As we travel down the same dirt road that my teacher had traveled down just a while ago I realized something that could be very detrimental to our future on the road. I get motion sickness from riding in the wagon. Every time the wagon hits a bump in the road I feel as if my stomach rises and falls along with it. Unfortunately the road’s general quality is rather poor and it has more bumps than and flat sections. For me, who came from a world with paved roads that have almost no holes it is quite difficult to get used too. I tried to use healing magic and even detox magic but nothing seemed to work.
Tom said it just takes some getting used to but I don’t want to lose my lunch so I step off and walk along behind the wagon. I can ride a horse without any problem but the wagon really makes me ill.
“Finally something that Aero has a child-like attitude for… I was starting to lose confidence…” Halt mumbled
“Agreed… to be shown up by my nephew is embarrassing… He’s as strong as his mother when it comes to drinking…” John mumbled
“Ha-ha it runs in his blood of course he’s a strong drinker!” Elena shouted after overhearing John.
We travel for another few hours talking and laughing and we make camp for the night in a small clearing a few hundred feet from the road. Normally, camp would be made after just building a fire and you would sleep under the stars or set up a tent to sleep in. I decided to use magic to try something for fun. I punched to the ground and sent magic into the earth and four walls pop up from the ground. I made the room about the size of a barn so the structure was quite large and made a quick slanted roof and chimney using earth magic. I push magic into the one of the walls and create a door.
I step back to admire my workmanship but I’m not very pleased with the outcome. It is a house made of dirt so I probably shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up but at least it will save us time at night. I look back over my shoulder and notice everyone was staring at me and the barn of dirt I had made I just a few minutes. Maybe they don’t like it, well honestly I’m not very proud of it but it’s my first try so I am happy that it at least came out to look like a house.
“Well… It’s only my first try if it’s not good enough I can remake it…” I said nervously
“You can make that again?” John said bewilderedly
“No… It’s great…” George said while staring at me instead of the dirt barn.
“Aero, how did you do that? What spell did you use?” Kaya asked curiously
“Oh, hmm…are there no spells like this?” I asked
“I have never seen such amazing magic before.” George said
“Oh… even if you ask me I just told the magic what I wanted and it took shape. I probably couldn’t make a chant for it.”
“No… that’s one thing but if I used that amount of magic I would be on the ground trying to catch my breath. How much magic do you have?” Halt said with amazement in his voice.
“Ha-ha as expected my son is great. I turn my back for a few minutes and he builds a house!” Tom said beaming with pride.
“What should this kind of magic be called… as its creator you should name it.” Elena said towards me.
A new type of magic. I think Dirt House would be a good name for it but all I really did was use an earth wall spell a few times.
“Hmm… What about Construction magic and this one is called Dirt house?” I said after giving it little thought
“Dirt house… wait, Construction magic you mean you have more of these?” Tom said surprised
“I think I could make it by using other forms of magic as well. I could probably inject magic into a tree and make it into a wooden house but I’m not entirely sure. I also think I could make multiple stories but I don’t know how stable it would be.” I explained.
“Could you make one out of anything else?” Kaya asked curiously.
“I guess I could make an Ice house and a few others but I think a fire house would be out of the question.”
“Why would it be?” Halt asked without thinking.
“Wouldn’t it be too hot?” I said jokingly
It took everyone a couple of seconds to realize I wasn’t serious before they started to laugh. After Tom inspected the structure and gave it his seal of approval we all entered and started a cooking fire. George left for a while and came back with a pair of rabbits and handed them to Tom who went to clean them. I went with Tom to learn how to clean animals.
The rabbits are quite dead but Tom said it’s better to drain them when they are alive as he hangs them from a tree and begins to clean them. With a practiced hand the first rabbit is skinned and cleaned within a few short minutes. Tom hands me the knife and walks me through the process. It doesn’t turn out very well but at least I didn’t ruin the meat, the fur is torn and cut in a few places but it's fine for a first try. Our rabbits are thrown in the soup, cooked and served. It was pretty good for something that was done rather quickly. Tom said that while traveling most people just eat hard bread and salted meat or smoked fish.
