Over the past few days, Ain had been teaching Lillian Tier 4 magic.
The recent weekly magazines had also reported on the appearance of the giant dragon, but many people remained skeptical.
Aside from those who had personally experienced the event, very few had ever laid eyes on the mythical creature.
On the training ground in the backyard of the Lorenz family estate, Lillian was attempting to construct a Tier 4 magic circuit, only for it to collapse once again at a complex node.
Watching this, Ain couldn't help but sigh.
“Sigh...”
“Ugh! Can you stop sighing? It's so annoying!”
Lillian gripped her wand, her small face puffing up with annoyance as she glared at Ain.
It wasn't really her fault. After all, this was already the thirty-somethingth time Ain had sighed.
Anyone would get annoyed.
“Just let me practice for a few more days, and I'll definitely get it!”
“Sigh, it's not because of that. If anything, you're already improving incredibly fast...”
Lillian was slightly taken aback.
“Then why are you still...”
“Ah! Never mind, it's nothing! Just keep practicing on your own first!”
Lillian had no idea why Ain had been acting so strange lately.
Ain walked over to the seats at the edge of the training ground and sat down. He felt incredibly relieved when he thought about how Lillian had managed to construct parts of a Tier 4 magic circuit in just a few short days.
She was an absolute genius, without a doubt!
But it was precisely because Lillian's performance was so outstanding that Ain had been worrying about Erylin's growth over the past few days.
The bosses in the late-game couldn't be defeated by a single person.
Moreover, he still didn't know how to increase his own mana capacity.
Aside from doing that with Lillian, his only other option was to form a contract with a high-level magical beast.
Uh... doing that with a high-level magical beast?
Right now, there were only two high-level magical beasts Ain could think of.
Lola and that dragon.
He wasn't even sure if Lola was a magical beast, but judging by her emergency response that day, there was a good chance she was...
Ain shook his head, tossing all those unrealistic thoughts out of his mind.
Sleeping with Lillian only increased his mana capacity because of the Goddess's quest anyway!
He needed to stop thinking about this!
The final ending of this game was the total annihilation of all living beings in the world, with no survivors.
Naturally, cultivating combat power was of the utmost importance.
After wrapping up the events of Act Two, Ain had completely forgotten about one thing.
He began to recall the settings of the original game.
The main heroine of the original game, Erylin, possessed an extremely unique type of magic within her body that almost exclusively restricted her to ice-element magic.
Not only that, but she also had a natural affinity for ice magic.
However, Erylin's constitution was somewhat abnormal.
She must harbor intense emotions in order to make further progress in her magical mastery.
This restriction stemmed from the magic inside her body, the heirloom of the Lorenz family.
The Ice of Aret.
Only by using intense emotions to melt away the layers of frost within could she advance her strength.
Ain had always thought that with Lillian around as motivation, Erylin would easily advance from Tier 3 to Tier 4.
But when he went to see Erylin a few days ago, he found that she was still only able to use Tier 3 spells.
Ain guessed that Lillian surviving the ordeal had probably put Erylin's mind at ease.
Although Erylin was indeed practicing magic diligently, her inner emotions were nowhere near as intense as the grief brought by Lillian's death in the original storyline.
In Act Three, it was precisely because of Grace's death that Erylin's magical mastery had reached a higher level.
However, her personality had also become much more silent and withdrawn.
This game was essentially designed to make Erylin lose her loved ones in every single act, thereby accelerating her growth, only to subject her to the same grief in the next act, over and over again.
“So she basically needs trauma to level up...”
Ain grumbled, completely speechless at the game's design.
Happiness and power—she could only choose one.
If she absolutely needed an inner demon to boost her combat power, what was he supposed to do?
Have Lillian fake her death in front of Erylin?
“This is so annoying...”
“If the main heroine's power doesn't scale as fast as it did in the original game, how are we supposed to fight the late-game bosses...”
“What bosses?”
“Just game stuff. Sigh, even if I told you, you wouldn't... E-Erylin?!”
Ain was startled.
Erylin brushed her snow-white hair behind her ear and looked at him with a gentle smile.
“Hey, Ain...”
“Could you practice magic with me for a bit?”
...
Adela lightly stepped into the room carrying a plate of freshly sliced fruit.
