Sleeping Player (Project Chrysalis Book 3) by John Gold (novel24 TXT) 📕

I doze by the flowerbed until lunch, enjoying the aroma of the spring forest. The grass weaves its way around my body, hiding me from view. Shoots start to make their way up the nearby wall.

Some girls come by in the morning to enjoy the flowers. They stroll by my body, think it’s a step, and dash off toward the dorm after furtively picking a few blossoms. All I had to do was grab their legs and yell, “Brains!” That was fun.

The battle for my second specialty is over quickly. My opponent is a fire mage who decides to incinerate me with his first attack. Really? Clothes ruined again?

He takes quick hits to his larynx, his solar plexus, and the crown of his head, the last one coming from my elbow. The battle lasts less than twenty seconds. I just wish I could make him pay for my ruined clothes—half my cloak and pants are burnt off. Unfortunately, I have to go buy a mind mage robe at the store for Academy of Magic students.

Second specialty selected: Life Magic

Life Magic spell effectiveness +100%

Anri gives me my second Life Magic specialty and tells me to make sure I show up for work this evening. In the meantime, it’s off to the Space Magic department for me. There’s going to be a lecture today.

Proximus is the dean of the Space Magic department, and he’s there waiting for people to show up. A very old man, he still looks fit and trim. He has gray hair and blue eyes, and he makes a point of just wearing everyday clothes.

I’m able to chat with him about the phenomenon I noticed over Nemida Island before the start of the lecture.

“What you saw were rudimentary natural portals. They only exist on the magic space level, which is why one of the wanderers theorized that they are a way to automatically balance density in the magic space. The same way atmospheric pressure brings about changes in the weather, natural portals in the magic space correct the density of magic energy in our space. For example, a portal could open on Tanatos and pull magic energy somewhere less dense. That’s how the rebalancing works.”

“That’s some awfully odd research work for a wanderer! And what kind of raw magic strength can flow elsewhere on its own? That just doesn’t make sense. Why don’t portals do the same thing? Shouldn’t the magic field around our portals be heightened?”

“That’s a tricky question about the wanderer. His theory was described in a poorly preserved book, and it was only based on the odd way he drew out the logic that people decided he was a wanderer. There were a lot of unfamiliar terms that were originally thought to be ciphers. As far as magic energy flows, that’s simple. Our space is made out of three main layers: the physical world, the magic space, and the astral. The continent’s portal network creates paths through all of them and prevents magic energy from flowing freely. To quote the book I mentioned, ‘Natural portals only work with the magic space layer, creating something like a buffer in the astral that we see as small islets.’ It was this theory that laid the groundwork for the study of how to work with the astral.”

“In other words, only raw magic energy flows through those miniature portals? Temporary buffers are created in the astral to connect the source and the consumer. Hm, so, could you use those portals like we use normal ones?”

“Only theoretically. Think for yourself, young man. First, you have to find them, and they only form in areas with a heightened or lowered magic field. The fact that you were able to do so is already a miracle. Second, you wouldn’t teleport to the physical world; you’d find yourself in the astral buffer. In theory, there should be an analogous natural portal in that buffer leading to some random point. When I had just started working with Space Magic, I had similar ideas. It was later that I developed a spell that combines natural and ordinary portals, letting you travel via the natural ones. It’s a simplified teleport spell, with the part about the final location and the mental body left out. Would you like to give it a try?”

“Am I correct in guessing that there aren’t any more people in the world capable of using it?”

Proximus smiles and holds out his hand, offering a deal without the quest. I shake it.

“You’re right. I’m glad I lived long enough to see whether my spell works.”

The mage laughs.

“Anri had a lot of good things to say about you, and I can see why.”

You have an offer to learn Magic space teleport

The spell teleports you into a buffer space in the astral

Requirement: Space Magic 500

Mana: 25000

Accept: Yes/No

“Thanks.”

You learned Magic space teleport.

It turns out that some mages have their own designs, including this spell. Of course, there are a few nuances, including that you have to find a natural portal and then find a way out of the astral. The enormous mana cost has to do with the fact that I’ll be taken to a special pocket in the astral, and also means that it’ll cost more if I want to take someone with me.

In the evening, I show up in the Life Magic department. Anri and the administrator are already waiting for me, and they take me into another room where they cast silence to protect us from curious ears. It’s only then that we begin talking.

“The demon you killed on the island was a huge help. The book was his diary, and, without going into detail, he was made into live mana storage that could be sacrificed to summon Beelzebub.”

“So, was he summoned? And was that… What was his name? Ekron?”

The swordswoman