In this world, Magic is Everything. All people, all races, are granted with the power to perform mystical and magical feats via grimories, mystical tomes granted to each and every child on their 15th birthday. Those blessed by the mana can have their names written down in legend.
Shattered Grimoires is the work of the mind(s) of Ardere & Shattered Grimoire's staff. All characters and content are copyright their creators, and may not be replicated without their creators' permission. Black Clover is owned by Yuki Tabata and published by Viz Shonen Jump. All images belong to their original owners. The theme you are currently viewing was made by Eliza of ElizaCodes exclusively for Shattered Grimoires.
[attr="class","noahtext"]Noah wasn´t exactly sure what he was doing, as he found himself flying on a broom towards Common realm, leaving Royal Capital where he currently resided. Lack of money and a real inspiration were certainly behind this decision. Being in a really populated area had its perks, but the lack of privacy was really bothering him. When he wanted to find a place to train, he would always encounter some obstacles, whether it was some really creepy love couples on the benches in the park, or young Magic Knights, who were training by themselves. It often occurred to him to join them, but they all seemed way too motivated for Noah´s liking, and hopefully there would be plenty of time to train with other magic knights of his rank when he makes it into his dream squad. Instead, he got the idea which could backlash very easily, but there was basically nothing else to think of. If he stayed at capital, he wouldn’t have a space for his training, which in nature needed to be private as he had planned some gruesome things for himself and he certainly wanted to witnesses. If he moved to the Blake estate where he temporarily resided with captain Blake, he would risk him seeing young mage´s efforts in training, and Noah wanted to give the impression he was prepared. Or at least that he wouldn’t break down as a little baby if he got hit a little harder than he expected. [break] That was the reason he was traveling to place, that was very close to his heart, one huge hill not far away from his home village, where he would train his whole youth with his mentor Josephine. As a Magic Knight of Green Mantis, Josephine always found some time to train with Noah and teach him the basics of the mana manipulation as well as certain aspects of taking control over his rare magical element. However, as this previous month has showed him very clearly, he still was very weak, and even if he trained his whole childhood, other just trained more, or were just naturally gifted. He couldn’t really tell, but he had a plan for his improvement. As he had no information about Josephine, he decided he would just go to their usual training place, where it was always empty and extremely calm. There, he would divide his training into three sections, which he curated based on his experiences from missions, and many different adventures he experienced this past month. Having at least a somehow concrete idea of what it meant to be a magic knight now, he found what he lacked and in order to make it into his magic squad, he just needed to get better. [break] When he finally saw the clear meadow from afar, it was a cathartic feeling, there were a lot of good memories he had with that place, but at the same time it just highlighted how everything has changed and that life would probably not be easy as it were before, ever again. Smooth landing, opened backpack and everything was ready to start. His first part of training was oddly specific, and he really needed a privacy for this one. During his adventures, he visited a city of Hapshass couple time. This city was mainly known for its advancements in terms of potions and different medicine. Noah managed to get a small serum of vibrant pink color. This serum, or pain elixir if you will, would stimulate certain levels of physical pain depending on how many droplets of it would the user take. This was something Noah was very interested in. As he saw very different Magic Knights of various levels, there seemed to be a weird connection between them. They all had a certain tolerance towards pain which seemed to be way above average human being. Noah, being a crybaby even after a sting from a bug couldn’t really relate. Therefore, he planned to work on his own pain tolerance with help of this serum. It was some herbs carefully put together, as the witch that sold it to him explained it in wonderful details, but that didn’t really interest him. It was supposed to stimulate certain nerves and therefore trick them into thinking the area is under attack. [break] Noah had no idea how this would go down, but he was glad that there wasn’t