Off to the side, Semirys went over the incantation for Fireball with Shulim until she had it completely memorized.
"Now that you know the incantation, you’ll stay here and practice Fireball. Once you’ve learned it and can use it properly, we’ll move on to the next spell."
"Okay."
After that, Semirys left Shulim alone and gave her the space to focus.
Shulim threw herself entirely into learning Fireball and paid no attention at all to where Semirys went or what she was doing.
Two days passed.
"[ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᛃᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᚹᛚᛖᛗᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ]"
"Fireball."
A blazing orb of heat slammed into a large rock, blasting out a crater and leaving the stone scorched black.
"Ooh, not bad. You’re already using it pretty smoothly."
Semirys gave her verdict from nearby.
Shulim, meanwhile, looked down at her hands, then back at Semirys, still not entirely sure she believed it.
Two days.
No...
To be exact, she had learned Fireball the very same day Semirys taught it to her. It had all happened naturally, almost without resistance.
Compared to how hard it had been to learn first-circle spells, the fact that second-circle magic, which was far more complex, had come so easily now made the reason obvious.
"So this is what the Fairy King’s boon does..."
"Semirys."
"Hm? What is it?"
"Let’s start the next spell."
...
"[ᛋᚷᚺᛜᛈᚠᛞᛃᛡᚪᛚᛏᛗᚠᚺᛜᛖᛄᚠᚳᛜᛃᚾᚪ]"
"Reinforcement."
A flash of white light ran over Shulim’s legs.
The next instant, her speed jumped sharply, and she shot through the forest like a gust of wind, leaving only an afterimage where she had been.
In less than three seconds, she reached the far side of the lake.
When she stopped, the white glow around her legs faded and the spell ended.
Shulim glanced down at her legs to make sure nothing felt wrong, then found herself thinking back on everything she had accomplished over the last month.
First of all, when it came to second-circle magic, she had learned at least one spell from each of the seven elements.
Unlike first-circle magic, the number of second-circle spells was vastly larger. There were so many that no one could probably say for sure how many even existed.
Trying to master all of them was impossible and, more importantly, pointless.
So after looking through a great deal of reference material and discussing it with Semirys, the two of them had decided to focus on the spells with the highest practical value.
At this point, the second-circle spells Shulim had learned roughly included Fireball, Flame Arrow, Flame Barrier, Water Arrow, Water Barrier, Water Shot, Sinkhole, Stone Shot, Stone Wall, Wind Blade, Wind Barrier, Lightstep, Flash, Ward, Shroud, Conceal, Reinforcement...
That was the kind of spell list many high-level mages probably did not even possess.
And it was not just the number.
Shulim had made sure that most elements gave her both offense and defense, while some also provided control options for different situations. For special branches like void, where the available spells were rare to begin with, she had learned only the most practical one, Reinforcement.
As for light and dark magic, the reason they lacked offensive power for the moment was simple.
Before third-circle, those branches did not really have true attack spells.
Or rather, light and dark attack magic was generally so powerful that it usually started at third-circle and above.
That said, against creatures naturally weak to light or darkness, even spells like Flash and Shroud, which were harmless against ordinary people, could still be quite effective.
So it would not be entirely correct to say that light and dark magic had no offensive use below third-circle.
"Good. At this point, Shulim, you don’t really have any major weak spots left in second-circle magic. We can wrap up this stage of study for now."
Shulim looked up at Semirys, who was floating overhead.
"So I’m not learning new spells for now. Does that mean I go back to practicing first-circle magic over and over like before, until my mana reaches Rank C?"
"That’s part of it, yes. But besides that, we’ll be adding some new training too."
"New training?"
"Exactly. At this point, there’s not much point in just making you race shadow beasts anymore."
Shulim stared at her.
"Semirys, you mean..."
"Heh."
The grin that spread across Semirys’s face did absolutely nothing to ease the dread suddenly rising in Shulim’s chest.
"Now that you’ve mastered second-circle magic, it’s time to actually put it to work."
Crack. Crunch.
Behind Shulim, the sound of bushes being crushed slowly rose.
Something was there.
"Because magic..."
Semirys floated higher into the air, wearing a smile that was just a little too delighted.
"...is meant to be used in real combat."
