Since the mana was still technically mine, I should have full control over it. Following this logic, I should be able to change certain things about how the guns shoot. My first test of this had been using the charged mana to fire a spell, which was an astounding success. This time, I was going for something more… well, more. I hope this works…
The two large spheres of light in front of me suddenly split apart, forming four spheres. They did this again, and again, and again, until there were nearly three dozen spheres of light in front of me. Now, these naturally weren’t as powerful as the original two spheres, but this let me do something new. The worm had finally regained control of itself after my attack, and was again charging towards me. This time, I didn’t have the chance to pull off a chant, so I had to rely on my plan.
“Fire.” At my command, the thirty-two balls of light shot off at different points of the worm, seeming to do very little damage. Out of reflex, I jumped backwards a step, fearing my plan had failed. However, the worm’s movements changed, its head crashing into the ground just short of where I had been standing. All along its body, where I had shot the spheres of light, holes had formed. Thirty-two distinct holes, piercing all the way through the worm.
This was the result of the spell that I charged my Magi Guns with, one I had not used in a while. It was my Create Passage spell, which I had designed to tunnel directly through stone. Of course, when I made the spell I had not intended to use it to fill a monster full of holes. Which was a good thing, because from the twitching the worm was giving off, I didn’t think this fight was quite done.
“Oh, give me a break.” I raised the guns again, and this time I filled each gun with two thousand mana. Channeling that much mana took roughly five seconds, but this served two purposes. My earlier shots had only been at eight hundred mana each, so I wanted to test the limits of the stones. The other purpose… this was a really big blast.
The mana spheres created when I released the stored mana were so large that, rather than being separate attacks, they joined together in front of me, forming a single orb of light bigger than I was. The force of its presence created a breeze that threatened to push me back, but I held firm. Part of me knew that if I didn’t fire this off soon, I would overload my guns and we’d all be in trouble from the resulting explosion. So, I did the only smart thing.
I fired the blast directly at the Earthen Worm. Although they were easily more powerful, this attack moved considerably slower than the ones I had previously fired. If the worm was not stunned already by my last attack, it might have been able to entirely avoid this one. But it was, so it couldn’t. Just like with my first attack, this one expanded outwards as it engulfed the head of the Earthen Worm, shattering it to dust immediately and continuing on to devour the entire portion of its body that was above-ground, before carving a long path into the road ahead of us.
Okay… I think it’s dead this time.... I cast a cautious glance down to my guns, and made a mental note to never surpass two thousand mana in a single shot. Looking back, I saw that both Denise and Cynthia were also staring open-mouthed at the display.
“Such a cheat!” Of course it was Denise that spoke up first with that line. “I can’t even believe that, and I’ve been with you for months!”
Cynthia, however, turned her head to look down at her own Magi Guns. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that she was looking at them with a mix of awe and fear. “Will mine… will mine do that too..?”
Thinking it over, I nodded my head to her. “Probably, but since they only feed on ambient mana, it would take about twenty seconds to charge up.” When I first fired her gun, I was able to estimate that they charge at the speed of one hundred mana per second. “I think that last shot I fired was as big as they can shoot before breaking, there was a bit of resistance.”
Cynthia nodded her head dumbly, likely imagining the potential slaughter she could achieve by simply fighting with one arm while the other held a charging Magi Gun. Only now did I take the chance to look at the messages that appeared after the fight.
Arcane Marksman has increased to 18
Nature Magic has increased to 31
Aura has increased to 17
Needless to say, I was very pleased that the battle could give me such boosts, however it was another message that really caught my eye.
Cynthia has unlocked the Talent Magical Devices
Magical Devices? Is this because of the Magi Gun? With my curiosity piqued, I looked up the description of the talent. For those who often utilize magical objects without a mana pool of their own, this talent increases their effectiveness with said objects. For objects fueled by ambient mana, this allows them to gather mana more rapidly.
Honestly, this seemed like the perfect talent for Cynthia, who constantly fought with objects containing Mana Stones. If it reached a high enough level, even Denise would be able to use the Magic Gun in battle. However, that would take quite a while to train up, and I wasn’t even sure how much the increase was.
Moving up to the remains of the Earthen Worm, I once again looked around for anything I could loot. Thankfully, this creature had something for me, a brown orb about the size of a golfball. Using my Scan spell, I quickly identified it as a Normal Earth Essence, which I assumed to be a grade or two higher than the essences I received from the Twilight Cats.
The rest of the trip was largely uneventful, with me not even receiving another level until late into the evening. I did manage to get my hands on a pair of Normal Wind Essences though, when a small pack of Wind Wolves attacked the wagon. After that point, I decided to swap out with Cynthia again to let her take over for the rest of the day to practice with her own Magi Guns.
