NOVEL WEB Chapter 7: (1)
Magic II
The location was again at the mountain ranges lying between Haru Empire and Purin Kingdom.
Tanaka spent his days in training to learn how to control his magic. At times, he erected a pillar of azure light that soared through the heavens. At other times, he shot a gigantic body of water down a cliff, followed by thunderous rumbling sounds right after. From an outsider’s point of view, those were without a doubt inhumane feats.
Normally, a novice magician would only be able to invoke magic several times a day. However, Tanaka had long forgotten about such a basic common sense. He simply continued on firing his magic incessantly one after another. As a result, Tanaka had improved at a pace that could only be said as abnormal.
He pressed on with such days, however, at some point, an unusual phenomenon began to occur. It was when the results of his incessant training began to bloom. It might be a gradual process, but he had succeeded in reducing the scale of his magic. However, at a certain point, the scale suddenly began to revert back and grew larger and larger instead.
「How strange… The sensation is without a doubt there. It’s the same sensation as to when I succeed in controlling the magic to get them smaller in scale, as it has always been. And yet, the scale of the magic is somehow getting larger and larger instead… Hmm, is it because my Intelligence and Spirit stats have increased? Or is it the effect of the skill? No, the higher my magic skill level is, the better my control ability should be…」
Tanaka was wondering if his magic-related abilities were improving at a faster rate than his magic control ability. For the time being, he decided to check his own status.
Magical energy: 2.4e13/2.4e13
Intelligence: 2.4e12 Spirit: 2.4e12
「… Yup, they don’t seem to have increased that much. Huh? My eyes are sweating….」
Tanaka wiped away his tears and checked his status further. Then, he noticed something he had never seen before.
Skill: Sword (2.00) Magic (0.31) Believed One (0.32)
「My magic skill has improved more than I expected! At this rate, shouldn’t I be able to reach 1.00 in two weeks? … Or rather, that’s not it damnit! What the hell is this Believed One thing?」
By the way, no matter how much one trained in tenth-order magic, their magic skill would scarcely ever go beyond 1.00. From there on, one would need to train in ninth-order magic or higher, otherwise the improvement would be very miniscule. In other words, this was a set condition that would gradually increase in increments of 1.00. Which meant, at 9.00 and above one could only improve by training in first-order magic.
However, for the time being, the details of this matter should be left aside. The current matter at hand wasn’t about magic. It was about the fact that a skill called “Believed One” had somehow settled itself there before he noticed it. As Tanaka concentrated his mind on this unfamiliar skill, the details of the skill immediately occurred to his mind. This was something that General White had forgotten to mention previously. If one concentrated their mind on a certain part of their status, such as a skill, they would be able to find out the details of the effect of said skill. He had forgotten to explain this matter since Tanaka didn’t possess any skills at the time.
And the details of the skill Tanaka was concentrating on was….
Believed One: A rare skill which increased the effectiveness of magic. It was obtainable when one received beliefs of numerous people above a certain set number. The skill would increase in effect as the number of believers increased, and eventually it would even be possible to perform miracles.
「Something awesome has appeared! Wait, this is a skill that provides nothing but trouble to the current me!」
Tanaka stamped his foot on the ground, and bared his anger to the world. In actuality, at his current state, it could be said that Tanaka had improved his magic control enough to be able to reduce the scale of his magic. However, as his Intelligence and Spirit increased, combined with Believed One skill which increased the effectiveness of magic, the firepower of his magic had increased beyond his control. As a result, the scale of his magic began to increase infinitely. Thus, the ultimate worst (strongest) combo was born.
「Why?! Why is this happening to me?!! I’ve done nothing but retorting ever since I came to this world! … hahaha.」
Since coming to this world, Tanaka hadn’t paid much attention to his surroundings. That was why there were many times where his chuunibyou relapsed as he talked to himself. On top of that, there were too many things to retort in this world. As a result, Tanaka’s soliloquy grew even more frequent.
「Or rather, how in the world did I obtain this kind of skill anyway? I haven’t even seen anyone these days, after all… Huh? My eyes are sweating again….」
Tanaka fell into another thought as he wiped away his tears. And, as usual, he arrived at an out of the box conclusion.
「I see… damn you black horned rabbits. So you’ve finally decided to recognize me as your lord, huh. However, I’m not averse to the idea. Sooner or later, I shall lead you all soar through the heavens for sure. However! As of right now, I ought to pursue the truth of magic to retrieve my sealed power… My apologize!」
Tanaka’s delusions were going out of control. Even if he were to return to his original world now, he might no longer be able to hide his chuunibyou and lead a proper life. Truly an incident which summoned about a tragedy, however, such a thing didn’t really matter anymore. After that, Tanaka’s delusions continued to run amok, and he was on the verge of completing an epic poem. When he finally pulled himself together and came back to reality, he let out a scream as he was high in tension.
「Uoooo! Let’s do it! In the end, both my Intelligence and Spirit won’t rise that much anyway, so it should be fine. What’s important is the fact that I’ve obtained a rare skill! Let’s keep on persisting here! I’ll definitely conquer the control of magic.」
Thus, Tanaka became more devoted to his magic training than ever before.
For the next three weeks, more than ever before, pillars of blue light continued to soar furiously to the sky in the mountain ranges. And alternatively, thunderous sounds also reverberated incessantly there.
◇ ◇ ◇
Three weeks later, atop a certain steep cliff in the mountain ranges. There stood Tanaka with a satisfied expression on his face, striking a cool pose. That was the face of a man who had accomplished something.
「Fufufu, a month has now passed ever since I began my training here. I’m confident that I’ve finally gone beyond the limits of a baby. In other words, right now I’m a super baby!」
… While that was something that he stated himself, he had a slightly peculiar look on his face. He then pulled himself together and started to ponder about his future plans.
「I guess I’ve reached a level where I can finally put an end to this training. However, just in case, let’s have a final review before that.」