Frieren in Danmachi

I left Serie's house and went to the tree. I wasn't planning to continue my training—I just wanted to take a better look at how it was doing. I didn't even need to get close to the tree to notice the changes.

As I stepped out of Serie's house, I looked up. I immediately noticed the changes.

The number of leaves was still far from enough, but there were many more than before. The leaves were large and glowed with a pale, striking color. They swayed in the wind, and small magical particles were carried along with it.

I smiled, remembering the tree from the past. "It looked just like this, though the amount of leaves was much greater. It's slowly recovering."

I turned around and saw Serie approaching.

"You look beautiful," she said.

"Don't exaggerate."

"It's true. It's been so long since I saw you wearing those clothes. They really suit you. I missed seeing you like this."

"Are you in love with me or something?"

"Of course not. Don't joke around like that."

"Hehehe." I chuckled and walked past Serie. "I'm thinking about visiting a few places."

"What? You plan to leave the village?"

"You still call this a village?"

"..."

"I'm not going far. I just want to visit the nearby mountains. I want to see if any elves are still living there."

"The village up there was destroyed a long time ago."

"Some elves might have returned over the past few years. What do you think? Want to come with me?"

My feet slowly lifted off the ground as I began to float in the air.

Serie sighed and said, "Fine, fine." She also took to the air and started flying behind me. As I rose higher and higher, my heart began to race.

Once I was several meters above the ground, I turned and looked down.

Below me stretched a vast forest that spanned for kilometers, and in the middle of it stood the World Tree. Around it was the village, though it had long since been overtaken by the forest. Even after flying up so far, I still wasn't anywhere near the top of the tree.

"That's why the leaves seem so small from down there. It's so tall…"

I thought about flying closer to the tree to see its leaves up close, but gave up on the idea.

"Queen?"

"Oh, sorry. I got mesmerized for a moment."

"It's beautiful, isn't it? The magical particles."

"It's hypnotic… Alright, let's go."

I said that and began flying toward the mountains—the Beol Mountains. They weren't far from here. I could reach them quickly, but I chose to fly slowly to enjoy the view.

I kept ascending to get a better sense of my surroundings.

After flying for a while, I spotted some structures in the distance.

I saw a massive tower.

"That must be Orario. And over that way is Rakia. I can't see the capital, but if I fly in that direction, I'll get there."

I enhanced my vision with magic and looked toward Orario.

"What are you looking at?"

"The Tower of Babel."

"Can you see anything?"

"No, nothing. Just the tower. I can't see inside the city."

Using magic to enhance vision was something created by me. It's not a spell—you just need excellent mana control to use it.

I couldn't see anything.

I sighed and said, "Alright, let's keep going."

"Okay."

While flying toward the mountains, I used my enhanced vision to scan the area. I looked for the village, but couldn't find it. However, I did see monsters scattered across the region.

They were spread across the mountains like wild animals.

"See anything?"

"No, nothing. Just monsters. No humans or other races."

"Do you still want to go there?"

Hearing Serie's question, I remembered I was already far enough away that the tree's mana regeneration effect no longer reached me.

So I opened my status to check my mana.

Mana: 4,754 / 25,600

"I'm fine."

I noticed my mana was depleting very slowly. Flying didn't consume as much as I thought.

"Yes, I still want to go. Even if we don't find anything, I want to have a bit of fun before going back to training."

"You're going back to training already? But you've been training for two months straight."

"I haven't reached the second circle yet. I need to push a little more."

"What is a second circle? You still haven't explained what that means."

"Let's keep flying—I'll explain it to you on the way."

####

"So this is how you increase your magical strength."

I explained to Serie how the system worked. I didn't go into too much detail, but I gave her the basics. Since it's a simple system, she understood it perfectly.

"It's pretty strange, isn't it?"

"It is. I've never heard of anything like this. In the old days, you had to train for years and years to increase the power of your magic… but now you can do it so easily."

"It's great to regain my strength this fast," I said and stopped mid-air.

I had stopped near one of the mountains.

It was part of a mountain range.

"This is where the village used to be," I said.

The village had been at the top of one of the mountains. It was somewhat hidden, but it should've been visible from here. Yet, there was nothing left—just a few broken pieces of wood scattered around. Not a single house remained standing.

"Looks like no one lives here," Serie said. She looked at me and asked, "Shall we head back?"

"Wouldn't it be a waste to just leave? I said earlier, didn't I? I want to have a little fun."

"You want to go down into the mountains?"

"Think it's a bad idea?"

"No, but are you sure you'll have enough mana to return? Even if you've recovered some of your strength, you..."

"It's ok," I said before flying at high speed toward the mountain.

As soon as I landed, a monster was drawn to me and rushed in my direction.

"A bear. What a coincidence." I smiled and raised my hand.

I didn't use Zoltraak—instead, I used a basic spell like the one I used to kill that human.

200 mana points were consumed, and a massive blade made purely of mana shot forward at high speed, slicing the bear horizontally.

A perfect cut.

Blood spurted out, and the bear's body collapsed to the ground. Its organs spilled out.

"Ugh, did you really have to be that violent?"

"Sorry, I was just testing it."

####

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Next Chapters: Chapter 14 - It can't be. / Chapter 15 - Ares / Chapter 16 - Creating an Elf.