Mystic Domain

Contrary to his initial thoughts, Ahsch did not start a serious conversation with Elui at dinner, nor after. The rabbit-girl still seemed unusually anxious, so he simply left her alone, after giving her a little encouragement during the meal to explore and ask questions if she wanted, even of him. At the time, she'd just given a small, nervous smile, and the hrafthi hoped she would find the courage to approach on her own before the week was out.

The following day was a quiet one. After quickly pushing himself through his mandatory learning and training before lunch, Ahsch delved back into the healing magic, working hard to learn the diagnostic spells as quickly as he could. His goal was to not only gain those, but also create the Checkup spell before the week was up. Really, he hoped to pass on the spell to Ariin and the acolytes as well, but he admitted that might be pushing it. His insane growth potential didn't mean he was a genius of any sort. Even his growth couldn't really be attributed to anything he did.

Between the various books he'd poured over, he'd assembled a list of nearly two dozen diagnostic spells, and ideas bounced around in his head for more, but he contented himself with what he had - adding to the list could always happen later, and providing any healthcare like he planned to was better than being stuck in perfectionist hell forever. He recalled an old Earth adage, something about perfection being the enemy of 'good enough.' No reason to settled for less than he could deliver, but even providing what he might consider 'deficient' medical care compared to his Earthian perspective was better than the general 'nothing' of the Kingdom of Starlight.

Despite his hopes, Elui did not approach him that second day, though he wasn't terribly surprised. He heard from Ariin and from a few of the servant heads that she had been talking with some of the others in the Temple, so he was satisfied that she wasn't locking herself in her room and hiding away from everyone.

By the end of the day, Naemui had also returned, and with a small cartload of possessions. Mahat met her at the gate and commented on her speed; the harpy's response was that she didn't have a lot of stuff, and she was eager to begin her training at the Temple as soon as she could. She did admit that she'd left some things behind, but that she would make trips to get them over the next few days. Ahsch's familiar shared the exchange via Daydreamweave with both her Master and Ariin, and the two girls teasingly intimated that Naemui was probably far more eager to get in close with Ahsch himself. They also projected fantasies of him tearing off the harpy's scant clothing and ravishing her, playing with her petite body and manhandling her ruthlessly while he fucked and fucked and fucked her.

He struggled for a few minutes to get his raging erection to settle so he could return to his learning.

Not long after, he managed to get the fourth diagnostic spell of the day down and called it, heading out to the hot springs to relax. He'd initially be impressed by his speed, but on reflection, realized that the spells were generally similar to each other, with the bulk of the differences being in the referencing portions of the casting, since there was little overlap. Possibly, the fact that he was properly casting the spells helped as well, since he had no real need to false-cast them - it wasn't like he was randomly flinging bolts of ice or fire around, or casting battle enhancements - and by actually casting them on himself, he was also able to see how they functioned in real-time. Not to mention the free self-checkup, though he wasn't too worried about medical issues in general, as the presence of Mana within living beings greatly reduced the chance of many more 'spontaneous' issues occurring. Not everything, and exposure to harmful substances was still harmful - Avery paid for an annual liver-restoration to combat the more deleterious effects of her alcoholism, for example.

Still, the Dominant Mage was pleased with his progress. Even if he only maintained that pace, he'd be done with the list within another five or so days, which would leave him three to develop the Checkup spell. And he suspected that he would speed up over the next few days, since the spells really were quite similar to each other; he estimated he'd be done in another three or four days in reality.

Though, that would somewhat depend on how his third day in 'exile' went.

Another rush to complete his learning and practice, and then a filling lunch, followed by an assembly of virtually the entire population of the Temple at the inner courtyard. Ahsch's cautionary warning that he and Ariin would be attempting to infuse Mana into the Temple grounds had, rather than warn away everyone, gathered quite a crowd. All were intrigued by the announcement, and wanted to see what the Prophet and Divine Submissive were up to.Glancing around from his position at the central shrine, Ahsch chuckled. "I didn't even dress up for this!" he complained, drawing a few laughs. "Since you're all here anyways, I'll just warn you all again - we haven't done this before, and don't know for certain what the effects will be. What we expect is for the ambient Mana around the Temple to increase, possibly seeing some plants take on mystical properties, but I don't think any beasts will form. That being said, be ready to evacuate if we say so."

After making sure his warning had reached everyone, the Dominant Mage looked at his sister. "Ready?" he asked quietly.

