Argent Slash

"I can make an art now?" the little girl asked. Dux can see the gleam in her eyes. She's vehemently wanting to do make one now.

"Yeah," the wizard nodded. "There are procedures if you want to make an art. ...But that's just gonna take you so long and it's a waste of precious time. So, I'll tell you how to make one swiftly."

Dux fixes his tilted hat. Afterwards, he shows how to create an art.

"First, open your status screen," he commanded by pointing his staff at her.

"Yes, sir!" Oria immediately checks her status.

<ORIA ARGENTORA>

LV: 1

HP: 404/404

MP: 8,896/10,000

--New skill available. AP bar is now accessible—

AP: 78

"What's a AP, Master Dux?" she politely asked while still having her eyes glued to the screen.

Dux just remembers he hasn't told her that yet. "Oh, that... AP stands for Art Points. It's the necessary points to use arts, pretty much like magic."

"Oh... I see. It makes it like the MP for using skills, isn't it?" she asked again.

"Not quite. The skill 'Weapon Witchcraft' uses MP too, because, well, duh, you use mana to create a temporary weapon. That's why right now, you have 8,896 mana points," Dux pointed out.

"My apologies, Master Dux, but I don't see any difference in them numbers..." said Oria.

"Well, it can't be helped. Your MP is so high that even if it just dropped by a hundred you won't notice it. You used roughly around 50 MP during our magic lessons, and another 50 MP during the skill developing session. Nyuhuhu, though I gotta be honest, it's no use to count how much you lose. It would be replenished by tomorrow."

"Is that so..."

"Anyhow, regarding the art-making process with MY way of doing it, you just simply need to think of a creative and relevant name to the skill you already have. After that, you try saying that name while using the weapon Witchcraft to seal the art name. Try do it now."

"A name for my art... I'm not too good at making names, Master Dux."

Dux toys around with his staff while playfully saying, "Bah, you came up with the name Argentora but you can't name your own art?"

"I-It's not like that... it's just that..." Oria tried to reason, but somehow, she couldn't come up with a good reason.

Dux strides near her while leaving his cane implanted on the ground. "Meh... fine, I guess I was a bit careless. I guess I should demonstrate how it's done."

"I have a skill named [Blessing of the Sun]. It's a passive skill that activates upon the sun's heat and light hitting the surface of my skin. With that, I decide to make an art for myself... hum... I want to make myself recover HP slowly, so I'll name it Sun's Gift."

Dux then takes out his wand and transforms it into a glowing white knife. He proceeds to make a tiny cut on one of his tentacles, which frightens the little girl near him.

"M-Master Dux, your tentacle...!" she said worriedly.

"Ah, thank you for your concern, Oria. I'm okay. Now, I'll activate my new art!"

Wizard Dux uses 20 points of AP and shortly, a faint golden flaming light falls upon him. From the sun's direct shine, the tiny cut he made earlier slowly rejuvenates until there's no injury anymore.

<Sun's Gift art learned!>

Dux then opens his status screen. He shows his skill tree to Oria, but only limiting the Sun's Gift art and the correlating skill to display to her.

"You see here? I just made an art using the Blessing of the Sun skill. It's now stored as one of my arts named Sun's Gift. That's how I make an art. Now, you try. ...Oria?"

The little girl is bewitched by how full the wizard's skills are. Despite all of them being shrouded except the previous skill he used, Oria is still fascinated by those hundreds if not thousands of skills. The art list itself is also shrouded but showing tons of them.

Realizing this, Dux shuts down his status screen. Oria's fascination is shattered by the surprise of the squid wizard's scary face in front of her eyes.

"...Eeek! O-Oh, I'm so sorry!"

"Nyuhuhuh, I guess I shouldn't've shown you that yet. Anyhow, try to make an art now."

"R-Right..."

Oria closes her eyes and remembers the skill she just learned.

"(...I have the [Weapon Witchcraft] skill now. I can make a glowing knife with it, but it's just temporary. I actually want to make a permanent one, where I can reuse the knife as much as I want without worrying it reverting to a useless wand. No... I think that's a bit too hard.

Maybe for now, I should try swinging that magical knife and see if I can make an art out of it. I wonder if I can make a silvery slash like those in the comic book 'she' showed me back then... it looked awesome. So... I guess I will name it 'Argent Slash'.)"

Oria points her wand forth. She focuses mana unto it and transforms it into a glowing white knife. Then, with the imagination in mind, she tries to replicate an action from a comic story she read before. The radiant knife is swung in a vertical arc, conjuring silver glowing slash in its wake.

A second later...

<Argent Slash art learned!>

<AP cost: 20>

<Description: Deliver a blow into the air that sends off a powerful arching silver slash.>

The little girl successfully developed an art.

"I did it...? I did it! Yaaay! Master Dux! Look! I have an art now! Master Du—"

"—Nyuuuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhu~ I'm so proooouud of you!!!"

Surprisingly, the wizard turns emotional. He's incredibly thrilled by her achievements. But woe is his, Oria couldn't tell whether he's snubbing her art or legitimately crying. Though shortly, Oria realizes he complimented her when he said he's proud of her.

"Thank you, Master Dux! I'm really happy to be taught by you!"

"Nyuhuhu—wait, why are you sounding like you're going to graduate?"

"Pardon me? I don't get what you mean... well, anyway, I just want to say I'm grateful for your kindness to teach me! I'm really, really happy."

"O-Oh. Haha. No worries. It's in my interest to help, anyway."

