Around seven o'clock, the morning training ended.
Lucas had already prepared breakfast in advance.
Classic bread, fried eggs, and cherry tomatoes made up the main meal, paired with milk, coffee, various jams, and refreshing side dishes. It fit everyone's tastes perfectly.
Of course, Lucas had also prepared thick-cut bacon. He'd originally assumed that Aura and Lorie, being elves, would be repelled by meat.
To his surprise, the two of them ate it without even changing expressions.
"Uh, do elves not avoid meat?"
Lucas held his knife and fork, his face full of confusion.
Jeanne had just finished making herself a sandwich. Hearing that, she also looked over with curiosity.
"In fairy tales and illustrated stories, elves are always depicted as children of nature…"
Aura glanced over calmly without saying anything, maintaining her elegant table manners as she continued eating in small bites.
Lorie clicked her tongue.
"That's all nonsense from storybooks. Those idiot bards have given the world way too much prejudice against us elves. We're not picky eaters at all, okay? We just prefer fruits and vegetables. How could we possibly not eat meat?"
Lucas blinked. An image suddenly surfaced in his mind of his elf friend Luvis, who had just advanced to level two and had been enjoying quite a bit of fame lately.
Realization hit him instantly.
Right, when he'd been drinking with that guy in taverns, hadn't he been tearing into meat and chugging alcohol without restraint? How had Lucas completely overlooked that?
After Lorie's explanation, Jeanne finally adjusted her view of elves.
"Sorry about that. Elf legends have spread too widely. In most people's minds, that kind of fixed image has been deeply ingrained."
Lucas also silently reminded himself to be careful in the future and not casually place filters over things he didn't fully understand.
---
Time passed quickly. After breakfast, a fine drizzle began falling outside again.
The three girls consciously settled by the window in the living room and studied quietly until the afternoon training session.
Sitting across from the two elves, Jeanne flipped through the notes in her hands. They were training recommendations tailored specifically for Lorie and Aura.
The core idea was specialization, combining their Magic and Skills to maximize their strengths.
Taking Lorie as an example—
From her Skill and Magic combination, her role was clearly that of a light, agile, and efficient magic swordsman type. She was best suited for midfield and flanking positions, focusing on eliminating stragglers, supporting the vanguard, and protecting the rear line.
Aura, on the other hand, was the textbook rear-line artillery Mage. Fire support, team assistance, overwhelming output, and delivering decisive blows at critical moments were all classic traits of a rear-line Mage.
Focusing on their respective strengths, Jeanne and Lucas devised a detailed training plan that covered physical conditioning, combat techniques, battle awareness, and overall battlefield vision, aiming to comprehensively improve their Combat Proficiency.
Of course, specialized work should be handled by specialists.
Lucas considered himself half-baked at best, so the responsibility of instruction naturally fell on Jeanne's shoulders. He, meanwhile, geared up and headed straight for the Dungeon.
This trip had two purposes. First, to test his new Magic in real combat and accumulate experience. Second, to quickly raise his Stats. Jeanne's rapidly skyrocketing strength was putting enormous pressure on him.
If he truly had no ability, with someone like Jeanne backing him up, he would've lain flat and coasted long ago.
But the reality was that he actually had the ability to catch up to her.
So for Lucas, having a cheat and not going all out would just be wasting the cheat.
"I'm heading out. Don't slack off, especially you, Lorie!"
"Hmph!"
---
Dungeon, upper floors, Floor 5.
Fully equipped, wearing a hooded mantle and long cloak, with a mask covering his face and leaving only his eyes visible, Lucas leaned on his staff as he turned into a small chamber along a familiar non-standard route.
This had once been his favorite workplace. The monster spawn rate was moderate, usually no more than two at a time, with an absolute limit of three. It perfectly matched his steady, cautious, long-term farming style.
Stopping on Floor 5 this time was specifically to test Fireball's damage and real combat application, so this old spot was the first place that came to mind.
"Wagagagagaga—"
The moment he arrived, his familiar old friends eagerly let out their enthusiastic welcome.
"Goblins again. As expected, the classic cast."
Lucas slightly raised his head. Beneath the shadow of his hood, his eyes were deep, and the corners of his mouth curved upward beneath the mask.
Action began instantly.
He bent his knees and planted his stance, waist and legs aligned. Turning sideways, he raised his arm and pointed the staff forward. The pose was full of tension as vast mental power surged outward, refined into Magic. His eyes and the magic crystal at the staff's tip lit up with a dim blue glow at the same time.
A sharp sound rang out.
A cluster of flames took shape at the tip of the staff, swelling, spinning at high speed, and compressing. In the blink of an eye, a blazing fireball the size of a washbasin condensed into form.
"Fireball!"
Lucas shouted the spell name. In the next instant, his body jolted.
A piercing whistling sound followed by a thunderous explosion erupted.
The orange fireball, carrying terrifying heat, twisted the air along its path and detonated violently between two Goblins in an instant.
"Holy—!"
The deafening blast echoed through the chamber. Blazing fire shot upward, and even the ground seemed to shudder.
The shockwave washed over him. Lucas raised an arm to shield his face, squinting as he stared at the center of the explosion.
A few seconds later, as the dust settled, the devastation left by Fireball came into view.
The two Goblins were dead beyond doubt. Charred remains were blasted apart and scattered everywhere, not a single intact piece to be found.
The floor directly struck by the explosion had been blown into a shallow crater, which was now slowly repairing itself at a visible pace.
"Damn… this power!"
Lucas sucked in a sharp breath.
Brutal. Pure, unrestrained brutality.
"What the hell? This isn't even on the same level as Scorch! I didn't even score a direct hit, and they still got wiped out by just the blast and heat?"
"Tch… the damage overflowed. No, it overflowed way too much."
The results of this first real combat test far exceeded his expectations.
He stared thoughtfully at the staff in his hand, clarity dawning in his mind.
"The staff's amplification is significant, but that's not the whole reason. The key factor is that it amplifies my Magic itself."
"After my Stats increased, my Magic power is nothing like it used to be. Add the multiplication from Skills and the refinement from Heart of a Scholar, and with Fireball's scaling… this kind of power was inevitable."
If Scorch's damage scaling was several times lower than even quick-cast magic, then Fireball's scaling was nearly on par with spells that required short Chants.
What's more, he'd just used Instant Cast. That alone would normally weaken the final effect of the spell. Even so, achieving this level of power was already exceptional.
And that wasn't even considering that he could abandon Instant Cast and switch to Charge to further amplify the damage.
After all, the Grimoire did include a Chant for Fireball.
Once he sorted everything out, Lucas's grin widened, his smile growing ever more arrogant.
"What would happen if someone took that head-on? With this level of attack power… even someone famous for defense would probably end up bruised all over."
Satisfied with the answer, Lucas no longer hesitated. He turned and headed swiftly toward the lower floors.
Monsters on Floor 5 were no longer worthy of serving as his test subjects.
To truly test Fireball's limits, the only target he could think of for now was the rare Infant Dragon that appeared on the final floor of the upper region.
But with his cautious and steady style, there was no way he'd go after that alone.
Opportunities like that would come in the future. There was no need to rush.
---
Like my other fic I'm setting a Power Stone goal for this one too. Every 50 Power Stones I'll upload one extra bonus chapter :)