Chapter 15—Magic
Ten days later...
Under the dark rays of the early-rising black sun,
Wob!—Wob!
[ Evade proficiency 1 ]
[ Evade proficiency 1 ]
Sli#47 leapt up as—Whoosh!—a rock sliced past him.
Whoosh!—Thud! "Acid Fist!" he yelled, punching another mid-air rock into dust.
He used the recoilfrom the shattered rock to launch himself back down.
Whoosh!—Whoosh!
But Mama Sli and Elder Sli didn’t back off. Whoosh!—Whoosh! Rocks kept flying. Wob!—Wob!The young sli bounced like mad, dodging everything they threw.
Wob!—Wob!The young sli kept bouncing from one place to another, dodging all of them.
’Evade... sa aurausage as Acid Fist, but this ti it’s gotta empower the wholebody. Way harder. That’s why the old sli went with rock-throwing torture—pain makes learning faster,’ he realized, wobbling mid-dodge.
Ding!—A new panel popped up in his vision.
[ Ding! Skill ’Evade’ leveled up to Lv.5—Lv. Max ]
"Stop! I masteredit already!" he shouted, wobbling madly to dodge one last stone.
Mama Sli stopped right away—but not the old sli. Whoosh!—Whoosh! He hurled two more rocks at once, both dead-on.
Both rocks ca from differentdirections—one straight at him, and the other from above.
’If I jump, that top one nails . Damn, the old blob’s got sniper aim,’ he thought, irritated.
Wob!—He bounced to the left but—Whoosh!—another rock was already coming at him, and—Whoosh!—Whoosh!—two more were launched by the old sli.
"Left, right.... and up next—tch!" His eyes twitched as he glanced at the old sli aiming at his predicted leap.
"Acid Fist!" Thud!—He punched the rock to dust, finally ending the torture session.
Smack!
Mama Sli boppedElder Sli. "That’s enough, Elder," she said gently.
"Okay, okay, I was just checking whether he really mastered it," Elder Sli said with a grin.
Mama Sli had joined because the young sli had requestedher help. After Evade hit Level 3, progress crawled—just 1 after dodging two rocks for five whole minutes.
With her help, proficiency gain skyrocketed, since he had to dodge four rocks at once—returning to 1 proficiency per minute, and even more depending on the intensity of dodging.
------
In the afternoon, he opened his skills panel after taking a short nap.
[ —Skills—
—Demon Tongue {Legendary}—
—Human Tongue {Common}—
—Acid Fist {Common}—
—Evade {Common}— ]
[ —Evade Lv. Max {Common}—
—Increases agility by 200%
—Increases concentration, allowing the user to dodge attacks
Note: Skill efficiency depends on aura input; more aura can increase effects. ]
’Not bad. Keep this up and I’ll get my revenge for sure,’ he thought, rembering that kid—and those trash-feeding humans.
Thud!—Thud!
’There she is,’ he thought with a scowl as the woman holding a sack of trash entered the field.
-------
After so ti, Sli#47 leaped into the trough, cooling himself off. He still felt like he was stinkingeven though he wasn’t....
"Today, we will learn magic," Elder Sli said with a grin, glancing at the young sli in front of him.
As expected, Sli#47’s eyes glead with excitent. "Are you serious, Elder? You’re so strictabout languages every afternoon," he asked.
"Of course. Since you’ve mastered both Acid Fist and Evade, let’s start with magic. About Herica—you’ve mastered speaking, but writingmay take three more months. And since the woman already gave us garbage, we have ti," Elder Sli said cheerfully.
’Yes! Fireballs, lasers—maybe even explosions! It’s magic ti,’ he cheered, bouncing his body, shaking left to right.
He’d already understood why the old sli was strict about language during the afternoons: humans entered the field with filth at that ti. Sotis they would appear in the morning, but it is very rare.
Language training was done in the afternoon since they could erase writings by bouncing over them if spotted. But getting caught while training skills would be troubleso.
"First, what do you know about magic?" Elder Sli questioned seriously.
"Magic works on mana—and magic is just moldingmana according to our wish," the young sli answered confidently. ’Basic knowledge.’
"Not bad. Your world has plenty of knowledge despite lacking mana. Yes, magic is molding mana into one’s vision and will." Elder Sli nodded sternly, "Mana bends to runes, and by using runes we wield it."
"Runes?" Sli#47 puzzled. ’Isn’t it just chanting nas or so spell?’
"Let’s start with fire," the old sli said with a grin. "Fire!"
A circular rune ford as soon as Elder Sli invoked the na, and a small spark of flaappeared within the circle on his tiny palm.
’Yes, this is it! I can’t wait to bend space and ti with magic,’ the young sli couldn’t contain his excitent, staring at the glowing red circle rune and tiny fla.
His excitent for magic died in under a minute, as it was a very small fla.
He stared flatly at the fla. "Pretty sure a human baby’s sneezecould put that out." Elder Sli turned beet red.
Whoosh!
A strong gust of wind blew, and the tiny fla in Elder Sli’s palm flickered out.
Silence!
Elder Sli’s eyes turned crimson with fury. Clenching his fists, he roared, "I’m only level 4! My mana reserves are lowerthan a human baby’s—of course, it’s going to be weak!"
"Alright, alright—just teach already," the young sli begged, tiny hands clasped like a praying jelly blob.
Hearing Sli#47’s plea, he agreed. "Fine, let’s start."
He picked up a thin wooden branch from the ground—but the young sli turned toward Mama Sli, who was tending to the other slis.
Mama Sli’s gaze shifted toward Elder Sli; her eyes glowed briefly.
"Hmph." He coughed and threw the branch away.
"Haha!" the young sli grinned in glee.
"Enough. Focus on your core and try to move your mana, since you already sensed it," Elder Sli bellowed, voice stern.
Sli#47 already sensed both mana and aura while training acid fist.
’Focus. Master fire, then burn that brat’s arsehole first thing,’ he told himself fiercely.
He sensed a faint blue flicker deep in his core and tried to push it, to make it move.
Jzz!
Jzz!
A jolt ran through him, making his whole body quiver. Aura had weight—heavy; mana didn’t—it was slick, quick, and slipped through his grasp like water.
The more he focused, the faster it ran—wild, like a caged beast. Cool sensation raced through his jelly body, but he couldn’t keep hold of it.
His focus shattered as—Thud!—Thud!—the gate creaked open. Five armored kids, maybe six years old, stepped into the field.
’They’re... armored?’ He felt a chill in his core. Behind them stood three bulky n and a woman in full gear—real battle armor. ’Why the hell are they dressed for war?’
End of the Chapter. __________________________________________________________________________________
Reviews
All reviews (0)