Chapter 5
–The Practice Room for Dangerous Magic–
"What's the meaning behind the glyph used to open the doors?" I asked casually.
"It means 'open' in the language of the ancients," Alisha answered while practically skipping with excitement as we approached the sealed reddish door across from the alchemy room that we had just left.
Language of the ancients, huh. I suppose that's one way to make the method for opening the door seem mystical and obscure.
"Let's leave our cleaning stuff out here. It won't be needed inside,” she said while placing her basket on the floor near the door. Following suit, I placed my bucket next to her basket. She then pointed at the door and said smugly, "Your turn."
I gathered mana around my finger and pressed it against the door. A glowing dot appeared beneath my finger. After adjusting the amount of mana until the thickness of the dot matched thickness of the lines that Alisha drew earlier, I careful drew the glyph. My memory in this body was surprisingly good, so I had no problems drawing it correctly on the first try.
"Argh. I don't know whether to be annoyed that you got it right on your first try or excited that we can finally go inside the room and I finally get to show you just how great I am, hahaha,” Alisha groused as she pushed the door open the rest of the way and led me into the room. Just like in the alchemy room, the door closed behind us automatically.
Alisha was starting to chuckle darkly with excitement, as she walked into the room and placed her lamp onto a waist high stone wall before seating herself on a large yellow-glowing magic circle that had been inscribed into the floor.
Looking around, the room was long enough to give it the impression of being narrow, and a large red target made of crossing lines and concentric rings at the end of the room painted at the far end made fairly clear the room’s purpose.
Glowing blue glyphs were spaced periodically around the room with more of them concentrated in the area nearer the target. The short wall that Alisha placed her lamp on separated the area of the room with the magic circle from the long part of the room with the target. My guess was that these were added for safety reasons, which I wasn’t sure whether to be reassured about or not.
To my right was a chest-high pedestal made out of something that looked like monster bone. Atop the pedestal an amber-colored crystal globe larger around than my head caught and scattered the light from the glowing inscriptions and the magic lamp. To the left behind the magic circle were two chairs and an iron-bound chest.
No matter how I looked at it, this was a room for practicing dangerous magics… I was getting a bad feeling about this… and the dark laughter coming from the girl who was sitting in the middle of a magic circle and drawing up large amounts of mana from the ground wasn't helping.
"Heh, heh, heh. I'm sure you've noticed by now. But this is a magic practice room. And not just any practice room. This room has multi-layered dampening wards, so we can go totally wild in here! Not to mention, this circle and all the wards draw their mana from the Earth-mana flow of the ley-line directly beneath the house, so there are no stupid crystals to recharge either!" Alisha said excitedly while sitting with her palms against the ground on either side of her as she continued to draw mana from the circle.
Alisha paused for a moment, closing her eyes to seemingly focus on internalizing the mana she had gathered. "I've been building up a ton of stress lately and I'm really going to let loose this time. You see Raithe, mom told me that I couldn't practice magic in here unless someone was with me, and I'm gonna count you as the required someone, hahaha!"
Ah, it's just as I expected. In the end, I got used to further her scheme. And, I'm sure that particular "someone" was supposed to be an adult, with the express purpose of keeping her from doing exactly what she's about to do. There's no way this is going to end well…
Since her mask has been slipping since a while ago, I figured I might as well be direct in trying to point out the problem with what she was saying. "So, you are basically saying you were just messing with me and used me so that you could play around in here, right?"
"What do you mean by just? I'm going to uphold my side of the bargain exactly like I promised. Now get over here so I can teach you how to gather Earth-mana,” Alisha replied indignantly.
No that's not the problem here…, I thought with a sigh as I joined her in the magic circle. She was definitely headed down the wrong path in life.
Alisha stood up as I joined her and took something like a martial arts stance above the circle. "Raithe, take a pose next to me like this. Gathering Earth-mana is different than gathering Wind-mana. Earth-mana is primarily about the unyielding strength of stone—the strength to withstand even the tremendous pressure of the rock that surrounds it and weighs down upon it. It also provides the foundation that becomes the building blocks of life, so you have to start with a firm foundation in order to properly draw up Earth-mana. Now, with your feet firmly secured to the ground, tighten your muscles and breathe deep powerful breaths like this."
Using the [Mana Sense] skill, I watched as the Earth-mana was steadily pulled upward through her foundation with each deep breath, but it sure did look silly with her tiny frame.
"You pull the mana with your gut," she pounded her gut with the heels of both hands as she said it, and I did my best not to burst out laughing.
Suddenly she had moved in front of me with deadly serious eyes and was gathering a huge amount of Earth-mana in her fist. "Your foundation is weak," was all she said before her fist plowed into my stomach.
Barrier! Barrier!
There was a shockwave from the impact and I was blown clear out of the magic circle. After taking a moment to regain the wind that was knocked from me, I unsteadily climbed to my hands and knees.