Seeing her husband staring intently out the window, she was slightly surprised. She gently set the fruit plate on the table and asked softly,
“What's wrong?”
“Erylin is still hanging out so closely with that brat...”
“Damn it! Why didn't she come to her dad to practice magic? Her dad is Tier 5! Tier 5!”
Orion clutched his chest in sheer heartbreak, looking as if he were on the verge of tears.
Hearing that Erylin was with Ain, Adela couldn't help but sigh as well.
A few days ago, Erylin had suddenly told her that she didn't like Ain anymore, saying she wanted to let Ain find his own happiness, and told her mother never to bring it up again.
Seeing her daughter act like a completely different person made Adela quite worried.
Still, worrying was useless.
It wasn't her place to interfere in the children's affairs.
Watching the two preparing to duel on the training ground, Orion scoffed dismissively, “His stance is unstable and sloppy. He's really just a student after all...”
“Isn't Ain Tier 4?”
“So what if he's Tier 4? Look at how our daughter holds her wand—so proper, so elegant. Now look at him. Tsk tsk, his left hand is still shoved in his pocket!”
Remembering the state Erylin was in when she returned home the other day, Orion would have beaten Ain over the head a few times already if she hadn't repeatedly insisted that it had nothing to do with him and begged her father not to cause trouble.
Who does this kid think he is, making my daughter sad!
But now, Orion could only complain.
“With that sloppy attitude of his, I doubt he even knows many Tier 4 spells...”
With that, Orion picked up his tea and took a sip.
“Even though Erylin is only Tier 3, winning against him wouldn't be...”
“Pfft!”
As if he had just witnessed something utterly impossible, Orion spat his tea out instantly.
Adela was equally shocked by Ain's display.
“Ain... can cast magic without a wand?!”
Orion blinked, staring at his own right hand, before quickly blurting out, “That—that must be some kind of magic tool!”
“It's just a flashy, useless toy! The actual effect must be very...”
On the training ground, six magic circles materialized behind Ain.
Orion stared blankly at the six magic circles as his teacup slipped from his hand and shattered on the ground.
“Six?! And those circuits look like Tier 3... He can construct six Tier 3 spells simultaneously?!”
Realizing he had lost his composure, Orion quickly regained his calm and explained to Adela beside him, “Even if that magic tool is impressive, it's definitely not his own strength!”
“If he didn't have that magic tool, let's see how he'd...”
Before he could finish his sentence, Ain sent out vines across the training ground, snatching Erylin's wand away in an apparent bid to end the battle quickly.
However, just when Ain thought he had the upper hand, Erylin slowly raised her right hand. In an instant, extreme frost spread wildly from beneath her feet, turning into a violent blizzard rushing straight toward Ain.
In the blink of an eye, half of the training ground was swallowed by sharp ice spikes and thick frost, completely sealing Ain inside a block of solid ice.
This spell was undoubtedly within the Tier 4 range.
Watching this, Orion couldn't help but wonder.
Was wandless magic really that easy to learn?
That brat actually taught Erylin something like this?!
Suddenly, a thought so absurd crossed his mind that he could hardly believe it.
Maybe... I should ask him for advice too?
Seeing Erylin's overwhelming display, and recalling how depressed she had been the other day—allegedly because Ain was getting married to someone else—Lillian and Adela, watching from the sidelines, came to a sudden realization and cried out in shock at the same time.
“Is our daughter planning to crash the wedding?”
“Erylin, you aren't planning to crash the wedding, are you?”
Countless bolts of purple lightning crackled around him. A magical wolf instantly leaped out from Ain's shadow, shattering some of the ice.
Utilizing Mordred's purple lightning, Ain materialized a magic circle on his right hand as well, freeing himself from the ice.
As countless shards of ice crashed to the ground, Ain stood there in disbelief, holding the wand that belonged to the girl.
“So, this is what it feels like to cast magic without a wand?” Erylin giggled, looking at Ain with eyes full of anticipation.
“Hey, Ain, I did pretty well, right?”
“Ah, yeah, you did amazing...”
At this moment, Ain was completely dumbfounded.
He suddenly realized that in the first vision, when Erylin was holding his wrist, she didn't seem to be using a wand either.
How did Erylin improve so quickly?!
Lillian was still alive!
She didn't have any trauma!
Seriously, who made her mad this time?!
Rate on N.U.
