I sat down in front of mom as she projected three magic circles for me to memorize, though the leftmost spell looked to be far more complicated than anything I knew – even the omni-elemental war golem.

“The first spell here is fundamental for your use of magma magic – a simple create magma spell.” She said, looking to the rightmost circle.

Even though she says it’s a ‘simple’ spell, it uses an intermediate-grade magic circle, with separate intakes for fire mana and earth mana.

“Be warned that its name is a little misleading – to be more precise, this spell allows you to target solid rock and heat it into magma, but ‘stone-magma conversion spell’ didn’t quite sound right to me. You would need to use ten times the mana of your current capacity if you were to create any significant amount of magma out of thin air, so this one will have to do.”

I nodded silently as I began engraving the sight of the spell into my mind.

“Next, we have the classic -ball and -bolt equivalent of magma magic, magmaball.”

“With the sheer density of the material, it’ll function like a solid when flying through the air and striking a target. Then it’ll act as a viscous, liquid fire that will melt it. While magma is slow to transfer heat to its target, it’s difficult to wade through and remove, and it doesn’t cool quickly either. You get to deal blunt damage to your foe, slow them down in a thick substance, and slow cook them all at the same time.”

Interestingly, this spell was a lot simpler than the earlier one. It was an elementary-grade spell which took magma from the terrain, formed it into a ball, and launched it at a target of my choosing. Memorizing this spell went much quicker, especially since it was very similar to spells I already knew.

“And last, but definitely not least, is an original creation of mine.” She said with a hint of smug pride, finally pointing to the insane behemoth of a spell circle.

Being projected right next to that titan of a circle, I saw that the magmaball’s circle wasn’t even as big as the tiniest component circles in the gargantuan spell. When I tried to memorize the spell, my head began to hurt as I failed to comprehend what its purpose was.

Putting a hand to suppress the coming headache, I gave mom a questioning look.

“I knew that designing the first two spells wouldn’t have taken you days, but I didn’t expect whatever this is supposed to be. Mind telling me what it does?”

Mom shook her head.

“This spell is beyond your ability to cast – for now. While you just barely have the mana to cast it, the level of control you’d need to cast, maintain, and effectively use it is far beyond you. I’ll properly teach it to you once you finally reach S rank and learn how to cast master-grade and ritual-grade magic circles.”

“And why in the Abyss’s name did you create a spell I am not even close to being able to cast?!” I retorted in an exasperation.

Interestingly enough, mom looked a bit sheepish as she answered me.

“Well, I was originally designing a spell that would make the most of your abilities. The work went relatively quickly, and I had an advanced-grade circle ready for your use. But as I was working, I noticed that adding a few modifications here and there would pay dividends. Before I knew it, I had a little too much fun and the design had spiraled out of control, becoming a master-grade spell so complicated that it bordered on being a ritual spell. At that point, I’d already forgotten all about the original design.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Huh.

Who knew mom had such a perfectionist mindset.

“Well, aren’t there any other kind of magma spells? A pseudo-create magma and magmaball spells are hardly anything complex or versatile.”

“For better or worse, there isn’t anything else to do. While it may be incredibly dense and viscous, it is still a fluid, and there is little point in giving it any particular shape. Doing anything special would require a complicated spell like the one I made, which makes use of a bunch of other elements as well – and thank goodness for that.” She shuddered.

I can’t imagine that the Goddess of Frost likes that branch of magic much.

Fair enough.

“Magma magic is suitable for destruction and little else. Otherwise, every atypical-attributed mage would be using it. Utility, defense, and any advanced or nuanced kinds of magic you may need are where the rest of your abilities and spells come in. That’s what you’ve been spending the whole week practicing. Besides getting familiar with your two new spells, I’d say you’re now comfortable with the basics of what true battle looks like. All you need is more experience at it.”

***

Over the next week, mom continued training me with her golems. When I asked to learn the magic circles that created them, she said that they were a product of her divine abilities rather than a spell. When I then asked about divinity and the abilities it grants, she refused to tell me, saying that it would be a ‘pointless distraction’ from the rest of my training.

Still, the week wasn’t without good news.

Uncle Dimri had finished creating a ritual for Nico. It was time for her to follow in Fafnir’s footsteps.

***

“Hold on tight to your brother, Nini. Ozeir, you’d better not let your sister fall off the harness, or else I’ll have your hide!” Miss Anta Sept demanded worriedly.

Ozeir rolled his eyes.

“Don’t be so worried, mother. I’ve rescued frightened village children on a griffin before without an issue; a god’s champion like Nicotris can manage to not unhook herself from the saddle just fine.”

Standing in front of Nico’s mother was one of the Sept family’s griffins, with Ozeir holding its reins and Nicotris buckled in behind him. The woman looked like she wanted to say more, but she just sighed and walked to the second griffin, where Duke Sept was mounted. Nico was uncharacteristically silent for obvious reasons, and none of us tried to bother her too much. We stood quite a distance from Thebos and the sun was still rising, giving me a chance to transform into my base dragonoid form without causing a panic.

The griffins, for their part, seemed to be incredibly well-behaved and intelligent beasts, given that they haven’t done anything besides watch us.

“Miss Azoth, we’re now prepared to take flight. We’re ready to move at your discretion.” The duke said.

I summoned my mana wings via the magic anchor on my back, and I gently took off in the direction of the isles. With the two griffins flying after me, we made our way at a gentle pace towards the Draconic Isles, where Uncle Dimri awaited.

In a few hours, the Isles were finally in sight, and it wasn’t long before I landed on the Life Dragon’s island and transformed into my human form. The griffins behind me slowly landed as Uncle Dimri awaited us.

Dimri stepped forward and waited for the Sept family to dismount before greeting them.

“Welcome, honoured guests. My name is Dimri, though you may know me as the Life Dragon. I’ve heard much about you from Kiara, and a friend of her’s is a friend of mine. I am eager to work with you to hopefully resolve Lady Nicotris’s predicament.” He said as he gave them a wide and reassuring smile.

The duke stepped forward and offered his hand.

“Thank you for your kindness, Lord Dimri. Our house was consumed by the fear of losing one of its daughters, and you’ve given us the hope to drive it away. We are in your debt.”

Dimri took the man’s hand in both of his own as he shook it.

“You owe me nothing, good sir – I don’t need a reason to save a person’s life. But enough about that, we should get to it. The sooner this burden is removed from your shoulders, the sooner relief will find you. Please, follow after me.”

The five of us followed after the life dragon towards the tree in the island’s center. With a wave of his hand, the tree’s bark gently split open, revealing a staircase inside.

With a mirthful gait, Dimri led us up the giant tree from the inside until we found a door at the end. Swinging the door open, a wide room inside the tree revealed itself. In it were a number of interesting items.

A large magic circle drawn physically with a strange, powdered substance covered most of the room. At its center was a wooden bed so simple that it looked like a table. Hanging from the ceiling by a string was the phoenix’s core, which I had given to Dimri in advance.

The magic circle had three, equidistant, wide-open circles on its outer border. One was empty, but in the other two stood mom and Aunt Ighir, respectively.