Chapter 11: Ultimate Ice Magic

Gray was stunned, turning his head to look around: "Here?" Although the carriage had some space, Gray was afraid of damaging something if he were to use Magic.

Gael nodded and said: "It's fine. Feel free to use it. Any Magic you can use within this range. Show me all of them."

Gray nodded, opened his left hand, placed his right fist on his left hand, and an ice-blue Magic circle appeared between his hands: "Ice-Make: Block." Saying that, he pushed his hands forward, cold air condensed inside the carriage, and the ice-blue Magic circle shone brightly.

Above the small table between Gael and Gray, suddenly, a block of ice about half a meter in length, width, and height appeared, and before it could fall, Gael raised his hand and pointed a finger at the ice block. Gray didn't feel any Magic power fluctuations, but the ice block he had just created in front of him using Ice-Make Magic disintegrated and melted away without a trace in less than half a second.

Seeing this scene, Gray's eyes widened: "A... Amazing!" No wonder Gael said he could use it freely. The gap between them was something he couldn't imagine.

Gael signaled Gray to continue. Gray took a deep breath, became serious, and made the gesture to use Magic again: "Ice-Make: Battle Axe." A giant ice axe instantly appeared above the carriage. The sharp blade on the ice axe was aimed at Gael as it fell. Seeing this, Gray couldn't help but feel his heart tighten. He subconsciously became nervous.

But the next second, Gael raised his finger and directly blocked the ice axe's blade, then, like the ice block just now, it quickly disintegrated and melted, disappearing without a trace.

Gray's hanging heart relaxed, and he no longer hesitated. The blue light inside the carriage kept flashing: "Ice-Make: Lance." "Ice-Make: Grappling Hook." "Ice-Make..." One Ice-Make Magic after another was used by Gray.

Although Gray hadn't followed Ulu to learn Make Magic for long, Gray's talent was very good, and after getting started, Ulu barely had to worry. Ulu also didn't hide her Magic books, and Gray had read them many times. When they parted, Ulu even gave Gray a copy. So although Gray wasn't old, he knew quite a few Magic spells. It was just that their power wasn't very great yet.

As time passed, the train reached its departure time and slowly started moving. And Gray's Magic power was almost exhausted, so he stopped. Gael handed over a bottle of blue potion. Gray took it and drank it, then his eyes widened, feeling the sensation coming from his body: "This... My Magic power recovery speed is increasing?! So fast! It's already recovered!"

Gray looked at the bottle in his hand with some shock. Just one sip, and his Magic power was fully restored within a few seconds, and there were still four or five sips left in the bottle in his hand. He had also learned about Magic items. But he had never heard of such a Magic power recovery item.

Gray swallowed and looked at Gael. Gael looked at Gray and smiled: "Put it away, keep it for yourself. It's not that powerful. At the very least, at the initial stage, this thing can only restore one-third of a C-Class Mage's Magic power. But for you, you can use it several times."

Gray nodded blankly, then carefully put the bottle away and sat properly, looking at Gael. Gael then said: "I've just seen your Magic. What do you think is the essence of Ice-Make Magic?"

Gray's eyes were serious, pondering the meaning of Gael's words. Ice-Make Magic, one is ice, one is making. It definitely couldn't be just these two simplest things. Making requires imagination, or experience, seeing more things to make good shapes. Gray looked at Gael and said uncertainly: "Is it imagination and experience?"

Gael smiled and shook his head: "No. It's ice." Gael raised his hand and placed it above the small table in front of him. An irregular floating ice block suddenly condensed in his palm: "That's right, it's ice. Whether you make the most basic shapes, or after seeing many things, create powerful weapons. But the foundation that makes these up is ice."

As Gael taught, the ice in Gael's hand kept solidifying and compressing. Although it was just an irregular ice block the size of a palm, it made the entire room cold. Gray stared blankly at this scene.

