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18. A Spark and A Sword in Another World
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Maynard explained how the proficiency tests worked. For magic, it was a conjur on demand test that measured multiple things like power of conjuration, time it took to conjur, effectiveness and much more. As for weapons, it was different. The guild would read the chakra of a person performing with their weapon and then also be able to place a history enchantment on the weapon itself to see the feats accomplished when used by that person.
Something more interesting came up as Bea suggested just doing hers now, but Maynard stopped her as soon as she began. She brought out the crystal that tested our magic from before.
“What's that for?” asked Bea.
“When you were all here earlier, I made the assumption you didn't have magic and no one corrected me otherwise,” said Maynard.
“I don't have magic.” rebutted Bea.
“Ah, you might think you don't. There are those born with magic, proficent with magic, and a very few have something else. Something I call a Spark.”
“A spark?”
“A spark is something you just are. It's hard to describe. You're a warrior yes?” Maynard asked and Bea nodded before she continued, “At one point or another have you ever gotten into scrapes you maybe shouldn't have survived?”
“I mean, no. I'm just that good.” Bea gloated possibly masking her true feelings and thoughts.
Maynard threw the glass orb quite fast at Bea who caught it with ease. The orb swirled in colors that lashed out a yellow volt as Bea dropped it.
“What was that?”
“A Spark.” said Maynard smugly.
“How does it work?”
“It just does,” Maynard paused, gripping her chin for a moment to think of how to explain it, “For you, think of it as an extra layer of skin. A magic layer around your body that helps accelerate your movements. It'll definitely heighten your weapon proficiency tests, but you will have to practice just as Lyra is with her ice magic.”
Bea examined her hands and looked down at her body. It seemed like she was trying to see the magic layer Maynard was talking about, but she didn't see anything.
“How am I supposed to do it if I don't understand it?” Bea asked.
“It's just a part of your being. Now that you know it exists, you can train it. I can give you a couple techniques to try out in the field to better handle and sense it.”
After a little bit of more conversation, Maynard insisted we all wait to further train in the field before attempting the proficiency tests. The tests went to the back of the list as we focused on conquering all floors of the dungeon.
𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅭𓅹𓅹𓅹𓅹
The next morning, we all gathered at the guild before setting off to the dungeon again. We were all there except Bea, who was running late. Someone at the guild reception called her name and she seemingly came out of nowhere to answer it. Afterwards, she ran over with a sizable box and a giddy smile on her face.
“What's going on?” wondered Lyra.
“She's got a box,” simplified Wexel.
Bea stopped in front of Lyra as if to present it, “Don't be mad, but I wrote your father.”
“What?” said a stunned Lyra.
“About your, situation. Look. I know you pretty well and you're not just some mage. So, it was kinda my idea and it seems he was receptive, but just, open it.”
Bea handed the box to Lyra and she lifted the ends apart. She reached in to grab what was inside and it was a sword! A shiny pearl metal sword, with a black leather hilt and a big blue gem embedded in the base of the blade.
“His letter said it's elven silver dated back some hundreds of years ago. The strongest and lightest metal as you know, but the gem's a sapphire that'll boost your ice powers exponentially, you know, along with your focusing issue. It's called The Frost Tempest.”
Lyra seemed so stunned, like she was mad and happy at the same time.
“I told him I wanted to do things on my own, but…” Lyra paused and looked at a worried Bea presenting her this special weapon, “This is amazing! Thank you so much. I'll have to thank him myself as well.”
“I didn't expect it to happen so fast. It's just... when I see you fight, I know you're so much better than you let on! With this you'll be knocking enemies down in droves!” Bea said excitedly.
Lyra took a moment as if to test it out and the sword shimmered a bright blue. Her magic was resounding through the sword as an extension of herself. She smiled, “Then let's go test this out then, shall we?”
“Now you're talking.” said Wexel with a nod.
“Quack!” I said as we headed for the dungeon once again.
Lyra had her ice magic to hone. Bea had her spark to learn. And Wexel was… being Wexel. But honestly I hadn't set goals myself. If we're going to do the affinity proficiencies after, then perhaps it's best I spend each time in the dungeon trying to focus every element I can do.
And so, that became my plan. The first week I did fire, the next water, then wind, earth, light and… Well. I didn't do dark. I don't think I ever have and maybe I shouldn't anyways. Instead, I spent the last week cycling through the various subsets and experimenting just for fun.
It was six weeks in total that we all trained. We made it to the bottom floor by week three, but as training was everyone's focus, we would just portal out and start again when the times allowed.
Lyra had gained good enough control of her ice powers that she actually started using them less and focused more on combat, getting a feel for all the ins and outs of her new sword. She truly was a graceful warrior princess! And Bea seemed to understand her spark well enough too, thanks to Maynard's advice.
She would move faster than everything that came at her and watching her move was something fascinating. Bea also had this green aura-like glow that surrounded her when in the heat of battle, so it was easy to tell, at least to me, when she was using it. Her confidence never faltered.
Wexel hung back most of the time. He would get the stragglers here and there while mostly filling up a loot bag with monster cores for the party to cash out later. It was grunt work, but he didn't seem to mind, knowing they needed the training and that what it was building towards. The boss fight.
*After all this time, Balrung was going down!*
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End Part 18
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