Attack Magic

A few days later, that afternoon, I came to the forest to practice magic.

Instead of practicing at the outer edge of the forest, where I usually went with Marie and the others, I went a little deeper and chose an open area near the river as my practice spot.

What should I start with...? For now, I should organize everything I know about magic.

First, there are the attributes. Magic is divided into six attributes: fire, water, wind, earth, body enhancement, and healing. I'm supposed to have the healing attribute, but I can use all of them.

Next are the types of magic. Since magic manifests whatever phenomenon you imagine, it can't really be divided into types. It changes depending on the power of your imagination. However, just as someone with the water attribute can't use fire magic, the range of magic you can use is determined by your attribute. Also, as far as I know, most people use magic by saying the name of the spell aloud, but that only supplements their image. Magic can be used without saying anything.

Finally, there's the power of magic. The more magic power you use, the more powerful it becomes. Therefore, people with little magic power can only use weak magic. However, forming a detailed image can greatly reduce the amount of magic power consumed, so if someone trains their imagination, even a person with little magic power should be able to use somewhat stronger magic. However, since I'm using knowledge from Japan, I don't think anyone other than me can do that at present.

Also, whenever I use my magic power to the limit, my total magic power seems to increase little by little. I feel like this is probably something that only happens to me, too... In any case, having more is better, so I should increase my magic power as well.

That's about everything I know about magic... In any case, imagination is important.

Which magic should I practice first? If I'm assuming I'll have to fight monsters and things, magic with high attack power would be best. I guess fire magic.

A fire arrow called Fire Arrow would be cool! It should have more penetrating power and be stronger than Fireball, too. I'll give it a try.

I cast a spell at a large rock by the riverbank, imagining a fire arrow flying swiftly toward it. A single fire arrow shot straight toward the rock. Amazing! It worked!

However, the fire arrow disappeared when it struck the rock. When I looked at the rock, there wasn't even a scratch on it. Was it not powerful enough? I tried again, this time imagining it moving even faster. But the rock still didn't have a single scratch on it.

Why? It probably wasn't a problem with its speed, so was the rock simply too hard...? Ah! That's it. Since I think of fire as something without physical substance, maybe it's impossible to give it penetrating power.

Then what should I do? Fireball has the power to burn things, but it would probably have the same result...

Wait... If I can use every attribute, maybe I can combine magic, too?

For example, I could create a stone arrow with earth magic, wrap it in fire, and launch it. That sounds incredibly powerful.

All right, first I'll imagine creating an arrow with earth magic and then wrap it in fire. I'll launch it at the rock. I'll make it as fast as possible, imagining a bullet from a gun.

Bang... Wow, that was a fairly loud sound. It was obviously more powerful than before.

When I looked at the rock, the tip of the arrow was embedded in it.

It worked! But creating the stone arrow uses a fair amount of magic power... Would a smaller arrow be enough? No, since I'm launching it with magic in the first place, wouldn't just the arrowhead be enough?

I created something like a slightly pointed bullet, imagining only the tip of an arrow, wrapped it in fire, and launched it.

It embedded itself about as deeply as the previous one, while consuming considerably less magic power.

A huge success! This could become a really useful spell. What should I call it? I can't call it Fire Arrow anymore, since it isn't an arrow...

I think a bullet is called a bullet in English, so... Fire Bullet should work! Yeah. That's cool. The name isn't really necessary, but it's a matter of feeling.

All right! On to the next one. Fire Bullet is an attack against a single target, so maybe I should think of an area-of-effect spell, too.

When you think of area attacks, wind magic seems like the obvious choice. Maybe I could make a tornado!

For now, I'll try imagining a small tornado. I did just that, but despite consuming a fair amount of magic power, it didn't have much attack power.

It is hard to imagine wind cutting something, after all... I've never actually seen anything like a kamaitachi, either.

In that case... wouldn't it work if I made the bullets from earlier appear inside the tornado?

When I tried it, it became an extremely brutal attack that indiscriminately sliced and shredded everything inside the tornado. The thick branch I put inside had been torn into a battered mess... W-well, high attack power is a good thing, right?

I'm glad I managed to create a powerful spell. But it uses quite a lot of magic power. I guess I can think of it as an ultimate technique for emergencies. The name... Maybe Rock Tornado.

After that, I continued developing and practicing more and more attack magic.

With water magic, I made Water Jet. It only had enough power to shave a little off a rock, but its low magic consumption was appealing.

With fire magic, I made Fireball. I tried raising the temperature of the fire to increase its attack power through heat.

With earth magic, I made Wall. It's a spell that raises earth to create a wall. The more solid I make it, the more magic power it consumes, so I can't increase its strength very much, but it should be useful for defense.

With body enhancement magic, I made Build Up. It increases the muscle mass of a specific body part and boosts its strength. This should be extremely useful. It can be applied to almost anything. It might even be useful when wielding a sword or something.

That's enough attack magic. Or rather... I might have gone a little overboard.

I looked around and thought that to myself. The rocks were cracked from being attacked so many times, and the trees were a mangled mess, like after a storm.

Is this bad...? But I came pretty deep into the forest, and no one would come all the way out here. Probably...

More importantly, I wanted to try using attack magic for real.

I can't go to the Monster Forest... They said there were ordinary beasts like bears and wild boars in this forest, too. Should I try defeating one of them?

Even if it's only a beast, I don't want to take a life. But if I hesitate to defeat a monster because I have no experience, and end up getting killed myself... That would be the worst possible outcome. I should get some experience after all.

I put away the bell that repelled beasts and went deeper into the forest, keeping the river within sight so I could find my way back.

After walking for about thirty minutes, I heard a rustling sound.

I listened carefully while watching my surroundings, ready for a beast to appear from anywhere.

...Rustle.

Behind me! I immediately turned around when I heard the sound behind me and saw a jet-black bear charging toward me.

I immediately cast Boost on my legs and leaped as hard as I could to the side. Tree branches scratched my arms and legs, but I couldn't worry about that. I quickly stood up and faced the bear.

Are bears really this aggressive!? It's huge, too. If I'd noticed it even a little later, I would've been in serious trouble. Maybe I should train instead of relying only on magic...

As I thought that, the bear charged toward me again. I aimed at its head and fired Fire Bullet.

However, Fire Bullet passed just above the bear's head and struck the tree behind it, pulverizing the tree.

Oh no! I missed!

What should I do...? Hitting a moving target is harder than I expected!

I jumped to the side again to evade the bear.

This time, I fired Fire Bullet at its torso so I would definitely hit it.

It struck the bear, but embedded itself around its right shoulder and didn't seem to have caused a fatal wound.

This is bad... I may have only made it angrier! The bear was charging toward me again, so I hurriedly cast Rock Tornado.

When I dispelled Rock Tornado, all that remained was something that had once been a bear.

Ugh... That's disgusting...

As expected, Rock Tornado is far too powerful... I should stop using it except when I'm in real danger.

Come to think of it, I was in serious danger. Maybe I was overestimating my own abilities just because I could use magic. I need to practice improving my accuracy, and I might need to train my body, too.

From now on, I need to practice magic and build up my physical strength.

After thinking that far, it suddenly hit me. Oh no... What time is it? More importantly, could my clock have broken!?

I hurriedly checked the clock, and it seemed that it hadn't broken. What a relief... But it was already past five!

Oh no! I have to get home within an hour!

I healed the wounds on my body with Heal, cleaned my clothes with Purification, and raced home.