Chapter 6
While reading through the guild’s books, Marshall discovered that magic power was not only used to form magic circles and cast spells.
It could also reinforce the body much like the internal energy from martial arts stories.
That realization immediately gave him all kinds of ideas about how magic power could be used.
When he casually checked his Inspiration afterward, he was shocked to find that it had jumped by several dozen points.
From that, Marshall formed a theory: gaining large amounts of Inspiration might require him to come up with new ideas or create original magic.
It was called Inspiration, after all. Surely it had something to do with actual inspiration.
Unfortunately, magic in this world had existed for centuries and covered an enormous range of disciplines.
With Marshall’s current level of knowledge, creating an entirely new form of magic was hardly realistic.
He did not necessarily have to invent one from scratch, though.
Suggesting a new application or developing an original spell should still count.
As long as his idea was genuinely possible within this world’s magical system, it ought to earn him plenty of Inspiration.
And so Marshall turned his attention to Gray.
His options were limited at the moment. Gray was the only person in the guild who was both capable enough and willing to help him experiment.
Marshall was not close enough to the older children yet, Cana was still developing her own magic, and most of the adults were unlikely to humor a six-year-old’s strange ideas.
Gray, on the other hand, was honest, easy to provoke, and just tsundere enough to be extremely manageable!
"...But Gray, Airo gave me the day off today," Marshall said. "I’d really like to see how you train."
"Haha! Did you hear that, Cana? Hand him over!"
Gray snatched Marshall from Cana’s arms and triumphantly dragged him toward the guild entrance.
"Come on, Marshall! Your big bro’s going to teach you how a real man trains!"
"Hey! Wait for me!"
The older guild members watched the three children race outside and burst into laughter over their drinks.
"The guild’s new generation sure has plenty of energy!"
"Gray’s been a lot more cheerful lately. He doesn’t look nearly as miserable as when he first joined."
"Same goes for Cana. Marshall must have been a good influence for both of them."
"To Marshall!"
"Cheers!"
...
The three children chased one another through Magnolia until they reached the riverbank, where Gray began demonstrating his training routine.
"Watch carefully, Marshall. The first step is taking off your clothes!"
Cana immediately punched him on top of the head.
"Stop teaching my little brother weird things!"
"Agh! Fine, you can keep them on." Gray rubbed the swelling on his head and grumbled, "But taking off your clothes is a secret training method passed down by my school. It makes you more sensitive to magic power, which helps you learn Ice Magic faster."
He straightened up again.
"I’m already past that stage, though. These days, I only strip because it’s a habit. My real training looks like this—"
Gray brought one palm down against his clenched fist.
"Ice-Make: Hammer!"
His magic power formed an invisible magic circle in an instant.
A massive hammer of ice, nearly half his height, slammed into the ground ahead and left a deep crater behind.
"Ice-Make: Hammer!"
"Ice-Make: Hammer!"
"Ice-Make: Hammer!"
Gray created three more identical hammers in quick succession. The four icy weapons stood in a row, releasing a wave of freezing air across the riverbank.
Breathing a little harder, Gray planted his hands on his hips.
"Pretty amazing, right? My molding speed is already faster than a lot of adult Mages. I can make ten hammers like these in a row!"
Cana folded her arms and gave him a skeptical look.
"So your training is just standing here and making hammers over and over?"
"Of course not! First, I use up all my magic power. Then I run along the riverbank while I wait for it to recover. Once it’s full again, I practice my spells, go running, and repeat the whole thing."
"Huh? What kind of idiot training routine is that?"
"It’s not stupid!" Gray shot back. "My master said the body is the foundation that holds a Mage’s power. The stronger your body is, the more magic power it can withstand and store. You wouldn’t understand because no one ever taught you properly!"
"What?!" Cana bristled. "If I had that much time, I’d rather spend it meditating! Gildarts taught me how!"
"You idiot! What are you going to do when someone gets close enough to fight you hand-to-hand?"
"You’re the idiot! We’re Mages, not brawlers! Just don’t let them get close in the first place! You’re going to teach Marshall all the wrong things!"
"Stupid woman!"
"Jerk!"
Marshall watched helplessly as the argument turned into a fight, and the two of them disappeared into a spinning cloud of fists, feet, and flying dust.
Honestly, he thought Cana had a point.
A Mage ought to fight like a Mage.
Surely they were not expected to strip to the waist and start trading punches with every enemy they met?
Then again, Gray’s reasoning also made sense.
Magic power in this world could directly reinforce the body.
His status panel also measured Energy, Stamina, and Magic Power.
Marshall doubted the system had included Stamina for no reason, so physical condition probably had a significant effect on combat.
That was something he could consider later, though. He had not come here to watch two children beat each other senseless.
"Stop fighting! Both of you, stop!"
Marshall squeezed between them and struggled for several moments before finally managing to pull them apart.
He sighed and turned toward Cana first.
"Cana, should a girl really be fighting this wildly? What if you get hurt and it leaves a scar? Don’t let the older men in the guild teach you bad habits..."
Cana’s face immediately reddened.
She smoothed the hair beside her ear and tried to recover some dignity.
"Ahem. Don’t misunderstand, Marshall. I’m not usually like this. Gray is just unbelievably irritating!"
"What?!" Gray shouted.
Marshall quickly turned to him before another fight could start.
"Gray, after watching your magic, I noticed that you mainly use Ice-Make to deal physical damage. Shouldn’t an Ice Mage focus more on hurting enemies with freezing temperatures?"
Gray was usually simple-minded enough to be distracted easily, and his irritation vanished almost at once.
"Oh! You noticed that, Marshall?" He nodded. "You’re right. Most of my attacks rely on molding rather than the cold itself."
He spread his hands casually.
"Lowering the temperature costs magic power too. Right now, I don’t have enough to create a powerful shape and freeze the enemy at the same time."
Gray grinned without looking particularly bothered.
"I’m only ten, after all. I’ll get better as I grow!"
"I see..."
Marshall smoothly moved on to the idea he had prepared.
"Then, Gray, can you make mirrors out of ice?"
"Mirrors?" Gray tilted his head. "I should be able to if I change the way the ice is arranged while molding it. Why?"
"A mirror would still count as an Ice-Make creation, right? I think you could use special ice mirrors to trick an enemy’s eyes."
Marshall gestured as he explained.
"For example, you could place several mirrors around the enemy and make your reflection appear in one of them while you hide behind another. When they attack the reflection..."
The more Marshall spoke, the brighter Gray’s eyes became.
"You can do that? That sounds like it might actually work! I’m trying it right now!"
Without another word, Gray created several ice mirrors and eagerly began experimenting with reflections and projected images, completely forgetting his argument with Cana.
The moment Gray successfully produced the mirrors, Marshall stared intently at his status panel.
[Inspiration: 540 → 710]
’It worked! I knew it would work!’
His theory had been right. This was exactly what the system considered inspiration!
Marshall was still celebrating his discovery when he suddenly felt something soft press against his cheek.
"Mwah!"
Before he could react, Cana swept him into a warm hug.
"Wow! My Marshall is a genius! How did you come up with such an amazing idea? You’re incredible! Let your big sis give you another kiss! Mwah~!"
[Inspiration: 710 → 1,001]
’The hell?!’
Marshall froze.
He looked at Cana, who was happily pressing her cheek against his, then glanced at Gray in the distance before slowly turning his attention back to the panel.
[Inspiration: 1,001 → 1,111]
Marshall stared blankly.
’What the fuck?’