Chapter 81: Mute the World to Hear the Chidori’s Sharp Cry. (Patreon)

It had been half a month since he transmigrated to Orario.

This was the first time Rozz had truly stepped into the outer region of the Labyrinth City. One glance around showed nothing but sprawling farmland.

Productivity in a medieval setting wasn't exactly high, so laborers dotted the fields as far as the eye could see.

Noticing Rozz's slightly startled expression, the elf girl tilted her head a little. He'd only been in Orario a short time, after all.

Ryuu's face remained cool, but she explained patiently:

"These are all members of the Demeter Familia. Most of them are ordinary citizens of Orario, and they supply the city's daily needs."

"A lot of the dishes at the restaurant are delivered by them."

"So that's how it is."

[Demeter Familia]

Rozz committed this newly acquired bit of intel firmly to memory, though… it probably wouldn't help his future Adventurer career any.

He kept following Ryuu until they reached their final destination: a wide, open stretch of ground.

The elf girl looked at the youth before her and recalled what Syr had said earlier, that he had successfully leveled up to Lv2 within the past couple of days.

If they were going to do live-combat training, she had to gauge his strength first, so she could judge how much to hold back in the fight.

Ryuu knit her brows slightly and asked out of curiosity:

"I just heard from Syr that you've leveled up to Lv2. Before coming to Orario, were you in any other Familia?"

"No."

Rozz had no intention of hiding it. Or rather, he couldn't hide it. "I only became an Adventurer after I came to Orario."

"But I don't remember ever seeing you before."

"Mm, I arrived half a month ago."

"…?"

Ryuu: Why does something feel so off…?

Especially when she linked "became an Adventurer half a month ago" with "completed the Level Up the day before yesterday."

Very off.

The elf girl snapped her head up. If Rozz hadn't been so earnest, she would have suspected he was joking with her.

Only…

When she recalled meeting Rozz in the Dungeon that day, how the guy had willingly taken on a swarm of besieging Killer Ants, it was a striking feat.

Things seemed to be making sense, bit by bit.

Even so, Ryuu felt a violent sense of dissonance inside. Did Adventurers of the new age all level up at Rozz's pace?

And the record set by Ais, the "Sword Princess," still hadn't been broken.

If it was really as Rozz said, then from now on Orario… and even the whole world, would firmly remember this guy's name.

She gathered her tangled thoughts.

When the elf girl looked at Rozz now, her eyes brimmed with curiosity. She had originally meant to help him master more practical combat skills, so that at the very least he wouldn't die in the Dungeon.

But now…

Ryuu was far more curious about just how strong this rookie Adventurer, who'd broken through to Lv2 in a mere 15 days, really was.

"If it's only about solidifying your basic abilities after the Level Up, I think the best way is live-combat special training."

Noticing the flicker of worry in Rozz's eyes, the elf girl reminded him:

"Mm… Before I retired, I was, for what it's worth, a Lv4 Adventurer. You don't need to worry about my strength."

"Come at me with everything you've got."

"Understood!"

What was with this? Even a random beautiful girl he happened to meet turned out to be a Lv4 Adventurer senior?

Rozz couldn't figure it out.

Then again, to adapt quickly and test the limits of his Lv2 combat power, an Adventurer of the same level would never be enough. All Rozz could say was that Zanis had left him with a truly lame impression.

He loosened up his body, took the wooden sword Ryuu tossed over, and grew serious. "Then I'll be in your care, Senior Ryuu."

"Mm."

Keeping a safe distance, Rozz hesitated not at all. He decisively activated his Mana Burst Skill, the mental power in his body surging without pause.

In an instant, pale-blue mana, almost solid, completely wrapped his body, and the training sword in his hand as well.

He carefully felt out the qualitative change his Level Up had brought.

Once he'd fully adjusted, Rozz lowered his stance and gathered all his strength into his legs. The moment he burst forward,

he was like a cannonball wreathed in streaks of blue light, charging straight at Ryuu.

"…"

"What speed."

Even Ryuu, a Lv4 Adventurer, was startled by the speed Rozz exploded with in that instant.

Fast!

This was absolutely not a speed a normal Lv2 could have. The only reasonable explanation was that Rozz's Agility stat was very high.

