Syl

Chapter 69: Caravanning

During the evening, I had some magic tutoring with Dewi. I showed him my empowered [Fire Arrow] and [Acid Dart] as well as the modifications I had managed with [Water Whip]. He seemed reluctant to critique my customization of the water spell and was upset that I hadn't given the same love to my fire spell.

"Empowering a spell is a rather basic customization, and the sheer quantity you are maintaining without causing the spell to unravel is impressive. I'm just upset you haven't tried to tinker with it in other ways." Dewi bemoaned.

"She only recently got fire magic, though." Evan countered.

"I know..."

"I'm open to suggestions. When I saw the whip spell, it was relatively simple to come up with the idea of adding a ball of compressed water on the end. I'm basically just adding a [Water Ball] at the tip." I explained.

"Who the hell thinks to compress water?" Dewi asked.

"It's what happened when I empowered the [Water Ball] spell," I answered. Obviously, the real inspiration had come from treating the water like slime and my talents there, but I couldn't admit that.

"Sure, okay. But then, why haven't you tried to make a fire whip?"

"That sounds like a good idea to burn your hands." Evan commented, "Oh... I'm suddenly realizing what happened to your hair and eyebrows when you first gained magic."

"With risk comes rewards." Dewi said with a smirk, "Anyway, you could manifest the spell away from your hands. Or perhaps use that bubble spell to make a flame shield?"

"Oh sure, surround yourself in the magically fueled fire. What could possibly go wrong?" Evan said, dripping with sarcasm.

I pondered a bit, as it wasn't a bad idea. Thanks to the red slime core I had eaten, I was practically immune to fire now. Although, it would be a more offensive shield than defensive, as I couldn't foresee it blocking any attacks.

"I didn't think I could use a spell from another affinity to construct a new spell. I thought creating a magical whip was something inherently special to water magic."

Dewi chuckled before answering, "Sorry, sometimes you're such a prodigy and do things so naturally that it's always surprising when you don't know the basics."

"I'd hardly call custom spells basic..." Evan shook his head.

"Anyway, think of the spells you've learned as patterns. Now, you just need to apply that same pattern to another element. Simple!"

Evan was about to say something before Dewi gagged him by slapping his hand across his mouth. His explanation made sense, and I was willing to try, although not in the way he wanted. I took the "pattern" for [Fire Arrow] in my mind and started to build it with water mana. After some trial and error and tweaking, eventually, I had a water arrow floating in my palm.

"See, I told you!" Dewi exclaimed triumphantly, "Although I was hoping you'd have made a fire whip."

"I'm not. I'd rather keep my hair." Evan said dryly, "Regardless of what insane expectations this hothead has, that is not a simple thing to do."

"Don't be so dramatic. I was trying to do it the second I got my first Air spell." Dewi scoffed, "Besides, it looks like Syl has a decent level in [Mana Manipulation], so I had zero doubt."

Despite Dewi's begging, I didn't attempt the fire whip. If the spell went wrong, I didn't want to explain why I was unharmed by a backfired spell.

I ended up agreeing to take the midnight watch with Whitney, which proved extremely valuable as she gave me some tutoring in [Perception]. However, it brought up some bitter memories of the brief tutoring I received from the goblins. Whitney's skill must have been extremely high, as, by the end of the shift, I had gained a level up in the skill and two of my traits.

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When I asked her about [Dark Vision] working together with [Perception] she seemed somewhat bitter.

"The final level was a bitch to get, but was totally worth it." Whitney had said.

"You should also be on the lookout for a trait called [Eagle Vision]. From what I heard, it lets you see further, and if you've reached max level in a trait like [Dark Vision], then they work in conjunction."

"Did nobody at the guild have it?"

"Nope, not in a small town like ours. If you find it before me, then you gotta show it to me."

Sadly, none of my profiles had the trait; otherwise, I would have shown it to her and purchased it myself. However, I hadn't eaten any birds since I did the water bath trap back in my early days.

Which also had me wonder if I ate a bird, could I fly now? I had wings from those pond bugs I could try enlarging, although it sadly would need to wait till I was alone.

"Sure, I don't mind. Although I hope you'll reciprocate."

"Gladly. To be frank, as much as I love the guild, I don't like how some members hoard knowledge of rare traits and skills."

