Chapter 114 - Chapter 113: Change of Special Training
The first day of the fifth week of the first month of the Earth.
Today's class was about magic tools.
Even if you just say "magic tools," there are a tremendous number of types, and not all of them are taught in class.
Mika had visited magic tool shops in Sarbengeal and heard various things from the old shopkeeper there, so he had some knowledge.
What is covered in class is basic knowledge, and especially magic tools closely related to mages.
When Mika and the others talk about magic tools they usually use, it's the "Bracelet of Judgment" used in class.
It hinders the manifestation of [God's Miracle] and stores the corresponding amount of mana.
Also, although rarely used recently, crystals used for practicing mana perception and manipulation are, of course, magic tools as well.
By what mechanism do these possess their functions?
The basics involve using magic stones or rare metals.
Using both is, of course, also possible, and the price skyrockets depending on the quality and quantity of each.
Mika's Magic Bag costs a ridiculous million rats, but magic tools that measure mana capacity seem to be on a different level entirely.
He wasn't told the exact price, but it's probably one order of magnitude higher. He certainly wouldn't go up to two orders of magnitude.
Structurally, from what he heard, it felt close to something like an electronic circuit board.
It controls the flow of mana, incorporates the powers of various gods, and realizes the desired function.
Just listening to the explanation, it didn't seem like something Mika could handle.
Honestly, doing such detailed work... it makes him feel discouraged.
Thinking of and creating such magic tools is basically the job of a mage.
It seems mages calculate backwards from the desired effect to design the mechanism and structure.
Then, items that yield useful effects are produced by hand by craftsmen with special skills.
Since mass production isn't possible, the numbers are limited, and the prices inevitably become high.
Even if you just say "mage," it seems they are subdivided into several categories.
Mages who are soldiers in the army, firing off the big cannon known as [God's Miracle].
Mages in the Court Magic Institute, researching [God's Miracle].
Also in the Court Magic Institute, mages researching and developing magic tools.
And mages who have resigned from the army or the Court Magic Institute to research alchemy and magic tools individually.
There are magic tools other than the "Bracelet of Judgment" that Mika will be using while at the academy.
It seems that once they start conducting exercises and such, they will often use something called the "Bracelet of Conversion Light."
This is a bracelet that converts the manifested [God's Miracle] into light.
(Wait, the "Bracelet of Judgment" I'm using now glows too.)
He thought that, but the excellent part of this "Bracelet of Conversion Light" isn't there.
Amazingly, this bracelet changes color depending on the [God's Miracle] being manifested.
(...And what's the meaning of that...?)
He had zoned out while listening to the lecture, but this has a proper meaning.
First of all, this bracelet hinders the manifestation of [God's Miracle], but the effect range functions as is.
In other words, what glows due to the "Bracelet of Conversion Light" is the effect range of the [God's Miracle] that was trying to manifest.
Taking [Explosive Flame] as an example.
If you wear this bracelet and chant the spell for [Explosive Flame], the place where the explosion would normally occur glows.
[Explosive Flame] would glow red, other [God's Miracles] would glow in different colors. This is the light called Conversion Light.
The strength of the explosion, the power of the fire and blast wind, and the scale of [Explosive Flame] change depending on the amount of mana consumed.
The effect of this bracelet is that the effect range, taking these factors into account, glows.
And there is another bracelet paired with it.
That is the "Bracelet of Conversion Light Detection."
When it receives Conversion Light judged to be of fatal power, this bracelet reacts and glows.
This allows one to learn distance and effect range while actually chanting [God's Miracle] spells, playing around like in a paintball game.
In exercises where destruction targets are set, items with functions similar to this Bracelet of Conversion Light Detection are used.
Something like "deemed destroyed after five uses of [Explosive Flame]."
It seems damage is taken into consideration, and if a certain amount of damage is dealt, the target destruction is achieved.
It's not just me who feels a bit restless wanting to play soon, right?
But unfortunately, you can only play in a paintball game after entering the middle school division.
During the elementary division, it seems it's still not allowed.
Che.
The category of "magic tools" is very broad, and everything given an effect through [Enchantment] becomes a magic tool in the broad sense.
Trys's Longsword seems to have an effect against "Unclean Ones," and this also falls under magic tools in the broad sense.
