Strahl, Holy City Capital
Done for the day, Teufel and Fern were on their way out of the city to make it home before dark. Fern was the first to speak up as the two girls walked through the dwindling crowd of people that walked the streets of the city, "Hey." she spoke with a curious tone while walking beside Teufel.
Teufel, with a tilt of her head a bit to show that she was listening, glanced to her right where Fern was walking beside her, "Hmm? Yes?" she questioned the young girl walking beside her.
"What do you like about magic?" Fern questioned the half elf girl, who she has come to know for a good year or so.
"Hm." Teufel hummed thoughtfully as she stewed over the question. Her mother Frieren had asked her that question before, and all she supplied with was, 'It's hard to say, but if I had to say, I enjoy the fact that it's still a field of study that can be expanded on.' were her words given to her mother, which earned a smile in return from her mother Frieren, but that was over forty years ago.
Many years later, she still enjoyed magic, and the amount of spells Teufel's mother had shown her were numerous; however, her mother had expressed that her expansive knowledge of spells paled in comparison to an elf named Serie.
Thinking about it now, her opinion was still the same, but somewhat different as well after many years of attempting to see how well she could apply her second life knowledge of spell formula casting to this world's mana spell casting.
There was a very well built foundation of magic spells to work off from, all of which stemmed from the many centuries of the legalization of studying magic; mother Frieren had explained that her Teacher Flamme was the very reason why mages could exist today, as the threat of demons and their magic was too great to not study and counter attack with.
And that not even going into detail of how recent the inception of the mage shield and Zoltraak came into being, but that was a topic for another time.
"What I like about magic…." Teufel spoke finally after a few minutes of stewing over her thoughts, while Fern listened to the Elf Half, "I think what I like about magic is that it is a very open field for new things to develop." she started to explain, with a thoughtful look on her face.
With a glance at Fern, Teufel continued to speak as the two girls walked together, "But ideally I enjoy the fact that it allows us to venture forth with greater possibilities the more we study into it." she nodded to herself at the end.
Fern glancing up in thought of her own reason for liking magic, smiled a bit to herself, before giving Teufel a sideways look, "That sounds more than what I like about spells, or what got me to like magic in the first place." she remarked with a shy look.
With a curious look on her face as the two girls rounded a corner on the street, Teufel spoke back to Fern, "Really? What was your first spell that got you to enjoy magic?" she asked earnestly. "Mine was when I saw my mother float in the air and fly." she offered her own answer to her question.
If there was anything to be had with the girl, Fern, was some common ground, and magic was definitely one of them for the young half elf. Teufel was already sure that Fern would most likely join their journey, so becoming friends and stalwart allies was pertinent for Teufel, as the human girl had quite the potential with magic. The young girl already has an aptitude in concealing her mana, to the extent that she could move while doing so while her mother Frieren has to stay still for her to be able to properly conceal her mana.
Fern, with brightness in her eyes at the mention of mage flight, smiled in return of Teufel's answer, "hm…I remember seeing a butterfly spell that got me interested in magic." Fern said to Teufel, and looked ahead as she thought back to the day she saw the magic trick she once saw, "I wanted to learn it as one of my first spells…it was so beautiful when I first saw it…and I wanted to cast it myself."
Teufel nodded in understanding, and glanced back at Fern, "Have you ever learned it?" the half elf asked the girl.
"Yes!" Fern gently nodded with a shine in her eye as she conversed with Teufel, "Master Heiter even gave me the book for it!" she explained.
As the two girls headed towards the gate exit of the capital to head back home, a duo of pedestrians walked past the two girls, their path taking them further into the city after arriving to the city late into the day; both were female and measured out around Frieren's height, one of them had elven ears under her golden hair, her golden eyes expressing a bored look until her eyesight batches the sight of the young elf looking girl walking beside another girl towards the gate exit.
The other female that was walking beside the elf, had long flowing light- brown hair that almost reached her backside; the human looking female noticed her master was grinning an amused expression as the elf herself trailed her eyes back forward while continuing to walk.
Sense expressed a plain look, but inside she was curious, so she spoke up, "Master Serie, did something catch your eye?" she asked in a soft but curious tone.
As Serie continued to walk beside her apprentice, she spoke up with an upbeat tone, "Yes, something did…" she answered while the two females strode towards the Continental Magic Association of the Holy City, and like the city of Äußerst, the Holy City's mage association itself holds mage exams.
Sense, growing a bit more curious now as to what her master caught that earned her attention for a bit, spoke again, "What was it?" she asked.
While Serie walked, she spoke in a genuine tone of amusement, "nothing really…just…it has been a long time since I saw a young elf, or half elf that is…" Sense's master mused with a wistful look in her eyes.
With a somewhat wider look of an expression, Sense spoke with her master more, "Wait, one of those girls we passed by, was a young elf or half elf?" she inquired, for as far as she knew, it was very rare for elves to birth any new elf into the world. She didn't pay enough attention to the girls, to notice either of them having pointed ears.
"Hmm." Serie hummed a bit as her eyes glanced to the side with a small smile gracing her lips, behind her and Sense, the two girls were already far outside the gates, most likely heading back home to somewhere in the countryside before the day ended. "I believe…it's a half elf…the more I feel out for her mana…" she mused with a very amused smirk next, before looking back forward as the two of them headed towards the headquarters of mages of the city.
"I see." Sense noted with a slight nod, the two of them continued their trek towards their destination, before Serie spoke aloud with a tone of interest.
"I think I'll stick around for the third class mage exams in this city for the following few years." Serie remarked with an intrigued look in her eye, earning a surprised look on her placid face.
"Really?" Sense questioned her master.
While the two of them reached the street leading straight up to the building that housed the mage exams and all manner of other things pertaining to mages, Serie spoke back to her youngest apprentice, "That other girl, she was unconsciously concealing some of her mana. Whoever is teaching those two, I am very curious to see what person that is in charge of those two." she explained, and nodded forward towards the building they were heading towards.
Sense began to express some amount of confusion at her master's decision to stick around, "So, just seeing a young elf, has warranted your attention enough to stick around?" she questioned.
"What?" Serie questioned back as the two of them stopped atop the stairs between the columns that held up the overhanging roof of the brick and mortar building, the Elf herself couldn't help but express in an impish smile towards her apprentice, "Feeling a little jealous I have my sights on new prospects already?" she poke fun at her young apprentice.
Sense blinked once, before giving her master a flat look on her placid face, "No…not really. Just making an observation." she returned back with an answer in a flat tone.
Serie, frowned a bit, before smiling back once more and began to head into the building with her apprentice in tow, "You really are hard to play around with." she noted, earning a frown from Sense as she followed her master inside the building.
Winter, Heiter's Cabin
With her staff in her hand, the more she looked at the additions she made to it, the more it seemed impractical, well, at least for the spade part, the blade part however could still serve its purpose; Mage blade was still at the forefront of her mind as she looked at the bayonet part of her staff, while she held it up to her line of sight.
Frowning a bit, Teufel looked down at the spade part on her staff; the addition was added not but a few years ago, and she wanted to see if any spells could benefit from the spade. It was a creature comfort for her, something that could be utilized in any given situation, but with how this world's magic system worked, and how early it was for humans to still come up with spells, Teufel was now thinking back on her choice of attaching the spade.
