Lefiya's incantation was clearly very familiar to Riveria.
And after Alice's modifications, Riveria also understood the meaning behind each segment of the revised chant.
Compared to Lefiya, who was still relatively new to magic, Riveria's mastery was undoubtedly far more profound.
If Lefiya was like a grade-schooler mechanically memorizing textbooks, then Riveria was the university professor who wrote those textbooks.
That might be a bit of an exaggeration, but it wasn't far off.
With over seventy years of experience in magical research, Riveria was vastly more advanced than the sixteen-year-old Lefiya.
Moreover, in terms of magical control, Lefiya simply couldn't compare.
Lefiya's spell required revisions from Alice, but after grasping Alice's ideas and witnessing Lefiya's successful modification, Riveria was able to shorten her own incantation to some extent.
The key to shortening a spell lay in association and deepening one's mental imagery—keywords were crucial. As long as the keywords remained, other words could be reduced.
Lefiya's spell modification was a great success.
As she finished chanting, Riveria could feel intense magical energy radiating from her.
Around Lefiya's body, arc rays shot forth—originally just light-based attacks, now infused with fire attributes.
The homing effect remained, targeting the simple dummies on the training field.
But what was once a single-target piercing attack had now become an area-of-effect blast with tremendous power.
Riveria immediately had to modify her own spell based on Alice's theory—she needed to cast quickly to block Lefiya's attack.
Otherwise, the entire backyard of the Loki Familia would be blown to bits.
Keywords were essential.
So.
"[Atmosphere! Light! Earth! Forest! Guardian Spirit! Pact! Sanctuary!]"
"[Wall of Forest Light!]"
"[My name is Alf!]"
Originally a three-stanza defensive spell, Riveria's shortened version—keeping only the keywords—was chanted nearly three times faster than before.
Most importantly, even after drastically cutting the incantation, the spell still worked.
Luna Aldis.
The defensive magic Riveria wielded was astonishingly powerful. Even Lefiya's enhanced Arcs Ray, boosted by Alice's revised chant, couldn't break through the barrier Riveria summoned.
The four red beams around Lefiya shot toward the training dummies but, before hitting, were enveloped by the suddenly appearing barrier.
Then—
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rocked the Loki Familia's backyard. The ground shook violently, startling every member present.
Though, to be fair, with the expedition approaching, many were out training hard, eager to prove themselves.
The only ones still at home were Finn and Bete, both Level 6, and Ais, Level 5.
Hearing the noise, they immediately rushed toward the training grounds.
Over at the field, Riveria frowned.
Lefiya's spell had become far more powerful than she expected—but her own magic had weakened.
Compared to the full incantation, the shortened version significantly reduced the spell's strength.
Riveria knew exactly why.
The reason lay in her skill: Fairy Anthem
- Enhances magic effects
- Extends range
- Effectiveness increases with chant length
That was her skill.
In other words, while Lefiya could reduce her chant and still unleash the spell's full power, Riveria couldn't—not without sacrificing the enhanced effects from her skill.
Thanks to Fairy Anthem, Riveria's magic was amplified, and longer chants made it even stronger.
Of course, this didn't mean Alice's theory was useless for Riveria.
While it benefited Lefiya more directly, it didn't weaken Riveria—far from it.
Even if shortening chants reduced her magic's potency, Riveria was highly skilled at concurrent chanting.
More importantly, Alice's theory opened up a whole new world of magic for her.
Honestly, Riveria really wanted to return to her room right now and study her own spells—not to shorten them, but to make the already powerful incantations even stronger.
Her focus would be on how to add suitable words to existing chants to enhance their imagery.
But given the sheer power of Riveria's magic, testing posed its own challenges.
That wasn't something to worry about now, though—the upcoming expedition would provide plenty of opportunities for experimentation.
For the moment, Lefiya took priority.
With her skill set and magic, combined with Alice's theory, shortening chants wouldn't reduce her power.
Riveria had already mapped out Lefiya's future training plan.
With Elf Ring, Lefiya needed to memorize many spells. Right now, what she needed was to deepen her magical imagery.
That required a deeper understanding and familiarity with magic—meaning more memorization and more practice.
Riveria looked at Lefiya with intense enthusiasm.
Just having finished her spell and recovering her mana, Lefiya suddenly shivered.
Meanwhile, Alice kept her head down, diligently taking notes in her journal.
Lefiya's successful casting proved that Alice's theory was correct—and if the theory was sound, then many of Alice's ideas could be realized through Lefiya.
"Lefiya, let's go test it in the Dungeon next," Alice said, her eyes shining with excitement.
--+--
T/N: While I am an inexperienced Translator, I have a Patreon! While it may seem empty as of now, webnovel will get 2 Chapters Every Day, and advanced chapters will be uploaded on Patreon.
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