Chapter 32: The Daily Life of a Ten Year Old - My Current Strength
A massive body approaches, bouncing off the snow.
There are three of them.
They are bent over with their Kousai swords at the ready. They must have seemed tiny to the two-meter-tall men. One of the lead figures raised the corner of his mouth in mockery, ignoring me in front of him and turning his wary gaze to those behind him.
At that moment, I leaped forward at once. I pass by its astonishing faces.
Then, a massive body sputtered about, blood spurting from its neck.
The two bodies turn around in a panic and raise their weapons.
The stone club slammed into the ground, sending fresh snow flying up with the impact.
I charged head-on, blending in with the snow.
I jumped on the cudgel as the monster was about to swing at me again. And as we passed each other, I slashed at the nape of the neck.
A dull touch. Shallow, huh?
It roared in anger and glared at me.
The nape of the neck was a bad move against an orc.
The monster has the face of a vicious boar placed on its massive body, and the hair of his head, which had grown carelessly and was filthy, is connected to his back. The sharpness of Kousai's sword is exceptional, but it seems impossible to slash the neck with every hair on the body with a slash at the edge of separation.
I measure my breathing and look at the two bodies.
The untouched one at the far end of the line is the only one I am wary of. Only this one is holding a war hammer. It is rusted and tattered, but I can't underestimate the power of a metal weapon. It also proves that it is more powerful than the other two. This kind of subspecies is simple: the strong are the best. Good weapons are taken by the strong.
The two orcs rushed forward at once.
There was no signal or anything. They just attacked with their instincts and emotions.
I kicked up snow toward the one that slashed me on the nape of their neck, and reflexively put my club in front of me and took a defensive stance. The earlier blow was not enough, but it seems to have succeeded in updating my alertness.
I then activate "Physical Up" and charge at the hammered orc.
Its muscle strength is 16, and mine is 14, so if I strengthened it with magic, I would still lose to the orc. Even if I strengthened it with magic, I would still lose. And considering its weight and powerful swing. It would be stupid to take it head-on.
The hammer is swung down, deflecting the freezing air.
I calmly assess the situation and interrupt its trajectory with his Kousai sword.
The pure white blade made contact with the rust-colored, and with sparks flying, it shaved off the hilt.
The recoil pushed my body out of the way, but I took advantage of the momentum and slid right next to the hammering orc.
I quickly readied my Rhino sword in the upper stance and swung it down at once.
I swing it down in one fluid motion as if I'm slashing at a stationary object. Even with its thick muscles and strong frame, it could not stop Rhino sword as I swung it straight down.
The hammering orc screamed, then the hammer and both its arms fell to the snow.
The armless orc falls to its knees in extreme pain and shock at the loss of its arms.
I turn behind and thrust my sword at its neck.
Without seeing it die, I turn around to find the orc with its nape turned away.
However, it was only able to escape for about ten steps.
I make eight 《Magic Bolt》 on my back. Then it died in a flash.
"Good work!"
Markant called out.
"A complete victory against three orcs. You are a full-fledged adventurer!"
"I'm not an adventurer, though."
I responded while wiping the blood off my sword.
I'm a little further into Leknod Forest.
This time, I am not taking a commission. When I showed up at Fist Pavilion, Markant asked me if I wanted to do some physical exercise. They invite me to join them as if it were a sport.
We all split up to collect the magic stone and the orc's belongings.
Suddenly, we noticed fresh blood on the cloak.
I peeled off the dark-colored cloak every drop splashed onto the snow.
Not a single stain remains. It's still easy to handle.
My cloak was completed one year after the celebration.
In the end, I could not find a way to turn the magic stone into thread, so I decided to compromise with an alternative solution.
Through trial and error, we discovered that if we mixed the dissolving liquid of the carnivorous plant monster called Ethylnepia with the dissolving slime liquid, the dissolving power of each would disappear. When I dried it further, it became a material rich in toughness. I mixed the monster stone that was polished to the limit with the neutralizing solution, dipped the thread in it, and entangled the monster stone to create a pseudo monster stone thread. That thread was made of twisted winter hairs of the tree-climbing wolf called Nudorok.
The thread was completed, but not in the quantity that I expected. When we were thinking about other materials, Ragnidig pulled out the leather of a blind owl named Lovan, stored in a warehouse. Some say it is the messenger of Roove, the god of hunting, but most hunters think it is just a monster. He takes it over and decides to sew it together with a thread of magic stone.
