Chapter 24: Serie's Shock
Through Serie's hands-on teaching, Kurtz quickly grasped the fundamentals of Plant Magic.
He extended his hand, green light flickering around his fingertips as he released the spell. A vine as thick as his finger responded to his will, slowly wrapping around his forearm like a living bracelet.
The texture felt rough against his skin, each tiny fibre distinct as he concentrated on the connection between his magic and the plant.
Testing its limits, Kurtz gradually tightened the vine's grip. The pressure increased steadily, firm enough to restrain, strong enough to bind.
Satisfied with the approximate strength, he loosened his control, and the vine unwound itself with fluid grace.
Serie watched the demonstration with growing unease. Her golden eyes tracked every movement, every subtle shift in magical flow.
This learning speed far exceeded normal, far beyond what should have proved possible.
A cold realization settled in her chest. She should have understood sooner.
When they'd first encountered each other outside the Elf Forest, the signs had all appeared there. Why had he managed to cast elven Light Magic just from observation?
Why had he not only improved Arrow Rain on his first attempt but also analysed its fundamental structure?
Why did he face no obstacles whatsoever in learning magic?
The answer struck as simple as it proved infuriating.
This human's magical talent surpassed her own.
The small spark of pride she'd nurtured, the satisfaction of teaching someone her superior techniques, crumbled to ash.
For someone who had lived for centuries, who had mastered magic that lesser beings could only dream of, the revelation hit like a physical blow.
'Impossible.' The word echoed in her mind with desperate intensity. 'Absolutely impossible.'
Maybe he simply possessed gifts with Light Magic and Plant Magic specifically.
Surely, he couldn't maintain this efficiency with other magical disciplines. The excuse felt flimsy even as she constructed it, but she clung to it like a lifeline.
Forcing her expression into practiced nonchalance, Serie crossed her arms. "Not bad. Though you're still a bit slower than I was at that age."
Kurtz shrugged, completely oblivious to her internal turmoil. "Can't help it, I'm doing my best here." He flexed his fingers, dispersing the last traces of green magic.
"Speaking of which, do your people have any more advanced Plant Magic? Something like accelerated growth?"
"How could there be such a thing?!" The words came out sharper than Serie intended.
Kurtz blinked, taken aback by her vehemence. What kind of Plant Magic tradition completely ignored rapid growth techniques?
It seemed fundamentally flawed to him.
He'd imagined the tactical possibilities, carrying a pouch of seeds, scattering them when needed, solving food shortages with a gesture.
If the plants from magically accelerated growth could produce viable seeds for future use, it would create an endless cycle of abundance.
The applications stretched limitlessly. Magic made such things possible, transcending the normal biological constraints that plagued mundane agriculture.
"But you could try creating such magic yourself, couldn't you?" Serie's tone carried a teasing edge that didn't quite mask her genuine curiosity.
"This should be right up your alley."
Based on the magical innovations she'd witnessed, Serie had formed a theory about Kurtz's abilities.
He seemed to need some foundation, a starting point, or existing framework, to build upon when creating new magic.
Illumination Magic and Arrow Rain both evolved from her own Light Magic, while his fire-making required specific materials as catalysts.
This suggested limitations to his seemingly impossible talent.
He couldn't simply conjure entirely new magical theories from nothing; if he could, the fundamental laws governing magic in their world would collapse into chaos.
Now, watching his reaction to her challenge, Serie felt a mix of anticipation and dread.
Kurtz lowered his head, his brow furrowing as he considered the problem from multiple angles.
The mechanics, the magical theory, the practical applications, all of it swirled through his mind in rapid succession.
"You know what? I actually want to give this a shot."
Serie's confident expression faltered. "You... you think you can actually create it? Look, we could find some druids instead. They have similar techniques."
She knew druids possessed specialized plant seeds that could absorb magic infusion during combat, rapidly growing into binding vines and defensive barriers.
But their method relied on the inherent properties of the seeds themselves rather than true growth-acceleration magic.
The distinction held importance; what Kurtz proposed differed fundamentally and proved far more complex.
If he succeeded in creating genuine rapid-growth magic through pure theoretical work, Serie would face confronting a truth she wasn't ready to accept: that this human possessed terrifying magical potential that dwarfed her own centuries of accumulated knowledge.
Perhaps agreeing to his adventure proposal hadn't represented a mere whim after all.
Perhaps it would prove to be the most consequential decision of her extraordinarily long life.
"It's fine," Kurtz said, settling into a cross-legged position on the forest floor. "The principle should be similar enough. Even if it's not, the end result should be the same."
