Chapter 81

Summary of the previous episode ------------------------------------------------------

At Aera's shop, I invited Tommy to have lunch.

It seems the Inspire Source has been completed, and today's special is tonkatsu.

After finishing eating, I asked Tommy about muscle enhancement.

"Muscle enhancement, huh? I do have it at level 2, but..."

Tommy tilted his head in confusion.

"To be honest, I don't really understand it myself. I just chose it during character creation."

Yeah, I wouldn't know either if someone asked me about the principle of "Detection." It makes sense that you wouldn't know.

"Answer to the best of your ability. We hypothesized that the 'Muscle Enhancement' skill is maintained by magic power. What do you think?"

"Indeed... If you think about it, it's strange for muscle strength to double or triple while the muscle fibers remain the same size. The idea that magic power is assisting it isn't unreasonable."

"Right? Tommy, do you think you use magic power for it?"

Toya leaned in slightly, full of expectation, but Tommy shook his head.

"To be honest, I don't know. I can't use magic, so I don't even understand what magic power is. It would be nice if I could see my magic power status, but..."

"Have you ever felt your strength decrease when you run out of magic power?"

"My strength does decrease when I get tired, but I can't tell if it's because I've run out of magic power or just because I'm tired..."

"I see, you don't know."

"Yeah."

Hearing this, we fell into thought.

Tommy is right; using strength also causes physical fatigue, so it's hard to tell if the skill stops working due to a lack of magic power.

If we, as magic users, could use "Muscle Enhancement," we might have a better understanding of magic power, but...

Perhaps the only way is to have Yuki copy it? The question is whether Tommy can "teach" it.

"By the way, I can use 'Iron Wall,' right?"

"Huh?"

As we were racking our brains, Tommy suddenly remembered and said this.

"Thinking about it, isn't this also strange? My skin isn't that hard, yet I become less likely to take damage."

"So, 'Iron Wall' might also be enhancing your skin with magic power, like 'Muscle Enhancement'?"

"Yes. It's impossible for a weapon to pierce something soft, right?"

This is similar to what happens when a character's level increases.

Looking at Haruka and the others, they seemed to have reached the same conclusion and were nodding in agreement.

"Tommy, do you know that when you defeat many monsters, your body gets stronger, and attacks that would normally pierce you no longer do so?"

"No, I've never heard of that. It sounds like 'Iron Wall'?"

"Yes. We call it 'character level' for convenience, but this phenomenon is common knowledge in this world. However, the cause is unknown. Some people think it's because 'magic power enhances the body.'"

"Is 'Iron Wall' based on the same principle?"

"Maybe."

Given the mysterious phenomena like character levels, it wouldn't be surprising if Tommy's use of 'Iron Wall' or 'Muscle Enhancement' wasn't considered strange.

If not, a person who can't be pierced by a blade would be terrifying.

"But, can't we test 'Iron Wall'? If we hit you with the same force repeatedly, you'll take damage when your magic power runs out—"

Yuki suggested this with a cruel smile, but Tommy's eyes widened and he shook his head frantically.

"What!? Yuki, even if you don't take damage, it still hurts a bit! And you'll take damage in the end, right?"

"Don't worry, Haruka can heal you!"

Yuki smiled and said, "So, it's fine, right?" Haruka then tapped Yuki on the head to stop her.

"It's not that simple. I'm sorry, Tommy. Don't worry, we won't ask you to do that."

"Okay."

"But, in exchange—"

Tommy sighed in relief but then looked a bit wary at Haruka's next words.

"No, it's not a difficult task. I want Yuki to learn 'Muscle Enhancement,' and if possible, 'Iron Wall' as well."

"Well... if I can, I don't mind teaching, but I'm not sure how to do it..."

"I don't think it's that difficult. Yuki has 'Skill Copy.'"

"Skill Copy?!"

Tommy looked at Yuki in disbelief, and Yuki proudly puffed out her chest.

"Ha ha ha, that's right! I'm a landmine! Not to brag, but without Natsuki, I would have been stuck!"

"Don't be proud of that!"

I couldn't help but point that out.

"No, no, I'm proud of my best friend Natsuki! Natsuki, rabu~n"

Natsuki, saying "Okay, okay," patted Yuki, who was hugging her.

"Well, with Yuki, I think it won't be too difficult to teach. In fact, even if the teaching is a bit casual, as long as the skill is taught, it can be learned."

"Is that so? I understand. As long as there's no guarantee that it can be learned, it's fine."

"Of course, that's fine."

The skill itself is quite vague in how it's taught.

We don't intend to make unreasonable demands to force someone to learn it.

"However, I have work, so I can't spend much time on it."

"That's why I suggest you move to our inn, the Drowsy Bear Inn?"

"Yes. I have a bit of leeway now, so I plan to move soon. Did you ask Toya?"

"Yes. We'll cover the cost of a week's stay, including meals, so can you teach Yuki in the evenings after work?"

"Well... you don't have to go to such lengths, but I don't mind teaching. It's a considerable amount, isn't it?"

"It's fine for one person. Everyone agrees."

Haruka said this and looked at us, and we all nodded in agreement.

To be honest, if we can learn 'Muscle Enhancement' and 'Iron Wall,' a few gold coins are a small price to pay.

Even if we don't learn them, it's not a significant loss to help a friend.

"Is that so? Then, I'll accept."

Tommy looked at our faces, nodded, and bowed.

◇ ◇ ◇

Tommy moved out of his old place and into the Drowsy Bear Inn that same day.

Gantz's shop seems to close when it gets dark, so Tommy was already at the inn by the time it was slightly dark.

Since he doesn't live in, his work ends when his shift is over, and he rarely has to do any additional tasks afterward.

