Serious training in East Port

[Before we start could you please give me some power stones? I beg you!!]

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Two weeks have passed since the ambush of Enzo and his group and now we have arrived at the eastern port, from here a sea separates us from the central continent...

Fortunately there have been no incidents since that guy's ambush which is a total relief, I can't imagine even getting involved in a battle like that again.

Also my suspicions about Laws seemed useless since the guy showed himself to be a real outlaw who only seeks a better life.

After talking for these weeks he said that he was also heading to the Asura Kingdom or somewhere nearby, so all of us will stay together for a long time.

In other good news, Lilia and Hilda have already started to show signs of improvement, with Lilia being the most noticeable, her face now has a light rosy cheekbone and I could notice how her skin is becoming softer every day.

The same thing happens with Hilda, and it's worse because we both sleep together and her breasts have taken their original shape which makes it difficult for me to sleep a little...

But hey, let's put those thoughts aside and focus on something else.

Another new thing is that Roxy can now throw a fireball without an enchantment and can throw water balls effortlessly after all this time training, but that's already a good thing.

After having traveled the entire road without stopping I authorized that we would rest in East Port to recover strength.

But besides that I want to stop and train my spells, since that day the spell I used to defeat Enzo has been on my mind for several days.

That beam... is an attack that is both effective and powerful, as well as imperative due to the time it takes to charge...

But if I could control it...it would probably be my most powerful attack, and there was no better place to test it than the sea.

So yes, we would rest in this city for one or two days.

...

The eastern port looked like every city I'd seen in Millis in some part, but this one had a kind of unique charm in the air, or maybe it was just the salt.

But now that I think about it, this is the first time since I was reincarnated that I've seen the sea...but even in my other life I can only count on one hand the times I went to the beach.

"So this is the sea...it's very beautiful" Hilda murmured while holding my hand.

We were already close to the city but the road was on top of a hill, so we had a full view of the city and the sea in front of us.

"Yeah, I'm assuming this is your first time seeing it, right?" I said with a smile and she nodded, resting her head on my shoulder.

In these two weeks I had already gotten used to this kind of exchanges... apparently we are a couple now but I feel really uncomfortable with this.

Just by mentioning the simple fact that she is a literal kid, if not a very... sensual girl for her age, god I feel dirty thinking about that but it's the truth.

I even think I remembered my mother saying that all the Greyrat factions had different fetishes, the Notos' being big breasts, although I think that's just a taste of any man.

The point is!...that the hormones in this body are already acting against me, even a couple of days ago I had my first erection to my misfortune and Hilda's surprise...

Ahem!, let's put that aside already!...

"Whew...it does look like in the stories, even bigger than I imagined" Laws murmured beside me.

"Yes, our priority now will be to find a ship that can take us to the central continent, after that we will take a well-deserved rest" I declared and everyone nodded.

The closer we got to the city, the smell of salt filled my nostrils, giving me a new air; the atmosphere of this city could be described as chaotic.

Unfortunately we would have to sell the carriage for obvious reasons, but Gesse said that where we were going we could buy another one.

We split into two groups, Me, Gesee and Laws would look for a boat that could take us and was comfortable, and the others would look for an inn for the time we were here.

The three of us quickly arrived at the port, the waves were lightly lashing from the shore and there were a considerable number of boats docked at the pier, some leaving and others arriving.

We approached mainly the one who seemed to be the captain of one of the newly arrived ships, he was a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard, leather pants and one eye...

"Good morning sir, do you know which ship will be taking you to the central continent these days?" I asked firmly.

In these cases, one should not be submissive, especially with people of this type.

"Hmm, yes, I myself will set sail again in three days, how many people will go?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and crossing his arms.

"There would be eight of us in total, sir, that wouldn't be a problem, right?" I asked.

"No, no problem, it will be 5 Millis silver coins per person, come early in the morning in three days, and pay at once" he said, extending his hand towards me.

