Grayfield: Gears

William and Theodore stared at the large spider right in front of them as they both warily looked at it.

Neither William or Theodore moved as they carefully watched the large spider slowly move towards them.

“What now?” Theodore asked.

“We deal with it. Follow professor Wilhelm’s advice, do you have anything that has fire or anything? ” William responded.

As both William and Theodore were talking to each other, the large white spider finally decided to pounce on the two of tem. Using its long and sharp legs as spears, it attempted to impale both of them.

The two of them immediately dodged the attack. William continually dodged as the white spider focused all of its attention on him only.

William used one of these blades and stabbed the spider right between one of the joints in its legs. The spider let out a pained and angry roar as it attempted to attack him in its rage.

Theodore shakes his head as he looks at William and the spider. “No, but I do have some explosive bombs I could use. Would that work?”

“Toss it to me!” William shouted as he dodged more of the spider's attacks.

“Here!” Theodore said as he tossed the bomb to William. “Just pull the pin and run as far away as you can.”

Nodding to himself, William looked at the large spider as it attempted to charge once more at him.

Pulling the pin, and running right in front of the spider, Willaim dodged the bomb right in front of the spider’s mouth and used his wind magic to push himself back.

Looking back at the spider, the bomb finally exploded as the loud noise of the bomb echoed across the forest.

Looking back to Theodore, WIlliam walked towards him with a smile on his face.

“Well, I didn’t expect an explosion that large, from a bomb so small.”

Theodore smiled, “Well, it's not the size that matters, it's how you use it you know.”

“Anyway, we need to go now. That explosion, as cool as it was, was incredibly loud and would have attracted a large array of monsters to our location.” WIlliam said.

Theodore nodded, “I agree, we need to go as well.”

The two of them began to run across the forest, delving deeper and deeper.As they were, Theodore looked at William.

“While it’s peaceful for the moment, can I ask you a question?”

“Sure, go on right ahead.” William responds.

“Do… you want to be my friend?” Theodore asked.

William looked at Theodore with confusion for a moment.

“Aren’t we already friends.” William said.

Theodore shakes his head, “No, I don’t think so, not yet anyway. I'd say we're more like acquaintances.” He said.

“How about we become friends right now then.” William said.

“Really? Right now, on a mission.” Theodore said.

“Yeah, why not. Aren’t missions just very specific adventures that we follow.” William said.

Theodore laughed out loud as he looked at William.

“You sure are strange William.” Theodore said.

“And I’m not afraid of being different, you know.” WIlliam said. “Being different from one another is a natural law in the world. There can only be one you, and that’s what makes us all special.”

“The fact that we're all strange in our own little way is what makes us all special.” Theodore said.

“Yep something along those lines.” William said.

Theodore smiled as he looked at WIlliam. “Sure William, I’ll be your friend. In the middle of a mission.”

William smiled. “That’s more like it.”

The two of them finally came across something strange. They entered what seems to be a large empty field, the only difference is the fact that it’s full of scorched marks and several melting icicles around the field.

“Well, this is weird.” Willaim said as he looked at the empty field and nodded to himself and looked at Theodore. “What do you think happened here?’

Theodore walked forward and analyzed the scorched grass and an icicle near it. He shakes his head as he looks at William.

“This is man made.” He said. “There's no way something like this is natural.”

“I figured.” William said as he looked at the scorched fields along with several icicles.

Then, suddenly a loud sound rang out right in front of the two of them.

“What was that?” Theodore asked.

“An explosion.” William responds as the two of them see something coming toward them. “What’s that?”

Looking closer at what was coming towards them, Theodore with his keen eyesight quickly realized what it was and began to back away.

“We need to go! Right now.” Theodore said as he quickly moved out of the way.

Trusting Theodore’s judgment, William also dodged the mysterious object. As it came closer, William saw what it clearly was, a large icicle.

William was glad that he listened to Theodore’s words. The icicle was shaped like a javelin, a single sharp point aimed at the ground.

The icicle struck the ground as it impaled the floor. The makeshift javelin made out of ice, stayed there, not even moving an inch.

Walking closer to the ice javelin. Thedore analyzed it and noticed that, while it was clearly not as refined and finely made as he wanted it to be. But it was acceptable, just barely.

“It’s… alright, for my standards, it could be better,”Theodore said.

“What’s alright?” William asked as he walked right beside Theodore.

“The structure of the javelin was alright.” Theodore said. “but it clearly could be better.

“How so?” WIliam asked.

“Just by looking at it. you can see some glaring flaws in its design. The javelin itself is fine, I can accept that, but look at the javelin. All you need to break it is to apply some pressure at the center of it and it will break.”

