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[Chevaleresse]

"Not that I've noticed, no."

[Empiricist]

Noriko
"Okay, let's try this then, I want you to enlarge one of your spears and press the back to it against me. Try and push me away with it without drawing it back first."

[Twinwolf]

"<Tatsumaki! Yuki Tatsumaki! Sure, a tour would be great! Thanks...>" she looked for a nametag, and would append the skeleton's name to the statement if there was one.

[Empiricist]

Yuki
Maggie. "<Let's start here then, we call this the quest hub, you can probably guess why. Those glowy pillars let you access the Guild network and sign up for quests, no registration required. Most professional adventurers are though, it's usually worth it if you're doing it for a living. Desks, that's where I work by the way, handle payments, Guantanomo Bay quests only, more or less, we can't really check or pay for quests other people opened, but sometimes if you call the client in advance they'll be willing to meet up here. There's no way to easily communicate difficulty, so we have to rely on having good descriptions, yeah I know it's pretty disappointing, and boring, believe me it's not any better being the one writing it, but it means we won't waste anyone's time if they read things properly. Oh, I'm rambling again aren't I? You get use to it, or not and you'll stop talking to me, both work really. What were you interested in again? Scenic tours? Sports facilities? Massages?>"

[Chevaleresse]

Noriko shrugged, and obligingly resummoned the weapon in question. She focused for a moment, and the spear enlarged much as it had numerous times before. The bluenette planted the butt end of it in the ground next to Ren and, after waiting for an indication she was ready, pushed at it mentally, trying to do as she was asked.

[Empiricist]

Noriko
So you press the side against her, and after a brief pause, you start pushing. Sure enough you manage to push her, she has you continue even after the enhancement wears off though not much changes.

"You had more push with it enlarged, so you're not reducing the mass to accelerate it."
She thinks for a moment.
"How about this? You can try shrinking your spears, but if it doesn't work we can try teaching you to conjure an element, and put those principles to trying to destabilize spells by enhancing bits of them until they go out of control, that way if we still get nothing, you can still attune and have some elemental magic."

[Empiricist]

Noriko
((Engaging fast-foward and autopilot.))

Right so the rest of your training goes much the same, a battery of questions and tests, some fruitful, others turning out to be about as useful as Faith's clothing in battle. As Ren explains learning a different kind of magic ain't what you'd call easy, though that is not to say it is difficult either. See, the general principles for everyone's magic tends to vary, and indeed, even people with seemingly similar kinds of magic might have drastically different underlying mechanisms. So what you need then, is a catalyst, a spark, something that lets you branch out. Studying tomes and the like is of course, an option, but well, it could take time, time you don't have. So you have to move onto the next option: trying to force it, pursuing every damn lead, throwing everything against the wall, and praying at least one thing sticks.

The element you settle for was fire, should be useful enough even if all this other shit fails, but it does make the process all the more frustrating, given that you, y'know, probably could learn how to use it without conjuring it given that you could manipulate the very air to create the ideal conditions for an inferno. In theory at least. Maybe there's some hurdles along that way too, can't tell cause you y'know didn't take it.

Looking into enlargement turns out to be a waste of time - you don't actually feel anything new when you apply it to an object, so enlarging a flame for instance won't make you learn anything more about how to summon one of your own. Practicing more with Ren's enchantment units doesn't really help either, you can feel the enchantment moving into your weapons, but try as you might you can't probe any deeper into their structure. So that left the grasping at straws options, the question of what those names were, the names of your attacks. That, that you couldn't answer. Apparently they're the names of Astras, weapons of the Hindu gods apparently.

Your ignorance was deemed promising, more or less. If you didn't know what those names were and yet yelled them out all the same, there would have to be some meaning behind them, would there not? Some strange ineffable meaning. Can you use your attacks without them? Yup, it's a bit easier with them though. What if you use the wrong name? Also doable, it's harder though. What then, what then, if you used another name, a name that you did not know before: Agneyastra.

You feel something, that same feeling you felt that first battle screaming out your attacks for the first time, a strange curious feeling, one you can't quite put into words, but only a feeling. Pour magic into that feeling however, and you get sparks. Sparks and dying embers.

So, you got a catalyst for flame conjugation now, you just need to practice with it, try and stoke the dying embers into a flame, something you can use.  Shouldn't be too exhausting, just play with it whenever you got time, with any luck you could learn from your inevitable mistakes, and force those onto incoming spells, without it, well you could always try manipulating the flames and attuning with them.

Yuki
((Skipping ahead. I can edit in a fast forwarded tour if you state Yuki's preferences.))

Later that night
Noriko, Yuki, you wind up back how it all started, how you two met, with weirdass outfits and drinks being served at a table. Except y'know, you two aren't the ones in the weird outfits, nor are you the ones serving the drinks for that matter. Cocktails, orbs of magically suspended liquid with swirling tendrils of ice and punctured by straws, haloed with rings of garnishes, and 100% alcohol free (Yuki checked). It's like you're drinking Saturn.

Maybe it's the atmosphere, maybe it's the resort, or maybe it's just that you're both no longer destitute, but you're feeling pretty good...

Elsewhere that night
Shef, Ren really isn't hard to find, the buffet's large sure, but she's the only one with a pile of plates that high, a swarm of service drones floating above her head like vultures, waiting for her to finish her next plate. The lady's like a damn black hole for food. Apparently she's experienced, a veteran of some sort, and she's the one you need to talk to about improving your knockback power. She waves as you approach.

[Strider03]

Shef approached, scanning the rest of the room as he went. This was the mentor who'd been working mostly with Noriko, right? She'd appeared at the mansion with some equipment. Given that she was here for the whole mentor gig, that meant she already knew who he was. Still, they'd not really met yet.

"Shef." He offered a hand to shake. He made a sweeping gesture toward the plates, asking curiously,"Stocking up for something?" A fast maybe? Just enjoying the food here as much as possible before heading back to earth?

[Empiricist]

Shef
She wipes her hand with a napkin, and shakes yours lightly. "Just enjoying the food."

[Strider03]

He raised his eyebrows, confusion apparent. But he elected not to press the matter, that'd leave a rather poor first impression.

"I was told that I should find you if I wanted help with learning something. Mainly--I assume you probably got briefed on all of our abilities?--been wanting something knock foes back rather than damage, preferably in bullet form?"

[Chevaleresse]

"Man, this is kinda weird, huh?" She gestured vaguely at, well, everything. "It's nice to be the weird socially awkward people getting served colorful drinks for once." Noriko took a sip of her drink, made a pleased sound, then prodded Yuki, leaning against the other girl just slightly too heavily for a moment. "You picked these out, right? These are good."

[Empiricist]

Shef
Yes! I must ask though, why do you want to learn a spell instead of having enchanted rounds?"

[Strider03]

Shef responded carefully, "Suppose I want it available all the time, even if I'm not using it. Don't want to realize that it's sitting at home on my kitchen table when I really need it, or to realize I've used up my stock." He shrugged.

"And, one can always put in an order for supplies. One doesn't always get the chance to learn new things from such skilled tutors, so it made sense to me."

[Empiricist]

Shef
"Makes sense to me, what situations do you need it to cover?"

[Strider03]

"Mainly been thinking I want it to primarily be around to slow down or push back someone trying to rush me, and give me time to bail if they actually make it in close. Because hand to hand is not my specialty."

"Secondarily, I'd like something that I can maybe play around with to knock people into my portals. They're a bit static right now, and if I didn't have to rely on enemies running headlong into them, that'd be great." He was still extremely curious about the mass of food that apparently had been consumed. Was there more food still coming in? Was there any indication of choice of specific food with all the empty dishes?