MAGIC TRIAL pt. 2

“I never thought you would come back here so soon.”

“What, you don’t like my presence?”

“Ha… how could I not?”

Fiz stepped out from behind the counter and extended a hand towards Norihiko, which he accepted.

“I almost didn’t recognise you.”

“How so?”

Fiz scanned Norihiko’s body before replying, “Your mana, it’s so much more potent than the last time I saw you.” “Care to explain how a human got stronger in a short amount of time?”

Damn. He’s good – “let’s call it a trade secret.”

“Fine, I won’t pry; your clothes did make me a whole lot richer after all.”

“Who took interest in it?”

“The king himself, he said he had never seen anything like it. I didn’t tell him my source, though; I didn’t think you would like the attention.”

“Yeah, I won’t.” This kingdom runs on monarchy; that might be useful to know.

“So what brings you here? I’m sure you didn’t drop by just to say hi.”

“We need to measure his manner,” Astrea said. “I figured you would have what we are looking for.” Astrea looked around. “It looks like you have literally everything here after all.”

“You came to the right place; I got just the thing.”

After some rummaging, Fiz brought an item with a similar appearance to a crystal ball to the counter; its stand has four circles with the four basic elemental symbols in them.

“This will measure your mana capacity and your capacity in each of the four elements,” Fiz explained. “Just place your hand here, and it will do all the work.”

Norihiko already knew how magic works from the magic book he had been reading. Every human is born with a magical affinity for all four basic elements, but their capacity in each is different, although some humans may be born with additional elements like light and space, called the null magic set, while people may further their magic by learning different skills. The overall magic capacity is widely determined by level of training but, even in this world, there are also prodigies, those who are blessed from birth with astounding mana capacity and magic affinities.

It’s no wonder he is surprised by how my mana capacity went from one to a lot in a day. Norihiko placed his right palm on the ball; it glowed so bright that the three in the room all covered their eyes before it suddenly became lightless again.

“It looks like your mana capacity exceeds its measurement range.” Fiz said, uncovering his eyes, “As for your elemental capacity…” He gestured to the four circles. “You more or less have the same capacity for all four, but you are most prominent in fire magic. It only measures the four basic elements, so I won’t know if you have anything else.”

“So what do you make of it?”

“I’d say… if you choose to become a mage, you would make it big.” Fiz said, “In my case, as you might’ve guessed, I have the greater of my affinity in water, but I can cast the other elements too.” He said as he conjured up a miniature fireball in his hand, “But I prefer to use water magic, ice to be precise.”

“Do you have any null magic?”

“It’s a trade secret.”

“I guess that’s fair.”

“I have to warn you, like me, there are others who can sense how strong others' mana is; having such a large mana capacity is all for nothing if you can’t use magic well. I will recommend you learn the concealment skill.”

“Well then, you better watch your back.”

“Watch my back?”

“I'm going to catch up to you real soon,” Norihiko said confidently.

“How arrogant,” Fiz replied, but the excitement on his face was clear.

Norihiko and Astrea brought some more clothes from the store before leaving.

“We still need to make one more stop.”

“Where would that be?”

“The place where you would use your magic for the first time”

As they walked, Astrea leading the way, they also chatted.

“The foundation of magic is the imagination; if you can’t visualise yourself doing something or you can’t imagine your spell happening, you can’t cast it, or your spell will be incredibly weak.”

They walked until they got to the nastier part of town.

“Now I am even more curious as to where we are heading.”

“What, Are you scared?”

Norihiko looked at the crooks at every corner. “They are nothing compared to the people I made enemies of and worked with in my world,” he said, “but still… this many might be a problem for me.”

“How skilled would you say you are in hand-to-hand combat?”

“I studied some MMA for self-defence. Why do you ask?”

“So you will have something to fall back on if your magic doesn’t work,” Astrea said.

The stares became colder as they walked deeper and deeper into the den. What exactly is she planning?

Astrea stopped and turned back. She took the bag Norihiko carried, so she is now holding two bags. “There are different situations where a person uses magic for the first time. Some use it for the first time during practice; some others use magic for the first time in their sleep, but my best scenario is using magic for the first time…on pure instinct.”

With these words, she smiled and made a quick step to the left to reveal a fireball two times the size of a basketball coming straight for Norihiko.

