Year 7438, Month 4, Day 28
After seeing off Hegard and the Bakkudo village dispatch troops Mill and I talk about the production of rubber while returning to the house. In order to do our
morning magic training we seclude ourselves to the lord"s office room for practice.
"Come to think of it, Al is able to use "Lighting Bolt" now right?"
Mill says to me with envy. "Lighting Bolt" is a high-grade magic that requires a low level of earth and water magic and a considerably high level of wind and void
magic to use. Since Mill can"t use wind magic even if she were to spend her entire life it"s impossible so I"m sure she"s jealous.
"Yeah, I can already use "Lighting Bolt" at anytime."
It"s often that magic which make use of various combinations of magic to use and are somewhat high-grade and useful have names. The "Flamethrower" I"ve been using
from before, "Cure", "Cure""s greater version "Cure Serious", and "Cure Critical", and some of the more famous ones, "Fire Ball", "XX Missile", for poison removal,
"Remove Poison", one that blocks poison, "Protection From Poison" exists as well. Various names can go in the XX by the way. The ice spear I use is sort of like "Ice
Javelin Missile".
Training with magic is simple and none other than practicing to use these magics with names attached. As long as you take the time and can learn the elemental magic
and void magic to use them fundamentally anyone can use them. If you plan to use it just pack in the necessary mana (this is often described as kneading the mana),
and then all you have to do is adjust it with void magic.
Unless your concentration is broken there"s no real need to worry about failure but if you haven"t practiced then it takes a while to use it or the effect is
decreased. Think about it like preparing a fish. Someone who can"t use a knife doesn"t exist. Even if you"re lacking in technique as long as you take the time anyone
can prepare a fish and make sashimi. Even if it"s unshapely and the lukewarm temperature is transferred to it, it"s still sashimi. It might not be good tasting but
it can still be eaten and if you eat it you would still be able to tell what kind of fish it is. Well, if you want to call the mashed up pieces of meat that the fish
had become sashimi at least.
However, anyone can get good at if they do it enough times and be able to neatly cut sashimi. Cutting several slices while not leaving any excess meat. Being able to
cleanly remove the skin. And reducing the amount of time for it to be made.
In other words that sort of thing. After doing repeat practice enough times you stop using excess mana and reduce the amount of time it takes to complete the magic.
In short, by getting a feel to the trick of it and establishing your own technique for it you can finally start saying you"ve "Acquired XX magic". Normally people
can"t practice very much due to the amount of mana so even if they spend their entire lives they can only "Acquire" three types of magic or so. Even for people with
a lot it"s at best five types.
That"s why in comparison to normal people us three siblings have an exceptionally high amount of acquired magic thanks to how much MP we have. It"s only obvious. We
have that many more chances to practice after all. Using that fish preparing example again, due to having low MP a normal person can only prepare one mackerel per
day. However, we can prepare as many fish as we want and not just mackerel but much larger fish like sea bream or tuna or we can even do fish that require different
methods to prepare like flounder. Obviously, it"s only natural that you can"t do it at the start but if you keep practicing it then eventually you"ll be able to do
it while humming a song or even be able to do it at the same speed while smoking.
"That"s nice~ being able to use all of the elemental magic... By the way, today I"m going to practice "Fire Ball" so I"m counting on you for the "Anti-Magic Field"."
Mill says that with a grin. Cheh... How dirty... Since she can"t use all of the elemental magic it"s always my job to use "Anti-Magic Field". Thanks to that I have
almost no practice in using attack magic against something. Just a bit of practice when I go hunting at night. That"s why I"m limited on the attack magic I can use.
I don"t particularly need a target for "Flamethrower" so I"m insanely good with it but nothing beyond that. Even "Lightning Bolt" and "Ice Javelin Missile" I finally
was able to use decently thanks to my night training. It"s not like I can"t use the "Fire Ball" Mill just said but if I were to use it I would take about 30 seconds.
Putting aside war, it"s hardly something you can use during a fight.
