Chapter 2:
The Power of an A-Rank
A few days had gone by since the commotion of August Allsand. We were at the Adventurer’s Guild looking up quests as usual. Garrus told us that he was a week away from completion. We were going to have to stay in Alessa until then.
Are we going herb picking again?
God, I’m getting bored of that.
Hm? What’s all that noise about?
There’s a lot of people gathering, too.
Fran opened the door and found the guild in an odd ruckus. There was a lot more adventurers today than usual.
“Nell, what’s going on?”
“Oh hey, Fran. The high-rank adventurers just came back from scouting the Direwolf Plains.”
I see. So that’s why a lot of these people looked strong.
“I don’t think you’ve met any of them before.”
“No.”
High ranks are A and S adventurers, right?
“Are there any S-Ranks today?”
“No, no S-Ranks. But we have one A-Rank and a couple B-Ranks.”
An A-Rank was strong enough to consistently beat B-Rank monsters. Meaning they could beat that Daemon we got lucky with without any problems.
“They left to investigate the Direwolf Plains about a month ago. A lot of the F- to C-Rank guys left with them, too, for experience. We were short on manpower during the goblin raid because of that.”
If the A- and B-Ranks had been here, they would’ve been able to clear the dungeon a lot faster. But then we wouldn’t have been able to beat the Daemon and get all his goodies. We came at the perfect time.
I thought Donadrond was the strongest here.
“Hm.”
“What is it?” Nell asked.
“Don’s not the strongest,” Fran observed.
“Donadrond is an instructor because he has a knack for teaching. If he had continued being an adventurer, he would be in B-Rank. But he said he wanted to show everyone the ropes and became an instructor. He’s been one for fifteen years now, and a lot of the B- and C-Rank adventurers in Alessa used to be his students. That’s why everyone listens to what he says.”
No matter how pig-headed some of these adventurers were, they were bound to listen to their instructor who had been taking care of them since they were newbies. No wonder Donadrond was at the frontline during the goblin raid.
“The A-Rank, too?”
“Oh, not her. Doesn’t take orders from anyone, that girl. Honestly, she’s a little too ‘unique’.”
“Wow, Nell. Are you badmouthing me behind my back?”
A woman suddenly cut into our conversation.
“Argh! Amanda! Don’t use your Stealth skill to sneak up on me like that! This is why you’re hard to get along with!”
The woman seemed to be the A-Rank in question. She had perfectly concealed her presence before getting the jump on us.
“Heh. I don’t mind it. Saves me the trouble of being someone’s lapdog.”
Her words were sharp, but they were both laughing. They must’ve been close if they could joke with each other like this.
“Let me introduce you, Fran. This is Amanda. Don’t let her appearance fool you. Our A-Rank ace.”
“Excuse you, I think I look the part.”
Amanda was quite the looker. Her long black hair was neatly trimmed as it flowed over her back. Her gentle voice gave her a familiar Japanese air of comfort. But the conversation she had with Nell made it obvious that she was no pushover.
“She’s not a bad person. Also she likes kids! Just look at her titles…”
“Shut up, Nell! You’re embarrassing me!”
“What? I think that title suits you to a T.”
“Just, shush! Ahaha. I’m so sorry you had to see that. Pleased to meet you, young lady. My name is Amanda.”
“Hi. Fran.”
“You’re so strong at such a young age… You’ve got a future ahead of you!”
“You can tell?”
“Of course!”
The A-Rank adventurer was able to judge Fran’s potential just by looking at her. And she didn’t have Identify. It must’ve come from experience.
Name: Amanda
Age: 58
Race: Half Elf
Class: Storm Warrior
Level: 70
HP: 646; Magic: 825; Strength: 327; Agility: 451
Skills: Intimidate 7; Speed Cast 6; Stealth 8; Disassemble 8; Wind Magic 10; Stubborn 5; Flash Step 7; Abnormal Status Resistance 7; Omnidirectional Awareness 6; Elemental Sword 7; Throwing Weapons 8; Whip Mastery 10; Greater Whip Mastery 5; Whip Arts 10; Greater Whip Arts 6; Storm Magic 4; Magic Resistance 6; Mana Sense 6; Spirit Manipulation; Dragon Killer; Storm Magic Up; Mana Manipulation
Unique Skill: Beloved of the Spirits
Titles: Protector of Children; Dungeon Raider; Dragon Killer; Wind Mage; Monster Exterminator; A-Rank Adventurer
Equipment: Sky Dragon’s Beard; Hydra Hide Armor; Venom Gecko Mantle; Mad Eye Bull Boots; Armlet of Sacrifice; Thunderbird Feather; Barrier Ring; Shock Owl Throwing Feathers x 24
Amanda possessed a title called Protector of Children. This must be what Nell was talking about. Did she get this title because she liked kids?
She was strong, though. Looking through the Guildmaster’s and Don’s stats had thrown me for a loop, but Amanda was stronger than both of them. I was a little afraid of her, to be honest. If you thought about it, she could hunt down a Daemon with little effort. We had better stay out of her way. I couldn’t imagine any way we could win even if we caught her off guard.
She’s strong. Don’t piss her off.
I know.
Fran nodded; she understood how strong Amanda was.
“The others told me how you were the fastest growing adventurer this guild has ever seen. They also told me how you were a small, cute Beastman who wielded an enchanted sword!”
What? It was nice that people were singing her praises but I felt that they were all based on her appearance. They better not be making light of Fran because of her looks!
“The Guildmaster warned me not to underestimate you, though. He said I’d be in a world of hurt if I did!”
What are you telling this A-Rank, GM? Although I would be grossed out if he swooned over how cute Fran was.
“Oh, that’s right. Now that you’re here, Klimt wanted to see you in his office.”
“Now?”
“If you don’t mind.”
“Sure.”
“Aww, that’s too bad. I was going to take you out to lunch. But I guess if the GM needs you…”
“See you around.”
“Oh my god, she’s so cute! I want a sister just like her!”
“At your age, she’d be your daughter, Amanda.”
“Nell, just because you’re younger than me doesn’t give you the right to say whatever passes your mind. Besides, half elves are slow to age!”
“All right, all right. You’re still young at heart, Amanda.”
Fran left Nell and Amanda to catch up with each other and headed for the GM’s office. She climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.
“You don’t have to knock so loud!”
She walked into the room.
“You called?”
“Oh, Fran. There’s not much point in knocking on the door if you don’t wait for my response, is there?”
“Whoops.”
“Just… be mindful next time.”
Sorry, GM. I’ll teach her proper etiquette some time. I didn’t stop her because I wanted to see how you’d react.
“What do you want?”
“There is a quest that I need you to take.”
Nothing good could come out of that request.
“Some people are doubting your capabilities. I vouched for you of course, but they wouldn’t believe me since they’ve never seen you in action. I need you to take on a certain quest to silence these dissenting voices.”
I was getting annoyed. He was the one who gave her all those promotions. It was a little late for that now.
“The guild was the one who promoted me.”
