NBAA Vol. 6 Chapter 1 Part 4
『Ah, wait a minute. Reito, could you please have a more serious ‘communication’ session with me?』
『Alright, but…』
『I’m sorry, it’s fine if we just have a short conversation like this, but…』
For short conversations, there is no problem, but for longer conversations, Reito needs to initiate the communication. Time stops during the communication, but it consumes Reito’s mental energy, so usually, Airis is the one who starts talking. However, this time, it seemed that a longer conversation was necessary. Reito communicated with Airis and spoke to her in his mind.
『I…I, what was it again? Well, Ai-Ai is fine.』
『Don’t forget my name already! And please don’t call me that, it sounds like a panda.』
『So, what do you need?』
『Ah, yes. I wanted to talk to you about your abilities.』
『…The SP thing?』
Reito had a hunch about what Airis was talking about. Recently, he defeated the legendary monster, the Rotten Dragon, raising his level to 65. As a result, he also gained 30 SP. With these points, he could learn new skills and also enhance some of the abilities he already possessed. Since there were many possibilities, Reito had decided to carefully consider how to use his SP and had been postponing its use. Airis continued the conversation.
『You have already enhanced some of your abilities, such as your unique skills and abilities related to your profession.』
『By the way, what happens if I raise my Alchemist level? Will my abilities be enhanced even more?』
『In that case, the amount of magical energy used would decrease, and the activation speed would be slightly improved.』
Reito’s alchemist abilities, “Material Transmutation,” “High-Speed Shape Change,” and “Super Matter Reinforcement,” had been enhanced using SP and were originally called “Metal Transmutation,” “Shape Change,” and “Matter Reinforcement.” On the other hand, the unique skills “Magic Power Recovery Speed Up,” “Magic Power Capacity Expansion,” and “Magic Effect Up” had their abilities enhanced, but their names remained the same. At first glance, it seemed insignificant, but using SP provided Reito with significant benefits. In particular, “Magic Power Recovery Speed Up” was very useful, allowing Reito to recover magic power faster than ordinary people, even when it ran out.
『Please think about how to use your SP this time. Whether to learn a new skill or enhance existing abilities.』
『Umm…』
『You’re learning skills relatively easily now, but there are still many difficult skills to learn due to your profession, and as you age, it will become more challenging to acquire skills. You can also save your SP and learn them later…』
『Alright, let’s use it.』
『Wow, you made that decision quickly! Are you sure!?』
『There’s no use worrying about it… This time, I want to enhance my support magic.』
Reito decided to use his SP to improve his support magic, which would allow him to be even more effective in battles and other situations. With a clear goal in mind, he felt more confident and motivated to continue his training and gain even more power.
Reito decided to use his SP on the abilities of a Support Magician that he hadn’t enhanced yet. He asked Airis about the results of enhancing the abilities.
『What happens if I enhance ‘Muscle Boost’?』
『It will evolve into a skill called ‘Limit Boost.’ It allows you to greatly enhance your physical abilities all at once. However, the rate of enhancement will automatically change according to your physical condition.』
『What does that mean?』
『Specifically, ‘Muscle Boost’ can only enhance your physical abilities by about three to four times, while ‘Limit Boost can enhance them by six to seven times. If you train your body, you might be able to enhance it even more. Oh, but the increased physical strain won’t be improved, so be careful.』
『Wow…』
Reito thought about Airis’s explanation for a while. It was tempting to have his physical abilities enhanced even more, but the increased physical strain made him hesitate.
