Chapter 22
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Your Race level has increased. You acquired 1 SP.
Your Job level has increased. You acquired 1 SP.
Your Staff level has increased.
Your Mana Control level has increased.
Your Earth Magic level has increased.
Your Water and Ice Magic level has increased.
Your Flame Magic level has increased.
Your Storm Magic level has increased.
Your Wood Magic level has increased.
Your Lava Magic level has increased.
Your Sandstorm Magic level has increased.
Your Smoke and Fog Magic level has increased.
Your Lightning Magic level has increased.
Your Blast Magic level has increased.
Your Dark Magic level has increased.
You learned a new spell: Black Sword.
Your Void Magic level has increased.
Your Summoning level has increased.
Your Enchantment level has increased.
You learned a new spell: Triple Enchantment.
Your Magic Circle level has increased.
Your Necromancy level has increased.
Your Curse Magic level has increased.
Your Trap Magic level has increased.
You learned new spells: Triple Trap and Tomoe Trap Formation.
Your Spirit Summoning level has increased.
You learned a new spell: Summon Lesser Spirits.
Your Evil Magic level has increased.
You learned new spells: Auditory Hallucination and Delayed Death.
Your Appraisal level has increased.
Your Ambush level has increased.
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There are way too many! To be perfectly clear, the enemies aren't strong. However, the frequency of encounters and the number of enemies that come at us in each group are abnormally high. They're a real nuisance. That's all there is to say about them.
The most numerous are the Poison Bats, followed by the Poison Vipers, while the Poison Lizards are the least common. Their respective drop items are as follows.
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Poison Viper Fang Quality: Fair Rarity: C (Common Grade)
The fang of a venomous snake. Its poison is reasonably potent.
It is used for arrowheads, but the poison cannot be replenished.
Poison Viper Skin Quality: Fair Rarity: C (Common Grade)
A type of snakeskin. Its purple pattern is beautiful.
It is unsuitable for armor, but serves as raw material for high-end leather goods.
Poison Lizard Fang Quality: Fair Rarity: C (Common Grade)
The fang of a venomous lizard. Its poison is not particularly potent.
Because it is large and sturdy, it is a popular material for daggers.
Poison Lizard Skin Quality: Fair Rarity: C (Common Grade)
A type of lizard skin. Purple scales cover it densely from end to end.
It makes an excellent material for armor, with outstanding waterproofing and cold resistance.
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Looking at it this way, this isn't a bad hunting ground, provided you have the nerve to sleep in the cave, the ability to defeat the monsters, and enough antidotes. The Poison Lizard skin in particular is good enough to make me want to hunt them to extinction. We've gathered enough materials, so apparently Iris will strengthen our armor when we return to the lab. She's very dependable.
We've also gained a variety of new spells. There should be no need for a detailed explanation of Enchantment and Trap Magic. The only change is that the number of each type that can be used simultaneously has increased to three. It's simple and can be called a pure enhancement. There are even more things I can do now!
The ones I need to examine properly are Black Sword from Dark Magic, Summon Lesser Spirits from Spirit Summoning, and Auditory Hallucination and Delayed Death from Evil Magic. Black Sword is a special technique that creates a jet-black sword and fires it at the enemy's shadow itself. When Black Sword strikes a shadow, that part of the shadow feeds back as a wound on the physical body. Apparently, its effect grows stronger the clearer the shadow is. In other words, its effect increases the brighter the sunlight is.
So I can't use it right now! More importantly, it's hard to use until I overcome Light Attribute Weakness! Next! On to the next one!
Summon Lesser Spirits from Spirit Summoning calls forth an unspecified number of low-ranking evil spirits from the afterlife. Its drawback is that the number summoned is inconsistent, but each one seems to be just a little stronger than a Revenant. The beastly evil spirits in particular are ferocious and terrifying to look at. However, since Iris and Ruby were visibly horrified, I think I'll refrain from using it in front of them... though I'll use it if necessary.
