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[_DivideByZero_]

(Sorry for wait, was making a character)

"Oh, alright then. If it's not an issue I see no hurry."

Continue listening to lecture.

"Now, to acquire a lifeform's Genetics, we cannot use a physical implement. It's impossible to peek into a soul with a physical implement, since the soul is immaterial. But the Me Kahigan in humans allows us magicians to examine a soul's genetics. It's more difficult to do on animals and people, and it has a chance of killing them... so we will start with plants in the lab excercise I have planned for today. The general principle is that genetics are not strictly necessary for the immediate survival of the subject. Remove them for too long, and the subject dies, of course. But if you do it only for a moment, then you have time to write down what you see without causing too many adverse effects."

The lab exercise can start whenever you are ready.

Raioyris promptly produces the tree particle he lifted earlier.

That was misleading, if light elapses distances as such then it can't really have a velocity associated with it can it? That's not even really motion.

"Teach me. My soul is brimming with 'fire.' Quite actually.

Tonight I enter combat to defend my free name from baseless accusers, I intend to fight with my own strength and devices."

"I... I have a class to teach..."
"I think we could learn a thing or two from that combat," mutters the princess, a sly grin on her lips.
"..."

The professor rewrites the next diagram: an enlarged version of the Sha.

"The Sha is able to act as a conduit for fire... by opening the gate of your soul, you open a direct path to a source of energy, and the Sha conducts this energy into whatever it contacts. Some use this open gate to supply energy for Wind magic, others for Thunder magic, but most use it for Fire spells. A rare half-elf with a Sha can practice the Moon arts, but those are quite rare indeed. I don't suppose we have any... ah well..."

The bottom of the slide shows a picture of a staff, and a Sha gripping the staff (A human hand is holding the staff as well. Apparently the Sha cannot be used to grasp the staff directly). Several terms in an unknown language, scribed in Higan, are listed next to it:

Firaburz + Sha
Vukano + Sha
Jet + Sha

((Yes, bloody irregular verbs. I hate those.))

"Me." Dan mutters and stares at flowers. Am I doing this right?

You head over to the Marble Gardens by boat and start staring at flowers. You say 'Me', and then... nothing happens.
"For actually using your Kahigan, imagine arms. One arm from your back, one that splits halfway along its length into two. Don't imagine the fingers, just the arm."
You do it right this time. You don't quite feel anything like an arm on your back, but you can tell that it's working, because the flower bed in front of you is now on fire.

((So, light is considered to be infinite speed (but is it?), fire and shadow makes radiation...Hrm.))

"So...Is it, like light we can't see?  Like how you can get a sunburn, only more deadly?

...Nevermind, I don't really need to know that just yet."

Keep going down the list.

To make bone, you try to mix a small green sprout with the Sands of Time. It starts to turn red, with blood vessels pumping throughout the leaves. It then turns a necrotic gray, then a bony white, and then withers away into quite literally nothing, besides whatever Time Sand was left unconsumed by the reaction.

My studies didn't focus much on the petty kingdom's of old, so this is certainly intriguing.

"What kind of fortification could decimate an entire kingdom's army?"

"He was an earthmover by the name of Rigel. By carving an immense circle into the ground, he was able to raise a wall of granite to protect the city. But having some skill in fortress design, he had the townspeople topple the wall outward and raised a smaller wall for it to collapse onto. This formed a ramp that the enemy could cross, but not leap off of without plummeting off the edge of the smaller wall propping up the ramp. For the protection of the city, he constructed a second wall within this glacis, one from which the archers could fire from.

This fortification had the effect of fooling the soldiers into believing that the ramp scaled the entirety of the wall. But it only scaled partway up into a ditch, where the first few lines of charging soldiers plummeted to their deaths. But none could hear their cries in the charge, and the soldiers behind them thought that there was simply a downward slope in front of them. Either way, their momentum did not let them arrest, and they plummeted one after the other, like lemmings off a cliff..."

[IronyOwl]

"Alright! Ready to, uh... _{pull something's soul out.} Just a plant, hardly even needs it. The foundation of all good healing is pulling souls out, apparently..."

Begin the exercise. Just... try to use an arm or leg I didn't know I had, that's invisible, and used for grasping plant souls. Should be easy. Yes.

[WunderKatze]

Conducts energy into whatever it touches? Raioyris holds up the tree particle with his hand and lightly touches it with his Sha.

While lifting the staff Raioyris resumes the constant interjections, "Thunder is fire and wind?"

Though one would assume it invovles water.

"Can the Kahigan articulate a spell beyond the ingredients used? Or is a spell wholly a product of the energies used?"

[TheBiggerFish]

Try it again, but with less Time.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Alright! Ready to, uh... _{pull something's soul out.} Just a plant, hardly even needs it. The foundation of all good healing is pulling souls out, apparently..."

Begin the exercise. Just... try to use an arm or leg I didn't know I had, that's invisible, and used for grasping plant souls. Should be easy. Yes.

[-] You try it, and in fact you feel a response! You don't have that sort of awareness of the limb like you do your hand, but you can feel a sensation of touch. You try to go deeper, to reach into the blade of grass on the table in front of you... and you end up making a hole in the table. Hum.

You smell fire. One of the students across from you, the one in the suit of armor, apparently, has set fire to his. The short girl, simultaneously, shouts "I got it!", raising her sketchbook into the air repeatedly, and then looks down.
"Oh... I broke it."

Conducts energy into whatever it touches? Raioyris holds up the tree particle with his hand and lightly touches it with his Sha.

While lifting the staff Raioyris resumes the constant interjections, "Thunder is fire and wind?"

Though one would assume it invovles water.

"Can the Kahigan articulate a spell beyond the ingredients used? Or is a spell wholly a product of the energies used?"

