Chapter 10 – Battlemage

Once the peace negotiations for the fate of the entire world were sorted, the next couple of months were a little odd.

To start with, we would regularly get messengers and visitors coming by exchanging information with both my parents. Most of it was boring nonsense so I ignored it but both my parents seemed to be fascinated by what had been going on in the human world as such.

Father has a part time job as well now, the unofficial wyvern hunter of the empire. The human messengers give him locations of high-risk wild wyvern nest locations and he goes to obliterate them. Mother especially hates it since sometimes, he comes back home drenched head to toe in wyvern blood with a big grin upon his face.

As for me and Minos's requests, Minos got his own little pile of money to himself which he now sometimes sleeps upon, I may be slightly greedy but even I wouldn't do that. On to my request, some things needed to be sorted beforehand since both of the mentors would need to move out here temporally since we're so far away from any human settlement. I haven't actually started learning anything yet.

A small cabin in the woods was swiftly built close to our mountains for the two humans since there wasn't any other place they could stay.

Mother offered for them to stay in the cave but since the only way into the cave was by flying, realistically, they couldn't stay since they would basically be stuck and could only ever rely on being flown in and out by the dragons or me.

Reason for why they couldn't use a wyvern, it should be obvious that father wouldn't agree to having a flying rat living in the cave. I also think from the human's point of view, living alongside two dragons might take ten or twenty years of your life, it's not exactly a calming experience.

Ah, can't forget my mandatory status update for when I level up, this time around since I should be hopefully learning magic, I decided to invest into magicka. Unfortunately, I've only levelled up once since then because levelling on wild creatures is becoming more of a grind now.

It took roughly one hundred animals to get from eleven to twelve. Problem is, I can't exactly clear out the entire forest for EXP since our family won't have any food left, the only other alternative is hunting humans but that doesn't seem like the best idea after what happened in the city.

Back onto showing my stats.

'Status'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 12]

[Health 2,500/2,500]

[Stamina 2,341/2,500]

[Magicka 1,000/1,000]

"I'd prefer if you don't use that ability around me"

Who said that was battlemage Leone, both me and her are in an empty part of the forest while I was giving my update for my first lesson in magic. I'm unsure on how she knew what I was doing.

"Wait a second, can you see it as well?"

"No, I can't, just your eyes fill with magic when you use whatever that is. It's the third time I've seen you do it now"

"Third?"

"First in the net, second in the cave, third now"

Ah, that explains it. As for why I'm able to control my anger at the net capture incident now, the reward seems too good to let my anger consume me. I still hold a little grudge towards her but can put it aside for learning magic.

"Ah, okay then. Before we start, can you help me put this thing on?"

I'm of course talking about the choker since I'm still in bird form, had to fly over here since I came from the cave. Also made sure to bring my clothes with me in a fur bag I made. Thinking about it, I should have asked for more human clothes when the prince was here. Nightgown and a fur robe aren't exactly suitable clothing.

"…"

'Why isn't she responding? Did I say something stupid like what happens with system?'

It takes her a second to realize why I want to change form, once she does, she gives her response.

"You don't need arms to learn magic"

'Damn it, I did say something stupid. She really does seem a bit emotionless though, like a human doll'

"Hang on then, how am I supposed to turn myself into a human flamethrower without arms then?"

That thought is pretty badass to be honest.

"Human flamethrower? I think you misunderstand how magic works, Miss Ikarus"

It was a joke but I have next to no idea on how magic actually works, rough idea on how dragon tongue kind of works but that's completely different. Does that sound weird? Oh, who cares if it does? That's what it's called anyway.

"Well, the information I have is from two dragons who disagree with all human magic teachings. Ah, and drop the Miss, don't like it"

"Okay then, Ikarus. What do you think magic actually is?"

What magic actually is? I'll just make up something that sounds cool.

"The secrets of the universe and power, something like that?"

"Wrong. Magic is only one thing, luck"

'Luck? What kind of a weird magic system is this? This teacher might be a bit wacky'

"Luck?"

"I exaggerate slightly but my words hold an element of truth. If you're not lucky enough to be born with magic, then you can never learn it"

Then the mage stretches out her arm towards me, mutters something under her breath and then a net appears in the air above me.

"Damn it, not that blasted thing again!"

I've found myself trapped under her stupid net again. Why is that thing so bloody heavy?

"If you don't like it, get out of it. It's not difficult"

"Not difficult!? You come under here and try and get out!"

Is she teasing me or is this supposed to be lesson? Damn it, I just want to get out of this crappy thing.

"Ikarus, take a deep breath and compose yourself"

"Will you just get to your damn point already or let me out? Of course, I'm going to get stressed under this shitty thing"

I hate this stupid net and I'm starting to dislike the woman who put me in it even more.

