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Chapter 808: What is Mana?
🕑 Added 2024-03-20 21:01:47 +0000 UTCAlex didn't tell Professor Val’Rok everything about the Ravener.
He couldn't.
The archwizard left out the parts about the god being the one who’d made the construct, about him being dead, and that he’d engineered the Ravener’s endless cycles. He also left out the hidden church.
What he did talk about was how they wanted to shut the Ravener down forever, some of what they’d learned about the construct, and the challenges they were facing putting the different pieces together.
“We think the Ravener is going to escalate soon,” he said. “Or do something completely unexpected. So the faster we can figure out how to permanently shut it down, the better. It doesn't matter much if we find it, but still can't stop it from coming back every hundred years to terrorise and kill people.”
“That sounds like quite the problem,” Professor Val’Rok said. “I don't know how much help I'll be able to give you, but everything you've told me about this construct sounds very interesting…”
“Do you have any thoughts on how mana would flow between the dungeon cores and the Ravener, professor?” Alex asked. “Would there be a way to manipulate the mana in those pathways to our advantage? Anything you can think of?”
“Hmmmm,” Val’Rok considered the question, staring at the ceiling for a moment while thinking aloud. “How mana could flow across from one core to the next…how you could manipulate that mana. Maybe it's a hive…no, that doesn't sound right. Or it could be that it's for an artificial…no, that wouldn't be right either since it would require the cores to be very close in proximity.” He looked at Alex. “You said it converts fear into power?”
“That’s right,” the young wizard said. “So it must have its own mana producing ability, and an additional power source from all the fear it gets from the Thameish people, which is then channelled through the dungeon cores.”
Alex remembered Hobb’s words that fear would give the Ravener power over him. He tried not to dwell on that.
“That's an interesting notion,” Val’Rok said. “That's something we haven't actually been able to do as wizards. Turning basic emotions and concepts into energy…that's the domain of higher order beings from the outer planes. Demons, devils, engeli…those sorts of creatures. I wonder…”
“What is it, professor?” Alex asked. “Something about manipulating its mana pathways?”
Va’lRok shook his head. “No, not that. With the amount of mana you’re theorising this thing has, I think trying to manipulate its mana through its pathways is a dead end. It'd be like trying to redirect the ocean with a single oar.”
“Could we build something that would be powerful enough to match its mana?” Alex asked. “Like some kind of super powerful construct?”
“The dungeon core essence is already centuries beyond what we've been able to achieve. I don’t think we could make anything that would outdo the Ravener itself, as you’re describing it. No, I'm wondering about something else.”
“What is it?” Alex asked him. “What are you thinking?”
Val’Rok replied with a question. “What is magic?”
“Pardon?”
“What is magic?” the professor asked again.
“Supernatural phenomena—often outside the bounds of physics as we understand it—controlled by mana or any other similar energy. By some definitions, divinity is a form of magic, but it behaves differently enough that most people don't consider it magic,” Alex said.
“Very good,” Val’Rok said. “And what is a magic circuit?”
“A magic circuit is the basic building block to all modern forms of spellcraft,” Alex defined the term. “It’s a flowing, directed structure of energy that underpins a spell array. A magic circuit’s design tames mana, and makes it perform a function that’s desired by a spellcaster.”
“Can a spell function without mana?” Val’Rok asked.
“No.”
“Can a construct function without mana?”
“…no,” Alex said. “Are you suggesting we find a way to stop the Ravener from producing mana? That could work, but then it could still draw on the energy of the people’s fear. Also, any damage we do to it would just be repaired when it reconstitutes a hundred years from now.”
“Right,” Val’Rok considered the idea. “When it reconstitutes one hundred years from now. Huh…that’s interesting. Okay, so let's say there's a wagon at the top of a hill. What does the wagon do?”
“It sits there,” Alex said. “Unless there's something to pull or push it, a spell to animate it, or wind to push it down the hill.”
“Right, and once it starts going downhill?” Val’Rok asked.
“It’ll keep going until something stops it. Friction, if nothing else,” Alex said.
“Exactly,” Professor Val’Rok continued. “And what would happen if there was no friction?”
“It would just keep moving,” Alex said.
