Since I ended up staying here with them longer than I was planning, it’s kind of late to go out hunting, but at the same time, too early to leave. But I don’t really know what to do if we’re continuing the date.
Go around flower fields, lie down, watch the scenery, fool around… Those are the only options that come to mind, but we’ve done all that. What else is there??
I don’t know, so I instead think about tomorrow.
“Aira, is there anywhere around here we can buy swimwear?”
“Of course. The service to rent them is just a remnant from back when this dungeon was first established. Most people go to the shopping mall next door.
First floor is leisure, second floor is swimming, third floor is hiking. And they have stores that sell what you need for each floor.”
“And what are their business hours like?”
“They are open for longer than the dungeon, so I think we can keep hunting a while longer.”
“Hm, I see…”
It’s three o’clock, and the dungeon closes at eight.
I feel like hunting more Golden Worms and Golden Swallowtail Butterflies, and see the powered up version of the second monster. And I’m two pulls away from the gacha updating too.
But we barely have enough time for that before the dungeon closes, and we have the holiday house and car to think of… Yes, I think it’s best to stop here for today. I’ll just check out the skills a bit, and then take it easy.
Despite everything, we are here on a date in the end. Don’t forget that, me.
“Let’s stop hunting today. We have plans after leaving the dungeon too, so let’s just do a little skill testing and then go shopping.”
Everyone nods, and we start testing.
“Let’s go with this first.”
I hold up the Kaiser Vein, and aim at a fluff bug peeking out from the forest.
“Purple Lightning arrow.”
The moment I chant the skill, a purple arrow turns to light, starts crackling, and the noise of electricity popping is heard. But this is causing me no damage.
Both me and everyone watching are surprised.
“Am I… Holding light?”
Everyone nods.
I turn away from it and face the fluff bug, as if facing away from the fact that I’m holding materialized light, because my mind can’t process it.
Woosh!
When I let go, the purple light leaves a trail as it immediately pierces the fluff bug. But it doesn’t stop there, and also opens a hole in a big tree behind it.
“Wah…!”
“That’s so powerful!”
“It feels like it should spend a lot of magic energy too!”
“But it should do very well against rare monsters.”
The regular arrows also fly very fast towards their targets, but with this skill, the speed and power are on another level. I feel like this could hit a Golden Swallowtail Butterfly even through its Wind Magic and even if it’s moving fast. Maybe I can even take out Golden Worms from a distance.
Fighting rare monsters with a bow… Seems easy, but I don’t want to stop fighting up close and get rusty. It should be good once in a while though.
“Next, Adamantine Armor III.”
I chant it, and I’m covered in the same golden film as always.
It looks the same, but I can already tell it’s not the same as II.
“Can everyone attack me one at a time?”
“Okay.”
“Yes!”
“I shall.”
“Ah… I would rather not.”
Three are happy to do it, with Maki alone opting out.
“Hn, all right. Then can you observe and measure instead?”
“Yes.”
I receive multiple attacks, and confirm that Adamantine Armor III disappears after the third attack.
“Hm, so basically… It blocks attacks three times, but gives a three second invincibility period after each attack.”
“This skill looks pretty broken.”
“Yes. But you need a lot of Luck to get it.
“Presumably at least a thousand. And without master’s abilities, it is doubtful one could get it by hunting Golden Worms alone…”
“How much magic energy did you use, darling?”
“…I feel like I’d collapse if I used it once or twice more, so I’m guessing about two hundred? But that also means everyone here meets the requirement, so I’d like to get it for you too. I don’t want my dear girls to get hurt…”
I run my mouth like that without thinking, and once I realize it, I fearfully look around and see hot stares all pointed at me.
“…”
I can’t take this atmosphere, so I move on to the next skill.
“Hnn! A-Ayane.”
“Yes!”
“You used Wind Magic Lv4, which brought yours to Wind Magic Lv6, so how is it? Any new spells you can use?”
“Ah, that’s right! Let me see.”
