Magic is Programming

Chapter 5: Secrets

"Wait, what? Magic is programming?"

Amber stared at Carlos, and raised an eyebrow. "There's more to magic than just crafting spells, but of course crafting spells is part of it. How is that surprising?"

Carlos stared back and blinked a few times. "Huh? 'Crafting spells' is..." Wait. He thought a moment, and experimentally prodded at the translation magic in his head. 'Programming' translated to 'abraril miks', and 'crafting spells' translated to... exactly the same thing. Huh. He blinked again. "Oh."

Amber tilted her head. "You realized something?"

"Yeah. Um. In hindsight, that was a silly question. So anyway, if I speak this incantation from the book out loud, and I properly understand it, it will spend a little bit of mana to make some light?"

Amber nodded. "Yes, but if you've truly never studied magic before and get it to work on the first try, you'll be the most incredible prodigy I've ever heard of."

Carlos grinned. The meaning seemed plenty clear enough to him. "Let's find out." He read the incantation aloud, quietly to not draw too much attention. Fortunately all the words and symbols were spoken with only a single syllable each, or at most two, in the local language, so it went considerably faster than it would have in English.

He gazed at his palm expectantly. Nothing happened. [Uh, Purple, any idea what I did wrong?]

The dungeon core in his pocket had been quiet since they neared the town. [Not know method. Dungeon magic instinct.]

Carlos frowned at his non glowing palm. "Hmm. The meaning of it all seems obvious enough to me. I don't know what I'm missing."

Amber raised both her eyebrows at him. "Really? How could it possibly be obvious without ever having studied magic before? You've probably never even seen most of those words before."

"Um." Carlos grinned nervously. "A bad joke? Sorry. I shouldn't joke about learning magic." Telling people about his dungeon-granted translation ability seemed like it would probably be bad. Or maybe it would be no big deal, maybe everybody had some kind of magic ability on that level. He'd have to learn more.

Amber sighed. "Well, at least you weren't making fun of me for wanting to learn. I think. Still-"

"I'd recognize those clothes anywhere!" Carlos turned to see who was interrupting them, and was a bit shocked to see the familiar face of someone he'd last seen at the bottom of a deadly pit trap. Purple had told him that dead people came back somehow, but the idea still hadn't seemed real. The leader of the group he'd met in the dungeon was wearing different clothes from before, but showed no sign of injury. "I see you still have the sword I loaned you. I'll have that back now."

"Oh, um. One moment, sorry." Carlos stood up and awkwardly unbuckled the scabbard from his waist to hand it back.

The young man grabbed the scabbard and jerked it forcefully from Carlos's grip, not waiting for him to let go. "How did you survive that dungeon, anyway? It killed my whole party, and they tell me they did not get that close to the core."

Carlos crossed his arms over his chest and glared a little. "Carefully."

"Are you saying I'm not careful?" The boy rested one hand on the hilt of his sword, having already finished buckling the scabbard to his waist.

"No. The pit trap that killed you said that."

"You take that back!" He drew about a handspan of the sword's length out of the scabbard and scowled threateningly.

"Hey!" Amber yelled and waved her arms at them. "Kindar, you idiot!" She almost hissed at him, more quietly. "Do you really want to make this more of a public spectacle than it already is? Half the room already heard that you died carelessly to a pit trap, and beating Carlos over it will just make people gossip about it even more. If you want to repair the damage to your reputation, go back to the dungeon and beat it this time."

Kindar glared at Amber for several seconds, then huffed and slammed his sword fully back into its scabbard. "Fine. But this isn't over." He turned and stomped out the door.

Carlos let out a sigh of relief, and slumped back into his seat. "What's his problem?"

Amber shook her head and sighed. "He's the son of the richest man in Erlen, and thinks he should be a noble. No chance of that, it takes more than money to get a noble title, but he still has enough influence to bully most people around here into almost pretending."

"Ah. Erlen is the name of this town?" Amber nodded, and Carlos idly contemplated pre-emptive revenge for a moment. [Purple, I'm almost tempted to take you back, and help you set up some more devious traps to kill him again.]

[Would gain mana. But then leave again.] Carlos got an impression of a shrug through the mental link. [No time.]

"Wait, how did he know that I didn't die in the dungeon too?"

Amber blinked and stared at him. "Did your parents never tell you what happens when you respawn? I'd understand if you just had never done it yourself yet, but I thought everyone knew the basics!"

"Er." Carlos shrugged sheepishly. "It didn't come up much where I grew up." He mentally remarked to himself about how much of an understatement that was.

"Fine then, I guess I'll fill in for them on this. When you respawn, only you respawn. Not your equipment. Not even your clothes. If you had died and respawned, you wouldn't have still had his sword."

