[Kyrielle's POV]
We sneaked up behind the crocodiles. There are 4 of them on the river bank which we saw earlier.
"I count four..."
"Wrong, look closely in the water."
I squinted my eyes and looked carefully in the water. Under the clear water and only having their snout about the water surface, I saw two more crocodiles lying in wait for something. Maybe waiting for a prey I suppose?
"For now, let's just head back to those stone areas..."
After we scouted, we retreated from the location first so that we can come up with a plan.
"-that will be the plan."
"Got it. But what about teaching me something new about magic?"
"I have that planned out as well. So, you should be familiar with the law of Conservation of Energy right? "
"Yes."
"Good. Then, what I will teach you now is the way to modify your magic into dealing with enemies that has really strong defenses, like these alligators here. Their scales are really tough, and it is usually very hard to penetrate their skin with just physical attacks like earth magic. "
"...Will Mana Ball work on them?"
"You can do damage with it, but as your attack power stands right now, won't kill them in one hit. As a mage, your top most priority is to kill your enemy with overwhelming firepower, which means killing them in one hit. Afterall, if the crocodiles rushed up to you then it'd be troublesome to deal with them with just magic."
"I see. Then, how do I get through their defense?"
"When attacking against hard defenses like this, there are three ways to get through them. The first is to just slip past the defense, and in this case here it is to attack their weak spot, like their eye."
"Right... the second method? "
"The second method is to try to use some other elements which is strong against them. For crocodiles which is wet, their most obvious weakness is ice from water element or electricity from Light element. However, you are not strong with these elements right?"
"Yeah, my ice magic is really lacking, and I don't know any Light spells at all. "
"Then, your best bet here is the third method, which is what I will teach you. The third method is to overwhelm their defenses with pure momentum in your attack and punch straight into their defense. As a reference, you remember how I killed Aamon?"
"If I remembered correctly, it was an attack spell that is as small as a bullet right?"
"Yes and no. Yes as in I shot him with a spell just as you have described, a small bullet, but no as in that isn't an entirely different spell. It is actually still 'Black Spear', a Saint ranked Abyss element attack magic that I use frequently. Well, I'll just give you a demonstration. "
She stretched out her arm and then a crest formed. Finally, in front of the crest a dark orb made of black colored energy also forms. It grew into the size of a basketball before Lynn stopped charging it and stopped growing.
"Under the law of Conservation of Energy, if you squeeze your spell tighter, it'd still yield the same amount of power inside but in a much more condensed and focused area, as you can see here."
She squeezed her arm and the orb started to grow smaller and smaller. However, the smaller it gets the more unstable it becomes.
"As such, with just a normal Black Spear, by condensing it into such a small size, you'd get an attack spell that has way more speed and power behind it despite having the same amount of momentum behind it."
"Wow...."
"It's just like how if you try to lift up a human using the tip of a stick, it'd penetrate straight through them since all that weight is put on a small point."
This is actually just basic physics of my old world, but the way she applies it into magic is astonishing.
"Yes, now I get it what you are trying to teach me. If I summoned up a Mana Ball and condense it into a small size I can make even just a small Mana Ball punch through the crocodile's scales right?"
"Correct. You should be careful however, as it is really hard to control the magic the more you squeezes it tighter. If you loses control, the spell will blow up in your face."
She released her grip and the dark orb disappears as the spell was cancelled. This is the magic control of the Magic God huh? To be able to just cancel your spell like that is impressive.
"Now, it is your turn. For starters, don't try this trick with dangerous spells like fireballs, instead try it with something less dangerous."
"Right... "
I put my hand forward and then summoned up a Mana Ball. I charged it up into a bigger size, about basketball size like Lynn's Black Spear.
"Right, now imagine your hand squeezing the ball it smaller and smaller until you can't. Visualizing this can help you get better control."
Just like Lynn said, I closed my eyes and pictured myself physically squeezing the Mana Ball. It got smaller and smaller, but the wind vortex inside the ball also got more and more violent as well.
