Chapter 13: Practicing Magic (Part 2)
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Translator: SFBaka
After we got back near the vicinity of the base, I asked Cleria to explain the concept of magic in more detail. There were a total of five magic systems – fire magic, water magic, wind magic, earth magic, and light magic. But apparently, Cleria couldn’t use any wind, earth or light magic spells.
I wonder why? Does it depend on talent or something? Earlier, I just formed an image and managed to successfully execute some spells. Should I be considered as someone who has some talent for this stuff then? Looks like I had plenty to look into in the future.
We promptly plopped down outside the base. There’s still some more time before dinner. Cleria seemed to want to practice magic, but I asked her to continue with her foot rehab exercises near me so I can observe her progress instead. She seemed to hesitate for a bit, but eventually relented and started walking back and forth about five meters in front of me. Oh well. Guess that works too.
(Have you managed to discover any new info?)
[A lot, actually. First, about the mystery energy signature. It holds some similarities with the energy readings recorded on planet Salza 2 of the Elider System, but it isn’t exactly the same.]
Well, discovering exactly similar energy forms on two different planets countless light-years away from each other seemed more farfetched actually.
[We used the sensor settings that were employed during the Salza 2 survey mission earlier. As a result, we were able to obtain a detailed comparison. According to the data, the energy density in our current environment is 1000 times higher than the readings recorded on Salza 2.]
What’s with that scale!? 1000 times was quite an impressive number.
[We shall project a simulated image for your convenience.]
After a few moments, my surroundings suddenly changed in appearance. I saw a vast, dark space with countless tiny motes of light floating around.
Whoah! How beautiful. My body outline also had a large number of sparkling lights within it. They somehow resembled a field of stars out in space. The area around my chest was shining brightly, akin to a nebula, and was very dazzling.
So these motes of light represent that mysterious energy form huh? How amazing.
(Just how could humans make use of this type of energy?)
[These energy nodes seem to attract each other and have a tendency to move towards a point of higher density. They seem to gather easily on the central part of a human’s chest area in particular.]
Well, now that I got a better look at them, the light particles near me seem to be gradually gathering towards me at a gradual rate. They were heading towards the dense mass of energy in the center of my chest. So the energy outside gradually accumulates inside ones’ body automatically huh. So this energy is the source of magic?
(By the way, it feels quite lame to keep calling it “energy”. Let’s rename it to something cooler-sounding.)
[What do you think of “Magicles” then? Short for magic particles.]
I see. Seems simple enough. Let’s go with that then. So it seems even if I consume a certain amount of magicles, my reserves would be automatically replenished.
(What happens when we manage to fully use up the magicle reserves inside the body?)
I didn’t plan to use up a lot in one go, but the replenishment rate seemed really slow so running out may be a possibility.
[Unknown.]
Looks like I have to ask an expert in the field. I turned towards Cleria and saw her chest also shining like a bright nebula.
(Terminate simulated image.)
Cleria seemed happy that I called out to her and cheerfully approached me.
“Cleria, how many times can you cast Fireball continuously?” I immediately inquired.
Her answer was about more than twenty but less than thirty. The number was unexpectedly little.
“What happens when you try to cast more than thirty?”
She’d faint, apparently. In other words, she’ll lose consciousness. It’s great that there’s no danger of death though.
“How long would it take for you to recover?”
She’d recover and would regain her ability to cast spells after about a day’s worth of rest, apparently.
Cleria then went back to shuffling back and forth. But this time, she stayed two meters behind me. It was a bit distracting, to be honest. But I might have some questions for her again, so this works out fine.
(What’s the exact relationship between the magicles and the human body?)
Why would one lose consciousness from magicle depletion?
[Unknown.]
Yep, guess you also have no idea huh.
To summarize what I’ve managed to learn so far; the human body has the capability to attract magicles in the atmosphere for some reason, and utilizing these magicles allows people to cast magic spells. Once depleted, a day’s rest would allow one to replenish the lost magicles in order to keep casting spells.
I didn’t know the exact reason why, but it seems I’ve become capable of utilizing these magicles to cast magic as well.
(What exactly are these magicles? How can they transform from pure energy to elements like fire and water?)
This change didn’t make any sense, scientifically speaking. Basing on the laws of physics, something like energy turning into water was nothing short of impossible.
[Reason unknown. Insufficient data.]
Guess that’s an expected answer. I’m looking forward to researching this stuff even more now
Next, I’ll have to get used to using magic as one of my means of combat. One can’t fully make use of an unfamiliar weapon after all.
(Please load up some magicle charges.)
[READY x3] popped up on the corner of a virtual window.
I released a fireball towards the shore on the other side of the river.
The fireball flew parallel to the water surface for about thirty meters, but then suddenly stalled and dropped straight down. All in all, it reached to about forty meters. The flame plopped into the water and fizzled out soon after.
So this spell’s effective range is about thirty meters.
Next, let’s test its overall power. I looked around and found a piece of driftwood nearby. I approached it until I was about twenty meters away and launched a fireball at it.
The fireball flew out and hit the driftwood. The magic induced flame clung onto the driftwood like regular fire. It’ll eventually go out after some time if you left it alone, but you would most likely suffer some burns if you ate one of these things head-on.
Right then. Let’s try practicing some water magic for a change. I imagined water being released from the palm of my hand.
Water!
Water strongly gushed out from my palm. The fire clinging onto the driftwood was extinguished after less than ten seconds. This magic’s really convenient. It looked a bit different from what Cleria showed me earlier, but it should be fine.