To show William what he was saying, Thedore touched the javelin and applied some pressure to it, and it immediately broke into two.

“I… See what you're saying, but what could have happened to cause that explosion along with the javelin.” Willim said.

“Yeah, me too.” Theodore responded as he looked back at him and onto the general direction of the explosion. “But maybe, the reason is right there.” he said as he pointed at the forest.

William nodded, “Yeah, you might be right.” He said as he looked at where Theodore was pointing at. “And we need to go there and help.”

Theodore looked at William, “You do know nearly one of us got killed by that javelin, right?”

“I know,” WIlliam said. “But if we're going to be hunters, we need to help people whenever we are presented with an opportunity.”

Theodore sighed. “Well, whatever you say boss.”

“All right! Let's go!”

As the two of them entered the forest, the two of them heard nothing but the empty noises of the forest. Theodore looked unnerved by his surroundings as he looked around himself.

“Are you sure we're on the right path?” Theodore asked.

William nodded. “Yeah, I'm sure we're on the right path.”

As the two of them ran across the forest as the two of them checked their surroundings. It was quiet, too quiet.

“Why do I have a bad feeling about this place?” Theodore said

William nodded. “Yeah me too.”

The two of them continued, until the two of them came across a large white spider laying at the ground. The trees surrounding the spider were either completely burned or covered in ice. Coming closer, William grabbed both of his weapons as he looked at the quiet spider.

As for Theodore, he climbed up one of the nearby trees and looked down at the spider.

“I’ll stay behind and make sure that there aren't any nearby monsters.” Theodore said through the radio.

“Thanks.” WIlliam responded.

Coming closer, he realized that the spider was already slain. Kneeling down and looking at the now deceased monster, he saw that there were several scorched marks on the spider as it had a large ice spear impaled on its jaw.

“Is it dead?” Theodore asked.

“I can assure you that it is indeed dead.” William responded.

“Oh, thank you.” Theodore said. “I was actually getting nervous, I wouldn’t want to fight that thing.”

“Guess we would have to thank the people who fought these monsters.” William said.

“Yeah, sure we will.” Theodore responds

As Theodore was looking down at William, he saw something that was coming toward William. Getting worried, he decided to inform William

“Uhhh, William. We’ve got company.” Theodore informed.

Turning around, William caught a glimpse of what Theodore was talking about. Holding tightly at his two weapons, William looked at what was coming towards him.

“Thanks Theodore. I appreciate this.” William said.

“No problem.”

Looking right in front of him, William saw what he was going to be forced to fight. What was charging towards him was a giant white spider, the same type of spider that the two of them found in the fields.

The key difference is the fact that the spider is still alive. But what can be said to 3be the same is the fact that the spider was covered with scorched marks and some ice around it.

It let out a screeching roar that forced William and Theodore to cover their ears. Moving quickly, it immediately charged at William.

Recovering first and seeing the spider charging at Wiliam, Theodore quickly aimed his rifle and focused his breathing.

‘Steady, focus.’ Theodore thought to himself as he aimed the rifle at the charging spider. ‘Fire’

Pulling the trigger, the bullet left Theodore’s rifle and quickly moved towards the spider and hit it at the back of its head, causing it to turn around briefly before charging once again at WIlliam.

But the time that the gunshot provided William was just enough for him to recover and narrowly dodged the spider’s charge.

Moving and weaving through the spider’s attacks, WIliam looked at the spider closely as he began to formulate a plan inside of his head.

‘Alright! Think William!’ William thought to himself. ‘What do you do?’

William continually dodged and weaved through the spider’s attacks. William knew that it was only a matter of time before William couldn’t dodge the attack.

Dodging a swipe aimed at him, William used both of his blades and stabbed the large spider in two of its legs in the joints.

The spider let out a deafening scream as William was forced to face the bunt of the scream.

At the same time, Theodore aimed his rifle at the spider as he replaced the magazine in his rifle and grabbed a different magazine and loaded it.

None of my bullets earlier could pierce its armor.’ Theodore thought to himself as he reloaded and modified his rifle to match the requirements of his new munitions. ‘Let’s see if you can take this big guy.’

Theodore aimed his newly modified rifle at the spider, his breathing slowed down as he focused his gaze on the spider.

Pulling the trigger, a deafening bang erupted from his rifle as a bullet left his rifle. The bullet moved towards the spider’s head, piercing it and killing the spider instantly.

And with that, the screeching spider was completely silenced.

Rubbing his ears, William grimaced as he groaned.

“Ughh,” WIlliam groaned.

“Are your ears still ringing?” Theodore asked.

“If I said no, I would be a liar.” William responded.

Walking towards the spider, William aimed one of his blades at the spider’s skull and stabbed it.

