Ember Shot was conjured without me messing up this time, with the flame being sent flying across the skies, never to be seen again.
"Wow! That was good! You could probably use the Ember Shot continuously with your amazing mana pool, Sylphy," father said after I tried Ember Shot for the first time.
"Hehe. I'm beginning to believe that I might really be a genius," I said in response.
Then again, despite that, it was more of the System helping me. I still used Mana Usage and all the passive skills I had to enhance my ability to make runes and magic circles. On top of that, the magic circles I made was just Tier 1, the lowest tier.
Through the Ember skill, I could conjure spells of higher tiers, but without this cheat that helps me build up flames and shape them to my liking, this task becomes tedious.
However, I should feel prideful that I've managed to conjure a Fire-based spell of my own without the aid of Ember! Even if it was just a slightly bigger Ember that was fired at a fast speed…
"Well done, Sylphy. You seem to have learned it in just a few minutes. See? That wasn't so hard. Now try doing these ones."
After that, my father began to teach me step-by-step on how to conjure three more spells! Actually, he was way faster than mother at this. I guess mother used most of the time for class teaching me the basics and introducing me to certain things. On the other hand, my father didn't focus on that, instead making me copy his spells.
The second spell he made me reproduce was the classic Fireball, but he wanted to see if I could use it without Embers fusing together. Thankfully, I was able to reproduce it after a few seconds of conjuring and building the magic circle, but obviously, just using Ember for that short cast was way easier.
Nevertheless, a decently sized fireball emerged as I fired it into the skies, where it exploded quite beautifully.
My father nodded in approval while crossing his arms. From the looks of it, he seemed to be enjoying teaching me how to use Fire Magic.
"Now let's do this one. Fire Arrow! This is a spell that's a staple for every beginner Fire Magician. You can't call yourself an apprentice Fire Magician without having mastered this one spell," father said to me.
Hmm… Fire Arrow, huh? I can make it easily with Ember, aeven the greater version, Fire Spear, is not much of a problem. But to conjure it through runes and magic circles, it's proving itself to not be so easy.
Conjuring magic circles is not really that hard. You simply engrave the words that make up a magic circle into thin air, activating the phenomena of magic. Each rune corresponds to a word, each word combines into a phrase, and this phrase materializes into a spell through the infusion of mana. Of course, making runes costs mana as well.
"Heat, Shape, Change, Longitude, Long, Sharp, Heat, Fierce, Fast, Movement."
These were the runes that made up the "simple" magic circle that could conjure Fire Arrow. At some point, you're able to learn it by memory, but it took me some time to conjure it completely. It was my first attempt at doing so, after all.
Fortunately, each rune merged together and spiraled into a beautiful circle.
Soon, a marvelous arrow made out of flames emerged out of thin air, flying at an incredible speed towards a dummy my father had just put on the ground.
The entire dummy was set on fire as its head was blown off. My Fire Arrow seemed strong due to the intensity of mana I added to it, almost hitting the limits of the magic circle itself before it could explode due to being overcharged. Now that I think about it, I can conjure even stronger magic than what is normally possible. With that in mind, ain't I actually pretty amazing?
"Great! Now, a harder one that you've already used."
My father then showed me the "recipe" for the magic circle that conjured Fire Barrier.
This one was a spell that could help me conjure a barrier of flames, or a shield to be more exact. I had been able to create one before by combining many Embers, but approaching through conventional rune-based magic was definitely interesting.
Among the runes required, there were a few such as Protection, Shield, Shaping, Defense, and so on. They were like a single word in a letter… which is what I guess what runes are. As these words are combined like building blocks being stacked to build a wall, the spell would be generated.
Sometime later, a small shield made of flames emerged before me, erecting from the ground over. It was warm, but it actually didn't hurt me. Also, it didn't burn the grass below either. Then again, I could only attribute to it as the mysterious properties of magic.
"Amazing… my daughter is really talented! Sylphy, in just two hours, you've already learned all of the basic spells a Fire Magician would have! You know it took me like a year to learn them, right? Plus, I had to undergo intensive training to drill them into my mind. It's clear you got the knack for it more than your father!" my father said just as the spell was dispelled, grabbing me with his arms before raising me up high in the air.
"Hehe, really? Am I really that great?" I asked.
Normally, I don't like to be egocentric, but I want to drown in his praises for a bit longer…
After the rundown on basic Fire Magic, the swordsmanship part of class finally began.
It started rather simple, actually.
"I know you're just four years old, Sylphy, and I won't make you go through the same arduous training my father once made me go through. After all, I know you're not fit for that. You're my little princess and I would never treat you so harshly. Back then in our camp, we were all mercenaries, so as the kid of a mercenary, I had to do everything I could to grow strong quickly, or I would get killed," father told me.
"Oh… You were a mercenary, papa?" I asked.
"Well yeah. At the age of 5, I was already able to use ten different sword techniques and I've already slain around 13 bandits. Now that I look back at it, it was harsh, but I had to learn quickly. The world was harsh, unwelcoming, and cold back then. My father cared for me, but he also wanted me to contribute to the mercenary clan," father said in response
"Anyways, that's better saved for another time. For now, let's begin. Grab this!"
With that, my father tossed me a wooden sword.
"Now, come at me with everything you got!"