Ep 63. Get A Life, Will You? (3)
“Got your sap?”
“And a coat.”
Patrick replied to Ilias in a muffled voice through his newly acquired scarf and coat, walking down the wide market streets beside the red dragon. He hadn’t exactly expected himself to go on a shopping spree for winter clothes in the middle of summer, but it was what it was; after all, it was practically winter all-year round in Inosis.
The enforcer spared a brief glance at the leather sack over his shoulders, bundling a number of bottled ethensia saps within. Easy ingredient was off the list.
‘Time for the tough one. Although…’
When Patrick nervously looked towards the red dragon, her steps were as light as ever – which was odd, because her bare legs seemed like they would freeze any minute now. Except they didn’t.
Ilias remained indifferent to the cold. Her only focus was on their next destination – she’d looked forward to meeting these supposedly-dangerous-monsters in person.
“Alrighty, time to get that crystal! Where were these golems again?”
“From what I heard, the ice golems in Inosis are usually spotted on flatter areas east of town. They’re pretty big, so they gravitate towards terrains that don’t have any obstacles.”
“Ooh, that’s useful. You know a lot!”
“I mean, I just asked around while I went shopping. Though…out of curiosity, what were you planning to do if I wasn’t here?”
“Probably fly around until I find one?”
Patrick squinted his eyes at the dragon’s answer.
“…Wait, fly around? The entire mountain, you mean?”
“Yeah! Why?”
“…Nothing. Never mind.”
Patrick himself would probably take weeks to even make a brief scan around the entire mountain. When one could zip around the air and ignore the cold, not so much.
“Well, anyways…it shouldn’t take that long to get to where they are. Merchants were saying that they’re not too far away from the town gates, so we-“
Before Patrick could finish, Ilias abruptly wrapped her tail around the enforcer’s waist, lifting him off his feet. He was practically dropped into a bridal carry as the red dragon’s wings spread open to take them into the air.
“Why walk when you can fly?”
“Because I didn’t WANT to fly! Can you at least transform back into a dragon or something?!”
“Oh psh, that’s a waste of energy. I can carry one person in this form just fine! I used to fly all the time like this with Light!”
“That’s not the poin-“
The enforcer’s defense fell silent as Ilias kicked off the ground, taking into the air again with the mage in tow. A streak of tear was rolling down Patrick’s face while the cold mountain air rushed past him.
‘…I hate it here.’
At least only a few people were there to see him being carried off.
Only a few.
✧ ✧ ✧
Serenis beckoned the professor over as she stopped at the middle of the woods. Contrary to the crow’s expression, she seemed indifferent as usual.
Karas reluctantly followed as he pushed against the brushes blocking his path.
“…Serenis, is this necessary?”
“Knowing the strength of your allies is the first step to every war.”
Or so she heard – a rather long time ago from a particularly war-crazed acquaintance of hers. When Karas hesitantly stood some distance away, she also added:
“You’ve nothing to worry about. I’ll only defend.”
“Wouldn’t that be unfair?”
“…Would you rather I attack, then?”
“…”
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Karas considered himself a veteran when it came to war. The experiences he’d accumulated in his previous occupation offered vast knowledge in battle, far superior to an average person’s.
Serenis was not an average person.
A few images quickly flashed by Karas’ mind – of Serenis’ duel against the institution headmaster, specifically. When the professor realized what he was suggesting, he quickly shook his head.
“Good point. No.”
The professor briefly looked down onto his hand, gripping it into a fist before loosening it again. Before embarking on this trip, he’d fully expected having to fight something to defend themselves in the forests – but Serenis wasn’t exactly the opponent he imagined to be standing on the other side. He’d expected a wild boar or another monster, not a dragonlord.
“But…as your instructor, I do feel obliged to say that I’m quite far from an actual mage when it comes to combat. I may be disappointing if you were expecting an orthodox mage like Gio.”
“How kind of you to let your enemy know such things.”
“…”
Instead of a response, the professor briefly bent down, picking up a broken branch from the ground.
It was an unremarkably simple stick, just about the length of his forearm. But as Karas held it upwards, thin mana threads coiled around the branch, layering on top of one another until the branch was reshaped into an eerily glowing shortsword.
“Serenis. From what I recall, you’re familiar with mana reinforcement. Yes?”
The dragonlord returned a brief nod back. She’d displayed such when she’d thrown Gio single-handedly. However, she could clearly see that the weapon in Karas’ hand wasn’t just a mana-reinforced stick; he’d seemingly reformed its structure altogether.
“…But what you’re doing isn’t reinforcement.”
“It is, actually. But it’s certainly not the traditional way to do it.”
