Fortune Favors (QQ Chapter 29)

I wipe my eyes as I step through a portal, a content smile on my face. 

Well, I might as well spend more of my skill tokens, then. 

I had been saving a few because I didn't know what worlds I was going to get, but My Hero Academia and Fallout don't really have much I would want to 'learn' exactly. 

So. That's four adept in total concentration breathing... and five in thunderclap and flash. 

My breath hitches for a moment before coming out calm and controlled. 

It's as if I switch gears in a car. One moment I was breathing normally, the next... total concentration breathing. 

It's not... effortless per-say. But it's close. 

I doubt I could keep it up if I went to sleep, but otherwise? I could probably keep it up as long as needed. 

My legs feel a bit sore, but otherwise I'm fine. It appears my binge-drinking had an effect on my body as well. That didn't hurt ANYTHING like it did last time... and I gave myself a good twenty-times the knowledge I originally gave myself. 

Now I just need to make my way over to Winterhold annnd- 

Is that a giant? 

In the distance, in a large field of what looks like cabbage. It appears to be fighting three people. A woman is stood back, shooting arrows into the large beast while a two men seem to be engaging it in melee. 

I can hear the giant roar from here as it is brought low with the slash from a greatsword. 

I wonder... 

It's well within my range. 

I slowly raise my hand, pointing a finger at the beast. A sharp bead of metal appears in front of my fingertip. An arrowhead. 

It begins to rapidly spin, I can hear the whirring of the air around it as it shakes slightly in a spiral pattern. "Bang" 

The arrowhead shoots forwards clearing the distance in under a second. The giant swats away the person who had chopped into its leg like they were trying to fell a tree. 

My attack passes cleanly through its eye. 

Well... 'cleanly'. There's quite a lot of gore as It falls backwards, landing with a thud that I can even sort of feel from all the way over here. 

"Huh." I mutter under my breath as I look to my hand. "Not bad... Not bad at all." 

I turn and disappear into a conjured pipe. 

[Split] 

I land in front of the steps leading up to the college proper, adjusting my clothes.  

"Faralda." I greet with a nod. 

"Ah Argo. Welcome." The woman replies as I briefly idle. 

"Anything new happening?" I question. 

"Well." She begins slowly. "We've got a few new students." 

"Oh? Any talent amongst them?" 

"I will admit, our new Khajiit student, J'zargo has the magical aptitude. He is already trying his hand at creating new spell scrolls which is as impressive as it is foolish." 

"Mh. Yeah. I can see how that'd be foolish. How long has he been learning?" 

"From what he said he had been studying on his own since he was just a boy." 

"Oh? Self-taught? And to catch your eye he must be quite impressive." I note. 

"Impressive? Perhaps. Arrogant? Absolutely." The elven woman sighs. 

"Has that Thalmor dickhead been causing any issues?" I ponder. 

"No. He has been... surprisingly tame... aside from pointed comments and being full of himself. He seems quite interested in the college's new method of enchanting." 

"Ah. So, the Thalmor are trying to steal your enchantment method. I see. Makes sense that they'd order him to not make enough of an ass of himself that you'd throw him out." I nod along. "I'm honestly surprised that I haven't met him yet- shit. Just jinxed it. Haaah. Probably going to meet him today, then." 

"What have you been doing this past month?" The woman asks. 

"Oh. I became an Alcoholic." 

"..." 

Pfft- I snort at the woman's stunned expression as I wave her off. "Just kidding. Though I have been drinking quite a lot of wine. I've been wandering. Training a bit. I learned a special form of magical dueling from back home called a 'Spell Card Duel'." 

The woman looks intrigued. "Spell... card duel?" 

"Oh. It's a form of magical contract. In which, between the two duelists, their spells are made to be 'nonlethal'. Sapping stamina and at worst bruising. The goal for a spell card duel isn't exactly to beat your opponent. It's to do it with style. This would be a basic 'flower' pattern that most people use." 

