Exercise III, Phase II: A Supplementary Magic Lesson

Agent Eleven with his mind still foggy after his ordeal as the golden beetle, tells Miri, "Speaking of magic and battle, I think I saw some magic while I was using the Beast Stone."

Miri intrigued, asks, "Did you now?"

The agent replies, "I did. And I was curious about a translation."

"Oh? I'm sure I can help." Miri says confidently.

Agent Eleven thinks for a moment, practicing the pronunciation in his head first. He then says, "Inviaza and ivni-muraza."

Miri looks a little excited and responds, "That's a third order fireball spell and the second one is a firewall spell of the fourth order."

The agent asks, "So orders are different levels of power?"

"That's correct. There are eight orders of power. But since the days of the great ancestors, magical talent has decreased and the sixth level of power seems to be our limit." Miri explained.

"What about this one… uh…", the agent says trying to remember the pronunciation, "Corpi-Duriajha?"

Miri's eyes widen, "Wow! That's a fifth order spell for body fortification! Not many people can use enhancement magic that powerful. That's actually quite impressive."

The agent is intrigued by the response, "So Corpi-Fortiajha is a similar spell of the same order?"

Miri was impressed by his deduction, "You are correct. You have a solid fundamental understanding of magic already. Not bad for a short lesson."

"Learning is easy with a good teacher." The agent said.

Miri blushed, saying, "That's kind of you."

He remembered the other Beast Stone and told Miri, "I forgot to show you, but I got a Stone from that bear I killed earlier."

She got excited, "The Mokshanath has quite potent powers! Many warriors want their 'undying' ability to increase their survival rate on adventures. One of the downsides of it is that you have to eat a magical beast's carcass to regenerate if you're fatally wounded. You don't just magically heal."

The agent thought to himself, "(So that's why that thing refused to go down. Useful power to have.)"

"On top of that, it seems I'll have to time the activation correctly so I don't die beforehand." The agent said.

"That actually isn't necessary. You could activate it now, and it would save you as long as you held it." Miri explained.

"So that's another drawback… I have to keep hold of them somehow in a battle." The agent extrapolates.

"That has been bypassed as well, but we no longer have the equipment on us. I had a necklace I wore to channel the Beast Stones but the Mokshanath broke it. I was only able to recover the stone I have now by pure luck." Miri explains.

"Hmm," the agent ponders. "So you can put them on accessories?"

Miri nods, "You can even socket them into clothing and weapons like the adventurers, as long as the articles still make contact with your skin. Experienced adventurers socket them on the inside of their gear so they can't be easily removed by a thief or enemy."

The agent looks at the stone in his hand, wondering how to handle it, when he gets an idea. He puts the amber beast stone into his glove with the flat end on the back of his hand.

"Ap-taht."

A faint glow can be seen through the fibers of the glove, but this time, Eleven isn't sent into the world of visions.

"I can feel my body tensing up. It definitely worked. Now that I know they just need to be making contact with me somehow, this should be a lot easier to manage in combat." The agent remarked.

"That's a fine solution you discovered, Eleven. Looks like it is time to test your magic. Be safe and tell me every detail when you get back." Miri says.

Agent Eleven nods, "Of course", and gets back up, "I'm ready to embark on another outing."

"Hold on, Eleven, I almost forgot. Before you leave, I should check your other beast stone." Miri interjects. Eleven hands Miri the stone who looks instantly disappointed, "This isn't 'undying', this says 'roar'."

"You shouldn't test it in the burrow, but 'Rugladi' is how you say it." Miri explains.

"Like you said before, I just have to kill another one, and it might have the ability I need." The agent says confidently.

"You misremember, Eleven. It wouldn't be that simple. There is merely a chance a Mokshanath will drop its beast stone. And that chance is even slimmer when you factor that the one you're hunting may not have sufficient mana to guarantee a beast stone." Miri details.

"So… I'll have to hunt a lot of them." The agent says, disillusioned.

"Well… There is another way." Miri continues, "With the second method, you would need to hunt ten more of the Mokshanath."

The agent, interested in the proposition asks, "What is this method? And how can you guarantee the Beast Stone with the right ability after hunting ten of them?"

Miri smiles knowingly, "Well, when you hold a particular Beast Stone and slay beasts of the same kind, your beast stone will absorb the fallen creatures and strengthen itself."

Agent Eleven looked unsurprised by her response, "Of course. Magic is the answer."

Miri smiled saying, "I look forward to seeing your progress, I know you can do it, Eleven."

Agent Eleven absorbed the information and was ready to test his new tools in the field.

The agent pulls himself up out of the burrow and begins looking around the area, "Now that I'm not distracted or busy, I'm starting to realize how quiet this forest is.

He begins scouring the area for signs of activity but finds nothing of importance.

"(Hmm… Where should I go to find monsters to test this magic on?)" The agent ponders. "(For some reason, there doesn't seem to be much life out here besides plants.)"

That's when Agent Eleven got an idea, "(Miri. called that place behind the magic door a dungeon within a dungeon. If dungeons have monsters like that beetle, I should explore and see what else is behind that door.)"

The agent made his way toward the door when he heard the crack of branches above him. He quickly looked up and saw a cat-like beast with glowing eyes mid leap. For some strange reason, Agent Eleven could see flashes of the rat from the beetle's memories attacking from above.

Agent Eleven flawlessly dodged the attack, surprised at his own movements considering he had been caught off guard. He pulled his knife, powered it up, and readied himself for the next attack.

The cat attempted to run behind trees to break the agent's line of sight. But, the agent heard rustling from his side and turned immediately.

The cat lunged toward the agent's legs and he saw another vision flash of the half rat that tried the same thing.

Without thinking, he sliced the cat down the center of its face like a blade through paper. The cat let out a screech and flipped backward involuntarily, landing on its side. The creature kicked and scratched in every direction, unsure what had happened to it as it bled out from its face and split snout. The creature slowed its struggling movements until it lay lifeless.

"(Cat monster dispatched. That was easier than I expected. I'm sure that thing would have hit me at least once if I didn't have this stone.)"

Agent Eleven stared at the dead creature, waiting, "(So… No Beast Stone? I guess this is one of those monsters I'm supposed to 'carve up' like Miri said.)"

The agent grabbed his briefcase and opened it. He searched through it and retrieved a black leathery square. He ran his fingers around the square and found an opening. He split it open further and put his hand inside. He pushed the square open, unfolding it, to reveal a bag with a drawstring.

The agent then donned his rubber gloves, "(Time to get to work.)"

The agent sliced the creature down the middle of its stomach. He split it open to reveal organs that looked rather normal in shape and assumed function, but the colors were strange.

"(Abnormal organs immediately visible are the stomach and heart. The intestines and lungs have a pinkish color as expected. The liver is a dark maroon color as expected. Bladder and kidneys, normal.)"

The agent thought what to do with what he was seeing, "(My instinct tells me to take anything that looks weird. It could be magical somehow.)"

The agent began severing the organs from their positions and carefully put them in the black bag to not get blood on the exterior of the bag.

"(I wonder what uses a green cat heart and a blue cat stomach would have in a crazy world like this…)"

He took off his gloves, pulled the string to the bag, and put it on his back, ready to continue his trek forward.

Agent Eleven made it back to the green leaf-etched door, ("Looks like I don't have to wait this time.)"

He went through the door back into the familiar flowery patch, "(Looks like it's daytime again. A whole day has gone by in here within a few hours… How can a place like this even exist? It's just too surreal.)"

The agent went forward down the path, "Time to see what else this so-called dungeon has to offer."