Teaming Up with an Acquaintance

Zeliel felt quite grateful toward Bev.

This noble-born girl had shown none of the arrogance one might expect. Instead, she had amiably shown him around the Mages' Guild and taught him much valuable knowledge.

And there was Mentor Marvin's enthusiastic help, which had let him receive the guild subsidy early.

These were all debts of gratitude he would have to repay slowly...

"Good evening, Auro."

Back at the Nightflower Inn, Zeliel waved and greeted Auro.

"Good evening, Mr. Zeliel."

Auro gave him a sweet smile. "Your new clothes look very handsome."

"Uh... thank you."

Zeliel scratched his cheek and instinctively looked away.

"I'll have a vegetable stew, roasted bread, and egg fried rice."

Thinking back to the ending of Curse of the Immortal, Zeliel truly had no appetite for meat tonight.

"Certainly." Auro turned and called toward the kitchen.

The meal was not expensive, costing Zeliel only fifty copper coins.

Before long, dinner was brought out. Besides what Zeliel had ordered, there was also a mug of ale on the table.

"Consider it a treat from the inn," Auro said with a smile.

"Thank you..."

The Nightflower Inn's cook was exceptionally skilled, and every dish had its own distinctive flavor.

After heartily finishing all the food, Zeliel downed more than half the mug of ale in one go.

"Burp..."

Much of his exhaustion faded away, and he let out a satisfied belch.

His rating was settled, he had bought a wand, and he had secretly learned quite a few spells. He still had a little over one gold coin left in his pocket.

He glanced at the panel.

The progress of Wind Blade, Illumination, and Water Ball had all reached 10%.

Spells with relatively simple spell structures were truly quick to analyze.

At this rate, he would fully master these spells in three or four days at most, and his combat strength would rise by a great deal.

By then, it would also be about time for him to return to the Adventurers' Association and take on more missions.

Four days later, on the outskirts of Blackstone Town.

Inside a sparse forest.

Zeliel took a deep breath and adjusted himself to peak condition.

Wind Blade, activate!

With a swing of his ash wand, an invisible blade flashed past at tremendous speed.

Crack!

The bark of the tree before Zeliel gained a deep gash, sap slowly flowing down from the wound.

He stepped forward to inspect it.

The mark left by Wind Blade was over two centimeters deep. If that strike had hit an ordinary person, it would have caused at least serious injuries.

Zeliel nodded in satisfaction.

Its killing power was not bad.

Of the three spells he had learned from Bev, Wind Blade was Zeliel's favorite.

It was stealthy and fast, and in terms of physical destructive power alone, Wind Blade was even stronger than Fireball. It was extremely useful against unarmored enemies.

Illumination was purely a support spell, while Water Ball...

To be honest, Zeliel found that spell a little ridiculous.

Throwing a ball of water at someone was completely useless unless the target was something like a fire elemental.

It could only be considered better than nothing.

At least when he was outside with no water to drink, he could use the spell to quench his thirst.

Aside from mastering these three spells over the past four days, Zeliel had also received an unexpected bonus.

Because he had gotten a considerable head start on its progress, Flame Dragon had also finished being analyzed.

Flame Dragon was a third-level spell with a single-layer spell structure, one level higher than Fireball and the like.

And judging from its performance, Flame Dragon could completely be considered an advanced version of Fireball.

Zeliel had compared the spell structures of the two spells.

He discovered that Flame Dragon devoted a much larger proportion to the mana-charging circuit, which was why it was more powerful.

To avoid starting a forest fire, Zeliel chose to practice magic by the river.

Mana began to flow, slowly tracing out the spell structure.

Since this was his first time testing the spell, Zeliel took longer than usual. Only after seven or eight seconds did blazing firelight appear at the tip of his ash wand.

Flame Dragon, activate!

Boom!

A massive fireball nearly five meters long erupted forth, blasting straight ahead with terrifying force!

Under the scorching heat, the river surface continuously hissed, and waves of white mist drifted upward.

Whether in terms of the mana impact it contained or the heat it radiated, Flame Dragon was far stronger than ordinary Fireball.

Flame Dragon also had one special feature: it could be continuously cast by consuming mana.

As long as you had enough mana, you could keep spewing flames and turn your enemies into charcoal.

Zeliel withdrew his mana infusion, and the enormous fireball slowly died out.

"No wonder it's the superior replacement for Fireball..." Zeliel sighed.

With this trick up his sleeve, he felt a little safer inside.

Everything was ready. Next came killing monsters, making money, and leveling up!

The Adventurers' Association.

Returning to this place once more, Zeliel seemed much more composed.

The familiar clamor remained. Adventurers were either selecting suitable missions or recruiting teammates.

Among the crowds coming and going, Zeliel even spotted a tall half-orc.

His skin was light green, his hair thick, and his muscles well-developed. The broad axe on his back was practically as wide as a door.

Though Zeliel did not know how much orc blood flowed through his veins, it was presumably more than the elven blood in Vales.

Zeliel still remembered what Bev had said about the Mages' Guild and the Adventurers' Association. He looked around and began searching the crowd for a target.

His luck was good. Before the mission board, Zeliel spotted a familiar back.

Marcus was selecting missions.

"Hey! Marcus, how have you been?" Zeliel patted him on the shoulder.

"It's you... I've been pretty good. Didn't expect us to run into each other again so soon."

Seeing Zeliel, Marcus smiled. "So, want to team up this time?"

"Of course." Zeliel readily accepted Marcus's invitation.

It was always more reassuring to be with someone familiar. At the very least, Marcus was trustworthy.

"What mission are you planning to take this time?" Zeliel asked, his gaze rapidly scanning the mission board as well.

"What do you think?" Marcus asked.

After fighting the Mist Demon together, Marcus had changed his opinion of Zeliel.

He had originally thought Zeliel was just a rookie novice, but the man had proven rather useful in a crisis.

Otherwise, Marcus would not have suggested forming a fixed team with Zeliel after their last mission.

"Let's play it safe and take something simple?"

This time, Zeliel wanted to test the effects of the new spells he had learned in actual combat.

Anything too strong would be too much to handle, while anything too weak would be boring.

Marcus began choosing carefully. After a moment, he took down a commission notice.

"How about this one?"

Zeliel accepted it and saw that it was a commission issued by the Blackstone Town Administration.