Fear Not The Elf Who Knows 10,000 Spells - Chapter 11

61 HPV

Wake up.

Keep my eyes closed as I cast Jilwer, and feel my mind speed up. The world slows down around me, even if I don't see it.

I visualize a world frozen in time, and as I traverse it, with every swing I cut the world like it's a picture in a book.

I do this long enough to feel my mana fall down a quarter, then I get up.

The more I improve in the speed spell, the less morning time I technically spend in real time. Meaning more time for other training.

First cardio and weight lifting using boulder. A mount has many of those.

I even used the enchanted sword Löwenjunges gave me as an extra way to train. For me as it's wielder, it's always heavy even if I'm not swinging it.

So I used it to hold it over my back, while doing one-handed push-ups.

Training with the enchanted sword was never easy. I constantly have to keep up body strengthening up to move it around. Thus its enchantment activates and makes it heavier once more. As I improved in body strengthening, and as my body naturally becomes stronger from all the mana I have daily pumped into it, the enchantment compensates to keep the weight the same, so I am always struggling with this blade.

Thus I am always improving.

Also according to Flink turns out my body strengthening does have a Formed Spell version called Vigorkern. Although it fell out of use, because what use does a mage have, for physical strength.

It was a good reference as I could mentally compare notes on how my mana feels with either my method, or the spell. Turns out mine was better. The baseline improvement of Vigorkern were just much lower than mine. Like it made one twice as strong, but mine was like jumping from an average person's physical ability to someone a bit above peak human physical ability.

So when I use body strengthening, that effect is much more pronounced.

So after three hours of sword training, I go back to my magic training.

I already have all the folk spells Schroff knows memorized. I may not have mastered them all, but I know what they are, and can practice them one by one in my own time.

I keep up the full world sight version of mana detection around half a day now. I don't need my eyes to see the world, I feel it with my whole being.

Sadly I can only do this outside of combat. In an actual combat scenario with stakes, and need to focus and cast other spells, I can only hold onto the full world sight mana detection for around ten minutes at most.

While I do that, I completely suppress my mana till nothing is leaking. Yes it makes more sense to keep up the restraint to a level that makes me feel like a warrior, but I do that all the time anyways.

This is to go further beyond that. You never know when you might need to be a ghost against mages.

From there I either run around the mountain, or do deliveries for Old Schroff when he needs it.

The closest town at the base of the mountain was a Wolfsruh, a town that was six hours away by foot.

With Jilwer I can reach it in ten minutes. Yeah, I'm a fucking car baby.

Still not enough to be a speedster where I'm running in a world frozen in time, but like Flink advised me, my journey to my goal doesn't have to be perfect, neat and tidy.

Then after I return from any chores, or running around the mountain while trying to zero down my mana levels, I go back to sword training, then at night, I venture into the Death Tunnel and fight the Einsam, while having the lifeline rope around me.

The moment I feel my mana drop to a tenth left, or feel the rope digging into me, thus meaning I went too far into the tunnel, I Jilwer out of there, and out of the Einsam's range.

Important thing I learn was that while it's illusion can affect what I see and feel around me, they don't affect my directional perception. Forward is still forward, right is right, left is left and backwards is backwards. And if the rope is digging into me, the direction of heading to where the rope was pulling from was the correct one, regardless of what my senses told me.

Haven't gotten a hit on that fucker yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I scared it a few time. At least that's what I like to imagine.

It's been six month since Schroff showed me why the Death Tunnel was a no-go zone.

Five and a half since Flink came and lived with us on the mountain—The home he took up was an hour normal walk away. I still can't believe Schroff didn't tell me about a whole village right next to us.

Although I did visit the place and it was eerie with how silent it was.

Regardless, even with everything I did in these past six-ish month, the most outstanding was the times Flink interjected into my training and I gained a sparring partner.

Thank god for elves with long lives, because I finally know how to use a sword, beyond blind swinging.

===x===

I dash forward enhanced blade pulled back. Flink stood with a simple wooden sword that he carved himself. And strengthened by magic so that I can't break it easily.

