Starting Out with an Infinite Skill Tree!

Ch. 12



Chapter 12. Question—How Many Grams of Water Must Be Vaporized to Use Ice in a Battle?!

"Do you want to walk on your own?"

"No, big bro-ther... I want you to keep carrying me!"

Giselle's eyes curved into the shape of crescent moons as she smiled.

At some point, Yan had shifted from holding her in his arms to carrying her on his back.

Yan chuckled softly but said nothing.

Giselle's body was very light, but for Yan—whose body had reverted to that of a ten-year-old—it was still a bit of weight.

‘Looks like I'll need to figure out some magic that can quickly train and strengthen my body.’

Though Yan pondered this, he wasn't worried about his current situation at all.

"Big bro-ther, are you tired?"

Giselle suddenly asked in a soft, childish whisper.

Her little face showed an expression of concern.

The obedient girl didn't want her own selfishness to become a burden for her brother.

"Not at all..!"

Yan tilted his head with a smile. Then, inwardly, he murmured: ‘Oh wind, heed my command!’

The next moment, a breeze swept under his body, lifting him ever so slightly.

Yan's steps grew light and easy!

Though he still didn't know any formal body-strengthening “magic”, he could use “wind element” magic to achieve something similar.

The Clovis family's collection of grimoires was far too limited—no longer enough to satisfy Yan's hunger for learning.

He could only try to develop magic suited to himself.

This idea of letting the wind carry him, lightening his load, had also been influenced by that day when Baird had saved him from falling with wind magic.

Hopefully, he would one day come across more advanced grimoires—or encounter powerful individuals to learn from.

After all, creating new magic wasn't as easy as studying ready-made spells.

But with the 【Simulated Star-Creation Map】, he could instantly "learn" everything from “the other person,” once he encountered it.

"Hey, Giselle... next time, you should try making friends on your own."

Yan suddenly smiled as he spoke gently: "If you're always with me, you'll end up being rejected too."

"No... I don't like them."

"Anyone who doesn't like Big Bro-ther is... a bad person. Giselle doesn't want to be friends with them!"

The little girl puffed out her cheeks and shook her head firmly.

Her innocent heart wasn't weighed down by anything complicated.

To her, if those children rejected her brother, then she would just as childishly reject them.

It was all very simple—"like" or "dislike."

Hearing these feelings in her words, Yan couldn't help but smile wryly.

At that moment, he recalled the Heroic Spirit who wrote fairy tales only for children—Hans Christian “Andersen.”

—”The pure innocence of children is the most beautiful sight in the world.”

And such innocence—he wanted to protect it for Giselle, always.

Yan's lips curved into a gentle, steady smile.

‘What a silly little thing you are..’

"Giselle..!"

Yan suddenly called her name softly, his voice warm.

"...?!"

Giselle tilted her head adorably. From the air, a droplet of water gradually condensed and then crystallized into a beautiful, transparent bead of ice.

"Here, play with this—consider it your reward for standing up for your big brother just now!!"

Yan said cheerfully, not even turning his head.

"Uwaah!!"

In the sunlight, the little girl's ruby-like eyes widened in amazement as she stared at the sparkling ice bead.

Her eyes shone with a worshipful gaze, as if little stars twinkled inside them. ‘So pretty!’

"Big brother, you're amazing!"

Giselle caught the bead of ice in her tiny hands, her voice ringing with a silvery, childish laugh.

Yan also smiled.

The siblings basked in that warm, tender moment—

And from across the town, at a street corner, a beautiful girl happened to witness it all.

She had dazzling ice-blue eyes, and her long, sakura-pink hair swayed gently in the wind.

A girl whose appearance, like Yan's, stood out starkly from the villagers of the little town.

What was that just now—

At first, Cidy's gaze toward Yan's black hair and black eyes carried only mild curiosity. But now her eyes sharpened, suddenly brimming with intensity.

Her lips parted slightly as she stared at the ice bead in Giselle's hands.

"..!!!!"

Silence.

Then her mouth opened in shock.

‘I didn't sense a trace of ice element magic... That boy—he directly transformed water into ice!’

Cidy's scalp prickled, a chill racing from the base of her spine to the crown of her head.

She had only stepped out for a rare stroll after being cooped up at home for too long—only to stumble upon a sight that shattered her entire understanding of magic.

That black-haired child, just now before her eyes, had turned "water" into "ice"!

This was absolutely not “magic”!!

How could something like this even exist?

Even if Yan had simply sensed the presence of ice element magic and cast an ice spell, she wouldn't have been surprised.

In her experience, even rarer magics like light or darkness weren't unheard of.

But what she had just seen... was rewriting the very essence of magic itself!

No, it wasn't even magic anymore—

It was practically...

——”Creation from nothing!”

Cidy took a deep breath.

At that thought, her eyes suddenly sparkled, her gaze turning feverish—almost obsessive.

‘Oh my!! When did this happen!’

A boy this fascinating had appeared in her own village, and as its “Mayor”, she hadn't known?!

In her mind, Yan was instantly equated with new, mysterious “knowledge”!

Her eyes widened further as she watched the siblings walk away, drool literally spilling down her chin.

No, she couldn't—

As a mage devoted to the pursuit of truth, how could she just stand by and let such a towering “mystery” in human form slip away?

Even if she had to trick him, beg on her knees—no, no, that wouldn't do! She'd lose all dignity that way.

Regardless, she had to uncover how exactly he had performed that "water-into-ice" spell.

Wiping her mouth, Cidy's gaze grew deep and unfathomable, like the starry night sky itself.

Her expression hardened with resolve.

For a mage whose entire heart and soul were devoted to magic study, nothing in this world was more irresistible than the lure of the unknown.

—Meanwhile, in Yan's mind, numbers and formulas spun as he replayed the experiment.

To vaporize one gram of water, you need to absorb 577 calories of heat from the surroundings.

So then, if he wanted to create enough ice for actual combat use...

Even as he laughed and chatted with Giselle, his brain was racing, simulating battle scenarios where his "ice-making technique" could reproduce the effects of ice elemental magic.

All he could say was—

With【Cosmology】 embedded in his consciousness, juggling two trains of thought at once was nothing at all.


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