anyone around. He used to be overly dramatic when it came to pain. His plan was to dose the serums in drops, starting on one drop and seeing how things would develop. He would then proceed to increase the dosage once getting used to the current level of pain. He had no intention of developing really strong resistance towards physical pain, but he just wanted to be able to endure a broken bone or two. Having a small flyer that was given to him together with the serum, he started reading loudly. “Okay, seems like one drop equals a dull punch, two drops can stimulate a deeper scratch, three drops were a broken bone, four drops would then give the person a feeling of a cut of limb… Hm, yeah that’s not happening.” It seemed like three drops were more than enough, but also this ranking seemed really suspicious. When he came to think of it, the witch was a little suspicious about it as it seemed like an off-the-counter goods. Well, he didn’t make it all this way just to stop it now, therefore he decided that whatever happened, the one drop couldn’t be that terrible and therefore lied on the ground and release one droplet into his mouth. [break] It tasted like… quite nothing, it had no taste whatsoever. Also the effects didn’t seem to kick in instantly, because he still felt quite okay. “I hope this wasn’t a fraud.” He got little anxious, because if this serum was a lie, he would have to improvise on his first part of training and he had no idea how else to stimulate a pain. “O-ouch.” Things started to kick in, as his breathing got a little heavier, and in the corners of his eye lids were small tears gathering. “Okay I think it works… Ouch.” The pain wasn’t as terrible as he thought it was, but it took him hot minute to get used to it. It was as if there were a hard pressure on his chest being constantly applied. Now that he came to think of it, this is how his enemies could possible perceive the gravity. It was a terrible feeling. The pain was supposed last five minutes, while it was in its full potential the first three minutes and in the last two it would slowly start to fade. It already felt like an eternity, while Noah tried to sit, his head was pounding as it was obvious this young boy wasn’t used to any physical pain. Trying to think about what he should do, it was pretty foggy. He couldn’t really concentrate, only thing that went in his mind like it was on a loop was that this is indeed not a good idea. Trying to slowly move his body, it felt like every additional movement just created more pain. [break] Trying to concentrate on anything else but the pain, he saw some bird not so far away. The bird was rather uninterested in what was going on with Noah, and Noah´s vision was just blurry from the tears. He wasn’t crying, or at least he thought so, but his eyes were releasing an unusual amount of water. After a brief moment, it really felt like he has been here for the whole day, even though it was more or less thirty seconds since he took the first drop. He tried to stand up and see how his motoric abilities were. They weren´t the best, to say the least. Very bumpy pose and his reluctance to walking right now weren’t making it any easier. “Snap out of it, it is not even that painful.” Speaking to himself loudly felt like the best idea right now, and he was right. The pain was very subtle, he was just overly sensitive. He tried walking faster, to see if some movements could alleviate the pain he was feeling. It seemed to work, at least partially, because he slowly started getting used to the unpleasant feeling. Still being very disturbed, he tried walking in circle and doing some light exercises, to see if it would help him navigate his attention towards something else. It helped a lot, as he was probably more annoyed by the jumping jacks he tried to do than the pain itself. It was probably four minutes in now, as he felt that the pain was getting lower. “Okay, okay. I think the goal here is to not focus on the pain itself, which in this case was easy, but how would I not focus on a cut-off limb during a battle?” This question was directly linked to the fact that four drops of the serum would replicate that pain level. He just decided that he would not be in situations like this for a long time, and therefore there was no need to deal with that now. First drop was done, but he wanted to get to three drops at least, before he would proceed to his next portion of training.
[attr="class","noahfoot"]Nullam at arcu a est sollicitudin euismod. Mauris tincidunt sem sed arcu. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec quis nibh at felis congue commodo. Nulla quis diam. Phasellus faucibus molestie nisl. Integer in sapien. Nulla quis diam. Nunc tincidunt ante vitae massa. Nullam sit amet magna in magna gravida vehicula. Fusce nibh.
