Chapter 142 – Barriers

True to her words, Mabel handed Yuki a few spell scrolls for him to read and memorize. These scrolls seemed to be more battle orientated from what Yuki could see. They weren’t the most powerful ones or the strongest ones, but they had the fastest cast time he had seen in all of the scrolls he had been given before.

‘I guess these are the optimized spells. I see enchantments on here that are similar to the ones that I already know.’

The main difference was that these consumed more mana in exchange for a faster cast time. They were also stronger but with the trade off of being harder to use. With the spells Yuki learned memorized before, one normally would need to chant the entire spell which could range from seconds to a minute depending on how complicated the spells were.

‘Of course, I never did that since it was a waste of time. These new spells are closer to what I actually do.’

They required more concentration since the caster would need to visualize more of the components themselves. They still weren’t as quick as Yuki’s own adjustments, but they seemed considerably faster than previous spells.

‘Maybe I can take something from this.’

The chants were still longer than Yuki would have liked to just cast a simple strength enhancement but it did give him a sample for how shortening the chant increases mana usage and concentration.

‘I can figure out a relationship then go from there. If I can make the chants short enough where it wouldn’t hinder me and lower the necessary concentration to where I can focus on other things in combat, that would benefit me greatly.’

The bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and Yuki placed the scrolls back in the drawer where they were normally kept. Mabel waved to him as he left and headed back home. 

‘I really need to look through my Ancestral Knowledge more thoroughly. I’ve only been looking at very specific information lately.’

He made his way to the Junction transportation station and was promptly teleported to Fenrir. Then he walked back to the house he rented with Akira and Erica. They were inside, watching television, and turned their heads toward the door as he walked in.

“Hey~,” Erica greeted, waving.

“Welcome back, Yuki,” Akira said.

“Hello,” he replied. “I’ll be in my room for a bit, but we’ll go out shopping after for your class crystal.”

“That’s fine.”

“Can I come with you guys?” Erica asked.

“That’s up to Akira,” Yuki said as he walked to the room he shared with Akira. “I’ll be in the bedroom.”

He shut the door. As he walked to the bed, he felt a small vibration on his wrist. Raising his arm, a message popped out of his watch.

‘Yuna.’

He read the message and typed out a brief response.

‘Asking me to be her teammate already. The tournament isn’t until three months from now. But it’s fine. I’ll join her team.’

He closed his watch. Then he sat on top of the bed and closed his eyes, his mind drifting away until the towering shelves and brightly lit halls of Ancestral Knowledge formed before him. A little to his right, Sophie was glancing through a few books.

“Hello there, Yuki,” she said, not looking up. “How may I help you?”

“Nothing very big today,” Yuki replied. “I just want to find some information. A few books at most.”

“I can help with that,” she said. She stood up and closed the book she held in her hand. “What exactly are you searching for?”

“Books on general magic spells, combat spells, and skills. I’ve been trying to find class skills for too long.”

“Would three books suffice or do you need more?”

“Three would be perfect for now. I’ll ask for more if I need them.”

“Then I know just the right ones for you,” Sophie smiled. She clapped her hands and three books appeared in the air with a small flash. “Here they are. Have fun and call me when you need me.”

Yuki took them and gave Sophie a nod before heading off to a desk. He placed two of the books on the desk and cracked open the first one that was titled Anthology of Spells Vol. 1. True to its name, it was a collection of spells and diagrams of the spells. Explanations as to the effects of the spell were included along with a few tips sprinkled here and there were included. 

‘The only thing I can complain about so far is how the book was written.’

The language was understandable but the grammar sounded archaic and the writer seemed to ramble often. The font also seemed as if the book was hand written and was sometimes barely legible. 

‘But it’s still bearable. Let’s begin, shall we.’

He sat there quietly as he immersed himself into the book. It wasn’t the most interesting of books he had read, but the information in it was quite new. Most of the spells in the book were ones more orientated for everyday life. There were a few that dealt with house cleaning and others that were used for detecting things like poison. The one that struck him as the most useful was a tracking spell that sticks onto a person and by focusing you mind on the spell, you’ll be able to locate where they were.

‘There are also some alterations to the spell as well. I can make someone glow in my eyes so I can find them in a crowd. If I combine these, then it would be hard for people to escape me.’

Some other spells in the book was one that generated a small orb of light that the author said was for nighttime reading. Another was a simple fire spell that was to be used for things like camping and cooking if someone didn’t have a fire affinity.

‘Not as useful for me, but I might still find some uses. Triggering a spell uses less mana than creating fire yourself.’

