Chapter Nine

My suggestion was a simple one, blow the entire thing out of proportion to force the chief into paying. The excuse of it being a birthday gift would only stretch so far and James had enough financial leeway to rip it to shreds. While most of the workers remained busy with the usual preparations, a select few were tasked with preparing a spectacle. My eyes were twitching nonstop at the sight of the rocks being summoned out of thin air, but aside from my sanity, there were no major losses. The mages had enough mana to… oh the thought alone pained me, but they had enough energy to summon the materials needed. Then came my part of our performance, although I still had my reservations about the whole work.

“Are you sure you can deliver me enough mana?” I question James again, he waves off my concern just like the last two times I asked.

“I will get you a high-quality mana potion if this all works out, I promise,” he responds, annoyed at my doubts but also excited for the results. Meanwhile, I’m wondering if a mana potion will cover my costs, but to tell the truth, I’ve been feeling stifled as it is. Magic has always been my biggest stress relief, and there’s been an awful lot of the former, and not nearly enough of the latter. So this is a perfect excuse to flex my magical muscles, and I can’t say I mind the audience either.

This is easily the most taxing spell I’ve cast in quite some time, manipulating the environment like this is not often necessary and its inherent destructiveness means its use is regulated back home. No such rules exist in this universe however and the world is my playground. With a somewhat manic grin decorating my face I collect enough mana to power the show I have in mind. Truthfully it isn’t necessary to collect quite this much all at once but it does create quite a spectacle of its own. The skin of anyone nearby starts to prickle as I animate the lumps of rock the other mages so nicely deposited in the plaza. Gravity becomes a lie whispered by the fearful and the sky flickers with dread for the result of my actions.

The small boulders levitate upwards and get pulled to each other. The raw display of power is gathering onlookers and from the corner of my eye, I even spy some of the kids I played with a short while ago. The rocks orbit the plaza and speed up at my command. This might very well be the most wasteful spell I have tried my hands at yet. Nearly none of this is strictly necessary but it’s one hell of a sight and that’s the goal more than anything. It’s why I force a stable orbit even though I could also just finish the magic now.

The crowd grows by the minute and it’s clear that there is some confusion about the nature of the floating rocks. James tries to explain but the winds drown out his voice, to help out I cast the illusion of a microphone in front of him. He grabs it with some confusion but when he tries to ask the nearby mage he notices the effects firsthand.

“Did yo-” he begins then notices the throng of people in front of him looking up at the sound of his voice. Smoothly he forces a smile on his face as he renews his explaining efforts.

“People of Lorvia!” the cunning merchant begins, “We, the Golden Crow caravan, are pleased to announce the start of your beloved chief’s birthday party!” They cheer at his words, face please he continues.

“Mister Karakt asked me to tell you how immensely pleased he is at your attendance, and how he hopes to work as your chief for plenty more years!” Again there are shouts of pleasantries but the clever merchant isn’t finished yet.

“He’s also promised to pay for all of the food and drinks for this entire night!” I spot the chief’s face go even paler as it sinks in just what he agreed to. Fortunately for him, it does buy plenty of goodwill judging from the noise the crowd makes.

With the explanations finished I dismiss the microphone, it was more straining than I expected to keep the rocks orbiting while transmitting the sound of James’ voice. The slight headache I feel forming promises me I’ll regret this in the morning but I push through, the show isn’t finished yet after all.

The small boulders speed up and I adjust their orbit to induce a crash. Plenty of encouragement to be had from the people in front of me with their cheers and clapping. When the little meteors collide I amplify the sound once again, the deafening boom is far out of proportion but it excites the viewers all the more so. When the dust settles, its pace fully under my control, what remains is a statue of the bear I’ve been eating for the last few days. A lifelike replica with a fearsome look if I say so myself, it’s easy to imagine the roar that should accompany the pose. I was never an artist but replicating something I’ve seen with my own eyes is a neat way to cheat the system. Gasps emerge from the crowd until they realize the stony nature of the beast.

Excitement peaks and I don’t have to add any sounds to celebrate their new statue, their roars overpower what the animal was capable of in life. The kids are mimicking the bear and roar with their friends. I am tempted to add a wolf to the mix until I notice Percy looking worriedly at me. It’s only then that it sinks in that those rocks weren’t the only thing floating. I had been levitating myself subconsciously as well. Slowly I reduce my altitude and safely touch down on the ground next to my friend. His worried face doesn’t go away and I raise an eyebrow at it. He reaches into his jacket to retrieve a handkerchief, even as I stand still he wipes my face with it. When the cloth comes away the blood is clear to see. My eyes widen at the sight, my hand touching the same spot. They reveal the origin of the red liquid. I’m bleeding from my nose, the strain was clearly more than I had believed.

