Chapter 23 Rock You Like An EXPLOSION! Arc Part 7

"So..." Michael said with exasperated but amused grin on his face. "Are you girls ready to actually listen me?" He asked as he pinned down the giant bear monster of their first kill quest.

He broke one of the Black Fang's shoulders, after Darkness accidentally broke the other bear's arm by letting the beast wail on her, and now he held the Black Fang in a chokehold, while the beast struggled uselessly to move. 

Upon meeting the Black Fang for the first time, Aqua dashed forward in enthusiasm wanting to end it with a God Blow, but a roar from the beast had her stumbling back and shrieking in fright. Darkness naturally jumped in to protect her comrade, seemingly forgetting her swordsmanship after the first few blows because "it didn't feel as satisfying".

She simple let the Black Fang start slashing at her with it's claws, which just frustrated the beast at the uselessness of it's action due to Darkness's toughness. Her cries of "this doesn't feel as hard" seemed to just anger the beast even more, that it focused solely on her. 

Michael immediately acted after that, telling Megumin not to use her magic, and save it for the monster horde later. He then told Yunyun to stun it, followed by Schwanhild hitting it's weak points. 

Yunyun used a lightning spells, shocking the bear still for a while, before Schwanhild went and slammed her Sacred Smite powered staff between the Black Fang's legs. Then it's knee caps. 

Michael was most approving of the littlest carnage Priest. 

""Sorry,"" came the apology from Aqua and Darkness. 

"Megumin," Michael mentally projected a sharp blade letting it appear stabbed into the ground a few feet in front of him. "Come here, and give it the finishing blow." 

"Eh!? Why Megumin?" Yunyun protested. The others were surprised but weren't so opposed. 

"Don't worry, I'm not forgetting anyone, and by the end of the horde, everyone here would level up enough." Michael explained, placating Yunyun. 

"I would prefer to use my Explosion on it, Sensei." Megumin said. 

"Come stab the bear in the face, so you can use Explosion on multiple monster. Now, move it!" Michael deadpanned. 

"Y-Yes!" Megumin moved startled, in a manner of a child worried they angered their teacher. "Hm, hm, it is your unfortunate destiny that you have met me today." Megumin said in front of the snarling Black Fang, after picking up the sword. "Prepare to become my EXP, you--"

""Just stab it already!"" Michael found himself saying along with Yunyun. 

Megumin stabbed the bear in the face, Michael adjusting to her aim so she ended up piercing the sword right through the Black Fang's eye and into it's brain, killing it in one hit. 

"I leveled up!" Megumin exclaimed in excitement as she held her Adventurer Card. Michael inventoried the monster corpse to be sold later. "Alright! Now my Explosion will be--"

"Ah-hem." Someone coughed behind her. Megumin looked to see Michael giving her a pointed stare.

"O-oh, right." Megumin realized she was about to update her skill without consulting teacher.

"Hmm," Michael looked over Megumin's shoulder, ignoring her blush, as seeing her Adventurer Card felt like a parent seeing their child's report card. "Huh, improving the power of the Explosion Magic, also improves the range and distance. Does that mean you can consciously control those?" 

"Of course," Megumin said with a prideful smile. "I am the Greatest Genius Arch Wizard, of course I can manage to target faraway objects, or make the explosion take the most amount of space--although it tends to be much weaker." Megumin said quickly in disgust under her breath, which Michael heard all the same. "All with but a thought." 

"Hmm," Michael nodded at the explanation. "Out of curiosity, if you can the spell at half power, would it only take half the mana or still the full cost?"

"S-sensei, you won't actually make me do that, would you!?" Megumin said in near tears as she held Card now close to her chest and backed away from Michael. 

"No," he said firmly, chuckling at her attitude. "There are very few situations where I think that would be needed. I'm asking because the best way to understand a spell, is to cast it, and you need to be able to cast Explosions multiple times while studying it to be able to improve it. However the mana cost and one day limit are a big obstacle. So I'm asking about the cost to start getting around those limits."

"Oh..." Megumin calmed down. "I've never tried to cast an Explosion weaker than it could possibly be. But no, a spell is designed to take a certain amount of mana, making the spell weaker afterwards won't change the cost."

"Huh," Michael perked up. "Can you overcharge a spell for a greater effect?"

"It's possible to do that. That's how mages turn a simple fire spell into a whole works of fire magic, if they are skilled at manipulating the spell. Like taking a Fireball, and then changing it into multiple small and faster fireballs, then recombine them later. However the starting spell used determines how far you can go with that magic spell. Like in the Fireball example, no matter how you manipulate the spell it would always have the strength of an Intermediate Magic spell. It would take a great amount of skill to make a Intermediate Magic spell and give it the strength of an Advanced Magic spell, but it would just be easier to get Advanced Magic with Skill Points then." Yunyun interjected with an explanation. 

"Always the bookworm." Megumin deadpanned. 

"As if Megumin doesn't do that as well!" Yunyun cried out. 

"Hooo, that's interesting." Michael noted while holding his chin. "So that's why some mages with Advanced Mage are stronger than others. It always felt weird how some are more famous with Ice Magic or Fire Magic than others, when when they all have the same starting point, due to the Card's Magic System. So with enough skill, two people casting the same spell wouldn't be equal. One can have their spell actually be stronger than the other, even if they are the same spell with the same initial cost." 

"That's right." Yunyun noted with a smile. 

"Then it's decided. Megumin," Michael spoke. 

"Yes!" Megumin stood at attention.

"First you're gonna work reducing the mana cost of Explosion as much as possible. Then you're gonna work on your Arch Wizard skill of Mana Regeneration."

"Awwww," Megumin sighed. 

"I know, I know," Michael said empathically. He took Megumin's hat off to her surprise, and patted her head ending any objection. "The road to being the best isn't always fun. You'll find that you'll have to do a lot of tedious and boring stuff in order to get closer to your over all goal. For now, think of the next step you need to achieve being 'To be Able to Cast Multiple Explosions a Day'. Hmm, let's say ten for starters?" 

"TEN!?" Everyone shouted shouted at the number, sans Schwanhild who just looked bug-eye at Michael's casual tone. 

Aqua looked surprised. Darkness was drooling. Yunyun was wide-eyed in surprise at the extremely tough goal, and Megumin went back and forth between surprised at the daunting task, and overjoyed drooling at the possibility of managing it. 

"What? Was that too low?" Michael asked in ignorant puzzlement.