Chapter 4: Subclass Unlocked!
Chapter 4: Subclass Unlocked!
"You want me to help you with strength training?" Hairo asked, his expression of disbelief as he wondered whether the person in front of him was really his long-term friend and Vice-Captain or not.
Ashikaga Takauji was asking him to train of his own volition, something Hairo didn't think would happen even if he ran a fine comb through a million different timelines. Something he firmly believed had a lower chance of happening than Takauji and Souna getting up and passionately making out during class—with full tongue.
Takauji nodded, "Yeah, if it's not too much trouble."
Hairo immediately grabbed his wrist, not even thinking about asking him for his motive out of fear of disturbing this once in a lifetime event that was occuring before him, as if he had just come across a rare creature in the wild.
"As you wish!" He bellowed, effortlessly slinging Takauji over his shoulders and sprinting all the way over to the school gym as fast as he possibly could—the fact that the Track & Field Club didn't have training today meant he would have ample time to instruct him properly.
Bam! Bam! Bam!
Once they arrived at the gym, the first they heard was the sound of something hitting a leathery surface with a thunderous amount of force. Enough to even warrant wearing headphones just to prevent one's ear drums from rupturing.
A petite girl with white short hair fashioned into a bob cut was standing in front of a punching bag, wearing hair pins shaped as cartoonish black-cats on both sides of her head, and donning a set of sportswear that seemed fitted for boxing or some sort of martial arts.
"Yo! Toujou-chan!" Hairo waved at her, receiving little more than a curt nod in return before she returned to eviscerating her punching bag with strength her frame had no business being capable of producing.
She was Toujou Koneko—a first year at Kuoh, and the person renowned as the school's adorable mascot.
"Is she here often?" Takauji asked.
"Yeah, she's here nearly every day. Maybe you could ask her for some advice in the future, I shouldn't need to explain why it'd be useful."
"I'll say," he genuinely couldn't comprehend how Koneko's small build could pack such a behemothic punch. Should I try using Mana Sense on her? He thought for a moment. No, my Mana stat is still abysmal—there's no use in probing around while I'm unprepared.
"Then again, she doesn't really like people interacting with her while she's training. So I'd give it some time before you approach her," Hairo gestured for Takauji to follow him.
He decided to start Takauji off with what he deemed were the "five basic strength exercises"; the squat, hip hinge, overhead press, row, and chest press. All of which Takauji would do in sets.
And as the rookie Magician had feared, it didn't take long for the pain to start settling in. After all, there was regular training—and there was Hairo training, the latter being nothing more than an extension of full on masochism.
And from that point onward, the torture began.
"One more!"
He made him squat until his legs turned into jelly.
"One more! Just one more!"
He made him perform hip hinges until it felt like his spine was about to shatter into a million pieces.
"Come on! You can do it! Just one last one, I promise!"
He made him do overhead presses until it felt as if his shoulders were to pop right out of their sockets like some kind of cheap mecha-toy.
"Alright, this is seriously the last one! This time I'm being genuine! Just finish this and you're done!"
He made him do rows until his arms felt as if they were on the verge of tearing right off.
"Ok, maybe that was a lie. But not this time! This time it's seriously the last one! I believe in you!"
And he made him do chest presses until it felt like someone was rubbing sandpaper against his pectoral muscles.
I shouldn't have agreed to this! I'm going to die! I'm actually going to die at this rate! There wasn't a single fiber of his being that wasn't on the verge of outright collapse, the fact that he hadn't passed out yet felt like nothing less than a miracle to him.
I better have benefited off that, he opened his screen while he was still keeled over and gasping for air in order to prevent himself from appearing like a borderline schizo.
[+9 STR (12 → 21).]
[+15 VIT (17 → 32).]
Holy shit, not only had he indeed benefited, but he had benefited far more than he thought he would. Hold on, my Strength has already caught up with my Speed somehow—and my Vitality has already surpassed it!
He had been training his Speed ever since he was a first-year, yet somehow his Vitality and Strength had shot up at a rate that didn't compute with him—and from merely one training session. As grueling as it was, the increase still didn't seem logical.
Could it be? The fact that I have Mana is causing my body to grow faster? I thought the rapid increase in Intelligence was just because I was comprehending something "magical" rather than something that was purely "human."
[+3 INT (51 → 54).]
There was his confirmation, but his benefits didn't end at just his stat increases. If that's the case, I wonder how fast my Speed will increase when I next have Track & Field training?
