Southern Outskirts of Solria, Adventurer’s Guild Training Field No. 3 (Kyle POV)

“Guess we’re back here again. Haha...” (Kyle)

I let out a sardonic chuckle and scratched the back of my head awkwardly after greeting Regnis and Sophie who were standing by the gate to the training field that I rented for this next week from the Adventurer’s Guild. Two days had passed since I started helping Mari with the tournament preparations, and it was now the beginning of week two of Professor Kyle’s now downgraded training camp. The sun was high in the sky directly above us, which meant it was almost about to be noon as I walked over to the two of them before unlocking the gate. And despite the fact that we were technically on break, it was starting to feel more and more like a normal day of class as I showed up a bit late like I always did. Although, this time it wasn’t on purpose.

“Sorry if I kept you two waiting. I got caught up with the tournament preparations and lost track of time.” (Kyle)

A short sigh of disappointment left my mouth before Sophie replied.

“Honestly, it wasn’t too long of a wait.” (Sophie)

“It was bearable.” (Regnis)

“Yeah, but what’s about to be unbearable is my hunger… What are we going to have for lunch?” (Sophie)

Regnis silently nodded as if he was reaffirming Sophie’s claim while she stared at me with twinkling anticipation in her eyes.

It seemed like the small break I gave them only made them yearn even more for my cooking, but thankfully over the break I’ve also had some time to think about the ethicality of dangling tasty food in front of them as a reward and I’ve come to the conclusion that what’s done is done. I’m no moral paragon in the first place, and if you think about it, it’s all to their benefit in the end. They’re growing stronger super fast while getting to eat tons of delicious food along the way. Besides, I’m sure that delicious food is as good a motivation as any to get stronger.

Well anyway, I’ve already come too far with the carrot and without the stick, so I might as well commit fully to the carrot! Or I guess in my case it would be some delicious carrot stew...

“We might have a bit of a downgrade in terms of our training area, but one benefit of being near the Capital is that we don’t have to worry about what ingredients we have since the market’s nearby too. So lunch can be whatever you want it to be as long as I can cook it.” (Kyle)

It seemed like that gave them quite a shock as the moment I told them they could have whatever they wanted, they both stood there for a moment in absolute silence while deep in thought about what to have for lunch.

The first one to speak again was Sophie, although it was more like a soft mutter at first as she continued to stare into space.

“... Everything has tasted plain recently… the only thing that came close was that steak… but even that wasn’t the same, and it was from some famous chef or something... so… what would a steak cooked by Professor Kyle taste like?...” (Sophie)

I could already see the drool leaking out of Sophie’s mouth as she muttered to herself about steak before finally, she made her decision and wiped the drool away.

“... Steak. I want a steak with roasted potatoes on the side!” (Sophie)

A pair of eyes sparkling with a mixture of excitement and determination were reflected in my own eyes as Sophie brightly exclaimed her order for lunch.

“I guess it’ll be grilled chicken skewers for me.” (Regnis)

Regnis’ cool voice followed shortly after Sophie’s lively outburst, and I thought about their requests for a moment before replying with a smile.

“A steak with roasted potatoes on the side and some grilled chicken skewers, right? Sure, no problem. They’re both relatively simple meals to cook.” (Kyle)

After confirming their requests, I took a quick glance at the landscape past Sophie and Regnis.

The training field that the Adventurer’s Guild lent me had a bit more of a clean and practical feel compared to the rocky clearing we were at last week. To me though, it was a welcome change from the stuffy office I was just stuck in for the last few hours. Looking around, you could see the outline of the capital city in the distance, yet it was quiet and the air around here felt pretty clean despite being so close to a major city.

It’s not exactly the same, but... I guess this feeling of a fresh start isn’t so bad.

“Well, it looks like we won’t have the same cozy, campfire atmosphere we had before, but on the bright side, I can use my own kitchen this time. So today’s lunch will probably end up a lot tastier than the simple campfire cooking I was doing before.” (Kyle)

“Eh? Tastier?” (Sophie)

Sophie’s eyes lit up even more the moment I mentioned the word ‘tastier,’ and this time even Regnis’ normally stern demeanor cracked a bit as his head perked up a bit in anticipation, but after a moment, Sophie managed to settle down before clearing her throat.

