Astroth : The Last Dragon

Flame Element

After learning the name of that old man, Kazuma learned some more things from the events that occurred until now. First, that man’s name was Zoukar the Mad, which somewhat gives justice to his personality.

Another thing he contemplated was his arrival in a strange world where magic exists and some weird people wield them. When that magic circle activated in his classroom, Kazuma, due to his blunder, lost his soul to nothingness, from where this capable and senile black magician caught him and transmitted his soul to a lifeless animal.

His enslavement was another subject to drive. However, he tried to feign ignorance towards that thing since that's what he usually did all his life. To live and learn, he had to obey the magician until he was capable enough to achieve freedom.

Now the question arose as to where the hell was in the cave that the old man summoned him to. Other than darkness and some weird rumblings after slight periods, he could infer nothing from that place.

"Can you invoke some flames, Astroth?" the magician Zoukar asked.

"Wh-what? Who is Astroth? Ah! I forgot I'm named Astroth by this freak, " Kazuma thought inwardly.

However, that man’s order seemed strange to Kazuma since he had never used magic earlier. Even if that man used some sort of scroll to unlock flame magic in his body, someone should explain to him how these things work.

"Are you not even that intelligent to call forth mana around you? Were you some useless beast that died early before learning anything in your past life? Most of the beasts in the world are capable of feeling the mana around them," Zoukar said while rubbing his chin.

"What mana? No one gave me a brochure of this world before activating a summoning circle unexpectedly," Kazuma rebuked him.

"Let's see, focus on the environment around you and there must be a feeling of something besides air shrouding around you. That's mana!" The magician Zoukar explained and resumed, "Anyone can at least feel it, even if they don't know how to use it properly."

Kazuma closed his eyes and concentrated on meditation. For the first time since his belief in these things like yoga and meditation gradually disappeared with time or he thought these things were subjects of the rich, he actually received faint results.

He felt some transparent and untouchable substance around him with the pure essence of nature. That substance calmed his jumbled and disturbed mind to peace. With that feeling, he tried to remember the feeling of those flames emerging from the scroll and finally succeeded in summoning some small fierce flames.

"Haha... you're not as useless as I thought. Your flames have a destructive essence bound to them. Are you someone who died with some anger issues or guilt in your heart? Well, what guilt could a beast have other than dying with an empty stomach or something?" Zoukar said with a hysterical laugh.

From his eerily snickering, Kazuma was somewhat depressed because his statement had dismayed his heart from remembering all the suffering and hardships he had endured in his previous life. Despite that bitterness, he resolved to live a great life after someday escaping this bastard.

"How much would an old man live anyway? Don't tell me this son of a bitch has a way of those typical black magicians to increase his lifespan," Kazuma pondered in worry.

"Well, now that you know how to use mana, we can proceed further into the crucial task. I want you to learn basic fire skills for my needs, which was the reason I called you out," Zoukar resumed.

"Why don't you use that on your own and release me now?" Kazuma thought inwardly while squealing externally.

The magician frowned and rubbed his chin. "If you're trying to ask why I need you, then it's because I'm a black magician loved by undead elements, so I cannot learn flame elements. That's why I need you, but wait, why do I need to explain it to you? You're just a mutt." he chuckled again.

"At least I got some crucial information from his babblings. First, one cannot usually learn more than an element unless it's loved by that element. If he’s asking me to learn flames, it must be because my affinity with flames could be better," Kazuma pondered with a grin.

That magician again picked another scroll and ripped it, targeting Kazuma. Another bright gleam appeared in the training of some magic formula in his head. Despite some pain this time, Kazuma faced it firmly.

"What the hell did he do this time? It's some magic related to flames. I can feel it," Kazuma thought.

"I gave you another one of my hard-earned money scrolls, only to get you to learn some basic magic ability. Now practice that magic and say [Fireball] while summoning the mana like previously," magician Zoukar suggested.

"..."

"Well!" Zoukar resumed his explanation, "This magic provides an ability to produce and throw small fist-sized balls of fire. You can also increase the size of these fireballs by putting more concentration and power into your casts. Well, I'm not hoping you can understand what I said, but due to our link, you can at least know whatever I said. The rest is up to you."

Unbeknownst to him, Kazuma was a human with a great head even in his previous life. He learned the mana use within seconds. He understood whatever the magician explained to him and was content to learn a new magic spell.

"Yes! I can at last use magic which can be used to throw fireballs and stuff. I’ll suck everything slowly from this magician," Kazuma snickered inwardly.

He closed his eyes again to focus on his newly gained magic ability. While concentrating his mana around him, he gradually chanted in his thoughts, "[Fireball]"

Suddenly, some warmth appeared within his mouth and began increasing even further. He focused on his paws to release the magic, but he had no idea that the flames would light in his mouth.

"Open your mouth and release that damn spell," the magician Zoukar screamed.

Kazuma opened his mouth towards the cave wall, releasing the flames from his jaw, alarmed by that command. A small fireball swiftly shoots from his mouth and smothers the wall, black from burning.

"Was it supposed to come from my mouth? Ah! I forgot I'm a freaking beast now. Bye-bye, my human days, here comes a reptile!" Kazuma sighed.

"Brilliant! Brilliant! You're perfect for my journey ahead. I thought you would be useless, but now I have hopes of surviving this damn dungeon," The magician chortled in ecstasy.

After hearing the compliment, Kazuma flushed for a moment. However, something caught his mind and he frowned, "wh-what? Did he just say we’re in a dungeon?"