Elemental Shot

Element Shot

Difficulty: 1 out of 3
Mana Cost: 1 out of 3

The most basic “elemental spell” usable after forming a contract with a spirit. If one has a contract with a fire spirit, then it will release searing flames. If a water spirit, then it will produce a torrent of water. If a wind spirit, then it will cause a fiercely blowing sharp gale. If an earth spirit, then a pillar of massive rocks will stick out of the ground. In this manner, it's a spell for conjuring and releasing the elements of the natural world corresponding to the attribute of the contracted spirit, so we can say it's an elemental magic version of “mana shot (p.41)”.

The mana employed when using magic is normally a mass of pure energy that has no form or substance. Therefore, when using flame magic with “mana shot”, which is archaeomancy, one must definitely imagine flames and it is necessary to give the mana the nature and shape of flames using a spell formula and incantation. On the other hand, the fire elements that dwell within a fire spirit are themselves “fire”. Therefore, when using flame magic with “elemental shot”, it isn't strictly necessary to imagine flames, and it will already be a flame spell just by releasing the mana. Flames conjured using fire elements are fundamentally even stronger than flames conjured using ordinary mana.

On top of that, since the spell formula and incantation needed to make flames can also be abridged, it's possible to use magic with stronger effects more easily. However, with elemental magic, only the element corresponding to the contracted spirit can be utilized. It's impossible to conjure water using fire elements. Also, spell effectiveness may vary depending on the spirit's mental state and the density of elements in the land, so it's inferior to archaeomancy in terms of stability and accuracy. Since fire elements themselves are settled exactly as “flames”, the caster cannot do something like using her imagination during conjuration to make the flames take on the shape of an animal, so archaeomancy is probably the clear winner.

Furthermore, when the elements of the natural world are eroded by mamono mana, their nature greatly changes, and by the same token, the nature of elemental magic is greatly influenced by the state of spirits, so when a “pure spirit” is monsterized and becomes a “monster spirit”, the effects of the elemental magic usable by the caster will change into something different even when using the same spells. Basically, they become like the attack magic used by monsters. It works more or less as follows: searing flames will bring hot passion that's hard to endure to the target's body and mind. Wind blades will inflict mana wounds rendering the target powerless by causing mana to spill from the body instead of damaging the body itself, becoming non-lethal blades with the same nature as mamono realm silver.

“Ufufu♥ When I think about him, I can feel the power inside of me terribly melting♥
I'll engulf you all in this water too...♥”
~a water monster spirit undine~