Training

"I'm here!"

I smile a little at Eli, who walks inside the training ground with her training clothes. Today is the day I teach Eli how to do some magic.

"Good. Now, first thing first. What do you know about mana?"

"Mana is the energy needed to cast spells."

"Half correct. Mana is one of the energies inside our bodies. It can be used as a fuel for our spell and attack, not only that, but we can also use it to make our physical power grow faster."

"Huh?"

"Do you know the reason why a person with a massive mana pool is considered a powerful person?"

"Because they can cast more spells than the other?"

"Not really. The reason is that Mana enchants our bodies every single day. It is common knowledge. While the growth of our muscles is not noticeable, it does grow stronger. The magicians in the Tower of Magic are lazy people. They think that just because their mana will make their physical power grow, they decide not to train their body."

"I see."

"Mana also increases our immunity to disease and poison. So yeah, mana is not only important to cast spells but also important for our growth."

"Understood"

I take out the old wand I got from the goblins. I did not need it anymore. After I got Star Rune, I did not need it anymore. My control over my magic has improved tremendously.

"Take this."

"Is that really a magic wand? Like a Harry Potter kind of wand?"

"Yup. Now, give it a flick."

I can see the wand shine a little before it goes back to its original state. It looks like the wand accepts Eli. The goblins are telling the truth. Anyone, including a creature, can use all wands made of Mithril.

"Good. Now, push a little bit of your mana into the wand."

"How?"

"Close your eyes. Take a deep breath and feel what is inside your body. Feel the ball of energy in the middle of your body. Can you feel it?"

"En"

"Good. Now, guide a little bit of that energy into your arms. Let it flow like water in the river."

I smile a little when I see blue energy appear on Eli's right hand.

"Open your eyes."

"Woah!"

"That is your mana. You push it a little too much, but it is good enough for a beginner. Now, let us do something simple. Let us do a levitation charm."

"Like in Harry Potter?"

"Correct."

I conjure a table and chair. I take a pebble on the ground and place it on the table.

"Errrr, are you sure I'm ready to levitate this pebble? In Harry Potter, they need a feather, and even with only a feather, many of them cannot do that."

"We are not in the Harry Potter universe, Eli. We are in our own world. While you can still use the spell from the Harry Potter world here, we have different mana qualities. In this world, we have thick mana in the air. Not only that, but our people also did not do incest like the one in the Harry Potter world. Now come on. You know the Incantations, right?"

"Yes. Wingardium Leviosa!"

Eli frowned a little when she saw the pebble did not levitate and only moved a little bit.

"See?"

"You are not using your imagination. Chants & Incantations is self-hypnosis. It creates an image inside your mind, and your mana does the rest. What a spell truly needs is imagination and the will to do it. Now do what you did when you call up your mana."

Eli's hand started releasing blue energy once again, but this time, it was a little more transparent than before. Good. It looks like she is learning.

"Good. Now imagine the pebble in front of you floating in the air. Imagine it flying into the air."

I smirk a little when I see the pebble float in the air.

"Open your eyes and see the result."

I can see her eyes widen up when Eli sees the pebble float in the air. She moves the wand to the left, and the stone follows the wand movement.

"As you can see, you did not need Chants & Incantations to perform a spell. There is a spell that needs Chants & Incantations to perform it, but it was a high-level spell, as right now, there is no need for it. Now let us move to the second spell! Softening charm. Softening charm is an essential charm you can learn in an instant. As its name suggests…."

~A week later~

"Bombarda Maxima!"

I dodge the spell and feel the boulder behind exploded by the spell Eli cast.

"Good! However, you still need to use chant! It makes you not aware of your surroundings!"

I activate the trap that I already planted behind Eli. A second later, tree roots appear from the ground and bind her with the root.

"Awareness dear, awareness. There is a reason why I teach you how to sense the surroundings around you."

"Urgh. I know, but it is hard to do it at the same time."

"I know. That is why we are training, aren't we?"

I let her out from the tree root and see her take the wand from the ground.

"That is for today's training. I think tomorrow you will train with Lucina, am I right?"

"Yup. I still need to train my swordsmanship."

"Good. If there is nothing else, you can go back inside. I still need to do a small inspection in the port."

"En. Have fun there!"

With that, I walk away from the training room with Richard on my side. On our way to the port, I remember there is a problem in the south.

"Richard, tell me the problem of the fake bandits."

"Ah… The Dark Elves have already taken care of it, my lord."

"Oh? Really? Tell me about this."

"Very well"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

|3rd POV|

Cicero Landolp looked at the map in front of him. His lord Phineas Frederick ordered him and a few thousand of the army to become a bandit. Cicero did not mind becoming a bandit because he did not have an honor like other knights like him.

The only thing he wants in life is the thrill of killing, gold, and a woman.

By agreeing to become a bandit for his lord, he can fulfill all his desires. Killing, gold, and woman. All of them are right in front of him, and the only thing he needs to do is take them.

Phineas gets information from his spy network that says there is a clearing near the forest where he can send his army to raid the city in Lionheart Duchy. However, what he did not know is that that information is false information sent by Richard shadow.

"How is it?"

"The information is correct, sir. There is really a clearing in this area where we can march our troops unnoticed."

"Good. Order the other we will move in a few seconds."

"Sir!"

Cicero put down the map and placed it inside his pocket. He cannot hold back his grin when he thinks about the Elves he can enjoy and the gold he can rob from the same elves. He hears that Dark Elves have a tight cunt, and he cannot wait to taste it.

"Move out!"

They slowly march toward the hidden pathway surrounded by thick forest. Cicero and his seven hundred men will march toward the clearing where they will make a camp, waiting for the sun to set before they do their raid in the blanket of darkness.

However, as they continue to march deeper and deeper into the forest, they begin to have a feeling of dread the more they march deeper into the forest. As they march deeper, they begin to hear someone whispering to their ears.

"You have been cursed… You have been cursed…."

That word continues to ring inside their head. Slowly but surely, the people begin to lose their minds. Many people begin to see an illusion of a monster eating their body from the leg to their head.

"AHHH! Get away from me!"

The people that see this vision take out their swords and begin attacking their fellow fake bandits. While the others are attacking each other, Cicero has something worse. He is cursed by the ward Isaac created.

Right now, he is tormented inside his mind for who knows how long. This curse is like Tsukuyomi. An Eternal illusion. Inside this illusion, time moves really slow. One second on the outside is equal to one year on the inside.

Right now, Cicero has been tormented for more than a hundred years.

As for the rest of his men? They have been trapped inside the illusion the Dark Elves created. Seeing the number of fake bandits has decreased, the Dark Elves swoop in and kill the rest of them.

Just like that, seven hundred men are killed before they can even see their target.