Mage Among Superheroes

Having observed cleaning robots on occasion, Rob was quite unlike the rest. Sure, he had the same systems of locomotion but even discounting the fact that he was using magic more than his bristles and bin he was obviously different. His navigation was much more intentional, and though he occasionally bumped into things it all seemed more intentional than a failure of navigation. Sometimes, he simply needed to be that tiny bit closer to his target.

And then there was the part where one time a chair leg was blocking his chosen path and he created a floating hand to push it out of the way. Mage’s Reach was a spell I was quite familiar with, though Rob’s version was odd. Specifically, it had two thumbs- one on either side- creating a symmetrical shape instead of being either a right or left hand. I thought that would be odd to control but… he didn’t have normal hands to compare to. Maybe it just made sense to him.

But the time for us to be entertained by a cleaning robot was coming to a close. Now it was time to bring through the various waiting Humuruns. There didn’t seem to be any instantaneous communication between planets, so we could only trust that they stuck to the schedule. Using Sending would have been a waste of both mana and time as it could easily take twenty minutes to receive a response.

Instead, Midnight and I prepared to open up the Gate… while everyone else stayed out of the way to make room. We were going to get a decent crowd, after all. Not anything close to the maximum potential of Gate, but we didn’t have the space anyway. The plan was to bring through a smaller number of Humuruns first to make sure things actually worked properly. Even if we brought through a few hundred, they wouldn’t want to suddenly flood the region with Magical Girls. That might disrupt the non-magical population.

Making use of the images provided, Midnight and I channeled our mana to open a Gate, while relying on the connection the other Humuruns had to the planet. Soon enough, space began to open up. Curious animal faces appeared as it spread wider, until it filled the hallway. I wasn’t sure if I could make it bigger, but I was sure I shouldn’t try to have it extend through physical barriers on this side. So we had something like a hallway.

Seeing the menagerie standing there awkwardly for a few moments, I announced my completion. “Portal stable, it’s safe to come through. Make sure to proceed in an orderly fashion.”

The various animal-shaped individuals seemed surprised to actually see this portal, and maybe to hear their language come from an orc, but they followed directions well enough upon seeing their compatriots further into the area. So they spilled out into the hallway and stretched beyond into the rest of the little base we had here. There were a few birds, a lizard, a llama, an extra fluffy llama, a couple canines and felines, and a floating ice crystal. Alright, so they weren’t all animals.

With only twenty or thirty of them, the llamas being the most bulky, it didn’t take long for them to get through even at a walking pace. “That’s the end, right?” I said. There were a few people watching on the other side of the portal. “Ten seconds!” I warned. Technically, the Gate could stay open for at least another twenty seconds, but I wanted to impart proper urgency. Since nobody approached, I continued counting down. “Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Now closing the portal, please keep away from the edges.”

Nobody was close, unless they were invisible. And while they could theoretically hide from people without mana, I should be able to see Humuruns. I let the portal close slowly in case anyone was invisible and being foolish, though I could have snapped it closed if I wanted to.

“Turlough!” I heard Izzy call, not with urgency but just enough volume to get my attention. “You’re the one with translation magic and I have no idea what this fluffy horse is saying.”

“That’s a llama,” I explained to Izzy. Actually, it was really fluffy. “Or an alpaca, maybe?”

She rolled her eyes. “That doesn’t change whether or not I can talk to her.”

“Sorry about that.” We’d done a big multicasting of Translation earlier, but that was still only five people. Not counting familiars. Izzy and Khithae weren’t part of the official stuff here so we’d mostly gotten people from Extra. “Didn’t mean to leave you out. Wait, can’t Humuruns speak to anyone they want?” That last part was directed towards the alpaca.

“You are a translator?” the alpaca turned to me. “You should tell this miniature human she has great potential.”

“She already has a class,” I replied. “Anyway, can’t you magicall translate yourself?”

“That is part of the exhausting transferral process we normally use,” the alpaca explained. “We are being cautious about engaging in Humurun magic at the moment while we adapt to the local climate.”

“Alright,” I said. I cast Translation, which was just 2.3 mana on its own now. Casting on five people cost just shy of 7, but as long as the rest of us had it we didn’t need to cover everyone.

And of course, that meant the only remaining person also needed it. Specifically Khithae. She had been approached by a silver fox- one with fur literally reflective like metal. In contrast, the alpaca- I had to assume that since my phone didn’t connect to this world and country’s internet- looked extremely normal and hardly magical at all.

“She should be able to understand now,” I said to the fox.

“Excellent,” the fox declared. “Miss alien, you have excellent potential to use a Humurun’s power.”

“Technically I’m from Earth,” Khithae replied. “Just a different dimension that’s not very… closely tied.”

“My apologies,” the fox said. “Then perhaps I am the only alien here.” The fox’s eyes briefly passed over me.

“I mean, if you mean someone not from this planet… yeah I’m not from any Earth originally,” I explained.

“Your potential is filled,” the fox said. “But I am not surprised as you are the wizard who allowed us to come here to begin with.”

I tilted my head. “I have potential according to your methods? I mean, I am magic but anyone could be me.”

“I am not quite sure what you mean by that,” the fox admitted. “But I should speak to this woman here. Her potential is yet untapped.”

“I have a class though,” Khithae said. “So I’m already magical as well. Maybe you’re just feeling that?”

