Mage Part 2
Part 10
「Wait here until my customers arrive, please. When we detect any form of
movement downstairs, my combat-capable slaves and I will immediately go
downstairs to meet with the Bandits. When that happens, your job will be to
protect the stairs so as to not allow any of them to reach the higher floors,
since that is where the shop's staff and the slaves who cannot fight have been
told to hide. And do not worry with the possibility of the Bandits coming into
the shop from above. The only points of entry to the shop are the main
entrance and the back exit, and as you know, they are both located on the
ground floor.」
As we followed Alan-san into the shop and then upstairs, he briefly explained
the entire operation to us. When we nodded at him, signaling that we know
knew everything we needed to know, he turned off the light in his lantern, but
even with its light gone, the surroundings didn't turn completely dark,
because apparently the lights in the other parts of the corridors were still on,
so the area under the stairs and its surroundings were still fairly visible. For
now, all I could do was to hold my breath and wait for how the situation was
going to develop, allowing the time to pass.
In addition to Alan-san, Roxanne and I, there are several other people around.
They most likely were the members of Alan-san's Party that would normally
go to the Labyrinth before dawn, but this time stayed behind specifically to
take care of this Bandit situation. All of the were of mixed Jobs, such as
Fighters, Warriors, Monks and Adventurers, and their levels also varied from
person to person, but I think it is safe to say that if they fight alongside us, the
eventual battle should be a piece of cake.
After some time Roxanne suddenly stood up, and the rest of the people
around us followed suit. What's going on, I thought to myself.
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「There's movement downstairs.」
Roxanne said to me, noticing my puzzled gaze.
Wait, seriously? I didn't notice anything at all until she told me just now. But
seeing how all of the other guys also stood up, there can be no mistake that
something was definitely going on down there. One by one, they descended
down the stairs without making any noise at all.
「We will leave the defense of this position to you then.」
So Alan-san is going to go with the rest after all. Is he going to fight the
Bandits as well? Or is he just going to issue commands from a safe distance?
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Beside me and Roxanne, only a few of the low-leveled slaves stayed behind
while Alan and the others, probably the most elite of his team, went
downstairs, and then everything was silent for a good while, until eventually,
we started hearing noises coming from the shop's first floor. They were
mostly human voices and screams.
Looks like the party started for good.
With my hands clenched tightly on Durandal's handle, I stepped a few steps
down and assumed a defensive stance with Roxanne following closely behind
my back. Alan-san said that the Bandits cannot come at us from above, so if
they can only approach from the lower floors, Roxanne and I should be able
to handle anyone that comes near the stairs to the second floor.
I took another few steps and looked downstairs. It was too dark for me to see
if anyone was coming from the other side of the corridor, so I had to rely on
Roxanne's hearing and keen sense of smell.
「Somebody's coming.」
Roxanne murmured in a whisper that only I could hear. And just as she said,
little by little, a shadow of a man came into my view. A Lv.3 Bandit, the one
we saw eyeing the shop! Did he survived Alan-san's group's interception? Or
perhaps he's a scum who ran at the first sign of danger? Probably the latter,
because with how strong his group was, I had a hard time imagining someone
like that low-life slipping past those armed slaves and their boss, especially
with how busy the first floor sounded now.
Running past us, the guy took refuge in one of the rooms down the hallway.
He didn't even seem to be paying any attention if someone was already there
or not. If he really did so blindly, his mind must be in a pretty big disarray,
and that is a chance I can definitely take advantage of.
「Wait right here, Roxanne.」
I slowly went down the stairs into the dimly lit part of the hallway while
carefully surveying if anyone else was coming. Confirming that I was the
only one here, I quickened my pace and went towards the room the Bandit
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has holed himself in. I placed my back against the wall and my right foot
against the door, and then opened them with a powerful kick. But I didn't
immediately jump inside. For you see, normally, after hiding in a room, the
villain would hide just behind them so he could pull a sneak attack on
whoever tried to follow him inside.
The inside of the room was pretty damn dark. If the hallway was dim enough
for me to at least see where I was placing my feet, I don't think I can see
anything that it inside there, especially while I still had my back against the
wall next to the door. Since I opened the door, the bandit didn't show his
face, so in order to find him, I used Identify.
