Chương 59: Chapter 56: Mage Armor

A lot could be said about Nolotl's choice for spells. Mainly that it was esoteric. For that, he only had himself to blame. He had yet to learn any offensive or defensive spell, yet here he was aiming for one that he would likely never find a usage for. Beta didn't have the spellware with her, which forced the gnosiamancer to summon his Simulacrum and search for the spell in the Archives, but Beta was knowledgeable enough to write the abstract on the blackboard.

Name: Intellect Fortress Schools: Gnosiamancy, Abjuration or Obscuramancy Requirement: Concentration Effect: This spell works deeply through the Alignment and Cognition, extending the caster's innate psychic resistance as well as the Resistance to Cognitive Harm Boon to others within their mental range. The potency of this effect is equal to the expected resistance value times the unitary Information Alignment with the total multiplied by one twentieth times the caster's level.

This effect can never be greater than the caster's innate resistance. Reading the description of the spell's scaling in plain text almost gave Nolotl an aneurysm, but Beta thankfully wrote the actual formula once she was done with the abstract. In all honesty, it was a perversion of a formula. Mostly because of the long variable names even if they were, by all means, correct.

A decent way to explain the formula was that the ratio of resistance plus Nolotl's non-Boon resistance was the 'estimated resistance' variable and the 'unitary information alignment' was just his Information Alignment but going only up to 1 instead of 100—i. e. unitary not percentage—meaning that it was currently 0. 76. The rest of the formula was self-explanatory with the value being 20/6 for Nolotl with his current level.

What annoyed him the most was the way that Beta wrote the equation because it was equivalent to what the abstract said but written in another way. Well, what actually annoyed him was that BOTH formulae could be written in a way cleaner manner.

"I don't know if it's powerful enough," Nolotl mused aloud after processing the abstract and the formula.

"In my current state, I can only share around a fourth of my cognitive resistance, or around a factor of 5. 33 of my base values."

"You need to consider that it is your resistance and not that of the target, so that's quite the decent value. Five times the mental resistance of a gnosiamancer is nothing to scoff at," Beta explained.

"I guess?" The diviner in question wasn't so sure, but his mind was biased because he was constantly and currently afflicted with man-made horrors beyond his comprehension or just plain horrors beyond his comprehension. So even that 23. 41 resistance factor from his level 2 Boon fell a bit short for his liking.

"It's only a third-tier abjuration, so the effect is quite decent," the abjurer added.

"Wait!" The terian exclaimed, nearly jumping from his stool.

"This is only third-tier? Isn't this like too much for the third-tier of abjuration?"

"Well, you need to consider the intrinsic scaling that the spell has with the Alignment," his teacher reasoned.

"It will be powerful when you are a high level… but at that point you will be a high level and you might have better options than this spell."

"Hmm, that much is true," Nolotl caressed his spotless chin, hairs completely foreign to his skin.

"I do have a spell called Real-Time Status that basically follows the same logic. Enantyum taught it to me, but it doesn't do much to him because it scales with Information Alignment."

"Well, there you have it," Beta finally seated herself after the abjuration class was over.

"An abjuration that you have proficiency with, of sufficient yet not of much difficulty, and that interests you. It's not like you can ask for something better, can you now?" Like always, it wasn't some kind of jest or rhetoric, but an honest question. It's like she has heard how people speak but she hasn't comprehended the subtlety beneath the words… As much as Beta's manner of speaking unsettled him, it wasn't something he couldn't work with.

"No, it's quite perfect in that sense," Nolotl responded veritably and in gratitude.

"But I think it will be a bit too hotheaded to throw ourselves directly at a tier three abjuration when I've only performed cantrips. Could you at least guide me through Mage Armor?"" Mage Armor is a taximancy, so you might have more difficulties than with Intellect Fortress considering your status as the Empyrean of Information."

"Well, it might take a couple of weeks," or perhaps more as Healing Word took longer and I do have the sufficient affinity to cast photomancies,"but I'm willing to start by the basics. Unless you have a first-tier gnosiamancy abjuration at hand?"