Shit... it's a bit expensive, but it's okay, these guys risk getting eaten by a fucking crackhead every day, and money isn't a problem right now, Also the three days of waiting will be a good rest for the women and enough time to train for me.

"Okay, let me get my money," I muttered.

I took four of Millis's gold coins from my bag and the guy gladly took them and went back to his ship without saying anything.

"That turned out well, now what?" Laws asked with a sigh.

"Let's go back to the city center, that's where our meeting point with the women is" I declared and so we left the port.

...

Roxy chose the inn and was more than happy with the three day break, now me, Roxy and Hilda were on the beach, the others had stayed at the inn and I went out to train but they decided to accompany me.

"I've never been to the sea, what am I supposed to do now?" Hilda asked from my side as I sat on the sand.

"I actually don't know, I don't know how to swim so I can't teach you either" I said with an apologetic smile.

"W-well...at least I can be on the shore?" She asked somewhat discouraged.

"You can, but there's a big chance that there are sea monsters even close to the shore" Roxy said sitting on the sand close to us as well.

"Oh...I see" Hilda muttered, almost falling onto herself in the sand.

"Don't worry, I'll just analyze these scrolls and... swim with you," he declared, and life returned to Hilda's eyes.

"And you Roxy? Why did you want to come to the beach? Do you know how to swim?" I asked her.

"I don't know how to swim either, but since I left the Demon Continent I've liked the atmosphere of the beaches, it's relaxing" she said with a smile and her eyes closed.

The wind blew across her face, lifting her hat before she took it, her pigtails rose and a satisfied smile formed on her face, as if she was truly enjoying the moment.

I couldn't help it and my heart skipped a beat and a blush appeared on my cheeks.

"W-well, I'll start trying to learn these new spells...please keep quiet" I muttered and opened the first scroll.

"Intermediate rank barrier magic..." I muttered as I caressed the scroll paper.

Roxy, what do you know about this magic?" I muttered as I looked at the spell.

"Barrier magic?...hmm it's not very common, and I haven't actually studied it, but as the name suggests it creates a protective barrier around you" she muttered as she took some sand in her hand and let it fall like an hourglass.

"Hmmm, okay, I think I'll practice this one first" I declared and got up from the ground.

The scroll was somewhat short, but not too short, above the spell there was a small story of how this magic was created by the anti-Laplace bells by the warriors who couldn't defend themselves at all and opted for this magic.

"...I suppose I'll have you learn these if we have the bad fortune of going through another ambush" I muttered as I analyzed the spell.

It wasn't too long, just about two paragraphs so it took me less than thirty minutes before I decided to cast it.

"...angel of miracles, protect those who have fallen in the fight for freedom and protect them with your divine wing, Barrier!"

I cast the spell and immediately a blue barrier enveloped me like a dome.

The diameter of the barrier was barely a meter but it was only that.

"...Roxy, try to cast a spell against this barrier" I said.

"Eh? A spell? Isn't it dangerous?..." She murmured with concern.

"Yes, yes it is, and that is precisely why I am asking you this favor, let it be a beginner spell, if the barrier can't withstand it then I will have to perfect it" I encouraged her with a confident smile.

I could even see the doubt on Hilda's face, but I winked at her causing her to blush like a tomato.

"Haaa... okay" she murmured and pointed her arm at me and threw a ball of water at me without an incantation.

The water ball closed the distance between us in the blink of an eye, but upon touching the barrier the magic disshipped it without a trace.

"Interesting... now with an intermediate range one!" I encouraged her and she hesitated but finally accepted.

But this time we were more cautious, I stood near the waves of the sea and Roxy threw a water cannon at me that also disshipped me upon coming into contact with the barrier.

After this we tried an advanced range spell but as I suspected this one broke the barrier effortlessly almost hitting me.

"So it can only disship intermediate level spells... but that was something I expected, thank you very much Roxy!" I said with a smile and she nodded.