“It is different from this one,” the fox insisted.

“I have a bond,” I pointed out. “Maybe you feel the potential for a bond still, but due to power exclusion uh… you probably can’t form one. Though I guess we haven’t tested this particular order of things.”

Strife and Eglantine didn’t pick up classes from my world, but maybe if that happened before the bond?

“Regardless,” Khithae said. “If you are concerned for this Earth, I will not be remaining here. I am merely passing through.”

“How disappointing,” the fox said.

The other conversation didn’t come to quite the same conclusion. I saw a number of Humuruns crowding around Izzy.

“I don’t want to destroy the forces of evil!” Izzy explained. “I just want to live a life where I only have to stab things occasionally. No offense, but humanity can take care of itself.”

“Did you explain power exclusivity?” I asked.

“It would be prudent to test whether that is the case,” the alpaca said.

“Indeed,” confirmed a rainbow colored parrot resting upon the alpaca’s head. Ironically, one of the few Humuruns that I should have expected to talk. “It would be prudent to test the possibility.”

“Hmm. What about her?” I gestured towards Great Girl.

“The large human?” the parrot tilted their head. “Her potential appears to be full.”

Was it because she had a superpower? Or because she was a werewolf? Or… because of both. Was a Humurun bond like lycanthropy? That didn’t make any sense, were there even any similarities? Sure, both involved animal traits and… transformation. And if that was the case, did that mean my bond with Midnight made me immune to lycanthropy?

I was pretty sure we didn’t have enough information to answer that question. Maybe it was a bond and transformation potential put together, and since I had one- probably the most important part- I seemed ‘full’.

I looked for Eglantine, finding her in the sitting room with some of the others. “Did the various other people you met in my old world or on Earth seem like they had potential?”

The porcupine tilted her head, causing colors to dance around. “Sorry, what?”

Right. I hadn’t introduced the topic. So I explained that some of her companions felt potential in some of my companions, and some of my thoughts.

“I see. Well, unfortunately I can’t say much about that. Having already created a bond, I do not have the same capacity to sense potential, and I didn’t even try.”

“Alright,” I said. “Can you go save my friend?” I gestured towards Izzy. “That alpaca seems very persistent.”

“... What’s an alpaca?” Eglantine muttered to herself- but she did make her way over and get them to stop bugging Izzy. Only for them to get replaced by another taller individual. Well… taller at her current levels.

“Seriously, you passed on the chance to be a magical girl?” Great Girl said as Izzy was making her way out of the hall.

“Hey, I’m not the sort of person who just goes to another world and set up there spontaneously,” Izzy grumbled. “Also, I don’t need different powers, or more powers, or any of that.”

“Yeah but- magical girl,” Great Girl gestured broadly. “You’d be so adorable.”

“Because I’m small?”

“Because they’re adorable!” she insisted. “I mean, look at Strife!”

Now I had something to contribute. “I’m not sure she’d agree,” I pointed out.

“Her own opinion doesn’t matter,” Great Girl said. “But seriously, just look at them. You’d give up the chance to be Pink Angel, Burning Cupid, or Gizmo Girl?”

Izzy shook her head. “I’m fine with my abilities. And would probably be fine without them.”

“Whoa now,” I held up my hands. “Let’s not get crazy here. You gotta have powers.”

Izzy looked up at me- I kept the same distance as Great Girl so the angle wasn’t too uncomfortable. “I should remind you that most people on Earth… most Earths- do not have powers.”

“And that’s unfortunate,” I said. “Because powers are great.”

-----

We could have stayed forever talking with Humuruns about the benefits of powers and magic of various sorts, but we had a schedule to keep. And that schedule involved heading onwards to Celmoth. We made some promises to keep in contact with the locals so they could inform us on how the Humurun transportation process was doing. Would there be weird side effects from just taking a portal? I didn’t see any reason there should be, but they were just having a rough time believing it was that easy.

Even if it wasn’t technically easy. I worked hard to get this good at casting Gate. Partially because we were trapped on a plane that wasn’t easy to make portals from. But I’d been working on it for a while because it always seemed to come up. Who knew that interdimensional stuff was solved so often by swapping dimensions?

The Humuruns were quite thankful for the aid, whether or not it produced the results they wanted. The various magical girls thanked me for fighting alongside them previously. Strife said something like she wouldn’t hate to do it again, which I was pretty sure was an invitation to return for more Scouring combat. I wonder if we could predict when they would come so I could fight efficiently.

With everyone gathered properly, Midnight and I opened a Gate to Celmoth. First through were the people from Extra, who were greeted by their Celmothian counterparts. Then there was pretty much everyone else, followed by Midnight and myself last. Jet was there waiting of course.

“Welcome back,” said Midnight’s mother. “When was it that you should be able to do this alone?”

“Well… probably something like 9 more levels,” Midnight explained. “That’s just to meet the fatigue threshold, so a couple more than that would be more comfortable. And I’m currently 26.”

Technically, his math was right. And also technically, he could cast Gate alone with exactly one more level- as long as he took into account its reduced cost for upgrades. Sure, it wouldn’t be as potent but for individual transportation it should suffice.

But I wasn’t going to call out my buddy for that. It really would be more difficult that way, and maybe before then Extra would figure out some way to connect to Celmoth and let Jet come to Earth instead.