Chapter 3: Magical Design

Idel woke up with a start, his eyes snapping open. He lay, face up, on a hot, uncomfortable surface. The surrounding air was cold and dry, blowing against the cool beads of sweat on his skin. He attempted to move his body, only to be met by dull, throbbing pain. 

 

“‘Stay still, my dear”, a kind voice rang from somewhere out of Idel’s field of view, “Not that you have a choice, I’ve administered paralytic magic on you.”

 

Idel relaxed his muscles, recognizing Head Nurse Martha’s voice. “Just gotta do the final touches with your healing”, Martha continued, beginning to whisper under his breath as he placed one hand on Idel’s chest and the other on his stomach, pressing hard. Idel fought the urge to vomit as he felt his organs and body fluids shifted within him, going back to their rightful places and states. 

 

After a minute or so of intense pain, Martha let him go. “Okay dear, you can get up”, he said, narrowing his eyes, “Just do it slowly”. Idel, realizing how bad of an idea it would be to go against this man’s words, followed them, getting up as slowly as his pelvic muscles would allow. 

 

Suddenly, he felt a mass of something force its way up his throat. He moved his hands to his mouth, attempting to stop himself from vomiting, however he failed, letting out a torrent of blood, viscera, and innards down onto his clothes. 

 

“Not slow enough, dear”, Martha jubilantly stated, his cheerful voice deeply in contrast with the gory scene in front of him, Idel fought back a gag, and very slowly stood up, wiping off bits of god-knows-what from himself.

 

He began to stretch, before abruptly opening his eyes, realizing something, then swivelling his head around wildly. “W-where’s m-my s-word”, he questioned, embarrassing memories of the fight appearing in his head.

 

 “Well, by the looks of things, the other kids took it as souvenirs.”, Martha curtly  answered

 

What Martha said seemed to be true, as the vast majority of his rapier was nowhere to be seen, with only the tip of the blade, and a few other fragments left. 

Idel felt a pit form in his stomach as he imagined trying to justify the loss of the blade to himself, his family, and his mentor. He had just lost something incredibly important to him emotionally, being the one thing except his now ruined uniform that he had any significant connection with. It took all his might to simply not cry

 

Idel slowly got up, dusting off his pants. He gave Martha a courteous thanks, and walked up to what remained of his rapier, gingerly placing the tip of his blade into his pocket. His hands trembled as he did so, and the mental dam inside his head breaking, letting a torrent of tears out of his eyes. Quickly realizing Martha was still there, looking at Idel with a judgemental look, he quickly jogged out of the Colosseum, wiping his tears as he did so.

 

 He visualized his timetable in his head, remembering that he was supposed to be in his “Magical Tech”class right now. He hastened his pace, racing through completely empty corridors.“Better not make a habit of getting late”, he thought, “Especially if I want to have a chance to pass. With my aptitude and all.” 

 

He came across a little intricately carved wooden door that had his lesson’s name on it. Panting from exhaustion, he gently pulled the door to the classroom open.

 

Inside was a gigantic monstrosity of a room. Mammoth forgeries, great pumps and humongous machines littered every corner of the room, creating a giant spider’s web of wires, connections, and pipes. Students of all ages worked the machines, hammering down on swords, perfecting the size and shape of staffs, and applying enchantments to almost-completed weapons. 

 

“Maybe I can get my sword repaired here”, Idel thought, “If I can get its pieces back from my classmates, that is”, as he shyly walked through the room, looking for his teacher.

 

“What do you think you are doing here?”, a voice behind Idel suddenly barked, “The Forgery is only accessible to students when they are explicitly accompanied by a teacher.”

 

Idel turned around, looking like a distressed animal. He saw a woman, with a tall,  muscular and well built body look at him with rage and distrust in her eyes. “O-Oh y-yes, I w-w-as j-ust l-looking f-f-for m-m-y c-class”, he blurted out, trying not to look like an absolute bafoon. “I-I w-was l-l-late b-b-because I was b-being he-healed”

 

“That was obvious enough, well then where are ya’ meaning to go?”, she said, her tone sharp and gruff. 

 

“I a-am a f-f-irst y-year”

 

“Oh, well yer’ with me then. Follow along.”

 

Idel meekly trailed behind the lady as she strutted up to a group of children dwarfed by the others. He lightly jogged forward, joining the crowd. As he did so, whispers and murmurs began rapidly arising from them. 

 

“Quiet”, the woman loudly said, a staff appearing out of her hands and striking the ground with a deafening thud, instantly silencing the bunch, “I am Devi, your Magic Design teacher. ”

 

She began pacing in front of the group, “I must warn ye’, I am extremely strict. Tardiness,”, she struck Idel with a raised eyebrow,“and other type of misbehaviour will not be tolerated. No point introducing ye’self, I’ll only remember ye’ if ye’ deserve it, so let's get down to business shall we?”

