Chương 3: Omnimancer 3: The School of Life (Magic)

Jax flopped to the ground, the throbbing pain from his lost arm nearly blinding him the moment the danger to his life had passed. With a thought, he willed himself to recall that projected display from earlier. Whatever system powered this magic responded to his thoughts, bringing up the screen. Aurum Account Balance: 29, 945, 965.

(Available Balance: 500, 000) Available Aurum restricted by [̴̼͚̯̬͎̍́̈́]̵̼̬̳͚̭͌̽̊͑[̶̨̗̐]̴̹̬̺̃͝[̶̯̜͝]̷͈̥̲̬̮͒̽[̷̢̡̛̦̪̫̑̓͘]̸̱̖̲̌̇͆[̴̭͖̑]̸̭̥̭͓͕̑͒̕ Entity'His Supreme Luminance The God of Everything Awesome' Tiramisu, and [̴̼͚̯̬͎̍́̈́]̵̼̬̳͚̭͌̽̊͑[̶̨̗̐]̴̹̬̺̃͝[̶̯̜͝]̷͈̥̲̬̮͒̽[̷̢̡̛̦̪̫̑̓͘]̸̱̖̲̌̇͆[̴̭͖̑]̸̭̥̭͓͕̑͒̕ Entity'Oh, Is This Where That Title Thingy Goes?' Cupcake. Oi! You can't use all that right now, okay? Aunty would definitely notice. If you want it, you better get down that mountain!

Also, Cups felt bad about ditching you, so here's a handy dandy Tooturial to get ya sitchyated. Thank us later! [̴̼͚̯̬͎̍́̈́]̵̼̬̳͚̭͌̽̊͑[̶̨̗̐]̴̹̬̺̃͝[̶̯̜͝]̷͈̥̲̬̮͒̽[̷̢̡̛̦̪̫̑̓͘]̸̱̖̲̌̇͆[̴̭͖̑]̸̭̥̭͓͕̑͒̕ Entity [Tiramisu] has initiated'Teddy Tooturial' Quest: Get off the mountain (Part I of?) Don't die! That's it. Reward: Inventory initialization. Jax skimmed the messages he'd missed earlier in a daze, his mind wandering. He didn't know what an inventory was, and right now, he didn't care.

His vision was darkening as his body went into shock. Soon, he would lose consciousness, and after that, all bets were off. Even if he did somehow survive, it seemed probable he'd be eaten long before he awakened. Another screen popped up then, forcing him to refocus. Add Spell Shard? Add School Shard? The fuck does that mean? I just want something that can heal me. Jax mentally selected the first one, only to get an error. No Spell Shards available.

Panic knotted his chest as his breathing grew ragged, but he forced it down. He selected the other one instead. Available Lux Shards: Time Shard (Tier III) Space Shard (Tier III) Consume Shards? Yes, goddammit! Shards Consumed. Displaying options… Clamping down on the pain and his mounting terror, Jax hurriedly scanned through the options until his eyes landed on the only one that sounded promising. Would you like to join the School of Life? Cost: 300, 000 Aurum. Yes, goddammit, yes!

Knowledge flooded into his head. As before with the School of Fire, he felt the transformation in both body and mind. While not painful, the sensation was unlike anything he'd ever experienced. As though something fundamental about his being had shifted. Grown. New understanding about the body flooded his mind, and he felt both stronger and more full of, well, of life. He also instantly understood why Tier II Schools had only a half-dozen spells vs the School of Fire, which had twice that.

It was a question of quality over quantity. Tier II spells channeled incomparably more Lux. That power required complex magical patterns which restricted their utility. The tradeoff was power of another magnitude entirely, compared to what a Tier I school could dish out. All of this knowledge was dumped into his head within the span of a second. Welcome to the School of Life. For entering into this school, you have gained a permanent 25% boost to all future Vitality gains. Congratulations!

You have reached Level 35. Previous Level: 5. 30 Levels gained. Scanning the short list of spells, he found the one he needed. Lesser Heal (School of Life) Consumes a small amount of Lux to heal superficial wounds and minor bodily damage. Lux Consumption: Minimal Cost: 15, 000 Aurum You have purchased [Lesser Heal] for 15, 000 Aurum. [Greater Heal] is now available to purchase. Congratulations! You have reached Level 36. You have purchased [Greater Heal] for 30, 000 Aurum. [Apex Heal] is now available to purchase.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 39. You have purchased [Apex Heal] for 75, 000 Aurum. Congratulations! You have reached Level 47. The chant came out of his mouth as familiar as his own name. Like he'd said it a thousand times or more.

