Tetsuya's arms wobbled as he struggled to complete his final set of push-ups. It was evening the day after the group's excursion into the sewers. His body was still sore from both the trek from Galanis' Village as well as the rat extermination quest itself. Not to mention he still couldn't quite get the putrid stench of sewage off of his body. He slept in through the morning and only now had woken up. Tetsuya wanted to get in the habit of starting his days right, so he decided to start doing a simple workout routine every morning. Push-ups, three sets, max rep. Squats, three sets, max rep. Crunches, five sets, twenty-five reps. He had no delusions of killing dragons with a single punch, but he felt like this routine was realistic enough for him to follow. He spent eighteen years of his life neglecting to take care of his body, opting instead to spend his free time watching anime and playing video games. Now, an indolent lifestyle was no longer an option for him.
"What in fuck's name is he doing?" Roland whispered to Chelsea as they stood at the doorway watching the boy.
"I have no idea," Chelsea replied. "Maybe some sort of mating ritual?"
"You trying to fuck my floor, boy?" Roland yelled out.
"This is... Uh... How my people train their bodies to get stronger." Tetsuya attempted to explain.
Roland looked at the boy's scrawny body and laughed. "Well, it doesn't look like it's fucking working, boy."
"I haven't done this in a long time," Tetsuya said, struggling to complete his workout routine.
The dwarf tilted his head to the side. The boy's bizarre floor fucking mating ritual reminded him a bit of an old dwarven tradition. Back in Myrkheim, dwarven warriors would congregate at a quarry and push large boulders around. It was commonly believed that this activity made the dwarven warriors stronger and more effective in battle. In a strange way, the boy's movements somewhat resembled the movement of those dwarven warriors as they pushed the large boulders around. Roland was a bit intrigued, realizing that there might have been some merit to what the boy was saying.
"Enough of that for now, boy. You can finish later," Roland said. "I've got something for you."
Tetsuya stood up and walked over to Roland, wondering what it could be. The dwarf held up a ring in the air."
"This is an artifact," Roland explained. "It has been imbued with fire magic, allowing its wearer to cast the Fire, Grade I spell."
Roland placed the ring in the boy's hand. "It's yours now."
Tetsuya remembered hearing Lady Astrid mention the term artifact in her conversation with Chelsea, not quite understanding what it meant.
"These things cost fifteen hundred crowns, so don't fucking lose it!" Roland warned.
"Thank you so much," Tetsuya said hesitantly. "Is it really okay for me to have something so powerful?"
"Powerful? Ha!" Roland let out a laugh. "That spell is as weak as a boar infant's shit."
"Artifacts are more of a luxury item," Chelsea explained. "These things are insanely overpriced for what you can get out of them. The general rule of thumb is that if an adventurer has made enough money to afford a specific artifact, then they really don't have a lot of use for that artifact."
"But, there are cases when they'll help you out of a fucking pinch. Specially if your race isn't adept at using magic." Roland said gruffly. "Some monsters are resistant to physical attacks, some are even completely immune to it. If you're a race who can't naturally use magic and you run into one of these fucking shits, the only way you can fight back is by using the magic in these artifacts."
"Shouldn't you be giving something like this to Chelsea instead?" Tetsuya wondered. "She'd probably make better use of it than me."
"Oh, I already have one," Chelsea replied. "Mine lets me use the Earth, Grade I spell. But honestly, it's much faster to just kill things with my axe."
Tetsuya slipped the ring on his finger, marveling at it. It might not have been a big deal for the people of this world, but being able to use real magic was something beyond his wildest dreams.
"How do I use it?" Tetsuya asked excitedly.
"First, decide where you want to cast the spell. For most people, it helps to hold your hand out in the direction of your target." Roland lectured. "Next, recite the name of the spell in your head."
"Fire, Grade I, right?" Tetsuya asked.
"Aye." Roland replied. "Finally, focus your energy and trigger the spell to activate. That part's a little hard to explain, but once you do it once, you'll know what I'm talking about."
Tetsuya raised his hand and began to focus.
"Not in my fucking home you fucking idiot!" Roland yelled out, admonishing the boy. "You want to start a fucking fire and burn this whole place to the fucking ground!?"
"S-sorry!" Tetsuya apologized.
"Take him to Shea's and let him practice there," Roland said to Chelsea as the dwarf disappeared to his workshop.
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Cullen's Atelier was a short walk away. The building's interior was the antithesis of the dreary decorum of Eicher's Workshop. The walls were covered with elegant white wallpaper and the floor was made up of whitewashed laminate oak flooring. A variety of artifacts were displayed inside rows upon rows of glass display cases. The artifacts took the form of rings, earrings, and necklaces, each one holding untold magical powers. The shop was owned and operated by Shea Cullen, while her son Finn worked as the safety supervisor for the shooting range found in the basement.
