The next morning.
In his sleep, Naruto felt the sunlight outside the window was a bit too bright.
He frowned, rolled over, and pulled the blanket over his head.
He had stayed up too late talking with Frieren last night, and then spent a long time in his room organizing his knowledge about Chakra and magic.
By the time he went to sleep, it was almost dawn.
“Knock!
Knock!
Knock!”
The sound of knocking echoed.
“Naruto, wake up.” Fern’s voice came from outside the door, carrying a hint of dissatisfaction.
“It’s almost noon.”
Naruto mumbled a sleepy response and rolled over.
Another ten minutes passed before he finally crawled out of bed and walked out of the room, rubbing his eyes.
At the other end of the hallway, the door to Frieren’s room opened just at that moment.
She walked out with messy hair, wearing her usual white pajamas, looking like she had just woken up.
The two of them exchanged a glance.
“Morning.” Frieren yawned.
Naruto nodded as well.
“Morning.”
Then, the two of them walked one after the other toward the living room.
Fern stood at the end of the hallway with her hands on her hips, her expression cold enough to freeze.
“Lady Frieren, Naruto.”
Her voice was calm, but it was a terrifying kind of calm.
It felt like the calm before a storm.
“You two, if I hadn’t called you, how long were you planning to sleep?”
Frieren walked past her without changing her expression, her tone flat.
“There’s nothing urgent, so what’s wrong with sleeping a little longer?”
“Nothing urgent?” Fern followed behind her, her voice slightly dissatisfied.
“You are an elf who has lived for a very long time…”
“I suppose I can excuse you, Lady Frieren, since you’ve always been like this.”
She turned her head and glared at Naruto.
“Naruto, you’ve never been one to laze in bed before.
What’s going on today?
Have you been led astray by Lady Frieren?”
Naruto scratched his head and gave a dry laugh.
“Haha…
I had a bit of insomnia last night and couldn’t sleep.”
“Insomnia?” Fern frowned, clearly not quite believing him.
“Yeah, yeah, just insomnia.
I finally became a capable Mage, so I was a bit too excited…” Naruto nodded vigorously, his smile a bit stiff.
Fern stared at him for a long moment, but in the end, she didn’t press further and turned to walk toward the kitchen.
“Food is in the kitchen.
Go eat.” Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
She dropped those words and walked away with heavy footsteps.
Naruto let out a sigh of relief and whispered to Frieren, “When Sister Fern gets angry, she’s truly terrifying.”
Frieren nodded, a rare show of agreement.
…
After lunch, the three of them went to the woods outside the house.
Since Frieren had promised to teach Naruto and Fern magic while staying at Heiter’s house, they began the next stage after completing their training in long-range attack magic.
Frieren stood in front, holding her staff, her expression a bit more serious than usual.
“Today, I will teach you two new spells.”
She slightly raised her staff.
Light diffused into the air and then condensed into a thin barrier around her.
The barrier was composed of countless pale blue hexagonal honeycomb-shaped fragments, like a transparent shield, encasing Frieren completely.
“This is Defensive Magic,” Frieren’s voice came from behind the barrier.
“A barrier constructed based on regular hexagonal defense.
It has high durability and can withstand most attacks, especially penetrating attack magic.”
Seeing that both of them understood.
“This is the most basic survival skill for a Mage,” Frieren dispelled the barrier and looked at the two.
“Without this, you wouldn’t survive three minutes in battle.”
Fern nodded seriously, taking every word to heart.
Naruto was also listening intently.
At the same time, inside the Mental Space, Nine-Tailed pricked up its ears.
“The second is Flight Magic.”
Frieren’s body slowly floated up, her feet moving further and further from the ground until she stopped in mid-air.
She looked down at the two of them, her white hair blowing in the wind.
“For you two, who have already mastered long-range attack magic, this shouldn’t be too difficult.
The specific technique is…”
After explaining the learning and practice techniques for the two spells, Frieren returned to the ground and clapped her hands.
“I have finished teaching the two spells for this stage; the rest is up to practice.”
Naruto was stunned.
“That fast?”
“Magic has always been like this.
Imagination and talent are very important,” Frieren said matter-of-factly.
“Whether you can learn it depends entirely on yourself.”
She paused and added, “You two start practicing.
I have something to take care of.”
With that, Frieren turned and left.
Fern watched her back, feeling that something was slightly off.
“Why is Lady Frieren…
in such a hurry to leave today?”
Naruto immediately replied, “Maybe she went to research something.
After dinner last night, she asked me a lot of questions about Chakra.”
It had been many years since she last heard the word Chakra from Naruto.
Could this be the reason why both of them were late getting out of bed this morning?
“Yeah, just the thing I mentioned before.” Naruto glossed over it vaguely.
“Let’s not talk about that for now.
Let’s hurry up and practice.”
Fern nodded, her attention returning to the new magic.
The two found separate, open spaces and began to try.
…
Naruto closed his eyes and felt the mana within his body.
Following what Grandma Frieren had said, he drew the mana out from his body to form a “membrane” composed of a hexagonal barrier around him.
At first, it didn’t go smoothly.
The Defensive Magic either didn’t follow Naruto’s intent or was completely misplaced.
After trying several times, he finally managed to cast it successfully in the position he had intended.
Pale blue hexagonal fragments appeared one by one, piecing together to form a translucent barrier.
“I did it!”
Naruto opened his eyes, his sapphire-like eyes filled with joy.
Inside the Mental Space, Nine-Tailed was also trying.
Its body was too large, and the area of the Mental Space was limited, so it couldn’t fully expand it like Naruto could.
However, Nine-Tailed’s control over power was naturally strong, and after trying a few times, it found the feel for it.
A layer of pale blue barrier appeared around the iron cage, the hexagonal fragments glowing in the dark space.
“Not bad.” Nine-Tailed looked at its achievement with satisfaction, its tail wagging subconsciously.
But soon it discovered a problem.
The barrier could only cover part of the cage; it couldn’t expand any further.
There wasn’t enough space.
Nine-Tailed’s tail drooped, feeling a bit disappointed.
Outside, Naruto had already started trying the Flight Magic.
His body slowly floated up, wobbling at first like a child just learning to walk.
But soon he stabilized, floating in mid-air.
“I’m flying!” Naruto gripped his staff and shouted excitedly.
Then, he lost control of his mana output, and he shot upwards abruptly, causing him to scramble in a panic to adjust.
Inside the Mental Space, Nine-Tailed was also trying.
Its body floated up, its four legs leaving the ground, and its nine tails drifting behind it.
This feeling was very strange.
Having lived for thousands of years, it had always run on the ground.
Now, it could actually fly.
Nine-Tailed spun in the air, its eyes lighting up.
Although it was only in the Mental Space, and the area wasn’t large.
But the feeling of flying…
It was truly quite nice.
It spun a couple more times, finally landing back on the ground and lying down.
“It’s a pity I can’t go outside.”
Nine-Tailed muttered, its voice filled with unconcealable disappointment.