Chapter 28 - Catastrophe
Uh… did I just blacked out?
I feel like I'm about to grasp something important but my memory is all fuzzy.
Oh, I'm still standing? Did I faint while still standing? I guess a tier 2 knight is strong enough to still stand while having all their muscles relaxed.
No, that's not important, what's important is my current situation now.
The mist surrounding my mind slowly get cleared and I finally managed to see my surroundings. Or is it a real physical mist that is actually dispersing? Oh, that's the princess and her two guards. There's also Master… giving them lessons?
“Oh, you've woken up?"
As master said that, he swung one of his hands towards me. I finally noticed that there's a barrier surrounding me. What happened?
“Master, what happened just now?"
Master then proceeded to tell me about enlightenment and how I just experienced one.
“So, what happened to me just now was enlightenment? Well, I indeed feel refreshed somehow. Much better than before in fact. So what kind of boon can I gain from that enlightenment, Master?”
"From what I heard, you should have a deeper understanding about your own affinity. You can also process things related to your enlightenment with more ease now as you have peeked on the truth behind the nature’s law”
"So in other words, I can cast things related to the plunder trait of the darkness element, eh?”
I imagine a ball of darkness element plundering the heat from the surroundings. It simply looks like a heatsink blackhole. And as I did so, the heat from the surrounding of the ‘blackhole’ rapidly got sucked in and the temperature rapidly decreased in the affected area. And eventually, a dense ice ball formed afloat on my hand.
I tried to touch it with the tip of my finger and my finger immediately experienced freeze burn. This ice ball is far colder than the usual ice ball which gives immediate freeze burn if touched directly by unprotected skin. And the important thing is, this ice ball isn't created from water. That's right. This is a dry ice or a frozen solid carbon if you want to be extra geeky about it.
“That… is a strong ice element training drill”
"No, Master, this is just the darkness element. The ice is created after I activated the plunder trait in the darkness element. It is just a side product should I say"
"I have many questions about what you said but first, can you explain about that word of power or trait that you keep saying from before?”
"Oh, that? Ahaha, I guess I have been talking to myself a lot when I realize something. That thing about word of power or trait, well, it is simply related to the main trait of that particular element. Like for example fire is fierce, water is fluid, wind is free, and earth is rigid. For the darkness element, as I just learned it around 3 weeks ago, I only managed to notice one word to describe its trait. And that word is domination”
“From mind magic that objective is to dominate the opponent's mind, necromancer magic that objective is to dominate a corpse, to fleshmancy that objective is to dominate the flesh, domination is the perfect word to describe the darkness element special trait. But when Master mentioned that darkness also has another facet that is represented by drain life as an example, from there, I managed to find the line where drain life and ice elemental met. And that other traits can be described as: Plunder”
“At that time, I realized that an element is not that simple that it could be described by only 1 word. I also realized that, literally like the meaning of the name of the trait I thought of, plunder, the thing that darkness energy takes is not gone to somewhere unknown but it is actually absorbed into another kind of form. Be it to empower the caster like drain life magic or perhaps, to fuel its own spell to reduce the cost of casting”
"So master, do you think this ice ball is a strong spell?"
"It should be. I could even sense it's freezing cold influence even from this far. That should be far colder than common ice, correct?”
“That is correct, Master. And how much mana do you think this magic would cost me?”
" Hmm, with such prowess, it should be close to an intermediate class spell. It feels infinitely close to high class spell even but as most high class spell could affect a large area, this ice ball could not be defined as a high class magic”
“Wow, this is that powerful, Master? I didn't really expect that. But Master, this spell actually cost me less than what a beginner spell would cost. And the reason was because of plunder from before. The heat the spell absorbed does not disappear. It instead gets used as an energy to fuel the spell instead. But of course in exchange for the cheap cost, I need to use almost all of my concentration power to maintain the spell”
"That is really interesting. Last question then, why can't I feel any water element in this ice ball?"
“Remember that something in the air that is needed in the process of burning? Well, the air is not only filled with that. In fact the air is filled with different kinds of things which most intelligent beings ignorantly group together as air. Basically, all matter in the world could turn into 3 kinds of state which are solid, liquid, and gas. And water is the one thing where we can examine this process easily as the temperature needed for it to change states are close to the normal temperature”
"But for other things, the temperature required for it to change state is almost impossible to reach. Like how you could only melt bronze and iron with a very high temperature. This thing in the air is also the same. It can turn into liquid and even solid at an extremely low temperature. you can even say that I froze the air itself”
"That… is frozen air?"
