Isekai Losers!

Vol. 2 Chapter 4: In preparation

A cool breeze blew through the peaceful woods as Lan and Gabriel traversed them.

"Are you sure Barny won't mind that you left work?" Gabriel asks.

"It's fine." Lan smiles. "I told him that I have some medicine left to deliver."

"I-I see..." Gabriel looks at the ground. After a moment of silence, he speaks up again. "Thanks for doing this, Lan."

"Of course!" hums the girl cheerfully. "This is really important for the town, right?"

"Yeah." Gabriel nods with an awkward smile.

Suddenly, Lan turns around, startling Gabriel as she leans towards him.

"Besides..." the girl looks up at him, her crimson red eyes radiant and mesmerizing. "It's been a while since we hung out."

Gabriel turns red, averting his gaze as he fixes his glasses. "I-it sure has!"

***

After some more walking, they finally reach a clearing in the forest. It was a place both of them were very familiar with.

Gabriel looks around. "Hey, this is--"

"Yup." Lan smiles. "The spot where you got attacked by jackalopes. It's also where I taught you the fireball spell. Sadly, the azure berry season is over, so we don't have an excuse to go into the forest all the time, but that's fine. I'm sure you won't need that much time to master your second spell." Lan exclaims.

"You think...?" Gabriel asks, seeming uncertain.

"I know it." She reassured him with a confident grin. "You're super talented, after all. Let's get started." she suggests before turning away from him.

"I will show you a simple lightning spell. As with every spell, the original chant is the key to learning it." Lan raises her right hand. "From the skies above, in the palm of my hand, appear!" A sea blue magical circle manifests itself in the palm of her hand.

"...Zap!" She shouts as a short stroke of lightning shoots out of the magic circle, smashing into a nearby tree. A decent amount of smoke appears on impact, but it quickly dissipates, revealing that the spell left only a tiny scratch on the tree's bark.

Gabriel observes the unimpressive mark. "Don't you have anything... stronger than zap?"

Lan sighs with a smile. "I do. I could teach you lightning bolt which sees widespread usage as it's more destructive and easier to master, but I won't. It's a less refined spell which consumes more mana. It's also less effective against steam elementals."

Gabriel looks at her curiously. "How so?"

"You see, lightning bolt is rough and destructive, while zap is precise and easy to control. For instance, zap won't fry an oponent alive like lightning bolt will but it will paralyze them just the right amount. Against steam elementals, both spells fulfill the same purpose but lightning bolt will completely obliterate the elemental while zap will just disable the particles that make up their steam body, killing it." Lan explains.

"I see..." Gabriel nodded understandingly. "So, essentially, Zap gets the job done more efficiently while wasting less mana."

"Once mastered, zap is easier to control, consumes less mana and your allies are at a smaller risk of being hit. You can also collect steam essence more efficiently as the elementals body won't dissipate as quickly."