Swords & Magic

After breakfast, I helped out Mimosa with cooking and cleaning. Then, I tended to the flowers in the garden.

Actually, I have been maintaining the plants in the garden whenever I got time since I first came here. I have also been studying the beautiful exotic plants using some books which I found in the library. Apparently, the previous owners of the High gardens were also doing the same thing, as there were numerous written records compiled by them anonymously.

'These are truly fascinating,' I thought. There are many precious herbs in the garden too. They can be used to make potions for curing diseases and poison. The most fascinating fact about these potions is that, compared to Earth's medicines, they work faster and with a hundred per cent success rate independent of the conditions of the patient. Of course, there are several other dreadful diseases and stronger poisons that can render them useless. But those are rare.

Well, I have heard that along with tea, timber and high-quality ale and mead, high-grade potions are also a speciality of Alison. Of course, I have no ambition of doing potion business. But nevertheless, I seem to have an interest in them.

That may be one of the reasons. But to be honest, I simply wanted to tend to the beautiful flowers in the garden.

After that, I went to the library to go through the 'underlying principles of elemental magic' or so they are called, as per Mimosa's instructions. For today, I was asked to go through only the 'Air' part. According to the prof. there is a book here in the library that can help me. It was written for a young demographic. So apparently it should be really easy for me to understand it.

O, there it is! 'Principia Naturalis'...oy oy oy, are you serious? When I heard about it, I was a little sceptical. But now...someone, some famous scientist is going to sue you, you know.

*cough* Well, for now, let's go through the contents - "air is a mixture of gases...contents are not accurately known...is like a fluid...diffusion...it moves from high-pressure area to low pressure area...' illustrations of a pump and other...'" and the next, "use of mana to create pressure...sensing air movements...creating artificial air flow...the power of storms...dangers of magic and precautions." Whaaaat!! Are they seriously teaching such physics to children?

I was an average high school student. So it should not be that tough for me, I hope. Let us look inside...What blasphemy is this? There are no mathematical derivations. Physics without mathematics is just philosophy, you know. *cough* I suppose I have no say in this. I am no better at mathematics than others. If it is only to this extent, then there shall be no real problems, I guess.

I skimmed through the rest of the book quickly and went to meet Mimosa in our training area inside the Red Forest. But she was nowhere to find.

Suddenly, I felt a presence behind me for a split second. As I turned around, that presence was close, so close. I instantly took a step back and took a defensive stance. At the same moment, a considerable strike landed near my feet. It was Mimosa. She was swinging a broad branch of a tree, which of course, was instantly crushed to pieces.

"You have improved a little Kenny," she said with a mischievous giggle. "You learn so fast. I am pretty sure now - that you had a lot of battle skills before."

"Mi...Mimosa, don't scare me like that." I strenuously voiced out.

"Come on, Kenny. I just wanted to check on your improvements." She continued with confidence, "And, I won't allow even a single scratch on my little Kenny. So, I used this stick as it is too soft to harm you. But, look closely, as I am going to show you a dangerous weapon today, that may be able to hurt you." She smiled again and pulled out a black obsidian-like ring from her inner pocket.

A ring...a weapon! Is it like the ring from that fiction surrounding a ring? Well, it looks precisely similar, except this ring is black, very black, like dark lamp black inside a polished ring-shaped crystal. No, it is even more mysterious, as if you will be pulled inside if you continue to stare at it.

"This is a type of artefact called a 'Case'. It is made up of a select class of crystalline alloy which can store a particular kind of Ynni in large quantities. These cases come in various shape and sizes." she explained. "It is basically used by master craftsmen as a storage device for their works."

"Look, this case has a sword stored in it." Saying so, she applied a little mana in it, and the black mass inside the body of the ring began to come out as thick black fumes. She then caught hold of it and pulled it. When a considerable part of it had come out, it began to take the form of a sword, a short sword, having a straight black blade of about 60 cm in length. The hilt was wrapped up in some kind of leather. The guard was small and oval-shaped. As for the metal used for the blade, I couldn't recognise it with sight alone. Overall, it looked similar to a ninjato.

I had seen several different kinds of swords before in museums and exhibitions, but they all looked...kind of artificial. But this sword looked alive. As if it has slain many and is still hungry for blood. The sinister-looking black mana that was coming out of the blade made it look like a cursed sword.

"Wowww" I was so surprised that my jaw was about to drop to the ground. "This sword looks so beautiful but deadly at the same time."

"Rightt!!" Mimosa said with a happy smile. "This sword is apparently one of my family heirlooms. The prof. found it along with some other artefacts in the place where I was sealed."

"A family heirloom! It might have been forged by your ancestor." I commented.