Ugh. That hurt like heck. What the hell's with that? If not for my barrier I could have died… well probably not with my regeneration, but she doesn't know that! And here I was conceited enough to think I was physically stronger than her too…
"I told you to tighten your gut. And don't use your barrier, it'll block you from drawing in the Earth-mana. This is a warded room with a plentiful source of mana so it's fine to draw in as much as you want. Just don't take in more than your mana-pathways can handle. Now, get back over here and try it again," she demanded with eyes that said, you just laughed at me earlier, didn't you? I dare you to do it again.
If you're going to hit me, why would I want to lower my barrier… so spartan.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
-- Ads -- (Chapter continues below)
Reluctantly I lowered my barrier and took a stance within the magic circle again. She'd tap me with her Earth-magic reinforced hand wherever she felt I wasn't firming up my muscles right. If I used my barrier to block it, she'd hit me harder.
Once I had the stance down to her satisfaction, Alisha stood back and commanded me to begin.
It’s hard to concentrate if she puts that much pressure on me suddenly… oh, I get it. Pressure. Maybe it's not just physical pressure but the mental pressure of being backed into a corner. The strength to resist the weight of the world.
I became one with the stone. I was a foundation of the strongest rock, and with each powerful breath I took, the power of Earth solidified into my body.
This was a completely different feeling when compared to drawing in Wind-mana. The Earth-mana didn't flow like Wind-mana, rather I shifted it around by strengthening different areas of my body.
Having figured out that much, I was able to shift the mana around my body, but I wasn't quite sure how to store it.
"Alisha, I can move the Earth-mana around my body, but how do I store it?" I asked while continuing to acclimate my body to the Earth-mana.
"You must mercilessly crush it down into your core. Earth-mana is a mana of strength. Only the strong can master it." She said and puffed out her chest while raising a fist.
Ah, don't do that, I'll start laughing again. And then I'll probably cry…
So, it comes back to pressure again. Hmm… focus. Neither drawing it down like with Wind-mana, nor simply willing it down, seemed to work well. How do I create pressure to crush it down…?
Ah! That's it! To create pressure, you pile rock on top of rock until the rocks at the bottom are crushed beneath the weight of those above it.
I continued to shift Earth-mana toward my core until it became dense enough that the pressure of the Earth-mana behind it pushed the mana down into my core. The process was slow and mentally tiring because a strong will was needed to continue crushing down the Earth-mana, but storing the mana was slowly getting easier as I improved my understanding of its properties.
Emboldened by my success and having become more familiar with the feel and movement of the Earth-mana that I was drawing up, curiosity got the better of me, and I decided to try to get a feel of the extents of the well of power beneath us.
I deepened my meditation and cast my sensing deeper into the rock, feeling the flow of mana that must be the ley-line Alisha was talking about before. The rock below was under immense pressure, and I felt a huge power contained in it. In that moment, I felt my mind touch upon a will with great power that was present in the rock. It noticed me and, overwhelmed by its presence, I spoke:
{Strength of Stone, Sturdiness of Rock formed in the Pressure of the Depths! Spirits of the Earth lend me your Power!}
Suddenly my body was filled with Earth-mana, flooding me with an inhuman strength and granting my body the durability of unbreakable granite.
A sense of amusement came to me from the Earth spirit as he congratulated me on my acquisition of Earth-magic. Continue to work hard, carrier of the Queen's blessing, he said before releasing control of my body and returning to the depths of the rock below. His mana flowed out as he left, and my body returned to normal as the spell dissipated.
I opened my eyes and looked up to see Alisha having stepped back a few steps with her hands over her ears.
"What the hell was that? A sound like rocks grinding together and a rumble like it came from deep in the earth came out from your mouth, and then the mana engulfed you like you had cast a spell! And it wasn't some beginner spell! I could feel that crazy surge of mana all the way over here!" Alisha exclaimed as she slowly brought her hands down from protecting her ears.
I was shaken myself by what had happened. Slowly, I moved my fingers to make sure I hadn't taken damage from the sudden mana flow, but other than a slight soreness all over my body, similar to having overused a muscle not normally used much, I felt fine. I gently distributed some mana from my core around my body and the feeling eased.
Once I was reasonably sure I was okay, I started to explain, "I'm not entirely sure, but if I have to guess, I think I encountered an Earth spirit while I was feeling around the mana pool beneath the circle. It took over my body and used its mana to teach me how to cast a spell. Then it returned to the depths.
"Those sounds you heard me say, that was the spell incantation in the faerie language. The translation would be: ‘Strength of Stone, Sturdiness of Rock formed in the Pressure of the Depths. Spirits of the Earth lend me your Power.’
"Oh, and thanks to your advice, I was able to complete the Earth-mana meditation technique. But, the surge of mana from the Earth spirit was really strong, and I did take some damage, so I think I should rest before trying to take in anymore Earth-mana."
Alisha's face cramped up in an expression that showed she was having complicated feelings while I was explaining what happened. She was probably proud that her teaching and advice worked, but…
"That's really dangerous! Greater spirits like that can be really fickle! No one knows what they'll do. And there's no guarantee that they'll give your body back once they've managed to take control. In one book I read, there is even a theory that the elves are a race created when a large number of greater spirits of the Mist gave up their immortality by taking over the bodies of mortals during the Great Demon War,” Alisha explained with exasperation.
