Technomancer: Genesis - 103 Caspian's Growth

Caspian made a groaning sound. It was like he was hit with a hammer. Luckily, he had put on Ezra’s armour underneath his shirt, Ezra called it a “Bulletproof Prototype” there were multiple layers inside the vest. The layers consisted of an aluminium chainmail, spider silk and topped off with a ceramic plate, which Ezra said was “experimental.”

Caspian was grateful that the flying dagger from the spell did not even puncture the spider silk lining however it broke the ceramic plate.

“What he’s alive?” asked the first brother.

“Hmm, that is weird but, the poison will get him. But let’s finish him off just in case he is a little luckier.”

As they moved closer to Caspian, he stood up.

“Ugh, it’s like I was hit by a truck,” he had adopted some mannerisms of Ezra. All of Ezra’s retinue had incorporated this saying. They didn’t know what it exactly meant. When they asked him what it meant, he told them it didn’t exist yet but they would know what a truck is when he made one.

This became an inside joke among them and anyone getting hit with something heavy or having a hangover from their group would then say “It’s like I was hit by a truck.”

“What? He can even stand up?” commented the second brother.

“This guy is one tough bastard,” commented the first.

Caspian took a stance he was now prepared to go on the offensive.

. . .

When Caspian was 10 he already stopped receiving instruction from Maester Grimfire, the only times he went to the training grounds were when he had combat training. Most of the things he was taught now were from Ezra. Ezra’s guards took him seriously, even Evered and Rycharde took notes about what Ezra talked about. He often told them that they were a pioneering batch for teaching. With notebooks in tow, they could easily remember the concepts Ezra taught.

“Caspian, you can only use [Water Ball]?” Ezra asked, “or do you know other spells?”

Caspian was good with hand to hand spars and weapons combat; however, he still lacked a fundamental grasp of magic. He was taught to transition to earth magic and at least learn the offensive spell [Stone Bullet] but he had a hard time, which was understandable. Most of the squires who were taught different spells from their nature found it difficult and they could manage to use [Stone Bullet] around their mid-teens already.

Caspian had come to like training however he didn’t like the instruction in magic he was undergoing since he couldn’t use any spells taught. Of all the lectures he had, he liked what Ezra taught the most it was like an insight to the mind of the Great Omnipotence.

“Ugh, I am sorry Lord Ezra, but I can only use [Water Ball]. I can’t use it in combat at all. I just wet my opponents and maybe even make them slip in the best case.”

“I can ask mother to teach you some spells, water spells are more suited to your constitution are they not?”

“Actually, I have been receiving instruction from Lady Blackfyre. However, her spells require more Magic capacity. I tried one of them, I did execute them however I fainted on the spot.”

“Oh, Interesting. I was going to make a magical research department, you’ll all be my guinea pigs.” Ezra smiled mischievously.

“What is a guinea pig?”

“It’s a rat-like creature.”

“You are going to turn us into rat creatures?” Caspian had a fearful gaze, he had seen the knowledge of Ezra and he didn’t know if he could actually make them into such beasts.

“No, no, no, it’s just a figure of speech. It means you are going to help me conduct tests and experiments on magic.”

“Whew,” Caspian sighed.

“Okay try to condense your magic,” Ezra commanded.

Caspian did as he was told. He looked at the facial expressions of Ezra as he did so. Ezra unleashed his aura which was shudderingly vast. It was like being overwhelmed by a mountain. Most of them forgot sometimes how tremendously terrifying Ezra was when it came to magic aura. Purity, capacity and brilliance, Ezra’s aura truly could rival the Primarchs and he was just 5 years old.

Ezra was just nodding. “Mhmm, Mhm.” He was also taking down notes

“Okay now try to cast a spell,”

Caspian started chanting.

“Okay, mhm. Interesting, same as with mother.” Ezra said out loud.

Caspian cast the [Water Ball].

“So, Lord Ezra did you get that”

“Yep, I still don’t understand a thing though, haha,” Ezra laughed.

Caspian made an awkward face.

“Any way could you run me through your feelings and thoughts when you are chanting?”

“Yes, in this part I feel like a fresh breeze is cooling my body,”

Ezra took note of each step.

After Ezra took note of all the points, he opened his mouth again.

“I actually have an idea how we can make your [Water Ball] into an offensive spell.”

“Oh? How so Lord Ezra?” Caspian was elated at the news. He wanted to be able to be more of use in battle.

“Yes, but we have to decompose everything first from the condensation stage to the activation stage. We are going to figure this out together.”

“Remember when we did an experiment with the components of [Water Ball]? We found out that the water in it is just mostly pure H2O. We distilled it and got mostly water without any impurities or trace minerals”

Caspian nodded

“Water spells can create water, however, that is not their only attribute. They can also change the temperature of water itself. Remember mother could create ice-spears?”

