Genon The Prodigy

Chapter 3 - Arrested

Another day, another dollar.

The bright rays of the sun filled my vision as I walked up the stairs, out of the portal in the ground. My clothes were a little moist from my sweat given the lack of an airflow down in her secret lair, but Layla fixed that quickly by casting something on me again, cleaning and drying my clothes at the same time. Last night, she couldn't stop talking about all the new spells, magic eyes and techniques she had learnt over the past century, mentioning some bizarre magical names that I couldn't remember. Well, today I was set to learn some more of them. Hopefully I don't take forever just to learn, like yesterday. Also I should learn whatever spell she just casted. It would be sooo good for laundry.

The two of us headed back to that garden for practice.

"All right mister G, today we'll start of with some basic anti-magic." She swiveled on her heel and faced me. "Like this!"

She pointed her palm at me, creating a magic circle. Immediately after, a translucent, light yellowish dome appeared, with me right in its centre. It was made up of many tiny rectangles, some white, some yellow, very much like windows.

"So! This is essentially a magic barrier. Depending on your magic strength, it can pretty much block or absorb any magic spells thrown at you. For example,"

Layla then casted the fireball spell, <Igni> and hurled it right at me with full strength, whooshing the air.

"W-W-Whoa! Wait!" My hands instinctively raised to shield my face. But the speeding fireball does not reach me, instead only bursting into tiny sparkles upon coming into contact with the dome-like shield. I took a peek from behind my hands, and let out a soft "Oh..."

"Hey! Are you saying you don't trust me?" Her brows furrowed.

"N-no, Layla, I just... I'm not used to it! I forgot everything, remember?"

"Hahaha! Just kidding! Anyway, remember G, this barrier only blocks spells of similar magic strength. If someone with vastly superior strength casts a spell, it will go through the barrier easily."

"Hmm, so it's not that good?"

"No! It is good. It takes a really, really big difference between the two to be able to overcome it. Well, of course there are also many ways around this barrier, but just remember that it is a great basic defense for direct combat!"

"Ooooo, that's interesting." I started to wonder what indirect combat was.

"Yep. Magic has evolved so much over the last 100 years, G. Even young students now could hold their own against you."

"Huh?" I shot her a confused look.

"Well, you were pretty damn strong back then, G. But! That's a story for another time. Come, I'll teach you how to cast this barrier."

And so, I spent the rest of learning several basic defense spells. I still had some trouble with the technical details of them, but overall it went more smoothly than yesterday. Now I had offensive and defensive magic spells in my arsenal, and to be honest I was itching to try them out in a real battle. I glanced at Layla, who was just swiping some dirt off her dress after our training session.

"Hey Layla, wanna have a friendly match?"

She stopped and looked me in the eye. Then a second later, her lips bubbled with giggles.

"Haha! Are you sure?" she laughed.

"Yeah! I want to test my skills," I replied.

"Hmm." She folded her arms and pondered. "Nah!"

"Why not?"

"You haven't learnt enough yet. If we fight, it'll be like an adult fighting a toddler, you see."