Ch43.Circle 1 - Part3

Now that I have gathered all the Runes into my brain area, I can feel that my body slowly shrinking, it is not obvious when looking from the outside but I am currently using my Magical Energy with a sense of touch, so I can physically feel that my body in pushing my Energy further inwards and that I this is due to my change in size. I hope this is only temporary change and that I don't return to the size of a child! I have no idea why this is happening, it has to have something to do with the removal of my 'Permanent Growth' Rune. After all my research I was certain that nothing like this should happen, I mean the 'Permanent' word in the Rune means you know ... permanent.

Apparently that only applies to when the Rune is actually functioning and attached to my body. I now have to rush my plans along a bit as I don't know if I will return to my previous size when I have completed this Circle. I therefore need to quickly finish the creation process before I shrink too much, while still making sure that I complete each step perfectly.

I then concentrate as hard as I can and start splitting my Magical energy up into ten equal groups, compressing them a bit and then separating them within different parts of my body. I believe that it is best to complete this step first so that I have an absolute certainty that I have used the exact same amount of energy to link each Rune together. After splitting my energy, I gather the first tenth as well as an extra half from another tenth, thus resulting in one and a half tenths. I then compress them together as small as I possibly can, I then move that compressed energy through my body towards my brain.

After that compressed energy has arrived in my brain, I then try to change the Energy to take on the appearance of a chain. I then wrap the chain around the 'Energy Gathering' Rune and link it back to the chain, thus forming a ring surrounding the first Rune and securing it as the first Rune in the binding process. I then move the Energy chain to the next Rune and have it wrap around that Rune too, thus completing the first link.

After completing the first link, I notice that I have shrunk about 1cm in total, this caused me a quite bit of panic, but I quickly calmed down, 'No use in getting worked up over the inevitable, I can't afford to risk failing at my first Circle, just because I am scared at becoming shorter.'

After taking a deep breath, I move on to the next tenth of energy, I only gather one tenth this time and then repeat the compression process. After compressing the energy and transforming it into a chain, I proceed to attaching one end of the chain to the ring surrounding the second Rune, after completing that attachment, I then have the chain surround the third Rune and form another ring surrounding that Rune.

I do this the rest of the Runes until I have a line of then Runes, each connected from the first to the last and I only have that half a tenth energy left in my body. Everything has proceeded smoothly without anything unexpected happening, I have done enough preparation and practice using various Rune Devices, so I am not surprised that this has gone so smoothly so far. Despite not expecting to shrink, everything else has gone according to my plan with only one step remaining. Now onto the last part, completing my first Circle and officially stepping onto the path of becoming a Circle 1 Mage!!

I take a deep breath and calm my mind, I can't afford to be distracted at this moment. I gather and compress the last little bit of energy left in my body and then use that energy chain to connect the last ring to the first ring, thus completing the Binding Process.

As soon as the Circle has been completed, I feel a flash of power overwhelm me! The Rune Circle flashes in a dark black energy and all the shadows in the room seem to come alive! They start absorbing the Energy in the surroundings and sending it into my Body, slowly filling up the Magical Energy that I have lost in completing my Circle.

The Circle that I have just completed then disappears inside the Magical energy that is rushing into my body and then it continues to drift around my body, activating every now and then while applying all the passive Rune effects to my body.

I can feel my body filling up with an immense amount of physical power, my muscles are bulging and then shrinking and then bulging again until they have reached a certain level of hardness, I can feel my bones cracking and shifting, it feels like every bone in my body is being broken into multiple peaches and then put back together in a very stupid way. Although for some completely inexplainable reason these changes don't hurt, I just feel awkward and comfortable. My body has further shrunk as it has been compressed and hardened even more, it finally stopped after I lost about 15cm of height in total, this more than I expected and definitely noticeable but overall, isn't too bad. I am sure I will recover the lost height soon enough.

I can feel my mind clear up and I have gained a better sense my surroundings, I feel like I can slip into any of the shadows in my direct surroundings with a simple thought. After waiting a full three hours as my Magical Energy returns to an acceptable level. I then spent a further two hours gaining a decent understanding of the changes my body has gone through and do a few basic experiments.

I look over to the little troublemaker who is tied up next to my couch looking at me with shock in his eyes. I then try to control the shadows around him and with a thought he slowly slips into the shadows, entering my shadow space. One of the changes to my 'Shadow Lord' Rune is that I am now able to send things into my shadow space without even touching them, I can only assume that this must be the effect 'Permanent Growth' had on my Shadow Lord Rune. The area in which I am able to affect the Shadow space from has increased considerably, and hopefully will continue to grow to a larger range.

After throwing the guy into my Shadow space, I take a deep breath and exit my basement. As soon as I leave, I see some of my higher level clan members looking at me with excitement, I smile at them and then say "Good news boys, we can start our plans to take over Borties territory!!"

They all cheer at this, I have been planning on an expansion for a while now and have made many preparations that were just waiting for me to become a Circle 1 Mage. Now that I have some confidence in my ability, it is time to start improving my Clans power and begin earning more money to support me in the creation of my next Circle.

As I walk towards the Cage in the middle of my Arena I throw the punk out of my shadow space in the middle of the ring, I make sure he is knocked out and say, "Invite some of our more brutal clients to come and watch a special show tomorrow. Tell them that we are launching our first death match and only VIPs are allowed to watch. I want this guy to keep fighting against our fighters until he dies, we will bet on how long he lasts and how many fighters he can survive against."

I then look to Birdhead and say "Tell the clan members to gather some new VIP Audience members, the one who gathers the most new members will get a Rune Enhancement and step onto the Path of Magic! Also make sure they don't fuck up and invite any troublesome members, you know what I mean!"

I then turn around while saying to some other members, "Make sure he is fighting ready and that he truly believes that he has a chance to live leaving here. I don't care what you have to tell him, just make sure the matches aren't boring and he truly believes that he is fighting for a slim change of survival."

After that I Leave my house and make my way to the Academy. I want to have a quick checkup with Epolenet and Senloki to make sure that everything is fine and that I have successfully completed my First Circle. I am sure everything is perfect, it's just that I have never read about a Circle changing a persons body this much after its completion. When a Mage usually completes their Circle, the Circle will just bind to their new Magical Energy that they absorb and then flow through their body, ready and waiting for when it is called out to be used in a spell. It might be because I have created my Runes Internally or that I have mostly chosen Runes that passively affect the body, but I just want to make sure that I haven't made any mistakes in my Circle creation process.