“I understand… However, it turns out more people are jealous of you than I anticipated. There are those who are in full support of you, of course. The D- and C-Ranks, in particular. Most of them saw you fight firsthand. In fact, you’re so popular among them you’ve become something of a mascot for them.”
The mid-rank adventurers had good judgment to be sure. But a mascot… Well, Fran was incredibly cute so I agree!
“But many of the lower ranks are opposed to your position. Some of them are still E-Rank after many years of adventuring. It’s only natural that they resent you for moving into D-Rank in such a short period of time.”
“Let them say what they want.”
That’s right! This had nothing to do with us! They should just work harder so they could make it to D-Rank!
“As much as I want to, I can’t. Some people are saying you paid your way to D-Rank. Others say that you knew I was into little girls and seduced me. Such baseless rumors…” the GM mumbled to himself. “How could anyone think that I am into little girls?! Honestly! What I like in a woman—”
Did the Guildmaster ask us to go on this mission because he hated the idea of people thinking he was a lolicon?
“I don’t have to accept, right?”
“Now, now, let’s not be rash. I’ve prepared some bonuses for you so just hear me out.”
The Guildmaster was desperate. He really didn’t want people to think he was a lolicon.
“I’ll increase your reward fee, of course. I’ll also give you the permission to enter the dungeon in Ulmutt.”
“… How did you know that?”
“It was obvious enough. All I needed to do was ask the caretaker of the Reference Room.”
We did ask the old man to look things up for us, but the GM sure kept his ears to the ground.
I hadn’t known we needed a permit to enter a dungeon, though.
“Can’t anyone just walk into a dungeon?”
“Of course not. There are several requirements you need to fulfill. One is your Adventurer Rank.”
“Ulmutt’s a D-Rank dungeon.”
“While your Adventurer Rank is sufficient, there are other criteria to fulfill. You might not be allowed in if you haven’t gone through inspection.”
“And I haven’t?”
“It would be hard to believe you had, judging by your appearance.”
If a cute Beastgirl walked up to you and said she wanted to explore a dungeon, you’d be hard-pressed to let her in. Even if we managed to get a permit somehow, it’d take a lot of time.
“I can give you a permit. With it, you won’t need to go through any evaluations. You’ll be able to enter the dungeon whenever you want.”
The shrewd elf grinned as if he already won the argument. We needed this permit.
“… I’ll hear you out.”
“Thank you. Here are the details.”
The Guildmaster took out papers related to the quest. We were to investigate the dungeon near Alessa and gather materials.
“I thought people weren’t allowed in the Alessa dungeon.”
“So you know the circumstances? Good. Normally, people aren’t allowed into this dungeon, but once every couple of months we dispatch a team of adventurers for the purpose of evaluation. You’ll be gathering resources alongside controlling the monster population inside of the dungeon.”
“Control? Not exterminate?”
“Yes. We are able to control a dungeon using its Core, but we can’t manipulate all of its variables. At most, we can tweak the rate of monster and item spawns, and that depends on how much mana the Core has. The Alessa dungeon can only spawn F-Rank monsters and a few items here and there.”
There wasn’t much point to it, was there? We’d be much better off if the dungeon could spawn stronger monsters and produce stronger items.
“What if you injected the Core with mana?”
“If only it were that simple. Even if you took five dozen mages and channeled all their mana into the Core, it wouldn’t amount to much.”
“So how do you charge the Core?”
“The Core can pull mana from the ground and the air. That includes the monsters and adventurers who happen to be in the dungeon. I’m sure a Dungeon Master would have other methods of charging the Core with mana. They wouldn’t be able to maintain the labyrinth otherwise.”
Summoning a Daemon must have required a lot of mana. It was hard for me to believe that the Dungeon Master managed to summon it just using the mana in the atmosphere.
“So it’s important to let monsters live in the dungeon so the core can have mana to feed on. Without the proper mana levels in the air, the core can’t function properly.”
So we should reduce the population of monsters? Wouldn’t it be better if there were more of them?
It wasn’t that simple, however.
“We need monsters, but if there are too many of them, we wouldn’t be able to mine for resources. If we leave them alone too long, they’ll multiply, evolve, and we’ll have another stampede on our hands. We have to trim their population.”
The rewards looked pretty good. However, there was one problem. The document said that we would conduct the investigation with “several parties.” I’d rather not team up with those idiots we ran into on our first day in Alessa.
“Don’t worry about that. The related teams have already signed up.”
“What are they like?”
“This quest is actually a promotion exam to get into D-Rank. There will be two parties of E-Ranks, nine members each, along with one party of three C-Ranks. I can vouch for their competence. As for their personalities… You’ll have to see for yourself.”
The Guildmaster dodged the question. This quest was optional but…
Fran, what do you think?
“Hmm…”
As Fran weighed her options, the Guildmaster hurriedly took out a small pouch and put it on the table.
“Tell you what. I’ll throw you in a personal bonus out of my own pocket.”
Well, this was interesting.
“Have a look.”
The Guildmaster emptied the contents of the pouch and out rolled twenty crystals. They were sizable, too. There was no way of telling how good they were but they were bigger than goblin crystals at least.
“What’s this supposed to be?”
“Call it my secret savings. They’re crystals I got when I still worked the field. All of them came from D-Rank monsters and above.”
One could sell crystals or use them to make equipment. They were much more valuable than cash. But the Guildmaster stared at us like he was looking for something… Was he on to us? Fran wasn’t going to sell these crystals after all.
“Why crystals?”
“Why, indeed? Are you interested?”
We might blow our cover if we weren’t careful with what we said. Best to let him think we wanted the crystals. He wouldn’t know what we were going to do with them, anyway.
“I might be.”
“I knew you would.”
Teacher, what do you think?
Unfortunately, I can’t tell what skills they have. I can barely tell what monsters they came from. Even the mana load is iffy.
I was sure we could take the Guildmaster’s word for it. At D-Rank and above they should be at least as strong as the Doppel Snake and Blast Tortoise.
But something stank about this mission…
“I’ll let you have two. You can pick whichever you want.”
“Hmm… I’ll take the job at ten.”
“What?! That’s too much… Three.”
“Nine.”
“Urgh… Alright, four!”
“I’ll settle for eight.”
“I know where you’re going with this! You’re highballing me so I’ll end up caving at six! Well, it won’t work. Four. That’s my final offer.”
“Then I’ll walk.”
“Ugh…”
“Five. As down payment.”
“Ungh…”
“Goodbye.”
“F-fine…! You can take five as down payment!”
Good job, Fran! You actually beat the Guildmaster! Why was he so desperate to have Fran take on this job? He must really hate being called a lolicon.
“Please take care of the job.”
“Sure.”
Fran nodded and turned to leave when suddenly—
“Hold it right there!”
The door flew open and Amanda charged into the room. The same thing happened with August last time. Did the Guildmaster not have any security guarding his office? Then again, maybe the A-Rank ace just concealed her presence until the last moment.
“Give me that!”
