Black Widow System Reincarnation

Practice

The next day, Lilu woke feeling refreshed. She did not waste a single moment and hurriedly got dressed and left the room. It was still early and she didnt want to bother the others. Today she wanted to go test out a few things. She called a ride share, and after a moment it picked her up and wizzed into the air.

Flying over the city for only a brief moment, then coming down to land near the academy in the southern side of the city. Lilu thanked the kindly old driver before leaving and walking up to the main building. She didnt know where she would have to go, but was determined. The Academy opened its practice ranges to the public for the couple of weeks before the Entrance Exams. Lilu didnt think it would be a good idea to go around casting attack magic in her room. The Academy also knew most people couldnt practice their bigger spells or moves without a dedicated space.

The Exams consisted of a written portion to test each persons basic knowledge of their preferred class, and then a practical portion where they got to show off their abilities. For the fighter class this was done in the way of a tournament. For Casters it was a spell display where they got to show off their best spell. For Rogues it was an obstacle course laid out with targets that was timed and scored, and if you managed to make it all the way through the course, you had to fight the last person to make it through. At the end of the exams, there was the Grand Battle Royale, this would determine the pecking order for class assignments and teachers. The students who could last till the end would be put with the best teachers, while those who were knocked out would be put with the appropriate teacher based on when they were knocked out of the fight.

There was one extra rule to the Battle Royale, and this was one the stronger students would a***e, If someone was knocked out of the fight within the first 60 seconds, regardless of their performance on the rest of the exam, they would instantly be refused admittance. Those more powerful and vindictive students would target someone they didnt like and remove them within the first 60 seconds to ruin their attempt to enter. If someone failed to enter the Academy 3 times, they would be barred from ever being allowed to go there.

Lilu's purpose for coming here was to learn to cast her Magic Bullet the traditional way. She also wanted to test some ideas on some of her spells.

Walking up to the large main building, it looked like some ancient roman structure with huge white columns standing guard across its front. The main doors were massive, over 40 feet tall and 20 feet wide each. They seemed to be made of bronze with some other metals laid into it. The design on the door was striking. It depicted the different classes each displaying their prowess in a way that only a true artist could do. It almost looked like someone had taken the cover of some comic book from the other world and recreated it in metal to place on these doors. The designs were striking and exaggerated, with the perspective also exaggerated to give some flair to the moves of each of the still figures. There were multiple fighters across the bottom, battling different beasts, Rogues were littered across the surface in the center performing acrobatics and attacks, and at the top was a line of casters, each displaying the power of a different element unleashing their fury at each of the borders of the doors.

To say casters enjoyed a better life than the rest wouldnt be too far off. Because of their abilities and spells many would be able to quickly find good employment with a high salary. Some of the less adept Casters could learn enchanting and alchemy and go to work in the production and research fields. Fighters would gravitate towards the many mercenary groups and the Inquisition. While Rogues were a wild guess where they would end up with many areas needing their skills. This wasnt to say that the other classes wouldnt be able to succeed, but that the path to success for casters was a little easier. With the Rifts bringing unknown creatures and sights to their world, the number of private companies looking to exploit them had also risen. The demand for all of the classes in combat ready form had increased exponentially.

Royal Crystal Academy, or The Academy, was the most prestigious and renowned Academy known on the 5 continents. It had produced everything from Platinum Crested Eagle Inquisitors, to Renowned Researchers, and even a few fighting champions. It was also over 500 years old, having a long standing history in this world. When the rifts had first started opening, the Academy quickly changed its pace from a purely academic facility into a more combat oriented training curriculum. The Entrance Trials as they were known, came from this transition, and had evolved into what they are today. The only thing that had remained the same for these past 10 years was the Grand Battle Royale.

Lilu could feel the heritage of this place as she strode through the entrance in her red top with white pants. Her hair was pulled back into a pony tail and hung behind her head. She had tossed on some white tennis shoes as well. Even with her thrown together getup, she still caught a few men oogling her as her curves were plenty on display in the tight fitting garment. However, for her, instead of feeling the usual confidence that it gave her, some of them made her skin crawl, as if she would prefer if they would turn their lecherous eyes away.

She quickly made her way to the counter and smiled as she greeted the attendant "Hello, I would like to use the practice range, and was wondering if there were any available spots left?".

The brown haired, plain looking attendant with thick rimmed glasses looked at her and smirked. "And what are you going to be practicing? the yoga room isnt open to non academy members."