Shulim spun around at once and fixed her eyes on the tall black shape that had appeared behind her.
"Starting today, your practice targets are going to be real monsters. No more just trying to run away from them. From now on, you’re going to figure out how to defeat them."
"Now get stronger, Shulim. Hahaha..."
"Wait, Semirys..."
...
Looking at the transparent jelly-like creature in front of her, wobbling and squirming nonstop, Shulim was not naive enough to think it was harmless.
It was a slime.
One of the weakest monsters there was, yes, and its appearance was deceptive too, since it looked a lot like bobom.
But a monster was still a monster.
And monsters were never harmless.
If this had been back when she only knew first-circle spells, Shulim would probably already have been running for her life.
But now she had second-circle magic.
Now she had the power to fight.
"Do your best, Shulim. Don’t get careless and trip over yourself. Use the second-circle spells you’ve learned properly and take that slime down in style."
Semirys’s reminder helped Shulim calm herself down.
Her thoughts began moving quickly.
Slimes had no vision.
They mainly located prey by sensing vibrations in the area around them.
Shulim reduced her movements as much as possible. For the moment, the slime could not pin down her exact position and began wobbling around, trying to probe its surroundings.
Taking down a slime itself was easy.
One Fireball would badly injure it.
The real problem was its body fluid. Slime fluid was highly corrosive. At this distance, if she used Fireball directly, she would hit the slime, yes, but she would also risk getting splashed by the corrosive spray and injuring herself.
She had to avoid taking damage at all costs.
So what spell could prevent that?
While Shulim was still working out the answer, the slime seemed to narrow down her location and started sliding toward her.
"[ᛓᚠᛏᚱוᚠᛃᛖᛜᛖᛗᛞᚪᛡᛖᛞᛃᚺיᛤᛜᛖᛚלᚠᛟᛜᛃᛋᛄᚠᚪᛜᛖᚾהᛤ]"
"Stone Wall."
Rumble.
As Shulim finished the incantation at speed, a wall of earth and stone rose up in front of her.
Thud.
The slime crashed into it, making the wall shake.
Second-circle earth barriers looked impressive, but they were heavily affected by the environment, so their durability was never something you could fully count on.
Still, it had stopped the slime from advancing.
"Reinforcement."
White light flashed over Shulim’s legs.
Whoosh.
Her small body blurred through the woods, and in an instant she put distance between herself and the slime.
Then...
"[ᚷᚲᚠᛏᛗᛜᚢᚪᛖᛡᛞᚠᛟᛃᛜᛃᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᚹᛚᛖᛗᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋ]"
"Fireball."
A blazing sphere formed in front of Shulim and shot toward the slime.
Sensing the rapidly approaching heat, the slime writhed violently and tried to flee, but its speed was nothing compared to the fireball.
Boom.
With a loud explosion, the slime burst apart, and corrosive fluid sprayed everywhere.
Shulim had already moved behind the line of the Stone Wall. The liquid coming from that direction splattered harmlessly against the barrier, and not a single drop landed on her.
Crash.
Once the mana sustaining the Stone Wall ran out, it crumbled apart. Where the slime had been, only a cloud of faintly acrid white smoke remained.
Shulim let out a long breath.
Fireball had been even stronger than she expected. It had not felt this powerful before. Was that because she had become more proficient with it?
"Oh, nice. Nicely done, Shulim. For your first real fight against a monster, you were even calmer than I expected. I honestly thought you’d panic and start screaming."
Shulim turned toward Semirys, who had drifted back to her side at some point, and gave her a completely flat look.
"...What kind of image do you even have of me in your head?"
Besides, the days when she screamed at everything were long over.
"Well, never mind that for now. But, Shulim..."
Semirys smiled.
"You didn’t think there was only one, did you?"
"What?"
Before Shulim could fully grasp what she meant, rustling sounds began to rise from the forest around them.
A second later, three transparent jelly-like creatures appeared from three different directions.
[Multiple enemies have appeared.]
Shulim stared.
"...What is that glowing subtitle thing supposed to be?"
Semirys scratched her head with a grin.
"Hehe. It just felt appropriate."
Then she pointed casually.
"But this probably isn’t the part you should be worrying about. The slimes are coming."
"Ah. Seriously... fine. I know. Reinforcement."