Ch7 Student Instructors, P5

Chapter 7: Student Instructors (5)

~7.5~

*****

Soon, in the Farlands...

"Thank you for meeting with me, Kye," Doran said. "I really appreciate you taking the time to help with this project."

She nodded. "You took an interest in one of my spells, how could I say no?" He smiled in return. Kye glanced at Michelle, who was staring off into space, and raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry, she's... clingy, I suppose is the way to put it." Doran gave Kye and apologetic smile. I can't tell her the truth about us. Nobody knows outside our group... even though Dani, Lizzy, and Mike don't approve...

"Well, okay. Michelle!"

"Huh? Yeah? What's up?" She perked up. "Do you need something?"

"I was just wondering if you had a spell to work on, too. I could try to help if you'd like."

"Actually, I want to know if you've mentioned anything to Adele, yet."

"Thanks, but I'll be okay. I'm just going to watch today."

"Not yet. I was just thinking about how to bridge the subject, actually."

"Oh, okay." Kye turned back to Doran, wondering where to start. How did Adele turn out to be such a cute boy? But wait... hold up... something ain't right. That's Adele, but if Doran is acting normal... either he... she, isn't bothered, or is doing a good job suppressing it.

"Shall we begin?"

Kye nodded and tried to pull herself together mentally. "Show me what you can do so far. You mentioned you were able to form three?"

"Yes." Doran held her hands out after activating Dragon Force and concentrated as much as she could. Soon, a ball of radiant fire appeared, then another, and another. "I can't manage four at once yet.

Kye examined the three and noticed right away that two of them weren't sufficient. "This one and this one will not work for Detonation. The first one is fine, but these two won't resonate."

"So that's why I never got a big explosion. They just act like regular Fireballs when I launch them."

"Yes. Get rid of the two bad ones and focus on the first one for a moment. Really feel it."

She nodded and dispersed the second and third Fireballs and began examining the first.

"Note how it pulsates. Regular Fireballs don't do that. This pulsating indicates that it has the necessary mass. Detonation catalysts are extremely difficult to control due to how much you have to compress into the tiny ball. The difference between a regular Fireball and a Detonation catalyst is night and day."

"I think I understand."

"Do you know much about celestial objects? Like stars and stuff?"

She nodded. "Think of a catalyst like a black hole. Those have a gravitational pull so powerful that it pulls in most forms of radiation, visible light included. Because?"

"They are far and away more massive than stars. Even neutron stars, as massive as those are, don't trap visible light."

"Yes. Now imagine you are making... well a black hole is probably too far now that I'm thinking about it. Imagine if a regular star has the right mass for a Fireball and a neutron star has the right mass for a Detonation catalyst."

Doran's eyes lit up as she quickly formed a second pulsating ball of radiant fire.

"Yes! That's right. It only takes two, so let it go!"

"Right." She prepared herself with a quick deep breath. "Detonation!" She launched the two catalysts into the distance, and just as Kye expected they generated an enormous explosion. Kye cheered while Doran looked on mystified at her handiwork. "I casted an ultimate-tier spell..."

"That's right, good work!"

"Wow, it worked." Michelle planned to stay quiet, but she wanted to congratulate Doran on the success. "Well done!"

"What would happen if you only could do one?" Doran asked.

"It won't result in a Detonation-level explosion. It'll just be a more grandiose Fireball. Basic-tier, technically, but still requiring a great deal of control. Hmm... would it be basic-tier?" Kye formed a Detonation catalyst and a large, regular Fireball with the same amount of mana. She shrunk the regular Fireball to the same size as the Detonation catalyst, and it began to pulsate, too. "Huh. I guess it would be. This is simply what you get when you put that much mana into a basic-tier spell. And Detonation is just casting multiple of them... uh oh. I just taught the students earlier how to insta-cast multiple basic-tier spells at once... that's literally how to do Detonation. Heh."

"So, what about doing that trick with wind?" Michelle asked. She activated Dragon Force and formed two balls of wind with as much mana as a Detonation catalyst. "Oh, they're pulsating."

Kye had stars in her eyes. "Do it! See what happens!"

Michelle nodded and threw them just like Doran did moments ago. Once they collided, it generated an immense shockwave with countless blades of wind scattering out in every direction. Kye had to raise a barrier to protect them from the onslaught since it was even more widespread than Detonation. "Neat!" The three of them were wide-eyed after that display.

"Okay, so that's good to know. Congratulations, Michelle, you just invented an ultimate-tier wind spell."

She was skeptical. "I don't know if I can take credit for that... all I did was apply your spell with wind instead of fire. You should probably-"

"No, it was your idea to try it with wind. Derivative spells count!"

"Well... okay. I'll report it. I gotta think up a name for it now."

Kye nodded. "You can do it! Good luck!" Michelle sighed.

"Thanks again, Kye," Doran said. "I understand the spell much better now. And that was a great discovery, Mimi! You're amazing!"

Yes, praise me more!

"Please allow me to thank you properly. Are you free this evening? I would like to invite you to dinner."

Right, I'm supposed to invite her... but she's inviting me?!

"Yes, I'm free tonight. But, would you mind if I bring Alethea? She and I were actually planning to invite you to eat with us."

"Oh?"

A chill went up Kye's spine and she saw Michelle glaring daggers at her. Doran chopped her on the head and kept smiling at Kye.

"Hey!" She held a hand to her head.

Doran ignored her. "Well, alright, that sounds great. I'll arrange everything."

Kye nodded. "I look forward to it!"

"By the way," Kye said as she was preparing a portal. "Doran?"

"Yeah? What's up?"

She looked away, then at Michelle, who only nodded. She looked back at Doran and smiled. Doran raised an eyebrow, unsure what to say. Kye snapped her finger and created an illusion showing a familiar location from a shared past life.

Doran exchanged glances with Michelle. Doran had wide eyes, and she smiled warmly. Her shock soon faded, replaced by a big cheesy grin. "Elysia!!!"

*****

Revised: 12-3-2023