Mage Among Superheroes

For the most part, the Celmothians had developed class abilities that helped them with their work. That was why there were so many artificers, since they more or less gained their abilities just before coming back. After all, we took a route through my old world to make the Gate to Celmoth more viable. Now Midnight and I could do it from Earth directly, but that was the choice we’d made at the time. Not that it was bad for anyone, since it didn’t seem likely that it could block these people from gaining other powers. Celmoth didn’t seem to have many of those.

I didn’t know why Celmoth wouldn’t have powers when Earth did, just like nobody knew why a few points on Earth had a greater concentration of them. Or why my old world only had people with ‘powers’, which wasn’t something I really thought was odd. Everything was just the way things were.

Ultimately, we weren’t here on Celmoth to create a detailed training program. That was far outside the scope of our timeframe, and we could theoretically manage things from elsewhere. Fortunately, both Midnight and I were fresh with training tips. I would have had been able to distribute more information to them, but Celmothians tech didn’t integrate with earth-tech.

That was totally normal, of course. You couldn’t exactly push papers into a screen and get the computer to display them. Well, you kind of could since scanners existed… but the point was that they were both significantly technologically distant and not designed by the same hands. Or paws.

Celmoth did have ways to scan things though, and much more convenient for a book than doing it page by page. Well, we had that on Earth too- just not commonly available to the consumer. Like the safety scanners the Brigade had used for my latest book.

Jet nodded as we finished scanning my tomes- they were up to me to share, after all, and I really didn’t think Celmoth was going to cause problems with a little bit of magic theory. “Thank you, these will be most helpful.”

I smiled in return, “I would suggest not providing open access to all of this stuff. It’s fairly clear which techniques are dangerous, but nobody here has the experience to judge properly. Though that safety is mostly a concern for those who can actually use the abilities. Other people should be able to read just fine as long as they don’t recklessly distribute the information.”

“What sort of dangers are there?” Jet asked.

“Well let’s see,” I frowned. “Personally I’ve experienced… what did Doctor Martinez call it? Something like ‘partial gelatinization of the blood’.”

Jet’s tail flicked anxiously. “I don’t know if that translated correctly, but it sounds… unpleasant.”

“Oh yeah, for sure. It’s not fun at all. Lots of coughing up black goop and stuff.”

“You’d better remain careful not to do that again,” Midnight reminded me.

“I know,” I waved him off. “I haven’t dealt with that in forever. Anyway,” I held out my hand, using Mana Crystal Deposition to form a small sample. “Here’s what one mana looks like in crystal form, more or less.”

It wasn’t a perfect conversion back into mana, but that was as close as it got. Given that smaller crystals were slower to absorb and the total amount I could handle in a period of a few days was still limited, I didn’t tend to make any of the smaller sized ones. Though right now I had a stock with me because we hadn’t been certain Midnight and I would be able to replenish mana naturally here.

“Fascinating,” Jet said, approaching the crystal. “You just created that?”

“You saw it,” I nodded. “I can make larger versions, but they become much more expensive at each step.”

“Could we have a few for research purposes?” Jet asked.

“Sure,” I said. The Power Brigade had some too, though so far their research had mostly determined ‘yep, that’s mana in crystal form’.

-----

Celmothian civilian ships didn’t all fit into the same pattern, but those used around cities tended to be horizontally oriented for the same safety features I’d already noticed. However, I also saw larger things flying further above the cities, and they came in different shapes and sizes. Some of them were almost the same aesthetic tilted ninety degrees.

Faster vehicles seemed to be sealed rather than open air, though I wasn’t honestly that familiar with most of the construction of Earth vehicles. I’d been on one airplane, and I didn’t spot anything quite like that. Then again, everything could be smaller which allowed for various designs to work with sufficient efficiency. Quite a few designs were revealed to me over my first week on Celmoth.

I had been dragged around all sorts of places looking at shiny pieces of technology that all looked just as impossible as cars if often with less clearly contained energy involved. Once technology surpassed a certain level, I could feel it like powers. Well, some of it at least. Perhaps that relied on the specific power sources used more than the ‘level of advancement’, as if everything that people used at a given time was all invented simultaneously. Which it definitely wasn’t.

Celmoth didn’t really have plates, instead most things being eaten out of bowls. Given the general lack of silverware, I ate with Mage’s Reach. Jet had offered to have them create something for me, but honestly it wasn’t that important and I could have eaten with my bare hands just fine without worry. They still had soap and things, even if it was meant for furred individuals.

The food was quite different, but not really much more of a shock than going from my old world to Earth and finding hot dogs and burritos. There were far fewer grains, however. Celmothians leaned towards a carnivore diet, though not exclusively. And they cooked stuff, so I didn’t have to worry about weird plagues.

Today we were having a casserole of some sort of bird and some root vegetables and spices. The food itself was not the main star, however. Instead, it was the area around us. Specifically a nature preserve.

We were on a day trip to see some of the natural lands of Celmoth. Trees and bushes were quite recognizable as such, but there were numerous small differences I couldn’t always figure out that made them different. The bark colors weren’t quite familiar, the leaves a bit too wide, the grasses too broad leafed. Still, it wasn’t like there was any stark contrast for the majority of things.

I didn’t see any bright orange grass or neon pink trees or primary blue colored leaves. There were a few more exotic colors, but those were rarer just like on Earth- where there were some quite fascinating plants that simply didn’t grow in most environments.

The fauna were in vaguely recognizable categories as well, from birds to insects to climbing mammals. Nothing quite like squirrels, but I spotted a few things.

It was a nice day.

