Ancient Stone Beetle

Rhode often dreaded making eye contact with strangers.

If he met someone's gaze, he felt it was impolite to look away immediately, but staring back felt like a challenge.

In such situations, Rhode became flustered.

This was especially true when someone, after a few seconds of mutual staring, would put down their drink and walk towards him.

Fortunately, the talkative Marcus stepped in. "Alzack, you're here. We were just talking about you."

"Talking about me?"

"Yeah, this is Rhode, you know him, right?"

Alzack nodded. "The one who destroyed an entire forest?"

Marcus clapped his hands. "That's him!"

Rhode slammed his hand on the table. "That's wrong!"

Both men looked at him in confusion, their expressions asking why he was reacting so strongly.

Rhode raised his hand. "Sorry, I didn't mean anything by it."

The two men looked even more confused. Did such a minor thing as slamming a table need an explanation?

"..." Rhode didn't know what to say.

He took a deep breath, formally introduced himself to Alzack, and then clarified the rumors about himself.

He was just an underqualified mage who had only learned magic for a few days. How could he possibly destroy a forest?

"The Guild Master told me the forest became that way because of a stampede. Rumors of strange birds, giant frogs, vicious wolves, and even flying dragons... just hearing them..."

It... it actually sounded a bit like something he would do.

Rhode fell into thought.

Something was wrong with this.

Rhode thought back carefully. When he heard about the incident, he didn't even know he could summon wild monsters yet.

After he learned he could summon wild monsters, he hadn't thought about that incident in detail.

Now, connecting these two events...

Could it be that after being attacked by some bear, a life-or-death crisis caused his magic to spiral out of control, summoning all sorts of wild monsters, big and small?

The more he thought about it, the more guilty he felt. If he really did it, then... how much would he have to pay to compensate for destroying such a large forest?

The more Rhode thought about it, the more guilty he felt.

The other two had already changed the topic. Marcus complained about how boring things had been lately and suggested holding an event so he, as the resident host, could have a chance to shine.

"How about a shooting competition?" Alzack patted the pistol on his hip.

"Don't joke, who could win a shooting competition against you and Bisca?"

Alzack suddenly panicked. "Don't, don't say things like that. What Bisca? I..."

The young man definitely had something going on. Rhode, listening to Alzack's nonsensical reply, felt a slight thrill of gossip.

As the three chatted, Alzack became Rhode's next opponent.

Over the next few days, Rhode went through more and more practical combat training, sometimes one session a day, sometimes two or three.

His opponents were sometimes people he found himself, and sometimes people Marcus brought in – to get his kicks, Marcus had snatched the Guild Master's hosting and referee duties.

Kana, who had returned from an assignment, also took over the Guild Master's gambling operations.

The guild's backyard was unusually lively for quite some time, and Rhode had to repair the walls a few times with his opponents.

However, as the battles became more frequent, the novelty gradually wore off, and the crowds of onlookers dwindled.

This was mainly because the outcomes were no longer suspenseful.

Rhode's current record was 19 losses in 19 matches.

Today was another day of happily accepting defeat. Rhode sat on a round stool, leaning his body against the counter, listlessly waiting for his midday work shift.

Warm came to the tavern to scam some free food and drinks, then ran back to hug Rhode's leg, trying to comfort him.

Mira brought a small plate of broad beans and placed it on the counter, calling Warm over to eat snacks.

Then, while tidying the white fur on Warm's back, she said, "Didn't you almost win against Laxus today?"

"Laxus is too nice. He couldn't bring himself to go all out against me, and it's hard for me to throw a punch at him too."

Rhode was always grateful to Laxus. It was his Painting Magic that helped him quickly understand the situation and eased a lot of his anxiety.

"But Painting Magic is too much of a cheat, isn't it? Being able to draw anything makes my Summoning Magic seem so dull..."

Laxus had drawn a Canyon Swiftclaw today and used it to attack the other crab. He even had enough energy left to draw a Poro to play head-butting games with Warm.

Although the River Crabs he drew weren't very sturdy and fell apart after one or two hits, he could draw many of them in succession!

The two original River Crabs, under the onslaught of a large number of imitation River Crabs, happily returned to the river channel, leaving Rhode staring blankly.

He felt like he might be suffering from a fear of underpowered artillery.

Mira chuckled, "There are limits to what Painting Magic can create, and almost every action requires the caster to be distracted with manual control.

But creatures summoned by Summoning Magic, as long as they're given a clear target, can act autonomously, right? That's where your advantage lies.

In a way, Laxus's weakness is the same as yours; attacking the caster directly is the most effective method.

And because he has to focus on controlling the 'portrait,' even if he's skilled in combat, he can't unleash his full strength.

So, once you have stronger helpers, or if your combat skills improve a bit more, you'll surpass Laxus very soon."

Like many of his guildmates, Rhode had only seen failure after failure these past few days.

But Mira had been watching Rhode's progress, and the most direct evidence was that she hadn't had to tend to his wounds for several days.

Even when sparring with Gray, engaging in intense close-quarters combat, he no longer suffered the severe bruises he did when facing Natsu.

While it was possible Gray held back more than Natsu, Mira could see that Rhode's blocks and attacks were much smoother than before, and his magic power had likely increased significantly.

Furthermore, his technique of using magic power for defense was becoming more adept.

Rhode felt comforted, realizing that although Mira claimed she couldn't fight, she understood far more than he did.

Her confident explanations reminded him of himself talking about how professional gamers played poorly...

Of course, Rhode was an armchair critic, and Mira was like Wang Yuyan.

"Ah, I already have an idea for my next summon target, it's just to vent a little."

It was natural to feel some frustration after losing ten games in a row, let alone after a real fight.

Fortunately, the friendly matches these past few days hadn't been in vain, and the sweat he'd shed hadn't been wasted.

When Rhode sparred with Laxus today, summoning River Crabs, he had already sensed that the black mist in a certain area of Summoner's Rift had disappeared, revealing a small mountain hollow.

The ground in the hollow was flat, the rock walls smooth, and patches of moss grew in the corners, giving it a cold and damp atmosphere.

And within this small hollow, two 'stones,' one large and one small, stood quietly.

Rhode, familiar with the game, naturally knew what they were:

Ancient Stone Beetles, commonly known as Stone Monsters. Judging by their appearance, they were the durable type, and their attack power was actually quite decent among various common wild monsters.

Moreover, when an Ancient Stone Beetle was smashed, it would turn into a smaller Stone Beetle, and when that was smashed again, it would become an even smaller Mini Stone Beetle.

However, in his spar with Laxus today, Rhode hadn't dared to try summoning them.

He only knew their in-game information and not the specific details. He needed to find the Guild Master to help him check things out first.

If it turned out to be one that didn't obey commands, it would be bad if it injured a companion.

In this guild where recklessness was rampant, Rhode firmly told himself that he couldn't cause big trouble for everyone.