Amanda grabbed the papers that were on the Guildmaster’s table and began reading through them. Rude as she was, the Guildmaster couldn’t really oppose her.
“I knew it! Everyone on this quest list are dudes!”
That couldn’t be helped. There were very few female adventurers around. The ratio must be around twenty to one. It wasn’t surprising that there wasn’t a single girl in a group of twelve.
“I am not letting poor Fran get surrounded by a group of sweaty guys. Count me in.”
“But there is a rank limit, you see—”
“I said, count me in!”
The Guildmaster sighed in defeat. “Fine.” He must’ve known that there was no way of convincing Amanda otherwise. “You don’t mind do you, Fran?”
“Nope. No problem.”
She didn’t seem like a bad person.
We were back at the inn an hour after our meeting with the Guildmaster.
Let’s start absorbing those crystals.
“Yeah.”
Fran laid out the crystals she got from the Guildmaster on the table. I took a closer look at them.
I really can’t tell what skills these things have…
Identify only yielded the monsters’ names. With Bestiary on, I could tell the Threat Level of a monster so long as I had its name, but its skills remained a mystery to me.
“I can’t wait to see what skills we’re gonna get.”
Fran held up the glowing crystals with restless anticipation.
We don’t know what we’ll get until we crack them open. They’re like goodie bags.
“Goodie bags?”
Yeah. It’s a bag filled with dreams, hope, and a little bit of despair.
“Sounds great.”
Warriors would brawl with each other to have a chance at getting one such goodie bag.
“Have you ever seen the inside of one?”
Yep.
“Wow!”
Alright, enough silliness. Let’s see what crystals we got. We started with the D-Rank crystals: Hermit Crab, Sea Lion, and Trident Shark. They weren’t the strangest monsters I’d seen but I had never run into an aquatic monster before. On to C-Rank: Red Colossus and Old Yeti. Unfortunately, we only managed to pick two C-Rank level crystals from the Guildmaster’s collection.
Let’s start with the D Threats.
“Okay.”
Fran stabbed me into the three crystals on the table. Predictably enough, I got water skills like Swimming and Current Manipulation. They were going to come in handy if we ever found ourselves in an aquatic battle.
And now, the moment we’ve all been waiting for, the C-Rank Threats!
“Yep!”
Fran got excited and threw the two gems into the air and sliced them with a single swing.
“Ha!”
Here it comes! I hadn’t had this much to eat in a while! Delicious…
Red Colossus: 196 crystals; Frenzy 1; Heat Resistance 1; Weight Gain; Strength Up (Medium)
Old Yeti: 127 crystals; Cold Resistance 1; Poison Knowledge 1; Frost Resistance 1; Magic Up (Small)
And I finally ranked up! Here were my stats prior absorption:
Attack: 434; MP: 2050/2050;
Durability: 1850/1850
Mana Conductivity: A
Evolution: [Rank 8; Crystals: 3146/3600; Skill Capacity: 70; Free EP: 2]
And this was after:
Attack: 478; MP: 2500/2500;
Durability: 2300/2300
Mana Conductivity: A
Evolution: [Rank 9; Crystals: 3630/4500; Skill Capacity: 79; Free EP: 47]
Now that I was stronger, we were ready to take on that dungeon quest.
It had been two days since we took the dungeon examination quest.
We had stopped by Randell’s shop to stock up on supplies before going to the guild. His shop was as disorganized as ever, yet he still had high-quality potions up for sale. There were Necro Potions to increase the strength of Necromancies at 100,000G each. They were made using a plant called Necroweed. There were also Green Potions which increased the power of Wood Magic. I doubted anyone ever bought these potions. Still, he made plenty of business from selling regular potions.
We were at one of the guild’s meeting rooms to meet the other members of the expedition.
“Alright, let’s start with introducing ourselves. My name is Cruise. I’m the leader of the Azure Guardians. These are my teammates Rig and Eizelle. I’ll be acting as your supervisor and examiner on this trip.”
Name: Cruise Riouselle
Age: 28
Race: Human
Class: Duelist
Level: 33
HP: 206; Magic: 175; Strength: 113; Agility: 178
Skills: Evil Sense 3; Stealth 2; Evasion 5; Royal Etiquette 2; Presence Sense 4; Sword Arts 5; Sword Mastery 6; Martial Arts 4; Command 2; Blink 7; Cold Resistance 4; Poison Resistance 5; Trap Sense 2; Spirit Manipulation
Title: The Upright
Equipment: Flaming Mithril Longsword; Lightweight Silver Plate Mail; 100-legged Spider Mantle; Antivenom Bangle
He was a dashing lad with a head of blonde hair. He was already C-Rank at his age. His armor was glistening white so he must have had money to spare. His surname made me think he was noble-born. His facial features were elegant and graceful. He must be popular with the ladies. Jerk! But he did have The Upright as his title. He couldn’t be all bad, so I decided not to wish death upon him as yet. If he made any moves on Fran, I’d come swinging, though. I’d make him regret being born good-looking!
“My main weapon is the sword. Let’s get along.”
I thought the C-Ranks were strong but they were nowhere close to Don. Don must be one of the strongest C-Ranks the guild had.
Cruise’s teammates were about as strong as he was. Rig was a Water Mage and Eizelle was a scout-class Thief. They were there to complement Cruise’s abilities but they seemed to get along. Cruise must’ve been a fine leader.
“We are the E-Rank team Dragon Roar. I’m the leader, Krad. The spear’s my specialty. With us on the job, we’ll clear this dungeon in no time!”
Krad had ash gray hair and a light brown tan. Standing at 180cm, he looked like your typical young rebel. He scanned the room, tossing condescending looks at everyone. The kid was so cocky I wanted to slice him into shreds.
Name: Krad
Age: 23
Race: Human
Class: Fighter
Level: 20
HP: 127; Magic: 68; Strength: 67; Agility: 49
Skills: Transport 2; Acrobatics 4; Danger Sense 3; Hunger Resistance 3; Spear Arts 1; Spear Mastery 4; Intimidate 3; Climbing 3; Spirit Manipulation
Equipment: Fine Steel Spear; Stone Bull Armor; Stone Bull Gauntlets; Giant Spider Boots; Rock Spider Mantle
He wasn’t very strong, but that was to be expected of an E-Rank. The other four members of his party were also spear users so they had the same basic skillset. However, Krad was the only one who had unlocked Spear Arts. What he lacked in flexibility he made up for by being tenacious.
From my observations the C-Ranks seemed to be at Level 35 and above, the D-Ranks at 25 and above, the E-Ranks at 15 and above, and F-Ranks at 10 and above. Anything below that was G-Rank.
There were exceptions, of course. The people who messed with Fran on her first day at the guild were at Level 15 but their capabilities were much lower. They neglected to diversify their skillset and instead power-leveled their way through in the name of perceived clout. August Allsand was a similar case. He was at Level 30 which would put him close to a C-Rank but any E-Rank could beat him in a straight fight.
