Chapter 76 - Magic Battle Training

Jonas looked at Bryn's battle with worried eyes until the light from Bryn's mana core exploded in intensity. Few things could cause that phenomenon; the first thing would be an instant cast of a high-level spell, something Bryn could not do. He needed the mana reserves, the mana output from his core, and the knowledge of such high-level spells. The second would be unlocking one's mana signature; many people of importance and power held items to mask their true power, be it from the appraisal skill or mana sense. Jonas knew Bryn didn't have any items with such characteristics.

Considering the last two reasons it might happen, the speed and intensity of Bryn's condition, level, and equipment caused Jonas to grab his medallion instantly. His face grew strange. His eyebrows were narrowed, and his eyes constricted as if looking closely at something, even though around him was only the forest. On the other hand, his mouth formed a smile by the stretch and lightly curled lips.

"Jonas, what is happening?"

"It's Bryn…"

Gabriel grabbed his medallion under his shirt at the capital, bringing it closer to his face. He waited silently toward the report as his mind started considering all the possible scenarios Jonas could express. His biggest worry would be for Bryn to be injured, which could affect both Bryn's future and his vow. Gabriel could tell from the progression Jonas told him and what he accompanied through his statuses that his blessings were above the norm, which sometimes could cause children's dedication to falter and hinder their development. His mind had gone far when Jonas's voice brought him back.

"He was able to activate his magical body."

Gabriel suddenly stopped across the capital's streets for a second, and people around him avoided the blond man in the middle of the busy corridors from the market. The complaining voices about his positioning found no place inside his mind. If one could see him from the front, one would be shocked to see a thin, circular white line between the dilated pupils and a pitch-black eye. Gabriel tried his hardest to reach Jonas's region, but the distance was too big even for him.

"Explain the situation; how does his skill differ from the royal family?"

Jonas started recounting the events that had happened before that moment and the fact that Bryn's level and intelligence status had skyrocketed during the last few weeks, much above the usual speed. By the time he finished the back story, he then described the live events from the battle with the troll variants up to the present fight Bryn had with the remaining three creatures.

The moment the magical body activated, Jonas estimated the effect compared to the royal family. The reason Bryn's technique proved so much more incredible was two. A magical body could elevate the direct functionality of the race; it was theorized that the highest magical body would transform the individual body into an artifact. That theory was combined with the effects described by the humans who had awakened them and the fact that magical beasts of high levels also had magical bodies, and their parts could be used to forge artifacts. The more mana accumulates in the magical body, the better its quality and the speed at which it develops.

The second reason was the skill when activated. The royal family from the Luminaris kingdom was able to achieve many victories because their current representatives had an additional 8% bonus status on their skill, something that grew a bit with every generation and improvement in the studies of the magical body.

Jonas's words started Gabriel's chest to tighten. His vows might conflict. He had no idea if the best way to protect those he loved was to eliminate Bryn now or help the young and innocent faun. A second shock followed when Jonas described Bryn's action following the battle with the magical troll.

The infinite number of small casts that destroyed the hundreds of trolls without mercy or doubt was something even cadets or young captains would find difficult. The blood, the screams, and the destruction all caused emotions and reactions that were invisible to the eye but weighted on the caster of such barbarities.

At eight years old, Bryn had such vigor, determination, and brilliance for magic, when combined with such ferocity and lack of fear in battle, was nearly unique from Gabriel's perspective. He had known someone similar to what Bryn showed, but he didn't want to believe it.

Their ages are the same, and their talent is similar in many ways, thought Gabriel, wondering if fate had anything to do with their meeting.

"Thank you for the report. Do nothing for now," Gabriel said as the sun set at the capital and Bryn walked toward their camp.

Jonas turned off his medallion, unsure of how to treat the kid. No doubt, a potential threat lived inside that young faun's body. But as he saw the excitement in the kid's eyes when they met that night, his mind was decided.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"Mr Jonas, you should have seen! I defeated new types of trolls I had not encountered before; one of them could even use magic!" Bryn's mouth moved faster than the words came out, causing a bit of trouble for one who didn't know him or what happened to understand.

"Calm down, tell me everything. I prepared us some food." Jonas said, pointing at a chair across the low fire to warm them.

Bryn's happiness about the challenges he had faced and how he was considering dealing with the remaining trolls from the nest was inspiring. Jonas could tell that he was still a kid despite the coldness Bryn had shown with those strange ice spells.

"There are things you must know, Bryn. The troll you fought wasn't a magical beast yet."

Bryn's face tilted to the side, confused by Jonas's words.

"But it used magic!"

"You are not wrong, but magical beasts can use mana more fluidly than that. It probably learned mana not long ago, less than a week. Trolsl develops extremely fast, and in every nest, those who can use magic go straight to the hunting party, if not completely taking over the nest."

"The hunting party left with many members a few days ago…"

"What does this tell you?"

Bryn's contorted from Jonas's provocation.