Oh yeah, I forgot to confirm an important point.
(Just how many fireballs am I able to cast?)
[Approximately 38 shots more.]
Cleria said she could fire off more than twenty but less than thirty. I had nearly double that amount. Was something different between Cleria and me?
I then decided to see what happens if I nearly deplete my magicle reserves. Oh, and one other thing…
(Is it possible to re-convert a stored magicle charge into its base form?)
The [READY] indicator displayed on the virtual window disappeared.
[It’s possible. However, we’ve recorded a 5% energy loss after re-converting.]
Hm. Another point to research on. But I guess 5% is within the acceptable range.
(Load thirty-five charges for now.)
The number next to the [READY] icon increased to thirty-five.
Hm. That feels a bit weird. I can’t describe it well, but it’s sort of like having a slight fever but restricted to the chest area.
Let’s try launching five in succession first. I pointed my open palm towards the river. I imagined the fireballs rapid-firing out one after the other.
Five continuous fireball shots! They flew into the river consecutively.
They seemed much faster compared to the three shots I made earlier today. Well, I can’t really imagine a situation where I’d be required to fire off fireballs at this speed consecutively, so this experiment seemed a bit pointless.
Hm. Now that I think about it, was it really necessary to hold out one’s hand during the casting process? I ended up doing so because it’s the way Cleria did it, but I don’t really think such an action was really necessary, depending on the type of image in your mind.
I have these things called the aiming and multi-lock system which are deployed on a virtual Nanom-projected window, and I think using these would be more efficient.
Let’s try it then. There were some huge stones near the river shallows in the distance. I had aimed at one using the virtual HUD display.
I imagined a fireball appearing twenty meters away from my body while I kept my hands down.
Fireball, launch!
Oh! Looks like it went well! I was more familiar with this method after all. I’ve drilled on this type of maneuver thousands of times in the past. I’ll go with this style from now on.
I locked on to all four of the large stones on the river shallows. Fireball, four shots! Each fireball hit its intended target. Great!
When I was casting stuff while holding out my arm, I always used the direction I was pointing towards as the basis for aiming. But if I use the aiming system instead, the fireballs would hit the intended targets without me trying to direct their aim myself. It was pretty convenient.
Oh yeah. Let’s try it with the Flame Arrow spell Cleria showed me earlier.
In order to determine their maximum range, I moved to about fifty meters away from the huge rocks and cast the spell from there. Three arrows of flame materialized and shot out with speeds comparable to those of real arrows.
Flame Arrows, launch!
Three flaming arrows appeared about one meter away from my body and shot towards the targets. They seemed to dip down a little before hitting the targets.
Okay, so their range is a bit shorter than fifty meters then. But they were better compared to fireballs. They were faster and had a longer range.
I looked at the virtual HUD and saw [READY x20] on the corner. So one arrow costs five fireballs huh? Well, considering their improved effectiveness, I guess that’s reasonable.
When I thought about how I should use the remaining twenty charges, I suddenly caught a black shadow approaching from downstream. It was flying.
I zoomed in on the figure. That’s a Blackbird! It was something I sought out for the past few days to no avail. Because Cleria didn’t know its name, I just decided to call it Blackbird. It’s quite delicious, but also quite rare. I’ve only ever hunted two of these buggers. How the heck does it even fly with that sort of rolly-poly figure?
It was still about 400 meters away and was flying towards this direction. But if it notices me, I bet it’d run away at once. Can I shoot it down with magic?
My maximum range was a bit short of fifty meters. I’ll bring it down with four consecutive Flame Arrow spells; with a total of twelve arrows.
I looked towards Cleria and saw her spacing out again. This girl does that from time to time. Is she okay?
She then squatted down and pointed her hand towards the Blackbird in the distance.
I told Cleria I’d attack it with Flame Arrow spells. She closed her eyes and started visualizing after she heard my intention.
Hm? So she intends to help out? I intended to bring it down myself, but the help’s welcome nonetheless.
It’s already close to 200 meters from us. When would it notice our presence? Hundred and fifty… One hundred… Seventy-five… Fifty… It finally noticed us!
The Blackbird reversed its course back to the forest in a fluster. I immediately launched a barrage of two Flame Arrow spells.
I fired off a volley to cut off its path of retreat. The Blackbird frantically flapped its wings to evade and changed its course once again.
The timing was perfect, but Cleria was still visualizing her spell. I fired off another barrage to block it.
Finally, Cleria opened her eyes and fired off her own Flame Arrow spell.
The aim was spot-on. The Blackbird’s escape routes were sealed by my continuous Flame Arrow barrage and Cleria’s spell sealed the deal. One arrow struck the pudgy fowl dead-on.
The Blackbird got severely injured and fell down.
Cleria was delighted. She kept jumping up and down in elation and spoke excitedly. I only managed to understand half of what she was saying, but it seems it was the first time she brought something like that down with magic.
When I attempted to stand up, I suddenly felt a bout of dizziness overcome me. I see. So this is the effect of magicle exhaustion. I didn’t want to faint, so I’m not going to use any more magic today.
I walked towards the spot where the Blackbird fell and found it writhing weakly. I quickly cut its neck and drained its blood.
Cleria kept dithering excitedly as she watched me work. It seems she just can’t contain her happiness. Just as well. I only managed to hunt one rabbit today anyway. Considering Cleria’s huge appetite, it was quite lacking.
It’s already near evening, so let’s go ahead and have some dinner.
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