Wilhelm wanted to finish all the requests that he was given before the start of classes but since Runa wanted to tag along, he was certain that he could only finish Welrok's request. Not sure what it was but since they offered him his payment he had to do it. It was not like they were rushing Wilhelm.
With their trip taking a while, he wanted Runa to experience what it was like inside the elven territory. He did not regret his decision, Runa was enjoying herself as she got to see a lot of new things. Her smiles are coming from the joy of exploration. He was glad that Runa was enjoying herself more than he expected.
"You want to know more about attack magic?" He asked, Runa nodded. She wanted to learn more about offensive magic since she believe that it was what she was lacking.
"Why?" He asked. Depending on her answer, Wilhelm plans to react accordingly.
"During the enrollment, I had trouble dealing with the last test."
"Oh, you mean hitting the target."
Runa nodded.
"Was it difficult?"
"A bit, if I haven't seen your fight against Lady Celestine then I wouldn't have any clue about how to hit them."
"But you did anyways, right?"
"Yes."
"There's a reason why I let you have just the right amount of knowledge in magic. I just teach you the basics or the fundamentals first and the rest is for you to discover yourself. Because I believe that it'll be more fun when you explore magic yourself."
"And if I feel stuck in something you'll help me right away?"
"Absolutely, I'll help you out by guiding you to the answer, one that you must achieve for yourself. That's one way of teaching, to let someone learn by themselves."
"And, I've already taught you how to control your magic. You can create your moves by manipulating it, that's one reason why you passed the last test right?" Wilhelm added.
Runa can't deny that, not that she has any complaints about how Wilhelm was teaching her. She really wanted to see Wilhelm use his magic. It's always a sight to see. That's why she brought that topic up, to at least get a sight of how her master would do it.
"How about this, I'll show you some of my offense magic, how does that sound?"
Runa's smile widened and felt a lot more excited than she had a moment ago.
Wilhelm looked for an open space inside the forest, they were quite deep inside that there were no signs of elven traces left and more forest creatures were spotted.
"Over there would be fine," Wilhelm pointed to a spot that is leading to a cliff.
"Runa, for you... What is magic?" Wilhelm asked, wanted to confirm one thing.
That was a hard question to ask but Runa answered,
"To create something beautiful?"
It was the first thing that popped into her head. The idea that magic is to create something beautiful was a suitable answer for Runa. It made Wilhelm smile gently.
'So that's what Runa thinks magic is, for her, magic is to create. What a wonderful answer she has given me.'
"Water magic, according to the academy is more well-versed for supporting people. They use water to cleanse poison, sanitize wounds by washing out unwanted components, help out with the fertility of the cultivation lands that grow crops, and many more."
"But, water magic can also be used to attack opponents. It was later discovered that water is as deadly as any other element. Then magicians began to test how they could use water to take down their opponents."
"Then, the first skill that they developed was creating a ball of water, the one that I taught you."
Wilhelm created water about the same size as the human body.
"This ball of water looks harmless right?"
Runa nodded. It looked like a bubble that is floating in the air.
"Now, hold your breath and try to get out of this if you can."
Wilhelm moved the water towards Runa, straightly centered on her head. Runa wanted to tilt her head to avoid the water but Wilhelm caged her head with the sphere of water.
Runa held her breathe and tried to brush the water off of her head but even if she stood up or crouch it was stuck with her. Now she was running out of air, she began to panic and tried to scratch the sphere off but no matter how much water she brushed off, it just kept coming back.
Wilhelm withdrew the water that surrounded Runa's head. She had a good gasp of fresh air.
"Magic is the embodiment of convenience. With magic, everything becomes easy. Which means, it's easy to do something with the help of magic. That includes ending someone else's life."
"The academy's way to score how powerful the spell is is to check the destructiveness of the spell that you use. So back to your answer to my question, 'What is magic?'... Does it still produce beauty when it results in destruction? To make it simple, was it beauty you've created when you've destroyed your targets?"
"One thing you have to keep in mind, Magic is beautiful but also ugly at the same time. Do you want to learn how to destroy someone? Because that is one reason why students learn offense magic."
Wilhelm knew that one of the uses of magic is to end your opponent's life. Despite how beautiful magic can be, it can also be ugly depending on how you use it.
Runa realized the lesson Wilhelm wanted to imply. Harming other people is not the reason why Runa wanted to learn magic. What Wilhelm wanted her to keep in mind is to always remember what magic is for her.
"Runa, why do you want to learn offense magic?"
"To pass the exams... if I don't learn it, then I might fail... I want to reach the expectations of being your student..."
The words from the old folks must have hit Runa. The expectations from other people is difficult to achieve. Even if Wilhelm told her to not concern herself with that matter, she just couldn't let it slide. She wanted to prove that she could do her best to be worthy of being called his student.
"That's a reasonable answer... Actually, I just wanted to know how you perceive things. Offense magic is important and a mage is required to learn them. Do you know why?"
Runa nodded sideways.
"It's for self-defense, a mage should be able to protect themselves and keep themselves safe, that is why learning offense magic is required. You will never know when a predator might show up---"
A loud roar under the cliff was heard. Then a large flying creature showed itself as it soared into the open sky. It looked like a dragon but it only had a pair of legs with tough scales, sharp teeth, and a pointed long tail.
Wyverns are lesser dragons and inhabit rocky mountains and cliffs. It was understandable that one would show up since they were near a cliff.
"Oh look, a Wyvern." It was supposed to be a terrifying creature but Wilhelm didn't look concerned or feel threatened by its presence.
The wyvern saw the two of them by the cliff and thought that it had found itself a meal. It redirected its flight and glided towards them.
"This is a good example of self-defense when you are being attack by predators."
Wilhelm aimed his hand and a magic circle formed shining bright blue.
"[ Water Ball ]" The water Wilhelm created was rapidly growing by the second. After three blinks of Runa's eyelids, the water was as large as the Wyvern.
After witnessing the large water ball, the Wyvern quickly tried to disturb Wilhelm to stop him from casting the spell. But Wilhelm was quicker, he released the water ball having a large amount of force as it pushed the Wyvern off the cliff after receiving a solid hit!
The water hit so hard that the splash was heard half a kilometer away. After receiving the water ball, the wyvern was pushed back and fell off the cliff.
Although it did receive such a damage but Wilhelm made sure to just knock the wyvern up so that it wouldn't attack them for the time being.
"One of my principles in life is having a sense of self-control. Protecting yourself doesn't entirely mean that you must end the life of others."
With the sprinkles of water droplets that are falling from the air and the rainbow that appear behind him. Wilhelm looked noble, dignified, and upright as he calmly walked to Runa's side. Runa couldn't help but admire him. She wanted to be like him. She wants to be cool like Wilhelm.
But there seems to be a creature lurking within the shadows of the trees inside the forest. As it heard the sound of impact it crawled out from the forest. The rustling of the bushes, a sudden ambush, and a sharp silver claw was aiming at Runa.