Hours passed, and Luz continued swinging his sword even though the sun had already gone down and the moon shone brightly over the sky as the burning torches lit up the place.
By now, every muscle of his body was aching, and even lifting his sword was a challenge to Luz. Entrenched in sweat, Luz gritted his teeth before swinging his sword against a tall wooden statue again.
"So tiring," stuttered Luz while leaning himself against the statue with closed eyes.
Unfortunally for him, some people enjoyed seeing others suffer, which is why it was no wonder that Alice immediately took the chance to whop his ass with a broom.
"No rest for you, darling,~" she commented with a grin before shifting her gaze towards the fight happening between Francis and Lewis that was still going on.
What happened up to this point were unserious spar fights.
Upon shifting focus to the males, Luz got immediately shocked. These two had their weapons coated in elements?
'Wasn't that Lewis utilized seconds before I gave up?' thought Luz in amazement as Anne commented casually, "These two are merely using gimmicks because the author needs fancy fights."
"Anne, what the hell are you talking about?" asked Alice. "These two coated their weapons with elemental spells. It may be stupid in fights since spells are more potent than mere coating one's weapon, but you completely disregarded why they are doing it."
"Well, why are they using it then?" Luz asked, and Alice immediately explained it to him while floating on a broom, "Well, they are training elemental control. You see, during a fight, you move very fast, and if you can keep your coating perfectly on your weapon while it clashes against another elemental, your fine control should be way above others."
With sparkling eyes, Luz watched how Francis coated his club with a small sheet of fire while Lewis coated his sword and shield with a small layer of water.
But what surprised Luz the most was how unusual Francis's coating behaved. 'Shouldn't fire be an unruly element, trying to expand everywhere, like it has its own will? Why the hell does it behave so calmly like Lewis's water coating!?'
Amazed by what he had seen, Luz wanted to give it a try and immediately raised his weapon while commenting, "Can I try it too?"
Yawning, Alice looked at Luz as she was curious to see if the young man could succeed on his first try, like most fantasy MCs. He should have a cheat skill, right, right?
"Give it a try, Luz. Remember, the proof of the pudding is in the eating," commented Anne in encouragement while giving him a thumbs-up.
Nodding, Luz narrowed his eyes while muttering, "[spatial distortion]," while focusing on his weapon.
Upon realizing that Luz was trying to wrap his weapon with space magic, Alice's black grimoire appeared in front of her. Horrified, she immediately summoned tens of barriers around Luz's weapon as it got shredded into thousands of flying projectiles, penetrating the barrier.
One … Two … Three … Four barriers broke before the projectiles came to a halt.
Shocked by what had just happened, Luz gulped before taking a step back and avoiding glancing into Alice's face.
The latter took a deep breath while trembling in shock. If Alice had acted even a second too slowly, all three of them would have died due to projectiles.
Before Luz could even utter any apology, Alice grabbed Luz's collar with a single hand before raising him up.
'Wait… HOW THE HELL HAS THE GIRL SUCH A STRENGTH!?' shot through Luz's head as he forced a smile upon his face before apologizing, "Sorry."
"Sorry, my ass. No offense but how stupid must you be to try it with space magic? HAVE YOU NOT BEEN TAUGHT THAT YOU SHOULD NEVER TRY USING NEW SPACE MAGIC SPELLS WITHOUT THE SUPERVISION OF A HIGHER RANKING MAGE!?" Alice yelled at him furiously while lowering Luz so that the two were of eye height. Her eyes were wide open in anger as Luz saw the darkness of the void in her eyes.
Scared shitless, Luz stuttered, "I'm sorry, but I never had a magic teacher till now."
Hearing his answer, Anne only grew more shocked. What kind of monster is Luz that he is still alive, without having lost a single finger while practicing space magic without supervision.
Shocked by Luz's statement, Alice let Luz fall to the ground before taking a seat.
"Hehe," commented Luz while looking down. 'That's right. Fear me, mortal. My talent is way above yours,' thought Luz while a smile going from one ear to the other plastered on his face.
Anne wasn't shocked, in the slightest, by what just happened and was rather excited upon finding out that Luz got so far without any teacher.
Her eyes were filled with greed as she saw all the potential opportunities for what the group could use Luz. 'That man… he is our gold mine… No, hehehehe. HE IS MY GOLD MINE. Wait. I gotta act otherwise.' went through her head as she slowly stood up.
With a big fat grin, Anne shouted to the two fighting parties, "FRANCIIIIIS!!!! MASTER BRIAN CAUGHT A LEGENDARY POKEMON. WE NOW HAVE A SPACE MAGE. WE CAN TRAIN HIM INTO OUR TELEPORTER."
"Really?!" shouted Francis while swinging his giant club towards Lewis, who jumped over it.
"YES!! DO YOU WANNA HEAR WHAT HE JUST TRIED," shouted Anne as she tried suppressing her laughter.
"Tell me, Anne. I'm curious. Did Luz try a new spell?" shouted Francis back while swinging his shield towards Lewis, who blocked it with his own one. But unfortunally, the physical difference between the two was immense, and Lewis got forced back.
"He tried coating his weapon in space magic," Anne shouted loudly, and the two were so baffled that they dropped their weapon before laughing.
"Luz. Space magic is one of the hardest things to tame/gain control over. Even Master Brian and Master Simon are struggling to have it fully under control," shouted Francis back before shaking his head at Luz's stupidity.
Afterward, the group chilled for another hour before Lewis and Luz left. To Lewis's surprise, Francis, the most unruly of their small group, was even ready to give Luz a few basic magic lessons.
On their way, Luz's body was aching from swinging the sword for the whole day.
"And was harassing me with stupid basic magic spells worth swinging your sword till night?" Lewis asked in amusement while seeing how Luz struggled following him on their way home.
"Yes, hehehe," yawned Luz with a smile while leaning against the wall. His whole body was trembling, and he was near his end.
"Anyway, if you can't keep up with me, I'll leave you here," commented Lewis before increasing his tempo.
Horrified, by his past experience of being alone in this city, Luz hastily stammered, "WAIT, you can't leave me here alone, Lewis, my dear brother."
"Well, what happens if I leave you here?" retorted Lewis, fed up with Luz's slow speed.
"Master Simon will kill you personally," laughed Luz with a grin while raising his chest.
After sighing, Lewis gave in and carried Luz via piggyback. "You really got no shame, blackmailing an innocent child with the heart of a maiden."
Shameless as Luz was, he replied with a frank, "Yes," before quickly adding, "After all, I gotta save my ass somehow. no matter what."
"Anyway, you gotta explain to me in depth what kind of experience you underwent, bro," Lewis remarked while carrying a man older than him on his back.
"Unfortunally, I'm not allowed to disclose anything that happened," replied Luz while winking with one eye.
"Stop lying," sighed Lewis before adding, "You probably just took some boring medicine, and that was it."
The two continued bickering till the duo reached the estate.
Meanwhile, even Lewis got tired, and the two immediately collapsed on the floor of their room upon opening the door.
"I like the cold," muttered Luz as the last ounce of strength left his tired body.