Joy clenched her hands tightly when Lucy agreed to help her get stronger.
She didn’t know exactly how, but in just a year, Lucy had grown to the level where she was rightfully considered one of the continent's most promising talents.
If she could learn from Lucy's methods, Joy was confident she could become strong enough to stand by her side.
Given Lucy’s stern warning, the process wouldn’t be easy.
But that was fine.
Joy wasn’t someone who had been raised like a delicate flower in a greenhouse.
She had worked hard to live up to her title as the Lady of the Partran family.
No matter how difficult things might become, she believed she could endure it.
What would they start with?
As she pondered this, filled with determination, Lucy began to explain.
“Blockhead, I’m going to turn you, this pathetic little mage, into the best there is.”
“Lady Allen?”
Joy never doubted Lucy’s capabilities.
If she had, she wouldn’t have asked for Lucy’s help in the first place.
But she had thought that Lucy’s expertise would be in helping her grow as a party member, not specifically as a mage.
It was a natural assumption.
Lucy Allen, born and raised in a knight’s family, couldn’t possibly know how to become an outstanding mage.
“What’s this, Blockhead? Didn’t you say you’d do as I say? Are you already complaining?”
“No! That’s not it.”
“Then listen up, Blockhead. And if you don’t like it, you can argue later. Can’t you even show that much patience, you little lady?”
“...Understood.”
When Joy cautiously nodded, Lucy stood before her, crossing her arms and straightening her shoulders.
The sight of the small girl puffing herself up with confidence was cute, but Joy didn’t dare say that out loud.
She knew it would only invite a sharp retort.
“The first thing you need to do is increase your pathetic stamina, Blockhead.”
“Stamina?”
“That’s right. You’re just a burden of a mage right now.”
A burden.
The moment Joy heard those words, what came to mind was Lucy’s dungeon record, where she cleared each floor in just five minutes.
Lady Allen probably considers that speed the minimum standard.
So, of course, she would see stamina as essential to keeping up with her.
Understanding Lucy’s reasoning, Joy nodded.
“Understood. What should I do?”
“Blockhead, start running.”
“Running?”
Was this just to warm up?
Joy started moving her legs, following Lucy and Freyr without question.
But it wasn’t long before Joy began to lag behind.
Despite her years of training, Joy was still a mage.
There was no way she could match their speed and strength.
At first, Joy tried desperately to catch up.
“Blockhead, there’s no way a pathetic mage like you can keep up with me. Just jog along at your slow pace, Blockhead.”
But seeing Joy gritting her teeth, Lucy advised her to just run at her own pace.
Joy kept running.
Even after 30 minutes, even after an hour.
When her legs started to feel numb and her lungs burned with pain, Joy couldn’t help but wonder.
How long are we going to warm up?
At this rate, I’m going to collapse from running, not training.
As she pondered this, Lucy and Freyr, who were sprinting at a speed comparable to horses, brushed past her.
“Lady Allen!”
“Huh? What’s up?”
“How long are we going to run?”
“Aww, what’s this? Are your legs trembling because they’re about to give out?”
“I’m not that weak.”
It was true that she was tired and exhausted, but she wasn’t about to collapse.
“Hmm, is that so? Then let’s run for as long as we’ve already been running.”
So... another hour?
Joy’s lips stiffened at Lucy’s declaration, but Lucy only responded with her usual infuriating grin.
“What’s this? You can’t even do that? You really are a pathetic little lady, huh? Should I coddle you?”
“I get it. I’ll do it!”
“Ahaha, she’s mad, she’s mad.”
After Lucy laughed and moved ahead, Joy gritted her teeth and followed behind.
And so, Joy ran for another hour and a half until she finally collapsed in exhaustion.
This chapt𝓮r is updat𝒆d by ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom.
The amazing thing was that even after Freyr had collapsed, Lucy kept running for quite some time before finally taking a break.
Lucy’s advice didn’t stop there.
She went on to explain which of Joy’s classes were good and which weren’t.
If her explanations had been vague, even Joy, who trusted Lucy, might have had doubts.
But Lucy’s explanations were so detailed that Joy had no reason to doubt them.
The moment Joy mentioned the professor’s name, Lucy knew what the class was and what it entailed.
She even advised Joy on which classes were necessary and which weren’t based on that knowledge.
“Right now, what you need most, Blockhead, is a lot of magic power and fast, precise casting. It doesn’t matter if you learn a lot of spells; as a pathetic little mage, you wouldn’t be able to handle them anyway. So the best classes for you are...”
