Chapter 55: Secrets of Soul Talismans

Having a longer amount of time in each loop was a gift, yet not knowing the exact number of days she had available left Suria unsettled. It was even worse than normal life, because normally she could have at least planned for the remainder of the term. Now she had to continue with her schedule when it could, at any second, be torn away from her.

Forty days so far and no time loop. Occasionally she even wondered if the whole thing could have somehow collapsed, but she thought that was paranoia talking.

Fortunately, it lasted until Professor Huen called Suria in to her office for their first lesson - Suria had been concerned that the professor might be putting it off, or delaying in a way that would result in the same thing. But when she responded to the invitation, she walked down to the office and found the professor waiting with a book and equipment ready for her.

"You're not wrong to want to develop a soul talisman," Professor Huen began, "though I don't think you'll be able to manage it. I won't bother to explain every detail to you, because you can read most of it for yourself right here."

She pushed a heavy book entitled Internal Granite across the desk and Suria picked it up cautiously. There was no table of contents or index and the rest of it looked like a daunting gauntlet of page after page of dense text.

"That's all I need?" Suria asked skeptically.

"No. Generally speaking, you need four things for a soul talisman: a meditation technique to prepare the soul, a stylus method to make the change, a set of specific inscriptions, and an excess of mana." Professor Huen tapped on the cover. "The book will explain how it all fits together and give you the inscriptions, but I'll be showing you the rest, if you can overcome the hurdles in your path."

"Understood. Where do we start?"

"First, let's get something out of the way: the name is a misnomer. People have been calling this technique a 'soul talisman' because it is analogous to a talisman in some ways, but don't mistake it for crafting an actual talisman in the soul. That will be especially important if you get to the preparation stage."

"I see." Suria frowned as she closed the book, then focused fully on her professor. "So what is it in more accurate terms?"

"The book will cover the details, but in essence, there's a part of the soul that handles the formation of spells that isn't actually very well-suited to it. Through training, you can make it into a place to hold spells within yourself." Professor Huen raised a slender finger. "While it is possible to think of this as a talisman being kept inside your soul, I think this leads to misunderstandings. It is not actually a talisman made of spiritual matter. You cannot create more of them. There is only one part of your soul that can serve this function."

"How many spells can it hold, then?"

"Not spells, runes. Basically, this is the same part of your soul that you develop when you increase runic capacity, so the two are one and the same. What's your current capacity?"

"Fifteen," Suria answered, trying not to sound proud.

"Then your soul can currently contain spells supported by fifteen runes." Professor Huen spoke smoothly as if she wouldn't have reacted whether Suria had said two or two hundred. "You could store three runic squares, if you wanted access to more simple spells, or a single fully empowered spell. Don't worry too much about the choice, because you can change it... though not nearly as quickly as one changes talismans."

"What about the inscription side of things?"

"That's a topic for another day, because it's considerably more complex. Let's begin with the meditation..."

As the lesson continued, Suria marveled at how utterly different her professor felt. Gone was the Professor Huen who expressed disapproval and spoke in abstract generalities. Instead she was direct and forceful, and if she had exacting standards, they seemed to be necessary for such a complex art. She never criticized unnecessarily; she only seemed to expect Suria to keep up with her pace.

After so long struggling through the class, Suria was glad to finally get a plain explanation. The soul talisman technique sounded like it would be extremely useful, if she could master all the necessary steps. Now that she knew the basics she could continue in future cycles as necessary, though Internal Granite seemed to be a text normally not accessible to younger students.

There was one huge unknown: Suria had no idea what would happen to her soul talisman when she went back in time. She presumed that it must go with her, otherwise Qanti wouldn't have been obsessed with learning it, but would it shrink in size? If not, would she be left with a spell she couldn't cast? No doubt Professor Huen could provide a plain and simple answer, but that was one question Suria definitely couldn't ask.

"You've grasped this better than I expected." Professor Huen didn't look pleased, instead she was almost suspicious, but in this timeline she only paused for a moment before setting it aside. "But the next step is the first obstacle that's likely to stop you. You need a specific technique in order to manipulate your own soul."