[Skill Awakened! — (Neutral) Mana Reinforcement; divert the Mana stored in your core and spread it throughout your muscles, increasing your overall Strength and Vitality at the cost of your MP.]
[Passive Trait Unlocked! — (Neutral) Cornered Animal; Your Strength and Vitality will increase by 50% when your MP has been fully depleted.]
Another skill—and a pretty good one at that, I should be able to gain a nice chunk of intelligence when I start studying it. That passive trait could also prove useful in a dire situation, although I'm not sure what exactly would be a threat to me at the moment.
"Can I join you?" A timid voice spoke, belonging to Koneko who had just approached the sadistic trainer and his unfortunate student. Her attention strangely focused on Takauji for some reason.
"Sure! The more the merrier!" Hairo beamed, letting Koneko effortlessly tackle the training that felt like hell on earth for Takauji in front of him—truly making him question whether or not the school's mascot was human.
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"You look terrible," Murayama observed her brother's zombie-like state as he stepped inside their living room, his clothes completely stained from the sheer amount of sweat he had produced—and the odour emanating from his body indicating that he was in desperate need of a shower.
"Really? How did you notice?" He replied sarcastically, completely aware of the tattered state he was in.
She rolled her eyes, "Why did you even take so long to get home to begin with? Track & Field didn't have training today."
"I was just hanging out with Hairo."
"Hanging out?" She scoffed, "Since when did you hang out with people—?" All of a sudden, she gasped, a spark of realization hitting her. "Wait! Were you hanging out with the Student President?"
"Putting aside the fact that I'd never do that, why would I be all sweaty if I did?" He raised his brow.
She sheepishly slurped her juice box, "Are you sure you want me to say it out loud?"
"Get your mind out of the gutter," he exhaled, throwing his wallet at her. "I'm not cooking today, so just use my card to order something." He lifted up the bottom of his shirt, using it to wipe off the sweat on his face while revealing his abdomen.
Murayama hummed, leaning over and glancing at him as he returned to his room. Strange, I don't remember him being that toned before. She slurped on her juice box with a little more intensity, not bad. He must be shaping up for the President.
He took a quick shower before sitting down on his bed, assuming the lotus position and clearing his mind.
Alright, my Intelligence is now at 54—and I also have that passive trait that increases my Mana growth by 20%. It's time to get my Subclass Unlocked.
[+7 MANA (13 → 20).]
He looked at the clock, smiling upon seeing that only a little less than 5 hours had passed, pretty much half the time he would've needed if he had tried to reach 20 Mana the day prior.
───
Congratulations! You have successfully unlocked your Subclass; Artificer.
Novice Artificer (0/100) — You have the potential to become a master of magical invention, using your ingenuity and magic to create and infuse objects with magical properties.
Skills;
(Level 1) Enhancement; Elevate the existence of an object through imbuing it with your Mana, increasing its base property to a mild degree.
(Level 1) Projection; If you have in-depth understanding regarding the intricacies and internal make-up of an object, you can create a projection of it that will be imbued with your Mana. The higher your understanding is, the better the quality of the product.
Successful use of your Artificer skills will increase the level of both the skill used, and your overall Subclass experience—which in turn will enable you to unlock more Artificer-related skills.
───
He clutched his head, feeling an uncomfortable amount of information entering his head—knowledge that was about 40% human engineering, and 60% magical jargon that he'd need quite some time to sit down and learn.
But that could wait, right now he wanted to give his newly obtained skills a whirl.
Let's try something simple, he started off by picking up a pencil—activating his Enhancement ability on it and watching as Mana flowed from his core into his fingertips and into the pencil, light-blue circuits lighting up all over its wooden surface.
He clasped it tightly in between his fingers, raising it up before thrusting it downwards and letting it hit his desk lead-first.
Impressive, it didn't even chip, both the lead and the rest of the pencil remaining perfectly in-tact, giving it the John Wick seal of approval. I doubt I gained any experience from that though.
[Novice Artificer (1/100).]
[MP: 180/200.]
That's a lot of MP expenditure for just a pencil, and I'm definitely not wasting 2,000 MP just for a one rank increase that probably won't even increase my Enhancement level. I should find something a little more useful instead, efficiency is important.
The only time he had really gotten into engineering was while he was tackling university-level tests he and Souna used to compete with one another, meaning he wouldn't be able to project anything terribly advanced like a phone or something electronic—but he still had some basic understanding of the topic.