"I do not, and while they might exist… I suppose Mage Armor is a spell versatile enough that it won't hurt you learning it." This time around, Beta did have the spellbook in question and she procured it out of nowhere, appearing in her hand.

"I will hand it to you, but the Intellect Fortress depends on you." Nolotl nodded and accepted the book. It was a rather thick book, but he saw that it contained several abjurations of all elements. There was even a single gnosiamancy one called Alarm, but it was so simple and redundant to him that he didn't bother learn it. Part of the whole learning process was that it was and it should be difficult for him.

His high Alignment with Information would facilitate the process too much in that scenario, whilst in the case of Intellect Fortress it would only accelerate it. There was an important difference between the two. He simply didn't need to learn; he wanted to learn. And walking the difficult path was the way forward. Beta stood up and grabbed a new book from the bookshelf of illusory contents before sitting in an armchair.

As for Nolotl, with a piece of his mind he controlled the Simulacrum to find the complex abjuration whilst with the other piece of his mind he read the spellbook for Mage Armor. This effort would be trivial with a bifid mind, but alas, one of those was taken by a nested parasite. The diviner sighed at that thought but focused on the abstract for Mage Armor.

Name: Mage Armor Schools: Taximancy, Abjuration Requirement: Hylomorphism, Cheironomy Effect: Upon imbuing a band with an inverted principle of magic, invoke a protective magical armor that lessens the physical damage received. Taking severe damage, losing the band, or wearing new clothes ends the spell. Yet again, Beta proved to be a visionary as this spell had two requirements, meaning that it wouldn't be as difficult as spells with none.

The cheironomy surprised him at first, but as Nolotl read the further elaboration on the spell, it was revealed that the gesture in question was just engraving a sigil upon the band to work as the focus of the spell. This simple action showed how the spell was an abjuration and not an enchantment. The band didn't have a memory of any spell; it was just an item meant to focus the caster's mind and the spell's intent.

Perhaps infinitesimally less complex than the hylomorphism for Simulacrum, but that was to be expected when there were four tiers of difference between the two spells. As the spell didn't specify any qualities for the bands—not size nor materials like gold for example—Nolotl directly started working with the spell with the bands that he already usually wore. Taximancy made things hard, very hard. Not only did Nolotl have no experience with the school of magic, but he also had no affinity with it whatsoever.

Perhaps taximancy shared the gnosiamancy characteristic that it could recreate other elemental schools like magic, but there was a massive chasm in front of him called lack of understanding that couldn't be surpassed. Healing Word had less requirements, but he did have a photomancer teacher, affinity with the element, and previous experience with the school. This time it was different.

Nolotl could only smile at the challenge as he sat on the ground with his legs crossed and devoured the spellbook at least nine times. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Even though Beta suffered no changes from the time loop like Nolotl, she still managed to finish all the books she had read the previous loop in a single week. Around six weeks condensed into a single one.

"I'm finished," she calmly stated as she finished devouring a whole bookshelf worth of books. Perhaps she isn't just a food glutton, but also one for knowledge, the diviner mused to himself.

"What about your own progress?"

"What you can see here," Nolotl extended his arm forward, slightly pulled up from his band and traced a sigil underneath it, before a spectral glove appeared around his forearm. It was thicker than any type of glove, but it didn't quite reach the level of a gauntlet. Armor was a bit superlative for the spell's name, but not that far off as it wasn't exactly clothing. Void assimilation progressed by 1%.

Lesser Alignment Assimilation corroborated his progress, but it was still far away from the 5% he saw the previous loop from a spell completion. He blamed the lack of progress in Arcane in the same way he hadn't progressed Time with Healing Word. He was brute-forcing the other school, so he wasn't progressing on them and instead only the one he focused on. So just like he hadn't been using restoration with the healing spell, he wasn't using taximancy with this defensive one.

"You're lacking in progress, but you're making progress," Beta nodded, leaving the last book back on the bookshelf.

"So what are you going to do yourself now? Do you want me to fetch more books for you?" He offered.

"Yes, but not on the same subject," she sat on workbench's stool, looking at him.