“Ahem. So what do we have to do to earn lunch today?” (Sophie)

The determination in her voice was clear as day, but in stark contrast to her rigid resolve, I just replied with a slightly lazy tone in my voice as I waved nonchalantly.

“To be honest, I didn’t have much planned for today so I guess I’ll cut you two a break this time.” (Kyle)

“Wait, really!?” (Sophie)

Sophie’s eyes widened in shock like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing as Regnis stood there with a bewildered look on his face.

“... We’re not running across the field a few hundred times like usual?” (Regnis)

“Nope.” (Kyle)

“Not even push-ups? Or are we going to push a big rock around like that one time?” (Sophie)

“... I already said you don’t need to do anything, didn’t I?...” (Kyle)

“So we’re just doing nothing for our lunch?” (Sophie)

“Well, I guess we'll have to go buy the ingredients before I can cook, but that shouldn’t take too long. We can probably buy everything and make it to my house in half an hour. Come on, let’s go.” (Kyle)

I pointed in the direction of the path back to the capital city before starting to walk back. And after a moment, it seemed like Sophie and Regnis finally accepted the fact that they would be getting a bit of a break today as they followed behind me, albeit with slightly hesitant expressions.

“It feels kind of weird not having to do anything...” (Sophie)

“Yeah…” (Regnis)

Royal Academy, Academy Training Gymnasium (Zane POV)

Finally! This is it!

I couldn’t help but feel excited as I followed Master Sylfey into one of the school’s training gymnasiums, and with every step I took, the drab office atmosphere that enveloped me a few minutes ago evaporated a little more from the passionate flames of my determination.

I quickly took a deep breath before taking in the new change of scenery with an exhilarated grin on my face.

After everything that I’ve suffered through… I’ve finally made it to my original objective! I might be a bit late to the starting line, but that doesn’t mean I’m out of the race yet. Halbert. Regnis. Just you two wait. I swear I’ll dash past you both with all I’ve got, even if it’s the last thing I do! It’s finally my turn to start catching up!

My soul was on fire as I followed behind Master Sylfey to the middle of the empty gymnasium before she turned around and called out to me to grab my attention.

“Alright, now that we’re here, I guess it’s finally time to start teaching you wind magic. Are you ready?” (Mari)

“Yes, Master Sylfey!” (Zane)

I replied with a sense of anticipation in my voice while giving Master Sylfey a firm salute.

“Good. Then first we’ll start with a little lecture.” (Mari)

“Eh?... Wait! A lecture!?” (Zane)

It was like my enthusiasm ran right off the side of a cliff as my heart dropped upon hearing the word ‘lecture.’

“Of course. How am I going to teach you if you don’t even understand the basics?” (Mari)

“Uh, I already know the basics though… Can’t we just skip the lecture and move onto some more practical training? I may not look like it, but I’m a decently experienced mage, you know.” (Zane)

I was about to break out into a bit of a tirade about my accomplishments in magic when Master Sylfey cut me off.

“I’m not talking about the basics of magic, you moron. Since you were accepted into the Royal Academy in the first place, I’m confident that you know at least that much. What I’m going to talk about right now is the basic principle behind【Zephyr Gyre】.” (Mari)

Master Sylfey pointed at me as the annoyed look on her face subsided a bit, but I just stared back in confusion.

“The basic principle behind【Zephyr Gyre】?” (Zane)

“Zane, do you know what the most powerful aspect of wind magic is?” (Master Sylfey)

After asking me that, the expression on Master Sylfey’s face slowly transformed into a more serious one as I stood there stumped by her sudden question.

What? The most powerful aspect of wind magic?

“Uh… Wind magic is usually pretty fast compared to other elements of magic, isn’t it?” (Zane)

I gave her my best answer after racking my head for a bit, but Master Sylfey just stared at me like I was an idiot for a moment before letting out a disappointed sigh.

“Wrong. Not even close… It’s true that wind magic is generally pretty fast, but there are other types of magic that can be just as fast or faster than wind magic. The correct answer is its ability to be manipulated. Wind magic has a strong emphasis on control, and【Zephyr Gyre】is the epitome of that emphasis on control. It is a spell that relies almost completely on your ability to manipulate wind-element mana.” (Mari)

Master Sylfey held her hand out with her palm facing up towards the sky before three magic circles appeared in the palm of her hand and began to spin rapidly in unison. It was almost instant as the air in our surroundings converged into the shape of a spinning ball of wind, which was then gently held by Master Sylfey. It was a third-circle【Zephyr Gyre】.

