Scarlett hurried to activate [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs], narrowly doing so as the arrows of fire slammed into her. For a moment, she almost lost her balance.

Were those really made of just fire? [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs] had mitigated most of the damage, but other than simple heat, she’d actually felt the force behind that blow.

“What are—!” she began, but Arlene had already launched two more fiery arrows towards her. Reacting quickly, Scarlett tried to seize control of them using her pyrokinesis, but it was like trying to stop someone’s punch with a pair of chopsticks. The arrows struck her in the chest, though this time she was better prepared and stood her ground.

She gritted her teeth. As Arlene conjured another set of fire arrows and stepped down from the porch, Scarlett raised her hand and summoned spheres of water to intercept the projectiles. It produced sizzling sounds as steam billowed from the collisions.

It had been a while since she was in a real spar, but her practice sessions with Kat and Garside hadn’t been for nothing.

Arlene raised an eyebrow. “True pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis? That’s a curious combination.” With a wave of her hand, the water spheres were engulfed by larger flames. Loud cries of excitement and awe erupted from the children gathered at the center of the village square.

Near Arlene, Rosa’s expression bore a hint of concern, but Scarlett reassured her with a gesture.

Just then, flames coalesced around Scarlett, forming a cage of searing heat that pressed in from all sides. It was enough to penetrate even through the defense provided by [Sidhe’s Flowing Garbs].

Scarlett activated the [Charm of Expeditious Change] and equipped the [Fireguard Knife], [Chromacloth], [Tiara of Lost Benediction]—Rosa could laugh at her later if she wanted—and the rest of her gear. The items strengthened her fire resistance and defense, making the heat more bearable while also sharpening her focus and slightly enhancing her pyrokinesis.

Arlene shaped more fire into even larger arrows aimed at Scarlett. She countered by conjuring a mixture of water and fire barriers to intercept their paths. The water barriers weakened some of the intensity from the arrows as they were pierced, while her fires actually managed to absorb some of the incoming flames. Though it consumed more mana than she would have wanted, she managed to stop most of the attacks before they reached her.

Meanwhile, she had summoned eight Aqua Mines that surrounded Arlene. She couldn’t identify the woman’s weak points through the [Charms of Apperception]—the woman was too strong—but the Mines still packed a punch, bursting into clouds of steam that assailed Arlene from all angles.

Not that the woman seemed to care much. A thin, almost see-through shield of fire materialized in a split second, deflecting all the attacks without causing the woman to flinch.

“That is certainly an interesting method of blending those two elements,” Arlene commented as she continued advancing towards Scarlett. An intense wave of heat emanated from her, testing Scarlett’s protections and forcing her to step back. “Unorthodox, certainly, considering the absence of composite spells for these schools. Usually, it would have been a questionable choice to focus on both, but you’ve circumvented that weakness by ignoring spells altogether. You’ve sacrificed efficiency, though. Nevertheless, it’s probably the optimal combination to battle a fire mage such as myself.”

Scarlett frowned. It was hard to tell which of the things Arlene was doing were spells and which were applications of pyrokinesis. She recognized the fire shield from earlier as a spell called [Flame Veil], but Arlene summoned it without any gestures or words, unlike most other mages.

Arlene fell silent for a moment. “Perhaps this is what they call fate.”

Above her head, a tiny spark ignited, rapidly expanding to the size of a basketball. It radiated a bright yellow light, like the sun, as its intensity grew.

Scarlett didn’t wait for whatever that was to finish. She focused all her efforts on launching a barrage of attacks against Arlene’s defenses. Aqua Mines, spheres of high-intensity fire, cages of flame — she gave it her all. At the same time, she tried to weaken the burgeoning miniature star above Arlene by dousing it with conjured water and assimilating some into her own fires, but nothing she threw at it seemed enough to overpower it.

Arlene remained unfazed. This time, she hadn’t even bothered casting [Flame Veil] to protect herself, instead enduring the full brunt of Scarlett’s assault with her body. Scarlett’s brief concern about accidentally injuring the woman quickly faded when Arlene stepped through it all without even a graze.