I could tell because normally the Mana Ball only floats steadily as I charge it, but here it is starting to vibrate intensely and is making some sharp cutting sounds.
"Now, the Mana Ball would be way more focused than when compared to before. You would find that it shoot out a whole lot faster and packs a bit more punch as well. "
Hmm, this is a good time to test a new trick as well.... I released my control on the Ball while I aimed at the giant sand rock in front....
'Phiuk!'
A violent snap could be heard as the ball shot forward with the speed of the likes of rifle bullets which is faster than sound. This violent snap is the result of a 'Sonic Boom', which happens when something is faster than sound.
As for what I was going to test, it's that I was planning to shoot my Mana Ball through the target rather than on the target, like a real rifle bullet. I make it so that the Mana Ball would only explode AFTER they had penetrated through their target. I could even explode the Mana Ball inside or outside for their body.
I achieved this effect by doubling the thickness of it's shell that is made out of Mana, so that the shell wouldn't collapse upon hitting it's target, and it would only collapse after it absorbed the full collision with it's target, which is right after it penetrated deep into the enemy's body.
'Bang!'
The Mana Ball penetrated right into the stone and then exploded inside the stone, blowing it up into multiple pieces. Luckily we are standing about 10 meters away, so no debris hit us.
"Woah, did you add something into that Mana Ball ? Normally it would explode upon impact, not after it penetrated inside."
"I made it a thicker shell so that the shell would collapse much later, when it's buried inside it's target. "
"That is a clever trick, even I haven't thought of that!"
Hmm... I think it is also possible to add a spinning effect to the Mana Ball, but as it stands right now it's too hard for me to pull it of.
"How nostalgic, I remembered the first time that I taught you back at the school, and you were really nervous on top of that stage haha!"
"...It was just an on the moment thing."
"Anyway, how much Mana you have left?" Lynn asked me a serious question.
I unleashed my Mana Aura out, and the winds around the area starts to bend as well when I did so.
...I still have enough Mana to fight 10 or even 20 of these crocodiles, more than enough to finish the job.
"Good enough. Even though you have used up a bit of Mana already, you still have a lot of it left huh? With practise, you'd be able to reach an even higher amount of Reserve Mana."
"How much Reserve Mana do you have anyway, Lynn? Last time I tried to sense yours, your Mana is really weird and it intercepted my Aura from sensing yours. "
"Me? Hmmm, I have so much that it's almost impossible to gauge... But I'll say that even three times of your Mana isn't enough to match mine. "
"...What?"
"Yep. I have so much Mana that it's nigh infinite...."
"...How?"
"Hmm, it's a secret of mine but... Maybe I should just tell you huh?"
"...I won't tell anyone, if you are worried."
"Right. So, my secret is that I'm not a human now, not anymore. Don't you think it's weird that I'm 60 something years old already and I still look as young as a 18 year old?"
"Come to think of it... what kind of creature are you? No human can be as powerful as you are, are you a monster?"
"Ouch, you don't hold back your words don't you? Obviously, I used to be human. But then, I turned into a Mana Wraith. That Aamon is a Fire Wraith, and he is made up of fire. I'm a Mana Wraith, so I'm made up of pure condensed Mana."
"A Wraith?..."
"Basically just a being that is made out of something, like an element. I have so much Mana inside my body that it's nigh inexhaustible, and that is because my body is no longer human. Outside of combat, I regenerate Mana really fast as well. I could most likely regenerate your amount of Mana Reserve within just two hours."
It takes me at least 9 hours just to reabsorb the full amount of my Mana. Lynn's Mana absorption is at least 4.5 times greater than me....
"...what a monster you are..."
"I'm not a monster! Or at least I think... I still have a biological human body, and my mind is no doubt capable of human emotions... I can eat, sleep, or even bear a child if I wanted to as well. Come to think of it I have never had se-"
"I don't need to hear that... Anyway, is it rude to ask how did you become like this?"
"I became like this because of a Mana accident that happened from an experiment. You want to hear about it?"
"Sure."
