Chapter 145: The Two Future Mages

Chapter 145

The Two Future Mages

After parting ways with the cheerful heroine, Nara went straight to the center of the village, where the village chief and other important figures had been waiting for her. Meanwhile, Ellie returned to her own home—a home built by the hard work of the owner of the body’s parents, and the place where Ellie had enlightened.

Looking around the house, although the fence was still standing, there were many signs of damage. The garden no longer looked like a vegetable patch; the surrounding soil was dry and barren. Not only the fence and the area around the house showed signs of invasion by various animals, but the house itself was not spared either. Fortunately, there weren’t many belongings inside, so there was nothing to feel sorry for losing.

The first task upon arriving seemed to be repairing the windows and doors. The windows were heavily damaged, and the back door was broken into small pieces, requiring a complete replacement. Instead of resting, Ellie had to busy herself with repairing her home.

However, before she could start, a figure in a black cloak appeared. He was from the Setter family, assigned to protect and look after her. Seeing the state of Ellie’s home, he couldn’t let her work alone.

"My lady, I’ll call people to help with the repairs, both the fence and the house."

"That’s not necessary. I don’t want the villagers to see people from the Setter family," Ellie declined. If the villagers encountered someone from the Setter family, they would surely feel uneasy afterward.

The status of someone from the Setter family, even if just a craftsman, would disturb the peace of the village. This was not what Ellie wanted. This remote village should have the happiness of its own kind.

"Would it be acceptable to handle the repairs at night when no one can see us?" Despite Ellie’s refusal, the Setter family guard couldn’t let the frail young girl work alone. He thus proposed a new suggestion.

Ellie thought for a moment. Repairing the doors and windows would indeed take time, not to mention the damaged fence around the house. Accepting help would be beneficial. Additionally...with extra time, she could focus on absorbing energy.

"In that case, I’ll have to trouble you." Upon hearing that Ellie agreed, the man in the black cloak relaxed and, after acknowledging her permission, disappeared into the shadows. His movements were so stealthy that if Ellie hadn’t released spores around the area, she might not have known where he went. This ability to move almost invisibly made Ellie feel a sense of admiration.

The admiration she felt didn’t lessen her discomfort. It was a relief that the spores could track the man’s location and activities. Otherwise, she’d constantly worry about what the Setter family might be investigating about her and whether her secrets would be exposed. Thanks to this reliable power, Ellie truly felt at ease.

The man in the cloak was now hiding at a distance—close enough to quickly assist Ellie if danger arose but far enough not to see what she was doing inside the house. This showed a considerable amount of respect, likely instructed by the Setter family.

With 4 hours left before the village’s welcome-back celebration at night, Ellie sat down to absorb permanent magic powers. Perhaps...before returning to the institute, she might even become a level 4 magician.

It wasn’t just because her speed in absorbing energy from crystals had increased. Initially, she could only absorb low-level energy from magical crystals. Now, she was absorbing from mid-level ones. After reaching level 4, she could potentially use the scarce high-level magical crystals.

Even so, this speed was remarkably fast. Others wouldn’t dare absorb so much magic power from crystals because each type of crystal contained many impurities, and it was also an unstable external energy. Poor control could lead to absorbing too much and disrupting their own cultivation.

But Ellie didn’t rely solely on the power of the magical crystals. She also had her cheating botanic element ability that helped absorb life force. The current environment was quite suitable for her.

Although she was sitting inside the house, her spores had spread continuously, now floating into the forest. They rooted themselves around, absorbing small patches of grass without completely depleting them all at once. Ellie wasn’t satisfied with just the life force of the grass, so she let her spores penetrate as deeply into the forest as possible. This was why Ellie was confident she might break through to level 4, or at the very least, come close.

The deeper they ventured into the forest, the more devoid of human presence it became. In the heart of the forest, no humans ever ventured. The villagers were just ordinary folk; gathering food from the forest edges was enough for their needs. Going deeper risked becoming prey to the forest’s beasts.

This mysterious forest, the heroine’s original village, often played a significant role in the story. It had the rare voice-changing mushroom, known only to the heroine, which she used to impersonate various mages. But now, whether or not the heroine still wanted to use it...it would be hard for her to find it again.

Well...Ellie didn’t want to have the second Mage or another “Luke.” Therefore, she collected all the voice-changing mushrooms and stored them in her secret dimension, letting the spores absorb their life forces and completely decompose the mushroom’s spores.

From now on...Ellie would be the only one in possession of the voice-changing mushroom...Well, she did all this to prevent her cover from being blown!

Additionally, there was the Tezetrons herb, a legendary flower that people believed didn’t exist. The heroine didn’t search for it in the Tower of Eternity.

They hadn’t received any mission; they merely came to Set City and learned about Aman’s brother’s illness, and he was in need of the Tezetrons herb. So, the heroine brought Aman to the forest near her village, determined to find it no matter what. They spent all 35 days granted by the institute living in the forest, a grueling event during which Ellie never questioned Nara’s confidence in finding the flower.

Nonetheless...Ellie knew this forest was anything but ordinary. So...before the heroine could claim the divine treasures the author had placed in the forest, Ellie decided to investigate and reap all the benefits first.

