Chapter 46: Introductions

Chapter 46: Introductions

It’s been one hour since we received the request from the Guild Master.

We’ve returned to the inn.

『Then, shall I absorb the Magic Stones?』

「Nn.」

『I wonder what kind of Skills we’ll get...』

「Excited.」

『Thinking about it, this is a bit like a grab-bag , huh.』

「Grab-bag?」

『Ahh, how should I put it... A grab-bag is a bag filled with hopes, dreams, and a bit of despair.』

「Somehow: amazing.」

『Many brave men have challenged such bags for items of favor, only to meet a terrible fate.』

「Has Teacher seen one before?」

『Well...』

「Amazing!」

Well, before I make a fool out of myself, let’s use absorb the magic stone.

Thanks to Demonic Beast Knowledge, I can see the stones’ Ranks just fine. With 5 stones total, 3 are D Rank, and 2 are C Rank.

The D Ranks come from a Fortress Hermit Crab, a Sea Lion, and a Trident Shark. I had chosen Demonic Beasts of the sea since we hadn’t actually seen the ocean yet.

As for the 2 C Rank magic stones, one is from a Red Colossus, and one is from an Old Yeti.

「First: D Rank.」

『Mhh! Here we go!』

Fortress Hermit Crab Magic Stone Status:39

Hunger Resistance:Lv1, Water Pressure Resistance:Lv1, Underwater Respiration:Lv1, Weight Reduction

Sea Lion Magic Stone Status:79

Swimming:Lv1, Current Manipulation:Lv1, Water Bullet Discharge:Lv1

Trident Shark Magic Stone Status:43

Underwater Acoustics:Lv1, Current Jet:Lv1, Watersports :Lv1

We obtained quite the variety. We’ve attained an extensive set of water-based Skills, just as planned. Next is the well-awaited C Rank stones.

「Ha!」

The Magic Stone thrown into the sky by Fran is cut in two through in one stroke by me. Uoー, it came, it came! After a long time, the sense of absorbing big-game has come!

Red Colossus Magic Stone Status:196

Frenzy:Lv1, Heat Resistance:Lv1, Weight Increase, STR ↑

Old Yeti Magic Stone Status:127

Cold Resistance:Lv1, Poison Knowledge:Lv1, Ice Resistance:Lv1, INT ↑ Low

With these, a long-awaited Rank Up will occur! Prior to absorbing the 5 stones, my status looked like this:

ATK:434 Retained MP:2050/2050 Durability:1850/1850

Magical Power Conductivity?A

Skills:

Self-Evolution〈Rank 8?Magic Stone Status: 3146/3600?Memory: 70?Points: 2〉

And now, it’s like this:

Name:Teacher

Equipment Registration:Fran

Race:Intelligent Weapon

ATK:478 Retained MP:2500/2500 Durability:2300/2300

Magical Power Conductivity?A

Skills:

Self-Evolution〈Rank 9?Magic Stone Status: 3630/4500?Memory: 79?Points: 47〉

Alright, alright! With this, I can tweak my Skills yet again. This time, Superior Skills are the things on my mind. I couldn’t afford to tamper with it before, but I’d like to make use of it.

And so, my eyes are fixed on Sword Arts LvMax. When I make it a Superior Skill, will it simply become Master Sword Arts, or will it become a completely unknown Skill? If it does become Master Sword Arts not much will change in terms of sword-fighting, but what would happen to Sword Techniques? If its supporting skill Sword Arts disappears, would Sword Techniques even be usable? Or, because I have Master Sword Arts, would it work without an issue?

The chance to find out has arrived. Even if the worst occurs, there’re many Goblins that carry Sword Arts, and with Self-Evolution Points, bringing it back to LvMax isn’t really an issue.

『During this commission, we should be able to secure a magic stone from a Sword Arts carrier!』

「Oohー」

◇◆◇

It’s been two days since that was said. We’ve once again returned to the Adventurers Guild.

「Now then, let’s take this chance to introduce ourselves. My name is Cruz. I’m the leader of the C Rank party『Azure Guard』 to which these two, Rigg and Izel, are members of. For this commission, I’ll be acting as your instructor as well as your examiner.」

Name:Cruz Liuzel Age:28

「I have no intention of simply playing around though? Besides, I have permission from the Guild Master.」

「Tsk」

「Now, now. Then, the young lady next please.」

Cruz diverts the conversation to bring a change to the bad air starting to develop. With the selfish Amanda and the seemingly-strong Clad, he has good reason to worry about the situation. This has definitely surpassed the duties of an examiner. My condolences.

「Fran.」

「...... That’s all? Is there anything else?」

「Rank D. Beastman. Favorite thing: Curry. Don’t particularly dislike anything.」

Clad, your gaze is scary. He doesn’t really seem to like Fran. She’s a newly-raised Rank D, so it’s possible that he can’t permit such a young girl being ranked higher than himself.

