Agnisotra: Origin Tails

Day 5: I woke up well-rested. Philip and Hera asked me if something was up yesterday evening because normally, I'm always doing stuff and hardly resting. Maybe I should take this as a sign that I should take things easy, but sadly I don't have time for that, there are still 6 roots left of which 1 is nowhere to be found. I thought of trying to look for it but the last time I looked for the location of the last root I came up with nothing, I will just waste time and energy. I came down the stairs and noticed Raishin approaching. I went to the door and opened it before he could ring.

Whoa! You got to stop doing that! Sup!

So, I've been perfecting my [Raishin kick] I'm not going to let you combo me!

Nono! So, I tried those simulation things you and Greg always talk about and I realized that my move pool is quite limited. So, I came to ask if you could teach me a bit about control and some cool flashy fire moves. I tried to come up with some flashy moves myself but it is better to go to a member of a race that is known for its flashy fire magic! Ugh, my fire magic isn't flashy because I want to! Well, that is not completely true but for the most part!

So, can you teach me flashy fire magic? But I don't need demonstrations! There is no point in incinerating the whole mountain range or melting everything within a 100-meter radius! Hey! I got better at controlling my fire magic! Raishin looks at me skeptically.

When we did that [Flame wave] in that obnoxious puzzle your fire was way hotter and did way more damage for the fraction of the energy, I put in but even still you almost fried me with that heat! It's a good thing I had Gregory’s shadow cloak on! Hey, you can't get your cake and eat it too! If you want me to do damage then it has to be hot! I'm not going to waste mana to make it have more blunt or explosive force! Fire is supposed to be hot and melt and burn shit not blast things away with mediocre damage!

I mean… you have a point but I don't like being fried! Pff it's not as if I use fire that often, it consumes way too much mana, and it makes me nauseous quite fast.

Right, you have to use mana to make fire and lightning. That is normal! It is you who is abnormal that you can make those without!

Hehe, I'm glad I'm a six-tailed lightning Tiger. But it seems we all have a loophole besides Greg. Hmm? He kind of does all those shadow skills are his racial skills so they don't require mana. And since shadow magic is quite versatile, he can get away with using it for a lot of stuff. Raishin teleported us to an open space in the mountains outside Boshi town.

Right, so you wanted to learn about some more control skills too, right? Yah!

Well, there isn't much to it besides timing, at which you’re not great so instead of focusing on what you’re bad at focus on what you’re good at. I'll teach you [Voltaic step] Ooh yes! That attack is so annoying to deal with!

Besides that, you can also use its application for attacks, you won't have to worry much about the timing when used as an attack because the 3 numbing electrical waves come out in a delay that automatically layers the control effects. So, I just hit my target with it and the waves will keep the target stunned?

Nono, they won't get stunned, they will get numbed when it's used with attacks, it will make their control over movements and magic sloppy, they can still act and move, if you want to stop them completely you would stun them, and if you want them to stop moving you need to paralyze them. You can't really stop them from using magic with using lightning magic unless you stun them, you will need to silence them. But isn't numbing worse than all the other options?

Not really, if you want to get in a counter or an opportunity attack in, like your [Raishin kick] or other skills that rely on your opponent making a mistake then this is perfect. Yeah, that is so you… You give them the feeling they still are in control while they’re not. That is why we hate fighting you, when we realize we’re not in control of the fight it's mostly too late. I shrugged and taught Raishin how to use the voltaic step and how to apply a similar effect to his attacks. Personally, I've never used it as an attack so I guess this was a learning moment for me too.

So, wouldn't it be just better to always use this as an attack? The original [Voltaic step] hits a wide area so it is also useful against multiple targets.

Aah. Flashy fire magic next! I will just teach you a relatively weak but useful skill because anything becomes a nuke with you since you can just feed it infinite energy. Teaching you a strong skill will just end you blowing us up with it somewhere in the future. As long as it's flashy! Right so…

Nonono! I don't need a demonstration just tell me how to do it! I already felt the temperature rise! Meh. Well, all you do is condense the flames of [Fireball] and shoot them out like a beam. It will be hot and powerful and maybe not easier to aim but you won't be a hazard by torching the whole area.

Like this? No, that is just a fireball.

Like this? No that is just a bigger fireball.

Like this? How about you stop making bigger and bigger fireballs! You need to concentrate the fire so it doesn't spread in a ball but more like a beam and keep putting in more fire!

Like this? That is… what is that?

I don't know I did what you told me! I told you to make a fire beam how did you end up making a big puff of smoke.

Are you sure you’re not teaching me how to make a puff of smoke? Right… I’ll just show you.