Lilu twitched at this but tried not to let the girl get under her skin, she leaned in and grinned with those flush red lips of hers "I need a caster range", letting the words drip out with a bit of venom behind them.

The brown haired attendant stopped and looked the girl up and down before putting on a quizical look. "You are a caster?  And you can actually cast spells?" still not believe the Rather Small, yet well proportioned blonde before her.

Lilu felt the annoyance building "Yes I can actually cast spells...." she retorted. Really, she could only cast one spell the traditional way right now. That is why she needed the range!

After a bit of back and forth, Lilu used a trick she had come up with last night, and channeled mana to each of her finger tips and cast 10 light spells simultaneously. By drawing the spell with each finger tip by moving her hand in the pattern, and then placing each finger tip in the center, 10 tiny little light spells appeared at the same time.

The attendant was flabbergasted. She had cast 10 spells at one time! most people stuggled to cast 2 spells simultaneously, let alone 10!!

Lilu had no idea that her little display had caught the attention of a few people in the lobby. She was unaware how difficult the little trick she performed would seem. To her, all she had to do was channel the mana properly, and then draw the spells. The problem with casting multiple spells at once was the verbal component, most people had to learn to split their thinking from their speech so they could perform one spell in their head, while the other was done verbally. Even casting two light spells required this.

Lilu on the other hand had Alice. She didnt know it, but part of her little trick was because of her. Alice allowed her to split her intent multiple times over without the need for mental strain. She didnt know it, but this would become one of her largest abilities.

After the display, Lilu waved at the shocked stiff attendant "Hello? can I get onto the range now?" and waved in a hand in front of her face.

The attendant came to, and quickly checked her display, "Yes, Position 3 is open, What is your name?"

Lilu smiled at her "It is Lilu"

The girl nodded and wrote the name down on the pass before looking up again "I will also need you to scan your id" and pointed to a little pad on the counter.

Lilu took out her cell and waved it over the pad. Her ID popped up on the girls display and was saved to the lane. before she handed her the pass "To get to the range, go that way, turn left, go out the big doors, and you will see the range in front of you.

Lilu followed her direction, and when she crossed the threshold of the final doors she was greeted with an amazing sight. In front of her were 3 large fields each with different back drops at their end. They were spread out and each went into a different direction.

The Rogues range had three parts. There were two obstacle courses, and a large area split into a ranged weapons range and a fighting ring.

The Fighters range had many fighting rings with a ranged weapons range in the back.

In the center was the Caster range. It was divided into multiple rectangular parts spread out across the entire area. Each rectangle was surrounded with a golden glowing field that shielded the others from the forces inside. In the far back were three massive circles covered by huge domes. Lilu could see different elements erupting from the various domes as it seemed some spars were going on. She figured she would check that out later.

She made her way over to her designated space, when she stepped into the rectangle the golden field activated and secured her inside. She glanced at the field and tried to put her hand through it, and to her astonishment it passed easily through. She then pulled her hand back and tried flicking the barrier. When she did that, the surface seemed to solidify and make a ting sound at the impact of her fingertip. She wondered what kind of barrier this was and decided she would look into it later.

She quickly turned around and got to work after noting the barrier. She pulled up the scry for the magic bullet in her vision, and then began to slowly perform the motions. After a moment the full scry was visible in the air. She then made her hand into the shape of a g*n, and pointed it at a target. She had learned last night that the scry would follow her hand if her intent was not in creating the magic path. When she chose her target, she said the activation word "Bang!" and a small magic bullet shot out and hit the target at the end of the area.

Lilu smiled and did a little jump for joy. After her brief celebration she began to try and create the scry faster. After about an hours worth of practice, she had managed to get her casting time for the regular magic bullet down to about 3 seconds, as the scry was simple, a circle with a cross at its center like a target, and then the hand pointing like a g*n to direct the spell with the activation word to fire it. Lilu had also found out that changing the angle of the crosshairs changed how the bullet reacted. She did this while trying to hurriedly create the bullet and had messed up the positioning of the crosshairs making more of an awkward X than a cross shape. The bullet had actually wized up and off to the corner of the target taking an arcing path instead of straight.

