Chapter 4: Advancements in Magic
I was feeling quite proud of how I dealt so decisively with that annoyance and the fact that I finally got my first piece of loot! I do consider myself much more sophisticated and calm then my lower-tier brethren, but even I cannot deny the feeling of pride I got from finally owning something of value. Even if it wasn't valuable to me, it still looked very shiny, and I would make sure not to crush it.
Waking up once again to that beautiful vista, I looked to my first piece of loot, cradled gently in the middle of my claws. I had a brilliant sleep last night, and if stealing things is what prompts such a slumber, I might have to become a thief. However, I put those thoughts to the back of my mind as I didn't want to get distracted or waste any time, and immediately returned to my magic testing zone behind the mountain, and started thinking about how illusion magic would work. When the hero brought it up in our battle yesterday, I realized that it didn't really fit into any of the magical affinities I already had, except maybe darkness magic, so I immediately used Inspect on it.
---
Darkness Magic
An affinity more rare than the four main elements. Excels in poisons of the mind and body.
---
In normal terms I think that means it can directly attack the opponent's mind.
After this I gathered my courage and thoroughly tested my darkness magic on some magical beasts in my territory, and preceded to apologise continuously in my mind for their painful deaths. Although I did not feel much pity, I still realized that being poisoned to death simply to be a test subject isn't the best way to die. I hadn't even killed the hero after all, I wonder why that was, considering how annoyed I felt.
After my testing I found that I could block the senses of creatures to disorient them, or push them directly into a coma, or inflict phantom pain to the point that they try to kill themselves. After a few more creatures fell to the last possibility, I stopped myself. I already wasn't going to sleep well tonight, and more screaming definitely wasn't going to help.
Despite all this extreme testing, I still didn't get any results for illusion magic. Illusions are to do with tricking the mind so I thought they might be in darkness magic, but darkness magic was more about doing harm, so I still didn't really know what illusion magic was. I didn't even know if it actually existed, but I was trusting the title of 'Hero' to mean that Ray was at least partially competent, but maybe that was overestimating him.
I was going to give it one last try with an idea I had, multiple types of magic at once. I also knew healing magic existed, but it didn't fit cleanly into any of the categories I had either. Also, illusion magic caused purely by darkness magic would have no substance, yet Ray thought I was an illusion because I was able to block his sword, so maybe I should try a different approach.
After thinking it through I decided on a particular combination, and decided to test it. I pranced my way through the forest around my mountain, making surprisingly little noise for a beast my size - another use I had found with my airflow manipulation - second guessing my idea before I decided to try it anyway. The next animal I spotted was a horned rabbit. I had no idea how their horns could fit inside rabbit dens, but I guess they made it work somehow. Anyway, it was this rabbits unlucky day. I invoked my new illusion magic with a scenario in mind, and lay down to watch what will happen.
-
The verdant green bushes in front of the brown horned rabbit shook, and a large, grey wolf emerged, growling at the rabbit. The rabbit stood completely still as the wolf slowly approached it. The wolf suddenly pounced on the rabbit, giving it no time to escape before biting the poor animal in half. Immediately after, the wolf evaporated, disappearing into thin air.
-
At the same time as the rabbit's body fell to the floor in pieces, I was astounded at what I'd done. In the end, I didn't think about the exact mix of elements; instead letting the aim guide me, then analyze the method of how it was done. That method was a majority of water and light to simulate a physical thing, and a touch of darkness to convince the rabbit to ignore the discrepancies. I assume that this would be impossible for weaker beings, but is similar to how some humans believe gods can simply 'will' things into existence from nothingness. It was very exciting to do something like this, but the feeling of using magic through only my will was strange and even slightly terrifying. What if my focus had wavered or my ideas shifted mid-cast? For this spell it might not matter much, but if I tried to make something else happen and didn't focus hard enough, could it explode in my face? If I wanted something to happen but didn't think about the process, the uncontrolled mana could follow any route it wanted as long as it reached my aim. Whether that route involved explosions, lava, or pressure changes mattered not, as long as the aim was reached.
Calming down a bit, I made sure to remember not to try and 'will' anything into existence without at least some realistic idea of the process. Once I had calmed down, I felt as if something was trying to get my attention inside my status, so I immediately opened it.
---
Name: Rontu
Race: Wind Dragon
Rank: King
HP: 21 570 / 21 570
MP: 19 863 / 21 331
Magic: Wind Magic, Fire Magic, Water Magic, Darkness Magic, Earth Magic, Holy Magic
Compound Magic: Illusion Magic
Strength: 20 567
Endurance: 19 443
Agility: 24 176
Intelligence: 21 356
Dexterity: 23 473
---
My earlier, scared train of thought immediately froze as I rejoiced. I actually got a new type of magic! I didn't even know that was possible. This revelation and success calls for celebration! The best method of which, is obviously troubling that annoying hero!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone