Chapter 9 - 009_The Mystery of Root Power
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009_The Mystery of Root Power
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When she held a sword, Emilia handled it like a limb. Rodney thought of Emilia as a genius.
That was when Emilia was six years old. The first time she held a wooden sword, she defeated Rodney in an instant. Since then, Rodney was thought to lack talent in swordplay, but even so, the two-year age difference should have been a considerable advantage, yet he was utterly no match for her.
Activating and maintaining Root Power is quite difficult. But the naturally gifted Emilia easily maintained 'Strong Power'. Rodney thought that must be what a genius is like.
Now, as for Rodney himself, thanks to 'Steel Arm', his instantaneous power was immense. However, it took some time to activate and he could only maintain it for a short while. For that, there was no choice but to train and put in effort. Rodney was good at putting in effort. It hadn't paid off in swordsmanship, but since using Root Power should increase his proficiency the more he used it, he looked forward to that.
Returning from the labyrinth, Rodney faced twenty Life Light Stones.
"Thanks to Big Brother, there were fewer today."
"No, I was surprised myself."
Forceful power without any finesse in combat technique whatsoever. When Rodney swung his spear, Godris was blown away and turned to dust. As a result, the spear couldn't withstand that power and broke, ending the hunt there.
So that was the power of Middle-grade Root Power. Rodney rejoiced from the bottom of his heart that he had obtained it.
"By the way, Big Brother. How did you get 'Steel Arm'?"
"Well, wait. I'll tell you now."
He hadn't intended to teach Emilia, but after seeing such a display of raw power, anyone would notice he had obtained Root Power. Moreover, Emilia easily saw through it as not Lower-grade Root Power but the Middle-grade 'Steel Arm'.
She was so insistent about how he obtained 'Steel Arm' that he agreed to teach her after returning home.
He told Emilia that when he broke the Life Light Stone in his mouth, he obtained 'Steel Arm' instead of 'Strong Power'.
Naturally, he also told her about that pain. He intended to emphasize that it came with pain so intense it felt like his consciousness would fly away, but Emilia didn't mind it at all.
"What's that? Big Brother, did you eat the Life Light Stone?"
"To be precise, I just crushed the Life Light Stone."
"Ugh, that's repulsive."
Emilia said it was repulsive, and Rodney agreed. He hadn't wanted to do such a thing himself either.
"Are you really all right in your body?"
"I'm fine now. But at that time, there was quite terrible pain. It might be a method that puts a lot of strain on the body. Maybe next time I'll die."
"I can't let Rodney-sama use such a method!"
"No, I'm going to do it."
"But!"
"Well, listen, Yulin."
Rodney calmed Yulin and proceeded to speak as if convincing Emilia as well. As things were, Rodney would follow in the footsteps of his father Beck. War mercilessly kills the powerless. So even if there was some danger, he declared he would obtain Root Power.
"I understand your point, but still..."
Yulin bit her lip. Rodney and Emilia understood that she was genuinely worried.
"That's why you two shouldn't do it. Unlike me, you two have natural talent and are strong without having to push yourselves."
"What are you saying? I can't let Rodney-sama take all the dangerous actions. First, I'll eat the Life Light Stone."
"No, that's..."
"This is my decision. Even Rodney-sama cannot stop me!"
With that, Yulin took one Life Light Stone and threw it into her mouth. It was such a quick action that Rodney had no time to stop her.
"Ah!"
Yulin's action was too fast, and Rodney couldn't stop her.
"Ghh..."
"Hey, Yulin! Are you okay?!"
"Yulin!"
In front of Rodney and Emilia, who were worrying, Yulin clutched her chest and grimaced in pain. The fact that she didn't thrash around was impressive.
"Emilia, water. Fetch some water."
"Okay!"
Emilia hurried out of the room. Rodney held Yulin's hand and kept encouraging her. Perhaps thanks to that, Yulin's expression softened. It was a shorter suffering than Rodney's time.
"I'm fine now."
"Really? Are you in pain anywhere?"
"Yes. The pain has subsided. Besides, when fighting Cervanui, I've also received injuries. Compared to that, this was nothing."
"You're strong, Yulin. I suffered more."
"That's because our daily training is different."
"I suppose so."
The two laughed together, "Haha." At that moment, Emilia entered the room carrying water. Seeing Rodney and Yulin holding hands and laughing, she awkwardly said, "Ah, sorry," and left the room. Then they noticed they were holding hands and hurriedly let go. It was very awkward.
After a while, Emilia came back into the room.
"Is it okay now?"
"What are you misunderstanding?"
"Well, it seemed like a good atmosphere."
What a kid this is. Thinking that, Rodney glanced at Yulin.
"So, did you obtain Root Power?"
"No, unfortunately, it was just painful; I didn't obtain Root Power."
Rodney wondered if the probability of obtaining Root Power was low even when crushing the Life Light Stone in the mouth.
