Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 9 (MTG/Multicross)

Foreword: Decided to write my first advance chapter for this fic for Patrons!

Prismatic Education Begins With A Spark 9

“Alright, you won, so whaddaya want?” The old man asked me grumpily after he emerged from wherever he had been observing me from.

Just like the others, the old priest wore a white robe, though it was open to show a differently-colored shirt and wide-legged pants. More prominently was his white hair; it was not only long, but curved and floated against the pull of gravity, and his eyebrows and mustache stuck out quite far from his face.

Wow, how does he maintain that hairstyle? I wondered briefly.

Fortunately, the delay between my victory and the game master’s appearance had given me enough time to think of what to ask for my single request. 

“I wish to be welcomed and hosted like an honored guest in this place,” I stated politely.

The geezer eyed me curiously. “Really? You could ask for gold, food, women, and I would have provided them, but you only want that? You sure?”

I have my doubts about whether you could. Plus as a Planeswalker, I can probably get the first two without any problems. “Yeah. To be honest, I wasn’t exactly intending to intrude in the first place, and things kind of got off on the wrong foot.”

“BWAH HAH HAH HAH!” 

We both looked at the one who laughed; my defeated opponent, who no longer wore his hammerhead shark mask, was sitting up against the wall. Black-haired to the old man’s white, he had a goatee, and a low ponytail that also curved like the old man’s. Judging from the similarity in their features, the two were related.

“What’s so funny, Gio?” The old man asked him.

“Nah… it’s just that…” The water mage chuckled, “Seeing things go the way you don’t expect… is funnier than I thought!’

“How could you laugh at your own father?!” The geezer shook his fist. “Don’t you have any loyalty to your own parent?”

“Well, the fact remains that he beat me, so you better honor your agreement, old man!”

To be honest, him using water magic was just too much of a disadvantage against me, and I didn’t give him the chance to adapt.

All it took on my part was a water-immunity aura, and that virtually negated most of the damage he could inflict. After that, I just blasted him with spell after spell, wearing him down until I could land a decisive blow to knock him out completely. It was far from what I could call an exciting fight. I didn’t even use any of my Strixhaven-learned spells, just what I picked up in Midgard. 

“But seriously,” The man named Gio slowly pushed himself to his feet, “Just what sort of mage are you? You hit me with so many different types of magic, and even healed me back to full health afterwards. My thanks for that, by the way.”

“You’re welcome. This wasn’t a battle to the death anyway.”

“Fine!” The old priest snapped. “I’ll grant that request. For the rest of your stay here, we’ll treat you like a proper guest, all your needs seen to!”

And that was how I secured lodging for the off-school period, in an underwater temple on an entirely different plane. Gifso, which was the name of the old priest, kept his promise and answered all of my questions about the place as he gave me a guided tour.

My Planeswalking had landed me in a location called the Seabed Temple. The place was named as such because it existed on the bottom of the sea floor, beneath a magical water barrier that kept the ocean waters from swallowing everything. The temple part came about because the human inhabitants believed that the Sea God Leviathan was the one responsible for maintaining the barrier, and worshiped it for that. Outside of the barrier, the intense concentration of mana gave rise to powerful currents that would smash anything that tried to enter without proper protection.

The first view I had of the scenery outside the caverns I was in left me open-mouthed in shock; tiered structures built out of stone, floating bubbles of water within the large open air space, a shifting water curtain that extended all around the area, lighting coming from some unseen source… It was truly an incredible view, formed through nothing but natural mana.

The place itself was affiliated with the Clover Kingdom, though there was very little contact due to the natural barrier in place. Only once a month, when the moon was full, would the currents weaken enough for the strongest magic users in the Seabed Temple to reach the surface with their magic barriers.

It was the mention of Clover Kingdom that triggered another memory fragment for me.

Plus these grimoires… I think it was some kind of picture story about a magicless boy, and the events he went through in pursuit of his dream… I hummed thoughtfully. Can’t recall more than that at the moment, but I’m sure more will come.

“What’s on your mind, youngling?” Gifso asked me.

I shook my head. “It’s nothing. Oh wait, where exactly do you all get your grimoires from?”

“Oh, that. I’m surprised you don’t have a grimoire of your own,” The old man remarked.

“I come from an entirely different place.” I said as an explanation.

“REALLY?!”

Before I could say more, someone else blurted out an interruption, and we turned to see two kids come dashing towards us. One boy and one girl, both wearing white smocks. They had apparently been sneaking around nearby listening in on us.

“You really came from outside the Seabed Temple?!” The boy asked me excitedly.

“Kiato! Kahono! Hey now! Did you sneak out from your lessons again?” Gifso scolded them, though it was obvious his heart wasn’t in it.

