thomasdarkrose
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Vol. 3 - Education - Chapter 32
🕑 Added 2019-02-07 21:23:55 +0000 UTCShortly after everyone was in the classroom, Fulin entered and looked around before asking, "Does anyone have any questions about the water magic we've practiced so far?"
Almost everyone shook their heads, though Brao asked, "What's the best way to improve accuracy with the water bomb?"
Fulin looked at Brao and answered, "Mostly it just comes down to practice and judgment. If you're having trouble getting the timing down try just firing the water bomb without the compressed mana inside of it at the target. When they hit you can get a feel for the distance and the time it takes the water bomb to travel there. Once you get that timing down you can practice detonating it."
Brao nodded and that put an end to the questions since everyone else seemed to have a good feel for the spells. Fulin gestured to the doors, "Alright. Same as yesterday. Head back out to the practice field and work on those spells. Tomorrow we'll move on to fire..." His eyes fell on Thomas, "Hopefully there won't be any incidents tomorrow either."
Thomas sighed and contemplated if he should 'accidentally' blow something up tomorrow. Wouldn't want his 'reputation' to take a hit from there not being any further accidents. Everyone filed out of the classroom and back to the practice field. It was pretty clear at this point that learning the spells themselves took very little effort, it was mastering them and being able to fire them quickly that was the hard part.
Once everyone arrived at the practice grounds they split up and began practicing the two water spells they'd learned earlier in the day. Thomas rotated between the water spray and water bomb spells. In the case of the water bomb spell, he focused on getting the bomb where he wanted it to be before detonating it. He didn't aim specifically for the target dummy but at areas around it. After an hour he noticed that Fulin had already left along with half of the other students. Only himself, Fuller and Treena remained at the practice field.
He ended his practice and made his way toward the library. He hadn't had a chance to search recently so he wanted to get some in before it got dark. Once he was inside of the library he activated the night vision mode of his 'All Seeing Eyes' and went back to searching through each book one by one. He was looking for any information he could find on transmutation circles. Finally, after looking through books for another two hours he came across a new transmutation circle!
Feeling excited he found a spot to sit down and read all about it. The new transmutation circle focused on shaping or reshaping materials. According to the book, alchemists would use it to make materials into various shapes, mostly spheres, for inclusion in other products. Like additives to add to potions to enhance them. They would make an alchemical concoction, shape it into spheres or pearls, then drop it into an existing potion to add additional effects to it. Doing so would let you add the effect you needed to a health potion such as an anti-toxin. You could carry various alchemy pearls so you could just add what you need when you need it.
Excited to finally have a new technique he could use with his 'Transmutation' innate ability, Thomas checked the book out of the library. He had to leave a deposit behind to check it out but he would get the deposit back when he returned the book so it wasn't a big deal. He quickly enjoyed an early dinner in the cafeteria before making his way to his room to study the book in more detail.
The book wasn't very thick and only took him about half an hour to read through but he found it to be very informative. After reading the whole thing he focused on the drawing of the transmutation circle inside of the book. It was perfectly detailed and included instructions for creating one on your own. One interesting, though somewhat obvious, thing he learned was that the better the material the formation plate was made out of the better the results of the transmutation would be. He also confirmed the existence of Mithril and Orichalcum as they were suggested as top quality materials that the formation plate could be made from. Thomas studied the transmutation circle until it was completely dark outside and it was time for him to get some sleep.
The following morning, Thomas made his way to the classroom after his improvised shower and breakfast. Today they were going to learn the fire element and he was looking forward to it. Fire was almost universally known as the most damaging and destructive element in almost all games. He didn't expect it to be any different this time either. He also planned to leave the academy after the lessons so he could buy the stuff he needed to make a formation plate of the shaping transmutation circle. Despite studying the layout for it, he needed to see it in action to mimic it.
After arriving at the classroom, Thomas greeted Essa, Selena, and Fuller as they were the only ones there before him. After some pleasantries, he made his way to his favorite spot and sat down. It wasn't much longer before Treena and Brao also arrived and took their seats. Essa and Selena chatted together for a bit before Fulin finally entered the classroom and looked over the students, "Alright, today we'll be working with, arguably, one of the most dangerous elements, fire. Fire is one of the few elements that can potentially go completely out of control and hurt everyone. Like all elements, the fire you create will fade with time after you cast the spell. However, unlike other elements, fire can create more fire that isn't fueled by mana and is impossible to control. When using the fire element to cast spells you have to always pay attention to your surroundings or it could cause unbelievable collateral damage."
Fulin stares at Thomas for a moment before he continues, "Today we'll practice the Firebolt and Flamethrower spells. Firebolt isn't as likely to cause collateral damage as the Flamethrower spell is so we'll have to be extra careful during practice today. Fortunately, you all know the Water Bomb spell so you can use that to put any accidental fires you start out."
Fulin gestures to the door, "Alright, we're going to the practice field now."