With a furrowed brow, Teufel concentrated her mana at the end of her staff and attempted to see if the metal spade could withstand being reinforced by her mage blade; As the half elf girl stood outside in an open field several yards away from Heiter's cabin, she casted a spell that caused a magic ring to encircle her trench spade.
Channeling a bit more mana into the spell to see how far she could reinforce the metal, Teufel was about to pump more magic into the spade to project shark edges on its sides, before hairline cracks began to form on the metal itself.
Ceasing her experiment with the spade and her mage blade attempt with the shovel part, Teufel scrunched her nose up in annoyance as she lifted her staff end up to inspect the spade. "I am very lucky mother and I never gotten into a combat situation yet." she mused to herself with her eyes narrowed at the hairline cracks in the metal spade.
Traveling across the countryside had made her a bit…slow, to say the least. She was planning on testing the spade and bayonet the first chance she got with spells, but then other things came up that earned her attention, such as the grimoire books that her mother shared, to the various cities they visited.
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out." Teufel's mother spoke behind her, making her jump a bit as she didn't even bother keeping her mana detection up. Figuring it was safe, Teufel had felt like going lax would let her enjoy her time out in the countryside.
Turning around in the light snow packed ground, Teufel noted that her mother was now dressed in her winter clothes and coat; Teufel of course wore her own as well, which matched the color scheme of her mother's coat, but was as far as it went.
Grumbling a bit to herself, while giving her mother a glowering look, Teufel spoke back to her mother Frieren with a frank tone, "And you didn't want to tell me because?" she questioned her mother.
Frieren simply smiled back in amusement toward her daughter and spoke plainly, "I wanted you to figure it out yourself, why else do you think I let you walk around with those things attached to your staff?" she asked with a tilt of her head in questioning.
Looking back up at her mother with a flat look, Teufel spoke with a mild incensed tone, "I spent money on this mother!" she pointed out, only to earn a smile in return and a headpat that left Teufel grumbling at being treated like a kid…human kid, that is, she still had the body of a young elf body, but the mind of an adult.
"Well, next time, think ahead and ask first!" Frieren told her Daughter while removing her hand from her daughter's head, and palmed her hip, "There's no shame in still asking for help, even though you have a mature mind, you're still my daughter after all." Teufel's mother explained with a smile.
Relenting from her glare, Teufel sighed to herself. Perhaps she was getting too gung ho at the time when she wanted the attachments, thinking she was experiencing those silly cliche isekai stories…well…she was, but this felt more like a slice of life sort of experience. Her mother and the party she was part of already defeated the demon king, the land was saved, all that remained was the aftermath of the adventure her Father and Mother took on with Heiter and Eisen.
"Mother." Teufel began to say with a curious tone, earning the attention of Frieren as she looked back down at her Daughter's face, "There is one question I'd like to ask, that's been on my mind for a bit."
"Hmm?" Yes?" Frieren asked, "What would it be?" she questioned her daughter,
"Well…" Teufel said as she held up her staff to show the bayonet part, "If certain metals do not interact well with mana…." and it was really something she should have looked into, than going straight in with, in hindsight that is, "Is there any metal that does interact well with mana?" she asked with a studious look in her eyes that glanced at her staff in hand.
With a nod from her Mother, Frieren spoke, "There is, the gold and silver that Stahl coins are made from, can be imbued with magic, and those are just the two types of metals that I know right now off the top of my head." she explained.
Cupping her chin, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she stewed over the explanation given to her, "So essentially, I should replace my blade with silver, correct?" she asked, earning a shrug from Frieren.
"That's if you wish," Frieren answered, earning another grumble from Teufel. "Though truthfully…" her mother spoke up again, earning a look from the daughter, "I think you should just remove that metal altogether and practice first with whatever you are doing without it, then make the adjustment to whatever metal blade you plan on using." She nodded to herself at her own explanation.
"...this is going to cost me…" Teufel noted to herself with an annoyed look on her face, earning amused look from Frieren, as her mother reached out again to pat her daughter on the head.
"Hey, we could always go dungeon exploring, who knows, we might even find the type of silver you need." Frieren encouraged her Daughter with a soft smile.
With a flat look that Teufel could not help but express, she looked at her mother's face, "Just don't expect me to pull you out of a mimic chest again." she remarked, earning a sheepish look from Frieren, before her mother turned away and poked her fingers into each other while pouting a bit.
"Hey…you can't blame me for trying!" Frieren tried to reason with her daughter by always inexplicably ending up trapped in the mouth of a mimic chest, "The chance of finding a grimoire inside those chests were too great!" she followed up with saying.
Unable to help herself, while apparating her staff away to be hands free of it, she threw her hands up in exasperation, "Yeah…of a ninety nine chance of it being a mimic from the detection spell you cast on every chest you think has a grimoire in it!"
"...the one percent chance is still worth it…" Frieren pouted out while looking away from her daughter.
Seventy plus years! It was hard to count the years go by, when she didn't age that much, or barely at all, but in her years of being around her mother, her elven mother can never resist the lure of opening a chest.
In the passing months, Frieren would spend her time helping Fern practice and better cast the Zoltraak spell she had been practicing in earnest. For Teufel, the young half elf spent the rest of her winter time in measuring out how far the metal blade on her staff could withstand mana infused into it.
Oftentimes during the winter, Teufel would attempt to cast cleaving spells to chop wood. The precision needed for a precise cut left the half elf needing to calculate her mana output, as putting too much mana into her attempt of this particular spell caused the logs she would cut to turn into a blast of splinters. The best catalyst so far was her staff, and that was after she twisted the blade and spade off to remove the weighted ends.
With a swing of her staff after imbuing it with a mana spell, Teufel swung down at a log standing upright atop a tree stump; from out of the end of her staff, a wind-like blade was conjured out from the tip of her staff and down through the log that Teufel swung down at.
After a few seconds passed of Teufel holding her staff at the end of her swing, she watched the log split apart, making the young Half elf express a smile. Behind her, Fern began to clap in earnest.
Having not been able to sense the little girl walk up and watch her from behind, Teufel jumped in shock and whirled around in surprise, causing the young girl to smile in amusement at Teufel, who in turn grumbled at the other girl's uncanny ability to suppress her presence around others.
In the Springtime and summer, Teufel spent her time near a waterfall; with her staff raised, she wanted to test something out and casted levitate on the water itself. She hadn't tried lifting metric tons worth of water, in comparison to the luggage she would carry on her back, and so far, she wanted to test the limits of what levitate could do.
Swinging her staff aside as she readied her spell up, a blue circle glowed beneath her feet, before Teufel thrusted her staff out and casted her spell upon the water that fell over the cliff; within the center of the waterfall, like curtain being pulled up by its center, the water itself began to lift and flow back up.
Teufel herself was feeling the strain already as she felt the flowing water push back against her spell that caused it to lift up into the air as more fell. With a frustrated look on her face, Teufel soon let up from the spell and allowed the water to flow back down on its own.
Not taking into account how much water she caused to be backed up, Teufel was treated to being heavily splashed by the gushing water that fell down all at once; expressing a dour look on her face, Teufel blew a wet strand of her hair in her face, before resorting to using her hand to pull it away and behind her ear.