"Hmm, that may be the case. We have no way of knowing that for now. Usually, there are inscriptions about the creator. But this sword has none." she said pondering. "But, that adds more mystery to it, right? It might even be a relic from the Age of Gods. We must take care of objects like this."

"Yeah, ancient relics are the pride of a civilisation," I said. "By the way, Mimosa, why did you show me this sword? Weren't we going to learn spells?"

"Well, that's because I thought you might have swordsmanship skills, which you have probably forgotten. Your movements yesterday resembled that of a short sword user," she said. "If you hold a real sword and try a few swings, you might remember them."

Me? A swordsman? How can that be possible? I have never wielded anything like a sword. "No no, you might have a misunderstanding. I don't think I have any swordsman skills." I said, rejecting the idea.

"We'll never know if we don't try," she said with confidence and pulled out the scabbard of the sword from the ring, which was also black with floral patterns carved on it in red.

Then she handed me the sheathed sword. I was surprised by its weight. And if I say heavy, it is actually very heavy. For you see, because of my newfound powers, I have become very strong. I can literally crush rocks with the flick of a finger. So, everyday objects feel very light to me. Hence, this sword must be inconceivably heavy for the old me.

But the bigger surprise was when I unsheathed it. My hand felt hot, and the heat travelled up my hand to my heart. It felt similar to absorbing a mana core. The black fume like substance that the sword was emitting was gone, leaving a simple dull black sword.

"Aaah!" I panicked thinking that I had damaged an ancient relic. Sweat formed on my forehead, and I started making excuses. "It..it happened automatically."

"Are you hurt Kenny?" she frantically snatched the sword away from me, looking way more panicked than me.

"I am alright," I replied. "I felt a sudden warm sensation and the sword..."

"Hmm, you might have absorbed it all in one go," she said after examining the now lifeless sword. "Don't worry Kenny. It was not your fault. Actually, this is one of the abilities of this sword. Here, let me explain. This sword can steal lifeforce from the opponent it cuts or stabs and store it, somewhat similar to our unique skill. And then, it can be absorbed by the user at any time. This sword had a lot of life force stored in it, and the sword passed all of it to you. This happened with me too, when I unsheathed the sword for the first time."

She stopped abruptly and stared straight at my eyes, "And Kennyyy, don't you worry about the sword over your own safety. Such a high amount of lifeforce can burn one's mana circuits. Please be careful from next time."

"But, it is such a priceless sword." I received a chop on my head after saying that.

"Let us leave it at that and try sword swings." She again handed me the sword and commanded, "Go hit some rocks and trees."

"Yes, ma'am." I obediently followed.

I found a big rock nearby and took a stance near it. I gripped the sword with both my hands and held it above my right ear. When I was ready, I swung it down, diagonally with a lot of power. The sword faintly glowed white and cut through the rock without any resistance making a shrill sound. The rock was sliced in half, and a loud bang echoed a second later, leaving me surprised and terrified.

The mistake that I had made became visible when both the halves of the rock fell apart. The forest and everything else in the way of my sword trail was cleanly cut, and the destruction continued for quite a long distance. I am sure the environmentalists from Earth are going to put me on trial for this.

"Kennnyyy..." Mimosa growled. "Did you forget to hold back again?"

"Sorry, Mimosa. I was not sure as to how much strength I should apply." I tried to come out with excuses.

"*sigh* well anyway, your strike had passing marks. You should practice sword swings whenever you get time." She said, taking the sword away from me. "But not with this one. You have to first practice with weaker swords. Only then you will learn to control your power." Saying so, she stored the sword inside its 'case'. The sword deformed into black fumes and disappeared inside the ring.

"Yes.." I replied powerlessly.

"My my, don't feel down Kenny," she said with renewed excitement leaving me surprised by her swiftly changing mood. "As I said earlier, I am going to teach to some 'wind' elemental spells now. I am sure that will lighten up your mood."

----

(third-person POV)

It was sometime at noon. Louis Dogbane was checking some documents in his office with the help of his butler, Balcro. As it was almost lunchtime, almost all the other staff had gone for lunch. Balcro brought packaged lunch for his master in the office, as his master had a lot of work to complete.

Mr Dogbane is currently acting as the 'Merchant Lord' of Alison, which is a well-known government post. All the major merchant guilds of Alison has to answer to him, and he himself has to answer to the treasurer of the king. As there are no other high ranking government officials in Alison, Mr Dogbane yields the highest authority.

He also maintains civil records with the help of some other officials working under him. As for public security, there is a small garrison of soldiers under a constable who maintain law and order in the town.