“How long has that been going for? I wonder out loud, Percy enlightens me hurriedly.

“You’ve been bleeding ever since someone amplified James’s voice. But how were you flying anyway? I didn’t even see you cast all this time. For that matter, how did you do any of this!?” his voice grows more frantic with every word he lets out, I guess he was truly worried for me. I open my mouth to answer but don’t get the chance when the exhaustion hits all at once, I overtaxed my mana reserves and now pay the price. My body starts to shiver again and it gets worse when the memories of my withered hand force its way into my mind. I feel the bile rising in my throat but force it back down.

“I- I could really use some of that meat,” I tell Percy with a shaky smile.

He’s cursing me under his breath as he digs through the bag on his shoulder to get me some much needed mana. Every bite is bliss and rejuvenates my system with the injection of energy. Still, I just used up essentially everything I had stored up for these last two days, I hope James’s mana potion would be worth it. Not that I’d get it soon, they’re a rare kind of medicine that you can only find in the cities, or so he told me when we discussed the plan.

“Gods I hope that potion is worth it, I’m not doing that again,” I mutter.

“But what a spectacle it was! And you don’t have to worry about the potion, with how much I just fleeced the village chief I can get you a very high-quality one.” Without my awareness, the merchant has already arrived at my side with a grin fixed on his face. Pity for the chief flashes through me for a moment but then the bile makes its way up again and I’m forced to focus more on myself.

“I’m going to sit down for a while if you don’t mind. I don’t have another one of those in me for a while,” I tell Percy and the trader as I slowly walk towards the nearest seat. My friend is not so easy to shake however and he puts my arm around his neck to act as my support.

There’s more stumbling involved than I’m willing to admit but we reach the seats without major problems. That only goes so far as the walking is concerned however when I drop my potato sack of a body on the wooden chair and lean against the backrest I find that my troubles are far from over. Due to my little flight, I was significantly more visible than I had expected to be, and I had drawn enough attention to myself that some brave villagers went to investigate.

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With dusk setting in I can vaguely see someone getting ready to light the bonfire that was built up in the plaza. Small braziers are being lit up all around the village center and the added light would normally be much appreciated. Unfortunately, it only serves to illuminate my most recent adversaries at the moment. They’re crowding around me like journalists would a celebrity caught in a scandal, a wall of questions just exuberating my headache.

“How did you do that!?” one asks enthusiastically.

“Can you teach me that flight spell?” a well-dressed individual questions.

“Did you make the artifact that the merchant used?” another inquires. Hold on a minute, artifact? My face reveals my question it seems because Percy leans down to whisper in my ear.

“That thing that amplified James’s voice,” he clarifies.

“That wasn’t an artifact though? Just a spell.” I explain, but the others are having none of it.

“How could that be? He was clearly holding something in his hand.” someone says. I open my mouth to clarify but I don’t even get the chance.

“You were already holding those rocks in the air, surely you can’t cast a spell like that at the same time.”

Slowly blinking as I try to follow their thoughts I try to respond to each of them.

“No, he wasn’t actually holding anything. That was just an illusion, simply an interface to facilitate his use of the spell. As for the other issue… It’s one thing to perform two spells at the same time but keeping one spell going as I cast another is doable enough.” My words don’t hit their target if the confused looks they show me are any indication at least.

Percy, on the other hand, is shocked enough that his mouth falls open.

“An illusion? And you were the one that amplified James’s voice? Doesn’t that mean you were casting four spells at once?” he says, subdued by shock. I guess he hadn’t actually seen the illusion, only noticing James’s voice being audible.

“I… suppose? The microphone is kind of part of the sound spell. The rocks were a matter of shoving enough mana at the issue, I didn’t really notice my own levitation I’ll be honest. Not sure when I started doing that.” My explanation doesn’t satisfy him and I’m forced to acknowledge my sense of normality is still not fully adjusted to this world. Them summoning actual matter keeps throwing me off. My little illusions just seem so juvenile compared to making physical matter. It’s hard to grasp how what I see as an impossible act is almost childish to them. That my actions seem similarly godlike to them makes it that much weirder.

Percy has resorted to passively glaring at my lackluster explanation but what am I supposed to tell him? I’m infinitely more impressed with the mages of the caravan summoning rocks out of thin air than I am at my mimicry of a spell some other mage from back home designed.

