Around midnight, when the first distant howls began to answer the scent of roasted meat and heavy footsteps shook the earth beyond the riverbank, they departed without hesitation. Raymond extinguished the fire with a sharp gesture, steam exploding upward as the flames died in an instant.
"Time to go," he whispered.
He stepped toward the rushing water and extended his hand. Mana rippled outward in smooth concentric waves, spreading across the river's surface like an invisible membrane.
"Come on."
Samuel followed without comment.
Their feet touched the dark, restless water—and did not sink.
The current still roared beneath them, white foam racing past their ankles, but the surface held firm, bending slightly under their weight like stretched leather.
"Amazing, right?" Raymond called proudly, chest swelling. "Water is my main element!"
Samuel nodded once, glancing down at his own reflection distorted by the churning depths below. For a brief moment, he thought of the small insects that ran across ponds in summer—weightless, untouchable.
They crossed quickly, reaching the opposite shore just as shapes began to gather in the darkness behind them, large silhouettes moving along the bank they had just abandoned.
The next few days passed without major emergencies.
The landscape shifted into a wide wetland of interconnected lakes and slow-moving streams, tall water grass brushing against their knees as they walked. The ground was softer here, layered with moss and saturated soil that released a cool scent with every step. Sunlight reflected off countless droplets clinging to the blades, each one glinting like scattered glass.
Raymond thrived in this environment.
Where the forest had restrained him, the open waters empowered him. He summoned currents with casual gestures, shaped spiraling orbs of liquid in his palm, even lifted entire sheets of water to clear paths through dense marsh.
"Raymond," Samuel began one afternoon.
"Please call me Ray!"
Samuel sighed softly. "Which rank is your highest skill?"
Raymond grinned immediately. "Isn't that obvious? My water magic skill." He puffed himself up slightly. "It's B-Rank!"
"Hm."
Samuel hummed thoughtfully, his gaze drifting toward the horizon.
Raymond's smile faltered.
"Why don't you care? That's pretty high! And my proficiency is also really strong. Some at the academy say I have the firepower—" he paused and corrected himself with a smirk, "—better said waterpower of an A-Rank."
He waited expectantly.
Samuel simply looked at him.
"…Never mind," Raymond muttered.
They continued walking. Water grass swayed gently around them, dragonfly-like insects skimming across nearby pools. Somewhere in the distance, a large aquatic creature surfaced briefly before sinking back into shadow.
"I don't see this 'proficiency' in the status," Samuel said after a while.
Raymond shook his head. "Of course you don't. The status is too objective. It doesn't measure understanding or compatibility."
He leapt lightly over a narrow creek connecting two lakes and continued talking mid-air.
"For example! Imagine two sword fighters with a C-Rank sword art skill. One earned it on the battlefield—trial and error, blood, survival. The other is some rich noble kid who paid for information about the requirements and followed a guidebook to level up efficiently."
"Is the second one you?"
"Ha.ha. funny." Ray shook his head and flicked a small insect away with a snap of water., "Both reach C-Rank. Who's stronger?"
Samuel stared ahead as he answered calmly, "The one forged in battle."
"Exactly!" Raymond beamed. "The status doesn't show depth. It shows structure. That's why academies matter."
Samuel did not respond, but he listened.
Raymond noticed anyway and grinned wider.
"You're probably wondering how I know all this, right?"
Samuel shook his head slightly.
Raymond ignored that completely.
"It's thanks to the great Magic Academy of Lyrania! Generations of elves and professors from every species have experimented on skills and leveling systems. They developed refined techniques to evaluate growth beyond what the status displays!"
His voice grew more animated with every sentence.
"They categorize mana density control, elemental resonance, casting latency, structural efficiency of spell formation—oh! And adaptive refinement during combat! There are entire departments dedicated to optimizing spell matrices!"
He walked backward now, gesturing dramatically.
"Did you know they even mapped the correlation between emotional state and mana output? Turns out anger increases volatility but reduces structural stability in 73% of elemental casters!"
Samuel finally spoke.
"You talk too much."
Raymond grinned unapologetically.
"And you don't talk enough. That's why we balance each other."
Samuel did not deny it.
Ahead of them, the wetlands thickened. The water grew darker and deeper, and the tall grasses gave way to wide, mirror-like surfaces that reflected the pale sky above with unsettling clarity.
"One more question…!" Samuel said suddenly.
"Of course! You can ask anything!" Raymond replied immediately, clearly pleased.
"What about skill fusion?"
Raymond laughed, briefly losing his walking rhythm before adjusting his pace again. "Now that is an interesting topic! And unfortunately for you, it's something you officially learn in the fifth and final year at the academy."
"But you have a B-Rank," Samuel continued calmly. "You must have fused at least once. So what's your opinion—and the general opinion? Is it better to fuse with a skill of the same rank, or with one of a lower rank?"
Raymond burst out laughing.
"That's like asking a boys' dormitory whether all of them prefer boobs or ass!"
Samuel stared at him.
Raymond cleared his throat. "What I mean is—there's no single answer."
He lifted a hand, shaping a thin ribbon of water that spiraled around his wrist as he explained.
"If you fuse one skills with a lower rank skill, you usually get something stable. Clean. Predictable growth. Especially if the two skills are compatible—like Water Manipulation and Current Acceleration. In 90% percent, you only get a stronger version of the high rank skill."
The ribbon tightened and began rotating faster.
"But if you fuse with a skill of the same rank…" His eyes gleamed slightly. "That's where things get interesting."
Samuel's gaze sharpened.
"A high-rank skill often has more restrictions. More structural complexity. When fused correctly, it can't be reshaped by the main skill. It's riskier—but sometimes the result surpasses what the other option could ever achieve."
He let the water disperse.
"However," Raymond added more seriously, "it depends on your foundation. If your control and understanding are shallow, a risky fusion can destabilize your entire growth path. There are cases where people crippled their progression permanently…" he gulped and thought, " But that is everything I know, it's just knowledge passed by whispering. So I don't know if all of it is true."
Samuel walked in silence for several steps.
"And what did you choose?" he asked.
Raymond scratched the back of his head.
"I fused Water Magic with Fluid Perception."
Samuel glanced at him.
"Lower rank?"
"No. Fluid Perception was also C-Rank."
"And the result?"
Raymond smiled faintly, this time without arrogance.
"[Principle of Flow]. My water doesn't just obey me. I feel it. Pressure changes. Movement beneath the surface. Even mana currents inside liquid structures."
He looked toward the darker stretch of water ahead.
"Like right now."
Samuel stopped.
The mirror-like surface of the nearest lake trembled—not from wind.
From depth.
Raymond's playful expression faded.
"There's something big down there," he murmured. "Very big."
The water bulged upward slightly, then settled.
Samuel's eyes narrowed.
"Fusion," he said quietly, "is a gamble."
Raymond nodded. "Yes." A shadow moved beneath the surface—longer than a house.
The lake erupted.