The next day, I practiced magic with Emily.

“!!!” The spell then appeared in the rune and exploded in the swamp. “I…” As I made a fist, I raised my hands. “I did it.”

“Hiiro, you did it,” Emily shouted. “You cast fireball using a single-word incantation.”

“Yes.” As I ran towards her I held both of her hands. “Emily, thank you for teaching me.”

“It…” Emily looked down. “It’s nothing.” She then blushed, “i-it was because of your perseverance that you did it.” She gently let out her voice.

“Emily...”

“Ehem,” Emily coughed. “Anyway, now that you mastered , I will teach you another spell.”

“Okay.”

“Hold my scepter for a bit.” Emily then wrote a rune. “I gather the water from the air. Form a rope and disarm my enemy, !!!” The spell then grabbed the scepter I was holding and threw it away.

Another water magic? Nice.

“This spell is called water whip,” she explained. “It's mainly used to disarm the weapon of your opponent.”

Cool.

“Okay, Hiiro. I’ll show you how to do it.” As she sat on the ground, “its rune is a bit different from water ball but I believe you can do it.” She then wrote a rune.

“Okay. Please, allow me to study the rune.”

The entire day, I continued practicing water whip with Emily .

Night came, and I went to the forest to experiment.

“Okay, Emily is sleeping right now.”

I need do this alone since this can be dangerous. Who knows what I might cast with this...

“Hmm. Since, I already mastered fireball, I will use its rune as a base. For now, I’ll try making a while-loop rune.”

“First, let’s analyze the fireball rune.” Sitting on the ground, I wrote its rune.

“The rune seems complicated at first, however, it can be easily divided into three different steps: produce fire, compress the fire into a sphere and shoot the fireball”

“With the right symbols and words in the rune, a mage can simulate these methods and create a fireball.”

“My aim in this experiment is to repeat the first and second method before I can shoot the fireball, producing multiple spells at once.

Before, I used trial and error to analyze how a fireball works. Every time I cast a fireball, I altered one part of its rune, then observed the change. It took me a lot of casts to do it.

I don't have a choice but to use trial and error again for this experiment.

“Well, since for some reason I know this world’s language, I don’t think it would take that long to convert it.”

The whole night, I experimented with the rune, however, I couldn’t make it work.

Morning came, I continued training with Emily.

“I gather the water from the air. Form a rope and disarm my enemy, !!!” The spell then grabbed Emily’s scepter and threw it away.

“Hiiro, you... you did it.”

“I… I did it,” Shocked, I scratched the back of my head.

“Hiiro, you’re amazing. To cast water whip after only a day of training.”

“Well... I’ve been practicing rune writing after all.”

Actually, I also didn’t expect this.

“Hiiro...” Emily looked at me. “Ehem,” she coughed. “I think you're ready for the second stage of training.”

“Second stage of training?”

“Yes,” she replied. “This time we'll play Hide and Seek.”

“Hide and seek?”

“Yes,” Emily replied. “However, it's not the same hide-and-seek you might know. This is training after all.”

“I see. Then, what should I do?”

“These are the rules. Your goal is to hide and wait for a chance to hit me with any magic. My goal is to catch you,” she explained.

“Oooh. I see.”

This seems easy, considering the amount of hiding place in the forest.

“Okay, Emily. I’m ready.”

“Then, I’ll give you fifteen minutes to hide,” She then turned her back to me.

As fast as I can, I dashed to the forest and climbed a tree.

“Ready or not, here I come,” Emily shouted.

“Here she comes,” However, when I looked below, I didn’t see her. “Where is she?” She had disappeared

“Hello, Hiiro.” As I looked behind, she was there.

“What the...” Shocked, I fell from the tree.

She then went down, “I caught you, Hiiro.” She smiled.

“You… You caught me.”

That was fast.

“Emily, how did you find me?”

“It’s because I could feel your aggression,” she explained.

“Aggression?”

“Yes,” she replied. “Other people call it killing intent.”

“Killing intent? But… I didn’t plan to kill you...”

“I know. I know,” Emily interrupted. “It’s just a comparison, Hiiro.”