All this made Krad perfectly average. He was just strong enough to make D-Rank. His personality left a lot to be admired, however. He’d been glaring at Fran ever since the meeting started. What kind of sick person did you have to be to glare at this cute girl? Or maybe he’d actually fallen for her? If he made any funny moves on Fran I’d make him regret it. I wondered if he could go on being an adventurer after a night of being chased around by a sentient sword.
“My name is Furion. Leader of the E-Rank team Eye of the Forest. I am not trained to use physical weaponry, but I can use Spirit Magic among other things.”
Blond elf. That was about all I could say about Furion. Nothing about him stood out in particular. He looked like a younger version of our Guildmaster, I suppose. I was impressed by how plain he looked despite being an elf!
Name: Furion
Age: 49
Race: Wood Elf
Class: Sage
Level: 27
HP: 71; Magic: 233; Strength: 36; Agility: 66
Skills: Bow Mastery 1; Harvesting 2; Cultivation 4; Evil Spirit Sense 3; Wood Magic 3; Botany 7; Sleep Resistance 3; Spirit Magic 5; Earth Magic 3; Water Magic 3; Herbology 4; Protection of the Spirits; Mana Manipulation; Child of the Forest
Equipment: Spotted Elm Wand; Red Ape Breastplate; Tree Spider Silk Robe; Water Spout Ring
He was a Wood Elf like the Guildmaster. Even his skills were similar. This guy could be strong. If nothing else, he was more well-rounded than Krad. It was amazing how much magic elves could use. His team was composed of two Fighters and one Archer; a well-balanced party.
“Me next. I’m Amanda. Nice to meet you.”
Amanda skipped the pleasantries of class and rank. A simple ‘hello’ was enough for her. Of all the adventurers in Alessa, Fran was the only one who didn’t know about her until three days ago.
The E-Ranks looked surprised although they didn’t say anything. An A-Rank taking on a D-Rank quest was unheard of.
Young Krad was the only one stupid enough to raise his voice.
“Wait, what… Why?!”
“Why what?”
“What’s an A-Rank doing taking on a D-Rank quest?! You might be able to clear this in your sleep but this is our promotion exam! If you’re doing this for kicks you might as well stay out of it!”
He was acting tough but I still had to give props to the kid for talking back to Amanda. Maybe he was at the age where he wanted to stick it to the man.
Bad move, though.
“Graargh!”
Amanda blinked over to Krad and grabbed his face with her hand. With the Iron Claw applied, she lifted the youth’s body off the floor. As he began screaming in fear and panic, Amanda drew close and whispered threateningly.
“Who said I was here to fool around? Besides, I already cleared it with the Guildmaster. I don’t suppose we have a problem, do we?”
“No! There’s no problem! Please let me go!”
She gave his skull one last squeeze for good measure before letting him go. As Krad fell on his bottom, he looked at Amanda with fear and trembling.
“Okay… Let’s move on to the young lady. If you will.”
Cruise cut in before the situation got any worse. It was probably too late for damage control but as head examiner of the crew he had responsibilities to uphold. When you put an A-Rank as independent as Amanda and a rookie as rebellious as Krad together, sparks were bound to fly.
“Fran.”
“Is there… anything else you’d like to tell us?”
“D-Rank. Beastman. My favorite food is curry. I don’t have any particular dislikes.”
“Pssh!”
Krad was shooting daggers out of his eyes now. Just a few seconds ago he was apologizing to Amanda, on the verge of tears. He hated Fran so much that he seemed to have forgotten all about Amanda’s Iron Claw.
He couldn’t accept the fact that this small girl was in D-Rank and he wasn’t.
“I mean, what weapons do you use?”
“Look, kid. Like I said earlier, we’re not playing games here. If you’re treating this like a picnic then go back home and suck on your mommy’s tits!”
Krad had such a foul mouth on him. He was barking like a rabid dog. He was even using his Intimidate skill, not that it had any effect on Fran. He really wanted to make her cry.
“My mother’s dead.”
“Oh dear…”
“… Tch.”
Fran’s statement brought a decisive end to the argument. If Krad had said anything against that I would’ve questioned his humanity.
Amanda looked at Fran sympathetically before sending Krad the full weight of her death glare. The rabid puppy immediately turned blue in the face.
“How dare you raise your voice against a child like that! What the hell is wrong with you?! Fran, are you okay, sweetie?”
“Totally fine.”
Krad’s level of intimidation was nothing compared to facing down a Daemon. He was about as intimidating as a yelping puppy. He was trying to get a reaction out of Fran, not that it worked.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!”
“All right! Now that we’re done with introductions let’s move on to the briefing.”
Cruise, not wanting the situation to get any more out of hand than it already was, moved the conversation forward. Good luck, Cruise. We were off to a rocky start and I couldn’t help you if I tried but I was sure it would all work out! Maybe.
“Let’s all do our best to cooperate. Okay?”
“Hmph.”
“Meh.”
“Okay. Cooperation makes it happen.”
“I’m glad you agree!”
Cruise responded to Fran’s expressionless assent with a tone of obvious desperation. He spoke louder during the briefing although it did little to disguise his panic.
“We are going to investigate the dungeon in Alessa called the Spider’s Nest. We’ll mine some Rune Ore and trim the monster population while we’re at it.”
The dungeon had six floors and was infested with bug-type monsters. The fifth and six floors were home to spider monsters.
“Rune Ores are generated in the Dungeon Core Room, so that’s our main objective.”
“So we’ll be mining Rune Ores?”
Furion was surprised. These ores sounded important.
“Hey, can I just kill all the monsters I happen to come across? We don’t have to let some of them go, do we?”
“Feel free to. Trimming the monster population is part of the mission.”
“Heheheh. I’m looking forward to this.”
The Trap Spiders which populated the dungeon were rated as F-Rank. They were perfect for low-rank adventurers wanting to level up. Krad must’ve been used to the spiders, too.
“A word of warning. The spiders may be weak on their own, but they have the ability to use traps. They have also been known to swarm you so be careful.”
“Come on, I’m not gonna lose to an F-Rank monster. They’re cheap EXP.”
“Monsters aren’t the only things you need to be wary of in a dungeon. There are traps, too. While this dungeon doesn’t have that many of them, you should still watch out for Teleport Traps.”
Teleport Traps transported you to a different area of a given dungeon. Once activated they were virtually impossible to override. They were a threat even to experienced adventurers. The Teleport Traps in the Spider’s Nest transported its victims to a monster room so we’d have to keep our eyes open.
“Teleport Traps have been known to transport more than one victim at a time so be careful out there.”
“Yeah, yeah. We know the drill.”
He clearly didn’t know the drill. Now I was worried. This guy was weak and reckless. One wrong move and he might drag the whole raid down with him. I was going to have to look out for Fran on my own.
“Alright, move out!”
It took us half a day to reach the dungeon from the guild. It was a bumpy trip, mostly because of Krad.
He didn’t like any of the other party leaders because he felt like he was the great general of this expedition. He kept objecting during every discussion we had. That was fair enough, but what surprised me was how he would fiercely talk back to Cruise.
