Draith
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Chapter 25 - Big Mistake
🕑 Added 2025-02-28 14:00:15 +0000 UTCNexxa came back riding a bolt of lightning shortly before dinner. It was as loud as it was quick, and she immediately set off to find Hash.
Making my way into the cabin, I cast Memory palace again, taking the rest of the Elinder books, which brought me to nearly the halfway point on the thermostat.
And sure enough, when I emerged, I had a headache. Hardly the worst I'd experienced, but enough that Minor Heal couldn't wipe it away.
It meant I was less social at dinner than usual, though I probably would’ve been mostly quiet anyway after spending all day talking with Tresla.
After dinner, I managed to get Nexxa alone so I could ask her about how she'd pulled off the spell that took down the Black Tide.
"Ah. I used sympathetic synergies. Though I like to call it storm dancing," Nexxa said, pulling one of her journals out of her storage space. "You remember all those hand motions I was making? And did you hear my chant?"
"Spell dancing would make more sense… but it's your method," I quickly amended when I saw her eyes narrowing. "And was that a chant? It sounded more like groaning. Definitely remember you waving your arms around," I replied, looking down at the page she'd opened in the journal. It had sketches of arms, legs and fingers, all lined up with spell diagrams. It also had several words sketched beneath it.
"I wasn't… nevermind. You know how most of the low order spells just work, right?"
"Sure. Pull on mana, get effect."
"Okay, that's mostly because the extra benefits from sympathetic casting are negligible when using low order spells. It's not until you start using third order spells that you notice the amplification. Funny thing is, you remember that gimmick with your little affinity lamp?"
"We are not calling it an affinity lamp," I immediately denied, crossing my arms in front of me.
"Not the point. Point is, I use a similar process to trace the spell out. See, it's a way to reinforce the spell, and introduce any changes I might want to make at time of casting. Gives me more freedom than what I’ve recorded in my grimoire," Nexxa explained, holding her diagram up.
I squinted at it. "I think I understand the basic concept. Your scribbles, not so much."
"They're not scribbles. They're sketches. And they're a rough draft," Nexxa said, pulling at the journal.
"Sorry, sorry. Not scribbles. Sketches," I said, not letting go of the journal. "Please, continue."
And she did. For the next couple hours, she taught me how she'd found a book that obliquely mentioned the technique. And then, off a third hand description she read in said book, she'd translated it into a method for enhancing her spells.
By the time we were done for the night, I'd read both journals she had on the topic, committing them to my Memory Palace with Review Scroll, just in case.
It was simple in theory, but when I attempted to augment Minor Heal the next day, I realized how poor my body control was.
For the first time, my lack of exercise was getting in the way of my spell casting.
I couldn't help but wonder if there was a spell that would get me into shape. That had to exist. Would it be a healing spell? Maybe a growth spell? I remembered a second order spell in the family library that had effectively given a target rapid onset cancer. I had no idea what the purpose of it was. It seemed it only existed as a way to make a target suffer.
It wasn't even a useful combat spell, since it took a week for the effects to be debilitating. Still, that was only a second order spell. Maybe when combined with additional components a higher order version could be used for muscle growth.
Not that I intended to test it. Biological horrors were not something I was interested in creating. Nor becoming.
If I had to, I’d prefer to pay for a spell that kept my body in shape for me.
Or… I could just get to Hydra-soul and have complete control over my body.
Since neither would help me in the short term, I decided I needed exercise. And since I couldn't count on myself to remember, I enlisted Calbern.
Big mistake.
"Come on, master Perth. Once more to the top," Calbern said as I huffed along behind him, struggling to take another step.
He was leading me up to the top of the stone outcropping the cabin was built under. The path was covered in loose, sharp rock, and was steep besides. We'd already made the trek once, and I'd fallen halfway up, sliding back to the bottom. Calbern had made me climb before addressing my injuries. Minor Heal had taken care of the scrapes, but it'd done nothing for my pants.
Then he'd taken me back down and we'd walked around the entire structure three times before he'd led me up once more.
"Almost there," Calbern called out with far too much vigor.
Still, I'd signed up for it, so I just grunted and continued climbing. When I got to the top, I collapsed on one of the taller smooth rocks scattered about.
Heck of a view.
The morning sun was rising over the same ridge the black tide had flowed down. The ridge was covered in thin trees, barely holding on to life along the upper reaches. In stark contrast, the lower ridgeline was almost entirely covered in thick overgrowth.
Excepting for where some of Nexxa's spell went wild. Apparently part of building up that much power had included sacrificing precision.
It had also been three separate third order spells, though the first had been invisible. She'd done something to create a link between the swarm, priming them to act as lightning sinks.
I laughed as I realized I was thinking about magic again. Couldn't even sit and enjoy the scenery without my thoughts drifting back to spellwork.
As I looked out at the forest, I wondered how long it would remain. Nexxa would probably strip it to build and power her settlement once she felt ready to bring people in. Almost a shame.
"Ready, master Perth?"
"Yeah, I'm-" A crack of thunder drowned out my words.
Nexxa arrived not ten feet away. It amused me that she could crash down on a literal bolt of lightning and it was less disruptive than Inertia taking off.
"Hey Perry. I heard you're getting exercise," Nexxa said, kicking her foot free of a shattered stone she'd gotten it caught in when she landed.
