Chapter 171 Are you up for the challenge?
"Now this one, Gale Force Blast, it will conjure a concentrated burst of wind capable of knocking back opponents and disrupting their balance, if this works, their Mana link will be disrupted and they would need at least 2 seconds to return to their previous position. Those 2 seconds would be more than enough to put an end to the battle." Elara, who was sitting together with Vaan on his bed spoke as she passed a Magic Spell Pattern towards him. Around them, there were around 20 books lying here and there and both of them seemed busy with something. Vaan, who was reading another book stopped, saw the Magic Pattern that Elara was showing him, and nodded, "This one seems good." "Mhm." Elara nodded. "But it is a 2nd Circle Spell, shouldn't we focus on the Basic ones first?" "We already selected all the Basic Spells needed to cast this spell. I was noting all of them down." Elara replied with an earnest look on her face. "Even then… shouldn't we learn more Basic Spells? The stronger the Basics would be, the more options I would have as I go forward, isn't that what you taught me?" Vaan questioned. Elara, however, shook her head, "Not every Mage gets to have an affinity with more elements as they grow stronger, what I said applied to Basic Mages who have time to strengthen their basics when they are at that level. You however, are now a 3rd Circle Mage, if you first spent time learning and mastering many 1st Circle Spells like you did when you were a 1st Circle Mage, you will only end up wasting time. Even if you have the ability to understand and create your own Magic Patterns just by seeing other patterns, in the end, you need to remember all those patterns in order to use them. Learning more and more basic Spells would only exhaust your memories and will not help you in battles. So rather than wasting time and effort on learning spells you might never use, focus on stronger, usable spells and only learn spells that are needed in order to cast these spells at their full potential. We need to become an average wind mage first and then our main focus should be on combining the Elements we have to cast even stronger spells. That is what we should put all our effort into. Don't aim to be a strong Fire Mage, Water Mage, or a Wind Mage, aim to be a strong Fire, Water, Wind Mage." Elara spoke with a determined look on her face. She then noticed Vaan staring at her without saying anything, feeling conscious, she lowered her head and, "A-And, it is not like this is the only time you can learn Basic Spells, if you ever feel stuck in a certain spell, we can always come back to the Basics…" She spoke and seeing her act like that, Vaan failed to resist and simply pulled Elara close to him, making her sit on his lap, "I am so glad I have the Magic Prodigy guiding me. I have no clue what I would have done without you." "I-It is not like that… You would have done j-just fine." Elara replied, Vaan however, shook his head, then gently kissing Elara's shoulder from behind, he replied, "There is no way I would have been fine without my fiancée with me. I need you to be close to me all the time." "T-That…" Elara didn't know how to answer that. Soon, however, she shook her head, then, with a determined look on her face, she slapped the back of Vaan's hand which was on her belly, and, "Focus on what we were doing. Don't get distracted."
She spoke as she passed the book Vaan was reading just now.
"Can't we do it after a little rest…? The two of us won the Elemental Clash just yesterday, even Father allowed me to get some rest today. Shouldn't the two of us spend some quality time together and have fun instead." "This is fun," Elara replied. "How is studying Magic for the past 6 hours fun…?" Vaan questioned. Unable to understand how Elara had so much energy. As they woke up in the morning, they realized they were in Astra's room, their memories about yesterday night were a bit hazy, however, they still remembered most of the things they did. Thinking about all that, Vaan smiled as he rolled over the bed, trying to hug his fiancée, Elara, however, stood up, with her face blushing deeply, she rushed back to her room and when she returned, she was carrying all these books Seraphina had collected for Vaan. Vaan quickly realized that Elara had sorted all the books from the big stock Seraphina had gathered and only brought the books related to Wind Elemental Spell. Elara wanted to do her best and help Vaan learn new spells, something Vaan appreciated a lot, soon, however, he realized how serious his fiancée was and has been stuck in this situation ever since.
"Y-Your d-definition of fun is different t-than mine." Elara blushed. "Oh? What do you think my definition of fun is?" Vaan questioned with a playful smile on his face. "Y-You drink and get d-drunk, then you do… those things…" Elara still hadn't forgotten what they did before the two of them were put to sleep, just thinking about it made her feel embarrassed. Vaan, on the other hand, enjoyed the lovely sight in front of him and decided to take it further, "So are you telling me that drinking together with me is not 'fun' for you?" Teasing Elara was like a hobby for him. Elara, however, was not an easy target, at least not when she had already imagined and practiced this scenario countless times inside her bathroom. "D-Do you mean p-practicing and learning Magic together with me is not fun…?" Vaan blinked in surprise. It was a checkmate.
He didn't think Elara would shoot back and put him in this situation. 'Has she changed because of the Elemental Clash? Did fighting her opponents head-on affect her usual, timid nature as well?' Vaan wondered in his head. He could tell that Elara was changing and of course, even though he 'lost' today, it was a good thing. Timid Elara was adorable, however, he wanted his fiancée to be strong, strong enough to talk back to anyone who tries to bully her and shut them up. Thinking about it, Vaan once again imaged his little gangster Elara cursing others in her adorable voice, a smile appeared on his face. 'I really need to teach her some cuss words.' He made up his mind. For now, however, he had no choice but to give in. "Alright, we will continue studying, but I have a condition."
"What is it?" Elara questioned. "We will study from the same book and will stay like this the whole time." "B-But that would not b-be efficient at all." "Better to do something than nothing, no?" Vaan smiled. Elara just shook her head and opened the book without saying anything. Vaan adjusted himself as he hugged Elara from behind and placed his chin on Elara's shoulder, "I think I can get addicted to this," Vaan spoke. "Yo-" Elara wanted to reply, but then, *Knock* *Knock* A knock was heard. "Vaan, Elara." Astra spoke. "Mother?" Vaan frowned. Elara, on the other hand, panicked as she moved away from Vaan and quickly opened the door. "Teacher." She greeted. Astra nodded as she walked in, then, observing Elara and Vaan for a while, she spoke. "Get ready, the two of you will be going to the Agresia Academy." "What?" Both Vaan and Elara frowned in confusion. "The two of you will be leaving together with the other Vesta children, in 10 days," Astra informed. Vaan however, couldn't understand, "Why do we need to go to the Agresia Academy? I doubt they have better learning resources compared to our Vesta Family, wouldn't I only be wasting my time if I go there?" he questioned. "You are correct, the resources the Agresia Academy has are limited and the Vesta Family is a much better place for a Mage to learn Magic compared to the Academy." Astra nodded. "The Vesta's however, do not go to the Agresia Academy to 'learn' Magic." "What do you mean?" "We go there to tell the world who we are. We go there to leave an impact. We go there to show off our strengths. We go there to prove, that we are still, the greatest Magic Family in the entire world." Astra spoke, her eyes brimming with pride as said those words. "Mages from all over the world come to Agresia Academy to learn, this includes the Churches, the Kingdoms, and other Magic Families in the world, We go there to tell them that we are the best. We go there to meet 'other' forces that reside in the world. We go there to gain experience.
However, as you know, this generation of the Vesta Family was… not up to the mark… this made our 'impact' weaker. And I want you to change that.
Are you up for the challenge?" Astra questioned and suddenly, a wide smile appeared on Vaan's face.
