Strawberry Devil in a Fantasy World

The main inner city had remained fairly peaceful and orderly while the sieges were going on underground. As for what was happening outside, I had no clue. I didn't want to teleport outside either. Like, what if the moment I stepped out, the first bomb was dropped on me? That would make me the unluckiest individual ever.

"Smoothie, anything good yet? Learn some teleport magic already."

The library was as quiet and lonely as ever. No one else was here except a librarian stuck in his office, hiding his monkey face behind a book. He didn't even bother glancing at me.

"They don't have it." She stated flatly without looking up.

"What? You checked all the books already?"

"No, I did a preliminary review of all the resources here with [soothsayer]. Now, I'm low on mana. Give me a massage, and I want a recharge!" She demanded with a grumpy face.

Woah there... What's gotten into her? Where's my cute and loving daughter? Where did she go?

Well, it came no surprise that if she checked all the resources in the library, it would consume quite a bit of mana. I was really an understanding parent. I really was. So, I decided to give her some mana and a massage in exchange for her knowledge.

"Eh... On it!"

I placed my hands on her small shoulders, and kneaded them with some pressure. Then, I poured some mana into her to ease her stress.

Stress? Children with stress? What has the world come to?

However, the act of massaging her made me feel like I was a parent serving a super privileged child who was spoiled rotten. What kind of parent massages their children? This is unheard of, I thought. Thankfully, no one was around here to see this unusual spectacle.

"Nn... I like it. It feels really good. You should do this more often!"

"Smoothie, I'm not your servant, okay? Plus, I'm pretty sure this fey body doesn't ache. Why do you even need a massage anyway?"

"It's fun!"

"Tch. Give me the memory transfer. I want everything you learned."

"If you massage my chest, then it's a deal!" She giggled.

"What have you been reading?!" I snatched the book in her hands.

In the carefully bound book, strange diagrams and symbols filled the pages. There were a few geometric patterns I recognized, but otherwise, I didn't understand the language at all. It was the language of the beastfolks.

"What the..."

"I was able to decipher the beastfolks' written language after comparing the letters used between common language and their language."

"That wasn't what I asked you to study. I want magic. Magic!" I raised my voice with exasperation. Learning another language while we were in a state of war was completely useless. As far as I was concerned, only combat magic was useful.

What are you, a scholar? Deciphering some useless ancient language?

"But there's no way to learn new magic without learning their language. I mean, I already learned basic magic from the common language books. Everything else is just derivatives. The records here only show basic magic and if there are any advanced magic, they're likely all hidden away." She explained calmly.

"Gah, fine. I'll take the simply magic, please. And, any you were able to derive."

The memory transfer was quite smooth and clear. Whether I could retain those memories was a slight concern since my memory wasn't that great. Though, I welcomed any new knowledge. If possible, I would like to try these magic spells later.

Hmm... They don't seem quite inefficient compared to abilities. I wonder why.

"You're wondering about the efficiency, right?"

"Yeah."

"Abilities and traits are part of you, internally, or you can consider that part of your soul that is fully integrated within the system. Obviously they're more efficient than auxiliary functions that aren't fully integrated."

"Oh. You could have transferred that part to me."

"It wasn't there. [Soothsayer] just brought it up."

"Oh..."

I sat across her and took some time to review the memories that she transferred to me. I would like a comprehensive of how magic really worked. From my earlier experiments during my mana compression training, I learned that intent was a big part of using magic or at least influencing the world.

Based on the memories, it seemed that certain phrases and geometric patterns could interfere with the system more efficiently. There were quite a bit of theories and speculations on that but nothing in details.

There was one speculation that seemed to apply to me. It stated that abilities and traits had a linear relationship to the effects of magic used. Meaning, the more abilities and traits one had, the more effective their magic was. It wasn't really that much of a stretch considering that more traits and abilities generally equated to higher levels. The book that she read cautioned its readers that magic should not be attempted unless their mana was above a certain threshold. The backlash for overusing mana was linked to possible soul damage not visible to the naked eyes.

In many cases, preparations were required in advanced, especially the more powerful magic. Of all the magic Smoothie had looked at, there were regular nature magic, physical magic, and miscellaneous magic.

Nature magic was the equivalent of elemental magic. It was the easiest and most commonly used. Users could alter natural forces such as creating fire, freezing water, moving rocks and flowing air, and emitting light. Physical magic had to do with forces such as barriers, physical enhancements, transportation, and such. Often times, nature magic was used in conjunction with physical magic to obtain desired effects. Although either could be used with just pure intent, the effects were generally lesser when compared to those who chanted or used mediums to amplify effects.

As for miscellaneous magic, this included summoning, healing, possession and basically everything else that wasn't part of nature magic and physical magic. There really wasn't anything useful for me in this category since Smoothie hadn't looked into the details of these ones yet.

The magic that I could use aside from fey magic was quite expansive. It was only a matter of effectiveness.

Doesn't that make me overpowered? Like, super overpowered? Indeed, indeed, a powerful fey should be powerful after all! Bwuahahaha...!

A bit of my laughter spilled out.

"Mother. I'm trying to read. Can you not?"

"Sorry, sorry. Keep reading and find as much useful information as you can. I'll go test out something."

"You're not going to save those for me? Even when I'm doing so much for you!"

"Those? What do you mean?"

"I want your mana."

"Eh? Oh yeah! Want me to give you enough to level 30 just before you level up and evolve?"

Growth and kills weren't the only factor that was evaluated for the level up requirements. Mana was one of the other one, probably, which was why I leveled up so quickly draining those trees. She did say that mana acted as a proxy for the soul. Furthermore, when I was draining tons of mana from those trees back then, I leveled up a bunch. I was sure of it. Mana was important for fey beings to level up.

"Can you trickle it to me through [conglomerate]? I can't absorb too much at once because I don't have |gourmet| trait to store the extras. Also, if I only take from you, I wouldn't get good abilities and traits when I level up."

"Oh I see, good point. I'll set it to trickling."

Given her low level and transfer efficiency, she should level up quite quickly even with a bit of my mana. She also had the [producer] ability. Perhaps by now, she was proficient enough to use it to adjust her levels.

"Oh right, are there any magic I should avoid? I mean, I guess I should avoid fires because we're plants and all that. Water and earth should be the safest, right?"

"Something like that, yes, when you're weak. Fey beings are special in this world compared to others, so there's truly nothing we have to avoid past a certain stage. I would assume everyone have their own niches. Mother, are you aiming for a jack-of-all-trades, and master of none or become a master at on your own field?"

I didn't know she was this philosophical. Truly, a thinker of her times. Mm.

"You're thinking something rude again!" She raised her voice.

"What!? Non-sense. Wait, again?" My jaws dropped.

I thought this was the first time. It must be that ability again! One of these days, I'll give it a piece of my mind.

She sighed with resignation, "Never mind. Mother, you go play. I'll stay here and study."

"Hey..."

I was going to complain, but I stopped myself. Why would I want to complain about playing around? Not that I was playing around in the first place. It was work! Heavy duty work. Definitely.

Before I left, I gave her two strawberries to hold onto. I told her if there was an emergency, crush one and I would teleport immediately next to her.