Another month had passed, but instead of training, all me and Toba did was study.

“Are you two listening?”

“Yes Luna”

“Yes…”

Although we could still do our usual bodybuilding routine, Luna wasn’t teaching us combat, magic, or anything practical.

“If you say so… Toba, where are we right now?”

“… Astra continent”

“And?” She raised her eyebrow with a half-satisfied smile that was begging to be completed.

“Porang region… Dwarf Forest.”

“GREAT JOB!”

“Waaah! Put down! Put down!”

Luna grabbed Toba and started spinning him in the air. The horrified look on his face, coupled with his “natural charm” and hoarse voice, made a scene that was supposed to look adorable seem quite terrifying.

“Now it’s Cona’s turn.” Luna said as she finally let Toba off from her grasp.

Poor guy, he gets the answer right and still gets punished…

“Ahem. Cona please name all the continents and their regions.” She said while closing her eyes like an arrogant teacher.

“What? Why is my question harder? I can’t remember all the regions!”

That is going too far lady! I can memorize stuff about dungeons and adventurers, but you can’t expect me to remember all those names!

“Cona…” She opened her eyes slightly and gave me a look that sent chills down my spine.

The reason I was easily being blackmailed was that she wouldn’t train me or Toba until we learned all she wanted us too. I quickly memorized stuff like which plants were poisonous and what animals to avoid, but geography bored me.

This small oneesan sure can be scary when she wants to.

Wait… “oneesan” huh… I just remembered something important. This might be my ticket to escape.

“Big sister Luna, the continents are Astra continent, Dahab continent, Goldland, New Nabuk, Crystallos, and Ruined Continent together with the Sea Serpent kingdom reserve.”

I tried to sound as cool and intelligent as possible, but the truth was I had just memorized the names and had no idea what each one was.

I could maybe point them on the map and say which ones were cold and which ones had deserts but that was it.

An adventurer should learn stuff as they go, right? No one likes an infodump.

“As for the regions… I can teach YOU something else instead.” It was time to test if she was a true nerd.

“Teach me?” She said while raising an eyebrow and decorating her face with a curious and innocent expression.

I didn’t answer and instead just gestured for her to follow me as I ran downstairs towards a particular book.

Everyday, Luna would copy books and magic circles, but she hadn’t reached that one yet, since the spellbooks on the second floor were her priority.

I had once asked her why she didn’t just take the books with her, and she said she didn’t want to get on the tower owner’s bad side, something about old wizards being dangerous and vengeful.

As I reached the shelf I wanted, I took out an old leather-bound book.

How could I forget about this? I give up on things way too easily…

The book in my hands was of course the Japanese dictionary that was translated to this world’s “common” language.

“You asked what was “oneesan” that time right? It’s a word written here; it means big sister.”

Hopefully I would now be able to start calling her by the appropriate title, using “big sister” just felt wrong. It was like the English translations that used “Mister” instead of adding “San” or “Sama” at the end, it’s just not the same thing.

Yes, I am a filthy weeb, and if the first nekomimi I find says “Mew” instead of “Nya”, I’ll shoot her in the head.

“This… Cona what is this?” Judging by her astonished expression, I’d say she already had a pretty good guess.

“It’s a dictionary for a different language, I had forgotten about it, but since Luna oneesama is always around books, I thought you would like it!”

“This language… I’ve never heard of it before.” My hunch was right on the spot, Luna was too big of a nerd not to be interested in this sort of thing.

It’s not free though, it’ll cost ya!

“Here is that word I said, O-nee-sa-ma.” I flipped to the corresponding page and pointed my finger to the translated meaning of the word.

“Older sister…” She said, still a little dazed by her new discovery.

Now it’s time for my negotiation.

“Since I showed oneesan something this great, can we go back to training? I’ll catch up on geography someday I swear! It’s just that I have so many things I want to learn from you!” I pleaded in a desperate manner.

Poor me, forced to have an education for free by a private teacher.

To my surprise, however, Luna’s lips curved into a devilish grin.

“Oh, you have huh?” Her tone was a little scary, but I wouldn’t let that deter me.

