Chapter 289

Affirming The Apprentice

I was busy casting my Mass Perfect Resurrection spell for three dozenth time and I was quite frankly getting bored.

Which of course is generally around the same time that I begin testing and trying to tweak my spells to make sure they are at their optimal level of efficiency. I was so lost in this practice, of casting the spell and trying to alter the patterns and flow of my mana that I almost lost track of the conversations going around me.

Tinkle.

There was soft laughter that rang out in the caverns.

The sound itself was melodious, and only after a second did I realize what that sound was, as that was the laughter of my newest, and so far only, apprentice Valeria Spray-Healer. Only now, that I have a moment do I realize that might have been a bit of a terrible last name to provide someone. But still, what is done is done.

“What’s so funny?” Jhonny asked the newest member of our Healer Brigade, even if she was conscripted from the Resurrected members of the Legrand Empire, I decided to take a chance and offer her a possible supporting role for me.

Not our military, not the Guild, but for me. Kind of selfish, but no one has objected yet, which is partly why I am staying down here and avoiding Mallory. Though I am pretty sure Gwen will rat me out first chance she gets, it is still not clear why she is so ornery towards me, but at least she has begun talking to me, well at me, but that is still a start, pixie steps and all that.

“She just looks so cute, with her tongue sticking out and all,” Valeria states, as she then gestures towards me.

Shock.

There is an audible intake of breath, as everyone from the Midnight Hunters side of the remaining forces all collectively breathe in as one. Normally this wouldn’t be heard, but inside an enclosed cavern, the sounds echo and multiply, creating an odd echoing sound.

I am about to say that I don’t have my tongue sticking out, but then quickly realize that my tongue was in fact sticking out as I worked through ways to better cast my Mass Perfect Resurrection. Now that I’ve cast it so many times, I think I have a better understanding of what parts of the spell are important, and which ones aren’t. That is why I am tweaking the spell just a bit, while still trying to bring everyone back to life in a timely manner.

Hearing the comment, Jhonny who had been behind me, runs over to stand next to Valeria, where he instantly gets a little flustered.

“Hey, Cass, what are you thinking about?” Jhonny asks, his voice clearly concerned, but he tries to speak calmly, the way one might try to converse with a wild bear.

“I am just working on ways to make this Mass Perfect Resurrection spell more efficient,” I pose.

Hearing that, Jhonny slightly relaxes his posture as he continues, “good, good. So no death rays, lasers, or otherwise explosive spells, right?”

At that, I just pause my new calculations and just glower at him.

“What, last time I saw you like this, you brought a building to life,” Jhonny clarified.

“I was bringing books to life, I was the best thing since Audible,” I replied a bit defensively.

“That was also the time you nearly burned the last intern’s face off,” Jhonny chided.

“She was a Legrand spy anyways,” I replied.

Cower.

Hearing that, Valeria who had been mildly curious and seeming to stand tall over in the Legrand section of the caverns suddenly took a few steps back.

“Oh, come on, you’re my apprentice. I expect you to spy on me, it’s part of your job now,” I state, trying to reassure my new apprentice.

However, despite my apparent words of encouragement, Valeria still seems a bit hesitant to stand out from her peers. Though her peers are also taking a few steps back at this point.

Seeing that I’m not getting anywhere with everyone ganging up on me, I decide to get back to what I was doing.

During this time Jhonny took it upon himself to go over and console the poor girl.

“Hey, good instincts there,” Jhonny explained.

“What?” Valeria asked, as if I couldn’t hear them in this tight cavern that echoes all sounds.

“Her tongue was out, which means she is focusing,” Jhonny continued.

“Is that a bad thing?” Valeria asked, a bit of concern filling her voice.

“No, well, sometimes. But generally, no.” Jhonny answered.

At that, I was about to cut in, but fortunately Gwen was there to speak for my behalf.