Bingo! He was standing right in the middle of the room, sticking to the
shadows where no one could spot him, with his weapon pointed towards the
door, weapon ready to strike. It would be another story if I could see him
clearly, but if he is camouflaged like that, it means I have no choice but to
test the thing that I wanted to try out on him.
Up until now, Bonus Spells have been largely unreliable, if not borderline
useless due to the fact that I was unable to use most of them, probably as a
result of my extreme shortage of MP, Warp being the only exception to that
rule. But the spell I wanted to use right now might be different, and it might
just work.
Equivalent Exchange. A spell that I was scared to use because I had no idea
how exactly it was going to work. Will it decrease the HP of both myself and
the target? Or maybe it will decrease my HP in exchange for sapping the
target's MP? Or perhaps it will flat out deal damage based on the difference
in our HP pools? As with every spell, I won't know how it works until I try it,
but I was scared of using it on monsters because I couldn't see their stats, but
this guy here is just a regular human, and a Lv.3 Bandit at that, so with the
stark difference in our levels, checking out what exactly does Equivalent
Exchange exchanges might not end up in disaster… after all… I have more
HP and MP than him… so it should be safe…
Swallowing my saliva, I focused my eyes on the general direction that the
Lv.3 Bandit should be, and I prepared to cast the spell. All right, here goes
nothing.
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Equivalent… EXCHANGE!!!
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Part 11
As soon as I start casting the Bonus Spell, I started feeling as if something
was being drained from my body, and I was assaulted by in indescribably
unpleasant feeling. Taking a pained look at my HP and MP bars, I saw that
my MP pool was being rapidly depleted.
I recognized this dreadful state all to well, because I felt like that once before:
when I used Warp for the first time, and it drained me of almost all of my
MP, making me feel depressed as shit. It is exactly the same as that time, but
somehow it feels much worse. But never mind that. The Bandit! What about
the Bandit I used Equivalent Exchange on?! I still can't see him well, but I
am sure that I heard as strange noise as if something was popping, or
exploding, followed by a wet noise of something falling onto the ground.
Does it mean I succeeded? If I did, then that's great, but oh God a part of
wished that I didn't.
I wonder what exactly have I done to him? Oh great, the negative effects of
MP loss start to kick in. Wonderful, simply fucking wonderful! Did I kill that
guy? And if I did, then for what, some additional trinkets or a useless weapon
he was probably carrying on him?! If I knew it was going to end like that I
would have agreed to do this fucking job for free. Haha, do the job, not that's
rich! Without my weapons granted to my buy my cheat-like abilities I am
nothing, a literal piece of sentient trash that cannot do anything on its own,
has no talent in any field outside of being a living failure. An absolute worst
human being to ever walk the surface of this wretched shithole we call world!
Incompetent, perverted, cowardly, lazy, insignificant. Why is someone like
me even alive? What purpose does my meager existence have?! Now that I
think about it, how stupid of me was it to think that a life in this new, fantasylike world would be fun and exciting? So far, it has turned out to be just one
annoyance after the other, absolutely not worth living in here! And that's
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coming from someone who couldn't find a place for himself back on earth so
he decided it would be best if he tried to fucking kill himself!
Feeling tired and exhausted with all that shit, I fell on my knees, catching
every breath with great difficulty.
「Master!」
I haven't even realized when Roxanne appeared behind me. That's right. If
she is here, then it means someone else can come in here at literally any
moment as well… like more Bandits… ugh, what the fuck am I doing? I
hurriedly collected myself and started paying more attention to my immediate
surroundings, scanning everything with Identify.
Meanwhile, Roxanne placed her hand on my back and patted it gently. As she
did so, the surroundings gradually began to get brighter, to the point where I
could see that someone was approaching the room we were currently in. It
was Alan-san. Great, just fucking awesome. The last thing I need is him
finding me in such a sorry state, when I don't even have an idea what exactly
happened to that Bandit over there! Man, fuck this shit! Not only I feel like
I'm dying of depression and dark thoughts, but he's definitely going to ask
question when he finds me.
This is bad! If he sees me the way I am now, there's no way he won't get
suspicious, and he might just figure out that I am not from this world! That's
right, I am not a member of this world. I am a filthy intruder. I wonder will I
be branded as a murderer now, or perhaps a blood-hungry beast? Will I be
executed, or just stoned and chased out of the city if I'm lucky? Either way,
Roxanne seeing me like this was one thing, but when Alan-san sees me,
that's going to be it for me. Persecuted, disfellowshipped, and quite possibly
killed, those were the only options left for me.
