Bookbound Bunny

B2 - Chapter 57 - Curing

Professor Sylwel didn't hold them for much longer; he just gave a brief mention of what he planned for the next few weeks and whether anyone would struggle to observe and provide assistance.

The vast majority involved ingredient preparation and handling, so everyone present was more than capable of giving a guiding hand. When he finally dismissed them, Lotte quickly told Lily she was going to hang back and ask some more personal questions, and they could meet up for dinner.

Lily agreed and left with Arakil in hand, who was still quite intrigued by the mysterious alchemy teacher. While walking to her room, she whispered a few questions, wondering why he had suddenly become even more invested in the eccentric professor.

[Unless Sylwel was lying about his lack of glyph knowledge, it was heavily implied that he learnt transmutation solely through incantations.]

"That's risky, right?" Lily replied, trying her best to piece together an understanding from her limited frame of reference.

[Calling it risky is an understatement of the century. I wasn't joking when I mentioned that glyphwork was the established method of utilizing transmutation magic. Even archmages dedicated to transmuting would almost never cast it through incantation.]

"What about you?" Lily asked.

[I learnt it through inscriptions. Only once I had put aside the threat of oblivion did I start to dabble in incantations; however, even then, my preferred method was through glyphs, and I did not spend much time memorizing incantations. The variety is endless, and I had better use of my time and memory.]

Lily was surprised; she had always assumed Arakil learned any and all magic, regardless of its uses. Then again, she remembered that he had barely a handful of Astral spells when she first began, and said he would need to search his archives for more.

Or maybe the Astral spells he did memorize are just too much for me right now.

"I think I can see why you like Professor Sylwel. You are like opposite sides of the transmutation coin."

[That's certainly one way to put it... I wonder if transmutation glyphs were lost to time, or something else occurred to make him learn it through incantation. He's supposedly human, so it shouldn't be bloodline-related unless his self-inflicted alchemy experiments somehow gave him one. Admittedly, I don't recall if it's even possible to align oneself to transmutation, and I shudder to think how many resources I'd need to spend to search for such a possibility in my archive.]

Lily wouldn't mind if he spent some of the Mana selfishly, but she understood it was simple curiosity rather than a burning desire. She could also understand why Arakil had opted for glyphs rather than incantation.

Ignoring the safety concerns, with his archive, he could look up all the necessary components he needed for a transmutation inscription. Then he would only need a small amount of practice to draw the pieces, utilizing all his existing drawing skills and knowledge to finalize them.

However, if he wanted to do the same via incantation, he not only needed to worry about the enunciation, the imagery, the Mana flow, and probably dozens of other things. Just speaking an unknown word correctly was trouble enough, especially if it could potentially be in a different language.

Lily couldn't help but wonder if needing to memorize countless chants for endless resources might be one of the reasons the professor seemed so forgetful. He couldn't even remember Alice or Ollie's names!

If I ever reach the point that Arakil allows me to work with transmutation magic, I think I'll stick to glyphs. Assuming I'm even still interested in them, of course.

After stopping by her room for a quick refresh, Lily went out to the cafeteria, where shortly after, she met up with Lotte. Of course, she was brimming with curiosity about what she had stayed behind for.

"I might have made it out to be a bigger deal than I thought it might be," Lotte admitted, followed by a sigh.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to," Lily offered.

Lotte shook her head. "I just wanted to know why he wants my blood. He seemed far too eager even before his crazy stunt, which I'm still grossed out over, not to mention the childhood traumas he practically ripped open.

Lotte briefly shuddered before continuing. "Anyway... I just wanted to make sure he wasn't trying to use my blood to make some weapon or something. I'm definitely not a saint, but I wouldn't want to know I was indirectly responsible for something nefarious."

"I'm guessing he doesn't want to make a super poison?" Lily asked.

"No. He actually wants to make an almost universal anti-toxin," Lotte answered. "He ranted and raved endlessly, so I can't really repeat all the mumbo jumbo he spewed. But, basically, he thinks my blood could be used as a last resort to stop another unknown poison or venom."

"He really is a mad alchemist," Lily murmured.

Lotte shrugged. "Yeah, but it feels like his heart is maybe in the right place?"

"I feel like fighting fire with fire leaves the whole world burned," Lily replied, shaking her head. "Who would ever think to use poison to fight poison?"

"Well, he did say it would be a last resort," Lotte reiterated. "If they know how to cure my toxic afflictions, then it's worth it if it takes out the other one. Although I can't say it sounds pleasant... Like two invading armies duking it out inside someone else's body."

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

"I think I'll stick to my own potions, no offense."

"Oh, none taken. I can't imagine us ever fighting something that a simple detox potion couldn't cure. Otherwise, why else would they put a school on top of this dungeon?"

Lily nodded in agreement, although she also recalled that there was mention of healers being on standby in case of any genuine emergencies.

All this talk of healing and curing sparked Lily's curiosity, and she began to ponder if there were glyphs related to healing. She knew from both her classes back in the orphanage that to cast actual healing magic, you needed not only a special talent outside of even bloodlines, but also a connection to one of the divine.

But Lily had the thought that an inscription could surely avoid all of that, like it ignored bloodlines and even the ability to cast spells. Arakil had taught her many different aspects regarding glyphs, but weirdly, that was one of the things he had never touched upon. So when they got back to her room, she brought it up since it was still on the tip of her tongue.

