Headhunting Little Girl
"Uoryaa! Hold it you~!"
『Go-gokeeeeeee!!』
There's a little girl running around chasing a chicken in a prairie.
You'd think it was the scene of a rural country kid playing with her pet chicken at a glance.
...If not for the bloodied knife the little girl is holding and all the headless chicken corpses strewn across the field that is.
Hello, good morning.
Currently Reina is doing her leveling and training routine.
She's gotten completely used to fighting multiple chicken magic beasts at once, she can even lop their heads off while picking her nose. Scary...
Ah, she caught up to the last chicken and parted its head from its body. RIP.
"I got it!"
The chicken's head that is. Splatter.
"Just a little bit more till your Job Change. Once that's done, we can take you deeper into the prairie areas, Reina."
"The next area is inhabited by magic beasts over level 10, it's on a whole different level, literally. Make sure you stay alert."
"D-do I already have to fight such strong magic beasts, and I've only just gotten used to real combat..."
"No worries, it's far easier than a mock battle with me or Alma... You'd die if you let up though."
"What's not to worry about that!"
Frankly, seeing Reina's moves, I'm sure she can easily handle magic beasts over level 10 even before her Job Change.
But it can be dangerous if she gets too lax so I'll leave her worry be.
"Hm, you should reach Lv10 after one or two more beasts."
"I'm finally leaving my apprenticeship days behind."
"It's not finally. Reina's pace is unusually, or more like abnormally quick. It took me nearly a year for my first Job Change..."
"It's all thanks to Energy Control and the sparring matches with you two~. Kajikawa-san also transported all the magic beasts here so I didn't have to waste time looking for them."
"You're pretty much my equal in Energy Control now... And what about Mana Control?"
"Uuu... I'm still learning..."
"Well, you are battle ready enough with Energy Control alone but adding Mana Control to the mix's gonna make you even stronger and versatile. I won't urge you to learn it asap but you may want to image training using them both at least."
"Y-yessire."
Reina had an awkward look as she replied.
Well Mana Control requires a more delicate control than Energy Control after all. It'll be a while till she can use it in combat.
Umu, I don't believe getting her to prioritize learning practical Energy Control was wrong but it ended up making her reliant to it and behind on Mana Control.
Bolstering your Attributes with Energy Control has its own depths too though even if it may looks simple.
Strengthening Attributes through energy has many elements to it, which are.
1: The amount of energy consumed
2: The scope of power up
3: How high should you boost your attributes
4: How long should it last
Those are roughly the gist of Energy Control.
How you juggle those in battle is the core principle of Energy Control.
Like say, consume 10 energy to boosts only your right arm by 50 attribute points and make it last 2-3 minutes.
You can rearrange that by boosting only the attributes by 200 and make it lasts for only tens of seconds instead.
Reina seems to prefer minimizing the amount and scope while explosively raising her attributes at the exact moment.
That style does have a good fuel economy allowing her to keep going for pretty long while making her toes to toes with stronger foes.
She might even be a match for magic beasts over level 20 depending on usage.
By the way, Alma doesn't seem to like direct uses of Mana Control or Energy Control.
Instead, she modifies her Skill through them which is strong in its own right and with minimal costs.
She does use Mana Search raw because she's got no Skill with a similar function to modify, but according to her, it hurts her head so she doesn't like to use it often.
I never felt pain with Mana Search though, what's the difference between me and Alma?
<<Sensing mana is normally only possible through five senses, thus the load this technique introduces to the brain surfaces up in the form of headaches. It is then translated into HP damage which persistently accumulates during its usage. The damage naturally heals itself in short terms, however continued usage may incur serious damage to the brain.>>
...I should warn her not to use it for too long later.
<<As for the reason Kajikawa Hikaru does not receive damage, it is due to his HP buffer that takes over damage to his real body, as well as damage below decimal points being considered nil, therefore the risk of this technique on him is zero.>>
You're saying minute damage like getting pricked doesn't reduce my HP huh. It's kinda convenient but also kinda unfair.
...Wait, I'm getting way off track here. Aren't I doing that often these days? Is it cause it's getting hot lately?
Now then, let's stop indulging with my thoughts and find an appropriate magic beast for Reina's Job Change.
It's doable with magic beasts around her level but that's no fun cough cough... She's gonna face stronger beasts from now on, I should bring a strong one to serve as training.
Oh, found a handy one in the green grass area. Let's go with it.
"I've brought a good stepping stone fit for your Job Change, Reina. Go on and have at it."
『Gogeeeeaaaaaa!!』
"Isn't that just another chicken! It's huge and looks really angry though!"
