Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 41 (MTG/Multicross)

Prismatic Education 41

The staff spun around in my hands, before I lashed out with several swift strikes, the blunt weapon whistling dangerously through the air. Despite that, my opponent easily parried or blocked them with his blade, firing back counterstrikes of his own.

Sliding my hand down the length to adjust my grip, I knocked a thrust away, then went for a low sweep that he leapt over.

Now!

Planting the tip of my weapon into the ground to serve as an anchor, I shot off a rising kick. Instead of the torso I was aiming at, my foot met an arm block in a loud dull impact. An instant later, the two of us were launched apart by the force. I twisted to land feet first on the ground, my sparring partner doing the same. 

“Ssshhhhh~” I intoned, drawing small circles with the tip of my staff.

Ink gathered around the end, like black threads being wound around a spindle. Leveling the staff horizontally, I performed a spear thrust, firing off a whirling orb of ink magic straight ahead.

“Hup!” Leon gripped his weapon with both hands, and performed a vertical slash.

A glowing arc of light met the black ball, black grinding against white, until both expended their energies and dissipated.

“Time out!” I called.

Leon relaxed his stance, straightening up. “Is there anything wrong?”

“No.” I flexed my fingers experimentally. “I think I’m all good now.”

“Good to hear that, Mr Roy.” He shook his arm out, wincing. “Taking hits from you hurts more than I expected, even though I’m one Level higher.”

“Sorry,” I apologized, “Let me heal you up right now.”

The two of us were in the small yard behind the familia’s rented house, engaging in a minor spar. The reason for that was simple: to help me get used to my newly risen Status.

Just as I surmised, the fight against the aurora dragon had given me enough high excelia to reach Level Three. Since the rest of my Status had reached the same S- and SS-Rank as before, I saw no reason to hold off, and had Baldr update me to the next Level. However, that was when I learned about the thing known as ‘Leveling pains’, which most adventurers started to experience from Level Three onwards. That was the term used to describe the period when an adventurer had yet to adapt to their newly enhanced Status. 

While the fastest way to adapt to it was by fighting, the Guild advisors made sure to warn anyone who recently Leveled Up to avoid going into the Dungeon until they got used to it. 

Not that I told my Guild advisor Lyna about my new Level. For one thing, I didn’t want to draw too much attention by being a two-time Record Holder. Not when I intended to spend time traveling away from this plane. After I explained my decision to Baldr, the god agreed to stay silent about it. So far, only a few others knew. One of them being the person assisting me with this sparring session.

“By the way,” Leon spoke to me as we took a break, “When are you planning to leave?”

“After I finish making the stuff I promised Maxim and Juno.”

“You’re referring to the enhancement scrolls.” He stated.

“Yeah. I’ve got… another thirty to forty left to do.”

The captains of the two familias weren’t too happy that I wouldn’t be around to help them when they eventually set out to face the Black Dragon, but after I firmly defended my decision with strong reasons, they had no choice but to accept it. One of the concessions I made was to provide them with the magic scrolls that carried one cast of my verbal enhancement spell, enough for every single member of both familias. As proven by the experiments with my fellow familia members, they worked well enough for anyone to use. 

“Then your Development Ability?” Leon inquired.

“Abnormal Resistance, of course,” I answered, “I had Supreme Light available too, but I thought that Abnormal Resistance was more important.” I can pick that one next time… but I’m thinking about Strong Body too.

The blonde nodded in agreement. “Did Baldr say anything about it?”

“He said it was a good decision, because I might encounter unknown dangers in my journeys, and it would protect me.”

“As expected. He’s someone who can match wits with Loki, after all.”

I didn’t know the full details, but apparently Loki had previously tried to kill him before with some devious plan, only for him to dismantle the scheme in some way that involved mistletoe, hence the plant circlet on his brow.

“OOOOOoooiiii~” The powerful male voice called out from the front of the house, one that we both recognized.

“Tsk. Noisy glutton.” Leon grumbled.

I worked my magic, creating a floating screen before me. Within its frame, the front of the house was displayed, showing Zald standing there. He blinked in surprise, being able to see me through the one that appeared on his end.

“What is it, Zald? Can’t you just knock like a normal person?” I asked the redhead. “Or have you lost your manners from spending too long in the Dungeon?”

“My bad, but I’ve got something amazing for you.”

He stepped back slightly, one hand lifting an enormous black sword into view. Its rough appearance contrasted the sharpness and intimidating aura it had, making me doubt that it had been forged by a smith.

