Water Magician

Chapter 11: Endurance

Ryo was running today too.

Or rather, he was walking today too.

Because the sun rises quite early, even though it was in the middle of the morning, he had been moving continuously for quite a considerable amount of time.

About five hours on Earth time.

However, he did not always run at a constant speed like in a marathon and sometimes added in some interval running.

The outer edge of the barrier was about 600 meters and he ran quickly for two laps, did a slow pace run for the next lap, and walked for the subsequent two laps. (TN: He took 5 hours to travel 3km?? Even by walking the entire journey it shouldn’t take 5 hours :x)

By doing so, even though he walked, he still moved for at least five hours.

And as he moved, he trained magic too.

After morning training, Ryo’s body was already at the peak of fatigue.

But he could not collapse then.

First was icing.

He cooled the elevated temperatures of his muscles.

That was truly living up to the name of a Water-Attribute Mage.

He created a film of water encased in ice and cooled his muscles.

About 15 minutes of icing would cause blood vessels to contract.

After the icing is done, the blood vessels would dilate once more due to rebound and cause more than usual fatigue substances to effectively flow through the blood.

Then, he cooled down with calisthenics.

That also helped to prevent injuries … probably.

At noon, he would eat the rest of his breakfast.

When making breakfast, he would prepare two meals. Since the preparations wouldn’t change much if he made one or two meals.

Then, it was finally time to hunt.

It was a hunt but … lately, it became almost like a routine.

Naturally, he would not fall into a pinch against Lesser Rabbits or Lesser Boars.

There wasn’t much difference against Normal Rabbits and Normal Boars either.

Of course, that didn’t mean that he let his guard down.

And there was no telling what could happen if he came across an Assassin Hawk.

In that line of thought, it showed that the Assassin Hawk was truly a nasty enemy for humans.

Until now, he had been struggling with his morning training regime which affected his afternoon activities but after getting used to it a little more, Ryo wanted to expand his activities a little more.

For now, it was either the East or North.

And eventually, Southwest … the sea!

Yup, eventually he would have to go to the sea.

Since he needed to procure salt.

Water and salt are absolutely necessary for human life.

He could produce water infinitely but he couldn’t do so with salt.

The miracle of God that turned Lot’s wife into salt in the Book of Genesis … Ryo could not do that. Or rather, it would be terrifying if he could.

To be honest, it would be safer to go to the sea and get salt normally via salt farms or other methods.

The salt that Michael (pseudonym) prepared was enough to last for more than a year at the current pace.

However, for Ryo who has never done salt farms or other methods, he wanted to know how much time it would take to obtain salt.

He wouldn’t want to panic when he was about to run out of salt.

Besides, there was a possibility that he could eat seafood for the first time in a long time.

Ryo loved meat but he didn’t hate seafood either.

It had been around two months since he started his training menu to build endurance.

Finally, his morning routine did not affect his afternoon activities.

“All right, let’s go a little further today. First, I’ll need to leave a landmark.”

After saying that, Ryo began building an ice tower within the barrier.

It looked more like a flag pole rather than a tower. Although it was about 100 meters tall.

When seen from a distance, it was a beautiful sight as the sun rays reflected off it.

“With this height, I should be able to see it from most places.”

Although Rondo Forest was a dense forest, there were still quite a few locations that could be called gaps in the forest.

With this height, it should be visible from about … two kilometers away?

For the time being, if he uses this as a landmark, he wouldn’t make a mistake in the direction to return to.

Although it was about 100 meters tall, it was quite suitable since it was made with an emphasis on speed.

The thickness of the tower was about 3 meters in diameter and was a cylinder shape.

It was a shape that wouldn’t fall over easily but … with Ryo’s magical power in effect, he somehow ‘knew’ that it would not fall.

“This is different from the laws of physics that I know.”

As Ryo’s magical ability rose, he felt the differences from Earth.

Or it may be more accurate to say that the phenomenon that cannot occur on Earth has become possible. However, Ryo still had very little awareness of it.

His expedition tools were the same as usual.

His loincloth and sandals.

His usual knife-tip bamboo spear and hemp bag.

He swung a bamboo sword-like bamboo every day but he did not have a weapon that could be used as a sword.