"Yeah, we were-"
"Great! We can work on your footwork while we're at it," Nexxa said, smacking her hands together before looking towards Calbern. "You want to join in?"
"If the Lady Nexxa believes it would help," Calbern replied, inclining his head towards her.
"Yep. Very helpful. I'll meet you near the waterfall to the north," so saying, Nexxa vanished in another bolt of lightning. Despite Eagle Eyes running, I barely recovered my vision in time to catch her landing location in the distance.
"You know, I swear she's been using that spell a lot more since we got here," I said even as I started picking my way down.
"I believe the Lady mentioned not having to worry about hurting mortals," Calbern said as he jogged past me, not having the decency to even be slightly winded.
"Huh. Makes sense," I huffed out before deciding I couldn't spare the breath for further conversation.
Despite walking the entire way, I was still wheezing by the time we reached the waterfall. As soon as we reached the top where Nexxa was working through some sort of movement routine, I plopped down in the grass.
"That really is sad, Perry." Nexxa said, not stopping her exercise.
"Trust me… I know," I gasped out, laying with my arms and legs splayed. "Gonna be… hell, when we start… our trek."
"It was wise of the young master to start making the effort now," Calbern said, taking a position nearby and blocking the sun from hitting my eyes.
I wanted to thank him, but I focused on breathing instead, giving him a feeble thumbs up.
"Fine. I'll give you a few minutes to rest, but then we're going to start," Nexxa said.
I nodded, silently enjoying my reprieve.
Far too soon, Nexxa said, "Okay, that's been long enough."
Groaning, I pushed myself to my feet while using an application of Minor Heal. It didn't completely remove the ache, but it didn't wipe away muscle building either, so it was a worthwhile trade-off.
The only second order healing spell Nexxa had in her grimoire would completely wipe both away. I made another note to myself to copy it before I left anyway.
"Okay, now, I want you to do your little trick while you follow along with my motions. We're going to practice storm dancing. Don't actually cast anything though," Nexxa warned.
I nodded, drawing forth mana to the tip of the finger on my right hand.
"Both hands."
Holding up my left hand, I willed the mana forth. It was easier than I expected, though I accidentally let the first fade. Nexxa waited patiently as I struggled to keep them both active at the same time.
Every time I got one to work, the other would cut out.
"Stop activating them separately," Nexxa suggested.
I did as she recommended, and immediately felt like an idiot as both hands started glowing.
"Excellent. Now, follow me. You too, Calbern," Nexxa said as she took a step forward with her arms held close to her body.
"Yes, lady Nexxa," Calbern said as he effortlessly copied her.
I wasn't as neat, and Nexxa immediately called out corrections. Then she moved into the next position, and the one after, vigilantly calling out corrections each time.
We continued for ten minutes, took a break so I could recover, then started again. Nexxa kept me working for over two hours.
It would've been impossible without Minor Heal, and even with it I was barely able to move at the end.
"That's probably enough. Can't believe you kept going."
"Important," I huffed out as I collapsed.
"Yep, true. Anyway, gotta get back to my lessons with Hash. They’re a lot more fun now that I’m in charge. Thanks for that, by the way, Perry," Nexxa said, crouching down to pat my shoulder.
"Welcome," I wheezed out.
The crack of thunder filled the air a second later, leaving an afterimage of Nexxa that quickly faded thanks to Eagle Eyes.
It had been intense, but it felt worth it. I was already imagining how I might modify the routine to work with my own spells. She'd said it hadn't been worth it for first order spells, but what if I modified Mana Draw to be second or third order and combined it with spell dancing. Even here, the mana density had already dropped, and it was supposed to be much lower in my domain.
An upgraded Mana Draw with spell dancing would make an excellent solution.
Sorry Nexxa, calling it storm dancing wouldn’t fit me.
"Well, I believe that is more than sufficient for today, master Perth. Shall we plan to include more storm dancing tomorrow?"
I lay there for several seconds before I huffed out a single word, "Yeah."
That yeah carried a lot more meaning than my agreement to exercise. It was also a concession. If Calbern was going to call it storm dancing too, then I didn’t have a choice but to go along with it.
"Very good. I'll ask lady Nexxa to join us, but if she's busy, I believe I have sufficient understanding to instruct you," Calbern said, offering me his hand while once more blocking the sun from my eyes.
"Thanks," I grumbled. I wasn't annoyed with him as much as myself for putting off exercise for so long. Though, now that I had a reason to tie it into my magical training, I knew that wouldn't be a problem any longer.
It was just going to suck for a while.
With a grunt, I let him pull me to my feet.
Couldn’t stop now.
Comments
Noah
Sure seems like his dad snuck a high level guard into his sons retinue lol
Al
Calbern is old..experienced. he had a life before Perth. He was in the employ of Perths father. He's probably not just a guy. I kind of expect him to have some bloodline stuff going on or some minor magic enhancement happening in addition to it. That eye sights a bit much
BookDragonling
What is up with this OP grandpa you've got following the MC around? Calbern is a great shot, has great eyesight, and outpaces the MC in physicality as well. The MC definitely doesn't have to call it storm dancing. He already renamed a spell to 'minor healing' and he'll be using the 'spell dancing' for more than just storm affinity. It can be called two things.