However, Mill has done quite a bit of specialized training with attack magic these past two years. I don"t know the reason why but most likely it"s because it
bothered her that she couldn"t use anything but "Flame Missile" against the Horned Bear before. Even I want to try practicing "Fire Ball" and "Flame Missile"... I
get that magic used for production or living are far more useful than attack magic but... How am I supposed to get a castle like this? No, it"s effective, certainly.
But you know, for the time being I have no choice other than to solve conflicts with brute force, don"t I? Isn"t it plain to just make dirt there and bury them.
"I understand... How many times are you going to use it today?"
It"s not incorrect to say the attack power of attack magic is based on the amount of MP you pack into the void magic. Of course, it also depends on the level of
elemental magic you use but the majority of it is decided by the level of void magic, the degree and amount, guidance and speed, and direction. I think you can
easily understand if I use the example of creating a rock with earth magic and firing that off right? In deciding the power of the bullet the material it"s made out
of is important as well but isn"t the majority of it"s power decided by the speed, weight, and shape?
..Magic that is like a missile is where you create the missile itself with elemental magic and then use void magic to make the gun or cannon to fire it. The job of
launching it off, the gunpowder, is also void magic but it"s not like it"s being fired off with combustion so making more distance between is like the length of the
barrel of the gun and you use mana to accelerate the bullet. That"s why the larger portion of the power is based on how much distance you can make it accelerate over
in as short of a time as possible with void magic. Guidance can be thought of like bending the barrel of the gun to point at the target. Of course, it"s also
possible to fire off magic outside of the maximum control range without using any mana for guidance. Though in order to do that you need to add a considerable amount
of acceleration to what would be considered the bullet otherwise once it goes beyond the maximum range it will quickly lose force due to air resistance and the shape
and in the end fall to the ground.
And it"s no good if that practice isn"t done for each different type of bullet. Of course, it is possible to apply a part of it generally but putting aside if it was
just making a rock larger, shaping it, and firing it off, it"s a bit different when it comes to how to use void magic for acceleration and guidance. That"s why even
if you practice "Stone Missile" made of rock which uses 1 MP, there"s a necessity to practice each different bullet and how much MP they use for things like "Ice
Javelin Missile", "Stone Arrow Missile", and "Fire Bolt Missile". If it comes down to not firing off the bullet, with no acceleration, just creating the dirt or rock
and guiding it, burying it, or freezing it then there"s really no need to practice for just that. I think it probably takes the most practice for the acceleration of
the bullet. Of course, as long as you have plenty of MP and time for it then you can get a decent amount of effect out using just about anything.
However, I want you to think of "Fire Ball" as special as it"s like firing off a bomb. Of course, the speed of it is somewhat important but with this magic the MP
put into the bullet itself is also important. You make the bullet with earth and fire magic and then use void magic to compress it as much as possible. Then you fire
it off while maintaining the compression and when it gets to the destination you release the compression sending burning rocks and dirt flying all over. Since there"s
no acceleration added to the scattering of the bullet the shrapnel isn"t much but the burning stones flying around is like an explosion. In order to use it you need
at least 1 MP for the earth magic, 1 MP for the fire magic, and for the direction of void magic, 1 for compression, 3 for firing it off, and 4 for maintaining the
compression, for a total of 10 MP, but even this is at best at the level of a fire cracker, if your intention is bloodshed then you need at least 3-4 times that put
into the bullet.
Even then it"s probably difficult to kill a person with. Even if they were right near the explosion it"d be a serious wound and if they got hit the wrong place they
might die. However, even then it uses more than 20 MP (4 with fire and earth each for the bullet, 4x2=8 for the compression, and 4 for compression duration). If it
was a normal magician then after that they would already no longer be able to carelessly use magic anymore. If a magician on the level of Sharl were to use all of
their mana to the point of pa.s.sing out then they would finally be able to make an explosion on the level of dynamite that could kill a few people.
