Mage Among Superheroes

Setting up simple training exercises that should get everyone through the early levels was easy enough, though I admittedly had less valuable information for some of the new trainees. It was likely that sparring could get them all the experience they needed to gain some early levels, but in theory they would need alternate training methods since they couldn’t spar all day.

For the one mage in the group it was easy enough. I knew how mages were supposed to gain experience, with both reading and casting spells contributing. It was easy enough to use up mana casting spells, and I even had some proper magic books for her. Though Portal Theory might be a bit outside of what she needed to be learning early on.

Longer term growth would require more efficient training, but I should be able to gather some useful information before it became an issue. Going from level 0 to level 5 was something that could be accomplished in a couple months with even a modest amount of effort. Sometimes I got that much experience in a single day, though it would be a bit difficult for any of the new recruits to survive a battle with Darkstargirl, let alone contribute in any meaningful way.

Going from level 5 to 10 took about four times as much experience, and at level 15 every single level took more than the total 75 experience for level 5. Some of that could be managed by repeated battles, but sparring was worth less experience and repeated opponents especially began to provide very little. So while my experience total was around 3400, in addition to levels costing more I might also get less experience from activities. And with my Aspect, those activities were only fighting.

But the fact that I managed to reach where I was in just over a year meant that in two or three we could probably get people without aspects into decent fighting shape. Depending on how much they actually got involved in things. And for them to reach where I was when I first came to this world… well, that wasn’t that difficult at all. They wouldn’t be good for much other than handling street thugs, but someone had to deal with them anyway.

-----

“Alright Punk Monk,” I said, raising my staff. “You ready?”

She grimaced. “Please don’t tell me you’re trying to get that to be my moniker.”

“I wouldn’t worry,” Midnight commented from the sidelines. “Mage has no influence on official names or common nicknames.”

“Whatever,” she said, preparing her own staff. “Don’t know why I have to fight with a stick, though.”

“Because it’s an order of magnitude less likely to run into a villain with wood control powers compared to metal control,” I said. “And because we’re training.”

With that, I stepped forward and thrust my staff. She stepped to the side, and I could tell she had some brawling experience. But as for actual weapon experience, it was clear she was newer. Her attacks were wild and unrestrained, which made them all the easier to deflect with my staff. I usually had the time to give her a good tap on the shoulder or torso during her movements as well. She should feel the impact of those blows even if she currently had Force Armor protecting her.

Then she gathered a surge of mana… at which point I thrust my staff into her chest, knocking her back before she could finish her wild movement. With a half step back myself, she was left spinning her weapon through empty air, wasting all of her momentum.

“Dammit, what was that?”

“I simply sensed your assault coming and disrupted your movement before you could complete it,” I said.

“Aw, come on! I thought this was training. You can’t tell me that everyone out there is going to be able to sense a surge of power. I know lots of the others can’t.”

I nodded. “Well, that’s fine. If you want to focus on street thugs, I’m sure we can set up a good training regimen against a bunch of punks. Or if you want to take out a real villain, you’re going to have to do better.”

“And how can I do that?” she grunted.

“Draw on your mana faster,” I pointed out. “Or don’t make it so obvious where it’s going. For example, if you had instead enhanced your whole body there you could have taken some quick steps inward after I pushed you back…” I demonstrated a couple movements, swinging my staff. “Except it would presumably be even faster with a boost.”

“... are you sure you’re a wizard?”

“I am certain I am a mage,” I replied. “Now… again.”

Even if she had a bit of an attitude problem, none of these new recruits lacked drive. If they had, the Power Brigade would never have recruited them. Punk Monk or whatever she would eventually be called readied her weapon once more.

-----

Finding a good weapon for a barbarian was a difficult challenge. It was the same issue with all bruisers, really. Good weapons in the context of my world meant something that could efficiently kill people, usually while keeping its wielder safe. In this world, many villains weren’t at a threat level where lethal force was justified. And truthfully, even giving him something ‘safe’ like a blunt weapon wasn’t actually any better.

Anything durable swung with sufficient force could break bones or worse, and restraint was a real concern where barbarians came into things. While Barbro seemed to have a pretty good handle on when he activated his abilities, alternating between moments when he needed strength and when he did not would be quite tough.

Because of that, one area he was trained was grappling. It was a good way to use strength to overcome an opponent, though of course technique was also important. Some people said that good technique trumped everything, but in the realm of powers you really needed both.

I only had basic training in grappling techniques, so it was Meztli that oversaw most of his stuff. She had experience in many areas that I simply hadn’t had the time for yet. We had a number of other bruiser types for him to train with, so it wouldn't be a problem if he went a little bit too hard.

-----

For the other casters and our warrior, I needed more information. Most likely a warrior could figure out the limits of their abilities through simple experimentation, but if I could get good info we could save Flexy Guy a lot of wasted time. Then again, he seemed to be taking to everything in training quite well so maybe he didn’t need training techniques specifically from my world. He might be the most ‘boring’ option, but flexible abilities were quite valuable. And there was some potential he might be able to use weapons like guns to great effect.