“Yes"
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"And how do you know it is frozen air”
"Lily could do the same before just with a lot more energy to successfully create a small ball of air ice, or dry ice as we decided to name this. As when this ice melts, it will not produce any fluid as it will immediately return into gas. It is completely devoid of fluid thus the name dry”
Whoops, I speak too much about my past life knowledge. Fortunately, I have done many experiments regarding my past life knowledge so I can explain most of it without raising suspicion.
“You really are curious about most things"
“I did all that because I was bored, Master. If I can learn more about magic while having fun with my friends then why not?"
“I see. That is indeed a good way to pass some time. Thanks to that, Isabella also managed to learn the mystery of casting 3 elements that is not related to her affinity”
"Oh, the princess did? That was quick. Are she perhaps a genius?”
"Hahahaha. Who do you think she is? She is my granddaughter. Of course she should inherit my talent”
"Then congratulations Princess. And congratulations for you too, Master”
"Enough with that, please continue on with your lesson. As expected from a 15 year old tier 3 mage, your lesson is indeed profound”
"Hahaha, now it's your turn to over praise me. Okay, let's continue on with the lesson… but before that, I feel that it would be better if we change places before we continue. Just to minimize the risk if someone else get enlightenment that is”
"Don't worry young Milo, I will put barrier on the one getting enlightenment so you don't have to worry about that”
"Well, Master, I personally want to change places because this place becomes too cold after my enlightenment and the dry ice that I made. Let's get some warmth in the garden shall we?”
Master readily agrees to my request as it is indeed quite chilly here. I kinda have a premonition after knowing about enlightenment but I hope it is just a needless worry. Well, it never hurts to be ready after all.
I also call my mage squad to learn together. Well, to actually be my backup if anything really happens.
After that, we moved to the gazebo in the middle of the garden. I told my mage squad to be ready for a kind of catastrophe and let them gather in a room nearby.
In the meantime, I just continue on with my lesson.
“Let's continue on with our lesson. We were cut off in part for the ice element. I have explained about the characteristics of the ice element before so I will once again explain about it and then we will talk about the good, the bad, and the weakness of this element”
“Once again, the ice element is a compound from the water and darkness element. Ice element does not only deal physical damage from the solid form of ice, it will also freeze the target as the spell will ‘steal’ the target’s warmth. Living beings could not live in a very low temperature so ice is also an effective tool to kill. And while fire creates burning and explosion effects, ice will cause the target to slow down or just stop in the spot completely. Fire is a straight killer while ice, albeit less effective at killing, has more ability to control the enemy”
"Because of that trait of ice element, I like to have it more in a monster hunting team rather than a fire element user. As I have explained before with the difficulties in handling fire element. While ice element are on the opposite side from the fire element. Ice element is surprisingly versatile in the matter of hunting monsters as it could be used to control the monsters, to kill them cleanly without hurting the corpse, and to preserve the harvested body parts that could spoil easily. Having one ice mage in a hunting team is a blessing”
“Of course I don't mean any ill will towards the fire element. There are uses for all of them in any situation. Fire could also be used to control the enemy movement if used right. But yeah, it is not the best to be used to kill a monster when you want to harvest them for maximum profit”
"As a wise man once said: ‘there are no bad spells, only bad mages’ there are no bad elements. It all boils down to how you use what you have. For example, me. Darkness element are said to be a trash element without learning necromancy and or mind magic which are forbidden but it still became one of my key successes in facing the demon the other day. And how did I use the darkness element in that fight? By using it in my movement skill, that is”
"Of course, the ice element is not perfect either, it also has its weaknesses. For example, there are more monsters that are resistant to ice because of their living conditions. In this land where there are winter seasons, most monsters would have a decent protection against cold. Ice is also less durable if compared to most elements except the wind element so the physical damage it could deal is on the lower side”
“And the weakness of the ice element is obviously fire that is stronger than it. It is again the problem of which one is stronger like in the case of fire against water. But as ice does not have the wet trait like water that could douse fire, Ice is slightly weaker in comparison when opposing fire. Other than that, a strong enough physical attack could also smash the ice that used for offensive or defensive purposes with of course, blunt strike as the most effective”
