Skill? Nee yo Sonnamon! ~ Fugusha tachi no Saino Kaika ~

How to Learn Magic Sword (?) 2

 

Time to begin the afternoon class of Magic Sword lesson.
You there! How long you're planning on doing that! No seriously give it a break.
Please.

“Looks like you've got enough practice with controlling your inner mana, so now let's proceed with external mana.”

“External?”

“Yeah.
Try to practice casting magic without relying on skill.”

Skills seem to virtually auto pilot the usage of mana, hence she can't adjust its shape and power well on her own.

“You know Livelihood magic [Ignite] used for cooking right, how do you think that works?”

“It turns mana, into flame?”

“Roughly speaking, that's correct.
Specifically, it turns mana into flammable gas that gets emitted on your fingertip, then another mana ignites it like a flint.”

“Err…
Flammable gas? Flint?”

My awkward explanation didn't seem to do the job.
Well, that's why I've done my preps though.

“Ah, guess it's faster to see it in practice.
Hold on a bit.”

Seeing is believing.
Let's give her a non-magic example.
I took a bottle of oil and firewood out of my bag.

【Fire Frog Oil】
<Highly combustible, use with care.>>

I bought some monster mats in a store near Adventurer Guild.
4000 en for 100ml.
Way to pricey.
The store seems to stock up stuff for apothecaries and alchemists, it's even got Hiruka and Antidote grass for sale.

There's even some dangerous things like a needle that paralyzes you for 10 minutes if even the tip stabs you.
Though they won't sell that just to anyone.
I could only purchase this oil after showing my guild member card too.

Oops, back to topic at hands.
So here I plan to reproduce magic using this oil.
Err, and here's two stones.
I smear a bit of the oil on the firewood, done.

“Think of this oil as flammable gas, firewood as a sword, and these stones as flints.”

“??? Eh? Eh?”

“Well, just watch.”

I knock the two stones together with my hands to create sparks.

Kachi, kachi.

Mwu, it just won't ignite.
Dang, you!

Kaki! Gachii!
Bwoosh!

A blaze flared up the instance the oil got ignited.

“Nuoo!? T-that was some blaze…
shocked me there…”

“! It's like that flaming sword…!”

“Y-yeah.
That's right.
I reproduced that with tangible objects instead of mana.
Did that help with the image?”

“Un…! You're amazing, Hikaru.
You showed stuff inexplicable with words through actions.”

“I wouldn't have needed this if only I could explain better though.
Whoa, the firewood's totally gone.
This thing's incredible…”

This oil is way scary! Why isn't it banned! You can get your hands on this thing so easily!
Well, I guess they sell gasoline everywhere in my world too, barely safe then?

“What I reproduced just now is [Ignite] of Livelihood magic, the same flaming sword I swung around yesterday.
It's like one application of Livelihood magic.”

“They don't look the same at all, yet they share the inner working…”

“So, how about giving it a go.
Using both your hands should make it easier for your first attempt.
Ah, make sure to point in an empty space just to be safe.”

Emit flammable gas with one hand and create sparks with mana flints on the other.
Doing that with one hand was impossible for me in the beginning.
I could do it now though.

“Burning mana with one hand, and another is…”

“Flints, yep you create sparks like I showed you.
Hey wait, Alma, you're pouring too much mana.

Gachi!
ZUGOOOOOOOOO!!

A 20 meter long flame spread out ahead of Alma.
Is that a flamethrower?

Oh crap!

Stop! Staaaahp!! Your teacher is commanding you to stooop!!

“Alma!! Stop now!!”

“Hii! Fire! Flame!”

She's too panicked to stop her mana flow!
Eei! Then how about!
Water it down! Wait no, it's not gonna be enough! It's just gonna create a steam explosion!

Then nitrogen! O mana, turn into 'Inflammable Gas' and wrap Alma around!

Pushuuuuuu….…

Pusupusu…

Barely made it.
Fortunately it only ended up with a red scorched ground.

T-t-that was close…!
Guess that happens when Alma and her three digit MP did it, I mean even my low MP created that blaze…!
Had she pointed that to a person by mistake…
They'd have turned into cinders.