Kaya suggested I learn to cook in order to avoid that and I readily agreed. After dinner I do some light sparring with Tom and the rest of the men while Kaya and Elena watch. John is almost as strong as Tom but he’s a little slower but I still can’t touch him. George is very fast and because of that speed he made a lot of mistakes and I got a lethal touch after a while. Halt is pretty strong as well but he isn’t very fast and his sword strokes don’t have any weight behind them so I easily deflect most of his swings. He does however use magic in his swings in order to extend or shorten the length of his sword which messes with my perception so I lost to him as well.
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“How come you guys are so strong? And what was that thing that Halt did with his sword?” I asked full of frustration.
“Ha-ha calm down… We all have been fighting a lot longer than you it’s only natural. As for what Halt was doing what did you see?” Tom asked curiously
“His sword would appear to increase or shorten in length and it made it difficult to predict where to block.” I said while healing on of the rapidly forming bruises that happened because of that move.
“Oh… you saw that did you?” Tom said happily
“Before it’s revealed I guess I’ll explain it. It’s a hidden move of Field-style called Stretching Plains and all it does it change the length of your sword but it can be surprisingly effective and can even throw off a Saint rank swordsman.” Halt explained rather proudly
“The best way of dealing with it is to get really close while the sword is long and when it shortens fight from a distance away.” Tom explained
“Hey, don’t explain the fault in my attacks to people!” Halt said angrily.
“It's fine… it’s not like he wouldn’t figure it out for himself soon anyway. This way I can actually teach him before he surpasses us and gets cocky.” Tom said as he heads back inside the dirt house.
We all turn in for the night to sleep inside the magic house I had built. The floor is just grass but it’s fairly comfortable it was a good decision not to make a floor out of dirt. The next morning we set off after breakfast, last night’s dinner, and Tom asked me to return the place we stayed to normal. I punch the ground and push magic into it and the roof receded into the walls that then went back into the ground. As we leave camp nothing that would suggest that we had slept there the night before remained. We continue on our journey and once again the wagon unsettles my stomach so I walk next to the wagon again. The scenery begins to change from the rolling hills into a forest. As we go farther and farther into the forest it gets denser and fewer breaks in the canopy allow for sunlight to reach the road. I can sense the animals gathering around us but most of it is from just curiosity and not hostility.
“Oh it’s just humans…” A bird said as it flew away.
Instead of pushing through the forest we stop in the afternoon and set up camp. I am in charge of the shelter while everyone else goes to look for food. I decided to try and make a tree house this time. I gently place my hand on the tree and push magic into it.
Once again it responds to my will and I expand it to about the size of our wagon. I then hollow it out and build two stories inside it. I make a door in the tree and head up to the second floor. I open up another door up here and have several branches intertwine to make a small observation platform outside of it. I also make a makeshift railing for safety reasons. I am very happy with the way this house turned out and I head down to the base floor. I start a cooking fire outside and wait for the hunters to return. After about ten minutes Kaya returns with some herbs and roots, and smiles happily at the house.
“That’s amazing, Aero. It’s very beautiful and I think it was a good idea to have the fire outside.” Kaya said proudly
“Of course, so can I help with the cooking?” I asked feeling quite hungry.
“Sure, I’m happy to teach you.” Kaya said brightly as we set about cooking.
I was shown the herbs and the roots and told how to tell if something was poisonous or edible. I was warned that not everything could be cured by healing magic and I should be careful with what I eat. After the pot is simmering the rest of the group returns with a few fish and a large bird. After cleaning the meat it is dropped in the pot and cooked thoroughly.
After dinner I was taken to go training. Tom told me that his goal was to teach me to Forest-style Dark Blade while we were in the forest. Dark Blade is a secret move and is a Master Rank level technique. Basically, it’s using shadows to disappear and get behind your opponent and run them through. Tom demonstrated it on a tree and as I blink I see wood splinter as a sword passes straight through the tree. It sort of looked like an assassination technique but I didn’t want to say that. I coat myself in shadow with magic and try to do the same move but Tom stops me and said he could see me. I quickly learned not to be seen for I was hit when I was. By sundown I had gotten the hang of it and I could fade into shadows fairly easily. Tom said I had the basics down and we returned to the camp for the night.
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AN: Okay, I'm really going to bed. I can't keep up with your reading pace anyways.
Thank you all for reading up to this point. I'll upload more later today. Goodnight!!