Blood

Blood
Kanji	血
Rōmaji	Chi
Status
Type	Tool
User(s)	Witches, Outsiders
Manga

Blood is a fundamental component of magic, but also has the potential to introduce wildly unpredictable and dangerous effects.

Description

All magic relies on woodcruor, otherwise known as the "blood" of the silverwood tree. Only seals drawn with this "blood" will activate.

However, other types of human or animal blood mixed with conjuring ink can greatly augment its magic or introduce otherwise unexpected effects.

Some animals, such as the valance leech, are known to feed on blood. As such, casting magic on or around them should generally be avoided.

History

Legends state that a silverwood tree once fell in love with a witch, and offered up it's curor or "blood" as magical ink.

After the unregulated use of magic resulted in many tragedies, such as the fusion of animals into monsters and the warping of locations into magical ruins, the Pointed Cap Witches formed a Pact to restrict certain forms of magic. In particular, magic used on the body for medicine or for warfare was forbidden. Engendale, a former member of the Three Wise, believed the true purpose of these restrictions was to avoid the possibility of woodcruror intermingling with human blood to unpredictable effect.

Since the Pact, knowledge relating to blood seems be restricted to the realm of doctors and other Outsiders, with even ordinary citizens seeming to possess greater rudimentary knowledge of wound care and blood toxins than an average witch. In Ezrest, the largest city on the Zozah Peninsula, a blood bank was established using a spell that stops time to keep the stored blood fresh, and the peninsular king, Deanreldy Ezrest, was able to perform blood transfusions using his advanced medical knowledge.

Plot

During the events of the Draconic Labyrinth Arc, the Brimmed Cap witch, Iguin, manages to covertly slip a magic seal into Coco's ink pot. Coco eventually notices the ink pot seems to refill itself magically, but in truth, Inguin has been topping it off with his or her own blood via a twin bottle spell. Inguin's blood mixed with conjuring ink seems to greatly augment any spells drawn with it. Qifrey tests the combination by drawing a very tiny Light Beam seal which, despite its small size, still manages to produce a large, explosive blast of light. When Coco uses the same blood ink to break up a single boulder with a basic Rock Breaker spell, it unintentionally destroys the entire bank of the Staircase River.

Throughout the series, the Brimmed Caps seem to possess more knowledge about the potential danger of blood mixed with magic. For example, the apprentice Brim Cap, Ininia, questions whether she should circumnavigate an ambush site due to the amount of blood present. And when Engendale mounts an escape from Ezrest Castle, he tries using a spell drawn directly onto the body of his cellmate, but a valance leech latches onto the other man just as the spell activates, fusing the two, and enlarging the resulting creature to monstrous size—an unforeseen event that nevertheless does not seem to greatly surprise Engendale. Before learning the truth of its growth, Qifrey can only guess that the valance leech monster may have ballooned in size by feasting on the blood of nearby dragons. Likewise, despite his vast knowledge of magical dyes, the pointed cap stationer Nolnoa is unable to guess that the strange ink used to create a forbidden seal may include blood.

Trivia

• Mixing Inguin's blood with conjuring ink imparts a blue tinged color. It is unknown whether this holds true of all blood, or just that of Inguin.
• The word "cruor" is a noun that means clotted or coagulated blood.