Chapter 17

Julia parried a strike with her own sword before falling back a couple of steps. Ravina pursued immediately, taking a single step to cross the distance that a couple of Julia’s steps had covered.

She stabbed forward as though to run Julia through, but as she began to parry the stab to the side, Ravina’s foot hooked around the ankle of her forward foot. Now off-balance while trying to shift her stance, Julia ended up in an almost-split stance, with the point of Ravina’s sword just a fingernail’s length from her forehead.

“Well, the first parry was solid, and immediately tryin’ to gain some distance was also a good decision if you were gonna use magic. Your forward thinkin’ when ya have the initiative is decent, but you’re not thinkin’ ahead enough when on defense. And what have I said about your footwork?” Ravina chastised.

“‘Lose your footing, lose your life.’ I know. But what can I do? You’re way better than me! I was thinking about my footwork the whole time, but when you chased after me, I had to think about not getting stabbed!” Julia groused.

Ravina was a Mithril-ranked adventurer that Braden had hired to train Julia in the things he wasn’t quite as good at—namely, swordsmanship. He could apparently hold his ground with his staff long enough to make sufficient distance and retaliate with magic, but that was it. He was not a close-combatant by any means.

“Girl, you’re missin’ the point completely. I said to never stop thinkin’ ‘bout your footwork. Did you think that meant to think about it only when it’s fuckin’ convenient for you? You gotta think about your feet and be planning a few moves in advance, or you’re gonna trip over them, as you can plainly see.”

“Ravina’s good people. She’s just…uh…a little abrasive,” was what Braden had said when explaining who he’d hired for training. She was a late-twenties-something girl with long black hair that she wore in a braid extending down her back—or into her cuirass, if she was on a job.

She had prominent cheekbones, a nose that suggested one or multiple breakages, and a strong jaw that said she would brook no nonsense—her demeanor confirmed it. She was stalwart and strict in her training. Julia suspected that Ravina was drilling her in ways Ravina herself wished she had been drilled before going out into the field.

“Make and learn from mistakes now, so you don’t have to pay for them later,” was one of her favorite tenets—repeated often. The numerous scars present on her trainer’s body suggested she was speaking from experience.

For all her encouragement of making mistakes, you’d think she would be a little gentler when one actually occurred. But alas, she was not gentle about punishing any single mistake—no matter how small. Julia had many welts to testify to. That dichotomy was the world Julia had been living in for the past year and a half.

Julia’s fourteenth birthday had come and gone just a couple of weeks ago. It was a standard affair of cake and presents, along with Braden imparting some kind of magic or technique to her. Since her twelfth birthday, it had become something of a tradition.

On her thirteenth birthday, Braden had given her a demonstration that pushed her Gravity Magic forward by leaps and bounds. He’d arranged a few dining chairs in a small circle and spread a sheet over them. He then set an apple in the middle of the sheet so that it created a small divot.

He told her to think of the sheet as the “fabric” of space and time. Well, he said “spacetime” specifically, as though they were one thing. Regardless, the force of gravity apparently created these divots in spacetime, which attracted objects just as anything placed on the sheet would slide toward the apple due to the divot it created. He demonstrated larger divots with larger objects.

This was a great visualization that excited her, but what had really pushed her magic forward was when he put a coin next to the apple on the sheet.

“Now, imagine you want to levitate this coin with your magic. How would you do that? Well, you need to cancel out the effect of the apple’s gravity well that has the coin trapped. Like this.”

He put his hand under the sheet and gently pushed up on it from beneath the coin so that the coin was now higher than the apple—level with the edges of the sheet draped over the chairs.

This was what really firmed Julia’s vision of levitating objects. Instead of just feeding the World her mana, now she had clear instructions to tell it exactly what she wanted. As a result, it became far more efficient. She could levitate small objects for extended periods with minimal drain on her mana.

She was still not quite at the level of levitating herself, though. She could make it happen, but it was horrendously taxing on her mana reserves. Braden claimed this was more about her having a low total amount of total mana and less mana efficiency (due to her low Level) than her understanding of the technique.

“One doesn’t overcome a fundamental force, even one as weak as gravity, easily, Jules,” Braden had said. He’d also mentioned something about cancelling gravity not being the same as levitating…something about anti-gravity? That one had gone over her head, and Braden was mumbling to himself more than her anyway.

His gift for her fourteenth birthday had to be put off. They had a small patio with a grassed-over backyard behind their house, but it wasn’t really designed for training. Braden claimed they would need a wide-open space to demonstrate the technique.

That was the main reason they were here at the practice yard for the Guild. Typically, Ravina just came by the house and ran her through forms in the courtyard, but she seemed to have decided to take advantage of this opportunity.

“You’ve got the forms down well enough. It’s time to start sparrin’ and learn how to keep it under pressure. Had to get your form down so you don’t form any bad habits during actual sparring practice and undo all my work so far. We’ll meet at the practice yard three times a week from now on.”

Ravina had been coming twice a week so far, so this was an escalation to their practice. She also forbade any magic use during spars. Julia objected, saying that she would be fighting with magic, so she should learn how to wield both at the same time.

