The Lightning Mage

45 | The Basics of Enhancer Magic

His sword didn't.

"Wait, what—"

She was too flabbergasted that she did not see the kick that sent her flying across the room.

Coughing and spitting, she did not object as the Masked Ninja rolled her over and collected her blood.

"That's not fair," she croaked, "you gave me a weaker sword."

"They're made of the same material. It's not my fault you don't know how to enhance it."

"Enhance?"

"Yep. Enhance." He brandished his unbroken sword. The silver hues of the metal wavered under the light, fluctuating in shades and varying in their shine as if the composition within the sword was changing as he spoke. "You can enhance your weapon using enhancer magic."

"Magic?"

The Masked Ninja gave her a curt nod. He lifted the sword and swung it out to the side. Sin-Ni's eyes widened when the shelves along that side of the room got sliced in half. The ledges and items collapsed on the floor, while a large gash appeared on the wall, the cut resembled the scars on her own abdomen.

She was speechless for a long while, before exclaiming, "H- How do you do that?" How is that even physically possible?

"I told you. Enhancer magic."

Magic. The wall of illusion around her shattered like her sword. She had always had her suspicions, but it was still devastating to hear them confirmed.

"I'm really in a different world. A world with magic," she muttered. Her frantic eyes found his calm, golden ones. "Is that how I got here then? Magic? You... Gazini pulled me here with magic?"

"Of course. What did you think I meant when I told you about the portals?" He snorted as he pocketed the vial of blood.

Her blood.

Dread welled up in her throat and she gulped. "That Gazini... Is he using my blood to... to bring more people over?"

"No. I told you, he's focusing on your friend, and I'm just using your blood for my own..." —He tilted his head and paused.— "...research purposes. I have a different goal from Gazini. But you are right about Gazini wanting to bring more people over, though he has not been very successful. You and your friend were his only success thus far."

Sin-Ni frowned. "Why?"

"Not sure." He shrugged. "Maybe you can figure it out."

"Can I go home if I learn this... magic?"

"Also not sure. Another thing for you to figure out." With a quick wave of his hand, he left her alone in the room again.

The next week, the Masked Ninja brought a book with him, along with a small bag of pebbles. The book looked like an old, tattered encyclopedia that was three times thicker than the Chemistry textbook she had bought for school. The cover was faded and slightly torn, and Sin-Ni could barely make out the title: "The Basics of Enhancer Magic, 7th edition".

He gave her these items after whacking the hell out of her and giving her a new scar, of course.

✿∅✿∅✿

One hundred and twenty-three scars.

She had read the textbook a thousand times over and done all the recommended practices with the bag of pebbles. Enhancer magic was the ability to manipulate physical objects, and the textbook covered three of the biggest aspects.

Firstly, enhancement; by just flicking the pebbles, she could create tiny craters on the walls that resembled bullet holes from a machine gun.

Next, transmutation; she could tweak the shape, color, and size of the pebbles, turning them into mini clay models of animals, or shiny glitters to decorate her sleeping corner.