“We heard that a guest was here, so we got curious and wanted to look.” The girl gave as an excuse.

“Bwahahaha!” Gio laughed, patting the two children on their heads. “These are my children. The boy’s name is Kiato, and the girl is Kahono.”

“Nice to meet you!” The two of them chorused.

Ooh, very polite and well-behaved. “Nice to meet you too. I’m Roy Staff. And yes, I did come from outside this place.”

“Hey, what sort of magic do you use?”
“Can I see your grimoire?”

I chuckled in the face of the kids’ curious questioning. “I don’t have one, remember?”

“Ehhhh!?”

Gifso allowed himself to be persuaded to let the two kids tag along with us, and they were very enthusiastic about telling me more about their home as we wandered around the place. Being the children of a priestly family, they were taught to perform rites to worship the Sea God. For Kiato, his physical fitness allowed him to handle the dancing part, while Kahono’s voice qualified her for the singing portion.

When I told them about my experience with magical performance art in Strixhaven, they were understandably excited, and spent the rest of the journey to the grimoire library asking me questions nonstop. I didn’t mind answering them, though I shot back a number of my own regarding the Seabed Temple.

Such precocious kids. They seem very interested in the world outside of this undersea city, probably because this place is all they know. 

Our conversation was temporarily put on hold when we arrived at the grimoire library, where many unclaimed grimoires were stored. The culture on this plane was for teenagers to receive a grimoire when they turned fifteen, which would massively expand their capabilities with magic. For that reason, the two kids were barred from entering first, waiting outside with their dad while their grandpa led me into the place, which looked like an enormous round pillar of rough rock.

“Oh, high priest!” Another old man, one with short-trimmed hair, greeted us, “What brings you here, and with a guest?”

“Tower master,” Gifso greeted back, “This young man here missed his grimoire acceptance ceremony.” 

He pointed at me with fingers from both hands, and an exaggeratedly wide stance. I gave him a look, which he ignored.

“Say no more. I can tell he’s above the minimum age, so he’s welcome to enter and receive his grimoire.”

So places like these are overseen by someone. That’s logical. I walked deeper into the tower, emerging into a room with multitudes of books lining the walls. Normally I’d be impressed, but compared to the Biblioplex… 

“Now, open yourself, and let your grimoire come to you!” The tower master said, slightly grandiosely. “Sorry, force of habit.”

“I bet he gets a tiny grimoire!” Gifso muttered.

Oh come on, are you really that petty about losing? Despite my thoughts, I didn’t say anything, and focused on feeling the mana of the world around me, closing my eyes to do so. 

Somehow, something just clicked, and with it, realization. My desire gave rise to passion, which would attract a new source of magic, one that would help me develop and grow, to be the shining standard I hoped to be. And there was a second click in response to that.

Light seeped through my eyelids, and I opened my eyes to see a thick tome floating before me, almost impossible to see through the brilliant rainbow lightshow around it. Thankfully, the light faded quickly, revealing an iridescent cover with a four-leaf clover symbol in the center of it. Reaching out, I caught the surprisingly thick grimoire in my hand, but it didn’t feel heavy at all.

“No way! He got a four-leaf clover grimoire?!” 

I turned to look at the shocked pair of old men, but where Gifso appeared to be having a petty tantrum, the tower master appeared to be in utter shock.

“You… what… that… never saw that before…”

I glanced at Gifso. “What’s he shocked about?”

“You didn’t see?” 

“I had my eyes closed.” I admitted.

“Your grimoire was a blue one, but as it was going towards you, glowing pages flew from the various other grimoires on the walls and into it, transforming it into the appearance it has now.” Gifso eyed me with more curiosity now. “Just what sort of mage are you?”

Instead of answering right away, I opened my grimoire, and read the spell listed on the first page. It was written in a recognizable script, naming not just the type of magic it was, but what the spell could do.

I closed the book with a loud thump. “Apparently, I’m a Prismatic Mage.”

…

Compared to my classes at Strixhaven, with laid-out paths pioneered by many trailblazers who had gone before, prismatic magic was something I had to figure out on my own. 

Well, I thought it would be harder, but this turned out to be easier than I initially assumed. I thought to myself as I flipped through the thick tome and the various spells recorded within. The spells I can cast are recorded, and these records helped me deduce the overall theme.

Prismatic magic is mainly about adding on a color-related attribute to my spells, as evidenced by the color names in every single grimoire spell. Sometimes the added effect was elemental, other times it was more of a Color-theme effect, like Black having a draining effect or Green with strengthening. Even the same color could have different effects depending on the spell; Red could be destructive or accelerating, and Green could be healing or poisoning. And then there were the other colors outside of the Five, like Yellow, Orange or Purple.