Professor Huen raised a hand, elegantly holding a slender stylus - it was different from the common Darkmoon stylus, narrowing to the wedge at one end while swelling to the brush at the other. She concentrated for a moment, the first time Suria had ever seen her need to focus for a spell, and the wedge side of her stylus began to glow. Then she brought it toward her own chest and Suria felt something tremble, vibrating a magical sense she hadn't experienced before.

"Are you marking your own soul?" Suria breathed.

"Don't follow the analogy too closely, but yes." Professor Huen slid the stylus away, drawing shining arcs in the air. "This is an advanced technique that is used for very few types of spells, and many can never master it. I'll show you the basics, and Internal Granite has some suggestions, but after that you're on your own."

They spent a while practicing and for the first time Suria was completely blocked: even though she thought she grasped the basic idea, her stylus didn't glow even a little. Instead of just letting her mana flow through it, she needed to extend her soul itself.

Stolen story; please report.

"I think I've been more than fair," Professor Huen told her. "If you reach the point where you can use this technique semi-reliably, we can schedule another lesson. Until then, I will consider my obligation discharged, and I will be quite displeased if you start any study groups."

Had that been dry humor? Suria stared at the other woman, whose face gave nothing away, and couldn't figure out what she thought. Instead she merely thanked the professor, took the book, and went back to her room.

Xuhriha was lying on her bed, holding a newsbook over her head, and when Suria entered she set it onto her stomach. "Did you hear that a volcano erupted in Febek-Rai?"

"What?" An item of news like that was so far from Suria's thoughts that she took a second to even parse the words. "Oh. Does that... affect us?"

"Well, Maut-mai and other students from Febek-Rai might care. But no, it seems like it's just something sad from across the world."

"Mmm." Suria sat down on her bed and cracked open her new book, but her roommate sniffed it out instantly.

"I haven't seen that one before!" she declared. "And you were meeting with Professor Huen... does that mean you got through to her?"

Suria smiled slyly and related what had happened, which led into a discussion of all the techniques involved with creating a soul talisman. She knew that Xuhriha had at least a little experience with soul magic, so the other woman had an interesting perspective on things. In the end, though, it was still mostly up to her.

"I might be able to help you with the inscriptions part later," Xuhriha said as she looked over the book. "That's similar to what I've studied. But working with the soul like this is completely alien to me. That soul stylus thing... I can only say good luck."

"Do you think you could manage it?" Suria asked. "Assuming we get all the pieces together."

"Oh, I definitely want to! But I have some things I need to work on, so... I'll help you get it first, then you can help me."

That seemed like a good deal, so Suria settled in to read. She was pleased to find that, despite its daunting appearance, Internal Granite was a straightforward text of practical magic, very different from the abstract theory that Professor Huen had previously assigned. It didn't use the phrase "soul talisman" at all, instead working from a different metaphor in which the entire soul was viewed as stone. Most likely Suria was going to need to reference some other texts to figure out some of those passages.

As the days passed, Suria tried to note events that occurred in the lengthened loop, even if she stayed away from almost all of them. There was the volcano eruption, a group of officials from the Republic of Junn, news about explorers being lost in the Endless Pale, and more. There was news enough to entirely choke out her schedule and she needed to focus on her studies.

Some of her classes now included examinations, though it was based on the professor's discretion instead of a school-wide event. Suria didn't have any trouble with hers so far: Foundations had a mindlessly easy exam just checking comprehension and Emergency Healing only had practical tests on occasion. The anatomy sections in Fundamentals of Medicine required some memorization, but she actually wanted to learn all of that and so she put real effort into it.

Not everyone seemed to have done so well. The noblewomen who were just taking healing classes as a pretext all laughed about how poorly they had done, apparently just aiming to scrape through with a pass. What surprised Suria was that Kiznua had apparently gotten flustered and failed, which didn't make sense considering that she'd seemed to do competently in class. Something to worry about when she had more time.

