“It would have been nice if I had technology of some kind to make my own bow and arrow, but I guess there’s no way now, huh?”
Yesterday, he had fantasized about creating an ice spear someday while making the ice lens. Currently, however, that was still impossible for him. After all, it took him several minutes just to freeze a bucketful of water. Creating a spear of ice in the moment, then actually hitting his target...didn’t seem realistic at all.
More importantly...would he even be able to use his magic to propel the spear? Every time he’d used his Water or Faucet spells, the liquid flowed out of his hands like it was free-falling... That made him wonder if he could learn to use something like a water ball first.
Recalling the magic he’d seen in anime and videos, Ryo stretched his right hand out and painted a mental picture of a ball of water the size of his head. He pictured it shooting out of his right hand.
“Water Ball.”
Whoosh. Just like he’d imagined, a water ball the size of his head shot out of his right hand. It moved as fast as a basketball would when being passed from one player to another. After flying forward ten meters, it plopped onto the ground.
“Whoooa!”
Ryo jumped for joy at his first successful use of...attack magic? He directed his next attack at a tree seven meters ahead! Whoosh...splash. The ball of water struck the tree and...got the trunk wet. The end.
“Hm, there’s not much force behind this attack...”
Ryo slumped to the ground on his hands and knees in despair.
“Wait! I have a trump card!”
He stood and made a ringing declaration:
“If Water Ball doesn’t work, then I should try Water Jet instead.”
People on Earth said there was nothing a waterjet tool couldn’t cut through. In theory, though, it didn’t cut as much as it did shave. Ryo had researched the waterjet in connection to his company’s operations, which was why he was convinced this new jet-based attack would work.
He thrust out his right hand and visualized a thin, high-speed jet of water rushing out of the tips of his fingers. He added pressure to it from its surroundings, making it as thin as possible.
“Water Jet.”
Water trickled from his fingers, its current only slightly more energetic than the one he’d produced using Faucet. Using this, he could cut...absolutely nothing.
He collapsed to his hands and knees again.
“I lost...” he said, defeated—though he was not sure by what.
“Okay, I need to calm down.”
Just like yesterday, he chewed on dried meat from the silo for his lunch.
I need to be patient. There’s no rush. It took me practicing for half a day to master the water heating technique. So despite this weak little stream now, it should become a powerful weapon in my arsenal the more I practice, right? Besides, I learned how to create ice too, which I should be able to use in combat against any monsters that show up in the future... Even though I’m not sure yet how to use it.
Determined, Ryo lifted his head and made a promise to himself:
“Right, the only thing I can do is practice. Hard work never betrays you!”
He devoted himself single-mindedly to Water Jet practice. Each day a little after two o’clock Earth time, he practiced, slowly making his jet more energetic than the one produced by Faucet—albeit only slightly. Even so, the current iteration was only about as strong as water gushing from a hose at a car wash. He still hadn’t figured out how to improve it beyond that.
It was only at this point that Ryo realized something.
“I definitely need to take a bath today.”
Heading into the bathroom, Ryo realized the moment had come to put yesterday’s training session to good use.
“Water, overflow.”
In about ten seconds, the bathtub brimmed with water. He had learned how to control the amount of water he produced—the fruits of the intense training that had depleted his magical energy to the point of collapse.
Next, he would heat the water up. Ryo didn’t worry because all his work yesterday had instilled confidence in him.
He let his right hand hover over the tub and visualized. Each individual molecule whizzed around freely, vibrating. He imagined this happening to about half the water in the tub since he didn’t want the water getting hot enough to burn. Ryo did this a few times, immersing his hand in the water after every attempt to fine-tune the temperature as it steadily rose. Ten adjustments later and...the hot water was perfect.
“Woo-hooooo!”
He cheered, exuberant. His practice had been rewarded.
“Exhaustion is the root of failure. Don’t work so hard you tire yourself out.”
His dad’s motto. It was absolutely true, but...so difficult to put into practice.
Ryo slowly lowered himself into the tub, then reflected on his current situation. He still couldn’t use Water Jet as an attack. It took him minutes to freeze water. He also needed to determine whether or not he could make ice using only the moisture in the air.
Like any man, Ryo couldn’t stop thinking about how cool an ice spear would be. I’d hurl it through the air while shouting something like “Icicle Lance!” I really want to try that. First, I need to learn more about ice made from water magic. Then, once I can create ice quickly, I might be able to use it in confrontations against monsters.
