Magic Mania

Finishing it up wasn’t so bad. The Lazuli looked pretty good, it looked to be around 3 meters tall. It definitely fit the knight aesthetic with its sectioned armor and there were gems decorated on major parts of the body that probably had some sort of magic power.

Marvin walked in stroking his mustache, “You did well, it’s even finer than it was before. I couldn’t sense any magic when you used your ability. What would you think of me teaching you, as payment.”

I guess I could accept it, it would definitely increase my chances of survival and learn more about this world. “Sure!” “Then we can start right away.”

We went to an open area of the village where Carine showed up, apparently her being Marvin’s previous student. Marvin cleared his throat to regain my attention. He made a battle-ready pose. “First you clear your mind,” I followed his example.

He then thrust his hand to the sky, “Fireball!” “Uh, how am I supposed to do that?”

He scratched his mustache and tossed a gem to me which I barely caught. “That will help someone who’s completely new to this.” I looked at it, it was a small red jewel that felt really warm.

I cleared my mind only thinking of throwing fire and copied his movements, “Fireball!” A ball of fire shot out, but it was much smaller than Marvin’s. “Well, enough practice and use against opponents might help. Tomorrow morning, we will continue.”

I felt accomplished but a bit exhausted, so I looked at my status menu. It seems that I must have leveled up a bit from that bug, to level 4. My MP was low after using a spell, my maximum MP wasn’t high to begin with.

I decided to go out on a walk and try to get materials. I guess the forest since I don’t really know about any other place. Maybe I should check out the mine to get metal, though there might be strong enemies. If I had a Stahl-Soldat of my own I could explore wherever I wanted. I should ask the brothers to accompany them on a mining trip.

The forest is really dense. I picked up random things I found along my way, mushrooms, berries, and rocks. I also scavenged some dead horned rabbits for horns and little amounts of fur. I turned and saw a horned rabbit, an alive one. “Good boy, good boy…” I was panicking a bit.

I quickly scoured my inventory for a weapon, picking up my giant knife. The creature jumped forward hitting the handle of the knife, making me lose my footing. I kicked it back pointing my blade at it. My thoughts landed to this morning. I opened my left hand. I'll try to do it on my own now, “Fireball!”

The rabbit jumped to my right, I threw my knife right at it on instinct and it pierced right through its skull. In hindsight it was probably a bad move strategically, but it worked out. I roughly cut off its skin. I think I might be getting a bit desensitized to it now. I put the separated parts into my inventory.

I should cut up as much wood as I can, it would help rebuild parts of the village that were broken by the attack.

It was about noon when I was done. I got quite a lot of wood that will last a while. I should head back. “Hey!” I nearly screamed out of surprise from the sudden call. I looked back to a tree where a young man with long brown hair was poking an apple with an arrow. “My name’s Sidiros, I heard you’re Akio.” “Uh, yeah, I am.”

He jumps off the tree onto the ground, “You’re crafting ability, do you know how you got it? I’d kill for a power like that.” I thought back to when I woke up in this world but nothing really happened, “I don’t know, I just kind of woke up with it. It’s not something that normal even from my world.”

“Man, I’ve wanted my own Stahl-Soldat that would be able to shoot arrows with a giant crossbow, but I don’t have the money for that.” He looked dejected. “I could try making one, but it would be just for me and me only, I just need metal.” “Please man, I’ll owe you.”

“Well how would I get the metal for some 3-meter project?” He shoved the arrow through the apple, “Go on a mining trip with the guys, I’ll come too in case there are monsters” “Fine, Fine, let’s go tonight.” He gave a thumbs up.

I decided in the meantime I could work on something; I crafted the logs I collected into beams and articulated gears, practicing making a frame similar to Kobalta’s Stahl-Soldat though I’m going in a bit of a different direction. For this one I’m going for a real mech, piloted from the inside rather than some controlled from some outside idiocy.

I think I got the arm and leg parts down as well as the midsection. I’d need to find out a bit more about how the Stahl-Soldats actually move and are controlled.