She nodded, and they began, Ariin waiting for a moment while Ahsch cast his spell-formed Mystic Domain. Unlike the other recent uses of Boons, Mystic Domain didn't simply happen based off his latent intent. It took him a moment to realize that was because it was a Boon acting through a spell, and it was an active boon that didn't simply run on its own. Or rather, it was reactive, and only once it was cast and the Dominant Mage began to push his Mana out into the world did it take effect, Ariin's activating a moment later as she copied her brother.

Right away, he could feel the Boon integrate itself into his cautiously-spent Mana, then link over with Ariin's original copy. The Mana swirled, mixed, and then thickened, becoming denser and somehow more... something. Ahsch didn't quite have the words to explain it. It was almost as though the densifying Mana began to bore a hole, though through what and to what wasn't clear. But what was clear was that the meager amount of Mana the twin hrafthi had spent wasn't enough to properly create the 'Ley Spring' that the Boon's System description talked about. If they left what was forming be, it would just collapse.

So Ahsch sent more, increasing from the handful he spent initially to tens of 'units' of Mana. Ariin mirrored him, but at a much slower pace - she had a significantly smaller Mana Pool than Ahsch, seeing as she only had the one Generation Method, and Exhibitive Creation didn't come with any secondary, extradimensional pools to draw from.

But just as they started to increase their expenditure, the 'hole' stabilized, and Ahsch could tell that the Ley Spring had formed - though only a small one, from what he could tell, as the amount of Mana it created with minuscule. So he added more, then more, and more, and more... Ariin eventually stopped, her Mana Pool empty. Ahsch continued, steadily feeding the spring. After a few minutes, he tapped out his personal pool, and quickly drew on the secondary pools of his Thralls and Ecstatic Generation. And still the Ley Spring grew. Much like Bonds, it didn't have mass, nor take up any volume in space, despite the fact that it had a position in the world. But there was a mystical depth to it. And as Ahsch crossed the 10,000 Mana point, he began to investigate the Spring itself. Could he shape it? Change it? Or did it simply exist?

After some prodding, he found that he could affect it, to a limited degree. The aura of civilization seemed to push against the Ley Spring, but with some effort, he was able to draw out some of that 'depth' that it had, and he imagined a ring stretching further out around the Spring. An admittedly imperfect ring, as he visualized it encircling the land that was officially his, drawing a firm boundary that didn't truly displace the aura of civilization, but rather... modified it. The exact interaction was wildly beyond his comprehension, but from what little he gleaned, he suspected that beasts would still be incapable of forming from the ambient Mana, but that other mystical effects might occur. The safety of civilization with the benefits of the untamed wilds.

Finally, after dumping his fairly ridiculous roughly 30,000 Mana into the Ley Spring, Ahsch let go. He could sense the Spring 'snap' into place, and suspected that altering it from there on would be difficult at best - unlike his angels, a Ley Spring was usually a naturally-forming feature, and from what little theoretical knowledge he had, attempting to **** more Mana into one to grow it usually ended poorly. That said, he wasn't sure how it would work if he tried to create another one right on top of the existing one.

Probably an experiment to hold somewhere further away from civilization, he decided.

Looking around, nothing appeared different, at least, not to the mundane senses. To a magical sense, however, the area was slowly becoming infused with Mana, thickening in a way not dissimilar to a demesne. Unlike a demesne, however, there wasn't an oppressive weight to the Mana. Rather, it filtered through the air almost like snowflakes, bringing a sense of vitality and life to the Temple.

Aside from the rustle of the wind, the courtyard was silent. The quiet was swiftly broken as Ahsch stepped away from the newly-formed Ley Spring as the gathered crowd began to chatter excitedly. After a minute, the Dominant Mage held up his hands for quiet, which he only got a good 30 seconds later. "It doesn't look like there will be any physical changes for the time being, but I can say with confidence that no beasts will form. That being said, I'd like to ask all of you to keep an eye out for any mystical effects you find - this gift from Enochiel is new and unproven, and while I trust it is safe, we do not know the full extent of what might occur. I thank you all in advance for your assistance."

It was the unfortunate truth, as all known Ley Springs throughout the world had been claimed centuries or millennia before by beasts or monsters more inclined to reclusiveness, and no nation had dared to irritate such powers - powers that rivaled or far outstripped even ascendants - for the unknown benefits of the Springs. At least, not after the first few, ancient attempts had ended in extinction for those involved.

Which meant that the Temple of Enochiel sat upon the first-ever Ley Spring claimed by civilization.