A normal person would probably despise being trapped in a tower with a scary lady who can probably kill them at any time. And their opinion probably wouldn't change much even if they also happened to be trapped with five beautiful girls.
I however, am used to stressful living conditions, and have long ago learned how to appreciate the small things, or the big things in this case. Such as watching Crusch's surprisingly big titties bounce while I feel dead inside. And I mean inside, because I fucked up my body with mana.
That said, even the pain I feel is washes away each time a sweaty Crusch does a squat. Truly I am blessed to exist, even if I would prefer to be seeing this image inside of a less hostile place. Like a mansion belonging to Reinhard Van Astrea for example! I miss maids...
Shaula chuckles. "You know, even if it was legendary, it wouldn't be anymore after it has arisen so many times, yep." And as usual Shaula ruins any fun I might have had. Yet again I must repeat, I hope Priscilla crushes her dreams and hopes.
Priscilla glares at me. "Puppy, show some restraint. It wasn't cute the first time, and it certainly isn't cute now." Have you ever considered I do things without the purpose of being cute? I'm not Emilia you know.
And speaking of people who talk with spirits, I'm truly glad Anastasia is still trying, and possibly failing to talk with one, and has therefore not given me any shit for my Excalibur... Actually it can't be Excalibur, as Shaula says, it's apparently not legendary. I'm also equally grateful Crusch's is as dense as she is, because she simply makes a confused face and keeps going.
Pervertness aside, there's definitely something to be said about how she's already exercising even if her body isn't completely healed. I hope she's not pushing herself too far, specially after all that talk about Gates.
Time passes as I wait in silence, eventually the door of the Training Room is opened, a cheery Felt enter while waving hello. "What's up! Guess who's back!?" Do you also happen to be back again?
Emilia smiles behind her. "I-it's us...!" She's acting weirdly, these two were definitely up to no good. Though in a place like this, whatever they did will probably benefit us anyways... And I can't see Emilia genuinely inconveniencing someone.
Shaula waves at them. "Wow, you guys sure took some time there! Yup! Is it really wise to eat so much before training? Take the advice of this big sister who has thrown up a lot during her life and don't do it again, yep." Did we really need to know that?
Priscilla immediately snarks against Shaula. "No one has any need of your advice girl." She then looks at the two. "Slum rat, half-slum, with the Duchess. Now." Crusch can only awkwardly smile and stop her training.
Felt pouts while she walks over. "For the record, I'm not a slow eater, that's Big Sis over here. I had to wait an eternity for her." Emilia blushes at that, as if being a slow eater is some sort of sin. One might say a fast eater is the one who's wrong even.
Once they get closer to the Duchess and I, Felt finally notices my state. "Wow, what happened Big Bro? You look super pale... Did you hork hard to the point of vomiting?" Can we please drop that topic? Shaula truly is a stain upon this world, even if she's a very cute one.
Emilia reacts with much more seriousness than Felt however, in a second she's crouching besides me. "Are you okay? Do you need healing? Do you need water?" It reminds me of what a worried parent must look like. I'm glad the half-elf has embraced her role as a cleric.
I send the worried girl a weak smile. "I'm more or less fine, and I have water. That said, I would definitely appreciate some healing..." The half-elf immediately begins to heal me using her spirit magic. Ah, I'm gonna miss this when we enter a Cataclysm...
Crusch fakes a cough to get our attention. "I'm glad to see you are so fast to heal your teammate Emilia... I was actually going to ask for you to do that." There's a sense of awkwardness between the two. The Duchess didn't expect Emilia's quick response, because she's simply not used to Emilia.
Of course, when one actually stops to think, it's not like Emilia has spent a crazy amount of time with Felt, Priscilla or whoever else either, but... We all died together, two times even. It's a bonding experience that simply can't be replicated, and it's also a traumatic event that Crusch is lucky to have escaped...
