Two months later, within the Magic Forest…
Two sorcerers in grey robes were fighting against five Giant Poison Rats. One of them was a female sorcerer with long bright red hair and black eyes, with a beautiful face who was holding a dark-red sword. The other sorcerer was a tall male with golden hair and golden eyes. He was strikingly handsome and most ladies would lose their composure in his presence.
August stood behind and watched as Ophelia charged towards the group of rats.
Fire Sorcery: Flaming Slash!
Swoosh!
Two of the Giant Rats tried to use their sharp teeth to bite away at her sword and inflict her with their poison but this turned out to be their undoing as Ophelia's sword, with a bright red glow, released a scorching wave that instantly burned their tough fur and kept pushing through, eventually cleaving their heads from their bodies.
Ophelia did not stop at that and sidestepped a clawing attack from another Giant Rat that tried to scratch her from the side with its poisonous claws and she responded immediately with a piercing thrust towards its head.
The Giant Rat did not expect the human to be so fast and it couldn't dodge the sword which pierced its head all the way till the hilt was all that could be seen.
Wind Sorcery: Wind Blade!
Just as Ophelia pulled out her sword and was about to continue her assault when she heard the sound of wind blades flash from behind her, tearing through the wind at incredible speeds and slashing the bodies of two Giant Rats preparing to launch a surprise attack at her before she pulled out her entire sword from the dead rat.
"You let your guard down again, Ophelia. You must also be more aware of your surroundings," August gave her a light smile and pointed out her shortcomings.
"Yeah, yeah, I know. I already told you I could handle this without your help!" Ophelia sounded pretty annoyed at the fact that he had come to her aid again. "Okay I won't interfere next time," August said noncommittally. "You have the sword so you take out their poison sacs and let's head back, okay?" August turned her back to her and looked in the direction of the Forest's exit.
"Don't you order me around, you jerk! How ungentlemanly of you to leave this to a lady like me!" Ophelia was furious.
"Sheesh… you are one strong-headed 'lady'"
"HaaH!!?? What do you by that? Are you trying to make fun of me or something?" Ophelia could not stand this annoying guy.
"Alright, alright calm down now I was just kidding," August couldn't be bothered to continue arguing with her.
Funny enough, despite her fury and complaints, she was still cutting open the Giant Poison Rats and taking out the poison sacs. When she was done she stood up to look at the figure who had his back turned towards her with complicated eyes.
Apart from this compulsory mission that was given to them by the Sorcerer Tower, she had been teaming up with him to complete tower missions recently and had come to witness firsthand, the difference in ability that was beginning to show between them.
Just less than three months after entering the tower he had become one of the fastest-rising stars among the rank 0 apprentice sorcerers and even some intermediate sorcerers were starting to take notice.
She was confident in her abilities, there was no doubt. However, compared to August she was not even certain that she could win. He was a genius among sorcerers and that was why she wanted to match up to him. He was smart, always calm, and charismatic, and radiated an air of someone who had everything within his control.
She had no idea why but whenever heard those promiscuous female sorcerers try to flirt with him, she wanted to smack their faces with her sword!"
"I will definitely catch up to you and surpass you, August!" Ophelia muttered under her breath as she caught up to him and they both left the forest.
Later when they returned to the Sorcerer Tower, they verified their clearance of the mission with the mission hall and returned to their dorms after they split the points they were rewarded with.
When he entered his room, he noticed that something was off. There was a small green box that was on his table with a note placed on top of it. After confirming with Rhea that nothing seemed amiss with the box, he neared his table picked up the note and read its contents:
Sorcerer August. After embarking on some investigations this past few months, our sources have been able to confirm that the three sorcerers you encountered back then were indeed sorcerers sent by the Cadogan to cause chaos within our rank 0 sorcerers and therefore as I promised, inside the box is the high-grade wind element crystal core.
Sorcerer Leader, Diana.
August couldn't help but smile. This high-grade core was going to serve as an added bonus to his plans of elevating to an intermediate sorcerer.
"Rhea, status"
STATUS
AUGUST
RANK 0 SORCERER
PHYSIQUE: 3.0
AGILITY: 2.0
STRENGTH: 3.0
SPIRIT: 9.5
AFFINITY (IES)
1. WIND: 7.5%
ADDITIONAL AFFINITY SLOTS (0/4)
SORCERIES
1. WIND BLADE SORCERY
RANGE: 12.5m
CAST TIME: 2.5s
SPIRIT COST: 1
DAMAGE: 17
2. WIND SPEAR RAIN SHOWER
RANGE: 10m>13.5m
CAST TIME: 10s>7.5s
SPIRIT COST: 10>7.5
DAMAGE: 20>22.5
COOLDOWN TIME: 7.5s
When August absorbed the 3 medium-grade wind elemental cores during his short seclusion two months ago, it raised his wind affinity and Spirit by 1.5 and August's wind sorceries all experienced a marked improvement. Now that he was a step away from becoming an intermediate sorcerer, the high-grade elemental core that he was about to absorb should be sufficient.
For one to become an intermediate sorcerer, one must have at least 10 spirit. Also from Rhea's database plus the information he gathered in the library, upon reaching 10 spirit, the brain experiences an evolution as a space begins to open within one's mind. This is known commonly as the mental space.
The forming of the mental space leads to the beginning of the usage of magical power and this is seen by many in the sorcerer world as the one's real beginning on the path of becoming a sorcerer!