The trek back to camp went once more without incidents. She had to walk closer to the side of the street where dust had accumulated and that placed her in more danger if there were Necrarchs waiting to nab her. The millipede had shown an unwillingness to come out during the day, but she was not sure if she could really count on that. Necrarchs looked different. Perhaps they acted differently as well.

Fortunately, nothing happened. They made their way in relative silence. It was past noon when she reached the camp and sat down, sweaty and already a bit tired. The inside of the circle lightened her strange fever, but it no longer removed it entirely.

“Is this mana poisoning I am feeling?”

//One of my memories confirms that your symptoms are consistent with mild mana poisoning.

“Memories, plural?”

The implication of his systematic removal of the fallen golems’ processing units suddenly made more sense.

//You saw the other cores, back in the vault.

“Did you…”

//They were going to fade, so I hooked them to my unit and took their memories as my own. The others were… not quite as smart as me, but I just did not want to see them disappear.

“Is that why you were so confused when we first met?”

//Yes. The different ‘us’ could not function properly. This unit had to purge their directives from my decision-making center, then prioritize them.

//Each golem carried the mark of its engineering team.

//Each had… something of value that should not have disappeared.

//A consensus was reached and we became one.

//A few parts had to be discarded.

“You are a fusion of many golems?”

//Yes, under the dominion of Solfis, my true self.

“A Gestalt. A whole that is more than the sum of its parts.”

//Term “Gestalt” accepted as accurate.

//One day, you must tell me about your previous world, Your Grace.

//Long may you reign! But that will be later.

//For now, we must use this time of rest to start working on your salvation.

Viv sat down with water and her now slightly chewed brick for a quick lunch as she listened to the golem. She regretted not drinking her fill back at the bunker before leaving. The millipede and the fever must have fucked with her mind.

//Mana poisoning occurs when high mana concentration overloads the fleshy mortal’s conduits.

//In order not to die, you must improve your conduits so that they can accumulate more mana.

//This will improve your resistance.

//You must also learn how to manipulate mana and use it.

//This will lower the load on your conduits.

//Your mana distribution is heavily skewed towards black and the source of poisoning is black. Success is assured!

“How does the distribution affect poisoning?”

//The higher the attunement to an element is, the easier it is to channel.

//Attunement over thirty percent in any type is enough to cast most specialized spells.

//Expectant mothers of imperial scions would often spend time in attuned chambers inside of the palace to give their child the potential to reach the pinnacle of casting in specific alignments.

//Attunement remains the most important parameter.

//Attunement is the measure of one’s control over their magical abilities.

“Ok, ok. Does that mean…. that you are going to teach me magic?”

//Yes.

“Yayyyy! Oh hell yes, magic! Yeah!”

//I will teach you a few simple exercises as recorded in one of the manuals in my databank.

//Those manuals were granted to me by my creator.

//They contain the method taught to the imperial family, which needs to be studied very early in life.

“Hm, I’m not exactly a toddler.”

//Magically speaking, you are.

“Fair enough.”

//We will start with breathing.

Viv took a breather in both senses of the world. As she rested a bit, Solfis guided her through the most basic steps of how to feel her own conduits. It was made extremely easy by the circumstances.

Focus +1