Nooo, I got this! I saw Raishin try more attempts but he just kept making [Fireballs] and [Flamethrowers].

Ugh. I pushed Raishin aside and put him in a frost barrier and I demonstrated the [Fire beam] and continued to fire it uninterrupted for 5 seconds by writing my name on the rock wall. I lifted the frost barrier and looked at Raishin.

Oooh, so it's a fire beam! Isn't that what I said?

I don't know. Raishin did 3 attempts before managing to fire a sloppy [Fire beam] Yup that's it, now you just need practice.

Haha after seeing it it's way easier to learn! I looked at him.

Ugh fine, yeah sorry maybe I should've let you show me the demonstration. Thought as much! I removed my name from the rock wall by melting the rock wall and started to circulate nature energy to combat nausea. Raishin teleported himself away for several hundreds of meters to not get fried and practiced some more [Fire beams].

I have another one, it isn't flashy but it is really useful, you just heat up quickly which makes the air around you expand rapidly and like this, you could push away anything close to you while also doing some damage. Raishin followed my instruction and nailed it on the first try. Ohh this is easy, and please never use this skill when we’re near.

Don't worry I won't until I get better control over the heat of my flames. Raishin practiced his new skills for a bit longer and we headed back toward the town.

Say, why do you use so many different fighting techniques? Isn't it better to focus on some and perfect them? Hmm, I've thought but it but decided against it.

Why is that? So, you have the damage dealer role, Ted is the tank and Gregory is also a tank but could be more seen as defensive support. Normally that would leave a healer and a midrange fighter left. I'm not a healer but in theory, I should be able to do that with water magic. I decided to take another route.

Having a healer could be nice though! That is true but how I see it. A healer fixes mistakes and damage that has been taken by the party. What I'm doing is making sure that those mistakes don't get made and prevent us from taking damage by locking the enemies down. If I do this properly, we don't need a healer.

Hmm, I guess that makes sense, ironically the one who has taken the most damage in this escape plan is you. Hehe, yeah, I need to work on that.

So, is that why you need a wide range of skills? Hmm, yeah, you don't know what kind of enemies we will fight, in this case having a healer is easier but if these guardians can one-shot us, no healer will help us there. Also, imagine if we would fight those spirit sisters again. Who do you think they would focus on first?

Hmm, I think you or Gregory, probably you because you were a huge thorn in their side. Probably yeah, in case we get rematches I would probably be their main target because they can't fight comfortably when I'm messing with them, and having flexibility would be nice there. They might find something to counter my speed so I could shift to using ice and frost magic, they might prepare to counter my ice and frost magic and I will use sword fighting, etc. Fighting against groups with a more normal composition you would take out the healer first, in our case you could make the same argument for me.

Hmm yeah, fighting Nayani was a huge pain when you were gone, nobody could make sure she didn't go ham on our asses haha. Alright if I get a cool idea you can use, I will let you know! I went home and did some blacksmithing to pass some time. I was planning to use daggers and wires today and I was hoping the guardian would let me. I inspected the wires I had in my dimensional pocket. I still had a lot and they looked like they were in a freshly made state. I had wires of 3 different thicknesses. 1 was really thin and hard to see. This wasn't made out of metal so it wasn't as sturdy as the other 2. It was meant to just cut things without enemies noticing the wire is there. The other 2 are as a diversion, to trap enemies, or to bind them, these were made from metal and shouldn't break. They won't break, right? There is also the issue of my buddies running into them. I should probably share my vision with them so that they don't get entangled. Hmm, maybe this is more something I should use in solo fights. If I do things well, I should be able to control the enemy so I can make areas that don't have wires and trap my opponent in them while my buddies fight in the area that doesn't have any. The daggers, however. Is something I can always use.

The wires can be used to enhance my dagger tricks or the daggers could make my wire tricks more dangerous. I won't have to use my speed if I keep throwing daggers and use [Turning leaf]. Now there is one problem. In the Corundum dungeon, I couldn't lodge my daggers into anything or hit anything because everything was so hard. I took some rocks and a moderately sized sapphire out of my dimensional pocket and put them down. I took some distance and started throwing daggers at them. I tried to throw them as hard as I could without losing accuracy. They managed to poke holes in the softest rocks but didn't get lodged into them. I was decently strong because of my profession but it wasn't enough to make daggers get stuck in rocks. I then remembered how sword fighting became way easier if I matched my magic wavelength with that of the sword. I looked at my daggers and got a little bit depressed. I remembered that while I was looking for the correct wavelength sudden impurities appeared which only appear at certain wavelengths. These daggers would remind me again how shit I actually am at blacksmithing. Here I thought I was pretty decent. I looked for the correct wavelengths for the daggers and ignored the impurities. I had 7 daggers and they all had different wavelengths. Hmm, this is a royal pain. I guess I should make daggers that have the same wavelength or make specialized ones of which I can remember the wavelength off. I threw the daggers and they went through the 2 softest rocks and got stuck in the 2 harder ones

