First Battle

Although their caravan was traveling along the outskirts of the Magical Beast Mountain Range, it still encountered magical beast attacks every so often. Fortunately, the Guard Team could handle them.

Watching magical beasts get killed one after another and thinking about his system, Garen couldn't help getting excited. Each one was worth a huge pile of experience points.

For some reason, whenever he saw the Guard Team fight, Garen didn't feel afraid at all. Instead, his blood boiled, and he wished he could take the others' place and join the battle himself. But for now, he was only a Level Three mage with no combat experience.

Even with his extraordinary magical affinity, meditating and refining mana each day only earned him two experience points. It took 2,000 experience points to reach Level Four, which meant that training on his own would take more than two years. So Garen began thinking about killing magical beasts for experience.

With so many guards around, and high-level magical beasts being dealt with by the others, it seemed a shame not to take the chance to kill a few low-level ones himself.

If he didn't seize this opportunity, he might have to wait until he reached Level Six or Seven before coming to the Magical Beast Mountain Range to gain experience.

He knew how dangerous the Magical Beast Mountain Range was. When the protagonist Linley came here as a Level Five mage, he could easily have died several times if not for Doehring Cowart's experience and Bebe's help.

That evening, after dinner, while everyone was getting ready to rest, Garen went over to Luke.

"Uncle Luke, I want to fight alongside you."

"??? Garen, fighting magical beasts is dangerous. You're still young. There'll be plenty of chances when you're older."

Luke paused when he heard Garen. He thought the boy had gotten carried away after watching them easily defeat magical beasts, so he came up with an excuse to put him off.

"Uncle, I'm already a Level Three mage. I want to practice my combat skills."

As he spoke, Garen walked over to the side.

"Fireball Technique."

Five fireballs, each half a meter in diameter, appeared a few meters in front of Garen. The flames crackled, and the temperature around them rose several degrees.

Garen swung his arm forward, sending the five fireballs flying toward a small mound nearby.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom."

Dirt and stones flew everywhere, leaving five craters half a meter deep.

Everyone was startled. Then they all turned to look.

"Hiss..."

"That's some power. You reached Level Three so quickly?"

Luke looked utterly incredulous.

Garen had extraordinary magical affinity to begin with. During the spiritual power test, he had only resisted slightly, and his actual spiritual power was far more than forty times the average. Reaching Level Three as a mage in a year and a half was only natural.

But the Guard Team were all warriors. They only knew that magic levels were difficult to raise, while ordinary warriors advanced faster than mages. They had never met a genius mage like Garen, so they were all stunned.

"Ahem, I only reached Level Three recently. I wanted to find some magical beasts to practice on."

Garen hadn't meant to make such a big show of himself. He hadn't expected everyone to react so strongly.

"I can't believe our little Garen is already a mage. Luke, next time we run into a low-level magical beast, let him try fighting it. We'll be there to back him up, won't we?"

A burly man with a full beard walked over. It was Lucas, the captain of the Guard Team.

"Haha, all right. Like father, like son. If your parents knew you'd become a Level Three mage before even reaching the Ernst Institute, they'd be proud of you. Next time we run into a low-level magical beast, you can take it on. Just don't start bawling if you can't beat it!"

Hearing that both captains had agreed to let him fight, Garen's face flushed with excitement.

"Thank you, Uncle Luke. Thank you, Uncle Lucas. I won't let you down."

Garen spent the next few days eagerly waiting for his chance.

"What's going on? How come we haven't run into a single magical beast these past few days?"

Garen was holding a short knife and wearing Leather Armor—the system had provided it—and was feeling down when he looked up and spotted two Wind Wolves, each over a meter tall, not far away.

The members of the Guard Team had seen them too, but paid them no mind. As long as the magical beasts didn't attack first, they usually wouldn't chase after them. Their main task was escorting the goods, not hunting magical beasts.

"Awooo!"

Suddenly, one of the Wind Wolves howled.

"Everyone, stay alert! There may be a pack of Wind Wolves nearby."

The Guard Team quickly gathered the carriages together, drew their greatswords, and watched the forest warily.

"Luke, check the size of the pack when it comes. If it's a large one, take some men and the carriages and get out of here. Take little Garen with you. I'll hold them off."

Ever since they learned Garen was a Level Three mage, everyone in the Guard Team had been looking out for him even more. After all, who wouldn't want to be on good terms with a genius mage?

Mages had a much higher status on the continent than warriors of the same level.

"Understood, Captain."

Luke's expression was serious.

A large Wind Wolf pack could number ten thousand. Its king might be a Seventh-Level Magical Beast, and most adult Wind Wolves were Level Four or Five. They were fast, could use Wind Blades, and knew how to work together. They were the last thing an ordinary Guard Team wanted to encounter.

Before long, nearly a hundred Wind Wolves came running out of the forest.

"Phew, not too bad. Judging by their size, there's one six-level Wolf Leader, seventy or eighty Level Four and Five Wind Wolves, and a dozen or so young ones that look to be around Level Three."

Luke spoke.

"Don't let your guard down. Form a circle and focus on killing as many as we can. They're clever. Once they see how strong we are, they should retreat."

Lucas shouted to the members of the Guard Team.

"Understood!"

The team members were tense and ready for battle. They weren't as strong as the two captains and faced the threat of injury or death at any moment.

"Awooo!"

The largest wolf at the back of the pack let out a howl.

The battle began. Nearly a hundred Wind Wolves rushed forward, surrounding them from all sides.

With more than twenty meters still between them, the Wind Wolves opened their mouths and sent blade after blade of wind flying toward the group.

The warriors of the Guard Team were wreathed in different-colored battle auras as they used their greatswords to block the Wind Blades.

Lucas and Luke charged out from the group, closing in on the pack.

"Die!"

Lucas was a Level Seven warrior who cultivated wind-style battle aura. He was incredibly fast and agile, dodging one wave of Wind Blades after another. Within seconds, he reached the pack and hacked from side to side, killing several wolves at once.

The Wind Wolves nearby hurriedly scattered.

Luke was an earth-style warrior with astonishing defense. Several Wind Blades struck his battle-aura shield, making it ripple a few times, but he had already charged into the pack. His full-force greatsword swings killed anything they hit and wounded anything they grazed.

The battle instantly reached a fever pitch.

Garen stood behind the others and watched the situation for a while. Then he climbed onto a carriage and set his sights on the dozen or so smaller Wind Wolves.

"Fireball Technique."

After a half-meter fireball appeared, Garen used his spiritual power to compress it until it was less than twenty centimeters across. He took aim at a Wind Wolf and hurled it.

The Guard Team were all close-combat fighters, and the Wind Wolves probably hadn't expected some sneaky guy to suddenly fling a fireball at them.

"Poom!"

A Wind Wolf yelped as the fireball struck it and sent it flying several meters. It hit the ground and twitched a few times before dying.

Why had he compressed the fireball? Because as a modern person who'd read so many novels, he knew a few tricks for combat. The fireball hit like a truck.

Ding! You killed a Level Three Wind Wolf. Gained 24 experience points.

Side Quest completed. Gained 100 experience points.

Hearing the notification in his mind, Garen was instantly thrilled. He wanted to take down every last Wind Wolf.