In the same forest, in the same spot, Ryoma once again stood in the clearing he had left in such a mess.
After a night of rest and contemplation, he had gained a deeper understanding of spatial coordinate positioning. But theory, after all, was just theory. In practice, the instability issue still persisted.
He could now appear precisely at the target location, but his posture was always bizarre. Appearing upside down was considered good.
Once, he was even 'spat' out horizontally, spinning like a top on the ground for more than a dozen turns before stopping.
"Phew…"
Ryoma let out a long breath, temporarily stopping his practice.
He sat on a rock, habitually using his magic. A crystalline ice rose slowly bloomed in his palm, emitting a faint chill.
He looked at the ice rose in his hand, lost in thought.
What if he combined Spatial Magic and Ice Magic?
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Ryoma.
Use ice to provide a stable base point for spatial jumps!
"That's it!"
Ryoma suddenly stood up, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
He once again set his target under a tree ten meters away. This time, he didn't immediately construct a spatial aisle. Instead, he separated a barely perceptible wisp of mana, concentrating, and on the ground at the target point, a piece of ice crystal, only the size of a fingernail, silently condensed beneath the fallen leaves.
This ice crystal was his anchor point!
After doing all this, Ryoma began to activate the space-time magic within him.
Buzz—
The spatial distortion point reappeared.
He took a deep breath and stepped in without hesitation.
Whoosh!
The next second, his figure appeared steadily under the target tree.
Both feet on the ground, normal posture.
He succeeded!
Although the ice crystal under his feet shattered into ice shards the moment the spatial energy surged, unable to withstand the pressure, it did indeed play a role in stabilizing the coordinates during those crucial few tenths of a second.
"It really works!"
Ryoma couldn't hide his excitement.
"Flying Ice God successful!"
The biggest problem that had plagued him for so long finally had a solution.
Since one anchor point could stabilize short-distance movement, then what about attacks?
He looked at a rock in the distance, raised his hand, and condensed a sharp ice arrow. This time, he tried to attach a wisp of Spatial Magic to the tip of the ice arrow.
He wanted the ice arrow to perform a short-distance spatial jump during its flight, thereby achieving an unexpected attack effect.
Whoosh!
The ice arrow shot, flying towards the rock with a sharp whooshing sound.
However, just after flying out, the entire ice arrow suddenly exploded in mid-air, turning into a plume of shattered ice crystals.
"Is it still too difficult?"
Ryoma looked at this scene, not discouraged, but rather thoughtful.
Attaching unstable Spatial Magic to a high-speed moving object was much more difficult than stabilizing himself.
It seemed that achieving a "Spatial Ice Arrow" would require more practice and control.
However, today's gains were already significant enough.
"Let's head back to the base first."
Ryoma dusted himself off.
"I'll go check that underground library again. Maybe I can find some information about spatial stability."
He turned around cheerfully and walked towards the Black Bulls' base.
The moment he stepped through the base's main gate, Ryoma felt a burning gaze lock onto him.
"Ryoma!" Asta's characteristic loud voice rang out.
He was carrying a huge wooden bucket filled with various cuts of meat, which looked quite heavy.
"Perfect! Come help!"
"Help?" Ryoma was startled.
"It's Captain Yami's pets. It's feeding time." Asta said with a matter-of-fact expression.
Ryoma's gaze swept past Asta and saw Noelle standing nearby.
She stood with her arms crossed, looking at the bucket of meat in Asta's hand with a disgusted expression, as if it were something filthy.
"I am royalty." Noelle said, lifting her chin proudly. "How can I do such rough work?"
Ryoma immediately understood.
He looked at Asta, and, imitating Noelle's tone, said seriously, "I believe in your abilities, Asta. Feeding is surely no match for you."
"Eh? Is that so?" Asta scratched his head, actually convinced.
He really carried the large bucket by himself towards the room where Yami kept his beasts.
Ryoma and Noelle followed behind, maintaining a safe distance.
Several large, ferocious magical beasts were kept in that room.
Upon seeing Asta approach with food, they immediately let out deafening roars, with saliva dripping from their huge mouths, their eyes extremely fierce.
"Good boy."
Asta walked forward fearlessly, reaching out to offer a piece of meat.
"Roar—!"
One of the beasts, resembling a giant hound, lunged forward, opening its gaping maw, ready to swallow Asta, man and meat, in one gulp.
"Waaahhh!"
Asta let out a strange cry and barely escaped from the beast's mouth.
Just then, a burst of laughter sounded from outside.
It was Magna and Yami's voices.
Ryoma and Noelle both turned to look. Then, both of them froze.
Yami and Magna were seen walking in, arm in arm.
They were… almost completely naked.
Only their private parts were hastily covered with a piece of torn cloth from who knows where.
"…"
Ryoma's lips twitched slightly.
Although he already knew the plot, witnessing this scene firsthand still left him speechless due to its visual impact.
Should he say, as expected of Yami?
This act of streaking back after losing everything, in a way, was indeed quite manly… right?
"Kyaa!"
Noelle let out a short shriek, her face instantly turning crimson, and she abruptly turned away, not daring to look again.
Magna completely ignored their gazes and swaggered over.
"Yo! Idiot Asta! Little Noelle! We're back!"
He showed no shame, flashing a wide grin.
"Congratulations! Your glorious first official mission has arrived."
Asta's eyes immediately lit up at the news. "A mission?!"
Subsequently, Magna and Yami, having redressed, appeared in the hall.
"We are assigning you your first mission."
Magna took over, announcing in an extremely solemn tone, "You are to go to Sosshi Village to hunt wild boars."
"Huh?!"
Asta's excitement instantly froze on his face.
"Wild… wild boars?"
Noelle turned around, her face full of disbelief.
"What is this stupid mission?!"
This was too far from the grand missions she imagined, like fighting evil mages and defending the kingdom.
"What's so stupid about this mission?" Magna said, his expression unchanged.
Yami's gaze swept across the room, finally landing on Ryoma, who was standing to the side.
"Oh? Ryoma's here too." Yami showed a mischievous smile.
"Perfect, you go too. You're also a rookie."
Ryoma hesitated before speaking, "Well… what I mean is, I've already done a mission once."
"It's good to gain more mission experience."
Saying that, Yami suddenly stood up, exhaled a smoke ring, and stared at Ryoma with a dangerous expression,
"You go, or you die, choose one."
As expected, he couldn't avoid it.
Ryoma sighed inwardly, this was truly an undeserved calamity.
Asta and Noelle, who were beside him, readily agreed.
"Understood, Captain Yami."
What else could he say? He could only agree.
Although Asta was disappointed with the mission content, the thought that this was his first official mission rekindled his fighting spirit.
Noelle, however, was a hundred percent unwilling, complaining incessantly.
Ryoma looked at his two companions with their vastly different reactions, but his thoughts had already drifted far away.
Sosshi Village… expelling wild boars… If he remembered correctly, this was no simple wild boar hunting mission.
This should be the stage for the Eye of the Midnight Sun's first official appearance.
It was also his chance to come into contact with those magic stones containing immense power.
A subtle glint flashed in Ryoma's eyes.