“Concentrate on the place, how it looks around there. That image can help you,” Nightmare stated, and I nodded, completing the teleportation matrix in my hands. With a flash of blue light, I found myself outside. After training my body for a short while, we both had realized I would not gain much more from training my body and switched back to training my magic as a result.
A moment later, I felt the pull of Nightmare’s summoning magic. The price I set was ‘a good reason’, something that could be overcome by enough mana, but the amount it would take, thanks to my status as a demi-god, was quite close to being astronomical.
‘Why would I answer this call?’ I asked, hearing Nightmare chuckle.
‘Because you’re in plain sight.’
A millisecond later, I stood in the basement again.
“Not a bad reason, right?”
I shrugged.
“Well, better than what most others would come up with. I couldn’t tell if you were just summoning me or restricting my abilities after being summoned, though,” I responded, and he nodded.
“That’s why we’re training. Has someone tried summoning you again?”
I shook my head.
“I could tell that some summoning ‘requests’ were floating through the void between worlds, but none were aimed at me.”
“Wait – why can you sense those, but are unable to tell the specifies of the spell used to summon you?”
I shrugged. “Probably some magic nonsense again. Also, you were, temporarily, the ruler of the dream world. That could affect this, too.”
“Whatever. I noticed you quit your job?” he then asked, changing the topic, not wanting to think about it.
“I did. I found an easier way to make money. I’m selling images of Celestia.”
“WHAT.”
“So, let me get this right. You use illusion magic to take on Celestia’s form – and then photograph yourself. Nothing ‘R-18’ or ‘R-16’, but still images that are, well, real. And you then run them through a filter making it look like they were drawn.”
I nodded.
“You know what? That’s… well, I guess it works.”
He then whirled around.
“But why don’t you take photos of the former ‘me’?!” he demanded to know, showing an echo of his former ego.
“Because if they suspect the images are real, there is a higher chance I’ll be seen as a cosplayer, were I to ever lose my disguise.”
Then, I shrugged.
“Also, I then got the idea to try painting.”
Nightmare slowly nodded.
“I have seen the colors you ordered, but always wondered what you were painting. Or where you stored the paintings.”
Pulling a painting out of the magic storage, I showed it to him. He quickly realized what it was.
“Okay, that’s genius.”
As the painting showed the landscape viewed from far above, giving it a surreal look. With my painting style being a bit unrefined, but for some reason, very detailed, it also adopted a slightly cartoonish look.
“You’re painting while flying?”
“Not exactly. When I took a look at the levitation spell, I realized there was a part in it to cancel out the force that would normally apply to you. Remember how I seemingly jumped off the air when we trained?”
“You removed the cancellation part. That means when you jumped off the ‘air’ you instead pushed away from the wall and as a result yourself?”
I nodded.
“Correct. Also, if you cast the spell in front of you, well…”
A blue shimmering disc came into existence, onto which I sat.
“It works as a platform to stand on or put objects on.”
“And then you simply paint up there. Also, I can tell that you have a lot in your magic storage, but what?” he then asked, tilting his head. Not sure myself, I took a look.
“Well… my painting stuff, a few books on material arts I bought on your insistence, the short guide to necessary spells you wrote, the piece of wood with the illusion spell that’s not working correctly, some food from last week – seems like time is stopped in here since it’s still good – some writing utensils and my smartphone, which weirdly enough shows the correct time despite seemingly being frozen in time.”
I then blinked, looking deeper.
“I almost forgot, there is the armor you originally wore, as well as a big scythe I’m seeing for the first time now.”
Nightmare shrugged.
“Something a follower gave me. Non-mana weapons usually break quickly, but you should be able to use it to hide your abilities.”
I took it out and did a few practice swings. I could use it, but I could also tell that Nightmare never used it; it felt unfamiliar. Nonetheless, it seemed like my body had experience with scythes, just not this one.
“Can this be enchanted?”
“Yes, but I never bothered. If you do decide to enchant it, it would become quite powerful, though. There is one enchantment on it already, a restoring enchantment. No matter how damaged the scythe is, it will repair itself within a day.”
