Chapter 11: Fire and Water

After traveling past the Golden Plains and out into the wilderness, Alexander and his companion Nathaniel spent half a month on the road. They passed through two towns, where they stayed a few days to complete quests and rest, but they couldn't spare much time as they had a greater ambition.

The Elf was eager to continue his magic studies. At the same time, his new friend had decided to come along with hopes of leaching off him to transcribe more magical texts. From friendly acquaintances, they soon became close friends as they survived many close encounters with hostile mobs like goblins, slimes, and rabid wolves. Nathaniel had almost no offensive capabilities but could at least defend himself with a Magic Shield. Meanwhile, Alexander debilitated their enemies via Bonking, followed by his Drowesyness Magic before they would flee. As they did not kill the mobs, they would often be pursued, and in some cases, even lasted several days.

The two of them were relieved to leave the wilderness behind for a time as they arrived at their first major destination; The Village of Davenport.

Here, they managed to rest up before pleading their case to a couple composed of a dwarf male and a human female. These were to be Alexander's first two teachers and were on very friendly terms with Balin. Given this connection and the Elf 'Wise' status, they graciously allowed the two youths to stay with them.

What Alexander hadn't expected was that this long journey would land him right back in the middle of a forge.

While hammering a long piece of metal like his life depended on it, a loud and overly angry Elf called, "You call that hammering, you scrawny Elf! My gran-mama got stronger arms than you!"

Alexander had no time or energy to respond as sweat poured from his body, and he gasped for air. He had messed up on this project thrice and had been forced to melt the product down and restart each time. Letting out an exhausted shout, the flames around the sword he was making intensified, causing the metal to grow an even brighter shade of crimson.

Another ten minutes passed before the Elf dunked his project into a water basin and promptly collapsed onto his bottom. A familiar screen appeared before him:

image [https://imgur.com/Ip9EfJp.png]

Over the last hour, he had lost a third of his HP this way, though an additional notification lightened the Elf's mood.

image [https://imgur.com/WBA4JNf.png]

During the last ten days, he had been slaving away in a forge once again just to practice his Fire Magic. His new teacher, Biffer, had kindly taught him the Basic Magic: Summon Fire that allowed one to manifest flame out of mana. The size and intensity of the flame were limited due to the nature of the spell, but with the Elf's vast supply of mana, he could maintain the spell almost endlessly. To refine his control of this magic, being the Dwarf he was, Biffer set him to work in his forge.

The Dwarf let out a pleased laugh and walked over to pat the Elf on his back while remarking, "Not bad, twig. Your endurance sucks, but your skill isn't complete trash."

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Alexander leaned against the water basin and responded, "I just formed my Fire Symbol."

Biffer laughed even more happily and bared back, "Very good, but if your sword still is not formed right, you can keep dreaming of leaving my forge." He reached into the basin and pulled out the final product. After analyzing every detail of the long blade, which possessed an evenly distorted curve in its body, he nodded and stated, "Not bad, though it's only a common item. Do you have a name for her?"

The Elf nodded and responded, "Very Tired Elf."

The Dwarf roared with laughter and blurted, "You sure are Blain's student, that crazy bastard." Putting the blade on a workbench, he grew more serious and stated, "Very well. As a smith, you still have a long way to go, but you've done well forming your Fire Symbol. I believe this concludes our arrangement."

At this point, a notification appeared before the Elf,

image [https://imgur.com/Y2otXWu.png]

Finally reaching level 5 made the Elf very happy, and he was even happier to have finished learning two new kinds of magic. His happiness was magnified by a sweet voice calling, "Boys, dinner is ready."

Both males scraped off toward the nearby house, where a very short woman waited at a door. She kissed her husband as he entered first and then blocked the Elf while chiming, "Not so fast, mister. Not even my husband is allowed to enter my house so dirty. Wash up in the back, then join us."

Looking impish, the youth bentley resided, "Yes, Ms. Geneva."

She nodded to him with a kind smile and added, "Now hurry up, I made shepherd pie."

Alexander grew excited and ran to a stall behind the house to wash. With a wave, he used the very spell the woman had been teaching him the last ten days, Summon Water, to conjure a globe of clean wetness. He let the liquid fall over his body while using a soap bar to scrub away the ash and grime. Like back in Camelot, he had spent his morning with Geneva summoning water to help the nearby farms, his afternoons forging with Biffer, and his evening studying the books in their library. Summon Water had been much less exhausting to learn than Summon Fire, allowing him to form his Water Symbol two days ago, meaning his training with the couple had reached its end.

Once clean, the Elf ran inside and sat at the table as Nethanial handed him a plate while half distracted. The Half-Elf was actively transcribing a book while he ate dinner, though he commented, "Biffer told us the good news. When are we leaving?"

Alexander took a few moments to swallow a massive mouthful of food before responding, "I guess tomorrow."

His friend nodded and responded, "I still have a couple more books to transcribe, but I should have finished them by then."

Biffer smiled and raised his mug at this: "Then it's settled. Tomorrow, you leave, but tonight, we drink."

The group joined the Dwarf in this toast and merrily conversed with each other late into the evening. The atmosphere was incredibly homely, and for the first time in many months, Alexander felt like he was a part of a family again. He was sad this warmth had to end tomorrow, but looking back at the past month, he realized he had made great progress. His level had increased several times by completing quests for NPCs throughout their journey. His Blacksmithing skill has increased to level 7, and his Metallurgy skill has even increased to level 2.

Due to ample practice with his Mana Shield Spell his Mana Forming skill had also soared to level 7. His Plant Identification skill also reached this same level thanks to him looking for provisions while traveling. He had gained the skill Magic Transcribing and raised it to level 2, which increased his Mana stat by 5% per level. Transcribing required a lot of reading, so his Studying skill had also increased to Level 4. Given that most of what he read was books on magic, his Basic Magic Theory skill had advanced to level 4. His Mana Manipulation, Hermits Tranquility, Fast Thinking, and Elven Running skills all also advanced a level due to his periotic use of them.

He no longer had the Mountain's Blessing to accelerate his Skill Leveling. Still, thanks to the increased danger presented by hostile mobs, his growth had not been hampered too severely. The Elf was very happy about this as he wanted to meet up with his girlfriend. He now also had the dream of setting up a library with Nathaniel and was slowly falling more and more in love with both magic and the world of Eden itself.