21 - Ribbon, Moo!

"All right, I'll take it from here."

About 30 minutes after entering the forest road.

Thor stopped when he saw that there was no sign of anyone around.

"What's the matter, Tor? Did you have to pee?"

"No, Moo-chan. It's adventure time from here."

Sola, her face crisp and serious, steps forward as if to cover for Moe.

Lifting her wand, the girl looks around as if in awe of the surroundings.

"First of all, I'm taking a good look at you, ...... Sola, for your bravery. Come on, Thor, anytime!"

"Relax, Sola. There's nothing here."

The only sound in the quiet forest is the small rustle of the wind rustling the leaves through the trees.

Even among the trees, which are clearly visible thanks to the sunlight, there is no sign of movement.

The atmosphere was so peaceful that if one were to step into the forest without knowing its name, one could easily mistake it for a suitable place for a stroll.

In fact, Moe was in such a mood as he was walking around in the grass.

"Hey, come here!

"What?　Tor-chan."

The child comes running up to Thor with happy steps, clapping his sandals, which are not suitable for walking in the forest.

When I patted him on the head, Moe let out a chuckle without changing his expression.

"Can you do the body tingling thing now?"

"Yes, I can!"

Moe made a small clenched fist, closed his eyes, and strained.

A breath is taken, and a swarm of small, purple, serpent-like currents run across the surface of his body for a split second.

"Whoa, what was that?　It's so beautiful!"

"It's a magical technique called 'electric thorns. When it is attacked, it will automatically counterattack.

While explaining the situation to Sora, Thor looked into Mu's tree.

He confirms the name of the branch that sticks out at an angle from the purple trunk.

--When attacked, it strikes back with electric thorns.

Level 1 / Usable number of times: 5 times per hour / Trigger: Short / Duration: 5 minutes / Scope: self

Thor then uses to return the branch to its pre-budding state.

With the branch skill reduced to level 0, Moo's water bottle also returns 1,000 skill points.

This level 0 bump is what we call talent.

A person's life can be easily determined by pouring the skill points given by birth into one of the many bumps.

That cruelty may be the proof of godhood.

A girl of the Purple-Eyed Tribe was given three knobs.

And there was one more extraordinary fruit in Mu.

To confirm its efficacy, Thor turned his attention to the base of the tree of skill that holds the blessing of the god of thunder.

"Okay, now look (・・・・・・・) through my eyes (・・・・)."

At Thor's sudden command, Moe, who had been in a good mood when he was patted on the head, felt his back tremble.

The child's purple eyes, looking up at me fearfully, are shaking uneasily.

Look, you've done this before. What's wrong?"

"........................ do you ever get upset?"

"Don't worry, I won't get mad. No, I'd rather you did."

"Really?"

"Yeah, so don't worry about peeking, mu."

When the child hears his name called by Thor for the first time, his eyes suddenly fill with joy.

As soon as Moo nodded his head deeply, Thor's vision was suddenly assaulted by a strange sensation.

It was as if someone else was looking at the same thing through his eyes, just like the experience Thor had felt the first time he had been invited into that back alley.

At the same time, Moe's mouth rises in surprise.

There's a weird tree growing on his head!

"Oh, that went well. You see something at the root of the tree?

What is this round thing?

"That's your root characteristic, ."

---Share senses and effects with the target person.

Activation: Active / Effect: Greater / Scope: Perception

This was the true nature of the strange phenomenon that was taking place near Mu.　

And, as a speculation based on our current conversation, it may be the reason why the young girl was living with the cats in the back alley.

It is difficult to find the root characteristics that one is born with by using a soul detector.

To those around her who do not know this, it is no wonder that they think she is a creepy child.

With his other hand, Thor lightly stretches Mu's cheeks to relax his underdeveloped facial muscles.

The purple-eyed child lowers the corners of his eyes a little and lets out a relieved laugh, then hugs Thor around the waist.

"All right, let's move on. You see three bumps at the bottom of the trunk?

Yes, I see it!

"Pour some water on that middle bump."

Like this?　Tor-chan."

Instinctively understanding, Moe poured the skill points of the water bottle into the hump.

Slowly, a branch grew toward the sky, and a new skill sprouted.

--To determine the direction and distance of surrounding objects.

Level 1 / Usable number of times: 5 times per hour / Trigger: Short / Duration: 5 minutes / Range: 50 paces

"Well, you know what?"

"What the hell is this? It's grown something weird!

Is it useful?

I got it, To-chan!

Mo makes another small clenched fist, closes his eyes, and exerts himself.

This time, after a short delay, a purple serpent-like current appeared between his golden hair and scattered in all directions.

"Well, I've got a bad feeling coming from over there!"

"Well, let's go."

"What, what, what's going on?　How can you suddenly use two magic tricks?　I have no idea, Thor-chan."

Thor quickly explains the situation to Sola, who raises her hands in a "mai tai" pose, while moving around.

"What is that?　Moo-chan, is that actually a great ......?"

"Torchan, this way. We're right here."

Moe pointed to a lump of brown mud stuck to the trunk of a tree.

Thor, holding the child from behind, handed the knife to the child and held it firmly.

