Getting used to earth magic (2)

Magic is complicated, I get that.

With the rock needle spell all figured out I can proceed to figure out the specifics for the ground spikes.

Different from the rock needles that are produced ahead of time the ground spikes need to be generated at the moment of attack. The time it costs me to activate the spell in an area of about a three-meter radius around me is five seconds. If I increase the distance to the mp cost and casting time spike up like crazy. Five meters is the maximum distance my current mp can support.

The spikes I create only reach about waist high. I decided to generate three with each spell and have them emerge from all around the opponent in the hopes of pinning him. With the opponent's mobility reduced I could then use the rock needles to finish him off.

For my ground spike spell my little pattern magic misunderstanding actually comes in useful. I can get a relatively strong and clear spell without chanting. Since chanting is the norm among mages of my level my spells should come as quite a surprise. It should also make it easier to keep someone in place for casting the ground spikes.

I mean you wouldn't stay where you are if your opponent started to chant about spikes from the ground, would you?

<I have to give it to you, the way you utilize earth magic to attack is quite unique.>

What? But how do earth mages attack in the beginning?

<They don't. Earth mages practice on building projects until they reach a high enough level in their magic to either switch to an advanced class, become a natural disaster, or enter the world of farming. Combatants with just the earth magic skill are nearly nonexistent.>

Hmm, could we transform this into an advanced class for VR dungeons?

<Guy, it's basic level magic, no way that would ever be accepted as an advanced class. As a basic class on the other hand it might be popular.>

Sign me up as an instructor then! Even basic classes pay good money so this is great. I will revolutionize the use of earth magic and become rich!

<Don't get your hopes up too high. You'll teach a few classes and by then your method will be spread amongst the earth mages by themselves. All you created was an idea the execution should be possible for any earth mage.>

Can I get a patent on that idea?

<And how would a patent for such a low-level spell be enforced? The only spells that can be patented are spells that are very strong and can easily be identified after use or those that transform into a skill separate from the magic skill.>

What's this whole transforming thing?

<Sigh. There are few good examples known but take earth magic and golemancy. Using earth magic in an ingenious way allowed some mage to receive the skill golemancy. That skill can be patented since he is the only one who knows how to do it and even by seeing a golem you can't instantly replicate it.>

There really is no easy way to make money, is there?

<Unless you get born into a rich family that likes you and lets you inherit everything then no there isn't. Switching topics, Sean is back for another lesson.>

Sean, he should be getting closer to getting his dismantling skill up to level two. I take my leave from the goblin camp reminding the goblin leader to man those outposts.

Back at VR dungeons HQ, I climb into one of the employee VR capsules and enter the same VR room we used last time. I had Navi save it so we could reuse it for follow-up lessons.

Sean is already there, swatting over a goblin corpse cutting it apart with his dismantling knife. I have to applaud his effort but what I see is not so applaudable.

"You lost some of the progress we made last time."

"Sorry, I tried to use what you taught me during the dives but when I got stressed it all went down the drain."

"Don't beat yourself up over it. The adventurers probably told you to work faster and that caused you to lose concentration and regress. Also, it's not like everything you learned went down the drain. Some things stuck and were integrated into unconscious actions."

"So I can still reach level 2 without needing to stop working?"

"It's totally possible but I must warn you, progress won't be fast and these lessons aren't exactly cheap."

"My allowance can cover the lessons as long as I don't take too many each month. Thanks for providing this class, it really saved me."

"Did something happen?"

"One of the carriers who joined with me tried to get out of the contract. He joined another company and thought things would be better... The new company paid no more than the last one and his previous company sued him for breaking the contract he signed. Now he needs to pay off an insane debt to his previous company and earns just as little at his new one."

"Yeah, that tends to happen. Don't take it to heart and focus on your own carrier career. Let's get going, these corpses aren't going to dismantle themselves."

I once again guide Sean through the familiar motions of wielding his dismantling knife. He is responding well as usual and by the end, he is once again quite far into the first level of dismantling.

As usual, he thanks me profusely for teaching him and leaves with a smile. The boy has a good positive attitude that might just save him from the hard future that awaits him. If he can power through and raise his dismantling level to three or four he will be alright.

Maybe he can then train the next generation of unfortunate carriers that get scammed into a contract by those companies. Assuming he doesn't die before that.