The rest is the work of a seamstress. However, for some reason, Ragnidig interfered at every turn and ended up joining in the work. The seamstress had a very bitter look when she received the cloak.
Perhaps because of Ragnidig's intervention, the name Seiran was safely bestowed upon the cloak.
Seiran is dark in appearance, but when approached by a strong light source, its entire body glows a deep blue. That is probably the original color, but it is so gaudy that it is embarrassing.
Like its siblings' ornaments, it also has "Water Shield," "Water Resistance 2," and "Acid Resistance 3," the rare skills of "Slash Resistance 3," "Covert 1," and "Seeker of the Everlasting Darkness". It seems that the dissolving liquid and the leather of the wax van had an effect.
The "Seeker of Everlasting Darkness" skill increases the covert skill by +1 when hiding at night or in the dark. It may seem subtle, but a small difference can save your life. Besides, I am curious to know if the "Covert 10" would be 11 at the limit. I want to try it someday.
The only things we got from the orcs were a certificate of defeat and a single magic stone.
The proof of defeat would affect the Adventurers' Guild's assessment, and if it was an orc or goblin, the reward would be paid by the lord, my father Urban. That because orcs and goblins eat humans and were such a nuisance that they posed a threat to the lord's citizens.
With the abandoned orc corpses by my side, I get ready to leave the forest.
There is a fear of zombification, as there are zombies in this world, but they are not infectious and it would only be a hassle to re-stop them. Most of the time the carcass is eaten by animals or other monsters, so it is rare to become a zombie.
Suddenly, a rusty war hammer caught my eye.
I casually lifted it and found it to be quite heavy.
"If this were a magic weapon, I would have picked it up."
"I think it originally belonged to an adventurer. It's rusty but still usable, so it's a well-made weapon even if it's not a magical tool. If it's in good condition, I'd take it home."
Valerie smiled as she exhaled white breath.
I wonder what kind of warrior wielded it.
As I looked at the war hammer again, I heard a clear sound from behind me.
I looked over and saw that Markant was holding out his axe.
"If you're lucky, you might even get a treasure. This one used to belong to a monster. Well, it was the adventurer's, I suppose, if you trace it back to him."
"Adventurers wield it, and when they die, monsters wield it. It's ironic, isn't it?"
"Indeed. This axe was once also owned by an Ogre Zombie."
"…… that's a sacred weapon, isn't it?"
I've heard it's okay to hold.
"That's another thing…"
There is a limit to sarcasm, isn't there?
I looked at the beautiful axe with dismay.
◇◇◇◇
"And by the way, well done."
Danil spoke to us for a while after we left.
We're in the shallow part of the Leknod forest, so everyone isn't too alarmed. Ose is ahead of me, Valerie guards the rear, and Markant and Danil are advancing between me. I was not escorting them because we were in the same position, but to give me rest after I had fought three orcs by myself.
"Was that the orc fight earlier?"
"Yes. Your swordsmanship was brilliant, but your magic was especially wonderful. I was amazed that you were able to invoke eight magic spells at the same time. I realized once again the power of "Multiple Chanting"."
"Compared to the Tremble Cube, that's not much. I had no magic power at that time."
"That was exceptional. The magic was so powerful that it blew up its massive body with a single activation.
I looked at Danil behind me and saw that his expression was somewhat dull.
Danil had taught me the new hammer blow system. At that time, Danil stated that it was not an exchange, and then asked me to tell him how I learned "Multiple Chanting". It is a powerful skill, I don't intend to spread it around too much, but with "Battle Axe of Destruction" there is no problem. I told him everything I had done.
It was more than a year ago.
"Are you having difficulty?"
"I'm ashamed to say. I couldn't help but be distracted by one side."
I'd advise you to take my advice, but it's just a coincidence that I've mastered it.
That's the result of nearly three years of simultaneous use of life magic. I'm not surprised that he didn't make any progress in a year, since this is what I did with the "Increased Growth Potential".
Skills and magic in this world are not activated even if we had the intention to activate them but require movement and image following the activation conditions.
There was a slight wavering there.
What would happen if a two-sword wielder indicated a "strong strike" in both hands?
If the necessary conditions are met. The two "hard blows" will be activated. My "multiple chanting" is a clarification of that as a skill.
