“First off, third-tier magic has the largest and most diverse repertoire out of all magic ranks. There are so many types that just counting them would be impossible. At the same time, third-tier magic is also the most versatile—you can find a spell for almost any effect you can think of within this rank.”

  “Also, unlike the previous two tiers, the time you’ll spend at third tier will definitely be far longer than the combined time you spent at the first two!”

  “So don’t get discouraged if you don’t reach B-Rank for a long time in the future—it’s perfectly normal.”

  After listening to Semiris’s warning, Hulim fell into deep thought for a moment, then looked up and spoke slowly,

  “......Don’t worry, Semiris. That won’t happen to me.”

  Semiris smiled. “Seeing how confident you are makes me think I was rambling for nothing. Alright! With that settled, there’s one last thing about third-tier magic—and it’s what you’ll be learning next. That is—Compound Magic!”

  “Compound Magic?”

  “What, you don’t know what Compound Magic is?”

  “No, I do.”

  Hulim shook her head.

  Simply put, Compound Magic referred to special elemental spells formed by the fusion and mutation of multiple attributes. It was a unique type of magic that only those with multi-element affinities could wield. Since multi-affinity mages were rare among the general population, Compound Magic was seldom seen in everyday life.

  The most common forms of Compound Magic included Ice Magic—a fusion of Wind and Water elements—and Lightning Magic—a fusion of Wind and Fire elements.

  These two types of Compound Magic were the most prevalent among multi-affinity mages, with more developed spells than any other form of Compound Magic.

  As for the rarest type of Compound Magic, that title belonged to Nature Magic. Forged from the four fundamental natural elements—Fire, Wind, Earth, and Water—it had a threshold so high that almost no one could master it. If it weren’t for records preserved in ancient texts, people would probably never have known such a form of Compound Magic existed at all.

  Besides its rarity among practitioners, there was another reason Compound Magic was rarely seen: its steep learning curve.

  To learn Compound Magic, one had to be able to manipulate mana particles of at least two attributes simultaneously. Achieving this required a mage to possess an exceptionally high level of mental fortitude—a level that was almost exclusively found in C-Rank mages.

  In other words, even though E-Rank and D-Rank Compound Spells existed, a mage had to reach C-Rank before they could learn to cast them.

  “I’m just a little surprised. I’ve only been exposed to the seven elemental magics up until now, so Compound Magic never crossed my mind. Now that you mention it, I suppose I can learn it too.”

  “Heh heh~. Can learn it? You can do far more than that! Is there any kind of magic in this world you can’t use with your talent? It’d be a waste not to make the most of it! To sum it up—starting today, in addition to the seven elemental magics, you’ll be learning Compound Magic as well!”

  “Whoa~. That means you’ve got a ton of stuff to learn from now on! Brace yourself, Hulim!”

  “Got it!”

  Hulim nodded firmly.

  “Perfect! Then let’s kick off third-tier magic training!”

  “First up!”

  “Since we started with Fire Magic for both first and second tiers, we’ll stick with it for third tier too. The first spell you’ll learn is—”

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  “—Great Fireball!”

  Semiris shouted, extending her right hand forward.

  Whoosh!

  A massive fireball materialized out of thin air, then hurtled toward a nearby stone cliff at blistering speed.

  BOOM!

  A deafening explosion rang out, and the entire section of the cliff was blown to smithereens.

  Though it shared the name “Fireball” with lower-tier spells, its power and speed were in a completely different league.

  “Well? What do you think?!”

  Semiris planted her hands on her hips and lifted her chin proudly.

  “......Even if you ask me what I think......”

  Why did she suddenly do that?

  Hulim hesitated for a moment, then looked at Semiris and said uncertainly,

  “Um...... Wow, that’s amazing?”

  “Right? It is amazing! You’ll have to pull off something just like this later!”

  “Huh?”

  Hulim’s smile vanished instantly.

  “Don’t worry! I controlled my mana output to match what a C-Rank mage can do!”

  “......”

  Hulim glanced at Semiris, then over at the collapsed cliff in the distance.

  This is...... matching a C-Rank mage’s power?

  What did the books say about the Great Fireball spell again?

  It definitely wasn’t this powerful!

  “Watch closely—this is how you cast the spell I just used!”

  Semiris projected a glowing Mana Circuit Diagram in mid-air, then began explaining the incantation to Hulim in detail.

  She completely missed the skeptical look on Hulim’s face.

  And Hulim was soon drawn in by the complexities of the spell, fully focusing her attention on the lesson.

  ......

  ......

  Time flew by in the blink of an eye.

  Hulim settled into a routine of training and studying deep within the Monster Forest. As she’d feared early on, Semiris had indeed included wilderness survival training as part of her lessons.

  In addition to practicing magic, she spent time every day learning survival skills: safe camping techniques, herb identification, distinguishing edible plants from poisonous ones, and recognizing venomous insects. Of course, she also got to witness all sorts of exotic creatures unique to Himril, as well as dangerous monsters lurking in the woods.

  Hulim once asked Semiris about it.

  “Why do we have to do all this survival training?”

  “You’ll need these skills someday...... Oh, and you added too much of that herb! The extra dosage will change its effect entirely!”

  Semiris brushed off the question with a vague answer, never bothering to explain the specific reason.

  Why did she seem so certain that these skills would come in handy someday? Had she never considered the possibility that Hulim might join some large official organization in the future, spending her days reading books and reviewing documents in a safe room without ever stepping outside the door?

  Oh, and Semiris also taught her how to brew some simple potions—sleeping draughts and paralysis serums, to be exact.

  Those definitely didn’t seem like potions meant for fighting monsters......

  Despite all her doubts, there were some things that made Hulim happy about her training.

  For one thing, she’d basically gotten used to the high-speed flights back and forth every day.

  Well, at least she didn’t scream in terror anymore......

  Another upside was that her progress in magic was surprisingly fast. Unlike her second-tier training, where Semiris had focused more on boosting her mana growth (waiting until her mana reached D+-Rank before letting her practice second-tier spells), the priority now was reversed. Mana growth had taken a backseat; mastering as many spells and skills as possible was the main goal.

  When Hulim had asked Semiris about this, the fairy had explained that mana growth slowed down drastically after reaching C-Rank, so there was no point in obsessing over it. It was better to spend the time mastering as much knowledge as possible.

  That made sense, Hulim supposed. She remembered Semiris mentioning earlier that C-Rank would be a long stage.

  She reluctantly accepted this reasoning. And even though practicing third-tier spells drained a lot of mana, limiting how many she could cast in a day, she still had Compound Magic to work on. Practicing low-tier Compound Spells helped fill the time nicely.

  That said, the sheer volume of things she had to learn was starting to stress her out a little.

  Most nights, after returning home from training, she still had to spend hours in her room practicing on her own just to keep up with Semiris’s teaching pace.

  Hulim was busier than she’d ever been in her life, her days packed to the brim with activities.

  She woke up early every morning to practice swordsmanship.

  Then she rushed to school, making it just in time for class.

  Right after school ended, she hurried out of town to meet Semiris, who would whisk her away to the depths of the Monster Forest for training.

  When she finally got home after training, she spent her evenings reviewing everything Semiris had taught her that day.

  Her tightly scheduled routine made her lose track of time before she knew it.

  By the time she finally paused to take stock, she’d already mastered an astonishing number of spells.