Using Illusions For Practice
Using illusions would be good practice for Luchila as well.
The children were panting as I turned to them.
“Nia, children. An illusion of a strong enemy is about to appear, so I want you all to fight it together.”
“Okay. I’ll do my best!’
“Yes!”
They answered enthusiastically. But it didn’t seem like they understood.
Most of them had probably very little exposure to illusions.
I moved away from them and approached the chiefs who were watching.
“Alright, I’m going to do it!”
Just as Luchila said this, her presence suddenly became very thin.
She was using concealment magic.
And then a lesser vampire appeared in front of the children.
Even the chiefs who had been watching leisurely looked shocked for a second. Some even touched their swords.
That’s how good Luchila’s illusions were.
But I said to them,
“Don’t worry. It’s an illusion for practice.”
“What! An illusion? But it is so clear…”
“It’s my apprentice, Luchila’s special skill.”
“I see… I very much thought an actual lesser vampire had appeared.”
“Even Mister Locke’s apprentices are powerful.”
They were very surprised.
Danton muttered.
“Even after hearing that it is an illusion, it still looks like a real lesser vampire to me.”
“Right? I myself learned to use illusions from Luchila.”
“She taught even you…”
While I talked with the chiefs, the children began to attack the illusion.
In spite of their shock, they quickly moved in to attack.
“Even when they are so young, they are warriors of the beastkin tribe. Their movements are impressive.”
“You flatter us.”
“No, I am not. Now, when they are done, I think I will have Shia train like this as well.”
“You’re going to call out a lesser for them too?”
“No, Shia and Serulis are strong. We will make them fight a lord.”
“What”!
The chiefs could also hear what Danton and I were saying.
And so they would not be too shocked if a lord appeared now.
Still, I decided to explain it to them.
“When this is finished, I’m going to have a vampire lord illusion appear.”
“A lord. That is…amazing.”
“Only Mister Locke would do such a thing.”
“I’ll let you know when we use illusions next time.”
“Thank you.”
I did this, just in case a real vampire happened to appear during training.
If they thought it was an illusion, it would delay their response time.
And so it was important that they knew in advance.
Once I told them this, I walked over to Shia and Serulis.
“Shia, Serulis. You two can continue your training when the children are finished.”
“Yes! Thank you!”
“I’ll do my best!”
“You two must work together.”
“Yes!”
“Leave it to us!”
They were very excited.
On the other hand, Grulf was still following me as I walked. He would sit down politely whenever I stopped.
This was unusual because he usually could not stop running around.
“Grulf, do you want to train too?”
“Grrr?”
Apparently, not.
Eventually, the children were finished.
They had succeeded in defeating the illusion.
That being said, illusions could not be defeated by traditional means.
Luchila had watched the children carefully and added damage when appropriate.
I rushed towards them.
First, I asked Nia and the children,
“How was it?”
“It was really strong, but we managed to beat it. Would a real fight be like this?”
“Yes. Luchila is very good at recreating things.”
“Miss Luchila, thank you so much!”
They bowed and thanked her. Luchila looked a little embarrassed.
I turned to her.
“Luchila. That was very good.”
“Thank you.”
“I want to ask you to do an arch vampire next. Can you do it?”
“I can recreate an arch vampire quite accurately, but I don’t have much experience with anything above a lord.”
“I see. That’s wonderful.”
“Groof-groof!”
Grulf barked as Luchila petted him.
I left then and whispered to the children.
“I’m going to bring out a lord now. Watch as Shia and Serulis fight it.”
“Okay!”
They said with eyes full of expectation.
I glanced over to Shia and Serulis. They were laughing about something.
They didn’t know that their training was about to start.
I created the vampire lord so as to catch them both off guard.
This was practically my finest illusion.
Even if you knew it was an illusion, it was hard to not see it as real.
“Wha…”
“How…”
The chiefs gasped in disbelief.
Even though I had given them fair warning, they were unsheathing their swords.
I was quite satisfied that I had made something that was so believable.
“Ah!”
The children raised their voices in a scream. Even they were shocked.
As for Shia and Serulis…
“Hyaaaa!!”
“ARGHH!”
They charged at it before the vampire lord even had time to move.