The Chronicles of a Lost Man in His Forties Founding a Nation ~Commonsense is Hindering Me From Becoming TUEE~ Chapter 3

Chapter 3: Spell Archive

The way to use my spells is all inside my head. 

More than 20 years ago, with the D&B rulebook as the base, the game master of the time and I had fleshed out the settings to an almost unnecessarily detailed degree. 

I’m impressed that ‘The Guardian’ could understand everything in that messy notebook. 

“...... Guess there’s no other option that to just do it, I guess.”

I take a deep breath, then close my eyes. 

What I am about to do now is dive deep inside myself, deeper than even ‘instinct’ and the ‘unconscious self,’ to the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ and release the energy needed for spellcasting from there. 

I regulate my breathing and concentrate my consciousness. 

First of all, I image the ‘Inner World.’

A s.p.a.ce enveloped by darkness. 

Normally speaking, it is very hard to imagine oneself in elaborate detail. However, almost immediately, a duplicate of myself—wearing a wizard’s robe—appears inside the darkness. This is most likely due to Gio’s abilities. 

I carefully superimpose the ‘imagined me inside the Inner World’ over ‘the real-life me standing in a jail cell.’

When the two are completely overlapped, I imagine my real self dissolving into my imagined self, then slowly open my eyes. 

…… Pure darkness. 

The jail cell that my eyes should have registered is nowhere to be found. I am clad in the robe that my imagined self had on.

This place is inside myself, the ‘Inner World.’

Raising my right hand, I visualize a lantern illuminating the darkness. 

At once, a lantern materializes, s.h.i.+ning on my surroundings with a powerful light tinged with red. 

“Amazing…… isn’t this a bit too realistic…… uwah!?”

The weight and heat of the lantern, as well as the smell of oil, is all so realistic that I am shaken for a moment. 

Being shaken—it is the doubt, to be more exact—causes the ‘Inner World’ to buckle. 

An unnatural sick feeling a.s.saults my entire body. The sensation is as if I am being pulled in all directions at the same time. 

“Haa~..... Fuu~......”

Despite my panic, I steady my breathing and refocus my consciousness. Somehow, the buckling stops. 

“That was a close one……”

This is still inside the ‘Inner World,’ so a slip in visualization is only going to be punished with a sick feeling, but if this happens further down the stairs, my imagined self could be erased along with my real self’s consciousness……. Who the h.e.l.l was it again who came up with such a dangerous setting. 

After taking another deep breath, I raise the lantern. 

The soft light illuminates a ‘door’ standing in front of me. 

This is the ‘Door of Wizardry.’

It is roughly 3m in height. Unsettling carvings depicting all sorts of magical icons cover the door in its entirety. 

This is the intersection between the ‘Inner World’ and the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ the entrance and exit, and the symbol of its protective wall. 

The ‘Expanse of Chaos’ from here on is, at the same time, still the inside of my own consciousness. If I’m to express this in the terms of psychology, then it can probably be called the ‘collective unconscious,’ a place even deeper down than ‘instinct’ and the ‘unconscious self.’

As if in invitation, the ‘Door of Wizardry’ opens, revealing stone stairs heading downwards. 

I slowly descend the staircase while relying on the lantern’s light. It is a counter-clockwise spiral. 

The is the path to travel to send my consciousness from my own heart’s ‘Inner World’ to the ‘Expanse of Chaos.’ Just like the ‘Door of Wizardry,’ this too is a construction of my heart from long years of training (or so goes the setting). 

If the visualization of the door, walls, or stairs was in an incomplete state when my consciousness makes contact with the ‘Expanse of Chaos,’ then I would be swallowed by an overwhelming chaos and turn into a vegetable. 

But well, as expected of the level 36 Gio’s visualization. The coldness, hardness, and coloring of the walls, as well as the flow and smell of air,are both so realistic as to be indistinguishable from reality. 

Subjectively speaking, after descending several tens of steps, I come across a landing with a door. This here is the 1st floor. 

There is a plate on the door indicating that beyond is the [Spell Archive of the Novice]. 

If it was for the purpose of practice, then it would be fine to find a level 1 spell from here and use it, but what I’m looking for this time is on the lowest floor. 

