CH.42 Alice’s magic show (of one spell)
Alice, followed by Dark Magician Girl, came up to us and said she was ready to show us a spell. I had paid some attention to their training so I know they were using some sort of dark attack spell.
“Yes, please do show us sweetheart.” Christina told Alice. Sweetheart? Well, at least one of her parents loves her. Well, I guess her father might love her in his own twisted way.
“If you feel ready, we would love to see.” I said. I think their practice went on for about 40 minutes. They would still have some time to use before I must unsummon DMG, but they decided to do it now. And I guess having DMG summoned in case something goes wrong is a good thing. She used a shield spell a couple of times during their practice to block Alice’s spell, so she should be able to do it now.
“Yes, I’m ready.” Alice said with enthusiasm.
I take a quick peek at Dark Magician Girl and she gives me a small nod of approval. Did she know what I was thinking or…
(Laura?)
(Yes, Master. I can transmit your thoughts to your summons.) Laura told me. So that’s why she could answer before I even asked.
“Now, is everyone ready?” Alice asked excitedly.
“Yes.” Christina answered.
“Show us what you can do.” I told her. Too bad some baron is not here to see this. Unless he is watching from a window.
“Okay, here I go.” Alice said and held up her right hand, pointing at the sky with her index finger. “Dark bullet.”
From her finger, off took a small clump of darkness. It looked more like a dark raindrop than a bullet, but close enough. It flew up into the sky and disappeared from sight. I hope it won’t fall on someone's head. Perhaps it will dissipate before it ever hits the ground.
Both Christina and I clapped at her successful spell. It was nice and simple, but without a target it was difficult to judge the power.
“The show is not over yet.” Alice said. “Mana, a target please.”
“Sure. Dark shield.” Dark Magician Girl said. Mana? Is that her name? Wasn’t that the name of Atem’s childhood friend in the anime or something? I think she was a student of … well the guy who became the Dark Magician. I think it was Mahad or something. He did get a new card after the Dark side movie that was named after him.
A wall, or maybe more like a panel, of darkness appeared a little ways away. So that’s what they are going to use as a target. They could have asked me to summon something to act as one. I don’t think something like Slot Machine would die even if peppered with low level spells.
Alice once again pointed with her right hand index finger, but now it was at the dark shield.
“Dark bullet.” She let out the same spell. The spell flew cleanly through the air and hit the target. Not dead center, but still a clean hit. I would say around a seven or a six.
Christina and I clapped more.
“Thank you.” Alice said. I can feel her confidence draining now that she succeeded. Or it might just be her running low on mana.
“That was a wonderful show.” Christina said as she made her way over to her daughter, taking her into a deep hug.
“Well done Alice.” I said to her. “You learned that spell so quickly.” It might be just a basic spell, but learning to hit a target at, I don’t know how far it is but still, in just an hour´, that accurately, is very impressive.
(Master, the dark shield they used as a target was 22 meters away from Alice’s shooting position.) Laura told me.
As I said, accurate. It took me a while to learn how to shoot a pistol accurately. Unless these spells have a homing feature.
(Basic spells cannot track targets, Master.) So they are simply point and shoot. Like a gun. Sniper Alice in the house. (A sniper would be more accurate, Master.)
While Christina was still holding Alice in a tight hug, Dark Magician Girl came up to me and asked: “Master, would you unsummon me now?”
“Sure I can, but why? You still have at least half an hour of time.”
“Yes, but that mage will wake up soon, so lady Laura told me I should be unsummoned before he wakes up.” So it was Laura’s idea. Why didn’t she just tell me directly?
(I calculated that Master was more likely to go with the plan if she asked directly.)
“Well, fine. I’ll unsummon you. Do you want to say something to Alice before you go?”
“I don’t think it’s necessary, Master. I’m sure you will summon me in front of her again. This is not a farewell after all.”
“I’ll give you that. Thank you for your service Dark Magician Girl.”
“Of course Master. And please call me Mana from now on.”
“As you wish, Mana.” I’m glad she gave me the permission to use that name. Dark Magician Girl is not really a great name to call someone by. It’s more of a title, than a name.
Just like when I summoned her, a card appeared above her. She floated up to it and disappeared. I put her card back into the collection.
“No!” I heard Alice yell out. “I still wanted to talk to her.” So she still had some business with Mana.
“Don’t worry. You’ll get to see her again. She just had to go. I can’t keep her summoned forever.” I told her.
“You will, right? That’s a promise, right?” Alice broke out of her mother’s hug and came up to me asking.
“Of course I will summon her again.” I told her. “I said that she could be your teacher, after all. She can’t teach you if I never summon her near you again.”
“Of course you will, right?” She is still going on with this. For how long?
“... what …. happened … “ Alice’s teacher was finally getting up from his nap. About time. With all the mana I poured into you, you should have been up ages ago.
(Master, your mana pool is a lot smaller than that of an accomplished mage.) Laura told me. Well thanks for taking me down. (It’s not an insult or an attempt at belittling you Master. You just haven’t had the time to train up your skills yet.) Well yeah. My pack opener skill gave me some defense so magical skill would likely increase my magic or mana. And he is an A-rank adventurer, so he probably has many magical skills. He could have many thousands of mana. In that the 150 mana I gave him would be basically nothing.
“Teacher.” Alice reacted to him getting up. “You woke up.”
“Oh, Alice….” He said weakly. “You shouldn’t let an old man run out of mana like this.”
“I’m sorry Teacher.” Alice said.
“But, what happened?” He asked.
“I casted a spell.” Alice said with pride.
“But… really? Did you really?” He seemed confused. Does he not remember that?
“Yes she really did.” I cut in. “It was way too powerful because she put too much effort into it and you ran out of mana trying to dispel it.” I told him.
“I see.” He said weakly. “I …. then I failed as her teacher.”
“Teacher.” Alice said quickly. “You didn’t fail. I’ve learned magic all thanks to you.” Well that’s true, to a point. She would’ve never cast a spell without an attribute, but she also wouldn’t be able to use an attribute without training.
“She’s right, you know.” Christina joined in. “You have worked hard to build up her skills and now she can cast magic. Thanks to you.” Christina is doing a great job at making sure Trystan doesn’t learn about my involvement in all of this. And I appreciate it. I don’t want greedy people bugging me for attributes. I want to open other sets than just Magic Ruler.
“Thank you Lady Christina.” He said. “Our efforts have not been in vain, right Miss Alice?”
“Yes, our effort has finally paid off.” Alice said.
“But, I’m still surprised that the attribute you awakened was dark. I thought for sure it would be wind like your father or earth like your mother.”
“I think dark suits me the best.” Alice said to her teacher. “That’s why it’s the one I have.”
You did make the choice after all.
“I think this is enough training for the morning.” Christina said. “Let’s just take it easy until lunch.”
That honestly sounds like a great idea. I’m still not feeling 100% due to missing mana. Let’s just take it easy for now. We also have that summoning ‘date’ in the afternoon.