Previously at the dinner table, Flamme had demonstrated the method of elongating her fingernails.
Similarly, she could achieve a high degree of fusion between her soul and magical power, thereby forming even greater combat strength, an all-around enhancement.
At this moment, her long hair danced, and her magical power bloomed like a raging fire.
Every movement carried a soul attribute.
This was a qualitative change.
It was equivalent to transforming herself into a weapon imbued with soul attributes, making it difficult for those Ancient Death Rancor spirits to shake this fiercely burning torch.
Frieren understood the specific principle at a glance, but she herself had more methods to achieve a similar state, and there were too many dangerous elements within her body to easily adjust.
Regardless, the same school of magic had branched into different paths.
"I'm very happy you can do this. Truly full of imagination."
"There's much more for Master to be happy about."
With a clear laugh, Flamme suddenly stomped on the ground, kicking up a frosty gale.
The Ash of War: Hoarfrost Stomp was already capable of freezing these skeletons, sending massive blocks of ice crashing towards their target.
An iceberg abruptly appeared before the silver-haired girl, large enough to crush a street, its shadow enveloping all escape routes.
Whoosh!
She waved out a strand of scorching flame, easily melting the ice.
Instantly, a torrent of floodwater poured down, some of it splashing onto her clothes.
Suddenly, a red-haired figure leaped out of the water, yet she was dry, enveloped by a barrier.
Frieren's pupils contracted for an instant, and she activated her defenses almost simultaneously.
But the lightning was also swift.
The girl, with a barehanded grab, summoned heavenly lightning, channeling it through the water—the best conductor—to strike before the barrier could fully close.
Crackling explosions accompanied by incandescent white light enveloped Frieren's position, blasting clean through the training platform.
The onlooking elves' hair stood on end, their bodies tingling.
One could imagine the power was incredibly immense.
If that hit a person, wouldn't they turn to ash in minutes, leaving no corpse behind!
"This power... they're both going all out!"
"It won't turn fatal, will it? Neither of them can afford to lose in such a grand display."
"Don't worry needlessly. It's us who should be retreating now."
The lightning was so intense it scorched the rock foundation black and sent smoke billowing.
Even Flamme frowned, fearing an accident, as this was a meticulously planned surprise attack.
For her, soul magic could only play a supporting role, especially against a formidable opponent like her master.
She had to rely on unexpected defensive counterattacks, using elemental damage as the main offense, coordinating them to build up without being detected.
Finally, she had landed a fierce blow.
The effect?
As the smoke cleared, a silver-haired elf with fluffy hair stood there, silently exhaling a smoke ring, her face a picture of exasperation.
"You caught me off guard. I guess I am a bit too relaxed in the village."
Despite her words, Frieren's clothes were still clean and tidy, her skin without a trace of scorching.
She had taken the full brunt of the lightning strike, yet it only amounted to a "cigarette burn and a perm"?
It completely subverted the impression of a fragile mage.
Flamme was relieved, but she also felt the vast disparity even more acutely.
What an absurd margin for error!
She had clearly neutralized Master's constantly active distorting light wall with a barrier-breaking effect, only to arrive at a terrifying conclusion:
Frieren had been protecting diamond with an eggshell all along.
To most people, that eggshell was harder than diamond, let alone what lay beyond.
Breaking the defense was just the beginning.
That physical body had been tempered a thousand times, a high concentration of who knows how much energy.
Every inch of skin could negate magical bombardment.
Was this still a normal living organism?
How was it achieved?
What terrifying level of training was required?
"Master, you might as well just drop your defenses and tank those spells with your body. I guarantee your opponents would despair very quickly."
"Flamme, there are countless concept-based curse magics in the world that ignore defenses. Never underestimate your enemies. Perhaps even I am not their match."
"No matter how strong a concept magic is, it still requires imagination. And the enemy cannot imagine a scenario where they defeat you. This is a law."
Flamme believed that those so-called indecipherable magic curses relied more on the caster's imagination, or rather, a spirit that transcended others.
If the gap was too large, it was as if they didn't exist, simply ineffective.
Otherwise, demons should have become invincible the moment they awakened concept magic, not gradually becoming famous only after hundreds of years.
"You've seen too little. Let's go to a labyrinth to train next time."
Perhaps the biggest difference in the power systems between reality and the Lands Between lay in the physical body.
For example, demigods were generally immensely strong and impervious to blades and spears, with immortality as a baseline, their defenses maxed out.
Therefore, they didn't think the Ashen One, also a demigod, was particularly tough; she could still be injured.
In contrast, the top warriors among demons and humans were still prone to injury, though, of course, they remained lively even when wounded.
But the difference between the two objectively existed.
Frieren had integrated the strengths: in short, her stance and poise bars were bottomless.
