Chapter 6

I got up early the next morning. I hadn't had much sleep so I didn't feel at one hundred percent, but I'd gone to school and work on less in my previous life, so I pushed through and forced myself to get dressed. I collected my bag and stowed my plant encyclopedia and the leftover bronze. Anything else I needed for this project, I could make with magic as needed. I stopped in the kitchen long enough to grab a piece of bread and some cheese, before I left the house.My feet carried me towards the village and I used fire magic to warm up the bread and cheese before eating what would have to pass for breakfast. Water magic supplied something to wash it down—I trusted drinking it more than most of the water around here save for what was drawn from the wells but I knew, thanks to knowledge from Earth, that it was best not to drink for prolonged periods unless you had a way of replacing the minerals, salt, and so on lost through sweat; in other words, it wasn't really an issue.I found a place to settle down in the square and wait and, when daylight broke, I went to Sylphie's house and camped on their front porch until Laws left for the morning. Then, I collected Sylphie and we headed out to the hill with the tree for the day with a basket from Sylphie's mother containing our lunches in addition to Laws'. I spent the morning working with Sylphie on magic, teaching her the intermediate level material as I'd learned it from Roxy and the two of us had corrected or clarified over time, after comparing what we knew of magic to what I knew of natural science.After instruction came time for practice. I had Sylphie go through every spell she knew, silently casting as I called them out. As we had learned when Roxy first started teaching her, Sylphie was great with water magic, decent with wind and earth, and terrible with fire. The reason for that was pretty simple—she was afraid of fire, or rather afraid of being burned. She had a scar on her palm from where she picked up a hot fire poker when she was three. While she didn't shy away from fire spells when I cast them, she probably had some kind of lasting psychological trauma from that event causing her to have issues casting fire magic. In other words, it was all in her head. I encouraged her to keep working on it, but left it up to her to do so. Roxy had insisted it was a 'systems' thing, but we both decided that one person wasn't proof.Around noon, we walked together to where Laws was posted for the day and had lunch together.Pulling out my encyclopedia as I ate, I flipped to the section on various trees and their properties. It didn't take long to find what I was looking for—a tree that produced thick sap, which was native to the region. Holding that place bookmarked with a finger, I flipped through the book again and found the other plants I was looking for. Things for making ink and soap. "Hey Laws, do we have any of these around here?" I pointed out the plants in question in the book.Humming, he looked up from his lunch and eyed the drawings in the book along with the names. "Yes, those are all found in the forest. Why do you ask, Rudy?""I'm working on a project. A gift for my former master. I need to collect some of the sap from one of those trees to make it, along with several samples of each of the other plants."Laws raised an eyebrow at that. "Must be some gift. It is your master though, so I understand," he murmured. "Alright! I'll escort you into the forest to collect what you need. It shouldn't take long and we won't be going in far. Sylphie, Rudeus, don't wander off on your own. Stay within sight of each other at all times. It should be safe enough, but stay on your guard just in case."With that, we went into the forest and spent some time gathering plants. As we worked, Laws taught what he knew about the forest, the creatures in it, and how to spot signs of their passage. I had learned woodcraft in my previous life, so I knew how to spot tracks, bent and broken grass and branches, and so on, but learning what track shapes went with what monster helped. Thankfully, we didn't spot any monster tracks in the hundred or so yards we went in to find one of the trees I needed.I used earth magic to make a knife to cut the tree and a small jar to hold the sap, then used water magic to pull enough sap out to fill the jar. Closing it off, I stuck it in my bag and we moved on. We gathered the local equivalent to thyme, hyacinth, and several other plants and I stowed each in their own small stone jars, before we left the forest. As we left, I found some dead hardwood branches, knocked the dirt off of those, and stowed them as well. Laws retook his post and we said our goodbyes before heading for what was quickly becoming our spot.When we got back, I put away my bag and turned to Sylphie. "I've found that the key to a healthy mind is a healthy body. Being physically fit means you can run from the problems magic can't solve, or deal with the problems you shouldn't use magic to solve. So, want to join me Sylphie?"The little girl agreed, of