NOVEL WEB Ch 33: Transmutation!
Elwen focused on her spell circle, slowly pouring mana into it. It was a method that Cladion had taught her to increase the efficiency of her spells. If she was too fast or clumsy, she could have mana leak out of the circle or not even make it into the circle to begin with, which meant that it took her more mana to cast the spell. By slowing down, she could make sure to control the mana properly so that she didn't have any unnecessary losses. Once she got better, she could probably speed up, but for now she was taking it slow.
She wasn't even aware that her mana wasn't being used efficiently earlier. It was surprising to her when he showed her how much was leaking, it looked like she was creating a cloud of unused mana around her every time she tried to cast a spell. Even now, when she was being careful not to waste any, there was a still a bit that was leaking out of the circle, but Cladion told her that it was normal to lose some and that she was actually doing really well. The amount that she was losing now was tiny compared how much she was losing before he pointed it out.
Once she felt like it was ready, Elwen let go of the [Waterball], sending it flying at the dummy target. It splashed mostly harmlessly against it, soaking the target. This was to be expected though, [Waterball] wasn't the most powerful of spells. It was a beginner spells, one of the first ones she had learned.
“Good, good.” Cladion said, “Your efficiency is getting much better, although your speed could be improved... But that's something that will get better with practice. Now, try it with the focus.”
Elwen took a deep breath and held up the crystal ball. She had successfully cast a spell using attributed mana before, but it was a simplified version of [Waterball] that Cladion had taught her specifically because it was easy to cast even with her attention split between it and the transmutation process. The simplified spell wasn't useful as it just created the ball, which would immediately drop to the ground and rapidly disappear, as there wasn't any sustaining element to the spell. This time, she would be trying to cast the full [Waterball] spell.
She focused on the circle first, imagining it in her mind, before sending a tiny stream of mana through the focus, forming the circle just on the other side. The circle wobbled as she switched her attention between it and the transmutation. She tried to be as careful as possible, taking it as slowly as she could, but even then there was instability in the spell.
However, it wasn't enough to break the circle, and she managed to complete the spell, sending the [Waterball] hurtling at the dummy at a much higher speed. Not only was it going faster, but the ball itself was also much larger, about twice the size of the original. The [Waterball] crashed into the dummy, making a loud noise as it rocked the dummy back, almost knocking it over.
“Fantastic!” Cladion exclaimed “Good work! That's what a spell cast with the proper mana should look like.”
“That was... much stronger usual...” Elwen was shocked at the difference, even if she was already told that it would be big. She had expected the ball to be bigger, but not to move so quickly or hit the target with such force.
“Quite a few mages, myself included, have done experiments with using adjacent attributes for casting, and it almost always results in a significant decrease in the spell's power, although I must say that it usually was less of a difference than this.” Cladion remarked.
“Wait, so you don't need the same attribute? I thought you said that you needed the matching attribute to cast spells?” Elwen remembered that he had said that, with the exception of her pure mana, mages needed mana of the corresponding attribute to cast spells.
“Well, technically no.” Cladion explained, “But the efficiency is lower and the spell is less powerful, and the spell becomes more difficult to cast. The attribute also has to be similar as well, otherwise it won't work. For instance, I experimented with casting lava-attribute spells using my fire attribute. I was able to do it, but its effectiveness was only sixty percent. A colleague of mine tried to do the same with a sand attribute, and he wasn't successful. It was too different. However, another colleague tried using an earth attribute, and was able to do it, but with an effectiveness of around forty percent.”
“Oh.”
“Well, any questions on transmutation?” Cladion asked. “I think we're almost out of time, so I'd like to move on to something else tomorrow.”
“Um,” Elwen had so many questions she didn't know where to start, “Do I have to use a focus, or is there a way to do it without one?”
“Yes,” Cladion answered, “Well, maybe. You might be able to do it with your pure mana, I'm not sure. It is uncharted territory. But everyone else has to use a focus. We have to transmute our mana into pure mana, before immediately transmuting it back into the desired attribute. But there might be a way for you to do it without a focus. After all, pure mana does naturally transform into other forms of mana.”
“And you have to get a special focus for each attribute?” She followed up with another question.
“Yes. Every attribute needs its own focus. Or at least, that's the theory. It hasn't been disproven yet, though.” He answered once again. “But you don't need a different focus for your input mana. Everyone can use the same focus to make the same mana type.”
“And what exactly are focuses?”
