Learning Magic

Roxy's face flushed hot enough to boil a kettle. She looked at Cain, who was folding his arms and explaining with a straight face, and let out a slight sigh of relief.

Scared her to death. With Zoldat putting it that way, Roxy had honestly thought Cain meant something else by it; it was just a false alarm after all.

"I-Is that so? Hehe, looks like I misunderstood."

"Anyway, we still need seven mud dragon beast tails. We're willing to pay two silver coins. How's that? That's a pretty high price, isn't it?"

Two Asura silver coins were already a month's wages for an ordinary family.

Roxy and Cain exchanged glances and nodded slightly.

"Alright, deal."

After paying the two silver coins, Zoldat, Brook, and the others came over and began cutting off the mud dragon beast tails.

Once they finished gathering them, Zoldat—as an apology—even helped Roxy and Cain transport the remaining valuable parts of the mud dragon beasts back to the guild to be sold publicly.

Inside the guild, looking at the total of thirteen silver coins in the two small pouches in her hands, Roxy's mouth fell open.

"Thank you, Mr. Zoldat. You really helped a lot."

"Ah, it's nothing."

Zoldat rubbed his nose and threw an arm around Cain's shoulder, seemingly quite pleased with the praise.

As agreed, plus the payment for completing the commission, Roxy and Cain received a total of thirteen silver coins.

Roxy received seven silver coins. Because of the magic tutoring fee, Cain put away the remaining six. After counting his money pouch, his total assets were now 1 Aras Gold Coin and 6 Asura Silver Coins. Cain put away his pouch and glanced sideways at Zoldat, who still had an arm around his shoulders, curling his lip.

This smiling guy actually turned out to be a good person unexpectedly, but Cain had a lingering feeling that Zoldat had his own agenda. Was he trying to poach Teacher Roxy? After all, Roxy's magic abilities were outstanding.

No way! Absolutely not allowed! He still had to learn magic from his teacher.

"Want to go grab a drink at the tavern, handsome?"

Just then, a well-proportioned, purple-haired female mage walked over and smiled sweetly at Cain.

"This is Rina, the mage of our adventurer party."

Zoldat draped an arm over Cain's shoulders and introduced her with a playful smile.

"Hello, but sorry, I have things to do. Teacher Roxy is going to teach me magic tonight."

Cain looked straight ahead with an indifferent gaze, paying no mind to Rina's slightly seductive tone and the zipper on her chest pulled down lower.

"Cain, over here."

Roxy raised her magic staff at the guild entrance, smiling and waving at Cain as he leaned against the counter.

"Excuse me."

Cain gave a slight nod, adjusted the Demon Blade: Instant Void at his waist, and walked with a faint smile toward Roxy, who was blushing slightly and waving at him by the adventurer entrance.

"Well, looks like the beauty trap didn't work."

Zoldat crossed his arms with a smile and looked over at Rina.

"Well, pretty normal, I guess. He's a youth who holds the title of Sword God, after all. So fascinating." Rina licked her lips, a look of desire in her eyes.

Zoldat curled his lip and set down his mug.

"You should forget about it, seriously. To recruit him, we'd probably have to recruit that Roxy into the party too."

"This... I'm afraid that won't work..." Rina's expression turned serious.

"Our party doesn't lack members right now, and both the mages and healers are already full. Adding anyone else would cause problems."

After all, the commission payout was fixed; the more people there were, the less each person got. Of course, there were other reasons too—not just financial, but also involving coordination, division of labor, and the friction of getting used to each other's habits.

Zoldat pondered for a moment, then waved his hand with a faint smile.

"It's fine, it's fine. If that Sword God Cain can join, I'd gladly be his backup."

"Hehe, true. The Second Sword God of the Sword God Style—with him, a single person could probably handle the entire frontline for a whole party. You wouldn't even need a vanguard."

Hearing this, the dwarf Bruce curled his lip, feeling somewhat offended.

"Hey, you still need a vanguard, at least to protect the mages in the back."

"Sorry, sorry." Zoldat had forgotten that Bruce was a vanguard.

"Mmm... But it looks like if we want to recruit him, we have to recruit that mage into the party as well. Looks like we'll have to form a new adventurer party, though. Who told us not to be the first ones to invite him?"

Just then, thud, thud, thud, several knights in full suits of armor heavily trod across the floor and entered the Adventurers' Guild.

