Old Magic and Memories (IV)

"Well… It's my country's language, I guess. Here, I'll quickly show you if you hand me something to write on."

Phil grabbed an old parchment lying on the table and gave it to me. When I wrote the first letter of the alphabet that I know of, I saw it morph into a message that I've never seen before in my entire life. What the heck just happened? I could still read the same lettering of the words, and I understand it perfectly, but the font changed on parchment? Was it because I was using a whole different language, and it was translating it on paper to the correct way the world sees it?

My head was hurting. Nevermind, I'll just write the alphabets down for him. Jotting it down, I quickly went over with him. It didn't take long for him to catch on, and he nodded in understanding.

With that over and done with, the magic display was still floating over the magic stone. Bringing up the pen, I dipped it into the ink. The moment the pen made contact with the stone, a small electric spark went off, causing me to reel back in surprise.

"What was that?"

"I'm not sure, but I can see that you are embedding your magic into the stone. I don't think you would even need the ink at all for this."

"Really? That's even better." With my resolution resolved, I drew a circle with a line in the middle. The screen changed to the embedded picture magnifying what I was doing. What word should I test out?

Explode? Was that even a good idea?

Without thinking much of it, I drew a line and the connected alphabet word of Explode. After that, I placed a period at the end and drew a path back to the circle. The screen disappeared, and the magic stone glowed hot red. Out of surprise, I dropped it onto the floor, and a small scale explosion insured, causing me to be pushed back hard onto the wall. Even Phil was thrown back from the blast.

I groaned. What the hell did I just do? My naivety caused a small scale bomb that left burns on my body.

"What did you just do? That was equivalent to a beginner level fireball." Phil's eyes crinkled with a grave expression.

"I'm not quite sure."

"Not sure? That's even worse. I'm glad that was only a level E magic stone. I would be afraid of what would happen if it was an S class magic stone, in which case that could have easily been 10x worse, and we could have died."

Alarmed, I was glad that I pulled a low level magic stone. How was I supposed even to know what level magic stones I even pulled out? I looked back into the wooden box; on the inside were specified numbers of magic stone left gently glowing in white.

I felt stupid. It wouldn't make sense if the magic container didn't have some kind of indication. They were 3 S class magic stones, 50 A, 150 B, 240 C, 360 D, and 1023 E. To be on the safe side, all new experiments from now on would be made with the E class. I seriously did not want to die. Maybe I can even set up some kind of force field if I learn how too. That gave me an idea.

Reaching into the magic wooden box, I pulled out a level E stone that was blue. Once again, I sat down and repeated the same process, but this time wrote 'Barrier.' The stone glowed blue, and a small blue forcefield appeared around me.

"A forcefield?" Phil touched the blue barrier, and he could not get through. For the next minute, the force field continually outputted the full energy force of constant magic until the stone became dull. The blue barrier faded and disappeared. "That's quite extraordinary. I have never seen the magic stone do that before."

I was giddy with excitement. Now I was curious if I could write more words onto the stone itself. Picking out another E level stone that was red, this time, I wrote '5-second barrier interval.' With the words finished, the barrier turned blue. It did the same thing and turned on and off every five seconds until the energy was depleted. My eyes sparkled with excitement with the discovery in hand.

This told me one thing that I could write commands on the magic stones to do specific things; the problem was the regulation of output of the stone itself. Even numbers could be written without a problem, so did that mean symbols could be used as well?

I dived into this problem and added a percentage of constant output. The barrier strength was at 30%, and it lasted for another extra three minutes. I was ecstatic. This was a fascinating way to use the magic stone. Now with a goal in mind, I had a specific idea that I wanted to create, and it was a light source that I could turn on and off.

Working with the magic stones, I noticed many different colors of stones, each with their properties and strength. It took me a bit of time to find out that the only stone that could emit light was the white-colored magic stone. For hours, I played around with words, letters, and symbols and found the right combination to keep the light going on for a couple of hours though the problem at hand was that depletion of energy.