Under the urge of his butler, he took a quick break to eat his lunch. Suddenly he noticed a twinkling blue light coming from the basement of the town hall. The light was coming from the room containing the relay point. Generally, the twinkling light means that an urgent message has been received by the relay crystal. It is a product of magic engineering and can be used to relay/receive messages to/from the ancient earth spirits as well as other relay points.

"What can it be now?" he thought. As Alison is a satellite town far from the capital or the commercial city, hardly anything significant happens here. And so, there are no frequent contacts from outside. Hence, the emergency message at such an unusual time of the year intrigued him.

"Balcro...Balcro, are you there?" he called his butler.

A few moments later, Balcro came out of the door of the basement and said in his usual weak and nonchalant voice, "Master, I have recorded the message. Here are the contents." Saying so, he handed a rectangular transparent crystal plate to his master.

It is similar to the crystal cards used as id cards, a product of magic engineering; except it has larger dimensions and can be reused to store different pieces of information. The amount of information that can be stored depends on the quality of the product, ranging from just a few sentences to a thousand pages of text.

Mr Dogbane passed a little mana into the card, and the letters appeared with a glow. He read and reread the contents a few times in silence.

A few minutes later, he opened his mouth again and spoke with an excited smile, "Balcro, get our luggage ready. Adventure is calling us again."

"Yes, master," said Balcro in his usual tone. But a faint excited smile, similar to his master, could be seen in his nonchalant aged face...

----

(first-person POV)

*cough* Mimosa cleared her throat and started her lecture by imitating the prof., "Listen Kenny. 'Wind' elemental spells are the very basic spells that every aspiring sorcerer learns first. This knowledge helps in learning every other elemental spell like fire, water, earth and even lightning. Generally, the instructors of the magic institutions do not explain the intricate mechanisms of the spells to the students. The students are expected to learn them the hard way - by repeated practices under the supervision of an instructor." She paused to catch her breath and continued, "But I am going to explain exactly how I activate these spells. So that you can learn them real quick."

"Woahh, *clap clap*" and I acted like an obedient student eager to learn.

She held out her right hand and said, "Look closely. I will control the air with my mana and concentrate it atop my palm. This will create a sphere of air under high pressure." As she said, a cloudy sphere of about 5 cms in diameter formed atop her palm. The cloudy white was probably because of condensed water vapour, which disappeared exactly like it developed, leaving a glowing transparent mass of swirling dense air.

"Woah, cool!" I was really amazed. And it looked exactly like the primary attack of some orange ninja.

Mimosa continued her demonstration, "And now, you can propel it in any direction by creating a force of the wind. For that, you need to remove the air near it. The surrounding air will rush in and push it forward."

And then, I couldn't notice how it happened, but suddenly the sphere shot upwards and blasted making a shockwave. Many exciting things happened today. But definitely, this was one of the best one. Making explosions and shockwaves out of thin air is a man's romance.

To learn elemental wind spells, my first objective was to learn to control air using my own mana. And it definitely wasn't easy for the first time. But slowly, I managed to feel the air with my mana if I slowly release it from my hand. It was like, my own nerves had extended out of my body as my mana as the medium. I could feel everything my mana touched. After that, it was simple as putting the numbers in a formula and calculating the value. I managed to form the sphere of compressed air and shot it. And unfortunately, that was where the mistake was made. I couldn't pinpoint the direction, and the sphere went towards a treetop, crushing the branches and leaves as it exploded.

But still, instructor Mimosa was pleased with my quick learning. She praised me again and again, and it made me really happy.

I practised with her for another hour and eventually managed to correct my trajectory. Apparently, this particular spell is inefficient for long distances, for it slowed down after travelling a little distance. For such cases, there is another spell called 'air dart'. Its mechanism is similar to the sphere, but it is shot by just using mana bursts like the 'mana dart' that I learned the other day. I tried it, and as usual, it was crazy fast and destroyed the target.

The 'air dart' can also be used to cause burn-damage by heating up the compressed air to a scorching high temperature. When I tried forming the dart, it was very hard to control and consumed four times more mana than usual. But it was highly destructive, as it obliterated the target. Please don't worry environmentalists. We limited our targets to rocks to reduce damage to the forest.

----

As the sun set in the horizon, we returned to the High Gardens. I took a bath and later helped Mimosa with dinner. We had the meat of a sizeable Emu-like bird called 'Aptery', which I used to cook a spicy curry. I used some simple local spices and vegetables. Unfortunately, we did not have rice. So, I served it with bread.

The prof. was surprised by the hot taste. Mimosa generally avoids vegetables, but she couldn't stop herself after being assaulted by the fragrant smell. I received praise from both of them, and it made me really happy. Apparently, my cooking skills are also improving.