Geometric Mage: First Spell, Circle

What is going on?! thought the boy as he assumed a defensive stance, his heart pounding in his chest.

He was not the smartest of the group, but even he now understood what the sage meant by 'battle'.

It was a fight between him and Lian.

The boy's eyes were alert as he scrutinized every possible movement of the former statue, but nothing seemed out of place.

The sage's composure unnervingly perfect. His confident smile, his deep eyes full of wisdom, his rhythmic and calculated steps.

The sage's posture and way of moving allowed no weaknesses like a fortress with no cracks.

Lian could not glimpse any possibility of attack.

A slight sheen of sweat began to form on his forehead, trickling down like a silent warning.

"Boy, do not worry." The sage stopped abruptly, his voice cutting through the tension like a blade.

"I will not be too much of a bully-" His arm sliced through the air with a fluidity that belied his age.

"Ignis-Terra!"

Lian narrowed his eyes as he saw the instantaneous formation of something spherical—

"A fireball?!" Before he could even make sense of it, Lian moved sideways, crushing the statue remains as he dodged the explosion with mastery, as if it were not the first time something had exploded near him, his reflexes honed by countless close calls.

Crouched on the ground with his hands covering his face, Lian waited for the explosion, only to hear a strange noise followed by an annoying crackling.

Splash-

Sizzle-

In the area where he had been a moment ago, the fireball had crashed, but the fire had not vanished; on the contrary.

Something damnably hot and fluid covered the floor, sending shivers down the boy's spine, the air now thick with the scent of molten rock.

"That was not a fireball, boy. It was a ball of lava. Lava is nothing but fire and earth mixed together. We do not need an affinity for lava to cast spells like this-" The man's words were slow and easy to understand as he crossed his arms, his stance relaxed yet commanding.

He behaved exactly as a master would with his disciple, patient yet expectant.

"This is the strength of those born with the four elemental affinities!"

Lian still stared in shock at the lava that had swallowed and reduced the debris on the ground to ashes. It had stopped sizzling, yet the patch of lava still emitted incredible heat a glowing reminder of the sage's power.

Can I do something like that too? My system seems very precise, not allowing me to create geometric shapes from nothing. Perhaps I am limited in this? His mind swirled with doubt, grappling with the possibilities.

Lian's doubts were real; however, he was still weak. He did not know if the system would grant him access to something different in the future, a faint hope flickering in his chest.

The sage, seeing the boy stunned by his performance, let out a cough to regain his attention, the sound sharp in the quiet hall.

Lian turned abruptly, snapping out of his overthinking state, but something was already coming at him, a blur of motion in his peripheral vision.

'Eh?' He only had time to raise his arms in front of his face before a jet of dirty water hit him, covering his gaunt face and soaking his tattered clothes in mud.

"Do not get distracted in a fight. That could very well have been another ball of lava instead of a mass of mud-"

"Nooo!" Lian's scream interrupted whatever the sage was saying, his voice raw with frustration. "I cannot stand being dirty anymore!"

"Am I perhaps making the wrong choice in giving my inheritance to this boy?" the sage murmured with a reluctant look before sighing helplessly, his eyes softening with a mix of amusement and concern.

"So be it… if these boys have entered this place, it can only mean one thing…"

"…times of war are coming-" his voice low, carrying the weight of prophecy.

---

Meanwhile, Eris and Aelya...

"Big brother, you are super strong!"

The excited voice of the little girl echoed throughout the area as she watched the Knight's fight against dozens of fire salamanders, their scales glinting like molten embers in the harsh light.

Eris's long, slender sword moved with grace and precision, in stark contrast to his strong, heavily armoured figure, which clanked softly with each fluid motion.

His body had adapted to the arid and hot climate of the place; sweat could no longer hold him back.

Hearing the girl's excited cheers, a frown formed on the Knight's face, his expression torn between pride and exasperation.

"Tch, you are the truly scary one here…" he murmured as he slit the throat of a salamander before it could unleash its fiery breath the creature's life fading with a faint gurgle. "You literally have a flying sword that fights for you…"

A few minutes later, the passage was cleared of all monsters. The two resumed their journey, with Aelya talking nonstop about how amazing his fighting style was and how she wished to be like him. Her usual listlessness vanished like smoke in the wind as she gripped the flying sword that always followed her, mimicking Eris's moves with a childlike enthusiasm that lit up her delicate features.

The Knight stared at the little girl with tender eyes as the two continued their journey toward the volcano, their silhouettes framed against the glowing horizon.

A few hours and many corpses later…

The two finally reached the final part of the volcano.

The boiling lava crackled and rose like tongues of fire from the open crater casting an eerie, flickering glow across the jagged rocks.

It was a magnificent spectacle a primal display of nature's fury.

At that distance, the heat was far more intense than anything Eris had endured, causing him to sweat profusely. I should take off my armor; there is no one here anyway…

His gaze rested for a moment on the little girl beside him. She had not a single drop of sweat, nor any sign of discomfort, her small frame untouched by the oppressive heat.