Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

Training Addict Magician in a Growth-Focused Story

EP.45 Intensive Training

“Felix, lead us to my lair.”

“Yes, but this human…”

“He is my master.”

“What?”

The three massive snake heads each recoiled in surprise.

“Sister! Master? How can you serve a human…”

“Silence.”

“…”

A giant beast silenced by a single word from a small woman.

Of course, the reality was different, but the situation was indeed peculiar.

Leon, who had been gathering his mana, felt his strength drain as he watched the scene unfold.

“If Sister says so, what more can I say…”

“Are you sulking?”

“…No.”

Though it was clear to anyone that Felix was upset, Kito dismissed it with a scoff.

“I didn’t expect you to be occupying my territory. Weren’t you in the central zone?”

“Yes, I came to guard it after hearing that you had left.”

The three pairs of eyes scanned Leon before Felix’s body was enveloped in light.

Just like when Kito polymorphed, Felix’s size shrank, and when the light subsided, he had transformed into a size similar to Kito’s human form.

However, his shape remained the same.

The now smaller snake form floated in the air.

Felix turned his body, ready to lead them to Kito’s lair.

After flying for a while, a massive cave appeared.

Even if Kito’s true form resided there, the size seemed large enough to raise some doubts in Leon.

‘Could it be that her body shrank because the core is missing?’

Leon followed Felix into the cave.

The cave walls were covered with bark and vines.

It seemed to have been neglected for a long time, making it look like a part of the forest from a distance.

“I couldn’t bring myself to use the space Sister used, so I left it as it was.”

“That’s a roundabout way of saying you were too lazy to maintain it.”

As they ventured deeper, arched entrances began to appear along the cave walls.

It finally looked like a lair that a high-level monster would inhabit.

Beyond the arched entrances, it was too dark to see clearly.

“It’s just a place where I store miscellaneous things, so don’t worry about it.”

Since Kito’s core wasn’t there, Felix continued deeper into the cave.

They eventually reached a wide, hollowed-out space.

The only arched entrance at the back was blocked by an invisible barrier.

It was a magic circle.

“Wait here.”

Kito floated over and placed her palm on the invisible barrier.

The barrier glowed and then vanished in an instant.

Following Kito’s gesture, they entered.

The dark passage soon brightened.

A vast lake came into view.

The lake was large enough to accommodate Felix’s true form with room to spare.

The sky-blue lake shimmered with a radiant aura.

Without hesitation, Kito plunged into the lake.

After a moment of small ripples and bubbles rising to the surface.

A strong light burst forth from the center of the lake.

The ripples grew larger, and in an instant, a massive figure emerged from the lake.

A bird with a long head and neatly folded gray wings was three times the size of the Kito Leon had seen before.

Kito spread her wings wide and took to the sky.

It had been a long time since Leon heard Kito’s majestic voice.

“It took quite a while.”

*****

Kito was originally a candidate for the next king of the Viperein clan.

Those born with royal blood possessed powerful magic and long lifespans from birth.

The unique magic of the Viperein clan was poison.

Among them, Kito was born with an extreme poison that could even melt the legendary metal, Orichalcum, with a mere touch.

However, just as Kito was about to reach adulthood, she felt a vague impulse.

The endless expectations and responsibilities that had been heaped upon her since birth choked her like a heavy shackle.

The fact that she had to lead and take responsibility for her clan weighed on her chest, and she envied the freedom of living life to the fullest.

That frustration finally erupted.

She realized that leading and ruling the clan did not align with her nature at all.

So Kito ran away.

She knew it was irresponsible, but she couldn’t resist the impulse.

She acted before the ailing king truly passed away.

Even though she knew there was no other candidate like her, she still did it.

Thus, she wandered the world as she desired for a long time.

She mingled with humans, pretending to be one of them, and in her true form, she guarded kingdoms, symbolizing the virtues of a monarch.

She also established herself in the Beast Forest, where various species of beasts lived, reigning as an irresponsible absolute ruler.

