Short Story Collab! (Patreon)

This is a short story, written by me, and performed by AlternateAurora on youtube!

Here's the transcript: Ah, welcome in, welcome in. Lledrith’s grand library is available to all, though of course, some spells are locked away, too dangerous… Do you have a student token? Or are you just visiting?

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Oh, you do? Wonderful. Just allow me to check it real quick… Ah, I see. A brand new student. That explains why I’ve never seen you before. Well, plase allow me to welcome you to the finest school for spell engineering, practical magic, and alchemy, as well as a welcome to our main library, and the central nexus for the entire librarian sect. Now, what topic were you here to research?

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Looking into legacies? An interesting research topic for certain, and I see now why you came to me. The mass archive of all publicly registered legacies may be open source for anyone, but with well over two billion recorded legacies, it’s a daunting task for even accomplished knowledge mages to dive into. Before we begin, are you aware of what a legacy is? 

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Well, calling it an inborn magical power isn’t wrong, it runs a bit deeper than that. The name legacy refers to the belief that they were passed along familial lines, which can happen, but is far from guaranteed. The truth of the mater is a touch more complex. It’s a framework within the spirit and body that allows for the stable creation of magic through your internal mana-garden. 

The nature of this framework bestows abilities that range far and wide, from having an empathic emotional sense to being resistant to heat to always being able to remember others names, even if you’ve heard it only once, to other things entirely. 

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Ah, that’s where your interest lies? Those that are rare, strange, powerful, or useful. Well, I’d be happy to help you find a book with records of the like.

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No? You need access to their spiritual structure? That… Hmm. Why? 

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Oh, I see. Legacies that mimic other legacies aren’t unheard of, though this sounds a bit different. Being able to choose your mana aspect and your legacy is quite the boon, even if you do need access to the structure of the legacy in order to activate it. I’m sure that plenty of people are jealous of you. But I’m not sure I can hand over the copies of the spiritual structure. It may be better to just copy it off a friend. Or I could give you what’s publicly available, which is everything but the spiritual structure, and you can

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Oh, a letter from your department head? Ah, wonderful. In that case, I would be happy to assist you. Now, there are some broad categories that legacies can fall into. These aren’t perfect – the spirit defies any attempts to define a strict taxonomy. Most things do. But they should provide us with a general guideline. 

Choice legacies are the ones you’re probably most familiar with, as they’re one of the most common types of legacies in a fashion. They allow you to choose your mana aspect, usually out of the base fourteen, and often have some extra effect. Now, you’re likely not going to be too drawn to any of these, since your own legacy already provides you with a choice from the base fourteen, but there are some interesting ones out there. But before I begin… You were more interested in unique or interesting effects than strictly powerful ones, correct? 

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Excellent. Well, why don’t we start with Chosen Vessel? It allows you to choose your mana aspect, of course, but more importantly, it allows you to imbue power from your spells and mana into objects, creating single use enchanted items. It was made famous by talisman master and professional duelist, Tae Jin-so. He would create dozens of items before each duel, then bury his opponents in attacks. That said, there are many non-combat uses too. Sealed light spells for disposable flashlights, selling healing bandages to hospitals, or short lived flight spells. There are many uses, with the right mana aspect.

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Crafting isn’t really your interest, and you don’t want to waste your legacy on something granting a choice, when you’ve already got the ability to choose? Understandable. How about we look at some physical enhancement legacies? 

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Of course. Well, how about we begin with Invulnerable. It is typically thought of as one of the highest power combat legacies, as it renders your body immune to virtually all physical harm, but that has endless uses in everyday life as well.

For something a little less combat focused that isn’t just a general boost to your strength, speed, toughness, or something of that sort, why not Earthen Oneness? That allows you to absorb magical minerals and integrate them with the flow of magical energy in the body. Absorb lightening-stone, and you can decrease your weight at will. Add in some repelling-quartz and some windspun-topaz, and you’re now able to effectively mimic the flight spell, or even a flight legacy. 

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Well, there is more to it than just a knockoff of flight. It’s limited by the minerals and metals you absorb, meaning it can grow in many ways. Integrating heartblood-garnet would enable you to heal yourself over time, and could be supplemented by several other, weaker stones. Null-steel could make you resist spells, and you know how annoying mind magic advertisements can be in your home city. A spatial lodestone could attune you to the weave of space and enhance your navigational abilities. There are countless uses, limited only by what magical minerals you’ve got access to, and the power of said minerals.

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Great! I’ll mark that as a maybe and move on. Hmm, strange legacies based on the body… How about Limb Locomotion? It allows you to painless remove and re-attach parts of your body, while still being able to control them while they’re separate from you. 