And one of those body-stealing faeries is standing right in front of you, I thought, but that was definitely something that I should keep to myself.
The story about the elves was interesting, though. Those ancient faeries who became the elves—for such a large number to succeed in gaining corporeal bodies, I wondered if they claimed the bodies of soldiers and victims that died during that war, similar to the way I claimed Raithe’s body when he died.
Sighing she continued, "In any case, it looks like you’re still you, so you got lucky. That said, I’m not sure how I feel about you completing Earth-mana meditation in one go like that. It took me three weeks of hell to learn it. I’m sure it reflects well on my teaching skills, but you’re such a freakin’ natural at magic that it’s disgusting. And then that stupid greater Earth spirit has to come along and teach you the incantation for a mid-level Earth spell before I could…wait…if he taught you in faerie language, how come you knew the translation…?”
She had been pouting with her hands on her hips and her cheeks puffed out while complaining, before she tilted her head slightly and the wheels of her thoughts suddenly aligned on the same conclusion. She pointed at me with a shocked expression and yelled out, “You speak faerie!”
I nodded. “The skill level is low, but I’ve had the ability since birth. It’s not like I was hiding it, there just wasn’t any reason to talk about it.”
“I see… well that aside… you’ve grasped the feel of Earth-magic, right?” Not to be deterred from her goal, Alisha shifted gears.
I nodded. “I still need practice, but I think I’ve gotten a handle on it.”
“Alright then mister infinite mana, now comes the reason I needed you to save some of your mana: go over to the pedestal and imagine us up some targets to destroy while I finish gathering mana here,” Alisha said imperiously as she sat back down to meditate in the magic circle.
Argh. Yet again her plan was to put me to use for her selfish whims.
Though, I couldn’t say the result wasn't worthwhile for me, especially since I learned a lot of useful new things. But, there was definitely something terribly wrong with her personality.
I thought about what kind of targets I should ‘imagine up’ as I walked over to the pedestal. Since today was still only my second day in this world, the only monster I’d encountered so far was sitting in the magic circle behind me…
That meant I would have to rely on Raithe’s memories. Of course, the creatures he mostly encountered when hunting were normal forest animals, and the idea of blowing up animals for fun just seemed a bit… not the direction I wanted to go.
Likewise with human targets. Even if I felt those bully kids did deserve it… they almost certainly got killed in the attack on the village, so that was clearly a no.
Which left me with the demons and the wolf-monsters they brought with them when they attacked the village. Seemed a bit sensitive a subject to use for target practice, but I wondered if Raithe might approve of them getting blown up a little, even if it was just in effigy.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
-- Ads -- (Chapter continues below)
Alright. I had an idea to visualize, so I raised my hand to the huge crystal on the pedestal. Visualizing the details of an axe wielding demon with terrifying horns and ragged chain armor, I applied mana to the pedestal. The crystal glowed as the Earth-magic inscribed in it activated, and I watched mortified as a misshapen blob of dirt formed from out of the ground in the target area.
“Hahahaha! What in the name of the Creator is THAT!? I had expectations, but for you to fail that completely! It’s too much! Hahahaha! Stop it, you’re gonna make me cry!” Alisha had gotten up to see what I created and was now slapping the short protective wall as she doubled over in laughter. “You have to shape the mana inside the crystal! It’s not like it can read your mind! Hahahaha!”
The amorphous blob was certainly an embarrassing failure, but I didn’t think it was that funny. Anyway, she had given me a hint on what I needed to do differently, so I tried again.
This time, I noticed that there was something like a grid inside the crystal that likely corresponded with the location where the clay golem would appear. I inserted the mana at a location to the left and began to shape it into the mental image that I had prepared previously, but the golem hardened before I could define it well.
“Mr. Blob meet Mr. Blob-man. Hahahaha! Yer killin’ me here!” Alisha was totally enjoying that I failed again.
Argh. This is hard.
There was only a short period of time to finalize the shape before the golem solidified. Alisha totally set me up, knowing I would fail.
With that in mind, there was no way I was giving up without a fight. As long as I was careful, the pedestal didn’t use much mana at all, so I just needed to practice and improve the speed at which I could shape the mana.
I took a deep breath to focus.
When I tried moving the mana chaotically on the surface of my body earlier, I had to focus on multiple points at once. That would be the key to success. I needed to visualize and shape the mana all in one go. This time instead of pushing out the mana and then shaping it, I focused on creating the mana shape already formed at the desired location.
Focus. Focus. Go, go, go.
It was definitely a different feeling as I pulled mana from my core and directly actualized it into a shape a short distance away. I immediately felt that I had learned something really important.
“Ooooh. That one’s not bad!” Alisha said approvingly.
Finally. A success.
I didn’t look up from the crystal, though. I knew I could still improve it further.
Visualize. Actualize. Refine.