"Stick it in, and stir it around, yes, that's good.

"Like this, Tor-chan!"

Within a few seconds, the forest slime loses its original shape after its nucleus is crushed.

Sola, who had been waiting for the slime with a conch in her hand, did her best to catch the dripping bodily fluids.

"Moo, did you do it well?"

"Yeah, that's good. This is more useful than I thought it would be, no wonder it's ...... banned."

"Good job, Moe. You're good, Moo-chan.

The child, whose hair had been ruffled by the two of them, burst out laughing with delight again.

"You've done a good job so far, but this next one is going to be a little harder.

"I'll take care of everything!　Tor-chan."

"Okay, I'll change the branches again. Here, take a peek."

With a touch of Moo's soft cheek, Thor shortens the branch again with .

"Now make the leftmost knob bigger."

"Okay!"

Thor looks expectantly at Mu's technical tree, which nods cheerfully.

The name of the newly grown branch is....

Level 1 / Usable number of times: 5 times per hour / Trigger: Short / Duration: 5 minutes / Range: Self

"Can we go?　Moo."　

At Thor's call, Moe closed his eyes and took a slow breath.

"Lai!"

At the same time as the call, blue lightning needles appear in the air with a crackling sound.

After a beat, the lightning needles pierced Moe's body one after another.

Sora uttered a panicked cry at the tragic sight of blue needles sticking out of various parts of his body.

"Whoa!　Doesn't it hurt?　Thor, are you okay with this?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just weird!"

"You look okay. Here, try to avoid it."

Thor, who had been standing some distance away from me before I knew it, lightly throws a pebble from his hand.

Moe, who seemed to understand the new game at once, easily ducked with a twist of his head.

Thor, taking a step closer, throws a little harder this time.

The child easily ducked.　

Taking another step closer, Thor rained pebbles down in one fell swoop.

The child, who emitted a childish laugh, dodged the falling pebbles one after another.

Then, from a short distance away, Thor, with a snap of his wrist, quickly sent the pebbles flying.

Moe, who should have been engrossed in the pebbles from overhead, deftly twisted his body to miss the shot that should have caught him by surprise.

"Wow, you did well to avoid that one. ......, Moo-chan."

Sola was surprised at this move, which was impossible for a child less than ten years old.

"Moo is ......, Moo has awakened to new powers!"

"Yes, you've done well. It's more than I expected."

When Thor praised him unreservedly, Moo jumped up and pressed his head into the breastplate.

Stroking the child's hair, Thor continued his story.

"So, will you share your power with me next, Moo?"

"Good!　How do you do it?　Tor-chan."

"...... maybe you've never done it the other way around?"

Although it is called , at this stage Moe is only using Thor's senses unilaterally.

However, if Moo's current state is transmitted to Thor, it could be a great reinforcement.

This was the idea that Thor came up with when he caught Moo.

However, there was no way that Thor, who did not possess the characteristics of Mu, would be able to answer if he were asked by Mu himself how to do so.

Thor, who was at a loss for an answer, suddenly remembered the conversation he had had with Moe while waiting at the Adventurer's Bureau.

"You know, you said you would get rid of the itch when you use the electric thorns."　

"Yeah, you'll be fine if you get tingles."

Perhaps you have been bitten by a bug.

Certainly, when I washed Moo, no fleas or lice appeared.

Not only that, the same was true for the two cats.

"That tingling, by any chance, was the cat in the same state?"

"Together?　Kuro and Shima are always together, To-chan."

"Yeah, that's it. Hey, why don't you join us?

Moe's eyes light up at the words of Thor, who calls himself To-chan.

"Yes, Tor-chan, you're with me!

The next moment, Thor realized that a change had come over his body.

Thor was astounded by the fact that his body, which he thought was perfectly adjusted, moved even lighter and smoother.

There was just one problem...

"...... sorry, can you take your eyes off?"

Thor let out a puzzled sound as his vision suddenly lowered.

Because the subject was in mu, he was looking through the eyes of a child.

"Hmmm, like this?　Tor-chan."

Moe blinked a few times, and Thor's true vision returned.

"Okay, that's good. ...... Yeah, and get me some ears and a nose too. Yes, just transfer the effect of the lightning needle to Thor.

"There are too many orders already, Torchan!"

"Okay, it's perfect. Moo."

Thor spun around in a flash behind Moe, who jumped happily again at the praise.

He picks up the child and throws him into the air.

Thor caught the laughing Moe and quickly started walking down the forest path, as if he had done what he needed to do.

"Wait, wait a minute! What about me?　I'm not with you?"

"I don't think Sora is ready for this."

"Oh, no, that's not true. Please let me join you. Hey, Moo-chan...

"To-chan, I'm hungry!"

"I don't blame you. Here, have an apple or something."

During the trip through the woods, I was able to kill three forest slimes and two horned moles because I searched efficiently with the .

Once deep in the forest, switching between and speeded up the number and speed of battles even more.

Although the three of us only received one point for killing a pair of goblins, the situation was such that we did not care about it.

Although we started out a little late, we ended up having a day in which we were able to eliminate more than 20 kobolds.