“What’s that?” Leon asked, interested in spite of himself.

“The Drop Item of Udaeus, the Monster Rex of the 39th Floor,” Zald said proudly, “I think it would make a great weapon for you, Roy.”

I gave him a flat look. “I might use a sword, but I definitely don’t use a greatsword like that. Also, I make more use of a staff.”

“That’s fine, the Goibniu Familia can reforge this into whatever you want.” He named one of the two biggest smithing familias in Orario, the one that was more suited to crafted personalized equipment.

“And they would charge me through the nose for it.” I pointed out.

“You just leave the cost to me. Consider it my way of paying you back for the cure.”

I hesitated to reply. I was hoping to convert some of the valis he owed me into gold coinage that I could use in other worlds…

“Mr Roy,” Leon spoke up, “You should accept it. With how strong you are, you need a weapon that can keep up with you.”

Zald nodded. “What the lad said.” 

My eyes flicked to the scraps of wood that littered the yard, the remains of shattered training weapons from trying to work through Leveling pains. It only took me another moment to make up my mind. 

“Alright, fine. Let’s go get it handled right now. We’re coming out.” With that, I dismissed the screen.

As Leon and I left the yard, the teen made a comment, wishing that he could have a great weapon like that too.

“You mean, Baldr didn’t tell you?” I asked him, surprised.

“Tell me what?”

“...” I struggled for a second, before deciding to let slip a hint about the secret Baldr shared with me. “You know, a great sea serpent left part of its fang in a ship, and a god has it hidden away…”

Leon quickly understood what I meant, and excused himself to go ask the god in question directly. That meant Zald and I went to the smithing district by ourselves. We were allowed to see Goibniu right away, the topless bearded smith god sitting in front of an anvil hammering away.

“What do you want? We’re busy enough trying to make the anti-dragon weapons your lot asked for.” He said brusquely, glancing at us out of the corner of his eye.

“Maxim said it’s okay if you push it back in favor of this job,” Zald replied, “I’m sure your smiths will be interested in handling something like this.”

True enough, the sight of the black greatsword had several smiths within the sweltering smithy come over to take a closer look. According to Zald, facing Udaeus alone saw the giant skeleton monster pull out the weapon instead of just using its arms, summoned ground spikes, and summoned Spartoi monsters. Whether this occurrence would repeat itself remained to be seen, but that wasn’t important right now. The idea of working with a never-before-seen Drop Items appealed to all the smiths, and they quickly agreed to undertake the job.

Goibniu recognized that I was a mage that could fight physically as well, and had me demonstrate a few of my moves for him to identify what length was most suitable for me and my style of combat. He quickly saw through my Status, but kept quiet when I made gestures for secrecy. 

Prodded by my inner light, I offered to assist in the crafting process as well, and after a display of what I could do, they accepted my help. Infusion of magic into the various steps of the process made it easier for them to work with the metal, which was extremely hard and resistant to normal shaping methods. 

Smithing’s hot and tiring, but damn if it isn’t interesting, I thought as I listened to the explanation for what they intended to do with it. I don’t mind delaying my scroll crafting for this. Perhaps if I had studied artificing further, I might have learned some of this already.

“Mithril has high magical conductivity, so many of those who use magic with their fighting style have equipment that contains it,” One of the senior smiths explained as he rested while the others hammered away, “It’s sturdy, but also easy to work with, so mixing it with the material will make the shaping process easier.”

I nodded, but most of my focus was on sustaining the intense fire in the forge, while my mouth kept up a constant flow of magical encouragement. “Strike, strike, strike, with hammer and fire, awaken the soul. You are the master smith.”

The greatsword had been melted down into an ingot, which they were now alloying together with the magical metal in question. Apparently, it also had some orichalcum inside, which those who bore the Blacksmith Development Ability could imbue with a virtually indestructible attribute.

There was a mystical glow on the hands of the smiths, and I contributed my magic towards making them even brighter. It took two whole days, and by the night of the third, the ingot was completed, and after a quick break for dinner, we began working on the final shaping step.

Occasionally, the sparks from the hammering seemed like magical circles, and as I focused on them, a new memory came to mind. A huge rabbit person, not the human-like ones of this plane, was striking a glowing blade with a runic hammer. As the scene overlaid itself over the reality before me, words began to appear in my head, spilling from my lips instead of what I initially intended to say.

