The Wall of Vulnerability

"I-it's hereeeee!"

"Eep!?"

Iris jumped in surprise because I suddenly shouted, but I didn't care in the slightest! I had finally overcome my worst weakness, Light Vulnerability!

"Fufufufu, hahahahaha, aaah-hahahahaha!"

"Um...?"

...Phew. Calm down. Now, let's check. The words 【Light Vulnerability】 are gone from my status window! And the Title I obtained is 'Darkness Beyond the Reach of Light.' What kind of effect does it have?

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'Darkness Beyond the Reach of Light'

A Title granted to those who have overcome their weakness to light.

Those who obtain this will be feared by those who govern light and earn the respect of the kin of darkness.

Acquisition Condition: Reduce 【Light Vulnerability】 to level 0.

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This is the type of Title with almost no tangible effect. However, I am not disappointed! If anything, I'm incredibly happy! At long last, at long last, I can go outside and be active during the day!

And now that light is no longer my weakness, I can acquire 【Light Magic】! In a sense, this may be the greatest benefit of all. After all, I can now use 【Enchantment】 to grant resistance to light and imbue weapons with Light Magic.

Resistance will be especially important. I have hardly encountered any enemies that use light so far, but I am certain I will have to face them once I advance farther.

So the SP required is... 10!? Wh-what the hell!? The SP required to acquire each elemental magic was fixed at 1, wasn't it? Then why, how could the cost be this high!?

Could it be that, like when I acquired 【Scythe Arts】, trying to acquire a Skill I was originally unable to use or unsuited for increases the SP cost? Is it saying, 'You're an undead, so don't use light magic!'?

Hmph! As it happens, I have SP to spare. I won't hesitate to spend it if it helps me master magic. Here goes.

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You acquired 【Light Magic】 by spending 10 SP.

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Heh. Hehehehe! The sight of 【Light Magic】 shining brilliantly in my status window is irresistible! Since I just acquired it, its level is 0, but I'll raise it by using it like crazy.

Fortunately, starting tomorrow, we'll be heading north from Fars to a region inhabited only by Goblins. Goblins are weaklings, so they will be perfect targets for testing my magic, and I can also raise my proficiency. Two birds with one stone! I can't stop laughing!

"Heh-heh, fufufufu!!"

"Um, Izam? What's wrong?"

Oops, I had completely forgotten that Iris was there. Shouting while working and then chuckling to myself must have looked creepy. Her timid question made that perfectly clear.

"This is what I mean: Light Ball."

I created a shining sphere of light on my palm. Iris seemed to understand everything when she saw it, and her tentacles began writhing. That movement meant she was happy for me, right?

"Wow! Congratulations! If you can use 【Light Magic】, does that mean you've finally overcome your weakness to light!?"

"Yeah. It took a while, but I managed it somehow. Now I can finally go out during the day."

"Then let's contact everyone! We can go to the location on the map tomorrow!"

"That's how it will be. So today, I'll keep making potions until I get sleepy."

I told the other three that my 【Light Vulnerability】 was gone. Messages of congratulations came back from everyone, but the final sentence of Jigoro's message left me wondering. It said...

'So what are you gonna do about 【Blunt Vulnerability】?'

That was the question. Until now, I had thought, 'It'll be over if anyone gets close to me, so whatever.' But now that the greatest wall I needed to overcome was gone, I wanted to overcome this one too. I had gotten greedy.

But was there any way to do that? Should I disband the party and have Jigoro punch me? I could only see a future where I died in one hit. Despite my intimidating appearance, I was the frailest member of the party!

"Hmm..."

"What's wrong? You can finally act during the day now."

"Yeah, actually..."

I told Iris what Jigoro had pointed out in his message. After hearing me, Iris intertwined her tentacles and began thinking. Could she have a clever idea?

"Maybe a prototype magic item I made a little while ago could be useful."

"A magic item, huh."

It was true that I had overcome my 【Light Vulnerability】 by repeatedly using a magic-item lamp. In that case, it stood to reason that a magic item Iris had created could accomplish something similar.

"You called it a prototype, but what kind of magic item is it?"

"Um, please wait a moment."

Iris said that and returned to her room. Surely the prototype she had mentioned was in there.

We knew that she had spent almost all her time outside of adventuring making various things and experimenting through trial and error. That was precisely why Iris, the creator, was the only one who knew exactly what she had made or how well it performed.

Honestly, I was half excited and half terrified about what might emerge. For some reason, the time I spent waiting for Iris to return felt incredibly long.

"Here it is."

Regardless of how long it felt, Iris returned after about a minute, carrying a sizable item wrapped in her tentacles. Could this item really help me overcome my 【Blunt Vulnerability】?

"Could that be... a fan?"

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Prototype Fan; Quality: Good; Rarity: R (Rare)

A prototype magic item that uses a magic stone as its energy source to rotate blades and produce wind.

The wind strength can be adjusted to three levels using buttons.

It is extremely heavy because it is made from ceramic and wood.