course. That was how I gained an exercise partner. Of course, being just five herself and not having had years of running around 'playing' (read: training) as exercise, she had no real stamina to speak of. I walked her through stretches and a short jog around the tree, then a few sets of physical exercises. After that, she was spent and collapsed into a sweaty, panting mess on the grass in the shade of the tree. I made a stone cup and filled it with water, which she eagerly gulped down, before working through the rest of my exercises."Okay," I opened up the bag I had leaned against the tree and pulled out the branches. "Part of what's needed to make soap is hard wood ash. So for today, we're going to burn these down and collect the ash when it's done. I can buy some lard in the village tomorrow and we'll start that part then.""'kay," Sylphie called tiredly."Come clear off a spot of ground to get the grass away from it, make a stone depression to burn them in, and set them on fire for me," I instructed. "Then once you've got it going, you can start on your spell practice."I oversaw Sylphie following my instructions and patted her head in praise when she finished before moving away to do my own work. Instead of moving straight to sword practice, I sat down and took a short break, watching as Sylphie began practicing her spells. I had some thinking to do.Paul's an asshole, but he's a talented asshole. He's a natural swordsman. He's got years on me in terms of training. He can also use magic or something in a way I can't, giving him speed and strength I just don't have. I'm never going to beat him in a straight up sword fight as it stands, and since he's not exactly the best in the world when it comes to swords, I'm looking at not being able to deal with a fairly large group of people if I run across any of them and they decide to shit in my Cheerios. So, what do I have going for me?The obvious answers were: magic, silent casting, and an overabundance of mana with which to silently cast magic. The less obvious answers were creativity and a whole lot of Earth media to draw inspiration from.Well, there's always the age old issue of mobility and reach I could exploit. If all you have is a sword and you can't reach your target, you can't hit them unless you throw your sword like a fucking idiot—in which case, you're unarmed. If you have the high ground, you have a tactical advantage over your enemy.So, mobility and a way to get to or make high ground, or otherwise manipulate the terrain to my advantage.The second would be easy enough. I already knew terrain manipulation spells for making pitfalls, swamps, spike fields, and other traps to inconvenience an enemy trying to get to me. I could always create a bog around myself, use an earth spell to make sure I had solid footing, and proceed to bombard my target in safety. The problem was getting distance in the first place if I didn't already have it. I'd seen the way Paul moved. It wouldn't take him more than a second or two to clear a good twenty yards, if not more, when he decided to push himself.Which brought me back to the first problem. Mobility. I didn't know any spells to directly make a mage move master. Neither had Roxy for that matter, otherwise I'm sure she would have taught me. Using wind magic to give myself a tailwind or my sword swings some extra oomph was about the extent of what I had available there. My self-made reinforcement magic was great at filling that gap, but it just didn't compare to whatever the hell Paul was doing.I didn't know of any flight spells and if teleportation was even a thing—which I assumed it must be, given that summoning magic existed—then I didn't know any magic in that field so there was no point dwelling on that particular avenue until I could learn it. The best place for that would be the Ranoa College of Magic, but I was sure that would be expensive.I've been modifying spells since I was three. I've already created three lighting spells. I can make a movement spell.That decided, I pondered where to start from. Thrust. Like my old dad always used to say, if you put enough thrust behind a brick, it may not be pretty, but it'll fly.Applying what I knew of physics and magic already, I decided the best place to start would be with trying to modify a wind spell. Earth wouldn't work because I needed dirt to work with for that element. Water might work, but would be more mana intensive, not to mention leave streamers of water behind. Fire was a definite maybe, but only if used in specific ways—jet engines worked based on turbines, but true ramjets worked by using fuel to burn a compressed fuel/air mixture. A combination wind/fire spell might work wonders, but I was leery of trying something that volatile right off the bat. Wind seemed the safest and most likely to work, without blasting me to the moon.Making sure I was facing away from Sylphie, I began playing with one of the elementary wind spells, Wind Gust, trying to modify it for my needs. Wind Gust was like Water Ball or Fireball, in that it was one of those 