We flew for several hours straight, and by the time I could truly no longer hold on, my master slowed down the dragon and landed in a forest.
Hueh!
As soon as we landed, I vomited.
I couldn't feel my arms and my body was wracked with exhaustion.
I looked towards my master whilst breathing heavily.
"It's a feeling you should get used to."
Tsk.
I had thought he'd give me a health potion or use his healing (?) spell on me, but he was being stingy instead.
I cleaned myself up in a nearby stream and went back.
A small hill had sprung up from the earth, fitted with windows and a door.
I had expected to sleep in a tent, but it seemed that would not be the case.
'Perks of travelling with an archmage, I guess.'
I saw my master sitting on a log in front of a campfire, and I sat on the opposite side from him.
There was an obvious question for me to ask.
"So, where are we going, master?"
Without missing a beat, he answered.
"Far up north."
Far up north?
Wouldn't that be the tundra?
"Why... are we going there?"
Considering I had just dealt with the pressing heat of a desert, I was not so eager to experience the biting cold of the tundra.
"It's where most of my forces are, I only keep two undead on me at all times."
Naturally, I knew one of those undead was Timmy the dragon.
I wondered what the second undead might be.
'Maybe a death knight?'
They were undead knights which acted as a calamity on the battlefield.
But I had decided to ask a different question.
"So, ahem, are you a lich, master?"
I knew the real identity of my master was 'the Lich King Xerxes', but until he summoned Timmy, I had never seen him use any abilities involving undead.
On top of that, he did not look like a lich.
Though, my image of a lich was an amalgamation based on storybooks I had read in my childhood, as well how they appeared in videogames in my old life, so perhaps this was just how Liches actually looked.
"I was, once, but I haven't considered myself one for a long time, regardless of what people say."
It was a vague answer, only giving a partial yet unclear confirmation of my question.
"Anyway, I should probably tell you, we're going for your sake, there was no point staying in that desert after you killed the snake. There were stronger beasts there, like that wyvern, but none anywhere near what you could handle."
His next sentence sent a chill through my spine.
"With the resources I have at home, we'll be able to do some specialised training for you to reach the third layer."
Specialised training.
If his normal training basically consisted of me torturing myself for hours every day, I could only imagined what this so called 'specialised training' was like.
Shifting the topic, I asked him about my advancement.
Reaching the third layer meant my elemental affinity would be able to reveal itself.
"What element do you think I'll be connected to?"
My masted took a moment, probably to think, before responding.
"If I were to guess, it'd be fire or darkness, or both. But then again, you're some twerp from a noble family, so maybe your blood will have a disposition towards a certain element."
'Fire or darkness, huh?'
Both seemed like satisfactory options to me, as they had strong firepower.
On another note, I was a little surprised my master had mentioned my family.
Of course, he did not know I was from Notoria, but he hadn't mentioned anything to do with my family since I had first met him.
I decided to tell him that the Notoria family had no connection to a particular element.
"No, my family's magic... has nothing to do with the elements."
"Right, then fire or darkness it is."
I thought he might ask what my family's magic was, but he didn't.
Well, even I were to tell him about it, there was no way he'd be able to help me progress it.
It was an ancient art which had given rise to many archmages over the history of Notoria, a legendary secret of the empire which was tightly guarded by the family.
So, in other words, he'd have no idea on how to train it.
After a moment, another I had another curiosity.
"What advanced element do you use, master?"
Upon reaching the sixth layer, a mage could advance their element and specialise in a more powerful sub element, such as advancing fire into plasma or earth into crystal.
I had ideas of my master having some powerful advanced element derived from darkness.
"...I believe a demonstration would be best."
He stood up and raised his hand to a random direction in the forest.
He looked at me and spoke with a serious tone.
"Watch closely, I'll try make it simple for you."
A circle appeared on his hand, and I recognised it instantly.
How could I not recognise the magic circle of magic bullet?
Although... it seemed far more refined than my own usage of the spell.
Then, a second ring appeared.
'It's blank?'
There was no instruction engraved upon it, meaning he purely wanted me to focus on what would happen next.
A third, crimson ring materialised, and trying to comprehend it made my head hurt.
How could I describe it.
'A perfect chaos.'
I had seen a few mages in my family practicing with their elemental spells, but it was nothing like this.
I couldn't even begin to unravel the complex workings of it.
Earth, Wind, Fire, Water and Darkness.
It was an insane combination of five out of the six basic elements.
The power of the circle was so immense that it was seemingly begging to be let out.
Wind pressure roared from the circle, causing the surrounding area to feel as if it were caught in a hurricane.
"It's something I created my self, so I'm rather proud of it. As I'm sure you've noticed, it combines five elements into one, absorbing all their strengths and none of their weaknesses."
"I call it ruin."
He let the magic bullet rip, and despite the small size of the bullet, it left absolute destruction in its wake.
I looked at the path of the bullet, and it was if part of the forest had never existed.
It was unrecognisable.
Red thunder crackled even as the spell had dissapated over a kilometer away.
The trees were not just destroyed, but seeminly atomised, as nothing in the spells path remained.
It looked as if a trench had been dug into the earth from the bullet's incredible destructive power.
"Awesome."
What other word could be used to describe this?
---
LOG 16 - RUIN
The advanced element created by the Lich King Xerxes. It precisely fuses five basic elements into one element sharing the strengths of all of them and the weaknesses of none. In its wake, only pure destruction remains as a leftover. This element can be said to have a mind of its own, as depending on the situation, it can become borderline impossible to avoid, as it can take on the solid form of earth, the liquid form of water, the ephemeral form of darkness, and more.