Initially, Ellie didn’t want to meddle with the heroine’s Mary Sue[1] ability. But the more she got to know Nara, the more she felt that someone so heartless shouldn’t have everything. If being born as the heroine meant having everything, then let her face a “heroine’s friend” born to take it all away.

Because of this, Ellie tried to control the spores to proliferate as quickly as possible while absorbing magic power from the permanent magical crystals for the entire 4 hours. It wasn’t until the sun began to set that the small figure of the girl slowly stood up after hearing a villager’s call.

"Ellie dear, the feast is ready now. Nara is waiting at the village square too. Hurry and join everyone; they’re having a great time," a middle-aged woman called from the front of the house. Ellie walked out with a smile, meeting everyone’s expectations.

In front of the girl’s house, more than 5 people were waiting. They were the ones who helped organize the welcome party for the two girls today. Since it was close to evening and Ellie’s house was quite far from the others, with no one living there or maintaining it, wild animals had caused considerable disruption. Therefore, the women didn’t dare come alone.

"How are you? You must have been shocked to see the house like this on your first day back," the middle-aged woman asked as she saw Ellie approaching.

Although they felt quite sorry for the girl, they didn’t have the time to look after someone else’s house. Nearly a year had passed; it was no surprise the house was in this condition.

"Tonight, you should stay at my place first. With the house in this state, we can’t let a young girl stay here alone," the middle-aged woman suggested. If Ellie hadn’t had the ability to protect herself, she would have agreed to the offer.

"No need, Auntie. I’ve learned a lot at the institute. If any animals come around, I can handle them easily."

"Oh! Really? That’s wonderful. As expected from a scholarship student at the number one institute! We knew you’d become much stronger." They looked at each other with excitement. They anticipated that having a strong girl like this in the village would increase everyone’s safety.

This was why everyone warmly welcomed Ellie and Nara. As representatives of the village who had returned from training and would become important figures of the village in the future, the villagers were willing to invest their time and effort. After all, they had nothing significant to lose.

"Even so, you’re only in your first year. It’s best to stay cautious and not be overconfident," the middle-aged man shook his head as he heard the girls talk about the beasts as if they were just harmless pets.

For him, who had spent a lot of time hunting in the forest, the danger posed by these creatures was far greater. It wasn’t something that could be handled simply by having studied at an institute.

"That’s true. Just now, I heard Nara talking about her time at the institute. Even though she’s become stronger and can control her light elemental power better, her combat abilities aren’t that strong yet. The beast she’s raising isn’t fully tamed either. It will take some time before she truly becomes powerful."

"Yes, yes. I saw Nara demonstrate her power earlier. She can emit light now. If animals come near at night, we won’t have to be afraid of not seeing them and losing to them. But for now...that light can only illuminate. She still has a lot of training ahead."

"I heard Nara talking about you, too. She said you’ve learned a lot about cultivation and even started studying potion concocting. In the future, we might have an excellent healer among us. As for handling the beasts, let the men in the village take care of that. If we have two healers, no one will need to fear death anymore."

Ellie paused slightly upon hearing everyone’s words. It seemed that the heroine had already started sharing stories about the institute. Some details might have been exaggerated, while others might have been understated, but ultimately, it was good that Ellie didn’t have to explain everything herself...As for those embellished stories, let Nara, the talkative...Oops! The friendly girl, handle that. Ellie, the close friend of the heroine, would rather spend her night resting and enjoying her meal.

On the way, the 5 villagers shared various stories they had heard with Ellie. Occasionally, they asked her about her experiences at the institute. According to Nara’s stories, it seemed Ellie’s power of botany was only good for tracking targets, and she had just begun learning potion concocting. Thus, even though Ellie might become an important mage for the village in the future, it wasn’t as exciting as Nara’s powers.

It was clear that everyone was excited about Nara’s light elemental power, which could illuminate the night. Many beasts were weak to light when they hunt at night. If Nara used her light magic to shine, she could easily drive away the beasts. Additionally, Nara hinted that she could learn other abilities too, whether it be powers used by priests or those by Professor Lucien. All she needed was time.

There was also the matter of the beast Nara was trying to tame. This beast made Nara even more interesting, as no villager knew about beast tamers. It was a novelty for them. When they heard from Nara that the beast could even fight on her behalf, they became even more excited. If Nara had a powerful beast in the future, they wouldn’t have to fight themselves, right?

Their thoughts were quite simple, but they didn’t realize that the beast they saw was just a low-level creature with little usefulness.

Previously, Ellie had no idea about the attributes of Nara’s little squirrel. She only asked a merchant in Gaia City about it. It wasn’t until the day Nara met her that she took the opportunity to examine the beast. Then she understood why the merchant sold it to an outsider without regret, even though it was a light elemental beast...

[1] A Mary Sue is a character archetype in fiction, usually a young woman, who is often portrayed as inexplicably competent across all domains, gifted with unique talents or powers, liked or respected by most other characters, unrealistically free of weaknesses, extremely attractive, innately virtuous, and generally lacking meaningful character flaws.