Chapter III.IX (3.9) - Barrier
“Today we will focus on the most basic aspect of spatial spellwork,” Wakino said. “The fact your teacher taught you the basics of jumping and the gate spell before working on the foundational spells of the craft speaks a great deal about her. Today, you will learn the barrier spell.”
Wakino barely moved the entire time she taught. The hood of her cloak revealed nothing more than darkness, completely concealing her. But then she began to demonstrate the use of barriers. They appeared in front of her, walls of force. It took Kizu a minute to realize what they looked like.
“It’s just like the antimagic barriers!” He declared.
“Oh? So you do have some experience with them?
Kizu quickly explained his knowledge of antimagic barriers. He dredged up every memory of Arclight’s explanation and then demonstrated his own. The slightly green vines and leaves stretched out in a transparent canopy in front of him.
“Only the nonphysical barriers. While still disappointing, it is better than what I was led to believe you possessed. With this knowledge as a foundation, you should be able to tap into spatial spellcraft and create a physical barrier. Watch.”
Wakino then demonstrated, showing her own antimagic shield, then shifting it into a material barrier. Then she waved a hand for Kizu to do likewise.
It felt unnatural, like swallowing his own tongue or forcing his eyes in different directions, but eventually Kizu managed to follow her example. He spent hours grueling under her tutelage as she inspected his work and pointed out clear weaknesses and flaws in his barriers.
He was grateful Anata had refilled his blood supply that morning. Not only would he have likely collapsed from blood-loss, but also simply from sheer fatigue. Anata’s help let him remain alert while only on a couple hours of sleep.
As soon as he managed to materialize a physical barrier on command, Wakino launched him into different drills. He was commanded to reconstruct it into different shapes and then to split it into pieces. Like with antimagic shields, the smaller barriers were more condensed in strength, while the ones spread wide shattered under little pressure. Wakino had him begin applying the force himself as well, pressing his body weight against the barriers and even stepping on horizontal ones. Eventually, after a few hours of grueling practice, he managed to create disks wide enough for his feet that could support his weight for more than a few seconds.
“Not terrible,” Wakino finally said as she smashed through his newest shield with a blast of force. “Still with several tender points and half-decent mage would be able to pick apart, but passable for a starting point.”
Through his trial and error, Kizu had realized why these barriers weren’t taught by Shinzou Academy. While useful, they weren’t as reliable a shield as an elemental version. A wall of stone or ice would protect far better with less skill required. But that wasn’t to say Wakino’s barrier spell wasn’t without considerable merits. For one thing, it could be constructed as a one-way window, allowing the mage to inspect the enemy and plan unseen. And it could also be placed midair, giving a fighter a platform in which to move by, untethered to the ground.
But while useful, he still had to admit the process was far too taxing on his blood reserves. If he hadn’t been training extensively with spatial magic and antimagic barriers before today, he wouldn’t have lasted more than half an hour into training.
“Catch.” Wakino’s dismembered hand tossed him a blood fruit.
While not even a sliver as effective at restoring his blood reserves as a drop of Anata’s blood, he still bit into it. Kizu had eaten the fruit a hundred times before at the academy. Though this one was slightly sweeter.
“Not many can keep up with my regime,” Wakino said. “At the very least, it seems that Taroe chose this child’s guardian well.”
That was almost a compliment. But he wanted to avoid the topic of both Taroe and Anata around this woman. She was far too observant. He didn’t want her picking up on anything too peculiar with Anata’s existence. So he nodded and took another bite of the fruit.
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“When you fought against Inari’s assassin’s, did you encounter any difficulties?”
Kizu swallowed. “Of course I did. They were powerful mages that specialized in killing.”
Wakino nodded. “Yes. Of course. I meant specifically in regard to your spatial spells.”
“They didn’t work against them.”
“Do you know why?”
“Their tattoos. They’re body enchantments that prevent people from jumping into them.”
“Good. I will teach you a trick that you can use to better assault people like that. It’s simple, but not many know how to use it properly.”
Kizu leaned forward, fascinated. He wiped juice off his chin with the sleeve of his yukata.
“People like Inari’s lackey’s don’t have a firm enough grasp on spatial spellcraft to jump or truly protect themselves from spatial mages. Instead, they rely on jewelry or tattoos to protect them from attacks, as you saw. However, their enchantment isn’t a catch-all. What happens when someone like Inari needs to transport them?”
Kizu blinked. He considered the question. If it was just a piece of enchanted jewelry, it could easily be removed. But with a permanent tattoo…. He supposed there could be caveats in the enchantment to allow specific people to move them around, but that seemed a bit too convoluted for a strong enchantment.
“They transport the person in their entirety,” Kizu finally concluded. “The tattoos protect against someone jumping into them. But not against the movement of the person as a whole.”
For a brief moment, Kizu saw the flash of teeth under Wakino’s dark hood.
“When you jump, you are displacing a section of reality and swapping it with another. This is often forgotten, as you normally switch places with nothing more than air. But if you swap places with someone else, you can fundamentally maneuver them into your old space. Or take them with you. You could even send them away with a jump while remaining yourself, though I believe that technique is still beyond your skill level. Spatial spellcraft is tactically perhaps the most valuable branch of magic ever conceived.”
Kizu considered. It would have been an invaluable technique in the fight aboard Owl’s Respite.
“But it won’t work against someone like you,” he guessed. “Because you naturally resist foreign spatial spells as a spatial mage.”
“Correct. I believe even with your basic control over the craft is enough to have built up a natural resistance. While hypothetically it’s possible to bypass the resistance with enough sheer offensive power, the difficulty multiplies by magnitudes the stronger the mage. Even I would struggle to override a mage with even a bit more skill than yourself. No, it’s better to remove yourself, reorganize the battlefield to your advantage, then use other spells. However, force blasts like those I used against your barrier would only be slightly less effective against a spatial mage.”
“Because they’re both external forces colliding, rather than something hitting the mage internally?” Kizu guessed.
“Correct.”
“Could you teach me how to cast them?”
Another attack in his arsenal would be invaluable. Especially something that could hit things at range. As it was, his offensive spells were almost exclusively restricted to close combat. He could toss a small ball of fire, but it didn’t hold any true threat unless the enemy was made of hay. And he could shoot a stone forward with a blast of elemental magic, but that was something someone skilled with a sling could accomplish far better than himself. An actual crushing force attack would be far more impressive.
“Another day. First you will need to master barriers. Then perhaps telekinesis. Foundations are invaluable. A lesson your previous teacher appears to have entirely neglected.
“I did pressure her into focusing on jumping,” Kizu admitted. He felt a slight need to defend Roba. While grumpy and easily irritable, the old woman hadn’t actually been a bad instructor.
If Wakino acknowledged the comment, the response was hidden beneath the darkness of her cloak.
“You did well today,” she repeated instead. “You should be proud of yourself. Not many can remain standing after five hours of training. I will give you tomorrow to recover, then we can meet again the next day. Do not overexert yourself by casting further spells. Follow my training regime. By the time this vacation ends, I expect you to understand the basics of what it means to be a true spatial mage.”
Ten chapters (5 weeks) ahead of Royal Road.