「Roxanne… Th-This is…」
The finally realized that I was neck deep in shit. This is it for me. The literal
end of the line. But at least now I see how it is. From the very beginning,
everything was a clever trick, a scam orchestrated by that bastard, Alan the
Slave Merchant! A conspiracy aiming to get rid of me! I new there was no
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chance for someone like Roxanne to be so nice to me just because!
「Michio-sama, are you okay…..」
「?!!!」
「!!!!」
「What in the world happened here?」
When Alan came inside the room with a lit lantern, we could finally see what
happened to the Bandit who fell victim to my spell. There was literally
nothing left of him. In the place where he was supposed to be, there was
nothing but a big pool of blood. Witnessing this sight straight out of a horror
movie, I desperately tried to hold up the urge to vomit.
「Can you stand up, master?」
Roxanne asked me worriedly, giving me her hand to help me get up from the
floor.
「A Suicide Bomb? I had no idea Bandits had access to such items. I heard
stories of how gruesomely effective it is, but this… you're lucky you made it
out alive, Michio-sama. Suicide Bombs usually claim the lives of those who
are both on the using and receiving end of it.」
「Are you okay?」
「As I said, he's lucky to still be breathing. Since Suicide Bomb is an item, its
effects are instantenous, so I imagine he only had a split second to get some
distance between them.」
「Something like that always happens when such an item is used?」
「Pretty much. Which is why I am all the more amazed that Michio-sama is
not in a much worse shape.」
「That's because master is amazingly strong!」
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Roxanne and Alan were having some pretty bizarre conversation, which
didn't center on me being a murderous monster for some reason. Does that
mean I am in the clear? I sure hope so. Item… Item Box… Fuck, of course!
Why didn't I thought about it sooner?! For now, I just need to shut up and
take one of those MP Recovery medicines I bought from the Adventurer's
Guild. If I do that, my head should be cleared just enough for me to get a
proper grasp at my current situation. *Sigh* I really am an idiot.
I silently summoned an Item Box and took the two medicines out of it. I
should have bought more of them exactly for those kinds of occasions. Me
being a cheapskate has apparently finally come to bite me in the ass.
When I took the medicines, my head felt much better because it was no
longer in depressing turmoil. With that problem dealt with, I slowly rose
from my knees. My entire body was hurting, most likely because of the fact
that when Equivalent Exchange sucked all of my MP, it proceeded to drain
my HP next.
「Master, are you really okay? Maybe you shouldn't be standing up so soon?」
「Thank you for your concern, Roxanne, but I am fine, really.」
Now, I have to sort what the fuck happened in my mind. Let's see… looks
like initially Equivalent Exchange decreased my MP and the Bandit's HP in
equal amounts, and when I ran out of MP, it switched to sucking my HP
instead. In other words, if my total HP and MP were lower than that Bandit's,
I would have been the one to bite the dust instead of him. It turned out to be
quite the dangerous gamble, but thankfully I somehow managed to come out
on top this time. But let me be clear on one thing, ok? I absolutely, positively
don't want to go through something like that ever again.
「We allowed one of the Bandits to escape, but other than that all of them
have been swiftly dealt with, so we should be safe for now. Thank you for
your help in settling this matter and sorry for putting your lives in an
unnecessary danger. If it wasn't for your warning, someone would no doubt
end up injured or worse. No amount of words can describe how grateful I am
for everything that you have done for us.」
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When I could finally stand up myself without Roxanne's aid, Alan-san
bowed to us with words of praise, which probably looked neat, but
unfortunately my vision was still kinda blurry from all that magical HP
sucking I went through. For a moment it looked like things could have gone
so south that I could have hit fantasy Mexico here, but as long as the client is
satisfied with the quality of our work I guess we have nothing to complain
about.
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Part 12
The inside of the room was, from the lack of a more suitable words, a total
mess. The blood of the Bandit, and even his bits and pieces, were literally
scattered all over the place. The same could be said about his equipment, or at
least the one that wasn't damaged by him erupting into a bloody smear on the
floor and nearby walls. The only thing that was in good enough condition to
be salvaged was the Copper Sword. I already have one of those myself and
don't need a copy, but hey, a deal's a deal, so I'm going to take whatever I
can. I will probably go sell it later when I will have some free time on my
hands.