“【Zephyr Gyre】is based on rotation in particular, and maintaining each and every gust of wind spinning in it takes a level of fine mana control equivalent to simultaneously casting several spells. You have to control it all in unison otherwise…” (Mari)

The perfectly spinning ball of wind in Master Sylfey’s palm suddenly exploded outward in a violent burst of wind mid-way through her sentence as I flinched a bit in surprise.

“... the whole thing shatters, but since you were able to evolve【Zephyr Gyre】to third-circle. I assume you’ve already experienced this multiple times." (Mari)

I slowly nodded in response as I remembered the sleepless night of grueling practice I had just gone through recently to be able to barely advance to third-circle. My【Zephyr Gyre】had popped exactly like that too many times to count!

“It’s simple in theory, but extremely difficult in practice. Although, depending on how skilled you are at controlling mana… something like this isn’t out of the realm of possibility.” (Mari)

The second Master Sylfey finished speaking, six magic circles appeared in the palm of her hand. They spun even faster than before as wind from every corner of the room once again instantly spiraled and converged into a sphere to form a sixth-circle【Zephyr Gyre】.

What!? T-That’s insane! A chantless sixth-circle wind spell just like that!?

The【Zephyr Gyre】in front of me was on a completely different level compared to the third-circle one before.

The rotation of this sixth-circle【Zephyr Gyre】was multiple times faster than the previous one at a minimum and I had to raise my arms to brace myself against the raging wind just passively emanating from it. But before I could even think about how powerful a ‘pop’ from a sixth-circle【Zephyr Gyre】would be, Master Sylfey canceled the spell, and the sphere abruptly dissipated into nothingness before Master Sylfey continued.

“Of course, something like that is only possible after you’ve mastered your control of wind-element mana though. In your case, you’re only just barely able to reach third-circle with your【Zephyr Gyre】and casting it is all you can do. You have no idea how to even fight with it. So our first order of business is teaching you how to use【Zephyr Gyre】in combat.” (Mari)

Master Sylfey cast【Zephyr Gyre】one more time as she started another demonstration, but this time, it was just first-circle. A gentle ball of wind rested in the palm of her hand as she started to explain how to use【Zephyr Gyre】effectively.

"【Zephyr Gyre】naturally takes the shape of a sphere since that’s the shape that makes it the easiest to conserve rotation in a three-dimensional space, however, that doesn’t mean it always has to be a sphere. By controlling the flow of the wind within the sphere you can change its shape, size, and its method of usage. For example, expanding it into a barrier around you would be the basics of using【Zephyr Gyre】defensively.” (Mari)

The magic circle in the palm of Master Sylfey’s hand disappeared before reappearing on the ground beneath her. It continued to rotate slowly as the ball of wind in her hand suddenly expanded outward to form a thin shell around her. The barrier made of her【Zephyr Gyre】honestly seemed fragile like I could break it just by waving my arm around a bit in the opposite direction of the wind, but despite that, my intuition told me not to underestimate the familiar green glimmer of wind-element mana that flickered in between the gentle-looking gusts along with the serious glint in Master Sylfey’s eyes.

“When using【Zephyr Gyre】like this, you can block attacks from any direction, however, keep in mind that spreading it out like this will make it weaker, so if you can react in time or you know in advance where an attack is coming from, shifting the wind and condensing the rotation to a small area will be much more effective.” (Mari)

The magic circle once again disappeared from the floor beneath Master Sylfey before reappearing vertically in front of her as the winds swirled around in front of the magic circle to form the shape of a small, circular shield.

“The more you condense the rotational force, the stronger it will be, but keep in mind that it will also be harder to control.” (Mari)

I stood there and took a moment to process all the new information I had just been given before gripping my fist in anticipation as the shield of wind in front of Master Sylfey reformed into its initial shape of a small sphere in the palm of her hand.

