Chapter 4

Holding the mana ball in his palm, he directed it at the mouse—Mouse.

Then, as he imagined the mana ball flying forward... the mana ball shot straight toward the mouse—Mouse.

The mouse—Mouse, moving at a speed like a turtle, was hit directly without even realizing the existence of the mana ball.

A few seconds later... the mouse—Mouse had turned into a magic stone.

"...I took it down."

As Kudo-san had said, a mana ball with 10 MP was enough.

I had poured in exactly the maximum amount of MP, but I didn't feel any strain at all.

It seemed that the skill was working properly, and the MP had been instantly restored.

While thinking this, I picked up the magic stone and showed it to Kudo-san.

"..."

Kudo-san's face showed surprise, and he froze for a moment.

After a while... Kudo-san asked worriedly,

"Are you... feeling okay? That was supposed to be a full-power attack..."

...Of course, the first thing he was concerned about was that.

"I'm fine. The MP has already been completely restored."

To reassure Kudo-san, I answered like that.

"...Huh!? In this instant... your MP was completely restored!?"

Then, Kudo-san, looking as if he couldn't believe it, said this while looking at me twice.

And then...

"...I see, you have a skill. I don't know what kind of skill you got that can instantly restore MP... but you're something else."

He concluded that I had a skill and continued with a look of both understanding and disbelief.

At least... it's clear that my skill works in the field.

Even though I forgot to bring a weapon, I managed to achieve results comparable to the other participants, and it seems I'll get the permit without any problems.

...The explanation and practical experience are over, so all that's left is to leave the dungeon and get the permit issued.

Thinking this, I waited for Kudo-san to announce the end of the tour.

But... the words that came out of Kudo-san's mouth were completely different from what I expected.

"Koyama. If you don't mind... would you like to try taking down another monster?"

For some reason, Kudo-san made such a proposal to me.

"...Another one? Why?"

Since I didn't understand the reason, I asked him.

"To decide which floor's clearance permit to give you."

Then, Kudo-san explained the reason.

"As you all know... the 'Guide' has the job of deciding up to which floor a beginner is allowed to clear. Normally, beginners can't clear floors beyond the 4th, so my job is essentially to issue permits up to the 3rd floor. However... if there's someone who has a chance of clearing floors beyond the 4th, things change. In such cases, we have them fight another monster to get a more accurate assessment of their strength."

And, sensing that I still didn't quite get it... Kudo-san added this explanation.

This... does this mean that I'm being expected because of the magic I showed just now?

If so... I'd like to see how far I can go myself.

"Sure."

Understanding Kudo-san's purpose, I answered like that.

"Then... let's start right away."

As soon as Kudo-san said that... he took out a stone, slightly larger than the magic stone from the mouse—Mouse, from his pocket.

"This is a magic stone from a 4th-floor monster. I'm going to use my skill to 'Force Respawn' this thing. You'll have to fight it."

Then, Kudo-san cast 'Force Respawn' on the magic stone and threw it in a direction where there were no people.

"The 4th-floor monster is called a Lesser Rock Golem. It's hard but moves slowly. It should be relatively safe, so feel free to attack it."

While receiving this explanation... the magic stone rapidly grew and took on a human-like shape made of stone.

That was probably the Lesser Rock Golem.

I stepped forward... and decided to attack it right away.

First... since it's a 4th-floor monster, I thought about firing a mana ball with four times the power of the one I used earlier.

But... as I was constructing it, I felt a sense of discomfort.

When I had poured in about 10 MP into the mana ball, I couldn't add any more magic power to it at all.

...Even though my magic power is infinite, it seems that the maximum power of each technique is limited to the maximum MP.

Thinking about it, the MP in my status is not simply "∞" but "∞/10," which means "it will be instantly restored even if used to the limit."

In any case, I have to deal with that monster with just a 10 MP mana ball.

For now, I fired the mana ball while thinking about what to do.

The idea... came together in an instant.

If I can't fire a huge one, I'll just keep firing small ones.

That's the only thing I can do right now.

I'll hit it with a barrage of mana balls, just like some M-shaped bald guy.