Chapter 74: Magic resistance
Alex Sandclaw’s POV:
Felix looked at me for a moment, then nodded. "Let’s do it," he said. "Have I told you which Skill I had in mind, yet?"
I thought about what he'd told me so far. He had a resistance Skill in mind, I knew that much. And it was supposed to fill the gap between [Blunt force resistance] and [Temperature resistance] so I could merge them, making the final Skill more powerful and freeing up two Skill slots. I'd need those two slots eventually.
I shook my head. "You told me some, but not much."
"Right, the Skill I had in mind is called [Magic resistance]. As the name suggests, it’s a Skill for resisting magic, both external and internal. I read up on how it works and I'm pretty sure I can teach it to you."
I nodded. That sounded useful and would fill that gap between my other two Skills nicely. A physical resistance Skill, and energy resistance Skill, and then now a magical resistance Skill.
"So how does it work?" I asked.
“Basically, you coat your skin, or in our case, your scales in a thin layer of mana. That layer will reflect mana away from you, thus protecting you from magical effects. It's a little difficult in terms of mana manipulation, so I'm glad we handled that first. I tried it out myself, too, and I think you should be able to do it.”
“So, just covering my scales with mana? I think I can do that.”
Felix scratched the scales behind his ears. “Not quite, but we’ll get to that when we get to that. First, though, before we begin, some details about the Skill," he said and sat up straighter, his head held high like some professor about to give a lecture. "While everyone’s Skill is slightly different, there are some shared aspects every version of the Skill has. The most important of these is that the Skill is a passive one and reserves a portion of your mana pool to remain functional. You can of course turn the Skill off, and you can also overcharge it to a limited degree."
I cocked my head. "How much mana does the Skill need, then?" I asked.
I had a pretty decently sized mana pool for my current needs—310 mana total. It was more than enough for my occasional use of [Draconic lightning magic], but I could easily see it becoming an issue down the line when I had more Skills that used it, let alone if I had actual spells to fling around. If this Skill took half my pool to function… it would be an issue.
"It depends," Felix said. "If your manipulation is good, it will be more efficient and use less mana, and at the same time, the level of the Skill itself also influences how much it uses, along with a bunch of other small factors. But on average, the Skill usually takes about fifty mana to begin with. Or so the book said, anyway. If you manage to get the prefix, it might be totally different."
I nodded. “Sounds good. I have enough mana to spare, then.”
Fifty mana was a sixth of my current pool, and I only expected it to grow this week while we hunted and fought in the caves. It was an acceptable amount.
“Was that it?” I asked.
He shook his head. “It’s a catch-all Skill, meaning it will resist every magic except healing magic. It means I won’t be able to, for example, use my air magic to give you a speed boost. Or at least, not as big a boost. Not without you actively allowing it. And another thing about the Skill,” he said, looking sheepish, “is that it’s a resistance Skill. You need to resist something actively to get it. So… I’ll have to pummel you with bolts of magic.”
I sighed, grimacing. “At least your bolts aren’t too painful.”
“You’re right. Still not pleasant, though. So, would you like me to try to teach you this Skill or do you want to look for something else instead? Either option is fine with me.”
I thought about it for a bit. What was it I wanted, and what was it that I needed? I wanted something to fill that gap and free up a Skill slot. It didn’t really matter that much what it was, so long as it was useful. And this definitely sounded useful, especially when merged with my other two Skills. It would then protect me from the physical, magical, and temperature effects from spells and attacks. Pretty neat.
But what did I need? Did I really need protection from magic? Monsters often didn't have magical abilities. And when they did, they usually only affected themselves instead, like with the dire bear and the temporary strength boost it used to smash Felix. But I already had protection against that with [Blunt force resistance]. It wouldn’t protect me against claws, but a slash resistance Skill would only really be able to merge with [Blunt force resistance]. Useful, for sure, but my scales were already pretty resistant against slashing. Something that would only get better as I leveled up. Besides, that was something I could probably integrate into the combined Skill later if I really wanted to.
No, what I missed was protection from other people. Spellcasters who had bad intentions. I’d seen more than enough bandits and other criminals on my way to the Academy to know a fight with one wasn’t always avoidable. They’d want my sword or gear, or would think my slightly raised level meant I had greater wealth. So something to protect me against magic would definitely be useful for that.