"Have you ever seen a catapult?"
"Yes. I've walked on the battlefield, so…"
"Then we're talking. Catapults will send all sorts of things flying. It sends stones, oil wells, and corpses. Think of your hands as two catapults. Then imagine what you want to put on them. You don't have to think about launching them at the same time. They are two different things. It may be confusing, but imagine that your body is doubled up. The two bodies give instructions to each side at the same time. If it's too difficult to do it at the same time, maybe you could try shifting it a little."
Danil nodded and looked at his hands.
"Different – I think I understand. So, when you activate more than one magic, you increase the number of catapult platforms and your alter ego?"
"Yes, that's right. Unlike attack skills, magic is probably unlimited. As long as there is magical power, I think we can activate them simultaneously. The accuracy will drop rapidly, though."
"So eight at the same time. Could it be that Alter-sama can activate different attributes at the same time?"
"Yes, it is possible. If you consider certainty, it is two attributes. If the system is the same, as the arrow bolt system, it may be possible to have up to three attributes. Beyond that, it's impossible. My imagination can't keep up."
"Imagination, huh? I never thought about it."
Danil activates the living magic " Breeze" with his right hand.
He tried to activate it with his left hand too, but the wind in his right hand is gone instead.
It still seemed to be a difficult task.
We don't encounter any monsters, so we decided to take a short break.
Ose unloaded his luggage and disappeared with his bow in hand, while Valerie started looking for medicinal herbs with Danil.
Ose had reflected because he wasn't strong enough in the Battle of Tremble Cube. He had been working on increasing his means of attack. He has also mastered the art of archery and is now a full-fledged archer. Valerie also became interested in medicinal herbs after the Ash Vomiting Disease and can distinguish between medicinal and poisonous herbs. Danil has been following along, and his knowledge of medicinal herbs has deepened. Marchant – no change. He sits peacefully on the snow and chews dried meat.
Well, even Markant's overall ability has gone up. At level 28, he has crossed the Tremble Cube. Others have reached the 20s across the board. The current "Battle Axe of Destruction" is probably as strong as the B rank in terms of simple strength.
I took a break, too, and flew through a pile of fallen snow with "Breeze" and jumped on it with a heave!
I took a sip of the three types of General Tea I had in my water bag.
The moderate astringency is pleasant.
As I was working persistently, the Shogun tea had reached a level of finish comparable to that of green tea. Only my brother Lakius and Dr. Pavel understood its goodness. It is very puzzling.
I relax in the snowy forest while relieving slight fatigue with General Tea.
I have "Freeze Resistance 2," and "Battle Axe of Destruction" is also in good health.
If I were to be put down by this much cold, I would not be able to be an adventurer. Or maybe they are just exceptionally energetic.
As I watched them, I thought it was a good time to talk to them.
"Markant, I need to talk to you."
"What?"
Releasing the tipped water bag from his mouth, Markant turned to me.
"I've decided to leave Reedwald for a while."
"Leave? You're going somewhere?"
"Seren."
Markant twisted his head.
"Seren, right – that's where the headquarters of the magic guild is. Do you have any business there?"
"Yeah, that's correct. By the way, it's academics. It's my father's idea, but I think I'll take it. I'll be back in three years at the earliest, five at the most."
"I see, Seren."
Looking up at the heavy sky, Markant called out slowly.
"Hey, gather around a minute."
Valerie, Danil, and Oze, who was probably nearby, returned as well.
"Alter's going to Seren."
"Seren is–maybe the academy? Yes, Alter-sama is very good, so I think it's a good idea."
"There's also the headquarters of the magic guild. You might be able to find some magic books there."
"The southern forest is closer than here. I've always wanted to visit there."
"Then it's settled then."
The "Battle Axe of Destruction" nodded in unison.
I was stunned, I couldn't catch the flow of the conversation.
"Uh, …… I said goodbye, didn't I?"
"You need an escort. No matter how strong you are, you're going to be alone – oh, and Roland's going to come with you. It's a long trip, even for two people. Besides, we know what we're doing, and we won't have to worry about it."
Markant smiles wryly.
I looked around and then saw that the others had similar expressions on their faces.
I couldn't find anything to say in reply, so I just put on a pouty face to hide my inner feelings.
Visit freewe𝑏nove(l).𝐜𝐨𝗺 for the 𝑏est n𝘰vel reading experience