V.Vizard! 16

" I'd be heading down to the TATA today for a rather important session. I won't be able to make it to that shopping date I promised today, so how about tomorrow? Is Sunday fine with you, Homei? - Vance "

" Okay. - Homei "

I'm glad she's so understanding. I'm also grateful for the invention of the cellphone, but let's not go that far. If I keep going down the list, I'm going to have to thank many, many things for two hours straight.

*** ***

"What's up, Vance. You made it."

Dekon's wearing that bright Hawaiian shirt again with those blue Bermudas. He sure isn't kidding when he said he has a set of clothes for every day of the week... What does he even work as?

"Hello, Dekon. I'm looking forward to today's fleshsmithing training."

"Ahh, yeah. I don't think you'd have the affinity for it, since it's a rather rare type of magic, but it can't hurt to learn a bit, can it?"

Definitely!

"Yeah."

"Okay then, first I would need to check something."

He places his entire left hand on my stomach.

... ? What's he doing? He's just closing his eyes and staying silent...? ... I feel something moving around in me, but maybe it's just a lingering feeling from yesterday or something. Like... My insides are being twisted like there's a whirlpool in the center of my stomach.

"The way I see it, your body can handle... Around 18 kiloUrtils."

Kilo-what?

"What? Urtils?"

"Yeah. Urtils. Just as how energy has a unit in Joules, just as how force has its units in Newtons, magical impact force is measured in Urtils. The term was coined by Johann Urtil. Well, only the 'geeks' use them around here, but it's nice to know things like these should it come down to an equation battle."

What the what?

"Okay... So, what?"

"Well, the maximum I can output with my fists, if I just concentrate really hard, is around 102 kiloUrtils. That's enough to shatter matter with a net force of around 2,000 Newtons. Additionally, people usually have a natural magic resistance of around 16 kiloUrtils, so yours is unusually high. People like that come around once in a while, so don't worry."

"Your point being... ?"

"I'm going to train your body to use magic defensively and to heal yourself."

I'm not sure about the 'defensive' part, but healing myself's always great.

"Also, I'd be giving you an advanced technique, for you to master on your own time. Just like what most mentors would do."

Hooray. An advanced technique. Why do I feel so demotivated though?

I mean, sure, I can't even make Ice Pelter properly, but that's an elemental technique I have no affinity for. Maybe... Just maybe, i really have an affinity for this!

"Stand straight, and imagine this - You, are a piece of rubber."

I... am a piece of rubber.

"Good. I like that focus. Now, you, are but a plain piece of rubber. All unnatural forces coming towards you... Will be rebound."

All unnatural forces coming towards me will be rebound...

"Like this one!"

Gfbgh!?!

He punched me!!! Dekon punched me in the gut!!

"Oh my lord! You punched me!"

"Good work, Dekon. You're rather good at this."

... Really?! How is that good!? I just got punched!

"I set that attack to be around 20 kiloUrtils. Do you feel any pain from that?"

"Quite a bit."

"Perfect. You have a really high tolerance, you know?"

? I don't get this entire magic resistance thing.

"People with a naturally high magic resistance can negate weak magic attacks. Just for an instant, when I punched you, I felt your magic resistance increase just enough to take the hit well. Of course, since fleshsmithing attacks are both magical and physical, you couldn't block the physical pain. The only pain you've felt just now are my knuckles pushing into your gut."

Wait, there are two types of pain now?

"There are two types of pain?"

"Yeah. Allow me to demonstrate on your left hand. I'm about to hit it with a 30 kiloUrtil attack. You ready?"

Oh lord... Please save me. I'm a piece of rubber... I'm a piece of rubber...! I'M A PIECE OF RUBBER!!!

Pak! He planted his fist against my hand.

... ? It didn't hurt that much? It felt like a rather gentle punch, that's only fast, not powerful. It's a very slight sting, and that's pretty much it.

"You..."

?

"You just increased your magic resistance to take that 30 kiloUrtil attack like it was nothing... Are you really a beginner?"

I what?

"... You're scary good. You might even master this technique in a day."

??? He's saying it as if I really have affinity for fleshsmithing.

"... So, Dekon... Do you think I have any affinity for this field of magic?"

"No."

Huh?

"If you had an actual affinity for fleshsmithing, you wouldn't need to be this fit. An affinity like that won't even require big muscles, or any form of exercise at all, to become just as powerful as anyone else. Look at yourself - You're a bit fat, but you're also fit. You're definitely not meant for fleshsmithing, even though you're good at it."