"Very well. This first lesson is finding and focusing on where your magic is stored. For humans, it can take some time but for a phoenix, it should be easy"

"You're talking like I have a clue what you're on about! Can you let me out already, getting claustrophobic now"

"No, stressful situations help the process. If you're that desperate, get out yourself"

"Damn it, you heartless emotionless bitch, let me out!"

"…"

She just ignores the verbal insult I've thrown at her and just watches me struggling in the net.

'She's not going to let me out, is she?'

[<Affirmative>]

'System, do you know what she's talking about?'

[<If -user- closes eyes and focus, -user- should understand>]

'Fine, fine'

I close my eyes, try to calm myself by steading my breathing and focus. I'm still unsure what I'm looking for.

"I still don-"

"Quiet and focus. Close up your mind and focus on the darkness, find that spot"

She quickly cuts me off and tells me to focus, this damn annoying woman.

I really don't understand what I'm supposed to be looking for, all I can obviously see is darkness. It doesn't matter where I look, doesn't matter what I focus on, I can't find what I'm supposed to be looking for. This is stupid.

Must have been in this state doing this for a good several minutes, just as I'm about to stop and complain again, something starts to burn in my chest.

"Ouch… what the heck is that?"

"Keep your eyes close, shut up and focus on it"

Doing as she says, I focus on the heartburn feeling I have deep inside me. The more and more I fixate on it, the stronger the burning gets. After half a minute, the pain starts getting intolerable and I have to stop. I'm sweating bullets now as well.

"*Huff, huff, huff* What… the hell *huff* is that?"

"What does it feel like?"

"*Huff* Like my *huff* heart is on fire"

"Fire huh? Makes sense… Now that you've experienced that feeling, try and move it through your body to the net surrounding you"

"I can't, that pain is too much"

"Try it again, it won't be as intense"

I reluctantly do as she says and continue to focus on it. Once I have it in focus, I try to move it slightly and it turns out, it's more difficult than I thought. Trying to pull it out is like trying to fight against gravity, it only wants to go to that one burning spot.

As I'm trying to move the fire burning inside me towards the net outside, I focus even harder on it than last time and suddenly something warm and bright surrounds my every direction.

"SHIT!"

A devastating fire envelops me and the net but is gone within a spilt of a second, the net completely disintegrates from it though.

"Wow… that was… unexpected"

Even a look of slight surprise appears on the battlemage's face, she clearly isn't completely emotionless, I think?

"The hell just happened?"

"You just experienced your first surge of magic, Ikarus. Even I'm slightly surprised that you're able to manifest fire so quickly but you are a bird of legend after all"

'This mage definitely knows more than she lets on but I'll ignore it for now. Status, I want to check my magicka'

[<-User- has unlocked sub-system ability -sacrificial lamb->]

'Another ability? Probably from starting to learn magic, tell me about it after this lesson, status again'

[Name: Ikarus | Species: Phoenix | Level: 12]

[Health 2,500/2,500]

[Stamina 2,117/2500]

[Magicka 666/1,000]

'That little fire used that much magic up? My stamina has depleted quickly as well, stress clearly does drain it faster'

While I was still on the floor looking at my stats, a finger approached my beak and went to flick me.

"Oi, what was that for?"

"I asked you not to use your ability"

The flick didn't exactly hurt but I'm still going to complain about it regardless.

"Why does it matter? It wasn't aimed at you; I was using it on myself"

"Doesn't matter, don't use it around me"

Before I had the chance to get up and complain further, her arm was lifted out and another net was summoned.

"Get out of another one now"

__________

'Damn that stupid woman'

While I'm walking through the forest with my bag on my back still in my bird form to my next lesson, I'm visibly irritated.

In the end, we ended up doing that stupid net thing four more times before my magicka ran out. I'm confused in how I was able to do it since I should have only been able to do it three times but my best guess is the more your practice it, it probably uses less up.

My temper really isn't good, need to think or something else on the way there.

'System, what was that new ability again?'

[<-User- has unlocked -sacrificial lamb- sub-system ability>]

'What's it do?'

[<Ability -sacrificial lamb- allows -user- to unlock exclusive high tier phoenix species abilities in exchange for points per level>]

'In exchange for points, I can buy abilities? What's the price?'

[<5,000>]

'Five thousand!?! Ten levels worth of points just to be thrown away like that? Once again, I knew this would end up being shit'

As usual, this system makes me optimistic and then throws it away.

[<-User- is wrong. Exclusive high tier phoenix abilities are extremely strong and effective>]

System's voice actually sounded slightly excited while saying this, never heard her robotic voice sound like that.