Well, so am I to a certain extent. Reid always killed me first and painlessly, or at least tried to considering he messed up both of my arms in the second time. Still, I have never seen my comrades dropping like flies... In a way I might be the only one here without that experience, considering Crusch's situation with the White Whale. In that way we both are outsiders.
Emilia nods towards her. "I'm guessing it was some heavy training... And I'm also guessing you want me to heal him so he can go back to training. Is that rea~lly okay?" I don't know if I should count me being a dumbass as heavy training.
I wave the half-elf off before the Duchess can say anything. "It's fine Emilia, Crusch knows what she's doing... In fact she actually corrected a big mistake that I did." Seeing the silver haired girl being distrustful feels wrong... well, I don't know if I should say distrustful, but it's definitely close to that. Though I'm sure Emilia will completely accept Crusch soon enough.
Emilia frowns. "If you say so Iori..." She then slowly turns towards Crusch. "I'm counting on you to protect him, so be very throughout with his training, okay?" Protect me? Geez, you're talking as I'm not one of the top fighters! Actually, I'm definitely not.
Crusch smiles and nods. "Of course, I shall do my very best." Ah, for some reason, even as she says that, Emilia is still sending her a look filled with suspicion. It takes me a while to understand why, but I do it eventually, it's simple really. The Duchess was initially the person taking care of Subaru's health, and Subaru is important to Emilia, and obviously that situation didn't go very well.
Felt raises an eyebrow. "So if you want Big Sis here so she can heal Big Bro, then what about me? Please remember that I just spent the last few moments eating." It's definitely not related to physical training, since you decided to eat and therefore fuck all that up for a few hours.
Crusch responds quickly. "Yes, yes, you stuffed your face in..." And suddenly Crusch is acting weird... Wait a minute, does that means Felt is lying about going to the kitchen to eat? I can't forget that the Duchess is a lie detector.
In a way her ability can be useful in communicating things without Shaula noticing. Assuming Felt really didn't spend her time eating, then what would she be doing...? Opening one of the locked doors maybe? She was grinning ear to ear once Shaula mentioned them.
The Duchess continues, ignoring the blush on the thief's face. "I actually wanted to see if you have a Wind Affinity, because if you do contain one, then I will have something to train you in." She then looks at Emilia. "Ah, and I would like if you went to help Anastasia after this Emilia, she's struggling for quite a while now... Though I understand you have your own problems." You really took to the teacher role, didn't you?
Felt is the first one to respond, shrugging. "Sure you can check my affinity, just don't be surprised if it's useless." I would actually prefer if you had an affinity like Water. Emilia will lose her healing powers inside of a Cataclysm after all.
Emilia is the second one to respond. "Sure! I can help Anastasia, it's no~ problem. And... well... It's not like I have any idea on where to start with my training." Well, it's not like you're expected to master it today, so it's fine really.
But then again... why are we even training in this situation? Unless we are going to stay in here for years, we simply won't advance enough... Nah, I can't fall on that mindset. Besides, Crusch already identified a serious problem I had.
The Duchess smiles. "Don't worry Emilia, I'm sure you will figure something out! Learning magic without a teacher, specially fire magic, can be dangerous, but at least you have experience with Puck." Fire magic? Doesn't Emilia use ice powers?
Emilia looks down. "You're right, but... Even though I know a little bit of fire magic, I never did something on that level before." She shakes her head. "I will still try my best of course!" Training blindly is not uncommon for training arcs anyways. Go and master your hollow Emilia!
She then looks at me. "The healing is more or less done. Be careful with your training, okay Iori?" She gets up, and I can only nod. After that she leaves to go help Anastasia finally learn more about Spirit Magic.
Honestly it's been real convenient to have people with so many specialties here, both for us and for them. People say you learn a lot from teaching after all, so who knows, maybe by the end of this Crusch and Emilia will learn new tricks.
Now that my body doesn't feel like garbage anymore, I start getting up. It's about time for me to learn the most exciting thing about any isekai, actual magic! If I truly have some sort of cheat, this is the time for it to pop-up!