I don't even know what's going on anymore. If I'm not good at fleshsmithing, then what am I good in?

"It's more likely to assume that you have a better affinity with body magic."

"Body magic?"

"Some people like to call it life magic, some call it mutations, but the general category fleshsmithing falls under is body magic. Maybe you're good with other types of body magic, and that naturally gives you a standard proficiency in fleshsmithing. Or, at least, in controlling your natural magic resistance."

... Okay, I roughly get it, and I don't. It's like being generally good at Science, but not an expert physicist, or... something.

"... How about you show me that advanced technique first, and give me a goal to achieve?"

Dekon stared straight at me, as if saying 'You probably won't need this where you're headed' but he just reluctantly shrugs.

"Okay. Follow me, this technique I'm about to teach you... Can get really painful."

... I don't like the sound of that all of a sudden.

*** ***

He brought me to a room upstairs in the bar above the coliseum. Within the room were some mice, a snake, a jar of ants, some frogs in a tank, and a lot of other funky animals.

"Before you learn this advanced technique, you will need to learn how to patch up wounds on other people and even yourself. In fact, I'd teach you how to heal yourself quick in combat."

We spent two hours looking through the first aid kit, and him explaining how each of the things inside can be used. I didn't really need that since I have gone through standard first aid courses for Homei's sake in case she got injured, but it can't hurt to jog my memory.

"Now, for Combat Heal, think of yourself as a rapidly growing sea anemone, or a starfish. The important part of Combat Heal is to imagine yourself as a creature that can replace and heal itself quickly. The visualisation applied on yourself, to feel the animal's very basics, is really important for combat Heal to be effective."

Okay. Seems easy enough.

"To heal others in combat, use a combination of the Combat Heal with the Nutrient Redirection theory."

What? Nutrient redirection? Is that like pouring my blood into someone else?

"Nutrient... Redirection?"

"Basically, think of the strawberry plant and its asexual reproduction technique : Running. To use Combat Heal on others, you would have to touch their wound, and just as how a strawberry transfers nutrients to its runner, you have to redirect your Combat Heal to the target. Think of which parts of your own body you want to heal, and transfer the effect to the frog."

Sounds simple enough.

Picking up a frog from the cage, he looks at me seriously.

"You ready to try it?"

"Yeah."

"I'll take this chance to show you the advanced technique. It's really potent, because you are crippling your enemy on purpose, and wounding them even further. If you don't do Combat Heal right, this is a life we're losing here."

Wow. Sounds pretty scary.

"Allow me to demonstrate first. I'd scream out the name of this technique, so remember it well."

?

"Bone Cannon!"

The frog's hing leg bones are forced out from its frog heels which have now gone bulgy and limp from the muscles and purple from the blood, and the bones are now floating in the air. Forcefully, the bones are driven into a black board on the wall.

"Heal it, quick!"

Okay. Imagine myself as a starfish and a strawberry plant at the same time... I'm going to grow back these legs, while passing that effect onto the frog... It's weird becoming a strawberry plant-shaped starfish but I can roughly visualise it.

Combination : Combat Heal + Nutrient Redirection!

Blood stopped flowing out from its heels, or rather, where the heels used to be. Success! I healed it!... But...

"What the hell was that technique?! You forced its bones out!?"

"Bone cannon. Remember this well, Vance. It's a very specific technique where you force your opponent's bones out, and slam the bones onto a black surface or object."

... That sounds scary- Why does it have to be black?

"Why black?"

"The extraction theory is as how pus is forced out of the pimples, or how a creature has to defecate, apply the waste effect on the bones to force it out. The effect where you lift it up and attack is as if your imaginary hands hold it up to place it in an ink vat."

That just confused me further. First black and now ink vats? What?

"Ink vat? Why ink vats?"

"Bones are naturally light-coloured, and the whole technique is really similar to forcing white paste out of a tube, and putting it in black ink. You can choose to place the bones against any other colour, but against black, its destructive force is the most powerful because of black being its almost-literal polar opposite."

That sounds like a wicked sick technique. The black object requirement thing's a bit hard to get by, though, but I'm sure I'd see its true effectiveness soon... Well, not like I'm about to use this technique without thinking first.

"Well, go and learn it on your own time, okay, Vance? I'm a bit busy today because of Ranko." He just shoved me out of his room and closed the door on me.

Now that I look at this Bone Cannon technique...

... I kind of wished magic wasn't this... cruel.

I actually kind of regretted coming along today to learn this, this... monstrosity.