"I can physically absorb Mana from my surroundings because of my immense control, that's why I can charge my Mana so fast. My hypothesis for that experiment is that I could enhance my Reserve Mana temporarily by overcharging it using this method."
"Then what happened?"
"I absorbed too much Mana and then exceeded the limit of my ability to control Mana inside my body. This causes all the condensed mana inside of me to go berserk and expand rapidly. Normally this would result in an explosion similar to the one that happened with Aamon, but it didn't happen with me."
"...Why?"
"The reason I became like this is because I activated my Mana Shield just as I sensed the explosion happening. Thinking that I could contain the blast and at least not bring collateral damage to the surroundings, I did that and the reaction that happened inside my body caused all parts of my body to reabsorb all the Mana that went berserk, and mutated my body."
"That's crazy..."
"I fainted immediately after that happened. All my body is almost destroyed and I almost died from my body reabsorbing those Mana. But then when I woke up again, I found that my body's damage has fully healed by itself, and that my Mana Reserve increased by a whole WHOLE lot. That was how I became a Mana Wraith. I had gained a very powerful healing factor and a Reserve Mana so high that not even Demon King Baal was able to match it."
"I see... is it a bad thing?"
"Not nnecessaril... I mean, I came out of it with so much power right? However, normally in these cases, people would die from it. Somehow by chance, by some miracle, or luck, I survived that accident."
"I see..."
"And before you ask, no it is most likely impossible for you to become a Mana wraith like me. First off, there are actually countless cases of people losing control of their Mana, and so far their fatality rates is 100%. Even if you are special, I don't think you can survive it, as I only did it out of pure luck."
"Yeah, that sounds like suicide to me as well... "
"Second point, you already have so many Reserve Mana that it's hard to even use them all up in a day. I think that you may have so much Mana that it would even rival one of the two evil dragons of the world, if you give it some time and training."
"Do I really have that much mana? Oh wait, come to think of it I have never actually ran out of Mana now that I was teleported to this continent..."
"Right. And the final reason is that your dragon body would likely have a control so good that this accident basically wouldn't happen. Dragons have an unusual applitude for magic in general, that's why they can control their Reserve Mana so well that it won't overcharge even if you forced it. You physically almost can't lose control of your Reserve Mana, unlike me."
"...really?"
"Yep. I have met the East Dragon Saint once, and her Mana control is actually that good. My control only surpassed him slightly even now, and this is only after I have already turned into a Mana Wraith. You have the potential to match that Dragon Saint without even changing your body, and that's because you are not a human in the first place."
"I see... That is a good news for me, because that means my practises are still paying off... "
"Correct. My advice for you is to keep practicing magic, and sooner or later you'll match those evil dragons. Now after all those tanganets, we should get back to the topic at hand..."
"Right. Somehow our conversation ended up so far away from our original conversation that it's crazy."
"Hmm. Anyway, modifying aspects of a spell could make it stronger, but doing so mid combat is really slow and make you vulnerable to being attacked since it takes a lot of concentration to pull one off. This means that it would only be useful if you can find the time and place to use it."
"Then it'd be useless if I am fighting all 6 of the crocodiles then..."
"Yes. This is why I want you to practise another thing. I want you to try to cast your magic whilst moving backwards. You can start out by just walking slowly. After that, you can start to learn to modify your magic whilst running even. It's a real important practose for mages."
"That is easier said than done though... And am I supposed to do that while fighting the crocodiles?"
"No, that is just what I want you to do while you have time. For now as practise, I just want you to use as much magic as possible during the fight. And as practise you are not allowed to use fire magic."
"Okay."
We went back to the bank of the lake. 2 of the crocodiles have left the bank, and only 2 is left here.
"Okay... I assume that you can take both of them at the same time right?"
"I think so..."
"Good. Like we discussed earlier, I'll provide backup with Gravity and Earth magic if you are in danger, but don't get yourself into trouble or fight recklessly, because if you get hurt it'd be over for you. I can't cast miracles after all."
"Alright... I'll be careful."
I turned my head to scan and stare at the two crocodiles that are still lying on the river bank.