「As per our agreement, I will be holding onto this.」
Now that everything has been settled, all three of us left the room. Due to the
loss of MP from using Equivalent Exchange my body was still in a lot of
pain, and now that I have used up the only two MP Recovery Medicines that
I bought the only way to fill it back up was to go to the Labyrinth and kill
some monsters with Durandal. A hassle for sure, but this time it is a
necessary one.
「Before you go, please wait a moment.」
Alan-san said to us before he went and disappeared inro one of the rooms.
「Uhm, master…?」
「Yeah?」
「I am deeply sorry. Due to my selfishness, you ended up getting badly hurt
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like that.」
「No, that's not a problem at all. Besides, what happened to me was not your
fault, Roxanne.」
I don't know why she is the one apologizing when this time I was actually the
selfish one here, so what happened to me was 100% my fault.
「Sorry I kept you waiting. Here is the promised reward for your work. That
being said, I didn't expect thongs to escalate the way they did, so allow me to
express my deepest apologies as well, and thank you very much for
everything you did for us.」
I have a lot of mixed feelings about it, but if he's offering us a full reward
without any buts, then who am I to complain? Now that the Bandits have
been taken care of, we could safely leave the shop through the front door.
Alan-san saw us off the entire way, and after saying our goodbyes to him we
left the shop and got ack out into the streets.
The outside was still very dark, so apparently sun hadn't rose up enough to
start shedding its light onto the surroundings. Navigating the streets without
any source of light might be a bit problematic, so much in fact that a part of
me wished for Alan-san to share his lantern with us instead if giving us
money.
Right now, we need to go to the Labyrinth as soon as possible so that I could
replenish all of my lost MP. And since it is dark and no one seems to be
around, this looks to be as good of a place as any for a Warp. Warp… just
Warp to the damn Dungeon…
I grabbed Roxanne's hand and went through the portal together with her,
arriving in Veil's Labyrinth… but that Warp was a bad move. A very, very
huge oof. I thought getting to the Labyrinth as soon as possible was a good
idea, but it turned out to be a bad one that just made my situation worse.
How, you ask? Just think about it really carefully. Warp is a spell, and spells
consume MP in order to be used, and right now I only managed to recover a
small amount of it and almost immediately used it all up again… so yeah, we
are back at the square one with my MP completely depleted because of my
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fucking stupidity! Hoe could I be such an idiot as to forget something so
crucial… fuck, now my body hurts even more than it did before!! The only
saving grace here is that we have Warped into the entrance room where there
wasn't any monsters. Yes, such safe places are oh so very much like me.
Now I can just curl up into a ball in a corner and shiver with fear like a
blasted coward that I am. I will e safe and won't be hurt here anymore. Yes,
this place can become my very own sanctuary of peace and safety…
No, I came here for a fucking reason, and I am going to goddamn see it
through! I have to find some of those dickless monsters and buttfuck the
living shit out of them with Durandal's business end so that I can get all of
my MP back with the MP Absorption skill.
「Roxanne… the shortest way to the nearest group of monsters… please…」
But what if we won't happen upon any monsters anytime soon? Ahh, screw
it, we will just look for them until we find them. That is why Roxanne is here
with me, to give me the push I need to continue going forward even if I don't
really want to.
Right now I am sure I am nothing but a burden to her, since there is nothing
half as bad as having an incompetent, unmotivated fool like myself for a
companion. She is so always so good, you know? Keeping a failure like me
company and putting up with my loser shenanigans… okay, my selfdeprecating rants are only growing stronger and more fierce, so let's just go
out there and slay us some monsters before I really turn into a spineless
quitter and run away with my tail up my ass…. Yeah, right, what are you
even thinking about, you idiot?! Are you touched to the head or what? A
dimwit like you, going outside, killing monsters? There is no way in hell you
can do that. The fact that you somehow managed to do it up until now is in
and out of itself a one-in-a-million miracle that should not be allowed to
happen again! You are such a failure that when the monsters will find you,
they will kill you without even trying to do so! You don't want to be killed,
right? You just want to continue living like you did before, in the absolute
safety of your cramped room, where you didn't have to do anything! So go
ahead and stay in this entrance room. Not moving an inch from here is what
really suits a spineless chickenheart like you!