"Can you ascertain that I failed to complete the ritual last time?" The time loop was still foreign to the akyromancer and she still refused to accept any transfusion of knowledge via Thought Projection, but she gracefully accepted its existence by now.

"I can," the Tezlan nodded.

"And you did quite in the visceral manner at that. I do not want to repeat that." He had no qualms about notifying nor describing Beta's own death, mostly because he was aware she simply wouldn't mind. Though he had it clear that wouldn't be the case with someone more… emotionally present and standard like Roxina could be.

"I don't understand why you worry so much about my own business, but with everything you've showed me, at least I can understand that I might've failed. Even if I don't know the how," Beta said impassively, failing to understand how her death might affect others.

"So this merits some change on my course of action."

"…and what will those changes might be?" He couldn't deny he was scared about what the Empyrean of Void might do.

"I think I will be studying obscuramancy for the time being," she calmly added, much to the diviner's surprise.

"Why?" Nolotl asked plainly in his bewilderment.

"I cannot say what the cause of my failure has been as I lack critical information, but I can guess I lacked some stability during the ritual. Obscuramancy can correct this, no matter if I lack the Title." Having heard the same word being used thrice on the same explanation itched Nolotl's mind a bit—too many 'lacks' for his liking—but he could understand the logic behind it.

"Well, ask for any new documents that you might need. My Simulacrum is always happy to help," he bowed cordially.

"Aren't you the Simulacrum?" She inquired in confusion.

"Exactly my point," Nolotl chuckled.

"Right," and Beta proceeded to miss the point.

"But there's no need for that. Obscuramancy is… obscure, so the best documents on it will be found here at the Void Tower. I will personally get them myself." The chocolate-skinned man's eyes shot wide open hearing that, yet another variation on the loop, but he wasn't against it. He nodded in understanding and didn't fight over at her desire to get out of the workshop.

Unlike Nolotl who slept and showered—not that it was needed with Beta's magic-based cleaning—at another room, the akyromancer had yet to leave her room in a week. It certainly would do her some good to stretch her legs. Whatever the case was, he appreciated her shallow attempt at a wordplay. After that conversation, Beta left the room and left Nolotl alone. Mage Armor wasn't complex by any means, but like all non-gnosiamancy magic, partial casts were a real problem for him.

Yes, he could cast the spell, but it would come at a fraction of the expected result. Just like Ode to Silence had only made it hard to speak, Mage Armor only invoked a single gauntlet. Technically speaking it was a successful cast, and only after a week of work, but the diviner was far from proud of his success. Mage Armor was one of the spells that could help him in the ambush, and regardless of what he did, the ambush would still continue to happen.

Perhaps not in these loops with Beta, but his original spot was too good to pass and he would inevitably go back. Until he could succeed against the enhanced ambush without prior preparation, it would remain a sour spot for him. Especially because his Animal Spirits still demanded bloodshed, far from satisfied as they were smart enough to know that the deaths of his enemies were only a temporary setback.

"I can bring Azi to the ambush, and she will definitely be helpful… but the possibility that she dies exists and I don't want to see her die. Especially considering that I will see the day of the celestial alignment again and again…" That was the sole reason why he was so reticent to ask for help. Yes, any helper would perhaps trivialize the ambush for him, but he knew his mind wouldn't tolerate seeing people he cared about dying again and again. Even if it was just a chance.

His mind was the only thing he truly possessed in this coiling time, and he couldn't threaten its integrity anymore. Enantyum already looked insane from the Cognition when he had yet to obfuscate his mind at the start of the loop, but the chronomancer didn't have a cosmic parasite in his mind. It was a precarious game where balance was imperative and Nolotl needed to succeed. Otherwise, his life was just forfeit.

That was why he was so focused on ignoring entertainment or acknowledging the possibility of his own physical death, such outcomes were more preferable to the death of others. For better or for worse, Nolotl Xocoyotzin coped better with his own death than that of others. The diviner attributed his somewhat fast progress to his latent Void affinity. He may not have the actual Alignment to back it up, but since always his Void Alignment had been the third highest.