....I don't know how strong their scales are, and they are most likely fast enough to catch up to me if I mess up. My fire magic is strong enough to ignore their already wet skin, but I wasn't allowed to use it as a practise....
My best attack option here is obviously to hit them with condensed Mana Balls. I haven't actually tried to cast two Mana Balls and modify them at the same time, but it couldn't hurt to try.
From the bush behind the two crocodiles, I opened both of my arm and conjured up two Mana Balls.
The crocodiles took notice of me from the violent wind sounds being made by Mana Ball, and after just a brief second, they both started to charge at me at the same time, while running like how a dog would.
What the hell, they are really fast! I didn't know crocodiles could run like that!
I squeezed my hand at the two of my Mana Balls to make them into a smaller bullet size, but I immediately lost control of one of the balls which exploded in front of me, knocking my entire body behind and almost made me lose control of the second Mana Ball as well.
"Ouch!" I bumped into the tree behind me, while barely maintaining my control of the other Mana Ball.
"Shit..."
The crocodiles are getting closer, about 10 meters distance. I shot one of the Mana Ball at one of the crocodile.
'Phiuucc!' 'Bang!'
The Ball penetrated right into one of the crocodile and then blew up inside the crocodile's head. While it's head didn't explode into pieces, it stopped moving from the brain damage, so it's dead.
The second one continued charging at me. It's too close now for me to charge another modified Mana Ball. Even so, I had a plan. I stretched out both of my arms again and then summoned a Mana Ball on one hand while chanting for a spell on the other.
Within the very lands lies an impenetrable wall...
I had planned to raise an earth wall directly underneath the crocodile, where it's weakest part of the body, the belly, lies.
...hold on, what if I turn the wall into a sharp pointy rock? Wouldn't that become dangerous and can stab through it's belly?!
"What are your waiting for Kyrie?! It's very close now!"
My mind snapped back into the current situation. The crocodile is already within 3 meters and lunged at me.
"Earth Wall!"
I conjured up an earth wall in a pillar shape directly under the crocodile. But this time I sharpened the tip the of the pillar into a pointy tip, like a spear.
'Stab!'
The Earth Spear stabbed itself straight into and through the crocodile's exposed belly, stopping it's entire movement and dealing a fatal injury while simultaneously lifting it up.
"Graaah!" It groaned in extreme pain.
With the same hand I gathered Mana again, into a Mana Ball. After the Ball shaped wind vortex formed, I squeezed my palm shut and imagined the Ball being squeezed as well.
"Mana Ball!"
I aimed my Mana Ball at its head and shot it straight through the skull like a bullet before the Mana Ball exploded inside again.
"Be careful! The other 4 is coming here, inside the lake!"
By pure reaction I started charging my Mana Ball again.
"Oh wow they are moving so fast?! I can't charge my magic in time!"
"Leave it to me! "
Immediately after she said that, she stretched out her arm. Just like me, she is charging up a Mana Ball as well, but then a blue crest forms directly behind the still charging Ball. What I saw following after that was freezing ice winds being poured into the raging vortex of the Mana Ball.
"Since you just showed me a spectacular use of a new spell, I'll show you one of my strongest Fused Magic as well! Mistral!"
She waved her hand in an arc, the Mana Ball collapses as she did so. This sends an arcade freezing wind similar to Wind Blade, but it carried dangerously cold winds.
The four crocodiles swimming in the river immediately saw that and tried to evade it by swimming out of the way, but they were too slow. 3 of them were caught by the freezing winds and it freezes the water of the lake almost immediately, freezing the crocodiles as well.
'Crackling...!' Sounds of cracks was heard when the fused spell freezes the water of the lake, crocodiles still inside, into ice. The lake in a sector of about 20 meters in area was freezed completely.
"What tremendous power..." I mumbled to myself in response.
With just a single spell she had frozen the three of them. While I can most likely do that with a Forbidden Sun, the fact that her spell options was so diverse when compared to mine is really amazing.
"Black Spear!"
She shot her usual spell at the final one that is swimming away, but it didn't hit it's target.