And aside from all that, there was the fact this Skill would likely get me a prefix, boosting my eventual final Skill greatly.
Having decided, I nodded to Felix. “This one sounds good. How do we get started?”
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Felix launched another bolt towards me and I flinched as it hit me. It was a bolt of air and didn’t hurt too much. It was more like a soft punch than anything else. The kind you’d give your friend for making an awful pun. But it was loud and looked like it would hurt a lot more than it did, so it was hard not to flinch.
Despite the discomfort of the air bolt, I kept my focus on the thin layer of mana coating the scales on my chest. After Felix had explained it to me, and after I figured out how to make it work, we’d decided to start small, with only my chest covered, rather than starting with my entire body.
Felix was right when he said there was more to it than just covering your scales with mana. There was a pattern to it. It was difficult to describe. It looked like a bunch of cubes turned so that one corner was facing straight out while the edges of the cube lined up with those around it. Felix called it a ‘retroreflector’, something we would apparently cover in Mundane Physics sometime this year.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
When a bolt of air hit these ‘retroreflectors’, part of the mana inside the bolt was reflected right back where it came from, where it then dispersed harmlessly. For simple magic like the bolt, it just decreased the overall power the bolt had, but for more complex spells, it might destabilize the spell structure, making them severely weakened. Though, some spells had effects in them that resisted this resistance.
Making the pattern out of mana was both very difficult, and remarkably easy once I had figured out the trick for it. The shapes were easy enough. I could do cubes. But doing so many at once… it was hard. At first I tried imaging them all at once, which did nothing but give me a headache. So Felix explained to me how I could do it anyway.
Instead of creating a dozen cubes at once, he told me to first build up the shape in my mind, then just create that shape instead. Then I’d only have to make one shape, rather than a dozen. It was weird how that worked, since it was effectively the same thing as I had tried before, but it was enough to let me do it. I built up the shape in my mind, then made it with my mana. It was a little crude at first, not all the edges were nice and straight, but it was a good first try and I only got better at it the more I practiced, until finally I managed to get it right. Or, at least, right enough.
Which brought me back to now, with Felix flinging bolts of air at me.
“You’re doing great,” he said, already preparing another bolt. “Try covering your tail this time!”
I did as he said, building up the shape and then finally wrapping it around my tail. It was difficult, as the reflectors were large, so it warped as I tried wrapping it around my round tail. I hadn’t had this problem with my chest, which was mostly flat. I’d need to make the reflectors smaller later. In total, I managed to cover roughly the upper third of my tail—the diameter simply got too small near the tip.
I called that I was ready, and Felix fired another bolt, knocking my tail back. It was unpleasant, and I’d be sore later, but it had worked again. Part of the mana was reflected back. I grinned.
Now all I had to do was continue to practice this on all my various body parts, figure out how to put it on my whole body at once, make the reflectors smaller, then finally put everything together, purposefully and consistently, three times in a row to unlock the Skill I wanted.
I could probably get a Skill with what I currently had, too. But it would likely be a worse version, or even more likely, an active version and not the passive resistance Skill I wanted. Nor would it protect my whole body, then.
And so, Felix and I continued practicing for another two hours, though we took a break at the halfway mark to continue practicing my mana manipulation, too. Felix took that opportunity to play around with the dirt, shifting it around using his magic, making small walls and other shapes. He was trying to figure out the best way to make something trip. That meant shapes with hard lines and edges, like walls and cubes. Paws and claws would just glance off rounded shapes like small hills much easier than rigid shapes like cubes.
After that half hour break, he’d come to a pretty decent design that was easy to make, even with dirt. Though, it would be even better with stone.
The shape he’d ended up with was basically just a wall at an angle. It would make it so that any paw or claw that came near it would hit the top of the shape when they lifted their legs, making it much more difficult to simply step over it—when he made it appear at the right place, anyway.
Aside from that, he also worked on making spikes, but he had trouble making them sharp. It was something he would have to practice later with stone rather than the easy to crumble dirt.
