Another week quickly passed, and Furio had officially left the borders of the Key Empire.
He did not have any complicated feelings about it.
Right now, magic bullet was at fifty eight percent.
As the percentage rose, Furio had noticed improvements in the spell.
Of course, he had been able to cast it faster after constructing it so many times.
Before, it had taken him about ten seconds to cast the spell, now it only took him about five.
It was a huge improvement, although he did not expect the rapid increase in speed to continue.
On top of that, he felt the strength of the bullet had risen.
Furio was not able to use the supposedly infinite mana he had freely.
It was like one trying to empty a dam with a plastic straw.
His magic circuits could only output so much at once, and thus the strength of his bullets were limited by it.
This meant that his circuits had grown slightly.
It was just one step forward towards becoming a second layer mage, another important goal in his mind.
If he were to become a second layer mage, he'd be able to assign adjectives to his spells.
But it would take a while for him to get there, he needed to improve his familiarity with magic by a huge amount.
---
"...Should I do something?"
Furio was hiding behind a tree, watching a small battle not too far away.
What seemed to be a merchant caravan was being raided by bandits.
There were four guards wearing light armor surrounded by about fifteen bandits.
The guards were better trained than the bandits, but the numbers advantage was overwhelmingly in the bandit's favor.
"Listen, I'm a re-eee-asonable man, so just give us whatever yer transporting, 's well as the armor yer wearing."
A large bearded man spoke with a gruff voice, Furio presumed him to be the leader of the bandits.
*Thud*
Or at least, he was the leader of the bandits.
Furio quickly hid behind the tree after firing a magic bullet towards the man.
The small convoy of bandits were stunned into silence.
"Hey, boss, you alright?"
After a moment, the bandit closest to the boss checked on him.
"Hey, holy shit, he's d-"
Whizz!
Like his boss, he too fell to the ground.
"Shit! There's someone else around here!"
The bandits were now fully aware that they were under attack by an external force, but Furio's location had not yet been exposed.
The menguarding the caravan also seemed confused, but quickly decided now was the time for action.
The four guards quickly cut down the bandits closest to them, only possible as the group had broken formation due to the exterior assault.
In an instant, fifteen bandits had shrunk down to nine.
'Should be fine to expose myself now.'
Furio revealed himself fully, firing a third magic bullet.
Whizz!
Unfortunately, it was only able to hit the shoulder of the bandit, who had barely been able to move in time to avoid a fully fatal shot.
He had not been standing idly like the earlier two victims.
Even so, he was effectively out of the fight, the bullet passed through his body and took a chunk of his shoulder with it.
As another magic circle appeared in front of him, one of the bandits shouted.
"H-Holy shit! It's a ma-"
Before he could finish, one of the guards thrust his blade through the man's stomach.
Eight bandits remaining, one of which was injured.
One of the knights looked at Furio, giving him a nod.
The remaining bandits looked at eachother, quickly deciding that the fight was no longer worth fighting.
"W-We surrender!"
As one of the bandits shouted, dropping his weapons, the others quickly followed suit.
'It's a bit too easy right? Shouldn't there be more struggle?'
"Well, I guess that's also fine. Could you guys restrain them?"
Furio looked towards the guard who had nodded towards him earlier.
"...Yes, we should have some rope. More importantly, thank you for the help, sir mage."
'Sir mage... that's funny.'
Furio let a small smile slip and turned his head back to the bandits.
This could be called his first battle, and it was an overwhelming success.
Not like it was anything impressive, though.
The difference between a mage, even if it was a newbie like him, and a regular human was great.
...
"I-Is it over?!"
A large, rotund man exited the carriage.
It was obvious that he was the merchant in charge.
The guards, whom I had idly spoken to, explained the situation to him, as well as the fact that I had saved them.
Despite having a rather pig-like appearance, the merchant expressed immense gratitude to me.
Still, I had to ask him a question.
"This path isn't so safe, what on earth were you thinking, taking only four guards."
At that, the piggy froze.
One of the guards awkwardly coughed, redirecting my attention.
"There were originally twenty of us, but.. the white desert, we were attacked by monsters."
Hearing that, I reeaxmined the carriage they were travelling in.
Indeed, it seemed as if it had been attack, bearing significant damage.
'Doesn't bode so well for me.'
Considering I was heading straight for the desert, I couldn't help but feel nervous.
"..Well, if that's the case, I guess it can't be helped."
"Uh, A-Anyway, I have something for you, after all I can't let our benefactor leave empty handed!"
The merchant ruffled around in his pocket, bringing out a small ring.
"It might look shabby, but it's a magical ring I received as a gift from a mage long ago."
He presented it to me, and I accepted with a smile.
'It's always good to receive presents.'
Staring at the ring for a moment, it indeed seemed worn out.
He tucked it into his pouch, deciding he'd observe it more later.
Afterwards, the attention shifted to the captured bandits.
The one I had hit with a bullet in the shoulder had already bled out, leaving only seven left.
Before the merchant group could say anything, I made a request.
"Leave these scum to me, there's no need for you to worry about them."
The guards and the merchant gave me a strange look, but quickly accepted my words.
They seemed to have wondered for a moment if I would kill the bandits, but even if I did, they had no reason to care.
"Right, right, that's fine, but before we leave... young man, what's your name?"
"F-"
'No.'
I stopped myself from revealing my name, quickly realising this man could very well be heading towards Notoria territory.
There was a chance it could cause trouble.
'Then, let's make up a name.'
"Ahem, sorry about that, you can call me Outis."
I ripped the name straight from a text in my old life, with the name meaning 'nobody'.
"Right well, sir Outis, my name is Carlos Larand, if we ever cross paths again, I'd be honoured to treat you to a meal."
I smiled and nodded my head.
It was unlikely that I'd ever meat the man again, but who knows, the world is a small place.
---
LOG 5 - MAGES
Mages are those born with magic circuits, the blessed ability allowing for them to wield mana and cast spells. Mages are categorised by their 'layer', the amount of operations they are able to contain into a single spell. A mage of the ninth layer, better known as an archmage, is capable of weaving nine operations into a single spell.