- Everything is in order.
I shared a part of my GUI with Elfin.
- This is what your fake profile records and this one is what someone seeing through your disguise would see.
- Amazing! Does master fake his status as well?
- You bet!
- Can I see the real one?
- Sorry, but no. Unless you reach identification levels matching my Fake Status’ one. Otherwise you might learn something from my status you never should.
- What is master’s level?
- That is also a secret, but it is pretty high. I will tell you one day, probably far into the future.
He he. Try hard girl. I doubt you would reach level 10 in my lifetime. Especially since the hard stop for mortals is at 8!
- Check other skills. Meanwhile I will try out a few earth spells for harvesting. I am marking our targets on the minimap so avoid burning them, if you decide to train your flame magic. Try turning your map on and off etcetera..
I have prepared two spells for this occasion back in the guild. Since I have just learned them directly from the Library it would need some trials before it could do what I desired.
- Dome of Stone, surround us with earth’s embrace!
Description of the spell said there would be half-globe of stone rising to surround the spell target. And so it did, but instead of two meter diameter it had at least ten!
Ten meters were enough to encompass us in.
Sun was swallowed by the stone sky. Darkness reigned.
- Sorry, I overdid it a little.
I guess I subconsciously pumped too much mana into the spell matrix. My scared slave was trying to spew flames to light the place, but I quickly stopped her.
- Do not use flame in an enclosed space like this! We will suffocate!
I gathered my own mana, this time using as little as possible.
- Light!
Now we could see each other again.
Thankfully no expensive plants were harmed this time. I figured out a way to dispel the dome. Earth chunks started falling around us. I quickly dashed towards Elfin and shielded her head.
That was quite foolish.
Out of us two she was the one with a shield equipped. I still had my shield stored in Heaven’s storage room. I need to get used to taking necessary items quickly out of the storage in the moment of need.
We coughed in the dust clouds that arose. For a defensive spell it was surprisingly effective at harming the user.
Oh wait. It was supposed to slide gently back into earth or disappear if it used elemental earth. I think I messed something up.
The debris caused two more plant regicides.
I panicked when she had casted those flames. Maybe the Demonflame would not burn up the oxygen in the air? I would have to experiment with that someday. Put various flame magics to test.
I have spent the next few hours trying to control the dome spell. Move its center, change the size and finally flip the dome. I have also made sure to be able to control how little elemental earth was used until I had made a spell that used only local earth and mana.
Now I finally have made it. Surprisingly it even got a new record in the Library. Guess nobody ever needed to make such a thing with magic.
- It is not completely ready yet, hold your horses – I whispered to the Throne.
The second spell – Stone Pillar – was easier to modify to my tastes. It took me only a few minutes to pick the right spell parameters. Normally the pillar would be a log like object with sharpened end jutting out of the ground. I imagine it was used to impale medium to large monsters or create fortifications. Though in the latter case it probably took a whole squadron of mages.
Again slight nausea hit me. It dispersed as quickly due to my superb constitution.
It was time to check the results in the test.
While I was goofing around Elfin was trying her pyrokinesis without being forced to by a direct order. I liked that she was showing some initiative. I waved her to stop.
- I think I am finally done with my magic experiments.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Few rocks smoked and some glowed red. My little slave looked quite exhausted.
I have casted a modified Dome of Stone under the plant surrounding its roots. Then with the Stone Pillar I have uprooted it all up. The incantations became quite nonsensical so I will not quote them.
Now I had one trample Royal Aloe pot. Or rather a bowl, as the bottom was round and unstable.
- Master made a potted plant!
She reached towards it and the plant toppled over with ease. She looked terrified when the bowl shattered.
- It is pretty unstable. I do not know if such a form of harvest will be permitted by the client.
- Can master not cast another Stone Pillar on the bottom?
She had watched me. I did not pay too much attention to her training myself. I felt like an irresponsible master. Nevertheless I had no idea about fire magic. I have even disregarded the string of Throne System Notices that piled up.
- How should it work? Can you elaborate further?
- The rock would shoot from the bottom and be like flat at the end.
- That is such a simple solution. Smart girl!
It took me only a few tries and I finally got it. I registered the spell as Stone Potter.
First the spell would create a half sphere under the plant, then the pillar would jut out of the bowl downwards. The pillar underneath the bowl would have smaller diameter than the bowl. The two parts would be made from local soil to make sure it persisted when the magic faded. Unlike them the final pillar would be made from elemental earth summoned from one of the elemental planes. The pillar would rise the pot for easy extraction and disappear afterwards.
Now we had four damaged plants and one potted. Out of the four victims three were harvested after damage while fourth was still inside of broken pot remains.
- Think what kind of reward you desire for today’s hard work and that idea.
- Reward, but I am a slave! Silly master.
