Chapter 10
After getting more practice with his Mage Hand spell, plucking pretty much every fruit from the tree, and leaving a very happy Jessy with an arm full of fruits, Daniel got to work on some scrying spells. He still used rituals as his control wasn’t quite there yet to easily cast such spells without aid, even with Basic Scrying.
First, he used Detect Creatures again, just to make sure there weren’t any impending Monster attacks. After that, he cast the cheaper and more visual Scrying Eye. That had gotten him the expected reactions from his companions, even from Nathan who’d already seen it once. Interest and vague disgust were their main emotions.
On one hand, it was a magic transparent eye that could fly around and he could see through. A very useful spell. On the other hand, it was a singular floating eyeball that, because of the sympathetic nature of the spell, was completely anatomically correct. So yeah. Useful, but kinda gross when you thought about it or looked at it too much.
With the eye's ability to ignore obstacles and float, it didn’t take him long to find a small clearing amid some densely packed trees that made the perfect spot. Probably would have been able to keep them hidden, even without the illusion spells.
Not that he would skimp on those. He was not gonna let himself get caught off guard again like with Sapphire. Besides, it was good practice.
The spells he put up over their little clearing weren’t complex. Just Shadow Blend, along with a sound-dampening spell, and a simple alarm spell around the border. The complex part was scaling it all up to cover the entire clearing, as well as linking it to a single monster crystal in a ritual array to keep them all powered and anchored.
Ding!
By successfully creating and Implementing a complex ward, you have unlocked the skill: Basic Warding.
Creating a ward like this was a bit tough on Daniel. Dumbing down the wards he’d used in the past into something he could create with just a drawn diagram and an E-Rank monster crystal wasn’t easy. But he was adept enough with wards that it wasn’t all that hard either, since he was replacing more powerful and comprehensive spells with much simpler ones. It was just a bit time-consuming. And since he did the actual designing last night, that wasn’t the taxing part.
The taxing part was erecting the ward. The ritual array anchored the spell and regulated it, but Daniel had to manually expand it to cover the entire clearing. With his still shoddy mana control, and the ward's delicate construction to preserve mana, it was like trying to put up a thin spider web curtain while using big fat clumsy mittens.
Well… perhaps not as difficult as that, but it certainly wasn’t easy. Took a lot of concentration to keep the spell from unraveling to cover the entire clearing, which wasn’t even all that large. It wouldn’t be impossible for a Mage of Daniel’s current level, but would have taken them hours. For Daniel, it took 15 mins, but used all his concentration and a decade of experience to achieve it.
All to get a result a normal Mage twice his level would be able to throw up in half the time, if that.
It was a bit frustrating, but still worth it. One could never be too careful. And Basic Warding would make the next ward he set easier, while just getting the practice in would help as well. Which would be extremely useful. Especially since he’d be escorting a group of very weak people through the monster-infested wilderness soon.
Hopefully…
Once all the ward was up, and they had the necessary privacy, Daniel turned to face his companions in the clearing.
“Alright, I’m done,” He said, waving his hand at the spell diagram that anchored the ward. “If someone comes by this place, they’ll just see dense shadows in the trees, and won’t be able to hear any sounds from us either. I also have an alarm setup in case someone decides that approaching the shadowy tight grouping of trees is a good idea. Now, what should we do first? Start the magic lessons? Or continue discussing our plans going forward?”
“Magic!” Nathan and Jessy both cheer simultaneously.
That made Daniel smile a bit. Despite their dangerous situation, the idea of learning magic still brought quite a bit of joy and enthusiasm to them. Magic was an amazing thing, after all. Before the final battle, his biggest regret was not getting to stay longer at the Academy to learn more.
“As much as I’d like to agree,” Sapphire said, looking slightly annoyed. “I think we should come down on what our plans are going to be going forward first. You said that, over time, Monsters would continue to return to the area, right?”
“That’s right," Daniel said, nodding and getting serious. “The longer we stay, the more dangerous this place will be. Eventually, it will get to the point that foraging will be difficult with Monsters roaming the forest near us. But it’s not like a couple of hours is gonna make much of a difference.”
“But neither will delaying help us decide later,” Sapphire said firmly. “Unless you're waiting on something that will better inform your decision?”
Daniel reluctantly shook his head. “No, I’m not.”
“Then we shouldn’t put it off and make the decision now, instead of staying indecisive. Better we decide now, so it’s easier to plan the steps we’ll need to take to go wherever we are going. Either to the tribe's people or to Tarnith. Cause we either need to leave as soon as we can, or we need to fortify our little campsite quicker and you need to move out.”
