Magic Missile
“It is a very unusual skill. Hearing about it, knowing nothing else, I would suspect that you were a metamage. But Dario told me you have had this skill since you were a child. I can see that you’re an [Enhancer] now, regardless.” Tsula sipped from a small teacup. Janus hadn’t noticed it amongst the clutter on her desk.
“He told me that if I used the skill correctly, I could copy other skills,” explained Janus.
“I’m sure you’re aware that some people interchangeably use skill and spell to describe certain System effects. There is nuance to it. A spell is a skill. Any skill that interacts with mana is also a spell or has a spell component.”
“Right…” He was seeing where she was going with this.
“Spells simply utilize mana to create their desired effect. Usually, only powerful mages can see mana directly,” Tsula continued, “But the System drives those spells. The user doesn’t require a deeper knowledge of mana. It just happens. Your skill is more like rune magic or artifact crafting. You can interact with the System on a deeper level to create unprecedented effects.”
“I also have a [Mana Reinforcement] skill. It lets me turn mana into a tangible material. Dario hadn’t seen anything like it.”
Janus demonstrated by creating a small pearl of mana. He placed it on the desk.
“I have seen some spells capable of doing this. I’m not sure if it is the same method, but barrier skills commonly harden mana to defend their users,” said Tsula, “Perhaps once your [Mana Manipulation] skill evolves you would have been able to mimic that effect. I am curious about the difference between barrier magic and [Mana Reinforcement]. You’ve given me much to think about.”
Tsula shuffled around some papers on her desk and snatched one from the resulting pile.
She scanned the paper before continuing, “I have some notes on your skill, here. Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call [Mana Manipulation] a spell? I digress. There was something I wanted to try. I have a very simple spell here. It creates a small source of light. This light can pierce illusions and reveal hidden enemies.”
She lifted her hand, opening it towards Janus. Above her palm, a small point of light formed and grew stronger. Slowly, the light spread throughout Tsula’s small home.
Tsula began speaking again as the light grew, “Look at how the mana moves, what it is doing. If you can replicate the mana pattern, you may be able to replicate the spell.”
Janus was staring intently at the mana hovering over her palm. It was difficult to discern much over the bright light. He closed his eyes. He could feel the swirls and eddies of the mana. Its movements were chaotic.
He formed his own ball of mana and began manipulating it to mimic Tsula’s. It was strange. The mana compressed in some places, but dissipated in others. It was constantly pulling in new mana and venting out the old.
Janus opened his eyes and the mana in his own hand nearly unraveled. His ball of light was shining a bright blue, as opposed to Tsula’s white. But, other than the color, it appeared identical.
Tsula’s expression was intense, but she spoke eagerly, “I will dispel my skill. I have an artifact that is enchanted to hide itself from any sight but my own. If your copy of my skill works, it should allow you to see the artifact.”
She reached below her desk and grabbed something. Janus could see a slender piece of wood in her hand as she raised it. It was covered in small stylized runes, each faintly glowing different colors.
“I can see it. It’s like a stick with runes on it.” Janus said.
Tsula nearly dropped the artifact in surprise. She scrutinized the light in Janus’ palm before forcing a finger into the ball of mana. It unraveled with a small pop.
“It appears to be less stable than my own spell, but perhaps that stability will come with practice and levels,” said Tsula, “I am uncertain if you understand how incredible this is.”
Janus had an inkling from his talks with Dario. His teacher had made sure to let Janus know [Mana Manipulation] held an incredible amount of potential.
Tsula continued speaking, “You have the ability to create nearly any spell effect. The weakness of most mages is that they have a limited set of options to choose from. Most classes can only use up to ten skills. You, on the other hand, may have an endless library.”
“I, uh, hadn’t really considered the skill slots, or even copying other peoples skills.” Janus responded.
He really hadn’t considered just copying someone else’s spells. It seemed so obvious in hindsight. He could skip weeks of tireless trial and error.
“Thank you, Tsula. I’ve learned a lot.” Janus said. He was eager to try copying another skill.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“Of course. If you need anything else, I should be here.” Tsula said, inclining her head.
Janus stood, giving a half-wave to Tsula as he turned towards the exit. He crouched through the doorway and stepped outside.
Only Dario was standing outside the building. It appeared that Pella and Devon had already left.
“You were a bit longer than the others.” Dario said.
Janus recalled his conversation with Tsula. They had only talked for a few minutes. How long did he spend trying to replicate her skill?
“I guess I wasn’t keeping track of the time,” Janus replied.
“Don’t worry about it. She had important lessons for all of you, even if a lot of it was review. I’m going to head back to the guild. You’re good to head home for the day if you want.”
Dario had already started walking, but Janus didn’t move to follow. He was busy thinking about where he could find someone willing to show him their spells. Tsula’s skill was easy because it was static. It stayed in one spot for a long time.
Maybe Dario can help me out with this. I’ll ask him tomorrow.
-
Janus had a plan. They had been training at the Delver’s Guild and there was nowhere better in Crow Station to find people with spells. Especially combat spells.
