Capítulo 150: Time to get to work (2)
The skeleton mages keep nodding in unison as I present my ideas. They even applaud me with their bony hands when they like a particular idea.
After finishing my entire monologue on how to improve the boss room using strategy I set my mind to more hands-on changes.
"To help you improve your strength I'd also like you to try and use a different element of magic. I myself use earth magic so I can show you that but any kind of additional magic you can learn will be great. Being able to switch between elements would vastly expand your arsenal of actions.
"Lastly, I think we need to do something about your close combat strength. You aren't able to take the slightest hit when your enemies get close while you are still chanting. We should either train your evasion or find some slight manner of offensive means you can use."
I get blank stares for my suggestion regarding close combat like it is an inconceivable notion for a skeleton mage to fight using anything but magic. Too bad for them I guess. Because they are about to be introduced to the world of whacking things with a stick, the right way.
However, before starting the unthinkable training with them I try to make them relax by starting with magic. I show off my two main spells, rock needle and ground spikes, and earn another round of applause.
My magic capabilities impress the skeleton mages but none of them make an attempt to try for themselves. Either they are unwilling to use a different element or they already know that trying will be futile.
<The latter is more likely. Monsters need some kind of epiphany or enlightenment to learn magic. Like the experience your goblin mage had when he learned to control fire. They don't seem to be able to study an element like the human mages.>
Oh, so no studying I guess. But it must have been a positive experience to see my magic. Maybe they will draw inspiration from it later.
While on the subject of magic. Fire is sometimes used as a propellant for bullets and the likes. Could that be done using fire magic?
<Guy... Bullets are propelled by an explosion that needs more space than it's given and thus creates an expanding force that is guided through the gun barrel to propel the bullet. And while most explosions involve fire that doesn't mean they work the same way.>
Well darn. Looks like we'll have to go with plan meteorite after all.
<Plan meteorite?>
Remember when you explained the way I could shoot the rock needles to me? You said that what I was doing was akin to pulling the earth essence inside the rock needle. You then proceeded to say that the way I had imagined it would need a different element of magic to wrap around the object and pull it.
You referenced wind magic if memory serves me right but the element shouldn't really matter, right?
<The difficulty may increase but yes, the element is secondary.>
So, I was thinking of telling the skeleton mages to incorporate a sort of core into their fireball. If they had a rock they were moving along my rock needle strategy would have been countered. Unless I hit the fireball perfectly in the center and thereby stopped the rock I would still need to dodge it.
<So what you are saying is that you want to incorporate a hidden projectile to remedy the fireball's weakness. The usual tactic of making it lose form before reaching the right target would indeed be largely ineffective.>
Now that I have discussed it with Navi I feel very confident that my new method will work. During my mental discussion with Navi, the skeleton mages have simply been standing there and waiting. I can't feel even the slightest hint of impatience from them. They are the ideal students in that aspect at least.
I roughly explain the principle of what I want them to do and use earth magic to create a whole bunch of golf-ball-sized rocks for them. They immediately grab one each and begin their inner chant to cast fireball.
Now that they are busy I have time to do some trying on my own.
The first kind of magic I learned was earth magic and I still think that it's a good choice but all the magic-using monsters I have met so far have been using fire magic. Not being able to use it myself is something of a weakness in my teaching. My understanding of fire magic is limited to fireballs and I can't think of anything else without being able to try things.
Therefore, I have decided that I will be trying to learn fire magic on my own. It will probably take some time and effort but the payoff will be worth it.
I try to concentrate into myself as I cast a simple earth magic spell. My magic begins to circulate in a certain pattern and I feel the ground before me sink down to form a small hollow.
Having achieved that easily I try to imagine a fireball commanding the pattern to change accordingly. The pattern begins to change but at a speed that makes me feel like I'll fall asleep before it finishes.
My mp keeps circulating and powering the pattern to allow me to view the changes that occur. The power affecting the ground dissolves and picks up minute traces of sand and dirt to form a ball shape in the air before me.
As the pattern continues to be modified more small particles are drawn into the ball of sand and debris. Once a certain saturation has been reached a part of the pattern ceases to change and the sand ball isn't absorbing more particles from the surroundings.
Then I feel a sharp pain in my mind as the ball of sand and debris begins to spin and my mp drains like water from an upturned bottle. I hurriedly cancel the spell and let the accumulated sand and debris fall to the ground.
As I look at the fallen mass, parts seem to be scorched and melted from the heat produced by the friction between the spinning particles.
Estado de energía semanal
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