Ayane said she needs four hundred fifty Intelligence for Lv3, and seven hundred for Lv4. Her Intelligence without Command is five hundred ninety, and eight hundred twenty-six with it. I guess it’s up to the utility of Command if she can use Lv4 magic.
“Ah, darling! I think so. I think I can use Windstorm!”
“Oh! Then can you try it out? Aim at that forest.”
“Yes! Windstorm!”
Ayane activates a mass of wind that turns into a vast amount of blades that cut into the trees. The forest is cut to pieces, and after that green power passes by it, only pieces of what was a forest remains. I can see smoke, because it also caught several fluff bugs.
I feel like it has similar power, but its area of effect is a little larger than the Golden Swallowtail Butterfly’s. Her stats are kind of high, and her equipment helps too.
“Ooh, that was great.”
“T-that was a lot of power…”
“I feel like this would be more than enough to even take out the army an Emperor Goblin calls.”
“Yes, lady’s combat abilities have grown to a point where they cannot be underestimated. I am very moved.”
“Ayane, I feel like you’ve gone up to mid rank magic all of a sudden.”
“That’s incredible Ayane.”
“Hehe, thank you!”
There’s one more thing on my mind…
“Hey, Ayane…”
“Yes darling!?”
“How much Intelligence do you need for level five magic?”
“Probably nine hundred or a thousand, from what I’ve heard. Aira should know.”
Ayane looks at Aira, who looks like she’s thinking about it.
“Yes, I think it is nine hundred.”
“So Ayane is off by about eighty…”
It could work then.
“Aira.”
“Yes.”
“I was going to sell them, but I have two more Command.”
“Correct.”
“Aki, Maki, can you?”
““…Eh!?””
Neither girl was expecting me to turn to them.
“S-Shouta? That’d be wasted on us!”
“Yes! Aki is one thing, but I don’t go to dungeons…”
“Yes, but aren’t you curious about level five magic?”
“No no no no, I guess so, but it doesn’t have to be now!”
“Yes, it can be after Ayane grows a little more. It’s not like us learning it will be useful…”
“But you’ll buff each other’s Dexterity in the association even if the three of us aren’t there, right? If it helps with your work, it won’t be pointless.”
Yes, it’s not like there won’t be benefits, but they look troubled for some reason. Why…?
“Now that’s stoic, darling. Investigating is worth more than a billion yen…!”
Come to think of it, one Command is worth five hundred million. I completely forgot because it’s so easy to get them, but it really is that useful of a skill.
It really is easy to get though…
It’s not like I’d be throwing the skills in the trash, but… I understand why my two exclusives who aren’t planning to fight are reluctant to get it. But still, I think the merits are more important than the money.
“Shouta… You’re serious uh?”
“Of course Aki. I don’t have to think about money because of you, and I can practically mass produce this skill if I want.”
“B-but if you use Compression, you can use them to become even stronger, right?”
“True, but with Ayane’s power up, all the pieces are in place for us to fight another Emperor Goblin, this time more safely. If I can get III, I don’t really care about the base version.”
“…Ahh… You really are something else.”
Says an exasperated Aki.
“Haha, sorry.”
The sisters look at each other, and both sigh as they reluctantly take it.
They’re immediately registered as a part of the team, meaning Aira’s stats are one point four times higher, and everyone else’s are one point six times higher.
Oh, my Physical Strength is in the four digits now. Everything is close too.
I won’t have this effect all the time, but it makes me dream.
“So, Ayane?”
“Yes, I can use level five attacks!!”
Ayane points her staff at a corner of the map.
“Cyclone!!”
A giant tornado covers the forest, swallowing both the trees and monsters.
It lasts for about a minute, and a few of the trees being thrown around are turned into particles like the monsters. That’s an auto cleaning feature of the dungeon.
This overwhelming power destroyed so much of the forest, that I can clearly see the open area where rare monsters spawn.
“So this is level five magic… It’s like a disaster.”
It really is an incredible power, and it will definitely be useful if we’re surrounded by monsters.
But this scale… Would we be able to defend against it if a monster used it?
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Thanks for the treat.