Chapter 11 - Let's Raise a Flag

After receiving guidance from teacher Maxwell, I immediately tried it soon after. And the result baffles me.

When I cast a fireball according to this world’s chanting method, I can feel that my mana got sucked by the magic before I managed to conjure a fireball. There’s no problem with the early process but it is far easier than the roundabout fireball magic that needs me to manipulate my mana to ignite oxygen first. I can actually cast fireball more efficiently if I can follow this process.

I indeed managed to learn a lot from just the early process but what baffles me the most is actually because I conjure a black fireball. Yes, a black-colored-eerie-looking fireball! When I tried casting it to a dummy target, the black flame quickly burns the wooden dummy body into ashes in just seconds and the fire would still persisting in burning even after it fall into the ground. Scary.

I also try casting other elements of magic with the chanting method and all of the magic that I managed to cast turned black without exception. Ice spike that should be water-colored turns black, wind blade and wind mallet that should be transparent also turn black, earth spike and stone throw that should be earth colored also turn black, and even thunder spark that should be colored in light bluish color also turns black.

All of them also receive increasing power and added side effects like the black fireball. The resulting spell is simply stronger, faster, harder, and better in overall performance. Well, when compared to when I cast it my way at least. In fire and ice magic, the resulting magic is hotter/colder than usual and they also last longer. By the time I tried all the basic magic that I can learn from the academy’s library, the black fire I cast first is still burning the ground where the dummy was before.

And the shared side effect that all of the magic I tried seems to be… corrosion? From the dummy that I hit with all the other magic besides fire and lightning, I can see the part that touched my magic melted into black goop. As for the one hit with lightning, it also got burned to ashes like the one that got hit by the fireball spell.

By the way, I can’t cast the spells from light element school. It just fizzled out. Maybe because my natural affinity is the opposite of the light element. I can still manipulate light and create light through my own method so I don’t really mind. You win some you lose some.

After knowing the effect of casting a spell normally, I immediately call my 5 mage follower to check whether they also get special effects like what happened to me.

And the result does not stray far from my expectation.

Light elemental guy gets his magic to turn sunlight yellow with extra sparkling effects. I guess his magic would have a greater effect on those with dark element affinities like demons and undead.

Nature elemental guy gets his magic… actually, it does not change in color. In fact, his ice and lightning elemental magic does not have any visible change. It’s just fire, wind, and earth elements that show extra effect. His fireball explodes into a smoke grenade when it hit a target, his wind magic leaves a trail of… pollen(?) behind, and his earth magic could be used as a medium for him to grow a plant. His plant-growing magic is similar to my tentacle magic which needs to be connected to his body before the magic could be successfully cast but with earth magic, he could remotely grow his plant in a longer range now.

Earth elemental guy gets his magic… Well, only the water elemental one turns brown earth. His fire magic turns into a magma ball, his wind magic contains pebbles inside, and his earth magic is… yeah, normal. But after a bit of feeling things around, he can cast earth magic silently at a faster rate than his usual speed. As for lightning magic, he never manages to cast it before even with my casting method. If I think about it again, Earth is basically the ground for electricity. Grounded electricity will turn more stable and less destructive. It seems that the opposite of earth element is not wind but actually electricity? I learn something new today.

Metal elemental guy gets his magic… Okay, I should stop. Well, he is mostly the same as earth elemental guy only with metal. His earth elemental magic turns into metal spike and throw metal thought. And the metal conjured would turn into dust and disappear once the magic contained in the spell was exhausted. No creating infinity metal cheat here sadly, no thankfully. Too much metal might cause a catastrophe to the environment after all. For the lightning element, the spark spell velocity he cast is much faster than the rest of us. It is not weird because spark magic is actually throwing a non-physical energy globe that would cause an electric spark from time to time and making that energy globe move is not something I understand yet. At least mana control telekinesis ability could not. The movement comes automatically from the spell itself. Yet another thing to research in the future. Anyway, in this guy’s case, the energy globe is changed into a metal core so manipulating its velocity is easier.