"Oh. I see." Wait, what about when he first arrived in this world? He'd woken up wearing the same clothes he'd worn on Earth. Carlos briefly considered asking about that, but decided it would be a bit too odd.

"And, uh, the rest of the basics? How long it takes, what determines where it happens, anything else?"

"You really don't know anything? Fine, approximately one hour from when you die, but it varies a bit, wherever your soul considers home, and you lose some of your soul's development in exchange. Don't die too often, or the respawns will leave you powerless. I've heard it's supposedly worse for highly developed souls."

Carlos really wanted to ask about the "soul development" concept, but that was probably another piece of universal knowledge and he didn't want to seem too incredibly ignorant.

"Ok, good to know. Thanks." Carlos stretched and yawned. "Well, I've had a long day, and if we're going adventuring together we should be well rested for it. I'm, uh, still completely broke, so can you help me with somewhere to sleep?"

Carlos woke to the sound of loud pounding on the door of the room Amber had talked the innkeeper into letting him have for half price last night. He stretched, and blinked bleary eyes.

"Are you even awake in there?! You have one minute before I come in to shove you out of bed!"

Carlos immediately sat bolt upright and shook his head to clear some fog from his sleepy mind. He'd apparently missed at least one wakeup call already, and probably more. "Just a moment!" He frantically scrambled into his clothes. Still the same clothes he'd worn yesterday, since he hadn't had a chance to get anything else yet.

He was putting his shoes on when Amber opened the door and walked in, looking around with a squint. She slowly walked around the room, holding up a finger as if somehow testing the air for something.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

"Hush." She held up her other hand towards Carlos.

Amber approached the side table, and stopped just short of touching Purple. The dungeon core had asked to be put somewhere stationary and out in the open where it could try to gather mana for something overnight. She tilted her head, staring at the purple crystal, which was floating just slightly above the wooden surface. "What?" She paused and shook her head. "...Is that a dungeon core?? Carlos, you have some explaining to do."

Possible lies flew through Carlos's mind, but he had no idea what might be plausible or how Amber would react to them. "Um. What makes you think it's a dungeon core?"

Amber glared at him. "Don't try to bullshit me, Carlos. I felt it drawing in the mana in the room. I don't feel the ambient background mana of a dungeon here, but the only magic items that draw in mana like that are incredibly rare and expensive, and that glowing floating crystal is unmistakable. What confuses me is how it's here. I've always heard that dungeon cores are impossible to move."

Trying to keep his muscles relaxed and his attitude calm, Carlos walked over and casually put Purple in his pocket. "Doesn't that prove it's not a dungeon core after all?"

"Either it's a dungeon core that is somehow moveable, or it's a legendarily high tier magic item that someone completely broke like you has no business having. Either way, it's an important secret that I will have to know before I help you any further." Amber crossed her arms and started tapping her foot. "And I'd better not find out later that you still have other important secrets you're keeping from me."

Carlos took a deep breath. Should he just confess everything? Having a friend who knew it all would be a big help, especially with Amber's knowledge of magical theory. He sighed. "I'm not sure how believable the truth is for you, or how dangerous telling it might be. I want to trust you, but I'm not sure I can. I've only known you for one evening."

"Is anyone pursuing you because of these secrets?"

"Not that I know of."

"Then what are you concerned about? Someone stealing from you? Attacking you?"

"I mean... Maybe? I don't know how valuable that crystal might be, or if someone might be able to take advantage somehow."

"Fine. I promise I won't try to steal it from you, or attack you because of it. And if there is advantage to be taken, I'll find a way to make it mutually beneficial."

Carlos hesitated. "How do I know you'll keep that promise?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "Ugh. Ok, you want something serious?" She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "How's this? I promise on my hopes of becoming a great mage, I will not betray your secrets. Now spill it already."

Carlos narrowed his eyes as he stared at her for a moment, then shrugged. "Good enough, I suppose. And having this out in the open will mean I won't have to think up excuses for not knowing things anymore."

He sat down and told her the whole story. How he had lived in another world that didn't have magic or dungeon cores or respawning. How he had died and been reincarnated here. The wish he had made on the dungeon core, and the agreement he'd made with Purple afterwards. And how the incantation in the book had been translated for him by that wish.

When he finished, Amber was nodding contemplatively. "It does sound far-fetched, I can see why you'd think I might not believe it. But at the same time, it's the kind of craziness that people don't just make up. And I saw the dungeon core - Purple, was it? - myself."

She paused a moment, then her eyes widened. "Oh crap. We need to move!"

Carlos sat up. "What's wrong?"

"Purple was the dungeon along the road, the one Kindar died in, right? He'll find out that it's gone today. We need to be out of Erlen before he gets back!"

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