The next day, Rei, with Tenko on his shoulder, went back to the house. Ava came out excitedly. "Rei, I was able to make ice using chantless magic!" she exclaimed.
"That might be great in the eyes of others, but in my eyes, that's still mediocre," Rei replied, causing Ava to puff her cheeks in frustration. "Then what should I do?" she asked. "It's already very difficult to learn chantless magic!"
"No, it's not," Rei said. "If you consider it difficult, it will become difficult. How about this: you will fight with Tenko today. That will help you manipulate magic easily."
"Fine," Ava agreed. "Let's see how a silly fox can stand against me."
Tenko jumped from Rei's shoulder, and the fight began. However, with more combat experience and a greater array of attacks, Tenko was far stronger than Ava. Despite her attempts to use chantless magic, it was too slow and weak. She was being completely outmatched by Tenko.
"Okay, you two fight," Rei said. "I have something more important to do." He went to another part of the field and began working on a way to create ice. He decided to use the water krystallite in his Chaos Scepter to create water, then use the fire krystallite to absorb the heat and turn it into ice. He realized this was the only method he had for now. He wondered if there was another way and walked to a nearby river. By controlling the water and passing a cool wind through it for many hours, he was able to turn it into ice, but the process was too slow. Rei decided to stick with the former method.
Next, Rei took a deep breath, and screamed at the top of his lungs, using energy to amplify his voice. A roar similar to a dragon's came out. Rei knew he needed to make the sound unidirectional, so he used wind to create a headphone-like whirlwind around his head and screamed again, amplifying his voice. This time, the dragon's roar only went in one direction. He then began mimicking other sounds, suppressing environmental sounds, and even creating hypnotic sounds. By the end of his practice, he had developed four new sound-attribute spells: Apprentice Tier Spell: Sound Suppression, Apprentice Tier Spell: Mimicking, Apprentice Tier Spell: Lullaby, and Apprentice Tier Spell: Dragon Roar.
Satisfied with the result, Rei went back to find Tenko still outmatching Ava. "Okay, we should take a break," Rei said. Tenko barked happily and jumped onto Rei's shoulder. Ava was exhausted. "Looks like you are very tired," Rei noted. Ava was too tired to even retort.
"So tell me, Ava," Rei said, "is that mountain called Red Mountain?"
"Yes, that mountain is called Red Mountain, and it's very dangerous," Ava confirmed.
"What do you mean, dangerous?" Rei asked.
"There are magical beasts all over that mountain, and even if you escape from them, there are deadly beasts," Ava explained. "Not to mention uneven terrain and weather changes that only happen there. Also, there is the Waterfall of Two Paths, a frequent place visited by churches and cults."
"Wait, what's this Waterfall of Two Paths? I don't understand," Rei said.
"It's a waterfall that depicts both good and evil," Ava said. "Many church people try to extinguish the evil, and many cultists try to extinguish the good. However, no one has ever succeeded."
"Oh, so it's like that," Rei said. "Looks like I have to do some research before entering."
"You're going to enter the Red Mountains? But it's very dangerous!" Ava exclaimed.
"So what? I have work there," Rei replied.
"Fine. If it is important, I can't say anything, but can you take me?" Ava asked.
"No, it's a dangerous place. I can't take you, especially not after what you've told me," Rei said.
Ava reluctantly accepted. "Fine."
"Break's over," Rei said. "Time to fight Tenko again. Tenko, show her hell." Tenko jumped from Rei's shoulder and began bullying Ava again.
"Ava, come on, try to win at least once!" Rei encouraged.
"I am trying!" Ava said while fighting.
"Okay, I'll be going," Rei said. He used a wind bomb to jump high, then another to propel himself through the air, and landed at the foot of the Red Mountain. He decided to only look at the outskirts and noticed many strong magical beasts lingering there. "These magical beasts seem strong," he thought. "If these strong magical beasts are lingering in the outskirts, then who might be lingering inside?" Rei did not dare to go deeper and went away.
After returning to Ava's house, Rei said, "Okay, the training for today is over." Ava plopped down, clearly tired and out of breath. Tenko jumped back onto Rei's shoulder. "We'll continue tomorrow, okay? Bye." Rei left. As he walked away, he looked at the Red Mountain, which was now red from the sunset.
After getting inside the Midgard, Rei made some food and ate with Tenko. "Tenko, how much training would Ava require to learn chantless magic?" Tenko barked with a so-so expression. "So, a few weeks?" Rei asked. Tenko barked in agreement. "Sure, if that's so, that's good." After eating, Rei started studying the Red Mountains, noticing there were far more than he had anticipated. He then wrote in a book about the lightning, sound, and ice elements he had created. He knew he would need to create metal and poison elements soon to complete the book and publish it, hoping it would reach Kaiser and Lyla to help them with their sorcery.
While Rei was thinking, a bird came with a letter from the Revolutionaries. It stated that they were planning to open new branches and asked which cities would be suitable. Rei looked at the cities on the letter and opened his map. He looked for cities that were close to Genos City and had access to rich resources, then eliminated the ones that didn't meet the criteria. He wrote down the suitable cities, took out a blueprint of a magic bazooka, attached both papers to the bird's leg, and sent it off. Rei noticed he had too much on his plate and wished he could at least live a peaceful life. While thinking about it, Rei fell asleep.