CHAPTER 97: ZEPHYR VS SAGE MAXIMUS (2)

Zephyr’s new tactic was to close the distance between both of them, basically giving up the main advantage he had as a mage. He instead wielded the water jet like a sword— a very long sword that he had to be careful not to cut himself with. Shortening the distance meant there was no more room for wide swings. The spell was now unwieldy, but he couldn’t switch. Something more handy would have been better, but he was sure Sage Maximus would never give him the chance to change the spell’s form again, so he wanted to close the distance. He would switch to physical attacks to buy himself enough time to create another spell.

He swung the water jet like a mad-man, leaving sharp cuts all over the ground whenever he missed or swung in a wide arc. He closed in on the sage, swinging with an upward slash. But as it was about to hit, Zephyr dispersed the spell into a mist that masked his presence. Sage Maximus squinted his eyes slightly before waving a hand and creating a spell model that spun in the air, clearing the mist away to reveal Zephyr’s figure... but Zephyr was nowhere to be seen.

"Ho?" Sage Maximus grinned, then snapped his head up, locking his eyes with Zephyr who was mid air, at a height that no normal human should be able to jump. He had his body tilted sideways weirdly to focus his spell at the sage. It was the same compressed fire spell, but this one hadn’t had the time to build up enough power. Zephyr let it fly regardless, and without missing a beat, blasted two fire arrow spells at Sage Maximus’ legs and midsection before he hit the ground.

He could have done even more within that short time he had created for himself, but he didn’t have the inherent processes that enabled quick casting—like registers and other memory forms— embedded in his mana node. So he had to make do with this much at the moment.

As he landed his feet on the ground, he didn’t even wait to see the results of his attack before he shot forward again. Only then did he see the spells hit the sage with a loud boom that blocked his vision, and in turn, the sage’s for a second.

Zephyr took advantage of the short loss of visibility to change his position again, moving in a zigzag manner and coming up behind Sage Maximus just as he waved a hand to clear the air.

Zephyr went into the form for Galestrike

, compressing the air like a tightly coiled spring straining to be let loose around his arm.

WHAM!

The hit landed solidly with perfect timing and sync, filling Zephyr with a wave of satisfaction.

Sage Maximus had parried both his fire spells without moving, but it seemed this strike caught him somewhat off-guard. He had finally been forced to move from the spot he was standing, turning to meet Zephyr’s strike. He swung his hand nonchalantly to disperse the force of Zephyr’s strike with another rapidly formed spell model... but Zephyr’s Galestrike had been more than he had expected. It broke past the spell model’s threshold and smacked his hand backwards nearly off his shoulders.

The sage’s gaze turned a bit serious at that, watching the satisfied smirk that Zephyr couldn’t help but show. The boy didn’t stop there, rushing in closer to the sage like he wanted to tackle him to the ground. But an array of rapidly spinning spell models surrounded him, forming a shield that Zephyr smacked against face first.

Zephyr grinned as he was held back, giving the sage the same mocking stare that had received just a few minutes ago. He paused his attack, dashing backwards to widen the distance between him and the sage again.

By his standards, he’d call the attack a successful one. He had landed a good hit on one of the strongest people in the whole Freehold Sanctuary. Even forcing him to retreat into a shield.

"Seems like I—" Zephyr was just about to speak when all of a sudden, he took in the full view of Sage Maximus standing within the shield. The sage’s arm was bent backwards at an unnatural angle. Not in a way that went to prove the strength of Zephyr’s strike, but in a ’this is definitely not normal’ kind of way. The hand was twitching in the air erratically like a broken toy.

"...Huh?" Zephyr’s scalp tingled at the uncanniness.

"Ahh—" A voice sounded next to him as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "It’s still not like a render... whenever something unexpected happens abruptly, it can still break the construct," the voice sighed in regret.

It was Sage Maximus.

’A render...’ Zephyr realized, watching in disbelief as the reality before him unfolded from the seams like a drawing. It dissolved to reveal the same massive training room. Except this time there weren’t any signs of combat at all. No shattered ice to be seen anywhere at all. No slash marks from his high pressure water jet anywhere on the ground... Nothing... The whole room looked pristine and sparkling clean. Like everything that had happened within the last few minutes was merely a dream.

"Shocking right?" Sage Maximus chuckled as he pat Zephyr’s shoulder. "It’s still not the real thing though... the real thing would not be broken so easily by someone not even at the second tier," he said mirthlessly.

"You did alright. You still have a lot to learn though. On the mental side of things you’re easily deceived by subtle cues, and on the spellcasting side... Well, there’s plenty room for improvement." He left it at that.

Zephyr was barely even listening to him. Instead his mind was still on the short fight he’d just experienced. Nothing about that felt unreal, or triggered any sense that he was in a fake reality. Everything felt fully tactile, the feedback he was getting from moving around also felt natural. This was not his first time in a ’rendered’ reality, but maybe because this time his life was not at risk, he had enough time to appreciate the render even more...

"Have your fun. My curiosity has been satisfied for the meantime," Sage Maximus waved with a single hand, while the other was in its usual place behind his back. "Remember our deal kid" he added before stepping out of the room and into the corridor, leaving Zephyr alone to his own devices.

’Aegis. We need to figure out how to always tell a render apart from true reality.’ Zephyr considered the matter seriously. How could he know whether he was in a render at the moment or not. The fact that nothing stood out to him, or to Aegis made him feel even warier about the concept.

Well, there’s a sure way to always know whether you’re in a render yourself...

"And what’s that...?"

Become a Lawbearer.