NOVPUBDays of Training
When I walked out the front door, the rain that had been pouring had stopped.
I lifted the body of the Giant Spider, tied it up with a rough rope, and brought it through the garden, which was planted with some vegetables and various medicinal herbs, to the processing area.
“Unsociable apprentice, Aria, put it on the table. I’ll just teach you how to do it, and you do it.”
“Yes, Master Celeshura.”
“Start with the legs.”
I placed the giant spider’s torso on the table and used a dismantling knife to separate it from the base of the legs. After processing the first leg, the master nodded lightly and began removing the eyes from the giant spider’s head.
Apparently, the spider’s eyeballs could be fermented to become a powerful neurotoxin, but I hadn’t learned that much yet.
My master was a sorceress, but her day job, she said, was an alchemist.
So far, I had been learning about how to brew medicinal and poisonous herbs, but I was slowly learning how to make potions.
But maybe I was mistaken, it seemed that I’d no talent in alchemy. Strictly speaking, since materials were refined by magic power, there was a skill level related to the alchemy skill, but what was more important in alchemy was the amount of knowledge and precision. That’s what my master had said.
Incidentally, it came under the similar category as cooking. It seemed that there were no skills for cutting ingredients and being a connoisseur of materials, but the skill would only make it harder to fail when cooking something and did not have any other effects on the taste of the food.
“Are you ready?”
“Yes.”
I nodded, and my master immediately split open the giant spider’s belly with a machete and poured the chemicals she had prepared into the mucus that would form the basis of the threads produced inside the body.
This mucus would turn into threads once it came into contact with air, so we needed to process it as quickly as possible.
“Now.”
On my master’s cue, I made a slight wound on the palm of my hand with a knife and dripped the blood inside the spider.
The yellowish white thread base turned red as my blood reacted with the chemicals, as I patiently stirred it with a wooden stick, and after a while, a mass of reddish-black dyed fibers formed at the end of the stick.
“Well, so far, so good. It’s fresh material, so things are going more smoothly.”
I breathed a sigh of relief at my master’s words as she inspected the mass of fibers. 𝔫𝖔𝖛𝖕𝔲𝔟.𝔠𝖔𝖒
I had told my master about my situation as well as my fighting style.
My master, a Dark Elf known as the Evil Race, looked like she was about 30 years old, but in reality she had lived for over 300 years, and although I had not been told why the Dark Elf like her was in this country, my master said that she was capable of scouting-type combat as well as magic and alchemy.
The strange-shaped knife with a diamond-shaped blade at the end of a ring that I was using was also one of her old knives, and she had lent me about ten of them.
It was similar to the Kunai knives that I had learned about in that woman’s knowledge. But it had almost no grip, and it was used like a hidden weapon that could be hidden in the palm of one’s hand by inserting fingers through the ring.
However, her specialty was not melee combat, but magic.
She had acquired 4 Levels of Light and Darkness, and 5 Levels of Flame and Wind. In addition, she could use sorcery instead of magic.
I had thought that sorcery was an old technology that had fallen into disuse, but according to my master, anyone who studies magic will eventually be able to use sorcery.
Probably only one in hundreds of magicians, but [Sorcerers] definitely existed.
It’s good to know this now. If I didn’t know, it could be fatal when dealing with sorcerers.
If I could learn this much from my master, then I couldn’t say that I wouldn’t be able to improve my techniques. On the contrary, I should disclose all the weapons I have and ask for instruction.
The two tools that interested my master were [illusion] and [pendulum]. Especially interested in manipulating threads mixed with blood and those which were being manipulated by magic, she said that I should be more selective in the [threads] that I use.
The material to be used for the threads was to be spider threads of a monster type spider. She said that the highest grade of spider material would be Arachne, but such a thing rarely appeared.
So, this time, I used the threads of giant spiders that lived in this area. It was a medium quality material, but she told me that when processing monster threads, the freshness was more important than the type of monster.
Giant spider threads were all viscous threads, but if they were processed with chemicals while they were still in the body, they would become strong and non-sticky.
However, although the threads of the monster type were strong, it was because they still had the original magical power of the monster, and when I tried to manipulate them with my magical power, the magical power of the material seemed to get in the way.
So, my master came up with the rough trick of mixing my blood with the body fluids of the demon during the processing and letting it blend with my magical power.
Moreover, it was apparently difficult to do so unless it was within a few hours of death, so I spent more than a month searching for a giant spider and finally hunted one down.
“Then you have to beat the fibers with a stick to loosen them and make them into threads, albeit slowly. If you continue to let the magic flow at that time as well, the magic will pass through it even better, so don’t cut corners.”
“Okay.”