The advice was exactly in line with what Joy’s tutor from the Partran family had said.
Lady Allen, you really do know about magic?!
Joy had initially thought it was just empty talk.
“Understood?”
“Yes, I understand. So I should take these additional classes?”
“That’s right. And besides stamina training, I’ll tell you what else you need to do.”
What Lucy asked Joy to do was to use telekinesis, a non-elemental spell, until her magic was completely drained every evening.
The method was specific.
First, she would start by moving a single orb with telekinesis.
Then, as she became accustomed to it, she would add more orbs.
“Blockhead, keep doing it until you can manipulate five objects at once with ease. Even a little lady like you should be able to manage that, right?”
Joy didn’t understand the significance of Lucy’s request.
But she didn’t question it.
After discussing the academy classes, Joy had confirmed that Lucy did indeed have knowledge of magic.
Since Lucy wouldn’t have her do something pointless, Joy decided to follow her instructions.
And that evening, as she obediently followed Lucy’s advice and practiced telekinesis, Joy began to understand why Lucy had suggested it.
“Controlling multiple objects with telekinesis requires an incredible amount of focus.”
Telekinesis is one of the basic non-elemental spells.
Because of that, it requires little magic and is easy to cast without incantation.
But controlling it is another matter.
Floating and moving a single object wasn’t difficult.
She had done it countless times before.
But moving two objects was a different story.
The amount of focus needed to simultaneously manipulate two orbs wasn’t just double—it was at least three times as much. And for more complex movements, even four times more.
Naturally, when she added a third orb, the burden increased even more.
Trying to control all three simultaneously made it almost impossible to manage any of them properly.
“This is efficient.”
Joy knew many methods for improving magic control.
But most of them involved overloading herself with more difficult and complex spells.
This approach consumed more magic and limited the amount of time she could spend training.
But Lucy’s method was different.
Since telekinesis was a basic spell, it consumed little magic.
Yet the amount of focus required was comparable to that of more advanced spells.
This is impressive.
Lucy Allen, where did you learn this technique?
I’ve never seen any mage suggest such a method before.
Even the most renowned mages only advised mastering more difficult spells; they never suggested training with telekinesis.
Could it be that this is a technique you, Lady Allen, developed yourself?
If so, I can’t help but admire you.
This is unbelievable.
I’ve been told by many that I have talent.
That I was destined for greatness.
But Lady Allen, you make my talent seem insignificant.
No matter how experienced a knight might be, it’s rare for them to have knowledge of magic.
That’s because the knowledge required for a knight and a mage are polar opposites.
It’s nearly impossible to master both.
Even those who claim to have mastered both usually only have a superficial understanding, merely bluffing.
But Lucy Allen was different.
She truly possessed knowledge of magic.
More knowledge and greater talent than Joy, who had spent her whole life mastering it.
Ahaha, no wonder you took first place in the academy’s entrance exam.
Your knowledge is so deep and broad that it naturally led to such results.
“Hah. Will the day ever come when I can stand as an equal by Lady Allen’s side?”
It’s far.
So far away.
Her back is so distant.
To repay the debt I owe her, I must stand by her side.
“I need to try harder.”
To catch up with Lady Allen’s talent.
Not only that, but whenever she had a question about magic, she would come to me.
But all I did was share the methods I used when training a mage character in Soul Academy!
I don’t actually know anything about magic!
Joy, even if you ask me, I can’t tell you anything!
I screamed this in my mind, but there was no way I could tell Joy that I didn’t know.
I didn’t want to disappoint her when she looked at me with such admiration.
So every time, I asked Grandpa for help.
Fortunately, Grandpa was a versatile paladin.
In the past, he had to endure listening to the overly complex and difficult magic lectures given by the mage in the hero’s party, so he had no trouble answering Joy’s questions.
The problem was that I was the messenger relaying those answers, and with each answer, Joy’s respect for me grew.
<Girl, what are you going to do if she asks something I don’t know?>
‘Uh...’
<You’re going to have to study magic, aren’t you?>
‘...’
Every morning, she would run until she collapsed from exhaustion.
She would stand in the back during classes to avoid falling asleep.
And at night, she would practice telekinesis until she ran out of magic before finally falling asleep.
Every morning, she would wake up with a renewed sense of determination as she noticed her gradual improvement, but today was different.
This morning, as she lay in bed, staring at the ceiling tinged with the colors of dawn, she ran her hand over her face.
“Dungeon.”
Today was the day she had promised to enter the dungeon with Lucy.