Heiter's Cabin
Within the spare bedroom that is shared amongst the girls of two beds, one bed has Frieren sleeping on her side under her covers with a spot beside her empty. Across the room, is another bed but small, and empty.
The door to the guest room is left slightly ajar as Fern exits her room with a yawn, covering her mouth as she does so as she walks through the cabin in the early morning.
As Fern enters the kitchen area, she is greeted to the sight of the half elf daughter of Master Frieren in the midst of putting together some things into her suitcase of hers.
"Early riser too?" Teufel questioned idly at Fern as the half elf girl finished stowing away her things into her suitcase before clasping it closed with a click of its latches.
"Mhm." Fern nodded slowly as she rubbed the early morning sand from her eyes, and approached the island counter where Teufel was standing with her Stool, "You leaving somewhere?" she asked curiously.
"Not anywhere far, really." Teufel answered the girl as she pulled her suitcase off from the counter and took it with her as she hopped off from the stool, before facing Fern with a straight look in the eye, "Just going to find a place to practice some spells I've been working on."
"Oh!" Fern remarks with a more curious look in her eyes as she spoke with Teufel, the young girl's attention was now on Teufel as the half elf girl made her way to the exit. "Can I come watch?" she asked with a spark in her eyes.
Teufel, as she approached the exit door, turned to look back at Fern with an uncertain look, "I suppose you can." she answered, earning a small smile of excitement from Fern.
Later
It took a bit of a while to truly understand the system of magic that was available to her in this third world she's come to know, over eighty years of her half elf life was spent studying the intricate ways she could cast magic from the modist amount of spells that her mother has taught her.
Standing atop a hill that overlooked a massive lake, Teufel held with her the magic staff her mother gifted her; beside Teufel was the haphazardly made equipment of measuring her mana output to give her a read on casting her spell for their duration, power, length and so on and so forth.
Sitting in the grass not far from her, Fern sat atop a lone rock as she watched Teufel bring out her equipment; when she asked what everything was out of childish wonder, the half elf girl answered to the best of her ability for the young girl to understand.
Teufel, as she used her mana measure tools, wanted to be sure of her experimentation of spells she held at her fingertips, or in this case, at the tip of her staff. It was one thing to just feel the mana you were casting from her body, it was another to get the exact measurements of what she was doing. Sure, she could never make a tool that could measure the max strength of her mother's mana pool, she didn't have the equipment built to handle it.
"Hmm." Teufel pursed her lips in thought as she started up the spell for Zoltraak, only pouring enough mana in to make a small bead of light to exist at the tip of her staff; her eyes drift to the propped up time beside her, noting the mana stone bobbing up and down a little, while the gyroscope like circlets around it spun in place around the object as it floated above the measuring box she built.
Her eyes then drift to the circlet bracelet on her wrist, to make sure the two were in synchronized between each other; willing magic to her eyes to view her own mana pool, Teufel is able to see the device she has created siphon off from the bracelet she put on her wrist for the device to work remotely. Ceasing the action, Teufel nodded to herself and initiated the spell Zoltraak, and shot out a thin beam through the air.
Thwip
Like a whistling beam of a bullet flying through the air, but without the boom of the gun itself, Teufel took notice that her modified Zoltraak spell only managed to make it several few yards away from her staff starting point. The whole point of this exercise was to get a general gist of her mana output and measure it, and how little a viable Zoltraak spell was if it was condensed further down to a thin-like needle attack.
It was barely anything really, in the grand scheme of all the other spells her mother had shown her, as Zoltraak was far from the only attack spell, but it was a key factor of why mage shields and magic clothing today are different. Once what was pretty much a dangerous spell, was and has been reverse engineered by mages to improve on and develop better defenses against.
For Fern, the young girl was curious as to why Teufel casted such a weak version of Zoltraak, barely any better than her best attempt. But then she noted that Teufel was barely trying with the spell, so she was probably just making a practice shot before actually casting anything meaningful.
For Teufel, as she stared outside across the lake with her staff held aloft, Zoltraak was just another spell in her arsenal, but for her mother, father and their party that had to go up against Qual that the spell originated from at the time, it was one of the most dangerous demon spells they had gone up against at the time.
Blinking to herself as Teufel removed her wrist circelet so that she could utilize her full mana pool without breaking her measuring device, she stewed over her thoughts more as the morning sun broke over the trees, its sunlight reflecting off the surface of the lake she stood not far from.
The more time she spent in this world, studying its magic system, its available grimoires, the more Teufel found that she did in fact enjoy magic to the fact that it was pretty much a field of study that could be developed on, to be researched, to be invented with. It was practically a wild west field of study, even years after the Great Mage Flamme passing.
From what little Teufel has learned over the years from her mother about Flamme and the era she lived in, magic was a taboo area of field to study and was seen as demonic; it was only after Flamme managed to convince the emperor at the time of the largest unified empire on the continent to allow the field of study country-wide.
But now, as Teufel stood atop the hill she picked to do a few magic spell exercises, the half elf girl could appreciate the fact she exists in a time that doesn't involve some hamstring superstition against magic.
Course, she still lived in an early era of man, but at least she wasn't in an area of witch hunting and fear of magic; being fearful of magic was irrational, being fearful of the caster was not. Same reason you should not fear a gun until some idiot picks up one and doesn't know the first thing how to properly wield it.
Analogy aside, Teufel's eyes scour the area of the place she chose to practice her spells at, and noted how serene the place felt. Hefting her staff up to her side once more to begin another practice run of spells, Teufel now wanted to test how well the spell formulas from her second life could translate into the magic system of this world.
With a free hand off from her staff, the half elf girl gently waved her palm through the air, and with some satisfaction on her part, Teufel was greeted to the sight of the observation formula that allowed her to detect a battlefield in a more detailed manner than just feeling out for mana as any other mage would.
Fern's eyes shine in childlike wonder as she witnesses a magic spell that she had never seen before, and it made her want to question Teufel ever more as time dragged on for the two of them; but Fern wanted silently watch the other girl as she casted her spell, she could ask later afterall.
Back with Teufel, It took her more than thirty years, but with a victorious smirk now gracing the half elf's lips, she was able to reverse engineer the spell to work appropriately in the magic system of this world; she had the others of course, but this spell she liked to have as its practicality won out.
Keeping the observation formula up, as she felt enough was in her mana pool to sustain it being projected out in front of her, that, and to better keep an eye on her perimeter, Teufel began a slew of other formula conversion tests.
Past
"You planning on making your own grimoire, or something?" Frieren asked her Daughter, as the two of them sat within an inn and restaurant where tables were filled by occupants, one of which was filled by Frieren and Teufel as the two of them arrived just in time to acquire an available room to sleep in.
Teufel, who was in her own chair while sitting on her knees to reach the table, looked up from her personal notebook that she had been writing into with crudely made sketches of various circles and the spell names underneath each one. "Hmm?" she hummed in questioning as she looked back at her mother's curious look.
Frieren leaned against her palm while resting her elbow on the table, and pointed at the book the Teufel was writing into, "Those spells, they look like they're made for destruction or something, from what I can read from this spot." she observed.