Oria enjoys a series of laughs, joyous moments with the wizard as she feels like she just grasped upon a new height she never thought she'd reach. But that happiness pops off like balloon, as a danger creeps up near them.

*ROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRR!!!*

A loud, deafening roar destroyed their fun atmosphere. It came from somewhere nearby. Almost instantly, the joyful face from the little girl melts into a frightened, fearful child. She somehow remembers that monstrous voice from somewhere. Immediately, she takes shelter behind the wizard.

"(Ah... that's right... it was a monster's sound when I was trying to escape...)" she thought in her mind, trembling as she reminisced that time. She dares not look, burying her face in the wizard's clothing. She doesn't even care the bulges made by his tentacles. She just wants to hide.

Dux steadily takes a defensive stance, making sure that the little girl shall receive no harm.

"(It's that monster again...)" Dux thought while calmly summoning his staff. The wizard cane flies back to his tentacle arm.

"Master Dux..." Oria sounded scared.

"Nyuhuhuhu~" out of the blue, he giggled. "I had an idea... but I don't think big boy Faruk would like it. After all, you're still at the base level."

"Wh-What do you mean...?"

Before even the wizard gives answer, the monster jumps out of the forest, roaring wildly, and ultimately lands before the two.

The monster looks like a tiger but has a large body and a pair of incredibly long horn. Its eyes are blazing red sclera with a gold iris. The wild stare it gave intimidates those who dare look at it. Its fur is dark red, patterned with black stripes that of a normal tiger.

Shortly, the nightmare-looking tiger charges at them, but ultimately blocked by a magical hexagon barrier. It keeps attacking them. The impact is severe, causing a relentless series of sparks whenever the monster attacks.

"Eeep!" Oria hid her face deeper.

Even so, the magical barrier around Dux and Oria shined, undamaged even by the slightest.

"Fear not, little one. With this passive skill of mine, no physical damage will land on me and those I consider friendlies."

"Uuuh..." Oria sounded still scared.

"Nyuhuhuhu... I guess this might be a good opportunity," the wizard has an idea. "Oria. I'll gift you with [Appraisal] skill. Use it to see that monster's status," Dux stated casually.

"Wh-Whaaat!? N-No way! I can't do it! Please!" the child panicked.

"Oh? You've seen a giant dragon that was one of the world's caretakers, Oria. He's one of the world's most feared creature, but you don't fear him. Are you going to fear that tiger, a creature that's far inferior to him!?"

Dux tries to inspire her, pushing her not to be afraid.

"Faruk and that creature are two different creatures!" Oria cried. "Just by near it makes me feel really scared... please don't force me, Master Dux..."

Dux lets out a long sigh. He just realizes it again. No matter what happens... Oria is still an eight-year-old child. A little girl that requires protection and support from all dangers of the world. Not to mention her unstable psyche, worsened by the intimidation that that monster's letting out.

"Good grief... I guess it's a bit too early for her, eh?" Dux fixes his hat position again. "I'm sorry, Oria. Forgive me for forcing you to do the impossible."

"...Nng." Oria nodded.

"But still, I need to take care of that thing. If you cannot look at that monster, then you just need to focus your eyes on me. Is that clear?" Dux stated.

"What...?" Oria didn't understand.

"As I told you..." he peeked a little to her cute teary eyes. "Don't look elsewhere except at me. Easy, right? That monster is hideous for your cute eyes to look at. So, why not look at me instead?"

"...I'll... I'll try. P-Please be careful...!"

Reluctantly, she lets go of her grip. She doesn't want to, but if what she's doing is causing trouble, she realizes Faruk might go angry. After all, the Silver Dragon's main command to her was to not cause any trouble to anyone.

Somehow, the sense of loneliness flow into her when she let her tiny hand lost grip of the wizard. But that feeling is overshined by the voice of the squid wizard in front of her.

He calls her name, gallantly.

"Oria. Facing these kinds of creatures may be something that you're going to do in the futurem like it or not. But today, you stand as my pupil and ultimately, the protege of the Silver Dragon. Taking on this creature isn't something you should do yet. It's too early. So, this time, leave it to me."

In the end of his inspiring voice, he holds his staff like a two-handed sword. He places it above his shoulder. The tiger monster keeps on trying to breach the barrier, but to no avail. The magical hexagon wall is unscratched.

"Observe, Oria! This... is the pinnacle of Weapon Witchcraft!"

From the orb of his staff, protrudes a glowing, radiant blade about seven feet long. It gives out a sense of majesty, apex of strength, and most of all, the form of beauty itself. It's glow somewhat feels like the sun. Just by standing near it can be felt its warmth.

"...Combined with the Blessing of the Sun... and you'll GET...!"

Sqidral Dux swings that magical sword in a horizontal arc in a blink of an eye. Blinding light covers the region. The slash leaves a mix of multiple hues, much like rainbow conjured from it. That colorful slash completely exterminated the tiger monster, not slicing it in half, but disintegrating it entirely to nothingness.

Fueled by the power of the sun, the slash burns everything in its path, melting and exploding the ecosystem in its wake. It's so strong that the only thing remains is nothing but a scorching crater. The field in front of Dux and a few trees were born victim to the wizard's mind-blowing attack.

In a refined deep voice, almost evil-like, Dux says:

"This is... [Sol Zanber] ...The Sun Blade."

Little Oria witnessed the calamitous attack Dux gave. It feels more like she just watched a disaster unfolding and seeing the aftermath of it immediately. She realizes how far otherworldly Dux is. It will be something that she'll not forget anytime soon.