“And what happens to it as it rolls down the hill, even with friction in place?”
“It would build up energy and momentum,” Alex said.
“Very good,” Professor Val’Rok said. “So, that would be how the process continues, through momentum. Now what started the process? What started the wagon rolling down the hill?”
“Someone pushing it, animals pulling it, or wind pushing it, as in our example,” Alex considered each question carefully.
“And what would happen if none of those things occurred?” Professor Val’Rok asked.
“It…it wouldn't move.” Alex’s eyes narrowed. “Because the wagon wouldn’t have any energy on its own.”
“You are quite correct,” Professor Val’Rok said. “The wagon could not start its journey downhill, without an initial burst of energy to get it moving. Kinetic energy, in this case. At the same time, what does a golem need in order to function?”
Alex’s eyebrows rose. “A golem core. The golem core is its brain, and its source of energy…but…” He thought back to when he was first activating Claygon’s golem core, and activating other golems since he started working at Shale’s. “But golems need an injection of energy to start their mana production. Without the initial energy…a golem core would only be a very expensive paperweight.”
The young wizard frowned at the professor. “Are you saying…that the Ravener needs a source of energy to reconstitute itself?’
“I don't know,” Professor Val’Rok said. “All I know is that nothing in the universe—as far as we know—can be active without energy. Kinetic energy, electrical energy, mana, divinity, other forms of energy we can’t even comprehend yet…energy is needed for anything to be done. When a lich re-creates its own body, it draws the power of its soul and the mana within it to reconstruct its form. When a phoenix rises from its own ashes…well, to be truly honest, we don't fully understand how that works, but, we do know that a massive amount of energy is released when the firebirds are reborn.”
Alex suddenly jumped out of his chair and started pacing. “Energy…I think you’re right. The Ravener would need a lot of power to rebuild itself from scratch, but it can’t produce mana while it’s dead: it crumbles to dust when it's destroyed at the end of each cycle. There's no mana generator to generate mana.”
He was considering his thought, when something occurred to him. “Hold on now, it’s got two energy sources to drive it. Mana and people’s fear. It channels fear through its dungeon cores, but is that the only way it can access fear?”
“I honestly couldn’t say,” Professor Val’Rok said. “I’ve only gotten as far as the idea that energy must have a role in its resurrection process. Do you have any ideas?”
“Maybe.” Alex thought about mana rising from the mana vents in the world. No one knew where those vents originated from, or where mana truly originated from. There were lots of theories, but nothing provable. Mana permeated the air, giving rise to people being born with mana pools as well as other creatures having mana flowing through their bodies and souls.
“But how…” Alex murmured. “Professor, do we know how people gain mana pools in the first place?”
“When people are born in mana affected areas—” the professor started.
Alex cut him off. “No, I know that people born in mana resourced areas tend to have mana pools…but how do mana pools form? Do they form in the womb? In the eggs of egg-laying beings? Do they form in the soul?”
Professor Val’Rok spread his hands helplessly. “We don't know. We might never know.”
“But!” Alex said. “What we do know is that incorporeal creatures—like ghosts—can have mana. You don’t need a physical body in order to have mana. You just need to be able to absorb it from the air.”
“What are you saying?” Professor Val’Rok asked.
“What if—the Ravener can draw on power while its physical body is destroyed,” Alex said. “What if—when it’s destroyed—it can still draw on fear to power its resurrection? Cycles occur in Thameland every hundred years…when the end of a century gets closer, people worry, then dread sets in, then tension, and fear grows. Those things keep building until the Ravener comes back and then full blown terror takes over.”
Val’Rok’s eyes narrowed. “Hold on, Alex, I think you might be looking at things a bit wrong.”
“What do you mean?” the young archwizard asked.
“We're focusing on mana and how it works,” the professor said. “But it sounds like the process you're describing is closer to divinity. Gods are powered by faith and—if you have enough faith focused on a particular purpose—you can accomplish miracles, even without a deity.”
Alex thought of Uldar’s body. Priests were still able to draw on his power without the god being alive. Their faith was simply focused on what the god symbolised: the divine king of Thameland, the prophet god on his throne.
