43

We finished breakfast, and I called Kiara. She easily agreed to help us. I told her to meet us at the ORC. I asked her to give me an hour to set up. I wanted to try something I hadn't done before: a magical virtual reality space.

My thinking was that the process of spell creation would be smoother if we were able to manipulate the environment to demonstrate ideas and concepts. Sort of like a magical whiteboard, but more immersive. The Mage was already dealing with the calculations and imaginary math that would make the virtual space possible.

I teleported the three of us to the ORC. It wasn't early, but the only one in the clubroom was Koneko. She was sitting on the couch, nibbling on a stick of pocky. She looked up when we entered, nodded at us, then went back to her sweet.

"Hey, Koneko," I said, walking over and petting her head. She purred under my touch, which I only caught because of how close I was.

"Un. Hello, Taylor. Lavinia. Asia."

"Just so you know, Kiara is going to be coming over soon. We're going to be working on a spell that should help wrap up this Holy Sword business."

Koneko bristled at the mention of the lewd nun, only calming a bit because of the headpats I was still giving her. It was adorable that she was so protective of me when it came to Kiara. I knew I would have to get her to work on that though. Especially if I wanted her therapy sessions with Kiara to be productive.

"Why don't you like Kiara?" I asked Koneko.

"Perverted," she grunted. "Trying to take you away."

"Aww, you know I'm not gonna leave you guys. And I don't think she can really help her lewd nature. I'm like 99 percent sure she's not doing it on purpose."

"Still… don't like her…"

"Have you spent any real time with her?"

"... No."

"How about you and I hang out with her a bit after we finish the spell?"

"... Candy."

I chuckled, "Sure, sure, I'll compensate you if you try and play nice with her. I'll buy you one of those big bags of lollipops. How's that sound?"

Koneko nodded, "Un."

"Right! Now down to business," I said, turning to Asia and Lavinia. "Lav, what do you think we'll need to make a search spell work?"

"Hmm," Lavinia hummed, tapping her lip with a finger. "We'll need some type of proliferation method to help calculate the area that the spell will cover. And a way to target the swords. Kiara should be able to help with that bit. Maybe some kind of interface or feedback system as well?"

"Start making a list. Asia can help you with that while I set up the room."

A full virtual space spell was taking too long to develop, so I had to compromise. I had tweaked the spell so that now it was more augmented reality than fully realized virtual reality. I got to work crystallizing the spell into a partially physical form.

The spell crystal would act as a projector, turning whatever room it was in interactable. The crystal could project objects that we could modify, change our perception of objects, and interact with people inside its range in a limited fashion. We would still be in the physical world, but the crystal would make the physical world appear mutable so that we had control over what we perceived.

The spell crystal looked like a decently sized block of cut quartz. The light that passed through the crystal was refracted by the countless patterns engraved during its creation. I looked at my first physical spell with some not-so-small amount of awe. I knew I could do something like this, but this was the first time I had tried to shape a spell into a tangible object.

Lavinia came over and looked at the spell crystal from over my shoulder. She made an appreciative humming noise, and wrapped her arms around me.

"Ooh, my hubby is just so talented!"

"What is it?" Asia asked curiously.

"This is what we'll be using to help us design spells in the future. It's still just a prototype, but it should make it so we can visualize and interact with the metaphysical concepts that go into spell creation. We won't have to try and describe something that can't be put into words because we'll be able to show people examples of what we mean."

"So it's a tool?"

"Yup, it's basically magical spell design software."

"Do you think… I could learn how to use it?"

"I don't see why not. You want to learn magic, Asia?"

"Well… It's just… I've started to feel kind of useless to the group. Everyone else has something that makes them useful. I just have my Sacred Gear. So maybe if I learned magic, and started creating my own spells, I could contribute more."

"Great idea, Asia!" Lavinia exclaimed, releasing me and clapping her hands excitedly. "I can teach you what I learned during my time as a human magician. You'll be kicking ass in no time!"

I shrugged, "Sure, I don't mind lending it to you for educational purposes. You really don't have to push yourself to be 'useful' though. I love you just the way you are."

"I know, but I still want to do this. For me."

"I won't stop you then."

Asia's smile was bright and determined. Lavinia hugged Asia, rambling on about all the magic she could teach the nun. I went to set the spell crystal down in the middle of the room, and tapped it once to turn it on. There was a single dim flash from the crystal, before the spell started analyzing the room. A line of light swept across the room, and the crystal dinged when it finished its startup.