Gwen tried on another pair of over-the-knee boots and found the leather too bulky to balance.

In addition to the task, her school runner should be enough. But it was a bush path, a jagged landscape of the outback, where rows of sharp stones and burning sand intersected, divided by smooth moss and ankle-deep mud.

Next to her, Deborah pondered between the Wasteland Punk and the New World Adventurer, and before Gwen could say "slip," "splash," "slap," she straightened her clothes.

"Debbie, you're enjoying it there," Gwen bit her lip, wondering if she should give up.

Deborah looks comfortable in a pair of worn-out denim shorts, an akbra hat, and a tight-fitting tank top. Compared to Gwen, Deborah's earthy constitution means that she is highly resistant to the scorching sun. Gwen, on the other hand, has dual qi for the elements, one of which comes from the realm of negative energy. Ten minutes in the sun and she'll languish.

"Thank you," replied cowgirl Deborah Jones.

Gwen sighed. She thought she would have a sexy wasteland wanderer look, too, but she knew she wouldn't walk half a kilometer away and show so much skin.

In the end, she found a pair of white cotton, elbow-length short skirts that were breathable and comfortable. In the next store, she found trousers in charcoal. Another round of continuous search found a pair of calfskin ankle boots. Finally, she found a checkered pattern of hand-woven Afghan scarves, as well as her everyday feminine items.

As soon as Deborah and Gwen walked into the store, the salespeople were engrossed. They may not know who the two teenage girls are, but they know that Tess is Surya's assistant. Coupled with the fact that Tess was their driver, there was not a single request from the staff under the pseudonym that was not met. Of course, Gwen has the right imperial demeanor. She speaks cautiously, politely, formally, and is not at all rude to them. At the same time, Deborah is more brutal, and the assistants can't put her within the limited range of their mage world skills.

The town of Cessnok itself is the center of the Hunter region. It is a thriving, resource-based town, powered by vineyards and primary agriculture in the region. The high street is becoming aristocratic, thanks to the influx of people like Suliya, who are very happy to own a property in this countryside overlooking the Sydney Highlands.

Gwen paid with paper money, as crystals were mainly used to exchange magic items and consumables. Later, the group travels to the other side of town, where a thriving trade in magical items is taking place at a local wizarding market.

Still, there are some practical things that are very useful for mages. The girls follow Tess like two puppies, and find great pleasure in choosing the trinkets of the time and other small magical devices.

For example, Gwen never knew that the name could take advantage of elemental effects on a micro-scale, without the ability to channel mana. There are items enchanted with small glyphs that produce small flames or clean water by simply sucking natural mana particles from the atmosphere. Similarly, what the Mage considers trivial minor spell effects, such as Cantrip "Light", can be used by name by inserting the LDM Coin Money Bar into the feeder slot. In this way, these items produce hot and cold, slight telepathy, and even small buffs to relieve fatigue.

Tess explains that these Cantrip items are the mainstay of the secondary enchanters who lack the talent or resources to venture beyond the mid-tier. Unlike Surya, Suya built thousands of HDM companies on commission alone, and most of the assistants made a living by selling convenience items to wealthy pseudonyms.

Gwen nodded, and eventually bought a belt with text engraved on it, with a bag containing the potion and clinging to her hips.

"So, wildlings can't buy magical items to protect themselves?" Gwen didn't believe when Tess asked a question she'd been wondering since she arrived at the market.

"Hardly," Tess scoffed. Then she complained bitterly that such a bad distinction would bring great confusion. Surya's apprentice explained that in history, several countries have tried to arm pen names with authorized items. Results vary greatly depending on time and context. The European invasion of the black part of Africa ended in a bloody nose, as the slave armament of the Ivory Coast led to the loss of weapons from the gnomes.

Today, these gnomes roam up and down the coast, firing bolts of human magic with appropriate fire sticks. To make matters worse, those pesky grey market traders find that in search of crystals, creature cores, and rare ingredients, they sell these items to half-humans for a profit.

"Why haven't those people been prosecuted?" Gwen asked suspiciously.

"This is one of the policies of the tower, or so Surya. Tess shrugged indifferently as the gray factions offered weapons to clever monsters to wage war with each other. Right now, they're too busy to threaten a dozen human cities on the coast. ”

"What if they oppose us?" asked Gwen worriedly. She certainly never learned this in their school's curriculum.

