Titan's Throne

Chapter 44- Pressure Magic!

TT CHAPTER 44

Pressure Magic!

...

After spending some time getting Bastian to calm down, Kenshin got Bastian to explain his theory.

Normally, when one casts a spell, one uses a catalyst, either a chant, a wand, hand seals,a magic circle or a rune. A wand was made from special materials that conducted World Energy. A rune was a mark designed using Soul Force and etched onto objects. A magic circle was a large scale rune for spells that required a lot of Soul Force. Hand seals were signs made using hands to link up pathways.

Bastian's idea was actually quite simple. His method was to use all of the above!

"All of the methods combined? How are you going to do that?" Kenshin questioned.

He knew quite well that some methods could be used in combination. For example, one could use chants and hand seals together to improve the spell's power or rate of casting.

All of the methods combined? He had never heard of such a thing. Casting was done in a specific language. Rather than a language, it could be more correct to call them a collection of sounds because none of the sounds had any meaning. They were a system nonetheless. The same applied to runes, magic circles and hand seals.

They were all systems. Bastian liked to see them as a programming language. Each method was one language, so to link the four main methods; one would need a completely new language to link them up with.

Bastian's idea was to use earth mathematics. He wanted to find a way to link runes, hand seals and chants. Thus, he decided to use mathematics, something he was all too familiar with. He went through everything he knew, from calculus to trigonometry. Then when he finally found a way to link up the languages with mathematics he came up with a brilliant idea. A compression algorithm!

"I used a compression algorithm! Observe!" said Bastian. He immediately removed his robes, and stripped himself of his underwear, allowing Kenshin to see everything. At the soul site they were naked, so Kenshin was used to this. Yet he gasped anyway. Not because Bastian was naked but because of what he could see.

To the naked eye Bastian looked no different but Kenshin saw the world through Soul Force. His Soul Force was always spread out around him and as such, it gave him feedback. After scanning Bastian's body with Soul Force, Kenshin found that Bastian's skin was marked everywhere!

Hundreds of thousands of extremely tiny marks covered Bastian's entire skin. Almost all of his exposed skin was marked with these symbols and lines.

Bastian had essentially made his body into a wand. Using his Soul Force, Kenshin could see that just by standing there, Bastian's ability to attract World Energy had increased by quite a bit. Bastian had used his compression algorithm to fuse thousands of runes and magic circles and tattooed them across his body, increasing his body's ability to conduct World Energy essentially becoming a wand.

It did not take much to guess that Bastian took hand seals into account as well. Odds were that, this algorithm was able to link every method of spell casting together.

Kenshin was honestly impressed. Whenever he moved, his eyes would be closed but that did little to hide his expression, especially from a mentalist like Bastian.

"Not only can my algorithm do this, it also allows me to chant in English!"

On the Sovereign Continent, everyone spoke one language so almost no one knew the name of the language they spoke due to this. But Kenshin had Bastian's knowledge, so he knew what English was.

When one became a Scholar, chanting became unnecessary and naming the spell in English was enough. Chanting in English was inefficient and used up a lot of mana, thus no one did so until they were Scholars.

But thanks to Bastian's compression algorithm, he had managed to make his body into a wand, allowing him to chant in English from the get go.

It seems that fate has finally smiled upon me by granting such a gifted brother.

Kenshin clapped his hands and said, "Well done brother, you have certainly done well. This is an important discovery. Your name will go down in---"

"Wait wait, I have not even shown you the cool part." interrupted Bastian.

"Cool part? What cool part?" said Kenshin.

"You really think I have spent the last week coming up with a something as simple as a compression algorithm? Nonsense! No no no, Kenshin my friend, I have spent the majority of my time developing a new type of magic! Follow me!" said Bastian enthusiastically as he walked out of the library.

Kenshin followed suite. The duo arrived in front of the tree Kenshin was practicing on earlier. Bastian told Kenshin to step back, claiming he was not able to control this spell well yet. The prideful Kenshin merely snorted in disdain and signaled with his chin for Bastian to get on with it.

Bastian shrugged and got ready. He opened up his palm and a small amount of mana started gathering there. The mana's movement caused the wind around them to start being a little violent. Grass started being uprooted from the ground and dirt was flying everywhere.

Kenshin was familiar with wind magic, so when he saw Bastian prepare his spell, he could not help but say, "Wind magic is not something special. It's quite a common magic." Kenshin saw that Bastian merely smiled and ignored him.

Then with a flick of his palm, Bastian sent the purple mana sphere flying toward the tree. The moment it hit the tree, nothing happened. Kenshin looked at Bastian, Kenshin was about to admonish Bastian when Bastian suddenly snapped his fingers and said, "Initiato."

The moment Bastian said these words, the tree and the entire area around started compressing into a ball, until the tree and the soil around it was no larger than an apple. The entire process was quick and released a strange whoosh like sound.

After Bastian had done that, he pointed to the sky and said, "Crescendo." The ball then flew up high into the sky and exploded into hundreds of pieces. The shockwave was so powerful that it broke all the windows in the mansion. Many servants where actually blown away from the direction of the blast.

"Bastian...what on earth was that?" said Kenshin. Although he did not have eyes, he more than anyone else, had seen what had just happened.

"Kenshin my friend you were close but unfortunately not close enough. What you saw before your eyes was not wind, but pressure magic!"