Around when I had received my canisters, I sent a message to my practice group that I would have some more fun things to play with, so acquiring more smoke grenades was unnecessary. When I actually arrived at the field we had been using that evening, I figured out that they had been getting the smokes from a literal pallet of them that was marked to be disposed of. So instead of not bringing any, Potato had acquired a truck to bring the rest of them as target practice.
Before that, everyone was excited to see what I could do with what I had ordered, especially since my magic worked very differently to what we had all expected. In fact, in my free time I had learned that there were maybe one or two other MGs worldwide that could do similar things, however, because of how they described their magic, I don’t think that they had as direct control as I did.
One of them could control temperature by slowing down or speeding up particles. The other was like Potato in the way they described their magic conceptually stopping things- except with tiny gnomes instead of spirits.
Back on topic, I once again started with the cyanoacrylate for the same reasons as last time. I let the magic nuts- so the two who weren’t Kay- stare as hard as they wanted and ask all the questions they could think of as I grew another stalactite spike in the same way I had earlier.
When I had finished, Rebecca said, “very interesting… Smart choice on that chemical. Even janky creation magic is absurdly helpful in most situations. I don’t really know how to help with that besides telling you to get as much practice as you can. If anything, maybe try focusing on the process less? Generally, when using magic, if you are straining to control it exactly to your will, the cost will skyrocket.
“For the moment, keep just trying to create things of increasing complexity, but as you get more comfortable with how it feels to perform that specific feat of magic, trust it to get from your vision to reality. When you can do it more instinctively the resource consumption should massively decrease.”
Nodding, but wanting to move on, I asked, “do we want to mess around with tear gas or explosives next?”
“Explosives,” Kay and Potato immediately answered- not surprising me at all.
Swapping canisters for the one filled with silane, I remembered that under normal circumstances, silane wasn’t explosive. It was combustible; the reaction propagated through the material at subsonic speeds, which ends up spreading the energy released over a longer period of time. It could still be dangerous, but for the express purpose of making things explode, it would be inconvenient.
Luckily for our collective fun, I had an inkling that I could cheat. Why let the reaction spread itself when I could simply have all of the gas react at once?
Like last time, I spun the active nozzle to a simple jet, but instead of a light and sustained push of the button, I quickly depressed it fully before releasing. The short burst of colorless gas- only noticeable by the faint emissions of ULE I intentionally didn’t take control of- ignited in a somewhat quiet but still satisfying “fwoof.”
As if to spite me, just as I was about to speak up again, a gust of wind picked up the fine particles of sand created by the reaction and blew them into my face- causing me to cough and spit for a while until most of it had been cleared from my mouth.
Trying again through the laughs of my companions, I said, “that was just it going off on its own. I should be able to get it to react all at once in a more explosive way.”
Speaking up before I did just that, Kay suggested, “maybe it would be best to aim it above us and with the wind? I do not doubt that you intended to only set off a small amount of it, however, it would be preferable to not be caught in the danger zone.”
Readjusting to be inline with their suggestions, I mentally asked Cleo, “is there a setting for keeping the gas in a clump as it moves?”
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
{The next one clockwise has a nozzle designed to create a toroidal cloud with a quick burst. It won’t move fast, but without a container, it’s the best you can get.}
After quickly changing my grip so the nozzle in question was away from my hand, I gave the button a hard but quick press- making sure to take control over the silane as it came out. After letting it travel for a few meters, I pushed more ULE into it with the direction to react all of it at once.
The amount of energy it took to coordinate every particle to react exactly as it wanted, within a small enough time frame that the cumulative energy released became one wave, was honestly not unmanageable. My very rough estimates of my own reserves probably meant I could do it again around ten more times. I guess for doing the same exact thing to every molecule gave me a bulk discount and since I thought of it as a single object, my magic also treated it as one?
Inconsistencies aside, the bang was very satisfying- just enough to feel it in your chest without anything going wrong.
With a happy nod, Rebecca turned to me, “one more to see, although I’d like to ask: why teargas. Not to be rude, but it feels a little… ineffective considering what it’ll be used on.”
“Yeah, I get that. When I was making my list, I was thinking in tiers of lethality- not effectiveness against demons- which was a little stupid. Going from least lethal to most I have: the active ingredient of superglue, teargas, the silane, and ClF3. Don’t have the last one yet, though.
“Regardless of their reputations, with either enough control or volume, any of them can quickly kill pretty much anything that functions like life we know. Even if it isn’t carbon-based or whatever- but it is made of atoms- the ClF3 should still work. If it isn’t made of atoms, I’m probably out of my depth.
“Eventually, I might get good enough to make hydrochloric acid and hydrogen cyanide from the teargas, but for now it’ll work to block vision and really irritate anything I want it to.”
As I was finishing explaining my reasoning and started swapping canisters again, Potato said, “If it’s not that useful right now, can we get onto ‘disposing of’ the smoke grenades? There's like… at least twelve, maybe thirteen.” Picking up one crate of many, each labeled ‘15 count,’ she continued, “possibly fourteen.”
With a shrug, I said, “sure. I’d actually appreciate a few minutes to recharge. My magic is much more efficient with the canisters than it was with the smoke grenades, but that doesn’t mean it’s not still hungry for ULE.”
Nodding in agreement, Rebecca replied, “that’s normal for when you’re starting out with it. The funny thing is we don’t really know if getting tired from using magic means that you’re running out or if it means your body thinks it should be tired, so it starts feeling like it is. Either way, transforming to your costume gets rid of that feeling until you change back. On that note: have you figured out how to transform yet?”
Seeing me shake my head, she continued, “it’s not that big of a deal. If you don’t figure it out after a week from when you contracted, your Semiseelie will step in and help. For today, take it easy.”
Just as Rebecca finished up, I heard Potato cheer, “time to fly!” before she was surrounded by a surge of ULE, temporarily deadening my perception in the area. The amount of ULE being sucked out of her immediate surroundings created a deadzone much like the one in the research building’s basement, once again making me wonder how the military made theirs.
When I could see her again, she was wearing a very stereotypically magical girl outfit. Poofy dress, leggings, frilled gloves, all in whites and a goldenrod color that matched her hair. The only odd thing was a set of old aviator’s goggles loose around her neck. Well, the entire thing was odd- the goggles were the only thing that felt a little out of place.
In addition, the normally faint attraction ULE had to MGs was amplified by a few orders of magnitude. Not enough to make a vacuum like before, but there was definitely an active current flowing into Potato.
Following suit, Kay muttered something under her breath and was similarly blocked from my view. Her costume was much more toned down: simple, soft leather jacket and long skirt with a nice straw sun hat ornamented with a few ribbons. It looked a lot like how I imagine a Victorian noblewoman going hunting would, further complemented by the break action shotgun that appeared out of nowhere.
Last up was Rebecca, who also said something under her breath and…
Reappeared wearing what could only be described as a skimpy grim reaper Halloween costume over a mostly transparent bodysuit to make it even somewhat close to appropriate. It even came with a scythe that looked both fragile and impossibly sharp.