The tree glows red hot, does not burst into flame, but sizzles. You feel its warmth on your skin.

"It depends on the Kahigan used, actually. Using a Go will create a different spell compared to a Sha. Take the spell Vukano, for instance. When a mixture of the proper ingredients is ignited by the Sha, a burst of ash is created. But when ignited by the Go, it causes an expansion effect in nearby matter. The latter effect is rarely used since it will destroy your staff, since expansion results in a corresponding reduction in density, but the storm of ashes is good for masking yourself, or for providing the reagents to another spell. Using spells to create reagents for other spells, in this sense, is known as Spellweaving. It's a skillful, time-based maneuver requiring strict discipline."

Try it again, but with less Time.

Measuring out the remaining time sand and removing the same amount from the original measuring spoon, you manage to achieve a bony-white leaf.

"It appears you've made bone in a roundabout way," inserts the professor. "Bone is normally part Earth, but you've demonstrated the fact that Life alone is enough to create something quite like bone when excess matter is stripped away. Why do you think that is?"

[AoshimaMichio]

"Get your ass under control, silly Kahigan. Burning flowers is not on the menu."

Let's poke burning flowers with Kahigan a bit more, differently this time.

[_DivideByZero_]

"Get your ass under control, silly Kahigan. Burning flowers is not on the menu."

[-] You try again. Different effect this time! You feel it too, a sense of touch in an invisible hand without fingers, pressing against the flowers and shaking some of the snow off the tops of the flowers. Most of the fires go out with a sizzle. But some of the snow stays floating in place. Wait a minute...

You pull your Kahigan back, observing little puffs of snow still balanced on top of it, giving a rough outline of a smooth tentacle. The snow doesn't melt like it would on your hand. Now that you can see it, you can flex it with a surprising degree of control.

[AoshimaMichio]

"Hey, Nobul. Isn't this far better method to see your invisible hands rather than using drugs? Or course there's obvious downsides, but beyond that?"

[_DivideByZero_]

"Some use plaster, tends to stick better. Not very practical to spray plaster everywhere though, tends to interfere with spells since you alter the concentration of elements."

You notice a tendril emerging from his back, one with an odd, complex shape. It glows with a distinct indigo hue.
"When you get practice, you'll be able to make it glow, like mine. But you're free to choose what suits you best."

The snow doesn't quite stick well. It seems that this tendril lacks the properties of ordinary skin. You also can't feel cold through it.

[AoshimaMichio]

More practice: try to pluck a flower pedal out. And figure what I did to set flowers on fire so I know not to do that again. Or so I know how to do it again if I need to set someone's hair on fire.

[TheBiggerFish]

"Because...Well my original thought was, when things die, they leave behind skeletons..."

[WunderKatze]

"Is it potentially dangerous to prob an enemy with your 'Me' during combat?"

[IronyOwl]

Try again! A gentler touch, perhaps? Or better aim? Hopefully I'm using the right limb.

[HighEndNoob]

"So the magic helped speed up the construction of the defenses, but by itself didn't cause the armies decimation. With enough time and ingenuity, any city could've built such a fortification."

"Could magic really be blamed for the kingdom's collapse then? It speed up the process, it can hardly be viewed with such scrutiny for merely being a faster method of masonry."

[_DivideByZero_]

Update 17

More practice: try to pluck a flower pedal out. And figure what I did to set flowers on fire so I know not to do that again. Or so I know how to do it again if I need to set someone's hair on fire.

The Kahigan tapers to a point, so with some finesse you should be able to pluck off a petal... [-] It's rather agile, too, so as long as you are able to get visual confirmation, the Kahigan is amazingly precise. Or perhaps it's just your own skill.

[-] As for figuring out what the culprit was, you get the nagging suspicion that it was one of your other Kahigan acting up. This one doesn't seem dangerous, but you might have another one that's hot to the touch.

Try again! A gentler touch, perhaps? Or better aim? Hopefully I'm using the right limb.

Abruptly, Aquarius blows some smoke across the table from a pipe. Where did he get it from? Either way, you notice the odd fact that your Kahigan is displacing smoke. It's shaped like a smooth tentacle, flanked by two smaller ones.

[-] With visual confirmation, you seem to have a good deal of control over the Kahigan's position. However, no matter what you try, it always ends in crushing the blade of grass. Definitely the wrong limb, unless there's something more to it.

"Because...Well my original thought was, when things die, they leave behind skeletons..."

"True, but there are many forms of life without skeletons. Plants, for example. But what you saw there, is that in terms of an elemental balance, it is possible to create something which is normally make of Earth, using only Life. Assuming that nothing comes out of nothing, what does that tell you about Life?"

"Is it potentially dangerous to prob an enemy with your 'Me' during combat?"

"What does this have to do with... sure you can. I'm not going to tell you how to fight, but it is entirely possible to use your Me to connect to someone's mind during combat. Please don't go about doing that to random strangers, though. You have to dig around first before you can get any useful information..."

You hear a voice in your head. Seems like it's empty in here...

"So the magic helped speed up the construction of the defenses, but by itself didn't cause the armies decimation. With enough time and ingenuity, any city could've built such a fortification."

"Could magic really be blamed for the kingdom's collapse then? It speed up the process, it can hardly be viewed with such scrutiny for merely being a faster method of masonry."

"Well, you see, those fortifications are still up today. And Jaggedsclimbe remains the most heavily fortified city in the region, surmounted only by the fortresses of the far south, built by the hands of beastmen. It's a far quicker means of masonry."
"Surely one can make a *ahem* profit with such a skill..." mutters a short man with a moneylender's robe, trimmed with gold and wearing a gold medallion around his neck to bear Folstag's insignia.