Mined Games chapter 29

The next day flew by. Aside from combat classes, which were at the end of the day, I had Mana Control and Physical Conditioning (not in that order). Physical Conditioning, or physique for short, was basically a class to stress and improve your body, just like it sounded like.

Physique was strenuous and extremely painful at times, but it was also entertaining. It usually kept me interested and paying attention the whole class, but today I just couldn’t focus. I had the same problem with Mana Control, though that class was less surprising because we were still just doing reactive knitting repeatedly to try to improve the number of lattices we could utilize.

By the time combat came around, I was jittering so bad I thought I’d fall out of my seat, and as we sat down at our table, Cece looked like she was going to drag me to the infirmary any moment. “Are you…” She paused, as if searching for words. “Are you alright? Are you ill? Did you get some bad news?”

I pasted on a fake smile, my gut churning, and laughed it off. “Nothing like that. Just didn’t sleep well last night.” Which was true, I’d had awful dreams about Terry coming back and blaming me, or his corpse reanimating inside the mining company and waiting for me. I couldn’t exactly say that though, so I left it at the vague explanation.

Professor Teresa was on time today. She spared a glance for where Terry had been sitting next to Dalton, but only briefly, probably assuming he just skipped class, and then scanned the rest of the room, noting who was in attendance.

“Well, since we have our new students up to speed, and I’ve given the rest of you a good chance to get familiar with the reading material.” She glanced at us, pausing. “You two will be expected to read up on your own time, the first five chapters in the book you bought when you signed up.” She resumed her speech. “Since that’s out of the way, it’s as good a time as any to get you started on neutral spells.”

She turned to the black slate that was in all the classrooms, and started sketching out a diagram. It was easily recognizable to anyone who had ever learned a spell, the lattices clean and precise and not particularly complicated.

“Now, in this class, you’ll all be learning the art of combat. But combat varies based on the caster.” She finished the diagram and stepped to one side so everyone could see it. “Because of the wide varieties of mana types, we can’t use a spell like fireball or wind knife for your first combat spell, because if someone has water type mana, or earth, they wouldn’t be able to use that spell.”

Right. I’d forgotten there were opposing mana types, mostly because mine was void mana, and I hadn’t ever even seen a void spell. Professor Teresa continued. “To allow me to train you all equally well, and to make sure that no one is unable to cast, we use spells of neutral mana, ones with no alignment, to introduce you to combat magic.”

Someone raised their hand, and Teresa sighed, pointing to them. “You. The broody one. I’m mid explanation what could you possibly need?”

Duval, who looked annoyed to be called ‘broody’ quickly shook it off to refocus on his question. “Yes. As a mana neutral spell, wouldn’t we need neutral mana to cast it? Why isn’t there a conversion lattice, it looks like it’s just mana, shape, and execution instructions.”

She rolled her eyes. “If you’d shut the hell up and let me finish. I was going to tell you that neutral spells are neutral because the lattices can conduct any type of mana. Neutral mana becomes anything, and a neutral spell can do the same. So while all of you will be casting the same spell, the effect of that spell will vary drastically based on mana type.”

Holding out a hand, she gestured, and an arrow of CONCENTRATED LIGHTNING shot out and smashed into the wall of the classroom, exploding on impact and arcing bolts for a few feet in multiple directions. No one was hurt, but it was loud and impressive, and we all just gaped at her. I noted a flashing ring on her finger, and realized that must be her focus.

“As you can see, my mana type is Lightning.” She gestured at the hole in the wall and all the burns. “The mana arrow spell created the arrow, but the chain effect is because Lightning mana naturally arcs to nearby targets. Earth arrows have armor piercing properties, Wind arrows are fast, water arrows can be split without dispersing. Every mana type has its own unique property, and when used with a neutral spell, these properties change the nature of the spell’s manifestation.”

Everyone looked pretty shocked by the whole thing, pun not intended, but they also all looked excited. Hell, I was excited too. I wondered what spatial mana would do to a mana arrow spell. Before I could go off on my tangent though, Teresa held up a hand. “However.” All the murmurs that had started up stopped. “We will be doing this one at a time. I’ll give you a few minutes to monkey with the structure in your heads, and then you’ll come up and demonstrate.”

Someone, I think Annika, made a sound, as if to argue, but Teresa cut her off. “No. You’ll do it here, where I can watch and control things. I’ll be keeping your spells from becoming too…explosive. Some types of mana can react unpredictably with neutral spells, and so can certain types of crystals. Different crystal variations means SLIGHTLY different mana variations, even within the same type. Don’t ask me to explain, it’s complicated and not something for beginners to worry about.”

No one spoke, and we all began preparing to cast. Learning the lattices, learning to shape them. A three lattice spell was perfectly accomplishable by everyone here, theoretically, since we’d all been in Mana Control long enough to learn how to cast spells of that basic level of complexity.

