Chapter 39: C-Rank Strength

… …

“【ᛒᚷᛈᛜᛏᚠᚷᚪᛜᛚᚲᛜᛖᛗᛞᚪᛡᛖᛞᛃᚺיᛤᛜᛣᚢᛜᛣᛃᛈיᛄᚠᛗᛜᛉᛏᚪᛖᛡᛏᚠᛞᚲᛜᛋᛞᛟ】”

“Earth Fissure!”

Boom——!

A tremor ran through the ground, and then a rift suddenly appeared.

The C-rank Ogre, which had been swinging a tree trunk and charging toward Xiu Lim, suddenly missed its step and tumbled right in.

Its massive body became stuck in the chasm, unable to move.

“Roar——!”

The ogre flew into a rage, and after a furious bellow, a faint red light shimmered over its whole body.

Crack, crack, crack…

The rift that had trapped it was forcefully shattered by its struggles, growing ever wider as it strained to break free.

Xiu Lim calmly watched all of this unfold, then leveled her staff at the ogre and began chanting rapidly.

“【ᛓᚠᛟᚾᚲתᛖᛜᛖᚾᚠᚲᚢהᛤᛜᛚᚲᛜᛣᛃᛗᛡᛁᚾᛗᛚᚪᛜᛣᛃᛚᚳᛜᛈᚠᛋᚢᛚᛜᛖᛗᛃᛞᛋᛜᛏᚠᚷᚪ】”

“Roaring Wave!”

Whoosh!

A massive surge of water rushed at the ogre, making it even more furious.

“Roar——! Guh, glug, glug… …”

The ogre had a habit of bellowing in anger, but unexpectedly, the water rushed into its mouth and choked it.

And this was precisely the opportunity Xiu Lim had been waiting for.

She gripped her staff tightly with both hands, focusing her mind, and channeled a surge of mana into the staff as she chanted again.

“【ᛓᚠᛏורᛈתᛖᛜᛖᚾᚠᚲᚢהᛤᛜᛁᛄᚾᛒᛜᚻᛏᛋᛡᛓᚠᚢᛒᚳᛓᛖᛜᛖᛃᚱᚪיᛏᚠᛜᛋᛏᛜᚻᛏᛋᛜᛖᛞᚢ】”

“——Frozen Seal!”

A chill instantly spread, the temperature around them plummeted, and the grass, flowers, and leaves in the area frosted over before the eye.

The ogre, being the direct target, was in even worse shape. The water soaking it immediately froze, locking up its limbs and making movement impossible. Most crucially, even the water it had choked on was freezing in its mouth, sealing it shut and preventing it from roaring to trigger any enhancement spells.

“Mmm! Mmm——!”

Stuck in the chasm, the ogre let out muffled, angry whimpers, but the wet soil around it was now frozen solid, making it even harder for the monster to escape.

Xiu Lim exhaled a puff of white mist, taking a moment to recover from the exhaustion of pouring out so much mana so quickly. Then she raised her staff once more, pointing at the ogre.

“【ᚣᚠᛟᚪᛚᛜᛁᛄᚾᛒᛜᚻᚠᛏᛖᛡᛣᛏᚠᚳᛜᛓᛃᚾᚺᛡᛓᚺᚪᛡᛓᛃᛞיᛤᛜᛒבᚠᛟᛜᛓᚠᚳᛚᛄתᛖᛜᛞᛈᛃᛡᛚᛖᛋ】”

“Storm Spear!”

After some time, the battle finally came to an end.

That three-meter-tall ogre, with its high magic resistance and powerful vitality, only quieted down after Xiu Lim cast Storm Spear, a third-tier wind spell, multiple times.

Thanks to this, more than half of Xiu Lim’s mana was spent.

Though second-tier spells could hurt it, that damage was negligible for an ogre. Defeating one with only second-tier magic would take until nightfall.

“You worked hard!”

Semilis appeared at Xiu Lim’s side as always once the fight was over.

“Mm, not bad. To defeat an ogre head-on all by yourself, Xiu Lim, you can truly call yourself C-rank now!”

Semilis glanced at the fallen ogre, offering her evaluation.

C-rank, huh…

Well, that’s probably true.

Looking at the ogre she’d taken down, Xiu Lim still found it hard to believe she was the one who did it.

After all, even among C-rank adventurers, few would dare to face an ogre alone. Most would only try to subdue one as a team.