After that we moved on to advanced range barrier magic and indeed the barrier can only block magic up to that level, but now I wonder what would happen with sword attacks...

I don't want to think about that for now, since there are only advanced range ones but I want to think that it will affect the same way.

...

We continued experimenting with the barrier magic for a couple more hours and I discovered something good.

In short, the barriers can protect you from magical attacks from the different elements, but when I entered the sea the water filtered into the barrier...which is why I had the theory that it is not effective under natural conditions, it seems that it will only work with magical attacks, and another thing to note is that when I am in the barrier I cannot attack in any way which leaves me in an extremely disadvantageous position, I don't know the reason for this but I can't even use magic while I am in a barrier.

This made me sincerely doubt the practical applications of these spells to a more desperate extent when I find myself cornered, I guess I'll have Hilda and Roxy learn these magic In case they come to ambush us again...

But now I wanted to move on to the highlight of the day, it was past midday, the waves were gently breaking on the beach splashing the foam near me and giving me a feeling of strange calm despite everything that I've been through in these months here.

The feeling of fear when facing Enzo is still fresh in my head, the desperation, helplessness and anger I felt would not be erased so easily from my head.

I was certainly more than grateful to Laws, without his help I honestly don't know if I would have been able to survive.

I also realized the value of my own life. I haven't done anything remarkable yet... I have a lot to live for and a family waiting for me at home, so I have to keep going and become stronger.

I walked slowly to the edge of the beach until the waves broke at my feet.

I closed my eyes and breathed in and out deeply.

At that moment I was desperate, it was an uncontrolled spell, a futile attempt at survival that resulted from pure luck...

Lightning...one of the most destructive and unpredictable forces in nature, even imagining that I could have that power as a weapon sounded almost ridiculous, so ridiculous that it made me want to laugh.

But I didn't laugh, because what I did in that forest was real and I would master it no matter what.

But I didn't want to have to be half-concentrating a cumumunimbus to execute it, I must be more skillful... smarter.

I opened my eyes quickly and put my hands together in prayer as I concentrated.

"...positive charge and negative charge, the hail hitting each other causes friction" I muttered to myself and a small black cloud began to form around me.

It was my super compact version of columunimbus and it was extremely unstable...

Ignoring the mana cost I continued to compress the size of the cloud and concentrate it in my hands.

The power of the storm fought against my control, fluctuating and creating electric shocks that numbed my hands, but I did not give in.

The storm quickly calmed down until the cloud became the size of a soccer ball and the lightning began to crackle more loudly.

I could even tell that I attracted the attention of many people who were also on the beach, but I wasn't here to put on a magic show.

The black cloud quickly turned into a ball of energy, all the power of the storm concentrated into a single bolt of lightning.

The power emitted by the spell was so much that it was even hurting me, just like the last time, but this time I was stuck directing absolutely all of this power to a single point.

There was no longer any lightning crackling around the place or anything like that.

Just a ball of light in my hands struggling to unleash all its power on the first thing it touched.

"P-Paul?...that's king rank water magic?!" Roxy squealed in total surprise beside me.

"I don't know... I just compressed a colummunimbus and all the energy is concentrated at this point" I muttered.

Roxy didn't respond when she saw how difficult the spell was and walked back pulling Hilda with her...good.

Well...it's time to release it, target?, the sea of course

I extended my hands with all possible concentration, the charge of light became more violent and tried to explode but I contained it as much as I could.

I want it to hit in one spot and far away...

"Okay...ha!!" With a shout I released the beam and immediately a pillar of light came out of my hands and flew over the sea literally leaving a path that separated the waters momentarily before it hit about 200 meters from the shore with an explosion that made me shudder, I could even feel the electric shock in my feet although to a lesser extent...

I guess this can be considered a success?...

I quickly looked behind me and could see the shocked faces of Hilda and Roxy as well as the fear on the faces of the locals passing by.

Well, I think this is a good form of direct intimidation for the unbelievers, so let's call it a success.