The Water Magician (水属性の魔法使い)

Water, come forth.

THE WATER MAGICIAN

What is this place?

Don't worry. It isn't the afterlife.

You are Ryo Mihara, yes?

Uh-huh. What's going on?

Perfect. What a relief.

It's been far too long since I've had a visitor.

I have bad news.

Unfortunately, you passed away in an accident,

Right. I remember that.

So does that mean you're God?

No. I'm not.

To put things as simply as possible,

I believe you'd classify me

as something more akin to an angel

than what you would call God.

In that case,

I suppose I'll call him Fake Michael for now.

I get that I'm being reincarnated.

But what am I supposed to do once I start my new life?

By all means, live as you like.

As I understand it,

you're not being sent with any particular agenda in mind.

There's no mission or quest that you need to complete.

I can do whatever I want?

Hmm.

Then I guess I'd prefer it

if I had a slow and relaxing life.

I'm sure you'll get used to it in no time,

but the world you'll be reincarnating into

is one full of magic.

- - We've dubbed it "Phi."

In this world,

roughly 20% of humans can cast spells.

It's been decided

that the element you'll be most compatible with is water.

Since you've requested to have a "slow life,"

we'll have you reincarnate in the Forest of Rondo.

Don't worry, you'll find a house

and two months' worth of food waiting for you there.

An icehouse for food storage?

I bet this is powered by magic, too.

By the way, monsters will avoid the immediate area

around your house.

You can think of it as a kind of barrier.

A beginner's Monster Compendium?

I've never seen the language before,

but I can read it.

Same for this Flora Compendium.

Water, come forth.

Aqua!

H2O!

As long as I imagine it.

Looks like I don't need to vocalize anything.

But it's way less cool

if I don't actually say an incantation.

The water's only lukewarm.

And here I was hoping I'd get a chance

to enjoy a nice hot bath again.

I was really looking for to it.

Oh, well.

I give up.

Nothing I've tried is working.

Wait a minute.

Freeze!

This is harder than I thought.

Making ice should fall within the water element, right?

Oh, man, I'd love to learn a spell like "Ice Spear!"

I need to compress the water while removing its heat.

Picture all the atoms that make up each H2O molecule.

I need to create a crystalline structure.

If I can just connect the hydrogen atoms

to the adjacent oxygen atoms.

That's a win for me.

Thank goodness I still remember chemistry class.

Now I can shape the ice to suit my needs!

There we go!

I'd say that was a productive first day

after being reincarnated.

I should be able to use what I learned

making ice to heat up water, too!

Magic sure makes life easy.

Now then, I've still got plenty of stuff to do tomorrow!

Michael mentioned that I only had

two months of food in storage here.

Which means I'll have to go out and forage for food

once I start running low on provisions.

The woods lie outside the barrier,

so I might run into monsters.

I doubt a single knife will be enough.

I'm gonna need to learn offensive magic.

If I want my slow life to be safe and secure,

I'd better start practicing!

Go, Water Ball!

Nice! I managed to cast my first attack spell!

Although, it's lacking a bit of power.

Well, I wasn't expecting much anyway.

That said, I still have a trick up my sleeve.

If Water Ball isn't enough,

then it's up to Water Jet to finish things!

Narrow the output,

imagine a thin, high-velocity stream, go!

I suck.

So, one problem,

I don't know the first thing about using magic.

Imagination is the foundation of magic.

- Water Jet! - Clearly picture what you want in your mind,

then slowly work to make it reality.

Hmm. I'm able to put more force into it now.

Great.

Seems I was right

about reversing the ice making process

to heat water! Bath time just got easier!

It's way too hot!

Forming ice from the humidity in the air.

It's a pretty slow process, but now that I know it's doable,

I can start experimenting a little.

Next up, the main reason I wanted to learn ice magic.

Fly, Icicle Lance!

Strike down my foe!

Oh! Seems ice is harder to project forward than water.

Given how hard it is to conjure and how limited the range is,

I'm starting to doubt how practical

it'll be in combat.

But for now, I'll just keep on practicing.

Man, I feel lightheaded.

Is it because I overused my mana?

Oh, yeah. Duh.

I guess I can't make a fire when the sun isn't out, huh.

Icicle Lance!

All right!

Looks like I've finally gotten to the point

where I can form them instantly.

They are still not much of a projectile, though.

Now then, it's time to venture forth

and leave the barrier!

Bingo!

This is quartz!

I expected I'd find some along the riverbank.

And with it...

I can start a fire even after the sun goes down!

Once I collect some detoxifying herbs,

today's adventure will be a success.

Hmm?

Hold on, that's a lesser boar!

This is bad.

Move. Come on. Move, move, move!

- -

I can't get away.

But in this world, I have magic!

Ice Bahn!

Icicle Lance Sixteen!

I really beat it.

Lesser boars are listed

as one of the weakest kinds of monster.

Didn't seem that weak to me.

This Monster Compendium is for beginners,

but the last two pages look kind of special.

"Dragons. A single dragon

is capable of destroying entire cities with ease."

Whoa! "Note, if you encounter one, you should flee."

"That said, escape is highly unlikely."

Yeah, that makes sense. It's an instant game over.

"Akuma. Beings wholly distinct from fallen angels."

"Their origins are unknown."

"Note, pray you never encounter one."