Chapter 16: A Well-Practiced Subjugation

Muttering under his breath, Bord stretched out his arm and whispered, “Shield, less mana. Shield, less mana. Shield, less mana,” before finally saying aloud, [Shield—Ha!]

A wall of ice about two meters tall and wide slowly materialized two meters in front of the dome.
It appeared much more sluggishly than his Ice Lance usually did—odd.

“Were you able to reduce the mana output?”

“No, feels about the same as usual. I can’t get it right immediately, but I’ll practice. Still, I didn’t think short chants would be this easy.”

“That’s because you’ve cast Shield so many times that saying the word alone now carries the same effect as a full chant.”

He was probably drawing mana from his inner reservoir down to his wrist.
He likely didn’t know about my method of dividing mana into a hundred parts—but there was no need to explain that far.
As long as he realized that magic could manifest using less mana than he was currently employing, he’d naturally start using less over time.
If he could already manage a short chant after one try, it wouldn’t take long for him to gain finer control of his mana.

“If you can learn to use less mana, you’ll also be able to do this.”

Extending my arm toward the outside of the dome, I cast [Whirlwind!] [Whirlwind!] [Whirlwind!] three times in a row, conjuring three mini twisters.

“Even for a short chant, that’s ridiculously fast.”

“You’re pulling mana from your arm up to your wrist, right? If you use less mana, you can ready the next spell faster.”

He probably couldn’t imagine that I was dividing my mana into a hundred tiny portions, but his explanation wasn’t wrong.
After telling him to move on to the next exercise once he could consistently reduce his mana output, I returned to my own dome.

I heard Bord’s voice faintly from next door, but I must’ve been more tired than usual from all the walking—I fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up to a disturbing presence.
Lifting my hood, I couldn’t see well in the dark, but the sense came from Olga’s direction.
Thinking a light might help, I activated one—less bright than a car’s high beams but strong enough to illuminate the area.

Between my dome and Olga’s… stood a massive fox sniffing the ground, raising its head when the light hit it.

Why the hell is there a fox bigger than a wolf out here?!

Suddenly, from the direction of the camp hut came several twanging bowstrings—hyun, hyun!
The giant fox jerked violently at each shot.
As expected of veteran adventurers—they’d been ready for this.

“Leon, why is it so damn bright over there? What is that?”

“Just a light.”

“Just a light?! You really are something else.”

“Whoa, that brightness nearly made me miss my target!”

“It’s too bright, isn’t it?”

“Tone it down a bit—we don’t want to attract more monsters.”

I gradually lowered the brightness, though I wished I could project it farther.
Despite all my practice with everyday spells, I could only manage a range of four meters, even with more mana.
Water could now fill about four-fifths of a wooden bucket—barely an improvement.
Flame reached about the size of a clenched fist and a half—useful for cooking, but not much else.
Still, I was glad that I’d at least mastered Refresh, an advanced version of Clean.

Early to bed and early to rise—that’s adventurer common sense.
It was still dark in the forest, so I boiled tea using a small Flame.

When Olga and Bord woke up, I poured them each a cup.
They looked at the kettle heating over the Flame and shook their heads in disbelief.

“Olga, how much capacity does your magic bag for spoils have?”

“It’s Rank 5. I added ten points to time dilation on top of the 5–10 base.”

“And the cost?”

“The 5–10 bag was seventy gold coins—7,000,000 dara. With the extra time dilation and handling fee, I paid eighty-two.”

So, for a 5–10 bag at seventy gold, adding twenty more to time dilation would make it ninety-two with fees.
If I combined that with what I’ve already deposited at the guild, I might be able to afford one in a month.

“So you’re not after big game then—you’re using a Rank 3 magic pouch?”

“Yes. But with a Rank 5 bag, you could even fit a small cabin inside, right?”

“Not satisfied with the dome?”

“It’s too damp when it rains. And in open fields, the sunlight is blinding.”

“True enough.”

“A cabin would make camping much easier. In this season, a small fire would keep it plenty warm. How are you producing that Flame, anyway?”

“I’ve been practicing since I first learned life magic. I wanted to see if I could strengthen it. Eight years of daily effort since I was nine—this seems to be my limit.”

“So you’ve tested running out of mana, then.”

“Yes. When it’s safe, I release all my mana before sleeping. Thanks to that, I wake from mana depletion faster now.”

“Has your mana increased?”

“I’m not sure—there’s no measuring board. But my recovery time definitely got shorter.”