"Ven ko'nav ma'ai…" With every syllable, the energy of life accrued around him." Ve'zheen te'lem vaan…" With every word chanted, the spell grew, giving him the strength to continue despite his failing body." Nav'maaa ven'ko rek'zholen!" Soothing energy the likes of which Jax had never felt washed over him. His body went slack and he collapsed onto the snow in a state of total relaxation and bliss. Like the world's best two-hour massage, if all those feelings were compressed into the span of a handful of seconds.

Pain ceased to be. His muscles regained strength he had not had since the day he'd finished training and left for Everest. Every worry and all the stress he had ever had just drifted away, leaving his mind as calm as a lake. In short, it was the most amazing thing Jax had ever felt. So amazing that the headache and nausea that assaulted him right after caught him entirely by surprise. Taking deep breaths, Jax forced his way through them, riding the unpleasant sensations until they passed.

It was only then that his eyes landed on his left arm. Firmly attached and fully functional. For a moment, he thought the magic had somehow reattached his arm, but that made no sense. For one, his new arm was naked, hairless, and pink. For another, his old arm lay in the snow some distance away, still clothed in his yellow 8, 000 meter suit. Jax averted his eyes from that ghastly sight. As incredible and nonsensical as it was, his entire limb had regrown over those seconds, and he hadn't even felt it.

"Well," he breathed.

"Magic sure as hell is something." The process of removing the layers off his old arm and sewing them back onto his down suit and inner layers was about as nasty as it sounded, though thankfully the cauterized nature of the limb meant it didn't bleed. Silver linings and all that. As for sewing it back on, he thanked his past self for having the foresight to pack an emergency sewing kit. Weighing practically nothing, it came in handy more times than he could count.

That said, h e didn't dare do the repair outside, and so he'd migrated back through the large hole the sunbear had punched into the cavern, retreating some distance back inside despite the lesser light making the job considerably more difficult. The deed done, Jax walked back out to a blue, cloudless sky now that the storm had passed. Not only that, the storm seemed to have cleared the immediate area of any terrifying beasts, allowing him to take the opportunity to really take in his new surroundings.

The chasm had taken him down a considerable distance, and he stood on a vast, steep snowfield that extended down almost as far as he could see. A snowfield that uncannily resembled the Lhotse face on the Everest climbing route, just upsized many times over. And instead of ending at what would've been a flat section known as the Western Cwm, it seemed to go all the way down. Maybe even to sea level, with the snow disappearing partway down, and the base flattening out into a vast forest.

The weirdest part was that, while analogues of the nearby peaks of Lhotse and Nuptse were present, the rest of the Himalayas were gone like they never existed. And it didn't stop there. The base of Everest looked nothing like what Jax remembered. The peaks that, while gorgeous, had once obscured the view were replaced by a cloudless sky, affording a view of hundreds of miles from this high vantage.

Far more than he should've been able to make out, given the thick atmosphere that by all rights ought to have utterly obscured that view. And yet, it somehow didn't. Whether it was magic or some property unique to this world, Jax didn't overly care. Though the storm had deprived him of it, the view from Everest was epic. Unreal, even. But this? If God had a vantage point, this was it.

Countless other peaks soared in the far-off distance and rivers ran through the valleys between them, barely visible through all the atmosphere in between. They were bordered by yet more forest that crept up their sides, turning into shrubs and rock at the higher elevations. And on several of the summits, far, far in the distance, if he strained his eyes, were the unmistakable trappings of civilization. Cities, and large ones since he could make them out at all.

Jax plopped down on the slope that was so steep he felt like he was sitting in a chair and spent several minutes just taking it all in.

"Wakanya, huh?" Unfamiliar terrain stretched in every direction, seemingly forever, and so vast it messed with his sense of perspective. To say nothing of the vast ocean that lay hidden on the other side of the mountain behind him. A whole new world, just waiting to be explored. Despite his ridiculous situation, despite nearly dying several times in as many hours, he couldn't help but feel like a kid again.

He'd just spent the last two months on a crazy adventure that already bordered on the surreal, well before all of this. Whatever this even was. Monsters? Magic? Did life get any better? He thought not. Speaking of, now that his Gift had initialized and he was no longer dying, he was more than a little eager to see what was on offer. Displaying Currently Available Schools. Consume additional School Shards to gain access to more Schools in each tier.

