Shroomkid Gonbee: From Forest to Sorcery

Chapter 9 - GLADIUS FULGORIS IGNITI

My style of battle doesn't last very long since I usually just use traps and mushroom tendrils to catch my opponents. But this battle against Miss Fivim has lasted at least 40 minutes by now.

When she started using her Aura arts she quickly became a very formidable warrior that pushed me further than what I would normally do in battle. Only my Master pushed me this far and I would lose every time.

It was comfortable when I lost to Master, it felt more like a lesson than an actual loss. This wasn't the same with Miss Fivim. I wasn't sure why, maybe it was a hit to my pride as a mage. Or maybe, since this was originally a test of my abilities that got out of hand. All I knew was that I couldn't let her beat me.

Now, our final clash. I already used most of my Mana already, perhaps the use of my Mushroom Forest Terrain spell only served to drain me as it didn't give me as much of an advantage as I thought.

Miss Fivim was strong as one would expect from a B-rank adventurer. The Aura Miss Fivim used to strengthen her body was incredible, she didn't even need to add more of it to counter my Burning Blade spell that had transformed my staff into a sword of fire. It also didn't help that I chose to use the fire attribute when she had its natural enemy of water.

Although plant magic was my strongest attribute I could only use mushrooms, which were not good for the offensive power I needed right now. After that, Fire was my next strongest attribute, a much better choice for offense, the reason I used it, overlooking Miss Fivim's water in the moment.

The initial clash of our moves had blown away the billowed smoke of my earlier Explosion spell, and revealed that we now had a sizable audience watching us. I wasn't very good with crowds. The sudden spectators caused my stomach to turn and my spell started weakening.

"Not now," I thought to myself as Miss Fivim started pushing me back with her immense strength. The flames of my sword drowned under the onslaught of her water, hissing sharply as it began to die out.

I think she took notice of my plight as she ushered words of reassurance and kindness, "It's okay, don't worry about them. They aren't important, just focus on me and your magic." Her kindness warmed my heart, easing the knot in my stomach.

It seemed strange to me. Why would my opponent support me when we were locked in our final struggle against each other? I could only think this had something to do with that whole big sister thing Miss Fivim wanted.

Thanks to Miss Fivim or Big Sis Fivim, I was able to regain control of my Mana. But pushing back against her was still too much. I would have to use my trump card that Master taught me, but I've never been able to activate my Aura in intense battle before.

"Please Master, help me," I thought to myself, as for a brief moment, reflecting back to when I was still training under Master.

"Your magic is quite impressive my boy," Master said to me as I held my newly learned Burning Blade before him. "Plant magic can be quite strong but limited when it comes to offensive might, even more so for you who can only control mushrooms. It is great that you can also use fire."

Master is right, while the plant attribute had some strong offensive attacks, none of them used mushrooms. So finally being able to use fire was very helpful in situations where I needed something stronger. Master also told me I needed a spell for close range in case an enemy got close, so Burning Blade became my close range spell of choice.

However, Master said that my body was too weak to use physical combat so I needed to train. He had me start running around the small village to build stamina and leg strength. He had me do practice swings to build my arm muscles.