Daniel bit back a sigh. She was right. There wasn’t much else he could do now but decide. Delaying would only hurt things, and it would make planning more difficult as well. He just had a hard time deciding. Great danger now or an even worse danger later potentially.
A tough decision…
Though really, was it?
Part of him really preferred going to the mountain tribes, just like they'd done in the end the first time to escape, after spending a year in Tarnith. But, even then, with a guide and several decently leveled people, it had been dangerous. Despite being far more knowledgeable now than he’d been then, it still wasn’t as much of an option as he’d like.
Honestly, the biggest reason he didn’t want to just choose to go to Tarnith was because of everything that had happened there. He’d been through a lot in that kingdom. Seen a lot of terrible things. He’d had his first encounters with demonic cults, years before they became problems elsewhere, and the encounter still stuck with him even now.
But this time… He knew who he couldn’t trust for the most part. Knew what to look out for. And in time—time he would have to get them—he would be far more equipped to face the horrors there.
It was the more viable option.
Damn it.
“Alright,” Daniel said after a moment of silence. “You're right. And honestly, I think Tarnith is our only real option. Everyone in the group is just too weak right now to make it to the tribes. Going that way would guarantee casualties. At least in Tarnith, we can avoid the cult for a time and get stronger as well.”
“But isn’t that super dangerous? You said the king was a cultist, right?” Jessy asked, her voice nervous. “And you said we are valuable to the cult. Wouldn’t they just take us immediately once they found out? I mean, the guy’s a king, right? So his word is law? So he’d just be able to say, yeah you're under arrest and disappear us.”
“That will only happen if they find out about Integrity of Soul. If we are smart about things, they’ll never get the chance to do that,” Daniel said in assurance. He’d already mentioned this before, but he knew this would be a major sticking point for them. The idea that the ruler of the land might end up wanting to capture them all was a very tangible and justifiable fear. Much more comprehensible to people from Earth than nebulous powerful Monsters.
So Daniel spent the next while going back over why Tarnith was a better option. He was more convincing this time, his doubts pushed aside, and he went into further details about what they’d be doing in Tarnith. And just how exactly they’d avoid attention from the cults, and what measures they could take even if the worst came to pass and the royal family got involved.
It came down to two things. Getting patronage under Duke Grinnsira, leader of the faction that kept the royal family in check. And reaching a high enough Rank in the Adventurer Association that they would step in on their behalf if the kingdom was overstepping their bounds. The first part was much more doable quickly than the second with their knowledge from Earth on the table. Possibly even before word of their Otherworlder nature spread to the rest of the kingdom.
The second part, he cautioned, would likely take longer and would likely only happen after word got out about them. There was a level requirement and it would not be normally possible to reach it without considerable effort and talent. He implied that he might be able to reach that level at speeds that were abnormal due to special circumstances. But he didn’t expound on that for obvious reasons and they didn’t press once he said he couldn’t explain.
Eventually, he finished assuaging their various concerns and doubts as best as he could. All that was left was to see if that was enough. The clearing was silent as he waited for their answers. The main person he was focused on was Sapphire. If she didn’t want to go along with this, then it would be a hell of a lot harder to get everyone else to come along.
Sapphire was frowning while Jessy was looking nervous and looking to her to take the lead.
In the end, Nathan broke the silence first. “You know a lot more about this place than me. If you think that’s the best way to go about this, then I’m fine with it.”
Daniel nodded in gratitude before looking back at the other two. Jessy was still looking at Sapphire for her decision.
Sapphire looked at him, her serious blue eyes staring into his own as if she could divine some secrets out of him if she looked hard enough. Then she sighed and nodded. “Alright. If those are our two options, then I guess we're going to Tarnith.”
Daniel let out the breath he was holding too and nodded. “Alright. Then that’s settled.”
“We still need to figure out how we want to get people to go there though,” Sapphire interjected, just as relief was filling Daniel, reminding him about that little issue. “Like, I get that you're gonna be relying on me to try and lead people to go that way, and I feel like I have at least 9 people who’d be willing to go if I asked, but that won’t be enough. And since you said we need to take a roundabout route, no matter what the scouting parties find, we won’t be going where we need to go naturally. We’re gonna need some way to convince people. Some way to get them to believe that we know what we are doing.”
Daniel frowned at her words. He’d had the same thoughts and hadn’t been able to think of a good answer. He’d been hoping he could rely on her to somehow convince people. “That is a problem. Honestly, the only thing I can think of is to use my illusions to fake a Monster attack or something. Something too large or scary that would drive people the way we want.“
Sapphire shook her head firmly against that. “That would be messy. You’d be relying on people sticking together when startled and scared. And making the right decision by following us. That could end up scattering us.”
