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The access to knowledge was unspeakably teuess that there’d be limits on it He would dole out his inforwas better than nothing I had a feeling I’d be needing answers for a long ti the "beacon" for Tessa’s essence, feeling and seeing the thruht My eyes traveled over the twined wards Now that they were active and coin to see how they worked I had basically channeled potency into the first diagra it into the other circle to create this beacon

My heart skipped a beat as I looked at the diagrara potency, could that be done at other times as well? I could feel my breath quicken as I considered the implications of that possibility Holy shit This wouldto death ic The Symbol Man had tortured and murdered his victih to summon and bind a demonic lord The restrictions of the phase of theto resort to such hideous s required a smooth and consistent flow of potency, and fluctuations or hiccups could prove disastrous when opening a portal But if there was a way to gradually bleed power off into a diagram and then pull it back out for use … I reached for the back of the chair, the unspeakable elation nearly overwhel

"Holy shit," I whispered Could it really ithout the blood of innocent victims? I wouldn’t have to worry about the phase of the hout the ht, half-moon, no her-level dera the wards, and then adding sue aher-level demons were summoned only by very experienced su of the portal to have strength left over to control the de in perspective There would still be drawbacks The convergence of the spheres was always a liotiate ter I performed, which in itself would li a piece of chalk out of the box where I kept my implements, then I moved to an open space on the basera that could interfere with that one I crouched and began slowly sketching, thinking carefully about how to adjust the ward structure of Tessa’s diagram for what I wanted

It took well over an hour, and ram I set the chalk down and brushed my hands off, then stood stiffly I’d had to redo parts of it several ti by pure I-think-this-makes-sense instinct I could only hope that ra flaws

Now to test it A small test--just to see if I had any clue at all or if I was trying to do so that couldn’t be done

I took a deep breath and pulled potency to me The power dribbled into my control in small erratic bursts, exactly as it had with Tessa’s beacon For a su, it would have been disastrous, but I didn’t need it to be steady and strong since I wasn’t relying on it to hold protections or bindings or anything else I only needed it to go into the warded diagrara into the wards like a blend of light and water, visible as a shiht

I finally released the diagram from my control I hadn’t pulled much power--there wasn’tin the diagraiddy I made an arcane battery! And without all that ram obsessively for nearly half an hour, then decided that it see the power The next question was, how ? And could I then draw that potency out steadily enough to use it effectively?

I focused and channeled another sram, deeply pleased when it settled in, like honey poured into a half-full bowl

This was too fucking cool I scrutinizedasteady It was teram could hold, but I forced myself to hold back, at least for now I could sense that there was more potency after the second time I’d channeled the power and that there was rooe capacity at this ti test would be whether I could use that potency

I glanced over at Tessa’s beacon, satisfied that it was still sending out its arcane call, then climbed the stairs and locked the baseraht would be that it would trickle away, back into the normal power structure of this sphere

And if it was still there, and usable, bywould suddenly be about a thousand times easier

Chapter 22

As soon as I woke up the next ram Even before coffee--which for me was a major deal The basement was stuffy and hot, but I barely noticed The potency still lay pooled in the diagra "Hot da like an idiot

Now, could I use it? I rubbed leefully in nored my body’s demand for coffee and food I took a deep breath to focus and pulled the potency froram--slowly at first, then withand crackling aroundundulations It was only a couple of hours after dawn, at a time of the month when potency was erratic and hard to pull, and here I ith smooth and solid power at my disposal

I toyed with the power for a while, practiced sending it back into the diagra of the wards deepening as I watched how the power flowed I could see ways that the structure could be adjusted to hold power more efficiently or altered to allow for different uses

I could also see why it was very likely that no one had figured this trick out before Without that crucial component of the ward that was used in the beacon, this wouldn’t work And how often does a sue fro was novice at best, but I could still see that this as the sort of thing that only soure out And Rhyzkahl had given it to me Did he know the other ways it could be used?

I reluctantly released the power back into the diagra as the power settled into the shining wards The next true test would be to atteerous test as well, I re, I wouldn’t lose only the stored power, I’d lose body parts I’ll be sticking to a lower-level de to learn how to summon

But noasn’t the time for that Noas the ti the fatigue hit me Sure, the poas there at ra effort to hold the potency, and I felt as if I’d suet that this takes it out of you