Past Life Hero, ch 32.5

This is eventually going to be rolled up into chapter 32.

***

Max had some pep in his step.  He was still furious about what the Spear brothers had done, but now he had an opportunity to learn something new again.

He left his dorm and immediately headed for the edge of campus. Lavinia disappeared once he started moving, but he could sense that she was just a call away. Furthermore, now that he had a contract, he felt that his third eye had grown much stronger. He had no idea how he actually knew this, but he was sure of it. It was almost like a physical sensation that was hard to describe.

Max left campus and headed for the small forest that he usually trained in. Once he had found a good spot and made sure that nobody else was around, especially the roaming Mystic Spear Academy students, he called Lavinia. The ghost appeared out of nowhere, and now, instead of the Summoner robes that she'd been wearing before, she had on a fashionable jumper, heels, and a little hat. It was clothing from Earth. Max raised his eyebrows and said, "What's with the outfit?"

"I'm a humanoid spirit with a personality. That means I can wear whatever I want. And processing your memories has been very interesting so far.”

“What do you mean? I thought you already had my memories," said Max.

"Oh, I do. But even as fast as I can review everything, it's still over twenty years of memories, and I can recall some things better than you can. So, focusing on anything, getting details, will take a very, very large amount of time. All I've done so far is really just skim everything."

"So, my life is basically a movie to you now when you're bored?"

"Exactly, Kimosabe," said Lavinia. Then she randomly started doing the Macarena dance and said, "How in the hell was this ever popular on Earth?"

"I don't know either," said Max. "And I honestly kind of don't care. Especially right now."

"Party pooper," said the ghost.

"Okay, whatever. I've been called worse."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," said Lavinia. "So, this is your training spot? Actually, I know it's your training spot. Yeah, this is where you've been building your mana body since you've been in the Quartet."

"That's right," said Max. "I also figure it's a good place for you to tell me about your summons and how you can help me with this whole revenge against the Mystic Spear Lifers thing."

"Makes sense. Alright, so here's the deal. My contracted spirits are all solids."

"Huh?" asked Max. "Oh wait, that's right. The three types of basic summoners are movers, screamers, and solids? So you were a solid summoner?"

"That's correct," said Lavinia. "And usually, solids are some of the most powerful and versatile summoners. After all, movers are basically just a more precise form of levitation, and screamers just have spirits that make noise or mess with people's heads. Solids are spirits that can create a corporeal form of ectoplasm or some other mystic substance, but usually ectoplasm."

"Are you sure that we're not talking about ghosts?" said Max.

Lavinia rolled her eyes.  “There is a very small but important difference that if you were more educated as a Summoner, you would understand."

"Then educate me," said Max. "You keep acting like I'm ignorant, but I've been here less than a month, and I've been dead for like a week of that.  You’ve been here for 7 years before being dead for hundreds, so give me a break.”

“Fine, good point. Alright, some solid spirits can also create bodies or structures out of elements or detritus.  Some can even more exotic substances like blood or dust."

"Okay, that sounds cool," said Max.

"It really is," said Lavinia. "That's why solid summoners are usually known as battle summoners. They're the closest to the Conjurer Path.  Conjurer Challengers can create monsters and constructs to fight for them. It drains their resources.  But as Summoners, it doesn't cost us anything to do so, other than making a contract first of course, and our spirits can appear instantly. It doesn't require a spell or circles or anything like that."

"No way, there’s always a cost.” said Max.

"Summoners?  We need to find and contract spirits in the first place.  But when we fight, we don’t really need to expend anything other than willpower and a bit of stamina, maybe.  But some Summoners have contracted weird spirits that like…offerings and things like that. It can really depend on the spirit and the summoner. For the most part, my spirits have all been very easygoing.  Very cool.”

“Okay, so I know you have... you're a solid summoner and you have solid spirits, but what do they actually do?" asked Max.

