"'No matter how great, no matter how mighty, no matter how divine a spell is, it is useless if it can't be casted on time.'"
I told the two elemental mages.
I continued.
"A healing spell is useless if the wounded had died before the spell is casted. The strongest killing spell is useless if your opponent kills you before you can cast it. Magic is useless if it cannot fulfill the need which requires it."
After speaking those words, I turned to the enchanter girl.
"I can make golems!"
Vallerynne quickly spoke to me as I laid my eyes on her.
I nodded.
"Sure. But take away the golems, what can you do?"
"I know enhancement spells. My best form of magic. Strength, stamina, speed and agility enhancements. I used to apply such spells to the mercenaries I worked with."
She said.
"Do you know how to cast composite enchantments? Casting those multiple enhancement spells at once?"
I asked.
The girl now avoided my eyes.
"Composite enchantments might be too…difficult…"
I nodded to her. She could work on it as she trained.
"I understand. How long does your enhancement spell last?"
"N-not very long."
"Don't worry. Enchantments like that are difficult and requires plenty of mana. But how long anyway? 20 minutes? 15 minutes?"
"Shorter!"
She immediately shouted as I mentioned the numbers.
"14 minutes?"
"Shorter."
"12 minutes?"
"Shorter still."
"10 minutes?"
"Still shorter."
I sighed and spoke to her in the most patient tone I could muster.
"Alright, be honest with me. How long does your enchantment last?"
Vallerynne fidgeted before she mumbled quietly under her breath.
"Five…"
I could barely hear it. She did not seem confident with her answer.
"Five minutes? Your spell last that long? It's less than satisfactory but the spell can still be useful even in that short amount of time."
The girl shook her head upon my words.
"No! It's…seconds."
She finished her sentence in a whisper.
"What was that?"
Vallerynne made a squeal before she repeated her answer clearly.
"Five seconds! My enchantment last for five seconds!"
My head immediately throbbed upon her reveal.
A deep frown quickly manifested on my face.
Anger started to boil inside my mind as I laid my eyes on the three wildlings in front of me.
Two elemental mage wildlings who could not cast their spells before their enemy slices their throats.
And an enchanter wildling whose enchantment ended before her comrades could raise their weapons.
If they try to improve with their instinctive method, even with the aid of the forged land's power, we would have long climbed the 40th floor before they would produce some discernable progress.
If master gave them that long that was.
I had promised I would do anything to reach the top of the tower.
I would get rid any obstacles. Any!
"I'm forbidding all of you from entering the trials."
I declared to them.
"What?! Why?!"
Yuxia shouted as he rose from the ground.
Since he was a 4-star, the man chose to come here and remembered making that decision.
"A newly-summoned 1-star will be much more reliable than the three of you altogether. As you are right now, you will only pose a hazard both to yourself and your own comrades in battle."
I said plainly.
A party would stand a better chance having Pauline rather than these three mages. At least Pauline knew how to hold a knife.
I went on as I found them listening.
"Every day from this point on, you will be receiving lessons from me and train as I instruct. You will be allowed to enter the trials and be free to study and train on your own once I think you are capable enough."
Yuxia suddenly stomped his foot.
"Absolutely not! You are wrong! We are already capable enough! We can definitely overcome the trials! We don't need your lessons and training!"
The two other mages nodded strongly with him.
It was only then that it hit me.
These heroes had not visited a trial yet.
They did not know what awaited them in the tower.
No matter what I said to these mages would never convince them how powerless they were. That if they remained this way, they would not survive.
These mages needed to see things for themselves.
"Yuxia, Matrias, Vallerynne, go to the first floor of the lobby now."
I ordered directly.
All three of them gasped upon the mention of their destination.
"The first floor?! I heard only useless people stays there!"
"Yeah! Apparently all they eat are potatoes down in that slum!"
"There are no beds too, I heard!"
Yuxia stomped his foot again, sounding his objection.
"Master allowed us to stay on the third floor! You can't cast us off just because we're not as 'skilled' as you expected us to be!"
Oh I could.
I was quite certain master would agree with me if I asked to change their living arrangement.
But that was not the case here.
"Take Arian and Devisha with the lot of you and make your way to the first floor square. The fairy will meet you there and grant each of you Replay Stones."