No wonder.
Flamme had been at a loss the first time she faced a "poise-dog" opponent.
She voluntarily retracted a portion of her magical pressure, instantly reducing the stress on everyone around.
The heavy feeling pressing on their shoulders disappeared.
"Since you've already learned the new soul magic, let's begin a comprehensive test now. Give it your all."
"I understand, Master."
The brief exchange of a few rounds had made Flamme understand that she didn't need to worry about accidental injuries.
The key was how much of her strength she could display to satisfy Frieren.
She would pour out everything, showcasing all her accumulated progress up to this point.
The red-haired girl, with her soul and magical power highly fused, instead began to restrain her aura.
This was a signal to avoid waste and further concentrate her power.
What followed would be a tempest—
Suddenly, the silver-haired girl transformed into a moon and shot towards her, initiating an attack first.
Flamme immediately used a barrier to defend, as it wasn't a soul-type attack.
Crack!
Unexpectedly, the defensive barrier was as fragile as paper, shattering on impact.
The chilling coldness of the moon emanating from it even reduced magical activity, making one shiver.
"This is the Magic-Breaking Magic I mentioned to you."
"You don't have to use it right now, do you?!"
Before her voice fell, a glint of sword light flew past Flamme's ear.
She barely dodged it. "That was close!"
"Don't misunderstand. I'm not asking you to attack me, but to do your utmost to preserve your strength. Your future opponents are the strongest experts at the world's peak. Before them, fighting spirit and resilience are more important, as is not losing the conviction of victory."
The magical power Frieren brandished surged into a sword light that pierced the heavens and the earth, rent the clouds, and lingered in the mists of the mountain ravines.
Are you kidding me?
Using such world-shattering magic while demanding her disciple not to be afraid.
Outrageous.
Hit by a Dark Moon, Flamme's magical power continuously decreased.
Facing this move, she lost the explosive mobility of her magic, caught in a dilemma, left with only a final, desperate gamble.
Facing the light, she took a stance, solid as a fortress.
When the Carian Greatsword struck the ripples of Thops's Barrier, a strong repulsive force was transmitted, and at the same time, Frieren's lips curved upwards.
Very good, finally used Thops's Barrier in actual combat.
But the shockwave's diffusion didn't stop.
The collision of the two immense forces completely shattered the bedrock, turning everything upside down, causing them to lose their footing.
The Elf Forest rumbled.
Even from more than ten kilometers away, a pillar of dust could be seen rising from the ground.
It didn't dissipate like an explosion but rather resembled a powerful impact launching matter high into the sky, its speed so fast that friction ignited it into a stream of fire.
It was practically a volcanic eruption!
What kind of power could actually rival the force to destroy a city?
The elves around the training ground had the most say.
The shockwave tore up the ground, uprooted towering trees, and sent rocks flying into the sky.
Too exaggerated.
Such an impact naturally made Flamme unsteady as well; she stumbled.
But unlike an ordinary person, she didn't look down at her feet.
Instead, she overcame her instincts and continued to scan the smoke, coordinating with her magical perception to find her target's position: directly above!
Unbeknownst to her, Frieren was floating in mid-air, Glintblades raining down, blanketing the training ground that had already turned into a wasteland.
"There are too many, I can't deflect them all!"
At this point, Flamme could only defend while retreating.
Craters were blasted behind her by the Glintblades.
Even so, she knew that her master was holding back by an amount comparable to an entire lake.
In the battle of Northwind Keep, a single Glintblade could instantly kill a demon mage.
She would never forget the sight of the silver-haired girl curled up in mid-air, blooming and gathering power, the slaughtering Glintblades surrounding the caster, enemy corpses continually falling.
One move could pierce through defensive barriers and flesh.
Now, it pursued her relentlessly.
I have to counterattack!
With this thought, the red-haired girl suddenly braked hard.
The Glintblades, aimed by inertia, missed.
In an instant, azure light converged—
"Could it be Soul Stream?"
This was a move that released soul power.
Lacking the corresponding accumulation was tantamount to suicide.
It had to be stopped.
Only when Frieren flew before her did she realize it was a magic developed based on it, specializing in kill-attacks, simple and brutal in nature, entirely focused on surprise.
Her hesitation on whether to save her disciple made her miss the best opportunity to dodge.
Unwilling to easily deflect it back for fear of accidental injury, she could only meet it head-on with a similar beam of magic, causing an explosion that briefly obscured their vision.
Taking this chance, Flamme leaped into the air, this time her beam even fiercer.
She finally managed to hit the distorting light wall.
Even Frieren's close-fitting protective magic became unstable, constantly flickering.
Although she knew her master was considerably tough, she couldn't help but smile smugly.
"Attacking while moving, huh? Not bad. Coincidentally, I also have a move to teach you."
