Chapter 117 - Learning Their Magic
"Arrows of light unleashed."
"Pierce through, never miss!"
Lefiya's voice echoed across the open field.
As her chant concluded, a radiant arrow materialized from the void and streaked toward a distant monster.
The distance was sufficient, and Roy had deliberately positioned Lefiya on elevated ground, granting her a strategic vantage point.
This allowed her to complete her chant undisturbed as the monster charged, unleashing powerful magic.
The arrow descended from the sky, striking the rushing monster with a piercing wail.
Its formidable penetrating force riddled the creature, reducing it to a pincushion before it crumbled into ashes, leaving only a magic stone on the ground.
"Is that good?" Lefiya asked, slightly breathless, turning to Roy.
Though she didn't understand why Roy wanted to observe her magic, she saw no reason to refuse his request.
After all, both her party and Ais's had benefited from his support.
"It's fine," Roy replied with a nod.
"If possible, could you cast your magic again?"
"Fusillade Fallarica?" Lefiya's face soured as she grumbled, "I've already it multiple times. It's draining my magic power, you know!"
Roy casually produced a high-tier mana/mind recovery potion and handed it to her. "Go ahead. My treat."
"Ugh!" Lefiya shot him a frustrated glance, muttering, "Why do you always give me the troublesome tasks?"
Despite her complaints, she snatched the potion, uncorked it, and downed it in one gulp.
The potion restored some of her depleted mana, and she resumed chanting.
"Proud warriors, forest archers, heed the approaching marauders. Take up your bows, answer your kin's call, nock your arrows, ignite the flames, lights of the forest."
"Command the arrows to fly, let elven fire rain down, and burn the savages to ash."
As the final words of her incantation fell, countless flaming javelins coalesced in the sky above, then plummeted like a fiery deluge—a breathtaking spectacle.
The power was equally devastating.
Each javelin struck like a missile, erupting on impact and engulfing distant monsters in a sea of flames.
Ais, acting as a vanguard to intercept approaching monsters, swiftly retreated as Lefiya's chant concluded to avoid being caught in the magic's indiscriminate radius.
Unlike a game with a "safe mode," this was reality, where magic could harm allies.
When the explosions of Fusillade Fallarica subsided and the smoke cleared, the ground was scarred with craters.
The monsters that once stood there had vanished, obliterated by the spell, their magic stones destroyed in the inferno.
"Want to keep going?" Lefiya asked, exhaling in relief as she glanced at Roy.
Roy, silently recalling the magic Lefiya had just cast, shook his head. "No, that's enough for now."
"What are you even trying to do, making me cast magic repeatedly?" Lefiya's curiosity finally got the better of her, and she asked with a puzzled expression.
Roy had instructed her to use magic multiple times while he observed.
"I recently awakened a new magic," Roy explained candidly. "I wanted to test its effects."
Lefiya blinked, counting on her fingers before holding up three.
Her eyes widened in shock. "Wait, does that mean you've awakened four magics?"
Flight magic, spatial magic, another unnamed magic, and now this new one—four in total.
Was that even humanly possible? Typically, with the aid of a Falna, three magic slots were the absolute limit, with no known exceptions.
Ais, overhearing, glanced at Roy with a hint of surprise.
She wasn't as shocked as Lefiya, knowing Roy also possessed teleportation magic, which brought his total to five. Still, it was astonishing.
"It's not easy to explain," Roy said, shaking his head.
To be precise, he had awakened only one magic through his Falna. The others stemmed from different powers.
"What's so hard to explain?" Lefiya pressed, still confused.
"Fine, I'll tell you. My magic is called Arcs Magica. It allows me to replicate other magics by memorizing them," Roy said, shifting focus to his ability.
Lefiya's eyes widened in disbelief.
"Isn't that basically my Elf Ring?! No, wait—your version sounds even more overpowered!"
Over time, Lefiya's wariness toward Roy had softened, especially given his openness.
She hadn't realized how much she'd lowered her guard around someone outside her Familia, even sharing details about her magic—typically a closely guarded secret.
Lefiya had awakened three magics through her Falna: Arc Ray, Fusillade Fallarica, and Elf Ring.
The latter allowed her to mimic elven magic, but it was restricted to spells of her race, unlike Roy's broader ability.
"Elf Ring?" Roy glanced at her, intrigued. "Feels like we're connected somehow."
Roy wasn't deeply familiar with the abilities of most Loki Familia members, only recalling details about a few characters close to Bell Cranel.
Still, the coincidence amused him.
