“Fireball spell!”

Parker summoned a fireball roughly half a meter in diameter, hurling it toward Aino.

Aino remained unfazed, raising her slender, pale arm and spreading her hand as if to catch the fireball.

As the fireball neared, a faint gray barrier materialized in front of Aino. The difference in magical power between the fireball and the barrier was so stark that it was like an egg smashing against a wall.

Despite his failed attack, Parker didn’t pause and immediately launched another.

“Wind Blade!”

“Light Wave!”

One by one, Parker unleashed several basic attack spells, using up all his mana in a short burst. Exhausted, he slumped to the ground, gasping for air.

But each attack was effortlessly blocked by the gray barrier, not even causing a ripple.

“Not bad,” Aino said as she withdrew the barrier, nodding in approval. “Your speed and precision have improved since last time.”

To be honest, Parker’s progress was far faster than Aino had expected.

She’d thought it would take him about three months to cast multiple spells consecutively like this, but he managed it in just one month.

This rapid progress was due to Parker’s extreme diligence—he spent nearly every waking moment studying magic—and the fact that Aino, his teacher, possessed magical prowess far beyond that of an ordinary mentor.

Although Aino wasn’t necessarily the best instructor, her understanding and sense of magic were extraordinary, even leaving Alea astonished at times.

After all, these insights came from Tananorn’s memories, containing magical knowledge and insights that only the most elite human mages could grasp.

Even so, for Parker to cast multiple basic spells in such a short period was surprising. Although he had average mana sensitivity, he appeared quite adept at applying what he learned.

It was like students with average memory but exceptional techniques for retaining information—those who employ methods to improve their recall often outperform others.

Parker had a knack for learning magic, and perhaps he could achieve something noteworthy in the future.

Over the past month, the three of them had been roaming the forest aimlessly, without venturing toward any town or into the forest’s depths. However, Aino now suggested they head into the forest’s inner region.

“The forest interior is considered forbidden territory by human standards. Only powerful, fearless adventurers would take on missions to go there,” Alea reminded, but her expression held more excitement than concern.

Parker nodded in agreement, then added, “But if Teacher wants to go in, surely we can handle it, right?”

After all, she was a creature of bottomless power.

Now that Parker had learned to sense and use mana, he could finally perceive Aino’s strength. It was like a child only as tall as an adult’s knee, seeing all adults as giants, only to realize upon growing up that there are insurmountable differences between adults, too.

Mages could detect the mana of other mages unless the other intentionally concealed it and succeeded in doing so.

Aino kept her mana under control most of the time, concealing it, though some inevitably leaked out during her demonstrations.

“With an ocean-like reserve of mana in this small body,” Parker mused.

Parker firmly believed that if Aino wanted, she could easily lead the two of them and clear out this relatively small forest.

So when Aino proposed moving deeper into the forest, they both naturally agreed. They were curious to see what lay within this forbidden region humans spoke of.

A few days later.

In the mysterious depths of the forest, a few faint rays of light penetrated the dense canopy, casting dappled patches on the ground.

The three of them had been exploring the forest’s interior for days, yet nothing seemed different. The only noticeable change was the frequency of Aino’s warnings.

“There’s a bear watching us.”

“This area was inhabited by a group of monsters, but it seems they’ve avoided us.”

“There’s something in the water over there; Alea, don’t get too close.”

The scenery appeared similar to the outer forest, but Aino kept pointing out things they couldn’t see—creatures observing them or lurking nearby.

Alea and Parker felt a chill. No wonder people called the forest interior forbidden territory. The forest outskirts were well-mapped by adventurers, making it relatively safe. But the interior belonged entirely to monsters and other non-human races. Without Aino, they would have been attacked multiple times by now.

Everything Aino pointed out stayed at a cautious distance or quietly retreated. Only a few weaker creatures attempted attacks, only to be quickly eliminated.

Now, however, they encountered something unusual—a village.

It looked like a small human settlement, with numerous similarly sized wooden huts scattered across a flat area, along with some simple, “man-made” tools.

Signs of recent activity suggested that a community had been living here, yet the village was eerily silent. The only sounds were the occasional gust of wind and birdsong, adding to the unsettling atmosphere.

Parker scratched his head, visibly nervous.

“There must be some kind of community here, but in a place like this, they certainly wouldn’t be human…”

Alea rolled her eyes, exasperated. “It’s obvious they were scared off by this creature here. Not a single soul left in sight.”

Aino let out a couple of awkward coughs.

It couldn’t be helped. Tananorn’s memories didn’t include any specific spell for concealing mana, so she had to manually suppress it. Though quite effective, some of her mana inevitably leaked out, and even at its minimum, her mana output was still formidable.

Suppressing her mana felt like holding herself back entirely—akin to standing on tiptoes or holding her arms up continuously.

Was it hard to maintain? Not exactly, and it wasn’t tiring either. But after a long time, any lapse in focus could result in a slight slip, and maintaining the position too long would eventually become uncomfortable.

To those strong enough to detect it, her mana appeared to fluctuate, sometimes unusually powerful and other times somewhat restrained.

Creatures in the forest weren’t mindless—they sought survival and generally avoided engaging with any dangerous or challenging opponents. More intelligent species, equal in intellect to humans, certainly wouldn’t willingly provoke a threat like Aino.

In fact, from Aino’s perspective, most creatures fled in a panic upon sensing her approach. Only a rare few dared to stay still or watch from afar.

In this case, it seemed that this community had sensed her presence and evacuated their entire population in response.