His pay isn't very high, but he can save a little while staying at this inn, and it's not as bad as the poor working conditions Yuki and the others had in Saarstadt.

Still, it took him some time to move because he wanted to pay back the 3 gold coins he borrowed as soon as possible and was willing to endure the poor conditions.

He started teaching Yuki that same night, but his teaching method was a bit vague.

We listened in, but phrases like "push hard" and "with a 'hun!' sound" didn't help much.

It would be almost impossible for us to learn 'Muscle Enhancement' and 'Iron Wall' from this explanation.

The only hope is that Yuki, who has 'Skill Copy,' can learn it...

I'm quite worried. Given that the skill is hard to teach, it's difficult to ask Tommy to explain it more clearly.

Yuki is doing her best to follow the instructions, but will it work out?

However, 'Skill Copy' proved to be great.

On the first day, Yuki successfully activated 'Muscle Enhancement' and 'Iron Wall,' leaving Tommy speechless.

Maybe we should call 'Skill Copy' 'Skill Copy' teacher instead of 'Skill Copy' landmine. It's quite environment-dependent, though.

So, we gathered in our room to celebrate Yuki's achievement. Unfortunately, Tommy, who has to work early tomorrow, was excluded and returned to his room, looking a bit unsatisfied. The night is early, but the morning is early in this world.

"So, Yuki, how does it feel? Are you using magic power?"

"Hmm, let me see..."

Yuki, who had been thinking with her arms crossed, suddenly stood up and picked up Natsuki, who was sitting next to her, in a princess carry.

The sight of the petite Yuki easily carrying Natsuki felt a bit off.

"What, what's this?"

"Just testing..."

Despite Natsuki's surprise, Yuki closed her eyes, twisted her neck, and even started doing squats. Indeed, the effect of 'Muscle Enhancement' was evident.

"...Yeah. I'm using magic power. But it's not like I'm releasing it; it feels more like it's circulating. I can feel a slight leakage, so if I keep it up, I might run out of magic power, but it should be fine as long as I don't use magic."

Yuki nodded in agreement and finally put Natsuki down. Natsuki, sighing and saying "Oh!" sat back on the bed, her face slightly flushed, perhaps from embarrassment.

However, circulating magic power, huh.

It's much clearer than Tommy's "push hard." "Push hard" might be better advice than "Google it." —No, that's not true. You'd only get some half-baked information from a Q&A site, yeah.

"Can someone like me, who can't use magic, do it?"

"I think so, since Tommy can. But I don't know if you'll run out of magic power because I don't know how much you have."

"Toya, you should start with practicing how to grasp magic power. Is 'Iron Wall' similar?"

"Hmm..."

When I asked, Yuki crossed her arms again and looked around the room.

"Let's try a random attack—"

Before Yuki could finish, Natsuki quickly reacted.

"Oh, an attack? Leave it to me."

Natsuki stood up from the bed, grabbed the spear leaning against the wall, and drew it out.

She pointed the tip at Yuki and smiled.

"Are you ready?"

"Stop, stop! No, no, no! No tip needed!"

Yuki frantically waved her hands and backed up against the wall.

The spear Natsuki grabbed is a cheap one I've been using recently, but it can easily kill a boar. With Natsuki's 'Spear Mastery' level 4, it might even take down an orc.

"Is that so? If you try hard, you might instantly reach level 2 in 'Iron Wall.'"

"Too risky!"

"By the way, my 'Light Magic' recently reached level 2."

"Ready to stab!? Help!"

"Don't worry, Yuki. I'm level 3, so I'm fine."

"That's a relief, but not that way!"

"I won't aim for dangerous spots. Here I go!"

Natsuki, crouching and readying her spear, and Yuki, shaking her head, made me wonder if I should stop this.

"Wait!!"

As Yuki closed her eyes tightly, Natsuki spun the spear, pointed the butt at Yuki, and swept her feet out from under her.

"Kyaa! Whoa!"

Yuki lost her balance and fell on her butt.

"It's not painful, but... it was quite scary!"

Yuki opened her eyes, stopped herself from saying "It hurts," and quickly stood up, approaching Natsuki, who was smiling wryly.

"I won't let you get hurt. But you shouldn't close your eyes."

"I wouldn't close my eyes against a monster! ...Probably."

"Really? Even if a blade is coming at you?"

"Umm..."

Yuki's voice became softer and she looked away, lacking confidence.

"Well, how was it?"

I placed a hand on Yuki's shoulder to calm her down and sat her on the bed.

If left alone, the conversation wouldn't progress.

"It wasn't painful, so it worked. It was sudden, but it felt like I was solidifying the surface of my body with magic power, rather than circulating it."

It's like coating the surface of your body with magic power, right?

"But, 'Iron Wall' was a bit different from what I imagined."

Natsuki said this, and Haruka nodded in agreement.

However, Yuki, who didn't fully understand, tilted her head.

"What do you mean?"

"Because, Yuki, you fell so easily. Even if you don't take damage, as a tank, you can't be easily knocked down."

"You'd be easily eliminated."

"Oh, I see!"

As a tank, being easily knocked down is a fatal flaw.

While Yuki's light weight and poor stance might be factors, 'Iron Wall' itself seems to only increase defense.

"If I use it, I'll need to combine it with 'Muscle Enhancement' to stand firm."

"Even if you can't, the effect of reducing damage when hit is still very useful."

Even for a backliner like Haruka, if they can withstand a hit even if blown away, their survival rate would increase significantly.

"Everyone should practice. We should do individual training and share any insights to help everyone learn."

Improving our survival rate is our top priority.

Everyone nodded seriously at Haruka's words.