However, Mill is different. She pours 50 or 100 or idiotic amounts of MP into the creation of the bullet. I wonder if there"s enough force in it for it to be
considered a bit of a military use explosion? Let alone using that sort of thing inside, you can"t easily use that sort of thing outside though I haven"t actually
seen the explosion so I don"t know for sure. In other words in order to nullify that with the "Anti-Magic Field" I have to use more MP than that otherwise the
explosion would exceed the "Anti-Magic Field". That"s why if I don"t ask how many times she"s going to use it I"ll have to re-use "Anti-Magic Field" again and if I
were s.p.a.cing out then it might create the tragedy of an explosion inside the house.
"Nn~, around three shots..? I need to practice using filtering as well."
Ah, I see... Then adding in a bit of excess about 700 should be fine.
Mill is practicing attack magic but also properly practicing filtering magic for producing rubber and drying magic that doesn"t use wind magic as well. Putting aside
drying, even though as long as you take the time to water down the latex sap and let it settle to remove the impurities, she wants to practice filtering to make it
more efficient.
Mill quickly got to using three shots of "Fire Ball" and then used up the rest of her MP practicing filtering magic. It can"t be helped so I"ll practice just making
the bullets. When it just comes to making the bullet I can already make a considerable variety of types of them in under a second each but I can"t practice
accelerating of firing those off during the day so it can"t be helped. Rather than that lately I"ve been practicing healing magic. In order to practice you need to be
injured so it hurts and I don"t like it but I don"t like the idea even more of dying because it takes too much time to use so even if it"s painful I"m practicing
with it. When it was just making cuts on my arms and legs I could still endure it but it took a considerable amount of time and resolve to stab myself in the foot
with full force with my bayonet. I think it took about a year since I thought of it to finally do it.
However, I can"t muster up the courage to stab myself in the stomach or chest. Even if I think next time when training when it actually comes down to doing it I
start shivering. After all, just thinking about being unable to heal myself because it hurts too much to concentrate and there"s no way I can do it. I haven"t tried
cutting off any of my digits either. It would be bad if I can"t reconnect the parts and in that case I would have to live the rest of my life without it. However,
going off of the fact that large cuts are quickly mended to the point where there"s not even a scar on the skin then I feel like as long as it"s soon after you could
reattach limbs or digits but... It"s no good, it"s scary. After all I can"t do it.
Anyway, I"ve practiced to the point where I can heal large cuts and stabs to my arms and legs in an instant. At this point this kind of training doesn"t have much
meaning so I want to train with my stomach or chest but I just can"t bring myself to do it and end up stabbing myself in the upper arms or thighs with my bayonet. By
the way it seems like a certain amount of blood is being made when using healing as well so I"ve never gotten anemia.
I wonder if there"s no other choice than to rely on that practice method? The practice method I learned from the village healer old woman Shaymi in the past. The
other method of practicing magic. That is to recite a chant. No matter how much you improve with it the magic won"t activate until you finish reciting the chant but
you can decrease the amount of concentration required to some extent. There"s no other effect than that but it"s supposedly a popular method of magic training. What
was used to heal Farne in the past when he was injured by the Goblin.
"I devote the mana source from my body, provide this person with the blessing of healing, Cure."
By reciting a chant at a specified speed the mana is automatically used and the magic is completed. There"s no particular meaning to the chant itself. You can even
recite "Abradabraalakazam" and it"ll work. It"s fine as long as you can connect a certain amount of mana to the words needed to attach it to the effect you want
inside your mind. It"s the method to use magic with an effect when you"re not calm. Sharl cut it down saying, "it"s useless when you can"t speak, it takes more time
than to just use magic normally, and it"s pointless until you find a chant that is compatible with your mana."
In the first place since it takes time for it to activate she said there"s probably no magicians who use it for battle. Even that chant for healing magic just now
might not seem like a lot to say but you have to be able to accurately say with a rhythm of about five seconds or it doesn"t work. Depending on the person it
sometimes takes even longer. Though it"s occasionally shorter as well. One of the weaknesses to it is the amount of time it takes to find the chant and the mana that
will interact with that. I"m one of the ones who heard that and gave up on it thinking it was stupid.
