At the side, Semilis explained the chant for Fireball to Shulim again, until Shulim had memorized it completely.
“Shulim, now that you know the chant for Fireball, go ahead and practice it here. Once you've learned it and become proficient, we'll move on to the next spell.”
“Okay.”
Afterward, Semilis left Shulim's side, leaving her with some space. Shulim became completely immersed in learning Fireball, completely unaware of what Semilis went off to do.
Two days went by.
“【ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᛃᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᚹᛚᛖᛗᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ】”
“Fireball!”
A blazing fireball radiating lethal heat crashed into a large boulder, blasting a crater into it while leaving behind scorched black marks.
“Oh, not bad! You're quite proficient with it already!”
Semilis critiqued from the side, while Shulim looked down at her hands in slight disbelief, then back up at Semilis.
Two days... No...
To be precise, she had actually mastered the spell on the very day she started learning it. Everything had flowed as naturally as water; there had been no difficulty at all.
Compared to her arduous struggle learning First-Tier magic, she had easily grasped this Second-Tier spell despite its far greater complexity. The reason why was entirely obvious.
“Is this the Blessing of the Fairy Queen...?”
“Semilis.”
“Mmh? What is it?”
“Let's start learning the next spell.”
...
...
“【ᛋᚷᚺᛜᛈᚠᛞᛃᛡᚪᛚᛏᛗᚠᚺᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᛃᚾᚪ】”
“Reinforce!”
A flash of white light enveloped Shulim's legs. Immediately following, her speed surged dramatically, turning her into a whirlwind that darted through the woods, leaving only afterimages behind.
In less than three seconds, she reached the exact opposite side of the lake.
After stopping, the white light on her legs faded, and the Reinforce spell deactivated.
Shulim checked her legs to make sure nothing was wrong, and couldn't help but reflect on the fruits of her month of high-intensity learning.
First of all, she had mastered at least one spell for each of the seven elemental Second-Tier magic systems. Compared to First-Tier magic, the sheer volume of Second-Tier spells was vast—so much so that perhaps no one could ever compile a definitive list of them all.
Therefore, trying to master them all was both impossible and pointless.
As a result, after consulting various records and discussing with Semilis, Semilis ultimately taught her a select few spells of high practical value.
By now, the Second-Tier magic Shulim had learned generally included: Fireball, Flame Arrow, Fire Barrier, Water Arrow, Water Barrier, Water Bullet, Pitfall, Rock Bullet, Rock Barrier, Wind Blade, Wind Barrier, Swiftness, Flash, Protection, Shroud, Conceal, Reinforce...
Such an array of Second-Tier magic was likely more than what many high-ranking mages possessed.
In addition to the sheer number, Shulim had essentially ensured she had both offensive and defensive options across almost all elements, alongside some utility and control spells to handle various situations. For special attributes like Non-Elemental magic, which naturally featured very few spells, she only mastered the most practical one: Reinforce.
As for the Light and Dark elemental magics, before Third-Tier magic, there were simply no offensive spells available. Or rather, Light and Dark offensive spells were so excessively powerful that they started at Third-Tier at the very minimum, leaving her temporarily lacking in offensive capability for those attributes.
Of course, against entities naturally weak to Light or Dark, even spells like Flash or Shroud—which were completely harmless to normal people—could deal decent damage. So one couldn't truly claim that Light and Dark magic possessed zero offensive capability below the Third-Tier.
“Excellent, Shulim. You basically have no shortfalls left in terms of Second-Tier magic. We can put your lessons on hold for now.”
Shulim looked up at Semilis, who was floating in the air.
“No more new spells? So are we going to constantly practice First-Tier magic like before until my mana reaches C-Class?”
“That's correct. However, we're also going to add some other training to the mix.”
“Other training?”
“Yes. Making you race against shadow beasts anymore won't be of much help now.”
Shulim asked, “Semilis, what do you mean...?”
“Hehehe~ Since you've already mastered Second-Tier magic, it's only natural that we put it to good use!”
Shulim looked at Semilis, and when she saw the mischievous grin tugging at the corners of her mouth, a sudden bad premonition welled up inside her.
“After all, magic—”
Rustle, rustle...
The sound of bushes being trampled came from behind her.
Something was behind her...
“—is meant to be used in actual combat!”
