Mortimer collapsed, his face burried in a pile of books about barriers and their longevity. By this time he'd given up hope on creating mortar out of magic, it just couldn't be done unless he unlocked the secret of an eternal spell, a spell he hoped he could apply to a barrier. Theortically it was possible, but it appeared that a constant supply of magic energy would be required for a near indefinate sustainment. "Ugh, maybe I should just figure out how to bring my shadow to life and make it build a new wall"...By this time he was too tired to think about this much more. Grasping a pen and laying a blank sheet of paper out, Mortimer promptly fell asleep. Hopefully his subconsious would have some better ideas than what he could come up with now.

OOC; Your probably going to walk in on me asleep with my hand writing inscrutiable things on the paper... love to see how you ract to that xD

Umi walked back into the library for the first time in months, finding the guy he was looking for, he looked over his work, aside from the random scribbles, Umi could tell the basic theory of it. Withdrawing his artifact, he decided to work on his healing magic. Taking out down a scroll from the wall, he searched it for a new spell.

Umi: Eh... Ill just make up my own, Ill call it Sanare, and base it off the healing techniques i already know.

*Groan* Mortimer awoke to find that his subconcious had started playing tic tak toe. *ARRGH* making a mental note that he was completely useless, he proceeded to read the books all over again. He guessed he should start with the basics and make a stronger barrier. Deflexio lasted a long time but it was sill fairly weak. He needed to make the barrier sronger first of all, then he could try concentrating on longevity.

From what mortimer could tell, the primary strength of a barrier stemmed from the lattice which existed within the bounds of the circle. Supposedly the spells that were created thus far all involved the "spirits of magic" to form the circles based on the incantation.

This got mortimer thinking, "how strong would a barrier be if one could actually control the shape of the lattice instead of leaving its form up to an incantation. With that, he began testing his theory, first by forming a circle made of magic in the air. Then overlaying it with a series of lines, crisscrossing them so they created a checkerboard appearance in the circle.

It was difficult work, he had to constantly visualize the entire circle to keep it from dissipating, and almost lost it several times "no wonder people just enchant these things, the concentration is STAGGERING". Upon completion of the barrier he attempted to form a sagitta magics punch only to almost lose the barrier in the process. he had to keep concentrating on it or it would disappear. That meant he couldn't concentrate on making any other spells. Which meant he had to find someone who could destroy this for him.

Unfortunatly the only one he could see in the library at the time was some upperclass cleric. And clerics weren't known for their attack spells. "ARG". Groaning once more, mortimer fell back into his chair. Still concentrating on the circular checkerboard, he tried to figure out how he could solve the dilemma.

OOC; There you have it, I'm working on experimental new magic barrier design and I can't break it… What will happen next...

Umi: Well, the major weakness of the Cura spell is the lack of power, and that it cant handle wounds created by battle magic, so i'll create a barrier, capable of complex rejection magic to cancel the effects of the attack magic, and then repair the damage with a high level Healing Spell it would take a little more skill to use....

Focusing on the healing spell he made up, he tried to create a barrier for attack rejection, but only came out as an anti-magic barrier.

Letting the barrier dissolved he took a quick look at the books the cleric was using. Apperantly he was trying to create a barrier to stop attacks while at the same time heal a person. From the looks of it he'd managed to create an anti-magic field similar to a Dispulo spell. Granted it was still invariably useful but it would also cancel any cure magic if he tried to use it simultainiously.

Thinking back, he recalled his grandfather utilizing a spell which only reacted to an enemies attacks unless otherwise directed. Now what was it again....NOCTURNA NIGREDINIS. EUREKA. It was so simple. All he required was to form a shadow familiar and then direct it. Dashing through the library he found the book on creating the temporary familiar. If he was right, this could also be used to regulate magical energy into a semi permanent form. But that would come later, first he needed to learn the basics of nocturna nigredinis.

