CH.146 Level Up!

CH.146 Level Up!

“First things first. Paulina, you use water and earth magic, correct?” I asked my new pupil. I was already teaching Alice to use telekinesis, so adding Paulina shouldn’t be a problem.

“... yes, but does that matter?” Paulina asked.

“No, not for telekinesis. But for these it does.” I said as I pulled out two cards from collection.

Umiiruka and Gaia Power. I don’t think this is exactly necessary, but they should improve her affinity to those two attributes and make the spells of those attributes more powerful. Or perhaps easier to cast. Or more mana efficient. I’m actually not sure and she is the perfect test subject.

“I’ll install these two cards into you. They should increase your affinity with the earth and water attributes. Are you fine with that?” I asked.

“You mean... you mean you can influence someone’s attributes? Is that even possible?” Paulina asked.

“Yes it is.” Alice said. “He did it to me.”

“Alice? I did hear she learned to use magic, but I just thought her attributes came in late or were weak.” Paulina said.

“No. I only gained one because of Brian.” Alice said.

“... I see. Then Brian, would you. Please.” Paulina turned to me and asked.

“Good. Let’s do it. You should probably either stay on your knees or sit down properly. The first install can be a little intense.” I said.

“The second one is as well.” Alice commented.

“Well, at least the third isn’t as bad as the first two.” I added.

“... umm, excuse me, but what do you mean by intense?” Paulina asked. She had shifted her position and was now sitting in seiza.

“Didn’t you see the way the two of us reacted? When I install a card, a massive pulse of mana surges through your body, causing massive amounts of pleasure. And some pain as well. It can be a bit intense.” I told her. “If you want to back out, now is the time.”

“I... I ... I still want it. I want you to teach me. Even if I have to go through something like that for it, I’ll do it.” Paulina said, determination returning to her eyes.

“Good answer. Let’s do this.” I said as I walked up to her and held Gaia Power to her chest.

When I installed Mystic Plasma Zone to Alice, I thought you should not have any clothing on (or minimal clothing), but after Raregold Armor I learned that they don’t really matter. And I had confirmed it with the other installs I’d done.

“Install.”

The card in my hand glowed before entering Paulina’s chest.

“Aah.” As soon as it did, Paulina let out a sexual moan. I also saw her waver a bit, so I took a light hold of her upper body with telekinesis. If I can float her with it, I can definitely help her stay upright.

“Haa, haa.” After the install was completed, Paulina was gasping for air.

“Big sis? Are you feeling alright?” Alice asked the gasping Paulina.

“I ... I ... yes. I think I am.” She answered.

“Well, that’s good.” I said. “Are you ready for the second one?”

“... I think I need a few minutes before that.” Paulina said.

“Sure. That’s fine. Alice, shall we test out Level Up?” I asked Alice.

“Yes. Let’s.” She agreed.

I used 2 toploaders of the 6 made in CH.144 already, so I only have four more left in stock. I know I have enough cards to get more, but at the same time, four Level Ups should be more than enough. I hope. At least for the tasting phase.

(There is also level up sickness to consider.) Laura reminded me. (Anything more than 5 levels in one day, and you will get at least some symptoms. Even 4 could lead to mild symptoms.)

(Oh yeah. Thanks for the reminder.) I said back to her. I wouldn’t want to spend two days in a coma again, so perhaps I should limit Level Up use to two copies per day. Or even one, depending on the results.

Well, let’s just test it out first and make plans later.

(Laura, put a toploader on one of the Level Ups.)

(Already done, Master.) Laura answered.

(Thanks.) I said back to her as I pulled the card out of collection.

Spoiler

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I held it in my hand before activating it.

“Level Up.” I said to activate it.

After I did, I felt some power surge inside me, but compared to the installs, this is nothing.

“... Did it work?” Alice asked.

“Let me check.” I responded as I pulled open my status.

Name: Brian WoodRace: Human !Level: 40HP: 990Mana: 1180Strength: 305Defense: 525Magic: 375 Skills: Pack Opener LV.4 (unique)Telekinesis LV.1 (extra)Summoner’s Unity LV.2 (extra)Dungeon Founder (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra)Health Conscious (extra) Mana Control LV.2Shining Taunt LV.1 Water Spirit’s Blessing (Greater)Language Comprehension (humanoid)

Yeap. Seems to have worked. I leveled up twice. Mana control also leveled up. Did the card also cause that?

(No. That was your will to use telekinesis to lift a person. It required mana control at a level you didn’t have and your skill leveled up.) Laura explained.

... so that happened. Good to know.

