Chapter 19: Is That Possible?

On the estate grounds.

Gathered around Caleb were his parents, his two sisters, Alex, his assistants and the commander knights. 

"Have you completed your research?" Elina asked. She was the youngest of three siblings. Both she and Renita had been back for three weeks now.

"You wouldn't be here if I hadn't." Caleb said with a smirk. He enjoyed teasing her. It had become one of his favourite pastimes. 

"Hmph! A simple yes would have suffice." She harrumphed with a pout on her lips. Selina just observed their banter with a small smile.

"Caleb, begin your demonstration." His father went ahead to prompt him to begin. From what Caleb had told them earlier, this ability of his could change how magic is wielded or at the very least, improve it.

"Right!" Clearing his throat, Caleb began, "In this demonstration, I would make use of flight magic. As you all know, when mages reach a certain stage of mana capacity, they can take flight. While this is convenient for easy travel, it consumes a large amount of stored mana. This renders it unsustainable for long flights." 

Everyone nodded in understanding and waited for him to continue. "Additionally, the speed of flight among such mages isn't very fast. At most, they can fly just as fast as they could move which makes the consumption of mana even worse. The magic I have designed solves both problems." Reaching this point, he raised two of his fingers, emphasizing his point.

"Is that even possible? Without mana, the flight cannot be possible and it's not like people haven't already developed flight spells, they just weren't good enough" Renita asked the question that was on everybody's mind. 

"We are about to find out," Caleb said with visible excitement on his face. As a person from Earth and someone who enjoys watching animes and reading novels, Caleb has more than once dreamt of taking to the skies. And today he was finally about to achieve what millions of fans wished for. To say he was excited was an understatement.

He closed his eyes and spread his arms out. Silently, he cast the flight spell and he floats above the ground. Everyone stared at him with expectations. He opened his eyes again and said to them, "Watch closely..."

~WHOOSH~

~BOOOOOOM!~

One moment, Caleb was floating before them and the next, they heard a loud sound above. Everyone raised their heads and stared at Caleb as he disappeared above the close. The speed of his ascent was mind-boggling, awe-inspiring, sensational!

"Unbelievable..." Muttered one of the commanders. His utterance expressed the shock everyone was feeling. They had never seen anyone take flight that fast! They stared in amazement as they saw Caleb descend before flying towards the city with another loud sound explosion.

~BOOOOOM...!~

Caleb was all smiles during the flight. From the moment he had set foot in this world, flying was one of the things he absolutely had on his to-do list. And now, finally flying through the skies at insane speeds, Caleb couldn't help but exclaim in excitement.

"Woho!...." From above, he could see the estate and the town a few kilometres away. He flew by the town within minutes and returned to the estate.

~WHOOSH!~

Caleb stopped abruptly and landed before everyone. Still with a grin on his face, he asked, "So what do you think?" 

Elina, the most excited about this new magic asked, "Can anyone be able to use the magic?" This question was the most important to her. As flight was a privilege for mages at a certain level, those outside that level could not fly. But Caleb had made a point about how his spell covers those limitations.

"Of course. But it will still require my aid to implement the technique. This spell is unlike anything you know. The spell was designed to be integrated into the body of the user. This allows the user to manipulate the air currents and pressure to generate lift, balance weight, and reduce the drag forces. From there, you use just a bit of mana to thrust, thus allowing flight."

While Caleb found this explanation simple and precise, everyone else just stared at him strangely. Realising the look on their faces, Caleb noticed where he had gone wrong. While the concept of forces was known to the denizens of this world, that was only through speech.

Science was pretty much nonexistent. With magic making it easier to do work, there was no need to actively carry out scientific research. Space magic however was an exception. Tough space magic required careful and precise applications of its laws, its demand for high energy made it difficult for anyone to have interest.

"Sorry, what I meant was that I'd have to ingrain the spell into the body of the person." Caleb summarised with a sheepish grin. While this was mostly what was required, Caleb did not mention that the reason he was the one to implement the spell was for him to genetically make some changes. Without a strong body, the speed of flight could rip their skins off!

"The spell can indeed be a great asset to the kingdom." Duke Zane was already seeing the military applications of the spell. If such a spell could be ingrained into his men and the forces of the kingdom, warfare could be changed significantly. Espionage can also be optimized if the agents can escape that fast.

Thinking thus far, the duke realised it was time Caleb returned to active duty. He still needed to brief him about his commitment to the kingdom and what he was doing before, but with the explosive growth of Caleb in these past months, the duke was certain nothing could hurt him.

"Was that everything?" Selina asked at this point. While the spell was impressive to her, she wasn't much of a flight enthusiast. She also understood that a spell like that would most likely be used by mages for fighting. 

"There's actually more but I have to do some tests before unveiling them." Caleb replied. The spells he designed and created mostly had combat applications to complement the enhanced abilities he had unearthed.