Pan waited the entire week with a strange mix of excitement and anticipation for the next Saturday to arrive. finally the Saturday arrived, he went to the lab in his own car this time.
as usual, an intern was waiting for him at the corridor of the lab with a clipboard in hand. the intern swiftly guided him to the office of Dr. Lira. " Dr. Lira is expecting you, this way. " he stood at the door and opened the door for him as pan went inside.
Dr. Lira was doing something on her computer when she looked up. as soon as she saw pan, her entire expression brightened. "Pan! Good morning. " she stood up and brushed a curly hair behind her ear as she gave him a rare warm smile. she gestured for him to sit down on the chair in front of her desk. " I am just finished with my report, i will join you shortly and we will then proceed with our experiments. "
Pan nodded as he sit down. " Actually Doctor, Before we start today's tests… I want to tell you about something new I discovered. About my skill."
Her brows rose with interest. "Oh? That sounds intriguing already. What happened?"
Pan recounted the entire incident. from how he went to the city-sponsored outskirt wilderness army training camp. " i was in the monster hunting training when i saw the goblin shaman cast a fireball. i instinctively knew that i can cast the same thing so i tried and a fireball really did form in my hand. I could also feel my wind pipe morphing during the casting. "
Lira listened with complete focus, her arms folding lightly, but her eyes warm with encouragement. She nodded slowly. "That is unusual, but not unheard of. There are some hunters who can use rune-language magic. But their abilities depend on the vocal cords they've had modified. They can only imitate the magic of the species they've adapted from, and even then, it requires years of practice and precise control. It's… extremely limited."
"But you on other hand...maybe you can use the rune language of any species you want because of your skill..." there was certain spark in her eyes as she swiftly stood up and dragged him out of her office. the intern who was standing outside looked wide eyed as Dr. Lira gave him a side eye "Complete the report Robert. I will be busy..." she said as she ran off to the experiment section of the lab. Robert had no choice but to enter her office with a bitter face as it wasn't the first time that he was asked to complete her reports. " I am not getting paid enough for this..." he lamented.
soon Dr. Lira and pan arrived at a small reinforced chamber. Dr. Lira had already instructed her assistant to prepare a tv screen to be installed in the room as she hand pan sat down on the chairs in front of the tv. "Pan, we have many recordings of the beasts and monsters using the spells, see if you can copy them. " she said as the assistant played the footages one by one.
"Let's start simple," she said as she tapped a screen. "Low-tier rune casters first."
The monitor flickered to life. A small imp appeared in the recording—red, wiry, scrawny-limbed, its wings flapping irritably. It puffed up its chest, pointed its crooked finger at some unseen enemy, took a deep breath and screeched:
"YOUR MOTHER IS FAT—FIREBALL!!"
A bright orange fireball erupted from its hand, much bigger and hotter than goblin spell Pan had seen.
Pan blinked. He heard the rune phrase clearly beneath the… insult.Lira tilted her head. "You see, this spell is longer but results in greater fire power. there is just a small downside though, we have observed that the hunter who modified his vocal cords to match this imp always ended up angering monsters more when he used this longer spell compared to normal shorter version of the same spell cast by the same species."
She paused, then added with mild confusion, "I've always wondered why longer rune spells seem to enrage monsters more than usual…"
Pan cleared his throat, choosing his words carefully. "Doctor… the reason is… well…"
He explained it. Word for word.
As the meaning became clear, Lira's lips trembled. She tried—gods, she truly tried—to maintain her professional composure, but the corners of her mouth twitched, her cheeks puffed, and her eyes watered.
"W–wait—" she managed between breaths. "You're telling me—hunters have been yelling these at monsters for decades—without knowing what they actually mean?"
"Oh, absolutely," Pan said, a bit too helpfully. "That imp just called someone's mother fat before firing a fireball."
Lira choked on her own laughter but forced herself to continue the tests.
She could very well imagine, a hunter was out on the hunt, sneaking up on a group of monsters when he fired this exact spell.
"YOUR MOTHER IS FAT—FIREBALL!!"
No wonder monsters were enraged. Not only you are scorching them up, you are even insulting their mother. the other scientists and her assistant were also shocked and barely able to contain their laughter when pan revealed the true meaning of the spell.
the assistant swiftly change the video to next one. "Mr. Pan, what does this spell mean? " the assistant asked eagerly.
The next clip showed a wolf-like beast standing on a rocky cliff. Its fur crackled with electricity. It lifted its snout and roared when cornered by multiple hunters:
"YOU SON OF A DOG—THUNDER BLAST!!"
A lightning bolt exploded outward, turning a tree into charcoal.
Pan translated the whole trying to contain his laughter.
Lira lost the first battle. A laugh escaped—sharp, high, stunned.
The next video switched to a tall humanoid lizard, its scales shimmering green.
It hissed:
"EAT SAND, YOU BREEZE-BRAINED IDIOT—WIND BLADE!!"
Pan translated again, and this time Lira bent forward with both hands on her knees, trying not to fall over.Her shoulders were shaking, her face turning red, her breath coming in little hiccups of half-suppressed laughter.
Then came the rhino. That enormous, armored beast stomped once, snorted, and bellowed:
"KISS MY STONE-SOLID BEHIND—EARTH WALL!!"
Pan's translation triggered a chain reaction.
Inside the observation room—behind the glass—several interns and research staff had already gathered. And when they heard Lira finally break and laugh, they all collapsed into their own chaotic heap of hysterics. A couple were literally rolling on the floor. One was desperately waving a clipboard like a fan. Another was wiping tears away while clutching their stomach.
Lira tried to maintain dignity. Failed miserably. Tried again. Failed again.
By the time she finally straightened, wiping tears from her eyes, she was still smiling helplessly. "S-so that's why rune spells always draw extra aggro…" she said, breathless. "We thought it was a magical side effect… but no. Hunters have basically been… loudly insulting everything they fight."
Pan nodded. " There is no way i can use these spells. "
Soon pan tried to cast every spell. first he tried to cast it exactly the same way, with added insults. the result was exactly same as the video. his fireball, earth wall, wind blade and thunder blast were as powerful as the monsters. the only difference was that the spell consumed more mana. with just four spells, his mana was half depleted. He also noticed that his vocal cords also changed four times when casting which meant that he was using respective monster's vocal cords when using the spells.
this sparked an absurd idea in his mind. maybe his skill had huge hidden potential.