"Does it happen often?"

"Mostly just the companies. Occasionally, there's a Gold ranker who stumbled upon something amazing and flew through the ranks, but I can at least somewhat understand why they'd be reluctant to share their success."

"Companies?"

"They are almost like small guilds, or perhaps large parties would be more appropriate. They form groups amongst their own, provide private training, some even have their own contracted crafters."

During our watch, I did manage to spot some wolves lurking in the dark, thanks to [Thermal Vision], and easily dispatched them by sniping them with some long-range [Acid Dart] spells. They were low-level and hardly worth the experience, but with them skulking around our camp, it was clear they had ill intent.

'Wow. Things have changed if I'm considering leaving behind low-level monsters. Past me wouldn't ignore any source of experience or slime mass.'

I deposited them and harvested them when I had the privacy of my tent. I had taken each wolf out with a single spell aimed at the head, which ruined most of their fangs.

"Note to self: acid magic is bad if you want to keep harvestable materials."

During breakfast, we all debriefed our watches. Other than the few wolves I had spotted, there was nothing noteworthy.

"With all the death recently, I can imagine the forest is starting to swarm with new life." Roderick had mentioned.

"Should keep the rust ranks busy. Maybe our town will finally have more than ten silvers." Dewi chuckled.

It was about midday when I noticed something up ahead blocking the road. I climbed up to the top of the wagon to get a better vantage point and noticed what appeared to be a makeshift barricade. I reported it to Roderick.

"That's rather brazen of them," Roderick commented, looking a little surprised.

"Should I go ahead of the caravan and destroy the barricade?"

"You could. But it might be a trap to leave the caravan defenseless."

"I guess the other option is to proceed as a group, and I take out anyone that approaches."

"More reasonable than leaving the caravan alone. Remember that is your quest goal. Lots of adventurers tend to get hotheaded and rush after glory."

"Actually, I have an idea too. Dewi did say I should practice some custom spells."

During one of our conversations, Dewi mentioned that elemental magic had a benefit over others in that you utilize existing materials to cast your spells. Normally, this was used to save mana, as it was far cheaper than creating water from scratch.

"Fire and Water is lucky in that it is rather cheap to cast, even if you create it. Although, Air is the ultimate in efficiency as it's everywhere. Casting Earth magic from scratch, however, is extremely expensive." Dewi had said.

I planned to create a custom version of the [Bubble] spell on each caravan. Being classified as a buff spell, it would maintain itself until sufficiently damaged or its duration expired. I also still had a stupid quantity of water in my storage, which I now could put to good use. I went to the rear caravan for my first cast, which the rest of the group watched curiously.

I didn't care about the mana savings and wanted to get rid of the excess water, but it would simplify the spell a little if I could skip the creation portion. As I withdrew the water, I immediately started casting the spell, grabbing my [Sub-Cores] to help with the assistance. The formation flowed effortlessly with the backing of my five helpers, and I even added extra density to the water and some mana reinforcement since I had so much leeway with the spell. I likely could have made it even more impressive, but I worried about going too far.

The spell snapped into place and formed a clear bubble focused on the caravan, large enough to encompass the entire entity and include the horses. I was honestly very happy with the results. I explained that it would follow the focus point and that projectiles could easily pass outwards. I also explained that in the dungeon, it could easily block skeletons but not zombies, although I wasn't completely sure about the strength of this modification.

"Damn... I was worried about her being corrupted, but I forgot about myself." I overheard Dewi mumbling.

"What do you mean?" Whitney asked.

"Kurt was right. These water spells are pretty awesome."

"Guess you should swap your experience distribution and get Water affinity next." Whitney chuckled.

I cast the spell on the remaining two caravans, each now protected by a bubble, before finally going to my caravan and casting it. I didn't want to test whether I could modify the spell to allow entry after casting it, so I just saved ours for last.

"Very impressive spellwork there," Roderick commented when I returned, "and good thinking."

"I think I might have accidentally converted Dewi to Water magic," I said with a chuckle.

"Now that is bloody hilarious."

I took position on top, on the lookout for any approaching danger. Roderick had warned me not to hesitate if anyone approached, and I said I'd melt the barricade once we got close enough.

"I'm just glad you didn't say you'd immediately explode it with a fireball. Dodging burning debris raining down is not fun."