Volume 5, Chapter 29 – Integration

“This is… a compound spell? Its power is already close to that of a Third-Tier spell.”

Seeing the large crater several dozen meters away, Anastasia said hesitantly.

“Compound spell?”

“Yes. A compound spell is a method of combining low-tier spells in an appropriate manner to increase their power. However, this method is generally used in magic caster divisions, not integrated into a magic staff like Your Highness has done.”

“I see.”

Although Anastasia’s explanation ended there, it was enough for Fia to understand the reason. The reason forgers didn’t integrate compound spells into their staves was surely due to the quality of the staff itself.

Whether it was the magic circle style or the runic character style, there was a limit to what a weapon could withstand. A forger couldn’t endlessly add magic circles to a single weapon.

Generally speaking, a mithril-grade magic weapon could be inscribed with two to three spells, while an orichalcum-grade one could have four to five. Further up, for scarletite and crystal-grade, the difference was enormous. Some could be inscribed with a dozen spells, while others only had one or two. It depended on the strength of the magic circle itself and the characteristics of the weapon.

Take Fia’s Laevateinn, for example. It had no additional magic inscribed, but that didn’t mean it was a piece of junk below mithril-grade. On the contrary, because it was a divine weapon made from a mixture of a World Tree crystal and a Darkborn’s magic core, even without any magic, it was a miracle-grade weapon, higher than crystal-grade.

Back when she was dealing with the Elf God, if Fia had used any other weapon with [Overload], it would have instantly turned to dust.

As for the strength of a magic circle, it could be compared to stuffing goods into a warehouse. Large goods would naturally take up more space, making it impossible to fit more things in. The large goods here referred to those high-tier magic circles, which made it easier for a weapon to reach its tolerance limit.

It was this series of reasons that prevented forgers from integrating relatively useless spells into weapons. To have spell C, one had to give up spell A. And [Magic Intensification], which increased the efficiency of magic circulation, and [Elemental Affinity], which slightly increased magic power, were essential spells for traditional magic staves. Naturally, no forger integrated compound spells into a staff, as there was no room to do so.

Furthermore, for most individual magic casters with limited money and carrying space, a weapon that could adapt to any situation was far better for survival than one that was extremely specialized. The Staff of Stone Shooting – Modified had no defensive, healing, or magic-enhancing effects. Even if it were sold, it would be an expensive weapon that not just anyone could afford.

This was also the reason why compound spells were only suitable for armies. An army could make up for its shortcomings through the cooperation of various troop types, whereas an individual did not have the energy or time to practice so many things.

That being said, one couldn’t say the staff was useless. Optimized by [Hyper-computation], it allowed the Second-Tier Tilulu to easily cast a spell with the power of a Third-Tier one, and the magic consumption was kept at a relatively low level. Moreover, the test shot earlier was without her using [Tiny Spatial Jump]. As long as she used it well, it would be easy to make the rock appear in an unexpected, vulnerable position on the enemy. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a weapon that could create miracles.

At least for the current Tilulu, it was essential for enhancing her strength.

Anastasia continued with a complex expression.

“It’s just… as far as this subordinate knows, a compound spell that can make a First-Tier spell as powerful as a Third-Tier one simply doesn’t exist. Even the most elite first magic caster division in the Kingdom can only increase a spell’s power by one tier. For it to cross two tiers, and be done by a single person… Your Highness… how on earth did you accomplish this? Didn’t you only start learning to forge magic weapons last night?”

Anastasia stared at Fia, her suspicious expression reminding Fia of the look Liti used to give her, like a wife looking at her husband who hadn’t come home all night. Anastasia probably suspected that she had been secretly practicing magic forging without telling her.

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As a personal maid, it’s only natural for her to feel distant and distrusted if she knows her master is deliberately hiding things from her, Fia thought. But this was indeed the result of her one night’s work.

Fia sighed with a helpless look.

“Whether you believe it or not, Anastasia, this is the result of my work last night. I have a special talent for magic forging.”

Finding no guilt in Fia’s eyes, Anastasia looked away and muttered to herself.

“That’s right. I’ve been by Her Highness’s side all this time. It’s impossible for her to secretly…”

“Let’s put that aside for now. There are still a few dozen minutes until breakfast. Let’s take this opportunity to do some practical training. Anastasia, you be Tilulu’s opponent to train her practical combat skills.”

As she spoke, Fia moved behind Tilulu to prepare. Tilulu, in turn, braced herself, taking a stance ready for battle at any moment.

“Have me practice with Tilulu… Your Highness, forgive my bluntness, but I believe we should start with teaching her martial and magical skills. Although practical combat is the best way to hone one’s skills, the level gap is too large. It will be difficult for her to improve.”