[attr="class","noahtext"]The choice young mage was facing now was difficult. He could either try and take one drop for the same pain level as he felt previously, trying it out until he would become somehow numb to it, or he could just go to next level and use two drops. That would mean the main equal to the one being scratched deep, tearing through flesh. Now in no way was Noah ready for that, but he wanted to have it over with. “Probably the wisest thing to do now would be to practice on the basic level for as long as I am okay with that feeling. Then I could just proceed the next levels, while being at least more prepared.” He was rational, partly because he just didn’t want to feel even more pain, but at the same time it was still a bright morning, and if he took one drop for a couple more times, there was a high possibility of developing a good resistance towards a basic pain level. Without giving it much more thought, he just decided to go with this before he started doubting everything again. Giving himself one drop exactly, this time he knew what was coming and it could be seen.[break] His eyes were still very watery, but in general he didn’t even have to sit down, as he could stand. Moving was still a little troublesome, but in no way as crippled as last time. Given the very subtle effect it had on him now, he decided to use it and try some more exercises, and a little bit of running. His head wasn’t hurting anywhere as much as the last time. Noah managed to generally ignore the pain, he still felt it but it just wasn’t that bad anymore. He had a brief idea of trying to punch himself, but that was very unproductive and he was aware of that. “Okay, this seems okay as I can see myself being able to function somehow normal, if I move and do something with my body. This leads me to another level, before I would try different pain levels.” Noah smiled, because he just felt like his plan was genius. Up until now, he always distracted himself from the pain, either be it by thinking or moving comically. Next drop he was about to take, he would just sit down and focus on the pain itself, trying to bathe in it, not literally. This way he could become aware of it and fight it head on. [break] There was a rustic monumental rock nearby, one he would often train his lifting skills with his gravity. It felt like an ideal place to do this exercise on. After sitting, the drop was given and Noah just sat as if he was trying to meditate. In some way this was a meditation, but he only focused on the pain, the points it came from and points where it spread to. Feeling this weird flow of pain, spreading slowly through his body gave him a much better idea of what was actually going on. It felt as if the pain had its origin and its direct road to where it had to go. Once it got there, it stopped while another wave of pain would arrive. This was how he imagined it, and he wasn’t far away from the truth, as the pain receptors were indeed a road that was going over this whole body. He concentrated really hard, as he could feel the pain he initiated was originating from his chest, spreading evenly through his limbs. It was avoiding the head, which he realized only now. [break] “Okay I understand this now.” He smiled, as he opened his eyes. He tried to imagine the pain path, as this felt like a useful tool in general. Knowing where the pain comes from could help him work with it much better, and at this point he was extremely proud of himself for figuring this out. The fact that this was sort-of not the best description of what actually happened didn’t bother him at all. It was time for the next steps. The pain of being scratched deep into the skin. This pain was somehow relevant, as there were always some sharp weapons headed towards him on various occasions. He had a small flashback into those weird spears the slavers in Hapshass were using, as those were still very easy to break. He never got actually cut by a sharp weapon and therefore had no real idea how that would feel. He wasn’t as scared as he was the first time, as this time it was obvious the pain wasn’t actually real and there was an easy way to work with it. Maybe he won´t be the crybaby after all. In this point of being overly motivated, he could see himself being able to take out even more of the serum than he imagined originally. [break] He wanted to make sure that he was in the right setting, therefore he started safe, as the first time. He lied down on a ground, he didn’t realize how sweaty he was when clothes were basically wet. Giving himself the anticipated two drops, he would close his eyes and try the tactics of looking for the pain source first. “O-okay…” If it was that easy. The pain he experienced was much greater than the first one, and instead of looking for the origin of the pain, he could only focus on the excruciating pain that he was feeling. It was very different from the first one, for first it was way more intense, but it also had a different profile. While he would describe the first one as more-or-less a dull pain, this one was extremely sharp. It felt like something had actually cut through him. One thing that was actually helping him was the fact that it also had a different consistency. It came in shorter waves, while initially being very strong, it faded quite fast before another wave would come. This one happened locally, on his limbs. It felt like they were randomly switching, where the cut would be. Once it was right hand, the other time it was left foot. Pain was indeed painful, surprisingly, but it made sense. Noah didn’t waste time trying to focus on anything else, because he knew that would be just a way of avoiding the necessary. [break] “It is okay, I can feel it there in different limbs and it has a circular motion?” He didn’t even realize how shaky his voice was at the moment. If someone else saw him, it would be a really weird thing happening. His whole body was shaking, but he wasn’t so hopeless as he was the first time. It felt like the pain had its logic, which it indeed has but he obviously had no human anatomy lessons so he could just guess and make up his own interpretations. “If this goes like that, I think I could do something with my mana in order to ease the pain.” This was supposed to happen much later, but while Noah had this weird-epiphany moment, he realized he could somehow use his mana, or maybe his mana skin to try and work with the pain further. Question was how, as usually the pain he experienced while having his mana skin still active was mostly dull, distantly reminding him the previous dull pain level. Maybe the question wasn’t mana skin, but his mana in general. He knew that the mana was flowing through his whole body in certain parts, just like the pain was. If he could somehow manage to quickly localize the origin of the pain and focus more mana into the said place, there was a high chance of it soothing the pain. This was indeed a wild theory, and he had no idea if that would actually work. At this rate, it could have just been better if he trained his mana skin further, and increased it. But his mana skin was already on an above-average level. [break] “Hmm, that sounds like a somehow good plan!” He was motivated, because even without realizing it the pain has stopped some moments ago, as the five minutes have already passed. The goal now was to use two drops again, but this time instead of observing, to try actively intervene with the pain using his mana. Noah was naturally gifted with the control of his mana, as it was also an important part of his element. This would make it all easier, but it was still something he hasn’t yet done and it could all just be a fabrication that he keeps telling himself. Either way, both outcomes were somehow acceptable. If that didn’t work, he would just continue developing a tolerance towards different pain levels, making himself more enduring on the battlefield. He had to do this, because he already knew that there was no way he would ever be able to just heal himself.
