Project Seraphina [LitRPG, Magitech, GL]
3.48 The Glyph of [Reflect] II

With the knowledge of what the array does, I’m a lot more confident with some of my earlier speculations. I was correct that this is an array very similar to [Luminous Barrier], although the overall function is a lot more abstract— and potentially powerful— than the simple physical reflection of Light I had originally envisioned.

It also speaks to the nature of elemental damage more broadly, and how it corresponds rather nicely to those I’ve heard about in video games. There are seven elemental attributes: the four classical elements of fire, earth, water, and wind, plus light, dark, and lightning. Each of them can either be from worst to best, vulnerable, neutral, resistant, nullified, absorbed, and reflected— although it’s debatable which is better between the last two. And vulnerability and resistance both come as percentages, increasing or decreasing the damage, respectively.

I speculate— this time with no proof— that absorption and reflection might also be percentage-based as well. Absorb a portion of the damage dealt— perhaps ten or fifty percent? Reflect a quarter of the damage back, sustaining the rest? I could see both of those happening.

One thing about elemental affinities is that it is incredibly difficult— if not impossible— to combine them. It’s not difficult to use them in succession, as I do with my [Mechanical Arm Cannon]. But combining [Fire] and [Water] to create steam, or combining [Water] and [Lightning] to create some sort of ‘storm’ element, is considerably more difficult. Not impossible— I’ve seen references to attacks that deal multi-elemental damage in descriptions. And some exotic materials, like these wyvern scales, do naturally resist multiple elements.

But I doubt I will be able to use this [Luminous Reflector] array to enchant my equipment with protection from every element at once. It just seems too easy, and I’m certain I’ll run afoul of some asinine rule of another at some point to prevent gaining too much power too soon. Because being able to reflect every element of damage when I’m nowhere close to the level cap of 255 seems way too overpowered. No excuse not to try, but I’m not going to hold high expectations.

Another speculation: The number and complexity of the arrays I can enchant into a single piece of equipment is directly tied to the quality of the material used to make it. Iron is hardly suitable for inscriptions at all, except when dispersed over a very large mass. Copper, like my [Flawed Ring of Regeneration], is better, but it's still difficult for it to hold the array currently etched into it; it nearly half-melted my finger as I was carving the inscriptions. Aluminum and Titanium are better still despite their light weight, as seen with my [Mechanical Arm Cannon]. Then there's silver, palladium, probably, and the like which can hold more complex arrangements before the material gets overwhelmed. Platinum, osmium, and other dense, heavy metals? I would imagine that’s a tier above silver. And then… magical materials? Metals not previously known to science, infused with [Ether] and other magical properties? Those could potentially do so the best of all.

In either case, it’s more important and urgent to spend this afternoon studying the array and figuring out everything I can about it. Without doing this much, trying to incorporate it into a piece of equipment is a fool’s errand. And I think I’ve figured most of it out.

I was confused at first, about what this glyph does. It uses [Ether] to reflect Light, rather than reflecting an unspecified target using Light. In both cases, however, there’s a deliberate ambiguity introduced into the glyph as a whole, to account for the fact that the spell— as constructed— doesn’t know its target ahead of time. And this tells me something about the glyph language as a whole.

Consider the simple sentence ‘Reflect!’ as an imperative. There is no subject in the statement. Nor is there one in the more complex statement ‘Conjure [Ether] and form a barrier to reflect light.’ In either case, the subject— you— is implied from the sentence structure. However, in this case, it’s the object of the statement that is left purposefully undefined. Something like, ‘I shall form a field of [Ether] like a mirror and use it to reflect.’ In English, the statement reads a bit awkwardly, like there ought to be something being reflected, and the ‘something’ has been deliberately left out. But in the glyph language, it flows just fine. Sort of like a wildcard symbol in things like search engines and the like.

Ambiguity— deliberate and unintended— forms a core part of the language, especially as it pertains to spellcrafting and [Glyphcasting]. It is possible to build a spell in such a way that it requires a set amount of [Ether] to cast. This is why Chloe’s [Curing Light] always costs her exactly 39 [Ether]. It has been baked into the spell formula she learned as part of her class.

Alternatively, the cost of the spell can be left undefined. In this circumstance, the spell takes as it needs to produce the effect. This is probably why my spells are so prohibitively expensive for their effects. The more ambiguity, the less precise the glyphs, the less Skilled and Experienced the caster, the more [Ether] it costs to produce the same effect.

Which is why, even if I had my current knowledge of glyphs and tried cast [Luminous Barrier] a few months ago, I wouldn’t have been able to do so. I simply don’t have the [Ether] to try to generate that effect by linking [Light] and [Repulsion] using the rudimentary techniques I’d been using in months and even weeks prior. Now, however, I can and will.

“You figured it out, didn’t you?” Chloe asks.

I glance at the microwave. Five to four. Chloe’s been in and out of the kitchen-turned-workstation, sometimes watching, sometimes getting up to watch TV or scroll through social media and check the news for any interesting information. Right now, she’s busy rolling up some tortillas with cheese and sauce, preparing enchiladas for the night’s dinner.

Absently, I’m wondering if Stefan is any good at cooking. I hope, for his sake, he is, as I would not wish Lindsey’s cooking upon any but the most foul and reprehensible people in the world. And though he’s not a paragon of righteousness and morality like Chloe, I would not count him as part of that group.