“Ah, it’s fine. I will assist Tilulu. You just treat her as an opponent of your level. As for why I say so, you’ll understand soon enough.”

With those words, Fia used the Cloud Moon of the Illusory Sea to blend herself with the environment and continued to explain.

“I will use a method of making myself disappear to cast magic on her behalf. It will be as if you are fighting me, Anastasia, except my actions will be decided by her. The purpose of this battle is to integrate my cooperation with Tilulu, not for her to improve herself. You should be able to understand that, right?”

“Is it to fight with Your Highness? This subordinate understands.” Anastasia’s expression turned serious. She walked to a position about twenty meters away from Tilulu, drew her mithril sword, and lowered her center of gravity. “The last time I had a formal battle with you, Your Highness, was before you lost your memory—perhaps five or six years ago. Although today can’t be called a formal battle, please allow me to be so bold as to ask for your guidance.”

These words are probably the etiquette of a warrior among the elves.

Fia patted Tilulu’s shoulder, signaling her to respond. The still-shy Tilulu had to force down her nervousness and put on a serious expression.

“Please give me your guidance, Miss Anastasia.”

The moment her words fell, Tilulu, as Fia had instructed her last night, used [Thunder Spear] when the enemy was far away. She gripped the staff and feigned a chant, and a one meter long blue-purple thunder spear appeared in front of her. At this moment, Anastasia had already dashed to within five meters of her.

The hair-raising thunder spear shot straight at Anastasia. At this distance, it was impossible for her to have time to evade, so she chose not to. Instead, she raised her mithril sword and met the spear head-on.

[Enchanted Blade]

[Resolve]

First, a layer of transparent crystal covered the surface of the mithril sword, then an orange light enveloped Anastasia. In that instant, her aura became incredibly solid, like an impenetrable city wall.

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Even a person of Tilulu’s level could feel that the [Thunder Spear] alone would not be enough to stop her. It wasn’t that Anastasia was too strong, but that Fia had deliberately controlled the power of the spear and had not used the version optimized by [Hyper-computation].

Subconsciously, Tilulu’s palm went forward, taking the stance to use [Bee-Shield Forcefield].

And then.

Crack.

The relentless thunder spear, like an ordinary arrow, was shattered by Anastasia’s strike. The exploding, distorted lightning instantly shot out in all directions like a complex spiderweb. Normally, one would retreat for fear of being electrocuted, but Anastasia, as if she hadn’t seen it, bravely charged straight into the electric net.

The next second, an unharmed Anastasia appeared in front of Tilulu, her sword slashing down at her head. At such a distance, Anastasia’s sharp gaze and the silver glint from her blade were enough to make one forget to dodge out of fear.

Unfortunately, her opponent was not Tilulu.

Clang!

The mithril sword struck the blue-purple [Bee-Shield Forcefield] directly. Although the weakened shield showed a snowflake-like crack, it did not shatter under Anastasia’s heavy blow. And Tilulu, taking advantage of the moment Anastasia’s movement was halted, counterattacked.

First was a [Dragon’s Fang] that suddenly erupted from the ground, then a dark rock that appeared between their cheeks.

“Tsk, a good reaction!”

Tilulu had only just gotten this staff. Her current reaction was entirely opportunistic. If she didn’t have a certain amount of combat experience, she wouldn’t have thought to use a newly acquired weapon. Anastasia couldn’t help but praise her inwardly. Tilulu was not as harmless as she appeared.

Though she thought this, Anastasia’s hands did not stop. The tremor from the ground forced her to push off the shield and jump away. But for a magic caster, jumping into the air would only make oneself a living target. She maintained a backward jump facing Tilulu and chanted in a low voice, her sword swinging horizontally towards her.

In an instant, a total of three green wind blades, carrying a sound of cutting through the air, flew towards Tilulu. Anastasia tried to interrupt her movements with this, but the activation speed of the Staff of Stone Shooting – Modified was faster than the wind blades’ flight speed. The dark rock, larger than a fist, had already been shot out at a speed far exceeding the speed of sound.

Even so, it won’t trouble me.

Anastasia thought calmly.

The flight path of the [Triple Wind Blade] was between her and Tilulu. Even if Tilulu successfully condensed a rock to attack her, the rock would inevitably collide with the wind blades first. Although [Triple Wind Blade] wasn’t even a mid-tier spell, it was more than enough to stop the rock’s momentum.

However, to Anastasia’s surprise, the triple wind blades did not collide with the rock. They successively struck the crack-filled [Bee-Shield Forcefield], completely shattering it, but the rock had vanished without a trace, as if it had never appeared.

