"Now, let's get back to my magic training. I have only tried out the basic spell so far!"
James took a few steps back. "Okay, I will stay a safe distance away."
This time, I walked up to the training dummies since I would be using a short range lightning sword now.
Once I was ready, I chanted "lightning blade."
A lightning rod the size of an average sword floated in front of me. I could tell that this spell took a lot more mana than the basic lighting bolt spell took. If I had to guess, maybe 5 times more mana was needed.
I was reluctant to touch it since it looked the exact same as the lightning bolt that hit me earlier and shocked me.
However, I knew that this spell was different because of the extra mana use and James already told me that the user of the lightning blade spell can touch it with no negative effects.
Taking a deep breath, I thrust my hand forward. Surprisingly, the bottom of the lightning blade that I grabbed turned into a standard hilt to a sword. It fit my hand perfectly and it felt like a normal sword hilt besides that fact that it was bright yellow.
I walked over to one of the dummies. I wanted to test what would happen if I accidentally touched something with the sword blade without using any momentum.
I slowly moved the sword towards the dummy. I could start hearing sizzling even before the sword made contact with the dummy. Then, I lightly touched the blade to the dummy and it burst into flames where contact was made.
This test highlighted how careful I had to be with the lightning blade. It was more like a light saber than a standard bladed sword.
This time I swung the sword with my full strength and I was surprised by how little resistance there was as the blade sliced clean through the dummy as smooth as butter.
The power was impressive because the dummies were made to replicate a real human body. With this little effort, I could kill someone. It scared me a little that I was given so much firepower without any real training. One small mistake could cause a lot of irreversible damage.
Another issue was that, while I know the basic movements, I have no practical sword training. My lack of technique could make me easily exploitable.
"James, did I have sword training in the past?"
"Yes, once it was revealed that you were a lightning magic at the age of 12, you started to sword train daily since it would be vital to your magic arsenal."
That wasn't good, "James I think I will have to start sword training an hour or two a day since I lost all my sword skills."
"Ok, I will bring your old sword teacher to give you some lessons. The good thing is I think your body should naturally have the sword moves in your muscle memory. It will just be up to you having an understand of when to use which sword move for you to get back up to your original form."
The next thing I wanted to try was something I thought about when the lightning blade was first conjured. I chanted "lightning blade" again.
But this time, instead of a new lightning blade being conjured, my current blade increased five feet.
I pumped my fist. This is exactly what I wanted! I chanted the spell again and this time my blade retracted until only the hilt I was holding was left.
With the ability to retract and extend my blade by casting my spell again, I greatly increased my unpredictability. And because the lightning blade was so light. I could probably extend it as far as I wanted without becoming so heavy I can't wield it.
Now that I has satisfied with my lightning blade progress, it was time to start testing out my advanced teleportation spell.
I removed the dummies so that they did not get in the way and injure me. I looked at the place a foot in front of me just to get my feet wet. Then I chanted "instant transmission".
Instantly, I was standing in a new position. It was a slightly jarring. The most shocking thing was that it felt like it took very little mana. I was assuming it would take a lot and drain me since the intermediate spell was already so much more effort than the basic spell.
But this was good for me because it means I can spam teleportation during a battle without worry. Also, it means I can run away quickly if I am almost out of mana and about to get defeated.
With the speed and lack of mana use of this spell, I should be untouchable in a battle as long as my reaction time and instincts are strong enough.
The one annoying thing so far is that saying "instant transmission" added about a second delay each time.
But then I remembered that James said that advanced mages no longer had to chant their spells.
I tried to remember how it felt when I teleported and then I thought in my head, 'instant transmission.'
This time I teleported 50 feet away. Alright! That greatly reduces the time it will take between teleports.
Next, I tried to figure out how many consecutive teleports I could do before I get disoriented.
What I learned was I could teleport endlessly in a straight line if I was trying to do something like just travel some where quickly. However, when teleporting to different random spots, I could only do it 3 consecutive times before I needed to wait a few seconds to get my bearings back.
The last thing I wanted to check was if I could teleport with my eyes closed. If I could, that would mean that I could teleport to places I couldn't see as long as it was within my 100 foot radius. One example I can think of where this would be beneficial is if I wanted to teleport into a locked room.
So I closed my eyes and imagined that I teleported. It worked with no problem. And surprisingly, I noticed that a training dummy happened to be in my 100 foot radius and instinctively I knew I could not teleport to that area.
This was a good thing because I would not be able to teleport into something and get stuck like if I teleported into the middle of a wall. But sadly I had an idea that it would be cool if I could teleport my hand inside someone's chest to rip their heart out.
Another teleportation limit that I sensed, while training to teleport to the areas I felt around me instead of to the places I could specifically see, was that I realized I can not teleport into the sky. I could feel that the only places I was allowed to teleport were places where my feet touched a surface.
This was pretty restricting, but I wonder if I could team up with an earth mage to give myself more flexibility.
After I was satisfied with my training, I realized that that sun was already set. Time really flies when you are having fun!
I have to go find Becca so we could have dinner together like I promised.
"Let's go James."