Now that I've had my magic abilities tentatively confirmed, I need a safe and secluded place to test them. I can't think of anywhere in the city that fits the bill, so I'll have to go into the surrounding area outside the city. From what I remember when arriving, there is a forest's edge near the city wall. That seems like a good place for private magic practice.
However, I don't want to be that guy that gets a reputation for just randomly disappearing into the woods for hours at a time. So, this would be a good time to grab a guild job with low difficulty as a pretense for my trip to the forest. With that in mind, I make my way to the guild after leaving Percivil's shop.
On the way, I chug one of my healing potions to see how it works on my hand. It is wild – it almost looks like a time-lapse of the healing process. In just a few seconds, my hand is back to normal.
Jeez…I wonder how expensive these things are. I'm glad Percivil gave me these.
After that, I pull out my adventurer handbook and flip through the info about accepting jobs. Jobs, just like adventurers, are put on the G-to-S ranking system, and the rewards increase with their rank. Obviously, taking jobs at and below your rank is fine. However, it also seems that you can take jobs one rank above yours, but if you fail to complete it, you face a fine and can't take higher ranked jobs for a while.
Each job has a rank, goal, stipulation for proof of completion, reward amount, timeline, and party size minimum. All in all, no big surprises.
I arrive at the guild and make my way to the G-rank job bulletin. It's afternoon at this point, so the job pickings are kind of slim. However, I spot a slime hunting job tucked off to the side of the board. I don't mind this cliché.
Let's see, kill 10 slimes from the forest surrounding Elmesia in three days for 4 coppers per slime. Minimum party size of one. Proof of completion is 'slime cores'.
I pull out my book on monsters from Azazel and flip to a section on slimes. Apparently, you can kill slimes by removing these acorn-sized cores from their gelatinous bodies, or by damaging the cores inside them. I think this will do nicely.
I grab the job and take it to reception. Melanie is there still and approves my job acceptance. I say my goodbyes and make my way to the city entrance.
¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬¬
I feel a touch nostalgic arriving back at the gate where I first entered the city. It feels like forever ago despite happening yesterday. Since it's daytime, the iron gate is open. I do one last equipment check, then make my way out of the city.
I didn't notice it before, but a massive main road leads directly up to the city entrance from the north. I can see it stretching off into the distance, with no end in sight. Several horses and carts are moving along the road, so I wonder if it's a main thoroughfare. It reminds me that I need to prioritize learning about the layout of countries and cities around Azura after this. I don't plan to stay in Elmesia forever.
Turning my attention to the job at hand, I scope out the forest edge and make my way there. After about twenty minutes, I pass into the shade of the forest's canopy.
I take note of the direction of the sun, so that I can make my way back to the forest's edge later, then I press onward. Eventually, I come across a small clearing. I've seen bunnies and squirrels up to this point, but no slimes. In that case, this seems like a good place to start practicing some spells.
I take a seat on the forest floor and pull out my book of magic. I flip to the section on elemental magic and incantations. Apparently, people in Azura classify spells by intensity into four categories: basic, advanced, mastery, and calamity. Anyone with a compatible affinity can cast basic spells from the start, and advanced spells with practice. Gifted individuals can use mastery level spells, and only a few magicians have wielded calamity spells.
Basic magic is useful for everyday life. Advanced magic is suitable for fighting creatures. Mastery level magic is more appropriate for waging war, and other large-scale undertakings.
The upper limit of calamity class magic isn't really known, given the few examples in history. It's rumored that one mage with calamity class magic could erase major cities. My book has mostly basic spells with a few advanced spells.
I search for a basic elemental spell to begin my testing. Ah hah, 'fireball' a classic. I am curious about whether I can use incantation-less spells at a practical level, but I want to start with the incantation version for a baseline.
This spell should shoot a golf ball-sized fireball strong enough to light fire logs. There is a boulder across the clearing, so I take aim at that. I try to just clear my mind and recite the spell without thinking too much.
"Oh, meager flame, bring warmth to my palm and flicker with life!" (Mizuki)
As I recite the incantation, I can feel a mild warmth spread through my body and coalesce on my outstretched palm. After a couple of seconds, the heat on my hand intensifies, and a soft glow can be seen between my fingers. Then, my body tenses briefly and relaxes, and the fireball is launched towards the boulder. It hits, and almost immediately dissipates. A small scorch mark is visible on the boulder afterward.
Hmm…I'm assuming that warm sensation that moved through me was magic. First, magic flowed to the site of activity from my body, then the fireball was generated in that space, and finally it launched. Now that I've sensed how my body reacts when using magic, let's try it again without an incantation and see how it compares.