“Yes! I want to learn new spells, how to fight better, how to walk silently, how to whisper spells, how to- “

“Cona, don’t you know why I forced you two into all these classes lately?” She interrupted me, still with that scary face.

What’s going on? Did Luna suddenly turn into a sadist? This isn’t a nice character development.

“N-no…”

“Since you’re so eager to become an adventurer with Toba, and you only care about muscles and combat… I wanted to get all the basics of your education out of the way.”

“Eh?” Out of the way? That was not the choice of words I was expecting.

“I do have experience teaching kids like you… But I wouldn’t be able to apply my methods if you were busy with other matters.”

“M-methods?”

Why is this starting to sound like torture?

“Don’t worry about it. I was planning on giving you two a normal education, but after watching you fight, I realized it’s safer to help you get stronger, since you’ll head out into danger even if I don’t, and you’ll drag Toba along with you.” She said now in her usual manner, no devilish grin and scary voice.

“Phew, I see. You scared m- “

“But soon you’ll want to go right back to geography! Fufufufu.”

She closed the Japanese book and stored it inside her robe, as she giggled and looked at me with evil eyes full of mischief.

I have a bad feeling about this…

…

The day had passed, and after eating my daily amount of “chicken”, fruits, and rice that Luna brought in bulk from Alport, the nearest town, all that was left was for me and Toba to finish our workout for the day.

It was supposed to be leg day, but I feared what Luna would put us through starting tomorrow, so I just had us do a light full body workout to allow us a rest for once.

I also had us sleep at least 3 hours earlier since I had no clue about when Luna was going to wake us up.

As it turns out, all my worries were justified.

“WAAAAAAH! COLD! COLD!”

I suddenly woke up to Toba’s desperate screaming, and before I could react, a bucket of ice-cold water was thrown at me.

“AAAARGH! WHAT’S THIS ALL ABOUT?”

Even having prepared myself mentally, I wasn’t expecting this kind of harassment coming from the usually kind and forgiving Luna!

She had a cold expression that was trying to hide back laughter as she looked at my clattering teeth and said:

“You two are dead, if I was an enemy this would be the easiest ambush of my life.” She said as she glared at us, trying not to laugh.

I get it now; it seems I have made a mistake. I thought I was signing myself up for an anime training arc, but in reality, I just joined the army.

I got up, still dripping wet and cold all over, and smiled defiantly at Luna.

I had never joined the army back in Brazil, but I always told myself I would be exemplar if I did. It was time to give my daydreaming some meaning.

“We’re starting earlier than I expected.”

She paid me back the same smile as she answered my challenge.

“Hooh… You’re tougher than you look, Cona.”

“I’m tough alright.” I said as I struck my chest.

“And you may be hard inside, but around those muscles you’re still as soft as a bunny!” I said as I tried to reach and fondle her arms. I wanted to play a little with her so I could break her act, but I was too hasty.

She grabbed my arm instead, and next thing I saw I was staring at the ceiling as my back again collided with the water-soaked makeshift bed.

“I deserved that.”

Didn’t I just say I would be exemplar? I should take this more seriously.

“Let’s go, you two.”

Toba was still shivering in a corner when his ankle was grabbed by Luna, and as he was dragged across the black brick floor, he looked at me expecting some kind of help.

“Can’t help you buddy, our holidays are over. Get used to it soon so you don’t suffer.”

We arrived outside, and Luna instructed us to wait by the door while she went back inside to fetch some things.

Not long after, she brought back 3 short swords and 2 daggers, and with calm but precise movements, threw them all one by one and got them stuck to the ground. Not only was the distance between each one almost perfect, even the depth that each weapon penetrated was equal.

“Today you two are training with swords.” She said nonchalantly.

We both looked at her, expecting her next words, but they didn’t come.

After a little awkward silence, I walked up to one of the short swords stuck to the ground and lifted it up.

As soon as I did that, however, Luna, who was standing a small distance away, suddenly charged towards me!

I couldn’t see any weapons on her hands, so I thought she would attack me barehanded and backed down to brace myself, but instead she passed by the two daggers and picked them up.

