Seeking An Island (Sallin_Kari)

[porne]

She gives you a moue as you ruined her mischievous fun. "Hm, the real test is yet to come, after this one, will you be able to give me another?" She asks.

[Sallin_Kari]

I pause at that, before commenting, "I thought you only had one chance per hundred years or something like that?"

[porne]

"More statistical than functional. I don't think I've ever had two children from the same father, but it would be interesting, wouldn't it?" She gives you a smile.

[Sallin_Kari]

"I would be honored," I return the smile with a slight nod. Idly I consider her comment about me being the first to sire two of her children. An accomplishment, considering who she is, to be sure. Just that would give me an interesting legacy, even if not one that would be spread, however I have no desire to me known merely for those I sire, but for the affect I had. Fynn has her guns, so I need to learn how to be a seeker, and take that opportunity. "Still, I think we have time until there is that opportunity. Even Fynn is taking a full week. So before then I hope to learn much."

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Decided to show a little of Drameer's ambition.

[porne]

"Oh, I'm sure you'll learn a great deal. How much you'll be able to use is another story altogether." Ilixis tells you, going into a bit of the basics. You do learn why the undead thing lists you as a human though, it apparently has to do with how magic works with specific races in addition to physical distinctions. Amazonians are listed as a human variant as they have a very wide variety of magical affinities rather than a strong favor toward one element like elves (the way elves are identified), nor the common 'beast kin' variants which have a wide variety of special modifications based on the species they draw from. Amazonians divert much of their magical abilities into hardening their bodies and improving it, which is why amazonian magic users are much rarer and often weaker than their human counterparts.

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Dunno if we had that done, but that's my excuse.

[Sallin_Kari]

"Better to know something that can't help you then not know something that can," I retort, before develing into her teachings. I did find the principle of Amazons enhancing themselves to be fascinating, but it did bring up an interesting point, "Wait, so males don't divert as much of their magic into hardening their bodies as females do? That's why females are so much stronger, right? If that is the case, wouldn't I have better potential as a magic user then most Amazons?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

So how much of their strength comes from magic and how much from their increased size?

[porne]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Fifty percent performance increase per cross sectional area sound reasonable? IE: Drameer likely weighs close to three hundred pounds (if I'm remembering him right) and could likely bench close to four or five hundred. It also feeds much of their magical power into other aspects of physical improvement, which is why Amazons swing hard toward barbarian and warrior builds. Enough that it's a very obvious build strat, but not unheard of for mages. Obviously, need to let them read some Wuxia novels so they can get their kungfu magic on. Also, for the amazonian reversed sexual dimorphism, I'm going pure genetic quirk.

"Yes, but while the magic helps strengthen and toughen the bodies, how big and powerful the body is has much to do with... blood lines as well. The magical feed just... improves the pound for pound output. Does that make sense?" She seems to be stopping to make sure you understand her point.

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

I mean that just sounds like how much you would expect a trained athlete to be able to bench. Doesn't sound much if it undermines his magical capability.

I nod before commenting, "My sisters are training as spellswords, so the bloodline shouldn't be an issue," I offer before nodding, "I think I got the basics."

[porne]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Right, but most of those spend hours a day just building muscle mass. Drameer barely works out focuses on raw muscle compared to combat ability and doesn't have the 'wide as he is tall' build.

Ilixis nods to your statement, probably already aware that your sisters are spell swords and just mentioning bloodlines for your education. Hell, she probably knows more about your bloodline than you do. "Alright then, would you like to do some basic study of magic spells then? It never hurts to have basic concepts down. Let me see if I can find my undead flavored rune dictionary..." She begins to rummage about. Don't you have a spell rolodex? You should probably start filling it out, assuming you want to actually use it.

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Yet he is still bigger then a human in height and muscle mass.

"Considering that I believe you said that we need to wait until your friend returns before we can really delve into decrypting my rune, practicing the basics sounds like a good idea," I nod, trying to figure out where I put the spell rolodex I got. Haven't really got a chance to do anything with it since I picked it up with everything going on, and almost forgot about it to be honest.

[porne]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Honestly, we can just adjust the scales if you think I did it wrong. It's not as bad as star ships with a density of cigar smoke, but resizing isn't that big of a deal. Also, as vengeance, I'm giving Drameer a manpurse.

Fortunately, it's in your pack along with most of the odds and ends you've been collecting. Better than forgetting it somewhere. Ilixis has you pull out the Rolodex, and you draw a mystic stone card from it. It's blank, waiting for you to encode a spell on it, and you're somewhat at a loss. "Well, I've seen you do something with stone magic for your wolf lover, so let's start there." She pulls out several books of undead runes, and the symbology of the runes seems... slightly off, but not too bad. "Tightly control your mana, forming something resembling a narrow chisel and carve these runes." Ilixis draws several runes for you, and you translate them as 'armored flesh'. There seems to be a bit more than that, but the subtleties escape you for now. Pulling up the magical energy is tiring, and you have to start and stop several times, eating up hours as you manage to carve a single spell into the magical stone.

[Sallin_Kari]

Spoiler (click to show/hide):

Think it should be a little higher. 33% more seems reasonable.

Oh no. What ever will I do. Pouches are just so emasculating. It's not like everyone had these back then. The shame. The s~h~a~m~e.

I try to do exactly what she tells me, attempting to tough it out as I carve the runes. By the end of it I feel like I've just ran for a day with no rest. Is this how it is for every mage?

[porne]

You're exhausted, much of the mana you tried to carve seeming to have leaked into the enchanted stone and the surroundings. You've also noticed a few chips and tweaks to the rune geometry, and carefully probing it shows that some are just you being clumsy and are contribute to 'leakage' but others actually seem to be improving things. "I am impressed, this looks like your first, and you didn't have to drain an object of power like most spell crafters. You can test it out as well if you want, but I'd wait for later if I were you. You're not exactly small, and if something goes wrong, I couldn't pick you up."

[Sallin_Kari]

"I *huff* will *huff* keep *puff* that *huff* in mind," I force out as I try to regain my breath, still shocked by how hard that was. After recovering somewhat, "I'll try it when I'm around Fynn just in case. So what's next?"

[porne]

It takes you a moment, but you eventually realize that the huffing is more mental than physical. It normally takes you far less time to recover from physical exertions, but you're barely more energized than when you stopped carving. Ilixis hands you a small scroll she's managed to transcribe for you. "Here's a list of very common spells, converted to what I think will make the most sense to an undead runic alphabet. You can do more... assuming you don't need me to call somebody to carry you?"

[Sallin_Kari]

"I'm not that far gone yet... but I'm not sure I could complete a second one without being," I reply with a pained smile.

[porne]

"It has to be done all in one go. The other options involve studying the existing rune script on your spell so you can see how they interact, or we could find some other way to entertain ourselves. But I think you might keel over if we try anything too fun." She gives you a smirk.

[Sallin_Kari]

"Yeah... sorry. Might be best we call it here before I have to carried," I sigh, "I'll come by tomorrow for more practice though... hopefully won't be too drained then."

[porne]

She stretches, leaning back and giving you quite a view before you start to head back. Damn this mana exhaustion or whatever it is! Still, she does call you a boat to ride back to your village.

[Sallin_Kari]

I give her a hug before I go and thank her. With me returning, I check up on the quartermaster to see if she has any updates, either in general or on tracking down these 'squirrels' that Fynn is craving. Hopefully I'll have good news since I'm checking up on her next.