As the professor acknowledged Serenis’ conjecture, he wove his shortsword in the air. Several more strands of mana whisked along its edge and fell to the ground, layering on top of various stones and leaves.
“Traditional reinforcement does not change an object’s structure; it only fuels them with mana to strengthen their make. However, the more modernized method is to physically build on an object’s structure to a desired strength and shape. Like…this.”
Karas then proceeded to swing his shortsword high into the air. This time, dozens of mana strands exploded outwards from his hand and coiled around the weapon again, reshaping it into a monstrous black hand that reached above Serenis’ head.
Without warning, the looming shadow clawed downwards at the dragon beneath. Still, Serenis refused to move; only her eyes remained fixed on the oncoming attack.
Moments before the claw’s tip reached her forehead, an equally giant mass of ice burst forth from the side, smashing into the shadowy limb and knocking it into a tree off to the side.
Both spells faded as Karas’ branch returned to being the unremarkable stick it was before. However, the professor was already running towards Serenis, this time with a handful of dried leaves.
“Traditional reinforcement is a replacement of energy to mana; it cannot incorporate elements. But in the modern way, it can.”
Karas flung the leaves in his hand. Instead of haphazardly dancing about in the air, each one began to take different, solid forms, reshaping into bladed forms of ice and fire that shot across the air towards their target.
Serenis deflected the flurry of elemental leaves with a blast of wind, throwing the projectiles off their path. But when the leaves powerlessly fell to the ground in their original shape, Karas was almost upon the dragonlord with another branch in hand, this time being held with both hands.
“Lastly – traditional reinforcement and modern reinforcement can be used in conjunction.”
The branch in his hands was rapidly reshaped into a towering greatsword. Karas raised the weapon high into the air as streaks of mana flashed across his arms and the blade’s surface, strengthening their structures before slashing downwards.
At first, Serenis erected several metal pillars to bar the blade’s path. A thunderous noise rang throughout the forest as they clashed.
But the dragonlord narrowed her eyes when the metals began to crack and shudder. She then leapt backwards as Karas’ weapon crushed through the iron bars and into empty soil, cutting deep into the earth.
Once the weapon returned to being a simple stick, the professor tossed it aside, shrugging at his unharmed student.
“And that, is how hunters engage in combat.”
Mages could not skip calculating and formulating when using spells. Even Gio, despite his expertise as an archmage, could not entirely skip such procedures.
On the other hand, active hunters faced lethal dangerous in the form of monsters and beasts; their lives were often decided within split seconds, and because of this, they’d devised ways of using mana without calculating. That was reinforcement: using mana to fuel their physical bodies, which were readily available without having to be calculated or formulated.
What Karas had just demonstrated was a step further. Instead of using the readily available physical body, the professor had used sticks and leaves as medium; none of which needed calculating, but available nonetheless.
Still, Serenis quizzically tilted her head. The real question, was…
“…Aren’t you a mage, Karas?”
“I am. But no man is limited to being only one thing at a time.”
Admittedly, Karas had sufficiently demonstrated reinforcement’s practicality to her. Serenis had initially planned to not move a single step from her original position – she had truly meant to ‘only’ defend. Making her physically avoid an attack was already a remarkable feat.
And it wasn’t just the dragonlord who was aware of this. Karas gave another shrug towards his student.
“And, quite frankly, I didn’t see a point in contesting you as a mage. At least this way, you’ve learned something useful in your workshop. Yes?”
Serenis wore a light smile as she nodded back.
“I suppose.”
“Good. Now, if you’d like, I can also teach you how-“
Thwack!
A sudden thud interrupted Karas as a twig flew across the air, smacking right into his face. He fell to his knees with a pained grown, rubbing the part that had just been hit by the branch.
“ARE YOU TWO FIGHTING?!”
Light emerged from the brushes to approach Karas following the high-pitched scream, holding a basket of limen leaves in one hand. Her other hand was already holding onto another branch she’d picked up on the way here, though it was yet to be thrown. For now.
Karas quickly raised his hands defensively, shaking his head.
“No no, you misunderstand, Light. We’re not fighting.”
“Then what was all that noise? I swear I heard something break and explode.”
The half girl glanced around the area. Clear signs of destruction were evident in numerous places – especially the ground before Karas, which had a huge cut running across.
“Don’t lie, professor! I mean, just look at the place!”
“I was…teaching magic to Serenis.”
“Wh- but not me?! That’s even worse!”
Karas darted his gaze towards the dragonlord for help. Unfortunately, the only help he got was a shrug.
The professor slowly turned back to face his angry student. If he told Light the actual reason behind their little sparring, then he’d have to tell her their whole venture about challenging the deity of death – which was NOT going to happen on his watch.
Karas practically sighed out his next answer.
“…You’re right. We were actually fighting.”