Volume 1 - CH 8

Chapter 8 – A New Weapon

I headed towards the fields a bit away from the village, then suddenly Detect Presence picked something up.

A presence from— 

“Above, huh.”

I looked upwards and saw a massive bird swooping down on me…already!?

I quickly dodged the attack by jumping backwards, then the ground shook and a cloud of dust rose.

A few seconds later, when the dust settled, all that was left was a crater about two meters wide. The eagle-like monster had soared up in the sky again.

What speed and power…as expected of an A class. Guess I should start by appraising it.

NAME :

Mephistos Bird

LEVEL :

74

SKILLS :

Flight LV 6

Wind Magic LV 4

Accelerate LV 3

TITLES :

Charge Maniac

Okay, that’s a weird title…and what kind of skill is Accelerate?

<<Skill “Accelerate” acquired. Skill level reached 10. Skill added to Martial Unification.>>  

Once again, All Creation automatically made the skill for me, so I checked it in detail.

<Accelerate>

Uses magic power to increase speed for an instant.

I see, so this skill is what lets it fly at high speed.

The Mephistos Bird was coming down to swoop on me again.

Since I could see it, it wasn’t that scary an attack, to be honest…

I used wind magic to disrupt the air currents and the Mephistos Bird crashed in a completely different spot.

“GGGYAAAHHHHH!!!

The bird monster got up and glared at me, but the fear of being knocked down again prevented it from flying up: it rushed at me on the ground instead.

Ah, so this is what the title “Charge Maniac” means…?

I used Physical Boost to dodge the charge, kicked the monster’s chest, and sent it flying upwards a few meters.

I quickly followed by charging fireballs with an abundant dose of magic power and shooting them at the bird beast.

The fireballs landed with a boom, killing the monster on the spot and roasting it whole. The smell suggested it was cooked just right.

I opened my dimensional storage and put the falling Mephistos Bird inside before it touched the ground.

…that was easier than expected. It’s not even time for dinner yet.

I thought it would be a bit tougher to deal with…it’s really an easy mode world, isn’t it.

~

I went back to the village and found the villagers, Bacchus and the others making preparations for the banquet in the village square. The elder noticed my return and came up to me.

“Oh, you are back so soon…we heard a loud noise just now…did you have any problems?”

“Nope, I came back because the extermination is done.”

So I said as I pulled the crisp roasted Mephistos Bird out of my dimensional storage, causing the elder to go completely speechless one more time. He definitely didn’t expect me to come back so soon.

The villagers who witnessed our exchange realized that the Mephistos Bird had finally been killed and started cheering loudly.

“It’s really true…it’s really dead…!!”

“Time to celebrate!! Bring the booze!!”

“Thank you so much, adventurer, sir!!”

Villager after villager expressed their gratitude to me, so I announced the completion of my mission for all present to hear.

“The Mephistos Bird is no more!! Today we shall have a feast!”

Bacchus and the others cheered in response and the banquet preparations started in earnest.

Everyone must have been truly overjoyed, as the preparations were complete very quickly: the Mephistos Bird was cut and cooked for everyone. Bacchus even offered other ingredients for free.

Being the one responsible for eliminating the monster, the villagers brought me food as soon as it was done, so I could try all sorts of dishes and thoroughly enjoy the feast.

“You’re the one that killed the monster, you gotta eat this! Add as much sauce as you like. It’s even tastier that way.”

“Thanks, I will.”

I took the plate with the simply grilled meat, grabbed it with my hands, and chomped down on it.

It tastes very similar to chicken, but it’s so much juicier… I wonder what the sauce tastes like?

I tried adding the miso-like sauce the villager gave to me and enjoyed the different flavor it created.

I was thus enjoying the food when another villager approached me, carrying full glasses with his hands.

“Thank you for saving our village and even letting us have the Mephistos Bird’s meat!! Tell me of the battle or your travels, come on!”

I started chatting with the villager while drinking the glass of juice he gave me.

After a while, the elder came up to me.

“Mr. Haruto, we are really thankful. You are this village’s saviour. I know it isn’t much, but this is the reward I promised, five gold coins. Please take them.”

The elder handed me a leather satchel but I pushed it back in his hands, saying I didn’t need it.

“But, we can’t…”

“I didn’t take your request for the money…I accepted it because you told me that the Mephistos Bird tasted good. So this meat is enough reward for me.”