I don’t use all that many spells when I cast, assuming you classify spells as predefined magical actions. It’s mostly raw and unstructured magic. The line has long since blurred in my native world. While my friend is busy frying his brain trying to comprehend my actions I think back on the lectures I had about the topic. Spells used to be rigid and we used spoken incantations, sometimes also hand gestures, bla bla bla. Admittedly, a well-designed spell is much more efficient compared to my usual methods. Carefully considering the interactions within the mana to get an optimal result doesn’t use nearly as much energy. The thing is, with enough control I limit the waste mana too, not quite on the same level as a properly made spell though.

It’s been biting me in the ass now that I’m not permanently soaked in mana, however. My entire method is based on having enough energy to spare, something that is far being the case. Even limiting the mana waste only goes so far.

My thoughts on the matter are cut short as another wave of people starts bombarding me with questions. Percy gets up to drive them away but in the spirit of my newfound interest in efficiency, I choose a highly effective method to achieve the same effect.

They scatter like a flock of birds when I stand up and vomit in the small drainage channel that lines the plaza. Percy is next to me in a heartbeat, the kind soul.

“I’ll get you some water,” he says and does his best to get away from my waste. Can’t say I blame the traitor.

I’m back at my seat easily enough, feeling much better now that I emptied my stomach. Hungry though so I dig through Percy’s backpack to find some more jerky. I’ll replenish his stash with my own, tomorrow. To my dismay, I find he doesn't have much left and I don’t want to leave him with nothing for the night. I eventually take the bare minimum, I do need my stomach filled a little.

While I nibble on the salted meat, the traitor comes back with some water. He offers me the cup and I gratefully take it, pouring the liquid down my throat.

“I suppose you needed that,” I hear my friend say, and I don’t refute him.

With my thirst slaked I notice my empty stomach that much more and so I head out to find something to fill it with. Percy follows me like I require constant supervision. Not that I can rightfully send him away while I’m shaking with every step though. So he walks with me as I pillage the food supply. When I’m finally satiated in body and soul, I find a new seat closer to the bonfire. I'm not sure how seasons work on this planet but it still gets chilly at night, the heat from the flames keeps me nice and toasty.

I’m being warmed up slowly and it certainly helps my body relax. It doesn’t take long for more people to find me, however, and that spoils the mood somewhat. Fortunately, it’s not a horde of villagers this time, instead, I get cornered by the mages that summoned the rocks earlier.

Their wide smiles don’t set me at ease at all but it’s too late to escape their clutches. The moon is shining bright in the sky and has moved quite the distance by the time their incessant questioning finally ceases. I can’t explain most of the things I do satisfactorily anyway, I just have a general sense of it all and trust in that. One thing I learned is that the mages in this world have significant issues with just moving mana around. Differently from what I thought it’s not so much that their control is fuzzy, for the lack of better words, but more that the mana feels sluggish to them. I spin some mana around and mimic the statue, the one I made earlier, with the energy. There’s no effort involved in it. Their descriptions of it being like shaping mud with their feet do not strike a chord in me.

The way they complained about how many kilograms of stone they could summon was lacking made my eye twitch, but is it fair for me to complain about that when I have this innate advantage over them? A sigh escapes my lips as I ponder the future. The Academy will be an experience, to say the least. Whatever tests they have for matter creation will be the death of me, I just hope I can compensate in other areas. I sigh again.

“What’s gotten you so down?” a voice asks me. I look up the source and find the village chief settling down next to me.

“Hello mister Karakt,” I politely say, unsure of what he’s doing here.

“Bah, treating me with respect after getting that wily old merchant to rip me off. The brutal youth of today,” he laments. My cheeks heat up a little at his words. He started it in the end though, by trying to force James into funding his own party.

“You didn’t answer my question either brat, what’s gotten you down?” he repeats and I stare into the fire as I think about his words.

“I’m just wondering if I’ll fit into the Academy I guess,” I eventually state. My medical situation was a bigger concern if I’m being honest, but that’s no topic to discuss with strangers. He’s silent for a while. Long enough that I wonder if he even heard me to begin with, but when I look to see his face I discover him frozen in shock.

“Sir?” I ask.

“Did… did you just say you’re an applicant to the Royal Academy?” he shakily ventures. I nod at his question.

“You made that statue while flying and I’m told you created the artifact that wily old trader used to speak to my people too. Now you’re saying you’re not even a student? Forget the brutal youth, this is just bollocks,” he mutters the last bit but I hear him clearly.

“It wasn’t an artifact, just a spell made to look like one,” I eventually clarify, unsure of what else to say to him.

He drops his head into his hands at my words. Defeated.