The journey had begun. Lencar was two days out of Sosie, traveling across the high, rugged ground, preferring the grueling terrain to the easy visibility of the main road. His physical fatigue was constant, but manageable. His mental state was a cold, quiet fortress.
He was in a dense, dark-wood forest when the ambush came.
Six men, none in any uniform, dropped from the tree cover. Their mana signatures were unrefined and coarse—petty thugs who preyed on lost commoners. They immediately fanned out, cutting off his path forward and backward.
"Well, well," sneered the ringleader, a squat man whose grimoire, visible in his hand, pulsed with weak Stone Magic. "Look what the wild dogs dragged in. A soft-looking boy with a pretty, three-leaf book."
"Hand over the grimoire, kid," sneered the ringleader, a bulky Stone Mage.
Lencar remained still, his hand resting casually on his disguised grimoire.
Lencar engaged Mage Mode, the tide of Yuno's mana surging beneath his skin, muffled instantly by Regulator v3.2. He moved to execute Phase 3: The Blitzkrieg.
Objective: Incapacitate all six physically using minimal, copied magic. Preserve grimoires.
Strategy: Overwhelm the mages with unpredictable physical speed, then use Chain Magic for definitive immobilization.
The attack was instantaneous. The four non-mages rushed forward, while the String Mage launched his opening move: [String Magic: Razor Net], a fan of fine wires aimed low.
Lencar didn't dodge the String Magic; he countered the physical threat. He activated a tiny burst of Wind Magic from his feet, not for offense, but for momentum. He accelerated violently toward the four charging thugs.
The thugs, committed to their charge, were too slow to react to his sudden velocity. Lencar was among them in a blur.
First Thug (Left Flank): Lencar delivered a Mana-Forged forearm strike—not magic, just dense, reinforced muscle—to the thug's throat. The man collapsed silently, instantly unconscious from the shock.
Second Thug (Ringleader's Mage): The Needle Mage was fumbling with his grimoire. Lencar grabbed the mage's head and drove his knee up into his face. Bone cracked. The Needle Mage went down, stunned and bleeding heavily.
In the brief moment Lencar was physical, the Razor Net of String Magic arrived. Lencar pulled his arms up to guard his face and body. The razor wires sliced into his hardened skin, drawing shallow but sharp cuts.
Data: My Mana-Forged body absorbs 90% of the kinetic impact, but the wires are still too sharp for a perfect block. Minor physical damage sustained.
Lencar ignored the stinging pain and focused on the String Mage.
"[Chain Magic: Iron Counter]!"
The rigid, Anti-Magic imbued chain erupted from Lencar's grimoire. It did not hit the mage, but instead wrapped itself around the mage's own String Grimoire, effectively shutting off his spellcasting. The String Mage let out a frustrated yell as his magic flickered uselessly.
Only the Stone Mage and the hidden Concealment Mage (Vex) remained conscious and active.
The Stone Mage, seeing his team decimated by a boy who didn't use spells, finally panicked. "[Stone Magic: Earth Spikes]!"
A series of clumsy, thick stone spikes erupted from the ground beneath Lencar.
"Too slow," Lencar muttered.
He quickly cast his father's fire spell, aiming it at the base of the Stone Mage's feet. "[Fire Magic: Compressed Ember]!"
He channeled only 2% of Yuno's mana. It wasn't an explosion; it was a focused, searing lance of flame. The concentrated heat struck the Stone Mage's unprotected feet and the surrounding earth. The mage screamed, jumping back in agony, his magical focus broken, his own grimoire dropped.
"[Chain Magic: Iron Snare]!" Lencar commanded. A final, quick chain immobilized the screaming Stone Mage next to his unconscious Needle Mage comrade.
Six bandits. Five incapacitated. Only Vex remained hidden.
Lencar stood breathing hard, blood trickling from the cuts on his arms. He didn't waste time looking for Vex. He knew the terms.
"Vex. Concealment Magic is mine now. You have been defeated. Drop your book."
A moment of intense silence. Then, Lencar sensed the minuscule shift in the air as Vex's fear overwhelmed his discipline. The Concealment Mage shimmered into existence, placing his grimoire on a flat rock and collapsing onto his knees, shivering.