Dinner

It was a strange experience. His body was perfectly fine, jet his mind demanded rest.

Vincent slept for two hours, until lunch.

His mana pool had almost filled up again – in the past it had only taken a couple of minuets.

When he opened the solid wooden door to get himself lunch, Vincent almost tumbled over the countless books stacked before his door, like a wall. After a quick count he found there to be exactly 64.

Any more and they would have needed to place a new stack. 'Lets eat first.'

He placed them next to his bed, and went to the cantina, closing the door – only to open it up again, his curiosity got the better of him.

'Let's just take a small peek, I should have an hour left for lunch, nothing's rushing me.'

The very first book was plain, no title or author.

Interested, Vincent opened the cover and found a small paragraph written in tiny precise letters. He could not find a single mistake nor decoration.

'Study's of the spell circle and formula, in hopes of creating my own.' Beneath that, the author seemed to have added something. 'For those that come after me, I have succeed.'

Vincent leaned against the wall, his small legs sprawling on the bed. He was hooked.

The author was detailed and started of, analysing the function of spells using a large amount of data. He confirmed some of the theories Vincent had. The circles had two primary functions, the gathering of mana and the transformation of the gathered energy into a spell.

'They are like miniature computers – I am the input, and my mind is the hardware. The runes however are more rigid in the task they can do.'

He raised his fist in the air.

"I will create a damn broken spell."

Sadly as he read on, the task revealed itself to be more difficult than expected.

The ring had a structural integrity, and it was easy to collapse if added too many functions. The more solid a ring was the greater its mana efficiency. He could somehow put it of with his ridicules purity, but there was a limit how broad the effects of the spell could be.

'I need a bigger sample size, so I can accuratly judge the limit of what I can put in the spell.'

Vincent looked at the other book again. Just as he had feared, they were mostly grimuars as well as observations others made on spell models. He had to read most of them. His brother gave him no shortcuts with solid data, he had to work it out himself.

'And there is still that initialization circle to crack. I heard only someone who knows the spell can engrave the circle. But no one knows a spell that is jet to be invented.'

He let the coin glide through his hands, thinking.

"Like my brother rightfully pointed out, it is not like I have an alternative. And I am a scientist, I should at least be able to tread a path that has already been walked on before."

He clenched his fist with excitement, the coin curling up.

~

' I hope I am not late for dinner.' He sprinted through the complex, his perfect memory guiding him.

Luckily he still got something.

The stew was filled with corn, vegetables and a few pieces of meat. it stuffed him to the brim.

"They have good food here, to have meat for ever worker, must cost a fortune – tastes much better than in the army. Even better its free."

His voice echoed in the empty cafeteria. He was still thinking about the books he had read.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a lot worse here. You know, they call him a demon."

Vincent turned around, pointing his spoon at the intruder.

A small red haired child was eating behind him. He relaxed.'Just a small child' Thought the small child.

She had tanned skin and wore pants and a toga.

Her eyebrows were raised.

"Wow, I was only speaking. You don't need to raise your weapon like that."

She had a slight smile on her lips.

Vincent looked at his empty bowl and stood up.

"It is not just rather good." His arms were wide open. "This is the public cafeteria so everyone is eating here. The conman soldiers as well as the more wealthy. To do what has been done, large founds and more importantly an iron clad grip on the organization is necessary."

He narrowed his eyes, staring the sceptic child down. "That is not merely okay."