Daniel winced and nodded. “Yeah. That’s probably what would happen. Aside from deciding where to go, this has been the biggest problem I’ve been trying to solve. You don’t have any suggestions, do you? Do any of you?”
Nathan shook his head when Daniel looked at him, and Sapphire just frowned as she thought. Jessy, surprisingly, seemed like she did have a suggestion.
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“Well, I might have an idea,” Jessy said, tapping one finger to her cheek. “So the issue is we need to convince everyone to go a certain way, right? And since we can't just order them all like we’re in charge, the only way we can get them to go where we want is if we have proof that going the way we want is safe. And that it would lead to somewhere out of the wilderness.”
“Yes,” Daniel said, curious to see where she was going with this.
“Well, then what if we had a map?” Jessy asked, a mischievous smile on her face. “A map that will show us where the County we want to go is, and that either there is nothing where this Calimus County is, or to show that it’s dangerous. Maybe make sure the map has enough landmarks near us that we can readily show that it is accurate as far as we can tell.”
Daniel rubbed the stubble on his chin at the thought. That could work. Some details needed to be worked out, but it was possible.
Jessy and Daniel continued to go back and forth about the idea. Jessy got more and more excited as the plan came together and it seemed like it would work. There would be quite some magic involved if they wanted to avoid any suspicion on where they got it, but it would be a great way to get everyone moving without revealing anything.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” Jessy said when their plan was pretty much complete, looking smug as she put her hands on her hips. “You may now all bow down to the might of my brain and my genius ideas.”
That earned a laugh from everyone, even Sapphire, who was usually a lot more stoic.
“As good of an idea as that is though,” Nathan said, stifling a chuckle. “Do we really need to go so far? To play devil’s advocate… Our other option is just to reveal your magic. Not your other knowledge and stuff you can’t explain, but just that you can lead us out of the wilderness with spells. That might cause problems now, but at least later you don’t need to hide your magic anymore. And if we get attacked on the way, which you said was a possibility, then you’d be able to use your magic to fight without surprising everyone.”
Daniel frowned at his friend's sudden suggestion. It’s not like he hadn’t considered the idea before, but it had always seemed like a bad call. People always loved to find someone to blame for their troubles.
Daniel tried to argue against the idea without sounding overly pessimistic, but it seemed Nathan wasn’t the only one who thought the option might be viable.
“It might not be as bad as you think,” Sapphire said, a thoughtful look on her face. “If it was just you and Nathan, then maybe you’d have a hard time. But if I vouched for you, things would go a lot smoother. You already lied to people and said we knew each other back on Earth. So I can use that connection to convince some people that you're a good person and that you aren’t involved in whatever this is. As for explaining where your magic came from…”
Sapphire smirked in amusement. “Well. Urban fantasy is a thing and the concept is at least something people can recognize. Just go with that. Pretend you learned your magic back on Earth and there’s a whole community of wizards there or something…” Her amused smirking morphed into a thoughtful one as she trailed off. “Unless… That’s one of the things you can’t talk about?”
Daniel chuckled at that. “No, that's fine. I could pretend that was the case.” He didn’t expand upon that further, as he felt the compulsion tugging at him gently. Best not to talk about where his magical knowledge came from or insinuate too much. “And I guess if that’s the story, I could say I can’t explain much else due to rules or a spell from back home… Still, do you two really think that doing that would be for the best? Honestly, if we could manage that reveal and avoid a witch hunt, that would be great. I’d be able to work my magic in the open. But I’m just very wary about people making stupid assumptions and doing something unwise.”
“Are you afraid that they’ll attack you and succeed despite your magic?” Sapphire asked with a raised eyebrow. “Or are you afraid they won’t work with you?”
“I’d be a bit arrogant if I said I had no worries about people getting violent if they come to the wrong conclusion,” Daniel said cautiously. “After all, besides you, there are still several people with guns here that I’d be wary about. But honestly, my main concern would be the latter.”
“Then it shouldn’t be that big of an issue,” Sapphire said, almost flippantly. “Like I said, I have at least 9 people who I’m sure who’d follow my lead quite easily, and several others that would be pretty easy to convince. Also, I actually do know Clark from back on Earth. We aren’t friends… Honestly, I find him a bit too preppy at times and annoying. But I’m sure if we sat him down and talked to him, that we’d be able to convince him to trust you. At least for now.