How did Krad expect to get promoted to D-Rank by leaving such a bad impression on his examiner? Was he trying to show him that he wasn’t afraid to voice his opinion? Was he trying to impress him by showing how assertive he was?
Then again, maybe he wasn’t thinking at all.
Amanda, being just as domineering, didn’t like his attitude one bit and they would get into an argument every couple of miles. All of them would end with her shutting him up with the Iron Claw. He really should’ve gotten a clue by now. Furion just watched, preferring to stay out of their squabbles. That said, he didn’t stop them either. Cruise ended up having to mediate between the two. And Fran? Well, everyone had their strengths and weaknesses.
We ran into some fights along the way and I entertained myself by watching Amanda fight. It was quite the spectacle. Fran had never seen anyone use a whip in combat before so her eyes sparkled with curiosity. She was also a master at Wind Magic, although I doubted she was using her full power since she was up against trash mobs.
We were supposed to reach the dungeon by sundown, but it was already night by the time we got there. All the petty squabbles we had along the way slowed us down.
“All right. We were supposed to run through the first and second floors today and finish the rest of the dungeon tomorrow. However, since we’re running late, we’ll camp out tonight and go into the dungeon early in the morning.”
“Why bother camping out? We should just go in now and get this quest over with. The monsters inside aren’t any real threat, right?”
Whose fault do you think this is?!
Cruise frowned before answering Krad.
“The monsters inside are weak, true. But we run the risk of fighting while exhausted. We’re camping out.”
“I agree.”
“Me too.”
“Sounds good.”
“Hah! Wimps!”
We stayed quiet during the exchange. Krad should understand how dangerous running a dungeon after half a day of walking was. He probably felt the need to tell Cruise off to satisfy himself.
I hated this type of person, to be honest. He reminded me of the guy who would hold up discussions in class by overriding the agenda with his own faulty logic. He just wanted to stand out and be noticed. Everyone in class would be thinking, ‘Can you just shut up? We need to decide on something so we can go home already,’ but he would always argue against the popular vote. Krad’s party members didn’t help since all they did was agree with him. He was out of control.
“Hey, Fran! Do you wanna sleep in my tent tonight? We’ll let the guys watch over camp.”
“I’ll pass.”
“Aww, come on.”
“We’ll take turns to watch over camp. Fran, you’ll be first on guard. My party will go next followed by Krad, and finally Furion.”
Cruise assigned Krad to the late night watch. He got a little payback for all the lip he’d been giving.
“What about Ms. A-Rank? Is she not doing watch?”
“Lady Amanda is only an observer. Besides, asking her to do the heavy lifting for you lot would defeat the purpose of this examination. She can run this dungeon in under an hour. If she were to do that, you would all fail the test.”
An A-Rank was so strong that they could finish most quests in no time flat. Amanda was almost a nuisance on this quest. It was best to think of her as insurance in case of emergencies.
“Tch, fine.”
The watch went on as Cruise planned. Krad complained the entire time but Amanda shut him up when he got too loud.
“I hope you all remembered to bring food and camping gear.”
Of course. We bought high-quality bedding at Randell’s the other day which used a bird monster’s feathers. It made for amazing insulation and heat retention. We also bought a sleeping bag, a blanket, and a pillow. It totalled up to 7,000G.
Food was no problem with our Pocket Dimension storage. We wouldn’t be able to eat until after our watch.
“Hey, is that kid really going to be okay by herself?”
“Piece of cake.”
“That’s bullshit and you know it.”
He was really getting on my nerves but he had a point. It was hard to trust a tiny girl like Fran to be on guard for the night.
“She’s a D-Rank. That means she’s stronger than you. If she says she can keep watch for the night, then she can keep watch.”
“Yeah… that’s the thing! How is this twerp a D-Rank? It doesn’t make sense! Did you sell your body to that lolicon Guildmaster? Fess up!”
So this was the guy who started us on this evaluation quest. He had never seen Fran fight before. It was hard to measure how powerful an adventurer was at this rank. Krad suspected foul play contributed to Fran’s meteoric rise in the guild; she was exceptional, after all.
That didn’t mean I was going to let him off for slander.
Fran, what should we do?
Nothing? It’s just a bit of noise.
Krad had used his Intimidation skill again, and it failed to affect Fran, again. She answered him, her expression still uninterested.
“I’m stronger than you.”
“You? Stronger than me?! Don’t make me laugh! There’s no way a kid like you is strong enough to make it to D-Rank!”
“But I am.”
“Hahaha! All right, let’s see what you’re made of. Show me this power of yours!”
Krad raised his spear to challenge her to a duel.
Fran got up and prepared herself. I couldn’t know for sure until we actually fought, but she seemed ready for an all-out brawl. The sooner we got this over with, the better. This dumbass shouldn’t take too long to subdue.
You can fight him, Fran, but don’t overdo it.
I know. I’ll just rough him up a little.
The rest kept quiet. Furion’s crew didn’t want to get involved with infighting but I fully expected Amanda to step in and stop the foolishness before it started. Instead, she only smiled and watched. She understood the difference between Krad and Fran’s strength levels. Cruise didn’t stop us, either. Was he exasperated by the events of the day?
“Oh, are we getting a show?”
I guess not. Cruise’s crew looked on with great interest. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen them during the goblin raid. They were probably part of the expedition crew and didn’t get to participate. This would be their first time seeing Fran in action, too. Cruise’s teammates set up a perimeter and stood guard in Fran’s stead.
Fran, you should make an arena before you start fighting.
If anyone interfered during the match, Krad would start complaining again.
All right.
Fran started casting two spells.
“Wind Zone.”
“Earth Zone.”
Wind Zone created a dome of wind which its caster could use to detect any objects which passed through it. Earth Zone created a dome of earth magic below a given area. Unlike Wind Zone, it couldn’t detect anything above ground. Between the two zones we had both land and air covered.
“M-magic…?”
“She used two elements.”
“Seriously?”
Krad’s crew spoke nervously among themselves. They were grinning at first but now their faces grew pale. And that was just from watching Fran set up barrier spells.
“Y-you’re a Mage?!”
“What? No.”
“B-but you can use magic…”
“You don’t have to be a mage to use magic.”
“O-oh…”
The barrier spells were enough to scare him. The spells were Level 4, after all. Seeing Fran cast them without a sweat would scare any E-Rank adventurer.
“Let’s go.”
“A-all right. Let’s do this!”
Krad looked determined to win using his spear even if he couldn’t use magic. Back on Earth, spears had an advantage over swords. But that might not hold true in this world of magic and weapon arts.
Still, we weren’t about to lose in a one on one match.
“… Ready when you are.”
“Raaah!”
Krad wasted no time and charged right into Fran. He must have felt a little bit of Fran’s power from the two spells she cast and decided to hit first and think later. Fran stood her ground. It surprised the rest of the camp who were spectating as they had dinner. Furion and Krad’s crew gasped in horror as they expected Krad’s spear would run right through Fran.
They would be sorely disappointed.