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What Iris had brought out was unmistakably a fan. It was the type with rotating blades that sent out a breeze. That was exactly what 【Appraisal】 reported, so there was no mistaking it.

There was no plastic like in the real world, so it seemed to be made from ceramic and wood. That must be why it was so heavy.

However, its appearance was a perfect match for the fan I knew so well. It even had buttons labeled 'Weak,' 'Medium,' and 'Strong.' Wh-what was she planning to do with this?

"That's right! First, we remove the cover... and attach this..."

Iris briskly disassembled the fan. Well, of course she could; she was the creator. After removing the cover over the blades and the blades themselves, she tied a rope to the place where the blades had been seated.

"Then we do this... and it's finished!"

She tied a polished, spherical stone to the end of the rope, and apparently that was all it took. Ah, I see. I finally understood what she intended.

"You're going to make it spin so that it strikes me and deals blunt damage?"

"That's right. It only has three levels, but you can adjust the strength with the buttons, so I thought you could stop it at just the right point."

This seemed worth trying. At the very least, it was hundreds of times better than being punched by Jigoro.

"Then let's try it right away. We'll start with 'Weak.'"

I stood beside the fan and pressed the 'Weak' button with my staff. The fan started operating normally, and the rope with the stone attached began spinning rapidly.

Knock knock knock knock knock...

The stone struck my body, making a pleasantly crisp sound. I felt as if I had become a musical instrument. However...

"This seems too weak..."

"I think so too."

'Weak' was unable to deal any damage to me. To overcome 【○○ Vulnerability】, I had to actually receive damage from that attribute. No matter how tiny, it was meaningless if there was no damage at all.

"Then next is 'Medium.'"

I would raise it by one level. This time, I pressed the fan's 'Medium' button. Now, what would happen?

Clang clang clang clang clang...

Yes. Other than the sound of the stone striking me becoming higher-pitched than before, nothing had changed. The rotation speed had certainly increased, but it still wasn't enough for me to take damage.

"It seems this isn't enough either."

"Yeah. Maybe it's impossible for this thing to deal blunt damage at all."

This prototype fan Iris had made was a magic item, but it wasn't a weapon. Therefore, it was possible that simply modifying it a little would not allow it to deal damage.

"Hmm, I thought it might work since the light leaking from the lamp did..."

"Well, that was pretty much a game-breaking trick. Anyway, let's try 'Strong' just in case."

Here goes.

Bong bong bong bong bong!!!

"W-whoaaaaaa!?"

This is bad, this is bad, this is bad!!! My health is plummeting! I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die! S-stop! Stop it immediately!

"I thought I was going to die...!"

My health fell below half in an instant!? This thing deals a ridiculous amount of damage!

And who was that idiot who said a magic item couldn't deal blunt damage!? Me, that's who! Damn it!

"...So the damage check kicks in once it exceeds a certain speed."

"...Looks that way."

After hearing Iris's calm analysis, I finally came to my senses as well. The stone itself had not changed, so speed must have been the deciding factor.

Changing the object we attached might change the result, but I had never expected 【Blunt Vulnerability】 to be this terrible. I would have to overcome it as quickly as possible.

"Once my health recovers, let's try various things. There might be a combination of speed and attached object where natural regeneration and damage balance each other out."

"That's true. Understood. Then I'll gather things that look capable of dealing blunt damage."

Repeating trial and error was important. We would have to find the perfect combination.

◆◇◆◇◆◇

"Gwooooooh!!"

Again! This one doesn't work either!? I had tried every combination I could think of, but each one either dealt zero damage or left me on the verge of death in an instant. They were far too extreme!

Leaving this unattended was impossible. Even the combination that dealt the least damage killed me in under a minute.

"...So it isn't going to be that easy."

"If anything, being able to overcome it so easily with the lamp was probably a miracle. It would be strange if overcoming a weakness were that simple."

Iris might have been right. I had simply overcome 【Light Vulnerability】 far too smoothly. Surely it had been a miracle born from every possible factor coming together perfectly.

"And despite nearly dying that many times, there isn't even an announcement saying it has been mitigated..."

"It really shows how effective leaving it unattended while logged out was."

During our experiments, I nearly died countless times. Each time, I waited for my health to recover, but even so, 【Blunt Vulnerability】 was never reduced.

Apparently, receiving tiny amounts of damage continuously while logged out was more efficient than taking massive damage over a short period. Surely the total amount of damage taken from attacks with the weakness attribute was the condition for reducing it.

"In any case, let's consider it a worthwhile discovery that we've established this method won't work as things stand. ...I don't want to think all the work we've done so far was meaningless."

"That's right. We can consider it valuable data for creating a magic item to overcome weaknesses."

I had been elated after overcoming 【Light Vulnerability】, but being reminded that the other wall, 【Blunt Vulnerability】, was far higher than expected brought me crashing back to earth. Iris seemed willing to make a magic item for overcoming it, but I felt bad leaving everything to her.

Was there some good method we could use? I kept thinking about it while working on 【Alchemy】 until my companions returned from outside.