Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.42 Proposal from Another Party

The goblins were so small that they barely reached Dave’s waist.

However, Dave seemed tense, perhaps not expecting to face so many.

Dave stood at the front, taking the vanguard position.

Karin was right behind him, and Linne stood next to Leon, nocking an arrow.

How would the three of them handle seven goblins?

Leon was curious about their skills.

“Hup!”

Dave let out a loud shout and charged at the goblins.

It seemed he intended to draw their attention.

“Kerrk.”

“Kekerk.”

Some of the goblins scattered and formed a formation just from that sound.

‘Do they have some intelligence?’

Dave’s greatsword swept through the spot where a goblin had been.

The greatsword shattered a wooden club reinforced with iron spikes and mercilessly cut down one goblin.

‘He’s strong, but what about the next attack…’

Just as Leon pondered this,

Dave pulled back, holding his greatsword, and blocked an incoming club from another charging goblin.

It was a swift movement.

He seemed to have enough strength to handle the greatsword.

Not all of the remaining six goblins were focused on Dave.

Karin dealt with one or two goblins, waiting for an opportunity to stab with her dagger.

Linne prioritized taking down the goblins that were in positions difficult for Dave or Karin to handle.

It took quite a while to take down the seven goblins because they were being defeated one by one.

“Linne!”

Dave, who was drawing the attention of four goblins, shouted.

One goblin pretended to charge at Dave but then rushed toward Linne.

Linne hesitated while shooting at another goblin.

Leon raised his palm.

“Fluvia.”

Leon created a water bubble large enough to envelop the goblin, submerging it in water.

Gurgle—

The struggling goblin couldn’t escape the water bubble and drowned.

Leon didn’t use any other magic.

Dave’s party seemed to understand that Leon was assessing their skills without exerting much effort, so they diligently fought the monsters.

The last remaining goblin fell, impaled by Karin’s dagger.

Dave wiped the sweat off his face with his sleeve.

“Whew… I didn’t expect seven of them to appear all of a sudden.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?”

Karin grinned as she cut open the goblin’s corpse with her dagger.

She pulled out a very small black stone fragment from inside.

“Is that a magic stone?”

“Yes, it’s said to contain mana… but it’s mixed with a lot of impurities, so it can’t be used as is. It has to be refined. It’s also used to make artifacts.”

Leon raised his eyebrows and nodded.

‘So the main consumers are magicians.’

Unlike mana stones, which contained pure mana and could be used directly, magic stones needed to be refined.

They were a lower-grade version of mana stones, so to speak.

“Since you mentioned you’re Third-Class, you can manifest magic instantly three times, right?”

While Karin was dissecting the corpses, Dave cautiously approached Leon and asked.

He seemed to know about Memorize.

‘Come to think of it, after using it three times, the rest require long incantations.’

Since reaching the Arcane level, Leon no longer needed long incantations, but since they knew about Memorize, he had no choice.

After that, Dave’s party headed a bit deeper.

The monsters they mainly encountered were goblins.

Occasionally, they saw groups of kobolds.

Seven goblins were not a common sight; usually, they encountered groups of four to five.

After the first battle, Leon no longer felt the need to gauge their skills.

He disrupted formations with waves of water or swept away goblins with blades of wind.

Each time, Dave’s party’s faces lit up with joy.

They conserved their stamina, and the hunting speed increased, quickly gathering the monster carcasses needed for the mission.

The problem came afterward.

It wasn’t a major issue, just a minor inconvenience for Leon.

After manifesting magic instantly about three times, he had to continue with long incantations.

“Source of life, flow according to my will…”

“Power of the free wind, surround me…”

Even though an Arcane magician could make magic more precise with longer incantations, the difference wasn’t significant.

Leon, who could summon nine lightning bolts with a single word, found it frustrating.

Using just the activation phrase, magic could exert its full power, making long incantations unnecessary.

For example…

“Powerful magic, strong enough to sweep away the enemy, descend.”

Even with just the proper activation phrase afterward, the magic would manifest.

“The magician is preparing a great spell! Everyone, stay alert!”

“…”

Of course, there were no more instances of such long incantations after that.

*****

After killing dozens of goblins, Leon realized that they didn’t seem to have any particular resistance to mana.

They also lacked proper defensive measures.

‘Will it be different if stronger monsters appear?’

According to Kito, the place where she hid the core was so dangerous that even high-level magicians couldn’t enter easily, so it wouldn’t be possible to catch all monsters this easily.

‘Even if I fly straight, it would take a week…’

Out of the one-month time limit, after accounting for the time spent traveling to Crest and the time needed to reach the location, he had two weeks left.

Although Kito knew the exact location, he had to consider the possibility of encountering unexpected monsters that could delay him.

‘I’m running out of nourishing fruits…’

Leon, reminded of this, asked Dave.

“I’ve never heard of such fruits, magician.”

Dave paused, holding a greasy roast pig leg, and answered politely.

They were currently having dinner together after finishing their hunt and returning in the early evening.

After witnessing five kobolds being skewered by fire arrows, Dave had become noticeably more respectful toward Leon.

Leon didn’t mind much, knowing he couldn’t change Dave’s attitude.

‘Maybe they’ll have it in a larger magic city?’

Nourishing fruits were something he couldn’t find even in Widia, so he didn’t have high hopes.

If he planned to stay in the Beast Forest for up to three weeks, he would need to bring a large amount of food.

Although storing it in the orb was impossible due to the time difference, he could secure some with preservation ceramics.

“How was it?”

As Leon snapped out of his thoughts and took a sip of the simple stew, Dave asked.

“There was a reason you said you were confident in Zone 1.”