“Alright, I think I understand.” (Zane)

“Ok. Then let’s move on. Next, I’ll teach you how to make【Zephyr Gyre】evolve.” (Mari)

“Eh? But wait, I already know how to make it evolve. I got it to third-circle already. All you have to do is keep building up rotation with more and more gusts of wind.” (Zane)

“That's technically correct, but let me ask you this. How do you gather that rotational force?” (Mari)

“How? You just make more gusts of wind and add them to the spell, right?” (Zane)

“Well, that’s the simplest method, but it’s also the most inefficient method that takes the most mana since you’re the one generating all that rotational force from nothing.” (Mari)

“Wait, but how else can you generate that kind of rotational force if you’re not going to use more gusts of wind?” (Zane)

I looked at Master Sylfey with a confused look on my face, but she just let out another sigh of disappointment before continuing.

“Think about it, you idiot. The wind itself is not what you’re after, it’s the rotational force! The wind is just the medium you’re using to hold that rotational force, and there are plenty of sources of rotational force. Even other forms of force like a straight impact can be converted into rotational force, so why should you take the difficult route of manually generating it if you don’t have to? Just take the force from another source, like an opponent's attack, and convert it into your own to add to your【Zephyr Gyre】. That’s the most efficient way to gather rotational force and make【Zephyr Gyre】evolve.” (Mari)

“What!? That’s possible!? Isn’t that basically an unbreakable shield then? It’ll even make you stronger when it blocks an attack!” (Zane)

My mind was flooded with shock as I thought about how strong it would be if I could absorb anyone else’s attack.

“Oi, be careful of thinking that way. While it is a strong defense, it is not a perfect one. The kind of complete nullification you’re thinking of isn’t so easy. There is a limit to how fast you can convert the impact of an attack into rotational force and even how fast you can gather gusts of wind to hold that force. So if you try to absorb an attack that is beyond your limits, you’ll definitely still take a good portion of that attack directly. Also, depending on what kind of attack it is, the effectiveness of【Zephyr Gyre】can vary. However, the easiest kind of attack to absorb is wind magic since you can absorb both the force and the wind from a wind spell. Here, I'll show you. Zane, shoot a wind spell at me.” (Mari)

“E-Eh? Right now?” (Zane)

I let out a surprised exclamation as Master Sylfey suddenly requested that I attack her with a wind spell.

“Yeah, what are you waiting for? Weren’t you the one who wanted to speed things up in the first place?” (Mari)

“... Alright then.” (Zane)

The surprised look on my face slowly morphed into a serious one as I took out my staff before channeling some wind-element mana through it.

“Ethereal wind of this endless sky, I command thee, become the swiftest arrow that pierces my foes!【Storm Arrow】!” (Zane)

Two magic circles appeared at the tip of my staff and an arrow made of wind shot out towards Master Sylfey, but right as it was about to reach her, the【Zephyr Gyre】in her palm spread out to form a barrier around her again. Then, right as my arrow of wind made contact with the seemingly fragile barrier, it was almost like it just disappeared as a small burst of wind was released from the point of impact before suddenly, another magic circle appeared on top of the first one on the floor. The barrier of wind surrounding Master Sylfey was now spinning faster, and you could tell at a glance that it was thicker than before as Master Sylfey stood in the middle of that barrier completely unfazed.

“Did you see what happened, Zane?” (Mari)

I could hardly believe my eyes as she recompressed the barrier back into a small sphere before she stopped casting the spell, making that sphere dissipate.

“Yeah. That was incredible.” (Zane)

The excited smile slowly returned to my face as I put away my staff before thinking to myself that maybe this lecture wasn’t so bad. But little did I know, in a few minutes, I would be heavily regretting not asking for a longer lecture...

“Alright. Now, it’s your turn.” (Mari)

“Eh?... M-My turn!?” (Zane)

“You wanted to get the lecture over with fast and move onto some practical training, right? Well, coincidentally so do I. It’s a lot more fun than me just explaining everything to you. Judging by the time we have left though, I won’t be able to teach you much about the offensive uses of【Zephyr Gyre】before the tournament starts so we’ll just skip that and focus completely on raising your defense for now.” (Mari)

Master Sylfey had a mischievous smirk on her face as she held out her hand and chantlessly cast the same spell I just shot at her earlier,【Storm Arrow】, before quickly explaining the practical training to me while the arrow of wind that emerged from the two magic circles hovered quietly in the air.

