I checked my left hand, opening and closing it. There was a slight discomfort, but the pain was gone. After confirming my hand’s condition, I used the water Yuzuki had conjured to wash my face and quench my thirst.

“By the way, how many times can you use magic in a row?” I asked.

“Hmm… I don’t really know since I’ve never used it to the limit,” Yuzuki replied.

It was just a casual question, but it seemed like Yuzuki didn’t know either. I thought that might be typical, but I also realized it would be a big problem if she couldn’t use magic when we needed it most.

“It’d be good if I could use it too,” I muttered.

Come to think of it, when Yuzuki uses magic, something gathers at the tip of her wand. Is that what people call mana or magic essence?

“How do you even use magic?” I asked absentmindedly.

Yuzuki then explained what she had learned in training. Apparently, you move the mana inside your body to the location where you want to cast the spell, visualize the phenomenon strongly in your mind, and then recite a command word. Magic has different levels of difficulty, and there are nine in total, ranging from beginner to lower, intermediate, upper, and so on. Beginner-level magic doesn’t seem to have much destructive power.

“Hmm…”

So, that stuff that gathered at the tip of Yuzuki’s wand is also inside me, huh? Maybe this is it? I wonder.

“Hey, can I borrow your wand for a second?” I asked.

After asking her, I borrowed the wand and tried to gather mana at its tip. Hmm, I think I’m getting the hang of it.

“...Water?”

I imagined a softball-sized water ball forming at the wand’s tip and said the word. For a moment, just like I envisioned, water appeared and splashed to the ground.

“… I did it.”

“W-What!? No way!” Yuzuki exclaimed, looking shocked.

Seeing her surprise made me chuckle. She had said she couldn’t use magic at first either, so maybe this was thanks to the growth rate skill I had chosen.

“Haha.”

“That’s amazing, Mizumoto-kun!” Yuzuki praised me without any hint of jealousy, purely impressed.

“Do command words have to be specific?” I asked.

“I don’t think so. They didn’t say the command word had to match the spell exactly… but they kept stressing how important the image in your mind is,” Yuzuki replied.

I see. So, you could possibly create fire or light just by imagining it. The basic elements were earth, water, fire, wind, light, darkness, and Void, right? Plus healing. They had mentioned there were eight types, but it seemed like there could be more possibilities.

Right now, though, I should focus on what we need immediately. Beginner magic may not cause much damage, but healing wouldn’t help much if we were already in danger of a lethal blow.

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong?” Yuzuki asked.

“I was just thinking... beginner magic won’t deal much damage, but maybe I could use something to create a distraction,” I explained.

“A distraction… like blinding or something?” Yuzuki tilted her head as she pondered.

I nodded, feeling warmed by her curiosity. “Yeah, something like that. Maybe a flash of light like a camera flash or a loud noise.”

“I’ve never heard of sound magic, but there’s a beginner light spell called Flash, I think,” Yuzuki informed me.

“Really? Maybe I’ll give it a try.”

Since I could already summon water without much trouble, I figured it was worth a shot.

I imagined a camera flash in my mind, focused my mana, and directed it forward like a large external flash.

“Here we go!”

“O-Okay.”

I yelled “Flash!” in my mind, and in an instant, everything went white.

“Ahhh!”

“Whoa!”

We both screamed as the intense light blinded us, leaving our eyes flickering with spots.

“That was... startling,” Yuzuki said, pressing a hand to her chest while blinking rapidly.

“Sorry, I was shocked too. But it looks like the command word isn’t necessary,” I said, realizing it hadn’t been needed.

“Ah… you’re right,” Yuzuki responded, surprised by the discovery.

So the command word wasn’t necessary. Does that mean the wand isn’t needed either? Time for another experiment. I handed the wand back to Yuzuki, thanked her, and extended my hand forward, trying to move the mana without the wand.

But the mana wouldn’t flow smoothly from my palm. Maybe the wand had its own role after all. Still, I had a feeling I could do this.

“What are you doing?” Yuzuki asked.

“Well, since the command word wasn’t needed, I thought maybe I could cast magic without a wand too,” I explained.

“I see...”

I concentrated on moving the mana, but I was still just a bit short of getting it to work.

*Guuuuurrrgleee*

Just then, my stomach let out a loud growl, breaking the serious mood.

“Hahaha!” Yuzuki burst out laughing.

I couldn’t help but smile wryly at the sound. There wasn’t much I could do about that.

“It’s hard to focus when you’re hungry.”

Since we’d been in the forest, all we’d had was water. We needed food, and fast.

“Yeah... let’s try to find something edible,” Yuzuki suggested.

“Yeah.”

With our resolve renewed, we decided to fully dive into searching for food in the forest.