The battle had just begun, and I lost the only advantage I had. Even worse, Toba was just standing there! It was clear that the training had started, and that we would get our asses kicked, but he still wasn’t moving.

“Toba grab a sword and help me!” I shouted as Luna’s two daggers collided with my sword, making me fall on my back.

It was almost a perfect recreation of the time I guarded against the bandit’s attack a month ago, only this time the shock my arms receive was much greater, and the force was enough to knock me down.

I still had my guard up as I fell, but Luna struck my sword near the base with the quick movement of her left dagger, pushing it to the side and leaving me completely stance broken and exposed.

Before she could strike at my neck, however, we heard a fierce shout coming from behind her.

“DON’T HURT BROTHER!”

Toba shouted angrily as he struck at Luna with terrifying strength.

She quickly turned her body to block his blow with the same dagger she used to break my defense earlier, but when the weapons collided, they both broke in multiple pieces!

Me and Toba were both stunned by what happened, and before we could react Luna thrusted her foot at me like it was a sharp blade, stopping inches before my neck.

When I realized what was happening, she had already moved, and her other dagger was pointing at Toba’s throat.

Time seemed to have stopped and everyone paused for a moment, but after a few seconds she pulled back her dagger, allowing us to finally relax as we began breathing heavily.

The battle had lasted only a couple of seconds, but I was tired as if I had just run a marathon.

I was the first to break the silence.

“Holy shit Toba, you’re strong!”

“Cona, language!”

“Sorry.”

I always knew Toba had an absurd strength for his size, but now I knew just how much he was holding back before.

All it took was for him to think I was in immediate danger, and he managed to strike so hard even Luna’s dagger broke. Granted, his sword also broke, but that was from a lack of technique, not strength.

“Luna… Huff… Not angry?” as expected, Toba was extremely confused. If not for Luna’s dagger getting extremely close to his neck before, I’m sure he wouldn’t have surrendered.

“Luna is not angry, Toba, I’m just training you both so you can react when someone really wants to hurt you two.”

“And…? Huff, huff… How did we do?”

“First off, I’m sure you noticed but you wasted your opportunity to keep me from grabbing my weapons. In a battle, you need to know when to give in and when to push, if you waste an opportunity and fall back when you don’t have to, that false sense of security will soon be over as the enemy will regain the advantage and defeat you.”

I nodded. She was completely right, as the inexperienced coward I currently am, I am way too quick to retreat and seek temporary safety.

“Second, that shout you gave Toba was an example of terrible team coordination. Even while fighting creatures that can’t understand you, just by your tone of voice, body language, and the context you’re in, they may be able to figure out what order you’re giving, as well as your intentions.”

“You need to be able to understand and coordinate each other’s movements while giving as little information to the enemy as possible.” She really looked like a proud teacher right now, far from the seemingly innocent and carefree Luna I was accustomed to.

I nodded again, but this time I had a question.

“Should I come up with a secret code?”

“No need, as your reflexes and senses improve, and you both get used to fighting together, just saying each other’s names will be enough to convey what you need without giving away too much. If an enemy is smart enough to figure out your strategy even while keeping your words to a minimum, you need to rely on experience and instinct to catch him by surprise with natural coordination.”

“Got it!”

I could imagine what she was talking about. Even in the small glimpses I had of her fighting seriously, I could tell her senses were a world apart from mine. If you’re aware enough of the events around you, just a neutral verbal warning will be enough to clue you in on what you’re supposed to do or avoid.

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“As for when you fell down, that was another instance for you to be offensive rather than defensive. You need to keep your opponent occupied long enough for you to be able to stand again and get out of the disadvantage you’re in. Strike with low risk but strong moves that’ll probably not hit, but will keep him from being risky himself.”

Before I could even nod, she turned her head away from me.

“As for you, Toba.”

Poor Toba was still a little confused, but he looked like he at least understood this was training, so he put all the coal he had into the furnaces in his brain and tried his best to pay attention.

“You did well to rush into Cona’s aid, but like I said to him, you shouldn’t stand there waiting for a wakeup call.”

Toba had his eyes completely fixated on Luna; he was trying so hard to concentrate he didn’t even manage to nod.