I conjure a small orb of magic atop my finger and flick it to the side, numerous smaller orbs are left in its wake, every now and then, more are shot forwards in a slight cone that speed ahead of the original orb. The line following it seems to curve slightly like a stem, but overall it's a very tiny and paltry showing compared to what can be seen in Touhou. 

I've got a few spellcards of my own, but they're more so means to an end. 

Spellcards can be lethal after all. It's just that if you do that in Touhou the Boogiewoman Yukari Yakumo comes out to play annnnnd probably cuts off your head- with you still alive- and dunks it into a sewer grate. 

I watch the extremely basic pattern slowly fade from the air. "Just imagine that, but... bigger." 

"That's not... a method of magic I've seen before." The woman cups her chin. "It's intriguing to look at." 

"The main aspect of this magic would be to create 'spell cards' which kind of act like batteries- sorry, magical containers for these costly- but impressive looking- patterns. A spell card also projects this sort of... pseudo-barrier around you that'll absorb some of your opponents attacks, potentially even breaking and ending your attack prematurely if they soak up enough damage." 

For my random expert mastery... I stuck it into touhou once more and as a result, I gained a little over thirty-one thousand hours of mastery in the skill... or more than ten years of training if all I was doing was figuring out how to fight with Danmaku for eight hours each and every day. 

"I've also collected a few more items which might interest Savos." I pull a cylindrical hilt from my sleeve, or rather the many tiny pipes I have strapped to my forearm within the loose sleeve. "I'm not selling this, but I'd imagine he'd want to take a look at it." 

"What is it?" The woman cocks her head to the side. 

I point it away from us and click a small button. 

PZZZEEEW 

A red laser sprouts from the tip, causing the woman's eyes to widen, eyebrows raising. 

"Beam sword." I smile proudly. 

"What- but- what even-" the woman sputters. 

I turn it off and slip it back into my sleeve. "It cuts through metal like a hot knife through butter. From what I could tell from a cursory glance, it's some sort of magical metal that produces a lot of heat which is focused through some sort of crystal. I'm not about to take it apart, though. I may never put it back together correctly."  

"Anyways, I'm going to go see Savos." I offer a wave. "Have a good day, Faralda." 

"You as well, Argo..." She sighs, shaking her head, likely wondering where the hell I keep getting all this weird shit. 

I make my way across the bridge, eyes skimming the surroundings. I can see students walking around in the frigid courtyard, quickly going from building to building. 

A smile works its way across my lips. 

"You there!" A pompous voice calls out, my steps don't falter as I continue to walk. Surely he's talking to someone else. 

"You in the strange clothing!" The voice demands. 

Ah... 

That... might be me. 

I turn, glancing over with a mildly annoyed look. "Are you speaking to me?" 

"Of course I am speaking to you!" A yellow skinned man in black and purple robes stalk forwards, they appear to be made of leather and from my senses are enchanted like most clothing mages wear. "I have recorded you entering the college often meeting with the archmage each and every time. I demand to know who you are! Are you a contact of the stormcloaks?!" 

"I'm a merchant..." 

"Ridiculous you have no wares. NOTHING!" 

"No wares... that you can see." I huff. "Bye." 

I turn and continue walking. 

"STOP RIGHT THERE!" The man shrieks. "You filthy stormcloak! In the name of the Thalmor I place you under arre-" 

"Tell me..." I hum, not even looking back at him. "Did you do anything to piss off Savos recently?" 

"Wh-" 

"Because I bet he's laughing his ass off right at this moment, wondering what I'll do to you if you were to actually try and attack me." 

I can feel magical energy gather. 

There's a crackle of electricity- 

A bolt of lightning is grounded as an illusionary- but made real- spire of copper shoots from the earth. 

My legs tense as a feral grin crosses my lips as fire crackles in the man's hands. "I invoke a spellcard duel." 

I disappear under the effects of 'Thunderclap and Flash', lunging to the side abruptly, I land upon one of the many pillars surrounding the courtyard crouching slightly as I instantly use the move again, quickly returning the way I had just left, moving past an orb of fire which the man had shot out. 

I stop next to him, hanging in the air as I hold out a hand towards his face. 

