Bab 3: ...Old Troubles
It was quite sunny day. Through a school window I could see my classroom, classmates sitting at their desks, myself lying at my own desk and Hiratsuka, that was ready to present me her "Whack of Literacy", or something, on my head with a book in her hand.
'Oops.'
I clumsily dodged her attack by diving to the opposite from the angry teacher side of the desk, almost falling over from my chair. Fortunately, I managed to keep my balance, which was quite hard seeing myself from a point of 3rd person.
"Huh? Good instincts... But even if tomorrow is the Closing Ceremony, you still need to pay attention to the lesson."
"Ah? Yes, of course."
After my reply Hiratsuka came back to the blackboard mumbling something about a need to train her "Page Turner Slam"...
It was creating some dissonance when my senses of hearing and sight were coming from a different points from my body, but I had already got some practice during the last few days.
I suppose, Hiratsuka may have felt weirder than myself, because from one look on my face she should have been able to see my unfocused and hollow eyes, that blindly look straight through her.
Why is it? Well, it is because I was training to cooperate with my familiar, from whose point of view I was watching the scene now... Or, should I say instead, I was training to be able to rely for its senses only if I needed, as, thanks to system privileges, I was allowed to combine my senses with familiar and sense everything from both points simultaneously(though it works bad with hearing), which was hypothetically enough for cooperation.
[Find Familiar] was one of the spells, that I choose as level 1 [Wizard], which gives me an ability to constantly keep a single tiny summoned creature which can act independently from me, transfer its hearing and sight and be a conductor for my spells, that needed a touch with a target in order to be casted.
Unfortunately, while 5E expansion "Volo's Guide to Monsters" allowed character to have hypothetically ANY adult tiny creature as a familiar, it is suggested, that character should have prearranged with it some form of contract if this is an exotic creature. At very least I understood it so back then and for the system it was enough.
Because of it I stuck limited to tiny beasts that have statblock in 5th edition, which is actually already an expanded list in comparison to the original. Though, it will be fake creatures, that based on their versions from 5E, so they will not necessary have all characteristics of an assumed form.
How example, if I use a spider as a familiar, then while I can make it look like a black widow, tarantula, jumping spider or whatever spider I imagine, each of them would inject with a bite a venom with the same summary toxicity. Some may inject more venom, but less toxic, some inject less venom with higher toxicity, but overall damage would be around the same. And while I can manipulate the size of a summoned creature within some boundaries, so this spider may be small enough to fit in a child's hand or slightly bigger than a human head, it will have a little effect on its abilities... except maybe its psychological impact, especially in the last case.
However, creatures summoned this way won't have their own egos and I even can transfer control of them to my system. That wouldn't work if I used as a familiar non-conjured creature, what I still can do if I find one that I want as such.
Right now my familiar assumed the form of a simple raven, that differ from a real one... by inability to perceive ultra-violet color, I suppose? And, formally, with creature type changed to Fey, instead of Beast.
It is great from the point of reconnaissance and stealth and also have an ability to imitate heard sounds and even talk and deliver verbal messages as a consequence. Though, not really useful in a battle.
Actually, there weren't really many forms with real battle abilities, that were allowed to me. It was basically a flying snake and a velociraptor... also to some extent a stirge and a poisonous snake with a scorpion.
The last 2 were included only because other 3 don't exist now in the real world, so they are better from the point of conspiracy. They have venom of a similar potency, though the snake one have more consistent effect, and both have a short-range blind vision, an ability to perceive nearest environment without a need of sight.
The other 3, though, could help in a battle with something more, than just sneak attacks.
Stirge is basically a giant mosquito with bat wings. If it manages to attach itself to a living creature, it may suck out its blood with a great speed, enough to hypothetically cause a significant lack of blood in a dozen of seconds. Quite horrifying.
Velociraptor in 5th edition is a feathered dinosaur with a size of a big turkey, if exclude its tail, and it mostly match its real prototype, as I know. Its standard sizes already are around the limit for a tiny creature and it was a pack hunter, able to hunt prey way bigger itself. It isn't as dangerous alone, but still dangerous, especially if consider, that it can cooperate with me like with a part of a pack.
And flying snake, and it's not a chrysopelea, but a snake with real leathery wings... and it is a force to be reckoned with. High flying speed, blind vision and powerful venom, which, in contrary to the one of common poisonous snake form, does not cause an immune response, besides being more toxic overall.
In D&D this venom causes 3 4-sided dice of poisonous damage, 3d4 in short, per bite, and that leads to the range from 3 to 12 damage with 7 and 8 as the most common numbers. In comparison, according to system, people in this world usually have somewhere around 2-6 hit points, if they didn't do any combat training.