For our bard and cleric, I really needed more information, so it was time to go visit Sir Kalman. He had some prior warning, of course. And the Order of the Lion wouldn’t be putting in effort for nothing. It was about time to raise a new batch of their recruits into a planar attuned status.

Of course, the question came up about whether we should bring the Power Brigade’s new recruits to pick up proper classes- specifically points and a proper screen. But it wasn’t my ability to transport them to my old world that was the limiting factor there, and Extra’s policy was still to minimize any unnecessary planar travel. Plus, there was this whole thing about ‘potential dangerous side effects’.

Well, it didn’t seem to be an issue for people from my world, but it might be for others. And since it was a relatively new phenomenon for people from New Bay, we’d just have to see. Personally, I was more concerned about the training side of things. So far, that hadn’t been an issue in the entire year since it had happened to me… and the ability to semi-spontaneously learn new things had proven to be more beneficial than the small risks of accidentally casting a fireball in my own face.

Not long after Midnight and I returned from there, it was time for us to go to Celmoth. We’d scheduled a visit, and I was excited to see it. There was the slight issue where I would be too big for everything, but a spell like Reduce would help. That would only cover about a third of my time, but Midnight said there were a lot of open air spaces where it wouldn’t be necessary.

First, though, it was time to see Sir Kalman.

-----

I tossed the small training manuals Sir Kalman had acquired into Storage. I realized I was going to have to translate these things into English… or maybe I could get some of the newbies to do it. It was for their own benefit, after all, and they should be able to cast it. It was definitely a mage spell since I had it, and bards had to have everything talky. I was pretty sure clerics would have that option as well.

Should have already taught them that, I supposed. It would make Zorphax happy, too. Extra could always use more interpreters, especially ones who could defend themselves. And practical spellcasting would probably give our recruits experience, so it was a good idea.

I should probably teach Jerome too. Every utility spell I could cast should probably be on his list, and vice versa. Obviously there was a matter of time investment, but most spells didn’t take that long to pick up the basic form.

“Alright,” I said. “You know the drill, Midnight.” We were splitting the costs of Gate in half, because we regenerated mana at the same speed and weren’t anticipating either of us needing a surplus of mana afterwards. I could spend more, but an even split was easier to manage and made for slightly more stable portals.

I looked at the couple dozen paladins. The Brigade sure would love to have them… and Extra definitely didn’t want to manage that. If there were some official immigration situation between our worlds it would be one thing, but at the moment I was the main go-between. You know, aside from Doctor Doomsday and anyone he might be working with. So it wasn’t a surprise that official channels were kind of nonexistent.

Lush forests appeared in front of us, Sir Kalman going first as the leader, then Midnight and I going last as the ones who needed to make sure everyone went through and to keep the portal stable. We could probably also go through early, but there were more likely to be distractions on the other side.

This little lakeside seemed like a good place to take a nap. Or, you know, to meditate or whatever. Everywhere in Elysium was idyllic and full of mana, so it was kind of an unnecessary gesture, but I did like being full on mana and some sort of break was justified.

I was just settling in after ten minutes or so- while the paladins were just beginning to train on the shores- when Midnight sensed something coming. He was a bit further from me, but I could sense the power through him.

Orbs of light appeared atop a hill. “Sense anything specific?” I asked Midnight as he hopped onto my shoulder. I began making my way towards Sir Kalman at a quick walk.

“Just… magic,” Midnight said. “It feels like this place.”

“Well, the natives here… should be mostly good,” I commented. That didn’t stop me from approaching Sir Kalman, though. And while before the lights had just watched… this time I could see they were getting close. “Hey, someone’s coming.”

“Everyone, halt!” Sir Kalman called. Then he turned towards me. “Where from?” I gestured towards the hill, and his eyes locked on the lights. “Remain ready here,” he ordered his fellow paladins. “We’re going to go speak to whoever this is with just the three of us.”

We only moved fifty feet or so, but that brought us out of the range where the group of soldiers would appear the most threatening. I cast Translation on Sir Kalman as we went, because it was not my job to speak.

The orbs of light stopped ten or so feet away from us, growing in size and resolving into weird vaguely humanoid forms. Vaguely, because one of them had the upper body of a man and the rest was snake. Another was just like an elf with insect wings, and a third had a bird head. Someone probably would even know what to call these, but it wasn’t me. After all, I hadn’t been planning to travel here when I was level 10, and my book on portals didn’t happen to cover all the inhabitants of planes I might go to. That would just be a complete list of… everything. Which was probably hard to come across.

“Greetings, mortals,” said the man-snake. Well, I guess Translation was unnecessary because that was definitely common. “You shall not remain here upon Elysium.”