TheFoxsCloak

Originally Posted by Comun

Not much on the way there, which is about the first two thirds of the book, but once they get there, they start discussing things. Curses are the part that gets the biggest coverage in this volume. If Ismail's theory about the Zabaniyas being curses, that's pretty good Fake Assassin glazing.

Considering the fact that these two are the pillars of the nation and what the divine statues we saw looked like, their animal heads could be considered religious symbols.
"So, what made them get born like that?"
"Oh that, I sure did try to figure this one out last time I've been here, but all I got is that it resembles a type of curse. Are you familiar with curse arts, Lord?"
"No, I don't know much."
"Oh? But Sir, didn't the Clock Tower have a Department of Hexology?", I inadvertently blurted out.
Curses.
That is a topic brought up multiple times, but that's mainly because we're all in the dark about its intricacies.
We met a curse practitioner, Azel, in Fem's Casa, but he turned out to be just a dummy built by the rogue alchemist Juste.
"Yes, but we're talking about different systems.", Sir nodded. "Jigmarie is a faculty that studies exclusively curses used in Western Magecraft and their countermeasures. The curse system we're talking about here—famous majorly in the Middle East—is different at a base level."
This description got the gears of my brain running.
I managed to recall similar elements in my previous experiences.
"Like for example... Atlas alchemy and Thought Magecraft?"
"Correct. Specifically, curses are a magecraft system specialized in functioning inside the practitioner's body."
Inside... the body.
Ok, I can see the resemblance to the people of Sha now.
One more comparison comes to mind.
"Then... was Ziz's Reality Marble also that?"
Ziz's Reality Marble, Astral Infant, tried to spend thousands of years permanently converting his body into a Reality Marble.
In terms of scope, the citizens of Sha having animalistic body parts and his ideal of making his body in the Reality Marble of a new planet are not comparable, but the starting point could be similar.
"Good question. They do seem to follow the same logic.", Sir replied. "In this case, the upside of giving shape to the arcane within one's body is extremely simple. With the whole process taking place inside one's body, the world provides little resistance. Now, can you answer me how is that different from the Clock Tower's magecraft, the type that interacts with nature?"
"Uhh..."
"Yes, teacher... Is it duration?", Ergo raised his hand.
"Correct answer. Outputting the same charge from the same Magic Circuits, the difference in cost and duration would be frightening. That's the whole reason why Ziz could have his magecraft active for two thousand years. For Ziz, I believe his fundaments were the default of the Age of Gods: magecraft that borrows the Authority of a god. But we can assume he incorporated curse techniques to that base. He appeared to be quite knowledgeable of both curses and Thought Magecraft, as one can only be at the Wandering Sea."
"Oh... That's what it was."
I was slightly frustrated over Ergo being one step ahead of me, but about as much enthusiastic about it.
It made me happy, because it felt like I've been too long without attending his classes.
"However, these techniques also have a downside. Can you guess what?"
This time I was the good senpai and answered first.
"Would it be that... everyone's bodies are different?"
"Precisely.", Sir nodded with pride. "Concluding the whole process within one's body is the whole reason why curses don't suffer the same restrictions and limitations that Western Magecraft does. However, the lack of restrictions also means the lack of a shared ground between two curse practitioners."
Saying that, Sir clicked his heel.
"The arcane is a teachable research subject because we share the same world with the magecraft foundations, or share the Thought Foundation. But since curses develop and mature with the bodies of different people, there's significant less leeway to make them teachable. It's not completely hopeless, but it forces the student to learn only from personal experience, and creates huge divergences between the taught art and the learned art. This doesn't prove a problem for basic Reinforcement, but for curses with a specific application, the deviation becomes something that can't be ignored. That's why curse practitioners will never have an organization as systematic as the Clock Tower or the Luoxuan Guan."
That made sense to me.
It's easy to imagine myself faster or stronger.
Because I can be like that with just regular training, without needing the help of magecraft. I can come up with magical or scientific routes to get there.
But it's not that easy to imagine myself being able to stretch my arms a few meters long or being able to turn my body into fire.
Because those things can't be accomplished by regular methods.
With the Clock Tower's magecraft, this gap can be crossed through magical theories recorded in the world, like the magecraft foundations. As Sir just explained, Thought Magecraft must have a similar relationship with the Thought Foundation.
But curses... don't seem to have anything of the sort.
All starts and ends in the body, therefore practically nothing depends on anyone else.
"If I asked people to imagine themselves with wings, some would envision wings growing from their scapula, others would replace their arms with wings, and perhaps someone would even have them growing from their head. To add to the variation, they'd have different wing shapes and feather types. When dealing with curses, these differences are as numerous are there are practitioners. The rift in teaching effectiveness is immense compared to Western Magecraft... Though, of course, that's the biased view of someone from the Clock Tower. A curse expert could have given you a different opinion."