Versatile utility

Artus left his room in the dorm, heading for Seer's office. Another month has passed in the blink of an eye.

During the last month, Artus kept training with the object levitation spell; he kept training with stones. He used the NuroFusion system to estimate the amount of mana required to levitate the various stones based on their weights. He also started to use smaller and smaller stones, training his accuracy further and further.

His goal is to be able to use the object levitation spell to measure very tiny and specific amounts of materials with high precision and accuracy. Even though he did not have much use for it now, it would be very helpful to him later on.

With the money he had gathered, he also brought a small dagger. Every day when he had time, he would go to the arena to watch the warriors' duals. He especially watched the fights of melee warriors, paying more attention to those who used small swords and daggers.

He used NuroFusion to analyze their fights and techniques; he assigned days to train using the dagger in the methods he had studied and acquired in addition to basic physical training like running, jumping, weightlifting, and endurance training.

He had arrived in front of the Seer's office; he knocked on the door.

"Aunt Seers, it is me, Artus, May I enter?"

He heard a man's voice from inside; it seemed Seers had a guest.

"Come on in."

Artus entered the office to see Galdor, the academy's headmaster and the magic division chief, inside.

He was surprised for a moment before regaining his composure; he straightened his back and bent his head a little.

"I greet the headmaster."

"Oh…Seers, who is this child?"

"Headmaster, this is Artus, a mage trainee who is in the preliminary course right now; you may have heard of him; he had one of the best overall scores in the magic division entrance trial. He is also a relative of mine."

"So, he is Artus." 

"Hello there, young child. I have high hopes for you. Keep up the hard work. Hopefully, I will see you soon in the main classes."

"Lady Seers, I have to go now. I have some matters to attend to. I will visit you later to continue the discussion".

"I will see you later".

Galdor left the office and closed the door. Artus was surprised by his attitude towards Seers; even though he was the academy's headmaster and was in a much higher position than her, he treated her with the utmost respect.

There are still many things he does not know.

*******************************

"The second month is ending; the second promotion examination will be held soon. You have two more months before the fourth promotion exam".

"Yeah"

"There is nothing to worry about. Even if you took the exam right now, you would definitely pass."

"I know that, Aunt. I am not really concerned about the exam. Passing it is a given at this point. It is just a matter of time. I am planning what I will do after that."

Seers and Artus chatted as they walked to the edge of the forest. Seers had accompanied Artus many times in the previous month; she had seen his abilities, so she no longer worried about him fighting low-level monsters, but this time, Artus told her that he wanted to go deeper into the forest.

"Aunt, let's start first by hunting one-horned rabbits. I want to test a few things."

"Ok".

As they strolled at the edge of the forest, Artus spotted a rabbit; he immediately raised his hand and cast the fireball spell; he no longer needed to get close to his target; the fireball traveled fast, hitting the rabbit and killing it in one shot.

"I can say now that your fireball spell is almost perfect."

Artus smiled and did not say a thing; he proceeded to skin the rabbit as usual. They continued their journey till they spotted another rabbit.

He used the object levitation spell on the small dagger he had previously brought. The dagger started floating in the air.

"Are you trying to use the object levitation spell to launch the dagger as a throwing weapon? It is not powerful enough to launch it as fast and strong enough to pierce the rabbit."

"I know, Aunt; I have another idea that I want to test."

He manipulated the dagger, raising it in the air till it reached the maximum height within his current control and rang. He slowly moved the dagger toward the rabbit's direction till he stopped above it directly, pointed the blade toward the ground, and then deactivated the spell.

*WOOSH*

The dagger fell through the air directly on the rabbit's body. Even though it did not kill the rabbit directly, it caused lethal injury.

Artus walked towards the rabbit and fished it off.

"What do you think Aunt?"

"That's why you brought this spell?"

"It is a good idea, unique use of a low spell like the object levitation. You may be able to use this trick for hunting low-level monsters, but it will not work against the mid-level ones."

"It also requires a still target; it will not work if you face the rabbit head-on."

"It is also ineffective in fighting against mages or other people, as you have to concentrate all your attention on manipulating the dagger and positioning it, which will be very hard and leave you open to attacks. It is better to use attack spells like fireball."

"Hmmmmm…. you are right…but I think I will make good use of it somehow."

"I also suggest using weapons like throwing needles; they are much lighter and sharper, so manipulating them will be easier and faster. Even though they may cause less damage than using something larger with a bigger blade, they are more practical to use and will be more helpful."

They continued their way when Artus spotted a third rabbit. He made a loud noise and ran toward it directly, intending to face its head with the dagger.

The rabbit was alarmed and tried to run away, but Artus jumped before it, directly blocking its way. The rabbit was corned, so it started to attack Artus.

Artus held the dagger in his left hand and started slashing at the rabbit. Seers was surprised to see that, as she had always seen him use his right hand, she thought he was right-handed dominant.

The rabbit jumped towards Artus, intending to stab him with its horn. Although Artus's physical strength and reflexes had improved, he still could not dodge an attack like this from a close distance.

Seers wanted to intervene, but she suddenly saw the rabbit's horn, which was directed towards Artus's body, deviate to the left, causing the rabbit to hit Artus with its body.

The rabbit fell to the ground, and then Artus jumped. His jump was high, and what caught Seer's attention was that he could not jump this high with his current body.

Artus used the dagger to slash the rabbit from above; the rabbit abruptly jumped to the right, trying to avoid Artus's slash. Artus's left hand and the dagger he held changed direction from midair to the right, hitting the rabbit's body directly.

The rabbit's dead body fell to the ground.