Chapter 7: Adam

  After Callum had fallen asleep, a part of life I no longer needed to partake in anymore, because… you know… I was essentially just a soul; I retreated my consciousness back into the void where we had first met.

  After a bit of experimentation, I had come to learn that this space was a representation of Callum’s and mines combined souls and that I could manipulate the void space at will.

  I began by molding the void space to take on the form and appearance of an Old-Growth Redwood Forest. This was a familiar and welcomed sight as it ground my consciousness with the memory of my old world and, more specifically, of California.

  I next proceeded to carve out a clearing within the forest around me making sure to open just enough of the canopy to allow myself to see the void above my head. I then began to manifest a moderate sized campfire into existence in the middle of the clearing that, based on a theory I had about Callum’s and mines mysterious soul stat, would come to represent the strength of the soul that we shared.

  You would think that a person would be going through an existential crisis after learning that they had died and they no longer could interact with the physical world in the traditional sense.

  That they instead shared the body of what was one’s ‘other self.’ However, my steady diet of fantasy books, anime, manga, and video games had thankfully conditioned my mind to accept this new reality quite readily.

  Thinking in more practical terms now, I began to mentally construct a sturdy long table to one side of the clearing with a bench on either side of it. This would be a great place where I could formulate and outline my ideas for the utilization of the spell diagrams Callum had and would grant me access to.

  Sitting at the long table I then manifested a pitcher of mead and a tankard. A smile formed on my face as I proclaimed, “If I am going to be in a fantasy world then I have to drink mead.”

  Even though I can’t ‘physically’ drink anymore.

  Thankfully, I did have a few glasses of mead back in my old world which allowed me to recreate the flavor profile in this void space perfectly. Much to my happiness.

  After taking a few sips of the mead, a series of leather notebooks appeared in front of me. I had crafted these to hold the spell diagrams I had memorized earlier, as in this form it would allow me to dissect them and trace how my mana would flow through the diagrams. Then it would be a simple matter to use this space to practice the execution of the spell.

  The first notebook I opened was the one for the spell diagram detailing Fireball, a quintessential must, in my opinion, for any who practice magic. Looking at the diagram, what was laid out was an octagram star surrounded in a circle with a rune in each section of the star. On the outer side of the circle were more runes that were strung together in what appeared to be words and then enclosed by another circle surrounding all the previous parts of the diagram.

  Using my Scholar’s Eye skill, I was able to dissect the runes on the inner part of the diagram as being words that gave form and power to the spell. While the runes that were strung together were instructions on how the spell should activate and what the spell would do once it was unleashed.

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  The basic gist of the spell was to form a beach ball sized sphere of fire, with power enough to cause a minor explosion once the fireball encountered its target.

  Looking at the way the spell diagram was laid out, it was very similar to the computer codes I used to write. One needed to encode the parameters and the actions for the desired effect. If one section of the code or rune was incorrect, a bug/malfunction could occur and cause the entire spell diagram to fall apart or worse.

  With that mindset I tried to modify the instructions for how the spell would function using my Spell Manipulation skill but found that I lacked the necessary knowledge of runes and how they acted upon each other for that occur.

  Just another thing I will have to have Callum find for me so I can further my goal of using spells to keep us alive.

  Seeing as spell manipulation was an avenue that was not available at this time, I moved onto the practice portion of my plan. Rising from the long table, I then walked over to the opposite side of the clearing and brought my right arm up with my palm facing outward. I then began to trace the spell diagram on my palm from memory using my Mana Manipulation skill until it was complete.

  I then began to feed the spell diagram the requisite amount of my mana to fuel the spell and once I felt the formation hum with approval, I then exclaimed within my head Fireball. In response to my casting, a ball of flames formed on my palm and even though I could feel the heat it did not burn me.

  It was clear that caster immunity was part of the instructions for the spell and after aiming at a random tree, I let the spell go and it zipped forward. The fireball moved with the speed of a surface street moving car, so about 25 MPH, before it exploded once it connected with the tree I had aimed at.

  The tree burst into flame and splinters from the impact, and I just marveled at what I had achieved. I had just done magic. Not only that, but I had also just taken my first step on my journey with Callum to have amazing adventures.

  I had been able to gleam some of the memories of Callum’s past and I felt sorry for the kid. As weird as it was to call your ‘other half’ a kid. He wanted to be an adventurer, but the lowly Skill he first awakened with had all but destroyed him.

  However, Callum did not give up.

  Callum continued to train his body to make up for his lack of skills so he might one day achieve his dream.

  I wanted to help Callum out for two reasons. One, I felt he deserved to live out his dream. Callum was a hard-working kid who did not shy away from hardship, but, instead, faced it head on. Even when he would brood in the forest. And two, I personally wanted to live an exciting life. I had been given a second chance, even in this form, and I was not going to waste it.

  True, in my world fighting was almost never needed for the average person, but that did not stop us from dreaming of going on adventures and doing more with our lives. In this way both Callum and I overlapped in our desires and goals.

  Turning my thoughts back to my practice session, I then repeated the process for casting Fireball, but this time tried to memorize how the mana flowed through the activation process. If I could get this process down, the time I took to cast a spell could be cut down to near instantaneous.

  An important distinction that could save both of Callum’s and mines life if we found ourselves backed against a wall in battle.

  Time flowed slowly in the void, which I took to calling Callum’s and mines ‘Soul Space.’ While only eight hours had passed in the physical world. A whole day had passed in the ‘Soul Space.’

  In that time, I had been internalizing several spells and though not at the near instantaneous level yet, I could now cast my memorized spells within five seconds.

  There were many other spell diagrams I had yet to practice with, but the ones that I had practiced, were sure to come in handy the next time Callum and I were engaged in combat.

  For now, my practicing would have to be put on hold as I could feel Callum’s consciousness returning from slumber and I wanted to be present to know more about his life and what we would do in the coming future.