It was probably an unwise decision to clear two dungeons consecutively. Not that Ivan and his group couldn't handle the strain, but they'd have a high chance of success if they took time in between dungeons to learn the limitations of the new magic they earned. Spatial Magic was straightforward, the only thing to learn about that was its limitations.
Ivan was the most adept at it, while Yue followed behind. Sure Ivan excelled, but he had the problem of the magic costing a ton of mana, though, in the end, the consumption was less than Yue who had to take a kneel for teleporting at somewhat great distances. This was fine using storages of mana but during dire situations, it was a bit dangerous in itself to be swapping equipment.
BANG!
The simplest application of the magic was shooting the guided needles through. It was an effective strategy that would quite literally blow up behind the backs of any enemies. Even if his opponent could dodge the attack, they'll always be highly stressed as they had to both anticipate an attack from the front and the back. Hopefully, by that point, they'll tire themselves out and make a mistake.
Other applications included transporting an enemy far away, transporting an enemy right into a trap, bombing runs, and running away. It was convenient and versatile magic that Ivan was glad to have.
So far the only people in the group that could use it reliably were Ivan, Yue, and Tio. Ivan had hoped that at least Felis would be somewhat proficient with the magic, however, that didn't seem to be the case. In the end, he could only imagine the feline fellow transporting from portal to portal while slicing off enemy heads with her claws with each pass through.
It likely would've been both ineffective and highly energy consumptive but a cool scene nonetheless. But speaking of cool things, Restoration Magic. To Ivan, it was the most interesting out of all the magic they obtained. And as he demonstrated before it seemed to be more than just 'advanced healing.' So of course, he went and tested it out on all sorts of matter.
CRACK!
Without hesitation, he broke a nearby pot. It crumpled over and shattered into many shards of ceramic matter. The contents were empty, but its immaculate design was impressive, to say the least.
Ivan walked up to it and held up his hands. Rather than using alchemy to repair the pot, he focused on the restoration magic. The difference between the two is that when you attempted to repair something with alchemy, some of the materials would be lost in the process, even if those materials were invisible to the human eye.
You could break a glass cup, gather every single shard and speck of it, and you'd still be missing something.
But if his assumptions about restoration magic were correct then that shouldn't be the case in this situation. Every piece of the scattered pot retired to its former positions. Even the pot itself went from the floor back to the table Ivan had knocked it off of. After a few seconds, it was back to normal.
During this whole test, Ivan focused on two things: 1. Mana Consumption, and 2. Restoration Process.
As far as mana consumption went, it was relative to two aspects of the magic. The first being time, the longer it took for the restoration to return to its former existence the more mana it cost. If he cut his leg thirty minutes ago, it'd take thirty minutes to repair it, and each second would cost a certain amount of mana.
The second aspect was 'what.' Because restoring a living being and an inanimate object were two different things. An example is that repairing an injury was more complex than repairing a broken pot. You had to take into calculation multiple prospects, such as cells, tissue, blood, oxidation, etc. If we applied this research to the 'time is mana' principle, while each one of these factors cost next to nothing alone, together the price was immense.
If he had to simplify all this information to a short and simple sentence, restoration magic was just a very costly replication of a certain Jojo user's stand.
But even with those faults, Ivan loved it all the same. And to top it all off it applied to the user so there was that too. Using these findings Ivan went ahead and collaborated with the others who had somewhat decent efficiency with the magic. As even if their affinity paled compared to Ivan, it was good magic to have in case someone was injured. With it, even if their team didn't have a healer, they'd be able to sustain most damages.
If Ivan had to guess its endgame, then it'd be the manipulation of time itself. He cast a basic spell that even he could deal out with no problems, a fireball. He sent it straight into the air, not moving a single step as it fell back to the earth right for his head.
What he did do was hold two hands in the air. The fireball approached closer and closer, though he fired it with the basic qualifications: its heat could be felt from tens of meters away. His hands glowed, not with alchemy but with restoration magic.
Soon, the two beings made contact—
Like hitting rewind on a VCR, the fireball froze in the air for a few seconds before being launched back into the air. It followed the same trajectory it took to fall, even arcing slightly as it reached the peak of its height. Then it fell back down again, this time with the butt of the spell pointed toward Ivan.
A few meters from his face it completely disappeared, not a single proof of it having existed remained.
"Hm?" Ivan held a fist to his chin. He thought pensively as he replayed the scene over and over in his mind. What he wanted to see was the range of the magic. So far it was as he expected, three meters.
