8 Chapter 9: Battle

As they stood in their positions, monsters started to come out from the woods. It was 6 Goblins. 

"Hmm, this will serve as good training." John quietly muttered.

The goblins wore a cloth on their waist and carried a club. They didn't look strong and were the size of a dwarf, but looks can be deceiving and they are monsters after all. They were a bit buff but less than the blacksmith that they had met. They did definitely look stronger than a guy who's all skin and bones like John though. 

The Goblins slowly approached them. It seemed as if they were wary. 

'For monsters they're pretty smart.' John thought. 

The first to attack was John. He shot off the 4 Ice spikes at the 4 Goblins and in an instant, the moment there was impact, they froze up. They tried to dodge, but his spikes out-sped them. 

'Whoa.. I might not need any other spells if this one is this strong, I'll name this spell Glacies.' John concluded. 

Seeing as how their comrades were frozen. The remaining two looked frightened and slowly started to step back, however.. 

"Glacies." John uttered.

At a single word, within seconds, 2 Ice Spikes were formed around him. 

'Since I've gotten a feel for the spell, I'm able to use it faster.' John understood.

Seeing this, the goblins began to tremble and shriek.. 

"what..? You're scared? Even though you came all this way to attack us, you're thinking about running?" John said.

After he said that, the goblins turned around and started running in an attempt to escape. But, before they even realised, they had been frozen by John's Glacies. 

Seeing this, Ariel looked speechless. John couldn't really tell what she was thinking, but she was probably afraid.. 

'I mean, it's only natural, I guess…' John inferred.

After Ariel saw his saddened expression, she walked up to him and asked. "What's wrong? That was Amazing! You easily managed to take all of them out! C-Can you please teach me how to use magic just like you?" With dimly lit eyes and excited expression 

That was the first time I ever saw her this agitated. 

"Thanks for trying to cheer me up, yes, yes, I'll teach you." John answered,

Seeing his smile, Ariel showed a relieved expression on her face 

'So she was worried about me.' John reckoned. 

"Pfft, hahaha." John laughed. 

"W-What.. What's so funny!?" Ariel said with her cheeks puffed up. 

"Sorry, sorry." John said with a content expression on his face.

'I guess it was a bit bad of me to assume such a thing.' John thought. 

"S-So how will I be able to use magic like you? I wasn't of any help in the fight and I don't want you to think I'm useless.." Ariel said with a saddened expression on her face. 

'Ah.. so she was worried about that.' John guessed.

He then let out another laugh .

"Don't worry, I'll do my best to teach you what I know, but after we collect the goblin ears. It'd be good if we could take their whole body in exchange for silver, but we can't really carry it all." John answered.

She nodded in response 

'Wait, what if I use magic to create a portable space in which I'd be able to put their bodies in? Like a black hole? No.. I don't think it works that way... I might just end up wasting mana.' John pondered 

'Besides, despite all of those casts, I don't feel tired at all. Not to mention I don't need to chant. Isn't this pretty broken?' John thought.

He walked up and asked. "How will I melt these?" 

Ariel shook her head in response. 

"Ah, I have an idea." John 

John placed his hand on the ice and then it melted' 

"What did you do?" Ariel asked.

"Well, I changed its state from solid to liquid. I imagined the particles which were once tight together, separating, having more space to move and more movement. It may have melted, but the water is still cold, so be careful." John answered. 

So basically, John imaged the particles acting as they would in the liquid state. 

Upon hearing his words, Ariel showed a deeply confused expression.

'That makes sense, she's never learnt about this so I can see why.' John guessed.

"Ah, don't worry about the details, I just imagined the Ice turning into water." John added.

"Still.. To be able to do that.." Ariel spoke hesitatingly.

"Hehe.." John nervously chuckled. 

He unfroze all of the goblins and as it had turned out; they were dead. He didn't feel guilty at all for killing monsters, they're doing what they can to survive, and he's doing what he can. Besides, John hated goblins. 

They then cut off their ears with the daggers given to them and placed them in the bag. 

Despite all the blood spurting everywhere, Ariel didn't seem bothered by it. In fact, she seemed used to it. Not a scene you'd expect to see from someone with such a pleasant face, but John didn't mind. 

In fact, it was good that she had no problems with blood as they would be getting into a lot of fights as adventurers. 

"Hm.. but this is certainly a problem.. Changing the state takes quite a bit of energy... Ariel." John spoke. 

"Yes?" She responded.

"I'm going to try learning a new spell. Do you mind waiting, before we head back?" John questioned.

"Mnm, not at all." Ariel said while she shook her head. 

"Thanks." said John.

He then sat on the ground and began concentrating again.

'A spell which can efficiently cut the enemies without having to worry about burning the forest.. Ah, that's it!' John grasped.

"Alright, I have an idea." He said.

Ariel observed him carefully, as if trying to understand the process. And around 10 seconds later, a tree was sliced in half. 

"Mm?! Was that a wind spell?" She asked 

"B-But how.. Most people are only able to use one element.." Ariel questioned.

"Hmm, It's either because I have an aptitude for both or because I am able to grasp the concept..?" John replied in an unsure tone.

Ariel gave him a look as if she wanted me to teach her. 

"Anyway, I think it's time for your first lesson." Said John.

With a joyous expression on her face, Ariel thanked John.

"The first thing I'll be teaching you is magic perception. To use magic, you need to understand and feel the flow of mana in your body." John spoke.

"Yes." 

"For that you'll need to concentrate. Close your eyes and focus on your senses. Try to imagine what magic feels like and try to feel the flow of mana within you. Don't lose focus." John instructed.

