Reinforcement Skill: Sword Wrapping Techniques
強化スキル：纏剣術
Before completely entering the cave (which could very well be a dungeon –here’s to hoping), I had to investigate the things that had caught my eyes. They did not stand out in the dark since they were riddled with vines and moss but now that I had cleaned a bit and took a closer look, the entrance was riddled with this glowing like crystals.
Since there might be value in them I carefully mined for some and investigated it. At first I thought that they are glowing gems, but their brittle structure had me calling them crystals.
Unfortunately, it hurt me when the crystal broke and leaked some particles towards me. So I am guessing these are probably crystals with MANA in them. That was probably what pained me when the particles touched me. Since they are a bit threat to my health, I only mined for some and allowed the ‘Carry to Ship’ skill bring it to the ship. It won’t be funny if I die from things I recklessly picked up.
Since the mining was just an extra benefit I decide to enter the cave or hopefully a dungeon. As to be expected it had a cave like atmosphere, I wonder if this is how it would feel like should it have many floors. Well no point in thinking about that, I should get the view as soon as I cross the bridge. For now, I should focus on how to get farther.
Upon fully entering inside, I finally encountered some monster, at first, I had another inclination to not kill or harm them since they reminded me of the insect type monsters, I have stopped fighting in the southern forest, but everything was instantly dispelled the moment they attacked me with the intent to kill.
I thought that they were just from a different colony since they are inside a dungeon, but the differences became quite evident the moment I got to analyzed them and instantly concluded that they are not like that.
For one, the monsters here have no emotions. The inhabitants in the forest attacked me out of fear, hunger or even the joy of wanting to fight me. Here the monsters just attack me as if it is their raison d'etre (reason for living). It was as if it has been dictated for them from the start to attack whoever enters this cave/dungeon.
Another would be the eyes. In the forest, the inhabitant’s eyes were clear you could very well see the slits and big irises if you observe closely making some of their emotions recognizable. However in here the monsters’ eyes seem to only glow red, you aren’t able to see any emotions through those eyes.
And lastly, when the inhabitants of the forest dies, I can dissect their bodies to collect any materials I may need for survival. In short they remain so that I can dismantle them. However here, the monsters disintegrate into particles of light after their death, which looked pretty much a game like event.
There was a slight difference with this place and those that are in the games though, I mean in this scenario, forget about not being able to dismantle you do not even get any drops from these monsters.
I feel like the dungeon in this world is similar to that of MMO games in my previous world, only it is so harsh you wouldn’t get any item drops from them. If you can’t farm from them I wonder if there are any merits in entering dungeons aside from gaining combat experience or their MAGIC CORES.
Although it is a bit sad that I cannot get any items from the monsters I’ve killed, my ultimate goal for now is to gain combat experience and as many MAGIC CORES so I should just proceed with only those thought.
Their lack of emotions made them slightly stronger in terms of pure brute strength, however the lack the tact in their offenses made them almost too easy to read. Since they are attacking me I attack in kind and obliterate them.
As an upside in them turning to particles of light, no blood gets smeared in my weapons, and so will not get grimed which would preserve them to some extent. Unless it gets crushed from their attacks I don’t have to worry about maintenance too much. (I still need to do some bare minimum maintenance though)
*****
The first floor of this dungeon seems straight forward, there is no twist or turns, you can simple keep heading straight and eventually I should be able to see the entrance to another area or perhaps a dead end.
Moving further inside the long tunnels of the cave a large open space was waiting for me, where an assortment of TEEN GREYWOLVES, TEEN WERECATS, TEEN HUNTING CATS and TEEN FOREST WOLVES lurks.
They were somehow easy to deal with though, aside from my familiarity on their tactics as I had trained with them a few times. Their movements are a bit predictable and so instantly hunted them relentlessly.
At another end of that large open space was another opening which must lead to another area. Looking closely I could make out a stairway which would mean this dungeon must stretch downwards.
There was trouble though as it was being guarded by a monster. The opening has a lone SLIME protecting it. ‘…A boss?’ I don’t think so.
In games SLIMES are often considered to be the weakest monster, I wonder how they will fare in this world.
*slice
I give it a vertical slice with my sword, but it does not disintegrate, instead it splits into two. With the scenario happening in front of me I immediately understood that I won’t be able to defeat this monster the way I normally do - meaning hacking and slashing was going to be out of the question.
While I did think the possibility of me being unable to defeat some monsters with physical attacks, I did not bother about it too much since the monsters I had encountered thus far were susceptible to my blades. But in this magical world, there should be creatures or beings that can’t be killed by the edge of the blade.
‘An Eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, and magic besting magic.’ I am guessing these SLIMES are of this category. Meaning without magic, I was not able to defeat such monsters.
Thinking that I was a disadvantage I took some steps to retreat, but as if not allowing me that getaway a few SLIMES oozed their from the nooks and cracks out the cave walls. ‘These guys are smart.’ They used a single SLIME as bait. This new enemy is really going to be a pain which is especially true for me since I am unable use anything other than weapons.
The SLIMES however were not really a great threat if you think about it from a certain perspective. I mean their movements were not fast. Even their attacks are not too life threatening all it does is gives you a slight elemental attack when it touches you. (It would be a problem if all of these SLIMES attack together though)
That must have been the reason why they have stayed in a small corner so that the prey could not do anything if they surround you. However, it is a strategy I can handle by using an AOE attack that could defeat enemies in my surroundings.
