Magic is Programming

Chapter 13: Making Soul Structures

Carlos frowned and put a hand on his chin, thinking. "Hmm. A dungeon core making a soul structure. Amber, do you know any reason why it might not work?"

"Um. Well, dungeon cores don't have mothers to give them soul shells. On the other hand, dungeons have a much stronger natural influence on mana, so I'd think they shouldn't need a soul shell."

Carlos nodded. "Makes sense. That just leaves us back at no ideas, unfortunately." He paused briefly. "Purple, I think you need to talk with someone who has experience making soul structures, and see if you can give them an impression of what your attempt was like so they can tell what's different. Since you can only talk with me so far, that means I need to make a soul structure first."

[Ok. Can wait.]

"While I do that, how about you get started on setting up defenses? If you have enough mana for that?"

[Cave had mana. Enough. Two pits. Two darts.]

Carlos glanced towards the narrow passage they'd entered through. "Can you disarm the traps temporarily when we need to get past them?"

[Yes.]

"Good. Then let's start with a smaller version of what you had near Erlen. A pit trap, a dart trap, and then a combination, all in that tunnel."

[Ok.]

"Alright. Now I'll just help Amber finish setting up camp here, and get to work on a soul structure." Carlos stood up and turned toward the center of the cave, where he'd put his pack, and started getting out the tent.

Carlos meditated with his eyes closed, sitting next to Purple's crystal. He remembered the sensation of mana flowing. He remembered the feeling of something being etched into his soul. He held both of those feelings in his mind, and focused on the idea of understanding, just as he had when he made his wish with Purple. He felt like he was close to a breakthrough, but wasn't sure whether he might just be imagining that.

At first, various itches and cramps and noises had distracted him, but he'd dealt with those and pushed what remained to the background, allowing him to focus properly. He pushed mentally at the concepts he was focusing on, but more minutes passed with no change. The feeling of a near breakthrough remained, but came no closer.

He took a deep breath, and paused to consider. Was there something missing? What all had Amber said about soul structures, and making them? Carlos breathed in, and out, his mind calm. Amber had talked about conceptualization. Mana. Soul shells. Synergy connections. Connections... Oh, of course! If he weren't so calmly meditating, Carlos might have slapped his forehead. He needed to focus on how those feelings and concepts should combine.

He took another deep breath. No use scolding himself, just use the new insight. Once more, he brought to mind the feeling of mana flowing. The feeling of something being etched into his soul. He imagined the mana flowing into a newly made etching in his soul. He focused on the idea of understanding. The feeling of that understanding being etched into his soul with mana. He felt mana begin to move.

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He paused, and felt the mana hesitate as he did. He breathed in, and out. Something felt off, in the back of his mind. He had successfully started etching understanding into his soul, but was that really exactly what he wanted? Amber had warned him about the risk of getting small details wrong. He wanted to understand everything, that was definitely right. But this soul structure... The purpose of this soul structure was to give him the ability to understand.

Carlos let out a sigh of relief at the close call. He had almost made a soul structure just to preserve and store his current understanding and knowledge, not to help him gain new understanding. Thinking of that, he remembered that he also wanted to base it on the wish Purple had granted him. Maybe even incorporate that wish's magic, and transform the existing wish-spell into a soul structure, instead of building one entirely from soul shell mana.

He kept the feelings of mana flow and soul etching in mind, but carefully changed the concept to etching something to enhance his ability to understand. He imagined taking the magic of his wish and literally etching that into his soul. He felt his mana reach out and connect to something. Something that, while not truly his in the same way, was still firmly intended for his benefit.

He imagined pulling that other thing into his soul, transforming it into an etching, and augmenting it. Creating a structure that would continue to provide the same effect he already had, the same ability to understand languages and more easily comprehend things, and that would improve and get even better as his soul developed.

Something almost clicked in his mind and soul, and mana began to move. A veritable flood of mana, at least compared to anything he'd felt before, poured out into that connection, and he felt it enveloping that not-quite-foreign construct of mana, coating its surface and forming a complete outline. Then, his mana began to pull, and the etching began.

It was huge. Even the complete light spell had finished etching into his soul faster than Carlos could blink, but this time the feeling just kept going. He carefully suppressed any questions about how long this would take, and kept focusing on the concept of what he wanted this soul structure to do, and how it should be formed. Minutes passed, and mana kept flowing.

Finally, he could feel that the semi-foreign mana construct had fully become his, embedded into his soul as a large etching, and the flow of mana slowed. The fringes of the structure were built out a bit more. Weak spots reinforced. Foundational spots for future expansion and growth formed. What had been a flood slowed to a stream, then a trickle. The flow stopped, and Carlos felt a sense of profound satisfaction and completeness.

