Chapter: 92
Joy clenched her hands tightly at Lucy’s promise to help her.
No one knows what method she used, but Lucy had grown to a level worthy of being called a promising candidate of the continent in just a year.
If she could learn Lucy’s growth methods, she was sure she could become strong enough to stand beside her.
But judging from the firm warning Lucy had given, that process likely wouldn’t be easy.
Still, that was okay.
Joy wasn’t someone who had been coddled like a flower in a greenhouse.
She had worked hard to live up to her title as Lady Partlan.
No matter how tough it gets, she was confident she could endure.
What should she start with?
While thinking this, filled with eagerness, Lucy began to explain.
“Foolish Young Lady. From now on, I’ll turn you into the best wizard.”
“Lady Allen?”
Joy didn’t doubt that Lucy was an impressive person.
If she had doubted that, she wouldn’t have sought help from Lucy in the first place.
However, that was merely about growing as a party member.
Not as a wizard.
This was only natural.
Having been born into a knightly family and raised as a knight, there was no way Lucy Allen knew how to become an excellent wizard.
“What’s this? Foolish Young Lady, you said you’d follow my orders, and now you’re whining?”
“No! That’s not it!”
“Listen up. Foolish Young Lady. If you don’t like it, you can complain afterward. Are you that lacking in patience?”
“…Understood.”
As Joy cautiously nodded her head, Lucy crossed her arms and puffed out her chest proudly.
The sight of the small girl with confidence in her shoulder dance was cute, but Joy kept it to herself.
Otherwise, she felt a barrage of poisonous words would be thrown at her.
“First, we need to increase the foolish Young Lady’s sloppy stamina.”
“Stamina?”
“Right. As a sloppy mage, you’re just a baggage Young Lady right now.”
Baggage.
At that moment, Joy couldn’t help but recall Lucy’s dungeon record, which was renewed every floor every five minutes.
Lady Allen must think that kind of speed is the standard.
So, she assumed it was essential to have the stamina to keep up with her.
Understanding Lucy’s words, Joy nodded her head.
“Got it. What should I do?”
“Foolish Young Lady. Just run.”
“You mean run?”
Is this really just to warm up?
Joy started to move her legs, following Lucy and Frey without a second thought.
However, it wasn’t long before she fell behind.
No matter how long she trained, Joy was a mage.
There was no way she could keep up with their speed.
At first, Joy tried to chase after them somehow.
“Foolish Young Lady, there’s no way you can catch me! Just jog slowly!”
But since Lucy stopped her from straining herself, she decided to run at her own pace instead.
Joy kept running.
Even after 30 minutes and an hour had passed.
As her legs began to numb and a tearing pain hit her lungs, Joy couldn’t help but wonder:
Just how long are we going to warm up?
At this rate, I’ll run out of stamina before I finish warming up!
Just as Joy pondered this, Joy and Frey, who were sprinting at a horse-like speed, zipped by her.
“Lady Allen!”
“Huh? What is it?”
“How long are we going to keep running?”
“Haha! What’s up? Are your legs getting all shaky?”
“It’s not that bad!”
Indeed, while it was tough and exhausting, it wasn’t to the point of collapse.
“Hmm, really? Then let’s run just as much as we have so far.”
Wait… Another hour?
The moment Joy heard this, her lips stiffened, but Lucy just smiled at her mischievously.
“What? Can you not handle this? Looks like the foolish Young Lady is lacking in patience. Should I pamper you?”
“Fine! I’ll do it!”
“Ahaha, you’re angry. You’re angry.”
With a mocking laugh, Lucy sped off ahead, and Joy gritted her teeth and followed her.
Thus, Joy ended up running until she collapsed after another hour and thirty minutes.
What was surprising was that even after Frey had sprawled out on the ground, Lucy kept running for a while longer before taking a break.
*
“Foolish Young Lady. Tell me what classes you’re taking.”
Lucy’s advice didn’t stop there.
She explained what classes Joy was taking that were good and what to avoid.
Had that explanation been vague, even would have doubted her no matter how much she trusted Lucy.
But Lucy’s explanation was so detailed that Joy couldn’t doubt it at all.
Joy could barely finish naming the professors before she figured out what class it was and the class’s content, and based on that, Lucy also told her which classes Joy needed or didn’t need.
“Right now, what the foolish Young Lady needs most is a lot of magic power and fast and accurate casting. A sloppy mage like you won’t properly handle a lot of magic anyway! So, what class should you take…”
Her advice perfectly matched the explanation that Joy’s family tutor had given her.
Lady Allen, do you really have knowledge about magic?!
At first, Joy thought it was just baseless explanation like before.
