Through the Forest

Ch 9

POV Krauss

"How did you do that?"

It was the lady sitting across me.

"Do what?" I asked back, feigning innocence.

"How did you cast so many spells in one go?"

"I am a spell caster. What should I do other than casting spells?"

"No magician I have ever met has cast spells at such speed."

"Well... Then you have now. What do you want me to do about it?"

"…"

"I even cast spells to increase our speed, because you were complaining about being late."

"Forget it."

Silence once again settled in the carriage.

I had cast six spells in total. All of them were non-elemental spells ranging from 1st circle to 3rd circle.

Command contract. A ritualistic spell that allowed me to directly issue commands into the horse's mind.

Shared Vision, so that I can see the horse's point of view while sitting inside the carriage. Magician's Healing to remove any exhaustion or injuries. Unending Stamina for, well, unending stamina. Increased Instinct to increase the danger sense of the horse to avoid the stronger monsters. And lastly, Minor Fortune Blessing to have lesser chances to encounter danger.

Every spell caster has spell circles in his mind palace. And every time they advance they gain another one. These circles are of increasing sizes and all of them have a common centre. So, an Expert Magician like me has three rings that are arranged in a concentric fashion in the default state.

To cast a spell, one has to first create a spell model using those rings. That is done by arranging those rings in different orientations in three-dimensional space. A constructed spell mode looks something like a 3d astrolabe.

Once the spell model is ready in the caster's mind, all they need to do is pour energy into it to conjure the spell. The problem is, the higher the spell level is, the more spell circles you will need to use, and the harder it gets to arrange them all at once. On top of that, the spell circles also increase in their complexity. A mage's spell circle is many times more sophisticated than a sorcerer's, and similarly, a sorcerer's spell circle is much more complicated than a magician's.

In simple words, to cast spells continuously you need to be able to construct the spell models almost instantaneously. And the only way to achieve this is... by practice. Of course, talent helps, but without the countless hours of effort I put into it, I would never be able to quick cast.

"Life Detection~"

I cast this spell every five minutes to be on the safe side, but other than bugs and a few small animals nothing else had been detected until now. I thought the way was filled with monsters. Is it because of the Minor Fortune Blessing spell? But my doubts were unfounded. In the next second, I detected the life signs of monsters approaching.

"Monsters incoming from the front."

I warned Charlotte.

"Level?"

"Just a small group of level 2 monsters."

Charlotte jumped out of the moving carriage, onto the roof.

In the long time that had passed, my mana had also almost fully recovered. But since she told me to stay, I decided to just observe her.

As soon as the monster's appeared in sight, she took them out with throwing knives. Every shot hit them in the head and went right out the other side. In just a matter of seconds, there were five dead werewolves with holes in their heads. As our carriage passed their dead bodies, I could see the look of disbelief on two of the monster's faces. They were probably the ones to go last and were dumbfounded by their companions suddenly dying in front of them.

I debated internally whether I should stop the carriage to harvest the materials or just let them go. They were just level 2 monsters. And I didn't have the patience to carry them all the way to the institute, and then find a buyer so that I could sell them. On top of that, it wasn't even my kill.

"Done" Charlotte remarked as she hopped back into the carriage.

"Good work. What about the materials?"

"Worthless."

That is what I thought. To a Refinement rank 4 - Weapon Specialist, these materials were nothing more than monster scraps.

Soon the sun set and darkness settled all over.

"Light orb~"

I cast a simple 1st circle spell. A ball of floating light was conjured.

"Are we going to spend the night in the middle of the forest?"

"Why? Are you scared of bugs?"

"…" She just looked at me with a deadpan expression.

I tried talk with her multiple times by chatting or teasing her, but she remained as stoic as ever.

"Fine. The monsters in the night are stronger. We didn't even bring any supplies. The best would be to continue moving through the night. If we do that, at this speed we will reach the Greenwich institute by tomorrow evening itself. Of course, if you want we can still stop and rest."

"No need."

"Alright."

The night deepened and neither of us slept. Afterall, killing someone in their sleep is the easiest.

Just then I received another signal from Life Detection.

"Monsters again. This time there is only one. A third level one."

Before I could cast any augmentation spells on her Charlotte jumped out with an unsheathed shortsword in her hand and disappeared in the dark night.

"Owl Vision~"

I cast it on myself so that I could see what she was doing. It seems I was just in time as I saw her blade spouting out from the monster's throat from behind him.

Shortsword, throwing knives, able to see clearly in the darkness, hiding her level, probably on a mission. If she isn't an assassin, then I am not the Third Prince. I was suspicious before but now I am near certain. The good part is, at least the target doesn't seem to be me, she doesn't recognize me even without a disguise of any sort.

After she returned to the carriage I tried to act as normally as before, but I was secretly alert. A Weapon Specialist assassin was sneaking into the Greenwich Institute for a mission. Although it sounded like suicide, it wasn't uncommon for things like this to happen. Due to the large number of noble scions in the academy, there were too many people who wanted to use foul play. Most of the assassins would be sent by opposing noble families, or by the enemy nations, while some idiots even came to act as spies.

All of this, however, was to no avail as all of them would be weeded out by the entrance test and disposed of soon after. In the history of the Greenwich Institute, there was no single news or incident that showed it had been infiltrated.

Although I had made her agree to team up with me in the final test, I had no doubt that this girl in front of me would be killed off before that time. If I knew this before I wouldn't even bother finding about her.

There was a story about one of the students of the academy. He was a genius fighter, one of the best at close combat in the entire history of the institute. When he graduated he was a 6th refinement Weapon Master. However, after graduating he disappeared from public view. Some rumours said that he had left the continent, while others said he had been killed. Almost half a century later, he died while trying to assassinate a professor at the Institute. At the time he had reached 8th refinement Combat Grandmaster.

You have to understand that even a longstanding empire like the Carnel Empire doesn't have more than a few Combat Grandmasters. His body served as a warning not only to all other spies and assassins trying to infiltrate the institute but also to the surrounding Empires.

"Life Detection~"

This time when I cast the spell multiple signals sprung up.

"We are being ambushed by monsters."

"Numbers?"

"Too many to count."

Unsurprisingly her face didn't even flinch at my reply.

"Don't worry, most of them are level 1."

I stopped the carriage, and this time both of us went out. Just then multiple howls came from every direction.

"It's probably a Demonic Wolf pack. We have been surrounded." I said as I quickly started building my spell models.

" "

No matter how fast I cast spells, combat arts are still faster. Charlotte quickly used a few low tier combat arts and disappeared.

"Mental Terror~. Ice Splinter~. Accelerate~."

I also cast my spells.

The two of us began to slaughter every wolf in sight.

Charlotte was like the Grim Reaper. Wherever she walked, blood spurted from the wolves' necks. I on the other hand was like a moving turret. Small ice crystals were being continuously shot into the wolves' skulls, killing them instantly.

By the time we were done, it was already dawn. The sun was rose behind Charlotte as she slit the throat of the last wolf on the now blood-soaked, muddy ground.