|
 |
The Anime is an adaptation based off the Light Novel and Manga and might contain different terminology from the source material. |
Magic Tools (魔術具, Majutsugu) are tools with magical properties made by nobles. They can be created either by embedding feystones in other constructs, or by blending the magical materials together in a mixing pot.
Properties
All magic tools require mana to be used. Most are made for nobles and thus work by having the user pour mana into it. There are also magic tools that can be used without pouring mana into it, which require the tool to have a mana-storage capacity built into them. Once they run out of mana, they will cease to funtion until they are recharged.
These tools with the ability to store mana can even be used by commoners, though few of them ever get the privilege of handling them, with them usually being reserved for high-ranking officials like Guild Masters or members of the armed forced if the situation calls for it.
Magic Tools can be made to either work only for a single person, with multiple people being registered to it, or anyone with mana. Though even tools specifically created for the use of multiple people still have the highest efficiency when charged by the person who's mana was used to create them.
The same holds true for feystones that have been part of a magic tools. It is possible to remove them and re-use them for a new magic tool, but if the new tool is made with the mana of another person, they will be less efficient in mana capacity and throughput than new stones adapted specifically for their new master.[1]
The properties of magic tools are guided in large part by the kinds of mana that are used to create it. Each of the Gods is associated with a set of effects and properties and to give a magic tool an effect, one needs to create it from mana that is corresponds to the god or goddess that is associated with the effect.
- Green mana is associated with water from Flutrane the Goddess of Water and Spring. It can give effects that heal, cleanse or change.
- Blue mana is associated with fire from Leidenschaft the God of Fire and Summer. It can give effects that strengthen, amplify or grow.
- Yellow mana is associated with wing from Schutzaria the Goddess of Wind and Authumn. It can give effects that defend, speed up or grant knowledge.
- Red mana is associated with earth from Geduldh the Goddess of Earth and Winter. It can give effects that impart fortitude and resilience and can diffuse.
A magic tool does not have to be made from just one type of mana. Combining multiple types is possible. Generally it is easier to combine different kinds of mana by using components that each already contain parts of all the kinds of mana one wants to combine, rather than trying to mix pure components. This holds especially true for white life-mana, since it is particularly difficult to combine with other kinds, likely due to the strained relation between the God of Life and the other gods.
Components
Magical Ink
Contract Magic Ink
Ink that is created from mana-rich components can be used for various applications. The exact components from which it is made differ on their intended use. The mana affinity of the components has to match up with the intended use of the ink.
Contract Magic Ink
A subset of magical ink is the ink for Contract Magic. To make this particular ink, the creator has to purify it of all but the most miniscule traces of all elements and colours at a late stage of production, so it can be receptive to the tiny amount of mana contained in commoners' blood.[2]
Known Magic Tools
The name of the tools written in italics have not yet been mentioned and thus are just descriptors of what they do. Tool names in regular text have been used as such in the source material.
Contract Magic Tool
Myne activating the Contract Magic Tool
This magic tool serves as a contract that could be activated by rubbing blood on it. It looks like a pendant with a black feystone in the middle. Upon activation, the magic tool would glow and it appears that the other contract party would be notified in some way.
Magic Ring
Ferdinand's magic ring lent to Myne
These rings are magic tools that enable a noble to focus their mana into blessings and spells. They are usually only utilized for the minor blessings that are part of noble greetings, but in a pinch can also be used to cast other kinds of magic.[3]
Every noble gets one of these rings as a gift at their baptism. Traditionally it appears to be worn on the middle finger of the left hand.
Mana Draining Magic Tool
Mana Draining Magic Tool
These magic tools are made to drain the excess mana of noble children to prevent their mana building up to levels that damage their bodies and stunt their growth. They are essential for every noble child from the lowest laynoble to the royal family and if a family can not afford such a tool, they are forced to either send their child to the temple to become a priest or watch their child eventually die like a devouring commoner.
Due to how important and costly they are, most nobles would never even consider selling these to a commoner. Only the lowest ranking and poor laynobles might sometimes sell nearly burnt-out or defective tools to trusted and rich merchants at a premium price.
The cost of commissioning a brand new mana draining magic tool are estimated to around five small gold.
Memory Searching magic tool
This magic tools is used to look into someone else's memories. Since nobles value their privacy so highly, this tool is usually reserved for only those suspected of the most grave of crimes. It comes in the shape of a paired set of circlets that can change their size to fit the wearer perfectly with big, red feystone at their front.
For use the person to be interrogated is made to drink a potion made with the mana of the interrogator. If the two have very similar mana, the potion tastes sweet, but the more their affinities and capacity diverge, the worse it tastes. Once the potion puts the criminal to sleep, a connection between the two circlets is established and the interrogator synchronizes with the criminal, which allows them to experience the memories and even emotions of the criminal.
The only known case where this tool was used on someone who did not commit a severe crime was when Ferdinand used it to explore Myne's memories due to the exceptionally unusual events surrounding the girl.
Ordonnanz Feystone
While sharing the appearance of a raw feystone, the stones used for the Ordonnanz spells are actually magic tools that have been created for this specific task. This visual similarity is also the reason why most nobles just called them ordonnanz feystones, despite this technically being a wrong designation.
The Ordonnanz spell turns these yellow stones into the shape of a white bird to record a voice message and is then sent to the intented target, where the message is repeated thrice, before the magic tool returns into it's inert gem-shape.
Sound-blocking Magic Tool
Myne holding a sound-blocking magic tool
Barrier-type sound-blocking magic tool
These tools were created to protect important conversations from being eavesdropped on. They come in two variants: One is a set of tools that need to be held and supplied with mana, which will make anything spoken by a holder only audible to people holding tools linked into theirs and is widely used among the nobility. Ferdinand at one point also uses such a tool to prevent Myne from saying anything out of turn, by having her hold on to one, but not holding his paired one, thus rendering the girl effectively mute for the duration of the conversation.[4]
The other variant created a sound-blocking shield. Since the hand-held sound-blocking tools are more practical and discreet, this area-of-effect version is much rarer and generally only used when communicating with commoners, like in high-level business discussions with merchants, for example, who don't have the required mana to use the hand-held variant.[5]
Sound-dampening Magic Tool
This magic kind of tool is used to reduce the volume of specific sources of noise without entirely blocking them.
Among other things such tools are employed for the commoner baptisms in the church, where they are set up to reduce the level of the spoken words and screams of the mass of children to the level of a whisper. The specific tool used in the Ehrenfest Cathedral has the shape of a wind chime-esque bell fitted with a feystone.[6]
Divine Instruments
Divine Instruments are powerful items used in the temples of every duchy. It is unclear whether there is any real difference between them and regular magic tools. Even some nobles consider them to be nothing more than regular magic tools, albeit of rare quality.
Trivia
- In the anime the wide-range variant of the sound-blocking magic tool requires only the magic tool itself to work. In the Light Novel Ferdinand had to set down four additional feystones at the corners of the shielded area to get the desired effect.[7]
- In the anime the Contract Magic Tool went back to looking completely inert after it glowed briefly upon activation. In the light novel after the glow faded, a yellow flame could be seen to waver inside the black stone.[8]
References
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 4. Chapter 4: Schwartz's and Weiss's Outfits
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 4 Volume 4. Chapter 5: Magic Ink
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 4. Chapter 12: The Black Charm
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 1. Chapter 24: Family Meeting at the Temple
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Episode 28. 12:37
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 1 Volume 3. Chapter 18: A Quiet Commotion
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 3. Chapter 5: Meeting of the Minds
- ↑ Ascendance of a Bookworm. Part 2 Volume 4. Chapter 10: The Shadow Falls