Chapter 7

Before leaving the cave, Tō picked up the collapsed stalactite. He thought it might sell for a decent price, which is why he decided to take it.

"A decent price would be nice."

If he could make some money, his life would become more stable. No matter what Tō did from now on, stabilizing his life was the most important thing.

While throwing the stalactite into the *Ethereal Storage*, Tō thought about the strange occurrence when he slashed at Clemen and the others.

"Why did the sword pass through at that time?"

Tō tried touching the sword with his finger. The sword passed through his finger.

"Whoa!?"

Tō panicked, thinking his finger had been cut, but upon closer inspection, there wasn't a single scratch.

"…It doesn't cut humans, maybe?"

That possibility existed. If he ever had to fight humans, he needed to be careful, but he hoped to avoid such a situation.

After collecting the stalactites, Tō dredged up the memories left by Ridd and headed towards a different town, not the village. It was a town with a population of about 10,000. In such a large town, there should be a place where Tō could work.

While walking through the forest towards the town, he encountered a pack of wild dogs.

"「Grrr…」"

There were ten of them. The wild dogs, larger than Japanese dogs and covered in gray fur, bared their teeth at Tō. Despite being threatened by ten wild dogs, Tō felt no threat at all.

If he had been living in Japan, he would have definitely been scared stiff. The reason he wasn't scared now was because his *Perception* skill told him they were "just dogs" and "no problem at all."

He even felt a desire to find them cute and wanted to keep them as pets, but since they were wild dogs, it was better not to get too close, as they might carry diseases.

"Let's practice a bit."

He had allocated skills on the skill board, but there were still techniques he couldn't use properly.

He decided to use *Intimidate* with full force.

(I hope it can at least stop the wild dogs a bit.)

Tō used *Intimidate* on the pack of wild dogs. The atmosphere of the forest changed with a *thud*.

"「「「「Yip!」」」"

The wild dogs yelped in unison and fled into the forest, reacting like children who had seen a ghost.

"Whoa…"

The effect of *Intimidate* was confirmed, but Tō was disappointed.

"They didn't need to run away with all their might…"

The wild dogs didn't even touch Tō, but their fleeing deeply affected Tō's psyche, who liked small animals.

After driving away the wild dogs, Tō tried casting magic while walking. However, as expected, he didn't know how to activate it.

"Fireball!"

He tried saying a magic name, but nothing happened. His voice echoed in the forest.

"……"

Embarrassed, Tō squatted and held his head for a moment.

"Well, I don't know anything about magic, so it's not surprising I failed! …But how do you activate it? Usually, it's said that you need to feel the flow of mana or imagine something…"

Recalling the fantasy stories he had seen in Japan, Tō tried to find the mana-like force circulating in his body. But he felt nothing.

"Umm?"

Since it's called "magic," there must be a correct way to do it. He tried various methods, but in the end, Tō couldn't use magic.

It would be best to be able to do it on his own, but if he couldn't, there was nothing he could do.

"I'll have to ask someone who seems to know… Before that, though…"

Just to be safe, Tō manifested the skill board to confirm that he hadn't forgotten to allocate points to *Magic*.

"Huh, my level has gone up quite a bit."

○ Status

Tōru Minasaki

Level: 8 → 15

Race: Human, Class: Swordsman, Subclass: Mage

Rank: I, Skill Points: 70 → 290

His level had increased by seven.

"It didn't go up just from driving away the wild dogs… I probably got a lot of experience from the cave collapse and killing those worms… Oh, wait? The skill points have increased a lot! Why?"

The skill points obtained up to level 8 were 10 points per level. However, from there, the points increased by 220, which is about 31 points per level, a very awkward number.

"The increase in points doesn't seem to follow a pattern. Maybe there are other conditions for obtaining them?"

He thought for a while but couldn't come up with a clear reason.

"Umm, well, it doesn't matter."

It was pointless to keep thinking about something he couldn't figure out. He decided to think positively that he had luckily obtained an important power for his survival.

On a whim, Tō swung the *Magic Sword*. The large tree it touched moved silently and fell.

The vibration from the tree falling resonated through the forest, and birds startled by the sound flew up into the sky.

"Trees can be cut normally. Maybe it's just humans that can't be cut?"

Perhaps the sword's performance was too high, and a restriction was placed to prevent it from easily taking human lives. Tō was convinced of this.

Still, he needed to further investigate what could and couldn't be cut. If an enemy's attack passed through during a close combat, it could be life-threatening.

"Still, the best thing would be to avoid such a situation."

As a precaution, Tō cut down a large tree. If it cut the first time but not the second, it would be a big problem.

After thoroughly checking the *Magic Sword* and moving the fallen tree to the side, Tō walked out of the forest, satisfied.

After Tō left, a mysterious space appeared in the forest, large enough to build four houses. At the edge of this space, the large tree Tō had cut down was neatly piled up.

Whether it was a prank by a lumberjack or a secret government project, anyone who entered the forest and saw this space would be puzzled, but that was a story for another day.

When Tō emerged from the forest, he saw a wide grassland and a path that had been trodden down in the middle.

"That must be a road. What's the name of the nearest town? Winris… no, Kinris…?"

He tried to recall the memories left in his brain, but the name of the town was vague. Ridd had never visited the town, so the memory was hazy.

However, he remembered the road clearly. Tō followed the road based on Ridd's memory.

"I wonder what kind of town it is."

What kind of streets, what kind of food, and what kind of people… Imagining the town he had never seen, Tō's steps naturally became lighter.

As he walked down the road, Tō sensed a killing intent from ahead.

Looking closely, he saw a large number of small figures near the road, by the forest. Seeing their shapes, Ridd's memories whispered in unison.

"Enemy" "Weakest" "Run away"

"Hmm?"

Ridd's memories were too fragmented, making it difficult for Tō to make a judgment.

If they were enemies and the weakest, it would be best to defeat them. But the word "run away" also appeared. Fight or run?

While he was thinking, Tō's eyes caught sight of a human figure.

A human, dressed in armor, was surrounded by the "enemy" group.

"――!!"

The moment he saw this, the option to run away disappeared from Tō's mind.

Tō ran towards the group with all his might, moving faster than he had ever felt before.

The scenery blurred as it quickly flowed behind him.

As he got closer to the group, the "enemies" became clearly visible.

The "enemies" were about one meter tall, thin, and had green skin. They looked human but had ugly faces, and it was clear they were not human.

They were not wearing anything but had weapons in their hands, indicating they had a certain level of intelligence.

The "enemies" surrounding the human raised their clubs.

There was no time to waste. Tō quickly manifested the *Magic Sword* and roared.

"Roar!!!"

He poured all his *Intimidate* into the roar. The "enemies" froze, and some even fainted, rolling their eyes.

Ignoring this, Tō swung the *Magic Sword* with all his might.