Fulin lead everyone out of the room and towards the practice field. Thomas was looking forward to learning the Flamethrower spell, it sounded like it would be a great area damage spell. Once they arrived at the practice field Fulin looked at all the students, "Since, with the exception of Thomas, none of you have an affinity with the fire element, I'll personally guide all of you through the first few rounds of practice. Before that, I'll show you all the Firebolt and Flamethrower spells."
Fulin turned to face his target dummy and raised his right hand. A ball of flames erupted to life in front of his palm before he quickly fired it at the target dummy. The firebolt hit the dummy and gave off a small burst of flames that scorched the dummy. He looked at the students, "Firebolt works pretty much just like all the regular bolt spells. Nothing really new you need to learn there. Flamethrower, though, is fairly different."
Fulin turned to the dummy once again while raising his hand to point his palm at the target, "The flamethrower spell is another variable spell like the earth wall spell."
He stopped talking for a moment as another ball of flames appears hovering over his hand, "Once you form a core of flames like this you just need to 'spray' your mana through the flames. It's similar to the water spray spell only you don't need to focus it as much."
When he stopped speaking flames blast out of his hand in a straight line that was about fifteen centimeters wide. The flames roared loudly as they fly directly to the dummy and bathed it in their red radiance. Fulin smiled and continued to speak, "How you spray your mana through the flames in your hands will help determine the shape of the flamethrower spell. For example..."
The flames spraying out of Fulin's hand started spreading wider while not flying as far as before. It took only a moment for the spell to go from a line to a fan of flames blasting out at a forty-five-degree wide cone. Shortly after that Fulin stopped the spell and looked at his students, "The wider you make the flamethrower spell the shorter the range on it becomes. This allows for the spell to either hit a single target at a decent range, or multiple targets at a closer range."
Fulin gestured out toward the target dummy, "And as you can see, fire spells have a tendency to set things on fire."
Everyone looked out at the dummy to see it covered in flames and billowing smoke into the air. Thomas smiled at the sight. Fire magic really was some amazing stuff and always helpful to him in his work. Hell, just not needing things like matches to start a fire was already a nice convenience. Fulin called for everyone's attention after they watched the burning target dummy for a bit, "Alright. We'll begin practice now. Thomas, go ahead and practice on your own."
Thomas nodded and made his way all the way to one end of the practice field. He didn't want to have everyone else staring at him while he practiced as they had before. Once he was in position he lifted his hand and summoned a small ball of fire. With a thought, he launched the firebolt spell at the target and gave it a nice scorch mark. The firebolt spell had a fair amount of heat to it but didn't burn long enough to cause ignition of the target.
Thomas raised his hand again and called up another ball of fire. This time he wanted to try out the flamethrower spell. He gathered his mana and started to push it through the flames hovering over his hand. A small spurt of fire leaped from his hand for about half a meter before it petered out. Clearly, he wasn't putting enough force behind his mana to cause the flames to fly far enough. He summoned his mana again and pushed it through the flames with even more force by concentrating them into a cylindrical shape. The mana drove through the flames, caught fire, and flew out towards the target.
With the mana being concentrated the flames flew further until they reached the target dummy and bathed it in their glorious heat. It didn't take long for the target dummy to ignite, though shortly after that Thomas could feel that his mana was starting to get below fifty percent. He canceled the spell and let the dummy burn.
The flamethrower spell seemed to consume his mana at a prodigious rate for as long as he maintained it so in the future he would have to be mindful of it. Thomas relaxed and glanced over at the other students as Fulin taught them about fire magic. Most of them were doing pretty decent with the firebolt spell, though Brao seemed to be doing the worst. He was barely able to summon flames, let alone fire a proper firebolt.
Thomas watched them for a few minutes before he closed his eyes and used 'Serenity' to increase his mana recovery rate so he could get back to his practice. After a few minutes, he felt his mana had recovered enough to not have to worry about knocking himself out. He lifted his hand and summoned a ball of flames to practice more. This time he formed a flat cone out of his mana and pushed it through the flames over his palm. A fan of flames leaped out in front of him in a nearly forty-five-degree angle. The flames only blasted out for about two meters before his mana couldn't push them any further.
Thomas kept the flames going for nearly ten seconds before he cut them off with a sigh. He lifted his arm and wiped some sweat off his brow. The flamethrower spell was pretty mana intensive and with his current reserves, he'd only be able to keep the spell going for about fifteen seconds before he'd run completely out of mana. He sighed and stepped away to sit down and activate his 'Serenity' skill again to recover his mana. It seemed like he would need to do this for a fair amount of time today.
Comments
CptJimmy
Royalroad is only 1 chapter behind your Patreon... Please don't fall behind, else you might start losing your supports...
Cody S.
Mmmm no, casting a spell requires concentrating on the spell and manipulating the mana. He can't do that AND use Serenity at the same time. He can't think and not think all at once.
Erik Zorger
Sounds like he could spank this spell (flamethrower) by making the flame as small as he can and maintaining it while entering serenity. (Should be able to something similar with all the elements. It should help him improve controll.
