Chapter 75: Studying? (Patreon)

An evil thought pulls the corner of my lips up.

As silent as possible, I sneak up and look over Brax’s shoulder.

Several papers are scattered over the desk, the same diagram drawn on each one.

Several more sit to the side, crumpled up.

Next to a half-eaten plate of what looks like chicken, a staff lies across the table, with Brax’s hand on it.

In his other hand, a pencil sketches the same thing on all of the other papers.

Just in case, I wait for his hand to lift before speaking.

“What’s up?”

His hands jerk, and he jumps in place, tossing his pencil at the ceiling with a mighty yelp.

Flailing for a split second, he faces me with widened eyes.

“Gods! I almost dirtied myself!”

The strange translation is the cherry on top, turning a chuckle into full-blown laughter.

My hand reaches out.

Brax tries to dodge, but my command-powered mind doesn’t allow it, following his movements perfectly to rustle his hair.

He lets it happen for a second before slapping my arm away.

“Stop that!”

I chuckle and nod to the desk. “Are you still looking at the mage’s stuff?”

Stars shine in his eyes. “You have no idea. This place is a mithril mine. The stuff in here could get me five houses in the capital, and I would still have enough to live like a king for the rest of my life!”

My eyebrows rise. “That good, huh?”

He sighs and shakes his head. “If only you knew. Mages will spend their entire lives refining their spells and still have the efficiency of an ogre playing with sticks compared to what the system makes.”

My gaze drifts to my gauntlets, their value growing in my mind once again.

“Since you’re at it, mind taking a look at this?” I hold out the paper that I got from completing the secondary objective.

He doesn’t hesitate, plucking it out of my hands and closing his eyes without a word.

Barely a second passes before he gasps.

“What? What is it?”

“This, oh! This is… uh…”

He trails off, head rotating slightly as he investigates the spell.

After a few more seconds, I give up and head to the kitchen.

From the same cabinet as the cereal from before, I pull out a different box which pictures a cat-like creature with no neck and a pair of wings dancing.

“Heh.”

I pick at the edge of the box.

Then, I pick at the edge of the box.

Grunting, I glare at the thing.

Before picking at the edge of the box.

A smile grows as I finally catch the edge and pull.

It tears off the paper surface and veers to the side, leaving me with a small piece of paper in one hand and an unopened box in the other.

Annoyance builds, and I release it with a deep breath.

With my mind calmed, I rip the top of the box off and spray cereal across the ground.

“Sweet. Problem solved.”

After kicking most of it under the counter, I return to the dining room while tossing handfuls of the stuff into my mouth.

Brax is working at the table.

One hand is drawing, while the other holds the paper I gave him.

“You know,” I say with a full mouth. “I gave that to you so I could know what it’s about, not so you could hog it.”

He turns to me blankly. “Oh yeah.”

Grabbing the paper, he holds it out to me. “This is an actual spell scroll. These things are extremely rare.”

“What do you mean by actual? Are there fake ones?”

He shakes his head. “Many mages use spell books that have simple drawings on them that don’t accept mana. Those are more of a memory aid than anything else. It just gives that extra push. But this?”

His hand caresses the page gently. “This is a three-dimensional formation imparted on a two-dimensional plane. You need an extremely specialized class for this. Unless you’re the system, of course.”

I nod while shoving more cereal into my mouth. “Uh-huh. And what does it do?”

He sighs in disappointment. “It’s a gravity spell. As for the effect, it’s localized, so I think it s meant to be used on you, on an enemy, or on an object.”

“Welp! Only one way to find out!”

I hold my hand out, and he reluctantly hands it over.

“Kevin, become the mana. Control yourself well.” I whisper to myself.

“What was that?”

“Nothing.”

The world fades, and I focus inside myself.

Mana siphons from the main current swirling around my organs and moves into the page.

I didn’t understand what Brax meant before.

Now I do.

Somehow, the mana moves up and down.

But it’s still on the page.

For a moment, I open my eyes and inspect both sides of the paper, but it’s as flat as can be.

Still, I can feel every curve as if I were in it.

It’s… amazing.

Chuckling, I start building the same formation inside my body as I explore the page.

The structure is extremely similar to the weight-increasing structure in my gauntlets.

When it finishes, the satisfying click snaps through my body.

Instead of the mana vanishing, it moves through the formation, continually being consumed.

It must be an effect I have to power constantly.

I wonder if-

Without warning, nausea builds.

Bile rises.

“Kevin, don’t feel nausea.” I spit out the words with a foul taste while falling to the ground on all fours.

At the last second, the stomach acid halts in place and slowly returns downwards, taking the horrible feeling with it.

I’d take five broken arms over an hour of nausea.

And that’s without nullifying pain.

“Are you alright?” Brax rushes over, crouching down and laying a hand on my back.

Waving him off, I lift myself up. “Don’t worry, I-”

At the motion, my body picks up off the ground, floating up a few inches before settling back down.