Gael continued to say: "So the focus of your Magic shouldn't be on making shapes. Instead, it should be on strength and casting speed. The so-called strength is the limit of the Magic you cast. This is not the limit in the ordinary sense, such as running out of Magic power or the range of effect. Instead, it's about finding the core of your Magic."

"For example, in my opinion, the core of Fire Magic should be temperature. A hundred-degree flame can boil water and cook rice. A thousand-degree flame can burn through a Magic beast's body. A five-thousand-degree flame can easily turn steel into molten iron. A ten-thousand-degree flame can instantly vaporize most objects in the world. So what is the core of ice?"

Gray shook his head blankly, his mind still in shock, feeling somewhat blank. Gael said: "It's also temperature."

He then signaled Gray to create an ice block above his palm. Gray nodded, pointing his hands above Gael's palm: "Ice-Make: Block." A half-meter square ice block appeared out of thin air. This time, however, it didn't fall freely but was suspended in the air by Gael using Confusion.

Then the irregular ice block in Gael's hand began to extend ice tendrils, spreading upwards. It quickly turned into a square cage, enclosing the ice block Gray had created. Both were floating above the table, not touching.

However, as Gael's Magic was activated, the temperature above the table instantly dropped. The next second, under Gray's shocked gaze, floating in the ice cage, the ice block he had created began to tremble.

Crack! It shattered into several pieces, scattering in the air. His ice block was... frozen and shattered?! "This... How is this possible?!" Was there such a big difference between ice and ice?!

The temperature of ice... Gray had never encountered this kind of knowledge, and Ulu hadn't taught him either, so he was naturally filled with shock. Gael waved his hand again, the floating ice block disappeared, and he continued: "The lower the temperature of the ice, the greater the damage it causes."

"Ulu's Make Magic is very flashy, but her ice couldn't freeze Deliola. Only by casting the forbidden Magic 'Absolute Zero' at the cost of her life, imbuing the ice with will, could she eternally freeze Deliola."

Gray nodded solemnly. Before Gaer arrived, he had witnessed that battle with his own eyes. Although Ulu's Ice Rose froze Deliola for an instant, Deliola's immense strength shattered the ice block, and energy roars followed one after another, breaking Ulu's right leg in just a short while. If Gaer hadn't appeared, Ulu would have already used 'Absolute Zero'.

Gael raised his hand and drew a circle in the air. "But ice... can it really not freeze Deliola?" A light golden halo appeared in mid-air, followed by a white, irregular object, floating above the table. Feeling the aura emanating from that object, Gray's heart tightened: "This is... Deliola's aura?"

Gael nodded and said: "This is a small piece of Deliola's bone." Immediately after, a cold aura emanated from the center of Gael's palm again. An irregular ice block condensed, then climbed up and froze this small section of Deliola's bone. As the ice wrapping Deliola's bone emitted an increasingly cold aura, the transparency of the ice was also gradually decreasing.

What made Gray's scalp tingle even more was that as the temperature dropped, the floating ice block in front of him began to emit 'bang' 'bang' sounds, like an object reaching its limit and unable to bear the pressure. Every 'bang' from the ice block in front of him made Gray's heart skip a beat. An indescribable sense of crisis was stimulating his body's instinctive reaction.

Gray couldn't help but lean back, wanting to stay away from the ice block, yet he was also uncontrollably curious, staring intently at it. The carriage fell silent for a moment. In Gray's eyes, there was only the ice block constantly emitting 'limit sounds'.

Until a certain moment...

Snap!!

The ice block, or rather the bone within the ice block, reached its limit. Under Gray's shocked gaze, it shattered with a crash, then rapidly collapsed and burst outwards. Gray couldn't help but duck back. Gael waved his hand. The scattered ice fragments and bone shards instantly disappeared. Only a piece of ice with bone shards remained, landing on the small table.

Gray swallowed and looked at the small ice block containing bone shards on the table. Although it no longer had the enhancement of Magic, its inherent coldness caused ice to spread across the table beneath it. The most important thing was...

