I Devour the Multiverses and Collect Worlds, Beauties, and Trophies

Training and Leaving for New Adventures

Spoken like a true arsonist. I could just imagine the entire palace or kingdom engulfed in glowing reddish orange flames.

I nodded in satisfaction. "How about we dedicate 5 hours a day to each combat, magic, and I'll teach you another way to use mana? Then you can sleep for 9 hours unless you want to do something else during that time."

"You promised to teach me to read."

"I found some magic books so we can do both reading and studying magic at the same time."

She seemed satisfied with that answer, so I went to where I'd stacked the books and picked out what seemed to be the most basic one. Then I sat down next to her and pointed at each word as I read it aloud. It would have been faster to read on my own, but then she wouldn't learn the words. I also don't know if this is the proper way to teach someone to read, but I think it'll work.

The book on the basics of magic went over different elements and types of magic like circles, potions, enchantments, and spells. It also includes a few simple spells at the end. I think Lila already knew the contents of this book, but it was mostly new to me.

We got through about one-quarter of the book in that 5-hour block. The next thing I was going to practice is cultivation. I think cultivation and magic together will be a terrifying combination. Magic doesn't strengthen the body nearly as much as cultivation nor does it provide much of a noticeable increase in lifespan. I took out the book on cultivation I got as a reward since Kitty said I could use the first chapter in this world.

I read this book in the same manner as the magic book so Lila would hopefully learn more. The cultivation book I got was a true all-encompassing manual at nearly 6 inches thick, covering what seems to be all cultivation methods in existence as well as pros and cons to each and which ones are compatible to be used together.

The first chapter was nearly an inch and a half thick; thankfully, it was divided into sections, and we didn't have to read it all. We skipped all the sections labeled as the worst methods and went right to the best beginner methods, then picked out one that seems to suit each of us. After picking out our methods, there was still a significant amount of basic knowledge to read that would help build the most stable foundation.

By the time we finished our time with the cultivation book, I was extremely tired of reading and hoping the swordsmanship book was not full of text to be read. I was in luck as there was only a few pages of text, then lots of drawings with maybe a sentence underneath each.

I bought two swords made of normal steel and of the correct size as stated in the book. After giving one to Lila, I took the other one and started practicing, trying to copy the movements depicted in the drawings.

We were pretty awkward with it at first, remembering one move then stopping and having to think about what the next one was, or even having to look in the book again.

While Lila slept after practice, I worked on devouring the old weapons and whatever else I found in the crates besides the books. It was slow going with the weapons; the mana crystals forged into the blade made them more energy-dense but very slow to devour. It was fine, though, as we had decided to stay here, since it was in the palace it was relatively safe, and kept the rain off our heads. But I was going to create an escape route underground in case anyone ever tried to come in.

After a week, we'd finished both cultivation and magic books and started practicing them. We couldn't practice very big spells in the space we had, the best we could do is memorize how they were supposed to work and be very familiar with them. After we were proficient in all the magic we could practice, we would move on to the next book.

I was right about Lila already knowing the stuff in the first book as she could cast those spells perfectly after only a few tries each. It probably would have been perfect on the first try, but she had to get used to her new mana veins that were much stronger than her previous ones.