Throughout the whole time, Phil was watching without saying a single word. He was so enamored by the strange use of the magic stones that he even gave a couple of valuable inputs.

"Berry."

"Yes?" I temporarily stopped what I was doing.

"I would like to use my first favor."

I froze. Crap.

"Teach me how to read, write your language, and do what you are doing."

"Now?"

"Anytime, in exchange, I will teach you how to defend yourself."

Defend myself, that was a valuable life lesson in this world. Security was pretty lenient, which could cause some severe problems.

"Okay." I was glad this was not too drastic. Working by myself on this was a slow process. On the other hand, having help could be beneficial. "How about this. I'll do my job during the morning, practice for a while, and then come here to learn how to read and write while I do some experimenting."

"Deal."

I continued on a bit longer until I felt utterly drained. I did not expect such a sudden backlash from using my magic for so long. I wondered if the feeling of being drained would increase depending on the magic stone level. It was a theory I needed to try out until I understood a bit more about the principal of the coding system.

With that, our life became busy and exciting. For the next couple of months, the routine that we scheduled was done in the order that I had suggested. My life was a bliss tackling an interesting puzzle that challenged my mind, eating, and working out. Phil, on the other hand, memorized the alphabet, symbols, and numbers. He could even write small sentences. He learned extraordinarily quickly, soaking everything like a sponge.

I let him do the writing of the words on parchment. It was turning into a thick book. His notes were immaculate and neat. I was glad that I remembered the rules of grammar. He wrote that in an entirely different parchment. It turned into his first volume that has been translated into his people's language.

"Finally," I leaned backward onto my hand. I solved the mystery of the depletion of energy from the crystal itself. "The answer was right there."

Phil curiously looked at me, waiting for my answer.

"Bringing magic back into the stone. The stone can not do two actions at 100%. Instead, it has to be divided into two from the 100%. By coding for the natural speed of revitalizing the magic to increase by a certain amount, the stone can do multiple actions at the same time. This solves the extension of the magic to be extended, though one still needs to be careful of depletion."

"So the problem is that going 100% is out of the question when it's divided into multiple tasks."

"Correct."

"Though the problem lies with the Common Magic Stone and Monster Magic Stone. I can't use the Monster Magic Stones for everyday use. It rejects and erases everything I have written. Only the Common Magic Stone works fine."

I held up the clear Common Magic stone in hand, already the written words on the stone itself look like the wiring of the motherboard in a computer. I placed it on the ground. Clapping it once, the light from the magic stone illuminated at 30%. Clapping it twice, it turned off, making the room turned dark.

"Kuhuhuuhuhuhu." I chuckled, pleased at myself. I reached over towards the premade watch lamp that I designed. It was a simple lamp with a hood covering over the copper wire where the magic stone would be placed. No more would I ever have to use a candle to light up the night.

Reaching over towards the magic stone, I placed it on the monumental spot. Today was a breakthrough achievement.

The number of different lamps and light fixtures I could make and sell. The amount of gold I could accumulate to satisfy this obnoxious hunger. I sighed with bliss. My mind was buzzing with excitement.

"Let's start a business," I spoke. "Together."I grabbed his hand in excitement.

"You want me to become a merchant?"

"Why me?" Phil was a bit skeptical about the offer.

"Why not you? I look like a kid. Do you think anyone would want to do business with me looking like this? Plus, you know the economy of this world. I don't."

"Well, you are right on that level."

"Mhmm, though, I would like to go into an actual written contract with you."

"I'm okay with that."

I nodded, satisfied. Then it struck me; I was so greedy that I forgot I just made a bargain with the future demon lord. Gah! I just can't take back my words. If I'm not careful, he might kill me later in my life. I need to rethink this over. Wait for a contract. Yes, that was what I was going to do. Instead, I should write a couple of extra lines saying, don't kill me. The name gaming greedy dragon truly fits me now.