“You speak as if our bet still stands.” Its words were layered in mockery. “You said that you would achieve affinity mixing—which you haven’t. Therefore, I have no obligation to honor our bet.”
Soren shook his head with a smile and sighed. “Arguing semantics won’t do you any good. Although it is true that Affinity Mixing in its originally stated form was proven to be impossible, my achievement still stands. As of this moment, Mesmerism has the capability to invoke any material rune under the authority of Wards. It has fully consumed and adapted it to its own system.”
As he responded, a wave of golden butterflies swept past his shoulders, attaching themselves to each other to form a rectangular holographic window pane. The usual information was now being displayed, with a few small changes.
Status
Name: Soren Andersen
Race: ???
Age: 23
Vocation: Scribe
Magi Rank: Junior Initiate (1st Circle)
Magi Affinities: Mesmerism
Soul Realm: The Hermit’s Eye (Unique) (Infant Stage)
Soul Weapon: The Records (Unique) (Tier 1 - Tome)
Conduit Connection: Stable
Skills: [Record], [Eyes of the Fairy], [The Faerie Court]
Blessings: N/A
Anchors: [Julie-Anne Kafka] (Earth), [Tazzith] (Yarian)
Rune Collection: [Fairy Witness] (4 Insight)
Soren swiftly glanced over the changes and nodded. “I see…” Everything was exactly as he had expected it. His Wards affinity had disappeared, and same goes for the blessing offered by Tazzith’s contract. The tainted spark of consciousness that once roamed within him had been forever consumed by his original Shade of Self.
The most surprising thing, however, was the disappearance of the [Traveler] blessing. It seems he had underestimated just how much of its powers he had consumed to arrive at [The Faerie Court].
Of course, this did pose a problem in regards to the corruption he had already been subjected to. The memories of those whispers still remain within this Heart’s Shroud. The last time he visited, they had tried to attack him directly—if not for his quick reaction time, he would have forever been consumed by their encroachment.
In a way, the [Traveler] blessing was the one thing that kept them at bay. Now that it was gone, they were free to spread across his Three Layers.
Well, that would have been the case if not for the obfuscation Mesmerism provides—something he had planned for from the start.
As of this moment, those faint whispers have already been locked by the creation of his new spell. A spell that was continuous in its casting and was responsible for disallowing anyone beyond his permission from accessing anywhere in his Three Layers.
Not even the Figment of his Imagination—an entity that represented itself as his very own Soul Weapon, could bypass the authority of this spell. The protection it provides was absolute.
“It seems you have already achieved 1st Circle status.” The enchanted flame spoke. “That spell inside your three layers… it's responsible for this, isn’t it?”
Soren smiled. “Indeed.” The spell in question was the same one that he used in the trial. Something Soren came up with to deal with the aftermath of conducting the Affinity Fusion.
Because of the clash of wills, Soren was sure that the outcome would be fairly straightforward—if neither was able to consume the other, the two affinities would continue their battle until he either ran out of anima to use or both of them perished in the process.
Soren needed to guard against both outcomes, so the magecraft spell he designed for the trial needed to not only allow both affinities to fight until a victor was decided, but he also had to make sure that neither side backed away before the conclusion was found. Of course, the victor was always going to be Mesmerism, as that was what he had chosen to be the winner.
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The spell he created was one he aptly named ‘Fairy Bind.’ It conjures an illusory force that traps anima within, not by brute force, but by deception—crafting layers of illusions that obscure every possible exit. And because the anima wasn’t able to escape, the opposing wills within them had no choice but to continue their battle until only one Affinity was left standing.
The anima ratios within the spell were also heavily in favor of Mesmerism, so it was also responsible for which affinity would emerge victorious in the end…
Soren got the idea for this spell from the Feylith Forest barrier he witnessed back when he was journeying with Tina, Myrin and Tyrel. Of course, its runes were originally a part of the ‘Bind’ spell Tazzith provided him, hence the name.
Truly an ironic outcome, he thought. After all, the material runes used in Bind were those associated with Wards… And yet, they had been repurposed for use against their original affinity.
“This is an original 1st Circle magecraft spell created by yours truly.” He explained to the flame. “I used the original Bind spell as the base of the spellform, but a majority of its functions rely on Mesmerism rather than Wards. As you might have guessed, it is the very same spell that disallowed you from obtaining information about my True Self.”