“Got it?”
“Yes. I understand. So, I should add these classes, right?”
“Right. And besides stamina training, I will tell you what else the foolish Young Lady should do.”
What Lucy required from Joy was to use the non-attribute magic of telekinesis until her magic was completely depleted every evening.
The method was also specific.
Start with moving one orb with telekinesis.
Then, as she got used to it, she should add more orbs.
“Foolish Young Lady, keep doing that until you can freely manipulate five objects at once. Surely even a foolish girl can handle that, right?”
Joy didn’t know what Lucy was implying in her request.
But she didn’t doubt it.
After all, having talked about academy classes before, Joy had confirmed that Lucy had magical knowledge.
There was no way someone like her would assign meaningless tasks, so Joy decided to follow her direction.
And that evening,
Unquestioningly following Lucy’s words, as she practiced telekinesis, Joy understood why Lucy had asked her to do this.
“Manipulating multiple objects with telekinesis requires more concentration than I thought.”
Telekinesis was part of the basic magic under the category of non-attribute magic.
Therefore, it consumed less magic and was easier to cast without incantation.
But manipulating it was another story.
Lifting and moving one object wasn’t hard.
After all, she had done that to the point of exhaustion before.
But the story changed when it came to moving two objects.
Using telekinesis on each orb required concentration that wasn’t simply double.
It was at least triple. When taking complicated movements, it required more than four times the concentration.
Of course, handling three at once brought about even more serious strain.
Trying to manage all three sometimes meant failing to control one of them properly.
“It’s efficient.”
Joy was aware of various methods to increase her proficiency in handling magic.
But the typical methods often overloaded her by using more challenging and complex magic.
Thus, the magic cost was considerable, and the time available for training was short.
However, Lucy’s method was different.
Given that telekinesis was basic magic, it used very little magic power.
But the amount of concentration it required was comparable to other magic.
Incredible.
Lucy Allen, where on earth did you learn this method?
No other wizard had ever proposed a training method like this.
Even those renowned wizards only suggested handling more challenging magic skillfully, not offering training methods using telekinesis.
Is this method something you, Lady Allen, devised?
If so, I would have no choice but to respect you.
It’s unbelievable.
I’ve heard people say that I have talent.
I’ve been told I would amount to something greatly as I grew up.
But Lady Allen, you’re dimming my talent.
No matter how experienced a knight is, it’s hard for them to possess knowledge about magic.
That’s understandable, as the knowledge knights need and the knowledge wizards need are fundamentally conflicting.
It’s almost impossible to master both.
Even those claiming to master both usually do it half-heartedly, flaunting their bravado.
But Lucy Allen was different.
She definitely had knowledge about magic.
A knowledge that surpassed Joy, who had been studying magic her entire life, and a talent that was superior.
Hahaha. Is that how you earned the top rank in the academy entrance exam?
Your knowledge runs so deep and wide, that’s simply the result of it.
“Hah. Will there ever come a day when I can stand equally beside Lady Allen?”
It feels far.
Too far away.
Her back is too distant.
To repay the grace she has shown me until now, I need to stand by her side.
“I must work hard.”
To catch up to Lady Allen’s talent.
*
For some unknown reason, after sharing training methods with Joy, there was a glint of respect in her eyes.
What’s more, if she had any questions about magic, she’d come to me.
I only shared the methods I used to develop my wizard character at the Soul Academy!
I don’t know squats about magic!
Even if you ask me, I won’t have anything to tell you!
I silently screamed this in my head, but it was impossible to admit I didn’t know anything to Joy.
I didn’t want to instill disappointment in her eyes filled with admiration.
So, each time, I sought help from Grandpa.
To my relief, Grandpa was a versatile Holy Knight.
Having had to listen to unnecessarily complicated and difficult magic lectures from the wizard of the Hero Party in the past, Grandpa answered Joy’s questions without difficulty.
The problem was that the messenger delivering those answers was me, and with each passage, Joy’s admiration for me grew even more.
[Young Lady. What will you do if I get a question I don't know?]
‘I don’t know…’
[Magic study. Better do it, right?]
‘…’
*
Several days passed after Joy began training according to Lucy’s instructions.
Every morning, she would run until she collapsed to build her stamina.
She would stay awake and pay attention in class to avoid dozing off.
And at night, she would practice telekinesis until her magic was completely depleted before going to sleep.
Every day she woke up with eagerness as she saw herself improving little by little, but today felt different.
She woke up and gazed at the ceiling painted in the colors of dawn, wiping her face.
“Dungeon.”
Today was the day she promised to enter the dungeon with Lucy.
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