He opened his eyes, and took another deep breath. Now for the final step. He had to lock it in by using it. Well, he had a very simple and easy way to do that. "Amber? I did it." He spoke quietly, hoping to avoid startling her, but consciously making certain the words came out in her language, the language of this world that he could only speak because of his wish. And now, that wish had become his first soul structure.

He felt his new soul structure pulse, and settle into place. Its structure solidified and hardened, gaining a sense of permanency.

Satisfied that his work on this soul structure was complete, Carlos stood and walked over to Amber, where she was sitting next to the tent. Purple's glow was still dim, but it was enough to see that she was sitting with her eyes closed. He gently put his hand on her knee, the signal they'd discussed as hopefully enough to get her attention without disrupting her focus too much.

Amber opened her eyes and looked up at him. "You finished it?" Her voice was calm and even.

"Yes. I'm using it to talk now; the wish is gone. I also found a detail to be wary of. Make a soul structure for the ability to understand, and especially the ability to more easily comprehend new things, not for understanding by itself. I think I almost made a soul structure that would have been just an archive of my current knowledge."

Amber nodded. "Thank you. I think I would have avoided that mistake on my own, but it's good to have the warning. Anything else, or should I get back to making mine?"

"That's all. Good luck."

Amber closed her eyes again, and Carlos walked back over to Purple and sat down. "Ok, I've experienced making a soul structure now. Show me how your attempt felt."

[Ok.] Carlos felt a set of sensations coming over the mental link, and consciously held back his new soul structure from trying to turn them into words. There were too many details for any reasonable translation into words to do it justice properly without losing things. He did want its assistance in understanding these sensations, though.

Purple continued transmitting the sensations, and Carlos set about making sense of it all. A lot of it was strange to him just because it didn't even use the same senses Carlos had. Purple's ability to perceive and manipulate mana was vastly superior to Carlos's, and at first he was all but lost in trying to sort through a sea full of mana currents.

After several minutes, Carlos managed to narrow the scope of what he was examining down to just the mana Purple had tried to turn into a soul structure. It was under Purple's tight control, but compared to what Carlos had felt making his own soul structure it felt wild. Untamed, with currents within it that flowed in every direction regardless of Purple's will.

With one potential problem identified, Carlos turned his attention to the other major part of the picture: the concept Purple was trying to push into the mana. It was... a bond of some sort? Carlos tried to find more, what the bond would connect to, and what effect the bond would have, and... found almost nothing. There was a vague sense of maybe connecting to Amber, but Purple wasn't focusing on that. As for what the bond would do, Purple seemed to feel that was obvious and didn't need to be specified.

Carlos shook his head. "I think I see what's wrong. And I see some ways to improve what you intended."

[Oh. Fix better?]

"Yes, I'll help you fix this and make it better. To start with, the mana you use for this will become part of you, and for that to go well I expect it will need to be much more thoroughly under your control."

[Not understand.]

Carlos frowned. He might be talking in words, but if he focused on it he could tell that Purple was getting non verbal concepts through their link instead. He focused on an impression of a stream of mana filled with wild currents and eddies, then imagined those currents and eddies dying down, ending with a stream of mana all flowing smoothly and calmly, following Purple's directions attentively.

[Oh! Can do. But takes time.]

Carlos nodded. "Good. The other problem is with your concept for the soul structure. What do you want that bond for?"

[Talk. Understand. Like with you.]

"Ah. She'll appreciate that, but you need to hold that purpose in mind. The mana doesn't know what you want if you don't tell it."

[Oh. Ok.]

"Now, for improving it. Instead of making one bond, make a soul structure that gives you the ability to make bonds with anyone. Then you can make a bond with her, and if you want to make a bond with someone else in the future you can just use the same soul structure again instead of having to make another soul structure for it."

[Huh.] Purple paused, and Carlos felt a sense of uncertainty over the link. [Don't want other.]

"Last week, you didn't want this bond either. You don't know who you might meet in the future that you might want to bond with. And for right now, you'll get the bond you want regardless."

[Ok.]

"And one more thing. Instead of talking, have the soul structure make these bonds to communicate."

[Oh. Yes. Good.]

"Ok, that's all I've got. See what you can do with that. I have my own project to get back to."

[Ok.]

Carlos closed his eyes to begin working on his second soul structure.

Enchanter Tornay nodded with satisfaction at the glowing white dot on the thin sheet of platinum-inlaid steel he was holding. "I have the destination. It will take me the rest of the evening to make a scroll to teleport there, and I don't know what might be waiting for us. If you want to see this through personally, come prepared for anything tomorrow morning."

Darmelkon nodded. "Of course. See to your own preparations as well, enchanter. I doubt those two have any real backing, but they've pulled some surprising tricks. It would not do to underestimate them." He turned to the door, and walked out, calling out over his shoulder as he left. "I will see you at your shop, at dawn. Good doing business with you."