Faith that fueled him, gathered in his sanctum…
“You might be right, professor, what if it is similar to divinity?” Alex asked. “All that fear would be focused on the Ravener: on what it symbolises, even when it’s dead, it increases as the end of a century approaches. Fear gathers in Thameland, and that energy builds…letting it resurrect itself.”
Alex felt a sudden sense of dread. Wouldn't that mean that it was invincible? Wouldn't that mean they could never get rid of it? As long as there were people who knew what it had done in the past; and as long as there were people to remember the horrors of a cycle, the construct would always be feared.
It would always have that fear to draw on, and that would never end because it would never be forgotten, it would be expected to return. So what was he supposed to do? Find a way to wipe everyone’s memory?
Was that the only way to stop it from reforming?
Was the fact that people believed the Ravener would always come back…was that all that was needed for it to return? If so, what were they going to do?
…Hobb’s words came back again.
To fear it, would be to give it power over him.
Alex took a deep breath, acknowledging his rising panic and the fear that was building inside him, and let them pass.
‘What I need to do is to look at this from a different angle,’ he thought. ‘Treat it like divinity, like Professor Val’Rok suggested. Okay, so it's true that you can accomplish miracles as long as you have enough faith, even if there is no deity to wield and channel that faith…but there would be limits to that wouldn’t there? Uldar wasn’t able to heal himself on faith alone, no matter how hard he tried.’
His eyes narrowed, nearly closing. ‘After he died, faith didn't resurrect him. It didn't resurrect Oreca, either, no matter how much his priests still believed in him. Baelin said you can't bring the dead back to life, as far as we know. Let's just say, that that holds true…but…’
Something kept nagging at him.
He'd seen Carey’s soul—transformed by Hannah’s divine power—return to the material world. Her transformation likely continued in the after-world. If or when she returned to the material world again, alongside Hannah—if she could—she would be different.
‘The Ravener keeps coming back, but it’s always the same, it’s still the same Ravener,’ Alex thought. ‘And it has no soul to bring back from the after-world. So, what am I missing here? How does it reform? Maybe looking at it like divinity is the wrong tack? Maybe…’
He stopped.
His eyes grew wide.
He’d been looking at Uldar and Carey…but what about Hannah?
Uldar hadn’t been able to heal himself or resurrect after dying, but Hannah had the ability to grow, to affect the material world, even from across the veil between life and death. And there was a lot less faith being channelled to her than there was to Uldar.
Alex suspected why that difference could be.
Hannah's teleportation power allowed her to cross distances and boundaries. It allowed Alex's faith in her to pour into the after-world, empowering her soul to become a demigoddess. That power was what was sparking her ascension.
The Ravener didn’t share that power—he, Kelda and Hannah would have sensed it, if it had teleportation energy—but what if there was something else?
What if there was some inner process that Uldar had put into the Ravener, allowing it to gather fear even when it had been destroyed?
What would happen if that process was rewritten?
An idea hit him.
Something Selina had talked about.
###
Author's Note
Hello forty-four cool fools, almighty chosen, wise sages, and mighty champions! Thank you for your support!
And so Alex and Val'Rok dive into it together, once more into the breach. I really enjoy writing the relationship between Alex and Val'Rok. Each professor has a slightly different relationship with Alex and Val'Rok's is fairly unique. :)
Cya tomorrow!
Deleted scene:
"Selina talked about how I always make terrible names," Alex reasoned. "I just have to give the Ravener a stupid name and this war's over! ....nah, actually. That wouldn't work. My names are amazing, that would just make it more powerful."
Comments
George R
Awesome chapter
mant06
I wonder if somewhere life enforcers are used to limit and/or control the amount of faith and power deities can get from the people?
Joshua Little
Thanks for the chapter.
Christian Sullivan
*Rolls eyes*
Erik Bekke
Alex to thameland: Behold! The underminer! For a hundred years we were never beneath it but it was always beneath us! *roll credits*
Lola
I wonder if he is thinking about that mana expelling potion: if you force the mana out, it won’t have any to use.
terran hirons
Monsters inc?
Decide
Ah, so this is where that heat and cold thing comes in. The mechanism for its revival probably triggers when Uldars faith is low or when fear is high.
Trevor Mergen
Thanks!