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「The closest group of monsters should be this way.」
Roxanne pointed with her finger.
「Master? Are you not feeling well?」
「No, it's nothing. I… I will fight those monsters, so you just stay behind me,
alright?」
Damn it all to hell! Roxanne is right in assuming that I am not feeling well in
the slightest, but the only way out of this sorry state is for me to kick myself
back into high gear and kill as many monsters as I can with Durandal, but…
is it really going to be safe? I mean, there are monsters roaming the halls out
there, so who decided that they won't suddenly charge in here to murder me
if they sense me? To be honest, I don't even know what I'm thinking
anymore. This is the Labyrinth, dangerous, and filled with enemies at every
turn. No place is completely safe in here. There is no escaping them, and
there is no escaping death. So that's it, huh? Well, if I'm going to die, then at
least I will die standing.
Mustering every last ounce of energy I had, I left the entrance room.
No! Go the fuck back! Do you have a death wish? You want to die that
badly?! No. Whether I go back there or not does not matter. The monsters
will eventually come to the entrance room, and since I won't be able to beat
them, that place will become my graveyard. And suddenly, as if it heard my
internal turmoil, a single Needlewood appeared at the back of the
passageway. Run away. It's not too late to run, you can still do it! Just go
back to the entrance room and stay there, where no one will be able to harm
you! No, there's no time! Even if I run right now, I won't make it in time! I
am going to be killed by this basic monster and die a horrible, meaningless
death! The patrolling Needlewood is approaching, and it is definitely out for
my blood!
But then…
I don't even know when it happened, but at some point I must have swung
my Durandal at it, killing it in one blow. Was it survival instinct, or perhaps a
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motion that my body got so used to that it was performing the moves on its
own? Well, it does not matter. What matters is that with a bit of MP I have
regained, my head got a little bit clearer, and that was a start of my return to
full mental health!
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Part 13
Durandal's edge slashed through another monster. The Needlewood fell onto
the ground and disappeared in a puff of green smoke. Even tough I was still
mentally handicapped due to my critical loss of MP, I was still able to swing
my sword like normal to defeat monsters. Even in the state of severe
depression, it doesn't look like my attack power was affected by it in any
negative way.
「Fuaaaaaah…」
I dropped my shoulders and exhaled deeply. Recovering my MP this time
way harder than it needed to be, but slowly but surely the depression and
pessimism which were hanging over me like a dark cloud have finally started
to fade away.
The continuous absorption of MP eliminated the feeling of pain and
weariness that permeated my entire body, so right now I was feeling pretty
okay. But man was that rough! I still have some amount of MP to recover,
but other than that I got back to my optimal condition. I have to say though,
that feeling of depression which grabbed me in its claws after I used
Equivalent Exchange was beyond terrible. I had no idea that this was going to
happen to you if you lose all of your MP. Also, I don't know if it is related to
it in any way, but my memory of everything that happened after I used that
spell is so foggy that I can barely even recall it, even if it happened literally
an hour or so ago.
「Sorry about that embarrassing display, Roxanne. Anyway, let's go to the
next group of monsters. I f you could please lead the way?」
It's okay, it's alright. Now that I have regained my MP I can think clearly
again. I kept saying that to myself as we moved forward. Under Roxanne's
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keen guidance we hunted a few more monster, and like that, my MP has been
fully restored. All the negative thoughts disappeared as if they were never
there at all.
「How are you feeling now, master? Are you still sick? Maybe you shouldn't
put yourself under so much physical stress just yet?」
「It's okay, Roxanne. Everything will be fine now.」
Now that I reassured Roxanne that everything was fine with me, I opened my
Job Settings to check if the new Job Appeared there after I used the Bonus
Spell. Glancing over the list, it was there, right at the very bottom: a brandnew shining Mage Job!
Mage Lv.1
Effects: INT Up (Small), MP Up (Small)
Skills: Beginner Fire Magic, Beginner Water Magic, Beginner Wind
Magic, Beginner Earth Magic
I did it. I have finally done it! Getting it was more of a pain than usual, but I
finally got my hands on the Mage Job! I have to say though, for all the
trouble I have to go through in order to obtain it, starting with nothing more
but the 「Beginner」 level of spells was somewhat disappointing. And how do
I even use it anyway? Whatever I have to do to make them work, there can be
no doubt that I can legitimately use them now. Also, isn't the requirement for
obtaining the Mage Job kinda buggy? I mean, you have to use Attack Magic
to be able to obtain the Mage Job, but in order to cast said Attack Magic you
have to know magic in the first place. It's strangely unspecific, but now that I
got it there's no need to dwell on the small details too much.
