Chapter 5: Serie's Talent
On the second day of their adventure, at Serie's strong insistence, Rhodes finally settled on a destination: to find a human settlement.
When Serie asked him why, Rhodes answered, "Because I'm going to teach them magic, of course!"
Since the humans of this era had yet to learn magic, Rhodes didn't know how they originally came to wield it in the established history. That, however, did not prevent him from wanting to accelerate the process.
"The first requirement for learning magic is talent. The second is the mana to fuel it. I do not believe the human race possesses such gifts," Serie stated coolly. Learning magic was no simple matter in this world. Her elven race were the favored children of the world, born with a natural talent for magic and lifespans that were practically infinite, making it exceedingly rare for an elf to die of old age. It was for this reason that the elves stood at the apex of the Age of Myth, a powerful existence that even the gods themselves had to take seriously.
Across the entire world, only the Sky-Winged Tribe, created by the hands of the gods, and the Demon race, born of magical beasts but possessing superior intelligence, could be considered their equals.
Therefore, Serie held a certain disdain for Rhodes's plan to teach magic to humanity.
"Humans have it," Rhodes replied with unshakable confidence. "Am I not the best example? I believe that once humans learn to use magic, they will secure a place for themselves in this world."
In truth, Rhodes was being conservative. A thousand years after the Age of Myth ended and the gods departed, humanity would already be standing at the pinnacle of the world, their presence found in every corner of the continent. Even the Demon King would fall to a hero of a later age. This was proof enough of humanity's potential, but Rhodes had no intention of telling Serie any of this. Even if he did, she likely wouldn't believe him.
She would only understand when she witnessed the power hidden within the human spirit with her own eyes.
Hearing Rhodes's confident declaration, Serie simply gave a soft chuckle and said no more. In her view, Rhodes was just an anomaly—an individual blessed with exceptional luck, who stumbled upon a talent for magic and happened to learn how to use it. It meant nothing for his race as a whole.
On the third day of their adventure, the pair encountered their first magical beasts of the journey. To be precise, it was a pack of them: demonic wolves with fur of a deep, violet black.
Previously, whenever Rhodes encountered such creatures, his only option was to flee, or perhaps find a tree to climb and wait for them to leave.
But things were different now.
He had backup.
With a simple raise of her hand, Serie launched an arrow of light. It flew with unerring speed and precision, piercing straight through one of the demonic wolves.
"You should also practice the spell you learned," she instructed. She was, of course, referring to the light arrow spell Rhodes had learned from her, though his version was more aptly described as an arrow "rain."
While Rhodes prepared to cast his spell, Serie stood to the side, carefully observing the flow and control of mana in his body. In truth, even among the elves, Serie's own talent for magic was exceptional. For most elven spells, she only needed to see them demonstrated a few times to grasp their fundamentals.
Rhodes took a deep breath. Following the mana flow he had observed from Serie, he began to cast the spell. Having done it once before, the process was much smoother. From Serie's perspective, however, the mana within him moved in a completely different way. It was a flow entirely distinct from her own when casting the same spell, and it was this difference that allowed him to produce such a radically different effect.
A dozen light arrows materialized in front of him. They were smaller than the one Serie had fired, but as he waved his hand, they fanned out in a wide arc, blanketing the area where the demonic wolves stood.
"This..." Serie's eyes widened slightly. The first time, she had been caught so off guard that she hadn't been able to properly observe the power of his magic before it knocked her unconscious. Seeing it again now, she was once more astonished.
Although the power of each individual arrow was only about half that of hers, the sheer quantity more than made up for the lack of quality. The pack of wolves that had been surrounding them was instantly shredded into a sieve, their dark purple blood seeping into the ground and withering the grass it touched.
"Again," Serie demanded.
"But there are no more beasts," Rhodes pointed out.
"It's fine." Serie cast a detection spell, then led Rhodes directly to the location of a large demonic bear. "Now, use your magic on this bear."
The demonic bear roared upon seeing the two of them and charged. Seeing this, Rhodes didn't dare hesitate and immediately unleashed his light arrow spell again. But this bear was clearly more cunning than the wolves, and its defenses were much stronger. Facing Rhodes's arrow rain, it performed an abrupt stop and then a side roll, dodging the majority of the attack. Only two arrows found their mark, leaving behind wounds that were not particularly severe.
The pain, however, was enough to enrage it. Its eyes turned a bloody crimson, and it charged toward them with renewed speed.
"Hey! This thing's hide is too thick! I don't think it's working!" Rhodes yelled, turning anxiously to Serie, only to find her still completely absorbed in her observation of his mana flow, as if she hadn't heard him at all.
Panicked, Rhodes grabbed her hand to pull her back, but Serie's body stood as firm and unmoving as a rock.
Just as the demonic bear reached them, so close that Rhodes could smell its foul, beastly stench, Serie finally spoke.
"A mere magical beast."
She raised her hand and perfectly replicated Rhodes's rain of light arrows, but hers were even more powerful, piercing straight through the demonic bear's entire body. The beast, riddled with so many arrows of light, didn't stand a chance. It collapsed to the ground, dead.
"Amazing!" Rhodes applauded immediately. As expected of the future's most powerful Grand Mage. She had perfectly replicated his magic after seeing it only a few times and even made it stronger. His plan to ride her coattails to success was looking more promising by the second.
Serie, however, simply looked at the dead beast on the ground and shook her head. "Still not enough. This can't kill a god."
"Hm? Did you say something?"
Rhodes was fairly certain he had just heard something rather outrageous, so he decided to feign ignorance.
"It's nothing," she said, her attention now fully on him. "I will teach you more, even more powerful spells. You will then modify them into magic capable of killing any living thing."
So he hadn't misheard. The small Grand Master before him truly harbored such an ambition. The thought was genuinely startling to Rhodes. But then again, considering her future self, it made perfect sense. To be thinking about how to kill a god during the Age of Myth... it was a goal that fit her personality perfectly.
"After you find the humans," Serie proposed, her gaze burning with a barely concealed excitement, "you will accompany me to a certain place."