"Er…" Teufel mumbled something to herself, before clearing her throat to speak more clearly with her mother as she continued writing into her book, "Not really, these are just rough drafts of some spells I wanna…create…" she trailed off saying while measuring her words carefully.
"Neat." Frieren remarked, a proud smile gracing her lips as she looked at her Daughter work at creating new spells, "How long do you think it will take till you can try them out?" she questioned her daughter with a proud smile.
"It'll be a while, I don't know." Teufel answered with a shake of her head as she flipped a page to a fresh empty one, where she could continue sketching the writing down her notes, "I still need to convert what I know of the magic spells you taught me, and translate them into appropriate math formulas."
"Huh…" Frieren mused as she tilted her head a bit while still resting her chin into her palm, she expressed an excited look on her face as she watched her daughter, "Well…I look forward to seeing the fruits of your little venture." she mused.
Present
With her observation spell formulae still up, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she casted a levitation spell on several nearby rocks that rested beside the lake shore; as the half elf brought the rocks to float up next to her, she began to test the other few formulas she had been converting over to this world's magic system.
If she wanted to properly describe what it was like in making up the difference between the two world's magic systems, it was like writing a language into a different one; you had to understand the meaning, and translate it appropriately to mean almost the same thing in the one you want to work with. That was the closest of course that Teufel could represent it in her mind between the differences of the two magic systems.
Right now, as Teufel allowed her ammunition of rocks to stay afloat beside her, she began to cast an enchanted round over one of the rocks; with a green hue that covered the rock, Teufel's staff began to emit a magic circle in front of it as she held it up beside her.
'An Artillery round first.' She thought to herself as she primed the rock ready to go flying across the lake and into the mountain side; frowning a bit to herself, she measured the length that she would need the spell to go, and made a few corrections to the spell.
Since she didn't have any bullets that had sealing formulas inside them for the spell to work correctly, Teufel had to readjust and add a few extra steps into the spell for it to work with mundane objects, such as rocks. She'd most likely not get the same result she would expect with a bullet, but with a few added adjustments to make sure the rock would go boom, she made as many substitutions into the spell so that she could appropriately recreate an artillery spell.
With a whirring sound as the rock began to spin that Teufel focused on 'shooting' at the faraway mountain, the half elf held her staff with both hands before releasing the rock off into the distance.
THIWP
The rock flew off life a bullet, it made a harsh whistle while doing so as it flew across the ocean, occasionally skimming down across the lake water before curving back up into the air and towards the far away mountain.
Teufel, who watched it all happen with the enchanted rock, narrowed her eyes in annoyance, as she watched the rock lamely curved through the air, making a green trail of magic trail behind it as to flew off; the half elf noted that without the nuance of having a grooved barrel and bullet to work with, of course the projectile would fly off course from their intended destination.
KRAKOOM
She watched trees and dirt get blasted into bits from her artillery spell, missing its mark by just several yards away from her intended mark.
Fern watched with an uncertain look in her eyes. From her point of view, sure, the spell was new to her, but it looked like Teufel was not expecting the outcome. The half elf was definitely unsatisfied with what she was able to do, going by the facial expression she was making.
Narrowing her eyes a bit, Teufel knew of the homing cluster spell, and decided to incorporate the homing part into her artillery round spell. It would help her aim and lock on to specific areas she wanted blasted, and she would have more control over where her spell would land.
With a fervent look on her face, Teufel held her staff more tightly as she covered another floating rock she was levitating beside her with an enchanted round spell, and had it ready to go. Mentally preparing the added layer of spells into the rock, Teufel narrowed her eyes as she fired the rock off, with another sound of a crack through the wind.
This time, as Teufel watched her projectile rock shoot through the air with a straight shot, the rock itself hurled across the lake and passed the opposite lake shore until it finally hit the far off mountain with a thunderous boom.
KRAKOOM
Teufel witnessed as her artillery spell successfully landed and caused quite the little divot into the maintain side; from the opposite side with Teufel, the young half elf looked down at her observation formulae spell that was still up, and waved her hand in front it to weave a different spell into it. The image of the far side mountain was projected into the observation spell, allowing Teufel to see her work as she weaved her hand again through her spell to zoom in.
Seeing the zoomed in image of what her artillery spell was able to do up close without having to fly all the way there and see for herself, Teufel noted with a satisfied smile that the surface was burnt black with crumbling rocks and boulders falling bit by bit until everything rested.
Fern clapped a bit for Teufel, as the other girl no doubt successfully accomplished what she set out to do.
Teufel turned to look at Fern with a confident smile, "Thank you." she remarked, before frowning, "But unfortunately, there's still some tweaking that needs to be done with that spell I casted." she groused a bit.
"Oh." Fern noted as she ceased her clapping and held her hands atop her lap as she conversed with Teufel, "But it hit the side of the mountain, wasn't that your intended target?" she asked with an attentive curious look.
Teufel shook her head while she turned to look ahead across the lake, and held her staff beside her into the ground as she inspected her work more through the zoomed in image on her observation formula spell, "Yes, but it needs more control, I don't want a spell that needs additional spells laced into it…" she began to thumb at her chin in thought, "I have the theory and practice down, all I need left is to fine tune them…" she mused.
With an ever childish wonder present on her face, Fern asked more questions, "So how long have you been working on these spells then?" she asked.
Teufel waved her hand through the air to cease her observation spell for the time being, and turned once again towards Fern to speak directly with the girl, "A few decades or so…" she answered with a momentary sideways glance once more across the lake, before she looked back at Fern.
Fern Smiled as she stood up and brushed off her lap of any grass or dirt, "This was fun to watch, but I really should head back and get some morning tea started for Master Heiter." she remarked, before Fern looked at Teufel with an uncertain look, "do you want any?" she cautiously asked.
Teufel shook her head, "No thanks." she waved her hand in denial, "I still have some koffee grounds left to last me a few more days." she answered.
"...I see…can I have some?" Fern asked with a shine in her eye.
Teufel blinked a few times, unable to keep an incredulous look from forming on her face at the child's want to drink the coffee that made her crash for the rest of the day, "...mother says I am not allowed to give children any more Koffee." Teufel answered with a straight face.
Undeterred, Fern stepped forward closer with a fervent look in her eye, "But aren't you over eighty? That's practically an adult's age." Fern argued.
With an annoyed look on her face, Taufel argues back at Fern, "...I could…but then she will ground me from learning any more spells from her for a hundred years." she reasoned.
"....ah…I see…" Fern noted with a downcast look, before looking back at Teufel with glint in her eye, "Promise you'll let me drink some when I'm older!?" she asked.
Offering a shrug to Fern, Teufel spoke with an uncertain tone, "If I can procure more of it." she answered, earning an appreciative smile from Fern.
Author's note; This would have gotten out earlier, if my power didn't go out...I'm just lucky google doc automatically saves, otherwise I'd have been pissed midway.
Also, the only reason I wrote this, was that I believed, if given the chance with being in a world similar concept, Tanya would undoubtedly try and see if she could newgame+ her spells over to her current life.
Heiter's Cabin
After the two returned to Heiter's cabin, the day continued as usual; as noon approached, Fern was already outside practicing her spell in her usual spot with Teufel's mother taking a quick break from decrypting the book Heiter gave her to check on the progress Fern was making.