Once Ryo finished bathing, he immediately went outside to the yard to test his ideas.
“Ice formed directly from the air! Ice Lens!”
An ice lens gradually took shape between his hands, same as the one he’d constructed during his fire-building attempts. It took five minutes to finish forming.
“So, it is possible to make ice straight from air. But it takes a long time, huh?”
Unlike yesterday, he didn’t need the bucket to accomplish his goal. Although Ryo wasn’t aware, this alone was quite the feat.
The ice lens wouldn’t melt as long as the user ran magic through it. Once the current of magic stopped, it would start melting like normal ice.
“I wonder if I can make it fly,” he muttered while staring at it.
Then he threw it.
Fwish, thud.
He flung the lens using only his physical strength. It flew up into the air in a parabola, then fell to the ground.
“Okay, so it doesn’t fly. I mean, it’s an ice lens, so of course it won’t fly!”
He didn’t speak his disappointment out loud, opting to instead keep it hidden in his heart.
Right, then. Next up was the long-awaited...ice spear. Icicle Lance.
“The ultimate ice attack magic!”
As always, the mental image was the most important. First, he visualized an icicle thirty centimeters long.
“Icicle Lance!”
An icicle started manifesting in his hand, but it took much, much longer than his second ice lens. Ten minutes passed. Then, after fifteen, it finally took shape.
“Excellent, just like I imagined. Now, fly!”
Fwish, thud.
“Ugh!”
The ice spear, just like the lens, flew forward in a short parabola before crashing to the ground.
“I pictured it flying much faster than that, but maybe...the image wasn’t strong enough.”
The Water Ball that shot out of his hand flew ten meters before falling, so why wasn’t the Icicle Lance taking to the air?
“Is it too heavy? No, that can’t be it given the Water Ball was as big as my head. I’d say they both weighed the same then. Ugh, I don’t get it. Maybe I will if I keep trying.”
After that, he repeated the spells more times than he could count.
“Water Ball.”
The time between chanting the spell and firing the magic also became much faster, probably thanks to repeated practice. It had taken about five seconds between spellcasting and activation the first time he tried, but he had gotten it down to one second over the dozens of attempts so far. His water balls went a lot farther now than the initial ten meters too.
As for its stopping power...it remained the same as the first one.
“Haaa. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, though I guess I wasn’t bad at Water Ball to start with. Now it’s time to try Icicle Lance to build on that progress. Just like I did with Water Ball, I’ll visualize the spear shooting out of my right hand.”
Ryo took a deep breath, let it out, then chanted.
“Icicle Lance.”
Fwish, thud. The moment it launched out of his hand, it dropped to the ground.
“Icicle Lance.”
Fwish, thud. He did it again and again with the same result.
“I shortened the amount of time it takes to generate the spear, so that’s progress... But why won’t it fly?”
He must have fired dozens out. Now, it only took him a minute between creation and launch.
And then it finally happened: his magical energy ran out, just like yesterday.
“Crud, I think I’m going to pass out.”
Ryo staggered to bed and once more succumbed to his exhaustion.
When Ryo woke up on his fourth day in Phi, he still couldn’t solve the mystery of the Icicle Lance. That morning, however, there was a more pressing problem: his empty stomach...
Thinking back on his time in his second life so far, he realized the only thing he’d eaten was dried meat. In fact, he was almost positive he’d only really eaten lunch these past few days. Though he wasn’t a glutton by any means, he was still a healthy nineteen-year-old, so it was only natural he felt hungry since he’d been eating less.
It would be ironic if he starved to death despite the two-month supply of food Fake Michael had arranged for him... He wondered how he’d face Fake Michael if he ended up reincarnated again.
First things first.
After opening the silo door, Ryo stepped inside to a space as cold as the interior of a freezer. It made sense since the walls were made of ice. He suspected water magic had been used, but...the ice Ryo had made started melting the moment he stopped pushing his magic through it. The ice walls of the silo, though, showed no signs of melting.
Did that mean Fake Michael’s magic worked all the way out here in this world? Or were these walls the embodiment of the unknown potential water magic had? Either way, he was fascinated. Eventually, he wanted to unravel the enigma of this structure as well. Be that as it may...he needed to satisfy his empty stomach first!