For the time being, this new knife-tip bamboo spear had to remain as his physical weapon.

No matter how many times it breaks, he could just replace it as long as the knife portion is intact!

Extremely economical!

“All right, let’s head Northeast.”

There was quite a wide expanse of wetlands to the North.

He didn’t know the Eastern end of the wetland laid so he tried setting his course for Northeast.

It would be fine if he traveled and still came across wetlands.

That would confirm that the wetland extends considerably from East to West.

There was no particular change for about one kilometer from the barrier.

The only monster he encountered was a Lesser Boar.

As for the harvest, he obtained about ten Ichizuku and red fruits called Lindo that resembled apples.

“It looks and tastes like apples! I can make apple pies with this … of course, I can’t bake though!”

He was having a one-man comedy act … after reincarnating, Ryo was clearly having a lot of monologues.

After securing about 10 Lindo, he continued further Northeast.

About two kilometers from home.

Parin.

The Ice Wall behind him broke with a single blow.

This was an expedition into the depths of the Rondo Forest so Ryo didn’t know what would happen and constantly moved with a thin ice wall behind him.

Although he called it thin, it was strong enough to withstand two shots of the Assassin Hawk’s invisible wind-attribute attack magic Air Slash.

And it was broken with one hit.

His body moved before he could think.

He dove diagonally to the right, fell with his shoulder to the ground, and made a full turn after softening the fall.

He got up and chanted as he looked behind.

“<Ice Armor>”

His chest, waist, back of his hands, and legs were equipped with armor made of ice.

For now, to prevent instant death upon hit, he found it better to have simple armor even if a full plate mail was not possible.

“Looks like a cobra … Kite Snake? It could deal direct attacks by swinging its tail like a whip. Or an Air Slash could be generated from the tail movement. And its ultimate weapon was the venom from its mouth. How troublesome.”

It looked just like a cobra as Ryo muttered.

And like a cobra, it had a hood on its neck.

But its size was unusual.

He couldn’t tell its total length … because it was coiled.

The position of the hood was about three meters from the ground. He had to look up quite considerably.

It was likely a direct attack from its tail that destroyed the ice wall with a single blow.

He experienced Air Slash many times when facing the Assassin Hawks.

It was a rather troublesome attack because it is invisible but it shouldn’t be possible to break his ice wall with a single blow …

At the very least, its tail attack could reach his current position so he was already in the Kite Snake’s range.

He poised himself and decided that he had to regain the initiative.

(<Ice Wall U-shape>)

The Ice Wall surrounded the front, left, and right of the Kite Snake.

Originally he used the <Ice Wall U-shape> for retreating but now he could use it this way too.

And while chanting internally, Ryo jumped backward as soon as the Ice Wall was created.

The Ice Wall could at least survive one tail attack. In the meantime, he would fall back and leave the Kite Snake’s range.

However, the Kite Snake’s movements exceeded Ryo’s expectations.

Instead of breaking the Ice Wall, it bypassed the Ice Wall and chased after Ryo as he retreated.

“As expected of a snake. It moves so fast on grass but!”

(<Ice Bahn>)

He froze the grass and turned it into an icy road.

The Kite Snake, who got on the Ice Bahn with strong momentum, could no longer stop itself.

(<Icicle Lance 16>)

It could already be called Ryo’s specialty, the Ice Bahn + Icicle Lance.

16 Icicle Lances formed at an angle of 30⁰ from the Ice Bahn to meet the sliding Kite Snake.

Bakin.

“What!?”

A boar would be pierced through but the Kite Snake snapped the Icicle Lances.

Yes, with the tail attack that broke the Ice Wall initially.

“<Ice Wall>”

Its sliding momentum was not stopping … in other words, the distance between it and Ryo was shortening at every moment. He first tried to stop that with an Ice Wall. But …

Bakin.

It broke once again from a tail attack.

“Right. <Ice Wall 5 Layers>”

Instead of the usual thin Ice Wall he always deployed, a 5 layer Ice Wall with a width of three meters, a height of three meters, and thickness twice as usual was formed.

That was a spell completely geared for defense.

Gakin. Dogo

It tried to break it as it did before with its tail but it could not break it with a single blow and only cracked the first layer. Its sliding body slammed into the Ice Wall and stopped.

