After defeating a magma golem, Leon sealed its spirit inside the gun, and he smirked when he analyzed his new toy.

Blazing gun

It grants the wearer the skill: Magma Bullet Lv 20. If the user has the spell, the damage caused by the projectile will increase according to the user spell level.

It can shoot three bullets per second.

Cost: 30 mana.

"Not bad for a first try..."

Few people would be able to use that more than ten times on Earth, but the power of every bullet would be the real deal. Not in the long run, but to some extent, it was better to use a weapon like that instead of learning magic.

"... I keep increasing the number of things I can do and the ways I can defeat the enemies. However, increasing my cards also decrease the time I can practice other skills..."

Leon decided to store the blazing gun, if he manages to create another one, he would be able to increase the damage he could cause at some golems by manifold, but the mana cost wasn't something to laugh at... Anyway, Leon made a mental note to learn Magma Bullet later, because he felt that Darya finally learned Mana Armor. Just as he had expected, Darya got up and sighed in relief.

"What is the next step?" Darya asked.

"Level up your Mana Armor," Leon answered. "Keep it activated at all times and retreat when you see that your mana is about to end."

Darya nodded and then Leon didn't waste time, he shot three Fire Bullets that made Darya open her eyes widely because she lost a lot of mana.

"Wait, Wait!" Darya said. "If you shot again, I will be hit."

"I didn't expect much from a level one skill, but this is... how many times it leveled up?" Leon asked

"Nine... it became level ten just now." Darya frowned. "I guess you already surpassed the level of regular guards that work in the city... all thanks to the dragon hearts."

"Thanks to my hard work." Leon frowned. "No one gave those dragon hearts to me. Regardless, we will try to clear the dungeon when your Mana Armor reaches level twenty."

Leon didn't know the difference in power between an ordinary guard and the soldiers who fought at the frontlines against the harvesters. But before trying to challenge the harvester to obtain the knowledge he wanted, he would have to surpass the first group. Practicing spells against each other was already better than fighting against the elemental golems, the problem was that mana was continually being used. So, they had to buy mana potions at the dungeon shop.

The next day, Leon and Darya walked toward the dungeon. Darya was very tense because they wanted to test how well she could fare against an elemental golem alone. At that moment, she could only use Earth, Water, Wind, Fire Bullets, and the next level of offensive spells, which were Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire Arrows.

"Just relax, okay?" Leon said. "This is just a test to make you gain confidence. Fear can keep you from making mistakes, but if you let it control you, you make even more mistakes."

"Okay..." Darya breathed in deeply.

Against elemental golems, Fire Punch, and the other spells like that would help Darya to make them stay away. She could learn those in one week, but Leon decided not to give her that time... Darya needed to get used to the fear. As a mage, sometimes, Darya will have to keep enemies from approaching, but that couldn't be her sole goal in a battle. It was better to defeat them faster using spells that cause more damage instead of using the weaker ones, which could give her more time but prolong the battle for too long.

The first golem that appeared had been a ice golem. Without even aiming for a few seconds, Darya shot several Fire Arrows, it wasn't a surprise since she didn't aim, but she missed the target.

"They are slow... so you have time to aim," Leon said. "Lose some seconds, in the beginning, to make your aim steady, and you will be able to cause damage non-stop until the monster dies. Remember, even if you fail, Mana Armor will protect you."

Darya breathed deeply to calm her nerves and to stop her arms from trembling... Leon recalled the moments he spent training Gisela. Both of them had talent in different fields, but Darya didn't suffer as Gisela did. She didn't have an easy life, but unlike Gisela, at some moment, she accepted that everything couldn't be helped. She didn't understand that she could have changed her fate a long time ago, Darya just needed to be a bit braver…

There were two ways to defeat a golem, destroy him before he could regenerate its body, or attacks its core as much as possible. It was hard to be sure, but based on Leon's experience, the core could receive half of the damage the body could before running out of juice. The problem with that tactic was that by doing that, the golems wouldn't drop their cores no matter what, but that wasn't a problem since the drop rate was low to being with. Besides, it was faster to kill it that way... one just has to have a good aim.

Instead of trying to hit the core, Darya shot Fire Arrows at the ice golem's legs. A few of her attacks didn't hit the mark, but since she calmed down, Darya managed to stop the golem's approach by destroying its legs. Once the creature slowed down to repair its legs, Darya managed to get rid of her nervousness and attacked non-stop... at the monster's legs. Eventually, the beast died, but Darya had to use half of her mana... she was still afraid of fighting, and that was making her use more mana than she was supposed to.

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