18

"What were all those creatures doing here and why isn't there a warning like the one in the river?"

"Ha ha, the truth is that the sulfur cave is the perfect cover, nobody would go near a place like that, at least not a simple farmer, and on the other hand these Acid Crabs are not carnivores so they have never attacked anyone, they have only reproduced in peace until our arrival... they are the ones who scared Matias..."

"But if they are not dangerous, why kill them?"

"I said that they are not carnivores, not that they are not dangerous, you have already seen them, they are territorial, killing them is easy, for the profit, I doubt that we will get much out of the river issue, but we have many good things here..."

"What good can there be in those creatures?"

"Everything... twenty-two stones, which will be bigger than those of the Kobols, the bags with which they make that toxic poultice they throw, it is a good ingredient to make acids, the shells once cleaned will sell well to make shields... In nature you have to get used to using everything, start by filling these three jugs with the sulfurous water and now I will teach you how to clean them."

In the process of cleaning the monsters inside the child could not help but vomit a couple of times, it really was a disgusting activity. But in the end he got used to it, Rilcar was methodical, once they were clean he kept the pieces in another dimensional bag. Gael did not miss a detail, having a dimensional bag was strange, having two was really something eccentric.

"This is your payment for helping me clean up… You decide what you do with it"

Rilcar threw a fairly decent sized rock at Gael, it could give him a good push in the body, but on the other hand and with a quick calculation he could see that it would be worth at least twice as much as the largest rock he sold to Claudicus.

When they left the cave it was already late afternoon.

"Master, what did you mean when you said we'll get little from the river? Is there nothing lurking around?"

"Although we mentioned the Faeri beings before, I doubt that a faerie is so far south and close to civilization, besides he would have already spoken to the children or caused some small disaster, that leaves us with all certainty a river monster and animals no matter how big they are do not give stones Gael, only monsters..."

"Wolves do not give stones?"

"A normal wolf, no, they are like a wild dog, only the wargs, white wolves or other intelligent varieties, with magic, or of an unnatural size have stones that you can collect..."

"I don't understand the difference... those Acid Crabs were just big insects..."

"It's the gods who set the rules Gael, we can do little if they escape our understanding, they are just like that. Now, a test question about what you saw in the fight, what was wrong with the ice knives that bounced off?"

"They lacked the power to pierce the shells..."

"Well, but if that was the exact spell formula from the book that means that, is the spell you learned wrong?"

"No... I don't know, master..."

The boy was worried that he had learned something useless and wasting his time was not something the boy could accept.

"The secret of a magician is not knowing all the formal spells and casting them without thinking, it is adapting the magic to each situation, each being, each monster has its peculiarities, being a good magician is adapting..."

"But you have cast them just as it is in the book, did you do it on purpose?"

"Of course, it was a good opportunity to teach you, the real attack was the mud trap, the ice knives were just a distraction and a good opportunity for a lesson. With this I don't mean that you don't have to learn the spells that come in the book, on the contrary you have to repeat them until you're sick of them, until you get them without thinking about each step, but I don't want you to think of it as the correct way to do magic, for those of us like you and me, adaptation is everything, think of the spells as the basis for being a good magician, if you understand the principles that compose them you will have the key to a much larger universe..."

As the hours passed, the times that Gael had vomited in the cave and the excitement of the adventure and he had forgotten about lunch, however the resounding noise of the child's stomach brought them back to reality.

"Let's stop for lunch"

They sat in the shade of a large beech tree and shared a loaf of bread, a sausage and a little cheese. It was a simple meal but Gael would have exchanged the freedom of a simple meal in the middle of the countryside a hundred times for a rigid dinner in the castle. Even his comfortable and cheap clothes that he was wearing now seemed much better than the noble suits that he had always worn.

The boy began to practice the ice knife until he exhausted his mana, but then he dared to use the wind blade.

He remembered the feeling when he threw one in the cave in a moment of need guided by pure instinct, it took much less time than with the ice knife in his first attempt, only 12 seconds, the blade left a not very deep mark on the tree.

"Give more speed to the air and squeeze it more with your will"

Gael followed his master's instructions and the next time the cut in the tree was much bigger. According to the records with a level one air mana core the boy would have to be able to make six blades before exhausting the mana.

The boy completed all six, but was exhausted.

"Master, what was that spell you cast when you entered the cave?"

"That, well technically it was a simple two-joint spell, with your talent you will be able to make your own when you leave high school..."

"Are spells that difficult?"

"Any brute with a lot of mana can cast powerful and spectacular magic, but only the truly intelligent, those who love magic, those who need to find power even in slow spells, really learn… Many will only be able to repeat the spells that come in books, but if you really learn how magic words work you can achieve almost anything you can imagine… But in a battle they are unfortunately too slow and too flashy, a magician reciting a spell is an easy target..."

"And the magic circle?"

"Haha you run a lot Gael, concentrate on learning the basics first, for the rest we will have time..."