Magic Art Training

Day of Tuar, 5:24 p.m.

Vivian was outside of the Adventurer's Guild building and sitting at the side with a poleaxe resting on her shoulder.

It was already late in the afternoon and many adventurers were returning from their quest to submit their quest items.

Despite that, no one dared to approach Vivian and talk to her.

Aside from the fact that most of them were now aware of her personality, they also already heard about her suspension. But for the reason of her suspension, most of them think it was the incident concerning Mrs. Belfair and her sons.

I really wish I had headphones to listen to audiobooks…

It would make Magic Art training much, much easier... 

"Priestess Vivian?" a familiar female voice asked.

Vivian turned her head and saw Felize who was accompanied by Torr and Gaze. And based on their appearance, they looked like they just returned from doing a quest.

She got up and faced them properly.

The kids noticed the belt pouch around Vivian's waist and they felt happy.

Torr, on the other hand, noticed the poleaxe on Vivian's hand that she was using like a walking staff and he quickly suppressed his excitement.

Although the silver poleaxe on Vivian's hand was only around 5 gold coins, which can be considered quite expensive for Copper Rank adventurers such as themselves, what he really cared about was that it held a sentimental value because it was from Vivian, a strong Priestess that he and his group was thankful for. 

"You kids done with your quest?"

"Yes, Priestess!" replied Felize. "We're about to submit our items."

"I see."

"Priestess, your White Cloak really looks great on you!"

"It sure does!" said Torr and Gaze.

"Thank you," Vivian said and smiled.

"By the way, Priestess, we fought a Brown Kraine and Green Ekan and defeated them!" said Felize.

"We had to go a little deeper in the forest because we couldn't find any Treebarks. And that's when we encountered a Brown Krain and Green Ekan and defeated it!" said Torr.

"They were strong but we managed to defeat them with our teamwork!" said Gaze.

A huge and proud smile was plastered on the faces of the kids, causing a sense of guilt to start brewing inside of Vivian.

"Were you kids hurt?"

"Just some cuts and bruises, but we're fine, Priestess!" said Felize.

"Yeah, yeah," said Torr and Gaze.

"I see. But just in case," Vivian said and held out her hand.

[Heal].

[Heal].

[Heal].

She healed each of them.

"Thank you, Priestess!" the kids said and bowed.

"It's nothing," Vivian said and then turned to Torr. "Torr."

"Yes, Priestess?"

"I told you yesterday that I don't need this poleaxe anymore and I want to give it to you, right?"

"Yes, Priestess."

"Here," she said as she handed it over to him.

"Thank you, Priestess!" he said and bowed.

"By the way, just in case you don't know, it's silver grade, and it snapped a couple of days ago, got it repaired and just got it today. So be careful in using it because maybe it might snap in the middle of a battle."

"Yes, Priestess!"

"One last thing, all of you. I want to ask you something important."

The kids paid close attention to her.

"Are you aware of the one Magic Art to two Physical Arts rule?"

The eyes of the kids turned wide and then Felize and Torr secretly glanced at Gaze before returning their attention back to Vivian.

"Yes, Priestess," said Felize.

"I see," said Vivian. "Anyhow, I have to go now."

"Priestess, you've already submitted your quest items?" asked Felize.

"Something like that. I'll see you kids later. Take care, okay?" Vivian said and began walking.

"You too, Priestess!" the kids said and bowed.

As Vivian was walking, she recalled the reaction of the kids when she asked them if they were aware of the one Magic Art to two Physical Arts rule.

So it's indeed common knowledge, huh… 

Tch...!

I must've looked very suspicious when I asked Criselle about it…

Maybe I should play the dumb airhead blonde role…?

She shook her head.

I'm honestly not sure…

Should I also color my hair blonde…?

As a man in her previous world, she has never tried coloring her hair because it wasn't socially acceptable in the culture she grew up in.

Also, her father would kill her if she did that.

Anyhow… 

Felize has two Magic Arts…

I think it was Wind and Thunder…?

So she can have four Physical Arts… 

Meanwhile, that kid named Torr has Fire and Dark…

However, his Fire is a [False Fire Mastery]…?

I think it was called that…?

Or was it [Fake Fire Mastery]…?

Anyways, that means he can only have two Physical Arts…

And lastly, the kid named Gaze…

He has no Magic Art…

A pang of pity struck her heart.

Does he know…?

Vivian shook her head. 

What am I saying...? 

I mean, based on the reaction of those kids, of course, they knew…

But does he know how futile it is…?

Although Vivian detests poor and lazy people, there were, of course, exceptions.

If someone was born with a legit physical disability, not the made-up ones like ADHD, depression or whatever trendy disability that people from her previous world loved to spout about in order to justify their sad and worthless existence, she couldn't bring herself to detest them.

And if they're able to climb the ranks despite their legit physical disability, then all she can do is be left in awe at them.

I guess that's what passes off as a cripple in this fantasy world, huh... 

Well, at least that boy has a strong fighting spirit…

I'm curious as to what will he do in the future…

I'm also curious if those two will abandon him…

An image of a man and woman with black hair the same age as her from her original world flashed in her head.