'Boom!' 'Splash!' Water splashing noises was made when the the crocodile easily dodges that by swimming to the side.
Within the very lands lies an impenetrable wall!
"Oh no, the final one got away!"
"I got it, Earth Wall!"
I raised a long earth wall directly in front of the crocodile, blocking it from escaping.
"Now!" I yelled out to signal Lynn.
"Ice Ball!"
She shot a fused Mana Ball with some ice magic again. The ice ball flew forward and the crocodile having no where to run to after being blocked by my wall, was hit directly by it.
'Crackling...!' The crocodile and the area around it was frozen solid. Though this one didn't have as much power as the one Lynn used earlier, it is faster and it got the job done.
"Nice back up Kyrie!"
"Yeah!"
"High five!"
"Hell yeah!"
'Clap!' Lynn and I ran up together and then gave each other a high five.
"Hahaha, that was a nice cooperated attack even though we didn't plan for it!"
"I know right? It just came naturally to me that I will use the Earth Wall to block it's escape while you focus on attacking it. "
"Mmm! Even if it was by chance, that cooperated attack felt so satisfying."
"I agree. Anyway we have killed the 6 crocodiless now, we should report this back at the city."
"Yep. Oh and I have been meaning to correct you on this... they are alligators, not crocodiles! crocodiles doesn't show up in the Bostnia Continent!"
"Ah, my mistakes haha, I have been calling them crocodiles up until now so I don't know..."
"Well, now you know. Also, you completely surprised me when you used that earth magic to impale the alligator. Was it a new spell?"
"No, it was just a modified version of Earth Wall."
"I see I see... This is exactly how new spells are invented actually! This Earth Wall of yours changed the property of it's original spell and changed it's use from a defensive to an offensive spell as well. All you need to do now is to just give it a new chant and you'll have a whole new Adept ranked spell."
"What? How can I make a new chant?"
"Just put words together, anything will work as long as it helps you visualize the spell. If you can visualize it, then you can cast it. You can come up with the chant yourself because the potential word choice is almost limitless."
"I see... I'll try and see if I can invent a new chant for it... Oh yeah, that fused magic of yours is really amazing as well!"
"Right? It's normally only adept ranked when used on dry targets. But whenever the enemy is wet, the effectiveness of this spell doubles, becoming a Master ranked spell. It's a quick way to finish off your opponents in water. "
"Too bad I'm not proficient enough in water element spells to use ice magic and do that."
"I see... Well, that is a shame then, but with practise, I think you can use these elements that you are not good at to a fairly decent effectiveness as well."
"Right.... Anyway, I want to learn how to use Mana Ball like you did just now to shoot arc'ed winds!"
"Oh, that was Mana Blade. Except the chanting part, it's literally the same thing as Wind Blade. You can achieve that by swiping your hand across as you collapse the front of the Mana Ball, and only the front because you don't want winds to blow into your body. "
"Hmm, now I see. I'll try to do that on my own sometimes!"
"Okay. Now that we have done what we were here for, let's head back and receive our money then."
"Alright!"
Today is a day that I have improved a lot. I have learned 3 whole new attacks. The first is a condensed Mana Ball, which from now on I'll call a Mana Bullet.
The second is Mana Blade, which is just Wind Blade but it can be done faster and chantlessly, perfect for me who can't use wind magic chantlessly.
The final attack is my very own original spell. Earth Spear, which raises a sharp stone from the ground to stab enemies from underneath.
Overall, today is a great day for me. These past few days is a really down and grim for me. Today's success cheered me up for a bit from what had happened, it's really relieving to feel like I was back to my old self once again.
And the one that I had to thank for that was Lynn, whom supported me and cheered me on all this time. I think we'll get along really well because of our chemistry... I just hope that we can continue being so friendly with each other.
"What are you doing Kyrielle? Let's go!" Noticing that I was daydreaming on the spot, Lynn hurried me.
Words cannot describe how grateful I feel towards Lynn for being so supportive of me...
"...Yeah!"
(Chapter 40 end)