With this latest one, I was able to get a lot of detail in before it solidified. Next, I visualized one of the wolf monsters—a worg. I visualized the monster as it appeared in Raithe’s memory of that day—with jagged fur, its mouth opened in a snarl, blood and saliva dripping out between fangs and teeth used for tearing the flesh of its prey.
Actualize. Refine.
Next was a sadistic looking demon with large downward facing horns and a chain whip that had hooks along its sections. And, a sinister-eyed demon with a mage staff in his left hand and flames in his right.
“…say…Raithe…, aren’t these a bit too realistic…?” Alisha’s voice trailed off.
Alisha had become really quiet as I worked, but I was too focused to take note of it. One demon after the next, I recreated the scene of the slaughter as it was frozen in Raithe’s memory. For the final golem, I created the worg-rider that killed Raithe and placed him in the front. By the time I had finished, Alisha had returned to meditating in the circle.
“Done?” She asked, as she got up to survey the scene.
“Yep, but I think I over-did it again,” I admitted.
To my surprise, her mood seemed somber, but that didn’t last long as she quickly fired herself up.
“I suppose so…but you’ve laid out such a grand stage for me to play in that it would be rude for me not to rise to the challenge! Hahaha! But I’ll save showing you my true greatness until the end. First things first, I’ll teach you the most basic of combat magics, [Flame Arrow]. Now, I mostly suck at Fire-magic, so don’t expect anything too awesome just yet.”
Alisha held her hand out facing the targets. Her breathing slowed, and I could feel a different type of mana gathering in front of her hand as she began the incantation.
“Spirits of Fire, grant me your power. Form an arrow of fire to strike my foe. [Flame Arrow]!”
While Alisha was chanting, the different mana I was feeling coalesced into the shape of an arrow and caught fire. Upon saying the spell name, the arrow of fire shot off to strike the head of one of the worgs. The impact singed the golem and broke a fang, but the damage was minimal.
“See, it didn’t do much at all. I know Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Light, but I have much better affinity with Wind and Earth-magic. What I want to learn is Nature-magic, though. Unfortunately, my [Mana Sense] skill isn’t good enough to understand the properties of Nature-magic yet.”
“Um, Alisha, since you mentioned three weeks of hell, I’ve been wanting to ask, but did your mom teach you Earth-magic?” If learning Earth-magic with Alisha was like that, I was worried about what these afternoon lessons I had signed up for were going to be like.
“What? No way! My mom’s affinity with Earth-magic is terrible. She had the blacksmith, who is a dwarf, teach me. Like I said it was hell. Beating a meditation technique into an eight-year-old, who the hell does that? But I learned it, and he taught me some basic martial arts too. Heh, heh, those stupid village boys are no match for me now!” She struck a pose, holding up her fist and flexing her arm muscle.
Ah, that’s no good, Alisha. What are you going to do when you get older and all the boys are afraid of you… well, I suppose that’s bound to happen regardless the first time her mask slips.
Anyway, I was relieved that spartan approach wasn't from Reina’s teaching. Reina’s approach seemed like it would be more subtle… sorta like how all the devices in this house seem designed to train mana-manipulation.
“I see… by the way, I might be able to help you with learning Nature-magic. When I was practicing Wind-mana meditation in my room yesterday, I noticed Nature-mana floating in from the window,” I offered.
“Really?! I can finally start learning Nature-magic! Yippie! Wait a minute…, crap, that means you are already better at sensing mana than me.”
“Ahaha, guess so,” I admitted while scratching my chin.
Her mood swings are hilarious, but scary at times too…
<Earth-fist to the gut!> Ugh. No…they are just scary.
“Don’t just agree like it’s natural! Especially while wearing that smug pretty boy face. Now it’s your turn again. Show me you were paying attention. (Though I bet even for you, pulling off a spell you've only seen once is impossible, heh, heh, heh.)"
Hey, hey. I can hear it even if you say it under your breath!
As I prepared to cast the spell, I tried to remember the feel of the mana that Alisha had created before saying the incantation and gathered it in front of my hand just like she did.
I said the incantation and ignited the mana, but the fire arrow dissipated in a small whoosh of visible fire that collapsed in upon itself. It was unfortunate, but I still hadn’t figured out how to manifest the properties of Fire-mana.
As expected, Alisha had a smug face at my failure. "Heh, heh. Well, that wasn't terrible considering that you've probably never worked with Fire-mana before. In fact, it’s rather incredible that you managed to actualize flames on your first try, particularly since you don’t seem to have any noticeable affinity for it. Hmm… well, there is probably one way for you to make the spell work as you are now, but you're looking kind of spent there, so it might be too risky."
"How?" I asked. Just giving up after only one try was frustrating. I spent most of the mana I had gathered from the Earth-mana meditation making the golems, but I still had some margin if I didn't overdo it.
"Well, it's simple really. What if you say the incantation in faerie language? Isn't the faerie language magic itself? Just saying the incantation and adding a bit of mana will probably cast the spell. But like I said, when you cast Empowerment of Earth earlier using faerie language, the power was enormous. So, I can't even imagine what the mana risk is. You gonna try it? If you're gonna do it, how about you target that big ugly worg-rider in the front." She was looking at me with a carefully neutral expression, waiting for my reply.