After that break, we went back at it with training until finally my pool ran dry. It was a weird feeling, an empty mana pool. It wasn’t really uncomfortable, but there was a notable dip of energy in my body. I only felt it, though. I could move about as easily and with as much enthusiasm as I did with a full pool. It was strange, but normal.
We grabbed something to snack on while we waited for my pool to fill back up, which took exactly one hundred minutes, then we went back at it. We repeated the same as before, and by the end I was able to make the reflectors much smaller while also covering my entire lower body at once. I was making great progress. Something the System clearly agreed with.
[Skill ‘Mana manipulation’ has leveled up! 17>20]
[Skill ‘Drawing’ has leveled up! 15>16]
Three whole levels for one afternoon of training wasn’t bad at all. I’d even gained a level for the drawing I’d done during our break.
When my mana pool ran dry for the second time that day, we finally decided we’d done enough for now. We made our way over to the central fire pit and hung around, talking with people until we were assigned our task for this evening. One thing I noticed, that I’d also noticed before, was that it was usually me who started the conversations. Felix mostly just sat back until he warmed up to the new people. It was cute, in a shy sort of way.
We got assigned an easy task this evening, making the campfire. I listened to Felix and Tiki as they explained how to best make a campfire, what kind of wood to use, what kind of fire was best for what situation. Most of it went over my head, but I made sure to pay attention. I was sure I’d learn in time.
When the fire finally lit, after dozens of attempts at using the flint and steel, I grinned. Felix grabbed me in a hug, and Tiki smiled. It was a nice moment.
After that, we waited for the other groups to cook and ate our dinner. It was more sheep-wolf. I liked the slightly gamey taste of it, though, so that was fine. Felix and Tiki seemed to like it, too. The sides were a little more boring, with it mostly being bread and potatoes, and some fried vegetables, but it filled my stomach and that was what mattered.
Having eaten our fill, Tiki went over to her friends to talk about how their hunt and fights had gone and wouldn’t be back for a while, so Felix and I went swimming together. While we walked back to our own camping spot, we passed by many other students. The mood differed wildly from person to person. Some looked dejected, others kept glancing around them, while some continued like everything was normal, while others yet had small get-togethers with drinks and happy conversations.
I thought I fell into both the second and the third category. Mostly I felt good and like everything was normal. After the initial scare, the fights had been easy. Knowing I could handle anything that came from the first floor was a great confidence boost. And yet, I also found myself glancing around, startling easily at the cracking of a branch, and jumping when something touched me unexpectedly. It had lessened in the time since we’d surfaced again, but just knowing there were so many monsters right beneath my feet was anxiety inducing—even though there was more than a hundred meters of rock and stone between my feet and the closest monster.
Felix’s presence helped, though. We’d talked about it after and during the fights, of course, but his general lack of concern and relaxed attitude helped a lot. He thought everything was fine, so it probably was.
When we finally got back to our camping spot, and before we dove into the water, I considered for a moment whether to dive in with my underwear on like I’d done pretty much every time we’ve swum so far, or to take it off again like yesterday.
I’d only really taken it off yesterday because it had gotten soaked with sheep-wolf blood, so I didn’t really need to take it off again, now. But I kind of wanted to. I remembered how Felix had looked at me yesterday. I wanted that again. It made me feel good.
There was a part of me that protested against the idea, and thoughts of all the unpleasant things that could happen if someone caught me doing it flashed through my mind. I shook them off. They weren’t important. I knew nothing bad would happen here. Stars, we’d even walked in on a gay couple ourselves, and from what Felix told me, so did other people. All that happened to them was that they were told not to fuck in the showers anymore. Perfectly reasonable, and perfectly okay.
And yet… I sighed. This was complicated. The idea of sex already made me uncomfortable, and now there was another fear to add to the list. At least I was already close to conquering this new fear. Because I did really want to jump into the water naked, maybe even cuddle with Felix afterwards. Actual sex was maybe a bit too far for now, but this I could do. And so I would.
I looked at Felix, who was already swimming, then down at my underwear one last time. With a quick pull and a kick, I took it off and launched it towards my bag. I noticed Felix had stopped swimming and was staring at me from the river and I smiled. Exactly the reaction I’d been hoping for. Then I dove right in after him.