Teufel herself spent the opportunity to see what her mother was working on, as the young half elf girl climbed atop the chair next to the desk and open the book up; a lot if it was in an old language an runes that she hadn't seen since her mother took her into a dungeon to explore for a bit.
As Teufel sat on her knees atop the chair to give her the boost she needed, her eyes skimmed through the various inscriptions, occasionally turning the page to view the various detailed pages that showed circled ruins with inscriptions of the same language she could not read.
Shrugging to herself, her curiosity satiated, Teufel closed the book back up and swung her feet out off the chair to hop off and make her way out of the room. She could work on her book for the rest of the day, since she already did enough spell testing in the morning.
Making her way out of the room, Teufel saw Heiter in the midst of sitting at his table, holding a cup of tea in his hands while glancing out his nearby window to view nature; the half elf herself calmly walking through the room to reach her suitcase and take out her book and writing tools, it was prudent she record her progress and figure out where she was standing in everything she knew of how well the magic system of this world could incorporate the spells from her previous life into this one.
So far, she has had success, but it requires heavy modifications into the spells and translation of different mana usage; in any other story, Teufel is sure some power fantasy trope would allow her to instantly use her spells from her last life, but this wasn't that. Both magic systems were very different, and thus, she had to pour an immense amount of time into understanding the fabric of magic that could be weaved.
The intricacies of everything that was this world's magic, had quite a few categories to fall into; Offensive, Defensive, Support, Goddess's magic, curses, and the various spells that did not fit those categories were relegated to 'other', which was more often than not, non combat spells.
If you asked her, they should just name the branch of magic non-combative, but she supposed this world was still developing its magic system, and she'd no doubt be around long enough to witness it.
Teufel, once she reached her Suitcase, hefted it up by its handle, and carried it with her to the kitchen; she could use the bar stool to sit on to do her personal work, record her progress and measure out her spells; measuring it out into numbers was an entire process into itself, as her mana stone measuring device could only handle so much.
Realistically, if she wanted to measure out mana spells better, she'd have to come up with a better means, doing the math demanded a lot of hypothetical numbers; if there was anything she was thankful for though when her mother took them on a trip to an eastern harbor, was finding all manor of exotic merchandise from overseas. Finding an abacus was one of the items she bought, something the seller was surprised to see a young girl want.
It was only after a little discussion later with the foreign seller between him and mother, did the merchant offer to show a twenty year old half elf how to work an abacus. Suffice to say, it was a close to having a computing calculator as she could get, hell, even in her first, life, the Abacus was still in a practical use in asian countries, so having the abacus on hand was a good thing to have for calculating her numbers out.
As Teufel passed Heiter and into the kitchen, the old priest himself momentarily looked away from his window and smiled softly as he watched the young half elf walk off to sit atop his bar stool by the kitchen island counter, and begin taking her things out from her suitcase. "Teufel," he said, earning the girl's attention as she pulled out a book, inkwell and pen along with a wooden object with beads in it.
"Hm? Yes?" Teufel inquired as she sat with a sideways glance at the old priest, her voice being loud enough to make it back into the room with Heiter in it.
Heiter spoke with a somber tone in his voice, "Do you think you'll ever forget me in that long life span of yours?" he asked.
With a frown now on her face, Teufel placed her hands down against the counter and turned her head fully to look over at the old priest with a frown, "I hardly think you'll ever be forgotten, Heiter, much less by the world itself. I highly doubt I'll ever forget you either." she said with a clipped tone and furrowed brow.
"Hm." Heiter nodded with an amused smile, before glancing away from Teufel to look back out through his window, "Just asking…" he said, before chuckling warmly.
A silence permeated the cabin afterwards, with the only sounds being Teufel as the half elf began to jot into her book with her ink pen, followed by the clacking of wood from her wooden tool; Heiter spoke once again while still looking out his window, "Sorry for asking that, it just feels weird being at the end of my life…all those years went by…and now it feels like it was all a haze…" he spoke wistfully as he remembered the times of all the hero party's adventures.
"Well…" Teufel spoke up, as she paused in her work atop the counter, earning Heiter's attention as he looked back over at her, as the half elf looked up with a far away look in her eyes, "At the very least, you will not leave world without leaving a legacy behind, and not in the conventional offspring sort of legacy." she remarked with thoughtfulness, as she looked at him sharply.
Heiter chuckled with mirth, as he leaned back into the backrest of his chair while conversing with the half elf, "I sometimes forget you're not just some young looking girl."
"Right." Teufel groused back with an annoyed look, only to earn another chuckle of mirth from Heiter, "But I suppose you should count yourself lucky in reaching this far of an advanced age. Not many humans make it as far as you." she quipped.
With a wry look in his eyes, Heiter spoke back to Teufel. "No…I suppose not." he remarked, before looking out his window, "Perhaps I could reason it's just the goddess's grace granting me the opportunity to save one last soul." he quipped back.
Teufel narrowed her eyes at Heiter and his comment about the grace of the goddess, but chose not to comment and try to rebuke the dying man's words. As ill as she had it with anything concerning religion, she was not about to get into it with Heiter.
Looking back at her work, Teufel reached forward and began getting back into sketching and writing into her book of what she's been able to ascertain so far with the translation of spells she has been able to incorporate from her past life into this world.
With another book out with scrawls of numbers written all over the pages, Teufel slid her fingers along the abacus as she began running calculations on the various spells she had casted today. Going off what she felt from her mana stone measuring device, and observation spell that helped on top of it, the half elf girl did her calculations before scrawling into her actual spell book that she has been recording her spells into.
"Teufel."
Pausing in her idle work that has given her something to do over the decades, the half elf looked up from her work and over at Heiter as the old priest spoke with his attention still out the window, the sound of birds chirping outside echoed through the wooden walls, "I know I don't need to ask, considering who she'll be around, but…" Heiter trailed off as he looked back over to Teufel with a warm smile, "Be a good friend to Fern, she's been through a lot, and I will feel better knowing she'll have someone to rely on when I'm gone from this world." he explained.
Teufel, uncertain how to take the request, simply acknowledged the man with a slow nod, "I have not had any other reason to see her anything but." she remarked, earning an appreciative smile from Heiter.
Strahl, Holy City Capital
Another day, Teufel ventured out on her own this time, finding her way into the city once again as the young half elf of eighty plus years old strolled through the busy streets of the city. This time around, Teufel wanted to visit the Assassociation branch of the city. Her curiosity of the goddess's magic had her wondering how close and different the branch of magic was to common magic that she was familiar with.
A few folks batted an eye in the direction of the half elf, as the young looking girl child strolled through the streets. As Teufel turned around the corner of a street, her sights were soon set on the sight of the mage association building. Never having had the opportunity to learn what the goddess's magic is with how restrictive knowledge was on the subject, though…restrictive was a bit heavy worded.
It was really hard to find any books or grimoires containing the goddess's magic, so Teufel's only conclusion was that it was heavily kept within the holy cities and the mage's association buildings. The best description she got from Heiter, was that it is a branch of Magic utilized by priests with the assistance of holy scriptures.
"Those with a natural talent for the Goddess's magic are said to possess 'the Blessing of the Goddess'."
