BLOOD CURSE ACADEMIA - PREVIOUS DRAFT EDITION -

Chapter XXXVI (36)- The Basics of Teleportation

The next two weeks fell into routine. The academy kindly gifted him with an enchanted crutch that could be folded down to fit in his palm. But, even with the crutch, every step caused a spike of pain from the destroyed leg, no matter how much he leaned on it. At first, he could only barely manage to limp across his dorm with the help of the crutch. Thankfully, it did get marginally better day by day.

And sure enough, just like he had been told, his popularity at the academy shot skyward. Students he didn’t recognize began to greet him by name in the hall and offer congratulations on the fight. However, his brother, Finn, showed Kizu an even icier attitude than before. He staunchly refused to acknowledge Kizu’s existence. But still, it was validating to be seen by the others at the academy. Even if it felt undeserved.

But he would have traded every shred of that admiration for a fixed-up leg in a heartbeat.

“How’s your advancement this week?” Roba asked, drumming her fingernails on her desk.

“Slow,” Kizu admitted. “I can do everything we study in Elemental F. Freezing and boiling a cup of water is easy. I can mold earth if it's just a handful, but beyond that it’s difficult.”

“Your astronomy scores are improved,” Roba noted, shuffling a few papers.

“I finished memorizing the constellations a few days ago. But I don’t really feel like that’s progress. It’s just knowing something by a different name.”

“Hm. And Combat F? How is Arclight treating you?”

“Like I’m made of glass,” Kizu complained. “She still makes me sit out during running sessions, not even letting me walk. I asked her if I could at least exercise something other than my leg and she told me that pushing myself further could worsen the damage.”

“You seem to be walking better today. You barely even leaned on your crutch.”

Kizu felt his leg. Under his uniform pant leg, a piece of cloth was tightly wound around his damaged leg. Not a normal bandage.

“I enchanted something to help,” he said. “It strengthens the bone and muscles while it's on.”

Roba raised an eyebrow. “Fancy bit of work.”

“Professor Kateshi guided me and performed some of the more complex parts,” he admitted. “I knew I needed something, and this was what she came up with.” What he had actually asked for was an enchantment to remove the pain altogether. But Kateshi refused, insisting that pain was vital to healing. He decided not to tell Roba that bit.

“Arclight blames herself,” Roba said. “That’s why she seems so soft towards you now. She let the fight happen despite the obvious difference in your skill. I suppose you’ll be glad to know she’s still refusing to allow me to sign you up for more fights.”

“I suppose.” Kizu was not exactly eager to go back into the contests. Even if he was accurately placed against others of his skill level. It irritated him that something like his leg was even allowed to begin with. First blood was an extremely poor way to judge a victor.

“Arclight’s arm isn’t her natural one, right?” Kizu asked. “Are there things that could fix my leg like her arm?”

“No,” Roba said. “Professor Arclight’s arm is a prosthetic, but it’s also one of a kind found deep in the World Dungeon. There are few mages skilled enough to create small replacement body parts such as eyes, but fully functioning limbs remain artifacts of the far flung past. And even if you did find access to a similar enchanted prosthetic, it would still require the complete amputation of your leg. While it grants Arclight power in one regard, it also severely cuts back her blood reserves.”

Kizu nodded and considered. It made sense. Still, it lay a seed of hope. He’d still one hundred percent rather keep his leg attached to his body. But there might be augments out there somewhere.

Roba eyed him. “Very well, I’ve decided you’re ready.”

Kizu perked up. “To jump?” Finally.

Roba looked wary of his new enthusiasm. He tried to dial it back and go back to looking uninterested.

“Yes,” she said, watching him. “But before we start, I want you to know there are a few different ways in which jumping can be accomplished. I will be teaching you the safest and most reliable way. I’m hesitant to even mention the existence of other methods. But I have reports that you vigorously study in the library. And I would rather not have you stumble on contradicting methods. For all intents and purposes, I will be your only source of information for this spell.”

Kizu quickly promised. He wanted to ask about the other methods but the look on her face brokered no arguments.

“First, list the limitations of a jump.”

Kizu held back a sigh. “Distance is the most obvious limitation. The further the jump, the more difficult the spell. If you lack focus while doing a long-distance jump, you could end up kilometers away from your intended location.”

“Or?” Roba prompted.

“Or, you could end up buried in the side of the mountain.”

“Good. Next limitation.”

“What happens during a jump is a displacement of what’s here and what’s there. Usually, the mage simply switches places with the air in the intended spot.”