Lefiya blushed faintly, then said, "So you've already mastered my magics, right?"
"More or less," Roy confirmed with a nod.
"Show me!" Lefiya's face lit up with curiosity and excitement.
Ais, standing nearby, also watched Roy with interest.
Under their gazes, Roy began chanting Fusillade Fallarica.
As he concluded with, "burn the savages to ash," a barrage of flaming javelins materialized, slightly larger in scale than Lefiya's, and rained down on the distant field.
The area erupted into a blazing inferno. Lefiya stared, stunned, before exclaiming, "Why is your magic stronger than mine? And that chanting speed—it's unnatural!"
"It's normal for mine to be stronger," Roy said, glancing at her.
"Aren't you a swordsman?" Lefiya countered.
Magic often correlated with mana or mind.
Roy's magical prowess should theoretically lag behind.
Plus, he hadn't used a staff, yet his magic outstripped hers—a mage with considerable mana.
"Being a swordsman doesn't mean I can't use magic," Roy replied, shaking his head. Swordsmanship was merely his preferred melee style.
"What about your chanting speed? Did you really just learn my magic? Or have you already mastered high-speed chanting?" Lefiya asked skeptically.
Roy's chant had been nearly twice as fast as hers, completing the incantation in half the time.
"High-speed chanting? I just sped up my speech," Roy said, pausing as if it were obvious. "Don't you do that when you talk?"
Lefiya looked as if an arrow had struck her chest, her expression one of utter shock.
Roy's earlier magics—flight, spatial, and teleportation—were quick-cast spells requiring no lengthy chants.
But Lefiya's magic demanded precise incantations. Could speeding up speech really accelerate chanting?
If it were that simple, she'd have mastered high-speed chanting long ago.
"It's… one of a mage's core skills," Ais interjected softly. "High-speed chanting and parallel chanting are the two key techniques."
"The former speeds up spellcasting, while the latter allows movement during chants, making mages less vulnerable."
Few mages mastered both.
Lefiya, like many, relied on standing still and chanting at a standard pace.
"So, I'm a genius," Roy declared with a confident nod.
Ais nodded seriously in agreement, while Lefiya slumped, questioning her identity as a mage. "Who's the real mage here?" she muttered.
"How did you do it?" Lefiya asked, forcing a smile despite her frustration.
"The incantation is like—a key," Roy explained. "It unlocks the power stored in your body. If you're guiding external power, you need the key. But if the power comes from within, why not release it directly?"
"Wouldn't that cause an explosion?" Lefiya asked cautiously.
"If you're unskilled, yes. But with precise mana control, it's possible," Roy said, raising his hand. A magic circle appeared, and a small arrow of light formed.
"No chant?!" Lefiya gasped.
Though smaller than her chanted version, the chantless quick-cast could be a game-changer in battle.
"That's my limit for now," Roy said, firing the arrow. Without a chant, Fusillade Fallarica was beyond his current ability.
"It'd be tough for you to reach my level," Roy added.
His experience with magic from demonic powers gave him an edge in mana manipulation.
"Magic is convenient but limits growth. You'd need extensive practice to chant faster," Roy continued.
"I've been practicing forever…" Lefiya sighed, discouraged. She'd trained her chants diligently but hadn't broken through to high-speed chanting.
"Take it step by step. Master parallel chanting first," Roy advised.
"Roy," Ais said softly, drawing his attention.
"Yes?" Roy turned to her.
"Tempest, awaken!" Ais chanted, her body enveloped in green wind. "This is my magic."
Her sole magic, Tempest, was an auxiliary spell with a short chant and two stages: "Awaken" for enhancement and "Raid" for a stronger effect.
Roy memorized it instantly and cast it. Green wind swirled around him, mirroring Ais's aura like a matching set.
Lefiya's mood soured, her earlier frustration replaced by envy. She wished she shared a magic with Ais.
Roy conjured a flame in his hand, amplified by Tempest's wind, forming a spiraling fire barrier. He condensed it into a projectile and launched it like a missile.
Boom!
The explosion shattered the distant ground, its power surpassing Fusillade Fallarica.
"Amazing…" Ais said, her eyes tinged with envy.
Her Tempest enhanced her swordplay with Ariel, a deadly single-target technique, but it paled against Roy's spiral flame.
"Thanks, Ais," Roy said, dispelling the magic. "Your spell is incredibly versatile."
As a rare magic tied to spirits, it was far from ordinary—low cost, high utility.
He wondered if it could stack with his other abilities, like Bond of Life.
For now, Tempest was more valuable to him than Lefiya's offensive spells.
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