'shoot a ball from the hand' spells—at least for me. I started by modifying it to cast continuously, instead of as a single burst. The effect was a fairly strong gust of wind blowing from my hand, leaving the grass ahead of me disturbed in a visible cone."Rudy, what are you doing?" Sylphie called, looking up from her practice."Working on a new spell. It may get a bit loud, but just keep working please," I sent her a smile as I shut off the spell and considered what I had felt as I'd used it.Definitely felt the force behind that. It nearly shoved me off my feet. Which means this might actually be viable. It wasn't too costly, either, so I would probably be able to keep it up for a while. Not all day, but an hour or two minimum.Taking the potential for recoil or being blown off my feet into account, I reinforced my body with mana and set my feet into a wide stance. "Okay, let's try this again," I murmured. Holding out both hands, I cast the spell from both and poured in about double the mana—to each. The results were immediate as I was blown off my feet and sent flipping ass over teakettle onto my back in the grass."Rudy! Are you okay?!" Sylphie yelped, running over and leaning over my prone form.I laughed quietly, accepting her hand and sitting up. "I'm fine, Sylphie. Don't worry, I'm kind of expecting things like that to happen. I'm using mana to make my body stronger so I won't get hurt, but if I do I'll cast healing magic."The greenette shook her head, sending short locks flying about her face. "What if you get hurt so bad you can't use magic? I'll keep watch and use healing magic, so please don't try whatever it is you're doing when I'm not there!"Seeing she had a point, I nodded. "Sure. I promise," I agreed easily. Seeing she was satisfied, I went back to my experimentation. This time, Sylphie kept an eye on me as I worked.Test three. Vertical thrust. Let's see if I can get off the ground without breaking my fool neck.Spreading my hands out to my sides and aiming at the ground, I reinforced my body and cast the spell again—at a much reduced output this time. I immediately felt the strain in my arms as it felt like I was supporting my entire body weight on them—not that there was much of it to support. Slowly, oh so slowly, I lifted off the ground by a few inches. I immediately began to wobble. Attempting to correct my little flight with hand movements only made it worse and sent me stumbling back to the ground, but at least I was able to keep my footing.Okay! Minor success, minor failure. Lack of control is an issue. I seem to recall that in VTOL planes like the Harrier, pilots described it as feeling like riding a razor, and that's pretty much what I'm getting.Sitting down cross legged, I thought it over. Sylphie, seeing I wasn't working with the spell at the moment, seemed to content herself with going back to her own work—occasionally looking up to make sure I hadn't started working again. Thinking over the issue of balance, I hummed quietly. I could use thrust vectoring? That's how they made the Harrier work, along with the F-35. It's not like I can't control how the wind moves as I'm casting the spell, either. But with just two points acting as both thrust and control surfaces, it won't be particularly stable. I could hold three if needed… so a third from my feet?It wasn't like I hadn't been casting from my feet for a while now. Mostly for earth spells, or spells like Ice Wall or Ice Pillar. Still, using my feet to cast a wind spell should be doable. Just to test the theory, I stuck my feet out and tried to cast. It was a bit awkward, just as it had been the first few times I'd tried that with earth spells, but I knew from experience that it would become second nature with practice. Okay, that works.It occurred to me that there was one glaring problem with all of this. Flight would be good for getting away, or gaining a lot of height very quickly, but not so good at clearing the space of a room, maneuvering quickly, or hovering in place without serious concentration.Maybe I'm thinking too big? Instead of flight, maybe for dealing with people like Paul I need something closer to the old standby of a fast running or short range teleport technique. Something along the lines of Naruto's shunshin or Bleach's shunpo. What about… using a wind gust on every step to propel myself, so it's more like skipping than flight? Could theoretically pinball myself that way if I could get casting it from anywhere on my body down. A sustained effect for hovering? Or using ice or earth pillars to launch myself or land on? Launching maybe, especially if it makes obstacles for enemies, but landings could be accomplished with an air thrust, couldn't they?I glanced over at the big tree. Let's test that theory.I pushed myself to my feet, causing Sylphie to look up and follow my movements. She watched as I climbed into the tree. I noticed her hands clenching into fists about the time I jumped off the lowest limb. Reinforcing myself and holding my hands aimed at the ground, I cast Wind Gust again. This time, I