Hou laid in bed, breathing deeply and going into a state close to sleep. He felt vibrations and pulled his consciousness out into the astral world.
Hou found himself in a flurry of lights. Following the book he tried to change a law, Hou looked at a light which corresponds to flammability and changed it. This law was on a rock he placed beforehand, to change the law, he needed to use mana.
Mana is the source of everything, a magical medium all around the world, a mage takes mana in and uses it to bend laws.
Hou felt that mana was synonymous with qi and absorbed it, and while it was similar to how mana was described it was also different.
Hou tried absorbing nana using a method in the book and felt it, it was very much like qi but it was not the same. Qi was like a liquid you could absorb parts of, while mana was more like space. You didn't absorb mana, but accomadated a portion.
Hou nodded the difference and accomadated more mana, then he did as the book showed, using mana to bend the law temporarily. To accumulate more mana, a mana heart needs to be created, using moving mana circles to increase mana reserves.
With How's low skill level, minimal mana and little experience logically the magic should fail but that did not take into account Hou's body, king George with his natural ability 'King's law' allowed Hou's sloppy magic to still activate.
Hou knew that the effect would be very short so he returned to his body and quickly moved to action. He sat up from his bed and quickly took a candle, attempting to light the rock on fire.
As the candle flame touched the rock it ignited, being covered in small flames. However it only worked for a short time, in only a few moments it extinguished, once more becoming an ordinary rock.
'So this is the power of magic, it is similar to spirit cultivation. The laws are like the dao, mana like qi. But while they seem similar and work in similar ways, they use different mechanisms. Qi is not mana, so laws are unlikely to be the dao. But they are similar enough that I should be able to use them together and create even bigger effects.'
Hou had another book with him, a list of laws and how to bend them with mana, the specific movement of mana needed. He decided to look through them tonight and memorise them as much as possible.
Tomorrow though, other than acting as king George, and learning about the scenario, Hou had another goal. To learn about the swordsmanship in this world, he had found another book and became interested for Hamar.
In this world swordsmanship and magic is very linked, magicians are more powerful but knights move their swords to move mana and effect laws. They can create effects like fire and wind. But there was an even dunno l simpler but more useful idea, aura.
Swordsmen, or knights, don't create mana hearts but saturated their body with mana. In this is two effects, body strengthening and mana projection in the form of aura. By combining the mana and the physical body the mana becomes physical and can be sent out, causing extreme damage in cutting waves.
Most swordsmen would never have aura, it was an advanced skill, however Hou had become the king! He had many knights he could see use aura.
Hou went to sleep, after memorising a few laws manipulations. He woke up in the morning to a group of maids knocking on his room, he woke up and cleared the books.
"Come in, and bring Butler Corvo"
The wide doors opened, adjusting a flurry of servants to enter, attending to king George's every need. They clothed him, washed him, and entertained him.
The servants cleaned him and got Hou dressed into a fitted suit, with a large purple cape with white fur trim. King George was not a fat person but neither was he thin. He was a fairly built bit large man, with rough short blond-gold hair. Once he was dressed, he looked very kingly, however even in rags everyone would recognise the distinctive markers of royalty. Gold hair and ruby red eyes, the royal bloodline created these characteristics after coming of age.
An old man, maybe in his 70's, came into the room. He was dressed in a black suit, with a notebook in his hand. He wore thin black eyeglasses and a decorative sword by his side.
"Your majesty, in the morning there is a strategy meeting with the magic tower, and afterwards there is free time until later. Do you wish to have tea with Sir Augustus and determine his authenticity?"
Corvo tactfully called Augustus by his name, and not the royal prince but still with politeness. While there was a chance he was not who he said, the distinctive characteristics of the royal bloodline were apparent.
"Yes, I think I will, bring him to the royal garden at the appointed time, give him a suit befitting if his stature. And teach him how to act, he was far too presumptuous!"
"It would be my pleasure your majesty, I shall leave you to go do my duties if you permit me so."
"You may leave, Edward! Bring me to my meeting, give me the brief rundown on the way." Hou seamlessly switched from talking to Corvo to Edward and he prepared to see what this meeting was about.
A strategy meeting was likely to do with some sort of war, such a big threat might be what he needs to solve!
"As you wish!" Edward steeped forward with a stomp and saluted. As they walked through the castle, with Edward in front, he talked.
"The meeting, as you know, is about the military strategy to deal with the vassal kingdom Fisia's civil war. It is proposed we end this shortly before it affects us with help from the magic towers."