“No, generally when mother does that, she is just focusing on magic. That said, you don’t want to distract her during those times, as often times she is splitting the line between what can be done and what should be done, magically speaking. Well any form of energy, honestly, I don’t know how she does half the stuff she does.” Gwen answered, without nearly as much vitriol as I expected her to have while talking about me.

Honestly, it almost seemed like she held me in high regards, at least if that comment was anything to go off of.

And like that, I continued my casting.

I did work out a time factor, by streamlining a few of the tissue creating processes, I managed to cut the time for all Resurrections by 10%. Or at least it felt 10% faster.

Whoosh!

With that, the latest batch of dead soldiers were Resurrected and now we were just in the brief lull between when my Simulacrum and Kujo managed to get enough bodies to make it worth my time to begin casting the next Mass Perfect Resurrection.

“Um, Doctor?” Valeria asked, striding forward to where she had been before I frightened her off a few moments ago.

Hearing her, I respond with my favorite joke for my kids.

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“Um-brella.” I respond, while pointing to Valeria, letting her know that I heard her. I also let her know that I heard her use ‘um’ in a sentence.

Valeria for her part just heard my response and looked lost.

“You have to forgive her, she thinks that’s funny.” Gwen cut in and answered the seemingly unasked question.

Valeria for her part just stared, and then finally nodded to herself before seeming to continue with her original thought process.

“Can I ask why you chose me to be your Apprentice?” Valeria asked, finally regaining some of her confidence.

Hearing her question, I take it somewhere between seeing me cast Mass Resurrection spells, letting the Pomeranians go wild on her overly annoying fellow soldier, and the comment that I would need her to help me with experiments, she might not see me in the best light.

That and Jhonny, Gwen, and Penelope are all blowing everything I do way out of proportion. Taking in all those factors, I can see why she would be hesitant to want to continue this arrangement.

Realizing this is likely one of those key moments that will likely forge our relationship going forward, I want to make sure I eliminate any fears or lingering doubts on her part. That is why, I decide to go for the truth.

“You are worried about your Apprenticeship to me? And wondering if you made the right career move?” I ask.

Hearing that Valeria pauses, and a note of fear crosses her features. Her face and body say, yes that’s it exactly, but I can’t say that out loud.

Seeing her body tense up at the question, I just nod and move on to my next point.

“Well, I can’t tell you if you made the correct decision. In fact, neither of us will know for quite some time. That said, if you cast your healing spell, I can hopefully show you, why.” I state.

“You’ll show me?” Valeria asks.

By now, everyone seems to be intrigued, even the Legrand soldiers, what few still remain. Their numbers go down, but then they rise back up the longer this war continues.

“Yeah, just cast your spell at the wall there, and I will show you.” I reply, while pointing to a wall right next to her.

“You want me to Heal a wall?” Valeria asks, her voice incredulous.

“Well, that is the spell you seem best at using, so yes, that is probably the perfect spell for this little demonstration,” I confirm.

“You want me to Heal a wall?” Valeria repeats herself, as if I didn’t just answer this exact question.

“Well you can’t Heal the wall, that would be stupid. Well you could, you would just need to change out the normal Healing energy particles for condensed particles on the wavelength of stone, which would require a more Earth Magic touch to your spell. Which I don’t think you are quite ready for at this time.” I reply.

At that comment, Valeria just looks at me like I have been rambling in gibberish to her.

Fortunately, Jhonny is there.

“What she means to say is that, she doesn’t want you to Heal the wall, she just wants you to cast your spell at the wall. Or use the wall as your targeting point for your spell,” Jhonny stepped in and basically restated what I just said, verbatim.

“Oh,” was all Valeria could retort. Then after pausing for a moment, she asked, “how do I target a wall with a Healing spell?”

Hearing that, I blinked, trying to comprehend what the disconnect was.

“Just direct your magical stream at the wall,” I reply.

There was yet another moment of silence as Valeria just stared at me with a deer in the headlights moment. Fortunately, this time Penelope came over to assist, well after she shook her head at the situation.

