When they went to the forest, Leo put Daphne in the same spot where they had practiced earlier. The remnants of the chalk circles were still there but faded away because of the weather.
He went to the tree and redrew the circles with the chalk. He looked at Daphne.
"Okay, I am going to practice while you practice your bow. Okay?" He said.
She nodded. She was standing a little further away than she had the first day. She was making progress, but she was still close enough to the tree that she could only be considered a close-range fighter.
He walked slowly toward the Outer Forest while she was focused on shooting arrows. She was so engrossed in practice that she didn't even notice that he went in the wrong direction than he normally did.
He quickly started running toward the forest. He wanted to finish this as quickly as possible. He needed the Beast Cores to supplement his practice and the money from the extra cores to buy Aura Gathering Pills.
He found his first target. It was a Firetail Fox. It was just an Early-Stage 1st Circle Magical Beast. At his current power, Leo was a Middle-Stage 1st Star Mage. He could easily kill the Firetail Fox.
He shot a few magical bullets at it, but the fox dodged the first few. However, the fox got hit before it could try to run away. The number of bullets that he fired was very hard to dodge. It consumed a decent chunk of his magic power, but it was very effective.
He went forward and took out the Beast Core from the fox. He quickly went to look for his next target. He was planning on taking it slowly. He would only get 2 Beast Cores every day and sell one. Since they would have to come every day to practice, this would accumulate.
At this point, he could use an entire 1st Circle Beast Core in a single day for practice, so this would just barely supplement his training.
He quickly found another target in the distance. It was a Thunderhoof Deer. It was a Middle-Stage 1st Circle Magical Beast, but it was slower and couldn't dodge his bullets. It was also a lot more powerful and if he got caught in its attacks, he would be in a lot of danger. So he approached it carefully.
He got noticed very quickly. Unlike the Firetail Fox, the deer charge toward him. Every time its hoofs contacted the ground, there was a thundering sound and sparks emerged. Leo pointed his hand at the deer and started pummeling it with Magic Bullets.
The bullets took away all of his magic power and he barely had any left. He was exhausted at this point. However, the deer couldn't take it and he succeeded in killing it. All he had to do was take the core and go back as quickly as possible. It had only been 45 minutes since he had left Daphne.
Normally, he would have to look for an actual Beast that he could kill. It used to be a pseudo Magical Beast for so long. Now, there were no pseudo Magical Beasts at all. He couldn't even find a normal animal even in the outskirts. The Magical Beasts completely pushed them out of the forest.
Previously he would spend close to an hour killing just one Magical Beast. Now he was able to get two Beast Cores in 45 minutes. Not only was he growing stronger, but the ease of finding Magical Beasts in the Outer Forest was also getting higher.
He quickly took the Beast Core and ran toward the Outskirts. It wasn't only about whether or not she noticed he was gone, it was also about how safe it was leaving her near the forest by herself.
When he got back, she was perfectly fine and still practicing. She hadn't even noticed that he was gone. He smiled. This meant he could do this every day without a problem. He put the satchel that had the Beast Cores in front of him and took one out. He put it in his pocket and started training.
Even though it wasn't in his hands, it was still close enough to his body that he could absorb the magic in it. He did it because he didn't want Daphne to think anything about it when she saw a Beast Core in his hands.
The sun started dipping so it was time to leave. He called out to her.
"Daphne! Time to leave!"
She quickly picked her arrows up and they went back to the city.
"Are we going again tomorrow?" She asked.
He nodded. She went to her room in joy. Meanwhile, he went to his room to get changed. He put on the cloak and left the house. He was going to the Thousand Treasure Tower.
He went there and got the Beast Core appraised. It was worth 9000 Starcoins. He was letting go of the Beast Core of the Firetail Fox since it was weaker. He got the money deposited in his account.
He looked around the Tower and found the pill that Clarice and Evelyn were talking about. He saw its effects and smiled. It would be a great item to buy for him and Daphne. He checked its price and quickly left.
He went back to his house and went back to practicing in the white room in his mind for the rest of the night. He was in a rush to get to his 2nd Star so he didn't spare any second for anything other than training.