“They're magical devices... I guess.” Cladion didn't have a great answer for her question. “It's not really my area of expertise, but I know that the majority of focuses are crafted by special artisans. They use materials that are naturally attuned to the desired attribute. I think they also use a monster core, but I'm not really sure.” Just then, there was a sharp knock on the door. “Ah, it looks like we're out of time. I'll see you tomorrow.”
The guard came and Elwen was quickly ushered out of the door. Apparently, one of the supervisors got mad that she had stayed a little late one day and had a 'talk' with Cladion. Suddenly, he was far more eager for her to be on time. She would rather stay and ask a few more questions, but she was pushed out of the door before she could say anything else.
She didn't recognize the guard this time. Usually, she had the same three or four men come to get her but this time it was someone different. He was a lot more pushy than the other ones. She stopped for a second at one of the junctions, because she didn't remember which way to go, and he practically grabbed her and pulled her along. She didn't like it, but there was something else on her mind.
She was deep in thought, repeating Cladion's words in her mind.
'Mana naturally transforms...'
If she could figure out how that works, it felt like it would bring her a lot closer to casting her magic at full strength without doing that troublesome transmutation process. Even if she got it that time, she felt like it was still something that was too difficult for her to do it reliably. Plus, she would need a focus for every time of mana. She didn't know how much they cost, but she imagined they weren't cheap.
Elwen was eventually deposited in her room, where she quickly fell asleep, dreaming of magic.
Varian leaned onto the railing, looking out at the wide sea.
“He he he!” He heard as he was suddenly attacked from behind. He looked back at Reia, who had wrapped herself around him.
“Are you really that excited?” He asked. He was more than a little amused now, but he had been pretty surprised when Reia told him that she had never left the continent. After all, they were pretty close in levels, and he felt pretty overpowered after he defeated the Scorakion. He would have expected her to leave much sooner.
He had agreed to continue their 'relationship' on a trial basis for a while. He wasn't certain that she actually wanted to be his slave, or if she would enjoy the lifestyle. To him, it seemed more of a spur-of-the-moment decision, one that she could easily come to regret. He didn't want to keep anyone as his slave against their will. He also wasn't sure if she and Elwen would get along. He figured that Elwen probably wouldn't hate her, but if they couldn't build a good relationship, then the whole thing wouldn't work out.
“Of course I am! I can finally get off that stupid rock.” Reia happily giggled, although he could still detect a bit of frustration. Varian knew that the source of her anger was the Assassin's Guild and her forced contract with them.
'Perhaps it will be good for her to put some distance between her and that place...'
It really wasn't what he was thinking when he negotiated for passage on the ship, but he wasn't one to ignore the effects of his actions, whether they were intentional or not. The only reason he really had, and the only reason he needed, was that the ship would take him where he needed to go, to the Western Demon Continent. There, he would finally be reunited with Elwen.
He was still a little short on gold, but the artifacts he had already sold covered most of it. There were a few left that he hoped would sell for more, so he was saving them for the new continent. With any luck, the remaining items would cover the rest, and more.
He also had to find enough money to upgrade Reia's crest, if the trial period went well. Right now, she had a Tier 3 crest, which was the lowest available. Unfortunately, that was the best he could do, at least for now. It was enough for what he needed earlier, but it also had many restrictions on it and many of the [Slavemaster] system features would not work with it.
Although, that didn't really mean anything yet, as he didn't have access to any of the features he should have yet. For now, he assumed it was a progression-type system, where he had to unlock the features over time. He planned to see if there was any material on it once they got to Blackmarsh. Slavery was a lot more common on the Demon Continent, so he hoped they would have more information on how it work, exactly.
“Come on~ Don't you want to have some fun?” Reia innocently called as she tugged on his arm. He had been, admittedly, ignoring her as he was lost in his thoughts. Of course, he doubted that the succubus wanted innocent 'fun'.
“Alright, fine. Let's go back to the room.” The captain had been kind enough to give them their own room, even though it wasn't part of their arrangement. They had agreed to give them passage and provide food and water in exchange for guarding the ship. He hadn't expected to also get a bonus, but he wasn't going to complain. It wasn't a particularly nice room, seemingly being a small storage room before being repurposed, but it was enough. Comfortable, even. If he tried enough.
“Ok! I'll try not to be too loud.” Reia smirked.
Varian rolled his eyes, knowing that her definition of 'too loud' was far different than his. Still, he was happy to indulge her, and it wasn't like it was frivolous, either. Apparently, she actually did need to do it regularly, the stories weren't just fairy tales. Or she was a very clever liar. Not that he minded.