“I know it seems illogical. In fact, that is going to be 90% of your initial training, or retraining, in magic under the Doctor. But know that what she is asking you to do isn’t impossible, just not what you might be aware you can do, until you eventually do it.” At the end Penelope herself looked lost in how to explain her thoughts, but it did seem to calm down the seemingly lost healer.

“Okay, so I can cast a Healing spell at the wall?” Valeria posed, though this time she seemed like she was at least willing to contemplate the idea.

“Yeah, how do you practice your spell efficiency, if not against inanimate objects?” I pose.

“I generally just wait for injured to come to the infirmary,” Valeria replied.

“Just wait for opportunities to come to you, I guess that is one way to do things, but not the best, or most efficient use of your time,” I reply.

Valeria looked like she wanted to argue, but then seemed to catch herself. Then turning to face the wall, she shifted the weight from the balls of her feet, rocking her body left and right. Then after a moment to pump herself up, she nodded to herself, raised her hand up and pointed at the wall.

Then nodding to herself, she focused and nothing.

Seeing that this was clearly a hang up for the girl, I realized we would need to go on to plan B, a live subject.

“Jhonny, cut my hand,” I state, while holding up my right hand and letting it get stabbed, cut or something to get this process going. As even now I am almost forgetting the purpose of this experiment.

Why the right hand? Well, my left hand held the component I still needed for this demonstration.

“What?” Jhonny asked, clearly confused.

In fact, everyone just stared at me in confusion for a moment. Fortunately, Gwen was there.

Slice.

Before anyone could really understand what it was that I was truly asking, Gwen glided forward and pulled out a dagger from her uniform sleeve and pierced it deep into my hand.

Instantly, droplets of glowing sparkly blood began to drip down my hand and onto the floor, where it promptly evaporated and reprocessed into magical pool water. Truly the best item any of my Simulacrums have ever created, I’m so proud of myself.

Seeing the look of barely controlled rage on Gwen’s face, I pause and look at her.

“You feel better?” I ask, hoping that whatever I did this is not the actual cure of.

Gwen pausing, and seeing the large dagger in my hand just pauses, and finally looks sad. No, not sad, maybe guilty?

“No,” Gwen cries out, her lip quivering as she pulls back her blade and then proceeds to go over to the side of the cave.

Everyone just stares at her as she goes.

I want to go to her, but I am currently in the middle of a demonstration here, and if I wait too much longer, my natural Regeneration will heal the wound.

“Jhonny!” I hiss, catching Jhonny’s attention. He looks over to me, and then with a head nod towards Gwen, I gesture for him to go.

“Oh, right,” Jhonny states, giving a quick look around to make sure I am safe. Then seeing the still patient Pomeranians, he seems to relax and go do as I asked, or at least what I implied by that head nod.

Silence.

There is a moment of silence as everyone watches Jhonny leave to go over and console Gwen. Realizing I need to redirect everyone back to the teachable moment at hand, I get everyone’s attention.

“Oh my hand,” I call out loudly but clearly with fake emotions behind the act. “If only there was a healer who could heal my gaping wound.”

Valeria looks completely lost for a moment, but then seeing my hand she shakes hear head and looks at me. “You bleed glowing blood?”

“Yeah, it sort of happens after a point,” I reply calmly. Then not wanting to let my own natural processes take away from this moment, I push her, “now are you going to heal me?”

“Oh, right,” Valeria responds and then begins casting her odd Spray Healing spell.

This time as she casts, the spell is a lot smaller, but also much more powerful and far less wasteful. I realize most of this is somehow due to her new last name imparting those exact attributes to her casting, but reading the effects and seeing them are two entirely different processes. Still, the spell comes and within half a second I see what I want, the one clear arcing layer of a perfectly cast Healing lattice work, right in the middle of a wave of wasteful energy.

Seeing the spray, I focus on the incoming wave and then with a quick movement, I release the condensed Pixie dust that I had been building up in my left hand and WHOOSH!