Sometimes, I got the feeling that this girl was uncannily sharp. Her intuition was sort of eerie, really, and might be related to her Blessing, but I felt that there was something else. Even though she acted childish at times, she certainly didn't talk like a child would, and I certainly didn't feel that way because she was smart or anything like that.
Whatever the reason, because of her adult-like perceptiveness, Alisha was definitely misunderstanding something here, and that something was clearly my fault. Even so, I needed to meet her expectations in this matter to avoid it becoming a problem later. Attempting to explain why I didn't share Raithe's trauma would obviously be inadvisable. So, I resolved myself.
"Right. I'll give it a try,” I decided.
Alisha's eyes were serious for a moment before she broke out in a grin and slapped me on the back, saying, "That's the spirit. Don't worry, I'll drag you over to the mana-circle if it goes bad. But I'm not carrying you upstairs, that's too much bother."
Gee, thanks. Big of 'ya.
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
-- Ads -- (Chapter continues below)
I took a deep breath and pull mana up from my remaining reserves and aimed with my hand at the wolf-rider golem.
{Spirits of Fire, grant me your power. Form an arrow of fire to strike my foe. [Flame Arrow]!}
As I spoke the incantation the mana was drawn from me in a torrent and formed into the proper element and shape. I could feel the searing heat of the arrow from my hand and as I completed the incantation, the arrow of flames, bound by the contract of the magic, shot forth with an incredible velocity melting a hole clean through the target and scorching the wall behind.
Immediately I felt a wave of fatigue crash through my body, and Alisha grabbed my arm to help me stay on my feet.
"You did great, Raithe. Now stand in the circle and use the Earth meditation technique to restore your critical mana." She said as she guided me back toward the mana-circle. She grabbed my jaw with her hand and turned my bobbing head to face her. "You with me? Can you do it?"
"Yesh, I shink so."
Ah that's not good. I'm seriously going to black out. My words are even slurring. This is really bad. Stop thinking and just focus.
I drew on my remaining willpower and made the Earth meditation stance.
Ah, I'm so tired. My hand hurts too. What a difficult meditation technique to use when tired. This is so hard... Focus! Whether my legs tremble or not, they are a foundation! Foundation, believe it!
Each small amount of mana that I managed to shift restored a bit of strength, but standing like that was painful when my muscles were so weak.
That's right, I need to do the proper breathing.
Alisha placed her palms flat against mine and I felt the pressure of Earth-mana piling up in my hands.
"Alishha, shtop. It hurtss."
"No. If it hurts, then move it around yourself," Alisha said with the same martial-arts instructor tone she used during the Earth-mana training from earlier.
Ah, right. I can move it around myself.
It hurt, but moving the Earth-mana around relieved the pressure, and I could feel my strength returning.
My head began to clear up, and it was easier to focus. I greedily began to consume all the mana I could move from the magic circle and from Alisha until my mana-pathways began to cry out from abuse.
Consume. I must consume it all.
"Raithe, calm down. I can't keep up, and you're going to burn yourself out. Raithe are you listening to me?!"
<Earth-fist to the gut!> Owwwwwwwwwwwwwww! That one did some real damage! Hurk. Blood! I taste blood!
Alisha grabbed me by the horns and turned my head to look at her. "Good. You didn't pass out. It'd be a pain if after all this, I didn't get to show off in front of an audience. Now look at me! You've taken in plenty of mana. And I'm pretty sure you can regenerate, so just internalize the Earth-mana you have and then gently circulate mana from your core to heal yourself. Do you understand?"
"Yes… but you didn't have to hit me so hard…" My head was still swimming more than I thought it was, but it was easier to do as I was told than to think.
Ah, internalize. Circulate. Gentle. Gentle.
The pain eased almost immediately, and finally, I could think.
How'd it get that bad?
Still holding my horns, Alisha continued to talk to me, "So Raithe, are you saying that if I didn't punch you that you could have stopped before sucking me dry? Or crippling yourself?"
Did my body start to suck mana in uncontrollably again?
I restored my barrier and continued to normalize my mana. "Sorry, Alisha. I can't really remember what happened very well."
"It's okay. I pushed you to do it. So, it's my fault. I'm going to let go of your head, so let me know if you are okay?"
Alisha let me go and stepped back. Other than a headache and some soreness here and there, I had mostly recovered. I checked my status. My MP was back up to 24 and my HP was down some but was recovering even as I watched. My stamina was low though, and I had an abnormal status condition: Fatigue. Also, my stress level had increased to 3.
Haha, being around Alisha must be bad for my mental health.
"Looks like I'm okay now, but I'm fatigued, and my stamina is low. Probably, I'll be fine if I just rest for a few minutes." I said as I made my way over to the chairs and sat down.
Alisha watched me sit and then said, "Okay. While you rest up, I'll go check out the targets."
She then hopped over the short wall and walked to the far end of the room. "Whoa! Hey Raithe, can you see from there? Take a look at what your faerie-fire did to the targets! There's a hole clean through three of them and the clay is all melty from the heat! Ow, ow! Hot!"