“When the thread is ready, bring it to me. I’ll use alchemy to make it fireproof.”
“Yes.”
“Well, let’s eat first. It’s the disciple’s duty to prepare the meal, so get to it.”
She was nagging me, but I didn’t mind. On the contrary, I thought she was a good-natured person for taking on an unknown person like that woman and me as her apprentice.
I didn’t trust strangers, but… I think I could trust my mentor as much as I trusted Elena.
“–[Clean]–“
I cleaned up the processing area and then began to prepare the food.
In the past four months, I had finally mastered [Clean] and [Treat], the spells of Light Magic Level 2.
My master, who studied magic, knew many [magic words]. By learning the light and dark words up to Level 3 from my master and composing them myself as an assignment, I was finally able to use two new spells.
Composing sorcery was like being taught only the words and meanings of a language you know nothing about, and then making sentences out of them. The only way to create new magic was to make short sentences with few words or to take the time to study it steadily, but this time I was able to make it work because I had the original sentences.
But Master was not satisfied with just memorizing, and as an additional task, she ordered me to shorten the spell if I understood the meaning of the words, and although I still could only omit one or two words, I’d been able to shorten it a little over the course of a month.
[Aria(Alicia)] [Race: Human Female] [Rank 2]
[Magic: 155/160] 25Up [Strength: 92/105] 25Up
[Strength: 5(6)] [Endurance: 6(7.2)] [Agility: 7(8.4)] [Dexterity: 7]
[Short Sword Technique Lv.1] [Taijutsu Lv.2] [Throwing Lv.2] 1Up [Manipulation Lv.1]
[Light Magic Lv.2] 1Up New [Dark Magic Lv.2] [Non-Attribute Magic Lv.2]
[Life Magic x 6] [Magic Control Lv.2] [Intimidate Lv.2]
[Concealment Lv.2] 1Up [Night Vision Lv.2] 1Up [Detection Lv.2] 1Up [Poison Resistance Lv.1]
[Simple Appraisal]
[Total Combat Power: 128 (With Physical Enhancements: 144)] 30Up
[Light Magic] Level 1 had been upgraded to [Light Magic] Level 2, but it was not only the shortening of [Light Magic] that had an effect.
And while [Taijutsu] was now at Level 2, [Short Sword Technique] was still at Level 1. This may be because I had been relying only on throwing projectiles and had not had many close combat battles, but the main reason was probably my lack of physical growth.
I had the feeling that I was almost there, but even though my magic power had increased, and I’d grown up a little, I was not at that stage yet.
There was a lot to be said for magic and melee combat, but right now, I was more interested in preparing the ingredients.
“–[Treat]–“
After preparing the food with not only [Clean] but also [Treat], I took a huge machete-like knife and began to dismantle the food – the spider’s legs.
I peeled open the outer skin and pulled out only the fleshy part, and with a downward swing of the knife, I cut it into bite-sized pieces and cooked it over high heat with ginger and herb roots.
First I Added water and let it boil over and over again, and when some of the smell was removed, added more herbs and boiled it for about an hour, then replaced the boiling water, added some sweet herbal wine and roughly chopped root vegetables. I let it cook until it had become tender, then seasoned it with salt and pepper, and finally added a small amount of lard to complete the dish.
“…you know, Aria, you had deer meat, didn’t you? Why use spider’s?”
“Hmm? It’s just as nutritious, you know?”
“…I guess I’ll have to start teaching you some common sense. That idiot apprentice was really an idiot, but she could make decent food.”
“I did the processing according to my knowledge, but I still couldn’t cook it well enough.”
Valuable proteins were not to be wasted. As I was eating off the tough, sinewy meat, my master looked at me and let out a deep sigh.
“…When you’re done eating, I’ll train you in light magic, so eat quickly.”
“Understood.”
Until now, I’d been taught two kinds of magic by my master.
Light sorcery was equivalent to Level 2 magic, and dark sorcery was already equivalent to Level 3 magic.
The dark magic I had come up with was reconstructed after checking with my master, but as expected, I could not yet use Level 3 dark magic properly with my skill and the amount of magical power I had.
I could manage to learn Level 2 light magic by applying dark magic, but this kind of magic was more difficult to use than to learn.
“I’m going to start. Make sure you protect yourself. Fire Arrow!“
Master went out into the garden and shot [Fire Arrow] with a no-chant spell.
It was a 1-Level fire magic spell, but the high level offensive power of fire magic could kill you instantly if you didn’t receive it properly. But avoiding it was not allowed. I put my palm in front of me and focused my mind to construct the magic.
