Dragon Castle was protected by a powerful barrier spell.
Flamme had only just arrived at this conclusion.
She raised her arm, pointing her fingertips toward the sky above Dragon Castle as she began gathering mana for the strongest offensive spell in her current repertoire.
“Magic to Unleash Ruinous Thunder.”
A bolt of lightning as thick as a human arm shot forth from her fingertips, dragging a streak of blinding white light as it cut across the sky.
The thunderous bolt surged upward with immense grandeur, only to come to an abrupt halt midair.
It was as if it had slammed into an invisible wall, its entire impact swallowed up in complete silence.
Such a powerful strike had entered a deep pond, raising nothing more than a few faint ripples.
Flamme looked up at the empty sky, slowly lowering her arm.
It was just as she had guessed.
“So that’s why you guys aren’t willing to fly out of the castle,” she murmured softly to the rows of Staufrahn standing quietly beside her.
The flock of birds had not been startled by the spell just now.
They simply perched neatly on the branches, tilting their small heads in unison as their tiny black eyes observed their new companion with curiosity.
As for her training in suppressing mana, Flamme had already achieved small results.
She had narrowly won this war of her own, and her reward was peaceful coexistence with these Staufrahn.
“You poor little guys, trapped here without ever being able to explore the outside world for your entire lives.”
Flamme crouched down, extending her hand toward the nearest Staufrahn.
The bird tilted its head at her for a moment before hopping onto her finger.
“Though I’m different,” the girl said with a bright, confident smile.
“I can use magic.”
She stood up, gazing back up at the empty expanse of sky.
Uninhabited rooms she wasn’t forbidden from entering held no interest for her.
Yet being trapped by a barrier only made her long for the world outside all the more.
“If I manage to break through it, then I’m heading out,” Flamme declared with a touch of excitement.
The genius young girl felt no joy from completing a grueling stage of training; instead, discovering a brand-new puzzle only made her grow increasingly exhilarated.
When people were up to mischief, no effort was ever spared.
For student-aged Flamme, nothing was more thrilling than skipping class right under her teacher’s nose.
From that point on, aside from her necessary lessons, Flamme picked up a new side project: analyzing the barrier.
Having won one war, a new war had begun.
This was a silent war, fought between master and disciple.
“Flamme is analyzing the barrier again. How diligent of her.”
Inside the study, Link picked up a cup of black tea, took a light sip, and immediately knit his brows.
As if double-checking his taste buds, he took another sip, and his brow furrowed even tighter.
He wondered how on earth Serie could enjoy drinking this stuff, before gulping down the entire cup in one go.
“As expected, it tastes just as terrible as the Emperor’s Wine Aldegarde makes.”
He had no love for black tea, but he hated Emperor’s Wine even more.
It was a harsh spirit brewed from unknown ingredients; drinking it left one’s throat feeling as though it had been scrubbed with coarse sandpaper.
Yet every time Aldegarde came to visit him, she would bring a jug, claiming it was an “Emperor Special Reserve.”
Or rather, she simply enjoyed watching Link’s eyes roll back as he choked on the liquor—a twisted little ritual of friendship between them.
Link pushed the empty cup aside.
Be it black tea or Emperor’s Wine, he finished every drop each time.
To him, these things were proof that his friends had once been by his side.
The barrier surrounding Dragon Castle had also been left behind by Aldegarde.
At their parting, she had offhandedly instructed Link: “I put a little extra effort into crafting this barrier. As long as nobody breaks it, it should easily last a hundred years. If someone does try to break it, I’ll be able to sense it.”
Then she had turned around, waving a casual hand over her shoulder as she walked away.
“Well then, see you in a hundred years.”
To an elf, a hundred years was probably just the length of a short excursion, and to a dragon, it wasn’t particularly long either.
Yet he had already begun to forget the faces of his past companions.
He stood up, leaning against the window frame as he looked out at Flamme, who was still working hard in the yard to suppress her mana.
“Aldegarde, it looks like your barrier won’t last that long after all,” Link murmured.
“If that’s the case, we might just get to meet again much sooner.”
[Ding!] [Continuous Quest: Passing the Torch] [Bound Target: Flamme has reached Stage II] [Quest Reward: One random piece of equipment, a large sum of gold coins] [Claim Reward & End Quest? YES / NO]
The quest interface, unseen for a long time, popped up once again.
Link gave it a casual glance and decisively selected NO, causing the window to vanish.
What a joke—trying to brush him off with a single piece of equipment and a bit of gold?
The one thing he currently lacked least was money.
Link had zero interest in coins!
Reaching the initial reward threshold meant Flamme’s magic training had entered its next phase.
She was now, officially, an initiated mage.
“Master, I did it!” Flamme ran over, her face flushed with sweat and bright with smiles.
Link gently rested his hand on top of her head, giving her hair a light ruffle.
“You did well, Flamme,” he said, his voice soft and fond.
“Though Master really is amazing—to think mana could be suppressed to such an extent!”
Under her close-range sensing, her master’s total mana reserve felt noticeably smaller than her own.
This wasn’t because her master was weak, of course, but because his suppression was so flawless that it almost tricked people into believing he had no mana at all.
Suppressing his mana every single second of the day?!
What a terrifying man!
Flamme’s heart was filled to the brim with admiration.
Hearing his beloved pupil’s praise, Link’s old face darkened slightly.
He pulled back the hand that had been stroking her head.
So the immense mana your master accumulated through painstaking cultivation amounts to this in your eyes?
My dear disciple, magic isn’t just about fighting and killing; it’s full of social nuances and worldly wisdom.
Since you don’t understand worldly wisdom, then fighting and killing it is.
Let your master teach you a proper lesson.
Link cleared his throat.
“Flamme, a flawless mage isn’t built overnight. We can ease up slightly on your magic training for now.”
Hearing those words, Flamme practically jumped for joy, looking as though she had just received a divine pardon.
“I knew Master Link loved me best!”
“Starting tomorrow, we will begin practicing close-quarters combat.”
“Huh?”
“Me too?”
“Of course, my dear disciple,” Link replied with a pleasant smile.
“Whoever heard of a mage who couldn’t fight up close?”
And so, from that day forth, Flamme gained yet another training regimen—conditioning her physical body like a warrior.
First of all, this was by no means an act of petty revenge.
Secondly, in order to teach Flamme properly, Link had scoured a vast amount of magical literature, unearthing a fact overlooked by most: before becoming a true great mage, a spellcaster’s physical conditioning was nearly directly proportional to their upper mana capacity.
A strong physical vessel could endure higher mana loads and reduce accidental injuries during practice, allowing the caster to focus more intently when releasing spells.
Mana was like a part of a mage’s body; those who could master their physical vessel could master their mana far more easily.
Thus, until she became a great mage, Flamme needed to maintain a certain level of physical training.
This educational philosophy was undeniably far ahead of its time, a truth Link believed in wholeheartedly.
Naturally, it had absolute nothing to do with the fact that this just so happened to be Link’s area of expertise.
Absolutely not.