The next 10 days passed in the exact same manner.
_______________________
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
Leo came out of his room with a smile on his face. He had finally become a Late-Stage 1st Star Mage. He knew that he was making progress because it was getting easier and easier to hunt two Magical Beasts every day, but this was progress on paper.
Also, now that he had sold an extra Magic Core for 10 days, he had gathered enough money to get 2 Aura Gathering Pills.
He realized that the only reason he was able to kill the Magical Beasts so easily was because he was a mage. Aura Knights would be able to fight against mages on the same footing if it was a one vs one, but mages fared a lot better against Magical Beasts.
This was because his aim wasn't based on practice, but concentration. As long as his mind was focused, he wouldn't miss. Ranged Archers would have to practice a lot more like Daphne was doing.
He decided that he would give both of the pills to Daphne. She was getting a lot better at shooting arrows from a distance. He just assumed that she was talented. The only thing holding her back was that she was only an Early-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight.
This would make her a liability in the forest because the Beasts were getting stronger. If she got to a Middle Stage, she would make a bigger impact.
It was night, but the tower was open all the time so he decided to just get the pills. He was planning on keeping Daphne away from practice the next day and having her use the pill to see the effects. If two pills were enough to get her to the next stage, they were completely worth it.
He quickly went to the tower and got the two pills. He got back and decided to sleep for the rest of the night. He needed the rest.
The next day, he saw Daphne getting ready like usual to go to the forest. He stopped her.
"Today, you are going to train your aura. I got you an Aura Gathering Pill that will make training a lot faster. Just focus on training aura today," he said. He handed her two boxes, each containing one pill.
She took the pills and looked at him. "Why would I need this?" She asked.
"Are you planning on coming to hunt the 2nd Circle Magical Beast?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Then you need to be strong enough. Even if your arrows hit the beast, if they don't do any damage you are useless. So if you reach Middle Stage by the end of 10 days, then you can come with me for the hunt." He explained.
She already knew the divisions of power so she understood what he meant. She took the pills begrudgingly and went to her room. Leo went to the forest like usual. Just because she was staying back, didn't mean that he didn't have a quota to fulfill.
He needed to hunt Magical Beasts every day to satisfy his daily training. He couldn't just skip doing that. He would just check on her once he came back and see if he made the right decision buying two of them or if he got scammed.
He went to the forest like usual and came back in four hours. Out of that, an hour and a half was spent just walking to and from the forest.
Unlike normally, he decided to go a little wild since he broke through. He decided to hunt down 5 Magical Beasts because he could. Since he was now a Late-Stage Mage, his hunting was incredibly efficient and simple at this point.
He couldn't wait to make his 2nd Star. Once he did, he would have access to a lot more spells. All he could do now was cast a Magic Bullet or a Magic Arrow. While a Magic Arrow was slower and easier to maneuver, a Magic Bullet was harder to defend because it was faster.
Once he broke through, he would be able to cast real spells with more variety. That would also be when he would have to start practicing those spells to become better at them.
Daphne was practicing her skill called Snowdrift Arrow. While it was only a 1st Circle Technique, the amount of damage it did was based on how well she could perform the skill. This was called skill proficiency.
Skill proficiency was divided between Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Master. The higher the proficiency, the more power they could show.
It would get better as time grew. Like Daphne, he would also have to start practicing his spells to show higher power.
When he got back, he saw that Daphne was still practicing and was in her room. He decided not to disturb her. He went to his room and took out the loot. He had 5 Beast Cores that he could either use or sell. He decided to keep two and sell three.
If Daphne only used one pill, she would have to stay back the next day as well. If he had an extra core for the next day, he wouldn't have to go out to hunt.
Fe finished training after a few hours and was getting ready to go out, but he saw that Daphne had come out. He asked her about her training.
"Was it useful?" He asked.
She nodded. "Very. I am very close. If I take the second one tomorrow, I should reach the Middle Stage," she said.
He smiled. "Good. Then after you reach the Middle Stage, we can start hunting Magical Beasts together. It will give you a little practice before the real deal."
_______________________
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
If you like the story, then please consider voting with power stones.
:) Thanks. Have a great day.
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT