Chapter 58: Monster "Master, what do you think?"
"I think you've finally lost your mind."
How harsh.
When I told her I was hearing things—hallucinations or whatever they were—Frey just sucked on the coffee I'd given her and spoke with a blunt expression.
I was coming to her with a serious concern, but she was being way too indifferent.
I'm supposed to grow up bathed in my master's love, you know?
"No, think about it seriously for a second. I'm telling you, I really heard it."
"Unlike you, I'm always serious. And my serious advice is: go to a hospital."
"Then what about my theory?"
"That Insight magic? Didn't I explain it to you back then? A person's mi—"
"'Reading a person's mind is an incredibly high-level form of magic.'"
The Insight magic I learned from that senior after the entrance exam—the tutorial—still wasn't working.
When I first asked Frey why it wouldn't activate, she just gave me an earful, asking how a mere student could have possibly created such a spell.
A person's thoughts aren't unified into a single stream.
Right now, if I'm thinking of something, I'm simply focusing on one of the infinitely scattered thoughts in my head.
Even in the moment I'm thinking of an apple, I'm not only thinking of an apple.
Hundreds of millions of unfocused thoughts are drifting through the subconscious at any given time. Picking just one out of that mess isn't magic; it's a supernatural ability.
That was the gist of Frey's lecture, and I had to admit her theory was surprisingly plausible.
In fact, there is a heroine who can read minds, and it's referred to as her unique supernatural ability, not magic.
"Maybe that senior is actually a genius?"
"And you're the genius who mastered a high-level spell created by that 'genius' senior in just one hour?"
"Huh? That actually sounds plausible, doesn't it?"
"Sigh… Stop thinking about useless things and get back to training."
Frey shook her head and worked me to the bone so I wouldn't have the energy for idle thoughts.
But I really think I'm right. I only ever keep three spells active on my body: Mana Barrier Reinforcement, Sensory Enhancement, and Insight. Just those three.
Frey might dismiss it, but I know the effects of Insight from the game. There's no way it wouldn't work.
"Sit."
"I've been thinking about it again—"
"Forget that."
Coldly cutting me off, Frey held out a tablet.
The only time she brought out a tablet during training was when she was about to teach me a new spell.
Hmm, I still can't make heads or tails of this.
What's the point of studying hard at Yggdrasil? I can't even decipher a single grimoire.
As I was flipping through the incomprehensible magic book, Frey spoke.
"What did I say your combat style was?"
"Annoy the opponent. Disrupt the battlefield. Force the enemy to attack me. Don't get caught."
"At least you remember that much."
"I remember everything you teach me, Master."
When I answered confidently, Frey looked at me with a skeptical gaze.
It's strange. I found her heirloom, I bring her the coffee she likes every time, and our bond has deepened… so why hasn't Frey fallen for me yet?
"I'll admit one thing. Your combat theory using the Mana Barrier was correct."
"Right? I told you, didn't I? It's pretty badass, isn't it?"
"Don't get cocky just because I gave you a little praise. Shut up and listen."
"… …"
"However, it's not a combat style I'd teach to just anyone."
"Why? I mean, it might be too much for everyone to learn, but wouldn't it be helpful to have at least one person in a unit who knows it?"
Every party needs a tanker.
Besides, am I just some meathead tanker who relies on his body? A tanker who annoys the enemy, applies debuffs, and even has a finishing move—isn't that basically royalty, right up there with healers?
Frey didn't answer my question. She stared at me intently for a moment before forcing her mouth open as if she didn't really want to say it.
"Because the growth rate of your Mana Barrier has exceeded the normal range."
"Aww, don't say it so stiffly like you're explaining a theory. Give me some warmer praise. Like, 'Yeon-woo, you're the best.'"
"This is exactly why I don't want to do it. You get so full of yourself the moment I give you an inch."
Frey looked disgusted and gestured with her chin toward the tablet I was holding.
"There are two spells you're going to learn. One is a spell to protect your allies."
"Is it a shield?"
"It is a protection spell. Though instead of a shield, you are the one taking the hit."
Ooh…
I could tell just by hearing it how incredible this spell was.
It was a spell practically born for me.
I take the damage meant for my allies? And I get stronger when I get hit? With this one spell, my role in the party becomes monumentally important.
Taking hits for others is common enough in games to be a signature skill for shield-wielding characters.
There are ways to take hits in this game too, but it's not magic; it's just standing in front of an ally and getting struck.
In a typical turn-based game, I could manage that easily. But in reality, where people are jumping and dashing all over the place, my low stats—aside from my Mana Barrier—make it a struggle just to keep up with them.
This was a spell that didn't exist in the original game.
"The name is Soul Chain. Generally, it's said to redirect about 15% of the damage to you. However, as your proficiency increases, and depending on your relationship with the target…"
"The target?"
"… …"
Frey hesitated, turning her head away as if she couldn't meet my sparkling eyes.
"The more… physical communion you have with the target, the greater the effect."
"Communion?"
"… …You know, what men and women do."
"You mean sex?"
When I said it bluntly, Frey glared at me intensely.
What? If it's something men and women do, I'm right.
"Oh? Are you actually blushing? Our world-class mercenary captain is embarrassed by se—Agh! That hurts!"
"I told you not to get cocky, didn't I? Give this brat an inch and he tries to take a mile."
I wasn't joking; even with the Mana Barrier, Frey's fists hurt.
Knowing that I wouldn't die because of the barrier, Frey really put her full strength into it, and the shock bypassed the barrier to reach me.
After beating me to her heart's content, Frey sat back down, huffing, and took a sip of her coffee.
"You don't necessarily have to have se… x. They say the effect increases the more your hearts connect through physical contact."
So, does that mean things like rape are useless?
Not that there would be many situations where you'd want to protect someone you raped anyway.
In the end, if I'm the one using it, it's a spell for protecting women. If I used it on the Gag Brothers… ugh, fuck, just imagining it makes me want to puke.
Should I call it a spell fitting for an eroge?
You developers, you perverted hacks. Why didn't you make more spells like this instead of useless fire and lightning? You don't even have the basics of an eroge down. The basics!
"I suppose you, Master… yes, you wouldn't need my protection. Of course not. Not when you're this strong."
I shut my mouth as Frey's bloodlust filled the training ground.
Still…
"Still, if I want to test if I've learned it properly…"
"I knew it. You just can't help yourself. You always have to say that one extra thing you shouldn't."
"No, wait, agh—just kidding, just kidding! Ack! You hit the bone! The bone! My bone!"
In the end, I had to endure another beating from Frey.
Seriously, I even got her heirloom back for her. Wouldn't a kiss be a fair trade for the sake of balance?
"Ma'am, I have the car waiting downstairs."
Turk, who had entered the training ground, bowed politely to Frey.
Yeon-woo had finished his training and left long ago. It had become Frey's routine to stay behind and train alone after sending him off.
Seeing Frey focused, balancing on a single finger while upside down, Turk didn't disturb her and sat on a nearby chair to wait.
His eyes caught the tablet screen displaying the magic circle, and Turk passed the time looking through the grimoire as if reading a magazine.
"What do you think?"
After some time had passed, Frey shifted her posture to be horizontal to the ground and asked Turk. She was still supported by only a single finger.
"This is another strange spell. It's good, but… aside from that kid, I don't see anyone else who would use it, except maybe in an emergency."
Turk replied, stroking his rough beard.
Soul Chain, which protects allies, was a fairly good spell. However, the casting time was too long to use in the middle of combat, and the conditions were bizarre.
Physical communion? Was it some kind of couple's magic?
Depending on their skill, combat mages usually maintain an average of six reinforcement spells during battle.
The system was so standardized now that while the quality of the magic might vary, the types of spells were usually similar.
Since they were all spells directly linked to survival, one would have to take a significant risk to drop one in favor of Soul Chain.
Turk, who could push himself to maintain up to nine spells during combat, tried to think of which one he would drop to fit in Soul Chain, but his conclusion was that he simply wouldn't use it.
But if he applied it to Yeon-woo, there was plenty of room.
Since his strange combat style was based on the Mana Barrier, he didn't really need reinforcement spells related to attack power.
That gave Yeon-woo more leeway with the reinforcement spells other mages had to maintain, allowing Soul Chain to take a slot.
Since his attack power increased as his Mana Barrier was depleted, it was advantageous for him to increase the number of situations where he took damage.
"How long would it take you to learn that?"
"I have no intention of learning it, but… maybe about three days?"
With its strange conditions, Soul Chain was not an easy spell to master.
The three days Turk mentioned was already incredibly fast, far beyond the average level.
"He learned it right here on the spot before he left."
"… …That's chilling. Is that brat actually a genius?"
"To call him a genius…"
Frey trailed off, sounding confused.
Turk gave a bitter smile. It was rare to see her like this—she who always had an answer, or at least something close to it, for everything.
"It's been a long time since I've seen you this puzzled, Ma'am."
"Sigh—it's because that brat is weird. I'm perfectly normal."
"Usually, that's how geniuses appear to others."
Turk already considered Yeon-woo a genius.
However, for Frey, who observed and taught him up close, there were many parts that were hard to accept.
His grasp of theory was pathetic, yet he could master any spell she brought him almost instantly.
Originally, magic began with belief and imagination.
Magic was the manifestation of one's heart. If you showed fire magic to someone who had never seen fire, it would take a long time for them to learn it properly.
In that sense, elemental magic was on the easier side to learn.
While increasing proficiency varied by individual, it wasn't hard to imagine the properties or movements of elements since people encountered them every day.
However, the spells Yeon-woo was learning from Frey were mostly based on concepts that were difficult to encounter.
How could one visualize being connected to someone far away?
Frey first thought of a telephone.
But because it went through the physical medium of a phone, visualizing a telephone didn't help with the Soul Chain spell.
How do you visualize a mental connection, not a physical one? Telepathy?
Perhaps someone with a very sentimental nature, who firmly believed that people who love each other are connected even when apart, could learn Soul Chain easily.
Was Yeon-woo sentimental?
Frey thought of him for a moment and then shook her head.
The guy talked about sex openly and was a sly, lecherous brat.
Yet, Yeon-woo had learned it as if it were nothing.
If she only looked at that, she would have to admit he was a genius, but in other aspects, he was closer to a dullard.
Specifically, he couldn't modify magic.
He learned what he was taught immediately, but he couldn't use that knowledge to apply it in different ways.
For example, if one learned a spell to create a fist-sized ball of water, they could combine many of them to create a massive torrent.
It was inefficient, but it was something anyone could do without a complex magic formula by simply creating many water balls and giving them a direction.
Anyone could do it as long as they had the mana, but Yeon-woo couldn't do it at all.
There was only one thing Frey didn't know.
To Yeon-woo, who perceived this world as a game, magic was simply a game skill.
He had a firm belief that he could use it as long as he "learned" it… no, it wasn't even belief; it was just common sense.
However, because he perceived them as fixed skills, his ability to use magic flexibly was below that of an average person.
Frey, who had no way of knowing this, was only left in confusion.
"In the end, doesn't it come down to this?"
"… …?"
"That if you teach him well, Ma'am, a monster will be born."
At Turk's words, the corners of Frey's mouth curled up.
A monster who could easily learn anything she taught, whether it was a spell with bad compatibility or one difficult to visualize.
He couldn't turn water balls into a torrent? Then she just had to teach him how.
As long as she showed him, he would greedily devour the knowledge and make it his own in no time.
As Frey imagined the day the monster would be complete, goosebumps broke out on her back—not out of fear, but something closer to pleasure.
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