Dawn Traveler

Empire Division

Jess finished collecting his loot from the magician’s dungeon and went back to the Elven Forest.

“All this time the exercise has been really lacking, huh. If I don’t do any warm ups for even just one day it won’t work.”

After he proceeded to do his sword training with Rendall, he went straight to the training ground within the forest. Nedhand was staying inside his workshop.

“Ahem. Today it seems that he will pull an all-nighter.”

What Nedhand did in the workshop was not to smith anything but to drink a heavy amount of liquor which he bought in Ellim.

Jess followed Herz to identify his looted goods.

“Hmm.. so this magician called Raven was a 5th circle.”

Herz analyzed the artifacts.

As a tomb raider the most meaningful moment was indeed when he discovered a large amount of treasure, but finding records left by other magicians was quite a landmark as well.

Jess was able to look at the grimoires and spell materials that were beside him.

“So he was a magician with skill lower than you, Master.”

“A high skilled spell doesn’t mean that it has that same depth. A magician who dug into one realm well can get high recognition from the academic or expertise area. Raven was a magician who had studied the Earth Alignment. No wonder the dungeon’s size was quite big.”

“Is there anything new?”

“Earth Alignment is something that is very useful in life. They are spells that are usually utilized to look for a well or to fertilize soil.”

“But Earth Alignment is not very famous among magicians?”

“Yes. Mostly only virtuous magicians who can professionally practice various useful spells of Earth Alignment use it. Even so a powerful attack spell is rare and so the efficiency of the spell is reduced, so of course, it’s not really famous. The higher the spell the greater the knowledge in Earth Alignment is needed. On the other hand, if one’s circle gets higher they could launch unimaginable things… a spell to bring an earthquake and destroy a castle is possible. But 5th circle… it might cast those kinds of spells.”

Jess could read Herz’s mind at that time.

[Not so long ago I had stayed in the 5th circle. But now that I became a 6th circle… it has become so different compared to the past.]

A 5th circle magician was treated like an influential person wherever they went.

They also taught novice magicians in the Mage Tower, they could make progress on their own research while being a distributee of a constant budget.

Even among the mercenaries, they were considered to be uncommonly strong people.

After advancing to the 6th circle the treatment became very different, wherever they went they could easily gain a nobility title higher than a viscount.

In the Mage Tower if they did not have the time to spare to volunteer, then for the sake of their study they were also liberated from the obligation to teach other magicians. 

Herz sorted out the study records, miscellaneous spell books, and Earth Alignment spell books.

“It’s good for you to read these Earth Alignment spell books as well.”

“But I’m barely learning the 2nd circle spells.”

“Because most of the basic spells in the Earth Alignment naturally don’t have anything that that clashes with others it’s good for you to look it up. Now pick books that are worth seeing for your level.”

Jess received five volumes of heavy books.

-Easy Mastering of Beginning Level Theory of Earth Alignment Spells.
-About the Chain Reaction on Destructive Power Due to Earth Collapsing
-Twelve Characteristics of Cursed Land
-Study of Shocks in The Deepest Part of the Underground
-Study of Time Spent for Earth Recovery

Just by looking at the title of those books the level of difficulty seemed high.

It was not some content that was readable for the 12 year old Jess, but if you put together the time he lived in the two worlds he could be considered as 24 years old.

Jess opened a book besides a bonfire at night.

“Hmmm… It’ll be boring to simply study, but I can learn spells by using these books.”

In the Elven Forest that was fine and clear, there was a voice of thin branches getting burned.

Little animals showed up from the bright energy that shone from Jess and as if it was weird they watched for a while before they left.

-Easy Mastering of Beginning Level Theory of Earth Alignment Spells.

This was written by the magician Raven who loved the earth.
We humans were living without knowing how to thank the earth.
Even though the earth that didn’t expect anything endlessly provided fresh life force…

Jess roughly passed through the foreword part.

It was written in the beginning level theory that mana were principles or interactions applied to the earth.

Simple spells for the 3rd circle and less such as making a wall using sand, or digging a hole and drawing water from the underground was written.

“Just by doing this it will be a great miracle among the ordinary people.”

Knights with powerful force were common, but for magicians, among the commoners it was still considered as a miracle and received huge admiration.

It was written in history that approximately 3 thousand years ago early magicians acted like gods.

At that time the Magic Kingdom Alkasas was established.

After the foundation of the magic school had finished, there had been a slight decay in Alkasas ever since the Magic Machine had been developed in the hands of the Empire.

Their territory and power had subsided compared to its glory days but until now it has remained the forever birthplace for magicians.

-:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:-

In the Elven Forest, the routine was similar for almost every day.

Jess ate bread that was made from grains and ate fruits from the trees in the morning.

“Fruits in this village are so delicious.”

Jess was so happy when he ate the fruits.

The fact that he couldn’t eat any meat might be a dissatisfaction, but in reality, there wasn’t much to be dissatisfied about the food in the Elven Forest.

The fruits that have ripened well softly melted within his mouth.

It was not just that the fruits were very sweet, they were also sour and gave off a strong sweet scent that stimulated his appetite.