Felt makes a questioning pose. "So... how are you going to figure out my affinity anyways? I remember Reinhard just touched Iori to find out his." I miss those times, when Reinhard could throw a month of training in my head using a day.
Crusch nods. "That's pretty much it really. Find out the affinity of other people isn't truly hard." She gets close and puts a hand of Felt's chest, just like she did to me. "And yours is... Wind! We are being quite lucky today!" For real!? That's great!
Felt tilts her head, her expression more annoyed than anything else. "Huh, I actually have a Divine Protection that helps me run like the wind, so it fits, but..." She crosses her arms. "I was hoping for something a bit cooler, like Fire." Who the hell is gonna teach you fire.
Crusch blushes. "I assure you, Wind can be quite cool..." And then she raises her finger, a classic sign of a Crusch who's about to explain things. "Anyways, it's only to be expected that your affinity is Wind if you have a Divine Protection like that. They tend to... compliment one another." She motions to the sitting Baroness. "Priscilla for example, most likely has either a Yang Affinity or a Fire one." I guess it would be weird for the Sun woman to have an affinity for like... Earth.
Still, it's strange and yet again I'm reminded of games. In those characters need to keep consistency about this, so if a character wears red, then he probably has fire powers, and if he has fire powers they can't give him completely unrelated powers on top of it, the aesthetics would clash.
The Duchess suddenly smiles brightly, as if remembering something. "Oh, and theoretically you can even replicate the effects of blessings with magic. So in a way, blessings like the ones we have are just automatic magic." She pauses for a moments. "Reading the wind to see if someone is lying, running like the wind... No doubt someone like Roswaal L. Matters can do both." The mage route sounds broken.
I immediately raise a hand. "So wait, a person can copy all Divine Protections with enough training!?" Now that's exciting! I guess this isn't Naruto where things are decided at birth! Ah, I wonder if someone could copy Petelgueuse's invisible hands tricks.
Crusch shakes her head, crushing my dreams. "I'm afraid not, while some are indeed capable of being replicated, others are simply not... I would say the ones who can be copied are typically the ones with active effects. For example as you know Felt runs like the wind, a normal person could learn to do that, my knight however has a Divine Protection that gives him higher talent for Water Magic, and that cannot be replicated." An exp buff huh?
She continues. "And there are different levels of skill needed for different effects. I imagine Roswaal L. Matters would find it easy to run like the wind, but difficult to read it to see when someone is lying. There's also the fact that Divine Protections cost no mana, a clear advantage." Geez, so it is sort of Naruto after all...
Felt shrugs. "Eh, who cares about this sort of stuff anyways. I doubt any of us are ever going to reach that level anytime soon, if ever." Speak for yourself! This is an isekai damn it, I want to be a master magician!
I pout. "I'm gonna do some crazy stuff with magic one day, just wait." I have all affinities, my Gate is apparently of high quality... Even if I don't have some crazy cheat, surely I can become someone at least close to Roswaal L. Matters one day.
Crusch smiles. "Like everything in life, hard work will be rewarded with good results." Not always true, but okay. "But first of all, let me clarify what affinities are exactly. You see, they are simply your Gate naturally shifting your mana towards an element, and in your case all six." I figured as much...
Ah, Crusch has her finger raised up again. "Fire Magic concerns the manipulation of heat. One can create both fire and ice constructs with it, and it's typically a very offensive affinity." Oh! So that's why Emilia did ice attacks even though she has a Fire Affinity. "Water Affinity allows one to heal, and utilize ice and water attacks. However it's offensive capabilities aren't great, even Felix barely messes with it." I'm surprised they can even go in the offensive at all.
Felt pouts. "Who cares about affinities I don't have? Just get to Wind already!" I care! I have all affinities damn it! Besides, it will probably be good for us to understand this in general, it might even allow us to deal with future enemies easier.
