The OP Lich is a Returnee, Chapter 9 (Patreon)

Chapter 9 – Practical Study

Trust a school with a thaumaturgy program to have a practice space. The university had several, but Eri led the way to one of the outdoor fields (which were separated by thick walls, for safety reasons), where the magic sports teams often practiced. It was open to all students, on a first come, first served basis, but the unwritten rule was that the teams had priority when they were practicing.

At the far end of the field, there was a group of guys practicing ‘magic soccer’ (or mahō no sakkā, as they called it in Japan), which was basically just what it said on the label: soccer with magic added to it. The rules were pretty much the same as with regular soccer, except you could use magic to power up your moves, and the playing field was a three-dimensional box with a forcefield that bounced anything that hit it back in play. It was a game that prioritized fast reactions, magic control, and athleticism. Currently, half the field was blocked off by the forcefields of the box, since they were just practicing.

As we walked onto the other side of the field, Kaori put the players out of her mind, and reached into her pocket dimension to pull out her staff. The core was made of ironbone, which was made from bones that had been infused with iron to the point where they became stronger than steel. Mithral runes were engraved upon the staff, coiling together as they ran along its length, until they reached the skull upon the headpiece, a ram’s skull with onyx eyes that glowed with the same blue flame her own eyes showed, when she was in her true form.

Looking over to Eri, she grinned. “So, what kind of magic would you like me to show off?”

Her sister considered that. “Well, I don’t really know what kind of spells you can do, other than what I saw on TV, but I guess an attack kind of spell? There are some target dummies over there, so that might be a good test?”

Looking across the field, she could see a line of reinforced dummies hanging up, about 120 meters away. “Sure, I can do that. I’ll try and keep the power down, so I don’t have to repair as much of the walls.”

“Wait, repair the walls? I thought you were a necromancer?”

“Oh, Eri. Just because I started as a necromancer doesn’t mean I can’t do other things. It is just like someone who plays the flute. That doesn’t mean they can’t play the clarinet, or the piano, and it doesn’t mean they can’t play basketball. But the further you get from their natural talents, the more difficult things get.”

“So, a mage can learn any kind of spells, but they have specialties that they’re better at.”

“Exactly. Now, training in anything takes time and effort. Mortals have only so much time and effort that they can devote to things, so they tend to gravitate to their specialties. I do not have that problem, naturally, so I’ve had plenty of time to practice other types of spells, and other skills.”

“All right, then some kind of attack spell, I guess.”

Kaori took a breath, and turned to look at the line of five target dummies, spaced three meters apart. She could hit them all with a single spell, of course, but that would be pointless. She wanted to show off a little bit, after all.

Gripping her staff in both hands, she levelled the skull at its head at the center target. In the space of ten seconds, she unleashed five spells from her staff, each of a different type. A red jet of fire struck the center target, and it burst into flames, a charred hole the size of a softball in its torso. Rays of ice and lightning struck to the left, impaling and melting their respective targets, and causing a small fire at the base of the lightning target. A stone spear impaled one of the right-hand targets, and an invisible blade of wind neatly cut the last one in two.

The solid stone wall (clearly made and reinforced by magic) did not emerge unscathed. Though the ice, lightning, and earth spells all restricted their effects to their targets (or at least their immediate area), the fire and air spells continued on. A crater and deep gash now featured prominently on the wall, both going so far as to offer a glimmer of light from the wall’s other side. With an arcing slash of her staff, a stream of water sprayed over the fires, and extinguished them. When the butt of her staff struck the earth, the wall’s wounds shrank, as though healing themselves, until that physical sign of her spellwork was gone, even if the other effects remained.

Eri gaped at me. “How did you do that so fast, and without a CAD? Not just the speed of casting, but the different elements and effect types! And then the water and earth spells at the end!”

Kaori smiled. “Oh, that? That’s nothing, just some basic battle magic. The simplest spells that any new mage first learns when practicing a new element. As for how I did them so quickly, mostly it is down to practice. And I don’t control things as much as your method does.”

“You mentioned something like that before. What do you mean, exactly?”

“Well, like you said, a CAD comes with variables preloaded, so that you can control the size, shape, and intensity of an explosion, right?” Eri nodded. “Well, my spells don’t use that. I just form the magic, and give it strength and direction. So, instead of creating a flame, of a certain size and intensity to engulf a target, I just create a jet of flame, power it to the level I wish, and fire it in the direction I want it to go.”

Eri frowned. “OK, I can see how that would speed your cast time, but surely you lose efficiency like that, right? Without the extra controls, you must end up using more power for the same effect.”

“Yes, but remember what I told you about mana pools, instead of just mana channeling. Your pool allows you to ‘slosh’ the power about more, because you don’t run dry as quickly. My pool is large enough that those spells barely made a dent, and my pool passively refills quickly enough, because of my practice and natural conductivity, that I’ll be full again in a couple minutes, unless I speed it up.”

