Daisy waved goodbye to Bea as they separated at the city gate. While Bea, Mimi and Serena were heading somewhere on foot. Gorm had elected to take a carriage with Daisy to their destination. Somewhere he still needed to elaborate despite her questions.
“Sir Gorm, can I really not know where we are going?”
“Gorm was reluctant due to the presence of his friends. Now they are gone, Gorm will happily illuminate you,” Gorm said with a big grin as he gave a slight chuckle.
“...so where are we going, sir?”
“Gorm is taking Flower Girl to Fort Rubble.”
“Fort Rubble?” Daisy parroted; she had heard of the fortress; it was a fair few hours outside the city. But other than that and a few odd rumours about incidents that happened every few years, she knew very little else about the fortress.
“Why are we going there, sir?”
“Simple young Flower Girl. Gorm will help you master projection magic, and the fortress is used for target practice.”
“A fortress is used for target practice?”
“Yes, it is why it is named Fort Rubble. It is often destroyed by mages in military training using artillery magic. Gorm has secured use for this week, so we will be free to use all the magic to our heart's content.”
“I still find it hard to believe you are a projection mage,” Daisy replied conversationally as the carriage trundled down the dirt road.
“Gorm understands the Flower Girl’s confusion. He is a mighty specimen!!” Gorm replied, flexing his arms to show off his bulging muscles.
“With how durable you are, I would’ve bet you as being an enhancer-type mage,” Daisy replied—thinking about the very natures of the two specialisations.
“Indeed! Gorm’s father desired him to be a warrior of fist and steel. Gorm was displeased by this as between Gorm and Flower Girl,” Gorm leant down low, so he was closer to Daisy’s ear. “Blood scares Gorm.”
“Really?!”
“Yes, Gorm can’t stand the sight of it. Gorm decided to fight from afar despite possessing all the qualities of a true warrior!!!”
“I guess we all have our weaknesses.”
“Indeed, Bestest Buddy, my Beloved, even Bestest Sister, have weaknesses.”
“They do?”
“Yes,” Gorm replied with a nod. “Gorm will happily tell you if you so desire.”
“You sure that’s wise?”
“Gorm would find it amusing for a teenager to get the better of his family. Gorm’s Beloved cannot stand spicy food.”
“Like curry?”
“Yuu would cry many tears with something like that. But it is so bad Gorm’s Beloved cannot endure more than a pinch of pepper.”
“Seriously?!” Daisy replied through a snort.
“What about sir?”
“Bested Buddy is very reliant on magic. Without magic, he is weaker than even a normal mage.”
“I kind of already knew that one…”
“Yes, Bestest Buddy doesn’t hide it.”
“What about Mimi?”
“Bestest Sister’s biggest weakness is…” Gorm paused as he got a far-off look in his eyes. “Her biggest weakness is alcohol,” Gorm finally said as he shuddered.
“She can get drunk very easily, and a drunk Mimi is chaos unleashed.”
“Ah yes….” Daisy muttered, remembering the dragon-skull-wearing figure she saw the night of their first adventurer quest.
“Gorm suggests you best settle in as it will be many hours before we arrive,” Gorm suggested shuffling himself so he could lie down across the entire bench. “Gorm will awaken when we arrive,” Gorm added as he pulled down his hat over his eyes.
Daisy left to herself and had little else to do but to follow suit. It had been a long week already, and with the prospect of a week of training ahead of her, she wanted to be in top form for when they arrived. Settling into her bench, she closed her eyes and drifted off.
“Sir, ma’am, we have arrived,” the voice of the coachman announced, causing the pair to stir. Sitting up, Daisy looked around to see a flat field in the middle of which stood a stone fortress slightly obscured by the fog of the morning mist. It seemed they had been travelling all through the night.
“Gorm, thanks, the driver!!” Gorm shouted as he handed the coachman a pouch of coins. “A sign of my appreciation.”
“Thank you, sir… I will be in the nearby village down that way for when you are ready to return,” the driver explained, gesturing to the south of where they were standing. “Have a good one.”
The pair watched as the carriage that had carried them went into the distance. Looking around, Daisy was surprised at how bad a position this fortress was placed in.
“This place is poorly placed, sir?”
“Gorm understands what you mean. Though as Gorm has already said, its use is only for target practice. It is in a bad position by design, so if an invasion tries to claim it, it would be a negative.”
“Oh, I see…”
“Now Gorm will be happy to instruct you on projection magic!!! Please explain the differences between the two paths?”
“Well, enhancer mages do just that use their mana to enhance their own bodies and gain strength. While projection mages manifest their mana into phenomena outside their bodies and launch it outwards.”