「No, that’s not... I was meaning your weapon choice or the like...」

「Oi, brat. I said it before, but we’re going at this mission seriously. If y’think this’ll just be a simple excursion, then it’s better for you to go back home and suck your mom’s teat ‘nstead!」

Weーll, you certainly like picking fights, huh Clad? Even though you’re a Human, you seem more like a mad dog. Moreover, he’s even using his Threatening Skill. His intention to make her cry is clear, but... Well, things like that don’t work on Fran at all.

「Mother’s dead.」

「...... Tsk.」

Mhm. Those words hit the hardest, huh. If he could retort to even that, his identity as a Human would seriously be doubted. In addition, he would’ve needed to do so under the bloodthirsty gaze that Amanda’s giving off.

「For an adult to shout at a child! Seriously... Are you alright, Fran?」

「Nn. No problem.」

Such a threat was only at the level of a puppy yapping away when compared to the feeling of intimidation given off from a devil. Hopefully, my implied meaning in those words is understood. Anyways, Clad returns with provocation. His aim isn’t Fran, though.

「You-! Wadda ya mean by that? Aah?」

「Errー Then, because the self-introductions are over, I’ll move on to the briefing.」

Wanting to avoid any more turmoil, Cruz forcibly ends the conversation. Hang in there, Cruz. I have no means of helping you, but because the above-mentioned dispute has happened early on, do your best. It’s a good opportunity, probably!

「Please, attempt to be friends for the duration of the request.」

「Fuー」

「Ke」

「No problem. Good friends.」

「I sincerely hope that’s the case...!」

After crying so in desperation, Cruz moved onto the briefing.

「The request consists of the investigation of Aressa’s Dungeon:『Cobweb』which has already been conquered. In addition, we are to recover the Magic Ore that’s being generated by the Dungeon at the same time.」

The Dungeon consists of six layers, and its inhabitants mainly consist of insect-type Demonic Beasts. In particular, the 5th and 6th layers are essentially Spider Demonic Beast nests, and their numbers are no laughing matter.

「Because the Magic Ore is generated in the Dungeon Core Room, it’s necessary to make our way there.」

「So we’re to collect Magic Ore, then.」

「Ah, ’bout the Demonic Beasts, can we take ’em down? They’re bein’ allowed to live there on purpose, right? 」

「Ahh, there’s no problem. Reducing the number of Demonic Beasts is also part of the request to a certain extent.」

「Hehehe. I’m lookin’ forward to it.」

Spider-type Demonic Beasts by the name of Trap Spider reside in Cobweb, ranked at Threat Level F. It isn’t a bad opponent for low-class Adventurers for the sake of experience.

「I’ll warn you now, but while the Spiders are weak when they’re alone, they’re intelligent enough to use traps in groups. Their true threat comes from their cooperation. Please, don’t be careless.」

「Ke, there’s no way I’d lose to a Demonic Beast that even a Rank F could take care a’. They’re nothin’ but experience points.」

「...... In addition, Demonic Beasts aren’t the only thing to watch out for inside the Dungeon. Most of the traps in Cobweb aren’t a big deal, but watch out for Transition Traps .」

Transition Traps are traps that transfer their victim to any place in the Dungeon. It’s difficult to prevent them from triggering, so even experts can fall into a crisis.

There seem to have been cases where Transition Traps placed in spider webs were triggered, sending their victims to Monster Rooms. There’s a need to be careful.

「The Transition Trap is a fiendish trap that can sometimes involve more than just yourself. Be careful.」

「Yeah, yeah. I got it, I got it.」

He doesn’t understand at all. I’m worried. With a reckless, incompetent fellow with a high likelihood of sabotaging others... I’ll have to protect Fran.

Author's Note:

Combat methods and Titles have been added to the earlier chapters.

As for the current Status of Fran:

Name:Fran Age:12

Race:Black Cat Beastman

Job:Magic Swordsman

State:Contracted

Status: Level:25

HP: 304 MP: 215

STR:150 END:129 AGI:140

INT:95 MGC:117 DEX:108

Note:

A Grab-Bag is essentially a bag filled with a variety of objects; people’re supposed to simply reach in and grab something without knowing what’s inside. A good comparison would be Booster Packs for cards.

So, there’re two ‘Swimming’ skills here: 水泳 from the Sea Lion and 遊泳 from the Trident Shark. Because I’m simply using machines, I can’t be sure of what the difference is, but I did look into the single characters that made the two different and found that the former seems to be just plain old swimming (水 = Water), while the latter seems to be referring to the sport/game-oriented side of swimming (遊 = Play).

転移の罠. Tempting as it is, I won’t translate it as ‘Teleportation Trap’ because it’s possible that ‘Teleportation’ will simply be a stronger version of Transition. Something like a trap that teleports its victim anywhere in the world, for example.