「The next day.」

"Furnace Fire! Burn the enemy to ash!" (Dwarven) 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

He chanted the Spell, the final syllable vanishing into the sound of the ocean waves.

Flame blossomed from Colin’s fingertips, erupting over the churning surface of the sea and kicking up a cloud of white mist.

"So, did that one count?" Kase asked from his perch on a rock. The guy was so bored he’d started prying clams off it.

Colin caught his breath. "I think so."

He glanced at his Panel and saw a new line of small text had appeared at the bottom, just as he’d expected.

Tier One Magic: [Burning Hand]. Unleashes a wave of fire in a five-meter area in front of the caster, dealing 4.5-19.5 Damage.

A complete success on only the second try.

Colin recalled his fight with the Winter Wolf.

Both the experienced Kase and he, a fan of movies, had been able to dodge its breath attack by anticipating it. If someone knew about the Burning Hand spell, it wouldn’t be too difficult to evade.

Therefore, he needed to raise his Casting Proficiency. That way, enemies wouldn’t be able to dodge it even if they knew what was coming.

With that thought in mind,

Colin quietly reflected on the sensation of Casting.

The feeling of casting Tier One Magic was worlds apart from casting Cantrips. If the latter was a gentle breeze stirred by a wave of his hand, the former was a powerful gale from a fan set to high.

It was no wonder Mages said that someone who could only cast Cantrips couldn’t be called a true Mage.

The ripples in the Magic Net caused by Cantrips were practically imperceptible. If one couldn’t cast Tier One Magic, how could they ever hope to study magic by sensing the patterns of those fluctuations?

’This is pretty important for me,’ Colin thought. ’Maybe someday I’ll even be able to research some of my own unique magic.’

"Hey, you! Stop right there!" Kase’s voice sounded from nearby.

Following his gaze, Colin saw a scrawny, shabbily dressed man standing behind him. He stood frozen to the spot, flustered and mumbling something unintelligible.

Colin’s eyes fell on the strip of red cloth clutched in the man’s hand.

He asked, "Blood Hand Gang?"

"Ah, ah..." The man nodded, held out the red cloth strip to Colin, then abruptly turned and ran away.

Colin squeezed the cloth strip. Feeling something hard inside, he unfolded it.

Wrapped in the center of the strip were two tarnished Gold Coins.

"What’s that?" Kase stood up.

"A peace offering, I suppose. Some guys from the Blood Hand Gang cornered me yesterday," Colin said. "No wonder they’re always short on cash if they’re this generous. Still, it looks like they’re not in a great spot either. They dragged my landlord off to pay a ’blood tax’ yesterday."

"So how’d you get away?" Kase asked. "They came looking for us, too, but they were pretty polite about it. When we said we weren’t interested, they just left."

"Get away? You think I was going to fight them? That would’ve just led to endless trouble." Colin took out a Gold Coin and tossed it to Kase. "They saw my ring and didn’t dare cause a fuss. We’re working for the City Watchers now, so you could say we’re practically soldiers, right?"

"That’s your style, all right. You can clearly fight, but you’re as cautious as a deer and as cunning as a fox." Kase caught the coin, then tossed it right back.

Colin fumbled but managed to catch it. "What was that for? If that had fallen into the sea, I would’ve definitely cut you."

"I’ve got enough money. You keep it." Kase raised his hands and clasped them behind his head.

Colin casually put the coin into his money pouch.

’Looks like this Half-Orc is dead set on returning to the winter-ravaged North.’

’I don’t have enough money on hand to go with him right now. And even if I did, could a cursed Half-Orc and a half-baked Mage really face the blizzards and monsters? Wouldn’t that just be a suicide mission?’

’Damn it, if only there was another way... ’

Taking a deep breath, Colin pulled his focus back to the present.

"I’m going to practice a bit more. Keep an eye on me."

"Yeah, yeah. I’ll watch you like I watch the little brats in the tribe who like to play with small knives." Kase sighed and sat back down on the rock.

Chanting the spell once more, Colin skillfully made the hand gestures.

Another [Burning Hand] was unleashed. The brilliant wave of fire crashed against the ocean waves, kicking up another cloud of white mist.

This time, however, the moment he finished casting the magic, Colin was hit by a sudden dizzy spell. His ears started ringing nonstop, and a sharp pain lanced through his heart.

Just as he was starting to suspect he might drop dead, the discomfort vanished as quickly as it had appeared, leaving only a faint dizziness behind.

When Colin opened his eyes again, he found Kase holding him by the shoulders.

"Thanks. Otherwise, I would’ve fallen into the sea and ended up a drowned rat."

"What’s going on with you?" Kase helped him sit down further back.

"Probably ran out of Spiritual Power. I get the same feeling when I use too many [Flaming Arrows] at once," Colin said, clutching his head.

Based on his current understanding, he felt that Casting was a bit like AI image generation.

Making gestures and chanting spells were like inputting keywords. Then a program would start using computing power to generate an image—except in casting, the computing power came from the human brain, and the final output was the magic itself.

Kase frowned. "I remember you can shoot out more than ten of those little flames at once. You’ve only used this big spark twice!"

"This spell is much more powerful," Colin said with a smile.

It was an area-of-effect spell with a five-meter range and power equivalent to two [Flaming Arrows]. Used correctly, it could completely turn the tide of a battle.

Besides, just because he could only cast it twice now didn’t mean it would stay that way forever. The first time his body’s previous owner had managed to conjure a [Flaming Arrow], he could only do it once or twice, too. As his Casting Skills improved, he was bound to get better.

The two of them sat on the rocks for a while, watching the sea before them.

Just as Colin was feeling a bit recovered and was about to try casting again, a school of fish suddenly leaped out of the water in front of them.

With each fish that jumped, a single word came from its mouth.

"Great-Druid. Arrived. Past. Curse. Iron-Stake-Street. Field-Villa!"

With every word the fish spoke, the hearts of the two men on the shore tightened.

After speaking the last word, the fish dove back into the sea and swam out of sight.

Colin looked at Kase.

The relaxed expression on the brawny Half-Orc’s face was completely gone. Beads of sweat were visible on his forehead, his sturdy arms wouldn’t stop trembling, and the over-two-meter-tall man looked as helpless as a child.

"Kase, we..."

Seeing no reaction, Colin raised his voice. "Kase?"

"Huh? Why’re you shouting so loud? I can hear you," the Half-Orc said, trying to act calm.

"You knew it would come to this," Colin said. "You can’t expect the answers you got in your tribe to compare to what you can find in Thousand Masts City."

Kase let out a long breath. "This is a hard thing, little brother."

Of course it was a hard thing.

It was like a terminally ill patient going to a specialist for a final diagnosis. All that stood between life and death was a single sentence from the doctor.

"Your boss Colin is right here with you," Colin said. "Or is the Bear Hunter who dared to fight a Winter Wolf with his bare fists actually scared?"

Kase let out another long breath.

He braced his hands on his knees and stood up. Grinning, he clapped Colin on the shoulder and said, "Screw you. Let’s go. After this curse is lifted, I’ll show you who the real boss is!"