"Blast Sign: Chromatic Orb." 

A sphere of energy about six feet in diameter engulfs the man's entire body, the twisting ball of multicolored lights swirls and shifts in a weak strobing pattern. 

The ground is cratered, a high pitched crackle echoing out from the sphere as it seems to thrum with a deep base that causes my lungs to shake with each pulse. 

Eventually, after around five seconds the mana I had stored within the spell card bottoms out, so I decide to release it, revealing the high elven man standing there in tattered clothes, smoke spews from his mouth, his hair frazzled and patchy, his skin looks simultaneously sunburnt and like he has become the world's first sentient bruise. 

I turn and walk away, snapping my fingers, a golden light briefly flickering over him to ensure he won't die from his injuries. "Clean yourself up. You're embarrassing yourself." 

He falls forwards, thudding into the snow. 

Ah right. Danmaku moreso targets the soul of a person. 

He is UTTERLY unconscious. 

He couldn't be more unconscious. 

The god of unconsciousness could come down here and crack him over the head with a metal pipe and that'd still make him less unconscious than what I did to him right there. 

Maybe someone will drag him out of the cold before he gets Hypothermia or frostbite. 

I walk over to the man standing by the door to the main school building, giving him an unimpressed stare as some stray students here and there point and whisper. 

"So. Why'd you allow that farce to continue so long?" I ask as I cross my arms. 

"He tried to take some of the highly expensive wine you sold me." The man admits. 

"Ah. Death would be a mercy, then." I nod slowly, a smile slowly working its way across my lips. "But. It won't come to him... provided the college doesn't collectively decide to leave him out to catch hypothermia, at least." 

"Quite the interesting little spell you showed off there. I heard you talking to Faralda. Spell Cards? That sounds quite interesting." 

"It's the magic of my homeland. and is there anything you don't know about here?" 

"I have placed a ward around the school that alerts me should you show up." He announces. 

"Kind of creepy, but whatever. I've got some fairly interesting stuff today." 

"Ah. Like that weapon?" 

"None quite as cool, I'm afraid, but something that might advance ward magic if you can figure out the enchantment and apply it to your magic." I continue as we both begin walking up the stairs to his quarters. 

I reach into my sleeve and pull out the Phase saber. "Here. Careful where you point that. Push the little button on the side then slide it upwards. That's how you turn it on." 

He looks over the hilt of the blade for a moment before. 

PZZZEEEW 

The staircase is tinted red, I can see the man look over it in surprise. "You said it cleaves metal like a hot knife through butter?' 

"Yes I did." I confirm with a sole nod. "Fascinating sword, there. It has some sort of crystal focusing lens inside that keeps all of the heat contained in that vague cylindrical shape. 

A low hum leaves his lips. 

He points it at the stone wall... and promptly pokes it through. 

"You have no impuse control at all, do you." I deadpan. 

"Fascinating." He whispers as he pulls his hand back, looking at the orange hole to the outside that's dripping molten rock. Seemingly ignoring what I just said. 

He waves his hand, the hole quickly fixing itself. "That little damage is nothing a little advanced Alteration cannot fix. At higher levels it can even transmute silver into gold. Patching a hole that small is frankly nothing." 

"Wait wait wait. You can turn silver into gold?!" 

"Ah. Not as impressive or as helpful as that sounds, I'm afraid." He shakes his head, turning off the blade as we continue to climb. "Turning an item into something it's not, is highly energy intensive... I could manage it... if I really wanted... but even transmuting a bar of silver into gold, I'd completely exhaust my reserves... not to mention that spell is banned in all mages guilds in Tamriel due to the sheer chaos it could cause the economy." 

"Ah. Shame." I sigh. "That would have been helpful."  

"It would." The man notes. "But alas. It's not meant to be." 

We finish the flight, coming to the next in silence. 

"Oh, I've been meaning to ask but I keep forgetting. That transmuted copper, have you managed anything with it?" 

