"Bang, bang!" Rody struck the monster in front of him with a war hammer formed from his spirit, causing its entire body to explode, ending the encounter.
As he and Gill passed through a small valley, they were surrounded by a dozen creatures resembling both octopuses and evil eyes. The two relied on the forest to fight hard for a long time, eventually defeating all the monsters. Rody was unclear whether these were flying octopuses or evil eyes with eight fanged, soft legs.
These monsters had one giant eye but also an exaggeratedly huge mouth full of sharp teeth.
Their eight octopus-like legs were covered with fangs, strong and responsive.
This was the first time in five days that Rody had assisted Gill in combat. Gill's magical power was astonishing; although she was introverted, shy, and kind-hearted, rarely attacking the magical beasts they encountered, her spells were shockingly effective. Rody had once commanded Nicholas, Marcus, and Emma alone during a night watch, fighting a creature with a hyena's head and a bat's body. He realized that the beast, knocked down by Gill's ice ball, was not as weak as he imagined.
Marcus and Emma, engaged in close combat, were left with scattered fighting spirit and broken bones. Nicholas's white bone armor was shattered in many places by its long tail.
Only then did Rody realize the astonishing strength of Gill's magic with a single strike.
"What kind of monster is this?" Gill was also surprised that her fireball attack was completely ineffective and cautiously approached to examine it.
"Maybe it's an octopus monster that can come ashore, or perhaps a mutated form of an evil eye," Rody speculated as he searched for magic crystals in the disgusting corpses. He was excited to find that even the smallest magic crystal was above second grade, and the largest reached third grade, and he eagerly showed them to Gill.
"Be careful!" Gill saw a creature that wasn't completely dead yet, its tentacles lashing towards Rody, and she screamed in alarm.
Rody, always cautious and used to encountering beasts playing dead in the Silent Forest, agilely dodged. His mental whip extended like a spider's web, instantly pressing the entire monster to the ground before tearing it apart. Gill, anxious, ran over and, seeing Rody unharmed, seemed a bit too revealing of her feelings, embarrassedly lowering her head, her face as red as an apple.
Although they won the battle, both their magic and spirits were greatly depleted, especially Gill's. Rody estimated that she would not fully recover in the next two days.
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Gill's magical power was undoubtedly strong, but she used it without reservation, a consequence of her lack of experience in tough battles.
Experienced magicians always try to conserve their magic as much as possible, only using it when absolutely necessary. Magic is everything to a magician; without it, a magician is less than an ordinary swordsman. Thus, how to achieve the greatest effect with the least amount of magic is the realm of casting that all magicians in the world pursue.
"Gill, the stench of blood from the corpses will soon attract more magical beasts. Let's go!" Rody quickly gathered the magic crystals and hurriedly led Gill away.
"Hmm," Gill's response was as soft as a mosquito's hum.
Along the way, Rody shared his insights on meditation and methods of casting magic with Gill. Gill was both surprised and delighted to learn that Rody could control the casting of his magic with mental power. When she tried Rody's self-discovered method and managed to make a fireball float in mid-air, moving it up, down, left, and right, Rody was secretly amazed by the girl's comprehension.
"It looks good, Gill. You can try to condense the fireball as much as possible, but be careful not to lose control and cause it to explode," Rody said, interested in training this gifted girl.
"It's a bit difficult," Gill admitted, sweating on her forehead. After much effort and a long time, she managed to condense the huge fireball to the size of her fist.
Rody didn't praise her, but he was inwardly astounded. He never expected her to compress the large fireball on her first try, and to such an exaggerated degree. The fist-sized fireball was purple-red, extremely hot, and rapidly spinning inside. Rody believed that it would deliver a terrifying blow if it hit a creature. He thought Gill would only practice condensing large fireballs for the day, but then he saw her carefully controlling the fireball while slowly condensing an ice ball, leaving him stunned.
It seemed he wasn't the only genius. Although the unconventional method was his idea, he wasn't the only one who could execute it.
"Controlling two spells is so hard! Look, Rody, I can make them spin around each other!" Gill said, her face flushed and dripping with sweat, but she was unmistakably excited, like a proud child showing off to Rody.
"Not bad, keep it up. This is very helpful for training your control over magic," Rody felt a surge of competitiveness.
It was a strange feeling, not jealousy or envy, but Rody felt that as a man, he should be better, work harder, and become stronger. As he traveled with Gill, he continually imagined and tried new methods, secretly maintaining the concentration of his mental whip to strengthen his mental power.
In the evening, Rody was amazed to see Gill elongate the fireball into a small pillar of fire, then into a spear.
"Thank you, your method is really good. I never thought magic could be controlled like this, thank you!" Gill said to Rody before going to sleep, then turned away, her head lowered for a long time.
"Rest well, I'll teach you something new tomorrow," Rody said with a slight smile, gently patting Gill's head. She shuddered slightly and her neck turned pink. Gill nodded shyly, responding so softly that Rody could barely hear her.
Three days later, Rody was no longer surprised by Gill's talent and comprehension.
Now, Gill could manipulate an ice ball spinning in a ring of fire around her body, initially controlling one and then adding more, eventually arranging them in the patterns of the Hexagram or the Big Dipper around herself, much to Rody's embarrassment.
However, inspired by Gill's talent, Rody also developed new methods of mental attack. He condensed small bits of mental power and spun them at high speeds in the direction he controlled, forming an invisible, rapidly spinning saw. The power was astonishing, but it consumed a tremendous amount of mental power, initially leaving Rody dizzy after just ten seconds. As he improved the method and his control, adapting to the new technique, he was able to maintain it for over a minute.
This invisible 'mental saw' brought Gill's admiration to the extreme, or rather, Rody's innovation deeply impressed her.
"Rody is so amazing, I can't do it," Gill said, not in frustration, but in complete joy and admiration. She excitedly clapped and cheered when Rody used the 'mental saw' to cut a tree in half.