Yuki shut the book and put it off to the side. He decided that he’ll take it out into the real world and read it when he had more time. He grabbed the next book in the pile, the one about combat spells, and opened it up. It was smaller than the general magic one but was quite detailed in its diagrams, descriptions, and explanations. It also seemed to be hand written, but the language was more understandable and the font was neat.

In the front page of a book, a disclaimer warned any readers that the book only contained information on basic spells that everyone could utilize. There were no class spells or elemental techniques.

‘Understandable. I’ll have to look at different books to find things related to my classes. But it is unfortunate that I can’t find anything specific on Assassin. I don’t think any of my ancestors had that class before.’

As he read this new book, Yuki found that it provided information much more important to his current situation. Enchantments, utility spells, and even some skills were documented in the book. The one that stood out the most to Yuki was the barrier. That one spell had a dedicated section for itself that spanned multiple pages. The basic barrier could be created with a single word and the strength of the barrier relied on the amount of mana the caster had and their will strength.

‘Barriers are extremely useful if my fight with Firestorm taught me anything. He erected one to stop me from interfering with his spell. Though, he didn’t use a chant. He more or less just threw mana in front of him and condensed it.’

The books mentioned such a technique later on in the section and referred to it as a quick but inefficient method. The barrier spell, once memorized, had a casting speed just as fast but was also stronger and conserved mana.

‘I guess that makes sense.’

The section went on to describe alterations to the barrier spell that could be made based on what the caster wanted. It included various shapes, thickness, and lengths. It also told Yuki how one could infuse other properties into the barrier. One example it gave was infusing a barrier with fire in order to create a protective surface that burned anything that struck it. 

‘That’s useful for unarmed combat.’

Another one made the barrier feel as if it was made of steel. A third made the barrier flexible, like a bubble, which increased the durability while giving up some protection.

‘These are all really good. I should have looked at these things earlier.’

Flipping through the rest of the book, Yuki found magic traps, basic weapon and gear enchantments, basic attacks, and even a few body enhancements that had similar effects to the ones that Mabel had given to him in class. But there was one pattern that Yuki noticed in all of these spells.

‘They’re mostly one to two word chants. A few of the longer ones rarely extend beyond five.’

He closed the book at stood up. It was time for him to test some of the spells that he had just learned. He raised his hand and lightly spread his fingers as he pictured the barrier he wanted. 

“Shield,” he ordered.

A circled flared in front of his fingertips and a shimmering barrier expanded out from it until it was roughly the size of a wall. He closed his hand, the circle disappearing, but the barrier still stood tall as he continued to channel a steady stream of mana into it. He pushed his hand on it, feeling it bend back a bit. With a bit of a stronger push, his hand went through. 

‘Hmm.’

He stepped back a bit and with his other hand summoned a small rock. Then he threw it with all his might at the opaque wall before him. The rock hurtled forward before meeting the barrier, the wall shimmering as a ripple of light spread outward from the area of impact. Yuki felt his mana get drained a bit as he watched the rock bounce off lightly from the wall.

‘So I can get through it since I’m the caster. I see.’

He walked around the barrier and examined it more closely. The wall of mana seemed to be completely smooth and uniform, around an inch thick. With some concentration, Yuki willed it to thicken and the barrier responded until it doubled to two inches. Then Yuki did the opposite and it slimmed until it was a centimeter in width. 

‘That’s not that hard to do. Let me try something more complicated.’

He pictured in his mind small spikes and painted them across the entire surface of the barrier. Mana was sucked out of him as he watched tiny spikes elongate out of the shimmering surface until the entire wall was covered in them. Yuki pressed his hand against it lightly and felt it trying to stab through his palm.

‘That’s quite sharp. What if I try to alter the properties?’

“Glass,” he said quietly.

The barrier responded and almost vanished from sight. If Yuki looked at it head on, it looked as if there was nothing there. But at angles, he could see the light reflecting off of it. 

‘Nice. I just need to experiment with how fast I can throw these out now. Then I can test out different things I can do with them.’

[A New Magic Technique Has Been Detected]

‘Oh, what’s this?’

[{Barrier} Has Been Added To Magic Techniques.]

‘That’s good.’

[Potential Skills Have Been Detected. Lack Of Information Has Prevented Recognition.]

‘What?’

Yuki had never seen that type of notification before. Normally, the UR would only tell him when he went up a tier or when it recognized a new skill. Now that he thought  about it, the UR had been very quiet the last few weeks.

‘I haven’t been checking my status as well. I might as well do it now since I’ll be sharing it with the others later when we organize our training regimens.’

He closed his eyes and called up the screen and stared at it quietly for a bit.

‘What is this?’