It's Never Too Late To Learn New Things

Back at the Lunar Tear.

"Owner! We're back!"

Fei announced their arrival as soon as they got inside the door. The owner was drowsing off at the counter when she was woken by Fei's voice. She rubbed her eyes a few times, then took a look at her.

"Oh? You're back, the both of you," she said as she let out a big yawn. "And here I was thinking that you two were stuck somewhere," she added.

"You jest, you know that I am better than that," Fei replied. "Besides, I have an excellent mage with me, see?" she said as she pointed toward Sofia. The owner looked at Sofia, then at Fei, then back to Sofia again.

"I'm so sorry for the troubles that this girl may have caused so far," the owner said as she bowed her head towards Sofia. Sofia returned her bow.

"It's okay. I got used to it in no time," she said.

The two chuckled as they found out something that they have in common. Only Fei is at a loss for what is happening.

"I'm not a handful. Right, Sofia? Sofia?" she asked her party member.

"Hmmm ... I'm not so sure about that,"

"Sofiaaa!"

"Okay, that's enough teasing for now. You must be tired from your trip, so get rested. I've already cleaned your rooms," the owner said.

"Thanks, owner,"

"Thank you,"

"Don't sweat it,"

Sofia and Fei started ascending the stairs. They must have not felt their fatigue while outside, but being in a familiar place might have triggered something. They started feeling sluggish, tired.

"Oh, my room is over here. Good night, Mis Fei," Sofia said as she pointed to the room she is renting.

"Okay, see you tomorrow," Fei said as she went to her room.

Standing in front of her door, she started searching her bag for the key. She then inserted the key into the keyhole, twisting it to open. As soon as it opened, she tossed her bags inside and went straight to bed. The fatigue must have caught on to her as she quickly fell asleep.

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"She must have fallen asleep by now."

Sofia muttered to herself while she was in her room. Her staff was emitting some porous-like smoke, too small to be visible to the naked eye. The pores are made from a magic spell used to induce sleep in a target, "SLEEP". Sofia secretly cast her spell on Fei, its effect evident by her immediately falling asleep.

"Sorry for this Miss Fei, but I think you deserve a good night's rest," she said as she turned off her room's light. "Good night," she said.

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The next morning.

Fei woke up to the sun peeking through her window curtain. She was too sound asleep that she failed to wake up early. She looked at the clock beside her bed. The clock is showing the time to be thirty minutes past eight. She immediately sat up and went to wash her face.

She then changed into a fresh set of clothes, before heading downstairs to get breakfast. On the first floor, she was greeted by the owner.

"Oh! Look's like someone overslept," she teased her.

"I can't help it! By the way, have you seen Sofia? No one answered when I knocked on her door earlier," she asked the owner.

"The little missy? She went out earlier,"

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, why? Do you have plans together for today?" she asked.

"Hmmm, nothing. Anyways, I am starving! What do we have for breakfast?" Fei asked, holding her stomach as she started sniffing around. "Oh! This smell! Could it be?"

"You guessed it. I've made some beef stew for breakfast! Eat it while it's still hot!" the owner confirmed her guess. "I knew that you must have missed the taste of it, so I decided to make one," she said.

"Owner, you're the best!"

Fei was like a child, jumping up and down from joy from having the chance to partake once again in her favorite meal. The owner can't help but smile at her childlike behavior.

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In an open area outside the walled city of Ancdam, Sofia was practicing her magic spells.

With her staff in hand, she cast a [LIGHT] spell. Soon, blades of light manifested around her. Using her hand, she projected the trajectory that the light blades will follow. Her target is a wooden dummy placed about 20 meters from her position. With one swift movement of her wrists, the blades of light roared as they came rushing toward the dummy. The blade swept pass through it. slicing it into tiny pieces.

She then cast another spell, an [ICE] spell, conjuring a set of floating icicles in the air the same way the light blade did earlier. She then targeted another wooden dummy of the same distance as the one before. Upon hitting the dummy, it turned into a chunk of ice, completely frozen in place.

"Okay, I can do this," she said to herself.

With her hands in front of her, she conjured a [LIGHT] spell on her left, then an [ICE] spell on her right.

"Good. Now, to fuse them,"

Sofia is trying her hands at compounding her magic into one spell. Much like the MAGMA spell which is a combination of the EARTH and FIRE spell, or the ICE spell which is a combination of a WATER and WIND spell, Sofia is trying to create a new kind of spell, a magic unique to her.

She proceeded to fuse the two spells by pressing them close to each other, matching the wavelength and frequency of their mana signatures, and finding that perfect moment where everything is perfectly aligned. In her eyes, Fei can see that she has successfully fused some of the magic particles, but successfully fusing just a few isn't enough to stabilize the spell. She has to perfectly match each and every particle, or the spell will fail.

Ultimately, she failed to connect all the magic particles. Still, after managing to connect a few, she was assured that her idea is not impossible. Only a little bit more practice and she will soon be able to master a new, unique type of spell.

"Just a little bit more, I can do this," she said as she started to repeat her experiment.

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Off into the distance, a herd of what can seem to be like deer grazing in a meadow. What makes them different from a normal deer, is the number of heads they have. There is a saying that two heads are better than one. Well, this creature surely took this to the extreme. Each individual of this species has two heads. Their extra head isn't just for decoration. While feeding, the other head serves as a lookout for predators. Not only that, but each head has a different magical affinity. So one of them is capable of using two different spells. Truly a magnificent beast.

Off in the distance, atop the branch of a tree, a person is quietly scribbling something on her note.

"I can't believe my luck! Seeing a herd of Jozus right off the bat, I must be dreaming!"

Fei, well hidden underneath the foliage of the trees, was busy jotting down details of the Jozus. Thanks to her Curse Creep cape, she was able to keep herself hidden.

As soon as Fei finished having her breakfast, she immediately headed outside Ancdam to observe monsters. Due to the recent events, she wasn't able to add any other entries to her book. Having earned quite a sum from their recent quest, she decided to spend the rest of her day observing monsters somewhere near the border.

"Hmm... the alpha Jozus is ... that one, the one with the largest horn," she said as she observed them. As if writing wasn't enough, Fei also started making a rough sketch of the monsters.

"And ... done!" she said as she finished writing and sketching the beasts.

Maybe her voice came out a bit loud, as the Jozus' were spooked and started to disperse away from the area. Fei didn't mind this at all, as she just managed to finish writing all the details that she can from the monsters.

"Well, time to look for another subject," she said as she headed deeper into the north.