I watched as she messed around, and when she came back after getting bored, I asked, "How did you know that I have the regeneration ability?"
"Huh? Oh, that? Well when my mom brought you back, there was a huge hole in your shirt and blood everywhere, but you didn't have any wounds," Alisha explained proudly.
"You know… your mom healed me with her magic, right?"
"Huh? Really? Ah… well you do have regen, so it turned out fine in the end." She stuck her tongue out while pulling her eye-lid down and then went to stand over by the short wall.
After thinking for a short while, Alisha clapped her hands together and started rubbing them as if to forcibly raise her spirits.
"Alright! I'm going to do it! Hey, Raithe. Remember I said, that I'm good with Wind and Earth, right? I still haven't gotten to show off what I promised yet, so I'm going to take out the rest of these golems. Come closer and watch me."
Ugh. There's more?
－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－－
-- Ads -- (Chapter continues below)
I got up and stood over by where she motioned.
"Okay. I've got two more spells that I'm going to teach you, but I know you're tired, so let your new sister take care of these demons for you. Ready?"
I nodded.
"First I'm going to show you how to attack with just Wind-magic. It's a basic Wind combat spell, just like the Fire one." Alisha crossed her arms and held them straight out in front of her. Wind-mana began to gather on the edges of her hands.
"Spirits of Wind grant me your Power. Become a Blade that flies forth to slice my foes. [Cutting Wind]!"
As she said the spell name and released the power of the spell, Alisha swung her arms outward and a blade of wind shot forth toward the golems. Where the blade of wind impacted the statues, it passed clean through them before dissipating against the wall. In the wake of its passing, the upper halves of all of the statues sliced by the wind blade began sliding off or toppling over.
She jumped up on the wall and pointed at the downed statues with a hand on her hip, "Did you see that?! Hahaha! Just like your fairy-fire, it cut clean through them! And, I did it without any faerie cheating!"
"Wow, so even the beginner spells can be this destructive?" I asked. That she cut clean through the golems was impressive.
"It takes a good affinity with Wind to make a wind blade with that much penetrating power. I told you I'm good at Wind and Earth-magic. But that's not all. You made way too many of these, so I'm going to break out a two-element advanced magic that I've been wanting to try out for a while now. Heh, heh, heh. This is gonna be awesome! It's so much more fun when there are things to blow up! Hahahaha!"
Alisha's mood was rising at an alarming rate. She jumped down from the wall and ran over to magic circle, where she immediately started drawing up mana. This was definitely the event that my earlier bad feeling was warning me about.
"Uhm, are you going to be okay? You've never cast this spell before and you're already low on mana from casting the other one, aren't you?"
"Hahaha, you worried bro? I've finally got a chance to cast this, and no one's going to stop me now! I'm gonna power the Earth portion of the spell using mana from the circle here, so I'll be fine. Besides, you'll take care of me if I faint right? Hahahaha! Ooooh, it's gonna be HUGE!"
Oh crap. I think I feel the air around the room starting to move on its own… Can I leave the room now, please? Ah, I think my stress just went up another point. Barrier. I had better max out my barrier.
"Here I go! Spirits of the Wind gather and grant me your power! Form a barrier of Wind to contain thy power! I call forth the Maelstrom, destroyer of kingdoms! Spirits of Earth gather and grant me your power! Form a barrier of Earth to contain thy power! I call forth Xithirix, Stone Serpent of the Ancient Depths! Bind my power in your crushing embrace! Arrrggggghhhhh!"
The holy hell is this?! Isn't the scale for this just too wrong?! Oh, God. What's she doing now. Ack, all the mana is converging in a point the size of a pin head! We're gonna diiiieeee!
"[EXPLOSION]!!!"
Ah, time stopped. Maybe we'll be fi-
KABOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A titanic force of wind and pulverized rock slammed into the magic barrier of the short wall in front of me and was directed upward. Even so, enough force passed through the safety barrier to send the magic lamp flying and to impact my personal barrier hard enough to stagger me back a few steps.
Thank you, Reina, for over-engineering this room…
As sound returned, the sound I heard was…
"-hahaHA MWAHAHAHA! BWAHAHA! That was so awesome!!"
The mask hasn't slipped, it's completely fallen off…
She grinned at me and flashed a victory sign, the perfect visage of a power-mad villain back lit by the fallen lamp. Then, as if in slow motion, her head rolled back, and her knees buckled.
Ah, crap! I was supposed to catch her when she fainted. I'm not going to reach her in time, and she's going to hit her head on the stone floor! Maybe if I use Earth-mana to boost my muscle strength like Alisha did earlier. There's no time! There's only one way.
{Float}!
The mana flew from my body and… success! Alisha stopped falling and started to float just inches from the ground. If I hadn't discovered how to actualize mana at a distance while making the golems, the spell would never have reached.
Just how much to-the-edge does she intend to push things?! And that was the precious mana I just got back…
Dashing to her side, I slowly released the spell and placed my hand under her head as she settled to the floor. Alisha was breathing, but she was totally out cold.