Finally, there's Auditory Hallucination and Delayed Death from Evil Magic, and these are awful in their own way. Auditory Hallucination can literally make someone hear phantom sounds. Apparently, you can choose from various options for the sound, such as voices filled with resentment or the voice of the target's friend.
Calling it vicious would be putting it mildly; it's downright depraved. Being able to make effective use of this seems to be proof of a truly twisted personality. Evil Magic lives up to its name. Delayed Death, meanwhile, is a type of instant-death spell. It is easier to land, but there is a thirty-second interval between its taking effect and the target's death. If the target manages to land any kind of attack on me during that time, the spell is dispelled. I can't see myself using it unless I have allies.
All of them are powerful, but Black Sword is a terrible match for me. I absolutely refuse to accept that a Race called an Abyss Skeleton Mage, which looks like it ought to be an expert in Dark Magic from every angle, has a spell it can't use effectively. I need to get rid of Light Attribute Weakness as soon as possible!
"So, we can go down from here... but let's take a break first."
After thoroughly exploring the cave, we found a path leading underground. Everyone agreed that we should proceed, but before that, we decided to take a break.
Less than an hour has passed in real time, but here, where time flows four times faster, we've fought for nearly three hours. Even if our injuries aren't serious, the successive battles must have caused mental fatigue to build up. For that reason, taking a break is absolutely necessary.
"Logging out here wouldn't be safe. So I'll use Summoning to shore up our defenses. The rest of you should take a break first."
"Gya-gya (I'm staying too). Gugyagugya, gugyagyagyaa (If something happens, you won't be the only one responsible)."
"...I see. Thanks. Zigolow will be staying too. You three make sure to get some rest."
"Shul-shul (Understood). Shushulul (We'll log out first)."
"Kachi, kachichi (Sorry, we're counting on you)."
"Puru-puru (Please)!"
After saying that, the three apparently logged out. All the strength had drained from their avatars, leaving them like exquisitely crafted dolls. Oh, so that's what happens. Wait, I always log out in this state, don't I? A skeleton ending up like this is quite a horror show. Sorry, everyone.
"Pull yourself together... Summon, Skeleton Warrior, Strength Boost, Defense Boost, Defense Boost, Undead Boost."
With my Summoning level having risen, I summoned Skeleton Warriors, monsters that were one evolutionary stage beyond Skeletons and had now become available to me. What appeared were frail but armed Skeletons. Their stats, however, were incomparable. I also used Enchantment and Necromancy to strengthen the three minions as much as possible.
"Oh, these guys look pretty strong!"
"Don't tell me you want to fight them. They took quite a bit of effort to make."
I was telling the truth. These three were the most powerful summons I could call forth at present. They weren't so fragile that they would break easily, but they had cost me resources, so I couldn't let Zigolow fight them. I could only picture him defeating them and smashing them to pieces!
"I wouldn't make a selfish request like that in this situation. Not now, anyway."
"Haa... If they're still intact when the exploration is over, you can use them as toys. Though I don't know whether you'll enjoy it."
"Oh, now you're talking!"
It would consume mana, but it should be fine. I just had to think of it as leveling up Summoning. Recently, I had only been using summoned Wisps by sending them charging in while firing spells repeatedly, then making them self-destruct in the middle of the enemy ranks—a truly fiendish tactic. I might as well use this opportunity to practice summoning powerful creatures.
"More importantly, the Tournament is about to start. You're bored anyway, so watch it too, Izamu."
"We're supposed to be standing guard... but I suppose it can't hurt. We have summons here, after all."
Once I realized I couldn't participate, I stopped gathering information, but that didn't mean I had been completely uninterested from the start. I did want to know how well I would fare at my current level. I sat down on a conveniently sized rock on the ground, opened the menu, and began watching the official live broadcast of the Tournament through the event tab.
The Tournament was a major event held from Sunday morning until late at night in real time, and over three days in the game. Today, the first day, was for individual matches. The winner here would probably be regarded as the strongest player at present.
"Oh, quite a lot of people are entering."