Looking ahead, Suria saw that there was a heavy examination period toward the end of the term, between eighty and ninety days into the loop. Every class had some sort of final testing to confirm whether students passed and there were also optional trials for students to earn half-seals, which they needed for other classes.

Most likely the loop wouldn't have extended that far, so Suria ignored them for now. Between Medicine courses and her soul talisman, her schedule was absolutely packed.

She did manage to take a little time from her other work to check in with a few who mattered to her. Maut-mai had again joined the Water Society, and the one time Suria met her, the other woman was insufferable. Kiznua continued to struggle along in her healing classes. There wasn't much point checking in with Orinyan, since he was still just dividing his time between being a teacher and librarian.

Fifty days in, the other loopers seemed to be getting restless. Suria was invited to a few gatherings, which she always refused even though she imagined that wouldn't help her reputation. Why had she gone to so much trouble to save everyone if it didn't let her ignore invitations?

Still, her social instincts made her feel a bit guilty, and Suria knew she shouldn't ignore them forever. She had made it through the previous meeting in part because Jeilin was on her side, and he planned to leave every cycle. It was important to have some loopers on her side, or at least not be so standoffish that she made herself an enemy.

That was what led Suria to finally reach out to Qanti. She had started on this path thanks to the other woman and keeping this to herself would be passively malicious. The fact that Suria had stopped attending Magical Analysis In Depth had likely been noticed, so trying to pretend she hadn't made progress would require a level of deception that could come back to bite her.

She met with Qanti in the cafeteria during one pleasant afternoon and they found a quiet corner with a privacy spell. Suria hadn't thought about it much before, but Qanti didn't wear any of the jewelry, nail polish, or dresses that Professor Huen did. She was always in normal university robes with loose hair and Suria didn't know if that held any particular meaning.

"Did you figure out a soul talisman?" Qanti asked immediately.

"I was hoping to surprise you," Suria said with chagrin, "but I don't think I'm going to be able to figure it out on my own. Maybe not even this cycle."

"But you have enough information to carry into the next?"

Suria shared what she'd learned, not withholding any information. Fortunately, Qanti seemed a mix of eager and impressed, and by the time they were done, the other woman was nodding in satisfaction.

"Just knowing the right book will help a lot," she said. "If it's in the advanced section it will probably take a seal to get it in future cycles, so I can help with that. But if you have enough time, try to master these stylus and meditation techniques. Those can be a pain to learn from books, and if you don't have someone to teach them properly, sometimes you can't figure them out on your own."

"I'll try," Suria said, "but she won't meet with me again unless I figure out the stylus technique."

"Is that your first goal? I think I should be able to help you with that, we use something similar for soul armor."

"Are you any closer to figuring that out?"

Qanti winced and shifted back in her seat. "Well, I've learned a little more about soul killing spells, and confirmed that soul armor is our best defense. It boosts runic capacity too. But actually building it? This is battlemage-level work, and I'm not there yet."

"I was wondering..." Part of Suria wanted to push directly to the magical techniques, but Qanti had been nothing but helpful and she wanted to return that. "Sorry if this is a rude assumption, but I don't know very much about Nau Qin Nau. Is soul magic more common there, or is it just a coincidence that you and Professor Huen both know some about it?"

"Heh, kind of the opposite." Qanti shook her head slowly. "Some types of soul magic are actually forbidden, the same way necromancy is forbidden in most nations. It's a religious thing; I don't know if I could explain it while speaking Taedric. But Lia Huen Rei is actually a bit of an outcast for her specialty, and me... well, it's more that I'm trying to learn things I could never learn back home."

"There's, umm, one more thing." Suria had been trying to be friendly, but she thought it was good to be honest. "I wanted to tell you about this, but I don't plan to go around telling others if I figure out a soul talisman."

"Obviously," Qanti said as if nothing else had ever occurred to her. "You think the others aren't hiding their own secrets? You want to get the advantage first, then dole out the information for favors. Speaking of which, I won't count my help now against you; I'll still owe you a favor for this."

"So you do think you can help?"

"Absolutely. Get out your stylus and go over what she said again..."