Leo came out of his room with a smile on his face. He had finally become a Late-Stage 1st Star Mage. He knew that he was making progress because it was getting easier and easier to hunt two Magical Beasts every day, but this was progress on paper.
Also, now that he had sold an extra Magic Core for 10 days, he had gathered enough money to get 2 Aura Gathering Pills.
He realized that the only reason he was able to kill the Magical Beasts so easily was because he was a mage. Aura Knights would be able to fight against mages on the same footing if it was a one vs one, but mages fared a lot better against Magical Beasts.
This was because his aim wasn't based on practice, but concentration. As long as his mind was focused, he wouldn't miss. Ranged Archers would have to practice a lot more like Daphne was doing.
He decided that he would give both of the pills to Daphne. She was getting a lot better at shooting arrows from a distance. He just assumed that she was talented. The only thing holding her back was that she was only an Early-Stage 1st Circle Aura Knight.
This would make her a liability in the forest because the Beasts were getting stronger. If she got to a Middle Stage, she would make a bigger impact.
It was night, but the tower was open all the time so he decided to just get the pills. He was planning on keeping Daphne away from practice the next day and having her use the pill to see the effects. If two pills were enough to get her to the next stage, they were completely worth it.
He quickly went to the tower and got the two pills. He got back and decided to sleep for the rest of the night. He needed the rest.
The next day, he saw Daphne getting ready like usual to go to the forest. He stopped her.
"Today, you are going to train your aura. I got you an Aura Gathering Pill that will make training a lot faster. Just focus on training aura today," he said. He handed her two boxes, each containing one pill.
She took the pills and looked at him. "Why would I need this?" She asked.
"Are you planning on coming to hunt the 2nd Circle Magical Beast?" He asked her. She nodded.
"Then you need to be strong enough. Even if your arrows hit the beast, if they don't do any damage you are useless. So if you reach Middle Stage by the end of 10 days, then you can come with me for the hunt." He explained.
She already knew the divisions of power so she understood what he meant. She took the pills begrudgingly and went to her room. Leo went to the forest like usual. Just because she was staying back, didn't mean that he didn't have a quota to fulfill.
He needed to hunt Magical Beasts every day to satisfy his daily training. He couldn't just skip doing that. He would just check on her once he came back and see if he made the right decision buying two of them or if he got scammed.
He went to the forest like usual and came back in four hours. Out of that, an hour and a half was spent just walking to and from the forest.
Unlike normally, he decided to go a little wild since he broke through. He decided to hunt down 5 Magical Beasts because he could. Since he was now a Late-Stage Mage, his hunting was incredibly efficient and simple at this point.
He couldn't wait to make his 2nd Star. Once he did, he would have access to a lot more spells. All he could do now was cast a Magic Bullet or a Magic Arrow. While a Magic Arrow was slower and easier to maneuver, a Magic Bullet was harder to defend because it was faster.
Once he broke through, he would be able to cast real spells with more variety. That would also be when he would have to start practicing those spells to become better at them.
Daphne was practicing her skill called Snowdrift Arrow. While it was only a 1st Circle Technique, the amount of damage it did was based on how well she could perform the skill. This was called skill proficiency.
Skill proficiency was divided between Beginner, Novice, Intermediate, Advanced, Expert, and Master. The higher the proficiency, the more power they could show.
It would get better as time grew. Like Daphne, he would also have to start practicing his spells to show higher power.
When he got back, he saw that Daphne was still practicing and was in her room. He decided not to disturb her. He went to his room and took out the loot. He had 5 Beast Cores that he could either use or sell. He decided to keep two and sell three.
If Daphne only used one pill, she would have to stay back the next day as well. If he had an extra core for the next day, he wouldn't have to go out to hunt.
Fe finished training after a few hours and was getting ready to go out, but he saw that Daphne had come out. He asked her about her training.
"Was it useful?" He asked.
She nodded. "Very. I am very close. If I take the second one tomorrow, I should reach the Middle Stage," she said.
He smiled. "Good. Then after you reach the Middle Stage, we can start hunting Magical Beasts together. It will give you a little practice before the real deal."
A/N: I would greatly appreciate comments about the story at any point. I would also appreciate reviews.