I reached into a pocket, slipping out a knife. This one was golden bronze, imbued with light mana. I wasn’t sure if it would be easier to work with than the earth knife, but I had enough going against me here trying the spell off the cuff without worrying about mana resisting me from my knife.

It was ALSO probably the highest Form item I’d ever made. One of my projects from a day or two ago, which would help make shaping the mana easier.

So I practiced, at least mentally, shaping the mana inside the knife. It was annoying, because I was MOSTLY sure that I would be able to use demon casting for a spell this small, and I kind of wanted to find out how it would feel to shape the mana inside my actual body. I was betting since I was made of spatial crystal, it would probably be pretty easy.

After about twenty minutes, Teresa clapped her hands sharply, startling most of the people in the room. “Alright. That should be enough time for something this simple. Hands up for anyone who thinks they could cast this spell effectively.”

Naturally, everyone put their hands up. Professor Teresa scanned the class before settling on a familiar blonde. “DuClay.” She said, pointing to Grace. “You should be able to do this without blinking. You can go first.”

The Baron’s daughter stood up regally (which was how she did everything so it wasn’t a surprise) and strode to the front of the room. Teresa pointed at the wall. “You can use that wall. It’ll need replacing anyway, so maintenance will only have to chew my ass for one repair order and not two.”

Grace nodded stoically, raising her hand, and then closed her eyes. In live combat that wouldn’t work, but for a first time casting it should be fine. A gold bracelet around her wrist shone slightly, and then there was a flash of light and a crack in the air. Grace stared coldly at the wall, which was now sporting an extra hole.

Teresa nodded approvingly. “Very nice. Light arrows often exhibit speed based attributes, to an extreme degree. Even I had trouble tracking that shot.” I noticed she said ‘trouble’ and not that she couldn’t do it. I was sure she could have prevented the spell from landing if it had seemed dangerous.

Grace gave a small smile, but before she could turn to leave, Teresa continued. “Sadly, that isn’t nearly enough. You took ages to cast and you closed your eyes. Do it again properly. Actually.” She paused, fishing in her pocket and pulling out a copper coin. “We’re changing things up. I’m going to flip this coin, and you’re going to hit it with a spell.”

The noble girl blinked, and I could see her distress, but she tamped it down, her response coming out measured and politely disagreeable. “I suspect I won’t be skilled enough to hit such a small moving target with a new spell.”

Teresa smiled sweetly. “Then I suspect you ought to put some work into getting better fast, otherwise you’ll fail this exercise.” Her eyes flicked to the bracelet. “I know what a high Form focus looks like, DuClay. If you can’t control your spell when you’re channeling it through that then I don’t need you in my class.”

That broke through the gentle and polite mask and drew an annoyed glare from Grace. “But it’s too fast! How am I suppose to control it when I can’t even see it?”

“So slow it down.” Said Teresa ruthlessly. “You can make it go fast, that means you can make it go slow. Use less mana.” I…hadn’t realized that could factor in. I thought we just filled the lattices, but I supposed you could overcharge a spell so you could probably undercharge one. You just needed enough mana density in the mana lattice that the rest of it didn’t collapse.

Grace glared harder, but turned and stared at the wall for a second, holding out her hand. Her bracelet gleamed, and she cast at the same time as Teresa threw the coin with no warning at all. The arrow winged it, sending it spinning off into the distance with a smoking  gash along one side.

The teacher didn’t look pleased. “Close enough I suppose. Now you know not to show off so much. Overcharging your spells isn’t always a good idea.”

The noble girl huffed and stalked away, and I realized I’d misunderstood. Still, it was a good lesson. She looked out at the room before settling on me. “Rourke. Your mana type will be a pain, might as well get it out of the way.”

I nodded, standing up and twirling my knife nervously between my fingers. People were staring at it with interest, especially Grace, who could probably sense the light mana. When I got up to the front, I ignored Teresa as I constructed the spell, then said. “Coin.” Because I didn’t feel like wasting a shot.

She laughed, pulling a copper free and flipping it up into the air as I released the spell. I focused on the target as I shaped the spell, using the high Form to try to take control so I could steer it once it was out. I would curve the damn thing if I needed to. As the coin spun, I released the spell…and it fucking exploded.

The coin just vanished in a flash of mana as the arrow hit dead on, not after shooting out, not after a slight delay. The arrow literally ignored the intervening space and hit the coin directly when fired without crossing the distance. Teresa whistled. “Farcasting. Fancy. Always good for a dramatic show aren’t you Rourke?” Oddly, that made me smile, despite the bad association with Terry. Maybe this class could still be fun. Besides, I doubted anyone would approach me today. We had bigger things to worry about.