“That said,” the woman continued, “employing your hydrokinesis for offense would likely have given you more success, even if your proficiency in it appears limited.”

The fiery vortex above Arlene seemed to reach critical mass, generating a whirlpool of air as it whizzed and spun. Scarlett realized there was nothing she could do to stop this impending attack now, so she abandoned all ideas of offense and instead concentrated everything she had on blocking whatever would come at her. She summoned layers upon layers of dense water to encapsulate the tiny star, its brilliant light refracting through the liquid in a mesmerizing display as Scarlett erected even more elemental barriers between her and it.

In an explosive burst of light, the vortex discharged a chaotic cluster of beams that tore through everything in their path and arched towards Scarlett in a dazzling array of incandescence. It didn’t matter what she conjured to defend herself, as nothing slowed their advance for even a moment.

Her heart stopped as they reached for her. Just as they seemed poised to strike her, however, the beams vanished, dissipating into nothingness along with all other magical presences in their surroundings.

Scarlett stood there, sweat dripping down her brow, while Arlene calmly observed her.

“It seems I have my work cut out for me,” the woman remarked, though a slight smile played on her lips. “We’ll get you into shape eventually, I’m sure. It might just take a bit of work.”

“No, that’s wrong. Focus on this part and let the mana flow through it, as though you’re wringing out a soaked towel,” Arlene instructed Scarlett from her side.

Scarlett heaved a deep breath as she concentrated on the flame suspended in the air a couple of meters in front of her, taking the vague shape of an arrow with a slightly bulky and uneven shaft. She tried following the woman’s directions, adjusting the mana flow as she molded the fire into a more defined form.

“That’s better, but it won’t hold more bite than a mosquito as it is right now,” Arlene said.

Above Scarlett’s fire arrow was another, larger one, with streaks of blue fire running through parts of it, highlighting how Scarlett should channel her own mana.

“Crafting the fire into the semblance of an arrow is easy,” the woman explained, “but it’s pointless unless you also want it to have the same force as a genuine one. Now, gather more of the mana at the back, where the fletching would be—like this—and increase its intensity. That’ll help when you want to give it speed. The most important part is the arrowhead, though. There is a little trick to it if you want to impart the sensation of actual mass behind the fire. This is what you should focus on the most, because this technique will come in handy for you in the future as well.”

Scarlett continued following Arlene’s guidance until she achieved something that the woman was satisfied with. Then she launched the newly forged fire arrow into the ground just before the porch where they were sitting. A small cloud of dirt rose up, leaving a barely noticeable scorch mark on the earth.

“Acceptable, for now,” Arlene said. “Although a normal arrow would probably be more useful.”

“Unfortunately, I do not generally carry around a bow in my pocket,” Scarlett replied.

“Haven’t seen many noble ladies who do.”

“I am afraid I would have difficulty drawing one even if I did, so I am quite content with this as an alternative.” Scarlett brought out a handkerchief to wipe her forehead, gently touching her chest with her other hand.

She still felt a bit sore from the earlier ‘sparring session’. It had all been rather sudden—not to mention that the woman had subjected her to even more bouts after the first to ‘size her up’—but it had been bearable for now. Kat had also been a bit on the forceful side back when Scarlett had been sparring with the Shielder woman. Maybe this could even be considered tame in comparison.

Although, knowing Arlene, Scarlett wouldn’t be surprised if things ramped up a lot in difficulty soon.

For now, however, the woman had been satisfied with teaching her some actual magic after Scarlett had rested up a bit. They had started with those fire arrows Arlene had used in their initial exchange. They were apparently what one would consider the ‘basics’ when it came to pyrokinesis — not that Scarlett had ever found a book on the subject, nor anyone who had even nearly as much experience as Arlene.

