The ground began to shake under Rebecca's feet as runes began to appear all over the arena. After a few seconds, boulders rose up out of the ground, altering the terrain. The young woman standing in the middle was surprised to see the environment change from crater to rocky terrain.
It was the first time Isaac had the chance to test the new training ground. It was no more and no less than multiple randomly distributed earth runes. But the result was satisfactory.
Once the ground was in place, the young woman's movements were now largely restricted and she had to adapt to her environment or transform it again. It was something she had to learn as a mage. If the terrain is not suitable, a strategic retreat is in order if changing the terrain is impossible.
According to Isaac, mages are not fearsome when casting spells or summoning runes in the middle of combat in a battlefield. No, a mage who is formidable is a prepared mage.
In all stories, entering a mage's lair is losing control of the land. And losing control of the terrain is one of the things to absolutely avoid when fighting a mage. The floor, walls, ceiling, and even the air become formidable enemies in an environment under the hand of a mage.
This, Rebecca had understood very well from her lesson with Isaac. As soon as the ground was in place, the first thing she did was summon a new rune in order to flatten the rocks around her and give herself more leeway with her sword.
Despite being very fast and agile, the rocks were far too narrow to allow her to maneuver her sword easily and would therefore reduce her range. She needed a flat and free ground. Immediately, a zone of five meters formed with Rebecca in the center.
In the rockeries, fifteen golems, of stone this time, were formed. They were about two meters tall with a huge blue rune inscribed on their torso. Once activated, they all threw themselves at Rebecca running.
As soon as one of them entered the area, the young woman started to move and sliced the rune on the golem's chest. The rune sliced, the mana inside began to leak before the inner cycle was interrupted and then deactivated entirely. The golem then fell inert to the ground and fell apart.
- "One of fifteen targets neutralized"
The task of killing one was simple enough for her, but the golems did not give her the joy of savoring her victory and three of them entered her zone, placing their arms in a way that protected their chests. The others were still on the way.
"They learn ?" Rebecca thought. "We're going to change tactics."
Without waiting any longer, the young woman suddenly stepped back before placing her hand on the ground. Line traces suddenly began to appear on the ground, lining up and traversing the stone surface and passing around the golems that were beginning to move rapidly towards her.
In about five seconds, the golems came in front of her and struck where she was with their fists, but far too slowly and too late. With a quick movement, the young woman moved away, looking for a loophole to be able to cut the runes of the golems without success.
Immediately, she took some distance again and continued to trace her rune, avoiding the blows of the golems. After about thirty seconds, a white rune began to form.
Occupying the entire area she had flattened, the completed rune activated as five other golems entered and surrounded Rebecca.
- "Mana banishment!" shouted the young woman, avoiding another hit from one of the golems and climbing onto its head.
As soon as the words were spoken, the rune then activated and all the drawn nodes immediately began to absorb the surrounding mana in the air. The amount of mana in the five yard area began to gradually drop and the runes on the golems faltered.
Rebecca's strategy was simple. Avoid golem hits for as long as possible until the mana in the area is completely absorbed or made insufficient for all golems, creating a void area in which runes on golems can no longer recharge and do not turn off after a while.
This strategy was based on the fact that she could dodge long enough, and she could hold the rune long enough. But she was confident in her abilities.
After about fifteen minutes, the fight was over.
- "All targets neutralized"
- "Training session complete"
The barrier was cut again, letting Isaac enter and came to applaud with both hands Rebecca whose forehead was pearly sweat. She came to sit in the middle of the rubble of golems, breathing heavily to catch her breath after spending so much mana and stamina. She was exhausted.
- "Well done! I didn't put a countermeasure for the mana absorption runes. You were lucky on this one," he said to Rebecca with a smile.
- "Did you really take into account all the possible scenarios?" she asked between two breaths.
- "Not all the possible outcomes, but the main ones. Elemental or physical attacks among others" he replied before handing a gourd of water to Rebecca.
The young woman took the gourd and began to drink deeply before taking a deep breath. After about fifteen minutes break, the young woman got up and started a new training session.
For his part, Isaac didn't have much to do. He had to let her train and sharpen her judgment and fighting skills. So he decided to go a little further and told her to come and find him when she felt she had finished.
Isaac walked towards the center of the high plains where his flying rock was and the mana flower still in the air. Once posed, Isaac sat down on the ledge then looked out over the plains below, sighing lightly.