"And now, let's get on with the main dish for today. There are still two special elements that I won't discuss for now as I am also not studying enough. Those two which are light and darkness elements are for another time. So now, I will talk about the last known element for today's lesson, the lightning element”
“Lightnings in nature are mostly formed in rain clouds and possess incredible destructive power. It inspired awe in mortal beings that it was thought as a punishment instrument of the gods' thorough history. And lightning is still indeed considered as the best element for most people nowadays”
"Lightning has all the ingredients that made it the best offensive element. It speed could reach any target in a blink of an eye which make sure you will always hit your target, it cause numbness to the target it hits, it could pierce most physical armor, and on top of it all, it could deal a crazy amount of damage to the whole body of the target. Yes, even if you only graze hit your enemy with lightning, its natural homing properties will cause it to hit the target in full strength while also spreading through the target's body to damage the whole body evenly. It is normal for the lightning element to be feared”
"But then again, because of its natural homing properties, it causes lightning element spells to be impossible to aim at a specific target as it would not ignore other closer valid targets. Of course there is lightning strike spell that hits a target from above like a natural lightning but what if there is a swarm of birds protecting the target? That is a rare positive trait causing negative impact in something. Well, there's a balance in everything I guess”
"Beside its horrible aiming properties, lightning is also perfectly nullified by the earth element. So lightning mage should never foolishly face a mud golem alone”
"Talking about the lightning element homing nature, well, after further experiments, I could conclude that the lightning element is just trying to go through an area with the least effort for it to reach a target. And this target could be humans, beasts, trees, or even a sword stabbed in the ground”
“We can easily prove this with a simple experiment. But I need an assistant for this. So Clay, Rocky, please come over here for a bit”
As I have informed them before, Clay and Rocky are already close by and quickly stand beside me to follow my order.
"Clay, could you please surround this place with metallic spear and Rocky, please also do the same in between Clay’s metal spear. Master, I would like some help later for the experiment. Are you willing?”
"No problem, young Milo. Tell me what I need to do"
“As I explained earlier, please cast a direct lightning spell towards me after I take my position later. That's not a problem, right?"
“Of course it is not a problem, but… Are you sure you will be okay?”
"Haven't I explained it before, Master? It won't hit me if there are a target before me”
"Okay, I have the same feeling before but I never really try to experiment on it. So I am also feeling a bit restless and wary to know the result”
I then walk out from the metal spear encirclement and walk further out. Take a position around 30 degrees from the metal spear in front of me and ask Master to release his spell.
And of course, following the nature's rule, the electric bolt magic that went straight towards me suddenly changed direction to strike the metal spear instead.
“And that is why it is hard to aim for a distant target with lightning magic. Its own strength becomes its shackles”
"Also, after knowing that lightning gets neutralized when hitting the earth, I suddenly have a feeling that lightning is simply an advanced form of wind magic. And how wind magic is weak against earth magic is precisely because of this phenomenon”
"Lightning element is the advanced form of wind element? How can it be?”
"Yes, Master, that is basically how I cast my lightning magic. There is this thing unseen in the air that if I pull them, it will cause instability in the affected area and when I let go of that controlled something, it will create lightning. Like this”
I show Master Alfonse how I cast my lightning magic as slowly as I can and cast it out.
"YOU WA SHOCK!”
Bzzt!
The paralyzing lightning jumps out and hits the metal spear just like Master's magic before.
"So, can you feel that, Master? In a way, lightning element is like how metal element towards earth element. You only control a part of many. But that few contain strength unrivaled by many”
"Controlling a part of wind like how metal is to earth. Caused by distability… so that's how it is…”
Master immediately fall into a trance just like I expected before. Seeing him like that, I immediately use my shadow to form a rope to tie up the princess and her 2 guards to bring them closer to me. I then scream out my command to Clay and Rocky to start.
“Clay, Rocky, lightning protection!"
"“Aye aye, Sir!""
So they let out the anti lightning defense that they have been preparing before. It was just an earth dome with lightning rod like metal spear surrounding it. The metal spear and earth spear formation around our original location is the 1st ring of defense to prevent Master's lightning phenomenon to spread too far but I don't know whether those could hold out. So I ask Clay and Rocky to make this shelter to protect us.
And as I was worried about in the beginning. Catastrophe is coming.