"Anybody would if you get kidnapped out of the blue while sleeping oh so blissfully."
"So it's you!"
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
This thing is a step up from all the chickens thus far.
The previous ones were all white while this guy has a brownish fur, is double the size and much much faster.
Lv19, it's gonna evolve in just a bit as well. Now then, how are you gonna fight a magic beast twice your level?
It might look like I'm being mean to her, but it could get dangerous if she found herself in a situation like this without my and Alma's supervision if she never had an experience fighting stronger foes.
I'm gonna intervene if things are getting out of hands. But I hope she can overcome it on her own.
『Gogyaaaaaa!!』
"Gyaa!! It's fast, too fast!! I'm boosting my Agility with Energy Control and this chicken's still faster!"
The chicken magic beast angrily chases Reina around.
Furiously headbanging and pecking all the while, must be scary. Even I think so too as a spectator. Or rather, it's gross.
Oh, she dived in the chicken's shadow. Looks like she's going for the good ol' tactic of attacking with her arms stretching out of the shadow.
...However.
Just before her dagger hit the chicken's neck, a sound of clashing metal resounded.
『Gogya!』
"Uwawa!?"
The chicken magic beast used 'Far Mana Claw' Skill ability to block Reina's attack.
Swiftly reacting to attack from its blind spot like that, this chicken's pretty dang good.
Seems like high AGI isn't the only thing it's got, add combat experience and high Perception to the pile too. Don't you look down on chickens.
『Gogyaa!? ....Gogeeeeeeee!!』
It tried to attack back but Reina quickly dived in the shadow again, enraging the chicken further.
Goge goge, this thing never shuts up does it, how isn't its throat sore?
Reina is safe inside the shadow but her MP is gradually decreasing. Only a matter of time until it dries up.
Her defeat is assured unless she comes up with something. Now then, what are you gonna do?
10 seconds elapsed and the chicken stayed alert throughout.
It never let up even for a second. I can tell that it's sharpened its senses in order to deal with attacks from any directions.
Which makes Reina's strategy a huge success.
BANG! A sound akin to a rupturing balloon echoed.
『Gogee!?』
The chicken froze up out of surprise.
That sound must be Explosion Pearl from the other day. She must have thrown it out of shadow.
Highly strung paired with sharpened senses made the chicken vulnerable to that loud sound.
Something got thrown out of the shadow toward the chicken's face during this moment.
It swiftly used Far Mana Claw to block the attack again but it was fruitless. The thrown object was in the shape of powder, slipping through the chicken's claw, hitting its face straight on.
『Gugogegyaaaaaa!!?』
The chicken shrieked out loud.
The thrown object was 'Lightning Pepper Powder' Reina bought at the grocery.
The same stuff Lolimast stuffed Vinfitt priest's nose with. Getting your face, eyes and mouth hit by that thing must be hell.
Why'd anyone sell this thing in grocery, not material stores...
As the chicken cried agonizingly, Reina slashed at it from behind, however.
"It's, so, hard...!?"
The chicken activated 'Qi Clad' just before Reina's dagger connected to its neck, bolstering its defensive Attributes.
Guess it's too much for an Iron Knife. This match would have ended if she was using the bear fang one.
Unyielding, Reina also boosted her Attributes with Energy Control but it still wouldn't work.
"Hitttttttt!!"
She also activated Swordsmanship Skill 'Mana Blade' to enhance the dagger's sharpness but that only managed to bleed the neck, nowhere enough to cut it off.
...It's a deadlock. I suppose it's still too early for her to fight a magic beast double her level.
Wait, no! The chicken's attacking back with Far Mana Claw at Reina's torso! Gotta get in there with Pseudo Ground Shrink and cover for her--.
"Dangitttt-------!!"
Blood spluttered as Reina yelled.
It's not hers, it's the chicken's neck.
She managed to cut the chicken's head off just before it counterattacked.
This girl strengthened the Mana Blade with Mana Control during that panicked scuffle...! She could never use it until this point.
She's the type that climbs over the wall when pressed to it. What is she, a protagonist of a story?
"H-hiie...! Thought I was a goner...!"
Reina muttered while tearing up on the ground.
Well, I would have made it in time to block that but I guess it was still a scary experience.
"O, ooh!? Ooooh!!"
The little girl suddenly shouted out loud in surprise.
What's up, did something descend in her head?
"What, what's with that dubious look on your face! I was just surprised because I got a Selection in my head for Job Change after leveling up!"
Whoops, my bad.
So Reina is out of apprenticeship. Finally onto the next stage.
...But man, I did all this after promising not to overwork her, she'd hate me one of these days...
Reina still managed to clear my unreasonable trials one way or another though.
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