“Hey! What the hell did you just do?” Kaori turned, and saw that the eleven guys who had been practicing on the other end of the field were now coming up to them. They looked equal parts fascinated and concerned.

“Oh, sorry, did I disrupt your practice?”

The man in the center shook his head. “With those spells, so fast? Yeah, you did. But not in a bad way. I haven’t seen casting like that before. And what is that staff? Some kind of specialized CAD with a custom form factor?”

Kaori chuckled, and said, “Oh, no. It is a focus. It works on different principles than the CADs do.”

One of the other guys’ eyes widened, “Hey, Jack, I know that staff! That lich that was on the Harris show a while back, you know, the Lost Sleeper? She had one just like it!”

Smiling, Kaori turned her attention to the one who spoke. “Oh, you watched my interview? I’m flattered.”

Suddenly, everyone was asking questions all at once. Thankfully, the first guy to speak, Jack, whistled loudly, and clapped his hands, putting a stop to that. “HEY! Stop shouting.” He glared them into submission, before looking back at Kaori. “Sorry, we’re all undergrads in the Thaumaturgy department, so magic is kind of our passion. They get ahead of themselves, though. Would you mind if we asked you some questions?”

Kaori shook her head slowly. “Unfortunately, I’m trying to enjoy some time with my sister, who I only met when I returned, and I promised to show off some of my skills to her. However, I will allow you to watch, and maybe help out some, if you’re respectful.”

There were quick nods from the group, and Kaori nodded. “All right. I want you boys to build me a wall. Stone, iron, steel, whatever you can manage, as thick as you can. I’m going to demonstrate what you can do when you exceed your body’s natural ability.”

One of the guys had a wrist-mounted CAD, and so he quickly went about programming his spell. The ground rumbled, and then a cube of hardened dirt reinforced to the hardness of stone rose up, two meters on a side. Panting, the guy looked over to Kaori, and said, breathlessly, “Will that do?”

Kaori nodded. “Very impressive for someone relying only on channeled energy. Of course, you could have done even more if you had used ritual magic, and combined your ability with your friends. But I doubt anyone’s really taught that kind of thing yet. Now, all of you step back, and I will show you something really cool.”

When everyone else had backed away from the cube, getting five or six meters back, Kaori tossed her staff back into her pocket dimension, and stepped forward. Just before she moved to strike, she heard one of the men call out. Looking his way, she raised an eyebrow, and he held up a phone. “Um, do you mind if we film this? I’d like to post it on my socials.”

With a smile, she nodded once more. “Sure, all of you can film it.” When everyone had their phones out, she said, “Now, first, let me show you human strength.”

Turning to the cube, Kaori pulled her hand back in a fist, and launched a punch, careful to limit her power to human strength. The result was predictable. Nothing happened to the cube, and, if flesh and blood had been that of a weak human, instead of a magical construct, her hand would have been bloody.

“Now, let me show you what happens after years of infusing your body with mana, or magicules, to use this world’s terms.”

She took another breath, even though she didn’t actually need to. It was a bit of theater, perhaps, but it also helped her to focus, as she pulled on all the strength in her undead frame. This time, when her fist slammed into the cube, there was a massive cracking sound. Gasps from the crowd highlighted the fact that a small crater about fifty centimeters across and twenty centimeters deep could be seen now, with cracks spreading across the cube’s face.

“As you can see, when you have a body that is more than simple flesh and bone, reinforced by mana, you are able to do far more than any normal human could. This is something that anyone can do, with enough time, even if they aren’t naturally gifted in magic. But this is not everything. You can go higher, do more, if you know how.”

Turning back to the cube, Kaori focused, and began actively channeling mana through her body. An aura of silver energy, the color of untyped mana, began surrounding her as she concentrated. The mana affected every part of her, including her hair, which broke free of the hair ties binding it, until it became a massive mane nearly touching the ground, silver in color instead of its normal black.

“This is what it looks like when you are able to send your magic everywhere in your body at once. Your power increases beyond that of even a reinforced human, becoming something more, something superhuman. But I haven’t cast any spells yet.”

Now, she began casting. Increase Strength. Iron Hands. Perfect Body. Directed Explosive Punch. Greater Maximize Impact. Each spell layered on top of the others, their effects stacking.

“Now, see what is possible.”

And, with a scream, she punched the cube again, and there was an explosion of light, as her spells discharged, and her supercharged fist slammed into stone. Silver light and red-gold flame blasted out of the disintegrating cube, continuing on and spreading as it did so, until it swept over the target dummies across the field, and blew them away, along with the wall behind them, leaving only a conical gouge in the turf in their wake.

Turning back to look at the cameras and the shocked onlookers, she first allowed the spells to fade, and then eased down on the mana, returning to her ‘normal’ guise. All twelve of her onlookers were stunned. After all, she had shown them something that should have been patently impossible, even in this world of magic.

“Any questions?”