He wanted two things to improve upon, firstly he didn't want to have to use his hands to activate the magic. This could probably be applied using spatial magic to affect the space rather than transport through it; something he'd have to understand more about before proclaiming efficiency.
Secondly, in addition to being freehanded, he wanted to increase its range exponentially, this could likely be obtained using the process of spatial magic once again.
Picture this scene: "Hundreds of spells rain upon you like hail, with no cover nor defenses you have no choice but to stand your ground as the balls and lights of death approaches you swiftly. And then, to all the mages' surprise— Each spell freezes in the air. And without another second to waste, they returned to their casters. The only indication of the spells having ever been cast was the feeling of emptiness each mage felt when they checked their mana reserves. Other than that, the man remained in the field with his arms crossed in front of him… he made not a single movement…"
"Soooo cool~!" Ivan cheered aloud. More than anything such mastery was equal to one of his earlier goals when he first stepped foot into the Orcus Labyrinth, Ars Magna. It was an altering of reality and space to achieve somewhat of a miracle. Sure it was nowhere near as powerful as the miracle itself he went by definition be it was the right step toward it.
"But altering space itself…" Ivan muttered aloud. He didn't think it was impossible, in fact, it was likely that was what spatial magic was for. Transportation through space being a by-product or added benefit with proficiency. Otherwise, the magic would've been called 'transportation magic' and not 'spatial magic.'
The biggest weak point he could think of it having during combat besides mana consumption would be the flair it had when being used. To use it there usually had to be two portals, one likely in front of the user and one at the target. When an enemy notices the first portal as long as they're smart they should notice the one behind them. It doesn't help that the portal is generally a white-purple vortex in the world that glows and makes loud whooshing noises.
Larger formations could be formed that worked more permanently, like the one in Oscar's lair that led to the Reisen Gorge.
Using it to alter space itself seemed something more like magic rather than a science. So of course what was the best thing he could do besides go to the two most proficient magic users in the world.
"Yue, Tio, what do you guys think?" Immediately he asked for the two's time after dinner. Thankfully they each accepted his sudden request without any complaints. And after half an hour he transmitted all his thoughts regarding altering space using spatial magic.
He thanked the world for allowing his two most magic proficient companions to each have somewhat of an affinity with spatial magic. They each took a seat in the classroom Ivan had first used when teaching Felis after she was born.
Ivan stood at the board and wrote down the things he confirmed, things he wanted to confirm, and things he wanted to accomplish. Firstly, he got them to the same level he was. Not to the exact flexibility with the magic but more so an idea of it. He was going to need them to catch up if they were all going to be thinking on the same level.
The greater their understanding of the magic the more likely they'd be able to come up with some feasible ideas.
"Mmm….. what about learning how to freeze the space first?" Yue was the first to come up with a suggestion. According to her knowledge of magic, it should be possible to interfere with someone else's control of space so long as they can exert their pressure to the point of being impenetrable.
So they tried this. Even if it wasn't exactly a lead to what Ivan wanted to obtain, he'll take any advancements of the magic that may become applicable in the future. To start it out, Ivan and Yue stood face to face in the front of the class.
Yue held her hands up and closed her eyes, a few seconds later a portal opened in front of her and next to Tio who remained seated. Keeping the portal open required mana so Ivan swiftly started things on his end to not waste her energy.
"Guh…" He exerted his mana into the air. His hands were positioned at his waste but in his mind, he manifested the prerequisites to using spatial magic. He attempted to keep the mana as close to him as possible while exerting his control of space. Here and there were a few leaks but the process seemed to be going well.
And eventually, after a minute— the portal Yue opened started to show signs of closing.
================================================================
If you want to support me please follow this link! There's a couple new links added~: https://linktr.ee/ardoaleister
It's like magic~! On a completely irrelevant side note I recently finished watching Magic Kaito 1412, it was pretty alright. I'm not saying I didn't like it, but about 75% of it seemed like filler. Which kinds of lines up with the style old anime had back in the day. In any case it was rather enjoyable and interesting, there were a lot of cool characters, scenarios, callbacks. I definitely would've loved a continuation after seeing the last scene but it seems highly implausible.
To risk not sounding like a reviewer, I shall end it here. Thanks to all for reading today's upload, have a great evening and I'll see you all real soon~!
If you want to support me and read ahead 10-15 chapters, you can check out my p.a.t.r.e.o.n right here: https://bit.ly/ardoaleister
Discord: https://discord.gg/tQ5TWbYd9t