Crimson flames burned in Chen Yu's hands.
The flames surged.
A blaze of fire, at least half a meter tall, seethed with light.
The demon girl's eyes were filled with terror. She rushed to Chen Yu's side and grabbed his wrist. The fire element connected to Chen Yu seemed to be instantly severed, and the flames in his hands disappeared at a visible speed.
The demon girl, still holding Chen Yu's wrist, glanced sideways.
"What exactly are you thinking?"
"Are you trying to get him killed?"
Magic is about gradual progress.
Chen Yu had no prior knowledge of magic. Even with Sona teaching him, Sona wasn't a magic academy teacher and might not be suitable for beginners.
Under these circumstances, it was difficult for Chen Yu to control even basic magic.
Yet he dared to teach him intermediate magic.
If Chen Yu was even slightly careless, elemental backlash could cost him his life. Moreover, for a beginner like Chen Yu, even with focused effort to control the elements.
The elemental energy contained within intermediate magic was by no means something he could control.
The demon girl, her eyes wide open, glared with anger. After shouting a few words at Sona, she frowned and looked back at Chen Yu, scrutinizing him from head to toe.
"How are you?"
"Is there any residual element? Any burning sensation in your chest or meridians?"
"Ah, this..." Chen Yu pursed his lips and blinked slightly.
He was actually quite confused.
The demon girl had suddenly appeared and extinguished his fire. He didn't blame her for doing so; he just didn't know what had happened.
He thought he was learning a basic spell.
Why was it being called intermediate?
"What, lost your voice?" Seeing Chen Yu remain silent for a long time, the demon girl's eyes immediately showed impatience. "I'm talking to you, why is it so difficult? Did your brain get fried? I asked if you had any adverse reactions."
"No."
"Then you truly have a big life."
Hearing Chen Yu's answer, the demon girl withdrew her cold, fair hand and then snorted with disdain.
"As expected, good people don't live long, and villains live for a thousand years."
"Hey, hey, hey, if you're going to care about someone, do it properly. Why do you have to add that last sentence?" Chen Yu couldn't help but frown and pout. "How did I become a villain?"
"Heh!"
The demon girl let out a cold sneer.
"I didn't call you a villain; I was just praising your resilience. A beginner controlling intermediate magic and not suffering backlash? Your ancestors must have accumulated a lot of good karma for you."
"Is her mouth always this sharp?" Chen Yu glanced sideways.
Sona shrugged slightly. The demon girl, seeing their exchange of glances, immediately snorted.
"You still think of her as a good person? If it weren't for me just now, you would have died countless times. She directly taught you intermediate magic; didn't she want you dead?"
"That..."
Chen Yu cleared his throat.
"Perhaps you don't know, but what Sona taught me just now was the basic spell, Fireball."
Huh!?
The moment Chen Yu finished speaking, it was evident that the disbelief radiating from the demon girl's eyes was palpable.
"Chen Yu, are you running a fever?" The demon girl raised her hand and felt Chen Yu's forehead. "You call that magic a Fireball? This is a Fireball."
Boom!
Almost instantly, a small flame condensed in the demon girl's palm. This flame was much smaller than the one Chen Yu had just conjured.
The flame was pale.
Faintly, one could feel a hint of coolness.
"You can use fire magic too?" Chen Yu exclaimed. "Hey, why don't you need to chant when casting spells? Sona told me earlier that I needed to recite incantations and gather energy to condense the flames."
"Tsk..."
Disdain was clearly displayed in the demon girl's eyes.
"I'm a Demon King, for goodness sake. If I had to chant to cast a basic spell, I might as well die. Why wouldn't I be able to cast this basic magic?"
There.
As expected, she was a Demon King. Even a weakened Demon King was more formidable than Chen Yu.
"Open your eyes and look properly. This is what a Fireball should look like," the demon girl explained softly. "And think about the flames you conjured earlier. Can that be called a Fireball?"
"But Sona definitely taught me the Fireball," Chen Yu mumbled.
"Impossible!"
The demon girl's face was full of certainty, and then Sona's low voice was heard.
"What I taught you was the basic spell, Fireball."
Instantly, the demon girl was dumbfounded again.
Fireball?
Those flames, which were half a meter tall, couldn't possibly be associated with a Fireball.
"Is that true?" the demon girl asked, her face full of disbelief. Upon hearing this, Sona pouted, "I'm a Saint-level mage, for goodness sake. Could I make such a rookie mistake?"
"Then the flames just now..."
"I was also very surprised."
Sona spread her hands with a look of helplessness in her eyes.
Let alone the demon girl's shock, she herself was wide-eyed when she saw the flames Chen Yu had conjured. Even with her vast experience, she had never encountered a Fireball that large.
Even some enhanced Fireballs were not half the size of what Chen Yu had conjured.
Gazing into Sona's eyes.
From her eyes, the demon girl could feel that she wasn't lying. Shock instantly swept through the demon girl's heart, and gradually, both Sona and the demon girl shifted their gaze to Chen Yu.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Chen Yu took half a step back and whispered.
The Fireball spell was fine; the problem lay with Chen Yu.
"Show me again how you conjure the Fireball that Sona taught you just now," the demon girl said, placing a hand on her hip. She refused to believe she had misseen, but she was even less convinced that a Fireball could be cast to such an extent. "Start with the incantation, let me see."
"That's no problem."
Chen Yu grinned and scratched his head.
"It's just that the incantation Sona told me earlier, something about fire element spirits representing ferocity and destruction, please heed my call and gather in my palm. That kind of incantation is a bit too chuunibyo; I can't say it."
"Then what do you want?" the demon girl pouted. "Do you want to change the incantation?"
Magic incantations.
They were the bridge connecting a mage to the elements. When the soul power reached a certain level, instantaneous casting without chanting became possible.
This was also due to the caster silently reciting the incantation in their heart to establish the connection.
Incantations could not be altered.
"Ah~"
Yet, Chen Yu nodded honestly.
"Don't dream about it," the demon girl snorted dismissively. "Just stick to reciting the incantation. Wanting to alter it? That has never happened in this subterranean world before."
"See, you still don't believe me."
Chen Yu pouted, speechless.
"Watch me do it."
Immediately, Chen Yu extended his palm, his gaze suddenly sharp.
"Fire, come forth!"
Boom!
The interrupted crimson flames instantly condensed in Chen Yu's palm. Seeing this scene, the demon girl and Sona stared blankly at what was unfolding before them.
What in the world was going on?!