Many adventurers equip bracelets, rings, necklaces, etc., with such [Enchantments].
From things that increase stamina, arm strength, and life force, to things that make one resistant to fire and heat, or enhance [God's Miracle] effects, and so on.
Most things that predecessors could think of are already made.
If the effects vary wildly, the prices vary wildly too.
Truly useful items with high effects are not often found in magic tool shops.
It seems one has to have them made to order.
Naturally, the materials are rare metals like "Silver-type Rare Metal [Mithril]."
Rarely, they might appear on the market when an adventurer who owned them retires and sells them, but that happens very rarely.
In most cases, it seems they are sold slightly cheaper to acquaintances who are adventurers.
Magic tools that help adventurers in various scenes such as combat.
(I should probably get some of these soon.)
While listening to the class, that's what Mika was thinking.
■■■■■■
The sixth day of the fifth week of the first month of the Earth.
"Here, take this!"
After class, during their usual special training time.
In the corner of the academy grounds, Mika was attacking Rimliche with a Shortsword.
Rimliche tries to block with her Shortsword somehow, but she can't block everything.
Rimliche was already covered in sand.
She fell many times, stood up each time, was attacked by Mika again, and fell down again.
She had repeated such things many times in this ten-minute span.
"Hey, hey, what's wrong, what's wrong."
"Guh! Ah!?"
Zuzaa!
Rimliche lost her balance under Mika's persistent attacks and fell down spectacularly.
"It hurts...!"
It seems she scraped a large wound from the back of her hand up to her wrist.
"Are you alright, Rimliche-dono?"
Basal, who had been silently watching until now, spoke up.
Basal practices swordsmanship alone every day, but on Saturdays, he accompanies Mika and the others in their special training.
Or rather, it's more accurate to say Mika catches Basal, who practices silently alone, and drags him along.
Due to Mika's belief that if you want to improve your sword skills, seeing a skilled person is best, he is forcing Basal to accompany them.
"Mika-dono, you should hold back a little more."
"I'm already doing that. Come on, Rimliche. Stand up."
"U-um."
Rimliche hurriedly stands up.
"Show me your hand."
As instructed, Rimliche immediately shows her hand.
Mika takes Rimliche's hand and checks the wound.
The wide range of the scrape isn't a big problem, but the sand is stuck perfectly in the wound.
"It's better to wash it off once. It'll hurt, but bear with it."
"U-um."
Mika rolls up Rimliche's tracksuit sleeve.
"Limiter Off," "Water Splash."
While washing with "Water Splash," he roughly rubs the wound with his hand to remove the sand.
"Nnnnnn!"
"Yes, yes, don't move, don't move."
Rimliche groans, enduring the pain as Mika fiddles with the wound.
Mika roughly rinses the wound, then checks for sand that has gotten under the skin.
While washing, he carefully removes them as well.
"Nnnnnnn!!!"
"You're merciless, Mika-dono..."
Watching Mika calmly proceed with the treatment while Rimliche looks teary-eyed, Basal mutters with half-closed eyes.
"[Heal] is convenient, but it doesn't remove foreign objects. If you want to heal cleanly, you need to remove the extra stuff first. You should remember that, Basal. Alright, done."
When Mika said that, Rimliche quickly used [Heal].
Yellow light particles enveloped Rimliche's hand, and the wound healed in an instant.
After washing away the blood on her skin, Rimliche's smooth hand appeared.
"Alright, Rimliche, take a break. Come on, let's go, Basal."
Mika grinned.
Mika let Rimliche rest and told Basal to accompany him in the meantime.
Rimliche, who had been moving intensely for ten minutes, was out of breath.
The current treatment must have worn down her morale significantly.
"...Being Mika-dono's opponent is exhausting."
"What nonsense are you talking? Rimliche can rest while you watch properly."
"Um."
Mika and Basal moved apart and faced each other.
"Alright, the rules are the same as usual."
"I understand."
Basal sighed upon saying that.
Ignoring Basal's demeanor, Mika assumed a stance with his Shortsword.
■■■■■■
Rimliche, who had successfully learned [Explosive Flame] and [Heal].
Saturday's special training had become nothing more than mana manipulation practice, despite the name.
Mana manipulation is important, and if they say the special training time is when they can concentrate the most, continuing isn't a bad thing.
Still, honestly, didn't he always have the thought that it might not be necessary anymore?