In the morning, after returning to the Delver’s Guild, he approached Dario with the plan.
“Sounds like a great idea to me. You’re getting better at sparring, but your skills aren’t keeping up with you.” Dario said. “Give me a few minutes.”
Dario entered the guild and left Janus outside. Devon and Pella were already hammering away at each other on one of the sparring squares.
Devon still won more often than not, but Pella seemed to have an endless supply of tricks. She was no longer only using a short sword. Janus had seen her with nearly every training weapon, and she was skilled with all of them.
If only it were that easy for me. All this time and I still haven’t even gotten a skill with quarter staffs.
After a few minutes, Janus heard the door behind him open.
Dario stepped outside, followed by a few people Janus recognized. He had seen them around the guild on occasion.
“I’ve got a guy here, his name’s Atohi. He’s willing to show you some spells. The others wanted to watch.” Dario said, motioning towards a man in a dark red cotton robe. A bandage obscured most of his face, but Janus could see spiky black hair sticking out from beneath.
Janus identified him.
[Magus - Level 43]
“I heard from the [Tinebrand] that you have some wild skill, and you need mages to help you out.” said Atohi.
Dario had already stepped away, he was giving tips to Devon and Pella in between one of their rounds.
“[Tinebrand]? What do you mean?” Janus asked.
“Your teacher. He’s the [Tinebrand], man. I wouldn’t disrespect him by using his actual name. Don’t want to get, like, burned up.”
“Ah, I didn’t know. Did Dario tell you about my skill?”
“No, but I saw you spar a few days ago. Is it the one that explodes? I’m, like, pretty good with explosions.” Atohi looked amused, but it was hard to tell under all those bandages.
“Not really. I wanted to see you use one of your spells. That should be enough.”
“For real? I guess that’s easy enough, man.” Atohi said and started walking towards a sparring square. “The platforms are reinforced, so I’ll show you some stuff over here.”
Janus followed along. He watched Atohi step up. The bandaged man stood towards one end of the sparring square and muttered something under his breath.
He could immediately feel the mana expelled from Atohi. It was a massive amount. A glowing circle appeared in the air, several runes radiated from its edge.
It was a strange experience. Janus could feel the runes doing something to the mana, but he wasn’t exactly sure what. Only a few moments passed before mana began to coalesce within the circle. It was being formed into jagged projectiles. The projectiles seemed to hover in the air a moment before flying forward, striking the platform.
“You catch that, man?” called Atohi as the spell dissipated.
“Uh, yeah. Could you possibly do it again, though?”
Janus could see the confusion on Atohi’s face from where he was standing. The red robed man began muttering again. Slowly, the same spell from before manifested itself.
This time, Janus closed his eyes and focused intently on the mana. He used [Mana Manipulation] and began concentrating his own mana, shifting it into the same configuration. He was still puzzled about the runes, but Janus simply conformed his mana to the same shape. Exerting this much fine control was difficult, but he was managing it.
He could feel mana slowly coalescing in the middle of the array he had created. It was being shaped into thin segments. The segments were unstable, and leaking mana. But, after a few more moments, mana exploded out, and the segments went flying in half a dozen different directions.
“Woah! What the fuck, man?!” Janus heard Atohi shout.
He opened his eyes to see Atohi storming towards him, a translucent blue barrier moved with him.
“What did you just do? One of those things nearly took my head off, man!” Atohi shouted.
Janus had aimed at the platform, but his array must have been too unstable. The projectiles he created were leaking too much mana, and it affected their trajectories.
“Oh, I didn’t mean to. Uh, I was aiming at the platform.” Janus stammered.
“How did you even do that? That skill is unique to the [Magus] class!”
Janus hurriedly answered, “It’s my skill. It lets me work with mana directly. I just watched what you did and attempted to shape my own mana in the same way. I didn’t expect that it would work at all.”
Janus hadn’t even noticed Dario approaching and nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand on his shoulder.
“Is there something wrong, here?” Dario asked.
“No man- I mean, of course not, [Tinebrand].” Atohi was the one stammering now.
“Good, you should keep showing your spells to Janus here.” Dario replied, his voice like iron.
Janus didn’t feel comfortable with the situation, but didn’t speak up. He needed all the help he could get, even if Atohi was being intimidated into helping him.
Atohi apologized and gave Dario a stilted salute. Dario simply looked confused at the motion before turning away.
The next hours were incredibly frustrating. Janus was nearly running out of mana and patience. Other than the first skill Atohi had shown him, he could barely even begin to recreate any of the others. He had asked Atohi if they could continue the next day, and the [Magus] agreed.
Atohi had several offensive magic skills. One even caused mana to erupt as spikes from the ground. The mana array for that skill gave Janus a headache just looking at it. Attempting to recreate it himself was nearly impossible.
Although, the first spell Atohi had shown him was very promising. He decided to refine that one before trying anything more complex. He decided to ask Atohi to cast that one until he had finally mastered recreating it. The only thing missing was something to prevent mana leakage as the projectiles were formed.
Janus spent the night racking his head for any solutions.