[There are glyphs, sigils, and crests related to healing. Although admittedly they broach subjects that I think you'd best want to avoid.]

Lily was genuinely astonished by that response. "Really?"

[At your current level, your only realistic option would be fleshshaping glyphs of necromantic origins. Alternatively, there are a few glyphs in the sanguine arts that could also be used, but judging by how you've previously reacted to blood, I figured it would be a fruitless endeavor.]

Lily gulped, almost feeling sorry she even asked. Never did she think healing spells would be related to necromancy or blood magic. Still, the fact that Arakil had mentioned necromancy as an option once again proved that glyphs could seemingly bypass a lot of restrictions, since that was something her Astral affinity was supposed to prevent her from doing.

"I thought there might be divine healing glyphs," Lily replied, trying to change the subject.

[There are, but unless you have a functioning key for the crest, they will not activate. Think of it like the blood glyph lock, except it's always required with no conceivable way to bypass it.]

Lily frowned. "I'm guessing you don't have any keys then?"

[I used to have several, but they were all from minor deities who have long since passed, and I could never obtain one from anyone who truly mattered. I attempted numerous times in the past to circumvent this, but to no avail.]

"But what about now?" Lily asked expectantly. "I just figured that since so much has changed with bloodlines, internal Mana, and everything else, maybe the keys have also changed?"

Arakil didn't immediately respond; it seemed he was taking his time to mull over her suggestion.

[Honestly speaking, the thought had never even crossed my mind... I've always written off the divine entirely, but this could certainly be a fortuitous turn of events. I definitely think it would be worth attempting. Can you provide me with some Mana ink?]

"Of course!" Lily hastily agreed and went into her supplies to pull out one of her bottles that she'd already imbued.

Using a dropper, she began to supply Arakil with all the ink he required as he drew a strange yet straightforward glyph that she'd never seen before. Lily always loved watching Arakil draw, and it always inspired her to one day reach the same speedy proficiency as him.

When he was done, he severed the page from his bindings, allowing Lily to pull it out with no effort. She examined the page like a dry sponge desperate to soak up water, seeing fresh components she'd never laid her eyes upon before.

While she couldn't digest the meaning behind them, she was still eager to try her best to examine it. Lily found herself drawn to the crest and noticed an unadorned circle with a barren center, which seemed out of place.

Almost intuitively, Lily knew that this must be where the key needed to be drawn, as the empty place was practically begging to be filled. She pointed at it, and before she could even ask, Arakil confirmed her suspicion.

With her immediate curiosity satisfied, she had only one other question before she attempted to activate it. "What does this do?"

[It's a spell to aid in stamina recovery by removing some fatigue. I've set the parameters to the absolute minimum so that it won't affect your sleep cycle, should it activate.]

"I didn't know divine magic could do that," Lily admitted. "I thought it would be something to remove sickness, or maybe close wounds."

[Considering you aren't sick, and I can't imagine you'd want to willingly injure yourself... I'm sure you can understand my choice for this trial.]

Lily chuckled nervously, feeling quite silly that she'd overlooked something so obvious. With no further immediate questions, Lily tried to activate the glyph by channeling her Mana into it.

The glyph started to light up from the outside as her Mana filled it. Lily was on the verge of celebration, but as soon as the Mana reached the crest and touched the empty circle, the entire glyph went dead.

Lily blinked a few times in surprise. "What happened?"

[Regrettably, it appears a divine key is still a requirement.]

Lily frowned, and her ears drooped. She was so excited at the chance of furthering her glyphs, and now it had fallen flat in her face.

[It was a good plan. I'm sorry it didn't work out.]

Lily continued to mope; she'd gotten her hopes up and was now suffering the consequences for not being more realistic. Part of it was optimism, but the other part was her full belief that magic could do anything, something that had been instilled in her thanks to Arakil.

"What do the keys look like?" Lily finally asked, breaking the silence.

[It differs from deity to deity. It's a unique mark that is not easily replicated, and even if copied, you still require permission for it to activate.]

"Can I see one?" Lily asked.

[Of course. I should have an example stored in my old pages...]

"Your old pages?"

[Before I met you, I had some other chance encounters. In exchange for my help or access to my archives, I requested that new knowledge be added to my book.]

Lily slumped further. "I haven't given you anything..."

[I was a lot more unrestrained back then. The current situation is entirely different, and without you, I'd be lost in eternal slumber. You've given me plenty.]

Lily blushed, feeling a little bit better. "How come I've never seen any of the old pages? Is it because you had no Mana?"

[No... more of a safety feature. I wouldn't want anyone to be able to read what has been recorded, and so it defaults to only showing what the individual has written. But, I am the master of this grimoire, and thus I can override that.]

The pages began to flip rapidly backward, as if trying to return to the start of the book. But the more pages were turned, the more it seemed unlikely to ever reach the first page. Eventually, the turning stopped, and a set of never-before-seen pages was revealed to Lily.

Lily almost gasped in surprise as she gingerly touched the pages while gazing at what was contained in the book. There were some glyphs as well as an extensive amount of text written in a language Lily had never seen before. While she couldn't read it, she noticed that the handwriting was impeccable except for the occasional girlish flourish to the foreign text.

I wonder who could've written this...