Being able to manifest either [Explosive Flame] or [Heal] is fairly common in the class.
About one-third of them, maybe.
But only the Leventein Group had mastered both.
Among the Leventein Group, Rimliche, who boasts the largest amount of mana by far, ranks second in grades, right after Mika.
To be honest, Mika and Rimliche's grades were outstanding.
The two newly learned [God's Miracles] require a considerable amount of mana.
[Explosive Flame] especially has a line for "minimum amount of mana required" that is incredibly high.
For the rest of the Leventein Group besides Mika and Rimliche, they would collapse from mana depletion after using it three times.
An amount of mana sufficient to maintain double enhancement for two hours with [Physical Enhancement] is the absolute minimum level for a mage.
If they use this for other [God's Miracles], there is no mana left to allocate to [Physical Enhancement].
And a mage who cannot use [Physical Enhancement] is just dead weight at any time.
Since their base physical strength is greatly inferior to knights and soldiers, they cannot keep up during marches and are not very useful for setting up camp either.
Until now, Rimliche's consciousness had inevitably been focused on the task right in front of her.
That is important in itself, but now she is in a state freed from that task.
Perhaps she had finished the tasks to be done within the year and was wondering what to do with the remaining time.
"I want to be able to fight better with a Shortsword. Like Mika-kun."
At the end of Saturday's special training one day, Rimliche said that.
She wanted to raise her base physical strength and hone her sword skills.
(Why, to me?)
He couldn't help but think that, but well, he'll consider it an honor to be chosen as a consulting partner.
He doesn't know if he can teach her Shortsword skills, but he'll try, and if it seems impossible, he'll think of another method.
Thus, the content of Saturday's special training changed from mana manipulation to training the body, including Shortsword practice.
But if the content is just an extension of class, Mika doesn't need to accompany her specifically.
So, he confirmed it first.
"I'm going to be strict."
"I-i-it's fine."
"I think you'll cry."
"I-i-it's okay even if I cry."
So she doesn't deny crying.
"You'll want to quit soon, right?"
"I won't."
Rimliche pulled her lips tight and looked at Mika with a serious expression.
(...This girl has become quite strong.)
He thought she was getting stronger little by little, but to see such strong willpower like this.
For Mika, Rimliche's growth is truly happy.
If so, lending a hand for further growth is not stingy.
In regular classes, Mika is usually facing both Rimliche and Cleiria at the same time.
And since even if Mika attacks, the judgment for Rimliche and Cleiria is not "hit," he basically uses the sword with the purpose of deflecting.
Besides that, he only draws his sword at most to intimidate their movements.
So what happens then?
Rimliche attacks, but she hardly defends at all.
So, in special training, Mika consciously increased the number of strikes.
In class, it's two against one.
Now it has changed to one against one, and since Mika is intentionally increasing the number of strikes, Rimliche can't move her hands or feet.
She is forced into a defensive posture.
Even so, she can't catch up, quickly falls into awkward positions, and falls down often.
Once, she scraped her knee badly, and Rimliche tried to use [Heal] immediately.
"It hurts. Ugh, guh... Great God of Water, source of vast life... Your great—"
"Ah, wait, wait, wait. Hold on a moment."
Mika stopped Rimliche, who was teary-eyed and trying to use [Heal].
"W-what!? Why!?"
Rimliche looked anxious, wanting to heal quickly.
When she got injured at the academy before, the teachers used [Heal] for her.
And in those cases, they didn't clean the wounds.
They would use [Heal] and say, "Okay, that's it, go ahead."
"You can't just use [Heal] like that. You have to clean the wound first."
"But..."
This is in the corner of the ground.
To wash the wound, she would have to go to the well near the dormitory.
Her head must be confused from the pain and blood.
Rimliche, still teary-eyed, was flustered.
Mika softly sighed and took off Rimliche's shoe on the injured side.
"...Keep this a secret from everyone, okay? Limiter Off," "Water Splash."
Mika produced a weak "Water Splash" from his left hand and washed the wound.
Rimliche's face at that time was quite a sight.
She just stared with wide eyes, stunned.
It should have hurt to touch the wound, yet she didn't move a muscle.
Even then, he had to fiddle quite a bit to remove the small stones that had gotten under the skin.