Tier I Tier I schools are the most common on Wakanya, encompassing the universal elements and foundational schools of magic. This is the tier the vast majority of Mancers will learn. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

School of Fire: 30, 000 pts (School Already Joined) School of Land: 20, 000 Aurum School of Water: 20, 000 Aurum School of Wind: 20, 000 Aurum Tier II Tier II schools encompass more abstract concepts, and are both rarer and require more challenging feats to acquire than Tier I schools.

Schools Currently Available: School of Force: 150, 000 Aurum School of Life: 300, 000 Aurum (School Already Joined) School of Lightning: 200, 000 Aurum Tier III Tier III schools are the rarest and most powerful schools of magic, with precious few in history having ever obtained them. School of Space: 2, 500, 000 Aurum School of Time: 5, 000, 000 Aurum Tier IV+ Consume additional Spell Shards to display schools in these tiers.

Jax found it rather amusing that Tier IV was listed right under the supposedly all-powerful Tier III. Did the Goddess' System have a sense of humor, or was that supposed to mean only he could access those? The School of Fire had a small handful of offensive-related spells, ditto for the School of Life, only for health-related effects. One of them healed negative status effects, while another cured poisons, for example.

The higher tier schools had even fewer spells, and while the School of Time had a spell that slowed time for a short duration, it cost millions of Aurum and had an unbelievably long chant. Next to useless for combat applications. From that 'Add Spell Shard' option though, he guessed there were more that could be added to these Schools, which had him actively fighting the urge to go search for more ancient caverns right this instant. Even if he did, his limited allocation of Aurum meant it would be of little use.

He felt like he'd been handed the keys to a kingdom only to be told he couldn't use them until he'd survived a gauntlet of fire. Still, just knowing that there were other beings out there capable of learning magic—that there were other intelligent creatures at all—warmed his heart. Yeah, he'd seen the cities, but come on! This was magic! Actual fantasy shit! The very thought made him as giddy as a kid. He had to wonder how strong he'd be, relative to everyone else.

Assuming, of course, he eventually got ahold of all his points. Was 30, 000, 000 points a lot? It sure as hell sounded like a lot, and the Tier III description said they were among the most powerful schools, but for all he knew, Lux Bux were as inflated as the Venezuelan Bolivar, with everyone and their mother rocking time and space magic. An absolutely terrifying thought, now that he considered it. One thing was for sure. That Fireball had saved his life.

Jax didn't care if it really was magic or highly advanced tech. He'd take anything that helped him survive this ordeal. Not just survive. Thrive. Reaching the base of the peak would take several days, to say nothing of the journey that would be traveling to the city in the distance. While his Fireballs spells would undoubtedly offer some much-needed protection, what Jax really needed was a way to safely bypass those beasts, not fight them.

As he'd seen, the sun bear was far from the only danger lurking on these slopes, and he doubted even an Apex Fireball wouldn't be nearly enough to take down those monstrosities lurking near the peak. That was all the School of Fire currently offered him in the way of direct offensive spells, too. Then again, would it matter even if it did? Jax shivered just thinking about those creatures. Was there anything that could hurt beings that bent the laws of physics? His thoughts were cut short by another pop-up.

Teddy Tooturial! Quest Complete: Get off the mountain! (Part I of?) Spatial Inventory is now available. New Quest: Get off the mountain! (Part II of?) Descend 10, 000 ft. Reward: Aurum Tranche I. Well, at least they'd seen fit to put safeguards around it, Jax thought. That they had to in the first place was more than a little concerning, but nothing Jax could do about that now. The prompt disappeared, but in its place, Jax found his vision blocked. Like someone had stuck a post-it note on his visor or something.

Except there weren't any idiots around—well, excluding him—and he was fresh out of post-its. Jax wiped his iced-up goggles and it went away. Had he just imagined it? Or did he really just catch a glimpse of his precious godawful energy chews?

"Just when I thought we'd lost them to that quake," he muttered, thinking about the chews again. Again, a projection appeared, showing the packet as a little icon, neatly organized into columns and rows. Concentrating on the bag of chews made it poof into existence in front of him. Jax fumbled the bag, dropping it into the snow with his massive mitts. Removing them, he picked it up and tore open the packet to pop a chew into his mouth.

That was definitely the zero fruit, high-fructose overly watermelon taste he'd come to hate, alright. Delicious. It worked for other things too, like his climbing harness, carabiners, and ascender. All useless without ropes to attach to, but they were a comforting presence, so he stowed those in his inventory as well. No point hauling that weight around if he didn't have to. So far as he could tell, there didn't seem to be any size, count, or weight limitations.