After enjoying several centuries of freedom, Kito eventually felt a sense of emptiness.

Just before reaching adulthood, humans would call her state adolescence.

In the end, only family could truly understand her.

Even though she lived among various races, the fundamental loneliness never disappeared.

Humans had a term for this as well.

Homesickness.

She realized that being a half-hearted ruler in the Beast Forest was merely a reflection of her clan.

After that, she became indifferent to everything.

Nothing sparked her interest.

She spent several decades meaninglessly in the lair she had created in the Beast Forest.

Then one day, news reached her.

Somehow, her clan had found her location.

They brought news that the entire clan had been captured by dark magicians.

The Viperein clan, unable to choose a new king, had been withering away and was ambushed by the dark magicians.

No matter how she thought about it, Kito felt it was her fault.

A sense of responsibility and guilt she had never felt before swept over her.

The dark magicians discovered that there was a royal bloodline.

The Viperein clan didn’t like her enough to keep her a secret.

In fact, they resented her and told the dark magicians that there was another with royal blood.

The clan member who came to inform her had already been captured by the dark magicians and was sent as a spy to lure her out.

That clan member falsely pleaded for the clan’s salvation.

They claimed that if she returned, the entire clan would be spared.

Kito knew all of this.

Yet, she still walked into the hands of the dark magicians.

Leaving her core hidden in the Beast Forest.

Thus, she became a test subject, periodically drained of her poison.

The dark magician’s promise to save her clan was a lie.

The entire clan was used as test subjects and died.

The relentless bloodletting that even Kito struggled to endure was impossible for the ordinary clan members to withstand.

It was an utterly futile end.

Then she met this boy.

“I promise to serve as a familiar until the end of my master’s life.”

What would follow the oath was probably revenge.

However, there was no meaning left in that revenge.

It was like a cold, tasteless obligation that had to be fulfilled before death, the only emotion that settled in her heart.

Therefore, Kito did not show this to Leon.

She did not want to impose that burden on a human who would barely live for 200 years.

“Sister…”

“Why, do you want to become a familiar too?”

“Hey, why would I become a human’s familiar?”

Felix laughed as if it was out of the question.

“It was quite nice, actually.”

“That’s because Sister is lonely… Ack.”

“…”

Kito took Felix to a corner and disappeared.

*****

Kito was still fluttering her gray wings in her female form, flying back and forth above Leon’s head.

Inside Kito’s lair.

Leon asked Felix, who was maintaining his polymorphed state, after witnessing one of Felix’s heads melt away and then instantly regenerate.

“Why is the Beast Forest in such chaos right now?”

“The chaos is because the rulers from the Central Forest have fled.”

Felix referred to the high-level monsters of the Central Forest as rulers.

“Why?”

“I’ve only been in this area, so I don’t know the details. But it’s natural for the monsters to be confused when suddenly all the rulers start pouring out.”

Then, Kito spoke up.

“How about training here?”

Leon pondered Kito’s suggestion for a moment.

It was indeed a suitable environment for training.

The magical energy was dense, and there was no need to be mindful of others.

There was Kito’s lair, and even outside the lair, there were only trees in all directions.

It was somewhat inferior to the space inside the orb.

“The problem is food.”

“We could have the kids fetch it.”

Felix interjected.

“There’s not a complete absence of food suitable for humans. But can you eat something like orc meat?”

“That’s a bit…”

He had never tried it, but considering it wasn’t sold even in the Free City, it seemed unlikely to be edible for humans.

“Hmm… well, there are some fruits on the outskirts that humans can eat.”

“Fruits are fine.”

Leon decided to continue his training here.

He had a promise with Arpina, but it was a promise without a deadline.

It wouldn’t be too late to go after reaching a certain level here.

Especially since he had to flee due to the invasion of Widia while trying to complete his arcane magic.

‘The Radiance of Creation… is still too difficult to handle.’

To learn the rune characters, he would eventually have to venture outside the Beast Forest.