“Oh..”

“Hiiro, there will be times where you fight an enemy while hiding. You need to learn to conceal your killing intent or else they can easily pinpoint your location.”

“Then, that means...”

“Yes,” she interrupted. “The goal of hide and seek is to train oneself to hide their presence.”

“Presence?”

“Hiiro, you must remember this,” she added. “There are opponents who can detect an enemy even without killing intent. You will train how to hide not only your killing intent but also your presence.”

Oh. This training is what I really need.

“I understand, Emily. I will do my best.”

Days passed, my training with Emily continued. During the day, Emily and I played hide and seek while training how to cast my other spells in single-word incantations. During the night, I continued experimenting with the fireball rune.

Five days had already passed, I hope I can make the “while-loop trick” work now.

When I was experimenting before, I thought of using a different name when using a while-loop to avoid confusion. The name I chose was…

“!!!” Suddenly, a large number of fireball runes appeared in front of me.

“I... I did it! Finally! Yes!” Jumping up and down, I was too preoccupied that I forgot something.

Wait, a minute...

Suddenly, the runes activated at the same time and blasted multiple fireballs in the forest. It exhausted my mana; I blacked out.

“Hiiro… Hiiro… Hiiro.” It was a familiar voice.

“Emily.” As I woke up, I saw the forest, replaced by a giant crater. “What is this?”

“Hiiro.” Emily hugged me, tightly. “I... I thought you were gone.” She began to cry.

“Emily...”

“Please, don’t leave me,” Her tears kept flowing. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.”

When I looked at her, I hugged her back. “Don’t worry, Emily. I will never leave you,” I said, patting her head, as I looked into her eyes. “I promised, right?”

“I won’t hate you nor leave you; I will stay by your side for as long as you live.”

She then looked at me. “Hiiro,” she mumured, and hugged me tighter.

Still, I can’t believe I did this with just a fireball spell. I need to create the code for the “condition” fast so I can control its power.

What I mean by condition is the thing that will stop the fireball from casting infinitely.

Emily wiped her tears. “Hiiro, what happened here?”

“I...”

How do I explain it to her?

“I’m sorry, Emily. I can’t remember.”

“I hope it won't happen again,” she said, worried.

I promise. It won’t happen again.

“I also hope so.”

Days passed, I completed the code to add a condition for the while loop. Also, I mastered casting all the spells I learned in single-word incantations. Emily also taught me a new spell, .

“Hiiro, Hiiro, where are you?” Emily shouted. We were playing hide and seek; I hid in the forest.

“...” I whispered the incantation as softly as possible, and a fireball then went to her blind spot. But, she blocked it with her scepter.

Well, I expected that.

“.”

Okay, this is enough, I don’t want to go all out.

Using a while loop, multiple runes then appeared around her and blasted her. Shocked, she stopped moving. However, she immediately regained her composure and twirled her scepter, blocking all the fireballs.

“”. Moving like a graceful snake, it aimed for her scepter, attempting to disarm her.

She then jumped away from the whip, and it hit the ground instead. She threw her scepter, and it hit my head.

“Ow...” As I looked above, she was already there.

“I-I’m sorry, Hiiro. A-Are you hurt?”

“Don't worry, I’m okay. You’re too good Emily.”

She blushed. “Y-You can do it. You just need to practice more.”

“I will.”

As we walk, Emily asked me, “Hiiro, how did you cast multiple fireballs at once?”

“I...”

How should I explain this again?

“I wrote all the runes on the trees beforehand, and cast them when we were fight.”

She raised one of her eyebrows as she asked, “really? Are you sure that’s all?”

“Y-Yes.”

I’m sorry. It’s not that I’m hiding it to you. I just don't know how to explain it or if you would even understand my explanation.

After that, we went home. In front of the house, we saw a girl---another necromancer, just like in the village.

“Emily, isn’t she one of those three who we met in the village before?”

Emily paused for a bit and let out a soft voice, “Aria.” It was like she just saw a ghost

“Emily, the village is under attack. We need to get away from here quickly!” the girl shouted.

“Emily? You know her?”

“Yes, she’s Aria, my sister.”