Scarlett hadn’t even been aware that it was possible to impart a sense of actual weight or force to the fire without causing an explosion of some kind. She was still slightly uncertain how that worked, but Arlene had explained that this was one of the perks of working with true pyrokinesis rather than regular pyrokinesis. It kind of did what you wanted it to do, as long as you wanted something ‘reasonable’.

In her opinion, that explanation was plenty confusing and ambiguous on its own, but what mattered was that it seemed to work. This fact alone opened up a lot more possibilities for the future.

She turned her gaze to Arlene. “Apart from those fire arrows, which of the techniques you displayed earlier involved pyrokinesis? Was that miniature sun an example of it?”

That was what had caught Scarlett’s interest the most, frankly. She would love to be able to recreate that effect herself.

Arlene shook her head. “That was a spell called stellar inferno. The name is a bit exaggerated, but it’s an interesting spell. Unfortunately for you, it’s not something you’re likely to learn.” She eyed Scarlett. “Unless I’m wrong in suspecting you’re incapable of casting spells?”

“No, you are correct,” Scarlett said. “At the moment, I am only capable of using pyrokinesis and hydrokinesis, and those are where my focus will remain in the future. However, it surprises me that you were able to discern as much this quickly.”

“It’s apparent enough after seeing how you handled yourself earlier. It’s certainly odd not being able to use traditional magic—I’m curious how you got yourself to that level without it—but it is nonetheless something I can work with. I have enough experience with both traditional spells and pyrokinesis.”

“Then is there no way to reproduce that ‘stellar inferno’ spell using only pyrokinesis?”

“There is, technically,” Arlene answered. She shrugged her shoulders, gazing out at the currently empty village square. “But it wouldn’t serve much purpose. There are countless other ways you can use pyrokinesis to achieve a similar result that won’t cost you even nearly as much mana.”

“Such as?”

The woman leaned back in her chair and held up a hand. An array of tiny flames materialized above her fingers, arching around each other like miniature planets. “The spell is essentially just another means of attacking multiple targets at once. That’s all it boils down to. As for how it works, it capitalizes on a magical phenomenon known as ‘thermal resonance’—I won’t bother explaining what that is since you won’t have any use for it—which allows the spell to progressively draw upon the elemental root of fire and amplify itself with relatively little mana expenditure. So it has a low cost and packs a decent punch, but it takes a while to prepare. If you wanted to replicate it using pyrokinesis, you would need to continuously channel your mana to sustain it, and even then you would likely achieve a subpar result. Using those fire arrows I just taught you would be a better alternative, or that other technique you had.”

“I call those ‘Aqua Mines’,” Scarlett said. “So you believe they are an effective application of my mana, then?”

“They are interesting, if anything, and we might be able to make something more from it in the future,” Arlene replied. “As I mentioned earlier, pyromancy and hydromancy are an unorthodox blend of schools, but you clearly found an innovative approach. Certain wizards would be very interested in dissecting your methods to create an actual spell from it.”

“Truly?”

It was unlikely that Scarlett would ever bother pursuing that avenue when she had so much else going on, but it was interesting to hear. Adalicia and other mages she had encountered did give her intrigued reactions when she displayed her abilities.

Arlene went quiet for a bit after that, continuing to play with the flames above her hand. Scarlett observed her thoughtfully. “If I may, there is one question I have been wanting to ask you that is tangentially related to what we just discussed.”

The woman closed her fingers, causing the flames dancing above to fade. She turned to look at Scarlett. “And what is that?”

“I believe there is no doubt that you are an experienced and powerful pyromancer,” Scarlett began. “However, what I find slightly odd is your proficiency not only in theory and spells, but also in the pyrokinesis you are currently teaching me. Especially its applications in combat. I have spoken to several mages and wizards before, but I have yet to meet any who have displayed expertise in pyrokinesis or its equivalents beyond somewhat rudimentary applications. It is my understanding that everyone considers traditional spells to be superior.”

She had even asked Dean Godwin about this, and he had mentioned that, while he was decent at aerokinesis, he essentially only utilized it for lifting things around and looking cool, though he didn’t use those exact words.