“Your blow, however, had really good timing, intentionally or not. If I was a normal opponent, you would have ended the fight there.”

“You also could have broken my weapon without breaking yours in the process, but you’ll learn that with time. I’ll teach you how to put your exceptional strength to good use.”

Luna closed her eyes for a moment, and a smile finally returned to her face, albeit a slight and slow one.

“Phew… You two did great. Every day, first thing in the morning, we will repeat this mock combat and I will teach you two what can be corrected, but for now…”

She drew closer to us while dropping her daggers to the floor, and when she got close enough, she hugged us both while caressing our heads.

“Congratulations…” Her voice had a hint of sadness mixed with relief. She probably still wanted to raise us normally, but since I so desperately wanted adventure and combat, she gave in and decided to train us the only way she knew how.

Still, adventurer training is pretty brutal, huh? I guess it makes sense though, it’s a business where a mistake can lead to your death.

I can’t help but wonder how we’ll fare compared to Luna’s previous students; she did say she had experience training kids before.

It wasn’t going to be easy; I was sure of it. But I had told myself multiple times in the past month that this was what I wanted, so I’d better live up to my words and try my best.

…

The rest of the morning was entirely dedicated to learning sword techniques and general fighting stances, it was way more in depth than the basics she thought us in the past, and it wasn’t as intuitive either.

The sword fighting techniques in this world were clearly different from the ones of Earth.

Not that I had much experience, but I did watch tons of HEMA practitioners on YouTube back in the day, and HEMA seemed a lot safer and tamed in comparison to the fighting style Luna was teaching us.

It was like every move Luna taught us had a much stronger attacker and opponent in mind. Shallow cuts were completely ignored in favor of thrusts and powerful blows, and small openings were also not counted as good opportunities.

Instead, the focus was to either beat your foe into submission with brute force, break their defenses to expose major openings to deal massive damage, or a combination of both.

Another thing that was different was defense. Instead of contained blows with both defense and offense in mind, Luna clearly differentiated defensive maneuvers from offensive ones.

There was blocking, and there was attacking, and when you attacked, you attacked to kill.

The middle ground between the two were movements consisted of a parry and a riposte combined, but she emphasized their difficulty several times.

All in all, it was a much flashier fighting style.

When I asked Luna about it, she said small blows had little to no effect against strong opponents or monsters, and were only used to clear waves of weak but nimble foes.

If small, safe, and quick cuts weren’t useful, then one needed to put everything into the attack to force the opponent to defend, making the large openings created by such attacks manage to stay unexploited by the enemy.

I imagined this was all the result of much stronger armors and weapons compared to those of Earth, as well as much stronger and faster bodies compared to the humans of Earth.

The thing she told me back at the waterfall about some warriors having muscles so tough their armor became useless came to mind.

To put it into perspective, if a HEMA practitioner were to fight an experienced warrior from here, even if both had equal strength and speed, as soon as the HEMA trained fighter made the usual quick and safe attack, the warrior would just ignore it completely since it would not do significant damage, and would strike at the same time with a much more powerful blow that could end the battle in seconds.

Even Luna, who fought with daggers, never wasted an attack to make quick cuts on the opponent, and instead focused on instant kill blows through the eye.

The exception to this fighting style, of course, was poison, but we were forbidden to use it for now.

There also seemed to be a lot of gaps between techniques, but she said it was because we weren’t yet being trained to factor magic into the equation.

All in all, it was brutal but exciting training. When we were finally dispensed to do our usual activities, we just collapsed from exhaustion and didn’t manage to lift weights at all.

This didn’t mean I would stop bodybuilding, but I needed to get my body used to the strains of the new regiment before I could get back to it.

…

The day was far from over. Luna allowed us to rest during the time we should be weight training, but after that, the bootcamp resumed.

She did allow us some extra time to eat, since we had to wait a little for our stomachs to accept food again after all the strenuous work we went through.

She was also a little awkward and walked around us a lot looking like she wanted to say something. If I had to guess, I’d say Luna was struggling between maintaining her serious and strict attitude even while we rested, or allowing herself to spoil us again.