“Not quite, but I’ve just had a breakthrough.”

“Are you going to want to practice with it?”

“Want to, always. Going to? Not a chance.”

“Is it that dangerous?”

“Not to me. It’s a glyph that repels Light attacks and sends them back at the attacker. And no, I’m not going to ask you to cast [Scouring Light] on you. Nor am I going to ask you to grab my [Shining Sword] and attack me with it.”

“Good.”

I stare, bemused. “Good?”

“Two months ago, you would have been all, ‘not taking a risk is itself taking a risk,’ and then demanding that I attack you so you could test things out. It makes me happy knowing that you’re moving past that.”

I sigh. “Yeah. I still don’t like the idea of not testing it, especially because this is the sort of thing that feels like it’s going to be a huge boon the next time we go in the Tower. But after seeing how my impromptu experiment with spellcrafting hurt you… Yeah, not keen on repeating that anytime soon.”

“Thanks, love. Also, Alana messaged back about half an hour ago. She said that if there’s no monster attack by tomorrow, she and Jasmine are more than fine to come with us, but she wants to go tomorrow since she’s gonna be busy Monday and Tuesday. She also said that they both went in and cleared the first seven floors, and are interested in starting from floor fifteen so as not to make us start the Tower from the beginning.”

I put away my sketchbook. “Anything I can do to help out with dinner?”

“Hmm… No, I think I’ve got everything just about ready. And I think it’d be better to use the oven than ask you to try to cook it with your glyphs.”

“Hey! No, wait, that’s probably a better idea. No insulation if I try to cook it out here.”

“And?”

“And what? I thought I gave a perfectly good reason why you’re right.”

Chloe walks up to me with all the speed and grace that her superhuman attributes allow her, sweeping me up out of my chair and into her embrace. Then she kisses me for good measure.

“And I think it’s best that you not use your magic while distracted.”

After dinner, I slip out of my clothing and armor and into another long, hot bath. As Chloe said the other day, enjoying the creature comforts of modern society is a good, self-interested— if a little selfish— reason to want to protect it. And though it may be disheartening to some of the more morally-minded people— including Chloe— I would much rather trust people to act in a manner consistent with pure self-interest than some loftier higher ideals. Especially the people who would go out of their way to seek power even at the cost of so many lives.

I… I suppose I should count myself as part of that group as well. As much as I claim to protect people, there’s a certain degree of selfishness to my actions as well. And I like having power. Maybe it’s a consequence of having grown up without any, but the idea of having the power to shape my own future is enticing. Alluring, in a way that doesn’t always lend itself to the most moral of outcomes.

Absentmindedly, I mentally conjure my [Luminous Reflect] glyph in my mind, holding it in place with my [Intermediate Glyph Manifestation]. Now that I’ve deciphered the glyph’s function and how it works, I can really start to analyze it— figure out how it works, and how I can potentially modify it. I would love to find some way of giving myself [Lightning Reflect] more than anything, considering my class’s seemingly inherent vulnerability to it. I say seemingly, because neither my [Mechanical Arm Cannon] nor my [Wings of Icarus] mention a 25% Lightning vulnerability, but I still have it nonetheless.

I also wonder, in my musing, whether the spell I’d cast in the Tower, the one that backfired on Chloe, was really a miscast on my end. What if the robots had had a partial Reflection defense against Lightning? Something I hadn’t even considered possible at the time, and one I need to be far more mindful of in the future, lest the results be even more catastrophic.

Unfortunately, it proves to be a task a bit too difficult. [Lightning Barrier] was possible to form from [Luminous Barrier] through relatively straightforward manipulations. Tricky, but possible. But [Luminous Reflect] is quite a bit more compact in its overall shape, and I don’t see a way to accommodate the larger, spikier [Lightning] glyph where the [Light] glyph currently goes.

I’ll probably need a few more ranks in my [Glyphcasting] and [Intermediate Glyph Manipulation] before I can do the manipulations properly. Maybe with a lot of guessing and checking and testing, but not at the cost of risking Chloe’s health and well being. At least, not unless it’s in the service of preventing an even greater, more imminent threat to the same.

As I soak in the tub, I start thinking about Monday’s excursion. I probably want to get a couple more gemstones from Zackary’s, although there’s still the issue of how to do so without revealing the existence of those [Level Apples]. One I might have the answer to in short order.

In my memory, Madison had access to an [Inventory]— an extradimensional storage that she could put items into and draw from them, seemingly at will. If I could learn to unlock the same ability for myself, whether by finding the Skill or learning how to manipulate space— as [Gravity] does— then my concerns would be completely negated. I could store those apples and Chloe’s [Rekindling Feather] in a pocket dimension, where it should be virtually impossible to locate them through virtually any means.

No, I don’t know that for sure; every Skill and ability has countermeasures. Glamours can be pierced through a sufficiently powerful [Identify], just as I expect the reverse to be true. I’m learning how to negate and even Reflect the same evocations I’ve been generating. The weapons and armor that I’ve been crafting can be sundered. Bodies can be broken. And, considering the consequences of breaking [Angelic Bond] include the loss of three levels, I’d be willing to bet there are other ways to lose levels and the accompanying stats as well.

But that’s a Monday problem. For now, it’s time to turn in for tonight. Possibly after some fun with Chloe first.