『What about ‘Magic Boost’? I’m actually most curious about this one.』
『It becomes a skill called ‘Enchantment Boost.’ It doesn’t directly enhance the original ability but adds a new effect instead. Up until now, ‘Magic Boost’ could only enhance magic, but with ‘Enchantment Boost,’ you can infuse magic power into weapons and tools.』
『I feel like I’ve been doing something similar already…』
『No, ‘Enchantment Boost’ allows you to control the attribute of the magic power you infuse. For example, you activate your ‘Gravity Sword’ and ‘Gravity Strike Blade’ by sending earth-attributed magic power into the sword, right?』
『Yeah.』
『With ‘Enchantment Boost,’ you can, for example, send fire-attributed magic into a weapon, and the blade will be engulfed in flames. Additionally, you can freely generate flames or electricity from your body without using a weapon.』
『Wow!』
Until now, the attributes of the magic power Reito could infuse into his sword were limited. However, it seemed that by learning ‘Enchantment Boost,’ he would be able to imbue his sword with various attributes of magic power. Reito was excited about the addition of a new ability but was also disappointed that his abilities wouldn’t be dramatically enhanced.
『What about ‘Recovery Boost’?』
『It becomes ‘Ultra Recovery Boost.’ The healing speed simply increases significantly. It consumes a large amount of magic power, but you will be able to heal physical injuries instantly.』
『It’s simple but seems very convenient.』
Unlike the other two enhancements, ‘Recovery Boost’ only improved the ability to heal more quickly, but the increased healing speed was amazing. After listening to the explanations of the enhancements for the three support magics, Reito was deep in thought when Airis continued as if remembering something.
『Oh, and you can also enhance your storage magic.』
『Ah, I see. So the storage magic is also supporting magic.』 said Reito, realizing he had forgotten about it.
Reito double-checked the details just to be sure. 『How will the storage magic be enhanced?』 he asked.
『It will evolve into Spatial Magic.’ The name sounds a bit cooler, doesn’t it? You will be able to retrieve non-solid objects from other dimensions,』 Airis explained.
『Non-solid objects, huh?』Reito repeated.
『Yes. Not only that, but the range of the storage magic will become unlimited. Previously, the storage magic could only be activated within Reito’s immediate vicinity, but with spatial magic, you can create a black vortex anywhere within sight and even fix it in place if necessary,』 Airis continued.
『That sounds amazing, but will the weight limit increase?』Reito asked.
『No, unfortunately not. It depends on the user’s magic capacity,』Airis replied.
The enhanced storage magic was attractive, but the fact that the weight limit did not increase was disappointing. Reito thought for a moment and then made a decision.
『Alright, I’ll enhance all four support magic,』 he said.
『Are you sure? Once you use it, you can’t go back,』 Airis warned.
『I don’t care!』 Reito declared.
『Are you a Chinese martial artist or something?』Airis joked.
After ending the communication with Airis, Reito opened his status screen and spent SP to enhance his support magic. He had finally enhanced all of his job’s abilities.
『Wow, it changed all at once,』 Reito said, looking at the four support magic descriptions that had changed and the reset proficiency levels. When a skill evolved, the proficiency level would be reset, so the only way to increase it was to use the skill diligently.
『I’ll try it out another day… I’m sleepy,』 Reito yawned, feeling mentally exhausted from the communication with Airis.
He decided to go home and rest his body.
The next day, Reito was in the training grounds at the Hailstorm Guild. There, the rough-looking Shun was giving sword guidance to junior swordsmen. As a Swordmaster, he was tasked with instructing adventurers who used swords on a rotation basis during his stay at the guild. Today was his turn.
Shun is currently taking out his frustrations on his juniors under the guise of sword instruction.
“Hey, Gallow! What happened to that energy you had the other day? Get up already!”
“P-Please, spare me!”
“Tch… Just when I thought you had grown a bit, you go back to being a useless coward.”
“Ugh…!”
Holding a wooden sword, Shun spits out his words at Gallow, an adventurer who he had knocked to the ground. Shun doesn’t bother hiding his irritation as he raises his voice to call out for the next person he will instruct.
“That’s enough! Next one, step up!”
“Eek!”
The scream came from a woman among the adventurers present. Besides Shun, the only people at the training ground were female adventurers, and all the male adventurers were lying on the ground. Upon hearing the voice, Shun regained some of his composure.
“Oh… There are no men left. Sorry about that. That’s enough for today.”