He was sure there were, because that would just be ridiculous… right? Like a hastily added afterthought, another message popped up. PS: You really gotta be careful with all those Lux Bux, okay? Spend too much, and your shiny's gonna show! Everybody's got a little glow, but the bitey things follow it. Aunty too. Now that's interesting, Jax thought, mulling it over. He'd wondered why the monsters all seemed to go after each other and not him, but it made sense.

The invisibility that hid him even now certainly helped, yes, but Jax suspected that was more a territorial thing. Had Jax not been violating their domain, they might very well have left him alone, as weak as he was. A shark wouldn't bother chasing the tiniest fish, after all. Not when there were bigger catches to be had. So I just gotta avoid becoming too fat, huh? That would certainly color his decisions, and for now, it served as an excellent reason to get off his ass and down the mountain.

As if the screeching flying snakes overhead weren't reason aplenty. Rising to his feet, he dusted off the snow and began plunge-stepping down the absurdly steep slope, careful not to let him get going too fast, lest he fall. To that end, he cut switchbacks into the snow, zigzagging back and forth like how a skier would descend a steep face. When faced with a treacherous slope, just make it less steep. Even then, the only reason he didn't fall was thanks to the crampon spikes affixed to the bottom of his boots.

They dug into the snow, and even let him walk down ice slopes that would've sent him slipping and sliding otherwise. Which was good because this slope was a mix of snow and ice in equal parts, forcing Jax to pick his route carefully. That, and his ice ax. Unlike before, where he used the sharp ax-edge of the tool, he now used the metal spike on the bottom of its vertical handle. It acted like a hiking pole on steroids, driving into the ice the same way his crampons did.

It was slow going at first, but years of navigating difficult terrain soon had Jax following a patch of harder ground his boots didn't sink into. Harder, and most importantly, consistent. Each step brought more confidence he wouldn't sink into the snow, allowing him to speed up. 10, 000 feet of vertical gain was about 3, 000 meters. A vast distance to cover, to be sure, but a slope like this made quick work of it, and soon, Jax's muscles were burning from how quickly he was going. A bit reckless?

Sure, but was hanging out on the upper mountain with all manner of deadly beasts any safer? Even still, on a mountain, the only constant was change. If not the weather or the terrain, it was the objective hazards, and on Luxspire Peak, those were the many monsters. Jax nearly stumbled coming to a halt as a herd of a thousand monster moose-like things passing below him, crossing the slope, taking their own sweet time.

He had no idea if they were hostile, but between their heavy aura and their sheer number, he wasn't about to take his chances. Shrouded by his still mostly-intact invisibility, Jax took the opportunity to give his overworked legs a rest, plopping onto the snow as he waited for them to pass. Keeping a wary eye on the beasts, he brought up his Status Screen and began delving into the options available to him.

He soon discovered that he could learn every spell in every school of elemental magic and still have plenty left over. Or, he could enter the more exotic schools like Time or Space, whose capabilities terrified Jax just as much as they excited him. Slowing time? Stopping it? Ripping open spatial rifts that sucked in all of creation? That was the sort of powers gods wielded, not men. Then again, he had defended against a bear with a freaking sun in its chest, and he'd managed to surprise it with just one hit.

Did he really want that kind of firepower? Yeah. Yeah, he really fucking did. And while firepower wouldn't get him off the mountain, the [Flight] spell belonging to the School of Space absolutely would. It would turn a perilous journey of days into one of hours, though he'd still have to avoid the thousands of flying snakes that patrolled the skies.

Alas, the School of Space was the second most expensive school of magic he currently had access to, costing a hefty 2, 500, 000 just to enter, with the [Flight] and [Spatial Rift] spells selling for an additional 300, 000 apiece for the Lesser variants. The Greater and Apex flavors were an another 600, 000 and 1, 500, 000, respectively, and he had to buy the lower ones to access the Apex spell. Which struck him very much like mandatory 'options' that always seemed to come with the car you wanted at the dealer.

Still, not like he could afford any of those with his Aurum locked as it was. At least the School of Life boosted his level to 47, though he still wasn't quite sure what levels did. Nor did he know exactly what dimension of physical fitness Vitality represented, but he certainly felt invigorated, noticing how the number had received a nice little bump from his already enhanced figure, going from 130 to 163. Jax unzipped his layers, scratching at his chest harder.