OOC; Going to try to learn the basics of nocturna nigredinis. You know, that spell used by the blond girl who kept having bouts of public nudity LOL. Anyway; found a list of negima spells which might be helpful; http://vetus.wordpress.com/spell/. P.S. Looks what you want to do is create a reflexio sphere with a cure affect on the inside maybe... Open to advice or comments your willing to give

(we use vetus all the time. I bookmarked it on my ipod.lol)

Umi: that would only block the magic, i need to absorb it, i can write something up built to absorb and redirect it,but without the healing magic... Oh, i have an idea!!

OOC; If I recall correctly the only way to aborb magic into you own spell is by either using magic vampirisim or magia Erebea... but I'm curious with what you've come up with.

Reading over the spell again, he believed that he almost had it worked out. The shadow minion itself was supposedly a manifestation of ones subconscious mind, given form by the users own shadow and magic. However the subconscious mind was often interchanged with or substituted by the casters will. If left in default mode, the familiar would only react to overt attacks, given that the subconscious isn't capable of recognizing subtlety.

So he was wrong and it couldn't be used to maintaain a permanent spell, but it would still be useful to know and test his barrier against.

Mortimer began encanting the spell, keeping a steady pace at all times (note;the incantation for the spell was never fully revealed so for now I'm leaving it blank, anyone who knows it can PM me). NOCTURNA NIGREDINIS; with that final word a black form materialized behind him. It was in no way perfect. The figure which he created looked only vaguely humanoid, more and outline of a being than a true shadow guardian. But it was a start. Disspelling the being Mortimer went back to his notes determined to figure out how he could perfect it.

OOC; can probably only bring it out once or twice more this thread before I need to rest.

(Thats absorbing magic into your soul absorbing magic is an everyday thing, how else do mages cast spells?)

Umi: The by-product of my healing spell can probably effect status wounds, ill call that Renovere... And im not absorbing magic, the barrier is, its rejecting the negative magic, and then its dissipates, after that i can use Sanare to close up the wounds..

=My White Magic==
Renovere: Cures status effects by rejecting negative magic cast on someone and clearing it through the body. Ill use the example of Magnetism Positive attracts negative, then when both disappear when i end the spell. Otherwise ill just make it inert.
Sanare: Simply a stronger healing spell, stabilizes wounded and heals their wounds. powerful enough to heal wounds by attack magic

Umi: Now to work those into my artifact.... Adeat!

So basically your utilizing your white magic spell renovare who's normal purpose is to remove afflictions and status ailments, and then taking it a step further having it instead "purify" an enemies attack before it can cause any damage... that about right?

Focousing back on his own spell Mortimer had finally created a single adequate be-masked guardian. Unfortunately just having it out was a drain on his magic. Using an hourglass he began timing how long he could keep it out and found that at most he could maintain it for five minutes at a time and that was when he wasn't in an active combat state. Dissipating the familiar, Mortimer experimented with only manifesting an arm of it. Still no good, the arm just lay there on the floor, he could move it but a single armwasn't going to help him... unless he could attatch it to something. Maybe himself. Once again he conjured the familiarsarm, but this time he placed it over his own, so his arm became armored in the massive shadow of the familiar. He could now move the giant arm freely and with that he once again formed the checkerboard barrier. "Lets test this out then". Punching the barrier Mortimer felt like he was pushing one of his armsagainst the other. Ultimatly it was the barrier which broke first, not because it had less magical power than his arm, but because its form was weaker.

Dropping the arm created from the nocturna nigredinis Mortimer once again sat back down at the long library table and collapsed onto a pile of books.

Addressing the cleric who was now attempting to combine his spell with an odd size changing wakizachi he had just enough energy left to ask "so how are things going on your end?" before falling asleep again.

Umi: Actually it was just a healing spell, but now that you say that, i might be able to come up with a power enhancement spell, but that'll require wind magic....

Grabbing his feather (Wakizashi is Yoko's artifact) he charged it with his magical.......-ness and proceded to gather more energy into it.

So basically your artifact can store and increase magical output so long as you use it on healing and barrier spells. So now your going to have it absorb your spell combo making it bigger?

