NOVEL SIMPLE 56. Where Magic is Tamed
I wipe a streak of water from my face, staring down at the empty glass bottle in my hand. It's a rather thick bottle, and whoever made it was surely a decently skilled glass worker at the very least. The amount of glass here certainly couldn't have been cheap, either -- definitely not for a drinking vessel. For Cress to offer it to me, filled to the brim with water?
I think that they may have very well been sent from the heavens.
A few more minutes pass and I'm sat in front of the book that once intimidated me to no end. After eating and drinking my fill, though, it hardly feels as terrible as it once had. With a few moments of flicking through pages, I find myself once more at the spot where I had stopped.
A smile comes to my face as I stare at the text. It reads to me as little more to me than the ravings of a lunatic. It's understandable now why I had to work myself into a frenzy to understand its meanings. The meaning is impossible for me to capture -- it would take years of study to even come to the brink of it.
I'd like to, one day. But as it stands, I'm working under the constraint of time. There's no telling if time is passing outside of this trial, and I refuse to let any of it slip away from me when Adeline's life is on the line.
Even if it means I'll never be able to understand it, I have to accept it.
Within the realm of dreams, I had plotted out the means to succeed as this trial: an improvement on [Flame Generation]. Of course, I had only speculated on it within a dream. And in the state I was in at the time, I don't exactly have the highest confidence that the plan will actually work.
One separate piece of mana is used as an ignition point: it sets a stream of mana alight, combusting it into a burst of flames. More mana can be dumped into the stream to continue the burst, and the mana stream could even be expanded in order to make a larger burst.
In theory, of course. I haven't actually tried applying any of this to the real world.
I stare up at the walls with a huff. At that, where was I actually going to use this? It hardly seems right to bathe this room in flame.
In the worst case scenario of the spell going wrong, it could turn into an even larger catastrophe.
I sneak a hand underneath my hat, rubbing the top of my head. Cress had overstepped before with feeding me, but perhaps they might know a place for me to cast it. At the very least, it would be worth asking.
It takes me a few moments, but I scoop up the three thick books that I had picked out for myself. Did I truly think that I could read through all of these? With a sigh, I begin walking towards Cress's desk. I really, truly wish that I could spend the time reading all of these books. If I could, I would read every last one on that shelf.
But again, it's far too risky. Time is of the essence, and I have no time to spare.
Cress peers up at me as I approach the desk, and I gently set the books on an empty patch. "H-hello.. I think that I've done all the reading I need."
They nod, "Very well! Thank you for bringing these back."
I scratch the back of my head, figuring out how best to approach the question, "T-there's just one small problem... I.. Sort of need a space to test out my spell..."
Cress nods once more, "Certainly! That should be within the bounds of your trial..." They look to the right, and then the left, "Truth be told, the lobby should be fine for your needs. What sort of spell were you going to be testing for your trial, Candidate?"
I shuffle my feet a bit, "I-it's um... It's a spell that releases a stream of fire. It should be about three meters long and half a meter wide."
"Meters.. Right, right.." Cress's tongue flits out for a moment as they think, and then they glance back towards me, "Mmh. This room should be perfectly fine for that, my friend. Just try and aim it towards my desk while standing in the center of the lobby, and all should be well!"
I nod, "R-right..."
They want me to cast the spell in this room? Thinking about it, the closest books were all a good distance away, but still. The spell I'm going to cast has the potential to go wrong in all sorts of different ways...
All of which would probably harm me before causing any damage to the room itself.
My nerves begin to get the better of me as I take up a stance at the end of the room. Cress is staring down at some paperwork on their desk, not even focused on me. Either they have a great deal of faith in my ability, or they're not concerned in the least about being harmed by my spell.
If I'm being honest with myself, though, I'm terrified of the spell that I'm about to cast.
[Flame Generation] is an inherently dangerous spell -- it creates potent flames that incinerate everything in their path. I have latent protection against the flames I create, but will that hold true with a newer iteration of the spell? I'll have to concentrate mana around the area to ward myself against them, just to be safe.
I close my eyes, putting a hand up to block out the light. What else is there that I'm missing?
The ignition point goes there.. And the combustible stream comes from here. I open my eyes, moving the hand from my face. I extend my palm out, as if I'm about to cast the spell. Visualizing it all, the course of the spell-work runs through my mind.
Ah...
If I had run the stream of mana out after releasing the ignition point, it may not have continued past that point. At the worst, it could have ended up recoiling up and into my face instead. I think back to my dream, and remember the other me singing her eyebrows after being kissed by her own flames.
I don't think I would just end up with singed eyebrows after something like that. Not to mention the fact that the flames that are created don't simply dissipate when I release the spell.
The solution to this problem is simple, or so I think. If I extend the stream of combustible mana before releasing the ignition point, the stream will be established, giving the fresh mana an established line to flow through. In theory, of course -- all of this remains hopelessly locked in theory. Until I can work up the courage to just do it.
I take a deep breath. This is no time to lose my cool, I need to get this over with.
My hand remains extended out, ready as ever to cast the spell. I let go of the breath I'm holding and feel my shoulders relax.
Wispy, streaky mana flows out from my hand. Its appearance is caused by its thinness, which I believe is necessary for its combustibility. It's similar to a long bundle of cotton -- easy to set alight and burn in a flash. It extends out about three meters before I finally restrict it.
Then, I begin to concentrate mana in my hand and around my outstretched arm. If it's at all similar to how [Flame Generation] once worked before, this much should suffice.
This is it, the hardest step of them all.
Another strand of energy emerges, trailing alongside the combustible mana. It's slightly less thin, as its density is only for integrating into the air. With the same visualization as [Transmutation] and [Mend Wounds], I begin to suffuse the air itself with my magic, attempting to merge the two into one cohesive thing.
My heart is beating in my chest like strikes against an anvil. I almost feel like I'm on the cusp of letting my concentration slip away from me, but I reject that feeling.
I begin to imagine the air heating up, growing blistering and deadly and shimmery, just as I had seen in my dream. Like the heat of a desert, like the air that flows up out of the caldera of a volcano. With a snap of my fingers, the primed mana at the ignition point begins to rapidly heat up, and the wispy mana catches into flames almost immediately after.
A violent torrent of fire rips through the air in a concentrated stream, but the spell isn't complete. It has more potential than this, I know that it does. More combustible mana pours out from my hand, providing the stream with fresh fuel to continue burning. I carefully release the ignition point, with the flames being enough to perpetuate the cycle.
Slowly but surely, I widen the mana that comes out of my hand, making the stream even larger. Soon, a one meter wide pillar of fire is spilling out from my hand, nearly enough to start posing a danger to myself.
I stop the flow of mana from my hands, and quickly step back. The flames dissipate a few seconds after with their fuel source removed.
My legs nearly give underneath me as I stagger, having undoubtedly just spent a great deal of my mana.
[Thou hath triumphed in thy second trial!]
[Thy third trial shalt commence immediately!]