Kraft Departs

"Mm, not bad. You two learned pretty quickly!"

Seeing that Norn and Erik had successfully condensed balls of light in their hands, Rhode praised them.

This was the seventh day he had been teaching them magic. Going from complete beginners who knew nothing about magic to finally getting started, the two of them were progressing quite quickly.

At least, that was what Serie had said after watching them.

"Isn't this way too hard?"

Erik wiped the fine sweat from his forehead and dispersed the ball of light in his hand.

He had watched Rhode use magic so effortlessly these past few days that he had assumed learning magic would not be difficult.

Yet even a basic Light Arrow attack had taken them a week to learn, and they still had not mastered it.

At this rate, who knew how long it would take to become powerful mages.

Compared to the impatient Erik, Norn was much steadier. He tried extending the ball of light once more before dispersing it.

Watching Norn's movements, Rhode nodded. Although Erik had greater talent, Norn would probably learn magic before him.

"How's the teaching going?" Serie walked over and asked Rhode.

"Honestly, it's a little difficult."

Rhode had thought teaching someone magic would not be hard, but once he actually tried it, he discovered it was surprisingly difficult.

The main issue was that he could not treat Norn and Erik the way Serie had treated him. He had to explain everything step by step and with great care.

"I suddenly realized something. Isn't my talent for magic actually incredible?"

"You only noticed that now?" Serie rolled her eyes at him.

Being able to replicate an elf's Light Arrow after seeing it just once, then improve upon it—such talent could no longer be described as merely frightening.

"Sigh, this is troublesome. Say, do you have any better teaching methods?"

A small Magic Circle glowed in Rhode's hand. While teaching the two of them, he had also been constantly honing his own magical abilities.

"No. This is my first time teaching someone too."

Serie refused outright. When she taught Rhode magic, she simply demonstrated it once, then Rhode watched and tried to replicate it.

If he could not do it once, she would demonstrate it again. They repeated the process until Rhode understood.

It had been incredibly easy.

Only after seeing how Rhode taught others did Serie realize that teaching magic was actually such a troublesome task.

"Yo! You two are studying pretty seriously!"

Kraft appeared at some point and patted Norn and Erik on the shoulders.

He did not stop them from learning magic. For a warrior, studying magic could also better improve one's strength.

He lacked that talent, so he could only become a martial monk.

But since the two of them possessed such talent, they should make good use of it.

That was also an important reason why he had not stopped Rhode from teaching them Elf race magic.

"Mr. Kraft, learning magic is really hard!"

"I know that feeling well." Kraft nodded. To him, learning magic was as difficult as climbing to the heavens.

"But I came to say goodbye this time. The war is about to begin."

"War?" Serie asked. "What war?"

Kraft answered casually, "The Three-Race Allied Forces have already begun moving. Winged race scouts discovered Demon Race troops gathering in the north."

The north was where the Elf Forest lay.

Although the Elf Kingdom and the Elf Forest had gone their separate ways, the latter was the ancestral homeland of all elves. Besides, they had only split because they chose different paths; there was no deep hatred between them.

With the Demon Race gathering their forces and even threatening the Elf Forest, the Allied Forces had also begun taking action.

Rhode's hand paused, and the Magic Circle dispersed. "Is it large-scale?"

"Comparable to the wars recorded in history." Kraft's voice was somewhat grave. "So I have to hurry back."

Serie narrowed her eyes slightly, clearly tempted.

Norn and Erik looked at each other. Even though Kraft had made it sound casual, they could both guess that this would be an unprecedented, earth-shaking war.

"Mr. Kraft, we..." Norn began hesitantly.

Norn wanted to take part in this war.

Although he knew he would be nothing more than an insignificant foot soldier in such a war, Norn had his own considerations.

If they remained in the village forever, they would never truly solve humanity's current plight.

Before Rhode appeared, Norn had believed that if humans wanted to grow stronger, the only way was to become powerful warriors like the Dwarves.

But Rhode's appearance had brought another possibility.

It seemed Kraft had seen through Norn's thoughts. He patted his shoulder. "You two should stay here and continue learning magic. This war is not something ordinary people can take part in."

Norn was somewhat surprised and looked at Rhode. "You're not leaving?"

He had thought Rhode's group would leave with Kraft, which was why he had considered going with them.

Rhode shook his head. He first glanced at Serie, and only spoke after seeing her nod lightly. "We have another destination, and it's even more dangerous than the war Kraft is joining."

After all, their destinations were the Dwarven Kingdom ruins and the Land of Fallen Gods.

Both were unquestionably forbidden zones for living beings.

Norn felt slightly relieved. In that case, he could wait until he had fully mastered magic before heading out on adventures.

But Kraft seemed to have other ideas.

"Rhode, I have an unreasonable request."

"What is it?"

"Could you take the two of them with you on your adventures?" Kraft asked.

Rhode was somewhat confused. He had never considered bringing them along, since he was counting on the two of them to pass down magic.

"Can I ask why? You should know how dangerous Serie's and my destinations are, right?"

Honestly, Rhode even felt somewhat guilty toward Som.

After hearing about his and Serie's destinations, Som had not shown the slightest reluctance. Instead, he had patted his chest and declared that he wanted to come along.

Besides, after observing him these past few days, Rhode had realized that Som genuinely wanted to adventure with them.

He was a very reliable companion.

"They're both strong, but not strong enough. If they want to accomplish something, then without having gone through hardships, they are not yet qualified."

As if he had seen straight through Norn's thoughts, Kraft said this.

His words stirred something in Norn's heart.

Could the two of them perhaps...?

"This isn't something you or I can decide. We need to ask them what they want first."

Kraft nodded, agreeing with Rhode's words.

"I have no objections." Norn agreed without thinking for long.

He also looked forward to adventuring with a fellow human like Rhode. Perhaps after hearing his dream, Rhode would support him as well.

"Me too!"

Seeing that even the usually cautious Norn had said so, Erik naturally hurried to voice his agreement.