Of course, that was also because there were limits to what one person could do. Not everyone could attack, control, and defend like she could. Usually, a person only possessed one of those skills. Against an ogre, those who could harm it couldn’t take its attacks; those who could defend against or restrain it lacked a way to deal enough damage. That’s why teamwork was needed.

But if she started thinking of her own strength as equal to a whole team, she’d probably get tripped up someday.

“Whew.”

After summing things up, Xiu Lim lay flat on the ground, gazing straight at the sky.

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt, or just tired?”

Semilis asked,

“Want me to help you recover?”

Xiu Lim refused, “No, it’s fine. Let me lie here like this for a while.”

“Hmm, alright. Resting is good, too.”

Seeing that Xiu Lim was truly fine, Semilis didn’t insist on healing her, but instead turned to deal with the fallen ogre.

Boom!

A blazing pillar of golden flame instantly engulfed the ogre’s body. The ground around it melted into magma, yet even at such close range, there was not the slightest trace of heat. Normally, when she or anyone else used fire magic, you could feel the heat waves from far away. Well…

After all, this was Semilis.

Xiu Lim stopped watching Semilis’s way of handling things, let her gaze drift, and stared quietly up at the sky, meanwhile reviewing what she’d learned since she started studying third-tier magic.

First was swordsmanship. The further she progressed, the harder it became. So far, she’d only mastered the first two forms: Glow Return and Hunt Sight. The third, Wind Parry, was beginning to take shape. With continued practice, it wouldn’t be long before she mastered it as well.

In magic, she’d mastered the first-tier composite spells: Frost Touch, Electric Spark, and Natural Aura. In second-tier: Ice Arrow, Freeze, Thunder Orb, Natural Rhythm, and others.

Third-tier magic, of course, was the most plentiful.

Naturally, it was impossible to learn every spell, so just like with second-tier, she’d only picked up the most useful ones.

For single-target attacks: Great Fireball, Water Cannon, Rock Lance, Storm Spear, Light Bullet, Shadow Spear, Ice Thorn, Thunder Strike, and so on.

For large-area attacks: Scorching Curtain, Roaring Wave, Earth’s Grasp, Storm Impact, Radiant Flash, Shadow Eclipse, and the like.

Control spells included: Fire Bramble, Water Prison, Earth Fissure, Wind Cage, Frozen Seal, Thunder Net, and more.

Defensive spells: Ring of Repulsion, Holy Barrier, Hold the Line, Ice Wall, etc.

For mobility: Water Leap, Wind Wings, Shadow Stealth, and others.

And for boosting and recovery: Purification, Healing, War Cry.

Beyond those, there were some especially unique spells, like Water Breathing, Wind Messenger Bird, Shadow Eye, Ice Construct, Nature Manipulation, and more.

“… …”

She hadn’t noticed while studying, but looking back now, it was truly an astonishing number.

But to be able to learn so much so smoothly, aside from Semilis’s vast knowledge and teaching, the Blessings of the Seven Elements were key.

If she still had her original magical aptitude from when she first started, even with Semilis as a teacher, learning two or three third-tier spells in the same amount of time would be her limit.

Now, though, even third-tier spells presented no pressure. She picked them up naturally—learning them was even easier than when she started with first-tier magic.

“S-rank Talent, huh… …”

It really was terrifying. She might not hit any bottlenecks with magic until at least A-rank.

Semilis had once said that gaining a single blessing was enough to become the leading figure of an age. It didn’t seem to be an exaggeration at all.

… …

“… …Time to head back.”

Xiu Lim got up and casually cast a cleaning spell, removing all the mud and fallen leaves she’d picked up from the ground.

“Oh, you’re heading back, Xiu Lim?”

Noticing her actions, Semilis spoke up.

Behind her, the ogre had already vanished, seemingly returned to the earth.

“Well, that’s about right—time’s just about up for today.”

Xiu Lim handed her staff to Semilis.

Since she’d first gotten it, it was too inconvenient to take the staff to school, and leaving it at home meant wasting time going back and forth to fetch it each day. So after every training session, she always left the staff temporarily with Semilis.

Semilis took Xiu Lim into the sky, flying in the direction of Mente Town.

“Oh, right, Xiu Lim.”

While in the air, Semilis suddenly said,

“You’ve just about mastered enough third-tier magic. Unless you move on to fourth-tier, continuing like this won’t make much of a difference to your power.”

“So, starting tomorrow, we’ll pause this kind of studying and spend more time on other types of training. How does that sound?”