...
“【ᛒᚷᛈᛜᛏᚠᚷᚪᛜᛚᚲᛜᛖᛗᛞᚪᛡᛖᛞᛃᚺיᛤᛜᛣᚢᛜᛣᛃᛈיᛄᚠᛗᛜᛉᛏᚪᛖᛡᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᛋᛞᛟ】”
“Earth Split!”
Rumble!
The ground trembled, and then a fissure suddenly opened.
The C-Class troll that had been rushing toward Shulim while swinging a tree trunk took a misstep and fell right in.
Its bulky body became wedged tightly in the fissure, making it difficult to move.
“Roar—!”
Enraged, the troll let out a massive roar, its entire body giving off a faint red glow.
Crack, crack, crack...
The crack pinning it was actually being shattered by brute force, widening by the second as the creature was on the verge of breaking free.
Shulim watched all of this calmly. She pointed her wand forward at the troll and rapidly chanted a spell.
“【ᛓᚠᛟᚾᚲתᛖᛜᛖᚾᚠᚲᚢהᛤᛜᛚᚲᛜᛣᛃᛗᛡᛁᚾᛗᛚᚪᛜᛣᛃᛚᚳᛜᛈᚠᛋᚢᛚᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋᛜᛏᚠᚷᚪ】”
“Tidal Surge!”
Splash!
A massive torrent of water surged toward the troll, making it even more furious.
“Roar—! Cough, gurgle, gurgle...”
The troll had a habit of roaring whenever it got angry, but it hadn't expected the water to rush straight down its throat, causing it to choke.
And Shulim had been waiting for this exact opportunity.
Gripping her wand with both hands, she concentrated intensely. A massive amount of mana surged into the wand as she chanted once again.
“【ᛓᚠᛏורᛈתᛖᛜᛖᚾᚠᚲᚢהᛤᛜᛁᛄᚾᛒᛜᚻᛏᛋᛡᛓᚠᚢᛒᚳᛓᛖᛜᛖᛃᚱᚪיᛏᚠᛜᛋᛏᛜᚻᛏᛋᛜᛖᛞᚢ】”
“—Deep Freeze!”
An icy chill instantly spread, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet. Frost climbed over the nearby grass and leaves at a speed visible to the naked eye.
The situation was even worse for the troll, who was the direct target of the spell. The large volume of water instantly solidified into ice, locking its limbs and rendering it immobile. Most importantly, the water it had choked on was also rapidly freezing, plugging its mouth and preventing it from casting any reinforcement magic through its roars.
“Mphf! Mmmph!”
Stuck in the fissure, the troll let out muffled, angry whimpers. Since the wet soil around it had also frozen solid, the trap became even sturdier, making escape practically impossible.
Shulim exhaled a puff of white mist, easing the fatigue of channeling such a large amount of mana in a short span. Then, she aimed her wand at the troll once more.
“【ᚣᚠᛟᚪᛚᛜᛁᛄᚾᛒᛜᚻᚠᛏᛖᛡᛣᛏᚠᚳᛜᛓᛃᚾᚺᛡᛓᚺᚪᛡᛓᛃᛞיᛤᛜᛒבᚠᛟᛜᛓᚠᚳᛚᛄתᛖᛜᛞᛈᛃᛡᛚᛖᛋ】”
“Storm Spear!”
After some time, the battle drew to a close.
Due to the three-meter-tall troll's high magic resistance and immense vitality, Shulim had to use the Third-Tier wind spell, Storm Spear, multiple times before finally silencing it for good.
As a consequence, more than half of the mana inside Shulim's body had been consumed.
Although Second-Tier magic could also inflict damage, it was negligible against the troll. If she had tried to bring it down with Second-Tier spells, the sun would likely have set before she succeeded.
“Good work!”
Following the end of the battle, Semilis materialized beside Shulim as she always did.
“Mm, not bad! To defeat a troll head-on all by yourself—Shulim, you can fully claim to be C-Class now!”
Semilis offered her assessment as she looked at the fallen troll.
C-Class, huh...
Well, she supposed that was true.
Shulim stared at the troll she had brought down, almost unable to believe she had actually defeated it.
After all, even C-Class adventurers rarely dared to face a monster like a troll alone. They usually formed parties to hunt them.
However, she figured that was likely because an individual's options were limited. Not everyone could deal damage, crowd-control, and defend all at the same time like she could. Normally, a single person possessed only one of these capabilities. When facing a troll, those who could deal damage couldn't withstand its attacks, while those who could defend or control it lacked effective means to hurt it. That was why teamwork was necessary.
