2 days had passed since I used magic for the first time.
Probably because I really overdid it, I fell ill for the first time in a long while, and spent these two days resting on my bed and doing not much else.
Snow, as expected, had been a great success in the dungeon so alongside Ralf, they continued going there for these two days as well.
Thanks to that, I had to spend all my time alone inside the room as I waited for my body to recover.
Though this was not my intention, this break did help me properly rest and by the afternoon of the second day, I had recovered enough to at least walk around.
Analyzing and compiling all the info from the Roza forest as well as making a map, rechecking my feel for using [Fire ball], and re-reading the grimoire I once bought for Esta, I did all these things instead.
With all that done, although I still felt like I had wasted 2 precious days of my two free weeks, at least now I could say that it wasnât completely fruitless.
And today, I plan on going back to the old manâs place, [Magic Cave], once again and begin my magic training proper.
Since I had harmed myself in trying to win that bet, I canât just let go of the fact that any future teaching would be free from now, can I?
While I had become capable of using [FireBall], I was still pretty wasteful with it so I want to learn more magic other than that as well.
I am still curious about the thing the old man said the last time we talked as well so, of the remaining 11 days of free time, Iâll spend 9 of those on magic training from now.
With that decided, I quickly made my way to the [Magic Cave].
.
.
After finishing my prep, I left [Gorush] and quickly reached [Magic Cave].
The moment I saw this needlessly big store again, I got flashbacks of my mana burnout and my body seemed to instinctively reject the idea of going back in butâŚâŚâŚI forcefully suppressed said instincts and opened the door to the store.
By the way, thanks to her Unique Skill [Mana Regen], Esta had never entered mana burnout even once apparently.
It was an incredible skill that allowed her to use magic multiple times beyond the average amount without ever entering mana burnout.
Furthermore, Esta possessed exceptional talent when it came to magic from the start so her speed of learning new magic was not normal, and now that I was learning magic myself I only further realized what a monster Esta was when it came to magic.
While feeling slightly envious of Esta, I passed through the main hall of the store and went inside straight to the old manâs work room.
Entering after a knock at the door, I saw the old man working at his table just like that day.
Sneaking up behind him to check on him, I saw him completely focused on polishing the red jewel of the Dead Lich that he probably bought from Esta.
He was so into it that I honestly drew back a bit but, since he still hadnât even noticed my presence, I called out to the old golem man.
âHey, donât ignore me.â
âWha? Oh, well if itsnât Chris. Finally recovered eh?â
He finally noticed me, but his hands showed no signs of stopping as he continued polishing the stone.
It was pretty difficult to talk like this butâŚâŚâŚ.well, whatever.
âYeah, thatâs why, Iâve come back to learn more magic. Since it wonât cost me more money after all.â
âIf youâre really here to learn, Iâll gladly teach you all sorts of thingsâââis what Iâd like to say but, I donât think youâll be able to use much other than the [Fire Ball].â
ââŚâŚâŚâŚâŚ.What? Whatâs that supposed to mean?â
âExactly how it sounds. Your speciality element is fire. To put it simply, your mana is very easy to convert into fire.â
âBut, that doesnât really mean that I canât learn any other magic at all right?â
âtheoretically speaking, yes. In fact, my own speciality is the water element but, I can use all 4 basic elements up to the advanced level now.â
âThen, I can alsoâââ
âDid you forget already? Your speciality was fire magic, yet you were having so much difficulty learning magic, remember? With your current level of mana, using other elements is nigh impossible. If you donât want to experience mana burnout again, you should give up on that idea.â
Since he actually bothered to properly explain things this time, even I had no choice but to accept it as fact.
Even using a beginner level magic like [Fire ball] consumed a lot of mana from me.
If I were to use magic of a different element, I honestly donât know how much mana I will end up consuming.
That said, Iâm not the type to give up without at least trying it once butâŚâŚâŚ.the moment the old man said the words âmana burnoutâ, my willpower to try that died out pretty quickly.
ââŚâŚâŚâŚThen would intermediate level fire magic also be impossible for me?â
âfohoho, youâve barely mastered beginner magic yet you think you could use intermediate magic? You amateurs really do come up with some funny comments I swear.â
This old man seemed to be really enjoying making fun of me again.
Other elemental beginner magic was impossible, and so was even fire type intermediate magic for now at least.
âŚâŚâŚâŚ..is there really no other magic I could learn?
In that case, me coming here was really a big waste, and the promise for teaching me for free was also basically worthless.
So I guess all I can do is keep on practicing and mastering [Fire Ball] for the time being it seems.
âAlright then old man, thereâs nothing you can teach me now, is that what youâre saying?â
âNo, of course not. You can still learn [Fire Arrow] another beginner fire magic, then I could also teach you many other applications of [Fire Ball] as well. AlsoâŚâŚ..â
Saying that, the old man suddenly paused his words.
While he continued hesitating over something, he stopped polishing the red jewel and finally turned around to look straight at me.
âThere is one more magic I could potentially teach you. Well, I donât know if you could technically even call it magic or not but, it is worth trying out I believe.â
âA magic I could use outside of beginner fire magic? Not technically magic?âŚâŚâŚ..is it a magic thatâs still incomplete or something?â
âNo, itâs definitely not incomplete, however it is extremely difficult to use instead. It is called [Anti Magic]. Even I have only been able to prove that it is useable in theory only and havenât actually succeeded in activating it.â
He suddenly started saying something ridiculous.
A magic that even he couldnât use even though he had mastered advanced level magic, yet he wanted to teach it to me, someone who learnt how to use magic just a couple days ago?
Part of me was suspicious that he was simply trying to rope into some weird experience but then, I recalled that last time as well he seemed to be muttering about wanting to try something.
And his expression right now was surprisingly serious so I sort of understood why he came up with this suggestion.
âOld man, are you saying that it is something you canât use but for some reason, I can?â
âFor argumentâs sake, yes. A person that hasnât been in touch with magic too much yet possess an extreme level of concentration and perception is the main requirement. You basically have zero talent for magic but, you most certainly fulfil these two conditions. If you are willing to try, I will teach it to you.â
I donât even know what kind of magic this even was and it was uncertain whether Iâll actually learn it or not as well so I hesitated on whether it worth spending time on but, if itâs the only kind of magic I could learn outside of fire magic, it was at least worth trying it out I think.
Heâs an odd old man but I had learnt exactly how incomparably skilled he was with magic first hand when he took control of my body.
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âI have a lot of other things to do as well so I canât say Iâll devote my everything into learning or mastering this magic butâŚâŚâŚ..I do want to try it out. Teach me this [Anti Magic].â
âWell, Iâm glad youâre interested. Then we start right away. Head to the practice hall so we can start your training for [Anti Magic].â
âHm? Shouldnât the [Fire ball] and [Fire arrow] practice come first?â
âWere you even listening to me? Itâs better to not be too used to using magic. Itâd be bad if you got too used to it so just be quiet and follow me.â
I was instantly scolded so I had no choice but to follow the old man back into the practice hall.