[attr="class","noahfoot"]Nullam at arcu a est sollicitudin euismod. Mauris tincidunt sem sed arcu. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Donec quis nibh at felis congue commodo. Nulla quis diam. Phasellus faucibus molestie nisl. Integer in sapien. Nulla quis diam. Nunc tincidunt ante vitae massa. Nullam sit amet magna in magna gravida vehicula. Fusce nibh.
[attr="class","noahtext"]Using his mana in order to alleviate the pain, or at least just numb it temporality was what young mage has his eyes on right now. Thing was, he had no idea how to do that, but thanks to the fact that he is usually anxious about being under-prepared for any occasion, Noah brought some books with him, that he rented in the library back in the Royal Capital. At this moment, he really just wished that Josephine was here and would just tell him what to do. Books he brought were basically some very specifically written guides and researches on mana, and how it affects our body. Noah liked a good read, but this was so far away from that. Trying to decrypt an ancient language those scholars used, well the language wasn’t really ancient- Noah just didn’t understand a lot of words. “Mana and bodily modifications.” He read out the name of the chapter, this seemed like the right thing. He didn’t like the word modification, as it was something he wasn’t good at, or something he tried like at all. For all he knew was that it was a whole specialization of magic and that learning that would take way longer than he had planned for this training. [break] “Maybe I just can´t do that, period.” It was weird that he would give up so early, but something inside him was telling him that his mana will not be the key to enduring the pain. He was sure that a lot of mages could use their mana to such manners as he wished to, but given his magic´s basing attribute, it wasn’t like he was going to do wonders with it. Or just not these exact wonders. He decided that he would search the book for more information anyway. He found what he already expected, and that there were certain magical specializations that were capable of doing this very easily. This led him to wonder if everyone just learns those certain specializations. Noah never imagined himself to be a healer or supporter in that kind of sense, as he was always thinking that there were certain roles each team of magic knights would have. He considered himself to be more of a back-up fighter, fighting from distance assisting whoever would be in the frontlines. It was the best fighting style from him, as he liked to be away from the points of interests. Recent experiences have however proved him the opposite, as there is apparently never a fixed role one would always represent. Basically, whole idea of this little training of his was based on the fact that when doing missions with Griswold, Noah would come up first in the fight and be also the first target. [break] It was a good thing he experienced this, it was in a very controlled environment and he was being overlooked by very skilled mage. Thing was, this wouldn’t be happening all the time, and there will come times when Noah will be by himself. And if he broke down like he did after being hit by Sea Witch´s spell, he would most likely die somewhere in the first rounds of the fight. His whole previous training was based on his abilities with his magic, very little on these supplementary things that were as much important. The fact that he has trouble killing anything that lives was an another issue he had to work at, but he felt like captain Blake would help him with it the best. Meanwhile, he was still embarrassed for his ridiculously low pain tolerance and couldn´t think of anyone who could help him with it. After finishing the first book, he had already gave up mentally that there would be any bit of helpful information, but he still proceeded to read the other one as well. The other book wasn’t very different from the first one, but there were certain things Noah didn’t realize before. The way his control of the mana was way more important than he initially thought. There were a lot of things he could utilize when he would be more advanced, but it was still good having an overview of everything that was possible. The possible training with the Shadow of Dawn himself was a scary thing and he wanted to be prepared. He already felt like he would do better than at the start of this training, but it just wasn’t enough. [break] “Okay I think it is time to just keep on trying higher pain levels.” He said this with frown, as he expected that he would find something useful. He already managed to endure the two drops, but he wanted to try that again and do some movements meanwhile it. He wanted to see if he could use spells, while being under a pain. This was possibly the most real scenario he could set up for himself at the moment, and therefore he took three small rocks and put them up next to each other on the ground. The goal now would be to lift the rocks simultaneously, while being under the pain. [break] After finishing the preparations, full of anticipation Noah dropped two drops of the serum on his tongue and waited a moment before it would kick in. He was sitting on the ground, and he was very interested if this would work out. Because if it did, it would mean that his training just got some direction he was able to follow and improve at. It didn’t take long before the pain kicked in, Noah clenched his teeth as it was still unpleasant. One thing he hasn’t give a thought was that he usually uses his hands to manifest his magic. This was made way more difficult with an excruciating