I could never kill them with the attacks I have but the SLIMES when gets damaged gets immobilized for a few seconds, in those few seconds I can easily slip pass them and be able to descend the stairs, or so I would like to do, but…
*****
When I was in the other side, I was the type to run away from problems, even though I did not want to run, I would always choose it like a default. That is why when I got teleported to this magical world, I decided to change that part of me that wants to run away and for that reason thankfully I was able to stay in that forest and somehow survived and gained a lot of experience from it.
That is why I have decided to find a way to defeat these guys here and now before going to the deeper levels. After all there might be stronger monsters that have immunity to physical attacks that are vulnerable to other attacks especially magical attacks awaiting me deeper.
So I went out of that room and head for the large area. Thankfully, the SLIMES did not seem to follow. I am guessing they are really using that small area to trap their victims. And just like that, noticing that I was no longer near them the other SLIMES entered the cracks leaving only one behind, how sly.
Now what should I do? Although I decided to find a way to defeat them, I am lost on how to deal with them. If I am able to get a few hints from my previous world’s gaming sense, then SLIMES are weak against magic… just like me… how do you do about this?
*****
In the previous world I happen to be a teacher and there is one thing I have learned from teaching for almost 3 years: ‘We are not OMNISCIENT’. There are things we know and things that we simple do not know. After all we teachers are nothing more but humans.
As a teacher when we get to a point where we are lost in our lessons, there is one thing that we do to get pass that obstacle -time to consult ‘Lunamaia-sensei’.
We research, either through books, the internet or through our colleagues. In my case I will be consulting on the knowledge left by the previous captain who happens to be a magic researcher.
In ‘The Cabinet’ that I had stored in the Detachment Room, I had placed four of her books about basic-intermediate magic as a fun way to pass time before getting to bed. It looks like I was saved because of that hobby of mine. Thus I began scanning some pages that might be a good hint.
After several minutes reading those books, a good hint that would be useful for my very predicament became apparent. Hurray for Lunamaia-sensei!
It read:
“MANA and KI are two opposing energies, yet can reside in an individual harmoniously”
These were words that caught my eyes when I flipped through the pages. If have to summarize what I have read in Lunamaia-sensei’s Magic Notes.
There seems to be two types of powers in this world: KI and MANA. Both of these powers exist internally and externally. They oppose each other and sometimes cancel each other out; however, when both are handled in a singular balance, they can coexist.
These facts gave me the needed clues to develop a skill to fend off SLIMES or any other magically weak enemies. This is by reinforcing my weapons with MANA as a form of enhancement while shielding myself using KI to against MIS.
This looks easy as the theory goes but should be relatively harder as one small mistake will send me to the grave.
But putting this off was not an option either especially if I intend to go deeper in this dungeon. So I immediately put it into practice and trained with the monsters in the open space just outside the small area where the SLIMES have used as their trap. Thankfully monsters here on the first floor re-spawned at a regular time of one hour which provided me of rest and much practice (which was very game-like by the way).
After two days developing the skill I was greeted with a telepathic greeting from Grim-chan:
‘Captain you have developed the following skills under the TECHNIQUES of a THOUSAND DEMONS WAYS.
•SWORD WRAPPING TECHNIQUE: ENMATOI YATAGARASU
•SWORD WRAPPING TECHNIQUE: SUIMATOI TSUNAMI
•SWORD WRAPPING TECHNIQUE: JIMATOI TERRA FIRMA
•SWORD WRAPPING TECHNIQUE: FUUMATOI HAYATE
•SWORD WRAPPING TECHNIQUE: RAIMATOI INAZUMA
I succeeded in creating a Reinforcement Skill which I had aptly named MATOIKENJUTSU (Sword Wrapping Technique) series. The concept itself was not relatively new to me, it was really just like KENKI, but instead of wrapping the sword with KI, it is done with MANA.
The process goes like this: First I layer myself with KI as protection (against MIS) then absorb Elemental MANA from the surroundings to layer on my weapons.
On the first day I had a problem as to where to summon the elements. Once I started by draw some from myself, but it looks like suicidal, so I stopped halfway through.
Then I remembered some insects in the southern area of the forest called the FRAYGRAs, they are like big dragonfly insects that spit elemental juice as part of their defense mechanism. They were troublesome to opponents since their swarms had multiple elements. Thinking about them is when another epiphany hit me. I don’t really need to draw them from myself, what if I draw it from the enemies instead?
Using that principle I then formulated the MATOIKENJUTSU Skill and it would be the basis for defeating enemies that can only be defeated by MANA.
However, I still needed another skill to make this work for my favor.
*****
Drawing MANA from the enemy was a good method to gain the needed Elemental MANA for my MATOIKENJUTSU. However, would you be able to defeat a fire monster by using fire element that you have gathered from them?
The answer is plain as day –NO.
Thankful there was another lesson I learned from reading Lunamaia-sensei’s Notes which became vital for my new skill. An advanced magic called MANA ELEMENTAL CONVERSION.
As the name suggests this is a magic that converts Elemental Magic to its opposite element. This not only converts mine but also the MANA in my surroundings. The good thing about this magic is that although it is advanced magic (something Lunamaia-sensei personally created) conveniently enough just requires a small amount of MANA to use, which means I will not be getting killed by using it.
With this, I can defeat any elemental enemies I would encounter for a slight chip in my health. I guess an equivalent trade is necessary for this one.
To sum my new skill up: while there is no threat when using the MATIOKENJUTSU in general, the MANA ELEMENTAL CONVERSION magic slightly damages me which makes the overall skill somewhat a double edge sword.
But with this new skill I should be able to defeat the SLIMES guarding the entrance to next floor.