Lilu played with this a little until she could successfully curve a bullet like she had seen in a movie in her previous life. After that she tried creating multiple bullets by using different fingers. What she learned then was that even though she could create the scry for multiple at the same time, she could still only shoot one at a time. And Oddly enough after she successfully created 5 at once, when the scry was finished and she made the shape of a g*n with her hand, the 5 circles moved in the air and positioned themselves around the tip of her finger like the chambers on a revolver.  When she would cast one, it would fire off and the remaining paths would move into its place.

With this information she wondered what would happen if she did it with both hands. She decided to try it. After a few failed attempts she managed to complete the scry with all 10 fingers. When she pointed both of her hands, the mana paths moved and formed the same positioning in front of both hands, essentially giving her two mana bullet "guns" to shoot. She positioned them both and began to quickly activate and fire each of the bullets in succession.

Lilu hadnt noticed, but a few of the other casters nearby her had stopped what they were doing and were starring with gaping mouths in pure shock at what she was doing. To Lilu this seemed like a simple thing, as she had put 10 skill points into the magic supporting skills giving her the worth of 10 continuous years of practice in each of them. Most of these casters had only been practicing for 4-6 years at the most, based on when their magic activated. Most casters activated their magic during puberty, Lilu getting hers at 17 was actually considered a late bloomer.

To them, this girl who seemed younger then most of them was showing a skill that none of them could even contemplate let alone attempt to try! Casting 10 Energy Bullets at once! and not only that, not one of them seemed to misfire! Usually a misfire was what an poorly scryed spell was called when activated. Technically Lilu curving those bullets was a controlled misfire of the bullet spell.

After Lilu figured she had practiced the energy bullet to a point where she could cast it fairly easily, she decided to move on to the lightning claw spell. She wanted to master each of her root spells before she ever moved on to more complex spells.

Lilu did take some of the things she had learned with the light spell and attempted them on the lightning claw spell. She did the spell the first time exactly as it was shown, it produced a small 3 inch electric claw on one of her fingers. When she saw this, and remembered the pure ferociousness of the spell she used to s*******r "Ryan", she was really let down.

This simple little claw however seemed to jolt her new spectators again! She could practice 2 elements? Most Casters activated only a single element at first, and had to progress in the spell tree till their mana could sustain a second element. Some elite casters would activate with the ingrain knowledge of multiple elements, but most of the time it had to be painstakingly taught and worked for.

Lilu didnt know this either, and was still oblivious to the gawking faces around her. It wasnt that she didnt have the capacity to pick up on it, but that she honestly just didnt care to put the effort into keeping her awareness open at this point to notice. And that is when she did her little experiment. She drew the normal scry for the lightning claws longer and a little thicker, and put some extra zig zags in the lightning at its center, there was no activation word for this one, you had to instead s***h your finger across the scry to activate it.

This time when Lilu swiped her hand across the modified mana path, the claw that formed was larger, and seemed to be a bit more vicious than the previous little claw. If her spectators thought that was crazy enough, their minds were about to be blown. She dispelled the big claw, and then set about multi casting it. She used her hand and intent to draw 5 mana paths simultaneously in the air, when she clawed her hand across it, the lightning claws appeared on each of her digits. This was the claws she remembered from that time.

Lilu thought then "Wait, didnt I use my feat to create the giant claws?"

Alice knowing her thoughts replied "Yes you did, your feats allow you to do things innately that would normally take many years of practice to be able to accomplish just one of them. and even then with minimal results. Sis..... What you have just done..... You just innately changed the mana path to create the same spell as the standard feat activated spell!!!! WOW!!!!!"

Alice's surprised voice seemed to make Lilu feel a little giddy. She could alter her spells the traditional way and not have to spend soul energy? This was amazing! Now she could save up for some really good items.

While Lilu had this internal conversation, a crowd had gathered outside of position three. Many Casters were standing there mouths wide open. A couple of the teachers from the school were also there, also equally as shocked!

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A little ways away, sitting on the roof of another building overlooking the ranges, a man sat reading a newspaper and holding a cup of coffee, a smile could be seen forming on his face "Oh what do we have here, you seem extra special....".

The man flicked his gloved hands and the coffee cup and newspaper dispersed in a puff of smoke. he stood up from his chair and waved his hand and the table and chair also vanished in smoke. He pulled out his phone and when the voice on the other side answered his call he said "I think I have found another one, Sending you a picture." he hung up the phone then , opened an option on it and then the screen magnified all the way down to the field to a close up of Lilu with the giant lightning claws on her hand. He snapped the picture and sent it away.