Bookbound Bunny

B2 - Chapter 73 - Magical Renovating

After removing the absolute lightshow in her room, Lily could finally get some sleep. Despite going to bed late, she woke up far earlier than expected, likely due to her anticipation.

"One of the days I'm allowed to sleep in and I wake up at the crack of dawn..." Lily grumbled.

[Morning, you're up early. Why don't you go back to bed?]

Lily sleepily shook her head. "No, that never works and just makes me feel worse."

Rather than attempting to go back to sleep, Lily opted to use magic to solve the problem. Arakil had previously given her permission to use the fatigue recovery spell sparingly, and this felt like the perfect situation for just that.

And this time I can try writing it in the air!

Lily clambered out of bed before grabbing the wand from her desk. After giving it a few practice swishes, she began drawing in the air, trying to keep the motion as small as possible.

One of the things she learned last night was that size truly mattered more than she previously realized. Even though she provided a stable and small amount of Mana while drawing, it still added up. If she still wanted to draw them big, then she either needed to put limiting sigils on them or reclaim them.

Yes, her final lesson before bed was how to reclaim the Mana in a glyph. When Arakil first mentioned it, Lily thought she would just draw it in, like when she was meditating, but that was half wrong. Yes, the idea was on the right track, but if it were that simple, then anyone could destroy a glyph.

What Lily actually needed to do was pull in the glyph through the wand, which acted as the "key" to unlock the glyph. Arakil offhandedly mentioned that there were ways to brute force, but it wasn't something mages would do, as it was risky, and you could get much better results by simply destabilizing a glyph.

If that surprising tidbit wasn't enough, Arakil revealed another sudden bombshell on Lily—the wand had a Mana storage. Yes, hidden inside its handle was a tiny gem that could store Mana, although Arakil said it was a pitiful amount.

[Perhaps when we get access to the dungeon, we can find a way to replace or upgrade the gem.]

While Lily liked the sound of that idea, she had to admit it wasn't top of the priority list. At Lily's current development, she seldom got even close to running out of Mana. This was partially Camilla's fault, as she continued to try to wring her dry during her apprenticeship.

However, thanks to that, it had the benefit of strengthening her capacity and regeneration, thus a backup Mana storage for glyphs wasn't necessary right now. Plus, her inked glyphs were supposed to be her emergency solution.

After completing the glyph, she activated it and watched with relief as her authorization to the divine magic had not been revoked. The glyph activated, and she felt the magic surging through her, removing all grogginess and filling her with pep.

"Maybe I should have put more limits on it..." Lily mumbled to herself, slightly concerned at how effective it had been.

[It should be fine, although I'd say avoid using it today or tomorrow to give your body time to naturally recoup its vitality.]

Lily nodded and made a mental note to be a lot more careful with these floating glyphs. She hadn't realized how much her previous creations had been limited by their medium, whereas now she felt like she had a loaded crossbow on a hair trigger.

"Not only limit sigils, maybe I should use some triggers and switches?" Lily mused, gazing at the wand in her grip.

As she was letting her mind wander, suddenly she had a flash of inspiration and turned to Arakil. "Wait! Can these floating glyphs be turned off and on with a switch, or will they fade like the chalk?"

[Yes, you can; they will only fade away when depleted, disrupted, or drained. Furthermore, since they are magical energy constructs, you can even refuel them.]

Lily thought the surprises would've stopped last night, but now Arakil had blown her expectations out of the water.

"I can refuel them!? That means I could create a bunch of permanent glyphs for my room, right?"

[Correct, and you could even take it a step further and add repository glyphs.]

Lily curiously tilted her head. "Repository glyphs?"

[They are designed to store additional Mana. You could compare them to sigils, except on a grander scale, as they are only usable in inscriptions. However, unlike when adding a regular glyph, they can be used without worrying about the inscription's balance or integrity.]

"Really?" Lily asked in disbelief. "That almost sounds too good to be true."

[The official terminology is auxiliary glyph, and it's due to the fact that they cannot be used on their own. Hence why I compared them to sigils.]

"If there's a whole term to describe it, I'm guessing there's more than one?"

[Correct again. If you want, I can draw you a simple repository glyph that you can incorporate into your idea.]

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

"Really? Thank you, Arakil!" Lily excitedly exclaimed. "Although one question... Why didn't you teach me this earlier?"

[You've only touched on a handful of inscriptions, and I needed you to properly learn and respect the necessity for harmony between glyphs. Auxiliary glyphs fly in the face of that, and I didn't want you getting the wrong impression. Not to mention it would have been rather pointless as the ink itself would degrade faster than the Mana battery.]

"I see... Kind of like the chalk," Lily said, nodding in understanding. "But because this is a Mana construct, it doesn't have that problem?"

[Yes. The degradation of Mana is far slower, as the only loss is a gradual leak into the environment. Also, when you refill the glyph, it would restore any minor wear and tear to the Mana channels.]

Lily's imagination was doing backflips as she considered outfitting her entire room with glyphs. She had already been using them for a long time, but had held back to not be wasteful of ink—before Sylwel's donation, of course. Now, she had no reason to restrain herself.

I could create a bath, shower, washing, drying, cleaning, cooling, heating, lights... Maybe even cooking?

