"WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?!" the blue haired harpy yelled, as I roused from my mediation.
I'm not entirely sure if it would actually qualify as meditation given the lack of peace and serenity. On the other hand I've been using mystical energy to do magick and that makes me a wizard until someone tells me otherwise. And a wizard is always meditating if he says he is, Gandalf told me so.
Blatant inserting words into fictional characters mouths aside, Cute-But-Scary-Blue-Haired-Army-Girl whose name I seriously need to find out looked spooked.
"Umm what was what?" my voice apparently had a minor calming effect so she was now only yelling instead of screeching. Fortunately I don't need ears for anything other than hearing so I would be good to go regardless of her yelling point blank at me.
"You just used Mana!" she accused.
"Umm is that a bad thing?" What, does using Mana cause a kitten to get struck down by lightning or something?
"Why did you use Mana?!"
Hey I know this one! "Because you told me too?" Take that, Cute-Army-Girl.
"I told you to do the same thing you did to summon me!" She seemed to be panicking for some reason.
"I DID!" I yelled back, surprising her, which caused her to flinch back.
After a couple of minutes it seemed we where done talking for a little while at least as she seemed to withdraw into herself.
I took a moment to check on my cloths situation, and I was feeling pretty happy with the results. The two most prevalent items where first the pants I'd gone for. Black long and very baggy, tied off by straps at the ankle. They looked like Ninja pants except I tied them a lot lower than mid-calf. I also made sure it was known I wanted pockets. Word to the wise, always include pockets on pants if able.
On my feet I had a pair of very rugged sandals that had straps to attach them to the ankle and front of the foot, and a piece of material connecting the two on both sides. I might have imagined a bit overly much on the straps, but my last pair of sandals where flip-flops and I wanted to be able to actually run in these.
The reason I didn't go for boots or sneakers, was actually a bit of pragmatism on my part. I had no idea what a closed shoe would look like that accounted for the big honking spherical gem growing out of the top of each foot, but I could imagine a scenario,where the gem force the opposing side of my foot down unnaturally resulting in terrible blisters, and badly irritated the area around the protrusion until who knows what happened.
Everything my imagination came up with involved a lot of pain. So now I have a pair of sandals that very specifically strap snugly around it. They where very comfortable even if I didn't recognize the material. Looked to be some kind of hide, but a lot more cozy than you'd expect. Hopefully they work out well enough.
The other distinct item of clothing was white, long hooded mantle, I had opted for instead of the shirt, and for much the same reasons I avoided shoes. I didn't like the idea of constant abrasion on strange inorganic outcropping. In no way did it have to do with the fact I suddenly had found myself with a perfect six pack and wanted to show off. The cloak itself was thick, but breathed well enough. And comfortably fell over my shoulders, however it had a couple of clasp to close it up in a pinch. To be honest, I was happiest that it could double as a blanket as well, sooner or later I will need to go to sleep,. If the Magicks worked correctly it wouldn't dirty or stain either despite being white and absorbent. Not holding my breath on that last one though. If you are wondering why I had put so much thought into a cloak, you haven't been reading the correct travel guides.
The last two things I made where in large part thanks to Cute-Army-Girl while she was in her Psycho-Knife phase.
Two things she wore that seemed like a good idea to just have handy. The first being a tough pair of gloves. Handy get it..no? Anyways; no clue what mine where made out of once again, I just gave a mental description of what I wanted, and now I had a pair made of some kind of dark lizard scale I think. But they where akin to very nice leather gloves. They had holes where the orbs would be, but I had neglected to put them on thus far. I don't actually like wearing gloves, but having a pair from time to time can really be helpful.
The other was a pair of pollarized lensed goggles. No idea why I would need them, but I can easily imagine a dust storm where we are right now, and that alone validated their existence. Plus Cute-Army-Girl has a pair and she seems pretty on top of things.
Honestly I hadn't put nearly as much detail into them when I actually made them, it was more along the lines of 'Give me something I would feel comfortable wearing, that has these qualities.'
I'm sure there are a million thing else I should have thought of. Armor comes to mind, but honestly I have no idea what armor consist of in this world. Sure I could try and imagine up some weird sci-fi carbon-nano thingy armor but what if everyone uses beam swords. I'm not certain nano-thingys would work very well against that.
Also I had no idea at the time what kind of power what I had already decided was going to take at the time.. I figured on the basis of matter manipulation and the assumption of whatever I asked for is what it would try to give me. Had I wished for "Impervious, universal, invincible armor" I would have had every ounce of my energy, and then some, drained trying to make it.
