"That was it for the third floor. Nice work, everyone!"
I told my party before we dispersed to the square.
"We worked well together!"
Trudy said with a smile.
"Everyone fulfilled their role. We just need to keep doing that to survive."
Jonah added.
"I thought the trial would be harder than that."
Cecily commented.
"The enemies kept getting stronger as we go up though. I say we keep on training for the rest of the day."
Shanny suggested.
The three others nodded.
"Sure, while we're still in the fighting mood."
"I stayed in the back most of the time back then. So I would like to have some actual one on one sparring, please."
"We need to tell the others about the new goblins on the third floor too."
They continued their discussion while making their way to the training ground.
I could not help but watch them with a pleasant sensation.
All of them were striving to become a better fighter and a more reliable comrade in battle.
It was nice to have such people to fight alongside with.
Jonah and Shanny were quite capable being in the front line.
Cecily was skilled enough with her bow to support them from the back.
And Trudy, although she was apparently lacking from Jonah and Shanny in combat, but she understood her role well to protect Cecily and I.
We were growing stronger as a team and I was pleased with it.
If only I could also improve on my own skill so I could bolster our overall strength even more.
But I did not have a proper place to practice my magic at the moment.
[Gerson, Fritz, Richelle, Finnick, Winna! Master is calling for you!]
I witnessed the fairy calling the newcomers to the square.
From what I heard, master was summoning them for the lower floors.
I believed master had start making them climb to the second floor yesterday.
I supposed master did not want to entirely focus on Party 1.
They probably wanted to check the potential of the others as well.
It would be necessary to do so if in future trials we would need more than one party to clear them.
When the time comes for a large number of people to be deployed in the trial, my skill as a mage would become more crucial.
After all, a proper mage had a duty to aid their allies with supportive spells.
I only wished I could properly prepare myself before we get to that point.
As if master read my mind, a bright light engulfed an empty lot beside the training ground.
Suddenly, a tower emerged from the light. And then an expansive building. And another building.
All three constructs were then engulfed in the same bright light.
They merged together and transformed into a fancy spired manor.
[Hey, witch!]
The fairy suddenly appeared before me.
She pointed to the newly built manor.
[See that magic hall? Go there! Master wants you to do something.]
A magic hall.
Even without master's order, I would had gone there myself.
I made my way to the magic hall, past the training ground, and walked inside.
Shelves containing collection of magic books were placed all across the walls.
A cauldron and tables equipped with alchemy equipment were set in one corner.
And then a plain table was sitting at the center of the whole room.
There was a huge door at the back of the room which I did not know where it led to.
I turned around and found the fairy waiting for me at the center table.
[Come here.]
She called.
I walked over and examined the desk.
A quill and a container of ink paired with a single parchment drawn with a magic circle and a handful of texts.
"What do you need me to do?"
I asked the fairy.
[See the problem on the paper there? You need to solve it.]
I sat down and stared at the parchment.
I immediately recognized what was written on it.
This was the kind of magic formula problems we studied in the magic academy.
I grabbed the quill to my side, dipped the tip on the ink container, and began writing on the paper.
I had to admit, the problem on this paper was…
"Given the problem here...take this variable…insert the value…a little calculation…and…done."
…too easy.
The problem on this paper was elementary at best.
I had written far more complicated ones as an exercise for my juniors back in the academy.
I looked back to the fairy.
"What now?"
She stared at me in disbelief.
[W-what?! Y-you're done already?!]
"Why? Should I take longer to solve it?"
[Uh, no… Anyway!]
The fairy clicked her fingers and a small cauldron appeared by the table.
[Put the solved problem here.]
I tied the parchment into a scroll and put it into the cauldron as the fairy asked. The parchment vanished into a ball of flame once it was inside.
Right then, few stacks of parchments filled with similar problem manifested on the table.
[Master wants you to do this for one hour a day.]
"Is there a purpose in doing this?"
[What you're doing is called research. Just keep doing it and you'll see why master orders you to do it.]
The fairy said before she vanished, uninterested in hearing my further inquiry.
I followed what the fairy told me to do and kept solving the problems in front of me.
As I finished a few and dropped them to the cauldron, a few more appeared before me, keeping the stacks on the table stay abundant.
Considering the oddity of this forged land, I could not help but wonder the purpose of me doing this 'research.'
But, I soon found out part of the reason.
Ten minutes passed since I started researching. Suddenly a bright light appeared on the high ceiling of the room.
I observed the light and discovered it was in the form of a tiny ball of blue flame.
The ball of flame hovered down from the ceiling and made its way to me.
I sensed no danger from the blaze so I kept observing it.
The flame then flew right into my chest.
Instead of the burning sensation one would get from making contact with fire, I instead experienced slight dizziness.
"Warden."
The fairy immediately appeared upon my summoning.
[Yeah, what is it?]
"That blue flame just now, what was it?"
[That was the goddesses' blessing to this lobby. Master activated it after you had gathered enough research points.]
Blessing? Lobby? Research points?
I could only guess the research points were something acquired through my research.
As for the lobby…
"Is this entire land we're in is what you called the 'lobby?'"
[For a smart person you sure ask a lot of questions. Yes.]
"Then what about the blessing? What exactly did it do?"
[Try saying 'status window.']
I frowned with confusion upon the instruction.
"'Status window?'"
Right upon my uttering, a rectangle dark screen appeared out of thin air in front of me.
It hovered in the air and stayed within my line of vision no matter which way I turned.
There were writings on that screen.
[Serafina Magda Zeref (★★★★) Lv.2 (Exp 3/20)]
[Class: Mage]
[Strength: 15]
[Intelligence: 68]
[Stamina: 13]
[Agility: 12]
[Skills: Telekinesis Lv.6, Intermediate Enchantment Lv.4, Intermediate Fire Magic Lv.5, Hands that Twist Space and Time Lv.2, Intermediate Research Lv.2, Intermediate Alchemy Lv.3, Mana Transfer Lv.3]