The 4 hardest rocks had a small hole poked in or not a scratch. The sapphire still reigned supreme by not having a scratch on it. I might actually need a sapphire dagger to punch through that. Who knows. Does the magic wavelength of the rock also matter when I throw daggers? This is going to be quite complicated if this is the case. I will then need weapons with different wavelengths to deal effectively with different materials. Is this the part where I'm going to run around with a million different daggers and 100 different swords? I think not! There must be a way! I throw 2 daggers at the harder type of rock that had some holes poked in them and they didn't do anything. I went through my dimensional pocket to look for a dagger that came the closest to the rock’s wavelength. I threw that dagger and what do you know! It got stuck in the rock! I was happy and annoyed at the same time.

Who decided on this convoluted system! Ok, I need to calm down. So, this means, in theory, I could lodge a dagger in that sapphire if I do it right, the downside is I need to look through all my daggers. Note to self: make swords and daggers that can change their wavelength or split up into copies with different ones. I had no clue how to do any of that though. My blacksmithing self-esteem dropped even more.

Why am I so shit…I decided to ask Philip about this later on. I lost interest in most of the rocks, so I turned my attention to the sapphire and the second hardest rock I had. I didn't have any daggers that came close to the wavelength of the sapphire. Well, that sucks. I threw a dagger at the second hardest rock with the closest wavelength. It punched a small hole in the rock but bounced off it. Oof, I busted this dagger. Hmm is there a certain point where the wavelength stops mattering and I just need to throw the dagger harder? I made a revised [Steam cannon] out of ice and frost magic. It was small so the dagger could be shot at the rock. I made a frost cylinder with the inside made of ice. I put some ice cubes in the bottom of the barrel and made snow with the dagger packed in it as the cannonball. I used [Turning leaf] to swap the ice cubes with frost marbles charged with fire magic. They caused a steam explosion when it came in contact with the ice inside the cannon and shot the dagger at the rock. The dagger flew straight through the rock.

Wow, this thing packs a punch! I patted the new steam cannon. I will call it [Steam Cannon v2.0] It was faster and easier to set up than the one I used against Rock. So, the only one left is the sapphire. I feel like whatever dagger I shoot at it will shatter on it. Hmm, what if I coat it with lightning magic, it's the element with a lot of power but also high penetration power. We were supposed to head towards the guardian in about an hour. If I went full-speed cheat mode I could make some daggers that matched the sapphire. I used several illusion layers to prevent anything from entering. I got my tails out and some clones and started to make some daggers that would suit the sapphire. I had no idea how. Maybe make it pure in the wavelength that fits the sapphire and leave others impure? What if I made a dagger that was pure in a wide range? I made 3 daggers with the wavelength of the sapphire pure and did my best to make as many wavelengths as possible pure in 4 others. I gotta say even in my full-speed cheat mode getting the impurities out at a large range was time-consuming. I had to use all my tails to make sure that when I smacked the impurities present in one wavelength the other already purified wavelengths didn't get any impurities. I will need more time in the future to investigate this better.

I had 3 daggers where I kind of did a shitty and half-assed job, but the 4th and last one was way better, also because I kind of figured out how to approach this. It wasn't perfect but good enough. I panted heavily as I undid my cheat mode. I used some extra cheats today because 1 hour wasn't enough so I used some time magic to stretch it out. This is not good we’re going to fight a guardian soon and I'm already exhausted. I threw the daggers at the sapphire, and they bounced off. I picked them up and imbued them with lightning magic and threw them again. They made a different sound while bouncing off the sapphire. Is this a good sign? I still didn't see any scratches. It is time for [Steam cannon v2.0]! Hmm, how am I going to keep them imbued with lightning if I shoot them off? I made a frost cannonball and shot it off at the sapphire and used [Turning leaf] to switch it with the dagger that I imbued with lightning magic. No sound.

Oooh! It wasn't much but the dagger was stuck in the sapphire at the tip. It wasn't deep but enough to stay in it.

Muwawawawa! I'm not so shit after all! Shit, I'm exhausted. I sat down and looked at the other two daggers I had. They weren't as close to the sapphire’s wavelength as I wanted but they were close. I shot these off and they also lodged in the sapphire. One got stuck but then fell out.