Before venturing out, Leon thought it would be wise to finish the tasks that had piled up.

The first thing Leon tackled in his training was the incomplete arcane magic of the Glory of the Thunderbolt.

Leon received an elixir as a quest reward and began refining his arcane magic.

He trained for 20 hours in reality and 10 hours inside the orb.

He continued this 30-hour training cycle with only 4 hours of sleep.

It was a training pattern Leon had become accustomed to.

However, this training pattern didn’t even last two days.

Felix, who had been observing Leon’s training method, made a suggestion.

“How about sparring with me?”

“Sparring?”

“Isn’t your magic training essentially about using magic continuously? It would be better to use it as if in actual combat.”

It was a tempting proposal.

The quest content had long changed to the simple and straightforward ‘training,’ so how he trained didn’t matter much.

After reaching the level of arcane magic and seeing the quest content change, he confirmed that even battles progressed the quest.

He had fought witches, dark magicians, and hunted with adventurers.

All of these counted towards the ‘training’ quest.

However, the actual combat situations were not long, and he spent more time running away, so he hadn’t even accumulated 10 hours properly.

‘It might be slower than just training in a training room, but the experience gained during that time will be different.’

It would certainly help him gain insights.

Leon stepped outside Kito’s lair with Felix.

“Hmm… how much should I hold back?”

The magic Felix knew how to use was simple.

He breathed from his three heads.

The breath itself contained powerful poison, causing fatal results upon contact.

However, he had considerable defense, and even if his defense was breached and he was injured, he had the ability to regenerate quickly.

‘Sandbag…?’

Leon quickly erased the thought from his mind as Felix’s expression turned serious.

In an instant, Felix transformed into his true form and stood tall before Leon.

All of Felix’s heads simultaneously raised.

Then, he extended his necks and let out a roar.

Fear.

Even though Leon had prepared in advance, he felt his entire body freeze.

He couldn’t properly recall the magical formulas in his mind.

Felix intentionally did not follow up with any attacks after the roar.

It was as if he was taunting Leon to ‘try and withstand it.’

However, Leon had the acceleration of the Golden Wings.

Using the acceleration, Leon escaped Felix’s attack range.

But this was only possible because he used an artifact.

“Is there a way to dodge without using artifacts?”

Leon asked, and Felix replied reluctantly.

“Getting used to it is one way. That’s actually why I used it.”

At that moment, winged vipers swarmed from the forest.

They hissed, making a sound like air escaping.

“It’s just a spar, so don’t worry about them.”

It seemed they were conversing.

The vipers glared at Leon.

“He is Sister’s master.”

At Felix’s words, the vipers suddenly bowed their heads and retreated.

“So these ‘kids’ you mentioned…”

“Yes, they’re the ones who will bring you food.”

How did it come to this, receiving treatment from monsters that even magicians couldn’t get?

Leon was momentarily confused, but he refocused on the sparring.

Felix roared once again.

Leon felt a chilling sharpness, but it was definitely less intense than before.

Leon was well aware that even a moment’s hesitation in battle could lead to fatal consequences.

He then dodged a breath attack from one of Felix’s heads using the acceleration of the Golden Wings.

“Thunderbolt.”

Leon fired nine electric orbs at Felix.

There was no need to hold back since it wouldn’t cause significant damage anyway.

As expected, Felix was unscathed even after being hit by all nine electric orbs.

“It stings a bit.”

With those words, Felix swung his tail.

In the blink of an eye, the tail reached right in front of Leon.

Thump-

The tail struck the automatically activated shield of the Guardian Robe.

Leon was sent flying and crashed into a tree.

“Ah, I failed to control my strength.”

“…”

Felix’s voice, muttering as if he had made a mistake, echoed in Leon’s ears.

But why did it seem like there was a hint of laughter in his voice?

‘…Could it be because it stung?’

While Leon was trying to guess Felix’s true feelings.

“You two are quite a match for each other.”

Kito, who had been watching the spar, yawned and spoke indifferently.