“Is that so? Haha…”

When Leon gave a moderate compliment, a look of pride appeared on Dave’s face.

“Ahem, we were surprised too.”

“Really!”

Karin, excited, continued Dave’s awkward attempt to return the compliment.

This time, Dave didn’t stop her.

“Actually, this isn’t the first time we’ve formed a party with a magician.”

Karin looked at Linne and asked.

“Wasn’t the first magician we met an Apprentice Second-Class?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s so different!”

“I didn’t realize the difference between First and Second-Class would be this big.”

As Karin started chattering on her own, Dave glanced at Leon and then brought the leg of the roast pig to his mouth.

He must have been hungry, as he filled his mouth with meat and chewed.

Feeling sorry for Dave, who even ate his meal cautiously, Leon deliberately took another spoonful of stew.

Having only eaten nourishing fruits, Leon thought that suddenly eating meat might upset his stomach, so he stuck to the stew.

He could taste the deep flavor of spices in the rich broth.

Even that was quite stimulating for Leon.

“As expected, the magician… even eats elegantly.”

“Karin.”

“Am I not supposed to say that either?”

She had previously been stopped by Dave when she suggested going for drinks after the hunt.

It was clear that suggesting drinks to someone who didn’t look like an adult, like Leon, wasn’t normal.

‘It’s not a big deal, but…’

Leon was actually curious too.

The taste of alcohol in this world.

But now was not the time to indulge in such luxuries.

“Are we heading to Zone 2 tomorrow?”

“Would that be alright, magician?”

“Zone 2 has gnolls and lizardmen, right?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“If seven lizardmen appeared at once like the goblins did…”

As Leon trailed off, Dave laughed awkwardly.

“That’s why we haven’t gone there. We can handle two or three, but there’s always the ‘what if’ scenario.”

Considering the variables that arose even with seven goblins, it seemed clear that it would be difficult for them alone.

However, Leon wasn’t against going to Zone 2.

It was entirely feasible.

Seeing the goblins fall easily to offensive magic, he was confident.

It seemed that their issue was more about the number of people rather than their skills.

If they had two more people of similar skill, Zone 2 would be manageable.

“Haha, well… we’re very close, and there’s the issue of distribution…”

Was it a matter of money?

Leon didn’t quite understand that.

Wouldn’t it be better to add two more people and hunt the monsters in Zone 2?

It seemed like the reason was more about their close-knit group rather than money.

It felt more like the party itself was reluctant to bring in new members rather than people being unwilling to join.

‘Well, everyone has their reasons.’

Leon decided not to delve too deeply.

After all, he was someone who would leave eventually.

“The reward from this mission…”

“I’ll take an equal share.”

They entrusted the guild with handling all the monster carcasses they hunted today.

They said they would take care of everything for a fee.

Although it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t receive anything, such unconditional favors wouldn’t be beneficial in the long run.

Pretending not to notice Dave’s attempt to hide his pleased expression, Leon asked.

“What kind of monsters appear in Zone 3 and beyond?”

“Well, really seasoned adventurers… for instance, gold-ranked adventurers, go beyond Zone 3. From what I’ve heard from them, there are orcs, ogres, and even trolls.”

‘All familiar names.’

Leon nodded and asked again.

“What is the skill level of a gold-ranked adventurer?”

“I once heard a rumor about an Apprentice Third-Class magician and a gold-ranked adventurer getting into a fight… but the adventurer got thoroughly beaten.”

“Is it that significant?”

“No matter how skilled a gold-ranked adventurer is, they can’t fly.”

“…”

“That doesn’t mean there haven’t been cases where magicians were harmed.”

Dave cautiously spoke, watching Leon’s reaction.

“Magicians need that Memo…rize? So, there have been instances where they were ambushed and killed after their magic was exhausted. However…”

Dave gave a bitter smile.

“Unfortunately, the magician belonged to the Magic Tower… the person who killed the magician soon disappeared. It wasn’t confirmed that the Magic Tower was behind it, but since then, no one messes with magicians.”

Considering the sinister nature of magicians, it was likely the Magic Tower’s doing.

Even in a free city, they wouldn’t be able to act recklessly, so they must have orchestrated it from behind the scenes.

Leon could easily guess the full story.

Just as Leon’s curiosity was about to be fully satisfied, Karin smiled and said.

“You can take a break and explore the city tomorrow. I’ll be your guide!”

Leon shook his head immediately.

“Let’s go straight away tomorrow.”

“Aww.”

She pouted her lips in disappointment.

“Ka…”

“Sorry to disturb your meal, magician.”

Dave’s attempt to caution her was interrupted.

Someone suddenly joined their table.

It was a man with blonde hair and sun-tanned skin, featuring distinct facial features.

His green eyes shone with sharpness, and a slightly crooked smile played on his lips.

Tall and wearing light leather armor, he bore scratches that spoke of his experience.

He nodded to Leon and then looked at Dave.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop… but you’re heading to Zone 2 tomorrow?”

“Sengor…”

Dave’s face showed wariness as he looked at him.

It seemed they knew each other.

“You’re lucky. You always refused to join our party, but now you get to go to a place you’d never see in your life because of this magician?”

“That’s just your opinion.”

“How do you plan to go to Zone 2 with just three people, while rejecting others?”

Their exchange was sharp.

It was clear from their few words that their relationship wasn’t good.

After a moment of glaring at each other as if in a staring contest, Sengor suddenly turned to Leon.

“Magician, how about joining our party?”

The trouble had shifted to Leon.

Despite his rough appearance, Sengor politely made his proposal to Leon.

“Our party consists of five members, and we can ensure your safety while you cast your spells. We can also offer much better treatment than this group.”