“That’s not going to work.”
With a short swing of myself, Fran deflected the spearhead. It sent Krad tumbling since he had put the entire weight of his body into his thrust. As he tripped, Fran kicked him right in the ribs.
“Gah!”
The kick sent Krad rolling across the ground.
“Dammit!”
“Had enough?”
“Hell no! You got lucky just now, but you’re not going to catch me with the same trick twice!”
Wow! I didn’t expect to hear something so clichéd today! As much as he annoyed me I had to thank him for that.
“In that case.”
“Huh… Gah!”
Fran jumped to Krad’s side in the blink of an eye and smacked him with the flat of my blade.
“I’m not done!”
That blow should’ve been enough to tell him how much stronger Fran was, but Krad got back up. His tenacity was impressive.
“Hm.”
“Raaah!”
Desperate, he unleashed a flurry of thrusts with his spears. However, Fran dodged each and every stab. How long could he keep this up?
“Why?! How?!”
“You’re not going to hit me like that.”
“This is ridiculous!”
He kept up his flurry of stabs for three minutes before he started gasping for breath. He leaned against his spear for support, shocked that none of his blows connected.
“Dammit… Dammit!”
“Time to end this.”
“Wha-? Argh!”
She swung me at Krad’s face, knocking him out cold.
“Boss!”
His friends surrounded him.
That should take care of any future disputes.
“Hm. What a letdown.”
I know how you feel.
Fran never had any sparring partners who could go toe-to-toe with her. At least Krad had chutzpah to spare.
“You’re so strong, Fran!”
“Hm.”
Amanda came up and hugged her. My steel body couldn’t feel her soft flesh. Curses.
There was an odd look about the A-Rank, though. Her lips were curled into a friendly smile, but her eyes weren’t smiling. She looked like a predator who had just spotted its prey.
“Do you want to spar with me?”
“Right now?”
“Of course. I’m a solo A-Rank, remember? I don’t really have any training partners. But you’ll do just fine, Fran!”
So Amanda was a loner, too. Sparring with an A-Rank would be a great learning experience for Fran, but I couldn’t help worrying…
Fran—
I was going to ask but the excited look on Fran’s face told me all I needed to know.
It’s a perfect chance to try out Blade Mastery.
…Right.
There was no stopping Fran once she entered battle mode. Fran gave Amanda a challenging smile which was received with a predatory grin.
“Heehee.”
“Hm.”
There was no need for further words for these battle maniacs. They walked several paces from each other to get into position. The tension in the air was palpable.
“Ready?”
Amanda made the first move. She pulled out her whip with her right hand and lashed it at Fran.
“Mmph.”
That was close! I had expected Amanda to wait for Fran to make the first move. Instead, she immediately targeted Fran’s eyes with her first strike. Fran barely dodged it.
“Good reflexes. How about this?”
The path of a whip was too irregular to parry with a sword. It put Fran on the defensive and she had no choice but to dodge every strike. Amanda’s whip strikes got faster with every successful dodge, however. Seeing Fran keep up with her assault must’ve excited her.
If Amanda landed a hit it would do heavy damage.
“Haaa!”
With a crack of her whip she blew away the ground Fran was just standing on.
What the hell was that?!
The impact left a small crater in the earth. It was as if a warhammer had smashed into it. Amanda was likely holding back so she wouldn’t outright kill her but the damage was great enough to send shivers down my spine.
“Ahahaha! You’re doing great, Fran!”
Amanda had roped Fran into her pace. Her whip kept Fran at bay with no way of moving in. She would unleash one great blow after another at blinding speeds. As soon as Fran had dodged a strike, Amanda was already letting loose another. This was the power of an A-Rank adventurer. I had to admit I underestimated her at first.
Who knew a whip could be so dangerous?
All Amanda had to do was land one blow on Fran and the fight would be over. Worse, there was no way of telling where her attacks would come from. Her methods morphed freely without notice. Sometimes it was a straightforward lash. At other times, the crack of her whip was strong enough to break boulders. She could also lash her whip without a sound.
The real mystery wasn’t the workings of Amanda’s whips but rather how Fran was still managing to keep up with it. Amanda must’ve been holding back since this was a sparring match. She wanted to see how long Fran could last.
Are you alright?
You don’t need to get involved, Teacher.
I know.
I’ll definitely get a hit in!
Good luck.
As far as goals went, I thought that was impossible. Amanda hadn’t moved from her original position since the start of the match.
Amanda was a master at the whip despite being a Storm Warrior. She could use a higher form of Wind Magic called Storm Magic, yet she hadn’t felt the need to cast a single spell.
The Mage skill allowed me to see any enchantments she might have cast on herself before the fight but she came up clean. It underscored how much of a skilled fighter she was if she could control the situation with just Whip Mastery.
But Fran wasn’t to be scoffed at, either. She was getting used to the whip’s movements and was now closing in on Amanda. Once she was close enough, she swung her sword.
“Now!”
“You missed!”
“Part of the plan.”
“Hah! Such cheek.”
Fran came close to landing a blow on her. After several more attempts, she had forced Amanda to start using her feet. She leapt back to draw her whip to her side and evade Fran’s attack.
“I’m sorry for holding back on you.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Time to get a little serious…!”
“Oof.”
“Well, then. It’s been a long time since anyone dodged that on their first try.”
Amanda’s whip came snaking toward Fran and jumped at her. It looked like it had a mind of its own. The whip had been infused with mana, now. This must be one of Amanda’s Whip Arts. The whip acted on its own without her having to move her wrist.
The exchange continued. The enchanted whip was so powerful that the wind pressure was enough to cut. Soon Fran’s body was covered in lashes. Blood flowed freely from her wounds.
Still, I wasn’t too worried. We had asked around what kind of person Amanda was on the day we met her and figured out she was a genuinely good person. She had been managing an orphanage in Alessa for the better part of thirty years. The orphanage was now home to close to five hundred children, and she got a lot of respect for that.
There used to be a lot of adventurers who would try to run this dungeon twenty years ago. When they died, they left behind orphans who in turn disturbed the public order of Alessa. Amanda started helping those children when she was a measly twenty-year-old D-Rank adventurer.
She built the orphanage with money out of her own pocket. She started housing kids off the street and cared for and educated them. The orphanage now got a lot of help from the townspeople now but it was tough when it just started. The people we asked had fond smiles as they remembered Amanda and her humble beginnings.
That was how Amanda got her Protector of Children title. Now she had to keep saving and caring for little children if she wanted to keep that title. I had no doubt in my mind that Amanda was a good person and was also a friend to Fran because of this.
They might rough each other up during this fight but they were both consenting. Besides, there was no ill will behind it.
“Ha!”
“Kuh…”
Although I was beginning to sweat a little bit now that it had gotten more intense.
Fran had been forced on the defensive and was losing a lot of blood. Even if they could heal her, full recovery was still going to take a couple days.
I wondered if I should stop Fran, but decided to just keep watch. It looked like Fran had something up her sleeve.
“Now!”