And on top of that,

the Agility boost from his Mana Burst Skill!

The instincts honed over years of bloodshed made the elf girl raise her wooden sword. Her gaze turned cold, and she quickly read Rozz's attack intent.

Only…

The attack she had braced for never arrived.

Ryuu sidestepped and stuck out a foot, and then she watched Rozz, too fast to coordinate his own stats, go

face-first into the ground.

She hadn't even needed to lift a finger. Seeing Rozz sprawled there, dusty and miserable, the corners of her mouth twitched, her composure nearly slipping.

The elf girl stepped forward and reached out a hand to pull Rozz up.

"You really weren't lying…"

"After a Level Up, Adventurers experience a strong sense of unease, and it greatly reduces their combat power."

"This unease…"

"You could think of it as being unable to adapt, in a short time, to a multiplied jump in strength?"

…

Rozz didn't refuse the slender, jade-white hand Ryuu offered him, and mulled over her explanation.

It did feel that way…

His physique had surged across the board, and with all his stats at SSS backing it up, that sense of maladjustment could only be magnified.

Put simply:

He was a pure-stats freak who needed to fully coordinate this power.

That was the main reason Rozz had come to Ryuu for special training. He got to his feet, brushed the dust from his clothes, and looked up again.

And saw

the elf girl's hand, still not drawn back, and the look of shock on her delicate face, as if she were surprised by something.

"Senior Ryuu?"

"It's nothing."

Ryuu shook her head lightly, swept the surprise from her heart, and quickly returned to her usual ice-queen self, looking at Rozz once more.

Her tone was much gentler. "I'll help you adjust to the discord that comes with leveling up."

"Thank you!"

*

Compared with the training method of the God of Martial Arts Takemikazuchi, which drilled technique until it sank into muscle memory, Ryuu's training was mild.

Naturally, a few aches and pains were unavoidable during live-combat training.

The good news:

The beautiful elf would knit her brows slightly, look at him with a mix of disdain and worry, and reach out to help him up.

The training was effective, too.

Rozz soon adapted to the stats that had surged after his Level Up. He watched the elf girl as she prepared to leave and head back to Orario.

If you're going to milk a freebie, milk it dry.

And since she was a veteran Lv4 Adventurer of Orario, maybe Senior Ryuu had some special magic Skill up her sleeve.

A man of action through and through, Rozz went with the philosophy of asking when you don't know. "Senior Ryuu, when it comes to magic, do you have any tips or insights you're particularly good at?"

"…"

"There aren't really many special considerations with magic. Power and effect both depend on the Adventurer's own Magic stat."

"Chanting can't be skipped."

The elf girl frowned slightly. There were ways to improve how efficiently magic worked in combat: "Parallel Chanting."

"What's that?"

"It's quite difficult."

Ryuu didn't hold back, because this extremely difficult technique was one that very few Adventurers in Orario had mastered.

She explained patiently:

"Casting magic demands intense mental focus. Parallel Chanting means attacking, moving, dodging, and chanting all at the same time."

"You can try training it first."

"I have to get back to the restaurant now. If you have anything you don't understand later, come find me whenever I'm free."

"Thank you, Senior Ryuu."

Rozz watched the elf girl's retreating back and quickly thanked her for the day's guidance, though he was mostly turning her words over in his mind.

Actually, he'd already felt this clearly back when he borrowed Lili's "Cinder Ella" magic. The prerequisites for casting were extremely tedious.

He had to fully recognize the target's appearance and chant the incantation.

But "Cinder Ella" was ultimately an intel-gathering utility magic, and didn't need to be used directly in clashes with monsters or Adventurers.

So,

if he borrowed the magic of other Adventurers in Orario, setting aside the question of bonds, this underlying logic could absolutely not be bypassed.

It required a long, tedious chant and absolute concentration of mental power!

"Somehow…"

"A world without poker-stick weapons, isekai brothel girls, or chant-free magic just doesn't feel quite pure-blooded, does it?"

Reality wasn't turn-based.

The situation on a battlefield shifted in an instant. Under maximum pressure, one small slip and he might not even get a spell off.

Just as Ryuu had said.

"Parallel Chanting"

was the best way for a mage to fight, but Rozz couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't something he should be considering at his current stage.