Whatever her inner struggles were, breaktime was over and we now had to go back to work.

Thankfully, however, this time it was only studying.

Did I really just say that? Well, at least it’s a more exciting topic.

“Like I said, today you two are going to learn about magic spells.” She said with a forced poker face, but couldn’t keep a smile from forming when she noticed I was completely focused on her class.

It wasn’t hard to figure out why, after all, in the past month I was struggling to stay awake during almost all her classes, let alone focus. But it couldn’t be helped, magic was the thing I was most interested in, even more than melee combat.

That’s because I had witnessed first-hand the power these spells could achieve. Even a rookie like myself could cause serious harm with a simple minor firebolt, the damage I could inflict with a sword in my hands paled in comparison.

Even if I could only do it once a week, it was not something to be ignored.

“Toba, I know you can’t cast spells like your brother, but it’s important for you to learn this too. If you walk the path of a pure warrior, you will need to learn all you can about magic so you can defend yourself against it.” She said in a serious tone while Toba looked at her intently.

“Basically, magic can be divided into several categories of power, the first one being minor spells. The spell Cona can cast is a minor spell called minor firebolt.”

This is precisely why I’m so excited about magic! If my spell is the weakest rank and is already that powerful, imagine what the other categories can achieve!

“The categories are, in order: Minor, regular, major, great, and greater spells. When referring to regular spells, however, we just say spell instead.” She looked at us to see if we were paying attention, and when she saw we were still 100% focused, she continued.

“They are also divided according to their type. Cona’s minor firebolt is considered a natural spell since it’s a spell involving only fire, and natural type spells include fire spells, water spells, and earth spells.”

“What about wind and lightning?” I asked immediately, accidentally interrupting what she was going to say next.

It can’t be that there aren’t any air spells! That’s prejudice against monks.

“Spells involving wind and lightning are included in another type. For now, we’ll focus on natural spells, but there is also law, wish, and wished spells, although wish and wished are essentially the same.” She answered matter-of-factly. It seemed this was a common doubt.

“Each spell type has its own unique characteristic, and the unique characteristic of natural spells is their ability to be modified up to a certain extent. This has many advantages, and it also gives margin for error, which makes it a great type of spell for beginners to learn.”

“Margin for error?”

As if she was already expecting my answer, she continued immediately.

“Remember how, in the beginning, your firebolt didn’t have a set trajectory? It’s not supposed to come out like that, and if it wasn’t a natural spell, it wouldn’t even complete the casting, the spell would fail automatically.”

I see, so because natural spells can be altered, mistakes made count as alterations, and the spell is activated anyway. Pretty convenient indeed.

“I see, so it’s good for beginners who don’t have multiple spells slots to waste on training and can’t afford to keep failing.” I thought out loud.

“EXACTLY! I mean… Ahem… Yes, it’s just that.” Luna said as she failed to keep her strict and serious act intact.

So cute… I miss the old Luna but learning how to explode my enemies is more important.

Suddenly Toba, who was keeping quiet until now, decided to speak as he lowered his head a little in a slightly sad gesture.

“Good for beginner… but Toba still can’t make fireball like Cona…” He said as his head sunk even more, but it was hard to convey sadness with that exposed eye glaring at everyone like it’s going to shoot out a laser beam.

My sweet brother, you clashed with Luna with enough force to break her weapon, do you have any idea what this adorable woman is capable of?

Toba’s attempt at a pitiful display finally managed to crack Luna’s shell, I could almost see tears forming in her eyes as she looked at him like he was an abandoned puppy.

“Toba…” She hugged him tight and caressed the patch of fur growing from his neck to his back, but when I thought she would finally break down completely, she managed to hold herself back at least to some extent.

“I get how you feel.” She said softly as she continued her caress, and Toba snuggled closer into her embrace.

Sneaky little bastard, I thought you didn’t like physical contact.

“But you must remember, everyone has their strengths. I am sure you know this, but in terms of physical power you are much stronger than Cona even though you two train the same. If you learn how to make the best out of that strength, you won’t fall behind.”