flipped over in midair twice and landed face down. However, I noticed the landing was a lot lighter than it would have otherwise been."Are you okay, Rudy?" Sylphie called worriedly from nearby.I sent her a thumbs up and rolled over onto my back. "That mostly worked," I mused. "Let's try it again. Without the oops."The day wore on and eventually, I got the hang of catching myself on a cushion of air. It wasn't the greatest of breakthroughs, but it would be useful in the event I ever fell from a great height—about as useful as a parachute. Not something you'd normally carry, but when the plane starts going down it's something you suddenly really want, then start praying on when you're forced into open air.With my landing strategy taken care of, I decided to focus on something more fun—a launch strategy. That was how I spent the rest of the evening, running around and using earth pillars to launch myself into the air and air cushions to break my fall, under the watchful eyes of Sylphie. And when I finally felt like I had it down, I called her over and explained what I was doing and how to do it, then set her to trying it herself.By the time the sun started going down, I had perfected the launch and landing to the point where I could launch myself mid-run at a moment's notice, at any angle, and then either make a quick landing or fall in a controlled glide that I could steer with little difficulty—similarly to the way I remembered Cole MacGrath, the protagonist of InFamous, had used his powers across two games. It wasn't quite flash step or air walking, but it was fun, fast, and could be useful later. Sylphie was still working on her landings, trying to figure out the air cushion. I collected the ashes into a jar and we called it a day.When I dropped Sylphie off at home, Laws sent me on my way after I promised to pick Sylphie up again tomorrow. I thanked him for helping me gather what I needed today and took my leave. On the way back home, I waved to one of the villagers I knew grew Bardius, since he was one of the regulars on Roxy's route for tending the fields with magic. "Excuse me, sir," I called to him as I approached."How can I help you, son?""Do you mind if I take a few Bardius plants from your field on my way home? I'll water the field for free next time if you'd let me," I asked, sending the mid-thirties man a smile.Laughing he waved me off. "Sure, go ahead Rudeus. I'll let you know when it looks like they need a good watering again.""Thank you!" I called, before hurrying off.Along the way home, I stepped off the road and collected several Bardius plants, putting them in their own jar separate from everything else—enough to experiment with to try to find the right method and mixture, and then more to actually make ink. Being able to create pottery and containers on the spot was pretty damn convenient, if I do say so myself.Crossing through the gates, I stopped by Caravaggio's stable and collected the rustiest looking horse shoes, slipping those into my pack well away from the paper. Never did get a chance to try making a pen today. Oh well, it was fun anyway and I only just got the materials I need to even begin making ink anyway, so no big loss.Actually, there was one more thing I needed, now that I thought about it. Glass would do better to hold the ink than stone. I could even work some into the pens I'd be making—maybe as easily replaceable ink cartridges instead of using the whole pen to house the ink. Yeah, I like that design better than just filling the pen with ink. Messy if it breaks and I think it was harder to get that type to work, especially upside down, whereas the ones using plastic inserts work by capillary action and work at any orientation.Putting out the fire spell I'd been using as a light source, I stepped into the home. "I'm home," I called reflexively, before I spotted Paul sitting at the dinner table while Zenith and Lilia cooked. The scent of food filled the house, making my mouth water."Dinner is almost done," Lilia called when I hit the stairs."I'll be down in a few," I agreed.Entering my room, I dropped the bag on my bed and collapsed face first onto Roxy's old bed. "Ugh. The things I do for magic."Even after healing magic, my everything felt like one big bruise. That'll teach me to jump out of trees all day. Yeah right, and pigs will fly. …Without magic.The next morning, I got up and did it all again. This time, when we finished late in the afternoon, I suggested a new project to Sylphie, after we finished today's stage of soap making and I'd done most of the prep work for making ink—we could move on to the next phases of those tomorrow. She was reaching the point where she needed to cast many Intermediate-level spells to blow her mana for the day, so I got an idea for making use of it.Starting from the tree, we cut and raised a paved stone path into town. It wasn't something we would do overnight, but as a long term project I felt paving the streets and road through town would be something nice—useful to everyone in the village and people who pass through.