 

She clasped both hands together, before continuing, “Now there are many concepts on Magical Design that ‘ye wil grasp o’er the years, ‘owever today, we’ll just get you prepared. So…”, she clapped, “today ‘ye will learn how to forge your Soul Weapon, which is a weapon ‘structed out of Orichalcum, each one is so sharp, it can cut magical constructs. They are ‘ersonalized to ye’ and also ‘ave special abilities, ones that are uniquely suited for ye’ future. ‘Ye’l will carry your weapon for the rest of ‘ye’s lives ” 

 

A palpable feeling of unease and excitement filled the air. The woman motioned to a gigantic block of a lightly glowing metal. It was long and flat, part of it being underground with a small railing around it

 

“That there is ‘yer orichalcum”, she said, “‘Yer weapon’s size will be decided by how much ‘ye can control. Those too slow or to weak will get tiny weapons. ‘Ye know, all survival of the fittest and the like. So go now, get yer arms”

 

A silence pervaded the area, the older students stopping what they were doing to watch the show. Everyone in Idels group, including him, abruptly spun around at once and bolted to the block, in a manner not dissimilar to a pack of piranhas rushing towards a piece of meat.

 

 Those who were quick and agile reached the block first, thrusting their hands towards it. Idel could sense the magic emanating from their fingertips, entering the metal, causing it’s surface to ripple gently.

 

 The child who reached first thrust a gigantic heap of energy into the metal, causing a blob of metal to lightly exit the metal, floating and undulating in front of him. Slowly, it began to take a long and thin shape, becoming a light, tall sword. 

 

Claps and shouts emanate from the older students as the other looked on with nostalgia in there eyes. Slowly, as more and more of the crowd reached the cube and began to put energy into the metal, more and more blobs exited it, becoming everything from daggers, to longswords, to great swords, to lances, to maces, to bows. Each time the older students would cause a ruckus.

 

You are reading story Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] at novel35.com

Gradually, everyone else caught up to the group of fast students, pulling the unlucky ones who had not fully constructed their weapons back, causing their weapons to unceremoniously drop back into the metal pool, melting back into it’s surface. 

 

At this point those with more physical strength were able to push themselves to the front, including, as Idel noted, the kind kid, who now sported an array of bandages.

 

“Must not have inflicted enouogh damage”, Idel thought with academical detachment

 Idel, being neither particularly fast nor particularly strong was pushed to the back of the crowd, unable to penetrate it. The ones on the front all pushed relatively ridiculous amounts of magical energy into the metal, creating gigantic weapons in the process.

 

Slowly, as everyone got a chance, the crowd widdled down, taking, much to Idel’s distaste,  the metal supply with it. Those with fully formed weapons stood to a side and tested them out, as more and more people shoved forward. Idel tried everything to get to the front, sneaking through, squeezing through, crawling through, yet everything failed each time. Sometimes he was grabbed by the collar and pushed back, other times he was kicked in the face hard enough from him to need to take a breather away from the crowd, and other times, the crowd squeezed in on him forcing him back. Idel noticed that a few other kids were struggling as much as him. He marked them as people who he could moan about this with later.

 

Eventually the crowd subsided, leaving only him and a few others to make weapons from what little remained. Only a few puddles of the metal remained, leading to weapons of smaller size, and, as Idel suspected, of lower quality. Idel began to work what little magic he had, slowly pushing it out from his core into his head and extremities.

 Though there was very little of it, it still energized Idel, giving him a sense of euphoria. He closed his eyes, turning on analytics while simultaneously thrusting magical energy into them.

 

 “Mage Vision”, he thought, “one of the few spells I'm good at.” Slowly opening his eyes, which hummed from the energy just behind their surface, Idel looked at the metal. 

 

Tiny transparent strings of energy, just thick enough to be visible exuded from each and every surface, bunching together as they reached his eyes. He mentally traced the rays coming off of the pool of metal below him. He pushed his hands forward, letting magical energy radiate off of them. Slowly clasping his hands around the rays, he felt the magical energy drain from him as the metal string sucked it all up. Slowly, small gobules of the liquid left the puddle, pooling in the shape of an ingot in front of him, however, a small amount still remained on the floor.  “Shoot. I don't have enough reserves to conduct energy through the whole puddle. And I can't form a proper weapon without all of it!”, he thought in a panicked manner, desperately looking around for a solution.

 

Everyone else was having a significantly easier time, Idel tried to copy their technique but failed. Suddenly, from the depth of Hades, Idel’s mind dredged up an idea. Still holding one of his hands he reached into one of his pockets, taking out the fragmented tip of his sword. 