Hmm, now how about this kind of perfect one? Hmm, I couldn't really pinpoint what its wavelength was. Did I discover how to make it compatible with different wavelengths? This dagger was easier for me to attune to. I could also make it match the wavelengths that I had purified, There were some odd ones I missed or couldn't purify and those were hard to impossible to get the wavelength to match. So, I just have to hit out all the impurities on every wavelength. That sounds like a royal pain. It beats making a gazillion daggers though. Since the exact wavelength of the sapphire was possible with this dagger, I first threw it normally at the sapphire. It lodged in the sapphire. Oho interesting. I imbued it with lightning magic and threw it at the sapphire. The blade went all the way in. I tried to take the dagger out.

Shit, it's stuck! I tried to pull it out with all my might but it wouldn't budge.

Nooo, my overpowered dagger! Sup, what are you up to? Are you ready to go? Ted and Gregory came in.

Why do you look so exhausted right before a big battle? Uhh, it's just the light! Yeah, the light here just makes me look exhausted! You did something unnecessary again didn't you?

Hey Ted, help me out can you pull this dagger out? I need it for our fight! It isn't Excalibur so it is just a power issue. Why is there a dagger stuck in a sapphire? What were you doing? Ted put his strength into pulling the dagger out. It might be my imagination and it looked like it moved but, in the end, he couldn't get it out.

I'll just smash it with earth magic! Noo don't! You will destroy the dagger! It took me 26 hours to make that! I knew it! you used time magic to make something pointless! I pointed at the sapphire.

Hey, how many things do you know that can cut sapphire? He has a point how did you do this?

Hehe with some cutting-edge Hourai technology! Right so what did you actually do?

Ugh, I made the dagger match the wavelength of the sapphire and ran lightning magic through the dagger to get it to cut the sapphire. But I can't get it out now, by the way, this dagger can take on multiple wavelengths. Hmm very interesting, it sounds like something that should be able to cut anything tough that it has the wavelength for. As I can feel the dagger is as if it’s one with the sapphire how about you try to change its wavelength? You might get it out like that.

Hey, do you think maybe that's how you get Excalibur out of the stone? I have no clue. I grabbed the dagger and changed its wavelength. The moment I did that uncountable minuscule cracks spread through the sapphire and the sapphire shattered as if it got vaporized.

Why am I not surprised, you can vaporize mountains so why wouldn't you be able to vaporize sapphires? Well, that is an interesting interaction. It felt like what you did caused the sapphire to get destroyed from the inside. Hmm, I saw countless minuscule fractures spread out before it shattered. I'm looking for any traces of sapphire or Aluminum oxide but I can't find anything.

Wait... are you saying it disintegrated on a molecular level? Seems so. I took a piece of meat out of my dimensional pocket and tried to match it to the meat.

Hmm seems meat has multiple wavelengths; I don't think I can do this with meat. I stuck the dagger into the meat with what I assumed came the closest to the average wavelength and then changed the wavelength of the dagger. Nothing happened.

I guess I won't be disintegrating living beings. Hmm, maybe it only works on crystals or objects that mainly compromise on the same structure. Ted put down one of his metal knuckles. You sure? I don't have any spare for you.

It is fine, I don't use them that often, I prefer using my fists more, and my training with Brock made me better at dealing with tough opponents exterior-wise. If this makes you less useless against opponents like Boulder then this is a small price to pay. Hmm, these knuckles are alloys though. It also has multiple wavelengths. When attuning to it getting to the average wavelength or just matching one of the several wavelengths works but I guess for disintegrating it, that would not work. Hmm, what if you just try to match one of its wavelengths? I stabbed the dagger in the stainless-steel knuckles. I matched the wavelength with Iron and changed it. Various cracks formed and the knuckles broke into pieces.

Guess that is enough to be useful. Haha, this is crazy if you ever become an assassin or something you could stab and destroy anything. Glad I'm on your side.

Ugh, my hard work paid off! I slumped and rested a bit while circulating nature magic to speed up my recovery. Let's give him another half hour to rest. Hmm I guess the only downside is that you need to pull the dagger out physically to make things break.

I could get away with that by attaching wires with the same property as the dagger, but I don't have any of those wires, I don't want to think of how long it's going to take to make those. Blacksmith at day, an assassin at night. Raishin came about 10 minutes later and after my 30 minutes of resting were over, we headed towards Boshi lake while Ted explained to Raishin what happened. I also got fed some energy by Raishin and Gregory teaming up.

Do you want to try the shadow meld Agnis? I leave this one up to you, I still have to learn how to move through the shadows.

Sure. Let's go.