pain in them. Trying to raise his right hand up, he was surprised how hard it was. The hand was shaking as if it was a fish out on a road, but this was good. It meant that the pain simulation was somehow realistic. After several tries, it seemed impossible. As his main instrument wasn’t really functioning, he had no idea how to proceed. The hand was just really hard to manipulate, while at the same time feeling terrible pain throughout his whole body. “Come on, it can´t be this hard…” Subtle sound of desperation was present in his voice, as it was obvious he was angry with himself for not being able to do this. As he was growing up, he heard of mages cutting off their limbs just to test their healing spells, and he has problem with this. [break] One of the stones started moving a little, which gave Noah a brief moment of happiness and made him loose his initial concentration. It didn’t matter at the moment, as it seemed to actually work at least a little. Given the subtle movement, it meant that he was capable of doing this, with just more practice. Good thing was that he was already somehow at peace with the pain, as it wasn’t the thing he was focused on the most during this exercise. It was that anger and frustration of being enable to do what he wanted to do. Good thing was he could probably fuel this in the next try and get even further. He didn’t even take a break and immediately attempted the whole exercise again, this time with a little more motivation than previous as he probably got a grip of it. Eventually, the three stones would raise themselves from the ground, and while still being really shake, both Noah´s hand and the stones. Smile as present on his face, as he slowly kept on moving the three stones, making a floating circle out of them. “Okay it works, great.” Noah was actually really proud of himself, as it wasn’t really about an effort, but his built up courage to expose himself, willing, to pain. [break] After this was done, there was still a lot of things to do, but this was an obvious reason for a celebration, or more likely just a break. He decided he would eat some things he brought with himself from the capitol, just so he doesn’t pass out from the hunger, his stomach was making it very clear that it needs to be fed. Eating, while staring at the sky was a very pleasant moment, as well as having the break from the constant pain that he had in the past hour or so. “It was a good idea coming here.” He said loudly for himself, and brief thought of his family occurred. All he knew was that his father was still in the jail, and he would probably be there for a long time. He didn’t necessarily care for that, but he wondered how he would be doing there. He had very little information about the prison system in the Clover kingdom, but he could see himself visiting him later. Like years later, as he really had no wish of seeing him right now. Another person that he should probably care about was his mother, with whom he had no contact since he left the house. They were on good terms, or neutral, but just never found a right opportunity to write her. And to be fair, she wasn’t writing either. Funny thing was that Noah was basically five minutes away from the house where she lived, yet the thought of visiting her never really came up. The idea of showing up, beaten and still relatively weak wasn’t really appealing, even though she probably wouldn’t care. [break] These thoughts have taken up way more space than Noah would originally want, as he saw the sun setting down. “How long have I just been wasting my time?” He asked very confused, as he could swear it was noon just a moment ago. The sundown was however very attractive view, and Noah somehow made a piece with the fact that if he had to, he would sleep on the ground. He snapped out of all these thoughts and wanted to give the exercise one more try. This time, he was almost sure that he will be successful, as he was getting more used to the pain itself, his ability to cooperate with it was also improving. He took another drops of the serum and waited for the now-known pain to kick in. It didn’t take long, and young mage was already manipulating the stones in the air, playing little games with them. This time, he was still sweating and breathing heavily, but the concentration was so much better than the last time. It felt as if he accomplished something very important for his further development, which he indeed did. This time, he almost didn’t notice the difference between the pain and when it ended, as he was very concentrated on the stones, making sure they don’t fall. This was a great news. [break] “Okay, I think this is definitely enough for today, and maybe for the whole week wow.” His breath sounded like he just ran a marathon, meanwhile he didn’t really move that much. This also meant that he didn’t necessarily have to sleep over here, but could set foot back to his place. His original idea of multi-phased training seemed really dumb right now, as this managed to drain him really hard. “I will just continue once I feel ready, and possibly find better books because this was just terrible.” Talking to himself was apparently his thing now, as he looked at the two books with disgust. He still had to return them, but was somehow optimistic about finding some more literature he could use to develop his skills further. He quickly packed all his things, as he still wanted to arrive to the capital before the midnight would come. Flying in the dark wasn’t a pleasant experience, mainly because it was really cold as there was no sun, and he was not ready for that.[break][break][EXIT]