"Only humans can process stable mana crystals on an industrial scale, my dear. Tess laughed arrogantly, of course, they could use it against us, but most of the items had dozens of charges at best. In a protracted war, they will withdraw in a month, while we will have many years of reserves. ”

"Not to mention," Tess reached into her chest and pulled out a necklace. On a rope is a fang, the size of Yogwin's little finger. "The fangs of the Wemick Patriarch. I bought it at auction. 99% chance of being traded and not hunted. I saved it up and waited until I got to the middle level. Engrave a polymorphic, empowering hostility on it. ”

Then the conversation turned to the town. Tess had to introduce the girls to the locals. The farmers were mostly men, but there were also a few women, and they were all hard, like pickled leather. When Gwen mentioned that her Opa company asked her to help ranchers with their roo company problems, the settlers were more than happy to ask for help.

The first to make this request was a tall, burly man named Rhodes, who was the owner of a vineyard not far from town. He has a not-so-dilapidated Land Cruiser by his side, suggesting that his business operations are successful and that he quickly takes a liking to the girls. Once given the task of cleaning the room, he proposes to pick Gwen and Deborah from Surya's estate first thing the next morning. Gwen agreed, and after exchanging message symbols, they went their separate ways.

The girls then have lunch at a deli in town that specializes in wild ingredients. The daily specialty is the mallard duck in the orange area, and the tarin of the horned rabbit is eaten cold with the farmhouse vegetables. Since the girls were bankrupt, it was Tess's cry.

Later in the afternoon, the girls finally came home and went their separate ways for individual training. Deborah worked in the foundry, perfecting her new bronze skin technique. Meanwhile, Gwen uses the opportunity to try out her new school of magic in a separate, wooded niche at Suriya's estate.

"Detect magic. Gwen invoked the first layer of divination nails. Gradually, her eyes seem to acquire the "filter" of the Instagra company, depicting the world in many colors.

Transmutation had a lilac glow that permeated the hut as Surya and the others worked. Enchantments, on the other hand, emit a golden yellow and eggshell glow, although the school tends to borrow its color from any core or stone carved inside. In Henry's manual, her master says that as her proficiency increases, her divination will become synaesthesia and innate.

"Detect traps. ”

Her second divination spell was strange, and of course, there were no traps in the manor that she could see.

Next, she tried some self-reinforcing spells.

She shook her long limbs first, and then began a lifeless sprint.

"Jump!"

Gwen jumped, her legs strengthened by the deformation. She has a good affinity for transposition spells, as her body is filled with elemental air. The description prescribes a "2 to 3 meter intensified jump". According to her estimates, she must have been four meters above the ground.

She immediately regretted her curiosity. Swinging on all fours, she groped in the air. That's exactly why she highly recommends her next spell before trying to "jump".

"The feathers have fallen!"

Gwen's descent slowed down. This spell did not make her lighter, but immediately reduced the speed and acceleration of her body when she fell. If she were a physicist, maybe she would have a better understanding of the mechanics of magic. Now, she can only accept that she is using magic.

She practiced jumping and falling for an hour until her legs were sore from fatigue, but she was still not satisfied that she couldn't grasp the time. According to Deborah's description of her abilities, she can use a combination of two spells to scale buildings and walls. In fact, very skilled shapeshifters can even climb near vertical cliffs, just by jumping.

At dusk, she returned to the estate and had a simple dinner of meat and vegetables. She chatted with Surya about the town, the people they met, and what they saw. Happily, Su Ya took out a dozen vials and mana potions, distributed the syringes to Gwen and Deborah, and then wished them good luck on their trip tomorrow.

As soon as her grandfather was gone, Gwen and Deborah returned to the bedroom, and what had happened the night before had made their alone time awkward. At the door, Deborah lingered for a few seconds, listening and hoping before her own door clicked shut.

Rhodes arrived early the next day, and his Land Cruiser took a loud bite on the gravel road.

"Master Huang!" "It's nice to meet you, man," the happy rancher announced with great fanfare, walking into the open atrium with a box of Shiraz and Merlot.

"As long as Suya is okay, Jonathan. Sullia motioned for a nicknamed servant to pick up the boxes before shaking hands with the vineyard manager.

"Don't let my wife hear, she'll skin me alive." ”

"Well, you can rest assured here. My position, my rules. ”

The two share the lark's laughter until Gwen and Deborah appear in their adventure gear.

Needless to say, Deborah wears shorts and a tank top, and her hat hangs low, revealing her bright amber eyes. Compared to Gwen, her shapeshifting technique requires a large range of body movement for close-quarters combat, which is almost unfavorable for easily damaged sleeves and pants.

Deben was an adventurer who came from the English countryside. Gwen had always had the fair skin characteristic of the Norsemen, and now she became even paler as her empty mana flowed.

Mesmerized by his daughter's enthusiasm, Surya checked their gear. He asked the girls to count their magic and life syringes, and Gwen carried gunpowder, rope, tents, bottled water, rations, and more in her storage ring.

"Opa," Gwen kissed her grandfather on the cheek and we're gone!"