She scoffed. 

***

Day of Tuar, 8:01 p.m.

Vivian was at the female dormitory inside her own room.

Her room was similar to Marie's room but had two windows. It had a cabinet, a desk with a mirror, an armor stand, and a bed frame. There were also two light bulbs -- one in the ceiling and another one by the desk -- and also a magic panel of something similar to a thermostat which allows her to control the temperature of the room.

As for the bed, bed sheets, blanket, 2 pillows, pillow cases and curtains that she ordered, they were already installed.

And since this was her own room and was located on the 3rd floor inside a female-only dormitory, she wore nothing but a pair of black bra and underwear along with her Earring of Mana on her right ear and her Earring of Night Vision pinned on the strap of her bra. And as usual, she had her hair tied into a ponytail.

She was currently sitting on top of her bed with a blank stare on her face and in front of her were the Dark, Earth, Ice and Soul Finger Claws.

Had I known about the One Magic Art to Two Physical Arts rule, I would have never bought this type of weapon…

In her eyes, claws were no different from daggers.

And compared to daggers, she would prefer a dagger because it's more versatile.

Maybe I should give these away to the kids…?

It's not like I'm going to use it once I open the mastery…

And plus, not only are these only mithril grade, but they also need to be recharged…

Very useless…

She grabbed the Soul Finger Claw, got up from the bed and then sat on the floor.

She wore the ring on the pointing finger of her right hand.

"Okay, how do I use this?"

The Soul Finger Claw was basically a ring with a long metallic claw attached to it and there were runes written around the ring.

"Do I just scratch myself with this?"

"Or do I stab myself with this?"

She tried to think about activating the element of the Soul Finger Claw.

[Soul Enchant - Rune].

A white water-like aura appeared on the long metallic claw.

"I see..."

"So there's a required mana to activate it…"

"And then with each second I'm also losing mana…"

The be precise, it costs 30 mana points to activate the active skill [Soul Enchant - Rune] of the Soul Finger Claw and then 2 mana points per second to keep it active.

Ooo…

The white water-like aura made a low windy sound when she pressed the long metallic claw of the Soul Finger Claw against her abnormally pale, white and flawless thigh that she could even see the veins.

She felt a weird sensation, causing her to knit her brows.

The feeling was like something was draining her mana but at the same was replenishing.

However, only by half. To be precise, she was only recovering 1 mana point per second while losing 2 mana points per second from keeping the spell active.

She pulled Soul Finger Claw away from her thigh and deactivated the active spell.

"I see…"

"So this is how the Soul Affinity works…'

She activated the skill of her Soul Finger Claw once again.

[Soul Enchant - Rune].

Ooo…

She pressed the Soul Finger Claw on her thigh once again.

Given that it required her 20 shots or hits to open a new Mastery, she waited for 20 seconds.

Ooo…

20 seconds…

25 seconds…

30 seconds…

Ooo…

Her brows knitted together.

35 seconds…

40 seconds…

45 seconds…

Ooo…

Her brows knitted together even deeper.

50 seconds…

55 seconds…

Finally, when she reached 60 seconds, she pulled away the Soul Finger Claw and deactivated the active skill.

What's going on here…?

Didn't Grace say that one can open Magic Art Mastery with elemental weapons…?

Did she lie to me…?

She racked her brains, trying to think of if Grace indeed lied to her or not. And if she didn't, Vivian was trying to understand what was she doing wrong.

An idea suddenly popped inside her head.

Assuming that she wasn't lying…

Maybe, to open a Magic Art Mastery using an elemental weapon I have to cast one spell at a time just like an Awakening Ceremony…?

A dark expression appeared on Vivian's face.

Assuming that I've already hit myself 2 times, I still have 18 times left… 

However, there are 2 MAJOR problems…

The first one, I don't have enough mana so I will have to wait every 60 seconds just to recover 1 mana point with the help of my Earring of Mana and [Halo]…

Unless, of course, I boost [Halo] with [Greater Origin Enchant], allowing me to recover 1.5 mana points every second…

The second problem is that my current magical strength is mithirl and this Soul Finger Claw is made out of mithril…

This weapon might get destroyed before I even get to finish all 20 shots in order to finally open [Soul Mastery]…

And this is ASSUMING that one can really open a Magic Art Mastery using elemental weapons…!

Or if I'm even doing things correctly…!

Vivian closed her eyes.

I've already bought these weapons…

I don't have time to waste… 

Sure, I can go out right now with Earring of Vision and level up my Physical Arts…

But things are still too hot because of the overhunting…

I also don't want to waste time not training my Magic Arts…

Should I just sleep…?

Wait..! 

When was the last time I've slept…?

Yesterday…? 

Or two days ago…?

If Vivian were to be honest, although she can't remember when was the last time she slept, she also doesn't feel tired right now.

Even if I wanted to sleep right now…

Like hell I can with this problem gnawing inside my head…!

She opened her eyes.

"Fuck it!"