“HAH-HAH-HAH!!!” Gorm burst into a fit of laughter. “Magnificent Gorm’d expect no less from a student of my Bestest Buddy.”
“Actually, sir, they teach this in elem-”
“Gorm shall teach you the fundamentals of being a truly proficient projection mage.”
“All due respect, sir, but I am proficient. I was graded one of the top projection mages of my year, and after taking sir’s lessons and gaining the light circle method, I have only grown in effectiveness.”
“MAGNIFICENT!!! Please show Gorm your skill!!”
Daisy and Gorm walked across the field till they got closer to the fortress finding several dummies with old iron breastplates set up at points on the walls.
“Where should I shoot, sir?”
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“Gorm doesn’t care where he wishes to see the how!!”
“Ok!” Daisy said, giving a nod deciding to show off her skills by shooting the plain wall in front of them.
“Lumus Rex!” Daisy chanted, bringing up a light circle for a fireball. Transferring her mana to the circle, a ball of fire the size of Gorm launched at the wall and splashed against it, burning the grass around it.
“MORE!!!”
“Lumus Rex!” this time, Daisy conjured an Earth Cannon, drawing out a stone from the ground by her feet and launching it at the wall, causing one of the stones in the wall to develop a crack.
“MORE!!!”
“Lumus Rex!” Daisy brought forth a wind bullet and aimed it at one of the dummies, only just missing it with a glancing blow.
“Ok, Gorm has seen enough,” Gorm said, stopping Daisy before she could launch another shot.
“Gorm is saddened by how unimaginative the Flower Girl is.”
“Unimaginative, sir?”
“Yes, Gorm watched you cast those spells like a textbook. Any good mage will be able to break the chain for the spell and dispel it.”
“Well, I don’t know what you were expecting?” Daisy replied with a pout.
“Gorm was more hoping for something similar to the elementals. Gorm needs to remember you are still young so that he will temper his expectations.”
Daisy had to bite her lower lip to avoid arguing back at what Gorm had just said. His words had stung her pride. She was one of the best mages at the school, and she knew it.
“Gorm doesn’t say it to be rude, Flower Girl,” Gorm explained, likely noticing her frustration. “You can alter how you conjure the spell to make it harder to block. Gorm was especially surprised you didn’t use a baffle-field with the light circle.”
“Baffle-field? Like the illusion spell to conceal movements?”
“Yes, Gorm uses it to cover up what magic he uses so no one can block it. But Gorm is even more surprised you limit yourself with the light circle. Its greatest strength is its versatility.” Gorm replied, showing as he showed of an amulet with a baffle-field runic enchantment carved into it.
“How so? I thought its main use was eliminating the need for reagents?”
“That it does. Gorm won’t deny that benefit. But it has many other gifts that make it so much more powerful than even its creator Gorm’s Bestest Buddy, can know.”
“Gorm knows!!! Tell Gorm the weakest projection attack spell?”
“Manashot?”
“Exactly!! Show Gorm the spell circle for manashot.”
“Lumus Rex!” Daisy conjured one of the most straightforward magic circles. It was a simple circle with eight symbols and four connecting lines; all brought together to enable the caster to launch a projectile of pure mana.
“Gorm shall also show you his Manashot! Lumus Rex!!” Gorm conjured his own circle. Daisy looked it over and immediately saw that the eighth symbol was different on his than hers.
“You edited it?”
“Yes, Gorm’s favourite hobby is editing circles. These symbols mean things, you know?”
“They do? I thought the ancient languages' meanings were mostly lost, and we only know that these culminate into the full spell.”
“That is true,” Gorm said, nodding. “Gorm, however, did something Bestest Buddy would do and became methodical. Gorm has the benefit of being durable, so he can survive the backlash with ease.”
“So you blew yourself up creating this edited circle?”
“Gorm did!!!” Gorm said, giving a big grin. “Now fire your shot at the wall.” Daisy followed his instruction and launched her shot which collided with the wall leaving no noticeable mark.
“Now, Gorm’s turn!” Gorm launched his edited circle, and the moment it collided, the rock broke apart, leaving a small dent in the stone.
“You increased the damage?”
“Gorm did,” Gorm declared, looking smug.
“Can this work with other circles?”
“Gorm knows it can. But you must experiment to discover the edits. Gorm knows Bestest Buddy has done this as he can’t cast higher grade spells, so he increased the power of the ones he can.”
“Now tell Gorm what would happen if Gorm reduced the size of his circle by half?” Daisy pondered the question for a second only to state the obvious.
“It would halve the strength.”
“Is that so? Lumus Rex!” Gorm conjured the circle once again, but half the size of the standard size. The moment he tapped it to activate the circle, a manashot launched out and collided with the wall leaving a fresh hole in a different stone.