“Ummm, you do know that it’s already dead, right?”

“I know. I’m just making sure that it's dead. Permanently.”

Theodore nodded at Wlliam’s words as he looked down.

“Tell me, what do you see right in front of you?” he asked.

“A dead spider, that’s what.” William responds.

“Anything else?”

William looked at the now deceased spider and looked around him and saw nothing that should be of his or Theodore’s concern at the moment.

“Nothing really.” he replied.

“Should I come down there?”

“No, stay up there I still need you to keep watch so that something like that spider doesn't ambush us again.” William orders.

“Got it. Just give me some time, I’ll need to readjust my rifle.”

“Why readjust it?”

“I need to, the design of my rifle is still not complete, yet. I’m still using a prototype design but once we get into Grayfield, I plan to complete the design of my rifle. I could also upgrade your weapon if you want to.” Theodore said as he swapped several parts inside of his rifle.

“Really?” William asked.

“Yeah I would,” Theodore said, “Helping each other, that’s what friends do. Right?”

William chuckled to himself as he agreed. “Yeah, you're right. Thanks, I’ll let you upgrade my weapon after all of this is over.”

Theodore smiled as he nodded, he made sure to check if his rifle was properly modified. Nodding to himself, he raised his rifle and began to use its scope.

William walked towards the now dead spider. He sighed as he looked at the spider, he had already noticed the similar injuries it had with the spider that they found at the field earlier.

It had several burns and ice marks on it as he looked at the spider, he saw that there were several shards of ice lodged in its body. Whoever did this to the spider certainly had some good ice magic.

The use of offensive magic is called magic power.

There are plenty of ways people use magic offensively. Some use magic as a physical enhancement, some use illusions to make their opponent confused, but one of the most common or most famous uses of magic has always been elemental magic.

Now there are plenty of ways people use magic, but the three main types or uses of offensive magic is Physical, Elemental, And Illusion magic.

Elemental magic has been regarded by many as one of the most versatile types of magic in the world and for good reason.

Elemental magic is defined as using a person's magic energy or mana to create the desired element that they need. Not only that, it is fairly easy to learn. That isn't to say that elemental magic is easy mind you.

If elemental magic is to be compared to both Physical and illusion magic it is right between the two when it comes to difficulty to learn and master.

Physical magic is easily regarded by the masses as the easiest to learn, followed by elemental magic, and then illusion magic.

Due to Elemental magic being defined as the middle ground between Physical magic and illusion magic makes it one of the most famous types of magic.

That and elemental magic looks cooler to use rather than physical and illusion magic.

William for that part can agree that elemental magic is really cool to use, that’s for sure.

But, Elemental magic has some requirements in order for someone to learn and use it. For one a person’s magic energy needs to have an affinity with either Water, Fire, Air, Earth, or Lightning.

If a person doesn't have an affinity with either of those five elements, then they won't be able to use elemental magic.

William can use both wind and lightning, which was considered rare. Most people only have an affinity for one element, although rare, there have always been people who have an affinity with two elements. One such person is Lady Florentia, the hero of the continent.

Although William has an affinity with wind and lightning, he has always used wind over lightning. making him more skilled with wind but at the cost at being less skilled with lightning.

Shaking his head and standing back up, William used his radio to communicate to Theodore.

“Hey Theodore, can you see anything strange up there?”

“Nothing much.” Theodore asked. “Why do you ask?”

“Oh no nothing much, just making sure.” William responds. “We should go now, we wouldn’t want to have other people going after and eliminating that queen spider before us, now wouldn’t we.”

“Agreed, let’s go.”

————————————————————————————

Wilhelm watched as William and Theodore left their spot after dealing with a soldier silicon spider. He was impressed at both of their ability to adapt to their current situation.

Looking back down to the now dead spider, Wilhelm looked specifically at the burn marks and shards of ice on the spider.

He was impressed at the other two students that dealt with not only the spider at the field but also injuring this particular spider.

That takes skill and talent to do, and judging from the fact that there is nowhere to be seen, it stands to reason that the two of them are currently hiding and resting.

Wilhelm also knew that the other two students are also after the Queen silicon spider. He wonders how the two teams would react with each other, hopefully they don’t fight each other.

Shrugging to himself, Wilhelm followed his two future students.

————————————————————————————

“Hey Theodore?”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“What kind of magic can you use?”

William asked as the two of them were jumping across tree branches in the forest to where hopefully the queen silicon spider is at.

Theodore looked unsure at WIlliam for a moment, worried at something. Seeing this, William quickly backtracked.

“You don't have to answer if you're not confident, you know.” William said.

“No, I think I should tell you.”