“And you’ve seen how easily he leads people and how many have started to depend on him. With him on our side, there probably aren't too many who would both distrust you and would be willing to go against the group as well. To be honest, the only ones who might do that, despite a majority opinion, is probably Joseph and the guys in his scouting group.”
Daniel nodded as he took this all in. It still didn’t quite sit right with him. He’d seen people turn against their attempted saviors for stupid reasons too many times to like this idea. But if she was right and she really could get Clark on their side too, then it might make things manageable. Still… “What if Joseph does cause trouble? Or you underestimate just how many people might turn against us, thinking we’re all the reason they were brought here?”
“Then fuck them,” Sapphire said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Look, I get it. You want to save everyone. That’s admirable. But if you are to be believed, then you had nothing to do with bringing everyone here. And if they want to blame you and cause trouble, you aren’t obligated to help them. Is it worth handicapping yourself to save some people who would cause who knows what kinds of problems just because they learned what you can do? Are you so confident that if we went with the map plan, we’d be able to get to safety without you having to use magic publicly to keep us alive?
“Because if you are forced to use magic, and in a violent and adrenaline-filled scenario, I can almost guarantee you that those same problematic people will become much worse if they learn the truth then. And then, who knows what might happen? People that would have happily worked with us could end up dead because of the paranoia of others.”
As Daniel listened to Sapphire, he realized that she was right. It was possible for him to secretly lead everyone through the wilderness while avoiding major Monsters and taking out the ones that get close in a group without his magic. As long as he had their help. But that was already risky. If something went wrong, he’d be forced to use his magic or lose people regardless. Heck, if he wasn’t quick enough to make the decision, he could lose people anyway, even after using his magic. And having the reveal happen then could very well be problematic.
“You might be right,” Daniel finally said after a moment. “I was still thinking of it as if only Nathan would be working with me. But with you and Clark, if you can get him onboard, then this is a viable if possibly annoying option.”
“Potentially annoying, but also potentially easier,” Nathan said, nodding before looking at Sapphire. “I was just playing devil’s advocate earlier, but this could be the better plan. Do you really think Clark will be easy to convince?”
Sapphire nodded. “Yes. How much he would believe Daniel I’m not sure about, but he certainly won’t want people attacking anyone just because of suspicions. His priority will be getting people to safety and thus will work with us.”
“Then I guess it’s settled,“ Daniel said with a final nod. It still wasn’t his favorite plan, but he could work with this. And he really was kinda getting sick and tired of sneaking around people he was trying to help.
Normally he snuck around people and things he was trying to kill.
Everyone nodded in agreement.
Well, everyone except Jessy who looked a bit put off. “Wait a minute. But what about my genius plan? It’s genius!”
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Where they were going, and how exactly they’d be getting everyone to go there, was finally decided. It still took them a bit longer to finalize the details. Like how they’d go about doing the reveal, and when exactly they planned on leaving. And of course, what contingency they might need, should the reveal go badly. Especially for worst-case scenarios. But eventually, that was finished as well.
After that, they could finally move on to something that three of them were no doubt very excited by. Even if one of them was able to hide that enthusiasm a lot better than the other two.
Jessy and Nathan were both visibly excited, with Jessy almost hopping up and down and Nathan with an eager look on his face. Sapphire, though, kept cool, even if interest in her eyes was clear to see for Daniel.
Daniel was honestly relieved to get to this part as well. He needed something light-hearted to do, after thinking about such serious things. And what was more light-hearted than teaching people the wonders of magic? Sure, there were dangers to it, but just the sheer wonder that magic can bring was really something.
Though then again, this would be their first lesson in magic, so it might not be nearly as wonderful as they would wish. They needed to learn a lot of basics first before they could work magic. He almost felt bad that he was gonna have to burst their bubbles when it came to that… Almost. Honestly it was probably gonna be kinda funny.
“Alright,” Daniel said, clapping his hands to bring everyone’s attention over to him. Not that he needed to since they were already quite focused on him. “Are you guys ready to cast some spells?”
“Yes!” Both Jessy and Nathan cheered.
Sapphire, on the other hand, quirked an eyebrow at him. Dang it. Did she already realize? Oh well.
“Well too bad,” Daniel said with an exaggerated crossing of his arms. “Cause as you guys are now, casting magic is beyond you. Got to start with the basics first.”
“Aw man, come on,” Nathan complained.
“Booo. You suck,” Jessy said in exaggerated outrage.
And of course, Sapphire was as stoic as ever. “So what are the basics?”
