Chereads / Dragonia / Chapter 18 - An Impactful Training... Probably

Chapter 18 - An Impactful Training... Probably

Some says that practice makes perfect. Technically, that's true.

However… the portion of practice required varies depending on the person training.

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In the open plains…

Scias and Marco are hunting monsters, although it isn't hunting season, which means it won't produce much cash. But they're not there for the money, though. Scias are practicing to cast Level 1 and Level 2 Fire element with both of his hands. This action is called multi-casting.

Multi-casting is a rare skill that one does not possess so easily. It allows the user to cast two or more magic spells casted in the same time. Usually, elementalists will cast one same spell but casted from two or more different parts of their body.

For example, an elementalist could multi-cast Fire magic twice in the same time. The first fire comes from the right hand while the second fire on the other.

Multi-casting can only be done IF an elementalist or a mage casted two or more magic circles simultaneously. Aside from that, it's not a multi-cast. This skill eats quite much of mana energy and stamina, which means it shouldn't be used at all times, unless the user wanted to suffer concussion from it.

This 'rare' skill can be obtained through hard training. And by hard it means LONG.

Marco sits in the distance as he watches Scias doing the attempt. Scias then closed his eyes, a fiery flash shone from beneath him. Scias held his hands forward, aimed at an incoming red slime. Upon seeing it, Marco quickly warns him: "Scias, watch it, man, that's a Mage Slime!" said Marco shouting.

Scias reflexed opened his eyes and canceled his stance and shifted his left hands above his right elbow and quickly casted out a magic circle.

"Flame Blast!"

A medium fireball was launched from the magic circle and headed towards the red slime. The red slime countered by casting Waterball at the incoming flame sphere.

*ZAAASSSHHH!

The fireball penetrated through the waterball easily, causing it to vaporize. The fireball directly caught the slime. Within seconds, the slime dissolved into nothingness as the fire spreaded on the grass around it.

"Scias!" Marco quickly ran to him, just to make sure everything's okay.

"Hehe, slimes are… kinda scary," Scias shortly said. "H-Hah?" Marco scrunched his face. "It is b-best to kill them with ranged weapons… or magic, t-that is," Scias seasoned Marco's confusion.

"I don't get it. Slimes had a single core within their body, destroying it will dissolve the slime entirely. Not only that, they're not THAT harmful, you know?"

"Hmph, handgun users like you won't understand. They could rust steel melee weapons. Not only that, if you fail to hit its core, the s-slime will regenerate back to normal. Not to mention that t-they'd devour 'anything' that gets in their way…" so said Scias with his wisdom of the battlefield.

"Hey, hey, a slimy-situation might get slippery and sticky somehow. But… it's not a big deal, you know?" Marco tried to explain that slimes aren't that terrifying... but Scias replied with the word: "But I refuse,"

..

.

"Sisteeeer... how far is it exactly...?" Aily stated as she showed a repine expression towards her sister, Nina. "Aw… don't be like that, Aily. You said it yourself that you want to become stronger!" said Nina encouraging her.

"That's not helping at ALL! We've been walking on the open plains and now we're heading onto the mountain. Yeah, great. It won't be a trouble, at first… but the situation has changed," said Aily to herself.

After the incident that took place in the Forest Labyrinth, it took Aily a day to recover entirely, while her sister took two days. Aily then heard Marco was still unconscious… it literally made Aily felt bad because she burdened him too much in the Forest Labyrinth… She then told her sister that she wanted to become stronger so that she could protect the party… but she never expected it would come to this.

Her sister bought her a battle-dress that. Technically, it won't be a matter if it's comprised of small arm pads or some small piece of armor. The problem was that Nina bought her one with a heavy armor padded onto the dress. Its weight caused Aily to have a hard time to move around.

"Sisteeeer! Why did I have to wear this armor anyway?" Aily asked in an unhappy tone. Her sister then turned around at her, "Aily, my dear… that armor will protect you from melee-based opponents," so said Nina with a smile.

"Haah…? Well, yeah, I know that, but... I'm a mage! Why the armor, though? Besides, it's sooo heavy!" said Aily as she grunts madly.

"Aily."

"Uh-eh?" Aily's never-ending grunt got stunned as Nina stared her fiercely.

In Aily's thought, "uh-oh… my sister shifted her face into her deadly smile. Did I say something wrong? I don't think so,"

While in Nina's thought, "damned little sister! You're the one asking and you're the one wailing around?!"

Nina then grabbed Aily's hands, "Hey, dear, listen, your resistance to your own element is relatively low. But with that armor, you could prevent yourself from getting hurt by enemies with the same or other element that has the capability to deal physical damage," Nina explained.

"Also, think of it as a part of your training, too!" said Nina smilingly.

"H-Huh? How come an armor can be handy in this training?" Aily wondered.

"Hehe, that's because we're heading uphill!" Nina stated excitingly as she releases her grab, turns around and walks onward. Aily shortly stutters: "H-Huh? U-Uphill?!"

"Gaaaaaaah....~ if I know it to be like this, I wouldn't—

"Stop complaining like Marco's annoying sigh. You'd better start climbing, Aily~" She looked at Aily with her flying smile again. Aily can read a visible horror coming from her, "Oh, o-okay..."

Aily realizes her sister's movement is faster than her, "w-wait up, sis—AAAaargh, this armor's weight will break my bones anytime now!"

The young and naïve mind of Aily couldn't tell that the armor's weight will eventually increase her vitality intensely. Besides, she's only fourteen and not experienced in battle. Unlike her sister, who was nineteen and well-experienced in many battles.