Chapter 110: Playing with Fire (1/2)
Staring up at the draconic creature, Mike spoke to Madeline out of the side of his mouth. ”So what should we do about this, ma'am?”
She regarded him with a smile. ”Please, call me Madeline. Anyway, we need to announce this! Your discovery could revolutionize the field of summoning magic. Do you remember the exact chant you used?” A pad of paper and a quill appeared in hand, ready to write down whatever he said.
[Well, this is a bit awkward. I don't know enough about how chants are managed in this world. Would being able to manipulate an existing one be an issue?]
Deciding that discretion was the better option, he answered while rubbing the back of his head. ”Truth be told, I kinda just bit my tongue when I was casting. I don't know why it did this.”
”Hmm...” Madeline stared at him intensely. ”I'm not sure if I believe you...”
”I'm not lying, I promise. I don't think I could repeat that spell if I tried.”
Sighing, Madeline put her notepad away. ”Fine, but we have some experimenting yet to do before I'm fully satisfied.” She turned back to look at the dragon. ”I'm not sure how it's staying around this long. Conjured things are supposed to have a set lifespan. Once they expend the mana used in their creation, they vanish.....Hey, does it feel like your mana is being drained by any chance?”
Mike looked inwardly, and noticed that his mana recovery had slowed by about 25%. If he hadn't been focusing on it, he would have missed the change. ”Yeah, it looks like there is some kind of effect drawing on my reserves.”
Killian looked over sharply, and Madeline's eyes gleamed. ”Really? Could you do me a favor and try to conjure an object?”
Suspecting that he was being used for some of that 'experimentation,' Mike nonetheless started casting, making sure to use the standard chant this time.
”...[Conjure Object]”
Mike felt a small portion of his mana attempt to take the shape of a stool, but dissipate before it had a chance to do so. ”Huh, that's odd. It didn't work.”
Rather than be disappointed in the failure, Madeline jumped excitedly. ”This is great! I think you might have accidentally rediscovered long term summoning!”
He was slightly distracted by Killian's intense gaze, but had enough presence of mind to ask a followup question. ”So what does that mean, exactly?”
She fell back into her lecturer mode, ”Well, normally Conjuration spells require a set amount of mana up front, with more required for longer durations. However, there are some old records that suggest ancient mages were able to conjure creatures for days or even weeks at a time. Most magic historians believed that these mages simply had much larger pools of mana than we are used to, but some theorized that there might be an alternative version of Conjuration that allows for indefinite summoning.”
Motioning to the dragon, she continued, ”In theory, so long as they provided a constant stream of mana, the conjured creature or object would remain. However, in exchange, the summoner would not be able to conjure anything else so long as he or she was maintaining the original spell. Supposedly, the overlap between the first and the second casting would cause the second to destabilize.”
”Well, that sounds like what is going on at the moment. Still doesn't solve the actual problem, though. And now I can't practice my conjuration spells so long as its here. Should I try and cut off its mana supply?”
”No! We need to study it! I know a summoned creature of this size probably demands a large amount of your mana, but the longer you can maintain it, the better the chance I can make a breakthrough! Please, help me out. With this kind of discovery I can finally make it to a gold ranked instructor.” She gave him the puppy dog eyes.
[Is she misunderstanding something? Should I correct her...no, I suppose I can use this to prevent future requests. Its hard to say no to someone who has control of your grades.]
Sighing, Mike relented. ”Fine, but only until tomorrow. I don't think I can maintain it longer than that.”
”That's more than enough! Thank you! I'll keep it here for the night, and if anyone asks, I'll tell them its all part of my experiment.” She spoke rapidly while running over to the conjured creature in question, and gleefully started poking and prodding it, completely forgetting about the rest of her class.
The dragon gave Mike a long suffering glance, as if it resented being subjected to the instructor's experimentation, but couldn't really argue against it.
[Conjured creatures aren't really alive, right?] Feeling slightly guilty, he nevertheless averted his eyes from its humiliation.
He felt a nudge against his shoulder. Killian stood there with an unreadable expression on his face. They simply stared at one another for a moment, before the larger student gestured to Carol, who was still unconscious.
”Should probably help her.” Was all the man said, while motioning for Mike to grab one of her arms, and lift her up.
Carrying the stricken beastman between the two of them, they moved her to the department's clinic, where she could rest until she was feeling better. As soon as she was settled, Killian departed without saying a word.
[Huh, strange guy.]
Shrugging, he decided to put off worrying about it until tomorrow. He was starting to feel a bit mentally fatigued by the events of the day, and he still had two more classes left to attend.
Hoping that this period would be an uneventful one, he casually made his way to the classroom for Initiate Chanting Practicum. It was designed in the same manner as the one he attended Introductory Magic Theory in.
He found himself a seat near the back, and made himself comfortable. There was still a fair amount of time until the seventh bell, so Mike took a moment to scan through his [Status] again, making sure he hadn't missed anything. Sure enough, he'd overlooked a new addition to his titles.