"Well, all of my sergeants are directors. They don't actually... Well, let me rephrase it. They're kind of the brains of the operation and all of their soldier spirits subordinate to them are what create the solid matter”

“Can you show me?" asked Max.

"Sure!" said Lavinia. She gestured and out of thin air, a golem began to form. It was fairly basic and blocky, but also looked very powerful. However, Max immediately noticed why Lavinia might have been a bit defensive before.

The golem was almost as wide as it was tall, but it only stood about five feet tall.  “It’s not very tall, is it?”

“Size isn’t everything.  It’s very dense.”

“Well, it does look strong," admitted Max.

"It is strong."

"Okay, what can it do? Is this how you used to fight with your spirits?"

"Yes, and just watch." Suddenly the golem ran around the woods. It punched and left a massive dent in a tree. Max nodded.  He got the impression it wasn't even going all out. But he still wasn't super impressed.

"It's slow," he said. "And what was with that punch?"

"I told it to hold back," said Lavinia. "You don't want to be breaking all the trees in your training spot, do you?"

"That's not what I'm talking about," said Max. "Its form was horrible."

Lavinia crossed her arms and tossed her hair. She said, "Well, I wasn't a fighter when I was alive, and my spirits are not martial spirits, so we did the best we could."

Max facepalmed and said, "Your golem is very strong, but I'm not sure how this is actually going to help me fight the Mystic Spear Path students. They are very fast and actually know how to fight."

"Yeah, I know," said Lavinia, and visibly deflated.

"Can they form other shapes?" asked Max, pointing at the golem.

Lavinia  perked up and said, "They sure can, especially something simple that I can imagine and pass on to the sergeants."

"Okay, can you show me an example?"

"What do you want to see?”.

"How about a chair?" Almost immediately, the golem disappeared. Where it had been standing, nothing but a small mist rose before vanishing entirely. And just as suddenly, a pale, rounded chair appeared on the forest floor. Now Lavinia looked somewhat smug, like her confidence had returned.

"I was able to make that with just two clusters," she said.

"Clusters?" asked Max.

"That's what I think of each group led by one of the sergeants. I have five of them, remember?"

"Uh-huh," said Max. He was getting a better idea of how much mass Lavinia's spirits could create. He said, "What if I need to block off a hallway or something? Can they make a wall?"

"Of course," said Lavinia. A second later, extending from one of the nearby trees was a solid, pale wall that looked like steel, but was obviously still made of ectoplasm. It even had fake rivets. Max walked up and experimentally touched the wall. It was completely unyielding and felt like real solid matter. He scratched his head in thought, and asked Lavinia, "How strong is this stuff?"

"Um, let me think of how to explain it to you." She looked up, like she was thinking, probably accessing Max's memories, and then said, "Probably stronger than anything you would have considered bulletproof on Earth."

"Really?" said Max. "Also, do I need to actually speak out loud to you for you to know what I need?"

"Of course not," Lavinia's voice suddenly echoed in Max's mind. "You can use your Summoner seed to project thoughts directly to me in words like this, or–” Suddenly her voice cut off and Max got impressions from her. He understood the meaning clearly.

Okay, good, he sent back. I have an idea, but I want to think about it for a while. Then out loud, he said, "Alright, here's my plan, Lavinia. Now that I know I can't die of starvation and I'll just be hungry, that's something I can live with for a while. Before I do anything else, I need to get a one-star mana body. The mana here is really low, but a one-star mana body shouldn’t be too difficult .."

The ghost rolled her eyes and said, "You speak about that so casually. There are people back on Albion where the mana is better who spent twenty years getting a one-star mana body."

"Yeah, well that's them," said Max, "and this is me."

"Kinda arrogant, don't you think?" said the ghost.

"Look who's talking, Miss I'm-technically-a-captain-level-spirit."

"Touche. So what, you're just gonna sit here for as long as it takes to get a one-star mana body?"

