Blade Over Magic

Success II

Several images and streams of information surged into Aubrey’s mind before she could react.

Much of it was garbled and disjointed, preventing her from grasping much of it immediately. However, the few she did manage to grasp made her mind shudder.

There was something that resembled a river. It’s size and scope infinite and all encompassing, yet she couldn’t truly comprehend such a thing. Then there was a library, the number of books and shelves endless. There were beings she couldn’t describe, worlds that defied logic, logic that defied reason, reason that wasn’t reason at all.

It all flashed past to fast for her to capture anything, but Aubrey knew that if she managed to grasp any of the things she saw even a little bit, her mind would shatter.

She she completely tuned it out and focused solely on the task of gathering her mana towards the point of intersection, and the more she gathered, the more of this information also swirled around her, all of it coming from the ’somewhere’ she was at the edge of.

Even while allowing ignoring the information, it was still filling her mind, and it was... heavy. Incredibly so. And when Aubrey had that thought, a tiny sliver of some of the information she was ignoring came through.

’The heaviest thing in existence is information.’

He soul shuddered.

She poured all her attention into gathering her mana. If the information filling her mind was too much, her very soul would collapse, and there would be no coming back from that.

But the longer she stayed in this ’place’ the more the information poured in, yet if she left without completing the condensation of mana, the repressed information would burst forth and fill her mind, forcing her to confront the incomprehensible knowledge.

So she locked in. She didn’t spare any thoughts towards hesitation, second-guessing, or even being anxious about how close it was going to be. She focused on gathering her mana, nothing else.

Time passed, and just when she felt her soul on the verge of collapse from the weight of knowledge, something clicked.

Suddenly, she was extricated from that ’place’, and she was back to observing her mana pool.

Her mind was blank for a few seconds, as she had to pull herself from the state of total concentration she had been in just moments prior. But, slowly, she managed to regain her senses.

’... Did I do it?’ She wondered as she focused on the thing in the center of her mana pool. The result of whatever the hell just happened.

It resembled an ever-shifting prism, constantly changing and moving, but the size never increased or decreased. And inside, it was filled with torrents of... something. And when Aubrey focused, she realized it was information. Specifically, the mass of information that had threatened to collapse her soul, all of it stored within the prism like some sort of... codex.

And when she looked beyond that, she saw that point again, the one that led her to that ’place’. However, with the prism in place, she somehow knew that it wasn’t a risk anymore. She took a step, then paused.

Step?

That’s when she realized that she wasn’t just observing her mana pool, she was ’inside’ it, actually moving inside with a body, the same one that had been in that ’place’. And on top of that, the mana pool no longer looked like one.

Rather, while incomplete, it almost looked like...

’A library?’ Thoroughly perplexed, Aubrey wondered what exactly happened, which is when a stream of information from the mass in the prism flowed out, and before her eyes, it took the shape of a book, landing on one of the tables in the incomplete library.

Wary, Aubrey carefully approached and looked down. It was a brown book with a leather cover, and on it, the words ”I Came, I Saw, I Record” were written boldly in gold.

She slowly picked it up, and after a moment, she opened it.

***

Aubrey’s eyes snapped open.

And she IMMEDIATELY closed them as her senses were bombarded with a torrent of information. Light, sounds, vibrations, smells, and so on, each in different intensities, mediums, brightness, volumes, and so on.

It was intense, and yet, somehow, she already knew how to tune out most of it to return her senses to their normal functionality.

So she did.

And when she did, she opened her eyes again, taking in the sights of everyone staring at her with a mix of anticipation and worry.

”So... how are you feeling?” Xander asked carefully when he saw her regain her bearings.

Aubrey took a deep breath, stared at him, then yelled.

”You almost got me killed you bastard!” The outburst was unexpected, and Xander flinched, but rather that cower, he scratched his head.

”... Okay, in me defense, everything–”

”You said was purely theoretical, and you were banking on the fact that since Mia was around, she could resolve any latent issues. And, fine, that is probably the case, but still! That was terrifying!” She fumed.

”... Sorry.” He forced a cough and looked away.

At the moment, Mia spoke up, her gaze unusually intense.

”Did you see ’it’?” The sudden question caught everyone off guard, however, Aubrey just nodded with a serious expression.

”Not in its entirety... but yeah.” Hearing this, Mia nodded slowly and fell silent.

”... So what exactly happened?” Xander, sensing the abnormality, asked. This earned him another glare from Aubrey, but thankfully, she still gave a brief explanation of what happened, and when she finished, Xander, Curtis, and Falael stared at her in undisguised shock.

”Hold on, hold on. You mean to say that my analogy wasn’t actually an analogy? You actually appeared near ’the’ Information River? That exists?!?!” Xander was flabbergasted.

”No thanks to you.” She grumbled. ”And it was only at the absolute outer edge. Any closer and I would have been assimilated or destroyed by the streams of infinite information.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose where her glasses sat.

”... And a bunch of information followed you as a result of being in that outer boundary, and it is currently stored inside the prism that formed in your mana pool which is stopping it from shattering your soul. And you can pull from this mass of information whenever you want. Moreover, the prism also acts as a lense for you to glimpse into the river again if you want to.” Falael said blankly.

”And through all of this, you accidentally witnessed the key to another ’something’ which actually ended up being a fortuitous encounter that is turning your mana pool into a library with a book that has the title ”I Came, I Saw, I Record.” But you don’t actually know what the book does yet because when you opened it, it actively refused to show you what the words meant.” Curtis finished with a dubious expression on his face.

”Correct.” Aubrey nodded.

There was a moment of silence, then Falael threw up their hands.

”Aw come on! That’s so much cooler that what we have!” They complained.

”... I feel like you’re conveniently leaving out the part where I almost became a vegetable because of the weight of the information.” Aubrey scoffed.

”Yeah and I almost exploded while Curtis almost turned into an ice sculpture, what’s your point?” Falael retorted. Just as they were about to start bickering, Xander cut in.

”Besides that, what else? Did your mana experience any changes?” He asked, his expression serious.

Aubrey nodded.

”My mana doesn’t just create spells now, it interacts with, well, everything. It leans heavily into the point about how mana makes up the world. If I extend my mana outward, it can latch onto the ambient mana and grasp the information it carries. So now, I don’t just capture different wavelengths of light or sound, but everything, down to the most minute detail.” She pressed a finger to her temple and winced, remembering the sheer sensory overload.

”But I can’t handle all that much information at once, so I have to tone it down to what I can handle. But even then...” She blinked, and suddenly her vision was filled with different points of view. Not just visible light, but infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays, and so on, it was reflected in her eyes.

”With the aid of the prism, not only can I handle more compared to before, I can redirect anything I deem as ’too much’ into it so I can use it for later.” Her words left them in awed silence.

”... I guess that’s what ”I Came, I Saw, I Record” means, then.” Xander rubbed his chin. ”Do you reckon that the book wants you to build up that ’library’ before you can access its contents?” He asked.

”I believe that is indeed the case, based on the fragments of information I got. Sadly it’s going to take me ages to sift through everything, and there is some that comprehending it, at least at my current stage, is extremely dangerous, so I need to be extremely careful with what’s inside that prism.” She huffed.

”Still, even at its current stage, that’s incredible. You’re like a walking library.” Curtis sighed, and the others nodded in agreement.

Aubrey just smiled, then she glanced at Xander.

”With that said... are you gonna create a construct in your own mana pool?” Hearing this, Xander’s expression turned a bit strange.

”Uh, about that...” Before he could elaborate, Sparrow’s voice sounded from outside the tent.

”Can I come in?”