「Using Magic: Lightweight lv3.」
「Using Invisible Hand lv11.」
I used the lightweight magic on the knight’s gauntlet.
That gauntlet was very large and extremely heavy.
Even with the highly leveled invisible hand magic, I could only swing it around.
But using the lightweight magic, I could move it quite freely.
I put the gauntlet on the invisible hand.
It was no longer an invisible hand, but a living, moving gauntlet.
I’m not sure if it has any meaning, but I liked it because it looked damn cool.
That wasn’t the only thing I liked.
I could get on top of the solid gauntlet.
I wrap my tail around the gauntlet once to secure my body.
And carefully, very carefully, I climbed on.
Focus.
This is an opportunity that might not come again, focus.
Ah.
My body was completely lifted.
The terrifying white snake Ouroboros riding on a living gauntlet is complete.
I wonder if this could replace the ‘Flight’ skill that just doesn’t suit me at all.
If I grasp a sword with the gauntlet, it would be the completion of the sword-gauntlet flying technique.
I definitely succeeded in floating in the air.
“Impossible!”
Pelerian was shocked.
When I said I would attempt this, Pelerian just sneered and told me to give it a try.
His attitude suggested it was absolutely impossible, which made me stubborn.
I succeeded after dozens of failures.
Now I just need to move the gauntlet.
But the moment I twitched, the mana forming the invisible hand dispersed.
Thud!
I fell along with the gauntlet.
I hope they didn’t hear that outside?
Fortunately, it was quiet outside.
“Puhahaha!”
Pelerian burst into laughter as if he had never been tense.
“Didn’t I tell you it wouldn’t work? It’s the same as not being able to use lightweight magic on living beings. If this were possible, telekinetics would have been flying around long ago.”
There were scientific, no, magical reasons why flight couldn’t be achieved with invisible hand magic.
According to Pelerian’s explanation:
“Your attempt is no different from trying to jump into the air and then stepping on your own feet to jump again.”
‘It’s the Lightfoot technique of stepping on your own feet, I see.’
“Or it’s like the idea of uprooting a large tree, throwing it, and then riding on it to fly away.”
‘I think I’ve seen that in Dragon Ball.’
It’s so disappointing.
“That’s enough of this useless endeavor. Now it’s time to learn something proper.”
‘Yes, sir.’
I quietly listened to Pelerian’s instruction.
This was the way our agreement worked.
I try something I want to learn once, and then I listen to what Pelerian wants to teach next.
“Today, we’ll learn about mandalas, magic circles, and talisman magic.”
Pelerian is stubborn in both appearance and personality.
Somehow, I had the impression that he would pursue ‘orthodox magic’ and ignore other disciplines, but at least when it came to magic, he was different.
He was knowledgeable about various types of magic and had no hesitation in learning and applying them.
“You say you’ve greatly increased your mana quantity through various strokes of luck, but even so, it can still be said to be at a pathetic level.”
‘Well, that’s because I was born not too long ago.’
“That’s true.”
What can I do?
Come to think of it, I’m probably about the same age as the centipede triplets.
I wonder if they’re doing well.
The centipede mom must be taking good care of them, right?
“If you compare yourself to your father, you’ll understand.”
‘Father was good at using gigantification and destruction beam, after all.’
The difference is bound to be big because the amount of mana one possesses increases as time passes.
“Besides evolving to increase your mana, you need to build up your mana in parallel, like knights and magicians do through training.”
‘Don’t tell me, absorbing the world’s mana through breathing?’
“How did you know?”
‘Just a guess.’
“Yes, I’m not sure if a snake can do it, but it’s worth trying.”
My heart pounded at the thought of learning internal energy cultivation.
‘Then the aura is really spewed out with mana, right? The attributes seemed to be different too. Gunter spewed out lightning, and that knight from before spewed out flames,’
“Don’t be interested in unnecessary things.”
Pelerian became wary.
I nodded for now.
“Anyway, while learning mana breeding, it would be good to learn magic that can achieve excellent efficiency even with little mana. That’s using mandalas, talismans, and magic circles.”
Pelerian’s explanation was as follows.
If you draw a magic circle to use magic, you can consume much less mana.
The problem is that it takes a long time to prepare, but the logic is that it doesn’t matter if you draw it in advance.
“You’ll need writing tools, for now…”
That’s when it happened.
Just as Pelerian’s full-fledged lecture was about to begin.
Chirp, chirp.
The sound of a cricket was heard.
It was the one I had dominated and was using as a guard.
「The dominated cricket has died.」
「Domination power has been recovered.」
The sentry cricket died.
An intruder!
Could an assassin have come?
I cautiously headed towards the entrance of the luggage compartment.
‘…Sigh.’
What was there was just a single dog.
“Huff huff, woof!”
‘Shh, be quiet, you rascal!’