That all meant that an actual supernatural entity had their fingers steeped into the world in some fashion, and Teufel wanted to see what was pertaining to the subject of magic that was blessed by a supposed goddess.
"Ara ara, what's this, are you lost little one?" a soft voice spoke up as Teufel walked past a bakery store.
Halting in her step with an impossible to hold indignant look on her face, Teufel whipped around to glared up at the person that called out for her, "Ma'am." she greeted a woman that stood outside her doorstep of her shop. "Please, I am a half-"
"Oh well aren't you the cutest thing!" The female baker cooed as she bent down at her knees to converse with Teufel, only to earn an even more angered look on the half elf face, "And so well polite!" she remarked.
With a twitching eyebrow, Teufel grounded out, "Ma'am…I am eighty-"
"Tell you what!" The lady remarked as she lifted her finger up, "I have a few extra bagels, and you look too cute to let go around on an empty stomach for the morning!" the female baker gushed.
"Ma'am!" Teufel spoke with the volume of her voice a bit higher, "Please. I am-" she tried to explain to the woman that she was not some little girl…well…she was, but her age was way beyond some lost little girl of around ten or so.
"You stay right there! Miss Brezel has some spare baked goods to give a cute looking girl such as you!" The woman remarked in a cooing voice, before getting up to head back into her bakery.
"Ma'am, wait no-" Teufel tried to stop the incessant attitude she was given, and the treatment, but was already too late as the baker lady was already inside her store.
Grumbling to herself, Teufel palmed her face as she tapped her foot and waited for the lady to come back, and explain the situation to herself. She'd rather not have the woman come back thinking she was interacting with a young girl, and was instead speaking with an eighty plus year old half elf.
Her stomach all of a sudden began to grumble, making her sigh in annoyance. Perhaps she was hungry…
Walking away from the bakery, now with a small basket of baked goods in hand, Teufel had refused the woman in accepting the bagels and loaf of bread without paying anything in return; the conversation between the two eventually had Teufel insist she pay some amount, with the bakery lady relenting with an amused look on her face.
So with the little distraction out of the way, the half elf strolled along the streets once again towards the mage association building.
It wasn't long until she reached the building, and needed to walk up the several steps that led up to the front doorways. As Teufel finished taking a bite out of the bagel she was given, she placed the rest of it back into the basket in her arm while she approached the doors.
"Hupp." Teufel exhaled as she hopped and partially used some levitation to reach the doorknob, and pull the door open before letting herself in.
Entering the building, Teufel was treated to the sight of a large and round desk manned by two workers, two doorways to the left and right, two sets of stairways leading up to the second story, and at the back a double doorway leading to the back.
With her plan for the day in mind, Teufel continued onward to help herself at the front desk.
Serie
It was…weird for her to wait on something, it felt…very different than most of the times when she just lets time pass by. Her curiosity however had Serie stick around the capital for longer than she usually stuck around, before returning to Äußerst for a time.
Her patience however was rewarded in a way, as she took a stroll through the building alone; Sense had other duties to attend to, than to be beside her at all times, and really, it tended to get annoying when her apprentices flocked around her for too long. She wasn't some defenseless elf that needed any guarding.
If anything, she was the danger to anyone and anything. If Serie so chose, she could snap her finger and cause an entire mountain to become nothing but rubble; course, that was an under exaggeration….she could snap her fingers and cause an entire mountain to become building blocks to build another kingdom with all the spells she had memorized over the many centuries she's come to know as her life.
Wait…where was she going with this?
Serie's sudden lapse in thinking, as she strolled towards the front desk room, was interrupted as she let herself into the room, and spotted the very half elf girl she saw with a human girl child not but a year or so ago…it was kinda hard keeping track of the years honestly.
"Well if the library is restricted to civilians, then what does it take for me to acquire the means to gain access to it?" The half elf asked the front receptionist woman, who was looking down at the young half elf with an amused expression mixed with what looked like she wanted to dote on the girl.
As Serie walked closer to the front desk, the receptionist lady, who had to stand up and lean over her desk to converse with the half elf, smiled back down at the half elf girl, "I'm sorry, but you'll have to wait until next month when the fourth grade mage exam is hosted." she answered the young half elf with a demure smile while resting her cheek against her palm.
The half elf tsked to herself, before sighing, "I suppose I can't fault the rules really." she groused, "It would be quite irresponsible to just let any normal person just read the books without knowing how to properly cast spells." she nodded to herself, before thanking the woman and taking her leave.
"Hold on." Serie called out as the Half Elf girl was about to leave, the elf herself allowed herself a small smile of intrigue as she walked over to the young half elf.
Teufel
Turning around when she heard someone speak up to wait, Teufel saw a short woman with pointed ears head her way. "...another elf…" she softly spoke in surprise, having never seen another elf other than her mother in all her many years.
The elf woman on the other hand widened her smirk as she approached Teufel, "What, never seen another elf other than your parent?" the elf asked with a tilt of her head, while still expressing some amusement on her part.
Teufel, for her part, narrowed her eyes a bit at the elf woman as she approached her at a steady gait, "...you said parent, but not parents…" she observed.
"I know." the elf woman expressed in mild amusement as she finally reached Teufel and stood not far from the girl, "It's your mana, I've been around long enough to know the difference of what a half elf has versus a full blooded one." she remarked.
"I…see…" Teufel drawled out, while she herself expressed a raised brow of curiosity, "And you are…" she waited for the elf woman to introduce herself.
The elf woman on the other hand, smirked ever more in smugness, "Serie, but I'm sure you already know enough about the elf that is attached to that name, no?" she questioned with a tilt of her head.
"Oh…" Teufel's eyes widened a tad bit, before stepping back to really understand who she was speaking to, "oh!"" she began to remark with more surprise, "I see….um…" Teufel began to fumble her words, as she did not know if there was some sort of decorum amongst elfs, or if she was supposed to give respect to the elf in some way. "Well…um, my Name is Teufel." the half elf stammered out.
"Relax." Serie spoke up, smirking at Teufel in her own way, "I'm just pleasantly surprised as you are, but in a different way." she remarked.
Teufel blinked a few times at Serie's words, before asking the pertinent question, "I'm…sorry?" she hesitantly worded out.
"Don't be." Serie spoke back to Teufel in amusement of the young half elf's attitude, "So who's the parent? Someone I know perhaps…on second thought…" she began to look sideways with a frown, "I probably do know him or her…" she mused as an afterthought.
"Oh." Teufel nodded in agreement, "I believe you should know her, my mother is Frieren." she answered Serie, who began to slowly look back at her with a widening look of shock.
"....eh…?" Serie spoke with a surprised look, "She…who…" she tried to speak with an astonished look.
"What?" Teufel asked Serie with a confused look, "Did it not come to mind that my mother would ever have intercourse with someone?" she asked with a confused look.
"Let me guess, the father is that Himmel hero." Serie suddenly asked with a flat look.
"....well…yeah…in fact." Teufel answered.
"Hmm." Serie made a musing sound as she looked off to the side in thought, "Never would have thought she'd beat me to the punch in making a child."
With a somewhat wide eyed look, Teufel looked back at Serie, "Excuse me?" she asked.