It"s supposedly a common method of training for healers to show off the blessing of magic. After all, it"s the tool of their trade. Even then the majority of healers
are actually using magic without the chant but old woman Shaymi said healing magic was difficult to use without the chant.
However, it"s easy to say search for a chant that is compatible with my mana but how in the world do I do that? Randomly speak some words while using magic and this
is it! find something like that? I have the feeling it"s probably impossible just randomly searching around. In that case, I should just trying asking old woman
Shaymi who actually trained by reciting the chant.
I quickly went to old woman Shaymi"s house. And tried asking the old woman the method to practice magic using a chant.
"Hey, Shaymi, how do you find a chant that matches you so you can use incantation magic?"
"Oh, does Al-sama want to use incantation magic?"
Shaymi smiles while asking.
"Yeah, the only way to practice using healing magic is to cut your own arms and legs after all. I"m worried about being able to concentrate if it was even greater
injury."
"Eh!!? Practice...Ah! You aren"t injuring yourself are you!?"
Really now, don"t sudden make such a loud voice. I"ll get surprised.
"Eh? Yeah, just watch...Hng!"
I say while quickly stabbing my left arm with my bayonet, pulling it out, and using healing magic to heal it.
"Wai...Wait just a minute, Al-sama!?? EH? Ah, yeah, it was certainly splendid healing but you mustn"t ever do that again! Okay!"
What is that threatening att.i.tude. There"s a living example of eyes becoming triangles in front of me.
"Eh? But then I can"t practice..?"
"There"s no buts about it! What in the world are you thinking! To injure yourself... In the first place I"m sure it hurts a lot.. Why are you doing something like
this..?"
I"m completely getting scolded. Like I said it"s practice.
"Like I said if you don"t practice you won"t be able to use well right? For now it"s too scary so I can"t practice anything but my arms and legs but the stomach and
chest are... um, scary after all."
"..Then listen to me. I"m going to report this to the lord and madam. It"s not good if you aren"t scolded enough. And I won"t teach you the chant."
Eh?
"No way...Why! Then I can"t practice! Teach me!"
"Going to the point of injuring yourself for the sake of practicing healing magic of all things, did the madam teach you that!? There"s no way that"s the case right?
If you make a mistake and gravely injury yourself then don"t make it in time with the healing what do you intend to do!!"
It"s fine if you don"t scream all of that. I get what you"re saying. Though I can"t relax if I"m not able to heal myself.
"That"s why I"m practicing so I can make it in time. Though if I were using magic normally then I might not be able to concentrate right. That"s why I wanted to be
able to use healing with the chant as well."
"..I understand what you are saying. However, normally healing isn"t something you use on yourself. Just like Al-sama just because said the majority of the time you
can"t concentrate. Normally you have someone else who can use healing use it on you. Therefore, you don"t need to practice using healing magic on yourself. I thought
you could use healing magic considerably well... but it was this sort of thing. I cannot teach you. If you really must then get permission from the lord and madam."
After saying that old woman Shaymi won"t respond to anything I say.
This is bad. I mean Hegard and Sharl just left on the campaign so I can"t get permission after all. And thinking about how threatening old woman Shaymi got over it
my parents are likely to get into a rage as well...
Your entire body for the sake of your parents, filial piety starts from taking care of yourself.* There"s such a quote. I don"t know if there is in Orth though. I can
understand that she"s angry over the same meaning of those words. I understand but in my situation it can"t be helped.
Hmm, what should I do?
I want to somehow talk down old woman Shaymi before my parents return. I need to think a bit about it.
No idea how to properly translate this quote but it"s about filial piety and taking care of yourself: 身体髪膚之れを父母に受く、敢えて毀傷せざるは孝の始めなり。*