I knew it was true, and I knew it was immature of me to get worked up because of it, but I would be lying if I said hearing that from Luna didn’t sting.

For fuck’s sake, I used to bench 200kg, this can’t stay like this!

Starting tomorrow, I’ll double my chicken and triple my rice.

“Besides, even if you can’t cast natural spells and you follow the path of a pure warrior, there is still a type of spell you will be able to use.” She said with a warm smile, as she grabbed shoulders and gently pushed him away so they could both look at each other.

“Cona, stop pouting, you know I spend much more time with you than I do with Toba, don’t be jealous.”

“I’m not pouting…”

I was pouting.

“Ahem.” Luna flipped the switch in her brain again and went back to teacher mode as she sat Toba down.

The little guy was visibly cheered up. Luna was extremely kind to him and did her best to take care of him and teach him all she could, even if he didn’t understand or didn’t show results.

I couldn’t thank Luna enough in my heart, all she was doing for us more than made up for the time we spent crawling around in a dark cave and sucking a wolf’s tit.

“Alright, moving on. You two know this already, but the number of spells one can cast is very limited.”

We both nodded as our focus on the class returned.

This was actually a huge doubt of mine, since a week seemed like way too much time to regain spent MP or whatever it was. Luna seemed to have no trouble casting spells left and right though.

“This is because the amount of mana in a creature’s body is very small, and it takes a long time to recover, one week to be exact.”

“Mana, by the way, is the energy used to activate magic circles and cast spells, and it’s found in huge quantities all around us.”

I raised my hand immediately and Luna nodded.

“Does everyone need one week to recover? Luna oneesan can cast so many spells…”

“Yes, it is one week for everyone. You will understand in a bit the reason why I don’t run out of spells as quickly.”

“Ok!”

“Like I said, mana is abundant in the world, but the quantity living beings can contain is very limited. That is why every spell needs a magic circle to function, and there are no known exceptions to this.”

“The purpose of the magic circle is to gather and manipulate the mana around us into spells, and the mana within us is what is required to activate the magic circle. That tiny portion that comes from our body is what takes a week to recover.”

“Oooh! So, the mana we use is just a spark, and the fuel is actually the world’s mana.”

“Yes. It’s exactly like that.” She said with a warm smile.

Interesting, so the reason even a child can inflict so much destruction with spells is that it’s not actually their mana being consumed.

“You two already know this, but apart from the caster’s activation mana and the magic circle, spells also require gestures and words of power. Some spells also have material components they need, and they can be consumed or not depending on the spell.”

Me and Toba nodded again, even he was already familiar with this process since he tried a few times to cast minor firebolt with no success.

“The last thing you two need to know for now is the activation mana required for each spell rank.”

This was arguably the most important part, and the one I was most confused about. Luna seemed to have no problem casting multiple spells, but I couldn’t exactly use her as a baseline, so I still had no clue about the “average” number of spells an adventure could cast.

“It’s easy, if we take minor spells as a baseline, then each regular spell is worth two minor spells, and each major spell is worth two regular spells, or four minor spells. From major to great it’s three times the amount, and from great to greater it’s four times.”

As soon as she finished, she turned to Toba and explained it to him again with more detail. It was simple math for me, but my brother’s head was about to shut down from the amount of information he received.

Knowing the different activation costs was essential and it also gave me a sense as to the power of each category of spell, but it didn’t answer what I wanted to know the most.

“Oneesan, how many spells can a regular adventurer cast?”

She brought her finger to her delicate chin as she thought for a bit.

“Well, a fully-fledged adventurer specialized in magic should be able to cast 2 major spells, but if we’re talking about the bulk of mages going around taking quests, then it’s 1 or 2 regular spells at best, and most don’t manage to learn a major spell even if they have the mana capacity to cast it.”

That was… Shocking, to say the least. Now that I learned most mages could only cast 4 minor spells at most, I was forced to once again reevaluate just how exceptional Luna was.

That’s because, from what I witnessed from Luna so far, she was flawless in terms of preparedness and caution, so much so that I was surprised when the tiger managed to sneak past her.

