The Basics

The battle had been raging for some time in the clearing in the woods.

Fern and Ehre faced each other, several dozen meters apart. Fern stood on the ground, her long purple hair neatly styled, her pale purple eyes calm as still water. Ehre, on the other hand, floated in mid-air, surrounded by a faint aura of magic.

Between the two, there remained tiny specks of light from the collision of magic and small craters in the ground caused by the magic.

Clearly, they had already exchanged blows several times with Ordinary Attack Magic and Defensive Magic, testing each other and confirming that the other was no pushover.

Ehre pointed her staff forward, and dozens of pebbles in the air were enveloped in magic, instantly hardening and accelerating, shooting towards Fern like cannonballs.

"Stone Projectile Transformation Magic!"

Fern moved lightly, her body nimbly sliding to the side. Pebbles grazed her clothes and embedded themselves deeply in the tree trunk behind her. Almost simultaneously with her dodge, she raised her staff, and several solid beams of Ordinary Attack Magic accurately shot towards Ehre in mid-air.

A honeycomb-shaped Defensive Magic instantly appeared in front of Ehre, steadily blocking the beam of light with a muffled popping sound.

She's created distance again... Ehre thought to herself. My Stone Projectile Transformation Magic has strong single-shot power, but its range and speed are indeed inferior to the most basic Ordinary Attack Magic. This guy's movements are clean and efficient, without a single unnecessary move or flaw, and his defensive counter-attack rhythm is excellent... But this fighting style is too old-fashioned, isn't it? It's like fighting against a mage from my grandfather's generation...

She frowned slightly and asked, her voice tinged with a hint of confusion and inquiry. "Ordinary Attack Magic and Defensive Magic... From the beginning until now, you've only used these most basic spells. Are you trying to avoid revealing your trump cards too early in the big battle? Fern, the top student in the junior division, Frieren's apprentice?"

Upon hearing this, Fern replied calmly, his tone completely flat. "No. It was my master's instruction that before passing the First-Class Mage exam, I cannot use magic other than basic magic in combat."

"... Really? That's Frieren's educational philosophy."

Fern nodded. "Yes. She also said that to deal with most mages who have grown up in this era, honing basic magic to its fullest extent is usually enough."

Ehre was momentarily at a loss for words.

Looking down at the expressionless yet incredibly serious face of the girl below, she couldn't help but say, "Really... you really are... leisurely? With your methodical and rule-bound fighting style, if you were facing that guy Wirbel, he'd probably find an opening and take you down in no time."

Fern tilted her head slightly, her pale purple eyes looking at Ehre, her tone still calm. "Is that so? In my opinion, although Mr. Wirbel is indeed very strong, Miss Ehre, you should be even stronger, right?"

Ehre was silent for a moment before saying, "... You judged it based on your magical perception, right? Your magical power is correct. But Wirbel is a top soldier; he's fought against the remnants of the Demon King's Army for years and is the commander of a special combat squad for the Nasser Empire. His magical power is indeed inferior to mine, but his combat instincts, on-the-spot adaptability, and fighting experience far surpass mine, a student who hasn't even graduated from the academy yet. That guy... sometimes I even feel I shouldn't simply define him as a 'mage.' The chances of that kid named Ubel, who's fighting him, defeating him are extremely slim."

Fern remained noncommittal, simply replying softly, "Is that so?"

She didn't continue the topic, but instead tightened her grip on her staff. The next moment, the magical fluctuations in the air around her suddenly became rapid and intense!

"Buzz--"

Seven small magic circles, like flowers Bloom instantly, appeared out of thin air and lit up around her! Each magic circle contained a highly compressed beam of magic power!

Ehre's pupils contracted. "What?! Controlling seven at the same time..."

Before she could finish speaking, Fern swung his staff forward!

"Whoosh--!"

The seven Ordinary Attack Magic beams were no longer fired sequentially, but rather shot into the air at different angles like a sudden storm, instantly blocking all of Ehre's possible evasion routes! The frequency and density of the attacks were completely different from before!

Ehre's expression changed slightly as she tried to use Defensive Magic to block the attacks, but the beams came too fast and too densely! She simply didn't have time to deal with them individually.

"Saturation attack...!?"

Left with no other choice, she could only instantly expand her Defensive Magic, transforming it into a massive but all-encompassing spherical shield that completely enveloped her!

"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

A series of explosions resounded on the shield, blinding light flashed continuously, the spherical shield trembled violently, and ripples Swirl wildly! Ehre, inside the shield, could clearly feel her magic power being rapidly depleted!

A bead of cold sweat slid down Ehre's forehead.

"This guy... actually wants to use the most basic magic, relying on pure magical power and control to suppress me with brute force...!? This, this is too..." She wanted to say "This is too tasteless", but maintaining the shield at this moment left her no time to think about anything else.

Ah... my Defensive Magic is about to overload... it's draining too fast! I still have several carefully prepared spells left to use... and I don't even have time to cast them?!

"Click..."

A faint cracking sound rang out, and spiderweb-like cracks began to appear on the spherical shield!

The defensive wall in front of them finally began to flicker under the relentless bombardment, and then, with a "crack," it vanished completely like shattered glass.

The last few unobstructed beams of magic grazed precisely past Ehre's body, who was temporarily unable to move due to magic exhaustion, and the resulting gust of wind ruffled her hair and robes.

The smoke and dust from the explosion, along with the scattered magical light, slowly dissipated.

Fern slowly lowered her staff, and the magic circle floating around her quietly dissipated. She lightly brushed off the dust stirred up by the magical clash from her mage robes, her expression unchanged, as if the violent attack just now was merely a casual gesture.

Fie turned her head and looked at another battle not far away—there, the battle between Ubel and Wirbel seemed to have entered a critical moment.

Far away.

"Mmm... delicious! Speed is the ultimate weapon in martial arts!"