Zoldat and Rina, who were still drinking and chatting, wore puzzled expressions when they saw the soldiers enter the guild. Not just them; the relaxed expressions of every adventurer shifted instantly.

A few soldiers posted a notice right in the middle of the guild's task commission board.

"What's going on? City soldiers actually coming to the Adventurers' Guild to post a commission?!"

Zoldat squeezed his way to the front of the notice and saw what was written on it, his pupils contracting slightly.

The notice marked a nearby location and the details of the commission.

"Red Dragon subjugation?! S-rank mission?! You've got to be kidding me?!" After reading the public commission clearly, Zoldat's mouth twitched violently, cold sweat seeped from his forehead, and he couldn't help but gasp.

Meanwhile, that evening, Roxy and Cain were taking a walk under the moonlight through the streets of Sharia, the Magic City.

Roxy looked at Cain, who was holding the back of his head and gazing up at the starlit sky, and bit her lip slightly.

"Cain..."

"Yes, Teacher Roxy, is something the matter?"

"There is one thing I must tell you."

"T-That..."

Roxy's voice was a bit hesitant. Because Cain called her teacher, she didn't want to disappoint him.

Roxy didn't dislike this newly accepted, very polite disciple of hers, and she wanted to teach him magic. But she didn't know if Cain would be deeply discouraged or would break off their adventurer partnership if he found out he had no magical talent.

After all, they had only known each other for a single day, and their relationship was maintained by mutual benefits.

"Sigh, anyway, I'll test your magical aptitude first. Also, not everyone has the talent to become a mage. I hope you can mentally prepare yourself, Cain..."

Roxy's hand tightened slightly around her staff, and she looked at Cain with a very serious expression. In her heart, she prayed that Cain possessed this aptitude, because if he did, she would gain an adventurer partner with Sword God-class swordsmanship, plus a teaching salary of 1 silver coin per month.

Cain nodded slightly, looking at the blue status panel that had appeared before him.

[Total Magic Power: High]

[Magic Technique: Chantless Water Magic]

Well, if even this counted as having no magical talent, then there was simply nothing that could be done about it.

Of course, if he truly lacked magical talent, he would still spend a few months experiencing adventurer life with Teacher Roxy. After all, Teacher Roxy's adventurer experience vastly exceeded his own, and following her meant he wouldn't get lost.

This was also part of Cain's training; afterward, he would leave to find Water God Reida in the Asura Kingdom and study the swordsmanship of the Water God Style.

"Alright, then I'll test your magical aptitude first."

Roxy led Cain to a quiet patch of grass outside the city. Because the snow was quite deep, they didn't go in too far, stopping where the snow was thinner, and both came to a halt.

Roxy looked left and right, nodding slightly. Making sure she wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone, she raised her staff and began to chant.

"May the great blessing of water descend upon where thou seekest; cool and gentle flowing waters, manifest here, Water Ball."

"Water Ball!"

A sphere of water appeared at the tip of the staff in Roxy's hand, then shot forward aggressively, snapping the trunk of a distant small tree with a loud thwack.

Cain didn't feel the kind of amazement he had felt earlier in the day seeing Advanced-class Ice Magic, because he also knew the Beginner-class Water Magic, Water Ball.

"Give it a try, Cain."

"Understood, Master!"

Cain didn't know that magic required chanting. His Beginner-class magic was a beginner gift pack given by the system; naturally, he had long forgotten such a long incantation. Even if Roxy repeated it, he still couldn't remember and recite the whole thing.

So Cain had no choice but to opt for chantless casting.

"Water Ball!"

Cain raised his left hand. Under Roxy's trembling, astonished blue eyes, magic power gathered frantically in his palm, quickly condensing into a water sphere several times larger than the one formed by Roxy's staff. With a hum, he released it!

Bang! In the distance, the entire trunk of a bowl-thick tree was blasted to pieces by the massive water sphere, and the leaves scattered all over the ground.

[Successfully released Intermediate-class Water Magic: Water Cannon]

[Proficiency: +153 points]

[Reward: Water Magic casting speed slightly increased, Water Magic casting mana cost -5%, Total Magic Power +1%, Water Magic power increased by 1%]

Seeing the reward on the system, Cain's eyes lit up slightly. Sure enough, as long as he unleashed new magic, he would receive bonuses.