I produced the fireball again, the familiar burning heat flaring in my palm as the spell finished casting. This time I didn't hold it — I wanted to test how far it could actually travel.
I steadied my stance, bent my knees slightly, and adjusted my arm like I was throwing a baseball. With my pathetic Level 0 base strength, I put everything I had into the toss. The small flaming orb left my hand with a whoosh and streaked forward.
It flew straight for exactly one hundred meters before flickering out and vanishing completely. The travel speed wasn't terrible — it took a full eight seconds to reach that distance — but the accuracy… yeah, that was another story.
The panel updated instantly:
Fireball – Level 1
Experience: 2/100
Accuracy: Poor
MP Cost: 15
Cooldown: 8 seconds
Yeah… I definitely needed to practice a lot more.
Still, the distance and speed were the only things keeping me from feeling completely useless right now. After all, I was supposed to be a mage. If my spells couldn't travel far or fast enough, what kind of mage was I even supposed to be?
Hmm… wait. This doesn't make any sense at all.
If my throwing speed could reach exactly 100 meters in 8 seconds in a bright orange arc, that meant the launch speed was roughly 41.2 meters per second — around 148 km/h. The kinetic energy I supposedly put into it with pure muscle alone should have been over 430 Joules. That kind of impact force didn't match my pathetic Level 0 body at all.
A huge glowing question mark floated above my head as the realization hit me.
Hearing my muttered calculations, Sofia had the exact same huge question mark floating above her head. She clearly had no idea what kind of nerdy shit I was talking about.
"What the fuck are you talking about?" she asked, completely lost.
"Wait, Mom! Wait!" I said quickly, holding up a hand. She crossed her arms and waited, watching me with that mix of curiosity and amusement to see what crazy idea her son was cooking up this time.
I clenched my fist and truly felt my own strength — or rather, the complete lack of it. There was no way my Level 0 body had that kind of raw power. Then it hit me like a lightning bolt.
I think I just found a loophole in my Mage occupation.
To test my theory, I picked up a stone almost the size of a cricket ball for safety reasons, then grabbed two more just in case. The rabbit was roughly 70 meters away.
I gripped the first stone hard and threw it with all my might. The stone flew pathetically — it didn't even reach 50 meters before dropping to the ground with painfully slow speed.
I chuckled to myself.
Sofia stood beside me, completely speechless. She didn't know what to say to her so-called genius baby boy.
I continued my experiment.
Just as I thought.
I picked up another stone. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and muttered the activation word under my breath.
"Fireball."
Mana surged from the center of my chest, rushing down my arm in a hot, tingling stream until it pooled in my right hand. I performed the slow hand gestures — five full seconds of precise circles and snaps — then chanted clearly:
"Raging flames of wrath, gather and burn — Fireball!"
When I opened my eyes, the stone in my palm was now perfectly coated in crackling flames, the fireball hovering powerfully around it, ready to launch at any second.
I locked onto the rabbit, steadied my stance, bent my knees slightly, and hurled the flaming stone forward with everything I had. The enchanted projectile streaked through the air in a bright orange arc and smashed directly into the rabbit's back.
The rabbit let out an angry hiss as its fur singed and caught fire for a moment. A bright red damage number popped up above its head.
-22.5
HP: 177.5 / 200
The rabbit started looking around furiously, searching for the attacker.
I rested my chin on my fist, thinking. *So my physical throwing damage is roughly half of my magical damage — 7.5 physical plus 15 magical equals 22.5 total.* I sighed. "Still need to hit this bastard eight more times…"
But then my MP bar flashed, and something new appeared right below it.
MP: 35/80
Energy: 55/100
It looked like my Energy bar and MP bar were now tied together. The more energy I had, the faster my MP would recover. The Energy bar had no upper limit either — at Level 1 it would rise to 200.
More importantly, the only way to properly fill the Energy bar was by eating meat from same-level magical beasts. Lower-level meat would only fill my stomach. Eating anything higher-level… would overload my body and probably kill me.
Fireball – Level 1
Experience: 3/100
Accuracy: Poor
MP Cost: 15
Cooldown: 8 seconds
The fact that I could add physical throwing damage on top of the magic was crazy. I had just used 55 points of combined MP and Energy in that one throw… but the possibilities this opened up were insane.
The rabbit finally spotted us. With an angry hiss that sounded way too vicious for something so small, it lowered its head and charged straight at us like a furry little demon.
I didn't waste a single second. I yanked open my inventory and pulled out three Basic MP Potions. Each one restored 15 MP. I uncorked them fast and gulped them down one after another. The liquid was sweet and slightly metallic, sliding down my throat like warm energy. My MP bar flashed and shot back up instantly.
MP: 80/80
"Mom, block the attack!" I shouted. "It'll take about eight seconds to reach us — that's more than enough time for me to prepare the spell!"
Sofia nodded without hesitation, already stepping forward into a solid stance. Her voice rang out clear and confident as she began her chant — no complicated hand gestures needed. The entire process took her only five seconds:
"Ancient wall of iron, rise and protect — Basic Shield!"
A shimmering translucent barrier instantly materialized in front of her, glowing with steady blue light. She held her sword and shield ready, looking every bit the proud warrior even in that thin white nightgown.
While she prepared to tank the 15 damage, I was already focusing on my own spell, mana surging in my chest as I started the longer casting process.
The rabbit charged at full speed, a blur of angry fur and flashing teeth. It slammed straight into Sofia's shimmering shield with a loud crack.
We had both expected the hit to be exactly 15 damage — something her Basic Shield could block completely. Instead, her HP bar flashed red and dropped.
HP: 85/100
The impact was far heavier than it should have been. Sofia staggered back three full steps, boots digging into the soft grass, her shield arm trembling from the force.
The second I saw the damage she took, everything clicked. This bastard wasn't dealing 15 damage — it was hitting for 30. The shield had only blocked half. Without it, Sofia would have lost almost a third of her health in one strike.
Rage boiled up in my chest like molten fire.
With every ounce of strength I had, I hurled the flaming stone straight at the rabbit's face.
"Take this, you motherfucker!"