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Not a fan of that? Well, unfortunately, most of the stranger legacies that involve the body tend to lend themselves to body horror, or integration with other materials, like creating wooden arms. We can move on, though. How about we look at some casting-modification legacies? 

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Ah, I can see you perked up. You must be a fan of the practical casting side of magic. Since you’re not interested in standard modifications, like expanding the size of your mana-garden, or mana recovery rate, or that sort of thing, why don’t we start with spell gift legacies? Those are practically an entire branch of casting modification legacies all on their own, as they’re all different, but they’re some of my personal favorites. Of course, I do have some bias there, as I have a spell gift legacy myself. 

The basic premise of a spell gift legacy is that it allows you to cast a spell or set of spells that your normal mana aspect would be unable to cast. My grandmother, for example, is a mind mage and a healer, focusing on maladies of the mind, but has a comprehensive spell gift called Gift of the Healer, which allows her to cast a full suite of normal healing spells, even though she only has mental mana, not life.

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Well, healing isn’t the only kind. They come in all sorts of forms. I know you said that battle power isn’t your field of study, but these sorts of legacies are common in the grandchildren of magical beasts. They might have purely human mana at that point, but the traces of their heritage allow them to cast certain spells from their heritage regardless. 

Draconic spell legacies are always popular choices, given the might of dragons, but for a non-combat choice, the Gift of Movement contained a variety of spells that enhance your mobility. It’s a strange one, as it has spells from many aspects, with the only common thread between them being that all relate to movement. There’s flight spells, running spells, skating spells, swimming spells, climbing spells, and even a few stranger ones like warp stepping, depending on the variation you wanted to look at.

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Something a little less physical? Well, Gift of Mother Spider has a variety of information gathering and divination based spells, as well as some mental defenses and even the ability to weave a mental web that sets others to sleep. 

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Ahh, with the gleam in your eye, you must be interested in research. I’ll mark that down as another possibility, and a note to come back to other spell gifts related to information gathering type spells. For now, we’ll move onto some other casting modifying legacies. 

Manifest Grimoire is a fun one. It allows you to manifest your mana-garden as a semi-sapeint book, which is capable of devouring other books to absorb their knowledge. It acts as a natural staff for casting through, as well as your own personal mobile library. 

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Wonderful, I’ve put a note there too. Incanter is another one you may appreciate. It’s not often seen in combat mages, as it slows down casting, but it’s still a remarkable legacy. When you cast spells, you must also speak aloud about the spell. If you were to simply announce the name of the spell as you cast it, it would come out normal, but if you were to read a stanza from a famous poem about the nature of the mind to be curious, you could likely stretch the effects of a divination spell far further than a normal mage. 

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Well, if you’re interested in divinatory magic, then that does help me narrow the search down some. Why not look at the Diviner’s Compass legacy? It allows you to feed your spells through a physical compass in order to reduce their mana cost while also broadening the effects. The better the compass, the more your magic is broadened. 

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A bit too mundane? If you’re willing to move away from casting modification, how about Dreams of Destiny? It’s an odd one, giving you strange, semi-prophetic dreams. Much of what you see won’t inherently come to pass, but much of it will anyways. It’s said to be something of a curse as well as a blessing. Most of those who have this particular legacy gain some strange quirks, and often either live short but impactful lives, or become advisors to political leaders or war leaders for as long as they can manage the weight of the dreams. An interesting note in this one’s file – it cannot be stopped by a dreamless sleep potion or spell. 

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You’d prefer to keep your sanity? As would I. What about Hoard of Knowledge? I believe our very own headmaster has this legacy. It allows you to create a hoard of books, scrolls, tablets, jade slips, and other forms of preserving knowledge. The better the hoard that you own, the more powerful your magic will grow. The headmaster’s hoard is the very library we stand in now, and as I’m sure you can guess from the twenty stories above and below, he has grown mighty indeed.

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I’ve marked a note of high preference. Though, I do have one final recommendation for someone who’s interested in doing research. Ten Eyes of Magus Sight. A bit of a dramatic name, since the person who named it was dramatic herself, but it allows you to manifest a group of ten magical sensory orbs around you. Each one of those orbs is capable of recording and storing a vast deal of information to be replayed later, as if it were one of the highest grade recording crystals on the market. It can serve as a casting point for you to channel your spells through, and you can see through each of the sensors as if they were your own eyes. It takes some getting used to, but it’s excellent if you can learn to split your focus multiple ways.

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Well, I think your choice is perfect. Give me just a moment, and I’ll head into the vaults to retrieve the spiritual structure. I’m sure with your new legacy and chosen mana aspect, you’ll make a fine addition to the university, and I look forward to seeing you in the future.