“Pfft, yeah. You should learn that eventually. Tell me, girly, would you also like to try writin’ a story before you even learn your fuckin’ letters? You’re far too new to the sword to be tryin’ anything else with it. Focus on not trippin’ over your own damn feet for now.”

Braden had actually questioned whether she was sure she wanted to train with a sword. Since she was likely going to be focused on magic, he had suggested something like a staff or a scepter—something that could aid her casting and function as a close-range weapon when needed.

Julia was sure, though. And no, it had nothing to do with all the heroes in the stories using swords! Swords are versatile. As sidearms, they’re small enough to carry around without being obtrusive, they can cut, stab, and slash as needed, and they‘re also much cheaper than a scepter—even cheaper than a staff. At least, cheaper than one with a magic focus in it. She wasn’t sure about Braden’s, since it didn’t seem to have a focus at all.

Julia had wondered multiple times whether the sword was a sound decision after training with Ravina. However, she was dedicated. She had obtained the Sword Skill officially after just a few sessions with her, and it had made it all the way to Level 3 in the training she’d done since.

Ravina claimed that the early levels were easy since they were all about footwork and form. Apparently, the difference between a Level 6 and Level 7 swordswoman was substantial.

Regardless, Julia would stick with it. She got back up after dusting herself off and slightly lowered herself into a neutral stance. They traded blows—or, Julia took blows, rather—for another hour or so before Braden finally showed up.

He had been busy the past year. Apparently, a squad of adventurers had been dispatched to Rockyknoll quickly after Julia arrived in the condition she was in. Lothier had explained to the Guild Master what was going on and—when Braden refused to leave Julia’s side—they sent out a Mithril-ranked squad to clear the town.

Braden was paying for his stubbornness now, though. The adventurers wiped out everything. No survivors. The entire town was just ash and detritus, so Braden had precious few clues to further his own investigation—which was almost certainly connected to that incident.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Julia was pretty sure he blamed himself for the trouble she went through, since he wasn’t there for her. Nowadays, he was never gone for an entire day and night. When he left the city to investigate, he moved as fast as he could safely. Which—considering he’s at least a Grandmaster—is fast. He was always home for dinner now.

“Thanks for your hard work, Ravina. I’ve got a lesson with Julia queued up today, so I’ll take it from here,” Braden said amicably as he approached.

“Sure. She’s just reachin’ the point where she won’t learn nothin’ more from me for the day anyway,” Ravina chuckled as she walked away. “Remember: Mingröt, Julgröt, and Dringren. Be here by the time the sun peeks over the horizon. And bring pants you don’t mind shittin’,” she shouted behind her as she left the field.

Julia sent a look over to Braden. “Kidding! I’m sure she’s just kidding, haha…” Braden said—looking slightly uncomfortable. “Well, three days of training a week. You must have impressed her. I’m only paying her for two,” Braden chuckled.

“Dringren is fine, but why does she have to work me twice before the first rest?” Julia whined.

“Hey, three days a week out of ten isn’t bad, really. Gives your muscles plenty of time to rest and recover. Anyway, you better mark that down before you forget. You know I’ll forget, so it’s all on you,” Braden warned with humor.

Julia walked over to the bag she’d set on a bench nearby and took her notebook out. Braden had given it to her this year for her birthday. It came with a durability enchantment—of course—and also included a pen that, depending on which end you held, could either write or erase previous writing. Truly a special pair, this pen and notebook.

Julia wrote a brief schedule out:

1. Singröt: Magic training - all day

2. Mingröt: Swords - first thing: Magic training - afternoon

3. Dringröt: Magic training - all day

4. Julgröt: Swords - first thing: Magic training - afternoon

5. Sungröt: Rest

6. Singren: Magic training - all day

7. Mingren: Magic training - all day

8. Dringren: Swords - first thing: Magic training - afternoon

9. Julgren: Magic training - all day

10. Sungren: Rest

She shuddered just thinking about wearing her “shittin’” pants and whatever horrors that entailed.

Julia started when she heard—and felt—a rumbling. She looked over at Braden quickly to see him pulling a stone fence straight out of the ground. It extended in a circle around him for about a ten-stride radius.

“There. There’s no one here right now, but can’t be too careful. We’ll be doing some lightning work today, so don’t want anyone getting too close,” Braden said as the fence finished its dramatic rise.

It was late morning, and the training field was empty. Ravina had Julia practicing since the early morning, when it was busier, but now most adventurers had finished figuring out what they were doing for the day. Usually, there were at least a few who took the time to train if they weren’t taking jobs, but it was raining today. The practice field was enclosed with a roof, but—apparently—no one wanted to be out in the rain if they didn’t have to regardless.

“Ok, what we’re going to attempt to do today is upgrade your Faraday’s Cage spell. When I taught it to you, the intention was to use it as a defensive measure against not just offensive light and lightning magic aimed at you, but also your own. Now, we’re going to turn it into an offensive spell itself. Or…maybe a retaliatory spell, if not strictly offensive.”

Julia’s eyes widened. “A protection spell turned offensive? How are we going to do that!?” she practically shouted in excitement. She loved learning new magic.