"Nothing. Nothing." Serie shook her head with an annoyed look on her face. "This conversation is boring me, come, I wanna talk about spells." she ordered, before turning on her heels and headed back towards the doorway that she came out from.
"...." Confused, Teufel was not sure what the elf expected, but Serie turned and looked back at the half elf with an annoyed look, "Did you not hear me, follow me or be banned from this building for a hundred years." she hollered over.
"Hey!" Teufel spoke back with an indignant look, "You can't just do that!" she remarked as she followed after Serie, "That is completely irrational!" she complained.
Unbothered by the attitude she was given by Teufel, Serie walked with the half elf in tow, "I can and will, get used to it child."
"I'm over eighty years old! That is not a child's age!" Teufel said back to Serie in an annoyed tone.
"Oh, I know." Serie answered back with a rueful smirk, as the two eventually walked through a hallway, "But that is a child age for elves and half elves, get used to it little girl." she quipped back.
Serie
It was a surprise to be sure for the long lived elf to know Frieren had relations with Himmel the hero, but it was also a nice blessing that the half elf daughter that came from the two's relation had an appetite for knowledge on magic; Serie was also very curious how far Flamme's apprentice's child took after them, and what sort of magic the young half specialized in throughout her early years of living.
If there was one major staple that surrounded most mages of the current era, was that they focused on a specific spell outside of their repertoire of spell knowledge; sure, any mage could learn Zoltraak now-a-days, and plenty others could learn from their masters a slew of other spells, but what sets most mages apart were their specialization in a spell that catered to their imagination of weaving magic.
It was quite amusing too, in Serie's opinion, that throughout her time of living, that the amount of magic spells that have come into existence barely scratched the surface compared to the amount of spells that could be deciphered from the goddess's scriptures.
While Serie and Teufel entered and walked through the hallway that led to and from the main lobby of the magic association building, Serie spoke with her gaze fixated forward while her pointed ears picked up the soft pitter-patter sound of the young half elf's feet. "I am curious, compared to your mother and Flamme that taught her magic, what have you come to know about magic in your early years of living?" Serie asked with a bland tone, with a hint of curiosity slipping in.
Taufel, who glanced back at Serie to her right, spoke back to the elf, "Hmm…" the half elf pursed her lips with a furrowed brow as she looked forward with a thoughtful expression, "It's a very open field of study." Teufel offered a simple answer, to which earned Serie's attention with a sideways look.
"Hmm." Serie hummed in thought as she allowed a small smirk to grace her lips as the two continued to walk through the hallways, her own bare feet making soft pitter-patters against the floor as she walked, "Oh?" she mused, before making a quick glance at the half elf beside her that was comparatively shorter than her, "Do expand on that reason, if you would." the elf requested with a gleam in her eye.
Teufel, looking back at Serie with, stared at the elf with an analytical gaze, "Well-" the half elf began to explain with a thoughtful look upwards, "If I had to look at what I know so far about the magic spells I've learned so far from mother, much of the magic system desires a prerequisite of using a vivid imagination." she explained while looking sideways momentarily to mutter to herself, 'it also explains why the spade shattered…'
As the two rounded a corner in the hallway, where there were multiple doorways leading into other rooms, Serie's attention was caught on by what Teufel told her, "Hmm?" she began to remark as the both of them passed a wandering group of mages that stepped aside for Serie and Teufel to pass by them unhindered, "I take it you let your imagination run uncontrolled in some spell attempt?" she asked, her interest piqued with the half elf and her approach to magic.
With a sour look on her face, Teufel spoke back to Serie with a frank tone, "Yes, and it was a lesson learned early enough outside a combat situation." she answered with a straight look back at Serie.
With a smirk, Serie expressed her thoughts on Teufel's answer with an amused tone, "So what else have you done concerning magic?" she asked as the two of them pushed their way past a double doorway that led into a moderate sized garden, "You've lived long enough to develop your own magic, yes?" she questioned the young half elf.
While Teufel and Serie made their way towards the center of the garden, the half elf Teufel spoke back to Serie with a cautious tone, "I…" She began to say with an uncertain look on her face, as the two of them halted in the midst of the open area of the building, "Well I can say I developed my own magic in a way…I have been trying to develop something of my own." Teufel began to explain.
Teufel
If she were any other person, or even a human of this world, she'd say this was a once in a lifetime opportunity to converse with the renowned Serie, the living Grimoire and head of the Continental Mage Association, but considering her circumstances, this was an inevitable discussion she would doubtlessly have with the mythical Great Mage; her mother was the apprentice of Flamme, and Flamme herself was the apprentice of the very elf herself in front of Teufel.
Really, if anything, Serie seemed more curious about the half elf's discovery of magic, and what she's learned so far; it was a given that the elf mage was adamant to know what Frieren has been teaching her own daughter.
Opening her mouth to speak, Teufel expressed a curious look on her face as she continued to speak with Serie, "I've also been experimenting on various other means to conjure magic with, and so far, the compatibility has borne some fruit after many trials and errors." the half elf explained to Serie.
Serie seemed to allow a curious look of her own to cross her features as she faced Teufel, a gleam in her eyes gleamed a bit as she spoke with the half elf, "Oh? Do tell." the elf urged Teufel.
For Teufel, she was sure it has been attempted before, but at the current stage of humanity and how far education has come for the world, she wasn't sure how far arithmetic mathematical equations have developed in the world she has come to know for her third life, "Well…" she began to answer with a sideways look in thought, "Imagination was all well in good in the first two decades of my mother teaching me magic, but I wanted to tried other methods to expand how efficient spells could act in any given circumstances."
Looking back at Serie, Teufel spoke with a reserved tone, "I've attempted many times to use mathematical equations into the mix of conjuring magic." she explained, "There has been quite the divide in what spells work well with equations." Teufel discussed with an annoyed look.
Serie smirked with a smug look in response to Teufel's explanation, "Let me guess, your offensive spells are the divided ones, while the rest of what you know, do not mix well with mathematical equations?" she questioned the half elf with an amused look in her eyes.
Teufel looked back at Serie with a flat look, "Yes, but after many configurations to the equations of math I applied into the spells, I've found that some needed adjustments, while others were simply incompatible with mathematics conjured into the mix."
"hmm…I see…" Serie mused with a more interested look in her eyes, "I highly doubt using something grounded as math, helped you conjure your spells." she remarked, earning a nod from Teufel.
"You could say that, but it also helps me conserve mana in casting the spells." Teufel refuted with a straight look, "Imagination, be it limitless, still needs mana to fuel it for spells, thus I have found using a certain setup of mine I created to help me create certain spells that relies on efficient use of my mana, to help me understand the feel of how much mana I need to pour into my spells." she explained to Serie, earning a rare chuckle and smirk from the elf herself.
"You remind me a lot of Zahlen." Serie expressed with a sideways look of nostalgia, "He never reached the plateau that Lernen reached, but he was very astute that math had a place in magic casting." she remarked fondly, before looking back at Teufel with a sharp frown, "Unfortunately, he never lived past his forties, the war with the demons saw to it that he was needed at his hometown." Serie stated with a flat look.
"Oh…" Teufel remarked with an uncertain look, "I…at least he defended his home…right?" she asked cautiously, the Elf Serie seemed to have some fondness for whoever this Zahlen was, which the name itself was far too coincidental for the mage himself.