There was a definitely sensation deep inside that wasn't there before, pressing outward. Not painful, but distinctly foreign. Had he broken something earlier? A few stretches yielded nothing of concern, so he forced himself to ignore it, bringing up the System screen once again, but this time, he saw a couple of options he hadn't noticed before. Due to a perceived emergency, the System has automatically allocated 35, 000 Lux on your behalf. Current Lux: 200 / 35, 000. Jax's eyes narrowed.

The message must have appeared when he'd fought the Sun Bear. But what exactly was Lux? He found the [Lesser Heal] spell he'd bought to heal himself and concentrated on activating the ability. A moment passed. Then another… Nothing happened. Jax read through the spell's description. Apex Heal (School of Life) Consumes a significant amount of Lux to heal critical injuries and even restore lost limbs. Bring life back from the very brink of death. Lux Consumption: High Ah.

So Lux was a magic battery, and he clearly didn't have enough, having used it all for his Fireball and the healing after.

"Alright, then how do I put points into Lux?" The prompt in front of him helpfully updated. 1 Aurum = 10 Lux. How much Aurum would you like to spend? He doubted [Lesser Heal] cost much at all, just that he'd burned through his reserve so the battery was currently low on charge. As such, he put in the minimum of one Aurum to increase his capacity by 10 Lux, to test things out. Nothing.

He didn't feel any different, nor did the spell activate, despite 10 Lux having been added to both his capacity and his current reservoir. That was clearly not enough, so he added 99 Aurum, receiving 990 extra Lux to bring his pool up to an even 36, 000. The moment he did, something changed deep within his chest. The pressure in the center of his chest grew perceptibly. Was that some new organ within him? Or something intangible? Would it show up on an MRI? Jax couldn't say, but whatever it was felt good.

If this was how having Lux felt, Jax certainly wouldn't mind adding more. Trying to activate the ability again, Jax felt something this time. The spell activated, the chant came naturally to his mind, draining his entire pool in an instant. Ven ko'nav ma'ai! A blue-green haze manifested, expanding with each syllable of the short chant. When he finished, the wispy cloud covered his entire body, and Jax was subjected to a roller coaster of feelings.

First came the rush of using magic—that intoxicating feeling of surging Lux through the channels that crisscrossed his body. It was soon replaced by the feeling of his Lux reserves running dry. Not a pleasant experience, to put it mildly. It wasn't just losing that warm presence in his chest. Draining his Lux made him nauseous and gave him a mild headache to boot. Much less severe than before, but Jax figured discharging all of his Lux back then had triggered the same reaction.

Then, finally, the healing spell's effects activated, wiping those feelings away. Jax's soreness was gone without a trace, and he felt like he had more energy too. Nothing even close to what [Apex Heal] had done for him, but his quad muscles were no longer burning, and he felt like he could go another several hours the moment the herd passed. Even better—like the other spells, it almost ran itself, requiring only focused attention, as if all the knowledge he needed had been downloaded into his brain.

The herd had just about moved on by that point, so Jax dismissed the menus and gazed down at the path before him. At least it was simple. Just a straight shot down, though the monster density was starting to increase. Not just that, but the terrain that had seemed familiar to him on the upper mountain was now distinctly different. That it had felt similar at all, despite being a completely new world, was weird, but now he'd be relying on his ability to read routes and chart safe paths down.

Which was, of course, much more fun. Cracking his neck, Jax continued his descent. Quest Complete: Get off the mountain! (Part II of???) Descend [10, 000] ft. Reward: 5, 000, 000 Aurum has been released. Ask any mountaineer and they'd tell you the slog was part and parcel to climbing. Ask anyone what the hardest part was, and they'd tell you it was the descent. The endless steps down, battering bones and flesh was the bane of every journey. Not for Jax, though.

Not with [Lesser Heal] and [Greater Heal] when the pain got really bad. And especially not with his Fireball spells, all of which he used to ward off monsters when needed. Thanks to his invisibility, they'd all bolted the moment he did, and as he descended, they not only got smaller in size, but their auras diminished as well. Ironically enough, he felt like he'd barely descended at all off the gargantuan peak. His Status Screen told him Luxspire was 101, 301 ft tall, and he absolutely believed it.

The vistas were stunning, yes, but the steep Lhotse-like face just kept going and going, and he was still on that damned snowfield. Except now, he had another path. A better one. One that didn't involve walking. Giddy with barely-contained excitement, Jax spent 2. 5 million Aurum and entered into the Tier III School of Space Magic.