Thankfully the Duchess ignores the Thief's complaining. "Earth Magic deals with the manipulation of earth, it can technically create it as well, but it's very mana expensive to do so. It tends to focus more on the defensive." Ah, the lame magic. Defense, ew.
She continues. "Yin, also known as the Shadow Affinity is highly focused on taking away the strength of others by doing things like robbing people of their senses. It's a rare affinity, so I don't know much about it." So it's debuffs then. Wait a second, you totally didn't ignore Felt did you!? You heard it and got mad so you're leaving Wind for last!
Felt definitely noticed that considering her eye is now twitching, and I can see Crusch smirking too. "Yang is another affinity that is very rare, though not as rare as Yin... It is also known as Light Magic, and it's the exact opposite of its counterpart, centered around making someone stronger. Of course, anyone can enhance themselves, but with Yang Magic they can be much more specific about it, such as enhancing one's eyesight." So it's buffs, got it.
I already complained that we don't have anyone except for me that has Water Magic, but I'll complain about our lack of Yin and Yang users too. This is a JRPG damn it, of course we need buffs and debuffs! Hopefully Priscilla's affinity really is Yang, and not Fire...
And finally Crusch reaches to the point we were waiting for. "And Wind concerns the nanipulation of wind of course. It's a fairly balanced affinity with both offense and defense." It doesn't sound that special to be honest, just standard magic. "Oh, and I should mention that both Earth Magic and Wind Magic are susceptible to becoming stronger if one possess a Divine Protection. That is a benefit both Felt and I possess." Lame! Damn Kekkei Genkais!
To my surprise however, Crusch doesn't end there. "There is also technically a seventh affinity." I k-knew it! Almighty here I come! "It's the Spiritual Affinity, and obviously both Emilia and Anastasia have it. It's more complicated to check, so you two will have to see with them." Ah, so it's not a legendary affinity... "Spiritual Affinities are strange however, because there are certain levels of it. Emilia for example is contracted to a Great Spirit, which means hers must be insanely high." It's essential the summoner class.
She finally lowers her finger. "A Spiritual Affinity is great, because one can technically do all types of magic by conversing with lesser spirits, but... I'll leave the details of that to Emilia. So any questions?" Can I make a Rasenshuriken!? That's probably not a good question.
Felt Immediately raises a hand. "So how do I shoot magic stuff at people." You truly are a star pupil.
Crusch blushes. "W-we will get there soon. Any other questions?" I have a few, I suppose. Also, I don't want the Duchess to experience the hell that is training Felt alone while I stand mostly in silence, she might break before the day is over.
So I raise a hand. "So, I know a person can use Affinityless Magic to reinforce themselves, but can they reinforce themselves with an Affinity? And are there other types of magic a person can do without an Affinity?" Like a Rasengan!
Crusch smiles, glad to have a decent question. "Yes, you can reinforce yourself using mana that is focused on one of the Affinities. It's a dangerous and complicated process however, way too much for a beginning." Understandable enough, even reinforcing myself without is hard. "And yes there are other types of magic that don't need an affinity. The Astreas famously enhance their swords to the point of creating shining beams of light." An Excalibur!?
She continues. "I actually have a similar technique, but it also combines it with an Wind Affinity... Unless I have a good sword though, it will shatter after just one blow." Well, surely the Life Sword can handle your super special move?
Still, I'm not out of questions. "Hey, so if I have all affinities... does that actually mean anything? Is magic gonna be harder for me because my Gate doesn't know how to pick or something?" That would be unfortunate...
Crusch shakes her head. "No, it is purely an advantage... You can even mix your affinities, though such magic needs proficiency on the level of Roswaal L. Matters and it's far beyond what anyone would expect you to reach." Maybe if I was a normal guy, but I'm a legendary hero you know?
I smile. "I see, well I'll still try it eventually. And now I'm out of questions." I can't afford to be content with being a basic ass bitch mage. Because a basic ass bitch mage would never ever land a blow on Reid Astrea.
