The Laughing Swordsman

Maya and Apollo left the house after having their fill.

Maya turned to Apollo.

"Hey."

Apollo smiled.

"Yeah?"

Maya narrowed her eyes.

"The people from the city..."

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"What about them?"

The corner of Maya's lip twitched.

"They are evil. We should kill them."

Apollo blinked a few times.

"Ah, kill them?"

Maya nodded.

"They have basically killed every single person out here in the farms. They deserve to die."

Apollo rubbed his hand against his chin.

"Hmm... I guess that makes sense!"

Apollo scratched the back of his head.

"Mmm... Who do we get to kill them?"

Maya's eyelid twitched.

"Um... couldn't you?"

Apollo blinked a few times.

"How could I? I'm just a beginner!"

Maya wanted to retort, but her eyes landed on Apollo's chest that was partially caved in. She smiled bitterly.

"Sorry, it seems I've been asking too much of you."

Maya coughed.

"...If I can learn magic, maybe I would be strong enough?"

Apollo raised an eyebrow.

"I thought you couldn't use magic!"

Maya shrugged her shoulders.

"I wasn't until I touched this gemstone."

Maya held out the gemstone and Apollo looked at it curiously.

Apollo rubbed his chin.

"So I can learn magic if I touch it as well?"

Maya hummed.

"I think so?"

Apollo gasped.

"Wow, let me try!"

Maya held out the crystal and Apollo touched it with his finger.

Nothing happened.

Apollo pouted.

"I don't feel any magic!"

Maya raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

Apollo nodded dejectedly.

Maya narrowed her eyes, focusing on the small red vortex within the gemstone.

Why was she able to see that strange diagram?

Her grip on the gemstone tightened, then her vision darkened.

She was back in the white room.

Her body was composed of specks of white dust while the diagram was rotating without a care in the world.

She didn't expect to be sent here but decided to toss her worries to the back of her mind. Her eyes intently looked at the diagram.

She had already memorized one part of the diagram, learning the fire spell. Now her focus was on how the fire spells connected with the rest of the diagram.

She noticed that there could be circuits that connected the core of the fire spell with the diagram, or from the outside, or a combination of both.

She did not understand what those connections meant but tried her best in memorizing how they appeared.

The one she started with was the connection to the core. It appeared to be the most simple, so Maya settled on that.

Maya did not know how much time passed, but she strained her eyes to focus.

As the pain increased, Maya could feel her focus slip. The feeling of a needle piercing her head was simply too distracting.

However, by the time she was inevitably forced out, she memorized the connection.

Maya opened her eyes to witness the snowy plain around her.

Apollo was poking her face and curiously looking at her.

"Hello?"

Maya shook her head.

"Ah, sorry. Was I out for long?"

Apollo tilted his head to the side.

"Yeah, you just stood still staring at the shiny thing for a while."

Maya sighed.

"...I didn't know that would happen. Suddenly, it started to teach me magic."

Apollo jumped up and down.

"Wow! That sounds so exciting! What magic did you learn?"

The corner of Maya's lip twitched.

"Well... let me try something first."

Maya patted away some snow on the floor. When most of the snow was gone, she sat down with her legs crossed.

Understanding the circuits used to connect did not do much by itself. However, it gave Maya new avenues to experiment with diagrams.

She wanted to replicate what the large diagram did but on a smaller scale. She drew in mana from the gemstone, causing its vortex to spin faster.

The mana in her body began melding into two fire spells. When she completed it, a fireball appeared above her hand. It was bigger than the first time she casted it.

However, this caused Maya to frown. Her original intention was not to cast two fire spells at the same time but to connect them by their cores.

On top of that, she could feel her side begin to ache. It was a side effect of casting spells from inside the body.

Maya sighed. She failed, but she already decided that she would not stop trying because of a failure.

She did not take it too hard as she now knew about casting two spells at the same time. Simultaneous casting was not special but appeared to amplify the spell's power.

Apollo looked curiously at the large flame in Maya's hand.

"Woah! That is so cool! You must be strong now, right?"

Maya smiled bitterly.

"Not now, but perhaps one day."

Apollo giggled.

"I think that day is today!"

Maya shook her head and focused on her spellcasting.

This time, while she formed two fire spells, she did not complete the spell. The mana remained docile in her body, letting her connect the cores.

Once she felt the fire spells were attached, she completed them.

A blazing ball of fire formed above Maya's hand. It started as the size of a baseball but burgeoned and collapsed. All of a sudden, it was the size of a basketball.

The ball of fire stayed in her hand, but the flame was flickering violently. It was almost like the fire dared something to fight it.

Apollo's mouth was agape.

"Woah! How did you do that?"

Maya smiled.

"I... guess I figured it out."

Maya stopped injecting mana into the spell, causing it to dissipate. Her hand rubbed against her side.

It was painful.

The spells she casted were relatively simple compared to the vast majority of spells. Yet, she was already suffering noticeable backlash.

Perhaps this is why her mother did not want her to walk down the route of the constitution mage.

However, blind to all of the consequences, Maya began forming three fire spells inside her body.

She thought of Arlo, Alice, and Emily.

Her eyes narrowed.

She was determined to massacre the people in the city.