"Hey, why don't we leave this for another day? Where I come from, calling someone flea-bag is actually a huge sign of respect, you know?" I said, staring at the monster in front of me while slowly backing away.
"GRRR"
"If I were you, I wouldn't do that, man. I don't even have that much meat on me, haha—"
Before I could finish speaking, it lunged at me with terrifying speed. In less than a second, it was already within a meter of me. Without thinking, I used mana to accelerate my thought process and barely managed to dodge with a clumsy sidestep.
'Damn! What went wrong??'
'I used the correct paths and more than enough mana. What am I missing?!'
As soon as that thought crossed my mind, the wolf was already charging at me again. I focused mana into my legs and propelled myself sideways as it rushed past me. The moment I ended up beside it, I concentrated mana into my arm and threw a punch with all my strength at its back.
Before my blow could connect, it exploded forward in a burst of speed, moving several meters ahead and making me miss completely.
I decided to go on the offensive before it could attack again. Releasing a concentrated pulse of mana through my feet, I dashed toward it. If it weren't for my accelerated thinking, I probably would have overshot my target.
When I got in front of it, I focused mana into my hands again, but this time I wrapped them in flames. At the same time, I formed a thin barrier of mana over my skin to protect myself from burns.
With no better option, the wolf did the only thing it seemed to think was viable—stupid as it was—and bit down on my flaming hand. Before its teeth could pierce my skin, I reinforced my hand even further with mana.
And before it could understand why it couldn't tear my arm off, I increased the intensity of the flames inside its mouth, causing a small explosion that killed it in a gruesome way.
BUM!
SPLASH
I let out a relieved sigh, but when I looked down, disgust washed over me. Pieces of its brain had splattered onto my shoe when it hit the ground. Or maybe it was from the explosion.
"Doesn't matter."
"Ugh… these shoes were brand new. I didn't think I'd have to fight like this."
After finishing cleaning the excess brain matter from my shoes, I sat down near the wall and thought about what I had done wrong.
'I managed to create the fireball… so what was missing?'Lost in thought, I formed another fireball above my hands and stared at it.
"Hmmm…"
"Huuuuummmm…"
"Hummmmm—"
'Ahhh… the magic circle. Why don't I have one?'
I had seen that every mage formed a magic circle when casting spells. Not that there were no exceptions, but most mages had magic circles in their spells.
I asked a few of them, and they said it was instinctive. They simply wish for the spell, think about where they want it to go, and cast it…
"Huh… they wish, and then cast it…"
"That's it!!"
"I've been using the wrong approach. They think about the spell and wish for it to do something. So you could say they infuse their intention into the magic and calculate—automatically—where it should go!"
"Since I have to do everything manually, all I need is a clear intention of what I want the spell to do and a calculation of where it should go. I shouldn't just imitate the mana's movement."
After finishing my hypothesis, I stood up and faced the wolf's corpse in front of me.
"Useful until the very end, huh, flea-bag!"
With a clear target in mind, I focused on my mana and, as I moved it, began infusing my intention into it, thinking about what I wanted it to do.
Once I had a clear image in my mind, I accelerated my thoughts and started calculating the trajectory and the amount of mana I would use during the casting.
The moment I completed the final step, something incredible began to happen. A magic circle filled with runes I couldn't understand started forming in front of me. At its center, a fireball took shape, and the instant I gave the mental command, it shot forward in an explosive burst of speed.
BOOOM!
"Hahaha… HAHAHAHAHAH!"
"I did it!!! I'm officially a mage!!!"
"I'M UNSTOPPABLE NOW!"
"Prepare yourselves, monsters, for the great Merlin Hermes has come to put an end to your miserable lives!"
"Grrr"
"GRRR"
"Grrrr"
In the middle of my euphoric delusions, I heard multiple growls around me. When I looked, I realized I was surrounded by a pack of wolves, most likely drawn in by my hysterical shouting.
And the charred, blackened carcass of the wolf in front of me didn't help my case.
"Huh… when I got here, it was already like that. I swear!"
But it didn't seem like they were in the mood for conversation, because the moment I finished speaking, they charged at me.
I sighed.
"If you want to die, that's fine. Time for test number two!"
'Wind Cyclone!' I chanted in my mind as I cast the second spell I wanted to test today.
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Author's Note
Hello, dear readers!
I apologize for not posting anything for quite some time, but I'll try to return with more frequent updates.
This chapter didn't have a lot of combat or action, but I promise we'll pick up the pace from here on out. I hope you enjoyed it, even though it was a shorter chapter.
See you in the next chapter!
Bye bye!