“Phew…”
As soon as Shun put away his wooden sword, the women around him breathed a collective sigh of relief. Shun had made a promise to himself that he wouldn’t raise his hand against women. He had sworn that he would only point his sword at men, except for his swordmaster or fellow Swordmasters. At that moment, a male beastman named Loga, who had been watching Shun’s instruction, finally raised his voice in anger.
“Shun! Enough already! What have you been doing since you came back late?”
That was the Swordmaster Loga shouting. Shun shouted back at him.
“Shut up! Today is my turn! Let me do what I want!”
“That’s not how it works! I won’t tolerate you needlessly beating up your comrades just because you’re in a bad mood!”
The male swordsmen lying on the ground looked at Shun with resentment. Shun let out a sigh and realized he had lost himself for a moment.
“Phew… That’s enough for today’s instruction. Whoever lost to me needs to run around the city’s walls ten times!”
“Y-Yes…”
“Thanks for your hard work.”
With those words of appreciation, Shun left the training ground.
“Thank you for your hard work…”
Once Shun was out of sight, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The healing magic users who had been waiting nearby hurriedly approached and began treating the injured adventurers. During training, unless the injury was severe, healing magic users were not allowed to intervene, not even for minor bruises, according to the rules.
“Are you okay, Gallow?”
Mina, a fellow adventurer in Gallow’s party, asked with a worried expression.
“It hurts… Damn it, that guy.”
Gallow stood up while cursing.
Then, Morimo, another member of the party, arrived.
“Shun was really out of control today. I never expected him to use ‘magic sword’ in a practice match…”
Gallow was the only one who had managed to push Shun to the point of using his trump card, the “magic sword,” but he was still defeated with a single blow. While Gallow was considered to be one of the top swordsmen in the guild, the title of “Swordmaster” could not be achieved through swordsmanship alone.
“I’ll definitely beat him someday… Agh!”
“Don’t push yourself, idiot!”
“Enough already. I’ll heal you, so don’t move!”
As Morimo and Mina restrained him, Gallow received treatment for the wound on his right arm. The wound caused by the “magic sword” was a beautiful and sharp cut, as if made by a sharp blade, but he had never been directly hit by Shun’s slash. He had only fallen down due to the force of the “magic sword” blow and had no other external injuries.
“By the way, why was Shun so grouchy today?”
Mina reacted to Morimo’s words.
“He’s been acting strange since yesterday. He came back late and suddenly started giving combat instruction, which is unusual. He usually skips his shifts.”
“I don’t care. Geez, the wound is too clean. It heals too quickly.”
As soon as the healing potion was applied, Gallow’s wound quickly closed up. This only served to highlight the incredible power of Shun’s “magic sword.”
Gallow clenched his wooden sword and stood up.
“Damn it! They’re all making fun of me… Morimo, train with me!”
“What? Don’t overdo it…”
“Shut up! Mina, help me too!”
“Wha… I’m off duty today, though.”
“I’ll treat you to dinner tonight, so come with us!”
“Fine… but just a little, okay?”
Reluctantly agreeing to go out to dinner after hearing that it would be treated for her, Mina then saw Morimo tap Gallow’s shoulder.
“Hey, Gallow. You’ll treat me to dinner too, right? It’s not fair if it’s only for Mina.”
“Ugh… yeah, I got it.”
“Alright, you said it! Hey, everyone!! Gallow says he will treat us to dinner if we train with him!!” Morimo shouted.
“Hey, what the hell!?”
Gallow tries to hold back Morimo, who is blurting out ridiculous things, but he can’t stop him due to his superior physique. The swordsmen who have been frustrated by Morimo’s words react to them.
“Is that true, what he said?”
“A real man never goes back on his word, Gallow!!”
“I’ll take revenge for what happened last time!”
“Damn it… Alright, come at me, you punks!!”
“Y-You said it, you bastard!!”
Everyone in the area attacks Gallow, and he fights back with a wooden sword. Witnessing this scene, Loga lets out a deep sigh. On the other hand, he is worried about Shun’s condition and decides to ask him about it later.
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