Bound and Broken: An Isekai Adventure Dark Fantasy (Melas Book 1) V.A. Lewis (feel good books to read .TXT) 📖

"And I never gave you a deadline anyway, you were the one who wanted to prove it to me in a week. I will not judge you if you fail to accomplish it by then. I really want to teach you, Melas, but if you fail to learn it and give up, it would be your own fault that that doesn’t happen, is that understood?"

I looked up and met the young man’s stare. I felt like a kid being reprimanded by an adult— except, I was not a kid. I slowly nodded.

"Yes," I said. "...and sorry," I added.

"Very good. Now run along. Relax a bit, don’t push yourself too hard." Victor turned back to what he was doing as I meekly left the tent.

I paused just outside when a voice called out to me.

"Melas," Gerritt said, stepping up right behind me. "I’m sorry about what happened, but I’m sure Victor meant well. Are you alright?"

"I’m fine," I sighed, glancing heavenward. "I just didn’t expect it to be so difficult."

The Orc rested his large hand on my shoulder. "You don’t have to push yourself so hard. Magic is difficult. It’s something most spellcasters can spend their whole life practicing, yet could never hope to reach the pinnacle of magicks that the Demon Lord was said to have reached."

"Well, I’d like to think I would have excelled in it a little bit," I said honestly.

"Hrmph, I’m sure you would, considering your lineage. However Magic Missile is not a spell beginners can learn so easily. The fact that you’re able to cast a Magic Bolt at your age is truly impressive— for a Human child, of course."

I was almost cheered up by that until Gerritt decided to qualify his statement; I felt my shoulders raise as my body shrunk down into a slump. "What can I do, Gerritt?" I asked.

"I’m not sure how to help you since I am not an expert in that field of magic," he said and shook his head. "However, if you want some general advice, I’d recommend you come with me. I’m about to hold some training drills for the Goblins, and I’m sure you could pick up a thing or two while watching them spar. If not, relaxing is always an option."

"That doesn’t sound like too bad of an idea," I said, nodding.

"Hrmph, follow me, Melas."

Gerritt started and I quickly jogged after him; I had to keep up the pace as the Orc’s long strides made him cover a longer distance than me a lot more quickly. We made a few turns before we finally reached our destination.

"We’re here," he stated.

I looked up at the training area of the encampment, and saw a lot of Goblins. I assumed at least half of the Goblins in the camp were gathered here at the moment; some of them were just waiting, but others were already sparring or practicing their aim with a bow or magic on some wooden targets at a distance.

I recognized Karna in the midst of the crowd. He was at the shooting range helping other Goblins with their archery…?

No— not just archery. Magic too.

The Goblin archers were not just firing their bows and arrows at the wooden dummy, they were infusing their shot with some kind of magic. Not all of them used the same spells, and it wasn’t cast with every shot, but there was a certain level of uniformity to it.

I saw a Goblin archer nock his bow, and a magic circle quickly passed through the arrow. There were no visible changes— none that I could see, at least. But when he loosed his bowstring, the arrow flew straighter than it should have. Almost like a bullet. I watched as it easily covered over a hundred feet.

There was a crack.

The arrow pierced through the wooden target, jamming the arrowhead all the way through and more.

I found myself blinking in disbelief. A bow and arrow should not have done that! It was not anywhere as effective as a gun from my world, but perhaps it was just as effective— if not more— than one from this world. Well, the weaker ones, at least.

And it was certainly far more impressive than what a measly Magic Bolt could do. Those would leave a gash at most. They were not powerful, unless you hit a major artery or another vital spot on someone’s body; but that pretty much applied to anything, including the dullest butter knife.

Most of the Goblins were casting this spell, generating the same result I had seen— although not all of them were as accurate. However, I saw another Goblin pull back an arrow and choose to use a different spell from the others.

A yellow light slowly formed in front of the bow, barely bigger than the arrow head. It was a small magic circle, about three inches in diameter, yet it weaved a significantly more complex design in the smaller area than made up the piercing spell. The Goblin fired his arrow—

And the magic circle immediately dissipated. The light abruptly vanished in a fizzle, and the arrow flew the distance a regular arrow would fly. Nothing happened.

I stared confused for a second, before turning to Gerritt. "What happened?"

"The spell failed," he replied, angling his massive maw downwards in a frown. "He tried casting magic beyond his capabilities, and it simply didn’t coalesce. I’ll have to…" he trailed off.

The Orc took a deep breath, as I inclined my head. He opened his mouth, and bellowed at the crowd of Goblins causing me to jump in surprise.

"Alright, that’s enough everyone. Gather up!"

Gerritt marched up to the center of the crowd; Goblins began to abandon whatever they were doing, and quickly assembled in front of the Orc. He spoke.

"I’m glad to see you’re all taking