Arlene was the only mage Scarlett had met who actually used pyrokinesis in combat.

The woman studied her for a few seconds. “Let me start answering that by asking you a question: do you know why manifest magic is more prevalent among higher-level spells than lower-level ones?”

Scarlett furrowed her brow. “It is because manifest magic is generally more complex to perform, no? Less experienced and skilled mages are less likely to employ it.”

Manifest magic was magic that directly altered and manipulated the world itself, as opposed to evanescent magic which produced temporary effects without altering reality. Although an evanescent spell could influence its surroundings, the distinction was still pretty significant.

The way Scarlett understood it, and based on Arlene’s own words, manifest magic and normal pyrokinesis were the closest one could come to conjuring genuine fire from mana.

“Complexity is certainly a factor,” Arlene said, “but there’s another reason. Perhaps you’ve yet to encounter this, considering you only use true pyrokinesis, but manifest spells’ main advantage over evanescent ones is that they are far more challenging to counter.”

Scarlett nodded her head. She had encountered that, actually, when she and Kat were ambushed by Cabal Adepts during one of their excursions. The Adepts’ weapons had been enchanted to nullify the Shielder’s spells, so Kat had switched to using manifest magic as a workaround. After all, a weapon made to cut through magical constructs in the shape of a stone would have a much harder time cutting through an actual stone.

But it was true that this had never been a significant concern for Scarlett herself, because she was already using something that was equivalent to manifest magic. In fact, true pyrokinesis appeared to come with some added advantages, like being more effective against ghosts and other entities that traditionally have resistances against magic.

Arlene smiled faintly at her. “It seems you understand what I’m referring to.”

“I believe I do, yes. But how does that relate to my question? You yourself can perform manifest spells, can you not? You would have no reason to use pyrokinesis, if so.”

“It’s simply a matter of flexibility,” Arlene explained. “In duels between experienced mages, manifest spells are always crucial, but spells are, by definition, unmalleable. They are a schematic telling your magic to ‘do this’, saving you the trouble of having to produce immensely complex phenomena yourself. They have set uses and limited adaptability. Knowing the right spell for the right occasion is the mark of a skilled mage. But pyrokinesis, especially true pyrokinesis, offers much more versatility. It’s faster and more malleable in combat, as long as you don’t need anything too complex. In return, you sacrifice mana efficiency and power, but that can be compensated by having significant reserves.” The woman smirked. “That is something I have never lacked, and that is also part of the reason why I have mastered both forms. I’ve only known two others who bothered to do the same.”

“I see…” Scarlett’s forehead creased in thought.

That wasn’t too different from what she had experienced herself and heard before, though she’d never had it put this way to her. As for mana costs, her limited capacity had always been her biggest limitation. While [Ittar’s Genesis] offered a potential remedy there, she could only afford to bring it out on specific occasions. Her only other mana-increasing item, [Depraved Solitude’s Choker], provided only a fraction of what [Ittar’s Genesis] did.

She had been considering upgrading the necklace using the legendary-grade [Tablet of Sovegrephor] that she had acquired from the Sanctuary of Ittar. But she had also been saving that to upgrade her [Charms of Apperception] again, if she needed it to work against higher-level enemies when she faced those. It was a core part of her current combat style, after all.

She did know the locations of a few other items with similar properties to the [Charms of Apperception], though, so it might be worth upgrading [Depraved Solitude’s Choker] now just to have that immediate mana boost. In truth, she was pretty curious to see how much mana the upgraded item would provide. It had originally been an item meant for players around levels 20-30—a pretty powerful item for that range—so upgrading it to legendary grade would be akin to bumping it up 30-40 levels.

While it wouldn’t rival [Ittar’s Genesis], which gave 20 000 mana and even recharged itself, it still held promise.

Her attention turned back to Arlene. The woman was watching her quietly.

Well, there were a lot of things that held promise at the moment. And she supposed that, for the time being, all she could do was continue working to see how it all panned out.