Ariel nodded her head and closed her eyes. After a while, nothing seemed to have happened. If a person walked in, John sure they'd find it weird how she just motionlessly stood there. But he knew that she was concentrating and didn't want to disturb her. 

After a few minutes, Ariel opened her eyes. 

"Were you able to feel it?" 

"Yes! I was able to feel and see my flow of mana and the flow of life coming from the trees, plants and you. It felt amazing being able to see the world in this new way." 

Ariel said with an enthusiastic expression. 

"I see, that's good. Since you're able to feel it, you should be able to control your flow, right?" John questioned.

"Yes, but it's a bit difficult." Ariel responded.

"Don't worry, it'll get better with practice." John consoled.

Ariel nodded in response.

"Ah, that reminds me, you were able to see my flow of mana, but were you able to see how much magic power I had?" John asked.

"No.." Ariel said as she shook her head. 

'She wasn't able to see how much magic power I had, huh? No wonder the receptionist looked troubled when I told her I wanted to use magic. I know that I have a lot of magic power as I'm not tired even after all those casts. And being able to show my magic potential is a requirement for looking intimidating... I'll leave it for the me of the future to think of something.' John thought. 

"I see.. Well, never mind that let's move on to the next lesson." John said.

"Yes!" Ariel said with dimly lit eyes. 

"Well, since I don't use chants, I need to have a precise image when using a spell. The same goes for you. Probably." John estimated.

"Mn." Ariel said as she nodded. 

"Very well. Listen carefully. It will sound a bit confusing at first, but I feel like chant-less magic is only rare because one doesn't fully grasp the concept and the chants replace that part." John explained.

Ariel nodded in response. 

"Understanding the concept will also allow you to create your own spells." John said. 

"What causes wind?" He asked. 

"Wind.. is caused by a change in the weather?" Ariel replied. 

"Well, you're not wrong, but, what exactly causes wind. The weather is a factor which affects it but not exactly the process." John explained.

"I don't know.." Ariel said with a saddened expression. 

"No need to look so gloomy, I'll explain." John replied.

Her eyes lit up after she heard what John said. 

"Wind is the flow of gases on a large scale." John answered.

"Gases?" Ariel asked. 

"Yes, gases. Gases are one of the four fundamental states of matter." John answered.

"States of matter..?" Ariel asked.

"To put it simply, look at this." John said.

He then cast glacies and a sphere of ice was formed slightly above his finger. 

"Look at the ice. You're able to touch it and it's hard, right? This is the solid state." John said.

Showing a completely interested expression, Ariel continued to listen to John's explanation. 

"mn" She said as she nodded 

John then changed the ice from solid to its liquid state. 

"This is the liquid state. Think of it like this, when water is frozen and turns into ice, it's called the solid state of matter. Once the ice melts and turns into water. This is called its liquid state. And this.." John said.

The water in his hand turned into gas. 

"It disappeared?" Ariel asked while surprised. 

"Sort of like that. I turned it into gas." John answered.

'To be honest, I wasn't sure this would work, but I'm glad it did.' John thought.

"So, did you understand?" He asked.

She looked confused but nodded her head in response. 

"Alright, now we can move onto the difficult topic." John continued. 

Ariel looked excited, completely unlike John expected. She didn't look worried at the possibility of not being able to understand at all. 

"You see, wind is the movement of air from an area of higher pressure to an area of lower pressure. Air is the mixture of different gasses all around us, but it's so small that you can't really see it, just like how the water disappeared." John explained.

"Mn.." Ariel responded.

"Did you understand?" John asked. 

"Kind of.." 

"Well, don't think about it too deeply. Just Imagine your mana flowing to and causing pressure on the air in the direction you are facing. Image the air being under high pressure and imagine it moving to an area of lower pressure. Imagine where you want that area of lower pressure to be and that area which you imagined will be the direction and the area to which your wind will travel." John explained.

'Ahh.. that definitely sounded confusing.. Will she be able to pull it off..?' He wondered. 

"Mn" Ariel responded.

"To increase the power so that it acts like a blade, you need to imagine the shape of a blade, add more magic power into the attack and increase the pressure that is being put on the air." Said John.

Ariel nodded and stretched out her hands. 

After a minute, a transparent blade formed and propelled itself towards the tree at high-speeds. 

*Bam* 

'It let out that sound after impact, but it wasn't enough to cut it in half like mine had done. Either way, for her first try, that was amazing. She might actually be a genius. Not even I understood what the teachers meant when they first taught me this.' John thought.

Ariel showed an extremely joyful expression after being able to use magic for the first time and turned towards John's direction to see how she did. 

"You did it!" John exclaimed.

"I did it!" Ariel chimed.

They both said as they raised their hands. John got a strange satisfying feeling for seeing someone accomplish something after going through the difficult process of teaching something. 

'Is this what teachers feel like?' John wondered.

"I-I'm glad N-Now I'll finally be able to help you in the fight. T-This time I-I'll be able to protect you when you're in danger.." Ariel said as her voice trembled in between the words. 

'So she was still worried about being a hindrance... I mean, I'd understand why. Especially with the incident of the boar.' John understood. 

He noticed that her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were dyed in a bright red colour. 

Ariel turned around to wipe her face before saying "Thank you". 

Without saying anything, John simply smiled. 

"Well then, want to go further into the forest and try out your new spell?" He asked.

"Yes!" Ariel replied while she avoided eye contact. 

"Alright, let's take a short break before moving further in. I'd like to practice a new spell. Use this opportunity to practice your wind blade too, but make sure you don't use up too much mana." John suggested.

"Yes!" Ariel responded.