Maybe 2-6 maximal HP would seem as unfair numbers, but considering how many people in anime died after one knife stab, that by the same rules causes 1d4 of piercing damage on its own plus some modifier for an ability score... I suppose it is actually fare numbers, at least for my current world. Of course they are only for approximate representation of real characteristics and not always true.
Though, it should be noted, that 0 hit points in D&D doesn't always mean death, but sometimes loss of combat capability instead. For the game it is the case if it is a player's character who hits 0 or if Game Master wants to prolong process of someone's death, but in the reality it is always the case, if death wasn't an instant.
So, when someone hit 0 HP in reality then they would fall unconscious or maybe feel themselves too numb to move, helplessly quiver in pain or be in a similar situation... well, in majority of cases. That's being said, it is still a necessary condition for some types of death, like failing death save, or, in other words, death from battle injuries – blood loss is an example.
According to the rules, to kill someone in instant you need to deal enough damage to lower opponent's HP to 0 and the remaining damage should be equal to the max HP of them. So, if someone have 3 HP and their maximal HP equals 4, you would need to deal 7 or more points of damage to instantly kill them. That's by rules. According to the system, in the same case in reality opponent would still have some time when it is possible to help them, in dependence to how the damage was dealt, but without a help they would surely die, while in other case they still would have some chance to recover on their own.
So I could summon a deadly creature in a form of a flying snake instead of a raven, and, because I would be able to recall it at any moment and send to the familiar's pocket dimension and call it back after, there wouldn't really be a problem about its concealment while I don't risk... but there wouldn't be much use of it outside of a battle either... preferably a death battle, so no one would report about an UMA(unidentified mysterious animal) afterwards.
Why it was important? Well... because I was going to get involved myself into one or two today night.
At least I hoped so...
'Third day without any catch... I knew, that crime rate in Japan is low, but finding zero crimes even with a flying reconnaissance... At this rate I would need to break into a police station and indulge into Yagami Light's ways by stealing their database to find any potential targets to gain exp... or at least find how territories of bikers gangs and yakuza are divided and where are their points of interest.'
With such thoughts in the head, I heard a ringing bell, which marked the end of the lesson and my school day, so I was going to come home and prepare for my search for "mobs" today.
"Well, everyone may go home or where are you going... Though... Zaimokuza, stay for a minute."
...But before this I again need to listen to what Hiratsuka have to say. So, after collecting things I waited, while everyone else was leaving the room. I even changed vision back to the main body.
"So... what is it about, Hiratsuka-sensei?"
"Just Hiratsuka-sensei? Not a "Great Scholar"?.. You really are distracted lately... or you just decided to mature up. Something happened during the exams week?"
As always, she had quite keen senses. Though, it was enough to just pay attention to me to notice my change.
'Yes, I just reincarnated. That's all,' I silently joked and tried to persuade the woman to drop this discussion subject, "Well... something did, but it isn't something you should concern yourself with, sensei."
"Everything that concerns the students should concern the teacher. But... if it is something personal then I can overlook as your non-homeroom teacher while it isn't affecting your education... So if you think of repeating your performance on the next exam week only on this level, then I..."
"I understand."
"Good!" Hiratsuka nodded and... pulled out a cigarette pack with words "Seven Stars" on it of the lab coat. "Do you mind a little walk to the school gates?"
"Etto... I kind of in hurry, so..."
"Really? Do you have today a meeting in arcade center with those... "Chibabros", are they?"
'Huh? Why does she know about these guys?!'
"Chibabros", or Chiba's "Arcanabros", was a self-name of the local arcade games enjoyers group, of which Zaimokuza also was part of.
"No, I don't," I answered her question and decided, in the end, to walk with her. "Did you stalk me? It would be a bad example for students, sensei..."
"Ha-ha... Of course I did not. But sometimes I make forays to research interests that have young people these days. And during one such foray I met you within this group of..."
"Enthusiastic people."
"... enthusiastic people, let's call them so. Anyway, I am glad that you have friends outside school, because inside... I wouldn't say, that you were successful."
"Well, I wouldn't call them friends, per say..." especially if consider that I haven't seen them since the reincarnation, "just acquaintances... playmates at best. And you cannot be unsuccessful in something, what you aren't even your goal."
"That's the thing, Zaimokuza... So, I hope, I found a possible solution to both of your problems."
"What do you mean by my proble-..."
"You being a loner and your irresponsible behaviour regarding studying," this words were accompanied by a fierce look of the teacher, that supposed to carry her threat. Though, it hadn't stopped me.
"Cough-cough?... But where is my saying in this questi-..." Hiratsuka gave me her fierce look again, but I continued nevertheless, "...-on? I am sure, that you can't just decide everything for myself even as a teacher.
