Chapter 33 - Neutral Line Fireball

“Hey, instructor Raijin, I think it would be best if you could teach me how to use this clu—”

“Wrong. How do we will measure you if we didn’t see you fighting? Did I hurt you in any way? No, but your enemies won’t give you that. I can teach you how to fight the undead, but will it help you fight a giant snake? A mutated grasshopper? It won’t, it will help fight a fiznault like me? No. You will get what I’m trying to explain sometime. The true learning of fighting is by the fight itself, theory has limits.”

“Yes instructor, I get what you telling about, but if I don’t know anything about how to use this club, we will waste our time here.”

“Shining Crown has a point, Sweet Raijin. We don’t have time for him to learn it the normal way, you can’t pummel the knowledge into him. We need to teach him the spell, too.”

Raijin looked at Fujin exasperated, “Alright dear, the sparring doesn’t seem the best way to teach this big kid. Do you think simulated fighting with the water dummies or improve his stink grass bubble throwing is better?”

“Let’s just do the water dummy thing first, dear. After he learns his spell, we can train both at once, obviously he will lose his mana faster. Talking about energy, Shining Crown, did you feel something leaving your body after you used that stinky bubble?”

“…Yes, I did feel kinda of an energy draining from my body as this maroon bubble showed up.”, Roberion said, now interest in the talking about this supposed mana.

“Alright kiddo, now we go uncharted territory, as far as I know it. Because I’m sure these stupid godlike beings that think we are just ants know where mana comes from. Fred, the other night, said that his cousin heard when he was a navigator that—”, Raijin stopped as Fujin showed from nowhere and shoved him gently, making him lose his composure.

“Stop that dear, that is just a conspiracy theory. I told you multiple times that you drink buddies don’t know anything they are talking about.”

“You have to agree with me that all this is suspicious. How they don’t know where mana comes from? There are even people and objects that steal mana, obviously they know more than they admit to.”

“Okay sweet, we will talk about it later.”, Fujin looks at Roberion, “Shining Crown, don’t take what Rajin said serious”, as she said that Rajin made some angry clicking noises, “We don’t know how mana comes from, only that materials can absorb it from somewhere as can any living and even deceased beings can. The only requirement is having a connection to the line.”

“When you are of Witness incarnation, you still can’t use mana, some beasts when reaching the verge state can though. You know what verge state is?”.

Roberion just nods.

“Alright, yes, the beasts learn one spell intuitively. When I say spell, I say anything that uses magic, it doesn’t mean that is only fireworks and the like. Someone could use an improvement spell to be faster. A transmutation spell to make their arms transform in iron. An action spell like making, they move their sword like a powerful whirlwind cutting all in their path. There are many, and all of them use mana. Being honest, there are indeed spells that can use another type of resources instead of mana, but they are many and their results are varied.”

“But that is beyond the point. Shining Crown, to use spells, you need a connection to the line, and you, as a Touched, now have a connection to it. And as you go, reaching new heights in power and incarnation, more complex spell can be cast.”

Raijin interrupts Fujin, “Dear let’s just teach the kid the spell already, if they are like the kids they throw us, he will forget everything later and we will need to teach him all this again.”

Fujin clicks its acceptance, “Shining Crown, sit there. We will give you something we call a spell blueprint. Some people call it spell crystals. This one is made of a medium-VIII tier material. The material tier doesn’t influence the complexity of the skill directly, in most of times the better the material, the more durability the spell blueprint will have, being able to be used multiple times.”

Roberion dismiss the grotesque club, sitting near the two old light green skinned fiznaults.

Raijin cuts in, adding his piece, “That too isn’t a rule. Some spells need high-quality materials, and can even be destroyed at using only a single time. But don’t go thinking that people only learn spells from these things.”, as he says that he withdraws an orange ore in a circular format, there is a drawing of a flame in it.

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“You can learn spells with trial and error, but that can be easy or impossible as long as spells goes, most the spells we learn are from ancient times until now, products of intense research. These crystals are only tools to make the process of learning easier, guiding you on how you need to use your energy to connect to the line the spell needs. If we had the time I would prefer to teach you the manual way, but we don’t”.

Raijin breaths and puff his chest, going back at the topic at hand.