“And if someone is already in that location?”

Kizu winced. “It would usually result in extreme disfigurement. If not death.”

“Good.”

“And of course, there’s the blood cost,” Kizu added. “The further the location or less familiar to the spellcaster, the higher the cost of the blood involved. But most cities have a beacon which will route the mage to it, assisting the toll on oneself. Simultaneously making it safer as well.”

Roba jumped across the room. Her hands laced behind her back, she appeared to be studying a school of fish as they swam by. “I suppose we’ll have to take this elsewhere,” she muttered. “I hardly want you destroying one of my beautiful walls and drowning us.”

Kizu had actually thought the walls were projections showing them a scene from somewhere else entirely. He hadn’t expected the room to actually have spatial magic incorporated into it. The fact they might actually be at the bottom of the sea sent a shiver down his spine. But before he could ask her about it, she jumped behind him and set a hand on his shoulder.

The vertigo caused him to stumble down to his knees. It took him a moment for his vision to clear. They were in a grassy field. It was flat with green grass that only reached ankle height. In the distance, there looked to be a forest. As far as he could tell, no animals lived in the field. Just him and Roba.

“Now jump,” Roba instructed him.

Kizu focused on a spot a stone’s throw away. He remembered to aim a bit higher, so as not to end up buried. Then he closed his eyes and channeled like Roba had taught him.

His eyes snapped open as he felt the rush of air. He only had time to flail his arms out wildly before careening face first into the dirt.

Roba tsk’d behind him. “You lost focus of yourself. Your body was all turned around as a result. And you left behind half of your clothing as well.”

Kizu grunted, his neck extremely sore from the fall. Sure enough, both of his boots as well as his leg brace were back beside Roba. He was grateful that his uniform had at least stuck with him during the jump.

Then a realization hit him. He had done it. He executed his first jump. Sure, not flawlessly, but the basics of it were there.

“Wipe the smirk off your face and pick up your things,” Roba commanded.

Kizu did as she told him and limped back over to her. He couldn’t help thinking that this might be the solution for his leg problem. Who needs to walk when you can jump everywhere?

“Aren’t you worried I might mess up and jump into you?” Kizu asked.

The old woman snorted. “No matter what you do, you’ll never manage to harm a hair on my head. You think I’d risk my life for a kid to learn a fancy new spell? Any decent mage has dozens of innate protections up at all times. You couldn’t jump into me even if I was in a coma.”

“You mean like an antimagic shield?” Kizu restrapped on his leg brace.

“Hardly. That’s a direct counter for the majority of spells. This is a resistance for specific spells. It takes years of channeling spells to firmly maintain a resistance. If you were to try to jump into the space I am in, the spell would be rejected, and you would slide right off me. It’s the same as if you were to try to jump into the academy. There are wards in place to reject you and redirect you outside the academy grounds or to the academy’s beacon.

“Anyway, enough chit chat. Jump again.”

Kizu focused on roughly the same area as he jumped to earlier. This time he not only envisioned his location, but also himself, clothes included. When he opened his eyes he fell a few feet to the ground. Still falling to all fours, but this time he managed to keep upright at the very least. And only missing a single boot this time.

As much as he wanted to keep training, Roba pulled him away after a half a dozen jumps. She told him continuing on would be reckless and idiotic. But the taste of success was addictive. He closed his eyes to do one last jump.

Roba’s gnarled hand clasped down on his shoulder. And then he felt her dragging him away. A piece of him panicked at the situation. He instinctively attempted to shrug off her hand.

“Do that again and you’ll never receive another lesson,” Roba growled.

When she let go of him, he collapsed on her office floor, panting.

She didn’t speak to him again while he lay on the ground, instead she went to her desk and began to work on some documents.

He eventually gathered up enough energy to stand and stumble out of the office.

Using the wall as support, he limped down the hallway. His leg ached worse than it had in over a week. When he finally found a bench to sit on, he almost passed out in relief. But he clung to consciousness, biting down on his tongue to keep himself from drifting off.

Once again, his blood had limited him on how much he could reasonably accomplish. He knew that once he spent more time practicing, the blood cost would reduce for each spell, but still. He wished for a quicker solution. As it was, he could barely manage a few jumps without collapsing. And he couldn’t even exercise to improve his heart’s circulation. He was both physically and magically crippled.

But he supposed if a shortcut existed, everyone would try to take it. He just needed to power through and get stronger steadily.