"Alice? Brother, do you like Alice?"
Alan was momentarily lost in thought when Isabella teased him with a mischievous smile.
Alan almost nodded, as he did admire Alice as a rival.
But he quickly realized Isabella was just trying to provoke him, so he shook his head and replied, "She's merely a worthy opponent, nothing more!"
"Pfft, brother, come on! It's just the two of us here; can't you be honest with me?" Isabella huffed, puffing her cheeks in mock annoyance. "I like Lady Alice a lot! She's so beautiful, like a goddess from a legend, and so fierce and valiant. I think she's amazing!"
Then, looking a bit downcast, Isabella tapped her forehead thoughtfully. "Brother, when do you think I'll be able to study magic? I want to be like Lady Alice too. I want to protect you!"
Alan patted her head with a smile and said, "Don't worry. Once we get to Lioncrest Academy and you're better, you'll start leveling up your magic too!"
"Together, there's nowhere in this world we can't go!"
Isabella nodded, feeling a little more at ease, and soon drifted off to sleep in the carriage.
Once she was asleep, Alan began analyzing his previous battle with Alice, as he always did after a major fight.
Although he was a magus, his ability to manipulate elements and judge the timing of his attacks still had room for improvement compared to Alice.
However, his own advantages were also apparent. As a magus, his techniques were unpredictable and versatile.
While he could currently control only the four basic elements, he could perform endless combinations with them.
Though he was still relatively new to being a magus, he knew he needed more training.
So Alan entered his own mental "hell," replaying his battle with Alice in his mind, experimenting with combinations of earth, fire, wind, and water.
This time, he didn't just focus on one element or single characteristics.
Instead, he tried to delve deeper into the potential of elemental forces, exploring multi-layered combinations.
The magus class held boundless potential, far more powerful than other magic knight classes.
To defeat Alice, he had to continue training diligently.
As Alan practiced, a black-robed woman appeared beside him, nodding approvingly.
"Not bad. You're starting to grasp the layered use and combination of elemental forces. You're on the right path, but to succeed, you'll need more training. Once you master the layering and complex transformations of elements, you'll reach the level of a Grand Magus!"
Grand Magus!
Alan's heart leapt; the Grand Magus rank corresponded not to tier-bronze but to tier-gold!
And thanks to the unique qualities of the magus class, reaching the Grand Magus level would place him among the top even within tier-gold mages.
"You'll need to figure it out on your own," the black-robed woman said before vanishing.
Reassured that he was on the right path, Alan's doubts lifted. He tried combining elements again, feeling a trace of success.
But midway, his spirit was exhausted.
"My soul's still too weak!"
Alan sighed.
Although magi were powerful, advancing one's soul was challenging.
Without his Soul Grindstone and the intricate Infernal Visualization Technique, he might not have even scratched the surface of his training.
Determined, Alan gritted his teeth and immersed himself back into the Soul Grindstone.
…
Time passed swiftly, and by dusk, they found themselves in a forest.
Alan sat by the campfire, heating up some milk and toasting bread, which he handed to Isabella.
"Here, try your brother's cooking."
Isabella took the bread with a smile, finding it dry and hard on her teeth, but she praised it enthusiastically anyway.
"Your bread is delicious—crispy and fragrant!"
Alan took a bite himself and tasted only charred bitterness, but seeing Isabella enjoy it, he gave it another reluctant bite.
Fine, it was terrible.
"Well, this'll have to do for now. It's our first day out on a long trip, and I didn't plan the route well. Once we get to a nearby town, we'll find a proper place to rest. It's not ideal camping out in the wilderness."
Alan looked at Isabella apologetically.
Years of battling for mines and living outdoors had hardened him, but he had forgotten about his sister's frail health in his eagerness to hit the road.
"It's fine. As long as I'm with you, it doesn't matter where we are," Isabella said, clinging to Alan's arm with a sweet smile.
Despite the dark, ominous forest around them, she felt safe as long as her brother was there.
After they ate, Alan sent Isabella to rest in the carriage and took the first watch by the fire.
This forest was treacherous at night, filled with the occasional roar of spellbeasts and rustling noises. It was far too dangerous not to keep watch.
Suddenly, a thunderous roar of a spellbeast echoed from deep within the forest.
Alan quickly turned toward the sound, which came from the forest's center, and felt a surge of volatile mana emanating from that direction.
"Mid-tier bronze spellbeast?" Alan's expression grew serious, his staff-sword clutched tightly.
Spellbeasts of the same tier were tougher and more brutal than mages, with thicker hides and denser magic power, often requiring several mages of equivalent rank to subdue.
And then, he sensed a woman's presence nearby.
She was beautiful, dressed in a torn long gown and visibly injured, revealing her fair, curvaceous figure.
She had reached the early bronze tier and, thanks to her mastery of the wind element, could move quickly, evading the spellbeast's attacks with agility.
But as her injuries worsened, the spellbeast grew even more enraged, and she was gradually losing ground.
Alan finally got a clear look at her pursuer—a spellbeast resembling a Tyrannosaurus, towering over four meters, wreathed in dense golden elemental energy.
Its small forelimbs swiped out, sending sharp waves of golden energy toward the fleeing woman.
If not for her enchanted, glowing robe deflecting some of the attacks, she would have been torn in half.
The woman spotted the firelight and Alan beside it from a distance.
Her eyes lit up, and she darted toward him.
As she changed direction, the Tyrannosaurus spellbeast charged after her—straight toward Alan.
Alan's gaze hardened, clearly realizing she was using him as a shield.
"Take one more step, and I won't hesitate to kill you!"
Alan didn't want to provoke trouble but neither did he wish to be dragged into any.
Fighting in this forest could attract more spellbeasts with the disturbance.
However, his cold warning only made her pause briefly before she looked at him with a pitiful expression.
"Dear brother, please just help me this once, won't you? I'll do whatever you want afterward~"
She spoke with a sultry, pleading tone, even pressing her chest together to reveal a tempting, snowy expanse.
But Alan's expression remained cold and unmoved.
"What? Are you even a man?" she gaped at him in disbelief.
Confident in her charm and figure, she had seduced her way to becoming the second wife of the Jack family lord!
Since seduction had failed, she switched tactics. As she neared Alan, she tossed a handful of crimson powder in his direction and summoned the last of her wind element to blow it toward him.
This powder, designed to attract spellbeasts, would surely draw the beast's attention away from her!