Lessons on magic (part 3).

“Next in line was illusion magic, right?” Will asked.

“Yes. From all these types of magic, illusion is perhaps the third most difficult to learn. You don’t see it used much, and if you do, it means the user is not very good at it.”

“Oh.”

‘Haha!’

“It’s exactly what you’d expect. It messes with the senses of a person to make them see, hear, smell or feel things that aren’t there. Unlike enchantment magic, you don’t need a link. Instead, you need ****, precise control over aether as well as an effective way of injecting it into the target. The latter one is as important as the first, so illusionist mages tend to use direct approaches, like making the target drink a potion.”

‘I’ve never needed to use illusion since the real deal is always better, so I have no experience with this. Also, it doesn’t sound very useful to making a body.’

‘Could be useful for other things, but I don’t know if this is something we should put our focus on right now.’

“I’m guessing illusion magic doesn’t catch your interest very much?” Aoi asked him.

“I bet it has its uses, but with no previous experience, I don’t think it’s worth it to try to learn it now.”

“Jacks of all trades really do tend to be masters of none,” Aoi agreed. “I’ve met a couple of people who tried to learn everything and ended up mediocre at everything. I’m on the camp that believes it’s better to work on your strengths rather than cover for your weaknesses. That’s what teammates are for.”

“What worries me is getting caught in illusion spells.”

Aoi smiled. “You really have a good head for this stuff, huh? Well, yes. That’s when magic resistance comes into play.”

“Magic resistance? Like in video games?”

“Not quite. In games, magic resistance makes fire balls hurt less, right? Well, it doesn’t work like that here. No matter how high your magic resistance, a magic explosion will hurt everyone equally.”

What was most interesting to Will about what she’d said was that it implied Aoi knew about video games, which was unexpected.

“Magic resistance refers to how well you can withstand mental afflictions, like mind control and illusions. It’s also directly proportional to the amount and intensity of the aether within you, which means normal people are completely defenseless against these sort of effects. And on the other side of the coin, there’s the higher spirits like Ishtar, who are strong enough to be practically immune, thus protecting you in the process.”

Will clicked his tongue. “That means Jack is the same way, right?”

Aoi smiled wryly. “Sadly, yes. Illusions and enchantments are out of the question against him.”

“The guy’s asexual and I’m not into men, so anything I could do was doomed to fail from the start, anyway.”

“We can strategize later. For now, let’s move on to the next type of magic: restoration, or also known as healing magic.”

“Oh, Ishtar can do that, too.”

“W-What? S-Seriously?” Aoi looked like she was caught off guard.

“Well, only on me and only when I’m having sex, but she fixed my broken ribs once.”

“Every time I think I’m not underestimating her, you go and tell me something outrageous like that…”

“Is restoration magic that difficult?”

“Unbelievably so,” Aoi emphasized. “It requires even more precision than illusion magic, and the amount of aether consumed to fix a deep knife cut would leave the average mage exhausted. We’re talking about feats such as recreating skin tissue, putting bones back together and even replenishing blood. It’s such a specific skillset that most magic medics only focus on this one type of magic for their entire lives.”

‘I can totally feel you growing smug, you know?’

‘What can I say? I’m just that awesome.’

‘Can you heal other people?’

‘Uh…’

‘And remember what she said about jacks of all trades?’

‘Alright, I get it. Getting down from the high horse. Geez.’

“In fact restoration magic is tied as the most difficult type of magic along with construction.”

‘Shush, Will! Pay attention!’

“So what is construction about?” he asked.

“It’s also called creation magic, and it’s the ability to use aether to temporarily manifest objects.” Aoi closed her eyes. There was a flash of light in her hand and then she was suddenly holding a familiar Japanese sword.

“Y-You mean you create that? Out of thin air? You don’t… transport it from somewhere?”

“I specialize in two types of magic: strengthening and construction. Strengthening for fighting, construction to have a weapon. We live in times where I can’t realistically carry a sword around.”

“Then… when we were fighting and I disarmed you, why didn’t you make a new sword?”

“The amount of aether required to create something is… outrageous. Think about it. You’re creating matter. Had I tried to make another sword, my physical abilities would’ve suffered, and you would’ve had an easier time overpowering me. This, of course, because Jack’s mind control messed with the control of my own aether.”

Will nodded. “So… you could create anything?”

“In theory, yes. But like with restoration magic, it requires **** amounts of practice. It took me six months to learn to create this exact sword, and the amount of things I know how to create is limited to other items I’ve practiced replicating.”

“What about… creating magical things? Or creating something that doesn’t exist in the world already?”

Aoi crossed her arms and looked at him with narrowed eyes. “Sounds to me like you have something specific in mind. Why so much interest in construction magic, William?”

‘Do we tell her?’

‘…Not yet. I’d like to, but even though she trusts us to an extent, we’re still on probation, so to speak. I’d rather not reveal anything that might make her more suspicious of us. For all we know, she might think I’m looking for a way to get my own body to run away.’

‘And you’re not?’

‘Will, don’t make me give you an erection.’

In front of Aoi? While talking about what sort of thing Will wanted to create with magic? It would be funny, but hard to explain and very embarrassing, so no.

Will shook his head. “I’m worried about the sort of things others could create. You said there was a black market for magical items, right? What if someone sold a forgery, or what if someone could make two of a powerful thing?”

“Oh. That’s what you meant,” Aoi said, dropping her arms and relaxing her shoulders. “Well, there’s little chance of something like that happening. Even making mundane items is taxing on the body. Creating an object with magic infused into it would be impossible even for skilled mages. And as for selling forgeries… Well, I don’t know much about the inner workings of the black market, but I would imagine they have measures in place.”

‘Smooth.’

‘Only because I wasn’t lying. It’s a genuine concern.’

“I hope you’re not getting tired, William. We still have two more magic types to go through.”__