“In the darkness of the night, the forge flames light,” I whispered, vaguely noticing Goibniu glancing sharply at me.

A tune wove itself into the next line, increasing the volume. From my grimoire, unnoticed by most, Lyric added its voice as musical accompaniment.

“Sparks fly out shadows be rout”

The sparks now truly came out as magic circles, but the smiths continued to hammer away, following the rhythm of my words.

“Dance, hammer Sing, Steel With (TING!) and (CLANG!)~ With (PING!) and (CHING!)~” My voice rose above the sounds of the forge, the onomatopoeias in the lyrics at the same time as the strikes of the hammers.

The scene in my memory was for forging a blade, so I adjusted the lyrics to fit this one.

“You are a pillar You are the power” 

A brief period passed without singing, but the smiths continued to maintain the slow pace. Despite that, the metal responded more easily to their strikes, taking on the long shape we envisioned. I took in another breath, and resumed singing.

“Born from the earth Fostered in flames from wood Forged by metal, cooled by water~” 

I couldn’t help thinking that some parts didn’t really rhyme, but somehow it felt like the language I was singing with wasn’t the normal one.

“The world spins round Yet stillness can be found” 

The lengthening metal was turned around, ensuring that the hammering was evenly applied.

“From gold to iron From iron to steel” My foot thumped in time to the words. “From steel to power~ From power to strength!”

TING! TING! TING! TING!

The parts being struck by the smiths’ blows were shining, and not just from the heat of the forge.

Another quiet period passed. I could feel more eyes on our work, but I felt no curiosity about who our new observers were. Another breath, and I sang.

“Break the dawn, oh work of smiths~” I was struggling now, to make the words flow, but this demanded my best effort. “Pierce the dark, with the light you bring~”

I was squinting now, the metal almost dazzling beneath the moving shadows of the hammers that rose and fell. The circles continued to burst out with each strike, and I felt my mana dipping to extremely low levels.

“For your dance goes along~ With the sound of this world’s song!” I finished.

Perhaps this would have been an amazing way to Level Up again, but I only thought of that much later, when I heard that many of the smiths involved raised their Blacksmith rank. 

When Goibniu presented me with the final product, I couldn’t take my eyes off it. Despite being black at first glance, its glossy surface shimmered with many colors, and it almost seemed to glow on the inside. Its ability to channel my magic was only exceeded by its incredible sturdiness, which even Zald approved of.

Not that I would admit it to the redhead, but I was glad that he chose to repay his debt to me in this way.

…

The union of familias departure from Orario was a loud affair, especially with several members of the Zeus and Hera Familia seeing us off. I shook hands with Maxim, Zald, Juno, and several others, confident that the spell scrolls I left with them would serve them well when the time came. 

Alfia wasn’t there, as she was looking after her pregnant sister, but I had already passed her my parting gifts. One was a get well soon card that spoke goodwill wishes for health when opened, while the other made use of a certain drop item.

Using arithmancy to invert the effects of the prismatic energies was a great idea, even if it was difficult to realize. I didn’t try to smother the feeling of pride at what I accomplished. Though with her body-tempering progress, I think she might not need it as much. She might pass it on to Meteria instead.

Another contributing factor to the whole thing was the number of interested observers. Gods, familias, even civilians, many of them wanted to come along to watch, especially since many rumors had spread about what the union was up to. The procession stretched pretty long behind us, enough that the Guild and guard familias gave up on the usual inspection process because of it.

At Melen, the refurbished Hringhorni was ready to set sail. With three concentric layers stacked like a layer cake, the giant ship took up the entirety of Melen’s bay, which could normally hold hundreds of smaller ships. Even with its size, it still took nearly half a day for all the passengers to go on board and settle into their assigned rooms. After a while, there was an announcement for all those interested to witness the moment the ship departed.

From the three decks of the giant fortress ship, we could see the crowds thronging the port’s streets, people waving at us excitedly. Baldr stood next to me with the others, while the other deities of the union stood with their familia members in scattered groups all over the expansive second deck.

Then with nods to Leon and the familia members I knew, Pari, Cynthia, Mico, Iggy, and others, I left the group and made my way into the depths of the ship. There was no need to say goodbyes, because we would meet each other again. 

While the interior of the residential area was looking clean, I could already see the signs of people making themselves at home. At this point of time though, there was no one else around as they were all on deck for the departure ceremony.