“That might be, but…”

“I did it on my own free will, so there is nothing for you to worry about.”

The elder was finally convinced and smiled.

“Hmm…I see. Please enjoy the feast to your heart’s content, then.”

“You bet I will!”

I smiled in return and fully enjoyed the rest of the evening.

~

We enjoyed the feast without reserve, spent the night at the village’s inn — offered to us for free, as a token of gratitude — and left the following morning, with the villagers waving goodbye.

During the journey, I let Barnar and the others take guard duty and concentrated on making a weapon for myself.

I only had the sword I had bought at the market, after all: molding a weapon by myself would have resulted in something better.

So I thought of creating a katana for me to use.

The reason why I decided on a katana, and not a normal sword, was simple: it looked cooler to me.

Since I was going to make my first weapon, though, I didn’t want to use common materials.

Thus the first thing I did was to use the iron sand I collected from the soil and mold it into a block of iron.

I then poured my magic power in the block of iron, to change its shape.

It took a lot of time to let my magic power blend well with the iron, however.

What helped me tremendously in this instance was the ability to manipulate the flow of time inside the dimensional storage.

I poured magic power in the iron block and put it into the dimensional storage for the blending process. The next step was to accelerate the time flow for the iron block so that one minute in reality corresponded to one hundred years. After one minute passed I took the block out, poured more magic power, then put it back inside.

I repeated the process until one thousand years passed inside the dimensional storage, ultimately crafting a mineral possessing magic power of incredible density. 

NAME :

Magic Iron Block

RARITY :

Legend

NOTES :

Black magic iron-rich in magic power.

Whoa, a Legend grade item…seriously…? Well, I guess no one else can create a material like this, so it might be natural…

Satisfied by the results of Appraisal, I poured all of my magic power in the Magic Iron Block and molded it into a katana.

After about 30 minutes of molding, the result was a katana with a black blade, about 75cm long.

Excited, I immediately used Appraisal on it.

NAME :

Black Katana LV 1

RARITY :

Legend

NOTES :

Katana created by Haruto. 

Can absorb defeated monsters as

experience points to evolve. 

Evolves at level 10.

Very nice, the end product is Legend grade too, good enough for me.

Though it turns out it has something like a skill level, despite being an item….

According to the notes, it absorbs experience points to level up…

Well, I’m sure I can try the absorbing thing later.

I used the leftover materials to make a scabbard and put the katana inside.

After about one more hour of travel, my Detect Presence picked up several monsters.

One of them is way bigger than the others…

I told Barnar and the others about the monsters’ approach and we prepared for battle.

The monsters that eventually appeared were 30 small green human-like monsters, all carrying clubs, and one monster with the same appearance — but double the size — armed with an axe.

Oh, could these be those monsters that come up so often in “different world” style fantasy novels? Goblins?

The first encounter with monsters that did not resemble animals, but were truly characteristic of a fantasy world, I felt my excitement rise as I cast Appraisal on them.

NAME : 

Goblin General

LEVEL : 

50

SKILLS : 

Axe Arts LV 5

Physical Boost LV 4

Leadership LV 3

Darkness Magic LV 3

NAME :

Goblin

LEVEL :

5

SKILLS :

Club Arts LV 1

“A Goblin General!? Why is there another class B monster here!? There aren’t supposed to be class B or A monsters around this road!!”

“Haruto, sorry for the trouble, but could you take care of the General?”

“Leave the smaller ones to us three!”

Barnar, Norkas, and Oorde jumped off the carriage without waiting for my reply.

“Wait, guys— ”

If you all go to fight who’s going to protect Bacchus and the others!?

I was going to tell them that when the Goblin General launched a basic grade darkness magic spell, Dark Ball, so I had to dodge it.

In the meantime, Barnar and the others had already started fighting against the Goblins.

They didn’t leave me any other choice…

I used All Creation to make a barrier skill.

<<Skill “Barrier Magic” acquired. Skill level reached 10. Skill added to Magic Unification.>>  

The barrier magic skill’s effects were like this:

<Barrier Magic>

Deploys barriers in a specified location.

Okay, so let’s put a barrier around the carriages and…

The Goblin General came closer to me and was about to swing down its axe at my head, so I had to backstep out of the way. That was a bit too close for comfort.