“With your short-chant method, I can cast faster now. If I can learn to use less mana too, I’ll be able to use more spells overall. I’ll keep practicing that.”

Once everyone was up and breakfast was finished, I was again placed at the front as scout as we headed south.

That day, we found a group of five High Orcs.
Their position wasn’t ideal, so the party decided on an ambush and told me to hide my presence.

The seven burly men quietly slipped behind rocks and into bushes—and their presences completely vanished.
I’d never done anything like that before, so I awkwardly copied them, crouching in the tall grass.

I remembered reading somewhere that Tree Hiding meant blending with the forest through complete stillness and a clear mind, so I crouched down and whispered internally,
(I am a harmless little stone, just a pebble here…)

Then, damn it, the High Orcs changed course—straight toward where we were hiding.

The orcs passed right in front of the men without noticing them.
I could see them clearly, but that was probably because I knew where everyone was.

(I’m just a stone… just a stone…)

But then—the last High Orc locked eyes with me.

We stared at each other. It tilted its head curiously.

I conjured a small [Whirlwind!] before it, stirring up dirt from the ground and flinging it into its face.

The whirlwind floated up in front of the High Orc’s face, swirling around its head.
It panicked—but it was already too late.

The dust-laden whirlwind darkened, sucking up dirt from the ground and blinding the creature completely.
The startled High Orc rubbed its eyes furiously, while the four in front turned around in confusion.
Seeing this, I expanded the first whirlwind, letting it scoop up even more dirt from the ground.

Before the High Orcs could react to my movements, I enlarged the swirling wind and wrapped each of them in it, blinding them one after another.
Since they were so close, clouds of dust blew my way as well, so I conjured a [Whirlwind!] of clean air around myself to keep my vision clear.

The High Orcs, their eyes filled with dust, staggered helplessly in place.
As I wondered what to do next, I noticed Olga and the others staring at me with exasperated faces.

I wanted to tease them—so much for hiding yourselves in the trees—but instead, I simply beckoned them over.

“Well now, I saw you wrap them up in those whirlwinds, but what did you do afterward?”

“I let the whirlwinds suck up dust to blind them.”

“You really are skilled with magic… and creative, too. So, what’s the plan now?”

“They’re thrashing around too much. I’m not confident with a short spear, and my bow’s not much better, so I’ll leave the finishing blows to you.”

“Couldn’t you just keep spinning them around?”

“I could spin them until they die, but their noses start bleeding, and they end up a bloody mess. The guild would give me strange looks if I turned in monsters that were already drained of blood.”

A fall from being flung skyward wouldn’t leave a usable corpse either.
Best to let the muscle-bound warriors handle it this time.

“I’ll split the spoils with you—just finish them off, please.”

They obliged with weary smiles, dispatching the beasts, though they refused to take any share of the spoils.
The High Orcs were far too big to fit into my magic pouch, so I asked Olga and her team to store them in their magic bags.
…Yeah, I really should buy a Rank 5 magic bag soon.

Later, we encountered a nostalgic sight—a Black Bear.
This one was claimed by the Strongarm team, so I simply observed their subjugation.

Bord chose a stable patch of ground and cast a Shield, then conjured seven more in quick succession, arranging them in a semicircle.
Under Allen’s direction, the group split up—Maven and Delling moved out into the open to act as decoys, positioning themselves so the bear would charge toward the shields.

As soon as the Black Bear spotted them, it changed course.
The two bolted toward the semicircle of shields.

Hidden on either side of their path, Allen and Garv had their bows drawn, ready in case something went wrong.
At the front of the semicircle stood Olga and Bord, weapons ready to meet the charging beast as the two decoys ran between the shields.

When the bear came into view, Olga struck his short spear with a knife, producing a sharp ring, while Bord fired an Ice Bullet to provoke it.
Meanwhile, the others behind the shields shifted quietly into position for the takedown.

Olga faced the oncoming bear, raising his short spear and letting out a fierce battle cry.
He slowly backed up into the narrow gap between the shields—just wide enough for a person to pass through.
The Black Bear lunged into the semicircle, and in that instant, arrows flew in from both sides—and from Allen and Garv behind it.

Even with arrows buried in its hide, the bear roared and barreled straight for Olga.
He retreated through the shield gap, meeting it head-on with her spear.
The bear shoved an arm through the gap, growling savagely—but before it could push farther, more arrows struck, and an Ice Lance pierced deep into its flank.

Watching from inside my small dome, I kept alert for danger—but all I could do was marvel at their smooth, practiced method of subjugation.