Fiddling with the Job Settings, I set Mage as my First Job.
「Are we going to go to the second floor now?」
「No, not yet. I have a number of things I want to try out, so for now we will
be staying here.」
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「Understood. This way then.」
As we were walking, I thought about testing the Beginner Fire Magic first. I
tried saying the Skill's name in my mind and then to mutter it quietly, but
nothing happened, even when taking the Chant Omission into account.
Maybe the usable Skills themselves have different names, and 「Beginner Fire
Magic」 was just a name for their general assessment? Maybe I'll try asking
Roxanne to see if she knows anything at all about it.
「Roxanne, I know you said you don't know much about Mages and Wizards,
but do you know anything about magic in general?」
「About magic? Like Skill Magic, for example?」
「More like the one used for the purpose of battle, actually.」
「I'm sorry, but since so few people can actually become mages, not much is
known about them in general.」
「I see.」
You said you don't know much, so that means you have to know something,
right? But if it's true that only the privileged groups, like the aristocracy and
the filthy rich people can become mages, then it's a small wonder that the
information about that Job was scarce.
「What I do heard from those who witnessed Mages in a battle is that the
magic can generally be divided into three types: Multi0target spells, spells
that create a wall in front of the user, and spells that can be shot from your
hand in the form of an orb. Oh, and they are activated with some difficult
Brahim Chants. What was it again…?」
「A difficult Brahim, huh?」
Well, since I can speak Brahim then I guess all I have to worry about is
figuring the chants correctly.
Fire, Flame, Fire Storm, Fire Orb… yeah, let's try those ones out first. Orb,
an orb. I will keep that in mind for the time being. Fire. Fire Orb… Fire
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Orb…. Ball… Fire… Fireball?
As I kept repeating all those names, when I said fireball, the area above the
palm of my hand lit up, and a small ball of fire was floating in there.
Oh, this is it. Fireball was the right keyword here. When I pointed my hand
forward, the Fireball also flew forward. A success! A goddamn success! Now
I can properly use Attack Magic!
After the ball finally dissappeared I looked at my hand in amazement.
Knowing that I can now use magic filled me with all sorts of extatic
emotions. So magic does exist, and I am one of the lucky few who can wield
it however they want! See, moment like that make me think that I have really
been transported to a wonderful world. So now I can use Space Magic,
Movement Magic, and now I can add Fire Magic to the mix as well. In that
sense, I guess getting myself depressed as fuck was well worth it.
The fireball proceeded forward for a bit, illuminating the surroundings with a
shade of red, until it eventually disappeared. I can now say it with pride: I
have become a Mage before the legendary age of thirty!
「Eh? Ehhhh? Ehhhhhhhh? Was that magic just now?!」
Roxanne seemed a little confused when she saw my magic.
「It sure was magic.」
「But weren't you an explorer, master?I've never heard of an Explorer using
this kind of magic!」
「Well, keep it a secret.」
「A-Another secret, huh?」
Yup, another secret of how much of a cheater I am. Even if I wanted to, there
would be no easy way to explain it anyway.
「It's amazing that you can use magic,master! No, that is beyond amazing!」
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「I can use it because you taught me. So this time it's thanks to you,
Roxanne.」
「Uhm, so you weren't able to use magic before?」
「No, I was just… you know… keeping my hand close to my chest.」
If I could use it before, I would have done so a long time ago.
I tried throwing a fireball at the Needlewood that appeared. When I looked at
the monster and thought of a fireball, a ball of fire was formed over my head
and flied towards the Needlewood, setting it on fire almost instantenously.
Oh yeah, something is telling me that I am going to have so much fun with
this spell that it is going to be unreal.
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Part 14
Seeing the enemy that was engulfed in flames right before my very eyes, I
wasn't able to contain my happiness. So this is magic! It really is as amazing
as I imagined it to be!
Eventually the fire stopped burning, and when it did it became evident that it
wasn't as strong as my attacks with Durandal, because even when it was set
ablaze, the Needlewood was still standing. With its entire body covered with
cinders and clouds of heavy black smoke, it slowly made it's way towards us.
