The residue mana destroyed everything in its path and left a huge crater where Noel and the others had been standing.
Nothing was left there—not even a single drop of blood.
Sniff… sniff…
The tiger sniffed the air, trying to confirm that its targets were dead. But its attack had obliterated the entire area, so it couldn't find them.
Suddenly, the tiger flared up again, turning aggressive. It started smashing anything that came close to it—trees, rocks, the very land itself.
After causing a massive wave of deforestation, the tiger's red eyes slowly turned back to their original sky‑blue.
The tiger regained its focus. It tilted its head and looked at the destruction it had caused.
"Sheesh…"
Strange words left its mouth—and it genuinely sounded downcast.
The tiger then lay down and went to sleep once more. The flames retreated inside its body and finally settled back into its tail.
Far away from the battlefield, a sound like glass shattering rang out.
Three silhouettes appeared from that space.
Their condition was terrible. Blood was dripping from their eyes, noses, and ears. Frostbite covered their skin, and they shivered violently from the cold.
Who could they be? They were none other than Noel, Anna, and Rose.
"So… care to tell me how you fooled the tiger?" Anna asked, voice still weak.
Even in his battered state, a smirk tugged at Noel's lips. With a boastful tone, he said,
"Nothing hard. It was just a mindless creature."
Smack.
Noel groaned in pain from Anna's punch.
"Why did you hit me?" he asked, shielding his head as if she might strike again.
Anna's eye twitching as she replied in a threatening tone,
"Will you say it, how you did it—or do you want another beating?"
"Okay, okay!" Noel said, raising his hands in mock surrender.
He turned toward Rose.
"Listen, you don't know about my ability yet, so don't tell anyone else about it. The less people know, the more effective it is."
Rose nodded silently.
"Okay, so my ability is fooling the perception of my opponent," Noel continued. "That's basically what I did."
"But how?" Anna cut in. "That tiger surely had a higher perception than you."
"I knew that," he admitted. "But at that time, he wasn't in his right mind. I don't know what made him act like that, but it was a gamble—and it worked.
"I just messed with his perception a tiny bit. I shuffled his sense of distance, so even though, from his perspective, we were standing there… in reality, we were just behind him.
"And in that chaos—or by luck—he didn't check thoroughly. So you can say we're alive today… thanks to luck." He shrugged.
"And after that, you know, we used the dagger left behind by Rose to escape the area."
"Yeah," Anna said. "This time we're alive just because of your timely save… and a lot of luck."
"But we won't be lucky every time," Rose added with a frown forming on her face. "So we need to know what made that tiger, which wasn't hostile at all, suddenly become aggressive."
"Yeah," Rose interjected. "And for that, we have to strengthen ourselves. We have four options:
"First, we can find a profession for ourselves—but even finding one profession is rare, and we're three people.
"Second, we can level up. I think that'll only give us new spells, not a direct increase in strength unless we reach level 40.
"That only leaves us with two more options: understanding our own spells more thoroughly and perfecting them."
Rose paused, then continued in a slow, deliberate voice.
"And for that, we have to grasp their concepts."
"Concepts?" Noel asked, his voice rising slightly. "What is that?"
"Ssshhhh…"
Anna slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him from talking more.
"Mmmmm…" Noel tried to protest, muffled.
"Keep quiet and just listen for once," Anna said.
She removed her hand.
"Haah… haaah…" Noel gasped, out of breath. He took a deep breath and said, "So why all this fuss? Can you say it now?"
Rose sighed slightly and began explaining.
"Concepts are the foundation of all powers we use—be it magic spells, elements, or abilities. Everything is derived from a concept.
"They're also the universal way magi advance in rank outside of trials. We don't know how many concepts exist in this world, let alone beyond it.
"And every concept has tiers within it. I don't know how many tiers there are, because no one has reached the end. So far, the strongest magus…" Rose paused. "…has the concept of fire at the fourth tier. Maybe there are more, but we shouldn't think about that yet."
Anna turned to Noel. "And good for you—you have a common element concept."
"The concept of wind," she continued. "When you got it, you must have seen some strange writing projected in your mind."
"Yeah, I did," Noel said, sounding surprised. "Not only then, but in every spell… and even in my other ability. I just didn't notice until now."
"Exactly," Rose said. "So for now, try to first get in contact with the concept of wind. It will directly increase your mastery of wind magic—and that, in turn, will make your wind spells stronger. It's a cycle of power in this world."
"But why shouldn't I try to understand the Wither concept instead?" Noel asked. "I think it has more advantages and power than the wind concept."
"Because some concepts are much harder to sense than others," Rose answered. "Air is formless, but it's everywhere. You can feel it even if you can't see it."
Anna raised her hand toward the sky. "See? I can feel the wind. But can you feel or sense something related to Wither?"
She paused, then continued. "Without even sensing it, how will you grasp it?"
"Wind suits you," Rose said. "Just understand it, advance it to the first tier, and your strength will surge. You'll be capable of using wind magic at a completely new level."
Just as they were talking, Anna and Rose both felt a strange presence. They turned—and saw a man.
He was casually lying against a tree trunk, as if sleeping, lazily playing with what looked like eyeballs from some spawn. Even though he appeared harmless and unguarded, none of the three tried to attack him. Their instincts screamed that if they did, they would be the ones to die.
The man turned his face—but it was still mostly hidden by the bushes. All that was visible, peeking through, was a pair of brown eyes sharpened like a hunter's.
"So… this is the group that foiled my plan of making that tiger my pet?" he mused, voice low but clear. "For this blasphemy… what punishment should I have for you three?"
Noel, Anna, and Rose were already in terrible condition. If they fought him here, they had no chance of winning.
The man stopped his mumbling and spoke, without hesitation in his voice—yet with a distinctly childish tone.
"Yeah, I know," he said. "You all should die."