Ch.8Chapter 8: Application.

Balt was truly overjoyed.

‘I did it! I learned it! I learned magic!!’

Lisa’s face showed immense surprise.

“A-amazing, Bilt!! So quickly!?”

Lisa realized that what she had believed to be common knowledge was wrong.

‘Strange? I thought barbarians couldn’t learn magic well?’

But she didn’t dwell on it much. Lisa was still young, after all.

However, if someone who knew barbarians well had seen Balt using magic right now, they would have fainted on the spot.

A barbarian with almost no magical affinity using magic!

It could have been something that would be reported to academic circles, possibly leading to conferences about the countless possibilities that would arise if barbarians gained access to magic.

Balt felt good about Lisa’s praise.

If he had been playing as a character with magical talent, he would have learned it in an instant.

It took longer because he was a barbarian.

Still, it was enough to make Balt’s heart soar.

“It’s nothing. Earth attribute seems to suit me well.”

“Is that so? I do well with wind attributes like Sharpness. I guess different people have different attributes?”

As Balt had expected, wind attributes suited Lisa.

‘This is a good start! This means I have a higher chance of learning other magic! Being a barbarian doesn’t mean I’m doomed!’

He guessed that his mixed-blood characteristic was probably what allowed him to learn magic.

Then a thought flashed through Balt’s mind!

‘Wait a minute? Isn’t this also not a direct hit?’

Balt checked the effect of ‘Do Not Harm’ again just to be sure.

As expected! It meant he couldn’t ‘directly’ strike using his ‘body.’

So what if it wasn’t with his body?

It meant throwing wasn’t the only means of attack.

“Hmm, I need to experiment!”

Lisa asked about Balt’s muttering.

“Experiment?”

“Yes.”

It was an experiment to see how much difference in destructive power there would be between a normal stone and a stone imbued with hardness.

A stone is just a stone no matter how hard you throw it.

There’s a difference, but it’s difficult to cause damage beyond the stone’s durability.

But what if magic was added?

Balt’s heart raced just like when he played as a mage character.

‘Alright, let’s try it right now!’

Fortunately, the road had plenty of good targets.

Not far from the castle, the flat path had large rocks that could serve as targets.

With Balt’s previous strength, if he had thrown a stone, it would have been impossible to completely destroy those rocks since they were harder than the stone.

“Well then. Hup!”

Balt picked up a stone at his feet and threw it at a huge rock.

Crack!

The stone hit the rock and scattered into fragments.

The expected result.

People around who saw Balt’s actions started whispering.

“What’s he doing?”

“How would I know… Probably just throwing stones out of boredom.”

This time, Balt threw a magic-imbued stone at that same huge rock.

Whoosh-

As Balt threw the stone, wind stirred, and the stone left his hand and embedded itself precisely into the rock.

The large rock cracked and made a loud noise.

CRASH!!

“W-what the!?”

Crumble-

It wasn’t completely shattered, but it was definitely much more powerful than before.

The stone broke the rock because it had become harder.

And with magical power added, it was natural for its power to increase.

‘Awesome! It’s just like Stone Bullet!’

Stone Bullet, a 1st circle earth attack spell, also creates stones to hurl at enemies.

Not thrown by hand like Balt was doing, but…

The power was no less than Stone Bullet.

No, it was far superior.

The lack of magical power was compensated by Balt’s physical strength.

In other words, it could be considered a hybrid magic combining magical power and physical force.

In reality, he just threw a magic-imbued stone, but Balt decided to think of it that way.

‘Hahaha, physical magic is being realized in my hands! What I only saw on the internet is actually working!’

The muscle wizard was already a popular meme back on Earth.

Like a mage who goes around beating everyone with a giant staff.

But he had truly implemented physical magic.

Or at least, that’s what he wanted to believe.

‘If it has magic power, it’s all magic! Yes, anyway, it’s magic!’

Now he just needed to confirm if it would work on living beings.

While Balt was doing this, the guard captain who was leading the caravan slowed his horse to approach Balt.

“Um, excuse me, Mr. Barbarian?”

Hearing someone call him, Balt looked at the guard captain.

Even though the captain was on horseback, their eye levels weren’t that different.

“What is it?”