Last words were only murmured, but your silly master has pretty good hearing nowadays, you silly girl.
I have checked the map. There were exactly 32 plants still alive in the vicinity. I did not want to take all of them as it would destroy the environment and there would be none to pick in the following months.
The plant quest was for 5 pieces so I decided to harvest up to 20 of them on top of the 4 we already had. I expected those to be discarded by the clerk. In the end it would fulfil 4 quest equivalent of harvested plants. I guess it would be acceptable for the first day, even if it was not that high amount. We were still newbies. Teleporting around and bringing a hundred would be too much.
We trotted happily around. I casted the Stone Potter and Elfin would bring the pot to me. I put away the 20 potted plants in my time-stopped storage. I could not imagine hauling all of them back to town.
If they sell you an isekais trip without either storage or teleport be sure to refund it immediately.
The sun was close to setting down the horizon. We should wrap it up quickly.
I wanted to show off and explained how solids would break when rapidly heated and cooled. We picked a boulder hanging around the bottom of the cliff.
- Heat it up with all you have!
I fast-learned Cone of Cold. This time nausea lasted few minutes.
When the surface of the rock melted away and Elfin fell to her knees exhausted it was my time to shine. An invisible gust of magic targeted the rock. Small ice crystals started to glitter in the air in the wake of the spell’s trajectory. Finally the rock itself cracked. We watched transfixed as the pieces of rock fell off and rolled down the meadow.
I ignored the prompt.
Two pieces of brown rock were moving faster than others. Are they going to hit us? Wait, they are furry rocks and moving on top of that.
They are alive!
- Master, look out!
My cute elven bodyguard stood before me, while I froze.
There was not a single thought inside my head.
Elfin screamed and tried to usher her flames forth, but to no avail. Her mana was spent.
Finally the grim reality got to me and I willed them away into the sky, just when they were inches away from us.
Two dots appeared in the clear blue sky above us.
- Where are they!? – shouted Elfin.
I ordered the Throne to calculate their falling trajectory.
It was too close to our current position. After all I have only ‘ported them upward about a kilometer or so.
I grabbed Elfin and carried her away. She was light, even fully geared.
- Above. Us. Falling – I shouted while running with her in my arms.
We have missed the spectacle of Bearfall. Only after hearing the loud thud and two red dots disappearing on the minimap did I stop and turn around.
- Check your minimap for hostiles!
- There are none nearby, master!
I put her down and we looked toward the place we have just been.
There were 2 large corpses in a rather shallow crater. Judging by their location yet another Royal Aloe plant was gone. I hope I will not be granted a title like the “Scourge of All Plantlife” by the Throne System.
- That was close! I almost panicked and teleported us away to somewhere troublesome.
- Troublesome?
- Indeed. A safe place, but I would still get scolded by my Household for bringing an outsider like you. Some of them are really scary. I think Mister Treasurer is the worst of them. It looks like we are not really suited for those harvest quests, ain’t we dear? I mean they fell directly on the Aloes we left.
- What monsters were those, master?
- Some kind of a bear? We should check that up close with Status Check or perhaps Identify since they are dead.
- How did they end up dead like that?
- I teleported them up about a kilometer or so?
- Kilometer? How much is that in royal miles?
- Who knows?! I will read on the unit conversion and tell you later.
- Master, I think it is against principles of magic to teleport like that.
“Gosh, you have noticed that now?” Was what I wanted to reply, but bit my tongue in time.
- Why is that?
- Master cannot use chantless magic, gestureless magic and the like at once with complicated spells. I think such feats are rare, but only possible alone. To omit everything at once is a feat of epic proportions. I have realized that during today’s training. It is really hard to direct a spell with intuition alone. With only that master would be most brilliant mage among legendary heroes. I have never hear about a mage teleporting anything other than himself, but you are readily teleporting other, at a distance and on top of that someone hostile!
Oh my. Her rant was pretty much detailed. How to explain that without lying too much to this sweet creature?
- Thanks for your praise, darling. It is not exactly pure magic, or rather not a spell, but a skill.
I ruffled through her hair.
- I guess you had just witnessed offensive teleportation warfare. This is the first example I asked you about earlier today.
- It is the strongest magic ever!
- It has a few major downsides. It will not work against flying opponents this way. It will not work against stronger demons or anyone with total control of their space. Fast or hidden enemies might be able to avoid being targeted altogether. If the target can simply teleport back quickly enough it is completely useless. Nevertheless in my opinion all magic is about creativity. I still want you to come up with more uses for this skill.
- I will try, master!
- Do that.
I stored the two mangled corpses away. Gravity is a bitch.
The place where the rock used to be was a cave entrance. The isekaish bears or bear-like monsters must have blocked the entrance with that rock. The map revealed a huge cave complex shrouded in darkness. This must have been their den. It was definitely too dangerous to explore right now.