Crossing the landing, I continue down the spiral staircase. 

2nd floor…. 4th floor…… 7th floor…….. 8th floor… 

“I’ve arrived, at the 9th floor……”

[Spell Archive of the Great Wizard]. 

Its appearance is pretty much the same as all the previous floors. 

However, the pressure of the swirling and rumbling ‘chaos’ on the other side of the wall can be felt very powerfully. 

If I had to put it into words, this place is an imagined s.p.a.ce that has been granted transient shape within a great sea of shapeless energy that is ‘chaos.’ If the textured walls come down, then this entire s.p.a.ce, along with myself, would all disappear into nothingness. 

Even while swallowing my saliva with an audible gulp, I hold aloft the lantern and draw towards the door, which, of course, opens without a sound. 

Beyond the door is a library with rows of gigantic bookshelves. 

I’m not sure of the exact size of the room. Maybe about the size of a cla.s.sroom? And immediately in front of me are 9 large bookrests. On each bookrest is a thick, heavy book. 

Each and every book is the symbol of the energy of a different spell. If a book is lying on a bookrest, then that is indication that its respective spell has already been charged. 

[Time Stop], [Meteor], [Create All Monster]...... [Invincible]. 

“It’s here, it’s here.”

I find the book which contains the spell that I’m looking for, and lightly touch it. 

Its thickness seems to hint at several hundreds of pages, but what I’m looking for is on only one of the pages. Almost as if the book is alive, the sheets flip by themselves and stop at the desired page. 

Well then, from here on is the real deal. I take a deep breath, then read aloud the chant written on the book. The real me still inside the jail cell should be spinning the exact same words at the same time. 

“By the means of this spell, my body shall, for the next 6 hours, be enveloped in an invisible barrier that negates all attacks from normal weapons and all spells 3 or more levels lower than this one.”

Largely similar to the explanation description in the rulebook, this part is where I give detailed instructions for how the spell is to be activated. For example, if I am using an attack spell instead, I can specify the range or intended target of the spell. 

“....... [Invincible].”

After reciting the keyword that releases the energy of this spell into the real world, all procedures to activate the spell have been completed. 

The book of [Invincible] glows brightly and turns into a clump of energy that flies toward the ceiling and pa.s.ses straight through…… heading up in the direction of the real world. 

What is left are the other 8 bookrests, still with a book on top, and the newly vacated bookrest. If I had a character sheet or a status window, it would say something like “Level 9 Spells 8/9.”

I also leave the [Archive of the Great Wizard] and ascend the spiral staircase. I could just forcibly sever the link with my imagined self right here and now, but for caution’s sake, I properly climb all the stairs and return to the ‘Inner World.’

Back in the ‘Inner World,’ I close my eyes and cut off my real self from my imagined self. 

“...... Fuu. I’m back.”

When I open my eyes, I find myself back in the jail cell. 

I look over my shackled hands and my entire body. There is a thin,  white fog-like substance that has become a membrane surrounding my entire body. It’s to the level where even I would have to strain my eyes to see it, and other people shouldn’t see it at all. 

In other words, the spell [Invincible] has indeed been activated. 

It is a bit plain for a level 9 spell, but its effects should be quite tremendous. 

“So I…… really can use my spells.”

My body feels like chanting that spell had taken a whole hour, but it was actually only exactly 10 seconds. 

Time flows different in the ‘Inner World.’ No matter how much I rush, I would still need 10 seconds. As this system was originally a game, so nothing can be done about it, but it’s just that during those 10 seconds, I am, for all effects and purposes, completely unguarded. With that in mind, I am going to have to be extremely careful about when to use spells.

Man, what a predicament. 

I feel like I understand why Gandalf wasn’t helping out by blasting magic left and right. 

After confirming that I really can use my spells, I unconsciously let down my guard. 

I spent the next 5 minutes or so idly. 

However, this lull was cut short by another’s hand. 

Noisy footsteps and loud talking voices draw towards my cell. 

“Oi, come out!”

“It’s the interrogation, the interrogation!”

Yelling at me through the iron bars are three men wearing what looks to be dirty leather armor. 

——Ahh, I see. Mountain bandits.