 

He slowly pushed the tip forward, into the coagulating drought of water levitating in front of him, and, gently, he pushed it in. “With the tip of my sword as it’s base, the metal will have an easier time forming a weapon as it both has increased volume, letting more magic attach itself , as well as a sturdy underlining to crystallize upon. ”, he thought, as he knitted the strings leading out of the metal around the tip, creating a tightly meshed net. The compound then shone brightly, blinding Idel in the process, until it slowly stopped emanating. In his hand appeared a dagger. It was constructed with a black hilt, intricately carved, with the words “Hrunting” emblazened on it in brilliant runes. 

 

Idel marvelled at the weapon, feeling a deep connection with it, as if it was an extension of his body. Though it should have been cold in his hand, he could feel a heat radiating off of it in the places where he touched it. There was no doubt in his mind that this was his, a kinship as strong as that with a family member quickly forming in his mind. 

 

“Listen up runts”, Ms. Devi gruffly said, interrupting Idel’s train of thought, “Before ‘ye start experimentin’ with ‘yer weapon, ‘ye should listen to what I have to say.”

 

In an significantly more academic tone, she went on, “If ‘ye stop channeling magic energy through ‘yer weapons, they will eventually ‘urn back in’o liquid. Put ‘em in’o those there containers when that begins to happen, they’ll catch the falling liquid. Otherwise, I suggest you look into your mind’s eye and attempt to figure out the special power of ‘yer weapons. The rest of your lesson is for that purpose exactly.”

 

She then promptly turned around and walked over to one of the older students, leaving Idel’s class to fend for themselves. Most began swinging their weapons around, while others made books, scrolls and other methods through which one could channel one’s mind’s eye, flipping intently through them. Idel started in wonder as suddenly, weapons began to burswt into flames or began glowing gently with blue light. His eyes widened as he realized that those were the results of people succeeding in experimenting with their weapons and began to do so himself. 

 

No matter how much he tried, how much magic he wove into his weapon, he failed, unable to get anything to happen. After about half an hour, he failed. Realizing how strange him slashing at the air alone looked, when compared to others, who were doing it in groups, he recognized that it would be in his best interest to try to spend time socializing with others. 

 

He observed that everyone had split themselves back into the three main groups.After a second of deliberation, Idel decided to try and introduce with the last one. He walked up in what he hoped was a natural stride and spoke up. “Ummm He-lll-lo”, he stuttured, desperately fighting back the need to flee, “I a-am Id-del Ti-Tidus”

He was greeted with bewildered glances, suspicious stares and hostile glares. They all eyed each other in complete silence. 

 

“Oh God”, he thought,”What did I do this time”. His face flushed a scarlet red as his brain went through all of the possible permutations of the encounter, trying to find some reason for why he was being given the stone wall, but finding none. All he’d said were four, unassuming words, after all. 

 

“Uhhh”, finally, after what seemed like ages, one of them spoke up, “Hello Tidus”, he said, gingerly outstretching a hand, “Pleasure to metcha”

 

Idel took it far too enthusiastically, his eyes widening as he did so, as the absurdity of what they were seeing dawned on him. A boy with a white shirt dyed red by blood had walked up to them and introduced himself in a inane way. He cringed internally, as he realised friendship with these people would likely not be possible. 

 

“A-and you a-all a-are?”, Idel spluttered, hoping to catch their names at the very least.

 

“Onas here”, a boy with a gaunt face and thin body said, “I‘m from Asberg”

At this, Idel winced as his Analytics went into action, dissecting the boy with his hands. Asberg was an agricultural society that was in a drought for the last year or so, causing great famine, he had no doubt been starved for at least a year, and then sent here on some kind of scholarship so that he could escape hunger. He felt great sympathy for the boy, and decided to help the boy in any way he could in the future.

 

“Aelerd”, the boy who had greeted Idel confidently said, shaking his hand. Aelred was a scrawny bespectacled boy dressed a cut above his compatriots and even Idel, and had a suave charm to him. “Fourth son of the house of Blenard” Idel internally raised an eyebrow, his Analytics helped him notice the little posture cues and the airs that he put on, validating his claim.

 

Before Idel could respond to their introductions, Ornas quickly interjected, saying,”By the way, were you the guy who got seriously beaten up last class?”

 

Idel internally gulped and nodded.

 

Ornas pressed forward, saying, “And have you, per chance, have you unlocked your weapon’s ability yet?”

 

Idel slowly shook his head.

 

A wild hunger and opportunism lit in Ornas’ eyes, and he quickly yelled out,“THE TIDUS KID LOST LAST CLASS AND STILL HASN’T MANIFESTED HIS ABILITY YET!”

 

All heads immediately turned to the group, with Idel and Aelerd being mortified, while Ornas having a sorrowful look on his face. Immediately, laughter erupted from the other tw

You can find story with these keywords: Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic], Read Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic], Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] novel, Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] book, Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] story, Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] full, Science and Sorcery [A LitRPG with physics, chemistry and magic] Latest Chapter