"Greetings. What brings you two here today?" Shea, the beautiful high elf woman, asked cordially in a soft and pleasant voice.
"We'd like to use your shooting range," Chelsea replied.
"Will you be renting out an artifact or have you brought your own?" Shea asked.
"We have our own," Chelsea said.
"That will be forty crowns," Shea said with a smile.
Chelsea handed the high elf woman a handful of coins.
"That's Shea, she's a powerful wizard and the best artificer in the city," Chelsea said to Tetsuya.
"I'm the only artificer in the city," Shea corrected, laughing humbly at such high praise.
"It takes decades of magical experience to craft artifacts, specially some of the high-end ones found in this shop," Chelsea said. "The more powerful the artifact you want to craft, the more powerful your own magic has to be. I don't know a lot about magic, but I do know that there are a lot of really powerful ones imbued with the artifacts sitting inside these display cases."
"Decades of magical experience?" Tetsuya whispered to Chelsea. "But she looks way too young and way too pretty to have been a wizard for that long."
"You flatter me, child," Shea said, laughing softly to herself. She turned to Chelsea. "Does the boy not realize that we high elves have exceptionally good hearing?"
Tetsuya's face was flushed red from embarrassment.
"We high elves live three times longer than you humans. Once we reach biological maturity, our aging slows to a crawl," Shea explained. "Anyone from these lands should know that."
Shea gazed into Tetsuya's eyes, it felt as if her deep brown eyes were piercing the very fabric of his soul. "But you're not from these lands, are you, child?"
Tetsuya was stunned into silence. Most of the people he had met so far had wrongly assumed that he was a Farlander. But the way Shea worded her question, it felt as if she knew that he wasn't from this world at all.
"I've spent a large portion of my life buried in books and ancient tomes," Shea said with a gentle, reassuring smile. "Nothing you could tell me would surprise me, I assure you."
Shea gave a slight wave of her hand, a door leading to the firing range gently swung open. "Enjoy your time," she said, smiling pleasantly at her customers.
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Tetsuya and Chelsea made their way down a stone staircase that lead to the shooting range below. The walls and floors were made of stone, much closer to the look of Eicher's Workshop. The area was covered in six firing lanes. Only one of the lanes was currently in use. It was occupied by a human male, he appeared to be more of a tradesman than an adventurer. The man gave Tetsuya and Chelsea a polite nod of greeting, then shifted his attention back to what he was doing.
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Leaning against the wall was the young high elf, Finn. His short, dark hair was neatly styled in a quiff and his ruggedly handsome face was covered in a three-day stubble. The high elf looked more like a warrior than a mage. Even though his cotton tunic covered up most of his body, it was hard not to notice his incredible physique hidden beneath it.
Finn's job was twofold, his primary responsibility was to supervise the patrons, ensuring that they behaved in a safe and responsible manner while using this facility. His secondary responsibility was setting up the targets for the patrons to hit. He used telekinetic magic to set up targets down the firing lane.
Most races that need an artifact to cast magic have a naturally small mana pool. These races can usually fire off one to three spells before completely depleting their body's mana pool. It takes them around a minute to completely recover their mana, allowing them to cast magic again. At peak hours when the shooting range was at full capacity, Finn had to carefully manage his time to make sure that he could attend to each patron once their mana pool was full again.
"Hello, welcome." Finn greeted the pair.
Finn turned to Chelsea and gave her a half-hearted smile. "It's been awhile, half-orc. Here to thrash my shooting range again?"
"I'm not sure what you're referring to," Chelsea whistled innocently.
The high elf turned to the boy. "She told me she could control a Lighting, Grade V spell," he explained. "She can't control a Lightning, Grade V spell."
"That sounds like her, alright," Tetsuya said, giving his half-orc companion a sideways glance.
"Oh, that? That stuff is ancient history," Chelsea retorted. "You should learn to forgive and forget. Let bygones be bygones."
"That was one week ago," Finn told her dryly.
"Ancient history," Chelsea reiterated with a smile.
The high elf cleared his throat and introduced himself. "I'm Finn, by the way. I'll be your supervisor for today."
"Would you like to share a lane or would you each like you own?" Finn asked.
"We'll share a lane," Chelsea replied.
"The sixth lane is yours. Enjoy your stay and if you have any questions feel free to ask," Finn said.
"I'm surprised this place is so empty today," Chelsea said, walking towards their lane.
"Why's that?" Tetsuya asked curiously.
"This shooting range is a pretty popular spot for couples going out on dates," Chelsea said.
"C-couples? D-dates?" the boy blushed, his face suddenly flushed red.