Chapter 29
Arriving in Solomon’s Library, I knew I only had a limited amount of time before I was unsummoned, and I needed to find information quickly. Today, I was looking for research on Barrier Magic, so I went up to the pedestal to ask it for such books. Unsurprisingly, over a hundred titles instantly appeared in my mind. Once I narrowed the search to basic barrier spells, the number of results dwindled to a mere two dozen.
Unfortunately, the pedestal enchantment didn’t give a summary of the books. All I had to go on was the title itself, which often left much to be desired. If I had access to my Speed Reading skill, I might even be able to make it through all of the books available before my time expired. However I found that, as a clone, many of the time saving skills such as Speed Reading and Spell Knowledge were unavailable.
In the corner of my vision, I could see a clock counting down my time remaining. Next time, I should try to get another subject. Deciding to pick the safest option, I chose a book titled ‘Beginner’s Barriers’. It might only have the basics, but that was all I needed right now. Once my knowledge was combined with the original, I should be able to easily create what I need.
Moving over towards the nearest table, I sat down and opened the book to begin reading. Okay, let’s see what we’ve got here… Thankfully, this looked like a book written for the Mage’s College, so it wasn’t vague on the details. It also gave a brief description on the benefits of this type of magic.
Barriers, while commonly used solely for defending, were capable of far more. According to this book, barriers could be used for imprisonment as well, or even attacking. The only commonality among all barrier spells were that they were fields generated by mana. For instance, one barrier might be designed to surround an area and only allow certain things to pass through, while another might be used to make a barrier in the form of a blade with great cutting power.
“Hmm..? I didn’t expect to find you here…” I heard a voice speaking up behind me, and turned around to find Levy, dressed in what looked like a scholar’s robe. While looking at her, I noticed her eyebrow raising slightly in question. In her hands rested a stack of five thick books, with titles I couldn’t make out. “That’s odd…”
“Sorry? What is?”
“I can’t hear your mind right no
w. That’s never happened before.”
“Ahh, sorry. I’m not really here right now.” I am sure my smile looked a little forced as I said that, and her expression demanded an explanation. “Temporary cloning spell so that I can do some research. Only have about half a day before it expires.”
“I see.. Well, what are you working on?” Levy walks forward, looking over my shoulder to read the open pages of the book. “Barrier spells, huh? Guess you’ve had a problem with the locals?”
“Yeah. Would be best to be able to secure our camps at night.” Levy nodded to my answer, seeming to agree with me.
“Well, good luck with it. Since you’ve only got a little while here, I will try not to disturb you.” Levy smiled to me, moving to sit at a nearby table to read her own pile of books.
Getting back to my reading, I attempted to immerse myself fully in the learning of barrier magic. Given my present condition, I wasn’t sure if I would be able to receive talents or level notifications. Most likely, I would receive all of that once I rejoined the main body. Man, that sounds so weird thinking about that.
So, barriers. According to what I was reading, a barrier user’s skill merely determines the flexibility of their arsenal. The control over each specific barrier relies on the mastery of that particular spell, while its strength is dependant upon the amount of mana supplied to it. That brings up another aspect of barriers, whether they are sustained or set.
A set barrier is installed ahead of time with a preset amount of mana, and lasts until either the caster disables the barrier or until the mana is spent. On the other hand, a sustained barrier lasts for as long as the caster is supplying mana to it. Set barriers also often have physical objects or markings anchoring them to a location, while a sustained one relies only on the user’s will.
In the short term, a sustained barrier is exponentially more useful than a preset one. If I am interpreting the text properly, then a sustained barrier costing fifty mana a second will negate any attacks up to five hundred damage a second. On the other hand, a set barrier established with fifty mana would only block fifty damage before it collapses.
As an example, imagine casting a barrier for five hundred mana. You could potentially leave it on overnight, and it would still be standing in the morning unless it took enough damage to break. If that same barrier was sustained at fifty mana per second, you would need a recovery speed capable of matching that cost. For that reason, barrier magic is not a common pursuit for beginner mages, until they are capable of recovering enough mana to make it feasible.
Thankfully, that is not a problem for me, and I suspect that my recovery speed will more than suffice for an overnight sustained barrier. So, I began to read the sections that cover the construction of both types of barriers. The most basic barrier was a dome-shaped set barrier relying on carvings in the ground to activate. Since this was the simplest form of barriers, it did not allow anything in or out except for breathable air. Though, the text hinted that poison gases could bypass its defenses, as long as they were not magical.
Surprisingly, there was also a barrier spell in here that I recognized from the abilities of my grimoire. As an attempt to fuse the set and sustained styles of barriers, someone had created a set barrier that feeds on the user’s mana, lasting for as long as their mana does. One of the results this created was a barrier capable of regenerating itself, though it did not have the increased effectiveness of a typical sustained barrier.