Myriad Phenomena.

In essence, it was a blank-slate magic. There was the Cinder Ella he'd borrowed from Lili, and the Mana Burst he'd conjured up out of his own twisted imagination.

Even if he did master the technique of "Parallel Chanting," he had no suitable moves to use it with.

He could hardly…

just borrow magic from Senior Ryuu, could he?

And with how little time they'd known each other, there was no way Rozz could bring himself to ask. He had no reason to borrow from her in the first place.

"Still…"

"If I could manage to pull off Mana Burst, then I feel like there's definitely more room to develop "Myriad Phenomena.""

DanMachi's magic power wasn't some vague mana bar. It was more like a magic attack stat, and what truly drove magic was actually one's own mental power.

As for those lofty, overreaching things, like the flashy True Name release of a Noble Phantasm, or Teacher Gojo's Domain Expansion, honestly, he'd never even considered them.

He had to think in terms that fit his own stage, which wasn't so different from the Falna system of Orario.

Rozz thought it through carefully, and soon had a rough idea. The chakra in a certain Naruto anime was somewhat similar.

DanMachi magic was driven by mental power.

And the basic chakra behind Naruto's ninjutsu was likewise a blend of mental power and physical energy, different paths to the same source.

"Feels like it might actually be feasible?"

With that thought,

Rozz set about testing it right away. The essence of lightning was the violent release of electric charge. As long as he fully grasped the principle,

it seemed he could shape his mental power into any attribute he wanted and output it.

He activated his Mana Burst Skill again, but this time he concentrated its coverage on the palm of his right hand.

Gazing at that layer of pale-blue mental power,

Rozz recalled the specific effects of "Lightning Release." The mental power coating his right palm instantly transformed into countless electric arcs.

As the energy collided,

a light as dazzling as lightning bloomed in his palm, and the high-intensity current tore through the air, erupting with a piercing crack.

He raised his left hand and looked at the lightning technique he had successfully replicated.

"Hm…"

"Did this Daoist just pull it off?"

[Mute the world, and listen to the shrill cry of a thousand birds.]

If "Myriad Phenomena" were confined within Orario's magic system and he had to give it a blunt rating,

Rozz could only give it "NPC."

But if he could use his imagination to manifest, through mental power, the classic techniques from the anime he'd watched in his past life,

it had to be rated top tier!

*

After saying goodbye to Rozz,

Ryuu didn't linger outside Orario. Through the morning's training, the guy had already mastered his post-Level-Up strength.

How should she put it?

The elf girl suddenly felt that there had to be a reason Rozz could break through to Lv2 in just half a month.

"It's a bit outrageous, really…"

"He's only just reached Lv2, yet his strength doesn't seem any worse than other Adventurers of the same level?"

The only conclusion she could draw was that

before his Level Up, Rozz's stats had accumulated to an outrageous degree!

She couldn't make sense of it.

Back at the "Hostess of Fertility" restaurant, which hadn't opened yet, she saw only a few colleagues bustling about.

Ryuu was just about to go back to the dorm and change out of her training clothes

when she saw Syr, in her leaf-green maid uniform and wearing a gentle smile, coming toward her.

"Syr."

"Ryuu, thank you so much for today."

After all, the information the "Hero Cloud-Raising Plan" could provide was only a character's status and Rozz's Potential value.

Syr was curious, too.

What exactly could Rozz, the "future hero" she had placed such high hopes on, accomplish?

She took Ryuu's hand and led her to a corner of the restaurant. "Quick, tell me. Is Mr. Rozz a very excellent Adventurer?"

…

How should she describe Rozz's performance today?

Ryuu decided she ought to tell her friend everything, so Syr wouldn't have to worry on edge every day while Rozz explored the Dungeon.

After a moment's thought,

she gave a serious assessment: "A very talented Adventurer. He's only just reached Lv2, but once Rozz fully masters his own strength,

he'll be a standout even among those of his level."

"Really?"

Faced with her dear friend's starry-eyed admiration,

the elf girl hesitated a moment, but still kept the most crucial matter to herself. Because Rozz… was, besides Alise, Syr, and the others,

the first of the opposite sex who had taken her hand without her shaking him off.

*

[Author's Note: 8000/8000, today's update has been completed smoothly.]