It’s the dog raised by Roil, the owner of the cargo wagon.
Its name is Jackie.
It ate my cricket again.
‘I can’t just do something to it…’
I had already tried to dominate the dog too.
But I only succeeded in taming it, not dominating it.
Since it ate my first cricket, it keeps coming here as if this place is some kind of snack cricket distribution center.
‘Get out of here right now!’
“Woof!”
Jackie licked my face.
I’ll let it slide because it’s cute.
That’s when it happened.
“What’s wrong, Jackie?”
As I heard a human voice, I quickly hid.
==
“What’s this, there’s nothing here. Come on, boy.”
Jackie was poking around in the luggage compartment again.
He was whining and lifting his front paws, trying to climb up.
Roil forcibly pulled Jackie away.
“I told you, no jerky.”
It was obvious that it was because of the jerky he got as a bonus when buying ale.
The dog couldn’t control himself because of that smell.
The merchants had just stopped their wagons to let the mules rest.
“Amain, did you feed Jackie?”
Roil looked for his son.
The one who answered wasn’t his son, but a fellow merchant.
“I just saw him being fed.”
“Oh? He must have been studying.”
Roil grinned as he looked at his son.
His young son, only twelve years old.
It’s no easy task to accompany his father on a trading journey, but Amain never complained.
Sometimes it pained Roil’s heart to see his son grow up so fast.
But at the same time, his son was Roil’s pride.
“Are you doing that mana training thing?”
“Yes, I need to work hard if I want to enter the academy next year.”
Surprisingly, Roil’s son had a talent for magic.
A wandering magician had informed Amain that he had talent.
Roil paid the magician a hefty sum to obtain the mana training method.
He even purchased a grimoire containing basic magic training methods.
Now Amain was sitting quietly with his eyes closed, meditating.
He couldn’t be more proud.
He’s thinking of sending Amain to a decent academy next year, even if it means spending all the money he has.
In fact, Roil’s thinking was incredibly naive.
To those who knew a little, it might seem like the judgment of an ignorant person.
How could he trust a wandering magician and try to raise his son as a magician?
Although magic has become quite common now, it still requires tremendous talent to become a magician.
Not to mention the astronomical amount of money needed.
However, Amain really did have talent.
He grasped the mana training method with just one lesson.
The single grimoire he had was worn out from his intense study.
Even the breathing exercise he was doing now was the correct method.
He absorbs a little bit of the surrounding mana with each breath.
It was an impressive level of concentration for such a young age.
Amain could sense the flow of mana around him.
“Hoo…”
The cheeks of the boy quietly exhaling were slightly flushed.
His heart was pounding a bit due to nervousness.
It wasn’t an illusion.
His father’s luggage wagon.
Once again, a flow of mana was occurring in that cargo compartment.
‘Is it real?’
The grimoire Amain was holding in his arms.
「Mysterious Magic Studies Introduction by the Sage Liberta」 contained various contents.
Among them were descriptions of mysterious creatures.
Magical beasts riding on clouds, whales carrying mermaids in their bellies.
And even snakes using magic.
The author, Liberta, particularly described snakes as friends of magicians.
One of the most magic-friendly creatures, they say.
It’s said that you can even converse with snake monsters that have evolved after living for a long time.
Amain flipped through the book.
There, the snake language called ‘snake speech’ was explained.
When he first read this, it seemed ridiculous. But now was the chance to check it out.
There was a snake riding in the luggage compartment.
He clearly saw Jackie licking the snake’s face.
Instead of biting the snake to death, that smart and loyal hunting dog was wagging its tail.
It was an extraordinary snake.
Although he matured early, Amain was still a young boy.
‘Would I get scolded if I tell father?’
The boy’s curiosity was ignited.
“I’ll make some stew.”
“I’ll go gather some firewood.”
Now was the opportunity while the adults were busy.
Amain quietly headed towards the carriage’s luggage compartment.
Taking Jackie along because he was scared.
As it got dark, the inside of the luggage compartment was pitch black and couldn’t be seen.
Amain cleared his throat and imitated the snake speech he read in the book.
“Saaath, saak. Shirit.”
Snake, are you there?
There was no answer.
And once again.
“Saaath, saak, shirit.”
The silence continued.
Just as Amain was about to be disappointed, thinking it was useless.
Slither, slither.
A white snake appeared from the darkness.
It’s not as big as he thought. It doesn’t look scary either.
However, its scales shone like crystal and it wore a crown on its head.
“Shirilit.”
The snake responded to Amain’s call.
==
‘What is this kid saying now?’
I carefully came out after hearing some hissing noise from outside.
There was a little boy tightly hugging a book and waiting.
“Can you understand me?”
The kid spoke to me as if he had been waiting.
“Shith, sarararak.”
Hmm, this seems to be.
“A crazy little human.”
That’s what it looks like.