Caspian nodded again.

“Well we’re going to do something like that. My hypothesis is that the amount of magic consumption is proportional to the matter and energy invoked.”

When he heard this, Caspian scrunched his brows he didn’t quite understand what Ezra was getting at.

“How big can you make the water ball again?”

“Around 1.8 meters in diameter my lord”

“That’s huge, if we had you guys in Africa there wouldn’t be much of a drought there,”

“What?”

“Never mind”

. . .

“Looks like he is going to fight,” said the first brother.

“Yeah, yeah, well he can’t get away. So, I’d rather die valiantly if I were in his position. I’d do the same thing.”

They started their advance.

Caspian chanted.

“Remember, you shouldn’t necessarily follow the flow of emotions as you visualize the chant,” Ezra’s voice resounded in his head.

When the first brother neared the 3-meter mark he let loose a fist size lump of water but it hurled at the assailants in great speed.

“Haha, such a tiny [Water Ball], this kid wants to wet us a little, so fun- ARGH MY EYE.”

The attack hit his right eye. Caspian made the [Water Ball] boiling hot. He immediately backed away reflexively but Caspian didn’t’ let up with his drawn sword he hacked at the injured man. His face began to display marks of third-degree burns.

“Remember Caspian, energy isn’t just heat. Kinetic energy is also energy, well they are the same thing though when you look at it in a molecular level, anyway, that is besides the point when something moves that is also energy, what you can create in mass when using magic, you can trade for energy. Remember you can use this in battle.”

Caspian sliced off the right leg of the fleeing enemy.

“NOO! BROTHER! YOU BASTARD! I’LL KILL YOU!”

The uninjured brother attacked Caspian but he dodged with perfect timing. He lifted his palm and struck toward the neck of the aggressor. Out of the palm, a torrent of water half a centimetre torrent gushed out, the pressure was tremendous it was like a blade. It hit the carotid artery of the attacker the force was so great that it punctured a hole into the assassin’s throat. Blood and water gurgled into his mouth and the masked assassin could not get away he tried to grab his throat but he already lost consciousness and dropped dead.

“No,” gasped the other brother who had now blisters all over his right face. He was on all fours.

Caspian took his sword and beheaded the assassin.

He panted. He was drawing huge deep breaths, it was the first time he had actually killed a man but he hadn’t contemplated on it too much yet.

‘Whew, those new spells that Lord Ezra helped me make were very useful. [Water Blade] and [Scalding Blast] increased my battle potential. But these two spells were too taxing on my magic, That tiny ball of water and torrent of water drained me a lot. I need to refine them further. I hope Lord Ezra will give me some pointers.’

He had consumed more than half of his magic already.

A voice suddenly shouted.

“What in the? DEAD? YOU! YOU killed my brothers?” It was a big man he looked battle worn. He was wearing plate armour.

“I MADE SURE THAT NO ONE WOULD INTERFERE IN THIS, AND YOU BLOODY WEAKLINGS DIE ON ME? AND YOU WERE KILLED BY A KID? YOU KNIGHT RANKED BASTARDS GOT BESTED BY A KID,” He was mostly talking to himself.

‘So, this was the guy drawing the attention, no wonder there wasn’t a person in sight’

“I AM GOING TO KILL YOU… SLOWLY. I AM GOING TO TORMENT YOU, YOU LITTLE SHIT.”

He started casting.

‘Woah, viscount ranked, I can’t take him on even in my best shape. What are my options? I can’t run, I can’t fight. Looks like I’ll have to use that,’ Caspian gasped for breath as he recalled a scene.

“Remember, NEVER use this in regular battles, I cannot mass produce them yet. These are specially made and only seven of these exist. Make sure no one sees you when using this and make sure everyone is at least knocked out, if anyone sees you . . . you do not know what you will unleash on Bren,” Ezra said grimly. “We do not yet have a force that can defend this war potential. Right now we used a tonne of resources on just creating one. All in all each of those costs at least 2000 gold pieces. Use it only in dire situations, Okay?”

“Yes, milord”, all of Ezra’s retinue wore a grim look they had been given the amount of a moderately sized chateau in the palm of their hand, but also a grim reminder that they could unleash forces that could lead to the destruction of Bren.

The man in plate armour dashed forward as he shift-cast toward Caspian’s location.

There was a click. As he pulled on the surface of the contraption.

The man was within two meters about to strike.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

It was as if thunder had struck in the area.

The brute didn’t even make a sound and just fell to the ground with his head half open and blood spatters on the ground.

Caspian slumped as he held the weapon in his hands, put it into safety and hid it in his shirt again.