43 Learning Array Basics
Andrew returned to his cave as he put down his token on the ground. He unruffled his mana sense as he activated a newly created function which was titled [Basic Array Symbols].
As soon as he selected that function, an immense amount of data flowed into his brain. Weird shapes started to pour into his mind as intricate symbols imprinted themselves into his memory. They all had odd and chaotic shapes as they appeared extremely blurry and incomprehensible.
Andrew was forced into meditation as he entered his soul domain just to see those chaotic shapes wreak havoc in there. They acted like bullets and ricocheted from the borders of his soul domain.
Naturally, Andrew knew how to handle this situation. First, he focused on the transparent and blurry symbol which was closest to his soul core.
The moment his entire attention was locked on it, his soul core released dark tentacles. Those dark tentacles chased after the madly speeding symbol.
Eventually, the tentacles managed to plunge that blurry shape into their embrace and a cocoon formed to isolate the symbol from the world.
Andrew repeated this process as dark tentacles shot out from his soul core again and again just to plunge each symbol into absolute darkness and isolation from the world's mana.
It took him an entire hour just to capture those shapes.
Surprisingly, he still couldn't identify the shapes of those symbols even though they were in his soul domain where his mana sense was at its strongest.
14391 dark cocoons were scattered throughout his soul domain. They quietly hovered there as their presence was undetectable.
Then, Andrew went for the second step as he pushed each cocoon into the center of his soul domain where his soul core resided!
One by one, the cocoons entered the soul core and started to visibly dissolve!
Yes! The soul core was absorbing them!
The more the soul core absorbed, the brighter and bigger it became! Although, the individual improvement that one cocoon could give was minuscule, the combined progress was stunning!
The soul core expanded by 1 percent just after absorbing several thousands of those cocoons!
The process didn't seem to stop as the soul core madly gobbled those trapped symbols.
Suddenly!
Andrew got an inexplicable feeling when the last cocoon was devoured...
His soul core started to hum as Andrew's soul projection shot inside his soul core!
Andrew took a lotus position in the center of his soul core as he entered a peculiar trance...
He felt a connection...
Connection to something grander! To the world!
Even though he connected with the world when he became a mage, it was more subtle and unnoticeable. He felt as if he was scratching the surface.
But with the assimilation of the runes, Andrew felt like he formed a genuine link with the world's mana.
Those runes allowed him to understand mana even deeper!
Now, he felt like he could communicate with the world!
Andrew returned back to the physical world.
He felt different the moment he opened his eyes.
He looked around as the newly formed link transformed the world in his eyes.
'Huh, I can see mana now' he thought as he could see different currents of mana.
They weren't exactly currents, but more looked like strings that pieced the world together.
He tried to touch those strings. Alas, his hands simply passed through them as if they didn't exist in the first place.
'Let's check out my newly gained abilities' Andrew decided as he unruffled his mana sense.
It instantly covered 25 meters in radius the moment he unfolded it. His mana sense looked nothing out of the ordinary as he deeply inspected it for any changes.
The depth of perception was significantly boosted as he now could outline each dust particle. Except that, everything was the same.
Yet, Andrew knew that it wasn't over. With just a thought, he tapped into the depth of his soul core.
The next moment...
Thousands of pitch-black runes painted his mana sense!
They floated around, granting majestic shine to the mana sense. Dark luminescence illuminated the space as the cave was now covered in thousands of mini shadows.
Andrew managed to move them around in his mana sense, but failed to change their shapes.
'Interesting' he commented in his mind as he tried to do a whole other bunch of things.
Andrew attempted to create a new rune, deriving it from hundreds of others. But it crumbled after milliseconds of its creation.
He tried different ways for several times, but everything was for naught as the newly created runes just simply dissipated.
'It seems my proficiency with them isn't sufficient to derive new runes or edit them' Andrew concluded as he tapped into his token once again.
There, he selected [Arrays For Beginners] option as a hovering translucent screen appeared in front of him.
There were a couple of icons saying:
[Low-level tier 1 Arrays]
[Mid-level tier 1 Arrays]
[High-level tier 1 Arrays]
Naturally, Andrew selected the first option since he was clueless about any tier and level of arrays.
[Low-level tier 1 Arrays]
[Select a lesson]
[Array Scheming]
[Array Founding]
[Array Constructing]
[Array Activization]
[Array Scheming]
[Meticulously plan out all the properties of your array in order for it to work in harmony with the world's natural forces like gravity, air, earth and many others]
[Array Founding]
[Once you properly plan out the functions of the array and its interaction with the world, use a magical object of the same level and realm as an Array Core]
[Array Constructing]
[Engrave the necessary runes into an Array Core to get desired abilities. Make sure to harmonize the abilities since in case of improper wiring the Array Constructing might fail and the Array Core has a high chance of being destroyed]
Of course, those were just brief descriptions and Andrew had to spend an entire week just to read through all of that information and 2 more weeks additionally to practice the rune-making.
The rune-making was incredibly complicated since Andrew had to create symbols that could be integrated into the Language Of Mana.
He spent another week just to create 3 runes.
'The programming language of mana' Andrew had a casual thought as he finished making the fourth rune.
'Although these runes are just copycats of Basic Array Symbols, they still have power befitting low-level 1-grade runes' Andrew thought as he freely manipulated those 4 runes in the range of his mana sense.
Those runes were: Suppression, Restoration, Erosion and Growth. Even though those effects could be seen in other runes too, these 4 runes gave specific emphasis on them.
Andrew decided to compare their abilities as he picked up 2 rocks and applied the same physical force to turn them into powder.
Then, he expanded his mana sense over their remainders as the original Restoration rune and his own version hovered above the powder.
The next moment, the runes glowed even brighter as chunks of powder below them started to gather back into their original forms.
It took only 4.37 seconds for the original Restoration rune to form the rock back into its initial shape. Whilst it took over 5 seconds for Andrew's creation to do the same.
'It's still inferior' Andrew concluded as he decided to polish his rune-making for the next week.
The lowest graded runes can be made deriving from the Mana Language itself rather than giving specific inputs of energy from the scratch. The Basic Array Symbols are also often referred to as Original Mana Runes since it's the same thing. Both of them are used to communicate between magical beings and foremost with the world!
___
3 months later.
A handsome young man draped in blood-red robes walked out of the cave as he brushed off the accumulated dust with a simple gust of wind.
He had a profound air around him as an aura of enlightenment radiated from his figure.
He had a satisfied smile plastered over his face as he walked towards the training grounds of 5 elite corps of Demonic Abode.
While walking he would occasionally release strange dark symbols that painted the tunnel in radiant colors.
The iconic blood-red color especially shone as he unleashed the artistic sense he got from the tireless hours of rune-making.
He turned around to sightsee all the artworks he had created along the way.
The walls of the tunnel were now engraved with numerous statues that depicted fictional yet bizarre events.
The figure of the same young man could be seen in the carvings as he was pictured standing atop a mountain of corpses with a victorious smile.
'Rune casting is so effortless, I just expand a bit of my mana and the world does the rest' Andrew mused as he morphed the carvings into different fictional yet epic scenes.
Then, he opened the dead end of the tunnel as he headed straight to Array Association.
Once there, he saw a different clerk sitting at the front desk.
Andrew approached him as he said the following words with a confident smile:
"I want to join in"