So he settled on something he was more familiar with—a kitchen knife, the cooking utensil effortlessly appearing in his hand as he was well aware of the metals used to create it.
[Novice Artificer (8/100).]
That's more like it, as long as I increase my Mana enough and get a good amount of maximum MP. It shouldn't take me long at all to rank up.
He smiled, deciding to take his projection one step further and test to see if he projections could be enhanced even though they weren't naturally existing objects.
And lo and behold, the knife lit up with the same circuits the pencil did, increasing its sharpness at least twofold—nearly making the utensil as sharp as a damascus knife.
However, projections weren't permanent—they consumed more of your MP the longer you tried to sustain them, the rate of which was dependent on the complexity of the projection.
It looks like I have a long day of experimentation and studying ahead of me, not that I'm complaining—this is the most fun I've had in a very, very long time.
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"Momo, are you sure this is a good idea?" Walking around the neighbourhood where Takauji's household resided was a girl with a slim figure, with long brown hair fashioned into two short braids, wearing a blue headband over her head.
"It's the President's orders Reya, I don't think whether we think it's a good idea or not is very important." The white haired girl walking beside her replied, adorning the Kuoh girl's uniform.
They were Momo Hanakai and Reya Kusaka, the Secretary and Treasurer of the Student Council respectively, who were apparently in the area under Souna Shitori's orders.
"It's not like it's a dangerous mission anyway, all we're doing is keeping watch over the President's boyfriend—nothing more." Out of nowhere, a sparrow appeared on Momo's shoulders, which she gently petted with her finger before seemingly ordering it to fly away.
"But he's awakened now isn't he? What will we do if he notices we're spying on him?"
"I doubt that'll happen, according to the President his awakening only just happened. He shouldn't be capable of detecting our familiars at the moment—now be quiet, I need to focus." Momo closed her eyes, connecting her vision with that of her sparrow.
"Momo? What's wrong?" Reya tilted her head, noticing that Momo's face had started to redden, her eyes wide open and her hands covering her cheeks.
"I just… saw something I don't think I was supposed to see." She slowly turned toward Reya, her face growing redder and redder by the second. "He's…"
"He's?" Reya waited for Momo to finish her sentence.
"He's… showering." She remained unblinking, the sight of Takauji's manhood being permanently ingrained into her memory. "I saw… h-his… you know… uhm…"
Reya mimicked her expression, quickly catching onto what Momo was implying. "Oh… o-oh my… just out of curiosity…" She hesitated, swallowing a nervous gulp. "D-Do you think it's up to the President's… how should I put this… standards?"
"If that isn't up to her standards, then I doubt anything is…" Momo nodded, making an oath to herself to never let Souna find out about what had just transpired—no matter what.
"Ara ara, I wonder what the Student Council is doing around here at this time of day?" A sultry voice called out to them, startling both of them as they hurriedly turned to face the figure.
She was a beautiful young woman with a voluptuous figure, long flowing black hair that reached her thighs, tied into a ponytail with an orange ribbon—and bright violet eyes that were shaped in a droopy, almost laid-back manner. Similar to Takauji.
"Himejima-senpai!" Momo called out, shocked to find herself face to face with one of Kuoh Academy's Two Great Ladies—Akeno Himejima, the bonafide Yamato Nadeshiko of the school.
"You two seemed to be having quite the interesting conversation," she breathed a sultry giggle that would have most men on their knees. "Would you mind letting me in on it?"
"W-We weren't discussing anything!" Momo hurriedly cleared her throat, eager to regain her composure in front of her senior. "More importantly, what are you even doing here?"
"Me? Nothing much, just taking a nice, causal stroll around town." She walked past them, waving goodbye and she continued down the street. "You two clearly seem preoccupied with something, so I won't bother you too much."
"Momo…"
"Yes? Reya."
"Isn't she walking in the direction of Ashikaga-senpai's house?"
"You know what Momo? I think you're right, she does seem to be walking in the direction of Ashikaga-senpai's house." They started speaking like malfunctioning robots for some reason.
"That's a problem isn't it?"
"Yes, that is in fact a problem."
"What are we going to do about it?"
"Good question," she folded her arms. "A question—which I'm afraid I do not have an answer to," Momo pulled out her phone. "Which is why I'm going to call the Vice-President and let her know about it."
Since she was hesitant to give Souna the bad news herself—it was clearly more logical to let Tsubaki be the one to do it instead.
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Let the games begin! The hunt for the Magician is on!
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