But I wasn't disappointed with that a result, not in the slightest. Moreover, I
guess you could say that such a result was what I was expecting. After all,
Durandal is an uber OP weapon obtained from investing my Bonus Points
into Bonus Weapons Skill all the way to Lv.6 and most of my stat points
have been allocated into STR to make sure that it will always kill enemies
with one blow no matter what. On the other hand, I only just got my hands on
the Mage Job so it was still at its default, lowest level, Lv.1, and Fireball was
a part of Beginner Fire Magic Skill, meaning that it's inherent damage likely
won't be all that high, and my rather low INT stat probably won't do
anything to change that fact either. Anyway, maybe it was because it only
had a tiny sliver of its HP left, but the burning Needlewood was exceptionally
sluggish, which made disposing of him easier than taking the candy from a
little kid. I didn't even have to put any strength in my next slash to turn it into
a cloud of green smoke.
Okay, so now that we know how the Orb, or rather Ball type of magic works,
let's try taking the Wall-type magic for a spin, shall we?
Hmm, let's go with the most obvious one first: Fire Wall!
When I thought of those words in my mind, a literal wall of flames appeared
before me. Both it's width and height were about two meters, making them
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quite reasonable measurements for that type of spell, but I bet that on higher
levels both of those parameters could be sufficiently increased, so I have to
keep that in mind as I continue to level the Mage Job and obtain new spells
from it. The flames continued to rage of for a dozen seconds. And that takes
care of the Fire Wall test. I guess in conclusion it could be said that it more of
a defensive than an offensive spell that sets everyone who tries to walk
through it on fire. My guess is that it would be at its most useful when there
would be a lot of enemies in a small, confined space… like the entrance to
the trap room, for example! Oh baby, you can be sure I am going to be using
that then!
Alright, now that both Ball and Wall-type spells have been tested, all that is
left is to see with my own eyes how the Multi-target, or perhaps I should
simply call them AoE spells work in comparison to the previous two. But
first thing's first, what would the name of such a spell be? Hell Flame? Burn
Attack? Volcano Eruption? Nah, none of those option sound like the right
pick. If the previous ones to hit the jackpot were Fireball and Fire Wall, then
there is a high probability that in order for the AoE to work, the combination
containing the word 「Fire」 would also have to be used. Hmm… Fire Slash?
Fire Explosion? Fire Storm?
「...!」
When I used the words Fire Storm, I felt the sensation of my MP decreasing,
but nothing noticeable happened around us. So apparently I got the words
right, but maybe there was no visible effects because there was no enemies
around? Well, given how magic works, I shouldn't be surprised that there
exists those kinds of spells that must have a target first. If that's how it's
going to be, then I guess off to the second floor we go!
Dungeon Walker!
「Roxanne, we're going to the second floor. As usual, show us the shortest
way to a group of monsters. Specifically a group this time.」
「Roger!」
Once we reached the second floor and found a sufficiently large group of
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monsters (for the record: they were all Needlewoods) I chanted the Fire
Storm again, targeting it towards them. When I did that, the air around them
has been filled with a myriad of red sparks which illuminated the cave's walls
with a shade of red in much the same fashion like Fireball and Fire Wall did
before them. Maybe it's going to sound a little bit too poetic, but it was kinda
sorta as if I was watching fireflies gather… only to explode in a fiery allconsuming blaze that swallowed everything in its vicinity, burning
everything to ashes. The Needlewoods just burned and burned and burned
until there was nothing left of them… or at least that's how I envisioned it,
because once more the spell itself was not enough to one-shot the enemies,
leaving me to finish them off with Durandal, which I promptly proceeded to
do, leaving Roxanne to collect any items that dropped out of them in the
process of turning the stragglers into the puffs of green smoke.
My thoughts on Fire Storm? Unlike Fireball and Fire Wall, it is a spell which
works best when targeted in the middle of a group of enemies, since you
cannot specify the direction where it should be going. The only question that
is left unanswered for now is whether or not it can distinguish friend from
foe, or is it that kind of spell which works on everything in its range
indiscriminately?
I wanted to go an and test the rest of the spells from the other branches of
Beginner Magic that I unlocked, but for now I decided to go out of the
Labyrinth and have a short rest after everything we have been though today.
Just let me say one thing in advance:
Magic is absolutely the best!