“We’ll be starting with some weak spells like【Storm Arrow】, but it won’t be very effective training if we just keep it easy all the time, so once you get the hang of it, we’ll be moving on to more powerful spells. Oh, and by the way, if we break anything, you’ll be fixing it yourself after the tournament ends. So for your sake, try your best to absorb the spells completely.” (Mari)

“W-Wait, I’m not ready yet! At least let me cast【Zephyr Gyre】first!” (Zane)

“Well, hurry up then. We’re losing precious training time.” (Mari)

“W-Wind of eternity, break free and spiral beyond this endless sky!【Zephyr Gyre】!” (Zane)

I yelled out in a panic as I quickly pulled my staff out again before scrambling to cast【Zephyr Gyre】. Despite my best efforts to quickly build up my【Zephyr Gyre】to third-circle though, I didn’t even get enough time to take a good look at the sadistic smile on Master Sylfey’s face before she let out an evil-sounding chuckle while firing the【Storm Arrow】at me.

And from that point onwards, the only sounds that would come out of the gymnasium for the rest of the day were my panicked screams, the sound of small explosions, and some faintly maniacal laughter.

Southern Outskirts of Solria, Adventurer’s Guild Training Field No. 3 (Kyle POV)

“Alright, we’re back.” (Kyle)

It was finally time to restart the training camp as I turned around triumphantly to face Regnis and Sophie. I expected to see my enthusiastic students replying with gusto and a burning determination to get stronger, but unfortunately, things don’t always work out like you want them too, and what actually greeted my high expectations was… let’s just say a bit far from my initially high expectations.

“Hehe~” (Sophie)

Sophie was standing in front of me blissfully giggling to herself with a satisfied smile on her face while Regnis seemed to be deep in thought as he held his chin and muttered an entire monologue to himself with a shocked expression on his face.

“... When he said we would eat at his house, I thought for sure it would be something along the lines of a small, cozy home, not a mansion! The style of the mansion was a bit old, but I’ve heard that having an old style of architecture can sometimes add a level of antique value to a house. Even the inside was filled with furniture that looked way more high-quality than what I have at the dorm. How much must that all have cost?... No, wait. Now that I think about it, he’s an A-rank adventurer and also a professor at one of the most prestigious institutions in the entire Empire, the Royal Academy! I’m not sure how much money an A-rank adventurer usually makes, but it can’t be a small amount, and I’m sure he gets paid just as much by the Royal Academy, if not more. After all, he seems pretty close with the Headmistress…” (Regnis)

Urgh, they’re both totally out of it… Actually, I’m not sure why Regnis is zoning out, but maybe I shouldn’t have gone all out on that steak for Sophie...

After ignoring Regnis’ unintentional inquiries into my current financial situation, I called out to my two promising young students before they both finally snapped out their respective dazes.

“Umm… So are you two ready to start today’s training?” (Kyle)

“Ah.” (Sophie)

Sophie let out a surprised yelp as she finally came back to her senses while Regnis cried out to himself like he had just remembered something important.

“Oh, right! Training!” (Regnis)

An awkward chuckle left my mouth as I watched them plaster serious expressions on their faces after fumbling around for a few moments. Once they finally settled down though, I opened today’s training with a bit of a strange question.

“Sophie, do you know how to use body strengthening magic?” (Kyle)

“Nope, not at all.” (Sophie)

A short, immediate answer was what followed my question as Sophie straightforwardly told me that she had no idea what she was doing when it came to body strengthening magic.

“I figured… Well, I guess you’ll have to be doing most of the teaching for today then, Regnis.” (Kyle)

“Huh? Me?” (Regnis)

Regnis pointed to himself while staring at me with a surprised expression on his face as I started to explain the plans for today’s training to him.

“Yep. You’ll be teaching Sophie how to use body strengthening magic. After all, you’re the only one out of the three of us that can use it, so sorry to make such a sudden request, but you’re the most convenient option right now. If you don’t teach Sophie, then I’ll have to ask someone else to do it another time and she’ll lose a day of training.” (Kyle)

I chuckled awkwardly at Regnis for a moment before Sophie suddenly chimed in.

