Aiming for a Cozy Life in a Dangerous Forest in Another World! - Chapter 10
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- Chapter 10 - Let’s Practice Magic
Chapter 10: Let’s Practice Magic
Kaito, Pola, and I left the cave and headed for the forest.
Today’s goal was to discover edible fruits and mushrooms other than 『Amaju Fruits』 and to familiarize ourselves with the surrounding geography.
As I exited the cave and instinctively prepared to create stairs, an idea struck me.
“Hey, Kaito, want to try making the stairs?”
“…Huh? Stairs? With 『Earth Magic?』”
“Yeah. Your status screen says you can use Earth Magic. It’ll be good practice.”
As soon as I said that, I remembered that Kaito’s 『Earth Magic』 level was 0.
Based on my experience experimenting with 『Dark Magic』 last night, Kaito shouldn’t be able to use 『Earth Magic』 yet.
Just as I was about to apologize to Kaito for forgetting…
“Okay! I’ll try. I want to be helpful!”
With that, Kaito shouted, “『Earth Magic』!”
A lump of earth about the size of his fist appeared but immediately crumbled.
“…What?”
…No, I definitely saw a lump of earth for a second!
What was going on? Wondering this, I used 『Appraisal』 on Kaito’s status. His 『Earth Magic』 level was now 1.
Did he just level up?
…Hmm, I didn’t understand. But one thing was for sure, Kaito could now use 『Earth Magic』.
While I was lost in thought, Kaito kept creating lumps of earth that kept crumbling.
Pola, standing beside him, cheered “Ooh!” every time Kaito created one.
“…I can’t do it… Onee-chan, are there any tricks to it?”
“Let’s see… It’s all about clearly visualizing what you want to create. A perfect sphere, a cup, stairs. For anything you want to create, strong visualization is key.”
“…Don’t you have to chant any spells?”
“Spells? Saying the name of what you want to create can help with visualization, but you don’t need to say anything to activate it.”
As I said this, Kaito gave me that surprised yet dumbfounded look I had been seeing a lot since yesterday.
“…Onee-chan, only a handful of Archmages can use magic without chanting!”
Ah, right, that again.
“But you just created a lump of earth without saying anything, Kaito. Isn’t that also chantless magic?”
“…That’s true. I was just trying to imitate what you were doing…”
“You mentioned chanting spells, Kaito. Do you know any spells?”
“…No, not really. I’ve only seen the knights at the mansion use magic a few times…”
“I see. Well then, we have no choice but to keep trying without chanting!
Making stairs might be too difficult right now, so let’s focus on creating solid lumps of earth first.”
“Okay!”
As I was talking to Kaito,
“Pola too! Pola wants to use magic too!”
Pola interjected. I had unintentionally left her out.
Reflect, reflect.
According to her status, Pola could use more types of magic and even seemed to have higher potential.
But if we continued practicing magic here, we wouldn’t have time for our exploration.
“Sorry, Pola. Let’s practice magic when we get back, okay? You can use magic too.”
“Pola can use magic too?!”
“It looks like it. But you need to practice properly, so later, okay?”
“Okay!”
♢ ♢ ♢
I created the stairs and we descended the cliff.
This time we headed towards the river where Kaito and Pola had been swept down, the opposite direction from the Amaju trees.
That large tiger who attacked them might still be lurking around, so we proceeded with even more caution than yesterday.
I didn’t forget to leave markers by tilling the soil as we went.
After walking for about ten minutes, the forest opened up a bit, and we came to the river.
After making sure there were no magical beasts around, we stepped out onto the riverbank.
The river was about five meters wide. The water was clear and looked quite deep, but we could see the bottom clearly.
I spotted some small fish, about 15 centimeters long, swimming in the river and briefly considered trying to catch them but ultimately gave up.
If I tried, I’d probably just end up tripping and falling into the river.
The three of us approached the river, carefully watching our step, scooped up some water with our hands and drank.
It was cold and delicious.
Listening to the sound of the flowing water, I gazed up at the forest and the sky.
This truly was a beautiful place. I felt at peace.
As I looked across to the other side of the river, I saw a Fangrabbit, the same kind I had hunted yesterday, coming down to the water for a drink.
Unfortunately, it was too far away to catch, and even if I managed to kill it, it would be impossible to retrieve it from across the river.
And if it noticed us and attacked, that would be bad.
As I was thinking about turning back, I glanced back towards the forest.
And there, staring straight at us, was the tiger from yesterday.
♢ ♢ ♢
Oh no! I thought, but it was too late.
I shouldn’t have been admiring the scenery!
…Maybe I had gotten cocky after successfully rescuing Kaito and Pola from the tiger yesterday and hunting the Fangrabbit.
…But regretting my actions wouldn’t change the situation.
With that in mind, I tried to think of a way to repel the tiger.
I couldn’t use 『Fire Wall』 like yesterday. A large river was right behind us, with a Fangrabbit on the other side as a bonus.
…My only option was that thing I practiced last night. As I was thinking this,
The tiger – the Forest Tiger,
“GRRRRROWL!”
Roared.
And then, around the Forest Tiger’s face, something like the stone tools I had made last night appeared, and they came flying towards us. Like bullets…
Instinctively, I jumped in front of Kaito and Pola, shielding them.
…After getting in front of them, I thought about using magic or something, but of course, I couldn’t activate magic that quickly, and I froze.
It hurts! I thought, shutting my eyes tight, but I didn’t feel any pain.
At the same time, there was a cracking sound, and when I opened my eyes, one of the stone bullets had fallen to the ground right in front of me.
…What? As I looked around in confusion, I noticed something transparent, like a sheet of glass, in front of me.
That glass…
“Is it 『Automatic Defense』? Did the skill activate because I was being targeted? So as long as I’m in front, I can protect Kaito and Pola…”
But for now, I needed to get out of this situation.
The Forest Tiger seemed confused about what had happened. It growled, “Gururu…” observing us cautiously.
I decided to try the earth magic attack I had practiced last night. I created a rugby ball-sized lump of earth, no, a stone bullet…
“Fire!!”
I shouted.
…The stone bullet struck the Forest Tiger near its mouth, piercing through its body and smashing into a tree at the edge of the forest behind it with a thunderous crash. The tree snapped in half and crumbled.