Anyway, other lightning magic does not have that kind of speed problem so I don’t think it is good research material. But why do I feel that metal elemental guy might be able to shoot a railgun in the future?

And then, the last one, the ice elemental girl, her result is well… for the magic with physical properties like wind and earth magic, it would be better for her to cast it with pure ice element instead. She can’t cast fire magic as expected and her lightning magic surprisingly freezes the dummy instead of burning it. Freezing lightning? What kind of concept is that?

Oh, right. There was also that light arrow magic that I also bought from the library along with the other basic level spells but except for the light element guy, no one could cast it. Well, it seems that no one could understand the light element enough to cast it even when one doesn’t have the affinity. It is not that surprising because I was the one who taught them about elements after all. If I don’t understand the element then no one could. Well, at least for a short period of time. Who knows, there might be someone from those that I taught before who managed to climb higher than me in the future.

Now that I get a wider test result, I could easily make a conclusion… this is simply an element fusion result.

A person's affinity seems to turn the mana inside someone with the characteristic to the element of their affinity it seems. And if they cast magic while channeling their own mana then the spell will be fused with the element.

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If the spell cast has the same element as that person’s affinity, then it would be cast at a faster speed as there’s no need to ‘create’ the element first. But if it was a spell from a different element, the element from the spell and the element from the caster’s affinity will be mixed.

That really explains why some of us can’t cast a certain spell even if we already ‘understand’ the element. When two opposing elements get mixed, they will cancel each other. That is just a temporary hypothesis for now though.

Well, the 5 of them really have difficulties in casting those magics from a different element so it is not that applicable in a battle situation.

But I can see the various application that can be unearthed from the fusion spell. The light element guy can make a flashbang any time, the nature element guy can make a smoke bomb, and the ice element girl’s frost lightning could also be used as a form of control besides a form of attack.

I can also see some superior element combinations especially the metal and lightning element one. I am excited to see a railgun in this world.

The 1st suggestion from teacher Maxwell already gives me a big surprise, his 2nd suggestion should also be beneficial, right? Or rather, I feel that the 2nd suggestion will give me a better result in combat power whereas the 1st suggestion is more of a lead to a path for experiment-related matter.

I also think that mainly training my shadow shaping skills and tentacle controlling skills would give me a better combat power be it in the short term or in the long term.

Welp, there’s more menu on my daily training now. If it is not for my curse, I might have been slacking more and more with my training. Time to do my training for the day I guess.

Tonight will be another day on the grind.

The next day comes.

I will be having my 1st elective class today the magic item crafting class. It is scheduled after all the compulsory classes in the morning so I still need to be coped up in class again for half a day.

As usual, I am walking alone in the academy’s hallway as I commute from my family’s mansion while my 5 mage followers are staying in the dorm. There are not many who commute from home like me but each of them should be the child of a high-level noble family. Only the low-level noble would stay in the dorm. Well, most of the high-level noble that is. There will be weirdos from time to time that insist on staying in the dorm as well. Not that I hate that kind of weirdo, mind you.

So yeah, the hallway towards the academy is usually a quiet place with little traffic at this time but today, I can hear someone arguing close by.

As the sound of the argument gets closer and closer, I can’t help but look at the source of the noise. The source of noise comes from a pair of a boy and a girl with silver hair and silver hair in this kingdom representing the highest power holder which means they are from the royal family.

Those two are the 3rd prince and the 3rd princess of the kingdom. Liebhart Lumina and Isabella Lumina. The kingdom is currently controlled by the Lumina dynasty which is also the name of the kingdom.

Whatever the name is, it does not really matter much to me anyway. But well, someone that I’d like to get along with had asked me to try to look after the 3rd princess if I can. I never meant to take this task too seriously as I don’t want to be seen as a overenthusiastic person but as I meet her today, I might just say hi and go along with my day. So I slow down my walking speed so that the two royals could get closer to me.

