Cecilia instructed Lucian to go to the Mellowbrook forest northwest of the city. Normally, the area that Lucian was going to wasn’t life-threateningly dangerous to someone with a core. But she had a feeling that things would not go smoothly in the case of Lucian. She packed some health and mana potions and a map in an enchanted pouch which looked deceptively small, like the size of a hand but could carry at least six potion bottles and a map in it.
“Remember which magical beasts you have to hunt today?”
“Yeah, all three types of them. And I also remember you saying not to come back until I’ve come back with their parts.”
“As you should. If you fail, you can run back here, but I will be severely disappointed. Don’t make me think I wasted time teaching you everything.”
“Understood, teacher.”
Cecilia might have been harsh with the last sentence, but Lucian knew that he never disappointed Cecilia once during his entire time training. Cecilia was the type to be direct during times when etiquette was not deemed mandatory, so all this time, she had genuinely praised Lucian.
The dawn’s rays hit Lucian’s face as he left the estate. The hunt was decided to be completed in a day, so he departed as early as possible. He went out through the gate of the city and cast Flight. This spell was considered the bread and butter of a mage when travelling from place to place, as it lessened the need for them to rely on carriages, which in turn lessened the chances of being ambushed. It also gave them an aerial advantage when fighting as well as a bird’s eye view when scouting. The maximum speed that a mage could fly with the spell was four times the speed of a galloping horse, but it required a Tier-3 spell called Mana Shield as safety precautions. Lucian could only go a fourth of the spell’s max speed due to his inexperience with the spell, but it was more than enough to reach his destination in under two hours.
As he flew above the plains at a height that didn’t collide with the trees, he saw the forest and could also sense some magical beasts roaming in said forest. He landed and began strategising for the fights he was going to have.
The first task on his list was to defeat ten goblins. Goblins were very weak compared to humans and, as such, travelled in groups. Since their group composition mimicked that of humans, they had both melee units, as well as ranged ones-. However, coordination was something they could not mimic, so they were classified as an E-class magical beast, unlike their evolved D-class counterparts, Hobgoblins.
Lucian had cast his usual preparatory spells, which were Fortify Body, Fortify Mind, Muffling Stride, and Fortify Sight. Before he had formed his core, Lucian could only cast twelve spells per day before needing to rest. Now the number of spells he could cast had increased tenfold, which allowed him to be lenient in casting without fearing mana exhaustion. He then took note of the surroundings to get information on what had happened in the forest’s surroundings. He used his mana sense to probe the area and found a pack of goblins among other magical beasts. They were moving at a slow pace, three hundred meters from Lucian’s location.
Lucian sneaked up on the goblin pack. He saw that the group had yet to take note of Lucian. So, he analysed the situation. There was a total of thirteen goblins, with seven of them carrying melee weapons and six ranged ones. At least five of them were walking closely. Lucian couldn’t gather any other helpful detail, so he started to cast his spells.
Sinkhole. Lucian had cast his spell, and the ground had collapsed below the five goblins walking closely. Previously when Lucian had little experience in mana control, he could only change the hard earth into quicksand, but now he could make a hole in the ground instantly, improving his ability to manipulate the fight. The five goblins fell into the pit, which alerted the rest of the goblins. Since goblins were a race that couldn’t sense mana properly, they couldn’t figure out where the attack originated. Eight remained as the five that couldn’t get back up due to the depth of the hole.
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Out of the remaining eight, five of them were melee ones, and three were ranged ones.
I’ll have to take out the ranged ones first. The next spell would alert the goblins to Lucian’s position, so he had to cast quickly or take them out in one go, and since none of them was grouped, he decided to cast his spells in quick succession.
Sparks. Lightning gathered at the tips of Lucian’s fingers and flew into the backline of the pack at the ranged goblins. The goblins couldn’t dodge in time and took the attack head-on. However, it wasn’t enough to kill them in one shot.
Damnit, it happened again. With this, Lucian now knew that the situation with the Horned-Wolf all that time ago wasn’t a coincidence. His spells truly had less potency against every beast he had encountered. But this wasn’t the time to think why that had happened. The goblins were closing in on Lucian’s position after they figured out his location.
Lucian would then continuously cast Sparks at the ranged goblins. Some missed, many of them hit, and after twelve casts, the ranged goblins were dead. During this, the melee goblins ran as fast as their short and stubby legs could handle. Lucian then cast four Air Flick spells to create some distance between them. The five melee goblins flew back like ragdolls, but one had come dangerously close to Lucian. But Lucian didn’t hesitate and cast Sparks at the close goblin, which disoriented it for a few seconds. After that, he took out his dagger from his sheath and slashed the throat of the goblin. Green blood gushed out from the wound on its throat, and it fell to the ground choking on its own blood.
The remaining four melee goblins sprang to their steps as soon as they recovered, which Lucian responded to by casting Ignition spells and Air Flick spells. This time flames flew towards the goblins instead of air. However, one set of spells wasn’t enough, so Lucian cast two more sets of the same spells, deliberately missing them so that he could corral them into a group. After they were cornered by the flames, Lucian would cast Sinkhole. None of the goblins could dodge in time and fell into the new hole.
Lucian then took a breather and checked the holes. The goblins were screeching from the holes, and Lucian made sure not to get too close to the hole’s entrance lest he gets an arrow to the face. He then cast Downpour into the holes, followed by Sparks spells. It took a few spells, but the rest of the remaining goblins were killed slowly but surely. Lucian then reviewed his fight while taking a seat on the ground. His condition still hadn’t improved, which meant it took more spells to kill a beast than the average mage. But a dagger worked without problems, which made Lucian contemplate.
Did my training have no meaning at all? All this time, I had been training my spells, and it had little impact on fucking Goblins, of all things. Well, if spells take way too much time, then I guess I should stop casting the ones that deal only damage and cast the ones that disorient the enemy as I finish them with the dagger.
In order to test this new way of fighting, Lucian would try to find his second target. A fully adult Horned-Wolf. The last one that Lucian had fought was injured from a previous fight, so Lucian was able to single-handedly dispatch it, despite his condition. But this time, the wolf would be a much tougher fight.
Lucian would deploy his mana sense to find the wolf, and he would find it in a few seconds. The wolf was coming towards him, hearing the fight that occurred a few minutes ago. Thinking quickly, Lucian took three of the Goblin’s corpses as bait for the wolf and waited. The wolf would come after a minute or so from the bushes, still wary of its surroundings. The wolf would sniff its surroundings to check, which worried Lucian, as his spells only muffled his sounds, not his smell. He had to act while he had the upper hand.
Lucian then jumped out of hiding and rushed the wolf. The wolf quickly heard this and bared its fangs at Lucian. Lucian, while running, prepared himself to cast two spells at once. From one hand came Air Flick, which impacted the wolf directly, as it could not see the air coming towards it. The other hand had cast Sparks, which immobilised the wolf in its tracks.
The spells did fuck-all damage, but it will give me a chance to get closer, thought Lucian as he was still running, with a dagger in his hands after he had cast the two spells. He then struck the wolf at its throat, a personal favourite location of Lucian, since all his easy kills were at the throat. He then pulled the dagger back, after which he repeatedly struck the wolf in its torso. With each strike, the wolf whimpered in pain until it didn’t and lay unmoving on the ground.
That’s target two down. Now all that’s left is the biggest target of the three. The rockbear.
After his triumph over two of his targets, Lucian took a breather again to ready himself against his last target. He collected the ears of the Goblins and the entire body of the Horned-Wolf into his enchanted pouch. Lucian now figured out how to best fight with his condition, but he would soon be tested to the limits in his fight with the rockbear.