Gray couldn't help but lean closer, staring intently at the crack in the bone shard there. It had been forcibly torn open by some kind of power. Gray's eyes were filled with horror. This was Deliola's bone. Ordinary Magic, even Ulu's ice, couldn't break through Deliola's skin. But now, bone that was several times harder than skin. Under the extreme low temperature of the ice, it was violently torn apart...

Looking at the horrified Gray, Gael said: "If it were frozen by this level of ice, do you think Deliola would still break free?"

Gray raised his head to look at Gael, and the scene from that night inexplicably appeared in his mind. If Deliola had been frozen with this kind of ice at that time. Crack!! The Deliola frozen in Gray's mind shattered with a crash, breaking into several pieces.

"No! And... this kind of ice would directly kill it."

Gray came back to his senses and said with a solemn tone. Then Gray couldn't help but frown, thinking of Ulu and Lyon: "Then Ulu and Lyon's direction. Isn't it wrong?"

Gael said with a smile: "Everyone has their own Magic path. You can tell others, but you can't say others are wrong. No one is absolutely right. What I'm teaching you is just my understanding. Perhaps others don't think this way."

In fact, based on his understanding, the Magic of this world could be developed in various directions. After all, the era of information explosion in his previous life wasn't just talk. Not to mention all sorts of creative ideas, there were countless directions with theoretical foundations.

But he couldn't correct them. He couldn't just see someone developing their Magic incorrectly and run over to say, "Your Magic is wrong, you have to do it this way to be right." In this kind of situation, if your strength is a bit lower, you might get beaten to death.

Moreover, he wasn't someone who liked to meddle. If someone from Fairy Tail asked for guidance, he would give it. As for the Magicians outside, there was no need for him to stir up trouble. Otherwise, if someone didn't like what he said and suddenly wanted to fight. Should he kill or not kill...? If he killed, it would be excessive. If he didn't kill, 'I kindly advised you, but you don't appreciate it? You're truly courting death, behold my Great Might Heavenly Dragon!!!!'

So Gael wouldn't be that kind of nosy do-gooder. He primarily went with the flow.

Gray was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then realized that his words were problematic. Casually educating others was easy to get beaten for. Then a smile appeared on Gray's lips. In that case, it was better to let strength speak. When he saw Lyon in the future, his ice would be shattered by his ice...

As soon as he thought of Lyon's exasperated expression, Gray was full of fighting spirit: "Then from now on, I'll use my strength to tell them. We'll see then whose ice is stronger, mine or Lyon's." Although he said that, Gray's lips were full of confident smiles.

Seeing this, Gael smiled and said: "Then let's begin." Saying that, Gael raised his hand, took off the Magic ring on his right middle finger, and handed it to Gray: "This is the Ring of Amplification. It can increase Magic spell intensity by 10%. Put it on and feel it first. Then start practicing the most basic Magic power compression..."

--

Two days later, inside the quiet carriage, Gray was concentrating wholeheartedly on practicing Magic power compression. Ever since he experienced the enhancement of using Ice-Make Magic while wearing the Ring of Amplification, Gray felt as if he had opened the door to a new world. With the same Magic, an ice hammer created while wearing the Ring of Amplification could easily shatter an ice hammer created without wearing it. Although the temperature difference of the condensed ice hammers was only a few degrees, the effect was worlds apart.

This made Gray go completely crazy. There were several bottles full of beginner Magic power potions on the table. These were supplied by Gael whenever needed. Gray didn't know how many bottles he had drunk. Anyway, he hadn't eaten much food; he was full just from drinking these.

And Gael's observation skills could easily determine Gray's limit. Only when he was about to reach his limit would he force Gray to rest. In this way, in just two days, Gray could feel his strength had almost doubled. Such substantial improvement made Gray forget about sleep and food.

However, at this moment, Gael put down the Magic book in his hand and looked out the train window. There was nothing unusual in the scenery; it was still vast stretches of snow-covered Endless Snow Mountains. But Gael could feel the aura of the Demon that shared the same origin as Deliola.

"Gray, get ready. We're about to fight."