“Elder brother, please reconsider. Fraternizing with commoners is a dangerous thing to do”

“I have my own ways and I can protect myself”

“But elder brother, nobody knows what kind of evil brewed in the mind of those lowly folks”

“Silence! She is indeed a lowly peasant but she has great potential as a pawn”

“Elder brother, she is named the saintess by the church. She has already turned into the church’s dog”

“Did you not hear what I say? Silence your mouth! And I also need that saintess status”

“Elder brother…”

“Shut… it…”

“Oh, the 3rd prince and 3rd princess. Fancy meeting you two highness here. Good day, your Highnesses!”

The argument between the two seems to be still escalating so I choose to break in at that moment. The two royalties move their attention to me while showing an angry look. Oh, scary. Well, time to earn some brownie points I guess.

“I am sorry to disturb you two highnesses but you two highnesses can always get a private room before discussing important matters, correct? It would be a shame if any great secret are leaked out and this subject feel the need to remind the two highnesses about it”

“You are Stadford, right? The famous genius who sign up in our Mage Academy as a tier 3 magician?”

“I am delighted to know that Prince Liebhard is aware of this lowly one. It is this Emilio’s honor”

“Good, I can see potential with you. Why don’t you swear your loyalty to me?”

Damned brat, you wish for my loyalty? Dream on. I won’t let myself get tangled with the messy royalty situation without knowing more but from what I heard from you just now, you will never get my help, ever. Of course, if there is a virtuous candidate, I might not mind helping.

“This Emilio is honored with the prince’s invitation but this Emilio is also aware of his own situation. I’m afraid that I could not become the support that the prince wanted and instead will become a burden”

“Hahaha, I see that you are also self-aware with yourself. Why don’t you steal that Earl title from your brother?”

“Thank you my prince for your praise. And this Emilio is only a brute who cares more about magic and fighting. This Emilio don’t want to be burdened by taking care of an Earldom so I am very sorry but I have to disappoint your highness in that regard”

“So you will let yourself be degraded into the likes of those mercenaries?”

“As far as this Emilio can see, This Emilio could at least become a respected mage. That is all this Emilio wishes for at the moment”

“Indeed a mage's standing is higher than a mere Earl but don’t you also need money? Don’t you also need authority?”

This prince does not know when to stop. Sigh, I guess I need to use my ultimate weapon then.

“Your Highness might not know this but our Stadford family is quite famous because of something. And I am pursuing the path of magician precisely for that reason”

“Ah, the curses. I see. Heh, then that is regrettable but I understand. I will let you pursue the path of a magician in peace, heh heh”

Ah, this brat keeps looking at my groin. I bet that makes your ego soar higher, right? After knowing that someone as excellent as me is having tiny penis because of a curse, you must look down on me now, right? Good for you then. Good riddance!

The prince then walked away while snickering to himself. Well, I need to make sure that this one does not take the throne later.

Anyway, I move my attention to the other party that is still standing aside while I was talking with the 3rd prince. Looking at her from up close, she is indeed a rare beauty.

She has a slender body with just enough fat distributed in the right places that could even be barely seen over her mage robes. Her long straight silver hair seems to be sparkling under the morning sun. She also has that kind of determined eyes showing that she is someone with a strong self-asserting attitude. If only her face does not perpetually shows that cold look, every man might have fallen for her.

"So, do you have any business with me?"

"Ah, I'm sorry for staring your highness, but I can't help but appreciate the beauty that the world has provided"

"Such a sweet tongue, but who knows what is hidden inside? You must have a hidden agenda for talking to us, right?"

Oh my, going to the core already? This is going to be spicy.

And kids, that is how I met your mother... Okay, I tried to be smart and joke for a bit, forgive me. Sigh, I'm feeling a bad omen is coming.