Accessing the Artifact world, I retrieved a piece of paper to copy down the basic barrier. Or, at least, I had intended on it. According to the spell, there was nothing in the Artifact World to retrieve. Don’t tell me that I can’t access the same dimensional space because I’m a clone…
Sighing, I gave up on the idea of copying it for ease of use later. Instead, I stared at the diagram until I was certain that I had memorized it. Hopefully, when the information was reviewed later, my memorization skill would be able to recall the diagram. Then, I moved onto the next spell, repeating this process. Over the course of three hours, I moved from one diagram to the next, doing my best to memorize everything the book could teach me.
Once I was done, I glanced to the countdown, seeing that I still had roughly eight hours left before the spell ended. Should I try to find more information on barrier magic..? What I found in the first book should be plenty for a camp barrier. When I looked around, I was pleased to find that Levy was still here, but not really that surprised. After all, I had only read through one book while she had picked out five.
After picking up my book, I walked over and sat down beside her. “So, what’re you researching?”
I could see the corner of her lips tugging up in a slight smile, while she kept her eyes on the book. “A few books from your world, actually. This one is on psychology. I figured that I could use that to help me make better creatures. I’ve also got a couple books from the middle world detailing the methods of creating certain rare metals like adamantine, mithril, orichalcum, and godsteel.”
“Godsteel..? Not sure I’m familiar with that one.” I glanced at Levy curiously. Godsteel… Is that a step above the other supposedly unbreakable metals?
“I’m not surprised. I hadn’t heard of it either until I looked up magical metals. Apparently, it is so rare that there is not a single item made purely from godsteel in existence. I’m not even sure if Origin magic is able to create it.”
“Well… what’s so special about it?”
Levy smirked at that question. “Aside from its rarity, if a single ounce of godsteel is combined in a normal weapon, it will become a living weapon. Think of infernal items, but with an unlimited potential for growth. Even if they start out weak, they become more powerful the more they are used.”
I let out a low whistle at that. “Okay, that’s certainly nice. You’ll have to let me know if you can figure out how to make some. I’m sure that it would be a great help.”
She nodded at that, “I planned on it. Godsteel is the most powerful type of metal I know of. Even a weapon made from regular iron can rival mithril if it has just an ounce of this stuff. And if it’s allowed to grow, it could be stronger than orichalcum.”
“So, all of this is research for your Origin magic?” I looked at the stack of books she was studying, and she responds with a slight nod.
“I’m the Sage of Origin, but in order to keep that title safe and sound I need to make sure I’m the best.” Levy laughed a little at that, glancing over to me. “Can’t have you being both an Archmage and a Sage, now can we?”
“I guess not. And a true Sage of Origin should be able to make items out of pure godsteel.” I gave her a smirk, watching the color drain from her face.
“You’re joking! I’ll be lucky to create items with specks of godsteel! It’d take weeks of casting just to make a few pounds of it.”
I blinked at that revelation, thinking that each pound of godsteel must have well over a million mana stored in it to make it take that long. “Well, guess you’d better get started.” I chuckled slightly, getting up and moving towards the pedestal to return my book. Once I placed it back on the pedestal, it disappeared in a flash of light.
I could probably dismiss the summoning if I wanted to, but once I get the barrier magic, I might not send another clone here. So it would be best to get anything I could use before the spell ends this time. After taking a deep breath, I cleared my mind to think of what could be useful. Obviously, I still wanted my meteor spell, but I already found out that the library didn’t have any tier 5 magic.
My next best option was to figure out how to do it myself. So, I stepped away from the pedestal to let others take their turn retrieving books, and took myself through the process of creating a meteor step by step. The end result may be a chunk of rock crashing into the ground, but that isn’t how it begins! If I can identify the key components, I can create the best meteor spell available to me.
So, a typical meteor would be caused by a giant space rock being caugh
t in the Earth’s gravity, and pulled through the atmosphere. For that to happen naturally, there would be weeks, if not years worth of warning. To cast a spell and have the results not show up for all that time is… not favorable. So, the spell has to supply the rock.
Gravity! That’s the key component I’m missing. A meteor spell that simply relies on earth magic would be the equivalent of dropping a bullet on the ground, rather than shooting it through a gun. I need to learn gravity magic.
A good part of me was bummed out that I would need not one, but two new talents to add to my list. And to get my meteor spell, I’d need to have gravity magic at least level fifteen, preferably higher than twenty. Thankfully, I knew that gravity magic was available in this world, because I looked into it when I was first learning to become a mage. It was one of the fields of magic I had considered prior to creating my own runes.
The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 42