Solo A Useful Technique

[Tallis]

14th Day of Spring Wright Memorial Library Tallis had few regrets about the decisions he’d made. One of the largest of those regrets was that he had chosen not to learn Shielding while he was a student. He had had the chance to take classes while he was enrolled in the College of Scholars - after all, his professor had recommended that Reimancy classes be taken with (or even after) Shielding classes – but he had chosen instead to take classes in Flux. Looking back, it was an impulsive and reckless decision as he had knowingly forgone the chance to learn to protect himself and others. However, he had a gut feeling that it wasn’t too late. He had been feeling a stronger control over his powers recently and this had given him the confidence to try and learn Shielding. A few years older and a few year wiser, Tallis could see the true potential in having such a powerfully defensive magic. There was one problem though. He didn’t have the funds to enroll in a class, and even the pantheon of gods couldn’t make him ask his parents for money. He would have to teach himself. It wouldn’t be easy, but he lived in the city of Zeltiva, and the Wright Memorial Library had the resources he needed to teach himself the basics. Carrying a random selection of both small and large books on the subject of shielding, he made his way towards his preferred desk near the back of the library, right next to the window. Due to an [url]earlier altercation[/url], he only had five bells to study. He would have to focus if he wanted to learn anything. “Zulrav grant me the strength to calm the storms within my mind,” Tallis prayed, asking his patron god to help him with his studies, “I am Your humble servant and I pray that you grant me the skills to serve You better.” It was a simple prayer, but he found it calming nonetheless. He was ready to get to work. Stacking the books in a pile with the largest tomes on the bottom and the smallest volumes at the top, Tallis began working his way through each book. He knew he didn’t have time to read every word on every page, so he quickly skimmed through each book. It was a fast process, but he was sure to miss out on details at the speed he was going. Each book went through a similar process. Tallis would flip through the first few pages, they were always forewords about how wonderful shielding was. A few key words would leap out at him as he roughly skimmed the opening pages: An ancient practice, survived the ages, a magical filter, tasking, weaving, stacking, etc. The words held little meaning to him right then, but he was quick to note that each of the books had those same keywords. The history of shielding held little importance to him though. Perhaps he would revisit it when he had mastered the basics, but at his level there was no point learning about shields the size of castles when he couldn’t even produce a shield the size of his hand. Flipping past the foreword, the pages after were generally an introduction to the dangers of shielding, and the warnings were admittedly brief when compared to the Reimancy books Tallis had read. Tallis likened it to a sail running out of wind. Without a strong enough wind, the boat would simply stop moving. Likewise, if a shielder couldn’t produce enough djed or control it, a shield simply wouldn’t form. Keeping that solid point in mind, Tallis moved on to the actual basics of creating shields. The next few pages were where he slowed down. He had reached the details of the creation process and needed to take in all the information. The process itself seemed to be split into three different techniques. They were keywords he had noticed in the introductory forewords. Shields were first woven with djed, then they were tasked with to block out certain things, and finally they could be stacked to provide multiple effects. It seemed then, that the mastery of shielding came from mastering the three processes of weaving, tasking, and stacking. He would focus on Weaving first. It seemed the most straight-forward and reminded him of reimancy. Choosing the largest and most detailed tome, Tallis began studying the process. It appeared that shields could be created through several methods. He took note of three of them: creating a shield by wrapping a target in a cloud of djed, covering the target in layers of djed, or intricately weaving the djed over the object. Despite all the varying methods that the book mentioned, it emphasized one key point: the strongest shields were those created with the greatest uniformity, consistency, and intricacy. It seemed straightforward. The more time and care you spent making the shield, the stronger it would be. Simple. Moving on, Tallis began studying Tasking. This was a completely foreign technique to him and seemed to be the most difficult. It seemed that all shields had to have the basic ability to either block djed or absorb djed at higher levels. The shields could then be tasked to, at the simplest level, block out senses such as sight or sound. As the shielder became more comfortable and more skilled, they could task the shields to block out even organic materials or weapons. It got real confusing real fast and Tallis decided to focus on what novice shielders could do. He would work his way up to blocking out substances other than djed. For now he’d keep it simple and try a practice run. Restacking the books, Tallis pushed the pile to the side and picked up the smallest volume. Holding it in both hands, Tallis began exuding djed from his palms. His djed was a pure white colour with the opacity of smoke and it carried a similar feeling to res. However, he knew that the djed was raw magic, it wouldn’t be transmuted to any elements. Balancing the book flat in the palm of one hand, he used his free hand to coat the book in the ethereal essence, using the layering method as opposed to the cloud of djed or woven djed methods. From what he had read and understood, the layering method was less time consuming than the weaving method and created a more stable form than the cloud method. It took a fair bit of concentration for Tallis to maintain the over-all shape of the djed though. Each time he rotated the book to add another layer to one side of the book, he found that the djed on the opposite side would begin to drift and lose its rectangular shape if he didn’t focus hard enough. After a chime, Tallis was finally satisfied with his djed encasing. Now all he had to do was task it to block djed. Using an effort similar to when he transmuted elements, Tallis willed his woven but untasked shield to block djed. And as if in answer to his will, the djed began shifting. The smokey-white color evened out and the rectangular walls of djed froze into place, encasing the book in a box of djed. Had he done it? Was this how a shield was made? He had no choice but to test it out. Willing his production of djed to stop, Tallis watched as the ethereal substance receded into his palms, only to be replaced with res. His res looked similar to his djed, but was denser and had a light grey colour. Wrapping the book in res, he was pleasantly surprised to see that his res could not get past the shield to touch the book. Trying to test its limits, Tallis transmuted the res to air and aimed a gust of wind at the book. The shield collapsed, giving way to the gust of wind. The book’s cover was blown open and the pages rifled in the breeze. Tallis should’ve known better. He had read that shields could only block spells of equal or weaker power. Being much more adept at reimancy, his shield simply couldn’t withstand and repel the spell. It would take a while before he was ready to put his shielding to proper use, but Tallis knew the basics now and he had time. He would put in the practice.

[Paragon]

Tallis

Experience

Skill	XP Earned
Research	1
Shielding	2

Lores

•	Lore Earned
•	Shielding: Enough Djed to Form
•	Shielding: Weave, Task & Stack
•	Shielding: Djed Blocking
•	Shielding: Loss of Concentration = Receding Shield

Legend Becomes Reality

Short and sweet solo. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your grade, please send me a PM and we can work from there.