'I don't think I've heard you sound so excited on something, just how strong are some of these abilities?'

[<Potentially stronger than -user's- mother>]

'You're joking right?'

[<Negative>]

'You said potentially though?

[<Ability is randomized 1 from 20>]

'This is just a glorified loot box or gacha mechanic, isn't it? Ah, it doesn't matter, can't take the risk right now anyway. Losing nearly all of my points would be akin to suicide just for a lucky draw'

[<G.A.P agrees>]

"Your face keeps getting irritated like you're conversing with someone"

As I'm still walking through the woods, I purposely forgot to mention the mage is with me. Since I'm heading to the cabin she and the captain are residing in, it makes sense she would be with me.

"The ability you dislike so much, it speaks inside my head"

"What's it saying right now?"

I actually didn't expect her to believe that, that surprised me slightly.

"Heh… it's saying how irritating the person alongside me is"

[<-User- is speaking nonsense>]

"That's a lie, what's it really saying?"

Both these two are against me, I'm sure of it.

"We're just discussing on an ability I've unlocked. If I was to unlock it now, it would basically be suicide. Hey system, if I give you a name would you stop calling me user?"

I really don't know why I said that out loud, maybe I thought it would be funny to appear crazy in front of the mage but she seems to believe every word. It's kind of irritating actually.

[<-User- is obsessed with names>]

"I'm not obsessed with names; it's just calling you GAP is just unbelievably stupid and system is getting boring now"

"The voice inside your head is called GAP?"

"Hey, I didn't name it that. It stands for guidance advanced partner but I always call it system"

The mage then stops walking alongside me and looks confused on something.

"Oi, why you stop?"

"That voice, can it recognize me? If I was to ask it a question directly, would it give an answer?"

[<Affirmative>]

"Yeah, it just responded with -affirmative-"

I purposely said affirmative in the most robotic voice I could think off. Then, the usually expressionless mage's face lit up slightly if only for a brief second.

"You really have no idea what you have inside your head, do you Ikarus?"

"An annoying robotic wife?"

Wow, I was expecting a nasty response to me from system but didn't get one, I guess even it, is slightly interested in this conversation.

"Back in the mage tower in the capital, we've only ever heard rumors of systems and the like. All of them would involve extremely powerful people like dungeon masters, heroes and the worst of the lot… demons"

Her voice went a bit deeper while she was finishing what she was saying, she might have had a bad experience with a demon.

Hang on one second, I've just been given some extremely valuable information here, I need to investigate this further.

"Masters, heroes and demons?"

I should have asked about the mage tower and what the capital is like as well. Oh, I'll do that later.

"Dungeon masters are people or creatures who run dungeons, heroes ar-"

"Wait, wait! Explain in more detail. Give me more than just a dungeon master is someone who runs a dungeon!"

I had to cut her off there, she's just giving me an extremely basic explanation with no substance to it all. It's like when you play a video game, I'm the type of person who like to immersive themselves in the lore and all that good stuff, not just speed run the entire thing and miss out on loads.

"That's as much information as I have, I only said rumors so there isn't much on them"

Once again, I end up just wasting more time. I should just shut up sometimes.

[<G.A.P agrees>]

"Back to where I got to… heroes are humans or beastmen with extremely high strength or power, most of them reside in the capital when not in active duty or conflict. As for demons, they are a supposedly extinct race of creatures who at one point owned the human continent"

"Supposedly?"

"I've encountered one of them who also has a voice inside his head, I unfortunately had to exterminate him"

…

'Is it just chilly out here or is it just me? I shouldn't have to worry right? She would have killed me already if she intended to'

[<-User- is a coward>]

"System that's rude, as punishment for that last comment, I'm going to think of an actual name for you now"

Had to say that out loud, I reckon I can distract the depressed mage slightly. She looks fine but there was an awkward silence, she probably got on with that demon. Talking nonsense Ikarus, reporting for action!

"What did it say?"

"It told me to try and cheer up the flat chested mage, I know, it can be really rude sometimes"

As soon as I said that, an intense angry aura surrounded the mage. I don't know why, it was a joke, she's not even flat anyway.

Wait a second, she doesn't pack her bra, does she?

"Ikarus… you're going to enjoy tomorrow's lesson. It's going to be, quite the intense experience"

Intense experience? I can't even mock how weird that sounds because of her intense aura, she even got that terrifying fake smile similar to what mother has. God, why am I so stupid?

[<-User- deserves what's incoming>]

'Shut it, this is your fault. I'm still naming you regardless'

With my future self in for a world of pain, we continued to make our way to the cabin.