Projection Magic

"That fast?"

Rienta set down the grimoire in his hands and asked, "What was the reason?"

"Ahem." Frieren cleared her throat softly but didn't immediately give Rienta an answer.

Rienta was puzzled at first. He looked at Frieren, then finally caught on.

He poured a cup of hot tea and respectfully offered it to her with both hands.

Frieren accepted the tea with satisfaction and took a sip before saying,

"Rienta, the conditions you added to the projection were too demanding."

"I don't understand what you mean, Lady Frieren." Rienta looked at Frieren in confusion.

Frieren opened the notebook, flipped to the test records, and said,

"There's nothing wrong with the principles or mana structure of Projection Magic."

"But you can't directly project the weapon in its complete form."

Hearing Frieren's words, Rienta had a flash of insight. He said,

"Do you mean I should divide the magic into two parts, Lady Frieren?"

"First, project the weapon itself."

"Then add the weapon's properties?"

Frieren nodded approvingly. "That's right."

"If you don't separate them, there's no way to succeed."

"Rienta, judging from Rho Aias, you're very talented when it comes to imagination."

"But the Projection Magic you imagined is too powerful."

"What you need to do now is pare it down, especially that 'eternity' property."

Rienta scratched his head awkwardly and said, "So that's what it was."

"Thaaanks, Lady Frieren."

Frieren returned the notebook to Rienta, yawned, and said,

"Well then, let's leave it at that. I'm going to rest."

The elf, who had been busy for so long, decided to sleep as much as she could today and make up for all the sleep she had missed by getting up early.

Fern was curious about the "eternity" property Frieren had mentioned and stared at the notebook in Rienta's hands.

Seeing Fern staring at his research notes, Rienta handed them to her and said, "Fern, go ahead and take a look."

"I need to go back to my room and study the new Projection Magic first."

"Thaaanks, Big Brother Rienta."

Fern reached out and took the research notes. Seeing Rienta hurry back to his room, she didn't linger in the living room either.

Back in his room, Rienta took out a blank notebook and pondered the new Projection Magic.

He had designed Projection Magic because he didn't have the money to forge swords to his liking.

So he had designed two properties.

The first property was "eternity." It was originally intended to let him store the weapons in his personal space after each projection, in preparation for Ten Thousand Swords Returning to the Origin.

After all, if he had to project ten thousand swords at once, even this world's goddess probably couldn't do it.

The second property was "special effects." For example, the Tang straight saber Rienta had envisioned—the Candleholder Saber—would be surrounded by lightning when projected.

He hadn't settled on a name for the longsword, but the second property he had prepared for it was that ten illusory swords identical to it would appear when it was used.

"Then let's try removing the first property, 'eternity.'"

Rienta began constructing the new Projection Magic.

This time he was paring it down, and he had already built the general framework.

The next morning, Rienta successfully cast Projection Magic, projecting a Tang straight saber and a longsword.

Rienta opened a portal to his personal space, eager to test them.

Inside the personal space.

Rienta controlled two longswords, making them slash at each other in midair.

One was projected by him, while the other was an ordinary iron sword.

Rienta had collected quite a few iron swords like this, but he had never used them because his swordsmanship was all show.

The projected longsword lasted a minute before it shattered.

Rienta took out his notebook and recorded the test results.

He projected three more longswords, this time using a tenth of his current mana for each one.

Once again, he used telekinesis to make the six longswords attack one another.

The ordinary longswords lasted three minutes before they were covered in nicks, and one even broke in two.

Rienta ignored the ordinary longswords and recorded the results of this test in his notebook.

He let out a long breath. The test results allowed Rienta, who had been working all night, to relax, and a wave of sleepiness swept over him.

Rienta opened a portal back to his room and found that it was already broad daylight outside the window.

"Nice, the first step of Projection Magic worked."

"Next, I need to study 'special effects magic.'"

"I've studied something similar before, so this should go quickly too."

Rienta set the notebook aside and flopped onto his bed.

The last thought that flashed through his mind was:

I managed to stay up all night.

I should be able to stay up all night to watch the sunrise too.

At noon, Fern knocked on Rienta's door, intending to wake him for lunch, but no one answered.

Fern cast detection magic and found that Rienta was asleep, so she stopped knocking.

She ate lunch with Frieren.

Frieren took a bite of bread and said as she chewed,

"Don't worry, Fern."

"Rienta probably stayed up all night studying Projection Magic."

Fern had finished reading the book on the history of magic.

She had spent the morning reading the research notes. She wasn't as fast as Frieren and had only gotten halfway through.

Recalling what was in the notes, she said with some feeling,

"I really didn't expect Big Brother Rienta to study a proper spell."

Frieren's expression turned a little strange as she said,

"Haven't you seen the two properties Rienta designed, Fern?"

Fern paused, then said softly,

"No."

"But I heard you mention the 'eternity' property last night, Lady Frieren."

Frieren: "..."

She slowly put the last bite of bread into her mouth, took a sip of tea, and said,

"The second property Rienta prepared for Projection Magic is called 'special effects.'"

"?"

Fern tightened her grip on her knife and fork and said helplessly,

"I knew it."

By the time Rienta woke up, it was nearly evening. He hadn't gotten enough sleep; hunger had woken him.

He could only find bread in the kitchen, so he grabbed some and stuffed it straight into his mouth.

As might be expected, Rienta choked while eating his second piece of bread.

He used hot tea magic to conjure himself a cup of tea, intending to take a sip to wash it down.

But the temperature he felt through his hand made him hesitate. Just then,

Fern handed him a cup of cool tea. Rienta hurriedly took it and drank it, then let out a long breath and said,

"Thanks, Fern."

Frieren poked her head out from the side and asked,

"Rienta, have you made progress on Projection Magic?"

Rienta set down his teacup, picked up another piece of bread with one hand, and put it in his mouth.

With his other hand, he used Projection Magic.

A small magic circle spread out from Rienta's hand.

A longsword appeared before the three of them.

Rienta handed the projected longsword to Frieren.

Frieren took the longsword, tapped the blade with her finger, and said,

"This is just like a real sword."

"How long can it last?"

Rienta had already eaten three pieces of bread and drunk a cup of tea, so he was no longer as hungry as he had been when he woke up.

"In a fight, it's a bit tougher than an ordinary longsword."

"If it isn't used in a fight, it can last a day. It mainly depends on how much mana I use to project it."