“Why do I need to learn body strengthening magic though?” (Sophie)

“Ah. Well, the whole point of all that physical training we did last week was to improve the effectiveness of your body strengthening magic. So of course you’ll only gain the full benefits of your training once you activate body strengthening magic.” (Kyle)

“How did it improve the effectiveness of our body strengthening magic?” (Regnis)

“Your overall strength and speed have improved greatly even without body strengthening magic thanks to the hellish endurance training you two experienced last week, but with body strengthening magic, that improvement should be amplified by a significant degree. Just try it yourself and you’ll see what I mean, Regnis.” (Kyle)

Sophie and I turned to stare at Regnis for a moment as he took a deep breath before getting serious again and activating his body strengthening magic.

“Silent storm flowing through this body, I desire thy rage. Rage strong enough to break any barrier!【Body Strengthening】!” (Regnis)

As soon as Regnis activated his body strengthening magic, the determination in his eyes quickly turned into shock as he lowered his head to stare at his own hands held out in front of him.

“How do you feel?” (Kyle)

“W-What happened? It’s incredible. My body feels as light as a feather. It’s like… like I took a breath of fresh air after feeling suffocated for an eternity.” (Regnis)

“What you’re feeling right now is the strength that you’ve earned, the culmination of your efforts. Remember that feeling well.” (Kyle)

After taking a good look at Sophie and Regnis standing in front of me, I couldn’t help but grin proudly after thinking about just how much both my students had grown since last week.

“Well, you two still have a long way to go, but I can definitely say that, compared to last week, you’ve both grown a lot stronger.” (Kyle)

It seemed like what I said was a bit of a surprise for both of them, but after a moment, Regnis and Sophie both replied with a nod before I started to explain what we would be doing for the remainder of the training camp.

“Anyway, since it’ll be a bit of a slow day today, let me outline our plans for this final week before the tournament. Unfortunately, like I said earlier, we can’t really do much intense practical training today since the recovery pool isn’t set up yet, so you two will just be focusing on learning body strengthening magic while I set that up. The training for the rest of the week will be split into two parts though. In the first part, I’ll be teaching you two some basic martial arts and hand-to-hand combat.” (Kyle)

“Martial arts?” (Regnis)

Regnis replied with a slightly bewildered tone in his voice as I held up a finger before explaining the importance of basic martial arts.

“Yeah. Although you're definitely both physically stronger now, having a strong body doesn’t mean much if you don’t know how to utilize it effectively. You should at least know how to throw a simple punch or kick, and probably how to throw someone as well. That way, not only can you incorporate some simple hand-to-hand combat into your fighting style, you can also still fight back in case you ever get disarmed.” (Kyle)

Well, unfortunately, I won’t be able to teach them anything fancy since my martial arts are mostly self-taught, but when it comes to the absolute basics I’m more than confident in my own self-taught style! After all, that’s literally all it is, just the absolute basics taken to an extreme…

“As for the second half of our training though, it’ll be pure combat training. The fastest way to perfect your fighting style is by honing your skills through substantial amounts of actual combat, so we’ll be sparring as much as possible during those last few days while working on your techniques. I’ll be trying to mimic as many different fighting styles as possible too so you can get at least some experience against more than just my style of fighting.” (Kyle)

After finishing my explanation, I reached into my bag to pull out a few decently-sized alchemy stones before announcing the official restart of Professor Kyle’s training camp.

“But anyway, for now, I still have to dig a hole and set up the recovery pool so you two should go ahead and get started with learning body strengthening magic as well.” (Kyle)

“Yes, Professor Kyle.” (Regnis)

After a moment, we split up as I started to look around for a good spot to put the recovery pool while Regnis and Sophie made their way over to an empty part of the training field. But as the two of them were walking away, I inadvertently overheard a... slightly concerning conversation...

“Wait, what were we doing again?” (Sophie)

“... I’m going to teach you body strengthening magic... Weren’t you listening at all?” (Regnis)

“Ah. Sorry, I kind of zoned out again after Professor Kyle’s explanation about body strengthening magic. For some reason, I just can’t stop thinking about eating more steak...” (Sophie)

Ah, I definitely should not have gone all out on that steak for Sophie...