Name: Brian WoodRace: Human !Level: 40HP: 990Mana: 1230Strength: 305Defense: 525Magic: 385 Skills: Pack Opener LV.4 (unique)Telekinesis LV.1 (extra)Summoner’s Unity LV.2 (extra)Dungeon Founder (extra)Summon Water Spirit (extra)Health Conscious (extra) Mana Control LV.3Shining Taunt LV.1 Water Spirit’s Blessing (Greater)Language Comprehension (humanoid)Name: Alice WatchmanRace: HumanLevel: 13HP: 210Mana: 810Strength: 105Defense: 135Magic: 585 Skills: Card Summoner LV.1 (extra)Magician’s Power LV.2 (extra) Dark Magic LV.2Mana Control LV.5 Magic Boost LV.3Quick Cast LV.2Fast Mana Recovery LV.3

“I see. So that’s the effect that increasing affinity has. Good to know.” Perhaps I should install Umiiruka into Lua as well. You know, so her water magic gets a power boost. Actually, perhaps just normal Umi would do that as well. But I’m not sure. And if I use Lua as a test subject, I’ll need to ask for permission first. Paulina already agreed to be a test subject, so I might try Umi on her one day.

“Does this mean I’m ready to learn telekinesis?” Paulina asked.

“No idea. But possibly. Now it's time to train for that.” I said.

“Controlling mana outside your body? Without a spell? Is that even possible?” Paulina wondered.

“It is. I can do it. A bit.” Alice said.

“Let’s just show her.” I said to Alice.

“Yes. I can start.” Alice said.

She came up to me and sent a small mana pulse from her right hand towards my left. I then caught it, took it in, let it flow through my body and sent it back from my right hand. And I have to say, with level 3 mana control, this was so much easier than before. I probably could do it entirely on my own, without Laura.

(You know you don’t have to. I’ll always help you with anything.) Laura said.

I know you will. I know.

“... what are you doing?” Paulina asked.

“A mana loop. You know what that is, right?” I told her.

“Of course, but you aren’t even touching.” Paulina said.

“Well, it wouldn’t exactly be training to move mana outside your body if we were.” I said.

“... so, you can send mana back and forth without touching?” Paulina asked.

“Yep. Come join us.” I said.

“... can I? I’m not sure I can do that.” Paulina said.

“I’m sure you’ll learn soon. It didn’t take Alice that long to figure out how to do it.” I said.

“Yes. I’ll at least try.” Paulina said.

“No. Do, or do not. There is no try.” I said to her, quoting a line from a movie.

“... what does that mean? How can I do something if I don’t try to do it?” Paulina asked.

“... Well, I’m actually not completely sure. It’s something that was said to me.” I lied. “I think it means something like, if you only try, you don’t actually think you can do it.” I explained.

“Ah. I think I get it. Then I’ll do it.” Paulina said.

I took out the two travel pelts from my fanny pack and used them as cushions for us to sit on and made a circle. Alice was on my right and Paulina on my left. I decided on this order as catching the mana pulse is more difficult than sending it, so I took the position of receiving the mana pulse from Paulina, who was new to this.

At first, we were all holding hands, but with time, I seperated my arm from Alice’s and Alice separated hers from Paulina’s.

Paulina was able to take in Alice’s, but she was hesitating in removing her hand from mine.

“You have to do it. Don’t hesitate. I’ll catch your mana for sure.” I said to Paulina. Honestly, this entire exercise was basically playing hot potato with mana.

“I’ll .... I’ll do it now.” Paulina said, aggressively pulling her hand away from mine.

I was expecting for a mana pulse to come, but nothing happened.

“... did you send it?” I asked.

“... I ... I think I did. Did you not receive it?” Paulina asked carefully.

“No, sorry. Let’s go again.”

This is how the practice continued.

“Good. I got it now.” I said after around the fifteenth time we had tried.

We had actually changed the training method a bit. I cut Alice out of our loop entirely and asked her to train with Mana instead. Paulina was surprised to see Alice summoning something and even more surprised to see a human summoned, but I told her to focus on the task at hand.

But her focus was not on the training and that is why I think it took so many tries to get the remote loop going.

“Now, let’s keep this up for a few minutes.” I said to Paulina.

While Paulina did learn how to do the remote loop, it still took her some amount of concentration. Every time she turned her head to check on Alice and Mana, the loop would be cut off. I think the fact that I was able to look at Alice and Mana while keeping the loop was also infuriating her. Of course that part took some Laura hacks on my part. Even if I can do the loop by myself, I have to focus on it.

“I think that is enough for the day.” I said, cutting off the loop.

“I ... I see. Thank you.” Paulina said.

“From now on, you should practice like that at least for a bit every day. Your first goal is to be able to do that loop with minimal concentration and minimal mana loss.” I told her. “Once you try telekinesis, there are another 100 things to focus on, so you have to be able to not focus on your mana control when you do it.”

“I ... Yes. I’ll do my best.” Paulina said.

We watched Alice sling some spells around. I also saw for the first time the new spell Alice learned before we even left Alewatch. Dark wave. I’m not exactly sure what it does as it didn’t seem to do any direct damage to the targets, so it’s probably some sort of status effect or something. Now she has met the condition that I set for her to get the black pendant, so I should probably hand it over to her.

After Alice was done, we left the training grounds.