"Can I really do . . . subjugation? My spear and sword skills still have some ways to go and I still don"t know how to use magic in combat."
Seeing his lack of confidence, Ashley rebuked him in a slightly strong tone.
"What are you saying! Who defeated all those bandits? Have some confidence. Your skills improved to the level of a second-rate soldier in just one morning. Your body remembers."
Although Ray nodded to her words, inside, he truly doubted whether or not he could actually "kill" anything. After all, he was just your typical citizen. Someone who had been raised in the peaceful nation of j.a.pan.
Can I kill something living . . . it"s normal for Ashley who"s been surrounded by mercenaries since the day she was born. However, for me . . . no. I don"t want to show her a shameful appearance any longer. Let"s give it our all tomorrow.
Each finished up their meals and returned to their respective rooms.
Without anything to do after dinner, Ray lied down atop his bed and began thinking about magic.
Close combat is going to be tough. If I"m going to be using magic then I might be able to kill the monsters by pretending everything is a game . . .
He tried to recall the setting for magic.
Among the eight elements, fire, light, wind, and water, were the four elements that were easy to use for attack-based magic. If they were going to be fighting in the forest, then fire magic had the risk of spreading fires.
So it"s going to be light, wind, and water then . . . for light magic, it"s easy to imagine the light spear and light arrows I used unconsciously before. Calling to mind the laser weapons in some of those anime shows should be enough. For water, I could attack with an ice spear or cold wind. However, light spears probably have greater penetrating power than ice spears, and cold wind needs another attack that has good affinity with it . . . wind maybe . . . imagining my opponent being blown away by a strong gust is easy. Cutting up my opponent by creating vacuums and utilizing the theory of air pressure is more difficult. Strengthening my wind and using it as an air cannon also seems quite power . . . for now, let"s try to master a single element first. The light element maybe . . .
Ray also had some things on his mind concerning healing magic.
Healing magic uses the elements of water and arbor (trees/forests). For water, I could try to imagine medicine being injected into my bloodstream. Although arbor could represent life force, imagining it is difficult . . . oh, and there"s also the light element. I could imagine light stimulating my body cells. I don"t really want to stab myself to confirm these theories, but if I don"t make myself ready to use healing magic in urgent situations, then I"ll definitely be panicking when the time comes . . .
He now began to think about how he could use soil, ore, and darkness.
For soil, I could imagine things like pitfalls and walls. If I combine soil with water, I could make a swamp. I think ore can be used to reinforce my weapons and armor but this image is difficult. My current equipment probably doesn"t need the extra reinforcement, so putting off this element for later is fine. Darkness is the most worrisome element. Turning darkness into some kind of smokescreen is a possibility. However, if I do that, the previously mentioned Light Religion will likely have something to say . . .
While thinking about magic, Ray fell asleep before he knew it.
The next morning, Ray opened his eyes before sunrise. Although he had slept unexpectedly quickly last night, the stress he had for the first request today had probably contributed to that.
What time is it right now? Not having a clock sure is inconvenient. It"s still dark outside, so maybe I"ve woken up in the middle of the night? I don"t feel like sleeping anymore though . . .
Ray began to make his preparations as quietly as he could.
He used the storage magic to take out the armor he had stored away yesterday. On the item box"s list, he saw the name Nicuswestis next to his armor and also Alvumkorm next to his spear.
(TL: Nikusuu~esutisu and Arub.u.mukorunu. Feel free to give them better names in the comments.)
As expected of my equipment. They both have names . . . so, Nicuswestis means Winter Robes? And Alvumkorn means White Horn? . . . why do I even know what they mean? I want to understand the capabilities of my equipment rather than their names. However, to say nothing of parameters for offensive and defensive abilities, the item box doesn"t even mention things like their weight . . . how unintuitive . . .
While complaining about such things, he took out his armor, Nicuswestis, and put it on. Finally, he also took out Alvumkorn. Around the time when his preparations ended, the eastern sky was beginning to grow light. Seems like he didn"t actually wake up in the middle of the night.
Since there was still some time before breakfast, Ray decided to go outside and do some practice swings.
I"ll feel stressed if I don"t do anything. In order to not bother anybody, let"s do practice swings quietly at the back of the inn.
He left his room and began doing practice swings in a place close to the inn"s stable.
His movement had improved a lot compared to yesterday morning. Both his sword and spear seemed to be following the trajectories in his mind.
If possible, I want to improve my perception with some more mock battles, however, this is all I can do alone. I also want to practice some magic but I can"t really do that in a place like this . . .
At around the same time as the sun was rising, Ashley also appeared behind the inn.
"Good morning, you"re up early. Quite motivated aren"t you?"
Ray could only float a bitter smile at how low Ashley"s tension was.
"Good morning. Can"t really say I"m motivated . . . I can"t seem to calm down unless I move my body . . ."
They sparred lightly, ate breakfast, and then headed to the guild after receiving a bento.