“H-how?” Daisy gawked at the hole it had made. This went against everything she knew about magic circles and the laws of conservation of mana mass.
“Gorm understands your confusion. But Gorm shall illuminate you… Heh.” Gorm chuckled at his bad joke as Daisy realised he had tried the same joke the day prior.
“The reason spells weaken when circles are made smaller is because the reagents have a limit to the amount of mana they can have flow through them. Too much, and they will naturally fail; too little, it won’t fire.” Daisy nodded; this was common logic.
“The Light Circle doesn’t need reagents because it is made with mana. It has no flow limits nor issues. So even a smaller circle will fire as strong as a normal one.”
“Is there a limit to how small you can make it?” As if to answer his question, Gorm held up his index finger.
“Lumus Rex!” he conjured a small light circle the size of his fingertip.
“Gorm has found that the limit is the mage's skill to make it accurate even when small.” Gorm held out his finger and launched a fresh manashot which punched a hole in another stone.
“Now, do Gorm a favour and cast the strongest attack spell you can cast with the light circle.”
“Lumus Rex!” Daisy conjured the circle for shrapnel rain, which conjured a sphere of metal in the air and made it explode, raining high-velocity metal on the troops beneath.
“Was that good enough?”
“Gorm is impressed you know such a spell!!” Gorm muttered as he shielded his eyes to get a better look at the suits of armour on the top of the walls that now had dents.
“Now Gorm wants to know how much mana you used when casting that spell?” Daisy was about to retort; everyone knew the cost of their spells, only to pause and realise he must have a reason for asking. Closing her eyes to feel her manastores, only to feel shock overtake her entire being.
“I used way less than I should’ve?”
“Yes, this is another benefit of the light circle. As mana resistance is zero, you don’t waste mana being inefficient. This is also why Gorm likes using manashot. Its cost is so low as to almost be nonexistent.”
“Well, as good as that is, there is a limit, obviously.”
“Gorm requests you explain?”
“The rate at which it can be cast. Yes, even an average mage could cast a lot, but you’d waste a lot of time recasting the circle, making it slower and less efficient than just using a stronger attack.”
“HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!!!!!” Gorm burst into an uproarious bout of laughter as Daisy looked at him, confused.
“Gorm has a way of casting it very fast. In fact, he can cast it so fast no enemy can withstand it.”
“I’m sorry, sir, but I shall have to quote the mage’s guild motto. ‘Nullius in verba’.” Gorm beamed at Daisy for this quote.
“Indeed, Bestest Buddy no doubt espouses such an ideology. Gorm shall show,” Gorm declared as he took a step forwards and held his arms wide open as if ready to embrace someone in a titanic hug.
“LUMUS REX!! LUMUS REX!!” Gorm conjured a complete manashot circle about the size of Daisy’s hand. But she could see eleven other circles in a ring beneath it.
“Gorm suggests you look at the circles.” Following his suggestion, Daisy approached and was surprised to see the eleven other circles were the manashot circle at various stages of completion. The first being a simple circle with a single symbol, all the way to the eleventh with all but one symbol.
“Kind of like a clock,” Daisy muttered.
“Gorm thought the same. Gorm named this attack Tick-Tock-Mana-Shot. Tis a very tricky technique, but when used, you can deal death en masse.”
“Is that so?”
“Indeed, observe!!!” Gorm held his right hand in the completed circle while his left hand was held in the centre of the ring of the following circles.
Daisy watched on curiously, wondering what could possibly be happening, only for all her expectations to be blown away. Much like the wall he was targeting as, a volley of manashots began firing out at such a rate that she found it genuinely terrifying. Gorm was singlehandedly matching the firing rate of an entire mage battalion could manage within a minute by himself.
With effort, she drew her attention away from the wall being torn to shreds and looked at Gorm's hands and was amazed at what she saw. He was stutter casting the light spell to create a continuous chain of circle creation. He had simplified the matter by making it a fixed process while his right hand aimed and fired the shots.
It almost became mesmerising watching the circles rotate and build themselves up only to fire. Eventually, Gorm stopped his firing of manashot, and Daisy could finally see the damage he had done. The wall was no longer there, only a pile of rubble on top of which were the dummies with armour that resembled cheese.
Sir… can I try to do that?” Gorm nodded, eager to see her try.
“Lumus Rex!!” Daisy conjured the manashot circle but struggled with the other circles. The moment she fired the spell, the system collapsed and dissipated.
“I failed?”
“It takes practice Flower Girl. That is why we’re here; I will make you the fastest mage in the western arm.”
“Let’s do this!! LUMUS REX!!”