Fran made her move. She timed her steps to Amanda’s whip strike and moved in instead of dodging. It looked desperate but it was a calculated trade on Fran’s part.
“Guh!”
Amanda hardened her whip until it became spear-like. She stabbed Fran in the side and blood came gushing out. Fran grit her teeth. She had used Wind Magic on herself to push herself forward and she continued her advance.
“Very smart!”
“Ha…!”
Fran put her entire weight on her sword and charged. Amanda didn’t have enough time to draw her whip back to her side. Still, we were up against an A-Rank. She must have something else planned.
“Wind Shield!”
With a high-pitched whistle, Amanda summoned a gust of wind which blew Fran away. Fran was getting close to landing a blow if Amanda was using Wind Magic now. Still, close wasn’t good enough for Fran.
Fran answered the wind spell with a Flare Blast.
“Flare Blast!”
She could cast the spell while fighting thanks to Double Mind, and had been waiting for the perfect chance to fire it. Amanda had just cast a defensive spell. No matter how good she was, she couldn’t have cast another spell in such an instant.
Nice shot!
The direct hit of the Flare Blast caused a huge explosion. The blast blew up dust and smoke and scorched the earth around it. The flame was even hot enough to melt stone.
She wasn’t dead, right? She might be an A-Rank but that explosion might have been a bit too much…
But I had nothing to worry about. Amanda had come out of the explosion unscathed. Which I found preposterous. How did she manage that? I knew she had Magic Resistance but I doubted that was enough to nullify the damage of such a spell.
“That was close.”
“Hm… Shame.”
Fran fell to the ground while looking disappointed. She had lost too much blood and was now at the limits of physical exhaustion.
Too bad… You did well, though.
She got so far with such a monster, and I didn’t even help.
“Fran, I’m so sorry!”
Amanda rushed to Fran’s aid and began dousing her with a Life Potion. It was the good stuff, too. The hole that was in her side closed in a matter of seconds. No wonder Amanda could go all out.
“I wanted to let you land a hit on me as a reward, but I can’t help Beloved of the Spirits triggering automatically.”
So that’s what that was. The skill worked by nullifying the damage of a massively destructive attack. It was a handy skill to have, but it had a 24-hour cooldown. Fran might say it didn’t count, but she managed to trigger Amanda’s safety skill so I’d say that was good enough.
Get some sleep, Fran. You’ve earned it. As for the night watch… we could find someone else to do it. Probably.
An hour had gone by since Fran’s match with Amanda.
Fran awoke to Amanda sitting across from her. She had been very apologetic about going overboard during the spar and asked Fran if there was anything she’d like to know to make it up to her.
I didn’t think she had anything to be sorry for. Fran learned a lot from the match, and Amanda had taken Fran’s place in guarding camp. She had even spent a powerful Life Potion on Fran to heal her. We’d be owing her instead if she was willing to give us free classes on top of all that.
“Let’s start Battle Arts.”
“Please do.”
We asked her to teach us the mechanics of Skills and Magic. We’d been using them and had been on the receiving end of them, too, but we could learn a lot from an A-Rank.
“Just to be clear, I’m not good with theory so I can’t teach you everything.”
“Good enough.”
We didn’t know how any of this stuff worked, after all.
“The Mastery skills like Sword Mastery and Whip Mastery increase your proficiency with a given weapon.”
These skills gave a numerical value to your technical mastery of a weapon. Got it.
“Battle Arts, like your Sword Arts and my Whip Arts, are skills you need to expend mana to activate.”
“I know that much.”
Amanda continued her lecture. First, you needed Sword Mastery to unlock Sword Arts, and Bow Mastery to unlock Bow Arts. A Battle Arts skill level could not exceed the skill level of its corresponding Mastery skill. So if you only had Sword Mastery 5, your Sword Arts would cap at 5, as well.
“As for how you learn new Battle Arts…”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t know the exact details of it.”
“What?”
“I know how to unlock them, but I can’t tell you the underlying logic behind it. There are researchers who might be able to tell you that, however.”
“I don’t care about theory.”
“And that’s why you’re an adventurer. Thing is, you can only learn new arts once you have Mana Manipulation or Spirit Manipulation. How you unlock either of those, I have no idea. I’m a Half Elf, remember? I’ve had them both for as long as I can remember. We’ll move on since you don’t seem to have any trouble with them, anyway.”
“Go for it.”
Mana Manipulation allowed its user to project magic outside of their body while Spirit Manipulation allowed for the use of mana within a user’s body. You only needed one of them to use Battle Arts since they both technically manipulated mana. You could even use one instead of the other once you were used to it, although it wouldn’t be as potent.
“You learn a new Battle Art by letting mana flow through your body or weapon. At some point, you’ll get a flash of inspiration for a new Battle Art. When that happens, just let loose. You can call on it again and again once you have it learned. Don’t you remember the first time that happened to you, Fran? You can use Battle Arts, after all.”
“…?”
“Well, you probably learned them while you were too little to remember. You’re a genius for being able to use Battle Arts at your age.”
That was close. It was a good thing Fran was still a child. We now knew where Battle Arts came from. We would be able to add more Sword Arts to our repertoire from now on. We could use Sword Arts but there was a huge difference between using them and being good at them. We were still at the former stage. We would get more Sword Arts as we got better with our Sword Mastery.
“You increase the level of a Battle Art by using it repeatedly. You’ll learn new Battle Arts as it levels up.”
The hardest part was getting it up to Level 1.
“I’ll go into Magic now.”
“Okay.”
“There are four elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. Its advanced forms are: Land, Storm, Flame, and Ocean.”
We could use the four basic elements, plus the upgraded Fire Magic that was Flame Magic.
“There are also magicks which are called Compound Elements. There are six of them: Thunder, Frost, Wood, Steel, Sand, and Life.”
“Compound what?”
I had never heard of these before.
“They could be unlocked by leveling up two of the basic elements together. For example, Wood Magic is made up of Water and Earth.”
“Could? So it’s not a guarantee?”
“Let me explain.”
The traditional way of learning magic was having an old master teach you. Alternatively, you could use various items and tools to unlock it. The non-traditional methods Amanda described were… extreme, to say the least. I couldn’t believe it myself, at first.
In the case of Water Magic, the prospective would douse himself in water every day, drink water, submerge himself in water, and even imagine himself as water. Once he started dreaming about water, he had a chance of learning Water Magic.
To learn Wind Magic, you had to bathe yourself in wind and run around during a hurricane while naked. Obtaining Earth Magic involved burying oneself with dirt and chewing on rocks. I guess that was one way of becoming one with the earth. Few mages were determined enough to obtain this second element. However, I caught a faint gleam of nostalgia in Amanda’s eyes. I wondered how she got her Wind Magic…
Unlike Sword Arts, however, there was no guarantee of acquisition. There was still the arbitrary wall of talent to think about. Everyone could get better at swinging a sword with practice, but you had to have the gift of magic to use spells.
“Talent?”
