What do you mean I've traveled to worlds geared towards children?

"Teacher, how do we get back to the capital?"

Ron asked Cleos, then turned to look behind her with concern, saying, "And we also have to take this big guy back..."

Behind Cleos, a black coffin stood upright on the ground.

The coffin was made of special wood from the church, possessing extremely strong sealing power. Cleos also applied three kinds of sealing magic to it, and even used a king-level sealing scroll.

These actions all prove that what's inside the coffin is extremely dangerous.

That's for sure.

The Seven Demon Generals, Firal, are now sealed inside this coffin.

Cleos intends to take him to the Royal Capital Church for trial by the High Priest, so that she can extract more information about the Demon Race.

Demons at the level of the Seven Demon Generals are not easy to capture. If they hadn't suddenly infiltrated human territory this time, if Cleos hadn't come for Ron...

Even if the person who comes is not Cleos, who is close to being a legend and possesses a legendary magic scroll... then they can only watch as Philar and Fusonos wreak havoc here before leaving triumphantly.

To put it even more bluntly, if it weren't for the mysterious black-armored warriors who completely distracted Phossonos, allowing the arriving Cleos to remain hidden and fully unleash her legendary (pseudo) magic, Phossonos might not have died.

All of this was a coincidence.

It was a series of coincidences and good fortune that allowed Cleos to capture Philar.

Therefore, Philar is extremely important. Our understanding of the demon race, as well as the current internal situation of the demon race, all depend on this 'Lord' of the Seven Demon Generals.

However, taking Filal away is not a problem.

But you can't carry a coffin everywhere you go, can you?

"It's okay, we'll take this back."

As Cleos spoke, she raised her staff and pointed it at the sky.

Complex incantations rang from her lips, and within seconds, the sky suddenly froze, with frost spreading outwards. Before long, a massive ice airship appeared in the sky!

Superior Magic: Cleos's Moving Ice Ship

As the name suggests, this is Cleos's original magic, which uses ice to create a huge sky ice ship for transportation.

In fact, if it were simply about building an ice ship, this ice ship could at most be classified as a mid-level magic.

But... the ice ship that Cleos created can fly.

And it flies very fast!

This became one of Cleos's signature spells.

"Wow...so big...!" Ron had never seen magic used like this before.

Ron originally thought that the powerful magic in this world was simply about bombarding each other with high-powered spells, but he never expected that magic could be used in this way.

In contrast to Ron, Selena next to him sneezed:

"Ouch...it's so cold."

She rubbed her shoulders, and white mist sprayed from her mouth and nose.

Ice ships are indeed cool and huge, but the temperature drop they bring is a real phenomenon.

Ron is now a magic apprentice, so it's fine that the flow of magic within him helps him stay warm and cool. But Selena is just an ordinary person, at least for now, so of course she will feel cold from the sudden drop in temperature.

"Ah... I almost forgot."

Cleos then remembered, slapped her forehead, took out her staff, pointed at Ron and Selena, and said:

"That should be fine now."

Lower-level general magic: Thermostatus.

Thermostatus is a type of magic that, once cast, allows a person's body temperature to adapt to the environment.

It is also one of the general-purpose spells that Ron most wants to learn.

With the help of the thermostat, Ron and Selena's perceived body temperature returned to normal.

Even when standing on the ice ship afterwards, I didn't feel cold at all.

Once aboard the spaceship, Ron asked Cleos about another matter:

"Teacher, when you were casting the spell just now, it seemed like you didn't chant the incantation much."

The three essential elements of casting magic are: determining the path of magical energy flow, outlining magical runes, and using incantations to define the magical anchor point.

Only when all three are combined can magic be cast.

When Ron was on the Beast Continent, he tried to chant silently, but he could never do it. At most, he could only chant magic in the softest voice.

Fortunately, there weren't many incantations for apprentice-level magic, which allowed him to use it almost instantly.

But Ron was helpless when faced with magic spells that had long and complex incantations.

So he's very curious now about why Cleos was able to cast the spell silently just now.

“Yes, you’ve hit the nail on the head, Ron,” Cleos said to Ron. “This is also a magical skill you’ll be learning next.”

"...What technique?"

“Spell quickly,” Cleos said casually.

Before Ron could ask, Cleos continued, "Everyone knows that while magicians' spells are powerful, most of them require complex and tedious incantations."

"The mages are naturally aware of this, so in order to compensate for this deficiency, they have created many techniques for incantation: rapid incantation, multiple incantations, combined incantations, and..."

Cleos looked calmly at Ron and said slowly, "Silent spellcasting."

After a brief pause, and once Ron understood the meaning of the words, Cleos continued:

"Among them, rapid chanting is the most popular skill among most mages, and it is also one of the easiest skills to master. Of course, although it is said to be 'the easiest,' in reality, most mages who can master rapid chanting are at the intermediate level, and a small number are at the lower level... As for magic apprentices, they are almost non-existent."

“Uh… it doesn’t exist?” Ron was stunned.

Cleos replied, "It's 'almost'."

So it still exists... Ron thought to himself.

Huh? Wait, why did the teacher specifically tell me this?

Ron quickly realized what was going on and cautiously asked, "So, who are the apprentices who have learned the 'rapid chanting' technique?"

"Humph."

Cleos's lips suddenly curled up, her expression saying, "You've finally asked that question," but her tone remained calm, as if she were asking, "What did you eat today?"

"I learned this skill when I was a magic apprentice."

"..."

I'm asking who are the magic apprentices who have mastered the technique of rapid incantation! Not whether you can do it! Pay attention to the question!

Ron suppressed the urge to roll his eyes and inwardly complained.

So you've been telling me all this just to show off the fast chanting techniques you learned during your apprenticeship, right?

Okay, okay, I understand. You're amazing, teacher.

Ron's feelings were complicated, but on the surface he showed surprise and admiration for Cleos:

"I see, teacher, you're amazing."

Cleos's lips curled up slightly, a few pixels higher: "This is nothing, you'll learn it later."

She coughed again after saying that, and continued, "Ahem, and the current Archmage of the Mage's Guild and the Great Sage of the Kingdom also mastered this skill during their apprenticeship, so..."

As Cleos finished speaking, she turned to look at Ron, her expression becoming much more serious:

"You also need to learn this skill during your apprenticeship, understand?"

After all, Ron was a child with Saint-level magical aptitude, and Cleos was certain that he would be able to learn the technique of rapid incantation during his apprenticeship.

……

Even by airship, it takes nearly half a month to travel from the border town of Monkford to the capital city in the heart of the kingdom.

Of course, if Cleos came alone, the time could be halved, but in order to bring Ron, Selena, and the sealed Philar back, they would have to stay on the ice ship for half a month.

During this time, Cleos assigned Ron two assignments.

One is to learn to chant quickly before arriving in the capital.

Another point is to increase the total amount of magic power during this period, so as to have the strength of a lower-level mage when entering the magic academy.

Generally speaking, lower-level strength is the graduation standard of the academy.

So what's the point of my enrollment...?

Ron found it strange, but he didn't ask.

During his time on the ice ship, Ron mainly focused on learning the magic and chanting techniques that Cleos had taught him.

The former was easy to learn, but the latter gave Ron a real challenge.

Chanting quickly isn't necessarily difficult, but it's not exactly easy either.

So-called fast chanting does not mean speeding up your speech to the point of saying several words per second.

Instead, it compresses the pronunciation of many characters into a few, or even a single, syllable, thereby achieving the result of rapid chanting.