"Ah. The meadow metal? It was indeed highly receptive to enchantments. Almost as receptive as moonstone. It's a fascinating metal but without a method to reliably reproduce the ingredients needed, it's just a novelty. It's not that we didn't try... it's just we couldn't figure out how to grow the limited fruit you gave us." 

"..." 

"How much would you pay me if I managed to capture one of the plants the ingredients come from... alive?" 

"Hm?" The man hums. "I'd have to see the plants to gauge a real value but if I were to lowball it... one ebony per... if I'm right in thinking that these are as dangerous as Spriggan." 

"Oh. Almost certainly not. But they aren't native to the continent of Tamriel." I announce. 

The dark elf seems to think about it. "Does two ebony sound fine to you?" 

"That works for me." I agree. "I'll see if I can't grab a few for you." 

We arrive at his quarters, him offering the blade back to me.  

"As intriguing as this is, I doubt I'd be able to do much with it. It isn't large enough to place any true damaging enchantments on it and it isn't necessarily magic. Still something I'd like to have, but as you said... you don't want to sell it. Now, can you show me the other things you have brought?" 

I quickly swap out the phase saber for the ring. "This. Is a ring of counterspell." 

"A ring of counterspell?" The man echoes. "So... it counters magic?!" 

"Ah. With one big caveat." I cut in. "You cast a spell into this ring... then it counters one instance of that spell. Say for instance, sparks." 

I slip the ring on then hold my hand just over it, small arcs of electricity seem to get sucked into the gemstone. 

It glows brightly as I lower my hand. "Savos, if you would." 

He raises his hand, electricity streaking towards me. 

As soon as it makes contact, the line visible recoils, the archmage's hand moving back slightly as if he caught a baseball in it. 

He gazes down at his hand as I slip off the ring. "Huh. Now... that is interesting. A perfect dispelling. Does it just require knowing the spell? Just knowing how to use fireball is an entirely different beast than knowing how to perfectly dispel it. I can see the use. Are there any limitations? Can it only store one spell?" 

"Sadly yes, and there is a power limit to the spell you can cast in it, but it should hold adept spells easily."  

"two ebony." 

"Come now. If you manage to figure it out and improve the enhancement you might be able to apply it to wards. A ward that just flat out erases oncoming magic sounds far better than merely weathering it." 

"Ah, but the ring requires mastery in magic most people will not have, making it useless to the average person. You might have had a point if it was just a general spell storing ring, or perhaps some sort of magic resistance ring, but this ring requires you to know the spell you wish to counter. In addition, it requires you to prepare for a scenario that might not even happen to you. It has potential, yes, but it'll be a total loss if I can't gather anything from it... in addition, the enchanting method feels familiar to that bag you gave me previously so I likely won't learn much else from it in my search for endless enchantments." 

"Haah." I sigh before trying again. "Three?" 

"I could do three." The mage frowns stroking his chin. "Is this it or do you have anything else." 

I pull out a golden apple causing the man to flinch back slightly at the sheer magical aura it produces. "This is a golden apple. The skin outside is some form of softer gold... legitimate gold." 

"I see... and its effect?" He slowly asks after a moment. 

"Incredibly potent healing, damage resistance, and a temporary magical shield to hold off further damage. The healing lasts about a minute, I'm unsure if it'll regenerate limbs but the sheer scope of the healing it offers makes me assume that it may, The shield and damage reduction lasts about five minutes." 

"One Ebony." The man offers. "it is unlikely that I'll be able to find anything to do with it before it rots yet I'd still like to take a look. To have such potent magic within a simple apple. It's incredible." 

"Two. It won't rot until you break the skin. After that it has the same lifespan as a normal apple." 

The archmage's eyes narrow slightly, he lets out a small sigh. "Ever since you appeared, the college's budget has been growing smaller and smaller." 

"Oh! I must be doing a good job, then!" I smile brightly, causing the man to let out a single huff.  

"Let me go get you your ebony." 

[Split] 

I fly through twisting caverns, mildly secure in my power as I at least know how to use danmaku now. 

If I'll win in a danmaku battle? 

Unlikely. 

Danmaku is finnicky.  

