Magic is an amazing thing. Absolutely, ridiculously, fantastically amazing. I bought a towel that can cast a cleaning spell twice a day, and I have no doubt it’ll be the best purchase of my life. All I have to do is wrap myself in it for five seconds, and me and everything on me will be in pristine condition. Yes, it’s a simple first circle magical spell, but it’s a life saver for someone like me! Sometimes my grossness would distract me from hunting, especially when my hands would get sticky from all the blood.

“Um, Ms. Fluffytail.”

“Hmm?”

The black-robed woman, Liana, lowered her head. “Can we exchange messenger signatures? Since it seems like you like collecting odd magical tools, I’ll let you know if I obtain any that might interest you.”

…Which part of my tools were odd? Huh!? But, fine. She was immensely useful in finding everything I wanted. “Okay.” It feels great to be strong. Everyone wants to be your friend.

After exchanging signatures, Liana saluted me. “I hope we can stay in touch. There aren’t many magicians in this area of the pass. We have to stick together.”

And she still thinks I’m a fourth circle magician. Of course, I have no intentions of correcting her misunderstanding. “I’ll be busy for a while, but if you need something, leave a message and I’ll help if I’m available.”

Liana’s face brightened. “That’s great! I’m glad I met you.”

I nodded at her and turned around, facing the exit of the town. As I entered the woods, I could hear Liana muttering, “But what am I going to do with 73 bear penises…?”

I finished hunting the fat bears, crocodiles, and vultures, so it’s time to move on to something stronger! And now, I can show off my new equipment! Behold, the legendary second circle magic fusion combination of Cartography and Eagle Eye, Mini-Map! Just like the name says, a projection of a miniature map with a blue dot representing my figure appears in front of me, shooting out of the ring on my thumb. Let’s see, Liana marked the wilderness town with a star, and I have to go southeast to go deeper…. It’s that way! Fuck Durandal’s intuition training; I know which way is south now!

…Unfortunately, I can only do that once a day. Let’s hope I don’t lose track until then. But I won’t because I’m hyper focused, and even food can’t distract me. Why you ask? Because of this new ring I bought which contains the spell, barbeque! All I have to do is take out a piece of meat, press my ring against it, and shout, “Barbeque!” …Perfection. This is ridiculously delicious. I haven’t eaten in who knows how many months. First circle spells generally consist of spells used to make mundane tasks easier like cooking, cleaning, and waste disposal.

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Wait a minute. Didn’t I say I wanted combat-oriented spells for my magical tools? Yes, yes I did, but there weren’t many because Liana was the only third-circle mage in the area. Most of the tools consisted of first-circle magic, and I was super lucky to obtain Mini-Map which was a combination of two second circle spells. But Liana did give me a ring that contained an array for her favorite spell, Fling. Apparently, it’s custom for weaker mages to give stronger mages spell arrays containing their favorite spell to seek guidance. I think I gave Liana good advice despite not being a mage. I told her to focus on casting the spell in a single area instead of on a whole person. So instead of flinging a person away, she could fling only his leg or his arm to make him lose balance. I’m a genius, aren’t I?

But enough self-praise, there’s a strange creature in front of me, and I have no clue what it is. It’s a dog with two heads and a very pointy tail. Let’s smack it. “Breaking Blade!”

Perfect, direct hit! …Huh? I missed? No, I clearly saw it get hit…

The two-headed dog took a few steps back and growled at me. It pawed at the ground before charging forward and leaping into the air. Alright, it can’t dodge if it’s off the ground! “Breaking Blade!” Mini-DalDal bisected the dog horizontally, and it died… is what I’d like to say. But instead, it turned into a puff of smoke and reappeared on the ground away from me where it was standing before. The dog’s hackles bristled as both its mouths opened and roared. I prepared myself for its charge. Focus, Lucia! Figure out its technique!

And it ran away.

“…Get back here, you stupid dog! Let me kill you!” No way was I going to let the first prey I encountered escape! Haste! The surroundings blurred as I ran after the dog, gaining on it. If Breaking Blade didn’t work, let’s try this! “Long-ranged Qi Blade!”

My qi flew straight and true and struck the two-headed dog directly on its butt. It yelped as a cut appeared, leaking blood. It worked! “Long-ranged Qi Blade times 20!” And thus, my first fight against a two-headed dog ended up with an unrecognizable and diced pile of meat. At least there was a beast core—lucky! Let’s consume it and spend my qi on engraving the dog’s bones. But, first, it’s time to use another magical tool! I pressed the ring on my middle finger to the pile of meat. “Dismantle!”

The pile neatly separated itself into shredded skin, piles of bones and teeth, and chunks of meat. How convenient. Thank god magicians are super lazy and invented tools like this for common people like me. The best part about the ring is the blood of magical beasts can recharge its spell array uses! Now I can spend even less time dismantling corpses, so I can hunt more efficiently! Just you wait, Durandal. I’ll become much, much stronger to wake you up as soon as possible. Oh, and I forgot to ask the people in the wilderness town if they saw Snow. Well, it doesn’t matter. If I see him again, I’ll kill him, but I’m not going to actively hunt him, not when there’s more important things do.