Daniel just smirked, letting himself enjoy the silly moment before continuing. “Well, there are several things needed when casting a spell. But at its most basic, only two things are necessary. Mana and Intent. With that, you can…”
He spent the next hour or so going over the basics of magic. To help, he created an illusion of a whiteboard behind him to mark down important terms and to illustrate simple diagrams. Mana, its source and its dangers, were one of the larger topics. He made sure to stress that they should never take in mana that felt disordered or chaotic. He also went into the steps of what’s needed to cast spells, explaining just how incantations, gestures, and intent were all used to enact their will on reality.
At times, either because of their questions or because it felt like a good tangent, he went into other topics. Monsters, magical beings, the ancient dragons, and even the topic of gods came up.
In the end, they weren’t any closer to actually being able to cast magic, but it was just to build up a foundation for them to learn from. An actual instructor would have done a much better job, but Sapphire had been insistent on learning now so he indulged them.
And there was at least going to be one practical aspect to this first lesson.
“Alright, that’s enough theory for now,” Daniel said, wiping away the illusionary whiteboard with a wave of his hand. In their place, he created the image of a silhouette of a man, with what looked like a burning fire in their chest. “Let’s get to something a little more practical. If any of you want to be able to use magic in the future, then you’ll need to control your mana. To do that, you’ll need to be able to sense your mana. Now, let's sit down and everyone gets comfortable. This might take some time and it's easier to do when you're relaxed.”
Daniel sat cross-legged on the floor and gestured to the others to do the same. When they had, he pointed at Sapphire. “This will be either really easy for you or really hard. As I said before, you have a very powerful natural mana sense. That was what you were using to feel what I was doing whenever I used magic back at the camp. Depending on how sensitive it is though, it might make it harder to feel your own mana, because you are constantly feeling the mana around you. As for the rest of you, it will probably take you some time as well. At least a week of practice perhaps. Or maybe a little less depending on your talents. And that practice will mainly be meditation.”
That got him groans in return and he just shrugged. “I know, I know. Sounds boring. But it is necessary. Just remember this is the first step to doing stuff like this.”
Daniel raised a hand, went through a couple of quick gestures, and spoke the Draconic word for fire. A small ball of flames formed in his hand. Nothing taxing, but impressive looking. Especially to people with little experience with magic.
That piqued their interest and quieted their complaints.
“Alright,” Daniel said, looking up into the sky and seeing that it was almost noon. ”Now we’ve been out here for a while, and it’s almost lunchtime. So let me just walk you through the steps needed to try and get a feel for your mana and you can do this whenever you have time later. Now close your eyes and get comfortable.”
The next half hour was spent with Daniel teaching them the breathing techniques he used to calm and clear his mind. He described what sensing mana should feel like, and then went silent as he just let them practice it. Seeing if they could get a feel for their mana while keeping an eye on the time with a cantrip.
In the end, aligning with his expectations, neither Nathan nor Jessy managed to do it. Neither was a particular amazing talent, which wasn’t a big deal. They had the talent for magic, they just weren’t geniuses. Neither had Daniel been, and he’d still been a pretty good mage. Not nearly as good of one as he could have been if he’d gone with a pure Mage class, but now the option was open to him again.
Sapphire, though, much to her own disappointment, hadn’t managed to sense anything either. Which didn’t necessarily mean that her mana sense was making it harder on her. Just that it hadn’t made it a lot easier. And they’d only barely begun to practice. There would only be a need to worry if a week of practice amounted to nothing. Which Daniel didn’t think would be the case, considering that she’d end up proficient with magic in the original timeline. Then again, she had gone for some kind of bardic class…
Daniel pushed the thought away for the moment as he got up. They needed to get back to camp, and this little teaching distraction was over. They had many things they needed to do now. People to talk to. Clark first. Then, if no problems arose from that, everyone else.
He’d just hoped things went well.
Because despite what Sapphire said, and his own agreements about the need to be practical; A part of him couldn’t help but protest at the idea that he couldn’t save everyone here. After all, it was 50 people and he had so much experience. Not only that, he’d been through the impossible and was back in time.
If he couldn’t even save these 50 people from the troubles to come, could he save anyone else…
But he knew those were foolish thoughts. He’d accepted long ago that he wasn’t some great hero. Heck, in this world, Hero was an actual title. Something the ones meant to be summoned got, and others had earned. But not himself.
And, while he couldn’t be a hero, he could at least be a messenger that would hopefully turn the tides. He just needed to get to the Auraxas and the grand temple of light there. And get stronger along the way. So that things wouldn’t have to be so complicated. Because with strength, anything is possible.