Even after using [Heal] and finishing the treatment, Rimliche hadn't rebooted yet.
So, they took a break for now.
After resting for a while, Rimliche muttered softly.
"......Just now... what...?"
Looking over, Rimliche, whose reboot couldn't really be said to be complete, was looking at him.
"[God's Miracle]. ...Something like that."
"......You haven't learned it, right...?"
"That's right."
It seems her head was slowly working again, and a little strength returned to her voice.
"You haven't learned it, but you can use it? No... did you learn it somewhere other than the academy?"
Rimliche frowned, making a difficult face.
It seems her ability to think had returned a little.
"I haven't learned it."
Mika answered with a smile.
Well, how much should he tell her?
(I've used it whenever necessary before, so it's not like I absolutely have to hide it.)
Come to think of it, he had never told anyone that he came up with the magic himself, had he?
Should he not say that much after all?
"You won't tell anyone?"
"U-um."
Rimliche nodded with a serious face.
Mika stared straight into her eyes, and Rimliche straightened her back and stared back.
"...I could do things like this even before I entered the academy. 'Waterball'."
He created a small lump of water in his palm.
Rimliche widened her eyes in surprise, but she didn't stiffen up like before.
"Before entering the academy...?"
"That's right. In fact, that's why I came to the academy because this was discovered."
He casually tossed away the "Waterball."
Well, details like "escaping the academy" can be skipped.
"I was normally manipulating mana even before coming to the academy. So, I could quickly figure out the reason why Rimliche's mana perception wasn't working well."
"Ah..."
Rimliche opened her mouth slightly and made a dazed face again.
It seems her reboot had started.
After waiting for a while, she started moving again.
"...So, Mika-kun was amazing. Even without learning from anyone, you can do things like this."
Rimliche's eyes began to sparkle.
It felt like she had reached some strange kind of understanding.
"I just put in effort."
"That's not true! Mika-kun really has amazing talent!"
It's not like that...
"If I'm honest, I have no mana. I probably wouldn't be here."
"Eh!?"
She seemed so surprised that she let out a rare loud voice for Rimliche.
"I learned about mana through the church's rituals and got the opportunity to manipulate mana on my own. If it were true, I think I would have been taught at the church instead of the magic academy."
Thinking back now, he had happily manipulated a very tiny amount of mana and played with it.
Perhaps because of the experience from back then, he is good at fine mana manipulation.
"I noticed the method of releasing mana, and my mana capacity slowly increased, and eventually, I could do 'Waterball' like this. That's when my mana capacity finally reached the required amount."
Looking back, he is amazed that he managed to increase his mana capacity that much.
"If I hadn't put in effort, I wouldn't be here."
"............"
Listening to Mika's story, Rimliche fell silent with a serious expression.
On this day, special training ended because Rimliche was in a daze.
By the beginning of the next week, she had returned to her usual self, but it felt like the seriousness of the Shortsword class had increased.
If they get serious about the class, it's two against one, so it's very tough...
In the next special training, he found Basal and captured him.
He decided to make him accompany the training.
Rimliche fell down spectacularly again and got injured, so he used "Water Splash."
Of course, after making Basal promise not to tell anyone.
■■■■■■
"Haaah, I still can't win."
"Mika-dono couldn't defeat you either. You are indeed troublesome, Mika-dono."
After training with Basal, Mika lay flat on his back.
So far, Mika had never been able to defeat Basal even once.
Most importantly, Mika uses a Shortsword, while Basal uses a Sword.
The length of the weapons is completely different.
It's quite unreasonable to expect to win with that.
Above all, there's no way he could win quickly against Basal, who has been striving to become a swordsman for years.
Rather, it's amazing that he hasn't been beaten one-sidedly.
"Damn it, I'll win next time!"
"That won't happen."
"Shut up, showing off your confidence!"
Mika, still lying down, flailed around as if throwing a tantrum.
"Since you can do this much and still have so much energy, you are quite something, Mika-dono?"
"I don't need that kind of comfort! What I want is Basal's head!"
"I'd appreciate it if you didn't say scary things!?"
Watching Mika show his competitive spirit, Rimliche smiled bitterly.
Come to think of it, even when attending the academy in Sarbengeal, Mika kept challenging Murt like this and eventually won.
Remembering that,
(I should work harder too.)
That's what Rimliche thought.