Pandora Unchained B1C57: Threading the Spear

Daphne asked Sorin a few more questions before leading him up to the library's second floor. Most of them pertained to his mana control and his ability to separate his mana into different natures.

"Different spell shapes are more suited to different types of mana," Daphne explained. "And variable mana cultivators, though uncommon, are numerous enough that this matter gets special attention in spell theory books."

"Acid-type mana is the most common type of poison mana. It's best applied as an orb or spray. It's almost never applied in the form of a needle or blade. Paralytic-style mana is more multipurpose and can be applied in various shapes. As for anti-mana… you need a solid framework like a blade or an orb. A spray form is too loose and will result in uncontrollable results. At the same time, a needle or a flower has too many fine details and will likely explode before they reach their target."

"I'm a little confused about the acid mana restrictions," said Sorin. "Why can't they be used to form blades and needles?"

"I thought you were a physician," said Daphne. "Don't you know how acid functions?"

Sorin thought about this and realized that acid wounds were evenly distributed and indiscriminate. They took time to act. "You're saying they're too slow."

"They're not instantaneous forms of damage," Daphne confirmed. "Blade spells and needle spells usually require a sharp characteristic or an effect of some kind. An acid blade would lack in piercing powder, while a needle would be lacking in quantity."

"I understand," said Sorin. "Please recommend whatever you think is appropriate."

The second level of the library was much like the first in that it had plenty of study tables and a vast assortment of books. To a tee, all those present had mastered the technique of drinking coffee while reading.

There was also a powerful mage on this floor of the library. Based on the mage's aura, Sorin could tell that he was a powerful bone-forging cultivator.

"I take it he's here to protect the books?" said Sorin as they passed the old mage.

"These books are worth hundreds of thousands of gold coins, and that's only for this floor alone," explained Daphne. "I would imagine that the Medical Association would have strict guards as well, or at the very least, a strict vetting process for access to their precious tomes."

Daphne then let Sorin know that due to his lack of magical knowledge, he would only be able to learn relatively low-tier spells. If he wanted to learn anything better, he would need to commit himself to learning magic for a few years.

At first, Sorin thought this was Daphne being snobby. But then she told him she'd been studying magic for ten years despite having S-Class mage potential, so he wisely shut his mouth, as anything else would be insulting.

Daphne was the oldest individual in their group but had a similarly low cultivation level. This had less to do with her talent and more to do with the way she spent her time and money. Instead of purchasing expensive cultivation-boosting medicine, Daphne had opted to strengthen her fundamentals in spellcraft. It was only recently that she'd started steadily increasing her cultivation.

"Given your budget limitations, I recommend choosing this as your orb spell," Daphne said, picking out a book. "It's only a C-Tier spell, but that's mostly because of its range limitation of 100 meters. Its power is somewhat lacking, but its cast time is low."

"Veridian Smoke Bomb?" muttered Sorin as he opened the cover. He read the description and saw that the veridian in the name referred to the name of the inventor. The smoke bomb portion described the mechanism of poison propagation. "Compatible with all types of poison mana. An honestly disappointing spell with low commitment. Useful for eliminating trash demons not worthy of attention. This Albus Veridian was quite the character."

"Archmage Veridian was indeed quite the character," said Daphne, placing her hand firmly on the first page before Sorin could turn it. "And remember, if you read it, you rent it."

"Thanks for the save," said Sorin.

"Not a problem," said Daphne. "Archmage Veridian was a controversial figure. He was a fan of efficient and multipurpose spells and had variable poison mana, similar to yours. The orb is, therefore, very compatible with both paralytic mana and acid mana. The afflictions will propagate through skin contact and through airways."

"Do I have any other options?" asked Sorin.

"A variant of the fireball spell called Poison Explosion," said Daphne. "It basically uses the same spell framework but emphasizes blast radius instead of power. The range is 500 meters, and it'll drain a quarter of a B-rank's mana stores. There are other spells, of course, but I don't recommend you learn them unless you want to learn magical theories and tailor your spells."

"How much does either option cost?" asked Sorin.

"Veridian Smoke Bomb is worth 300 gold, while Poison Explosion is worth 500 gold, same as fireball," said Daphne. "I'll have you note that it's nothing like my personal customized fireballs. Please don't be disappointed if you buy that one."

"Both budget and practicality point to Veridian Smoke Bomb," said Sorin.

"I thought so," said Daphne. "Now, let's get to the most difficult part – needle spells."

She led Sorin down several shelves, picking up a few books from each shelf in the process. By the end of it, she'd picked out 20 different spells for him to choose from. "Are you sure you don't have any specific recommendations?" asked Sorin, looking at each of their introductory pages. "And why do some of these say 'arrow' instead of 'needle'? And is this a spear spell?"

"The 'needle-type' definition is unfortunately broad," said Daphne. "I'm not sure how this came about, but there was a lot of disagreement on what a needle was and quite a few debates on the semantics of it. In the end, there were three main camps: the needle camp, the arrow camp, and the spear camp."

"Why spears?" asked Sorin.

"Well, if you think about it, needles are just very small spears," said Daphne. "And they were dead set on using the verbiage. The many fierce debates led to a Mages Guild council deliberation, and the mages in charge, very much annoyed by the situation, settled on a solution that no one liked.