“Really? Are you sure?” William said as the two of them jumped a few branches. “You looked worried for a second.”

“Yeah, I think I trust you, and since we're going to fight and eliminate that spider you need to know what I’m capable of.” Theodore said.

William knew that he was curious as to what kind of magic Theodore can use, but he also worried that he might complicate things with the two of them.

“Are you sure?” wIlliam asked again.”

“Yeah, I think I am.” Theodore said. “Actually, I… I can't use offensive magic. I’m an Abnormal magic user.”

“Really?” William asked.

“Yeah, really. I can’t use any offensive magic, I was born with an abnormality inside of my core, I couldn't use my magic energy to use offensively.That is to say that I couldn’t use any forms of magic power. I don’t know why that is, but I just can’t.” Theodore explained.

William nodded as he thought about it closely, him not being able to use magic is somewhat concerning but from what he has seen so far from Theodore, he seems to be able to take care of himself.

Theodore knows a lot about weapons and how they work, along with the fact that he has a very keen eye for detail which allows him to be able to notice small things that William wouldn’t really notice.

Theodore looked at William for a moment as he waved his hand right in front of him.

“Are… you alright?” Theodore asked as he looked at him. “You were spacing out there for a moment.”

William quickly shakes his head as he focuses and looks at Theodore.

“Oh, I was just thinking about something.” William said.

“About what?”

“About the fact that you're so good you don’t even need to rely on offensive magic.” William said.

Theodoroe blushed, “Oh it's nothing… It’s just that you're the first person to ever say something like that to me.”

William smiled, “Well, if I am indeed the first to compliment you I won’t be the last.” he said.

Theodore smiled to himself. William saw him.

“Why are you smiling?”

“Oh no it's nothing.” Theodore said, “I just think that I am going to like staying and studying here in Grayfield.”

William smiled, “Well, glad to have you on board. We should probably focus more on our current mission. We can talk later if you want.”

“That sounds good.”

“Great! let's go.”

————————————————————————————

The two of them continued to walk as the two of them encountered another group of spiders.

There were four spiders that were in front of them as they both raised their respective weapons at the arachnids. William brought up both of his blades and ducked as a spider lunged at him.

Quickly raising his rifle and firing at the spider, Theodore began to unload his rifle at the spider. Behind him another spider lunged at him as he stepped away from the lunge and aimed his rifle at the spider and shot it right in the head.

Looking at the dead spider, Theodore looked at the spider as he noticed that unlike the other spiders that he and Willim were fighting, this spider had green eyes.

Theodore was engrossed with the spider so much so, that another spider lunged at him from behind.

Theodore noticed just in time to use his rifle to block the attack and make sure that the spider couldn’t get a bite at his head.

The spider’s mandibles wear getting close to Theodore’s head, but luckily for him, William was able to come in and punch the spider away from him. Quickly standing back up and aiming his rifle, Theodore shot the spider.

William looked at Theodore in concern for a moment, he sighed. “Are you alright?”

“Pardon?” Theodore asked.

“I’m asking you if you're alright?” William asked.

“I'm alright,” Theodore said. “By the way, thanks.“

“No problem.”

The two of them continually ran across the forest, William and Theodore looked weary as the entire forest was quiet.

“... It’s quiet. too quiet.” William said.

“Agreed.”

The two of them looked around them as WIlliam looked at THeodore.

"We should go up, it could give us the high ground and provide us a good vantage point to check and make sure that we're going in the right direction.” William said to Theodore.

Theodore nodded. “Agreed.”

The two of them went up the trees as they both slowly climbed the nearby trees.

Now that William was above the trees, both him and Theodore were now looking down and making sure that there were no spiders down below that were waiting for them.

Unknown to the two of them, a large white spider with green eyes looked at the two of them like they were its prey.

Slowly coming closer to the two of them, the large brought up both of its large fangs and prepared to pounce at the two of them.

But just as before it could pounce on the two of them. The spider’s instincts kicked in as it jumped away, this proved to be the wise choice as a large boulder of ice was thrown at the spider.

The large boulder broke the top half of the tree, as both William and Theodore saw the large boulder of ice thrown at the spider.

“Was that a boulder made out of ice!?!” Theodore shouted in shock as he grabbed his rifle as he fell down.

“It is!” Willim said. as he also grabbed both of his blades.

The two of them fell down to the bottom of the forest as the two of them looked up and saw that there was also plenty of falling debris falling down towards them.

The two of them weaved through all of the trees as they both looked up to see what happened. The two of them also saw that the spider was able to dodge the large boulder of ice.

“It’s still alive.” Theodore said.

“I know, we'll deal with it.” William said as he looked up at the spider.