"Well, if you think so, then... tell me, you haven't joined any club during this school year, have you?"
"No I haven't and I am not going to."
"To bad for you, because as school guidance counselor I already know one club, that would help with your social problem and, as well, have already got permission for your involvement into its activities from your homeroom teacher, so..."
'So... service club...' I stopped mid-step and grumbled inwardly, long ago guessed where Hiratsuka had been leading the conversation.
"Or... you may chose another variant," the woman said, just now, near the entrance, taking a cigarette and a lighter out of the pack and leaving the school building after.
It seemed, that even she wasn't so bold to smoke inside the school hallway... or she was worried about the fire alarm.
'Wait, what?' I quickly followed her through the entrance, right on time to see teacher helplessly attempt to light a lighter.
"Tsk, out of gas," she said, taking off the smoke stick from her lips.
'...I suppose, she would be better more relaxed before I ask what the hell she meant,' after deciding so, I extended my left hand to her, in same time putting other one into a coat pocket. "Give it to me."
"Huh? You took a lighter in the school?" Yet, despite her questioning, she gave her cigarette to me.
"You see... a proper magician always have a spell for something like that. [Prestidigitation]," I tried to divert her attention from my hands with words... well, actually a rubbish nonsense, and in same time I was pulling out empty, but folded as if it was holding something, right hand out of pocket and bringing her to the left one that still was with the nicotine tube in it, ready to repeat the incantation and snap the fingers of the right hand. "[Prestidigitation]."
[Prestidigitation] -> [Cantrip] -> [Hold] -> [Release]
[Prestidigitation] -> [Cantrip]
While I recognized the produced sequence of sounds and knew that in combination with some simple hand movement in the form of a finger snap with slight hand tilt casts a spell, but for Hiratsuka I just produced some unintelligible human noise and called it a spell.
But could she argue with the results? After all it worked.
Above my folded right hand, near the cigarette head, had appeared a little blue-red flame and after a second, when this flame had gone, the cigarette was lit.
Well, actually an attentive observer could notice, that cigarette had been lit first and only after that appeared a flame, but I was specifically watching the direction of the teacher's gaze so this wouldn't happen. Also the reason why I firstly lit it was so the flame wouldn't attract teacher's attention earlier than needed.
[Prestidigitation] is a very versatile spell, that could be used for creating of sensory effects, lighting or snuffing out small flammable things, cleaning or soiling small things, chilling, warming, flavoring up them, creating tiny images or even conjuring tiny solid objects, though the last ones exist only for a dozen of seconds.
But even so, you can chose only one of the spell effects with each use and this is why I casted it twice: first time with my hand still in the pocket, so I was holding it from activation until the moment before the second cast, when I released it and immediately casted the spell again.
I could never understood, why people so rarely use so-called "ready action" in D&D – preparing some action beforehand and releasing it upon a certain trigger.
Well, in the real world this rule became kind of useless, because real world doesn't have a turn based passage of time anyway, but it confirmed an ability to hold back a spell realization after the cast.
Though, the problem is that I need constantly maintain a concentration on such withholded spell somewhere on an edge of my consciousness and if I lose it then the spell would be spent without an effect.
Good thing that [Prestidigitation] is a cantrip, level 0 spell, and doesn't need a spell slot... well, MP in my case, in order to cast...
So in the worst case I could just conjure a lighter instead of making an illusory flame, though such lighter, most likely, wouldn't be working.
In the end, this instant of magic usage had a minimized risks, but and benefits weren't so great – just a help to my teacher.
"Ta-dah!" I showed Hiratsuka the lit cigarette, in same time quickly hiding my right hand back in the pocket.
She looked at me for a good 10 seconds before finally taking the smoking device with an audible sigh.
"Ha~... And here I thought that you have grown up." Yet, despite her words, she puffed on the cigarette with a slight smile on her face.
"...So what about "another variant", that you have just mentioned?"
"Hm?.."
"You said before, that you may force me into a club or I may chose another variant."
"Oh it is... well..." I patiently waited, while the teacher was exhaling the smoke before she started talking, "You see... as I said, club possibly will be able to solve your social problem... but not the one of your studying irresponsibility. So I though about a second solution. If you are interested, then wait me tomorrow after the closing ceremony somewhere... there. Oh, and if you will come then you are vowed to do your best. So, make your final decision only after tomorrow, when you would know, what you are needed to do."
And after this words, she left.
'So... she didn't said anything useful... Don't even know, I did good or bad thing, when lit her cigarette, so she will poison herself with its smoke further,' I sarcastically told in mind a joke to myself before sighing. '...Anyway, it shouldn't be a loss from my side, so doesn't matter. I will know tomorrow.'
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone