Lord of the Dead in the Land of Lust

CH10 - Heteromorphosis

"Sir Gown. May I ask you what you intend with such strange magical effects?"

Ainz turned to See Amrita standing before him, with Hara lying on the ground by the riverside panting heavily. It seemed the two of them had finished their sparring and training for the morning. For the last three days they had been doing so with Amrita giving Hara pointers and suggestions to improve herself. And while they had been doing that, Ainz would practice different ideas on how to customize some of his own magic. Testing effects, feeling how much mana they used, how long they took to cast, how long their cooldown was and the like.

And now it seemed Amrita could no longer hold back her curiosity.

"Well, I am simply experimenting," Ainz answered simply.

"To what end?" Amrita asked as she looked at the boulder that Ainz had been experimenting on.

A rock that now looked like someone had fused a rock, a tree, and a pile of rotten flesh together and then twisted them into a horrid facsimile of a tree.

Ainz looked at it for a moment before letting out a sigh, realizing how ridiculous his experimentation must look to one not privy to his thoughts. "Disintegration!" He called while pointing a finger at the boulder. In answer to his words a beam of whitish light lanced from his finger and struck the boulder, turning the whole thing, horror and all, into a fine white dust. He then turned his gaze back to Amrita. "I am merely trying to ascertain a number of limitations that may exist in preparation for conceiving of a new magic. That is all."

"If you are a Deity Reborn as Lady Celestine is, why would you need to experiment when the only limitation would be your own power and desires?"

"You know that I do not believe such a thing," Ainz said with a light shake of his head. "I would have thought that had been made clear over these past few days. I am no god, simply a Magic caster thrust far away from his lands. That is all."

"With respect I must disagree with that statement, and I will look forward to when you think otherwise as it will mean the Goddess reborn may gain an ally, but I shall leave the conversation there," Amrita said as she looked to one of the hills that surrounded them and then glanced at Hara. "Sir Gown, may I ask a question about your magic?"

"I thought you were dropping that conversation?" Ainz asked in return with a chuckle. Before then realizing that Amrita was serious. "Such as?"

"Your magic is powerful, do you know a spell that can heal an improperly healed injury?" she asked calmly, and a bit quietly as she watched Hara sit up and take a drink from a canteen.

"You are speaking of Hara's leg injury," Ainz said quietly before letting out a sigh. "Sadly I do not. I know of many that could heal injuries like hers, but my race is one that makes them, difficult if not impossible to utilize."

"I understand, though I will admit it to be very unfortunate," Amrita said as she continued to look at Hara. "If her leg was not injured I believe that Hara could be comparable to a high ranked knight, or perhaps even one of the Princess Knights in skill. She may have no preference for any one style of combat or weapon, but she shows impressive versatility of skill and a willingness to use anything to her advantage. It is a rare thing to see these days."

"Is that smart?" Ainz asked, only realizing he needed to be more clear when Amrita turned to him. "A Lack of versatility I mean. Do you mean to say that there is little taught to those of the knighthoods in these lands?"

"That, is true for many, yes. Because knights fight nothing but monsters they are often taught only the skills to fight them and nothing more. Few in these lands learn how to fight with more than one weapon, but those in the knighthoods feel no need to learn more than the sword due to misplaced ideals of honor and pride."