Just as expected, the spraying jet of healing energy pauses in midair, captured in a perfect state of perpetual movement.

Then, as all objects that are made of energy and turned into solid objects in a state of condensed rest, it fell.

Clatter.

While more and more streams of Healing energy rode over and past the spell to my hand. Well for a while there, the spray went wild, hitting the solid cylinder of magic and sprayed off wildly producing even more bursts of Healing energy.

Seeing the waves, I paused at the wonder and grandeur of it all, before eventually Disrupting the spell work of my Apprentice.

“That’s enough,” I state, letting Valeria know that I was the one who cancelled her spell.

While everything is going on, I also take a moment to Heal my own injury, and let Valeria think her Healing Spray did something to me.

There is a moment of silence as everyone just stares.

The Mythical Sacrificial Altar already absorbing the random sprays of Healing magic that went wide of their mark, so everyone could just see that now there was on solid cylinder of perfectly preserved Spray Healing, caught in movement.

Seeing the piece, I instantly grab it with Telekinesis, not wanting the spell to get eaten by the floor. While I don’t think the floor can absorb pixie dust, at least not at the moment, I don’t want to encourage it to do so. As such, I pick up the item that was the whole purpose of this little demonstration, and my stabbing.

“See, right there,” I state, pointing to the one thin line of perfect Healing latticework that is in the middle of the spell.

“That part right there, that is perfect spell casting,” I state.

“What part?” Valeria asks, clearly not seeing the specific part I am commenting on.

Realizing that this will be tough to see the part I want through the waves of disrupting energies that are destroying that same latticework not inches away, I instead go to my tried-and-true method.

Three-Dimensional Replica Illusion.

That's right, I use magic as a shortcut to highlight the portion that I want to point out. I even make sure to have the little box lines that link the now floating image of the perfect section of Healing Latticework to the section in question.

Silence.

There is a moment of silence as everyone just takes in the discovery.

Though it is clear that they aren’t as impressed with what they are seeing as I am.

“That’s it?” Valeria begins, “that’s what drew you to me? A section of my spell work, not the spell itself?”

Hearing that, I chuckle slightly. “The spell? No, that spell is trash. It has multiple redundant layers that ultimately cripple its effectiveness. In fact, this section, is destroyed and made irrelevant by the portions before and after this perfect section.”

With that, I expand the section shown, to show how different waves converge in, and ultimately cripple the wave that is being shown. Making it so that the one perfect section is completely broken and destroyed by everything else around it.

Hearing my response, Valeria’s shoulders droop slightly.

“Wait, you could see that one section, from within the spell, while the spell was being cast in real time?” One of the newly Resurrected Legrand soldiers asked.

Hearing his question, I just turn to him and reply, “yeah, this is healing magic, Green magic, making it right at the middle of the spectrum. If I couldn’t catch this little portion, then why would you trust me as a magical instructor?”

Silence again.

For such a densely packed cavern, everyone is relatively quiet.

Maybe they are tired of hearing the voices of others echo? I know I am, and thus I fully appreciate the silence.

Crackle.

Of course, the silence is also how we are able to hear more subtle sounds clearly.

Pausing we all look around, I look directly to Penelope.

Penelope for her part just looks shocked for a moment, before realizing that the sound is her communicator coming to life. Realizing this, Penelope holds up her finger, grabs the device and then turns away to speak.

Of course, turning away doesn’t do much to hide the now echoing conversation coming through the line.

“This is Penelope,” she replied into the device.

“Penelope, are you there with the pixie?” The voice of one of the commanding officers calls out.

“I am, yes,” Penelope confirms.

“Good, know that we are going to need her shortly,” the dispatcher replied.

“How shortly?” Penelope asked.

KABOOOOMMM!!!

At that moment, the ground shook from a massive explosion overhead.

“As quickly as possible,” the dispatcher confirmed.