Chapter 171: Fire Magic

The next day, Tristan finally could have some time for himself. All the others were busy doing the task given by him.

As he planned before, he used the time to meet up with Chieng and Herrera.

The whole way, Herrera sometimes huffed and scowled. It was clear that she was somehow still annoyed with what he did last night. But the moment Tristan realized it, he decided not to care. To be honest, her feelings are the last thing on his mind right now.

Today, there are two things to do. Check out the space knights' salvaged items, and learn fire magic.

Chieng approached and gave Tristan a ring. This was Serene's storage ring, the one that stores all of the space knight items.

When he saw the ring, something suddenly filled his mind. 

He somehow regrets sending Serene to check the mines by herself, and even though she is a powerful Valkyrie, the mines had claimed the previous mayor's life. He had reasons to be concerned. 

"Chieng, listen to my order."

After considering the risks, Tristan decided to postpone his plans with Chieng, and he told the space knight to go seek and accompany Serene on her task. Without too much fuss, Chieng accepted the new order and left the room.

Herrera smiled when she saw it, but this time, her smile was sincere. There was neither hint of malice nor mischief in her gaze.

"I knew it! You are a decent man. What a lucky girl, I like you even more now."

Tristan merely ignore her, knowing that his attempt to rebuke her would just result in more teasing. The two went to the town hall yard, and he picked a spot with a smooth, wide rock that can be used as a seat. He sat there,  concentrated, and started to practice.

The process was a new experience for Tristan. The idea behind this practice was to absorb the enchanted scroll, gain the necessary knowledge, and learn the rest by practicing.

Tier one spells were pretty easy. In a sense, it felt similar to a breathing exercise, where you merely need to be mindful of your movements and you would be fine.

However, the same can't be said for the tier 3 spells. It was much more complicated.

Herrera taught him the way she normally did the spells herself. During her time as an adventurer, she had managed to master the tier 3 [Fireball] spell herself.

The fire magician explained that in order to use spells, one needs to channel their energy into their spirit core, a conceptual part of one's body that helps in the conversion between energy into the desired spell. Everyone with potential for magic possesses spirit energy, and the color would be different depending on what element they have the potential to learn. In Tristan's case, he has a good affinity to fire, so the spirit energy would be red.

"Spirit core? Red-colored spirit energy?"

Tristan stared at Herrera, puzzled with her explanation.

The purple-haired woman placed her hand on the center of his chest and on his right hand. She told him to channel all his energy onto those spots, and when the energy had coalesced, the chant would become a command for the spell's release. 

He concentrated and decided to do as Herrera said. After hours of unsuccessful attempts, Tristan finally felt the so-called core. But surprisingly, it was not on the center of his chest. The core was located a little to the left, right where his heart was.

As soon as he managed to sense the core, heat pooled just above the palm of his hand, and his elation made him forget such a trivial difference.

"Yeah, congratulations! You did it!" The fire magician cheered.

But, the next information that came to his mind disturbed him.

[100 blood essence used]

He stared at the number in shock. He couldn't believe he needed that much essence for a single tier 3 spell. Unfortunately, he still had to waste this amount for practice.

Casually, he threw the fireballs, and it hit the huge rock placed as an ornament to decorate the yard. Unexpectedly, the huge rock exploded, raining shards of burning rocks all over the yard and creating a heated shockwave strong enough to blow Herrera a few steps back.

The place went from pristine to looking like it was hit by a missile. Offensive spells that can blow up things really hard give him a great feeling.

"Oh my god! Sir Tristan, that was the strongest fireball I have ever seen."

To prove her point, Herrera cast her own tier 3 [Fireball] spell towards another huge rock on the yard. The fireball exploded, but the rock merely cracked slightly.

Hererra also mentioned that an Aptitude B fire magician would take weeks to master the spells when he can do it in hours was amazing indeed. 

Now that he had learned the [fireball] spell,  Tristan realized that the writing on the scroll he bought disappeared. Next he could start learning the second tier 3 spell, [Fire Aura].

Again, Tristan concentrated, and he imagined a shroud of red energy blanketing his body. Sweat started to wet his body due to the concentration, and a few times, he had to stop to wipe the sweat off his brow. The sun had started to set, and the cool twilight air helped him to relax, but he refused to budge. His duty for today has not finished.

All of a sudden, his body started to emit a warm, reddish light.

[125 Blood Essence consumed]

"What the fuck?!" Tristan opened his eyes, unable to resist the urge to express his anger.

He cursed the crazy requirements for blood essence, something he couldn't yet get vast quantities of in a short time. But, the next notification brought the smile back to his face.

[You gained a boost in speed]

[You gained a boost in strength]

[Your body gained a high resistance to fire element spells]

[Battle power increased by 20]

[Current battle power: 220]

Now, this is a very useful spell indeed.