Braden chuckled and suddenly started glowing. Julia had just enough time to wonder what was happening before a bolt of lightning sparked across his body. It didn’t seem to leap to the ground or outward at all. It hugged his body and traveled around it. Then another appeared and did the same.

As the bolts and the glow faded, Braden began, “As you know, Faraday’s Cage is about distributing charge around your body so that electricity is not encouraged to travel through it. Well, since you’re already maintaining a shield around yourself, why not add the electricity to it yourself?

“If you do that, not only are you still protected from the magic aimed at you, but you also have a defense against physical weapons and strikes. The implementation of this spell is incredibly simple. You effectively just cast lightning magic at yourself once the Cage is in place.

“This is the reason I had to have enough space. It’s why you’re still standing behind the fence right now. I’m not controlling the electricity. I’m just maintaining the Cage across my body and slightly insulating the ground—so that the charge doesn’t ground itself and dissipate. Since the electricity is uncontrolled, it’ll jump to whatever is close enough to attract it—be that a metal weapon or even a body. I call this modification Faraday’s Armor.”

Julia was almost vibrating with excitement, but before she could rush into the circle to try it herself, Braden held up his hand. “This is—by itself—not a modification of the spell. You’re just layering two spells on top of each other. That can be considered a modification in many circumstances, but this is not one of them. Changing the target isn’t exactly modifying either the Bolt or Cage spell.

“There’s one more step needed to transform the spell into Armor,” he said. Then he started glowing again. This time, the bolts came continuously. Arcing constantly across his body, but not striking as far out as before. They were tight and seemed to undulate only inches from his skin.

“The final step in this process is to sandwich a Bolt spell between two Cage spells. You effectively just trap the electricity between two Cages to contain it until it’s ready to release. Now, you do have to be careful with this spell.

“First of all, I don’t know if you know this, but plasma—which is what a lightning bolt is—is hot. Not hot like boiling water. Not even hot like a burning fire. It’s hot beyond anything you’ve ever experienced. You won’t heat up quite as quickly as a traditional Faraday Cage since we’re just using magic to manipulate charges. There are no wires to add external resistances. However, the air itself offers resistance, so it will heat up to uncomfortable temperatures quickly.

“There are several ways to combat this, but I really want you to figure out what method works best for you. The reason I keep drip-feeding you these small hints is that I want you to come to your own understanding and make your own magic. You can impress your will upon the World much easier and more naturally with concepts you’ve figured out personally.

“There’s a big difference between something you think is true because you’ve been told, and something you know is true because you’ve experienced it.”

Julia nodded in understanding. She had experienced the difference understanding could make most prominently with gravity.

“The second thing you have to watch out for is actually the exact purpose of this spell. The Cage is a non-physical thing—constructed entirely out of magic. Thus, it’s permeable to physical objects. This means if something, like a weapon or someone’s hand, passes through the first Cage, it will be struck by the full strength of the lightning trapped between the two Cages.

“This is obviously the purpose of the spell. It’s meant to defend you from physical strikes. Or, rather, automatically retaliate against strikes. The problem is that you can let no one and nothing touch you if you aren’t in mortal peril. It’s just like the Bolt spell. Do not let lightning strike anyone you aren’t prepared to kill.”

The words rang much heavier than they had when Braden first taught her the Bolt spell. Back then, it was theoretical. She hadn’t actually considered the implications of those words. Now, they etched themselves into her heart.

She was doing well with all the trauma, according to Braden and Ratia. True, she still sometimes woke up drenched with sweat and panting, but it was never debilitating like it was the first time she saw blood on the butcher, or when she realized she’d killed someone.

She certainly wasn’t ready to go out and do it again, though—which was good, she thought. She felt she should never be willing to kill someone without much thought.

She and Braden practiced the spell for a couple hours. It turned out relatively easy—other than the mana expenditure—since she already knew the spells involved. The initial cast wasn’t so bad—just two casts of Faraday’s Cage and then one Lightning Bolt. The Bolt only had to be cast a single time, as the energy would be contained by the ‘Cage sandwich’ until released.

The cost of the spell ended up being…not too bad. Once she unlocked the spell through the System, the efficiency rose just a bit, so the cost was somewhere around 2.5 times that of the initial cast of a Cage (slightly less than the cost of each spell individually), and then about 1.75 times the cost of maintaining a Cage spell. More expensive than she’d prefer, but definitely not prohibitive.

The main issue was the heat. She could only have it going for a few seconds before the temperature rose to uncomfortable levels. She tried using Breeze to blow the heat away from her. It worked, but the efficiency—of both the mana cost and heat reduction—was low. She felt certain that Wind Magic was the answer, but she currently had no firm ideas other than blowing the heat away.

When they got home, they had a meal of egg noodles and chicken in some kind of garlic butter sauce. She hadn’t paid too much attention to how Braden was making it, but the smell while it was cooking told her enough to hazard a guess.

Julia turned in early that night with Trixy curled around her neck. She wanted to get as much sleep as possible. After all, tomorrow was the day she’d finally be going on her first job as an adventurer!