“You could call it aptitude for a certain element. If you didn’t have the talent for Fire Magic, you would never be able to use it no matter how hard you tried.”
Meaning all that hard work would be for nothing. Without talent, you wouldn’t be able to use Fire Magic if you set yourself on fire. That sounded awful.
“There is no way of telling whether you’re talented at something. However, everyone has at least one thing they’re naturally talented at. You just have to keep trying until you find the one that works.”
“Hard work still works.”
“Exactly. I tried unlocking Fire Magic once but it didn’t seem like I had the talent for it. I do have an inclination for Wind Magic though, so I got that one in a week.”
“I see.”
“There are geniuses who come out of the womb ready to shoot fireballs, too. You might be one of them, Fran.”
“What?”
“I guess you don’t remember that, either. Anyway, back to our discussion of Compound Elements. There are two problems which lay at the core of unlocking them. Firstly, you need to have aptitude for not just one, but two elements.”
Having the proclivity to use two elements was a tall enough hurdle by itself.
“Correct. You also need to have the talent for using Compound Elements.”
In that case, Compound Element users were rare. I had only seen Wood Magic on the Guildmaster and Furion, and they were both Wood Elves so they were probably born with it. Amanda went on to tell us that some races were born with magic. The Wood Elves had Wood Magic and Salamanders had Steel Magic, for example.
“That’s why you don’t see people using Compound Elements all the time.”
I wondered what Fran had for talent. She had no problems using the spells that I had, and that included all four elements plus Dark and Healing. Talent might not be a factor when using spells which were under Skill Sharing. Fran was good, but I doubted she had the miraculous talent of being able to use all four elements naturally.
“Next I’ll talk about the other elements.”
“Like Dark and Healing.”
“That’s right. I’ll start with Light and Dark.”
Light and Dark were not part of the four primary elements. You could learn them the same way as the main four, but not many people had the gift for them. The main four were the most common, followed by Compound Elements, and Light and Dark were the rarest. We were lucky to get them off the Daemon when we did.
“There are also the derivative elements of Light and Dark. Cleansing and Illusion fall under Light Magic. Poison and Necromancy are a part of Dark.”
The occurrence of Derivative Elements were consistent enough that researchers thought of them as the lower forms of Light Magic and Dark Magic. Having talent for Derivative Elements made it more likely to have talent for its parent element. Meaning, if someone was good at Poison Magic, they might be able to get Dark Magic.
The Derivative Elements had advanced forms, too. Purification for Cleansing Magic, and Venom for Poison Magic. This magic hole ran deep.
“And then there’s Unique Magic.”
Unique Magic had various forms, such as Healing, Support, Summon, Contract, Dimensional, Moonlight, Spirit, and Blacksmith, to name a few. Healing and Support magic were common enough, but Moonlight was even rarer than Light and Dark.
“Those are the ones I know but I’m sure there’s a lot more variations out there in the world. Some magicks are unique to particular monsters.”
“Rumor has it that there are magicks only dragons and fiends can use. Compared to us humanoids, nearly all monsters can use magic.”
“Why?”
“They need to use magic to survive in the wild. Even if a monster was bigger than a castle, they’d get annihilated in an instant if they didn’t strengthen their bodies with magic. Magic is as necessary to them as breathing is to us. They can use it even without Mana Manipulation. It might have something to do with the crystals they have. They would be stronger with Mana Manipulation, of course.”
“I see.”
“It’s the same with Battle Arts. Spirit and Mana Manipulation might differ in their manifestations but they both have to do with controlling mana. Crystals allow monsters to use Battle Arts even without Spirit Manipulation.”
Vibrofang must work on the same basis.
“That’s why a lot of monsters can use Compound Elements and Light and Dark magic. They’re more talented than us in that way.”
It might be distressing to learn that there were gigantic monsters out there but it was good news for us since they were more likely to have the rare elements. I might be able to get a boatload of crystals off them to boot.
There was something that had been on my mind for a while, though.
“Is Dark Magic only used by bad people?”
We got it off a Daemon, and there was nothing good about Poison and Necromancy. I would never let my guard down around a Necromancer if we were meeting for the first time. They just had this evil aura about them.
“Not at all. It might seem that way since they’re mostly used by monsters. But an adventurer with Necromancy would be a powerful ally to have in a raid. Think of how useful Necromancy is in a dungeon.”
Good. We wouldn’t have to worry about using Dark Magic or the spell we got when we bumped it up to Dark Magic Up. I asked her about the Compound Element pairings to wrap things up.
Water + Earth = Wood.
Water + Wind = Frost.
Water + Fire = Life.
Wind + Fire = Thunder.
Wind + Earth = Sand.
Earth + Fire = Steel.
She taught us how each worked, too.
Wood Magic: As its name implied, it allowed its user to manipulate plants. It could make them grow as well as wilt. It also came with a skill that allowed its user to navigate a forest.
Frost Magic: Ability to control cold air. Came with a variety of ice and snow attacks, along with the ability to steal the heat from a target to chill it. It also allowed you to survive freezing terrain.
Life: Could be used for healing but its intricacies went deeper than that. It could manipulate life itself. Used in conjunction with Alchemy to conduct homunculus research.
Thunder: Allowed its user to control lightning and magnetic forces. Had the ability to summon lightning strikes and apply a speed buff to its user.
Sand: Allowed the user to control sand. It could also desiccate, dehydrate, and erode, among other things. Mostly used in food preservation.
Steel: Allowed the user to control metal, ores, lava, etc. Worked under the ground. Mostly used by blacksmiths.
As for the Unique Elements:
Timespace: Control over time and space. Teleportation and time manipulation have been confirmed by researchers.
Moonlight: Control over reflections and the mind. Mostly associated with vampires and werewolves.
Support: Applies various buffs and barriers. There are similar skills in the other elements but the Support Element is the best in this case.
There had been no sightings of a Compound Element formed between Light and Dark and Unique magicks.
“Or maybe I just haven’t heard about it,” Amanda finished.
“I want a Compound Element magic.”
“You used Earth and Wind earlier. You’re good at Fire too, right? You can go for either Lightning, Sand, or Metal.”
“I’ll do my best.”
Should we absorb the Compound Element from a crystal or should we unlock it by ourselves? We already had Flame Magic when our Fire Magic hit 10, so we could unlock a Compound Element by leveling another element.
Our strongest element after Fire would be… Wind.
Leveling skills up through crystal was faster and more effective. The Army Beetles had Wind Magic 3 on each crystal. Wind Magic was easier to level up compared to Sword Mastery since the Goblins only had Sword Mastery 1 on them.
Should I put more points into it?
I had 47 EP left.
What do you think?
I want a Compound Element.
No need for further argument. I used 6 EP to level up Wind Magic to unlock Lightning Magic. We got the titles Storm Elementalist and Wind Mage from it, too.
I can’t wait to use it.
Not now. Amanda just taught us about Compound Elements. She’d get suspicious if we suddenly started using one.
Fine…
We’ll experiment once we’re back in Alessa, okay?
“Hm.”
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