However, the difficulty level jumped when multiple colors were combined in a single spell. Sure, I could shoot a Prismatic Spray, which inflicted seven different effects, one for each color of the rainbow, but trying to mix my own combinations left me stumped.

Mostly.

Then there was the grimoire itself to be considered. It automatically recorded any spell I could cast, and when opened to the appropriate page, it would allow me to cast that recorded spell almost instantly. Given how complicated some of the spells could be, such a function was extremely useful. 

In MTG terms, I believe it would be like casting a spell from your library or graveyard instantly as long as you could pay the mana cost. 

I extended a finger, materializing three colored orbs to float around it, before they automatically merge to form an iridescent pearl of solid mana. I made the same gesture with my other hand, but this time the pearl automatically appeared, with the grimoire’s open page shining for a moment.

Or in game terms… a hotkey, I believe it’s called.

“Roy!” Kiato’s voice made me jump slightly, “Are you free now? Can you show us some more of your special magics?”

Dispelling both spells, I turned to look at the excited kid, who was being accompanied by his little sister as usual.

While I was being treated as a guest in the temple, I wasn’t so shameless as to impose on them one-sidedly. Obliging small requests like these did quite a lot to endear myself to the people here as well.

Closing the grimoire, I grinned at them. “Sure. What do you want to see this time?”

“Dance magic!” Kiato demanded, “The way you made water and fire with your mana as you moved was so cool!”

“No! Word magic!” Kahono objected, “I want to learn more about how you can manipulate mana that way!”

“Now, now, don’t fight, you two…”

This pair of siblings’ strong fascination with the outside world had only grown with every story I told them; they were particularly engrossed with my accounts of Prismari College, and I could honestly see them become students there if they ever managed to travel to Arcavios. In the face of such enthusiasm, was it any wonder I accepted Gio and Gifso’s request to teach them a bit of magic?

Grimoires might help the magic users of this plane cast complex spells quickly and easily, but the basics of increasing one’s base mana pool and mana manipulation skills couldn’t be neglected either.

And besides, I feel like teaching these two might help me progress with my own magic expertise.

“Breathe, Kiato. If you control your breathing properly, you will be able to last longer!” I clapped sharply to snap him out of his distracted state. “Don’t lose focus!”

“Yes, teacher Roy!” The boy exclaimed.

“Same goes for you, Kahono! Train those lungs of yours so you can sing more powerfully.”

“Ye…yes!” Kahono panted, struggling to draw in air as she ran laps around the cave we were training in.

While I didn’t take Prismari courses focused on performance arts, I had managed to absorb enough knowledge to share with the siblings. Teaching Kiato to be more in tune with his and the surrounding natural mana to evoke effects with physical movements. Impressing Kahono with the enhancing effect of magic-imbued compliments, so that she could apply the same to her singing. 

Aside from teaching them, I also interacted with some of the other natives. Occasional spars with the temple knights to experience their styles of spellcasting, accepting invitations to dine with the local people (I was getting a little tired of seafood), and other such activities.

However, my stay soon came to an end, as I realized that the next school term at Strixhaven was soon to begin. 

“Well, you weren’t the worst guest,” Gifso said begrudgingly, “So I won’t protest your return in the future.”

“Bwahahaha!” Gio laughed, “Just admit that you enjoyed playing games with him, old man!” He shook my hand. “I wasn’t expecting you to get along so well with my two children. Thanks a lot for looking after them.”

“You’re welcome.”

“Teacher, can’t you stay longer?” Kahono begged me tearfully.

“Sorry,” I patted her on the head, “But I already made up my mind about going back. Don’t worry, I’ll come back next year, okay?”

“Promise?”

I nodded. “I’ll even make sure to bring books that will help you and your brother with realizing your dreams.”

The Biblioplex had no shortage of such things, and there were spells that could make copies of books for personal use.

“I’ll practice my dancing more,” Kiato promised, “So the next time you see me, you’ll be totally blown away!”

“Haha, I look forward to it.”

As I prepared to Planeswalk back to Arcavios, I looked over the crowd of people who had gathered to see me off, and the temple in the distance. A simple civilization within a bubble, surrounded by ever shifting currents. With that calm acceptance of that knowledge, the mana bond between me and this land formed.

I smiled once more at the people I had stayed with for the past weeks, and then there was a-

SPARK

-And off I headed back to Arcavios.

Afterword: A bit of a short chapter, but like I said, this trip was meant to be short. Next one will be the third year at Strixhaven, with much more magic to learn. Anyway, as hinted at by the title, Roy’s magic is color-themed, and that offers a lot of possibilities. The issue is how to properly make use of it.