Even with how fast Norihiko thinks, in that short moment, his brain could only manage two thoughts: run, dodge. His mind had made the decision to dodge, but the body did not listen because its eyes had locked on to the casters; they were all laughing. His body made a decision of its own: send the damn thing back. The body’s decision won. Norihiko grabbed the fireball; at first it was hot, which made Norihiko flinch, but he held it even tighter as it grew warmer, and in an instant, the fireball’s motion stopped. His body was still running on commands of its own as he channeled his own magic into the fireball and gripped it tighter, which made it hotter and smaller. With a swift motion, he threw the fireball shot putt style back at the casters. It exploded on impact, leaving nothing but ash behind.

Norihiko didn’t know how to react to what he had just done; never in a million years did he think he would hold a fireball with his bare hands, talk less of controlling it. The crooks became agitated by what had just happened as they drew their weapons, ready to fight.

“Good luck,” said a voice.

Norihiko didn't have to look; he knew the goddess was sitting on one of the rooftops away from the fight, leaving him to fend for himself.

“I don’t suppose you guys would let me trial you one after the other,” Norihiko said, but the crooks responded by charging straight at him, weapons in hand. “I guess that’s a no then.”

The first to get to Norihiko was kicked square in the face, sending him flying back; the second learnt nothing from his predecessor, as the same kick landed on his face.

My body feels light; their movements are so slow. It must be the effect of the goddess’s training.Norihiko kept taking down crook after crook with ease, moving fluently like a dancer on his ice. He wanted to try using magic again; there are still three elements to test out after all, but he decided against it, as it meant creating an opening for the crooks.

Astrea sat on the rooftop silently cheering him on. Norihiko would occasionally glance at her, thinking of how he would repay her for pulling this stunt.

With time the crooks became weary and started moving back; this gave Norihiko the opportunity to go on full offensive as he showed off his MMA skills, beating every one of them.

Only when everyone was downed did Astrea decide to fly down. “You did way better than I expected. Way to go.”

“I guess I ought to thank you for giving me a physical power-up before I have my revenge on you.”

“It was the fastest way for you to learn; you’ll thank me later,” Astrea said, giving her signature thumbs up. “Let’s head back for now; we will pick this up again to—”

Astrea stopped; she was shocked. A man two times Norihiko’s size had instantly materialised behind Norihiko and was mid-attack. His weapon, a flail with a short handle, a long chain and a big striking head which was heading straight for Norihiko’s right side.

Norihiko instantly sensed bloodlust. How did he conceal his presence? He knew it was too late to make a move; I let my guard down. Of course there’s going to be a leader; he blamed himself for having become too relaxed in this world. As he felt the touch of the striking head, he had one thought: 'Don't hurt.' He was then sent flying and crashed into a wall, crushing the thick wall before he fell. Blood trickled down his head as he lay like a lifeless corpse on the floor.

“NORIHIKO!” Astrea said; she never thought this would be the first situation she would actually call him by name.

“Ha ha ha… “You’re next, missy.” The giant man said, “Casually strolling into the Bones’ territory, you must have a death wish. Don’t worry, I am going to savour every last bit of you before you die.”

Astrea didn't care for what the man in front of her had to say; she was more worried about Norihiko. She made a run for him, but the man grabbed her by her hand.

“Come on, don’t ignore me. I promise I can satisfy you way more than your boyfriend can.”

“Let go of me, you filth.” Astrea’s face showed nothing but rage, which made the man let go of her hand and move back. “You dare pass such comments towards divinity; I shall deliver divine punishment.” She raised a hand to cast a spell but was stopped by Norihiko’s voice.

“Round two,” he said. He wasn’t on the ground anymore; he was now standing as he cleaned the blood from his forehead. “Let’s go for round two.”

“How are you still conscious?” Astrea asked, “With the physical buff I gave you, I knew you wouldn’t die, but I never expected you to recover from an attack like that so quickly.”

“Awww… Were you worried about me?”

“Pfft…as if.” Astrea turned away from Norihiko, folding her hands.

“Well, if you really want to know, just before I was sent flying, I wished not to get hurt,” Norihiko said. “Then I heard my voice in my head.”

Astrea paid even more attention now. “Could the voice have said”

“Absolute law”, they both said.

Are they ignoring me? Bones' leader thought, he watched the two talk, completely rejecting his presence.