Argh, this is a complete pain. I'm tapped out because I saved her from falling, and if my mana reserves go any lower, bad things will start to happen again. And even though there’s a magic circle here providing Earth-mana, I can't circulate Earth-mana through another person's body. Which means I'll have to convert the Earth-mana to something else to flow it through her body.
What to use… She has good affinity with Wind-mana but considering that she just overloaded her system with Wind-mana, that's probably not a good idea.
Hmm… there no guarantee that my body's natural mana is safe in large quantities either since I have a Shadow-affinity. Hold on, I have Nature-affinity as well. If I can manifest Nature-mana, wouldn't that have healing properties? And she wanted to gain Nature-affinity anyway. I'll try that.
Now the problem is how to replenish my mana. We are already on the Earth-mana circle, but if I stand up to do the Earth meditation stance, I won't be able to be in contact with Alisha for the mana transfer. Hmm… Alisha was sitting down with her hands on the floor when she was meditating earlier. Maybe whatever part is touching the ground can become the foundation. Well, it can't hurt to try.
Having decided on a course of action, I set out implementing it. I got up on one knee with the foot of my other leg firmly planted on the ground and tried to build a foundation for the Earth-mana meditation. Alisha said that the gut was key, so I focused on that and the proper breathing. The result wasn't as efficient as before, but I was able to gather the mana well enough.
After gathering enough mana in my core, I closed my eyes and tried to remember the feel of the Nature-mana that floated in from outside my window. Flowers and a sense of green. I wondered if it was carried along with the pollen? I tried to recreate it a few times, but each time the mana just fizzled.
Ugh… I'm going to have to use faerie-magic again.
Maybe if I summon a Nature spirit to help me? Hmm, I don't want to risk summoning a greater spirit this time, and that might use up too much mana anyway, so how about trying to summon lesser Nature spirits specifically? Well it's worth a try. Let's use a spell template similar to the ones that Alisha used.
I held out my hand and gathered mana in it.
{Come forth Lesser Spirits of Nature and gather in my hand!}
Somehow, I innately understood that imagination was a powerful driver for faerie-magic, so I combined my sense of flowers from before and imagined glowing green spirits gathering in my hand. And… to my amazement, it worked!
There they were, floating around above my hand just as I imagined them, and I could feel their mana. With my other hand I tried to apply the properties of their mana to mana that I extracted from my body.
The first several times it fizzled destroying the mana, but the spirits understood what I was trying to do and turned the mana left over from the summoning to Nature-mana to show me, and I was eventually able to grasp it. I thanked the spirits and sent them home.
{Thank you. Return.}
Faerie-magic was so convenient that it felt like I was cheating. I just wished there was a way to know the mana cost ahead of time. The risk of the result being highly dependent on what I imagined was also problematic. Who would know what could happen if my imagination went weird on me. Even when considering something as simple as the {Float} spell that I used earlier, what if Alisha had turned to air and her body dispersed as it floated away.
Ack! Now I might slip and imagine that next time I use {Float}. Not to mention there might be unexpected consequences that aren't immediately apparent. Probably best to keep the Faerie-magic as a last resort.
Getting back to the current task, I had gained the ability to create Nature-mana, but I still needed to practice moving it through the body.
Oooh, fascinating!
In my experimentation, I discovered that the spores made of Nature-mana could be used to create roots and vines made of Nature-mana along the mana-pathways within the body and that Nature-mana could easily be flowed along those roots and vines. Also, while the spores themselves couldn't support a significant enough mana flow, they were readily carried along by currents within the body, particularly the blood.
Fortunately, the plant-like structures were made of mana and don't actually dig holes in the body. Still, I was leery about running roots and vines through someone's brain… anyway, I determined that the properties of Nature-mana were likely well-suited for direct mana transfusion, even if the process was going to probably feel creepy as heck.
I started with my hand that was supporting Alisha's head and began filling her neck arteries with spores—distributing them throughout her body. Then I grasped her left hand and started creating a network of roots and vines all the way to her heart so that I could move mana to her heart, where it would be distributed throughout her body. Within a few minutes she stirred, and her eyes fluttered open.
"Guess this means I fainted, and you caught me, huh. How long was I out?" came the slightly mumbled question, as Alisha took stock of her situation.
"About 10 minutes I'd guess. It took me a while to devise a way to get mana into you, since Earth and Wind weren't going to work, and my natural mana might be dangerous for you,” I explained.
"Why?" She asked.
"Why would it be dangerous?" I sought to clarify the question.
Alisha nodded.
I wasn't sure the real reason was something I wanted to tell, but I had a feeling that Alisha and I were going to be partners in crime or comrade villains at some point in the future. Though maybe in truth I would just end up as her useful patsy, I thought wryly. However, since she had already trusted me to this extent, I decided to trust her with a secret or two of my own.
"It's not exactly information that I want spread around, but I inherited a strong Shadow-affinity from my father, so… I thought it might be dangerous,” I revealed.
