The staff I handed back to Alice felt very simple. By that, I mean the way mana flowed through it. I might not be able to control my mana yet, but I can still feel how it flows. The staff had two central streams of mana and some branches in the carved head. Almost like a tree drawn by a kid. Wouldn’t this be what you want in a staff? How is it bad?
(It is too simple, Master.) Laura told me. (It cannot handle more complex spells, as they require more routes for the mana to take. If you tried casting an advanced spell with this staff, it would break. This is also why mana circuits in your body become more detailed as you level up your skills. You need more routes for the mana to take. This in return requires higher level mana control. In this way Master is unbalanced, as your mana circuits are extremely detailed, but your mana control is between bad and nonexistent.)
…thanks for that. You didn’t need to burn me so hard. I know I can’t control my mana yet and apparently I’m learning in hard mode.
(Well, at least I have you to take care of the mana control. Thank you Laura.) I thanked my ever faithful companion.
(Hard mode does not do it justice, Master. Learning mana control with your mana circuits would be near impossible.) Laura said.
(But you can do it just fine.) I complained.
(I’m system support. I can do mana control even without the skill, so this level of control is not overly difficult for me. But Master’s body does still limit mana control, leading to slower mana movement.) Laura told me.
I guess that’s why my telekinesis can’t keep up with faster movements.
(Correct.) I heard Laura say. (That is why I’m working on leveling up Master’s mana control when possible.)
“Can you tell me about this staff?” Alice asked as she was looking it over. She was like me, whenever I got Dark Magician Girl back from her.
“I’ll wait until I get a look at your mother’s staff. I think that will give me more insight into the structure of staves.” I told her. “All I can tell for now is that that staff is simple and you shouldn’t use anything but the most simple magic with it.”
“How do you know that?” Alice asked.
“Laura told me some things.” I answered.
“...I shouldn’t have asked. Then how about you ask Laura how I can make it better.” Alice requested.
That’s not a bad idea. Laura?
(You should pass mana from one end of the staff to the other. That way it will naturally develop new mana veins within it.) Laura told me and I repeated it to Alice.
“?” Alice asked as she held the staff on her lap with one of her hands on the crescent moon and the other at the bottom end.
“You know, I can’t actually see your mana.” I commented.
“Oh…” Alice realized her blunder.
“You should probably ask your mother as well. She might have her own technique.” I told her.
“Sure.” Alice responded and focused back on her staff.
“Already at it.” Christina commented as she returned. She was holding a dark brown staff with a beige sphere at its top end. An earth magic stone? Her staff was longer than Alice’s at around 1,5 meters tall. And the color was a little lighter than Alice's.
“Mother. Please teach me!” Alice requested.
“Sure, but you seem to have the basic idea down.” Christina responded. “How did you know to do that?”
“Brian told me.” She answered.
Christina then turned to me and asked the same question. “And how did you know that?”
“I have system support, remember? I can learn things.” I told her. Get full chapters from n0velfire.net
“So it can even tell you things like that.” Christina let out. “Well you wanted to see mine, here it is.” Christina said as she was showing me her staff.
Well, I did have a basic look at it already, but it really is a lighter shade of brown than the one Alice is holding. Is it because of the development of the staff or was the base branch different color? I guess even the magic stone could be influencing it.
“Could I hold it?” I asked.
“I don’t mind, but please don’t cast a spell inside the house.” Christina said as she handed the staff to me.
It’s quite heavy. It’s much heavier than I thought it would be. Alice’s was light, like I expected, but this one is heavier than I would have guessed by its size.
(Laura, analyze it please.) I ordered as I focused on feeling the mana flow.
(Sure.) Laura responded casually.
I could feel my mana flowing from my fingers into the staff. And it was different. A lot different. If Alice’s one was like a child’s drawing of a tree, this one was like one drawn by a skilled painter. The mana circuits went in different directions and had all different thicknesses. I don’t know how many there were lengthwise, but I would guess at least thirty. Compared to the two Alice’s staff had, this is complex.
(Master, the analysis is complete, but reproduction is impossible.) Laura told me.
(The magic circuits in the staff are personalized and cannot be remade by the dungeon.) Laura explained. (A reproduction would have simple magic circuits, closer to the one Alice has.)
… so if I want an OP treant staff I need to put in the work. No cheats for me. Well more like, no more cheats for me. Not that I really need a staff in the first place.
(Having one might be good for mana control practice, but it wouldn’t affect Master’s summonings or telekinesis.) Laura told me.
So it would be a waste of effort. I guess I could eventually get one, but I have no rush to prioritize one.
“Thank you.” I said to Christina as I handed the staff back to her.
“Why the sudden interest in staves?” She asked as she received her staff.
“Just analyzing things so I can improve the dungeon.” I told her.
“...what does that mean?” She asked.
“When I analyze something, I can reproduce it with the dungeon.” I told her.
“What!? Really!?” Christina seemed surprised. I guess this information is not available.
“Yeah, I can. But the reproduction is usually an inferior copy.” I told her. “For example if I tried recreating your staff, I couldn’t remake all the magic circuits that it has and it would come out like a simple staff that only has a few magic lines.”
“You can feel the magic circuits inside a staff?” Apparently that part surprised Christina as well.
“Well, kinda.” More like Laura can move my mana in a way I can figure them out from.
“How high is your mana control?” Christina asked.
“None. I don’t have the skill. Laura does my mana control for me.” I told her.
“The system support can do something like that? Now I want the system support as well.” Christina said as she heard just how useful the system support is.
“Sorry, but I can't help you with that.” I told her. I have no idea how one gains the system support. I guess it might be by eliminating a dungeon as that is how I got Laura.
But I guess I could ask the lady herself.
(Laura, how does one gain system support?)
(I can’t access that information, Master.) Laura told me.
Stupid classified information. I guess the system doesn’t want everyone to have system support. I guess the system might run out of processing power if everyone had system support.
“Mom! Please instruct me.” Alice called out to her mother. I think this is the first time I’ve heard Alice calling her mother ‘mom’. She always said ‘Mother’ previously. Progress? Perhaps.
I guess I’ll take this opportunity to slip away. I need a more peaceful spot to summon Dark Sage in, so I can ask if he can convert the monster cores to magic stones.
“I’ll be heading to my room.” I told Jenna, who was standing by.
“Sure. I’ll come get you when it’s time for tea.” She told me as I left the room.