I lunged and spun, using the momentum of my spin to actually add some momentum to the slash.

THUNK!

The hit is angle to the side. The weight of my sword carried my momentum. I jumped with it to throw a knee hit to the elf's stomach.

Flink easily dodged by jumping back and away.

I landed on the ground, angled myself to face him again, and rush forward dragging. Normally when one uses a heavy weapon, they try to create a fighting style to accommodate, that focuses on delivering massively powerful attacks, even if they are slow, so one hit would be all they need.

Those people are quitters.

I took a deep breath, a habit that sadly I can't help, and Flink already knows about. Body strengthening and Jilwer were cast at once.

The air whined as I dashed forward, I moved like my body was light as air, and my arm swung with the speed of a sparrow. At least that's what I like to imagine it looked like.

Flink of course already anticipated this tactic, raised his sword and prepared.

THUNK! THUNK! THUNK!

A strike from the left. Flink block with a back block,

A follow up of pulled back followed by an upward slash, Flink moved his blade down and out, diverting the momentum away.

My arms carried the momentum up. I readied a direct downward slash.

Flink moved and met my swing. The blades clashed and I struggled not to have my sword fly out of my gripe from the force it pushed against. Seriously why is that wooden sword not breaking yet. I swear he makes them stronger every time.

We both pulled back and clashed again. Over and over I tried to find an opening, to gain even one strike even if it was futile. I pulled the sword back with one hand, poised for a stab and thrust forward.

Pull and thrust. Pull and thrust.

Flink maneuvered between the stabs like he'd fucking Neo or something, simply taking the smallest movement, or diverting the sword with the quickest and smallest act of his wooden sword to parry.

Yet as the battle flow got going, that is when the enchanted sword's magic reacted, as if now realizing that the weight was lighter for me, and thus began increasing.

I overcompensated by increasing the mana on the body strengthening, yet I knew I didn't have long before the weight grew abominably heavy that I'd have to drop the enchanted sword from my hand to reset the enchantment.

My muscles strained to keep swinging the sword at the speed I was at. My stomach and core muscles were clenching too hard from me, rooting myself on my feet and not letting the growing weigh carry me off my balance. Even my legs struggled with having to keep moving, keep up my footwork back and forth and not stay still like a statue.

Flink was working up a sweat, so I was pushing him, good.

Then he jumped up high in the air, using the fact that he's a fucking adult and this is cheating!

Flink summersault in the air turning it into a spinning slash. I brought up my blade in to block as it was too fast to parry, or for me to jump out of the way.

The wooden sword shattered from striking my enchanted sword that I held up horizontally to block the attack. The sheer weight of my sword now, made it drop from my fingers, almost snapping them. Flink finished his summersault over me, and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he threw a kick at my back.

I grunted in pain at the hit threw me forward, but it wasn't something that would take me out of the fight. I rolling forward with the momentum, and spun around to face the elf, and launched myself forward.

Without the enchanted sword to weigh me down, I blasted off like a rocket, appearing in front of him from a lunge into the air, and throwing a punch at his face, with the wind hugging my fist.

Flink turned his head to the side, and deflected the punch with an arm block while punching with the other.

I quickly brought up my arm and 'caught' a punch to the stomach with my other hand.

I may have said 'caught' but it was more like being hit by the cannon ball, and launched me away across the training field.

My hand hurts, my stomach hurts, and as I hit the ground, not my back hurts, yet I couldn't lay still, as I rolled back up to my feet.

Flink was onto me, and came and threw one punch after another, each making the air scream from their speed. I swear, every one of his punches had the force and speed of a shotgun.

No longer was I on the offensive, Flink let me have my fun earlier, and now it was Dodge Training. Capitalization required.

Again and again I pushed Jilwer to not just increase my speed but also my reaction time. I didn't think in terms of speeding myself up by improving my physiological functions like nerves firing faster, or blood moving quicker.

Rather I thought of the world slowing down, as my perception sped up, as if a wave of lightning was moving threw me. Hey, if I unlock speedster Flash power, it would be a complete coincidence. Totally not because I want it.