The weight of the past twenty-four hours wears off in an instant.

Brax’s eyes snap to mine as I do the same, both of our eyes wide.

The corners of my lips pull up against my will.

Getting to my feet in a stable position, I jump.

The momentum carries me up farther and farther as the floor grows distant.

Giggles leak from my throat as I ascend the thirty-foot room and brush against the ceiling.

In my inattention, the formation falls apart.

Just as I start floating across the room, weight returns to my body, pulling me to the ground.

A not-girly scream echoes through the room as I plummet, the ground speeding toward me.

“Kevin! Move-”

I slam into the ground, knocking the wind from my lungs.

Expecting to struggle to breathe for the next few seconds, I’m surprised when air pulls itself into my lungs readily.

I brace for the wave of pain, but it doesn’t come.

Brax rushes over, panic spread across his face. “Oh my God! Are you alright?”

“That. Was. Awesome.” I jump to my feet with a grin.

“Did you see that!? It’s a zero-gravity spell! I can fly!”

Brax’s panic is half-replaced by a smile as he watches me. “So… you’re alright then?”

“More than alright.” I reach out and ruffle his hair.

One Mind/Two Bodies

Without hesitation, I channel mana through the paper while rebuilding the formation inside myself.

The added brainpower makes the process take half as long.

Once completed, the formation gorges itself on my mana, the weight falling off of my shoulders in an instant.

Entranced, I wave my arm back and forth.

All the normal resistance is gone, making every movement feel strange.

“Kevin, move perfectly.” I whisper.

Joy does jumping-jacks in my heart as I bend my legs and leap.

My momentum doesn’t decrease as I fly upward.

I flip to meet the ceiling with my feet.

At least, I try to.

In reality, I flail my arms around in the strange environment and smack against the stone with my shoulder.

Using it as a handhold, I place my feet and push off, rocketing to the floor again.

“Hahahaha!”

Again, I smack into the floor with my back, but reorient myself quickly.

Another leap sends me to the wall.

This time, I’m able to awkwardly brace the impact with my feet, tumbling to my side and sliding up the wall because of the momentum.

I can’t stop myself from smiling.

It’s a dream come true.

I jump on repeat, practicing my landings against different surfaces.

My sense of balance is haywire, constantly sending messages of alarm to my stomach, which are promptly ignored.

The command reduces the gut-wrenching nausea into a slight feeling of wrongness.

And that’s well worth the cost.

I change my aim and land next to Brax, holding out a hand. “Want to try?”

Infected by my joy, he smiles, but shakes his head. “No thanks, I just ate.”

“You sure?” I reach to grab a chair to stabilize, but miss.

The world rotates as I slowly float through the air, forced to wait until I touch the next surface.

Eventually, my mana runs out and I fall to the ground, only a dozen feet this time.

Panting lightly, the experience buries itself in my mind.

Mana just became ten times as valuable.

So far, I’ve been getting stats based on my actions, with all of my physical stats taking over because I’ve been punching the crap out of everything.

If I want more mana, I need more wisdom.

If I want more wisdom, I need to kill things with spells.

The only two I know are zero gravity and stone pillar.

Not exactly suited to kill.

But wait, if I made myself weightless and used that to crush something, would that count as using a spell?

No, it would probably split because half is the spell, while the other half is my body.

System, status.

[Health: 2004(1990)]

[Mana: 1010(0)]

[Stamina: 1826(1036)]

Looks like the percentage increase is showing itself.

It was so nice when they were even fives and tens.

But I can handle a little oddness if it means all of my stats are boosted.

More importantly, it’s crazy that my stamina isn’t even below half yet.

How long has it been since I last slept?

I can’t remember.

Too many things are happening on an hourly basis.

My body might be fine, but my mind is beginning to fatigue.

That might be the difference between endurance and intelligence showing itself.

One mind/two bodies doesn’t help either, basically making me overclock my brain.

And I use it all the time.

Turning, I see that Brax is sitting again, eyes closed with one hand on the staff and the other drawing.

“Hey Brax!”

He slightly opens one eye. “What is it?”

“How do I use spells naturally?”

One eyebrow raises. “What do you mean? You’re doing it naturally already.”

“No, I mean without the paper or the rune to help me.”

“Huh?” Both of his eyes open, and he stops drawing.

“Do I equip it? Like, can I etch it in my mind‌ somewhere so I don’t have to make the formation every time?”

Confusion spreads on his face. “What are you talking about? Etch it in your mind? Are you trying to kill yourself?”

What? Then how does he-

“Then how did you make the stone wall so quickly?”

“How else? I practiced.”

“Practiced?”

He nods. “You make the formation over and over until you can make it quickly from memory. There are a bunch of different techniques, but that’s the basis of all of them.”

Dread seeps into my heart as I remember the complexity of the zero-gravity formation.

“There’s no shortcut to mastery, Kevin.” Brax closes his eyes and returns to his work without another word.

Damn.

I always sucked at studying.