That meant that she was not carelessly spending spells that she could end up needing later, and if even so she could throw away so many spells like that without needing to worry, just how powerful was she?

Even though I knew she was in no way ordinary, watching her casting spell after spell made me think most mages wouldn’t have trouble using up at least 10 or 12 minor spells a week.

With a slightly pale face, I looked at her and asked.

“Luna… Just how many spells can you cast?”

She giggled playfully before answering.

“It’s a secret… but I do have a Great spell in my repertoire.” She said with her finger in front of her lips.

“Great spell…”

Great spell huh… If a minor firebolt can blow up two bandits to bits, what exactly is she capable of?

She laughed again when she noticed my astonished expression, and as she turned back to Toba so she could explain it all to him again, I just stood there, taking in the information I had just received.

…

After she finished answering my questions about spells, she moved on to explain adventurer ranks and adventurer’s guild rules of conduct. I didn’t pay that much attention to it, and Luna didn’t tell us what rank she was, so all I could remember was that there were 11 ranks (not counting rookies), and that they were divided in colors.

The only thing that caught my attention, was that apparently ranks were certified using special magic circles linked to one’s very soul.

She also told us about quest ranks and other miscellaneous stuff. Normally I would take an interest in these things, but after learning about magic there was no way I could care about something else, at least for the moment.

Besides, this sort of stuff can be told by guild receptionists anyway.

When Luna noticed our brains couldn’t soak up more information, she brought us outside and told Toba to practice with the gladius.

“It’s about time you learned a new spell, right Cona?” She said in a sweet voice.

Seems like her tough act degrades as the day goes on. I wonder if it’ll restore completely tomorrow morning.

“Yes! I’ve been waiting for this!”

I wasn’t just acting, I was really looking forward to learning new spells, since it wasn’t that difficult to master minor firebolt. Luna, however, insisted that I would only learn another one once my firebolt was acceptable.

Her reasoning was that I could only train once a week, and if I kept trying new spells, I would never make any permanent progress.

She also said the next spells I tried probably wouldn’t be as easy to learn, she called it beginner’s luck that I was able to learn minor firebolt so fast. Of course, what she didn’t know was that before she found me, I kept repeating the initial steps every week, and since I didn’t have the word of power to complete it, I kept polishing the other steps, thinking they were the reason I couldn’t cast it.

Luna sat on the ground and took out a spell book I had seen before on the second floor of the tower. The cover was simple but robust, and the title was “Minor defense”.

Couldn’t they have chosen a better name? It sounds like a guide on how to protect against pedophiles.

“Today I’m going to teach you minor repel, it’s a simple barrier magic that creates a shield capable of stopping attacks both physical and magical, but you should only use it against physical attacks, since it’s weak to other spells.” She said while flipping through the pages of the tome, stopping on the medieval style drawings illustrating the step by steps of the spell.

She also took out an engraved fist-sized disc from her robe and handed it to me.

“Hm? What’s this for?” I asked as I raised my head to look up at her.

“It’s the magic circle for the spell, they can be engraved in all sorts of materials, not just drawn on paper.” She smiled as she observed me examining the iron disc.

“They can also be tattooed, but it’s a bit of a taboo to do that.”

This certainly changed things. As durable as the special water-proof paper they use may be, at the end of the day it’s just paper, it can be destroyed with relative ease.

Metal, stone, and even hardened leather seem to be a lot safer to carry around in a battle without risking losing all your magic circles and the hard work needed to draw them.

Tattoos seem even more convenient, but apparently there’s a reason for them not to be used.

“Is this the circle for minor repel?” I said as I traced my fingers through the grooves in the disc.

It was surprisingly hefty for its size, and the grooves were deep. Just from looking at it I could tell it would be extremely hard to damage this magic circle.

“It is. This is the most common magic circle out there, and usually it’s the one found engraved in the cover of most combat grimoires.”

Still with my eyes glued to the object in my hands, I asked:

“Is it hard? I imagine it’s not a natural spell like minor firebolt.”

Luna chuckled a bit and looked at Toba, who was tirelessly practicing with the gladius inside the barrier, before turning back to look at me again.

