Color Theory
We had been traveling in this dungeon for a long time already, but the sun hadn't really changed position very much. No matter what time it looked like, my mind told me that my body should need some rest. However, I didn't really feel tired. I had started out well rested from sleeping so long before coming here, but my best guess is I had been wandering and fighting for at least 12 hours. I knew I was a lot more resilient due to my DNA changes, but somehow I felt like I could go for much longer without rest.
Arthur, on the other hand, was showing some signs of fatigue. I suggested we stop for a while and rest, and he gladly agreed. Arthur found a tree branch he liked and almost immediately fell asleep. I sat on the ground, leaning against a tree trunk, and let my mind wander.
Eventually, my thoughts fell on the nature of the dungeon. Cordelia had said that Demon Lords used dungeons like this one to train and get skills. I didn't question it much at the time, mostly because she seemed so matter of fact about it, but I felt some weird dissonance. Thinking more on it, I realized my issue was I had thought the system Gilda had installed in me was unique to the Nordics. But now I knew that the Demon Lords had figured out how to do the same sort of thing using dungeon cores and magic instead of technology. It made sense, but it seemed too convenient in a way. I mean, did they design or create the dungeon cores to do this, or was it a function that already existed that they bent to their will?
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I didn't know nearly enough about dungeon cores to make even an educated guess. That seemed like something I should try to get to the bottom of, although I suspected Gilda was already way ahead of me. If I knew her, she already had several theories that she was testing right now. It kind of made me feel lonely that she hadn't shared any of those thoughts with me, but maybe she figured I already had enough on my plate. And I did.
There was a lot of strange stuff going on with me. What happened in the last battle was one of the weirdest things experiences I had ever had. Sure, I had seen the recorded memories from the doomed future, but I only saw those events from the perspective of a spectator. The memories themselves faded when that future ceased to be possible. Even if I wanted to emulate that fighting style, I didn't have the countless hours of experience needed to pull it off as well as I had. However, I did exactly that just a short while ago.
It was almost effortless too. Seamlessly chaining several of my most potent skills together, with no delay. Flowing and moving from attack to attack with an efficient grace that could only be borne of endless hours of practice, which I didn't have. However, now that I had felt it in my own body, it would be easier to move that way again in the future.
More importantly, it was clear that some part of me remembered those future battles. Was it buried deep in my subconscious? Somehow, it felt even deeper than that. I was sure Gilda would have some theories on that as well.
There was too much I didn't know or understand. It was good that I felt like I could trust Gilda to get to the bottom of these mysteries, but I didn't want to rely on her for all the answers. We were starting from very different knowledge bases. She had lifetimes of experience researching magic and other worlds, whereas I was new to everything. The only advantage I had was that I could actually use mana and magic. I felt a strong need to close that gap between us, but I wasn't even sure where to begin.
After frustrating myself thinking in circles about these mysteries, I decided to focus on what was right in front of me instead. That last battle got a little tense, and I was sure that wasn't the worst Cordelia was going to throw at me. In some ways, she could be sweet, but her temperament overall was harsh. She wouldn't have told me not to die unless there was some possibility of that happening. And I suspected she increased the difficulty further because Arthur was here with me.
I decided to review my stats and skills to get my thoughts straight.
Species: Human
Name: Willie Jennings
Damage - 0/100
Stamina - 95/100
Mana/Capacity - 99/100
Strength - B
Durability - B
Speed - S
Dexterity - C
Intelligence - C
Skills:
Languages ?, DNA Editing ?, Identification ?, Riding 1, Herding 1, Marksmanship 1, Tracking 2, Field Dressing 1, Fire 1, Martial Arts 4, Combat 2, Parallel Processing ?
Magic Skills:
Lightning Magic Level 1, Unknown *Chi Attack* Level?, Unknown *Deflect* Level?, Unknown *Impact Absorption* Level?, Unknown *Aura Reading* Level?, Unknown *Mana Synchronization* Level?, Unknown *Drain* Level?, Unknown *Reposition* Level?, Unknown *Augur* Level?