“–[Magic Shield]–“
This magic bound particles of light in the same way as the principles of dark magic, creating a circular plate-shaped [light shield], an original magic form that I’d learned from my master.
The physical defense was only as strong as a glass plate, and it disappeared when a larger stone was thrown at it, but this magic could prevent offensive magic corresponding to the magic power it contained.
*Pashin!
When the [Magic Shield] I had created repelled Master’s [Fire Arrow], words of scolding flew over from Master’s side.
“The magic power you put in that spell is too big! Feel the size of the magic and adjust to it.”
When I matched the [Magic Shield] to the [Fire Arrow] that was released again, this time the [Magic Shield] disappeared with a fire arrow leaving behind the sound of broken glass.
“If you feel that the magic power you put into it is not enough, deflect it and send it away.”
“Yes, Master.”
This glass breaking was not an actual sound, but an imaginary sound that only I could hear, and the fact that I could hear it was proof that the magic power I put into it was not enough.
In theory, even if this magic was equivalent to Level 2, it could theoretically prevent any magic, as long as you put in enough magic power. However, with my current magic power, my shield was limited to about 30 centimeters, and if I made it larger than that, its defensive power would decrease drastically.
With my current skill and magic power, I could only prevent attack magic up to Level 1, and if I received a Level 2 attack spell, it would not only cancel [Magic Shield] but also cause slight damage.
If it could not be prevented, it could only be deflected. In order for this shield to prevent some damage, even physical one, the technique had to be designed like an actual shield or sword fighting against the magic itself.
I focused my consciousness, to create the magic. I then tried to discern the type of magic released by the opponent as fast as possible. Once done, I channeled the right amount of magic power, and created a shield to block it.
It was already difficult to do any of these things, but it was extremely difficult to do all of them at the same time. Moreover, it consumed one point of magic power per second to maintain the activation state, so it would take some time before I could use it at a moment’s notice.
Still, if I could master it perfectly, it would be a splendid weapon in the battle against sorcerers.
“…You’ll have to learn the rest on your own. It’s exhausting dealing with kids, you know.”
“…Are you alright?”
Master ended the training when my magic power and physical strength were less than ideal stats.
It wasn’t because she was concerned about me, but because she said that although the Master’s physical strength value was high, she was consuming a lot of energy.
“A kid should not worry about adults. Also, the magic you put on your hair is unraveling. You’ll have to learn how to feel how long I’d last.”
“Un.”
The ashes I was sprinkling on my hair to hide my conspicuous peach-blonde hair were not real ashes, but illusions created by dark magic.
As Viro had feared, my hair had become more lustrous as my magic power continued to increase, and ordinary ashes could no longer hide its shine. When I discussed this with my master, she taught me a few magic words and gave me the task of changing my hair color with illusion magic.
I completed the magic to change my hair color, but the words were not arranged properly to form a sentence, and the effect time was shortened because the consumption of magic power was too large.
Therefore, I gave up on changing the hair color, and succeeded in extending the effect time and reducing the luster of the hair by making it a conjuring art that directly showed particles of darkness as ash.
Although I deviated from the assignment given by my master, I barely received a pass, and it seemed that such ingenuity was important for magic.
Night fell, and I was beating spider silk fibers with a stick to loosen them for threads in the light of the lamps made of magic stones. My master told me about that woman while sipping a tipple of homemade herbal wine.
“That stupid apprentice came here when she was fifteen, I think…. She’s been an idiot since then, and one day she suddenly came and asked me to teach her magic because I was responsible for helping her fight the Evil Race, me, an Evil Race.”
“…”
So, she’d been like that…or rather, she’d been like that since the beginning.
“To be honest, I could hardly understand the nonsense of that idiotic disciple. I just felt sorry for her because she talked so confidently about her delusions. I took pity on her and made her my apprentice.”
“Was she good at learning?”
“She was serious. That much I can appreciate, but… she was so volatile that in the end she was half-hearted in everything she did. I never thought that such a stupid apprentice could create such a strange magic stone using the method that old sorcerers failed to use to teach frogs tricks, but maybe she did have talent.”
“Frogs…”
That woman had tried to take someone else’s body with such a vague thing….
Whether by chance or not, she must have been exceptionally talented…or rather [persistent], since she created the magic stone that transferred her knowledge with only such vague information.
However, it was her misfortune that the direction of her efforts always pointed in the opposite direction.
Time passed slowly in the quiet forest.
I had things to do, but living with my Master Celeshura gave me the warmth of a family, something I hadn’t felt since my parents passed away.
Training in sorcery and magic, learning alchemy, hunting monsters and training in proximity.
After another month of living like this, a suspicious visitor appeared at the house in the forest, which no one in the outside world was supposed to know.