But its only because of that spell that I could avoid the onslaught of punches that wailed on me.

I was bobbing and weaving, seeing the pattern in this strikes. Finally after six bloody months I could dance this rhythm, I could see, I could fight—

So of course Flink, the bloody cheating elf who cheats, at that moment used Jilwer.

My legs were lost from under me, as I found myself staring at the oncoming ground.

The ground smacked into me like a jilted lover wanting a kiss. Meaning it was just an excuse to give me pain.

Ow! If only I could have avoided this.

Wait, I could use flight magic, I could have avoided this. Double ow.

"Hahahahaha! Excellent warm up, young Trenn. You really are in excellent form this day." Flink said with a hearty laugh. "Now, what say you we spar for real."

He knows I'm fighting for real.

He knows I'm fighting with all I've got.

Yet he always says that at the start of every training session.

Stupid smug elves, that won't let me punch their stupid smug smiles, from their stupid smug faces.

I got up and we sparred for another hour.

Then we sparred at full, me with my full magic arsenal, and Flink with his bow and arrows. The point of this specific spar is to be able to use everything I know in a fight, integrating everything, without being confused, or have decision paralysis in a real battle.

And finally after all that I got trained in archery before taking a rest for an hour and getting on with my day.

Every muscle in my body ached. It was awesome.

===x===

Today was the day Schroff made his round trip across Anfang.

First we head to Wolfsruh at the base of the mountain. Well, I say base, but the town is six hours away by foot. Ten minutes by Jilwer.

Then from there we head to Hochfeld, which was two weeks on foot. Two weeks and bit? I think it was sixteen to seventeen days maybe. I didn't care to remember.

Then from there its two weeks exactly to Ackerheim, I remember that because that part of the trip ended after two weekends, and we stayed their for two days before moving on.

Finally there's nine to ten days between Ackerheim and Schwanz.

This is all not counting the day or two taken at each town to rest up at an inn.

Jilwer cuts all that time out by an insane degree.

With Jilwer it would be ten minutes to Wolfsruh, six hours to Hochfeld, five to Ackerheim, and finally three hours to Schwanz.

A two month trip cut down to only one day. Fuck I love Jilwer!

Of course neither Schroff nor I have infinite mana, so with rest and pacing between each Jilwer sprint, we'd make the trip in three to four days.

Three or four days not counting staying at an inn in each town to rest for the day.

So more like a week to make the trip all the way to Schwanz, then one week back.

With mine and Schroff's preparation complete, game and fish meat secure and Lastfrei, the spell to make thing weigh less cast (not useful on the enchanted sword), we were ready to head out.

"You're not coming with us?" I asked Flink, trying not to show my disappointment. It was expected that now that Schroff and I were heading out, he'd continue his own travels again.

"I'm afraid so, young Trenn." Flink looked at us with a sad smile. Absentmindedly, he was rubbing his forearms from our spars earlier. "This had been a wonderful short rest," of fucking course six months are a short rest. I didn't roll my eyes, but Flink laughed as if reading my thoughts all the same. "But I'm afraid I must head on my path. Schroff," he addressed the old man. "I will search for your kin in the other Lands, and should I find them I will bring news of it. Ten years and I will return here regardless of the results of my search."

"I'm not holding my breath." Schroff grunted, but gave Flink a grateful nod.  

I kind wished he's stayed with us some more.

"Why would your hold your breath? No creature can hold its breath for ten years?" Flink looked at us in confusion.

We look back just as thrown off.

"It's a saying." Schroff said slowly.

"It's not even that new, it's really old!" I added.

"Hahahaha! Fellas, fellas, I jest, I jest is all." Flink laughed us off.

This frickin' dork elf.

We said our good byes and each went on our way.

Looks like I'm finally going back to Schwanz. Wonder if anything changed at all?

===

AN: 61 HPV, Trenn is now 9 years old. His birthday is the equivalent of January 1st. Unless Frieren world uses Gregorian calendar then it's just that.

Also Flink is never appearing again in this fic, as would be expected (I think) of a Frieren story.

You meet an elf once and never again, unless you're part of their story. :P