“New spells can be made, changed, improved, but that requires time, resources, and most importantly, knowledge. Also, people call them magic crystal, but that doesn’t mean that they are really crystals. We have even some made of black wood. It’s just that normally people use crystals. They are excellent, unreactive catalysts.”

Raijin goes to Roberion and gives him the spell blueprint.

“What we need you to do is to try to repeat what you just did with that weird club, try to pour your mana into it, the blueprint you guide you on how to make the spell connection. Think of it like a mold, your mana the raw material.”

Roberion lifts his hand to ask. The couple nods their acceptance.

“So just to make sure. I always try to pour the mana with my hands into this spell blueprint until it will fill up and the spell show up?”

Raijin answers, “It doesn’t need to be you hands, it can be any part of you body, even your—”, Raijin stops as Fujin looks angrily at him, “—foot, head, anything, even if you are already experienced you can guide your mana a short distance to fill up the spell blueprint, normally they do that for traps.”

“Anyway, you need to pour you mana. Try to do it continuously, but don’t overdo it. Using too much mana can damage the spell blueprint and even hurt you. So keep your attention on it, go calmly, but keep your attention on it, learning how to do it as you go.”

Roberion tries to do as Raijin said. He tries to repeat what he did with the grotesque club. The sensation is weird. Before he had the help of the club, as the weapon was draining his mana, he just needed to give to it. Now he needs to be more active, to direct it.

He futile started even straining his body to make the process easier, but it seemed unnecessary. The old couple also didn’t say anything of it being needed. So he just kept trying.

A few minutes later, he had his first success. The energy left his body and entered the spell blueprint, sadly he couldn’t keep the flux and stopped it.

“Do it again Shining Crown. From the beginning, if the spell wasn’t cast, the mana is lost for nothing”, said Fujin attentively.

Roberion started again the process, at first he didn’t see any changes in the spells blueprint multiple tries later. Forty minutes in, he finally saw a change in the spell blueprint. The blueprint took an ethereal shine. He stopped the mana influx and the spell blueprint changed to normal.

“That was almost it kid, try again, but as we said before, only stops when the spell happens. This spell isn’t continuous, so you just need to use mana in the beginning”, As Raijin said it, he removed a pair of leatherleaf gloves, but he could tell there was something different about them.

The couple was really patient, giving tips along the way, never being angry. Raijin even didn’t throw any saltwater balls at him. Some time later, Raijin interrupted Roberion’s training.

“Use these Basic Elemental Gloves kiddo, they are early-VIII Tier of Touched incarnation. All the kids we trained that had a connection to the neutral line use them. Sadly, not every fiznault connects to the creation line.”

As Roberion change his gloves, he didn’t wait much before activating it.

“Now focus on one of the enchantments. Don’t be afraid, it won’t be dangerous.”

Not wasting time, Roberion activated. The first enchantment created a short, small gale of compressed air. He was sure that with it, he could push something of five kilograms.

The next enchantment poured dust and earth out. It wasn’t much though, like if someone had taken a big vase and threw out the earth from within. Using it again, a flame was made in the air. It was bigger than the fireball the fiznault guard made, but with none of the concentrated power.

Lastly, water poured out as he activated the last enchantment, and a splash was made as twenty liters of water hit the floor.

“That is it kid, remember to use the water one as often as you need a drink. We did some of our changes in that one. Who will need distilled water in a spell?! Anyway, now use the blueprint and, in the end, activate the fire enchantment of the glove."

Roberion did as was instructed. As he poured all the energy needed on the blueprint, the ethereal tint vanished. And he felt a connection. Not wasting any time, he activated the flame enchantment of the gloves.

The result was immediate. Now he had a fireball in front of him. It was half of the size the guard had, but that was a start. He was sure that the fireball would make a good enough explosion.

“That is it kiddo”, said Raijin, showing a rare smile of a job well done.

Roberion’s mental list:

Basic Elemental Gloves

“That’s what I call a magic item. These fiznaults know their gloves” by Roberion

Type: Gloves

Tier: early-VIII

Incarnation: Touched

Line: Creation?

Enchantment:

[Minor? Fire]: produces a flame of the size of an adult-man chest.

[Minor? Air]: produces a short, small gale of compressed air. Probably can push something of 5 kg.

[Minor? Earth]: produces dust and earth that could fill a big vase.

[Minor? Water]: produces a splash of water of at least 20 liters.

SPELLS

Neutral Line Fireball