“Alma, you discharged too much MP…
Wait hey!”

“Push~…”

She fell down like a deflating balloon.
I supported her before she could hit the ground…
Huh, did she pass out?
Ah, could this be.
Status check

Almatina

State: Mana Depletion + Fainted

MP: 0/113

Ah, I knew it.
She's used up all her MP.
Man, this girl.
If I recall right, you won't get up for at least 24 hours if you run out of mana?
I could bring her back to the inn, people will see us weird again~…
Well, guess it can't be helped.

Hold it? What was it again, you can wake people suffering from mana depletion by supplying them with mana or something.
Maybe I should give it a try?
Wonder if it's safe though.

<Therefore, it should be safe.>>

Ah, that huh.
I did pass my mana through her hand.
And Menu-san, aren't you way amazing? This is way more handy than Appraisal.
I've confirmed it's safe.
Let's get to it.

I pass my mana to Alma through my palm to her hand, imagining it to circulate in her whole body.

…

…

…

Ah, I ran out of MP.
Guess I used a lot to extinguish that flame earlier.
Confirming Alma's stats.

Almatina

State: Mana Shortage (Large) + Fainted

MP: 5/114

Oh, her MP's restored a bit.
Even her max MP got raised.
A lucky break.

“Alma, get up.
Alma!”

“U-uun…?”

Oh good, she seems fine.

“Huh, was I sleeping? What was I doing again…
Ah, the flame, flame!”

“Calm down.
It's died down already.
There's no harm done, no worries.”
(While averting my glance from the scorched ground.)

“A-au…
I'm sorry, I…”

“I should have told you to watch the output.
Forgive me.
Be careful from now on, okay?”

“Un…
I got too much into it because I thought I could finally use magic swords and poured out excess mana…”

“Ah, yep.
I had a close call with excess mana output during my first time too.
Don't get so down, it's normal for things to not go well for your first time…
Though I never realized just how incredible your mana is, Alma.”

I pointed at the still smoking 20m long scorched ground .

“T-the ground it's…
Did, I, do this?”

“Yup.
Pretty incredible huh.
Wonder how high your level gotta be if you want to reproduce this with skills.
It's way overpowered…”

“Overpowered…”

Alma-san? Why do you look so happy? I'm nonplussed over here.

“Welp, let's head back since you've depleted your mana and all, it's at 5 now.”

“Depleted…
Did Hikaru, share yours?”

“Yeah.
Relax, I just gripped your hand and did nothing weird.”

“Only clergies with Sacred Jobs are able to share mana between people.
Amazing.

Sacred jobs huh.
Is it something like 'White Mages' or 'Priests' from certain national RPG.

<They are partially Combat Job with Level.>>

Sounds about right.
Revelation kinda caught my ear though.

“Not at all.
I'm sure Alma can do it too now.
Ah, but not right now, wait till your mana's refilled okay?”

“Me too…? Thanks to Hikaru's teachings…? Un, you are amazing, Hikaru.”

“I'm really not…
Ah, you're swaying.
Guess Mana Shortage is really rough.”

“Un…
It feels heavy, like that time at the forest.”

“…No choice.
Get on.”

I crouched down and turned my back at her.

“Eh?”

“Get on my back.
I know it's embarrassing, but I'm guessing you can't walk to the inn in that state, can you?”

“U-un.
I got it.”

She leaned herself on my back after hesitating a bit.
She's light.
This girl's really slim.
Or more like, I can feel something soft on my back…!
Calm down me! I'm doing this out of necessity! There's no ulterior motive at all!
You, ghost in my head, stop that 'Reported' stuff!

“Ah, Alma.
It's gonna touch if you lean too much…”

“…Suu…
Suu…”

Aaand she's asleep.
Isn't she way too defenseless?

Afterward, the townfolks we passed by would either look at us warmly or had a dubious look, even the innlady said, 'Alrighty, one room it is'.
Stop that.
Are we doing this again tomorrow? Gotta take care not to run our MP dry at least…