"That's about the gist of it," said Max. "I don't plan on leaving until I can defend myself, and right now, I'm way too weak. Actually, wait a second," Max suddenly sent a complicated bit of information and a set of instructions to Lavinia as a test.

She cocked her head and said, "Yeah, I think we can do that." Then she vanished.

Max was looking for  a  good place to sit against a tree, to settle in for his mana refinement when he caught movement out the corner of his eye. He turned, and sure enough, the spear he'd taken from Prince Regal's manservant was floating in the air towards him.

Lavinia had understood and relayed his mental request.

The weapon  wasn't floating by itself, and it wasn't moving very fast. The spear had rings of ectoplasm around it. Underneath each ring was a set of spindly legs, also made of ectoplasm, that were walking.  This system was holding the weapon aloft and carrying it forward.

It was an incredibly strange sight, but was also clearly an effective way to fetch Max's spear for him. He grinned as the spirits vanished and the spear unceremoniously fell to the ground.

"Thank you, Lavinia," he said, "and thank you, Lavinia's spirits."

The ghostly former-Summoner appeared. "It really wasn't necessary to thank my spirits, but that was nice of you anyway, and you're welcome."

"Of course.  That was a very neat little experiment."

"I agree," said Lavinia.  "Not because I didn't think I could do it, but because now we know that you are able to communicate effectively with me."

"True," said Max. "Alright, there's one more thing that I would like for you to do. But actually…Let me ask, I think you don't need to sleep, right?"

"Most spirits ‘rest.’  Some do sleep.  We like unoccupied spaces for that.  Spectral spirits like me prefer unoccupied spaces that were once lived in. I don’t truly need to sleep, but I do prefer to have periods of inactivity to think about things or go over things, or I guess in the future, watch your memories like a movie.  "

"Lovely," said Max. He sighed and said, "Well, anyway, I'm going to refine mana now, and I'm going to be kind of ignoring the world while I'm doing that. I need to focus and get this done as quickly as possible. If I could get you and your spirits to stand guard and get my attention if anybody is coming, I would appreciate it."

"Oh, sure, that's easy," said Lavinia. "Do what you need to do. I won't disturb you unless it's necessary." Then she vanished.

Max nodded and settled in completely for a long-term mana refinement. It might have sounded like braggadocio to Lavinia, but he'd been honest that given enough time, getting to a one-star mana body should be fairly easy for him.

In fact, it didn’t even take him the majority of his concentration as long as he was in a meditative state.  Once he was settled in and actively refining, he was able to let his mind wander and do a great deal of thinking. He began to plan going over the pros and cons of getting revenge in the first place.  Even though he’d committed to it with his contract he’d made with Lavinia, now he needed to make sure this was really what he wanted to do.  It was.  He was not going to let the Mystic Spear Path students who'd harmed him get away with it. Not only that, he was tired of being led around by the nose in this strange place, especially after noticing a few things that just didn't make sense to him, even before his conversations with Lavinia.

As he pondered how there were literal worlds dying and petty little despots like Regal were running the Quartets, suppressing other students, the rage that had begun to grow in his heart took root. It was there to stay, now. Max was like a statue, staying in his seated position and refining mana until he finally reached a one-star mana body. Just like that, his strength surged.

In his first life, achieving a one star mana body had been a profound feeling.  Now it just felt familiar and pleasant.

While he was still nowhere near the power of his former life, even when he'd first become an adventurer in Albion, he was far more skilled and experienced now.  He figured that this was still a good level of power to deal with most of the Mystic Spear Academy students that he'd dealt with so far.

Max stood and checked his tablet. Five days had passed. "Not too bad," he muttered. Then he mentally called out, Lavinia! The ghost appeared, wearing a pair of shorts and a black graphic t-shirt. Her shirt read, “So Goth I’m Dead.” She cocked her head, staring at him for a couple seconds, then said, "Wow, you really did it. It wasn't a bluff."

"Are you ready?"

"I'm always ready.  Well, more or less."

"Good," said Max. "We've got work to do."