I was surprised by the number of entrants. The first wave of players in the commercial version of FSW numbered fifty thousand, and nearly everyone who met the requirement of having completed a Job Change had applied to participate. There was, of course, a limit, so the field had been narrowed to one thousand, but that was still a huge number. Naturally, it would take an entire day.
After the tournament organizer, the Adventurer Guild's guildmaster, finished the opening declaration and whatnot, the details of the individual-match qualifiers were finally revealed. It was a battle royale with one hundred people. They would pack one hundred people into the arena and have them fight until only the final two remained.
"Whoa, it's a melee."
That was my first thought when the first qualifier began. Mages would have a hard time in this. In a one-on-one fight, I think a mage can use their head to gain an advantage over a warrior class. But in a melee, there was no question that the warrior classes would have the advantage. Someone could get close to you before you even noticed.
Since I was a mage, I couldn't help watching the mages in the qualifiers. As expected, it was rough. Ah, another one went down! And another one over there! ...There might be only one mage, if any, who makes it to the main tournament.
"There... yes, attack... No, step in, you idiot."
While I was watching the mages, Zigolow seemed to be searching for someone who looked like they would be fun to fight. I hoped he'd find someone who met his standards.
He was still muttering complaints, so the first qualifier didn't look promising. He also seemed to be switching cameras frequently, so perhaps there wasn't a single person worth watching.
In the end, the two people left standing were a male Dwarf clad in metal armor and a female Elf wearing only the bare minimum of leather armor. They were a truly opposite pair.
"What do you think of these two?"
"They're nothing special. I'll give them credit for maneuvering well, but there were plenty of people who were better in a straight-up fight."
"You're harsh."
"We'll see what the next one brings."
Before the excitement of the first match had even died down, the second qualifier began. I spotted a player I recognized among them. He was the heavily armored warrior who had fought Zigolow alongside Hero-kun. His name was...
"Claude, was it?"
"Huh? ...Oh, the guy I knocked flat."
Zigolow manipulated the camera, searching for footage showing him. Since he was a famous player, he was being targeted heavily, and Zigolow apparently found him right away. He watched intently, then nodded as if impressed.
"He's improved. He might last a little longer now."
"You still think you can beat him...?"
"Of course. He's the baseline."
He said it so casually, but how many players did he think were capable of that? What a walking cheat code.
"Who else... Hm?"
Oh? Had Zigolow found someone who met his standards?
"This woman's strong...? No, is she skilled?"
"Skilled?"
He said skilled rather than strong. Had there been some reason he had gone out of his way to rephrase it? Zigolow correctly understood what I was wondering and answered without taking his eyes off the screen.
"Yeah. Her movements themselves are nothing special—she's only moderately capable. But she's good at positioning and controlling the distance. And her timing with her martial skills is perfect."
Ah, so she was simply someone who was good at the game, rather than a walking cheat code like Zigolow. She seemed to be a woman, but sadly, I had neither the knowledge of close combat nor the eye for judging skill to tell which of the few survivors she was. Since Zigolow had praised her, I suspected she would make it through the qualifiers.
"Figures she made it through."
The second match, which had lasted about as long as the first, finally ended. Claude and a woman carrying a weapon like a naginata were the ones left standing. Zigolow was grinning happily, so she must have been the person he had marked.
"Her name is... Kanna."
A formidable woman in close combat, good enough for Zigolow to acknowledge her. I hoped I wouldn't run into her if I could help it.
"Shul-shul (I'm back)!"
"O-oh, welcome back."
Iris was the first one back. Then, when the other person returned, we'd trade places and take a break.
"Hey, Izamu. I'll stay here, so you go log out."
"...I'll do that, then."
Ah, he wasn't being considerate of me; he was just making sure I wouldn't suggest leaving it to Iris and having the two of us log out. Did he really want to keep watching that badly? Well, I didn't mind, so I'd go take a break.
I was just as guilty for being so absorbed in watching the qualifiers, so I wouldn't say anything, but Zigolow needed to rest too, you hear? That was a little concerning.