Within the vast Nakula Jungle, the leaves were starting to brown as the footsteps of autumn approaches.
On the ground with dried fallen leaves, was also littered with white bones and a few not-completely-decomposed skulls. Coupled with the rusty stench blood in the air, makes it a very chilling sight.
In the center of the fallen leaves, a humongous creature with grey fur and four thick limbs was letting out big snores that vibrate its entire muscle packed body. With big tusks protruding out of the face that held a slight likeness to humans.
But on the top of a tree, there stood a silhouette that did not fit into this hellish picture.
She, a young budding lady, tall and dazzling, her looks makes it hard for others to believe she is only fifteen years of age.
175cm tall, delicate and refined features, her purple eyes beneath glasses with black frames. Her waist-long hair sways in the wind, a black coat hugs her body as she holds a magic tome in one hand, and a simple rustic wooden staff in the other.
"…ＯＯＯＯ，ＯＯ，ＯＯＯＯＯ，ＯＯＯＯＯＯＯＯ，ＯＯＯ，ＯＯＯＯ— [Falling Swords of Light!]" She opened her mouth and used ten seconds to complete the incantation for a spell.
At her command, countless shining blades of light appeared in the air, spinning, their position organized and spun upon their descent.
…
A roar pierced through the tranquil air, and several birds flew out of the woods into the skies in fear.
The roar was but a beginning, as what follows was the crash and sound of falling trees, making other numerous animals flee in fright, almost falling over each other in their flight.
"... So, this is how magic of the outside world functions. Curious." In the scattering leaves and broken wood, Grace casually dismisses the angry roar from behind her as insignificant, with the staff now on her back, simply leafing through the magic tome with a blank expression and nodding her head.
The village of Saddin is good and all, but the variety of spells that one could learn are simply too limited in her opinion. Fireballs, wind blades, shadow lances, all are spells that can no longer satisfy her.
But this magic tome from the royal capital is different. Despite only containing information on basic spells, the spells contain more flair and are more stylish than what she has learned before. It is as she thought, the outside world must contain even more special magics.
As she was pondering to herself, the fist of a giant gorilla sped towards her direction, only to slam into a bundle of flower petals. Behind the giant gorilla, there were many fallen tree, and Grace sat on one of the vacant tree stumps, coldly observing the injuries she has inflicted on the backside of the gorilla.
"..." It seems the spell doesn't pack enough power. Her target was still acting very lively.
But Grace, on second thought, contributed it to the fact that it's probably due to her lack-luster affinity towards Light.
The gorilla is quite the powerful beast. With its sharp senses, it quickly realized that it has been tricked. It had no idea on how the "itty bitty" target had avoided its attack, but that doesn't affect it from attempting to stomp Grace with its big feet.
Once again teleporting behind the gorilla, Grace tucked the magic tome into her [Belt Satchel] without a care, and took up her [Beginner's Staff] for the second time.
This commotion created by the gorilla has disturbed too many beings as it is. From the far mountains came a majestic wolf howl, notifying Grace that she must quicken her actions. She closed her eyes in concentration.
...Hm, let me think. If I want to use Walson's method to recreate that spell, then I first need to declare these variables, then construct a loop, as well as change the magical energy that fuels the spell from Light into Dark in order to increase it's power... This spell shall be called...
「… sword，fall ，dark ，✚✚✚—"Falling Swords of Lasting Darkness!"」
High-speed chanting in a different style yields the result of countless gigantic shadowy blades raining to the ground.
A few minutes passed and the gigantic golden wolf arrived and looked at chunks of meat on the ground… that "formerly" was a gigantic gorilla; and Grace standing right next to them with a blank expression.
"… I give you meat; you give me EXP and pelt." Grace raised her head nonchalantly, looking into the upside-down-almond-shaped eyes of the Mountain King, then proceeded to point at the… stuff… on the ground, then pointed towards her own back.
Unlike before where there was only a wooden staff, now her back also has a roll of fresh, high-quality pelt.
"Ooouu!" The mountain king gave an angry huff that sent out a plume of hot air, seemingly unsatisfied by her answer.
"… I know, it's Arkon's territory. But, I found it first." Grace fearlessly tried to bargain with it.
For the last two years, [Elite] type of monsters causing a commotion is not unusual. The mountain king has been challenged by other creatures many times, and this particular gorilla was no exception. But it seems like the unfortunate gorilla faced its doom by the hands of Grace before meeting the mountain king.
… According to Walson, this also made the [Nakula Jungle]'s danger rate go up by a whole tier. Although it all just boils down to the redistribution of territory after the withering incident happened, and things should calm down after a few years.
Grace and the mountain king did not stay at a stalemate for too long. After half an hour of bargaining, as well as a copious amount of bribery through cured meat, the mountain king let out a howl and left with displeasure. Then, and only then, did Grace finally relax.
She teleported once more, this time, to the top of a giant tree. Gazing at the small village of Saddin from afar, and the endlessly stretching horizon from this high vantage point.
She is almost fifteen years old now. Fifteen years. It means that she will have to leave the Orphanage, leave the village of Saddin, go to the capital city, and go to the Royal Academy of Magic.
The world outside the village is oh so vast. What will she encounter? And how many unknown magics are there for herself to learn?
She grew excited just thinking about these possibilities, but… but…
At that point in time, Walson… would you still be willing to let me walk with you?
AN: News from HoGa! He is negotiating with other translators, trying to speed up the progress, since relying on me alone wasn't a good idea all the time. So...
1. Hopefully, the english versions (as in, updates here in ff dot net and on AO3) will become a consistent weekly update. With new translators helping along. But as we are all translator hobbyists, don't expect too much.
2. There will be differences in the English and Chinese versions, both cultural differences as well as a few plot differences. Mostly because the English version follows the plot of the hard-book cover, while the Chinese are the web-novel version. Don't worry, the differences are not major. Mostly just revisions from HoGa.
3. Answering one particular review: HoGa will like to state that the original chinese version is still on-going, with around 190 chapters. He estimates that it's around half of the entire planned story.
4. New websites will become available soon. Facebook pages, AO3 updates, Twitter/Tumblr (we haven't decided which one yet). You can find more information (and most importantly, pictures!) on this story once those websites are done.
PS: According to HoGa, he wants to recruit more translators! If any of you are interested, please go to the AO3 version of this fanfic and find the link to a "Google Form" test where we will want you to take to make sure you're up to snuff.