By the nature of spell card duels each side has to leave at least a small chance for the opposing party to win. Which is why Sakuya doesn't stop time and slide a knife in between her opponent's ribs. Or why Yukari is theoretically beatable as she doesn't- not CAN'T, just doesn't- just manipulate the boundary between your life and death. 

So. 

Technically I could win. 

But my spellcards are pretty boring and uninteresting. 

I mainly made them for otherworld utility. 

They won't score me any points here in Gensokyo due to the sheer mundane-ness of them. But elsewhere? They're weapons. 

A spellcard is an incredible form of magic. Just imagine like... a soul-bound scroll. 

A re-usable scroll. 

You basically create a runic sequence that you can suspend for future use. 

Others may apply these runic sequences to their dolls. To their bats. Or to their little furnaces that shoot rainbow colored lasers, but most people just sort of apply them to their 'aura' like I did with Chromatic Orb. 

Chromatic Orb is currently my only real 'named' spell card. I have a few others, but they're all more or less just nameless offshoots and shotgun patterns. As for chromatic orb, It generates a fairly durable barrier around me while it's active, but I more or less just kind of wanted a big ball of death I could fling at people. 

Yep. I actually held back on Ancano. Realistically I could have shot it and had it blow up like a bomb. But that would have likely destroyed the entire college courtyard instead of that little crater I made. 

The color changing aspect is merely for cosmetic purposes. To try and score SOME points if I ever had to use it here in touhou. 

The spell card itself stores roughly eight times my total mana capacity. Recharging itself slowly by draining my reserves. 

If I really needed, I suppose I could dump more energy into it, but the current pace is reasonable enough, I suppose, it takes about a day to recover. 

Anyways. I am currently looking for someone. 

Deep within the caves. Quite close to 'Old Hell' where the Oni reside- I should swing by and visit Yuugi when I get done here- but for now I'm looking for a certain centipede to help me get some items I want from the mountains in Skyrim. 

Or rather, the dwemer ruin within skyrim. 

I asked around youkai mountain, looking for the girl in question, and thankfully I eventually found someone who knew where she was otherwise I probably would have been looking for a few more days at least. 

And thus, now... 

I fly through the twisting tunnels of youkai mountain. Looking for some random girl who may not even help me. 

I swear if I find out that person gave me wrong directions I'm going to beat his ass. He's not a woman so he's probably pretty weak. That's touhou logic. 

Said logic also applies to me. But if you REALLY think about it. Tube Foxes come in pairs and Tsukasa is an actual NAMED youkai that appeared in a touhou game. 

I'm like... half 'important' if you look at it that way. 

I say 'half important' because I don't want to call myself 'half girl' which while fucking funny is really emasculating. 

"..." 

"..." 

God, I hope I find who I'm looking for soon. I'm so bored. 

BOOM 

The cave shudders as I let out a shout, clutching my vulpine ears. 

'motherf-' I quietly seethe, eyes narrowing as I quickly fly into an illusionary pipe and begin to quickly look around. 

I dart through the tunnels, searching for the source of the noise... and I find it. 

A steel-blue haired girl tosses a stick of dynamite end over end, a bright fanged grin on her lips. 

Her hair is mildly spikey with a few unruly strands sticking up towards the front. Her skin is quite pale, she wears green clothes, a top and a skirt which leaves her stomach exposed, numerous green rings piercing through the edges of the cloth. 

On her arms and lets she has numerous orange ribbons, tied into bows. 

In her other hand she holds a gold pickaxe and a gold shovel. She stares at the wall- or at least what used to be a wall- excitement in her blue eyes.  

"Oooh what is it? What is it?!" 

She walks over, practically wiggling with excitement. It's quite adorable, actually. 

She sifts through the rubble of the wall she clearly had just blown up with dynamite, letting out a disappointed sigh as she doesn't seem to find anything. 

Momoyo Himemushi. The Dragon Eater Centipede. 

I sure hope I can convince her to dig stuff up for me. I'm kind of relying on the fact that she's an Oomukade as other than an opportunity to eat dragons I don't have much to offer her.