Okami Wa Nemuranai

"Come now, we're going in."

Shira briskly went inside the cave.

"<Bright Light (Teraparm)>"

Shira recited the spell and the dim cave immediately got lit up.

It's a curious light.

The light is not like <Lamplight (Parm)> where it illuminates from one spot.

The space of about ten steps around Shira is completely bright. There's not even a shadow.

"<Bright Light> is a higher ranked version of <Lamplight>. I'm sure you'd learn to cast it in no time at all. Its light range is adjustable. We're going deeper in."

Shira briskly went deeper inside the cave without any hesitation.

The cave is sloping down slightly. There were several forks along the way, however Shira never wavered even once.

"Here's the place."

Shira took a small pickaxe out of her bag and began to dig out the cave's wall. After doing that for a while, she apparently found what she was looking for.

"Alright, this is it."

She scooped out a part of the cave with the pickaxe. Then she picked up the piece of fallen rock and showed it to Lecan.

It's a beautiful turquoise-colored ore with golden sparkles mixed in its brilliance.

"This will turn into a very versatile catalyst."

Afterward, she went deeper inside the cave and dug out another ore, went deeper again and dug out yet another ore. She explained those ores' names and utilities to Lecan.

"I've mined out all the portion I need. You dig out yours as well. Since you've got that <Box (Ruuf)> of yours, just take in everything you can take. Going back here would be too much work after all."

After Lecan was done mining, the two went on their way out of the cave. These two should have been able to run past the cave, but for some reason, Shira wouldn't attempt to. She must have her reason.

They met a lone man in a spot near the entrance.

Of course Lecan had detected him beforehand already, but the other party neither had mana nor special power.

It's a plump dirty man.

He's wearing nothing but a leather armor on his upper half.

He's also got trousers and boots, but all of them are worn out.

His unkempt hair and beard have grown long.

There's a huge pickaxe in the man's hands.

"Guehehe. Hey you two. I can't have ya get in without permission now. This hole is this great me's property."

"Oho. To think that a mine without the lord's guards around would have an owner. When did this place became your property I wonder."

"Been mine for five years 'lready."

"I've been using this cave for more than 100 years though."

"What?"

"Nothing. So what do you want us to do?"

"Hehehe. You gotta cough up for the toll. This great me's takin' all your tools and ore. This light's pretty awesome. Gotta be some pricey magic tool. Woman, you're comin' with this great me."

"What are you planning to do by taking me."

"Who knows. I'mma think about it after enjoying myself for ten days."

"If I'm going with you, what are you going to do to the man?"

The dirty man replied to Shira by taking an action. That is to say, he's swinging down his pickaxe toward Lecan. However, Shira's chant echoed in the cave before he could manage to do that.

"Petrification (Gast)."

The dirty man immediately stopped moving.

"A good opportunity as any. This is the mind type magic <Petrification>. At elementary level, it won't work well unless you touch the opponent though. And this one's a special type magic <Dehydration>. <Dehydration (Kashoot)>."

The dirty man's body shriveled up into what looked like a withered tree, and after letting out a sound like he was about to be torn off, he turned into sand and fell on the ground. The pickaxe and leather armor fell down in their original state, not sand.

"Turning into sand because of <Dehydration> like this would only happen if the user is an expert level, you see. However, even elementary level <Dehydration> could easily kill your opponent. As you cannot defend against special type even with magic defense. If you feel like your blood is bubbling, you might be under <Dehydration> spell. When that happens, you need to move around, don't stop in one spot. Wanna take this pickaxe with you?"

"Nah, don't need it."

<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka.com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>

Lecan presented his note to Shira after they had dinner. Everything she taught him in the past two days is written there.

"Could you look over if there's anything wrong."

"Sure thing. But this paper is pretty nice. Could I have one of this notes?"

"That one is all I got."

"Then, tear two pieces of paper off it."

"Sure."

"Thanks kindly."

While Shira was looking over the note, Lecan worked hard at <Lamplight> practice.

He's succeeded at reliably lighting up a spot even 100 steps away.

"Here you go, done looking over it. But really, you. You've perfected <Lamplight> already. Very few people could cast <Lamplight> that far away you know. After seeing this, I've got to take back what I said yesterday. I'll teach you the next spell."

"By all means."

"The next spell would be <Ignition>. I've shown it to you many times already in the past three days. I'm gonna cast it slowly, look real carefully now, okay. <Ignition (Yutel)>."

Lecan intensely observed the spellcasting.

A fire was ignited out of nowhere. Truly an phenomenon that can be called magical.

Lecan pointed his right index finger at unburned dry leaves and recited the spell.

"<Ignition (Yutel)>."

Then the dry leaves flared up.

"You did it on your first try again. Nice going. Repeat that many times over. Correctly recite the spell, clearly identify the target you want to burn, and then send out your mana straight at it. Make your body learn the procedure by heart. This magic will not activate unless there is a target to be burn. Make sure to remember that well. Though well, that doesn't apply once you're a master."

That night and the morning after, Lecan tirelessly continued to train in <Ignition>.