“I was wondering what you’re doing… people are getting a bit anxious…”

It was a funny situation.

The guard captain was older and in charge, yet he was speaking politely, while Balt was using casual speech.

Balt’s muscles seemed to have a passive skill that made people speak respectfully to him.

It was understandable that people would be scared when a formidable barbarian was throwing stones with a fierce expression.

Plus, he had just shattered a rock with a small stone.

No one here could do such an insane feat.

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’m just practicing a new technique.”

“A-a technique, sir?”

One might question how throwing stones with brute force could be called a technique, but with that kind of power, there was nothing to say against calling it one.

The captain wasn’t even sure if he could properly block such an attack himself.

Balt spoke to the guard captain as if he’d just had a good idea.

“By the way, do bandits or attacks happen often during travel?”

The guard captain thought to himself.

‘I see!! This barbarian joined this escort mission to legally tear people apart!’

It was a ridiculous misunderstanding, but the guard captain was convinced.

“It happens frequently, but… please don’t tear people apart.”

The guard captain inadvertently revealed his inner thoughts.

“Tear? I’m just throwing stones.”

‘Getting hit by that would make a person explode!’

The guard captain couldn’t really tell the difference between tearing and exploding.

“Still, please don’t kill indiscriminately. There are vicious ones, but also many who aren’t.”

He meant that many people turned to banditry out of necessity.

Well, theft is still theft.

In fact, the guard captain was asking not to kill them because there was a decent bounty for capturing bandits and turning them over to the guards.

“What about hunting?”

Hunting was essential for caravans.

Of course, they brought provisions, but being able to hunt could be a great help on a long journey in case something happened.

“If that’s what you mean, you should be able to do so by tomorrow afternoon. Are you interested in hunting?”

Balt nodded.

“I’d appreciate it.”

***

“Um… Mr. Balt, this way there’s nothing to eat…”

The animals Balt had confidently hunted and brought back were so mangled that their forms were unrecognizable.

“But I caught one big one, so it should be fine.”

As Balt said, the big one was intact.

Though its head was blown off, making for a grotesque sight.

“Ah, I understand.”

The guard captain ordered his men to start cooking the large, headless deer that Balt had caught.

Lisa, who always followed Balt around, commented.

“Balt, wouldn’t it be better to just throw normally when hunting?”

“It’s hard to catch up with them.”

Fair enough… wild animals are really fast.

“Still, thanks to Bilt, we’ll feast today! Look how happy everyone is!”

It was a Giant Elk, an extremely large deer species.

They’re rarely spotted in forests and have exceptional awareness, making them difficult to hunt, but for Balt with his abnormal physical abilities, distance wasn’t an issue.

And his vision, developed from living in the plains, had no trouble spotting the elk.

In reality, isn’t there a certain Mongolian tribe said to be able to spot ants hundreds of meters away?

Balt was in a good mood.

‘This works on living beings! I’ve gained another attack skill!’

Though it was just stone throwing, it was a ranged technique.

Wherever humans live in this world, there’s always ground and stones.

This meant he had an attack technique he could use anytime, anywhere, as long as he wasn’t at sea.

Though it was a simple application, Balt was excited about future possibilities due to its remarkable effectiveness.

‘Earth magic is very useful. Its attack power isn’t that bad either.’

While it was just a modest enchantment spell now, he thought he might later learn impressive magic that could split the earth or raise pillars from the ground.

Earth’s Wrath, a 9th circle spell that no one had been able to use, was a super-destructive magic that caused tremendous damage to a localized area.

Along with earthquakes, lava would pour out—literally the wrath of the earth, as the name suggested.

Whether he could reach that level was uncertain, but dreaming big wasn’t a bad thing.

And earth magic was quite useful in daily life too.

Earth is always necessary for humans who live on the ground.

Building foundations with stones or soil, reinforcing buildings to better withstand wind and rain, creating bridges where there are no crossings.

Earth magic had many practical applications.

Moreover, earth magic wasn’t something Balt had focused on when playing games.

It was one of the magics he had saved for later enjoyment.

So it was natural to feel excited about being able to learn earth magic.

The next magic would be learned at the Academy.

Balt couldn’t wait to get to the Academy as soon as possible.

***

And so, 25 days passed quickly.