His fingers worked through his travel pack, retrieving a small cloth pouch.
From his previous life as a struggling science student, he understood multiple methods for accelerating plant growth.
Chemical fertilizers, optimal light and temperature conditions, growth hormones, and the biological mechanisms received well-documentation, even if the magical applications remained entirely theoretical.
Serie crouched beside him, her usual poise replaced by undisguised fascination. Her golden hair fell in perfect curtains, maintaining that ethereal quality that never seemed to touch the ground, no matter how she moved.
Kurtz carefully buried several seeds in the soft earth, each one a different edible plant he'd collected during their travels.
Originally intended for tea brewing, because even roughing it in the wilderness provided no excuse for suffering through bland meals, they would now serve as test subjects for his magical experiment.
"First step," he murmured, more to organize his own thoughts than to explain, "accelerate the germination process."
Green magic began to flow from his fingertips, the familiar warmth spreading through his hands as he shaped his will into precise instructions.
This demanded delicate work, far more challenging than the crude combat applications he'd practiced.
"Speed up cellular division while regulating hormonal balance,"
Kurtz continued, using terminology that meant nothing to Serie but helped him maintain focus on the complex magical construct he wove.
The magic descended from his hands into the soil, seeking out the buried seeds and wrapping around them like tiny cocoons of directed energy.
Almost immediately, the seeds began to emit a soft green glow visible through the earth.
A tender sprout broke through the surface, its emergence marked by that impossible speed that defied natural law.
"This...What is this?!" Serie's eyes went wide, her usual composure shattering completely.
He'd actually done it.
Not only conceived of the magic but also successfully cast it on his first attempt.
The implications sent her mind reeling through possibilities she'd never dared consider.
Sweat beaded on Kurtz's forehead from the intense concentration required, but his smile radiated triumph.
The precision needed for this type of magical manipulation proved extraordinary, comparable to adding magical enhancement to an already-released attack, requiring perfect focus and unwavering control.
He'd prepared himself for multiple failures, possibly days of trial and error. Success on the first try exceeded even his optimistic expectations.
"Why did you stop?" Serie asked, noticing that the sprout had ceased its rapid growth.
"It's barely started."
"Because it's nighttime," Kurtz explained, wiping the sweat from his brow.
"I need sunlight for the next phase, photosynthesis-based acceleration."
"Photo-what-now?"
Serie tilted her head, that unconscious gesture that made her look far younger than her actual age. This human kept using incomprehensible words, cells, hormones, and photosynthesis.
None of it made sense within any magical framework she knew.
Did this represent some specialized knowledge unique to his homeland?
A different approach to understanding the fundamental forces that govern plant life.
"Sunlight," Kurtz clarified, noting her confusion.
"Plants need light energy to grow properly. It's basic knowledge where I come from."
In response, Serie raised one delicate finger, conjuring a small Illumination Spell that blazed like a miniature star in the darkness.
The magical light shone intense enough to turn night into artificial day.
"Will this work?"
Kurtz shook his head. "That light is too concentrated, too pure. Plants need a different spectrum, something closer to natural sunlight."
Magical illumination operated on entirely different principles from solar radiation.
Serie's spell compared like the artificial sun that could power an entire realm to the gentle warmth that nurtured Earth's biosphere.
Both represented light, but their effects on living organisms proved fundamentally incompatible.
"But how?" Serie's voice carried a note of desperate curiosity. "How did you manage this?"
Even incomplete, what she'd witnessed exceeded her understanding.
The sprout's emergence had shattered her preconceptions about the boundaries between druidic nature magic and traditional spell-craft.
She stared at the tiny green shoot with something approaching awe.
"Could it be that you can create druid magic from nothing more than theoretical knowledge?"
Kurtz scratched his head, suddenly self-conscious under her intense scrutiny.
"The principle is actually pretty straightforward, I'm just accelerating cellular division and adjusting growth hormones to, "
Serie's expression of complete bewilderment stopped him mid-explanation. He tried a different approach.
"Think of it as... convincing the plant that it's already experienced years of normal growth, compressed into minutes."
Serie looked at him as if he'd claimed the ability to reverse the flow of time itself.
Kurtz spread his hands in a gesture of helpless honesty. "That's really all it is."
"That's completely ABSURD," Serie finally said it loudly, though her tone held more wonder than skepticism.
The weight of what she'd witnessed would take time to fully process, but one thing had already become clear: this human's approach to magic operated by rules she'd never encountered in her centuries of study.
And somehow, impossibly, those alien rules seemed to work.
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