“Parallel Thought grants me enough leeway, but depending on the opponent I might not have enough time to dodge…”

So I whispered to myself, then heard the familiar robotic voice.

<<Skill “Accelerated Thought” acquired.>>  

…nothing surprised me anymore.

I immediately activated Accelerated Thought and the view before my eyes stopped.

More precisely, it moved little by little, but my faster thought allowed me to perceive any movement as very slow.

I guess I accelerated too much…it was hard to control, so I decided to get by with only Parallel thought for the time being.

I deactivated Accelerated Thought and countered the Dark Ball, shot at very close distance by the Goblin General, with its Light magic counterpart, Light Ball, and they both disappeared.

“…GUH?”

The Goblin General was apparently dumbfounded by the unexpected development.

I didn’t let such an opening pass me by and struck with my newly crafted katana.

<<Skill “Quickdraw Arts” acquired. Skill level reached 10. Skill added to Martial Unification.>>  

As the voice resounded in my head, I put the katana back in its sheath.

The pleasant “ka-ching” sound of the handle hitting the scabbard reached my ears and, at the same time, the Goblin General’s head slipped and fell from its neck, followed by the rest of its body collapsing.

As expected of a Legend grade item…it cut pretty well.

I might as well try the absorption ability mentioned in the Black Katana’s notes.

I drew my katana again, held it over the Goblin General’s corpse, and willed for it to absorb the monster.

As soon as I did the monster’s body started glowing in rainbow colors, then turned into particles that were assimilated by the katana’s blade.

<<Black Katana reached level 2.>>

Oh, it leveled up already.

I wanted to level it up to 10 quickly and see what happened, but I didn’t know how much time it would take. Well, there was no real reason to hurry though, so I decided to take my time and wait.

I looked in Barnar’s direction: he had noticed what I did and was walking towards me.

Barnar and his two comrades had witnessed my katana absorb the Goblin General’s corpse and seemed eager to say something, but when I grinned they just sighed and shook their heads.

“…I see you’re up to mysterious stuff as usual…and I’m sure that even if you explain we wouldn’t get it…anyway, you sure made quick work of the Goblin General too, as expected of you, I guess.”

“Yeah, I’m curious too. But I bet you could explain it with, ‘That’s Haruto for you’.”

“Norkas hit the spot, Barnar, ‘That’s Haruto for you’.”

“Norkas, Oorde…I suppose you’re right, ‘That’s Haruto for you’!”

The three adventurers firmly nodded to each other.

“Hey now, how does ‘That’s Haruto for you’ explain anything!?”

I expressed my dissatisfaction with their conclusion, but they just looked at me like I was hopeless and shook their heads. I found it kind of annoying.

At the same time, Bacchus probably confirmed the surroundings were safe and got off the carriage.

“Thanks for everything, all of you. We’re very close to Vaana, so take care of us for a little more. The food there is really good, you know.”

Hearing about the good food awaiting took all of us to cloud nine.

We departed again and were attacked by monsters a few more times, but thanks to our heightened excitement they were absolutely no match for us.

Since harvesting their parts could result in having more food money, we jumped out of the carriage as soon as we spotted any monsters and eliminated them in seconds.

~

That’s how one hour of travel passed.

Eventually, a town became visible in the distance.

“That’s the border town of Vaana!”

Bacchus happily announced that we were almost to our destination and our stomachs started grumbling.

“You were all so hungry…?”

Bacchus said while smiling wryly, so I replied forcefully while clenching my fists.

“Of course we are!! Once we get into town let’s sell the monster parts to the guild, then go stuff our stomach!!”

Barnar and the others too raised their voices after me.

“You said it, Haruto!”

“We’re gonna binge tonight!”

“Can’t wait to chow down!”

Bacchus laughed wryly in our direction.

When we reached the town gates Bacchus headed towards the entrance for merchants, as he did in Waxe.

Our turn arrived soon enough, and a gate guard approached our carriage.

“Your trader proof, please — oh, Mr. Bacchus! Those people are your escort, I suppose? Please show your identification documents.”

Bacchus sure is famous…I thought to myself as I produced my adventurer card, together with Barnar and the others.

The guard was surprised that someone as young as I was already a rank B adventurer, but let us through without problems.

Finally, we reached Vaana!