The rest of the memory went on as aspected. Soon the humans began extracting minerals from the ground, odd-looking gems similar to azure, but Lucius could tell at a glance that they were magical in nature.
They also sucked the mana lakes dry and chopped down the trees that were lined all along the city. From what Lucius could tell, they were all marked, however, they seemed way larger, and seemingly more radiant than the one he had.
Of course, this was not done without retaliation from the Fae. Eventually, they realized that the humans were only acting in self-interest, but it was too late. The once god-like creatures were powerless... for what reason they could no longer wield their powers, Lucius could not tell, but he was certain the humans were at fault.
What ensued was a slaughter. Powerless, the Fae tried to run, but were hunted down... their greater creations sent back to the earth with them... and their lower ones thrown out into the forest.
This was the tale of the forest... the 'owners' were more colonizers than anything else.
For a moment the three remained in silence, not a single thought being shared amongst them.
~So the 'owners' are actually a threat huh?~ Lucius realized. If the humans found out about the little commune he was trying to grow, and how he and the leaflings were slowly evolving to resemble the once god-like creatures, they would definitely snip them in the bud.
~No, we're lucky they haven't spotted us yet. We have to get rid of the necromancer before they get the chance...~ he continued.
~It would've been nice if we could rely on the furry-folk... or perhaps we can. A common enemy... but we currently have nothing to offer. Our prowess is impressive for forest creatures, but judging by the suits they were wearing during my first encounter with them...~ Lucius said, bringing up the memory of his first encounter with the creatures. ~...I'd say that they wouldn't care to have us help them.~
~These are the furry-folk?~ Hannibal asked, inspecting the creatures that were currently on display.
The furry-folk Lucius had met were slightly different from those in Pagan's memory. These ones seemed less bestial, and way smaller, whereas their ancestors were massive 9-foot-tall creatures, with massive wings, worthy of the title dragon.
The newer version seemed more... humanoid, with less exaggerated features, and no wings to speak of.
~Perhaps evolutionary changes, they do live underground, after all,~ Lucius explained.
~Pagan, do you have any more memories? Perhaps something that may help us?~ he asked finally.
Pagan thought over it for a minute, before showing the group a memory of him walking around one of the Fae. The creature was reading something resembling a book, though Lucius could not understand its writings.
~The Encylopedia,~ he realized, before bringing out his system shop.
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
─────⋅☾System Shop☽⋅─────•
[Evo points] -100 Helios
[Solis fragments] - 1000 Helios
[Sobriquet] - 1,000,000 Helios
[Language Encyclopedia] - 10,000,000
(Current Helios: 19,497,160)
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
~I was going to need it anyway,~ he thought to himself, grimacing at it's price before purchasing it.
[Processing...]
[Linking all identified languages to 『Encyclopedia』.]
[...Ancient Sentinel Tongue added.]
[...Human Arrkonic Language added.]
[...Revised Sentinel Tongue added.]
[...Reptilian Tongue added.]
[...Hexapoda Tongue added.]
[Processing...]
[Creating Language harmonizer...]
[Harmonizer added...]
[『Encyclopedia』 tab has been added to system.]
Lucius quickly pulled up the Encyclopedia tab to inspect it.
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
─────⋅☾Encyclopedia☽⋅─────•
[Language Libraries]
[Personal Language creation]
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
~Personal Language creation, huh? I'll check that out later,~ he thought to himself, before taking another look at the book that the Fae was reading.
~~Scriptures of Havon... a novice's guide to Solar Incantation~~ it read.
The excitement held between all three of them was palpable, they all held their breaths as the image shifted, each of them hoping to learn at least something of their magical powers.
~Pagan, what are you doing?~ Hannibal shouted, as the vision began to recede. It would seem that back in the day Pagan had no interest in the book, and decided to leave the Fae without so much as checking a single page.
~Bring up others, surely you've seen more,~ Lucius ordered, and Pagan began bringing up more memories.
~~Scriptures of Havon... Radiant techniques revised,~~ read one of the books in the memory. Sadly, just like the other one, Pagan hadn't stuck around long enough to see even a single page.
This went on for some time, each time Pagan failed to look at the pages, however, he couldn't be blamed, as it would take him great effort to see anything apart from the front page since the Fae were about 8 feet tall. Even as they sat, they were at heights that Pagan could not hope to reach without trying to climb them, and perhaps offend them in the process.
However as they were about to give up, a memory came up where a Fae was playing with him. It would seem that leaflings were nothing more than pets to those creatures.
The Fae picked Pagan up and placed him on a table. On the table was an open book, and the lines on the open page read...
~~Radiant Mirage is a foundational technique that will be used as a base for many of the more complex techniques.
Radiant Mirage requires the user to imagine an exact copy of their body being projected on the air right next to them. Proper knowledge of one's body is a must for this technique to work.
The more mirages are created the faster the caster's radiant reserves will deplete. Radiant Mirage in itself is not a hard technique, and inversely it is also nothing more than a cantrip.
Due to the fact that Mirages are not physical, and can only copy exactly what the caster is doing, a well versed enemy will be able to tell at a glance which the actual caster is based on interactions with the environment.
The process for casting the technique is as follows;
Lower radiant energy intensity, and let it permeate out of the skin. Once out of the skin, perform several pulses of high and low-intensity circulations, whilst imagining a replica of your body besides you.
Remember... imagination is key!
~