"Gyahaha!" Chelsea laughed, thoroughly enjoying the boy's reaction.
The pair arrived at their lane, Finn followed them with empty glass bottles in his hands.
"I'll go first!" Chelsea said excitedly. "Let me show you how it's done!"
Finn threw a bottle down the lane and used his telekinesis to guide it at about seven feet away from Chelsea. Seven feet is the standard range that spellcasters are taught to cast projectile spells in battle. Casting a spell too far away means you have less mana control, resulting in a less powerful spell. Casting a spell too close to you means risking getting caught in the area of effect of your own spell.
Chelsea held out her left hand focusing on the bottle floating in their air. The air above the bottle began emanating dust. The dust quickly congealed together forming a small boulder the size of a watermelon. The boulder dropped, smashing the bottle into pieces.
Chelsea grinned, satisfied at her handiwork. "Your turn, Tetsuya."
Finn threw another bottle down the lane.
"Focus on your target, recite the name of the spell, trigger the spell to activate," Tetsuya repeated Roland's instructions out loud.
He held out his left hand at the direction of the bottle, said the spells name in his head and tried to activate the spell. The air above the bottle began emanating smoke and flickering embers but quickly dissipated.
"First time?" Finn asked.
Tetsuya nodded his head.
"The way elemental magic works is that you use the mana pool within your body as fuel to control the mana in your surroundings," Finn explained. "Once you have control of that environmental mana, you convert them into an element, Fire, water, earth, lighting, and air are the basic elements. There are a few advanced elements, but right now just stick with the basics."
"Like a remote control changing the television station," Tetsuya thought out loud.
"...Uh. Sure. If that helps," Finn said, not having a clue what the boy was talking about.
Tetsuya held his left hand out again, recited the name of the spell in his head and then did his very best chuuni impression. Smoke and embers flickered again. A small burst of flames, around the same size as the boulder that Chelsea had summoned, ignited beside the bottle, completely missing it.
"Good! Nice job!" Finn congratulated him. "Gotta work on your aim though."
Chelsea was holding her sides laughing.
Tetsuya felt a bit winded, a sudden bit of fatigue engulfing his body from out of nowhere.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you. Controlling environmental mana takes a physical toll on your body," Finn explained, noting the enervated look on the boy's face. "It can drain your energy, make you feel nauseous and even cause you physical pain, among a plethora of other things. It varies from person to person. The general consensus is that those who are physically fit can mitigate these side effects better than someone who's not."
"A bit of a warning would have been nice," Testuya muttered to himself.
"Give it another try," Finn said, giving the boy a pat on the back for encouragement. "You'll want to know how many spells you can cast before you deplete your mana pool."
Tetsuya attempted to cast the spell again, but this time no smoke or embers came.
"Looks like one spell is your limit," Finn said. "It should take you around one minute for your mana pool to completely regenerate.
"One spell, huh?" Tetsuya said, a bit disappointed.
"It's not that bad," Finn tried to reassure him. "Having one spell at your disposal is still better than having none at all. Who knows, it could save your life one day."
A boulder smashed the floating bottle into pieces.
"For the record, my spell limit is two," Chelsea teased.
Tetsuya buried his face in his hands.
"One last thing you need to know," Finn said to Tetsuya.
Finn walked out into the firing lane of the other customer using the shooting range.
"Sir, would you mind firing your spell in my direction?" Finn requested.
"Are you sure?" the man asked. "It's a Lightning, Grade III."
"It's fine," Finn reassured him.
The man reluctantly obliged to Finn's request. He held out his hand, the air crackled, sparks flashed in the air. The man launched a powerful bolt of lighting at Finn, the high elf waved his hand and the bolt of lightning dissipated before it reached him.
"Magic is all about mana control," Finn explained. "If you face off against another spellcaster, the two of you will effectively be fighting for control over the same resources. That resource being environmental mana, of course. Depending on the gap between your mana control and your opponent's mana control, they can resist your spell, taking less damage. Or they can outright nullify the activation of your spell."
Tetsuya stood in awe at Finn's display of his magical prowess.
"In other words, don't try to fight a powerful spellcaster with magic," Finn said. "Just shoot them with an arrow or something."
"An axe to the skull is pretty effective as well," Chelsea added.
"Or an axe to the skull," Finn laughed. He walked back to where Tetsuya and Chelsea were standing.
Finn raised his hands in the air and two empty bottles flew from a shelf across the room and into his hands.
"Are you ready for another try?" the high elf asked Tetsuya.
The boy nodded eagerly. Finn used his telekinesis to send the bottle floating down the firing lane.
Tetsuya took aim, focused and triggered the fire magic to activate. This time he hit his mark, the bottle shattered in a small burst of flames.