Occult Awakening: From Commoner to Archmage-Chapter 71: Nature of The Veil

The Veil was incomparable to the physical world for many reasons.

The first was that everyone was significantly more powerful within it, simply because of how close they were to its essence. But at such a low level, Luca could only access that connection fully when he slipped into an incapacitated meditative state.

From what he had gathered, and from what he could infer, higher-ranking mages like High Mages and Archmages could bypass that limitation. They had ways to go past the Veil in different forms. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Right now, Luca was closer to the Veil than ever before, but still at an immeasurable distance away.

High Mages could close that gap through something called Astral Observation. In that state, they existed within the Veil itself, yet were unable to act.

It was observation from inside the thing being observed; a paradox that only made sense when spoken of in the terms of the Veil.

A stage beyond that was Astral Projection, where the mage could project their body in its entirety into the Veil and beyond it.

Those projected forms were said to hold both the abilities of the physical body and stranger ones, powers unbound by the natural order.

Luca came to a simple, yet complicated conclusion about the Veil’s nature.

It was both the gate and the world beyond the gate. It was everywhere at once, inseparable from the cosmos, and yet it could not be located in any distinct place. In a sense, the Veil stretched across the whole of existence.

The goal of gaining power was the same at its core for everyone.

Whether mage, knight, or exorcist, each was striving to draw nearer to the Veil with every step of growth.

For mages, this was achieved by resonating with glyphs through countless methods. For knights and exorcists, it was done by orbiting closer to their Source, like the Sun Father.

The Source itself existed within and beyond the Veil, so in truth it was all the same pursuit.

It was different paths leading toward the same thing. He assumed that the end point was to be ingrained within the Veil itself

When he looked at it that way, it became easier to understand why Crowley hadn’t placed the full scale of explanation into the tome.

There would never be enough space for every detail, and even now Luca felt he had barely scratched the surface.

"In any case, I still have to understand how the Foundational Glyph fits into all of this."

The name itself made sense, but something about it still eluded him.

Luca let mana seep outward from him, slowly, then spoke.

"Convergence."

The world shuddered. The plains twisted and rumbled heavily, only to return to stillness a heartbeat later. It was as though nothing at all had happened.

His sea of consciousness stirred. The glyph of Convergence pulsed faintly while the dark Legacy energy circled it. The glyph’s gravitational beat competed constantly with the unformed ball of energy.

"If the energy wasn’t there," Luca muttered, "the glyph would be the only thing within. The center of my consciousness."

The thought clicked deeper the longer he considered it. The Foundational Glyph represented the spark that had triggered his awakening. It was the root of his magical experience, the ground beneath every step he had taken.

If the foundation was stronger, wouldn’t the rest of the structure be sturdier as well? Harder to tear down?

Like a building rising degree by degree, each rank was built upon the bottom. Strengthen the base, and the whole would hold firm.

"All of this must really be important to the next rank."

At last, he began to understand what Digger had meant. Most mages likely overlooked the implications of the Foundational Glyph, just as he once had.

"Not anymore," he said under his breath.

His gaze returned to the glyph. He reached for it in the sky of his mind, pulling it from the blankness of the cosmos. Perhaps it was this way for everyone. They drew down the glyphs from the emptiness above.

Luca let his awareness spread outward into the Veil. He brushed against the hazy auras radiating from glyphs all around. Most appeared as indistinct outlines, nothing more. The only way to make sense of them was by comparing them to the impressions of glyphs he already knew.

The process dragged on. His reach could not go far, nor pierce into much detail. Still, from time to time, his attention lingered on glyphs that pulsed in ways similar to the ones already familiar to him.

Eventually, a frown creased his face. This was no different from what he had always done before.

With the context of the Foundational Glyph, he had to shift his approach.

His consciousness contracted, focusing into a single point.

’That’s the answer, isn’t it?’

Convergence.

The Foundational Glyph wasn’t just the spark that began his journey. It was the lens, the measure by which every other glyph ought to be weighed.

Luca fed a trickle of energy into Convergence, letting his awareness slip outward once again. Now his perception carried the same magnetic pull as the glyph itself.

And something shifted.

He felt small tugs on his awareness. Where before the glyphs gave nothing but a neutral hum, now there were pulls, faint but certain. Some glyphs fell into the orbit of Convergence.

THUMP. THUMP.

The resonance startled him. These were glyphs he hadn’t even thought to consider before, overlooked in his past focus.

A thought crept into his mind, insistent and impossible to push away.

’What’ll happen if I place other glyphs into my consciousness?’

There was only one way to find out.

FWOOSH!

His consciousness reeled inward, dragging down multiple glyphs at once. They blazed white-hot as they fell, streaking toward him like stars torn from the firmament.

Luca silently braced himself for the information he was bound to receive upon impact.

However, as the glaring stars drew closer, he couldn’t help but feel something was off. He quickly withdrew the effect of Convergence, causing the stars to snap back into their original spots.

"I don’t think it’s the time for that just yet."

Something deep in his gut told him he was getting ahead of himself if he tried to do that.

He heaved a huge breath in and steadied himself.

"Alright. Let’s try this again. Back to the basics."