""Yeah." Serie responded with a gruff and annoyed look to the side, before stepping off to walk around the garden they both stood at the center of, "But he was not the only one to delve into arithmetic spells, nor was he the last, but over the centuries, the common belief of using one's imagination always triumphed over using something grounded." the elf mused as she reached out to brush her hand along the tulip flowers in the garden bed she walked beside.
Serie paused in her steps and looked back over at Teufel with a rueful smug look, "Magic in of itself, does not like to be contained to the whims of our world, it is why imagination is our staple, for imagination is boundless and limitless." she followed up saying.
Teufel, who still stood at the center of the garden, spoke to Serie, "On that, I understand, it took me decades even to learn that I had to create my own spells to work with the combination of imagination and arithmetic equations."
"Oh?" Serie began to remark with newfound interest on the subject, and turned herself fully to face Teufel and walk back over to converse with her at a slow gait in her walk, "You've made your own spells?" she inquired, her interest seemed to always pique on the subject matter pertaining to spells.
As Serie stopped short a few steps away from Teufel, the half elf herself spoke with an uncertain look, "Well…it has taken me a while to get them working, but I have had success recently in finally getting them to cast the appropriate way I intended the spells to act."
"Care to…show me?" Serie asked Teufel with a growing smirk and gleam of interest in her eyes.
Elsewhere Near Heiter's Cabin
Fern
The young girl could say the recent years of her life living with Master Heiter was fun, interesting, and full of life, more so for Master Heiter himself than her really, ever since Mistress Frieren and her daughter came to visit.
Mistress Frieren herself has been very helpful in making her efforts in mastering Zoltraak that much faster, and her ever studious venture of repaying Master Heiter for saving herself from ending her life. She wanted to be able to fend for herself, so that master Heiter could pass on knowing she would be okay on her own.
And while she knew the half elf was older than her, by many decades even, it was a quiet part of herself that was glad to have a friend around, albeit one that was older than her but looked around Fern's age.
Currently on her own while Mistress Freiren was inside with Master Heiter in deciphering that book of his, Fern was presently trying out that spell she saw Teufel did with the logs; with her staff out in her hands, the young girl levitated a log to stand upright on the stump. It should be simple really, imagine her staff to a sharp axe as she swung it into the log, only with magic, she could imagine so much more.
Inherently, if Fern did this right, she should imagine the log to be a stick of butter while her staff was the sharpest butter knife in the world. Mistress Frieren always said that imagination was a key factor to any spell, and what Teufel did with her attempt in splitting a log down the middle exemplified that. A perfect cut.
Getting herself into a stance with her staff, the young girl Fern hefted her staff over her shoulder in a ready position to swing it down at the log; puffing her cheeks out as she readied her first attempt, Fern imagined the spell she witnessed, gathered her mana appropriately, and with a great overarching swing, Fern swung her staff down at the log standing upright.
THUNK
Blinking a few times as the harsh sound of wood echoing into her ears died down, Fern lifted her staff up and inspected her work, and smiled a bit as she noticed a small cut sliced into the top of the log that still stood upright; Mistress Frieren was right, things took practice, but with a lot of effort, she could accomplish what she wanted.
With a nod to herself, Fern hefted her staff back over her shoulder and began to walk off to her practice location; she couldn't divert her attention away mastering the Zoltraak spell, as Fern had no idea how much longer master Heiter had.
Inside Heiter's Cabin
The old priest could not help but chuckle warmly at what he saw outside his window, as he stood with his cane in hand to help him stand; stepping away from his window, Heiter walked towards his table to sit and finish the rest of his tea.
As he sat down, Heiter expressed a warm smile; while the old priest picked up his cup of tea and sipped from it, he had pleasant thoughts that he would be leaving this world as having done one last good thing…besides saving the country from the demon king.
Even Eisen himself invested himself in teaching some young kid how to fight, contrary to the boy's attitude of being a coward.
"You think I'm brave, fighting those monsters and demons? Think again, Heiter. Everytime I fight, I find myself shaking, but that doesn't stop me from fighting."
Taking another sip from the fresh brew of tea that Fern made before she left the cabin, Heiter could not help but think of the words Eisen said about his opinion of being a capable fighter.
Unable to suppress a warm chuckle from his lips, Heiter lowered his cup of tea and set it down so that he could gaze out through his window. Everyone in their party would be leaving a legacy behind. Himmel left behind a very surprising legacy in the form of Teufel, something neither he nor Eisen saw coming, as both of them believed Frieren would understand to reciprocate the feelings Himmel had for her. It was good though, in the end, that Himmel passed away knowing he left behind something of his to Frieren.
Frieren
The more she delved and decrypted the book Heiter asked of her to work on, the eventuality of her coming to terms that the 'corrupt' priest was just stringing her along to stay and help Fern complete her mastery over Zoltraak.
Currently pouring herself over the book in question as she held an ink pen in hand and scribbled words into a readable text on blank sheets of paper, Frieren found many inconsistencies within the book itself that held nothing close to immortality or longevity; perhaps if she decrypted everything, she would be able to make a concise effort of seeing if what the book held within its pages encrypted wording of an actual spell.
Really, she has come across quite a few grimoires and books that made her put in the work in seeing behind the wording, and finally understanding what spell or spells the book was written for; so it would not surprise Frieren if this book was one of those that require extra effort in deciphering the passages of words apart.
Oftentimes, books would detail a recipe for cooking, but when you picked apart the letters, the books conveyed the actual spell; other times, the books were full of poems or a complete story. Frieren herself enjoyed a bit of the challenge itself, but sometimes she liked it better when the books just out right convey what spell or spells they were intended to teach, which was more often the not most of the books she had found or acquired over the many centuries.
Pausing in her work of decrypting the book in front of her, Frieren looked up and out the nearby window of Heiter's study, "hmm." She hummed to herself in thinking, her eyes took in the peaceful sight outside Heiter's cabin. Teaching Fern was interesting in of itself as a side bit to the current work she was doing, and Teufel was enjoying sticking around and visiting the nearby city. So she could not really say she hated sticking around for too long.
Looking back at her work in front of her, Frieren continued to think to herself; Fern shouldn't be too far along in her mastery over Zoltraak, so she should hurry in deciphering the book. She wanted to leave and continue exploring the countryside, rather than stick around in one spot for too long.
She had done it before, before Himmel and the others came to her to acquire her help, but after experiencing the journey of exploring the many wonders of the countryside, Frieren could not help but express within herself her fondness of delving into dungeons, wandering into caves, and discovering hidden an ancient temples.
Perhaps it was her nostalgia of the very short ten years she's experienced with Himmel, Eisen and Heiter, but it was also her longtime passion of gathering spells and grimoires; to discover how much humans have developed magic long after her master convinced the emperor to allow study into magic.
Smiling to herself, Frieren went back to work deciphering the book in front of her. Whatever the book was hiding, she was sure Teufel was having just as much fun in exploring whatever caught her fancy in the city; as young as she looked, that child of herself was fully capable of defending herself from any would-be bandit or annoyance, she saw too it at that in making sure that the young half elf knew how to properly project a shield as well as fire off a spell expertly.