"Then, it's my turn now!"
"Emilia, are you really doing it? You saw how Yulin suffered."
"What are you saying, Big Brother? Even if there's pain, if I can obtain Middle-grade Root Power, I'll do it."
Having seen Rodney's power firsthand, she couldn't just sit by and do nothing. That was how wonderful Middle-grade Root Power was. Because that Rodney could annihilate Godris in an instant.
Emilia put the Life Light Stone into her mouth without hesitation. She immediately began to suffer like Rodney and Yulin, making the two worry. When the suffering subsided, she was quite angry that she hadn't obtained Root Power.
"Then it's my turn."
"Are you really sure? It's quite painful."
Yulin was worried, but Rodney replied that he was the one who had first tasted that suffering. When he put the Life Light Stone in his mouth and crushed it, that pain, like his blood boiling, ran through his entire body.
It was unclear whether Rodney was weak to pain or if there were other factors, but he suffered more than Yulin and Emilia. The two could only watch Rodney writhing and breathing heavily, with confused looks.
When the pain subsided, Rodney felt the sensation of obtaining Root Power. This time's Root Power was 'Fortitude'. This 'Fortitude' was also Middle-grade Root Power, and normally it was not a Root Power obtainable from Godris's Life Light Stone. And it was the moment he obtained a second Root Power from Godris's Life Light Stone.
"Why is it always Big Brother?! I want Middle-grade Root Power too!"
"No, even if you say that to me..."
Emilia was quite upset, but there was nothing Rodney could do about it. Still, Emilia threw a tantrum and put another Life Light Stone into her mouth.
"Hey! What are you doing!?"
Unable to react to Emilia's action, Rodney could only rub her back while she suffered. But this time too, Emilia couldn't obtain Root Power.
"Honestly, you're too reckless."
"But, it's just frustrating that only Big Brother gets it."
"Even so, don't be reckless. Okay?"
"Okay."
However, from this incident, he somehow understood that it was likely only Rodney who could obtain Middle-grade Root Power by crushing Life Light Stones in his mouth.
He had an idea why. Before remembering his past life memories, there was a book in a locked drawer. When he opened that book, he was enveloped in light and lost consciousness. The book had disappeared by the time he noticed, but that was the only thing he could think of.
"Maybe coincidences piled up and I got Middle-grade Root Power twice in a row, but I also think obtaining Root Power isn't something you get consecutively by chance."
"What does that mean?"
"In other words, it's highly likely that I'm the only one who can obtain Middle-grade Root Power from Godris's Life Light Stones, Emilia."
"Why do you think that?"
"I have a basis. I think so, Yulin."
Rodney made the two promise not to tell anyone else and then told them about that book. Surprisingly, they accepted the story immediately. When Rodney asked if they didn't think it was a lie, they replied that Rodney had no need to lie, and since the strange event of actually obtaining Middle-grade Root Power had occurred, there was no basis to call the story a lie.
After that, taking some time to calm down, Rodney put another Life Light Stone into his mouth. At the end of his suffering, Rodney obtained the Root Power of 'Acute'. Needless to say, this was the upper-grade Root Power of 'Sensitive' and was Middle-grade.
"With this, I've obtained the upper-grade Root Powers of the three possible Root Powers that can be obtained from Godris's Life Light Stones. This is just my intuition, but I think I can't obtain any more Middle-grade Root Powers from Godris's Life Light Stones beyond this."
"That's right. I also think that's because you obtained the upper-grade forms of the Root Powers obtainable from Godris's Life Light Stones."
Yulin agreed, and Emilia shared the same opinion. However, just to be sure, Rodney wanted to confirm with one more stone to have a basis. Yulin objected, but he persuaded her that no conclusion could be reached without experimentation, and put another one into his mouth. Even after the suffering subsided, he obtained neither Middle-grade nor even Lower-grade Root Power.
"With this, I've confirmed that I can only obtain upper-grade versions of the Root Powers I would originally get."
He had thought maybe he could obtain the Lower-grade Root Power he was supposed to get originally. But that didn't happen. It seemed things couldn't go that conveniently.
If one possessed both Lower and Middle grades of the same system, one could activate both simultaneously and expect an addition of effects. He wanted to do that, so after that he crushed all the Life Light Stones, but he didn't obtain Lower-grade Root Powers. Of course, he crushed these by hand.
"But you're too reckless. It would have been better to do the experiment after taking at least a little more time. You look very tired, Rodney-sama."
"That's right. If Mother saw that face, she'd be shocked, Big Brother."
"Is my face that bad?"
"Yes."
"Yeah."
He felt as if they were saying his face was ugly, but from now on, he thought he should be a bit more careful.
Because if taken orally, the acquisition rate for upper-grade Root Power was 100 percent, so even without pushing himself, he could obtain Root Power much faster than others.
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