A quiet beeping sound caused Jet to suddenly stand up from where she was curled up on a blanket. Though Midnight, I could feel a spike of her concern. “This is General Deathstalker. What is the concern?” I only heard one half of what was being said, but it seemed clear she was being contacted in an official capacity. “Understood, we’ll-”

A tremendous boom shook the world around us, and I looked up to see cracks in the sky itself. Or rather, those had to be in the barrier surrounding Celmoth. There were several weird ships. They were wide, flat discs- though ‘flat’ was a relative term. They had to be at least a few meters thick still, they were just five times broader than that at minimum.

“What are those?” I asked Midnight.

“Bunvorixian ships,” he said, his emotions rising.

“Okay, how do they attack?”

“... Lasers?”

I grimaced. “Why is it always lasers?” I shook my head, casting Energy Ward on the two of us. Lasers weren’t a proper element, but I was getting better at such abnormal defenses.

“They also use the generated heat as targeting focuses for guided missiles,” Jet commented, apparently having heard us even while she dealt with her other conversation.

What was I supposed to do about missiles? “Should we worry about shrapnel?” I asked.

“You should run,” Jet commented. “But yes, shrapnel could be a factor. I have no idea why these ships would attack here and now, so we have to respond appropriately. Head towards shelter.”

“Sure,” I said, casting Stoneskin on Midnight and myself. “You coming?”

“I need to engage as I can.”

“Are you even able to target ships from down here?” I asked. “Can they be taken out by infantry?”

Her suit shifted, shaping parts into tubes of some sort. “Yes, these are smaller ones. Now go!”

I lifted Midnight onto my shoulder and began stepping away. “How are your suit’s defenses?”

“They’re fine!” Jet retorted.

Well, maybe she could use some help still. “Midnight, Stoneskin her.”

“Uh, right,” he nodded, calling upon his own mana. The spell completed, then I continued moving away. “Wait, Turlough, we can’t just abandon my mom!”

“I’m not going to let us stand in the same blast radius,” I replied. “We’re going over here.” There was a big tree and a nice boulder. Not the best cover, but slightly better than nothing, maybe? “They sure are coming closer, huh?” I said looking at the ships.

“They’re coming for us!” Midnight said.

More likely his mother. But I wouldn’t guarantee that we weren’t the target instead. Even though only one Bunvorixian hated us and he probably wasn’t even in contact with them.

“Think they’re weak to lightning?” I asked, gathering 13 mana and casting my strongest offensive spell. It struck a barrier around the targeted ship, revealing it and damaging the barrier but not piercing it. “Ugh, annoying.”

A moment later, that same ship was struck several times sequentially by bursts of light, small orbs that exploded in cross patterns. One made it all the way through the barrier and cracked off about a fifth of the disc, sending the whole thing into a spiral towards the ground.

“Why are you not running?” Jet chastised from a distance.

“Because they’ll just catch us out of breath,” I commented. I needed some sort of wider area barrier so that I could make things explode before they hit me. Even if the barrier was destroyed, it would keep the explosion away from my internal organs. And the rest of me.

Several local ships were scrambling towards the numerous discs, causing them to break into several groups dogfighting in the sky- but that left a few heading towards us and Jet.

A burst of heat caused me to throw us to the side, Midnight clinging to my shoulder. I immediately smelled burning grass and only moments later actually comprehended seeing the laser drilling into the ground. Rather than tracking my position, however, it remained on its initial lock.

Having heard something about what was coming next, I circled around behind the tree just in time for it to be torn to shreds by an explosion. Force Armor shattered easily, but the combination of Stoneskin and Energy Ward seemed to hold together.

“Midnight,” I poked my panicking buddy who was still draped over my shoulder as I lay flat on the ground. “Don’t forget you are capable of artillery fire yourself.”

At the same time I said that, I shot a Firebolt just to test their shields. The results were to barely even stir the shield. Likewise, Water Blast which I had only gained recently didn’t seem more effective. It did create a nice splash up in the air, though. At least these things weren’t impossible to hit, with their wide bases.

Still, I didn’t like the way they were moving closer. If they got directly over us it might be easy to hit them, but they seemed to have more than a few avenues of attack as well.

Jet continued to shoot at the flying discs, several explosions happening in her direction as she managed to crack another barrier but not bring down the ship.

“I- I can’t form the weapons!” Midnight said.

To be honest, I wasn’t even sure if Midnight’s suit could do that. “Magic!” I prompted him. Sonic Lance managed to blast Jet’s apparent target, but I could see the barrier pulling itself back together and my attack merely negated that. Long enough for Jet to take advantage while still protecting herself, though. Another disc fell, and three remained.

I was up, looking for more cover. There were plenty of trees to at least partially restrict the enemy’s line of sight, and while I assumed their tech had to be able to handle it, anything was better than staying in the open.

Another beam locked in position, and I got far enough away to only feel a wash of heat from the following missile. These attack systems seemed pretty rigid, but maybe it was just that these ships were smaller.

As I’d stated, outrunning the ships was pretty much impossible. Moments later, one was directly over Midnight and me, and the other over Jet. Before I could do anything, Midnight had already completed a spell. It wasn’t one we’d used often, but Blizzard was supposed to match Chain Lightning. And with our target being so large, it was actually quite reasonable to use such a wide area coverage spell.

A sheet of ice covered the ship above us, though its lasers immediately began melting holes through. That seemed to have been a mistake, however, as there was a sudden cracking sound. I was already gathering mana, but I swapped my target spell quickly. Looking at the ship listing, Haste seemed quite prudent for us.

Maybe I would have made it out from under the fifteen meter wide disc by just running normally, since it tilted slowly- one side impacting the ground before it snapped and the whole thing shattered- but I wouldn’t have been as well equipped to watch my own feet while turning around to look over my shoulder for flying hunks of ship. They were far too large to call shrapnel.