“Considering how you said you expect materiel weapons to break, could it be that this scythe was meant to be used as a first-strike weapon?”
“Could be. Do you remember the spell for enchanting yet?”
I shook my head.
“Only mostly. I have looked at a few interesting spells after I had reached the point of at least casting the basic spells we spoke about, but for some reason, it seems like the enchanting spell just called out to me. I have a feeling that even incomplete, I could cast this spell.”
Tilting his head, Nightmare teleported away and returned with a wooden sword back a second later.
“Try,” he said, throwing the sword to me. I caught it in my levitation, with no intention of picking splinters out of my fur.
“Wood? Isn’t that one of the worst materials to enchant?”
“Well, not really. The material only affects the number of enchantments possible on an item, as well as its durability, not the effect the actual enchantments have on it. As such, it’s perfect practice material.”
“I see,” I responded, building the enchantment matrix, before thinking for a moment.
The enchantment I tried to apply in the end was a spell to turn the wood into steel while mana was channeled into it. The enchantment matrix failed, but I then remembered that iron and steel could have negative impacts on magic, so I tried to make it temporarily turn into copper, which worked.
Interestingly, the enchantment matrix completed itself, making it clear that this was considered part of my ‘natural’ abilities.
“I see. Enchantments seem to be your ability.”
To give a bit of context, the abilities that should naturally come to Nightmare – turning into smoke, and precise control over illusions, as well as dream magic – I could use easier as well, but it felt wrong for some reason. As if it wasn’t meant to be mine.
“A good chance. Can you give me a list of all enchantments?”
Nightmare nodded.
“I am working on a list of all those things that you don’t need to train, just to know. For example, potions or rituals. You just need to do them by the book, you don’t need to have experience with them. The enchantments you apply are created by imagining the effect you want. It’s a good idea for training but remember that doing it this way increases the mana cost and decreases the number of enchantments you can place on an object. Many spells can be completed by allowing magic to do it, but it is really energy-intensive.”
“True. Completely building the enchantment matrix would help, in that case.”
Nightmare nodded, but I continued before he could say anything.
“When we’re already on the topic… can you store enchantments? In gems or the like, to then put them on another object later?”
He shrugged.
“Well, there would come up one of two problems. If you do the enchantment with only a light binding, the first object touching it gets enchanted. Or, if you do the binding stronger, someone has to manually transfer the enchantment.”
“I see…”
Nightmare walked away, then came back with a folder filled with printouts.
“I already prepared this, in case you get whisked away before we can do much else,” he stated, handing it to me. I nodded, putting it in my magic storage.
“Ah, on that topic? I believe the shield you placed on me to protect me from getting summoned to Equestria has been weakened.”
He scowled.
“Dammit! That is a one-time shield, as all the energy used in tries to summon you accumulates. The only thing that can stop you from getting summoned after it’s high enough is being summoned elsewhere, so that you are already summoned and therefore unavailable.”
I blinked.
“How much time do I have?”
“A few weeks, with bad luck, and a few months with good one. The big problem here is that you would get summoned to be ‘Nightmare Moon’ which would bind you for years, if not decades or centuries. And I don’t doubt that Luna will eventually realize someone is trying to summon you and in turn do it herself to trap you.”
“I don’t want to be stuck there as you!”
“Eventually, you will.”
I sighed; I knew he was right. I also suspected I would eventually end up in Equestria when I initially agreed to his offer.
“In any case, I believe you know more than enough to at least protect you and deliver a severe beating to most opponents. I wrote down a lot of spells as well, but I believe you would be better off just perfecting the spells you know. Oh, another thing. You can travel to Eques on your own volitation, which would clean out the energy stacking up on the shield – but at the very least, Luna would be aware of you.”
Nightmare sighed.
“Being on Eques would make it possible for you to refuse most, if not all, summoning attempts, but your location would be shown to anyone who can sense magic each time it is attempted. In exchange, all the energy accumulated on the shield would fall off, thanks to you being where it wants you. I’d recommend jumping to Eques for a day or two every time the shield is weakened by more than half, it’s the least risky option.”
“Then let’s do that.”