"Ah, that would probably have been dangerous in my weakened state. Though maybe I'm well suited to darkness? Heh, heh, heh. So, what'd you use? It feels weird. Like there are spiderwebs in my arm and around my heart,” Alisha said, grinning slightly at her joke.
"If you can sense that much, you should try to figure it out yourself. And it's not just your arm and heart. That's just where I've concentrated the most mana flow. I've distributed the mana throughout your body. Tell me if the flow is too strong,” I said, grinning a bit myself as I was feeling some measure of pride in my accomplishment and wanted to show off a little.
Alisha closed her eyes and concentrated.
"Once you understand its attributes, you should hurry up and take it into your core, so you can circulate your own mana,” I encouraged.
Suddenly she opened her eyes wide. "You figured it out without a Source?"
"No, I had a source. It was risky, but I summoned some lesser spirits to teach me,” I admitted.
"Ugh…still, you're pretty amazing for figuring out the cultivation method on your own as well. But, you know, you could've just gone and gotten my mom,” Alisha groaned at the method I used, slightly chiding me even as she acknowledged my accomplishment.
"Says the crazy girl who tried to blow us both up. Maelstrom, destroyer of kingdoms? Xithirix, Stone Serpent of the Ancient Depths? Don't you think that's a little excessive? I thought I was going to die,” I shot back, annoyed at her gall to criticize me for being reckless.
"Heh, heh, heh. It was so worth it,” she laughed like a villain, and as she savored the memory, her expression settled into a satisfied smile.
"Oy! Idiot! I'd flick you in the head if both my hands weren't already tied up restoring your mana,” I objected, even more annoyed at her attitude that wasn’t at all repentant about the danger she put us both in.
"It's no big deal, really. That spell is an artillery spell designed for casting by six or more mages. With the amount of mana I was using, we were fine. Since I have affinity for both Earth and Wind, I thought I might be able to pull it off. The compression at the end was hardest part, but once I got the hang of it, the barrier compression results were amazing!" Alisha cheerfully explained, reveling in her accomplishment.
"What stupid thing are you saying now?" I asked in disbelief and frustration.
"Listen. My mom built this practice room for her to practice magic in. And she can fill up that Time-Stop crystal every day. Do you think there's anything we can cast that would compare to what she does in here?" Alisha calmly reasoned, and I was caught off-guard by the logic of her argument.
"I guess that does make sense," I allowed and let out a defeated sigh, then changed the subject, "By the way I think we missed lunch."
"I think we missed lunch too." Alisha agreed.
"You're fine now, aren't you? Just how long are you going to be laying there?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at her laid-back attitude.
"As long as you keep giving me a free refill. Heh, heh, heh. By the way, did I mention that we still have two more crystals to fill up?" She said with a smirk.
"You're kidding…"
"Whoohoo! Another three seconds of free mana!" Alisha cheered teasingly.
I let go of her and stood up. "Isn't your mom going to be mad at us for missing lunch? Especially since she was planning to take me to various places in the village today?"
Alisha stretched and got back to her feet. "Hard to say. Usually she lets us do our thing, and then punishment comes later in the form of extra work or extra lessons. We'd have to do something really serious to get grounded or such."
"I'm guessing almost killing off your new brother doesn't count as serious?" I joked, half-expecting the answer.
"Hmm… probably not. I think she'll just say that we were getting along well or something,” Alisha nonchalantly confirmed my fear.
I sighed. "Well, let's clean up here and finish up the chore tour."
"No worries. The golems will disappear on their own after a set amount of time. Though I do want to see the damage, heh, heh, heh,” Alisha casually informed me as she excitedly peered out in the direction of where the golems were.
Also curious, I followed along as Alisha picked up the magic lamp and walked over to the short wall.
The dust from the explosion had mostly settled, and I could make out a few somewhat recognizable chunks that were about fist-sized, but the majority had been reduced to sand or gravel and strewn against the walls of the room. Laid out before me was a scene of complete and total destruction.
"Wow. It got them all. But if they were real monsters or demons, I think it would be a terrible mess, and all the loot would probably be worthless," I muttered, while thinking that I definitely didn't want to have to witness such a scene from a real battle.
"Hmm… that's a good point, but in real combat the opponents wouldn't be rooted to the ground, so some of the damage would be reduced when they get blown away by the impact. Ah, but if they were rooted to the ground with a Nature spell, that would really improve the damage. Still, I think you're right. My [Cutting Wind] is way more practical and less messy."
"Do you know how messed up it is for two kids to be talking about which spells result in less mess to clean up after a battle?" I pointed out just to add a bit of common-sense perspective.
"Yep. Totally messed up. Shall we continue the basement tour?" Alisha readily agreed and steered us back to our purpose.
"Yes. By all means." I answered, motioning with my arm for her to lead the way.
As we approached the door, Alisha stretched again and said, "I feel like I shed a ton of stress. Glyph?"
"Sure." I replied and traced the glyph on the door.
Ah but now I'm the one stressed out, I thought, as we exited the room.
No comments:
Post a Comment