16 A Work of Ice and Fire (1/2)
AN: The last ”educational” day in the library.
---
Orisa had a lot of plans for today, so her library time was limited to a few hours at best. She broke into the library, waving the letter like a flag.
”Kanai, VERBA MAGISTRI !” She said with a posed look. Kanai and Iten were already discussing something, and looked at her in surprise.
”Was it... Latin?” Said Iten with a confused look. ”How were you even able to say something in Latin with translation Seal?”
Kanai glanced both ways and almost cried out to Orisa:
”I'm begging you, speak without memes so I can understand you!”
”But I refuse.” She said menacingly.
”Silence!” Maria hissed when Kanai almost fell on the floor, laughing hard.
”Anyway,” Orisa sat down and began, ”I got a letter from my friend, and she told me what classes and spells you should look into.”
Kanai squirmed in joy.
”In fact, she insisted that you take two specializations simultaneously. I'm sure I saw one of them in the book we read yesterday.”
”This is great news, Orisa, Kanai.” Iten nodded in approval.
”Yeah, so, the specializations. You wanted one with a cool name?” Orisa giggled seeing Kanai perking up. ”The first one is called The Way of Decline.”
Kanai clapped his hands in excitement.
”It's a combination of few different schools that uses self-empowering effects to temporarily increase the effectiveness of negative durational effects.” She handed him a list of spells and schools he needed to research. ”Though, I was told it's difficult to begin with because the starting spells are hard and complex.”
”Well, it sounds great, anyway. What is the second one?”
”The second one is a bit funny, I'd say. It is called A Gentle Breeze.” She chuckled, imagining Kanai in a pink yukata, waving small white fans with both hands. ”It focuses on durational magic, too. But its spells are about empowerment and restoration.”
”So, buffs and heals?” Kanai nodded thoughtfully.
”Yes, so to put it simply - my friend suggested you learn both offensive and supportive durational magic. They will probably boost each other in some way later.”
”Sounds awesome, yay!” Kanai cheered up even more.
”Good job, Orisa.” Iten looked quite content. ”By the way, we were actually talking about you a moment ago. I thought about your problem with classes and discussed it with Kanai.”
”And we both agreed that you should probably try it. Perhaps?” Kanai added a little shy.
”So? What is it? Spill it!”
”Quite simple, really.” Iten adjusted his non-existent glasses. ”The specialization we talked about called Monk.”
”Monk? Like, bald dude that wears a yellow robe and trains under the waterfall in the mountains?”
”I'm not sure that this world's version of Monk is the same as ours, but...”
”By the way, Iten, it seems you are from Earth, too. Where are you from, exactly?”
”Sweden.”
”I was also curious,” Orisa pushed forward, ”you were so cool in the fight with those imbeciles, where did you learn all that?”
”Also in my past life. One of my hobbies was martial arts. They helped with my main line of work.” He said plainly. ”Before you ask, I was a surgeon. It helped me to steady my hands and my mind, and later became a big part of my life.”
Orisa and Kanai sat for some time in awe. Iten cleared his throat and handed Orisa a book:
”So, this is a book on Monk's ways. I was planning to go to the closed section again. See you all later.”
”I think I'll go look for the books on the specializations you told me about.” Kanai stood up.
”You can find The Way of Decline in the fifth row on the second shelf, the fourth row from the bottom,” Orisa said nonchalantly. Seeing Kanai's astonished face, she added: ”Concentration potion's effect.”
When he returned with the book, his face showed severe case of shyness and awkwardness.
”What is it, Kanai?”
”I... It's ok if you don't want to...” he mumbled like a little girl, ”I remember what you told earlier about price and everything... But if it's okay, can I have a sip of your potion?” He finally said and averted his gaze.
Orisa thought for a moment. She planned to use it today, and this would have left her with one use. 'But this is a great chance to help someone in need and earn his loyalty, too.' Her thoughts were not always pure.
In the end, she took a sip herself and handed the rest to Kanai.
He downed its content and gasped loudly.
”It's like...” He was at loss of words.
”Like NZT, right?” Orisa supplied. She always probed people for knowledge of movies, anime and games.
”Yes! Absolutely!” Kanai was overwhelmed and overly agitated.
”Silence, this is your last warning!” Maria was annoyed by their behavior.
”Beware of loud noises and heavy smells. Also, the effect will expire around 10 PM, and there will be a backlash.”
”Orisa, thank you so much. You are a miracle, yay!” Kanai was beyond words.
”Yes-yes, let's get back to work.”
-
A few hours later Orisa decided to leave. When she was on the way to the gym, she saw a familiar blonde girl with a staff.
”Hello, the girl with a staff,” she said and waved her hand, ”I'm sorry, we won't be able to meet today.”
”Don't speak to me, fiendfood.” The girl's icy gaze was repelled by Orisa's cheerful smile, so she walked away. 'Gosh, this is so much fun, I understand Nagatoro now.'
Orisa entered the gym and unpacked. She also put on the gloves that were gifted to her by the people from the Arrival Chamber.
As she zipped their wrist wraps, the feeling of her Mana flow became clearer. It was like she heard a noise in the distance, but after taking a few steps in that direction, she now was able to distinguish some the words.
Orisa recalled today's talk with Youko.
-
”Miss Satou, can I ask you a small personal favor?” She approached Youko sheepishly when they were done with the Mana training session.
”How can I help you?”
”I have an item that Rita gave me, but I don't know its purpose. Is there any way to, I don't know, appraise it?”
”Show it.”
Orisa took the gloves out from the backpack and handed them to Youko. She looked at them, then at Orisa and furrowed her brow.
”These are gloves. You wear them on hands as protection from harm and weather.” She said with a blank expression.
”Yes... Um... Thank you... But I was told that they have some special effects, probably.” Orisa was mortified.
Youko took the gloves and turned them inside-out. On the inside of the palm, Orisa saw a small seal.
”This is a lesser Concentration Seal. It's like your potion, but much weaker. This Seal also helps a little with Mana compression to create smaller but more potent forms. Give me a second.”
She placed the gloves on the table, took out her small metal wand and pointed it at the gloves:
”-Major Status!-”
They glowed with blue for a second, and then Youko handed them back to Orisa.
”They will also slightly increase your Mana control and are enchanted to self-repair when damaged.” She said with a slightly confused voice.
”Are they rare? Expensive?” Orisa had some hopes about the gloves.
”No, quite the opposite. They are garbage, and I don't know who would put this combination of enchantments on the item, they are useless together.”
”If I may, one last question. This blue Seal inside is from Mana engineering and the gloves were also Mana crafted to get self-repair and Mana control?”
”Yes, that's quite perceptive of you, good job.”
-
Orisa returned to the six bottles training. The second step was the same - create two simultaneous flows of Mana and transfer Mana between bottles. She recalled the solution she used at her Mana training session with Youko - imaginary switch. This time, however, she needed not the switch, but two different pipes.
It took her twenty minutes to get the Mana going. It worked as she imagined - Mana movement felt like it was on different layers, different floors. Mana moved between a pair of bottles without mixing with Mana from the other two bottles.
'Orisa, the last Manabender!' Her internal critic was quite pleased.
'The Concentration potion and the gloves together do miracles.' She mused, inspired by her progress.
However, when she tried to add the third layer to move between the last two bottles, the first layer broke. Mana flow from this collapse felt disgusting, like something long and spiky moved inside, brushing against her organs and shaking them. She almost vomited.
'Shit, I thought I'd die. Guess that's my limit for now. Gotta ask Rita about this, too.'