"Mr Jonas, were there trolls the first and weakest of the adults?"

Jonas didn't have to answer; his smirk told Bryn everything he needed to know.

Facing thirty beasts stronger than the six he had faced the previous day would prove difficult. It would be impossible to use the same tactics he had employed, so a new plan would have to form. He had also killed all the remaining young from the nest, meaning that the nest would not produce his levels until the group was back. In addition, they would know a predator was around, raising their attention level.

The constant thinking caused Bryn's head to weigh. Both thumbs pressed his eyebrows at the top of his nose as the remaining fingers intertwined. The entire night was devoted to thinking of strategies, but only a few Bryn could think of. Individual fighting would be challenging; the hunting party was much more used to combat and moving as a unit. His ice minigun spell needed to improve to go after all thirty, especially if they were more robust than the previous ones. At one point, his body gave up on staying awake; Bryn had spent too much energy in the fights to keep that level of focus the entire night.

In the morning, Jonas allowed the faun to sleep past sunrise. The moment Bryn woke up, the camp was empty, and Jonas had cleared some portions of the forest around their tent, causing small clearings all around.

"Mr Jonas, what is going on?"

"We are changing the training."

Am I not supposed to finish the troll's nest, right? Bryn, though, is angry that he spent so much time thinking of solutions to such a problem.

"Don't think you are off the hook, kid," Jonas said as he pointed down as if calling Bryn near him.

As the faun sat down before him, Jonas used three fingers to express the next portion of their training. "Three days, Bryn. You have three days to learn magic battle against me."

Before Bryn could process his words, Jonas waved his hand up, causing a small stone to rise from the floor. He punched the air as he closed his hand, sending the pebble to hit Bryn between his small horns.

"Auuuu," Bryn complained.

"Lesson one, always be ready. Magic is not as easy to read as physical attacks."

Bryn pressed the area the pebble had contacted, noticing it was just a scare before getting up.

"Bryn, you are to attack me with all you have," Jonas said as his hands started another wave. From Bryn's sides, the ground shook as two trails of rocks began to emerge, growing in size and sharpness as they met where Bryn stood.

With a sequence of maneuvers backward, Bryn evaded the attack as he whacked the stones, crushing each other with enough strength to breach both sides upon contact.

Is he serious? Thought Bryn as he readied a few ice spikes and threw them at Jonas

"Too predictable; your shards only attack in a straight line," Jonas exclaimed as he slightly tilted his body to evade all spells simultaneously.

Bryn used the time to start running around the man, creating new spells to attack him. As his hooves touched the ground, he found mud all around them. Looking down, he noticed something was off and immediately jumped to the canopy of the trees.

At that moment, the mud that covered a bit more than his hooves turned back to dry earth, almost breaking his ankles should he stay on the ground.

"Magic can be used as freely as you imagine, not only as something to throw at others or to cover your weapons," said Jonas, starting to walk in Bryn's direction.

As he walked, Jonas took a breath that inflated his lungs enough for Bryn to notice his chest increase in size. With a bigger step forward, Jonas let out a high-pitched and loud whistle that Bryn had to cover both ears.

"Some animals have weaknesses unrelated to weapons or direct attacks. You must think outside the box to gain every advantage." Jonas continued as their distance diminished.

Bryn bit his limps, thinking of a way to deal with that monster coming his way, but nothing seemed to work. Running backward, he tried the combination between water pressure spheres and ice spikes to see if their combination could find a weakness in Jonas's defense. Unfortunately for Bryn, Jonas used earth magic to strike every projectile with a reinforced pebble. They were perfectly round, pitch black, and whenever they hit one of Bryn's spells, the ice or the spheres exploded as the black projectile kept going.

One hit, come on, Bryn!

Thinking about all the techniques he had seen frost wizards use, Bryn's creativity was already stretched thin. Using more and more of the cold water elemental mana, Bryn noticed fog coming out of his exhausted breath.

His eyes popped open as he started to create water vapor, thinking of the already existing particles in the air. He expanded his mana outward, influencing the particles to accumulate near each other but imagining a smoke covering the space he and Jonas were in. The mana inside his core started to drop at a noticeable rate, but as he used his hand to hold onto a three-trunk, he felt his skin colder than usual. Looking at his palm, droplets of water ran down his forearm. Bryn smiled and stopped running.

As Jonas approached the center of the area, Bryn stood there waiting. When their distance was just a few feet away, Bryn dashed at Jonas and trusted with Akusashi aimed at his face. Jonas evaded sideways, and as he stepped forward for a backhand strike, the ground around the area he was about to step into froze solid. Noticing the change, Jonas avoided the area, but his strike lost its tempo, allowing Bryn to maneuver his body to the opposite side, pulling Akusashi only halfway and turning it toward him another time.

Jonas smiled while his eyebrows shot up at the sight of the spell as he said, "THAT IS MORE LIKE IT !" He evaded the blade and headed toward Bryn.