Shulim spun around instantly, warily eyeing the towering shadow that had emerged behind her.
As for Semilis, she had already flown high into the sky, wearing a look of pure schadenfreude on her face.
“Starting today, you'll be practicing your magic on real monsters! You're no longer just trying to find a way to run away from them. Instead, you must find a way to defeat them!”
“So grow strong, Shulim! Hahaha...”
“Wait, Semilis—?!”
...
Looking at the transparent, jelly-like creature writhing in front of her, Shulim wasn't naive enough to think this thing was harmless.
It was a slime.
Although it was one of the weakest monsters out there, and its appearance closely resembled a harmless bobom—which was highly deceptive—there was no such thing as a safe monster!
If she only knew First-Tier magic, Shulim would probably be preparing to run away right about now. But she had already mastered Second-Tier magic and possessed the ability to fight.
“Do your best, Shulim! Don't get careless and mess up! Use the Second-Tier magic you've mastered to take down this slime!”
With Semilis's reminder, Shulim gradually calmed down, her mind racing with thoughts.
Slimes didn't have vision; they were monsters that primarily relied on sensing vibrations in their surroundings to locate their prey.
Shulim minimized her movements as much as possible. For a moment, the slime couldn't pinpoint her exact location and began writhing around, attempting to sense its surroundings.
Defeating the slime would be easy; a single Fireball could severely wound it. However, a slime's bodily fluids were highly corrosive. If she used Fireball at such close range, defeating the slime would simultaneously splash her with corrosive fluids, injuring her.
She had to avoid getting hurt.
The magic that could prevent this from happening was...
While Shulim was devising a plan, the slime seemed to have detected her general location and began moving toward her.
“【ᛓᚠᛏᚱוᚠᛃᛖᛜᛖᛗᛞᚪᛡᛖᛞᛃᚺיᛤᛜᛖᛚלᚠᛟᛜᛃᛋᛄᚠᚪᛜᛖᚾהᛤ】”
“Rock Barrier!”
Boom!
As Shulim swiftly chanted the spell, a wall of earth and stone rose in front of her.
Thud!
The slime slammed into the wall, causing it to shake.
Although the Second-Tier earth-barrier spell looked quite impressive, it was heavily influenced by the surrounding environment, so its sturdiness could not be guaranteed.
Still, it succeeded in blocking the slime's path.
“Reinforce!”
A white light lit up under Shulim's feet.
Whoosh!
Her petite figure flashed through the trees, quickly putting some distance between her and the slime.
And then...
“【ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᛃᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᚹᛚᛖᛗᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ】”
“Fireball!”
Boom!
A blazing fireball manifested before Shulim and shot toward the slime at high speed.
Sensing the oncoming searing wave, the slime's body wriggled violently as it tried to escape, but its speed was nothing compared to the fireball.
Boom!
After a loud explosion...
The slime burst apart, splashing corrosive fluid in all directions.
Shulim had ducked behind the line of the Rock Barrier in time. All the fluid heading her way was blocked by the barrier, preventing a single drop of corrosive liquid from touching her.
Crash!
As the mana sustaining the Rock Barrier ran out, the wall crumbled and dissolved. In the spot where the slime had once been, only a cloud of acrid white smoke remained.
Shulim breathed a sigh of relief. The power of her Fireball was greater than she had expected. It hadn't been this powerful before—was it because she had become more proficient with it?
“Oh, not bad, Shulim! Although this was your first time fighting a monster in real combat, you were much calmer than I expected. I thought you would be screaming your head off in terror.”
“...Just what kind of image do you have of me anyway?”
Shulim muttered, exasperated, at Semilis, who had flown back to her side at some point.
Besides, the days of her screaming in terror were already ancient history!
“Well, putting that topic aside for now, Shulim, you didn't think there was only one, did you~?”
“What—?!”
Before Shulim could comprehend what Semilis meant, rustling sounds began echoing from the surrounding forest one after another.
Immediately after, three transparent, jelly-like creatures appeared from different directions in Shulim's field of vision.
【Multiple enemies have appeared~!】
“...What is with those glowing subtitles?!”
“Hehehe~ It sets the mood better this way!”
Semilis grinned and scratched her head.
“But now is not the time to be worrying about that. The slimes are coming, you know.”
“Ah~! Honestly, I get it! Reinforce—!”
Rate on N.U.