The vineyards of Lodz are more famous than Gwen imagined. Even as an underage student, Gwen has seen his brand of Shiraz advertised all over the city. McGuigan's estate, as it is called, was owned by a family of mages for thirty years. They are now owned by the manager and janitor of the estate, he explained.

From the very beginning, the vineyard was a sea of beautiful stakes that stretched to the end to form a curving landscape. It is built on top of a hill and is a beautiful place with a view of the valley below. Under the care of Rhodes, the facilities were visited, and at the end the girls walked through the vineyards, touching the rows of vines covered with amethysts.

Eventually, the three of them crashed into a section of fence that had been torn down.

"So, at this time of year, the roosters come out of the water and they come and spoil our grapes. Rhodes sighed, they wanted to go to the reservoir we dug back, but the water was for growing grapes. ”

He picked up a few pieces of wood.

"If it's two or three or a dozen, it's not a big deal, but when the herd passes by, they start to really wreak havoc. ”

Gwen looked at the fence in front of her. These weren't the cute waist-high fences they had used in her previous world. It is a two-meter-high fence with long strings of knotted iron. If a wallaby crashes into a solid piece of wood, how big are those two bastards?

Just as she raised her hand, there was a commotion in the bushes. Right in front of them, a big red wine jumped around without hesitation.

Gwen's eyes widened at the sight of the thing. Sure, it was a little taller than she expected, about two and a half meters, but the muscles of that thing! It was torn apart in disbelief, as if it had eaten the same amount of berries and anabolic steroids.

"Oh, a big bastard!" Rhodes said gratefully, looking at that thing's arm, what a pretty bastard. I bet it might need a full-size O'Rourke to come up to the top before it stands out. If you can leave it as it is, the fur is worth a few crystals. ”

Deborah's eyes lit up.

"I see," she said confidently, increase strength, strengthen your physique, and jump up with bronze skin!

Before Gwen could intervene, Deborah joined the argument. Gwen sarcastically notes that Deborah behaves a bit like the kangaroo herself. Her trajectory immediately led her to the red tree, which was completely dismissive of the attacker. When Deborah landed steadily with a thud, it threw its tail back and immediately grew to a full three meters.

She watched as Deborah pulled herself back together, her dominant arm curling up a right hook. At her level, the punch was strong enough to smash stones and dented steel plates, and if she connected, Debes should have flattened the kangaroo.

Whack!

"Oh!"

To their surprise, the wallabies caught Deborah with a precise kick in mid-air. It split her momentum in two, bent over like a boomerang, and sent her back to where she had been. With a scream, the shapeshifter tumbled in the air, then slammed into the ground and slid into a grassy knoll. Deborah immediately recovered and stood up. Her face was flushed, but she wasn't hurt.

The wallaby was just as surprised as Deborah. It must have thought she was going to bite half off, as it was now more cautious. It was clear that it began to claw-grabble at the air and look like a boxer preparing for the second round. Deborah hesitated, not knowing what to do. She had no kung fu training.

"Debb, close your eyes!" Gwen shouted, and let out a well-placed flashbang.

Bang!

She conjured up an explosion next to the kangaroo's twitching ears, completely unexpected. Soon, the wallaby, suffocated by a world of pain, blinded by light and sound, fell heavily on its feet. Then it tries to escape, and its fight or flight reaction is overloaded. However, in its panic, it instead lined up a bee line for Deborah.

Deborah is ready. When it came into range, she swirled around her moving legs in a spinning arc and fixed it to her head. As its trajectory changed, a crunching of bones was heard, and it finally landed in a pile some distance away, its head facing an impossible angle.

"Whole skin!" Deborah grunted vigorously, recovering from the air blown by the big red. "That's a whole skin, right?"

Their employees were covered in a cold sweat, most likely shocked by the fact that the two girls thought it was a good idea to punch the big red beans.

"Yes...... That's a whole sheet of fur," he muttered. In fact, it was a good kill, and the fur was completely undamaged.

"Well, who's next!" Deborah shouted into the distance. "Gwen! Get ready!"

The head of another wallaby rises from the bushes. A cute little Joey with big brown eyes.

Oh no!, Gwen thought to herself. We killed it...

The second head rises from the dense grass. Bigger is worse.

And then the third.

There is a fourth.

Then a dozen more heads appeared.

Big and red, tall and strong. The muscles ripple as the veins burst, giving a blue murderous expression.

Deborah moved between the herd and Gwen.

There are two entrances next to Gwen. Ariel and Caleban came out, hissing at the creature in front of them.

He took Rhodes' heart down his throat.

Two teenage girls, a ferret, and a fucking brick house standing next to a dozen chicken coops.

What the hell, Rhodes wondered, what was going on?