Comet Azur!
An azure torrent rushed towards the red-haired girl.
She nimbly landed to dodge it, only to find that the magic was still being sustained.
The terrifying energy beam grazed her scalp and flew past.
Moreover, the caster was actually maintaining the output while slowly descending, providing suppressive fire cover all by herself?
Although she had only learned Comet Azur recently, Frieren had already compensated for the weakness of not being able to move while firing.
Therefore, the advantage of its sustained output was magnified severalfold, becoming a torrent that washed over everything.
From afar, the azure pillar of light erased all scenery.
Getting hit by the edge of that torrent would mean annihilation.
She had originally planned to use the Founding Rain of Stars that Sorceress Sellen had taught her, but area attacks were hard to control, so she'd save it for next time.
The elves watching from the side were completely stunned.
Alright, we know your master-disciple training methods are extraordinary, practically suicidal.
Risks that applied to ordinary people simply didn't exist in their eyes.
"Making such a huge commotion, are you trying to stop people from taking their afternoon naps?!"
Mirialdele, grumbling as she got out of bed at Frieren's house, glanced out the window.
A beam of light shot into the sky, parting the mountain ranges and dispersing the dense clouds.
"Huh?"
The familiar magical aura told her it wasn't a demon invasion, at least, but it was a bit too spectacular.
"That child is really going through it, but it's also an eye-opener. Did you feel it? The invincible power of this mage from the divine era..."
Not even ruins were left of the training ground.
The barriers previously used to suppress the shockwaves had long since shattered, rendered useless, because both master and disciple had underestimated the destructive power generated by their constant experimentation with new moves.
Fortunately, no one else was accidentally injured.
As the silver-haired girl slowed her magical output, the enduring storm ceased.
The one suffering the most was undoubtedly Flamme, crouching behind a huge boulder with her head in her hands, holding up a barrier.
Unlike watching the demon war from a first-person perspective before, this time all the moves were aimed directly at her.
Now she understood how desperate the demon vanguard must have felt back then.
Crack.
Footsteps indicated Frieren closing the distance.
For top-tier experts, hiding was impossible; everything was within their perception range.
She couldn't give up just like that.
She had to show her master her progress as much as possible; otherwise, she herself wouldn't be content.
With this thought, Flamme calmed herself and poured in her remaining magic, reshaping her soul state in an unprecedented way—
The silver-haired girl stopped in her tracks.
A new, threatening magical power surged, similar to the Queen of the Full Moon's summons back then.
No, it was a summon using herself as the medium.
What leaped out from behind the huge boulder was actually a flying dragon.
Its sharp claws slammed onto her, blocked by a barrier.
But in the next moment, it shattered with a sound, neutralized—it was Flamme's barrier technique.
The sharp claws snipped off a lock of hair, and at the same time, she saw the full picture:
Materialized magical power enveloped the caster, then soul magic guided it, bestowing upon it a tangible form and matching explosive power.
So that was how it was.
"A good idea. Then you can use even stronger magic. It's equivalent to a suit of armor as a medium."
"Of course."
The flying dragon clenched hellish inferno and ruinous lightning in its left and right hands respectively, aiming at its target.
In the nick of time, Frieren lightly stomped the ground, raising earth dolls to block.
Using mass for defense wasn't easily broken—wrong.
The magic, its power massively increased, attacked with devastating force, including the huge body of the flying dragon.
Even though its magical power was failing and about to dissipate, it still delivered Flamme's attack.
The dragon's magic was offset by the distorting light wall, but a clenched, powdered fist struck her abdomen, a full-impact blow.
The silver-haired girl's figure was knocked back ten meters by the impact, breaking a tree behind her.
In contrast, the red-haired girl, deflated, knelt on the ground, panting and smiling:
"This time, it was a genuine breakthrough. Did you feel the true soul damage?"
"Kids certainly don't lack imagination."
Frieren casually cast a soul heal on herself.
So, receiving true soul damage caused a stun.
However, the soul content within her body was too strong, enough to absorb it; she wasn't afraid of similar types of damage.
"Master always uses encouraging education, doesn't she? Actually, from beginning to end, your aim was off, you banned warrior-style combat, and you always defended first in every exchange..."
"Really?"
Let's just say you've become strong to the point where I can't hold back and ensure your safety simultaneously.
Witnessing the silver-haired girl's solemn nod, the exhausted Flamme couldn't help but bubble with joy.
After all, her master's evaluation held the most weight.
So, she was probably no less than an Archmage now, right?
Little did she know, Frieren was conflicted.
Having only seen the combat power of Greater Demons, she likewise didn't know the level of Sages or the Seven Sages of Destruction.
Practice yields true knowledge, but she lacked practical experience.
Should she really let the child out to get more training?
_____
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