But Ryo could not catch a breather.

As soon as it found that it could not catch Ryo by sliding, the Kite Snake manipulated its tail outside the Ice Wall and approached Ryo.

All the while releasing Air Slashes as well.

(<Ice Shield>)

A shield similar to a tennis racket was created in the air to prevent Air Slashes.

However, that allowed the Kite Snake’s tail to close the gap.

It was a fatal mistake in choice.

“<Ice Wall 5 Layers>”

The Ice Wall 5 Layers was the most robust of all the defensive spells that Ryo had.

However, while a normal Ice Wall took below one second to form, the Ice Wall 5 Layers took close to one second.

Normally it could be said to be sufficiently quick, but in such a close-neck battle, one second was not quick at all.

And that was revealed this time.

Although he chanted for Ice Wall 5 Layers, it did not form in time.

Even though it reduced the Kite Snake tail’s momentum, it barely reached Ryo.

“Gah”

Ryo’s chest armor shattered.

He jumped backward to reduce the damage so he didn’t end up with a hole in his chest.

Although he might end up with a terrible bruise or a cracked rib.

But Ryo did not feel the pain.

Like a battle junkie, it seemed that his brain was filled with adrenaline.

He raised his left hand and chanted without a second’s break.

“<Icicle Lance 2>”

The Icicle Lances fired from his left hand drew a trajectory and crossed the ice wall to aim for the Kite Snake’s head.

To intercept it, the Kite Snake quickly pulled its tail back.

And it intercepted it.

Ryo finally succeeded in retaliating.

“<Ice Armor>”

He regenerated the cracked chest armor.

Without it, he would have died.

Currently, Ryo was 15 meters away from the Kite Snake.

There was an Ice Wall 5 Layer in front of the Ice Snake. Its height and width were three meters.

Below the Kite Snake was the Ice Bahn. But only about two meters in radius.

The Kite Snake had its hood out. It was about three meters in height and the Ice Wall was just about the same height.

“I retaliated but I don’t want to engage in close quarters fight again.”

The Kite Snake’s tail was too vicious.

It could shoot Air Slashes from a distance and if you got close to it, it had the physical strength to destroy his Ice Wall in a single blow.

However, the Kite Snake had the next move.

It leaped while its hood was flared.

“What’s with that!?”

It leaped over the Ice Wall 5 Layers and closed in on Ryo.

“<Ice Bahn>”

However, before it reached the Ice Bahn, the Kite Snake moved sideways as if saying that it had already seen that technique before.

It changed from a direct attack to a curved attack.

It shot Air Slashes continuously while moving.

“<Ice Shield 4>”

Ryo intercepted the attacks with four floating Ice Shield as the Kite Snake approached while moving left and right as if trying to feint.

And finally, it released venom from its mouth.

It was a far more widespread poison attack than Ryo had imagined.

The range was too wide that it was impossible to escape from.

Normally that would be checkmate.

However, Ryo was not normal. And he was a Water Attribute Magician.

“<Squall>”

The instant he chanted, heavy rain common in Southeast Asia occurred locally.

Centered on the Kite Snake in front of Ryo.

The heavy rain battered the venom in the air and flushed it to the ground.

That was probably the first time it encountered such a counter.

Although it was a different race, Ryo could tell that it was surprised.

“<Boiling Water>”

He chanted toward the Kite Snake drenched by the Squall.

His target was the water from the Squall on the Kite Snake as well as the water puddle below it.

He used to take a few minutes to boil water but now he could do it in less than a second like any other magic.

In other words, the Kite Snake was forced to bathe in boiling water all over its body in an instant.

“Gyoeeeeeee!”

As it screeched, he targeted the wide-open mouth.

“<Icicle Lance>”

And fired a thick Ice Spear.

The Icicle Lance pierced its oral cavity … and the Kite Snake died.

Ryo unconsciously fell onto his backside and remained seated.

“Fuuu …. I was saved by bathing … This boiling water technique, I wouldn’t have learned it if I didn’t want to have a bath. I must thank Michael (pseudonym) for preparing the bathtub.”

Zukin.

While feeling relieved, Ryo started to feel the pain in his ribs from the Kite Snake’s strike.