Waking up grogily Mortimer returned to looking at his notes. The checkerboard design had been weaker than the attack he used but the partial manifestation had been adequate, granting him a longer reach and at least some form of armor, a major improvement over his previous saggita magica punch.

But he was still barely any closer to creating a better barrier. This time he decided to examine the styles of existing barriers and test their varying strengths. Gathering all the books he could on barrier design, he quickly found that barriers containing loping formulas in addition to angular triangulation could greatly increase the durability of a barrier.

Also, by incorporating sigils signifying the elements, one could cause their barriers to take on an elemental form or, by inverting those elements in addition to providing the element which was counter to its symbol, one could actually cause a barrier to be more resistant to that element.

Ultimately, a well organized barrier would maximize the amount of magic put into it. The more complex barriers tended to be more powerful but they became harder to visualize and eventually they could become so complex that they eventually became unbalanced. It was for this reason that most magi used only several styles of barrier and then layered them to prevent penetration.

Gathering what he knew he began his preparations for creating a Black barrier, one that could theoreticaly block any elementized magic attack...

you caNt block any elemental magic attack, that would be unfair....

Only theory, a major part of my design style is dreaming big then nerfing it down to something weaker. Ultimatly, what will be created is a darrkness aligned magical shield i.e. portable. Although it has some elemental resistance it is far from total, maybe blocking 5% or less of elemental damage. Furthermore, the barrier itself is fairly small, covering about as much area as a normal shield would. Therefore, in order to be used effectively it has to be used as if it were a real shield.

The total elemental defense is impossible of course but minor resistance to those spells is possible.

Umi: Well it only stores my magic, everything else it does is entirely based on my ability

Umi continued charging his magic.

Mortimer began the arduos process of crafting the barrier. he made several false starts before finally begining to form one that seemed suitable. It required a seven pointed star, and each point of the star rounded off into a circle with an inverted elemental symbol inside of it. Placing the symbol for darkness in the center of the star, he proceeded to dray the sigils for salamander, gnome, undine and sylphe, each in a different corner forming a square with the circle. Sperating the star from the square were two concentric rings. In between these two rings lay a series of runes indicating defense, protection, guardianship, repellence, warding and gate.

Finally forming it, Mortimer released the spell into the open. What occured was more than he could have hopped for. A transparent pillar rose from where the circle landed on the floor. Attempting to put his hand on the pillar he found that it went right through. "Crap". Apparently as a barrier it didn't work, but he had no idea what the spell he crafted actually did.

Any ideas what it might be?

OOC; seriously I have no idea what this does. Started out as just a basic design but ultimatly I decided since this is a magical experiment, it should have unexpected results, so IRL, I DON"T KNOW WHAT IT DOES. Not asking you to say what it is just tell me what you think it does.

Umi: Charging complete! Go [i]Sanare[/i ]!!

Unleashed the stored power in his artifact, primsatic light fell out of the sky and rained down onto the two mages studying

Distracted by the sudden display of multicolored lights, Mortimer lost his focus on the now dissolving magic circle sigh... I'll figure out what it does later. Looking over to the cleric who just cast the spell he asked, so how exaclty does that artifact of yours work? Does it amplify your spells or what? Oh, and I'm Mortimer by the way, hoding out his hand to the practicing Cleric, Mortimer waited for the young mans response.

Umi: essientially , its a conduit, catalyst, etc.. actually I have/no idea how it works, it only has about a tenth of its power at the moment.

Umi shook the new guys hand, getting out his book on illusions, he wondered if he could use illusions with his feather.

Aaaaaaaaaand I think we're about done here. Unless you feel like adding something. Fell free to start the ext mission if you want.

P.S. It seems like your feather should be able to be able to work with illusions. The only restrictions on it appear to be that it can't be used on magic that directly harms someone. Illusions are a grey area so it should work.

Illusions aren't inheritly battle magic. Only battle illusiions could count maybe.

Thats what I'm saying.

Umi: 1 MP, 1 SP, 10,000 Drachma.
Al: 1 MP, 1 SP, 10,000 Drachma.