Looking it over, I noticed something I never had before. While I used all of my other magic skills against my opponents so far, I had never used Aura Reading and Mana Synchronization against an opponent. Typically I only used them to extend my reach using organic weapons, like staffs. The closest I had ever come was passing mana into Cordelia's core when I first found her. I actually had no idea what would happen if I used those skills against one of these creatures.
My unsynchronized mana had a repulsive effect. By forcing it into a target, I could make organic matter explode. It seemed that was due to the targets current mana automatically trying to violently reject the invading mana. Whereas synchronized mana seemed to pass harmlessly and mix with the mana of the target. If I were to try this against an enemy, it might just empower them while draining me. However, if Cordelia's reaction was anything to go by, it might have some sort of charm effect. I could do without a goblin or orc lusting after me, though. So, I was pretty sure I didn't want to try it out here. Still, it was something worth future testing.
Actually, the whole mana-based Chi Attack skill was weird. It always penetrated, even against the ridiculously tough hide of the ogre. Somehow, it bypassed physical defenses. Thinking about it, I could only surmise that our bodies were designed to absorb mana easily. So a purely mana-based attack wasn't easy for the body to defend against.
Something was nagging at the back of my mind. It felt like I could go further with this technique.
Thinking it over, the only difference between the Chi Attack and just passing the mana harmlessly through was the frequency. By using Aura Reading and Mana Synchronization, I altered my mana to make it harmless... But could I do the opposite? Make the mana even more damaging by changing its frequency for a Chi Attack?
I saw mana frequencies as color. I knew they were actually invisible, but what if color theory could be applied. Maybe I could force the mana to be the exact opposite of the target's mana. It was a weird idea.
I got up and moved away from where Arthur was sleeping to test my theory. I found some dead branches to use as test subjects. Looking at them with Aura Reading, I saw all their mana as the exact same shade of pink as Cordelia's mana. Which made sense since everything here was made from her mana.
On the first test, I just passed my mana into the stick without changing anything, which resulted in the standard explosion. For the second stick, I tried to remember what I learned in my art classes about color. Pink was a light form of red, and red was the opposite of green. So I changed my mana frequency to green and passed it through, which resulted in a slightly more powerful explosion. It was enough that I felt like I was on the right track. But I thought maybe I could squeeze a little more out of this approach. So, I played with altering the frequency of the mana around that green, first going towards yellow. That resulted in a weaker explosion, so I tried going towards blue instead. I found that going too far towards blue would weaken the explosion. In the end, it turned out that a cyan color was the best by far.
The only thing I could think of was that the aura was based on the color of light, like a rainbow, rather than a solid colored surface, like paint. Some old science class lessons about the visible light spectrum were rattling around in my head. But that got me thinking about the possible effect of the intensity and brightness. The pink mana was pretty bright but still somewhat intense in color. If I wanted the opposite of that, it would probably be dark and dull. After trying several variations, I found the best result with a dark, dull shade of cyan.
The whole experiment reminded me of the slave crests Millie and Cordelia had. The color I ended up with reminded me of the color of the mana from Cordelia's slave crest. The mana on Millie's slave crest was a dark green instead, and her mana was purple. So maybe the slave crests used the same technique to maximize the power of the slave crest mana. Actually, that felt like a big deal. It could be that I had stumbled onto a major secret of the Demon Lord's power.
Regardless, here in the dungeon, I only needed one color to increase the power of my attacks since everything had the same mana frequency. Out in the real world, I would want to know which color to use on the fly, so my attacks would have the most punch. I definitely needed to download more information on the visible color spectrum when I got my hardware back up and running. This wasn't counted as a level up, but I still felt my power and understanding of what I was doing had increased all the same.
Satisfied with the results of my experiments and feeling like the rest break had been long enough, I went back to wake up Arthur and resume our hunt.
