that Queen Serenity was an utter moron. Nothing was truly evil or good, only what was done with them. As a martial artist, he understood that balance. Rage and anger in a fight could give you the will to continue, or it could make you sloppy and lead to your defeat. Of course, he had had no desire to expel his own soul to create such an artifact. It gave a boost to his spells and could even be used to reverse death, extend life, and so forth. If he wanted to master all the book had to offer, he was going to need that.
But it did require the energy of a soul. And as much as he wanted one, he wasn’t about to lose his own soul for it—kind of hard to use it when you’re dead—or steal someone else’s—against the Code, that was.
And then he discovered another way. Souls are like everything else. They grow, shrink, but more importantly, they shed. This could be viewed sometimes by feeling as if someone was in a room with you, or like a presence was nearby when you were alone. Those with souls always leave ‘pieces’ of themselves behind.
That or you had a ghost or some other invisible entity nearby. But that was beside the point.
Anyhow, Ranma forged his own Toueihouseki, leaving it empty, and then setting it to gather shed energy from souls. Being that it was always near him, his shed pieces would make up the majority of the crystal, ensuring its compatibility with him. It would take a hell of a lot longer—his computer’s last estimate put it when he was around the age of seventy-five at the moment—but at least he’d be alive to use it.
Assuming his father didn’t get him killed in the meanwhile.
Sighing, she looked across the campsite again, spotting the sleeping panda. The last few weeks, the Old Man was one mistake after the other.
And if the past was any guide, then whoever the Tendo family was could be another.
Shaking her head, she turned back to her studies, looking occasionally at the image of Jusenkyo, lines of code telling her it was still trying to create a full map by deciding what the magical signatures in the springs meant: which spring cursed you into what form. “Really, who would steal a map of half the valley?” she murmured.
“Come to think of it, why was there only the one map? I mean, the Guide sure seemed to know which ones we fell into. You’re telling me his ancestor couldn’t just remake a new one?”
Shaking her head at the stupidity of some people, she returned to her work. There were a few other paths that might help her work with the ‘water magnet’ part of the curse, a part that seemed stronger in her human curse than her father’s animal one. It made sense to Ranma—a human would adapt to a human form quicker than an animal for. “The Neptune Path did deal primarily with water…” she mused, the books pages changing to contain information on said Path.
Every since Jusenkyo, it looked like she was in for another long night.
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(Posted Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:33)
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