"The standard verbiage used would be needle-type spells, but all introductory spell books would contain a note about the ongoing debate and the merit of using arrow and spear to describe these spells. Spells could also retain their original names using arrows and spears, even if, technically, said spears were the size of sewing needles. This gave a way for each camp to liberally plagiarize each other's spells and create different name variants just to stick it to their opponents.

"That sounds very… childish," said Sorin.

"Mages are often extreme people," said Daphne. "I'm actually pro spear camp and was captain of my debate team in arguing the matter. But semantics aside, this is good news for you – needle spells are extremely cheap as a result."

She then went on to introduce the main spell variants – darts, arrows, spears, and. Needles also had a corresponding spray-type variant, while spears had a variant that could be physically carried. Almost all of them had the option of adding additional needles. However, such a thing would be accompanied by decreased efficiency and accuracy.

"I'll pick this one," Sorin finally said, picking a spell called Threading the Spear. It was not at all like a spear spell, as its base spell involved launching tiny needles at a range of 30 meters. But the spell did have detailed instructions on how to produce 'spears' as small as half an inch and as large as 10 feet long and two inches thick. Those larger than four feet could effectively be used as a spear in battle.

"A good choice," said Daphne with a smile. "Note the wonderfully infuriating wordplay."

"It's nothing compared to 'Archmage Syracuse's Tiny and Ineffective Spear,'" said Sorin.

"Archmage Syracuse was pro-spear, and an unfortunate incident in the bedroom had the entire anti-spear camp smearing him in publications for five whole years," said Daphne. "Anyway, because this is technically a gag spell, it only costs 200 gold."

Sorin was relieved at the price because, on top of the other spells he was looking to acquire, he still needed to purchase and formulate poisons. The 9th and 10th poisons for the Ten Thousand Poison Canon had strict requirements, as they needed to conform with his existing poisons.

Having secured two good spells, Sorin needed a blade-type spell. There weren't many anti-mana spells available, however, so Sorin could only grit his teeth and purchase the 1-star B-Tier spell, Anti-Mage Blade for 600 gold, leaving him with 525 gold and change.

They were about to leave the second floor when suddenly, a book caught Sorin's eye. "A vision-type spell?" he said, pulling it out of the bookshelf. "Ophidian Eye?"

"It's one of those niche vision spells," explained Daphne. "Everybody likes to put their own spin on them, like pyromancer's eye or frost wyvern's gaze. They help beginners manipulate mana. Judging by the price, this one was a failure."

Indeed, the spell was classified as a D-Tier enchantment. Its only purpose was to highlight a person's meridians. Ideally, the spell would have also lit up the target's acupoints, vitals, and bones.

For someone like Sorin, however, this spell was a godsend. A hundred gold for something that can allow me to determine a target's anatomy without touching or striking them? I'll take it! Why weren't there more gems like these?

Sorin added the book to his pile and made his way to the checkout counter on the first floor. "Interesting," said an old librarian as he placed the books on a spell circle and extracted an illusory copy from them. "Poison mana spells. You don't see a lot of plague mages these days. Though they used to be a lot more popular a few hundred years back, or so I hear."

"I believe the Medical Association had a lot to do with that," said Sorin, accepting the illusory copies.

"Indeed, they did," said the librarian. "Them and the Olympian Council both. There were also shadows of the Demon Hunters Association in this matter, though books on the subject are hard to find these days."

"Many thanks for helping us out," said Sorin politely. "How long can I keep these?"

"Normally? Four weeks" said the librarian. "But for a student of history like yourself, I'll add another two weeks. Don't be in a hurry to remember them. Learning a spell isn't the same as mastering a spell. It's not unusual for mages to take out a book 2 or 3 times before they're satisfied."

Sorin winced at the thought of wasting so much money. "Many thanks for your pointers and for the extended grace period."

"Not a problem," said the man. "The vice guild master told me to look out for a good seedling that cultivates poison. You can thank him instead."

"Why didn't you tell me you knew the vice guild master?" hissed Daphne when they left the counter. "If I'd have known, I'd have asked for a discount!"

Sorin shook his head. "I only met him in passing. He helped me get out of a difficult situation. I'd hate to impose on him, given that it's me who owes him a favor. How exactly do mages survive, by the way? These books are all grossly expensive."

"Most have rich families," answered Daphne. "Those that don't typically charge mana crystals in exchange for gold. They can also enchant items, maintain spell circles and formations, etc. Many become adventurers. There's a lot of demand for mages, and not enough mages to go around. Also, theory books are much cheaper than spell books. People would typically study the basics for years before picking out their spells, then spend months playing around with them and making them their own."

She escorted Sorin down to the coffee shop, where they both secured an extra coffee. Lorimer wasn't allowed a coffee, however, as he'd damaged a library book on the first floor, and Sorin had needed to pay 5 gold as a result.

"I guess that's it," said Sorin when they were both done with their coffee. "Thanks a lot for helping me out. I hope you're still free for dinner tomorrow?"

"Of course," said Daphne. "A mage never says no to free food. I believe it was Archmage Worsted who popularized the saying."

"I'll be sure to let Percival and Clarice know about your food preferences," said Sorin. "But please, do be punctual. Percival gets irritated when people are late, and Lorimer starts chewing the furniture when he doesn't eat on time."

"I'm usually stylishly late, but for you, I'll make an exception," said Daphne. "See you tomorrow evening."

"See you tomorrow evening," said Sorin. Having accomplished his mission, he returned to the manor and locked himself in his study. He then cracked open the illusory copy of Threading the Spear and began committing its runes and spell patterns to memory.