Sometimes the grilled fruits were savory and gave off another fresh taste.

If he brought peaches, melons, or watermelons from the real world to the Elven Forest, even the animals wouldn’t eat it.

“This is what you call nature.”

He filled his stomach with various fruits that had no pesticides nor fine dust within them.

Jess’s routine started from there.

He did his morning sprint with Grona, stamina training with Rendall, various lessons on how to handle items with dwarf Nedhand, and spell discussions with Herz.

After all those courses were finished, it was evening and from that time on he would receive  archery training from the elf called Lisianthus.

The high elf would probably be chosen as the best in archery in the whole continent.

His teaching method was beyond imagination.

“The best advantage in archery is that it can attack all the enemies that are as far as the eyes can see.”

Jess was questioning Lisianthus’s words.

“What if the enemy is behind an obstacle?”

“You can shoot a curved arrow.”

“What if he had a shield and blocked it, or was hiding behind a wall?”

“You can just penetrate through it. Do you think the arrowhead is there for nothing?”

Lisianthus’s lesson were mostly like that.

“What should I do if the enemies’ numbers are around one hundred?”

“What about the road?”

“For example, it’s about 50 meters.”

“It’s nothing then. Shoot arrows before the enemy approaches, if you shoot about 4 shots in 1 second then it will be alright.”

“But even so there will be some enemies left, though?”

“It will be alright if you can pierce through five or six enemies in one shot.”

“Keukk…”

If he held a bow Lisianthus would be peerless.

Elves are really the best. Even though Lisianthus is special among the high elves.

He could understand why the dwarf Nedhand would frown just by looking at the elves and escape to drink alcohol.

“Is this difficult? I showed you, why can’t you do it.”

“I don’t know. If you could please give me an explanation….”

“Look at me closely. If you look at it and follow just like that, you can do it. Easy, right?”

Students who learned archery from Lisianthus other than Jess were 45 elves.

They received archery training and would be charged with the duty to protect the forest for more than a hundred years from then on.

The elves with light-weighted bodies were sparring on the branches and while running fast they shot 3 to 4 shooting streaks while in midair.

Jess trained his archery really hard so he wouldn’t be left behind by them.

Because a human’s body was structurally heavier than elves he did the best he could to follow them.

The one beside Jess was the most beautiful elf Alrium.

“Can you do it too, Jess?”

“Of course. It’s so easy. But because today I’m a little tired I’ll do it tomorrow.”

As a man, he didn’t want to show her a weak appearance.

The thought of it had been disturbing him all night long and he trained his archery since dawn.

“Try to catch me, Jess!”

“I’m coming.”

He played tag with Alrium and ran like a gust of wind within the Elven Forest.

It was quite different than the tag game that was usually played by lovers.

Alrium apparently was a really innocent elf.

She got through the obstacles in the forest and ran faster than the wind so she wouldn’t get caught.

Even though Jess possessed a body of a little boy, his heart was wicked.

I’m catching her. She will definitely be caught!

Because of the Elven Forest’s characteristics Alrium exceeded the speed of a human.

Even though Jess ran as fast as he could Alrium was still getting further away from him.

Keukk… I want to catch her today!

-:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:–:¦:-

Chirp chirp chirp.

The clear sound of birds.

It was just like how the Elven Forest repeated its routine every day yet it was still different.

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter.

As the seasons passed the animals grew up and moved while forming groups.

Rendall, Laeli, Grona, Nedhand, Herz.

Everyone was focused on their own practice.

He looted and analyzed the obtained goods, and to protect his own body he didn’t forget to practice.

Jess had been busy again.

“It’s not like I will be in the Elven Forest for eternity, I should not skip a meal.”

In the forest that was full of vitality, the herbs were arrayed.

Among Herz’s grimoires it described herbs that were good for the human body, so he searched for those and ate a lot of them.

In the time spent practicing outside, he went to the woods by himself and focused on eating something.

“Keuu.. even the herbs are sweet. As expected here is the best. Though if there was a cooked chicken on these sour berries it would be perfect and I wouldn’t wish for anything else.”

He dried the valuable herbs for injury recovery and poison treatment and kept them separately.

Through Herz’s spellbook, he knew how to store herbs even though not as professionally.

Due to Gras Empire’s civil war and the current situation that was chaotic, the fact that humans could stay temporarily in the Elven Forest was a special favor.

It was thanks to the relationship between Priestess Laeli and the Elder of the Elves, but Jess was still anxious.

“It is the feeling of living in a charter or rental house. I should take lots of them before leaving the Elven Forest.”

In the real world as well, he couldn’t stay too long in the apartment rented by his parents.

As he got anxious he wandered all over the Elven Forest.

It was a sea of green trees.

According to that beautiful scenery, it was a place that any bard or romantic noble would really want to see.

And of course Jess as well.

“There must be more various herbs deeper within. I will pick those that restore health first so I will be less tired later.”

There was a side effect to the harsh training.

He filled up on herbs that were good for body exhaustion and mana deficiency.

Even though Jess was still young he liked herbs that were good for the body.