Crusch nods. "Well, them I will teach you guys the most basic of Wind Affinity spells to start. But first you two must understand that there is a ranking system for magic." Of course there is, this is a isekai of course. "It's all predicated on... let's call a standard spell. For the Wind Affinity it's the magic called Fura, and everyone starts by learning it."
The legendary raised finger returns. "It's essentially just sending a gust of wind at someone, but at higher levels it becomes faster and sharper. The ranks go Fura, El Fure, Ul Fura, Al Fura, and they these ranks of no title, El, Ul and Al technically apply to every spell, even if they're only cited on these standard spells." Complicated, but okay.
She points at a target on the wall. "For now I simply want you two to fire a normal Fura attack. It's as simple as opening your Gate, visualizing wind, channeling mana from where you want it to leave and then chanting Fura. The chant is technically not necessarily, but it helps with control, and it's recommended that beginners to do until they get a feeling for it."
She sends me a serious look. "And remember Iori, do not try to keep it in your body, it will ruin you." She then shifts her look to the thief. "And Felt remember that mana is not infinite, after sending the attack, immediately close your Gate again." Right, that's the stuff beginners struggle with.
Felt nods, excitedly skipping around. "Yeah, yeah! Who cares about that, I just wanna try doing magic already!" Well, I can't deny that I'm in the same boat. Wind isn't exactly the affinity I thought I would start with, but it's good enough.
Crusch sighs. "Well, I suppose if you cannot close your Gate at first I'll do it for you." She then mutters under her breath. "We are not in a situation where we can afford to repeat the mistakes of Subaru Natsuki." Yeah, we still haven't reached that medical facility.
I wave to Felt. "Welp, since you're so excited feel free to go first." For now I'll just sit back and watch, that way I can avoid any embarrassing mistakes Felt makes. That's the most classic of strategies.
The thief smiles. "Sure, sure!" And then starts concentrating, her hand pointed at the target on the wall. I can only hope it's enchanted, but surely Shaula wouldn't get mad if we damaged the training room of all things... If Felt can even damage something at all, she is just using a Fura spell.
Both Crusch and I sit silently as Felt just kinda... hums I guess. Is this thing harder then I thought? Am I gonna have to stand still for weeks until I learn how to do it? If so that's unfair, give me the reincarnation treatment in that case!
Eventually Felt Screams. "Fura!" And nothing happens, slowly a red blush appears on her face. "Hey, what the hell!? I did everything right!" Yep, this is why I made the wise decision of going second.
Crusch chuckles, proving she can be a sadistic teacher. "Yes, you probably didn't. So simply try again, not everyone gets it on the first try... or the second... or the third." She then looks at me. "And you should start trying too Iori, if you wait for Felt, you will be left behind." So I cannot dodge embarrassment huh?
I nod. "Okay, I guess." And just as Felt goes for her second try, I begin trying as well. First it's imagining my gate, secondly I have to imagine wind... But what is wind exactly? Should I just imagine a green thing like in most anime? It's not like wind has a color...
So I just think of a hurricane, and then I have to expell mana from my body, it doesn't need to be anything complicated either, it's just a big Fura... "Fura!" I shout after finishing the past steps.
And a big gust of wind explodes from all the directions of my body, I try closing my gate as fast as possible. "Shit..." And then I fall to the ground, way too tired to think. All of this for a spell that probably couldn't even knock down someone? And I apparently have the reserves of a trained knight...? This sucks.
Contrary to my expectations Crusch claps. "Nice! On your first try... Well, you're not supposed to fire in all directions, and you wasted too much mana, but it wasn't too bad." Ah! I'm not a jobber. "You can't train today anymore though, your Gate is already exhausted enough." Ah, I'm a jobber!
And my jobber status means I can only wait in the ground until Felt commits the same mistake as me and falls on the ground too. What a way to spend our second day here, on the ground almost passing out of exhaustion.
Hopefully we escape soon, then I can train with Reinhard and his cheats.
AN: Crusch continues her teaching career, her destiny as a Christmas cake might be unavoidable.