The value itself didn't matter, but rather, the fact that it was the third one. In that sense, the Ehecatl couldn't be more wrong. I can't be the Quetzalcoatl if my third best Alignment is Void and not Life. Not that Nolotl believed that the nocturnal wind spoke any truths, but the Quetzalcoatl was the True Empyrean of Information, Light, and Life, not Void. The subject at hand was that abjuration came at him with more ease than the generic casting school of Time, restoration.

Proficiencies were important, but the person itself could have a better time with some schools beyond that what the Alignment dictated. Nolotl's best was obviously divination, but enchantment came at an easy second regardless of his Arcane Alignment. This could be seen in all of the enchanting rituals he had performed during the loop so far. But at the same time, it wasn't like he knew his standing with every communal school.

Perhaps his early years at the academy taught him the basics of every single one, but he had yet to cast any real curse, wild magic, or conjuration. And even the transmutations, augmentations, and restorations he knew weren't anything to write home about. So abjuration just sat on the third spot by default even though he had started casting it. But that wasn't enough for himself. Following Beta's example, Nolotl decided to get out of the stale workshop. His destination? The Void Tower's rooftop.

Whilst he would have preferred the Observatorium of the Central Tower, he feared that it would be occupied by other people as the start of the loop had been both a lucky coincidence and a bit of empyrean authority to get one night to himself. He couldn't bother to reserve an hour for himself, so he instead he marched for the zenith of the most deserted of the towers. Nolotl knew not the way as he floated in the contained cosmos of the Void Tower, but his beloved Dijkstra's Routing helped him find the way out.

Akyromancers didn't leave much trace on the Cognition, but a rooftop didn't move and information accumulated after centuries, which made it easy to find such a location. Maybe divination wasn't a bombastic school, but it certainly was one of the better ones for quality of life. And such quality of life was exactly what he was searching for. The Tezlan prince was met by a frigid breeze as he stepped out of the Void Tower, the starry sky greeting him whilst he climbed a snow-capped flight of stairs.

Fortunately, the wind was somewhat tame, but that was to be expected due to the academy's many enchantments. Wind and cold lingered, yes, but they were far more reduced than what they actually should be. Though one could still be afflicted with hypothermia if they weren't paying attention. For the time being, the twiceborn didn't experience any frostbite due to his avian blood, but the moment he stopped moving the cold would precipitate upon him with brutality.

That always happened at the start and ending of the loop, but he could tolerate it in both cases. Nolotl fluttered his cape on the wind and started setting the components for the ritual. The roof of the Void Tower was a flat expanse in an enneagon shape, somewhat smaller than the actual tower base due to the coiling outdoors stairs he had ascended.

The place was covered in a thick film of snow that slowly decreased in thickness in proximity to the center point of the roof where, finally, a enneagon stone platform sat untouched. The platform lacked inscriptions of any kind and the only thing the diviner knew was that the place was a prime ritual location. As the main requirements of this ritual were the heavens, his material components were loosely limited to chalk and salt crystals as he drew a basic spellcircle.

This divination ritual wasn't quite like the one he always awoke to at the start of the loop as the firmament had been sublime that day— Perhaps a clue to why that day is the start of the loop —so he wouldn't be able to perform the same astromancy today. But an astromancy it remained. The platform wasn't warm even though it wasn't littered with snow, so the moment Nolotl sat crossed-legged on top of it, his naked calves promptly felt the cold stone chill his being.

"Okay, let's be quick with this…" He mused under his breath, a mighty white mist coming out of his mouth. The Empyrean of Information connected with the Cognition and freed his mana at the Physicality, allowing it to connect with the primitive spellcircle on the ground. The chalk and salts started glowing with a soft color, closer to a sky-blue or viridian rather than cyan due to their impurities. You feel the guidance of the stars.

Nolotl connected with the cosmos in a far deeper manner than most people, his Starguided Blessing now thrumming with potency and potential.

"Ah, I had forgotten about this…" Even though he always awoke to a ritual, it had been months since the last time the terian partook an honest and traditional divination.

"Oh, tell me, infinite firmament of ceaseless wisdom that has witnessed everything underneath and on top of the sun, how do I progress in my current hurdle?" After all, if he didn't have an Arcane professor, why not just ask the heavens?