His words shook the flame to its core. Seeing this, Soren smiled and continued:
“Fairy Bind is active within all Three Layers, and will remain active—even while I sleep. Because it draws upon the anima already present within those layers, there's no need to expand my Soul Realm to sustain it. And it’s also the only reason why I haven’t died yet from the Rift’s corruption leaking from my Heart’s Shroud. Until I find a way to completely erase it, this will be the only method of mitigation for now.”
The flame flickered unevenly. “Does this not mean you have found the solution to your problem then? Crossing into this space… It should no longer pose any issues.”
Soren shook his head. “No, while this barrier prevents the corruption that already exists within me from spreading, it does not protect against outside corruption. If I hear those whispers while crossing the rift again, it will still cause them to spread regardless… And eventually, the corruption might even become strong enough to destroy the Fairy Bind barrier completely.”
Soren swatted the golden window pane with his hand, and it vanished in an instant. “Still,” he muttered, “it definitely presents a solution…”
Now that Ward’s material runes were easily accessible, creating a new barrier spell to guard against the external influences of the rift became simple. It wouldn’t even require much effort, since the groundwork was already laid out within the Fairy Bind spellform.
As he spoke to the flame, reality responded to his thoughts and shifted. The laboratory he had grown used to in the past two weeks emerged before his very eyes.
Soren walked to the nearest desk and cleared away the materials there to make space for his calculations. The geometric template for the Bind spell was already present there on a nearby sheet. Reversing that spellform would give him a base to work with.
“As for the immaterial influences of the Rift, the camouflage Wards that have been placed on the Voidstar Voyager ship that the Vynasians use would do…”
[Fictionalization] materialized the schematics he was asking for. Countless arrays of unidentifiable material runes presented themselves before him. Their script was fairly alien to what he was used to seeing in the grimoires of Yarian.
“I wonder what world these runes belong to…” Even now, the origins of the Vynasians remained unknown. However, it was clear to Soren after all his studying that they were far more advanced in magecraft than anyone in Yarian. Their application of spellforms seems to be so much simpler, and yet, even the smallest of axioms remained elusive to him.
Nevertheless, the time Soren spent in these two weeks wasn’t all useless. In many of the trials, Soren used countless Vynasian runes to supplement his own spellforms—many of the times while not even knowing what effects they might have.
Although it was extremely painful and dangerous, he was able to document many of the effects each individual material rune had and how they were meant to be used in tandem with the others…
As he wrote down the new spellform equation, a faint smile tugged at Soren’s lips.
In these past two weeks, there hadn’t been a single day where he felt bored or worn out. In fact, it was the opposite. Every new trial excited him, and every failure only pushed him to do better in the next…
Not once did he ever feel like giving up.
It was as if the passion he once held for chess had evolved into a deep and abiding love for the art of magecraft. After all, was it not this exact thing that drove him into dabbling with the arcane in the first place? That day he transmigrated into this world…
Even though he regretted being careless, Soren couldn’t deny what he felt at that moment.
A thrill that cuts through the fear and chaos… The discovery of magic didn’t just intrigue him. It had excited him in a way nothing else had in years.
“I wonder what I should call this new spell after I finish…”
Beneath the veneer of books and scholars, far beyond the ancient halls of a closed-off dungeon, was the home of a strange guild. One that was led by the last remaining Witch of Star Fate.
And at this very moment, the halls of this peculiar guild were filled with the roars of one little girl.
“That bastard!” Cassia screamed. “Where the hell is he?!” She stormed her way through the corridors. Every step left echoes in her wake. Not even Noctharn’s hammering was this loud.
“I swear to the gods I will rip him to shreds!”
A taller woman stood beside the dragoness. Her hair was tied back into a ponytail, and her dress was that of a librarian. Candice held a deep frown as she swiftly followed after Cassia.
“I know you’re worried, but you have to relax!” She tried to reason. “Didn’t he promise to be back in a week? Let’s give him a few more hours! I am sure he’ll turn up soon!”
“I can’t do that Candice! The mistress will be here any second now!” Her steps became even quicker. “If he still isn’t here, I am going to turn his damn room upside down! I’ll find him even if I have to dig out the entire mountain beneath this damned city!”
Hearing this, all Candice could do was sigh and follow behind her.
Eventually they turned the corner. His room’s front door came into view. Cassia grit her teeth and walked toward it. Without even knocking, she forced her way in once again.
However, rather than an empty room, a familiar face greeted her.
Cassia’s eyes widened. “Y-you…”
Sat comfortably on the bed was a young man with chestnut hair and fiery amber-colored eyes. An annoyingly smug smile covered his face as he greeted the pair.
“Long time no see!~”