Styx Institute - Conference Room
|
So. What horrific experiments does the acting director have in store for us? |
|
Whee hee hee, I'm glad you asked! To start with...
I'm gonna strap you all to chairs so you can't move, and examine you with a brunch of probes.
That way I can score some sweet data on the correlation between stress and blot accumilation! |
|
Wha... Do you really think you can get away with such outrageous behavior?! |
|
Uh, no? I was doing a bit. Sheesh. It's like you've never heard a joke before. |
|
Rgh... Yeargh...! |
|
In all fairness, it wasn't remotely funny. |
|
Agreed. You've taken our clothes and magic away. We're completely at your mercy. |
|
Idia, come on! They're already upset we hauled them out here against their wills. Scaring them will only make it worse! |
|
Well, now. I see you possess the compassion your brother sorely lacks. |
|
Besides, subjecting them to excessive levels of stress won't yield accurate data. |
|
Never mind, I take it back. You're exactly like your brother. |
|
Anyway, we brought you all here because we'd like you to help us collect data.
You're all highly-valuable specimens since you overblotted but weren't consumed by Phantoms. |
|
What are Phantoms? |
|
When you overblot, all the blot you can't hold spills out and takes on a giant form.
You guys saw the faceless monsters that appeared behind you, right? |
|
We call those Phantoms.
You weren't exactly yourselves, so I don't know how much you registered...
But when you overblotted, you were able to use magic way beyond your normal reserves. Do you know why?
It was because of those monsters. Phantoms feed on blot that's filled with the practitioner's darkest emotions. It's their energy source. |
|
Blot is toxic matter that's generated when you use magic. Normally, it's nothing but a debuff.
But when you're in overblot mode, that debuff turns into a buff.
That's why overblotted mages instinctively blow through their reserves and keep generating blot.
The Phantoms suck it all up and get a bigger and bigger POW bonus.
And once the mage exhausts the last of their reserves...their job as an incubator is finished. |
|
An...incubator? |
|
Yup. It's like you're an energy drink. Once they've drunk the last drop, the empty can gets chucked in the trash.
The caster is gone, leaving only a monster that's driven by hunger and negative emotions.
They wander the land, refusing to let go and spewing hexes all over the place. Hence the name Phantom.
At that point, either the Arcane Response Unit steps in and slays them...
Or they're captured and brought here for research.
Though I've heard of ultra-rare cases where they manage to blend in with direbeasts and other wildlife and hide in the mountains. |
|
I mean, i knew that if someone overblotted and spent all their magical reserves they would die... |
|
But the monster living on after that? It's a bit hard to believe. |
|
Well, there aren't too many cases that escalate to the point of creating Phantoms.
The thing about overblotting is...
You have to be a capable mage with a pretty big magic pool for it to happen at all.
So it's about as rare as rolling four SSRs on a single 10-pull in a gacha game with stingy draw rates.
I mean, most competent mages tend to be careful and show a bit of self-control.
Yet there was a whole slew of overblots in the past few months, and all at the same school.
It's like, why does our school keep churning out so many SSR Epic Troublemaker cards, amirite? Whee hee hee. |
|
...You have a gift for rubbing people the wrong way. |
|
Okay, so we were brought in for research.
Were you the one who issued that order, Idia? |
|
Uhh... |
|
Styx personnel are prohibited from disclosing such information to outside parties.
Let's just say that in addition to the agents Styx deploys worldwide...
...we have a global network of informants. |
|
...... |
|
As we've just established...
The Styx Institute of Magic Science has conducted much research on blot over the years.
One of our primary focuses is studying ways to safely and effectively utilize blot. |
Navigation