“Don’t worry, it’s as simple as it gets, you shouldn’t have too much trouble. But you are correct that it’s not a natural spell, it’s a wished spell so you can’t make mistakes.” She said with a warm, nostalgic smile in her face.

“I remember my first time learning this spell… If we compare your talent to mine, it shouldn’t take long for you to learn all basic minor repel spells.”

“There’s more than one?”

“Let’s focus on this one for now.” She said as she ruffled my hair a bit.

“Ok…”

Luna knew that once I got interested and started asking questions I wouldn’t stop, so she knew when to cut me off.

“Now, don’t you want a demonstration? Fufufu.”

Again with the devilish chuckle… But it is a defensive spell so she’s probably just teasing me.

“You bet!”

She didn’t have to tell me anything as I grabbed a short sword near me and charged right at her. This was a barrier spell, and I had a hunch she used this exact spell to block the arrows the bandits fired, so there was really only one way to test it.

“HAAAAAAAH!”

I charged forth as I raised my sword and aimed my blow at the little smirk she was provoking me with.

Just before my blade got half a meter near her, she took out her hand from inside her robe with insane speed, and with her index and middle fingers raised, she extended her arm, almost touching the blade as she shouted:

“[Repel]”

Instantly, a golden light shone, and my blade collided with the barrier that surrounded her whole body like a sphere.

It was like hitting solid rock, except that after the initial impact I felt much more force coming back to me than it normally would.

I was thrown backwards, sliding a few meters across the ground as I left behind a dirt trail and ripped apart the grass.

First that firebolt, now this. Hopefully there’s no HOA around here because this garden is absolutely ruined.

Toba stopped what he was doing to look my way but was quickly scolded by Luna and got back to training.

“What do you think? Hehehe.”

“Yeah… Definitely packs a punch.” I said as I tried to support myself with my sword.

“The punch was all you, silly. The spell merely repelled it.” She said with a now much louder chuckle.

Having fun at my expense… I think I want the serious and scary Luna back.

I got up and dusted myself off. It was time to increase my repertoire.

…

The first day of training was over. As expected, I didn’t manage to cast minor repel right out the bat, but the spell overall was much simpler than minor firebolt.

All I had to do was touch the circle and bring my hand forward with my index and middle fingers raised and the rest of the hand into a fist.

The weird thing was keeping the spell up, I felt it about to activate but it was like the mana slipped through my fingers just before it manifested.

I would definitely learn it after a few months though, the process was new, but it was not complicated by any means.

After that our days continued one after the other, always following the same schedule. First thing in the morning we would try to fight Luna and receive feedback along with sword training, then we would workout, eat, learn the theory on something, and finally, learn it in practice.

I though our bodies would turn to dust after a few days of this, and I didn’t even intend to workout the other day, thinking I would wake up destroyed after all the work. Surprisingly, however, the little sleep we got was more than enough to bring us back to 100%.

This fast recovery, the abnormal rate my muscles and strength increase, the amount of food I can eat… Does everyone in this world have built in steroids? Is my special gift as a reincarnated hero a blood with trenbolone already running through it?

Nah, I wouldn’t be this happy if it was.

The only thing that changed in this routine was that, after a while, Luna started going out in the middle of the night at least once a week.

I had no clue what she was doing, but she always took a small bag with her and nothing else. Curious as I am, I later found out there was nothing but writing utensils in there.

The only thing that caught my attention was the stamp, which had a sigil in the form of a thin dagger with a drop of blood at its tip.

It was certainly weird, but I didn’t dare pry in too much. Everyday I found out more about just how skilled Luna was, and even with her training us in stealth and a variety of skills, we were still mere babies next to her.

Still, things were getting more and more interesting every day. Luna was an excellent teacher, and we were doing our best too.

I had no clue why she wouldn’t take us out of the tower already and into the city, but whatever her reasons were, I’m sure that when we finally got to civilization, we would stand out with our skills.

Taking the bandits as a baseline, it wouldn’t take long before I could take one on by myself, and with relative ease too.

The training had just begun, and we were still in the first few weeks, but we were already much stronger.

I couldn’t wait to start my life as an adventurer.