I think they actually got some Soma wine for the bottle breaking ceremony… to the despair of those gods who love their alcohol too much. Anyway…

I finally reached the set of rooms set aside for the Baldr Familia executives, or as Idun insisted that they would be known as from now on, teachers. Being a place for rest, it didn’t have the office-like design that the rooms on the academic layer above did.

As the giant bell that was somewhere on the ship started to ring, I settled myself down and began channeling my magic, ignoring the slight sensation of being in motion.

I could feel White and Blue in this place, representing the structure and the potential, like unity formed through understanding. But at the same time, I could feel a touch of Green as well. Insight leading to change…

I sighed, opening my eyes. There was the beginnings of a mana bond, but it was still too raw to be of any use. For now, I cast a small spell to mark this place, so that I would be able to find it when I returned to this plane. 

Now… I called upon the power within me-

SPARK

-and once more plunged through the chaos of the Blind Eternities.

The journal of the Planeswalker described several planes aside from Mirrodin, but other than that, the details regarding the process of Planeswalking just didn’t fit mine. Apparently that was expected for all Planeswalkers; the difference in souls meant a difference in the travel method. 

However, there were a few navigational tips that I could utilize, and I used them to lock onto an entirely new plane. 

Unlike my more memorable experiences, my emergence this time did not involve any danger; the chilly surroundings had the appearance of simple nature, with birds and beasts behaving like they normally would. A quick spell let me know that there weren’t any immediate dangers in my vicinity, though I received several signals from further out. More importantly, there was the feeling of magic in the air, making me sure that I could form a mana bond with the lands here.

Ascending with a flight spell allowed me to survey the area I had appeared in. Just as the cold temperature indicated, I was near a snowy landscape, though my immediate location was still green with grass and trees. There were also several signs of the land being developed, with rough paths leading through the forests, along with a paved road. Spotting a small column of rising smoke in the distance, I decided to investigate.

Flying on my new staff while floating a short distance off the ground ate up the distance, and I had just identified the source of the smoke as a three-storey building next to the road, when my inner light directed me to go off course. Curious about why, I decided to follow the urge, leaving the road to enter the nearby forest.

I finally found what I was looking for within a copse of trees. Standing in the center of a clearing was an obelisk, a four-sided purple pointed structure on a plinth of white marble. Dismounting from my staff, I approached the thing and examined it. 

It didn’t appear to have any magic, but the markings on the surface stood out to me. Acting on my hunch, I used a piece of spare paper to get a rubbing of it, with a bit of Lorehold restoration magic to sharpen the details. 

Huh… an X marking a spot among certain geographic features. Don’t tell me this is some kind of treasure map? An excited smile grew on my face. Perhaps this might be an interesting side activity before I resume my search for clues to my memories.

Returning to the road, I resumed heading for the building. It turned out to be a tavern for passing travelers, though I was the only guest at the moment. Fortunately, I had no issues communicating with the staff. The friendly tavern owner took my coin for a meal of meat stew and slightly sour ale, not batting an eye at the foreign coinage.

“You’re a mage too, aren’tcha?” He asked in a rustic dialect, “You have to be, with that staff and robes.”

“What else gave it away?” I responded jokingly. 

“You’re not the first I’ve seen, and probably won’t be the last, ha ha!” 

When I pressed him for more details, he told me that if I followed the road back in the direction I had come from, I would eventually arrive at the city of Cloudspire. 

“All sorts of magic users gather there to study in its tall towers, yeah?” The tavernkeeper explained, refilling my drink.

“What’s so special about it? What draws them there?” I inquired.

“They said the head wizard there, Theodorus, is one of the best spellcasters to learn from,” He answered, “Not only that, I hear they have all sorts of magical creatures to serve their every whim. Haven’t seen any of those myself though, ha ha!”

Hmm, this sounds like the magic here might be worth checking out. I laughed along with him as I came to a decision. And it might be worth expanding my repertoire of summonable creatures.

Afterword: Once again, my muse just threw out things that I couldn’t help mixing in, like the smithing song from the Shangri-La Frontier anime, which I did my best to adapt to this one. Probably won’t ever make it as a lyric songwriter, but feel free to listen to it while reading since it follows the same rhythm.

As for the new world, I can’t recall when I first thought about including it as an option, but the variety it offers appealed to me so much that I just couldn’t drop it as a possibility. Anyway, it’ll probably be another one that Roy will periodically return to from time to time… in the limited period it has left.

Thanks again to my supporters!