If she grew arrogant and thought her strength was equal to an entire party because of this, she would probably end up tripping herself up sooner or later.
“Phew.”
With her self-reflection complete, Shulim lay down right where she stood, staring straight up at the sky.
“What's wrong? Are you hurt, or just exhausted?”
Semilis asked.
“Do you want me to restore you?”
Shulim declined. “No, it's fine. Just let me lie here like this for a bit.”
“Ah, I see. A short rest is good too.”
Seeing that Shulim was indeed fine, Semilis did not insist on healing her. Instead, she turned to deal with the fallen troll.
Boom!
A pillar of blazing golden fire instantly enveloped the troll's body, melting the ground beneath it directly into lava. Yet, even from such a close distance, Shulim felt no heat radiating from it at all. This was in stark contrast to when she or anyone else used fire magic, where waves of intense heat could be felt from far away.
Well...
It was Semilis, after all.
Shulim stopped watching Semilis's clean-up process. With an empty gaze, she quietly stared up at the sky, sorting through the gains she had made since starting her study of Third-Tier magic.
First was her swordsmanship. It grew increasingly difficult the further she progressed. Currently, she still only mastered the first two stances, Gleaming Light and Hunter's Sight. However, she was starting to get a feel for the third stance, Tempest Ward. With continued practice, it shouldn't take too long to master it.
In terms of magic, for First-Tier composite magic, she had mastered Chill, Electric Spark, and Breath of Nature. For the Second Tier, she had mastered Ice Arrow, Freeze, Lightning Orb, and Rhythm of Nature, among others.
Third-Tier magic boasted the largest variety.
Naturally, it was impossible to learn every single spell, so just like during her Second-Tier magic training, she only focused on the ones that were relatively useful.
For instance, single-target offensive spells included Great Fireball, Water Cannon, Rock Spear, Storm Spear, Light Bullet, Shadow Spear, Ice Spike, and Lightning Strike.
Area-of-effect spells included Searing Shroud, Tidal Surge, Hand of the Earth, Wind Blast, Radiant Flash, and Shadow Erosion.
Crowd-control spells included Fire Thorns, Water Prison, Earth Split, Wind Cage, Deep Freeze, and Lightning Net.
Defensive spells included Circle of Repulsion, Holy Barrier, Steadfast, and Ice Wall.
Movement-enhancing spells included Water Leap, Wind Wings, and Shadow Meld.
And spells with enhancement or recovery effects included Purify, Heal, and Battle Cry.
Additionally, some spells had highly unique functions, such as Water Breathing, Carrier Bird, Eye of Shadow, Ice Weapon Conjuring, and Nature Control.
“...”
Although she hadn't realized it while learning, looking back now, it was a truly staggering amount.
However, to be able to learn so many spells so smoothly, the blessing of the seven major elements was the key, in addition to Semilis's vast knowledge and instruction.
Had she still possessed the same talent she had when she first started learning magic, even with Semilis's teaching, she probably would have hit her limit after learning just two or three Third-Tier spells in the same timeframe.
Now, however, even Third-Tier magic posed absolutely no pressure. She picked them up naturally, finding it even easier than when she first started learning First-Tier spells.
“S-Class talent, huh...”
It really was terrifying. She might not even encounter any bottlenecks in magic all the way up to A-Class.
When Semilis had said back then that receiving even a single blessing could make someone the peak figure of an era, she certainly hadn't been exaggerating.
...
“...Time to head back.”
Shulim stood up and casually cast Cleanse, clearing away the dirt and fallen leaves she had picked up from the ground.
“Oh, ready to head back, Shulim?”
Seeing Shulim's actions, Semilis asked.
Behind her, the troll had completely vanished, seemingly having returned to the earth.
“Well, makes sense. It's about that time today.”
Shulim handed her wand over to Semilis.
Ever since she acquired the wand, since it was inconvenient to bring it to school and would be a waste of time to go home to fetch it every day, she had temporarily left it in Semilis's care at the end of each daily training session.
Semilis took Shulim into the sky, flying toward Mente Town.
“Oh, by the way, Shulim.”
While in mid-air, Semilis suddenly spoke up.
“You've got a decent handle on Third-Tier magic now. Continuing further won't boost your strength much unless you move on to Fourth-Tier magic.”
“So, starting tomorrow, we're going to temporarily put this kind of learning on hold and dedicate more of our time to other training. What do you think?”
Rate on N.U.
