Casual Heroing

So, yeah, now I have to wear a massive hat, around two feet and a half in diameter at the rim. I take a better look at it. I have to say, as far as weird hats go, this one is a stunner. On the inside, it’s made of a soft and silky material, bleached or whitened until it became a soft pearl white. Instead, the outside is a deep, deep blue that somehow shines ever so faintly.

Pretty cool.

“So, can you sum up what this thing doe—”

I almost fall as soon as I put the hat on my head.

It took a lot of research, but the hat mimics skills like [Advanced Mental Calculations], [Geometrical Abstraction], and [Greater Visualization]. That’s for the cone. The rim could be considered a whole different artifact on its own. I covered it with [Bug Repellant], [Perfect Temperature], and [Perfect Weather]. It also has a few protection spells woven into its fabric, but I never really tested those. I always had my personal shields on. But the [Enchanter] who helped me said that he had somehow crammed those shields in the fabric and that they would one day save my life. The man wasn’t pleasant. But he was plenty capable.

I chose the enchantments mostly based on the fact that every time I met a witch, I could tell her that my hat made me smarter, whereas hers just made her look stupid.

I am so getting murdered by a [Witch] or a Dragon. Or a Dragon [Witch].

“Do Dragons have levels?”

Sure, they do.

“Ok, ok, ok. Cool. Cool, cool, cool. Now, Lord Juler, I’d like to practice some of my magic. The hat sounds incredible, and Princess Bianca likes it even more than me. But now, it’s better if I get to my practice.”

I was trying hard not to think that the [Supreme Archmagus] had a tongue as long as his magical accomplishments.

‘Next, Magister Mulligan had planned for you to learn one of the most basic spells every [Mage] worth their salt should know.’

The book turned a page.

‘[Dispel] is the foundation of any duel. Hitting is the most important thing in a fight, but only after not getting hit. You can’t cast magic if you are dead. Unless you choose to become a [Lich].’

Is the book cracking undead jokes?

Wild.

‘When a spell forms, it forms in time. The temporal aspect of casting is very important because there are many phases at which you can disrupt it. The more crucial phases you ignore, the fewer opportunities to fizzle a spell out of existence. A true [Mage] should have experience with their opponent’s spells and tricks. No spell is a complete clone of the other. However, you’d already practiced all the fundamental matrixes while doing your Cantrips assignment. Those are the bricks that lay the foundation of every house. You break those, and every spell will crumble. Identifying the core of a matrix is easy with lower-level spells; in fact, they contain the same matrixes you have practiced for many of your Cantrips.’

You are also a [Luxmancer]. [Dispel] should be second nature to you. Your class is very fluid, magic-wise. The greatest practitioners of Light Magic were also the greatest Dispellers.

“I guess you could accelerate and modify the property of the Light Magic when you—”

Princess Bianca suddenly squeals.

She looks at me, partly confused, partly angry.

The Wallorian Treasurer thinks you have gone nuts. Let me.

Hello, child. I’m [Supreme Archmagus] Lord Juler. I worked with your kind for a long time and gave as much back as I had gained. I partnered with the best Wallorian Treasurers in the world. May the world be your cradle.

What?

I sent that message to both you and the Wallorian Treasurer. They are very temperamental creatures, and they especially don’t like being excluded from a conversation. From now on, I’ll be talking to both of you. This one seems young, but the way they gain intellect and knowledge is very different from common people.

“This is starting to give me a headache, Lord Juler. Can’t we focus on the magic, now?” I also look with pleading eyes at Princess Bianca, who now snorts and nods in approval.She makes her little hand gesture with the front leg, telling me to go ahead.

“As I was saying. If a [Dispel] is messing up someone’s matrix—Can’t I just contaminate the matrix with a [Light]?”

Seconds of silence follow. Both the book and Lord Juler don’t say a word. The ink starts fading and reappearing in blotches. The damn thing is lagging again.

Explain your thought to me. And elaborate.

“I mean, I haven’t read the full description. But isn’t a [Dispel] just like throwing a wrench in a wagon’s wheel? Can’t I implant a part of a [Light] spell matrix inside another matrix and use that as a contaminating agent? [Light] spells are compatible with everything, right? As long as the [Mage] in front of me is not too powerful, I can throw in a little [Light] with an overcharged polarization field. When I was practicing the Cantrips, I noticed that the more matrixes you lay on top of each other, the less they are independent. It’s like an electromagnetic field appears when there’s enough energy in a limited space. So, if someone tried to use a [Fireball] on me, I could just snap my fingers and have a [Light] matrix with an incredible density – therefore, with a very high polarity field – throw the casting askew. All the squiggly lines would either be repelled or attracted to the little [Light] spell.”

Everything is silent.

Cold sweat appears on my back.

I either said something very good or very dumb.

This is…

This. Joey Luciani. Are you an [Archmage] of old? Are you pulling an elaborate ruse on my soul? How could you even think of that? How does a simple Human being from another dimension theorize that?

A [Light] spell is indeed compatible with every other spell. [Mages] have a natural force field in their spells that makes it extremely hard to interact with them. Otherwise, [Dispel] would be the most popular spell in the world. Instead, last I checked, everyone here seems to be disregarding it. They only use it for lower-tier spells. You just suggested a thing that would work under very precise conditions, but you appear to satisfy all of them.

Strong [Mages] have such incredible natural – or even trained! – force fields that they are almost impossible to pierce. Usually, it would require perfect knowledge of the spell they are casting. And that means more experienced [Mages] are always in an advantage over the younger [Mages]. But the more specialized a [Mage] is, the harder it is to [Dispel] their spells. Instead, you propose to use [Light], the simplest spell in existence, to generate a distortion field that would throw askew even a Tier 5 spell just like that. It would become harder and harder with higher tier spells—no. I’m wrong. You could just pack a matrix full of [Light] nodes that make it impossible to…

For all the disgraced [Heroes], if this theory proves true…

You would have invented a school of magic no one has any counter to, Joey Luciani.