[With that look on your face, I can only imagine what your room is going to look like at the end of the day. Meaning... I should let you learn another feature of the wand, for everyone's sake.]

"What do you mean?"

[Bring up the instructions, and I'll explain—]

Lily did so, and Arakil pointed her to another gesture. This one was an inward spiral motion, culminating in a thrust at the end. It was simple enough, and then Arakil told her the purpose: it let you reposition glyphs.

Once again, Lily was filled with delight and quickly summoned a saved light glyph to try it out. The wand thrust was how you designated the target, and as soon as she completed it, the glyph was seized and pulled towards her.

From there, Lily could move it around by using the wand almost like a conductor. She could reposition it, flip it, spin it, and everything in between. Lily had a niggling suspicion that there was likely much more to this, but they were probably features Arakil was holding back for now.

Don't be greedy, Lily, you've already got so much to work with.

There was only one restriction to this that Lily found particularly unfortunate: the glyph needed to be inactive to be moved. To her relief, toggles and timers that turned it off counted, but what she sort of wanted was the freedom to do it when it was on.

If I could move it while it was on, I could make a light and just drag it with me. Or if I were fighting monsters, I could make a wall and move it, or who knows what else.

Through the excitement, she did eventually find a voice of reason. Lily realized she could accomplish all of that if she just included the correct parameters for the glyph. Wanting to be able to do it with a wave of the wand was just being lazy.

Lily gulped. Is this why Arakil initially didn't want to give this to me? There probably is a way to move them while active, but for my own good, he's not telling me.

After mentally scolding herself, Lily once again promised to make Arakil proud and not take the lazy route. The wand was supposed to teach her, not steal her job!

Lily thanked Arakil and then asked if he was going to teach her the auxiliary glyph, but Arakil surprisingly turned her down.

[I suggest you get some more practice with the wand first before we jump into inscriptions. Even if they are just auxiliary glyphs, you will want to be more familiar with their usage. Not having them just means you will need to be mindful of recharging the glyphs slightly more often.

In addition, I think you'll probably iterate a few different versions of these glyphs, so upgrading their capacity would just be a waste of time and effort for now. And yes, you can add the auxiliary glyphs after the fact.]

Lily excitedly agreed and began planning how she wanted to magically outfit her room. Soon her room was filled with floating glyphs as she jumped between projects to think of new ideas or to fix a minor flaw she happened to notice.

While Lily was lost in her world, there was a loud knock on the door. Lily jumped in surprise as she came crashing back to reality. She quickly went to the door and opened it, revealing Rose and Lotte.

"There you are!" Rose cried out before grabbing Lily into a squeeze.

"You didn't come to breakfast, and Rose was asking for you. I told her you might still be asleep from a late night," Lotte explained while Lily suffered the hug of doom.

"H-how did you know I was up late?" Lily stammered as she flailed to free herself from the draconic clutches.

"Well, you did just get a new toy from the treasure room," Lotte answered. "And judging by the state of your room, I think I'm right on the money."

Rose finally released Lily and took a gander at what Lotte was talking about, her eyes widening in surprise.

"What the heck, is that safe?" Rose yelled.

"Hmm? Why wouldn't it be?" Lotte asked.

"Aren't those glyphs?" Rose replied.

"I thought they were just strange lights," Lotte admitted.

"No way, I've watched Lily draw them far too many times. Those are glyphs, right?" Rose asked again, looking at Lily.

"Yes... Those are glyphs," Lily answered, finally catching her breath.

Lotte scratched her head in disbelief. "Really? Are they supposed to float like that?"

"No! That's why I'm freaking out," Rose quipped.

"They're perfectly safe, don't worry," Lily answered.

"Then why are they floating?" Rose asked demandingly. "I've seen things like that in the dungeon, and those are usually traps."

Lily blinked in surprise. "The dungeon uses glyphs for traps?"

"Yes, now explain," Rose demanded, pointing wildly.

"I drew those with my wand. I can draw floating glyphs now," Lily answered.

Rose gaped in astonishment, while Lotte giggled.

"I guess that explains why you didn't pick a storage bag."

"Yes—" Lily tried to explain.

"Wait, you didn't pick a storage bag?" Rose interrupted. "Why the heck would you do that?"

Lily shrugged. "Drawing floating glyphs is more important."

Rose stared at Lily, her skepticism extremely apparent.

"I don't know if I agree with you there," Lotte commented, patting the bag fastened to her waist. "Because I've been stuffing mine with everything."

"Well, I guess I'll just have to show you then!" Lily declared, ushering the two inside.

"Did Arakil pick it for you?" Lotte asked.

Lily paused before hesitantly replying. "Yes..."

Lotte nodded. "I guess the magic book would know best."

Rose sighed. "I probably agree with you there..."

Lily grinned smugly. "When my entire room is kitted out with magical glyphs for everything, you'll be begging me to draw some in your room."

"I think I'd be concerned with them blowing up," Lotte retorted.

"They don't blow up!" Lily cried out, pouting.

Rose shook her head. "The fire ones do."

Lily rolled her eyes. "Since when do you two know anything about glyphs?"

The two shared a glance at one another and shrugged.

"Good point," Lotte giggled. "Okay, show us what you got."