I think their was a rule on the Evil Overlord List about not absorbing an energy field larger than your head. I think a Corollary should be present, along the lines of if I can create an energy field I won't make one larger than my head, at least not without appropriate testing at much more reasonable sizes first.
It may seem odd that my first inclination is to armor up, but think of it from this angle. I died, and now in the afterlife I find a distinct lack of paradise and civilization, which means I have no idea what kind of shit im going to run into. The only person I've met had a knee-jerk reaction was; Take utility knife, apply to neck. So yea.
I also had a pair of silk boxers, If only so I wouldn't have to go alfresco.
Its worth mentioning that while my outfit would take a bit to describe, it only took a few moments to actually go over my ensemble, which unfortunately means I have to deal with Cute-Army-Girl who looks upset, and I don't know why..
"Hey you okay?" I asked, voicing my concern. It seemed to snap her out of her withdrawn state at least.
"Umm, I'm fine. So is that your outfit?"
"Yep what do you think?" 'Yes, praise me for the good job I did.'
"You look silly" she smirked. 'Oh god damn it.'
"..Gee thanks. Anyways, what had you so upset earlier?" That snapped her back to attention. She seemed to be thinking about her answer. After weighing her reply she answered.
"You haven't been using Spiritual Power, you've been using Mana." Ha take that universe, one more point towards the I'm a wizard camp.
"And using Mana is a bad thing I take it" I asked, as I crossed my arms and sat on a nearby rock.
"Well, no not inherently, its just that..the only people who can really naturally manipulate Mana are Overlords, and sometimes those in their service."
'...well that's not totally ominous.' I thought foreboding
"And you believe that I might be an Overlord?"
She nodded. "Yes it seems the most likely scenario given that you summoned me. I had originally thought you where some strange off-branch of Skull-Magician that screwed up his first casting. But then you went and used so much Mana. It just doesn't make any sense that someone could live long enough to gather as much Mana as you apparently have, yet still suck enough to screw up that badly on a spell."
I was going to feel indignant, but then she shivered at the memory, making me feel like a first class asshole instead.
"Anyways, looking back we where in a pretty bad way overall, our Overlords castle was pretty messed up. So I can't see having lived through it, and If they lost theirs no way they would have been able to resurrect me. You being my new Overlord is the only thing that makes any sense. What I don't understand is that I can remember my previous life. I've never heard of anything like that normally when an Overlord spawns a vassal they have no memories."
Hmm, maybe I was some kind of Overlord Skull-Magician thingy..That sent an odd feeling of familiarity for some reason but I pushed it out of my mind.
I put in my two cents. "Maybe my screwing up the spell caused it?"
'Note to self: Play with magic later and learn what you can do. Also make sure to be giddy over the prospect of being able to use magic at an appropriate time.'
That last one would be very easy to do, cool powers are meant to be played with. Yea sure great power, responsibility, blah, blah, etc. I've never bought into not using them for personal profit on the side. For example, Superman has x-ray vision. If he started a gold mining business he could just look down through the ground and go right for the money, no one gets hurt, he can afford to pay for his adopted parents heart operation, take Ms. Lane on nice dates, etc. You know most supervillans would do better if they did so as well.
Anyways, Cute-Army-Girl started talking again.
"It's possible I guess. Do you remember what you where thinking when you called me here?"
I tried to remember, but honestly I was fuzzy at best "Not the exact wording but I think I was messing with my Mana and thought something along the lines of 'I wish I had someone to help explain how all this stuff works.' sorry I sorta forgot once you showed up as I was panicking trying to fix my screw up."
She smirked, "Well at least you know when you do something stupid, that puts you ahead of most Overlords already."
"You would think being someones Overlord would would earn you some respect." I added dryly.
"Respect is earned." She noted absentmindedly. Besides, to me you'll always be the idiot who forgot to put on some pants..."
That's not my fault damn it. I didn't even know I could make clothing. Actually I might of figured out how too if I hadn't called her.
I let out a sigh. No real point in arguing. 'At least she's joking about it. That means she's not as mad right?'
"So. Now what do we do?" I asked. I summoned her to help me out, might as well ask for her help.
She thought for a minute. "Well I guess you summoned me to help you out. So our first goal is to teach you how to use your Spiritual Power. Mana is good for making things long term, and for permanent results. But Spiritual Power is what you need for combat."
We sat down and she started to teach me how not to suck at magick.