With a pair of tongs, she grabs a small cauldron from the furnace and tips it in midair. Smooth thick liquid, it's red-orange glow tinged with occasional semi-solid black crusted matter, pours out of it, and into a rectangular steel box, filling out several small holes. Setting aside the cauldron, she then taps the box to the anvil, shaking out air bubbles. Satisfied, she plunges the steel to a trough filled with water. Steam gushes angrily, hissing and spitting continuously for a minute.

She then lays the box back on the anvil, and with a blow from a hammer, splits the rectangle lengthwise. Another couple of taps, and large pellets, more than a centimeter in diameter and black from soot, fall loose.

A knock on the door. The voice of Romeleth's daughter enters the area. "Are you done, Lyla? I still have to teach you this, so hurry up please."

Lyla pulls off the protective mask. "Yeah I just finished. I'll be there in a sec," She replies, gathering the iron spheres.

--------------------
So unlucky we are. 4: Fire and Ice.

"Now, concentrate. Invoke the mana in your body, and let it run through your circuit."

Lyla closed her eyes and followed. Rina watched for a few seconds, then proceeded.

"Good. Here's a small can. I want you to use the mana to hit it with as much force as you can exert." She instructed. Instantly, just as she took her hands off the tin, the cylinder twists inward, crumpling in itself. Rina breathed a small 'Woah', then did a single clap.

"That exercise never fails to amaze me." She laughed. "Okay, let's up the ante. Activate your magic circuit once more, but don't release it yet," She paused as Lyla did as she told. "This is a shortcut by the way; I know that you're supposed to be uttering phrases as you conjure up a formula ring, but just follow me through this and it's fine."

"Now, project the ring using your mana. We'll use the fire elemental, projectile." A faint ring incribed with runes appeared, circling the mutilated tin can. "A magic practitioner needs a formula ring so that she could control an element. She activates it by speaking to their mana. Those serve as the 'magic words.' Thing is, elite wielders are proficient enough to skip the speaking parts; and with the very nice side effect of a less visible ring, they had the edge in combat."

"The logic with this shortcut is that by proper control of your magic circuit, it is possible to ditch the speaking part firsthand and go voiceless from the beginning. Though you'll encounter a steep learning curve on the way, it's still definitely worth it since it won't cost you loads of years to learn just the basics. Release the fire bolt." She gestured.

Nothing. The ring disappeared, but no bolt of heat came. "Eh?" Lyla uttered. Rina blinked.

The girl thought deeply. "Lemme see... what could be wrong.. project the ring again." She examined the circling inscriptions. "Nothing's wrong with the runes, you memorized them correctly.. so that means..."

"You can't trigger the spell using your thoughts alone." She smiled.
"So I'll have to do it the regular way?" Lyla sighed.

"Not exactly. This is probably your steep part of the learning curve. Or something." Rina shrugged. "Where you'll initially have a hard time, but with a little help, it's possible to make it through."

"What now then?"

"Whip out the formula ring again, but instead of just willing the spell out, speak a word that would mean the releasing of the spell. That should do it."

"Feuer." And the can burst into flames.

"Brilliant," Rina snapped, kicking the burning rubble out the door and straight to the narrow canal. "We'll now go straight to the point of this lesson." She sat back on the couch. "Uncle Merajiah said that the huge spiders - the Argos - weren't the only ones that resided underground."

"There are Nightmares and Whispers too. We've seen those sort back home." Lyla said.

"Gotcha. Anyways, they're ghosts. We can't equip everyone with elementals. All those who can manipulate mana in any way should learn how to divert mana into their weapons. Now you try it."

Lyla's mouth was agape. "Right now? How?"

"It's easy, divert mana to your hand, then project a basic fire formula ring in that unit. Come on, do it." Rina nagged, very much liking her sudden superiority to the older girl.

The student followed, and grabbed her pocket knife. Suddenly, the town hall bell rings loudly, its clanging as fast as the panic that immediately surfaced in both of their hearts.

She scratched the stone floor, leaving a burn mark. They both stood up and equipped themselves.

As they left the house, the younger one couldn't help herself. "You're so cool, oneechan!" She gushed. Lyla hugged her, and lightly kissed her. She smirked.

"Because you're a great sensei."

--------------------
"You're a fabulous student, Edward. Such a talented ice wizard you'll make."

The young man smiled back at Merajiah, and replied to the compliment. "I've read the basics before. I just needed advanced lessons."

The young man stood still for a moment, then brought up a subject. "If this is the city of magecraft, why are there so few practitioners?"

The wizard was silent. He breathed deep, relishing the air. "We are magi of destruction. And there is nothing left to destroy."

Merajiah pulled his robe from a hanger. "Let us get going, then."
"Yeah.. we should."

--------------------
The sidewalk beside the bakery. An eight-legged creature, almost human-sized, scuttling. Four - no, three - meters in its direction, a villager.

A pull on the lever. One. Clean the barrel. Load gunpowder. Pack. Load ball. Pack.

Seven and a half blocks to the north. A hole in the ground. A pack of monsters, seemingly passive. A platinum horse, it's mane resembling smoke and fire, kicking a door ajar, to no avail.

Lyla shoots. The iron ball passes through the entity, hitting an arachnid behind it. She smirks. Two. Prepare barrel...

A crash. Where? Down -- six arachnids; one beheading a man clean, the rest climbing steadily up the rooftop.

Aim. Fire. The one up front gets hit - with an exit wound the size of a child's fist - and tumbles downward, bringing two with it in the process. Reload. Fir-- She pulls the trigger again; nothing happened. The matchlock!

The Argos reached the roof, and as it's forelegs got their first step on the purple tiles, the Arquebus' bayonet greeted them, hacking through. The spider endured a series of pierces and slashes dealt by the rusty blade before it went down. The remaining one was much quicker to react, evading slashes that would have killed it otherwise. Lyla managed to deal a strong blow with the rifle butt, dazing it for a moment - enough time to plunge the blade to it's body. Lyla held the extinguished matchlock tip with her thumb and index, concentrated hard, and with a faint whisper passing her lips, conjured a faint glow back into the thin ignition rope.

She pulled the S-shaped arm, bringing the ember to the priming powder in the pan attached to the barrel side. It created a flash that penetrated a small port in the breech of the gun, igniting the main charge.

Bang.