Magic Power and Magic

After all, it was a language from another world, and its pronunciation still differed considerably from Earth's languages.

Lin Yu did not dwell on it. Instead, he excitedly poured himself some tea, dipped his index finger into it, and wrote two Chinese characters.

"Lin Yu, my name."

"Writing I've never seen before, a language I've never heard... Interesting!"

The woman named Flamme became interested as well. She immediately wrote another line of text, then pointed at the large tree outside the courtyard.

There was no doubt that the word meant tree!

Lin Yu's eyes lit up. He promptly returned the favor and taught her the Chinese character for "tree."

Just like that, the two forgot all about the tea they had brewed and took turns teaching each other the languages they knew.

Time passed second by second.

An hour later, perhaps feeling that writing with tea was too inefficient, Flamme suddenly raised a hand. The vast energy within her flowed from her palm and intertwined in midair, forming a line of blue text.

"Whoa! What's this?"

Lin Yu stared in amazement at the floating blue words.

Though he still did not understand it, he could tell that the energy forming those words had the same properties as the energy within Rolycoly.

"Magic Power?"

"Magic?"

Lin Yu studied the blue words with great interest, then looked at Flamme in displeasure. "You had such convenient magic—why didn't you use it sooner? My tea leaves are valuable too, you know!"

"..."

The corner of Flamme's lips twitched. After pondering for a moment, she said in halting Chinese, "Sorry."

Lin Yu froze when he heard that, then excitedly said, "That's right, that's how you say it—you've already learned it?"

Flamme shook her head, indicating that she still could not fully understand Lin Yu's language. She had merely guessed what he meant from his expression.

"That's enough, that's enough!"

"I couldn't tell before, but you're a language genius no less talented than me!"

Lin Yu was overjoyed. At this pace, they would learn each other's languages before long.

Encouraged by this success, Lin Yu became even more enthusiastic about learning the local language.

Flamme felt the same. She had always possessed a strong thirst for knowledge, and now that she had encountered a mysterious youth speaking an unknown language in this forest on the Northern Plateau, she naturally wanted to learn about his origins.

Thus, the two studied from late morning until the sun was nearly setting.

They finally stopped reluctantly when Flamme's stomach growled with hunger.

Letting a guest go hungry was naturally the host's fault. Without hesitation, Lin Yu took out the venison he had hunted the previous day, along with the wild vegetables and mushrooms he had gathered over this period, and made a hot pot with a mushroom soup base.

One could tell from Flamme's distinctly Greece-style clothing that this world was still in the early stages of civilization.

Clothing, food, housing, transportation, and every other aspect of life remained underdeveloped. For Flamme, having a dinner in this primeval forest that could truly be called delicious was quite astonishing.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, the sky gradually darkened.

Lin Yu warmly invited Flamme to stay in his Attic, but she shook her head and refused.

To be honest, the instant she shook her head, Lin Yu's expression fell. For a brief moment, he even had the urge to force her to stay.

But an idea was only an idea.

No matter how lonely Lin Yu was, he could not possibly harm the first human he had encountered.

Fortunately, Flamme was not planning to give up communicating with Lin Yu.

She used Magic Power to form the number 2, then gestured that she would return in two days.

Lin Yu nodded to show that he understood, though a trace of disappointment still lingered on his face.

Over the next two days, Lin Yu brought Rolycoly to wait along the forest path at the edge of his territory every day. Sure enough, two days later, he saw that familiar figure.

This time, Flamme had not come empty-handed. On her back was a pack full of parchment scrolls covered in writing.

So she had gone to buy textbooks!

Lin Yu suddenly understood, and his favorable impression of the first friend he had made in this world increased greatly.

Just as he had expected, what Flamme brought this time were texts used by nobles to educate their descendants, filled with fairy tales with relatively simple plots.

Thanks to those fairy tales, Lin Yu's learning speed rose considerably.

He followed her example and wrote out the Thousand Character Classic and the Three Character Classic from memory, helping Flamme learn Chinese more effectively.

Just like that, Flamme finally agreed to stay in Lin Yu's Attic, and she remained there for an entire month.

Lin Yu was, after all, a terrifying existence comparable to the Dimensional Demon God. Even suppressed by the Main Universe, he was far beyond anything an ordinary intelligent creature could compare to.

Likewise, Flamme was a peerless genius seen only once in a thousand years in this world. Her intelligence was far beyond that of ordinary people.

Thus, in only a month, the two learned each other's languages and could communicate fluently in everyday conversation.

"Finally, that's one thing wrapped up~"

Inside the Stone Pavilion, Lin Yu put down the last fairy-tale book and said wistfully, "Since this world has all kinds of magic, why has no one created magic that can translate unknown languages?"

"..."

Flamme, seated across from him at the stone table, glanced at him and chuckled. "Because the entire human world uses the same language."

"The world of magic is a world of imagination. If there is no need for language translation, naturally no one would think of such magic."

"That doesn't sound right!" Lin Yu frowned. "Didn't you say this world also has races like elves and dwarves? Haven't they developed Elvish and Dwarvish?"

"..."

Flamme was startled by his words, then said thoughtfully, "According to the theory of natural selection you mentioned, if elves and dwarves lived separately from humans, they indeed might have developed racial languages."

"However, our world is rather special. There is a common enemy: the Demon Race."

"Thanks to the Demon Race, elves and dwarves have been integrated into the human race from the very beginning. They are subspecies of humanity in the broader sense, so their racial languages..."

At that point, Flamme paused and muttered to herself, "No, I seem to have heard my teacher mention an ancient language. If that was the so-called Elvish, then other racial languages must once have existed in this world... Hmm, I understand now. Perhaps the current Common Tongue of the continent is itself the result of ancient human, ancient Elvish, and ancient Dwarvish merging together!"

So that was it!

Lin Yu nodded thoughtfully, then asked curiously, "You said your teacher might know ancient Elvish. Is he an elf who has lived for a very long time?"

"Not he. She."

Flamme corrected the gender of her teacher in the Common Tongue, then smiled. "That's right, my teacher is indeed an elf. As for exactly how long she has lived, that is a mystery even to me."

"So she really is an elf..." Lin Yu asked with interest. "Then what is her name?"

"You wouldn't recognize it even if I told you." Flamme shook her head, but still said, "Seirei."

"Seirei, huh~"

Another name that sounded somewhat familiar...

Lin Yu first nodded out of habit, then suddenly froze, as though he had finally remembered something.

Wait, her master was an Elf Mage who had lived for an unknown number of years, named Seirei, while her disciple was a young, beautiful, genius human mage named Flamme...

This master-disciple pair felt awfully familiar!

The corner of Lin Yu's mouth twitched as he stared strangely at the beautiful woman in white robes before him.

Especially her long orange hair, along with her golden bracelet and choker—they gradually overlapped with a certain anime character in his mind...

It all matched. Every last detail matched!

Could this world be the anime he had watched before crossing over—Frieren: Beyond Journey's End?!