The three mages exchanged surprised looks with each other.
"Replay Stones… I have heard about it from that Zecht fellow. They are used for weird illusion magic."
Matrias said.
"Apparently you can watch past events through it. The battles that had been won by the other heroes here!"
Vallerynne added.
"These so called Quintal Trials. Are you asking us to watch them?"
Yuxia asked to me.
I nodded.
"You will be viewing the tower's fifth and tenth floor records. Considering master intends to put you all in the raid team, you should learn what kind of battle awaits ahead."
The objecting frowns quickly disappeared from the three mages.
They must had been really curious about the trials to suddenly ignore their intense protest earlier.
"Then I suppose we should hurry and make our way to the first floor. I heard these record viewings takes a while."
Yuxia said as he headed to the stairway leading back to the magic hall's library.
Matrias and Vallerynne followed closely behind him.
Once the three of them vanished above the stairs, I called a name.
"Warden."
[Yes?]
The fairy appeared with a nervous expression. She must had been worried about my behavior earlier.
"Master has not assigned those mages to any party, right?"
I asked.
[Yes. None of the mages has a party assignment yet.]
"Inform me whenever master does include any of them to a party. I'm going to recommend for the mage to be excluded."
The fairy's eyes widened in surprise.
[Recommending a member to be included is one thing. But disagreeing master's choice is another.]
"I'm not going to let those mages or their party get themselves killed. The mages will enter the trials once I think they are ready. So just tell me when master finally gives them an assignment."
[Okay then.]
The fairy nodded meekly. That was an attitude I would never expected from her.
"Also, the five newcomers will be seeing all of the Quintal Trial records. The fifth and the tenth floor. Please distribute the Replay Stones to them. We should have enough after adding those Party 1 brought from the Exploration Dungeon."
[I'll get right to it!]
The fairy said before vanishing.
Now with that matter settled, it was time to address yet another matter.
"I've written on these papers detailed instructions for making basic health potion."
I told Jansen at a little station I had set up for him in a corner of the alchemy lab.
I continued.
"All the tools you need are already here in your station. You need nothing else. I've also put in the crate next to the table the necessary amount of ingredients and materials you needed to brew fifty vials of basic health potion. The necessary amount. Nothing less and nothing more. Exact."
I tapped my finger to the instruction papers.
"Just follow everything I've written and you won't find the tools or ingredients lacking. Obey every word, every letter. If you can't do that much, then you have no place in this alchemy lab."
Jansen carefully held the papers like they were a newborn baby. His eyes bulgingly read the words as if they were the emperor's decree.
"If you mess up with master's order for today, I will kick you out of the magic hall and send you back to the first floor. Do you understand?"
"I-I understand, my lady!"
Jansen replied nervously with a deep bow.
I nodded to him.
"I will observe you closely for the next week. If you do as you should with the basic health potion, I'll teach you how to make the intermediate brew."
"I will do my best, my lady!"
The herbalist replied again with yet a deeper bow.
With this, we could start mitigate the damage that had been done to the alchemy lab.
I had to teach both Jansen and Vallerynne how to properly make potions. The two would be reliable if I guided them properly.
If they could take over my duties in the alchemy lab, I would have more time to take care more important matters. Such as researching the grimoire.
Leaving Jansen to his duty, I returned to the library.
The one research table Yuxia and Matrias did not occupy was mine.
It still held my things just the way I left them when I departed to the Exploration Dungeon.
I read up my notes to see where I left off with my work last.
The 186th simulation.
Time to continue my research on the grimoire's formula.
As usual, I lost time when I immersed myself with the seemingly-impossible puzzle.
I remembered vaguely when Jansen went to me and showed the fifty vials of basic health potion he had properly made using my method and excusing him to deliver the batch and return to his lodging.
But after that I was immediately trapped again within my research trance.
It was broken off once more when Yuxia, Matrias, and Vallerynne walked into the magic hall few hours before midnight.
The three strode up to me by my research table. All of them had troubled look on their faces.
There was a considerably long silence when they stood there quietly while I kept focusing on my simulations.
Eventually Yuxia opened his mouth and spoke with a desperate voice.
"Please teach us!"