The two ladies started with his divine mark.

  “Your description of the blueprint suggests a complex kind of 3 dimensional soul shape” Sylven started.

  “Most mages only attain basic shapes, and only study the first few tiers of their related elemental magics.”

  “However, I do have some experience with more complex shapes, given my soul still contains the memories of life as an archmage.” Sylven continued proudly.

  “In essence, the soul-shape that one sees within themselves are abstractions, useful guides in manipulating mana..”

  “However, what if a single soul had multiple shapes?” She asked.

  “Err… I’m not sure…” Aurelius responded, scratching his head in embarrassment.

  He was naturally unfamiliar with such a high tier of magic. Today was in fact, the first time that he had heard of such a possibility. Given his lack of guidance into advanced magic such as this, he had not even imagined the source of the power that higher mages held.

  He had not even achieved basic elemental shapes! He couldn’t possibly be blamed for not having come across such a magic far above his current level!

  “I’m surprised you haven’t heard of it. A soul can have “3-D shapes”, blending more than a single type of elemental magic. They are the foundation of the power that upholds the 12 Magical Houses.” Sylven responded, slightly surprised.

  “With the correct geometric abstraction, such as with stacking, one can cast spells with much higher precision and speed. The duplicating effects amplify the amount of mana that can be manipulated with a single action, allowing the user to exert themselves much more efficiently..”

  “But the Houses have reached a level of mastery, where they take advantage of the 3 dimensional shape to add an extra layer of other elemental magics.”

  “There are rumours that the most powerful modern House, the House Corvinus, has succeeded in stacking 3 elemental magics together.”

  “I am inclined to believe such rumours, given that they have somehow succeeded in temporal magic, a miraculous feat even for the standards of magic.” She concluded.

  “How is this related to me?” Aurelius asked in confusion. He wished that he had taken some time himself to investigate his own predicament. He was completely out of his depth right now!

  His lazy nature and inexperience had meant that he had wasted his time in the past 3 days, while Seraphine slaved away reading in her recovery period trying to help him. This thought made Aurelius feel a prick of shame. How irresponsible of him!

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  Seraphine and Sylven smiled and glanced at one another in excitement.

  “We believe that you have the blueprints to a type of True Creation.”

  ???

  “What the fuck?” Aurelius asked, mortified.

  How did the conversation jump so quickly from 3-D souls into his soul being marked with the secrets to divinity?

  “See, it makes perfect sense!” Seraphine replied excitedly.

  “Creation magic is a category of magic available at the level of sages. It is a process of compressing mana until a small amount converts into matter, releasing huge magical energy in the process. The resulting spells could theoretically level mountains with ease!”

  “The Archangels, or those we call the gods, are also capable of these feats, but with much more precision. Normal spirits cannot cross into reality by themselves, but angelic beings can manifest themselves in the material plane through this process, creating a vessel that can withstand their souls for a short while.”

  “This act is the nature of divine descent, and this divine act of creating a vessel is performed through True Creation.” Seraphine lectured seriously, Sylven nodding along wisely on her shoulders.

  “This is the exact reason why that lesser spirit was killed!” She whispered loudly, speculating with gusto.

  “Lesser spirits have a tendency to observe souls. It’s something they do to understand more about the world.” Sylven elaborated helpfully.

  “Their consciousnesses are not complete and their evolution necessitates that they understand their inherent soul shapes, and mold it into a stable shape.”

  “Leveraging the flexibility of their souls, they habitually try to copy aspects of a soul.”

  “What do you think would happen if a lesser spirit attempted to copy the blueprints of a soul?” Sylven asked.

  “Err… do they gain that soul-shape?” Aurelius asked, lost once more. He wished that she would stop it with these rhetorical questions. They seemed to expose his inexperience as a mage!

  “Not quite.” Sylven replied, a hint of amusement appearing on her whiskers.

  “They attempt to gain an aspect of the shape. They’re nowhere near intelligent enough to understand an entire soul after all, even in the form of a blueprint.”

  “But sometimes, they become a small part of spells. Meaning that a lesser spirit may accidentally copy the shape in its active form, expending some of itself into a spell.”

  “What happened to that lesser spirit is likely the same case.”

  “It attempted to copy your soul blueprint, accidentally triggering a powerful magic that turned it into matter. We were caught in the afterstorm of that accident!” Sylven squeaked with fascination. Her eyes were shining with awe and interest at Aurelius.

  To her, Aurelius was an incredible specimen, holding the secrets to the depths of magic.

  “Ah- I- I see.” Aurelius responded, dumbfounded. His mouth hung open in absolute bewilderment.

  The explanation made sense to him. But how could he, a mediocre and inept mage, have been bestowed with a guide to divinity?

  He was not even sure he could last enough time without being captured by the Commission or some evil mage to experiment with his soul and extract his blueprint forcefully in the name of study.

  What was His plan giving a teenager such secrets?

  Aurelius was lost in thought when a strange realisation struck his mind.

  “How did the dean not suspect me?” Aurelius wondered aloud.

  “He knew it was an act of True Creation, a feat by a divine being! How is it that he didn’t even care to investigate?”

  The three of them fell silent. This was an excellent point.

  For a dean famous for their no-nonsense attitude, why had he let them go so easily? Sylven and Seraphine had easily come up with a reasonable explanation for their incident in 3 days. And the clue of them having been involved in True Creation was given to them by him!