Rebecca and Artiel's little house was starting to take shape in the distance. It was small and friendly, but it was better than a small camp and a tent to sleep in.
Once his little break was savored, Isaac pulled his spellbook out of his sleeve and opened it. The pages began to turn before arriving at a page containing many very small inscriptions. A moment later, the inscriptions lit up and an arcane about thirty centimeters in diameter appeared in front of the young man.
This was a prototype control rune that he was trying to create to improve golems and be able to allow them greater maneuverability outdoors. So Isaac spent the rest of the day in front of the arcane tampering with it, changing it and testing it.
The sun rose again over the original garden and swept over the high plains under a light morning mist. Isaac was still on his rock when the rays crossed the sky and recorded his work before leaping into the void and floating towards the encampment.
There, the two teenagers were already awake and packing their things while Rebecca lit a new fire with an arcane to warm herself. "She's getting smoother and faster. Promising indeed, she should go from apprentice to beginner mage by the end of her training. Even intermediate mage," Isaac thought as he landed.
Seeing Isaac arriving, Rebecca waved her hand at him, her body shaking slightly from the early morning cold and damp mist. These were the disadvantages of living at altitude, the air was much cooler. But at least they didn't seem to be suffering from a lack of oxygen which reassured Isaac.
Seeing her shiver, the elf conjured an arcane above them in an area of about five meters. A moment later, the air began to heat up as the mist receded before being blocked out of the arcane's area of influence. "Heating" was a rune used to control humidity in the air by maintenance golems.
- "I see that the hunt was successful" said Isaac seeing the skin of a boar appearing to dry on a branch a little further.
Just seeing the skin, the elf shuddered in disgust. He had never butchered animals, after all in his world, the meat was served in trays, he had never had to see the slaughterhouses, he only had to go to a supermarket.
- "I'm sorry, Isaac. I'll move it further" Artiel hastened to say when he saw Isaac's discomfort. He knew for a fact that the elves were beings who were very close to nature, plants and animals. Figuratively and literally since according to the stories, some elves had decided to live in nature in some animal form.
Killing an animal for them was almost like killing a family member. Of course, the natural cycle of life dictated that animals were prey or predators. So it was completely normal for humans to hunt and kill, but that didn't change the fact that doing so in front of them could enrage them.
- "Don't worry" Isaac answered with a smile before turning to Rebecca. "We're going to have a little evaluation today," he said finally.
Immediately, the young woman felt her heart tighten. An assessment so early? It was true that she had progressed very quickly thanks to Isaac's explanations, but it was far too early for her. Was she going to succeed? What would happen if it failed? So many questions and doubts that reflected on his face immediately.
- "Let's go" Isaac announced, starting to walk.
As the two walked under Artiel's worried gaze, Isaac decided to give him a little explanation on the way.
- "The first stage of your training is supposed to allow you to understand what I do up to a certain level and to learn by observing" he began. "You're not strong enough to manipulate and stabilize Arcana, so we won't go into this chapter for you."
He paused briefly before turning around.
- "Also, what I'm going to evaluate today is your ability to analyze a rune and create another one capable of canceling its effects to know if we can go to higher levels. I have to evaluate if you understood the functioning of the runes and arcana for that" he ends up saying.
Isaac suddenly placed his hand in front of him and an arcane appeared, surprising Rebecca, before a fireball about four inches in diameter formed and was propelled towards the young woman. Reflexively, she pulled out her wand and pointed it forward and threw another fireball of the same size.
Just as the two balls were about to make contact, Isaac's fireball suddenly split into two, one contacting Rebecca's and causing an explosion, the other deflecting and skirting the explosion before to move towards the young woman.
The latter barely had time to react and a white barrier appeared in front of her just as the fireball exploded. Once the smoke had cleared, Isaac spoke again.
- "If you could have deciphered the arcane, you could have known what the fireball was going to do and adapted accordingly. This also applies to spells cast with the spirit. By feeling the waves of mana, you can decipher what your opponent is going to summon and prepare for it "
Rebecca immediately understood where he was going and got into position. Six runes suddenly appeared around on a perimeter of about twenty yards before golems formed at their location. Isaac then took to the skies and erected a containment rune all over the area.
- "The evaluation will take place here. You are not allowed to attack. You just have to repel their spells. Start" Isaac said.
Immediately, the golems activated and turned to Rebecca with her wand in her hands. Many runes and arcana began to draw on the ground and in the air.
"Let the assessment begin," Isaac thought with a smile.