Tilulu has no reason to cancel a successful spell on her own. There must be another means—

The thought had just appeared in her mind when Anastasia’s pointed elven ears caught a whistling sound from behind her. Without a second thought, she twisted her body in mid-air and, relying on her combat instincts, covered her entire body with [Resolve] in the blink of an eye.

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Bang!

The rock collided with the sword blade, and a cloud of dust instantly enveloped Anastasia. No one knew if she had successfully blocked the attack. Tilulu on the ground couldn’t help but look worried, turning to Fia.

“Teacher, Miss Anastasia, she…”

“You’ve lost, Tilulu.”

“Eh?”

Not knowing what had happened, Tilulu instinctively looked back at Anastasia. She found that Anastasia, who should have appeared from the cloud of dust, was now standing in front of her. However, due to the height difference and Anastasia’s magnificent chest, Tilulu couldn’t see her face.

Anastasia gently tapped Tilulu’s smooth forehead with the pommel of her sword and said with a smile.

“Don’t get distracted in a fight. If Princess Tilulu had followed up with the thunder spear from before, the fight could have lasted a little longer.”

“Miss Anastasia wasn’t hit by the rock…”

“Silly girl.”

Fia gradually reappeared from the void and, as if scolding her, gently pinched her beast ears.

“Being hit doesn’t mean you’ll lose your combat ability immediately. Besides, Anastasia is not an ordinary quasi-Fifth-Tier warrior. She is an elf, a warrior from the Royal Guard of Silvar. Her accumulated combat experience is enough for seven or eight of you. She’s not so easily taken down by a Third-Tier spell. If this were a real life-or-death battle, you would be dead, Tilulu. Although I could save you at a critical moment, that would expose the fact that you weren’t using your own power. Take this as a lesson and be more careful next time.”

“I’m sorry… teacher…”

“Your Highness, you’re being too strict.”

Seeing Fia pinching Tilulu’s ears one by one, making her hold her head with a pitiful look, Anastasia couldn’t help but give a wry smile.

“Princess Tilulu’s reaction is already much better than her peers. An ordinary person would be too scared to fight back in front of me, but she could still remember to use the magic staff in her hands. And what was that last spell? How did the stone disappear into thin air and appear behind me?”

“The assassin’s skills do have a spell called [Backstab] that allows one to appear behind the enemy in an instant, but that is a high-tier skill for assassins and can only be used on oneself. This subordinate has never seen such a flexible spell. If this subordinate hadn’t reacted in time, an ordinary Fourth-Tier adventurer would have surely been injured.”

“That’s the staff’s own—mmph!”

Before Tilulu could finish, Fia covered her mouth and raised her head triumphantly.

“Hmph, hmph, that’s a secret. If I tell you, I’ll have one less trump card. I’ll tell you after we’re done fighting. You too, Tilulu, don’t just tell your secrets to others.”

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“But Miss Anastasia is one of us…”

“That’s true, but it depends on the occasion. Alright, get back in position. Let’s do it again. Use the staff as much as possible. I’ll gradually increase its power later, so you have to get familiar with when to use it first. Before Chazo’s army arrives, we can first go to the scattered tribes around the Snake-folk tribe, bring them under your command, and accumulate experience in dealing with those tribal chieftains.”

“A-are we starting right away?”

Hearing that she had to deal with those tribal chieftains, Tilulu seemed to lack confidence. Fia couldn’t help but frown and pinch her delicate cheek with one hand.

“You are a queen, Tilulu. You have to have the confidence of a queen. Don’t always be so shy and timid. Speak louder, be more confident.”

“Alright…”

“I told you to be louder.”

“Alright.”

“Louder.”

“Ow, ow, ow! Al… alright! Teacher!”

“Mm, that’s more like it.”

Getting a loud reply from Tilulu, Fia let go of her hand, which had made the girl teary-eyed, and turned to Anastasia.

“Let’s begin.”

“Somehow, I feel like Your Highness has inherited Consort Yulisha’s style, being especially strict with juniors…”

“Is there anything wrong with that? I like Mother Yulisha.”

Besides, if she wasn’t strict with Tilulu, she wouldn’t grow quickly. Radric had already played the good cop; it was fine for her to play the bad cop.

“There’s nothing wrong with it. It just feels like you’re not treating an outsider, but raising a daughter. You’re too good to Princess Tilulu…”

Anastasia murmured in a voice that Fia couldn’t hear.

Soon, the battle resumed. However, this time, Anastasia was clearly holding back a lot, giving Tilulu time to get used to the staff. By the time the three of them finished, it was already eight in the morning, with snowflakes falling from the sky again and more and more pedestrians on the streets.