Variation Development

A few days until the tournament.

Rokuko and I were still going to the rocky area alone, claiming that we were doing secret training.

Well, we actually were doing secret training, so it's wasn't wrong. But we weren't doing anything bad.

"[Elemental Shot]!"

Pichuun! A hole the size of a marble opened up in the rock.

This [Elemental Shot] was a variation of [Elemental Burst] that narrowed the attack range.

The way it had been, the enemy would have died. That wasn't be good for a tournament.

So I forcefully used my imagination to narrow the attack range. It used more mana, but I was able to use the mana to adjust the power… So even though I lowered the power, I kept the mana around the same if not increased just a bit.

"With this, as long as it doesn't hit somewhere bad, they won't die."

"Probably."

Luckily, this was a world where healing magic existed, so even though it might seem like they'd bleed out from having a marble-sized hole, it wouldn't be a problem.

They'd still die if I hit a vital spot, but that was unavoidable. I'd just do my best to avoid that.

Moreover, [Elemental Shot] was Rokuko's idea. "It's better if you don't kill them, right?" was her very reasonable opinion, so she customized it so that I could use it without worrying about it being too evil.

It seemed like it turned out even more evil to me, but that's probably just my imagination. I could even fire it like a gatling gun.

"I wonder if [Elemental Flash] will be more useful? Hurry up and learn it."

"No, I understand the theory, but theoretically speaking, it's hard to pull off. Right now it only ends up as an annihilation technique."

[Elemental Flash] was to be a ranged attack that fired [Elemental Burst] around the user for a moment. This was also Rokuko's idea.

However, if I was the center of the blast, I'd naturally get caught up in it too, so the idea was to activate several thin [Elemental Burst]s surrounding me… That was Rokuko's theory, anyway…

[Elemental Burst] wasn't so easily controllable because it was a magic that made mana go berserk. Activating it thinly was difficult, so I was currently unable to reproduce Rokuko's theory.

It was no different from indiscriminately firing [Elemental Burst] in all directions. It was just a magic for killing everything around me.

For the time being, I was aiming to create a cube around me, starting with one face of the cube at a time. If I could do one face, then I could just expand it to the other five faces in front, back, left, right, and up. The bottom was the ground, so I'd ignore that… Well, I could probably still call it [Elemental Flash] even with just one face.

By the way, I planned to pass [Elemental Shot] off as something Rokuko had just pulled from a gacha so I could use it in the tournament on that pretext.

… Winning carelessly might cause me some trouble later on, but winning this tournament was the most legitimate way to get my hands on [Divine Pajamas]. The second best way would be to get them from whoever else won.

"Alright, then let's end today's secret training here."

"Okay!"

Rokuko clung to my arm as she said that.

… Since coming to the Demonlands, our relationship has gotten a lot closer… What? Are you letting loose on this trip? I'm going to get killed when I get back home, aren't I?

"Kehma, let's sleep together again today okay?"

"Your wording feels off… but sure, lay out the futon."

"Okay!"

Rokuko spread out the futon on the rock that was like a table. She said that we'd sleep together, but it wasn't for anything bad. This was so that I could use [Stone Pile] to produce orichalcum grains and faint.

If anything, this was a form of special training to increase my mana amount, or rather, my mana recovery rate. Using up all of your mana and then recovering it would strengthen your recovery.

However, sleeping outside where monsters could appear — let alone while outside town — was far too unprotected, so we'd be using Rokuko's [Divine Blanket].

As long as we were covered up by it, we could rest assured that we wouldn't be attacked by monsters in the first place.

"Come on in, Kehma."

"…"

Rokuko was sitting on the futon and wearing the [Divine Blanket] like a poncho with her arms spread wide to beckon me in.

… In order to use the [Divine Blanket] together with Rokuko, it's owner, this was what had to happen.

We wouldn't be able to stop Rokuko getting attacked while I was borrowing it if it were just me using it, so we naturally had to use the [Divine Blanket] together.

There's nothing inappropriate about it. There isn't…

"It's alright. This isn't Aidi's territory, and it's just you and me here."

"Y-Yeah…"

Unable to refuse Rokuko's invitation, I was hugged tightly by Rokuko who was wearing the [Divine Blanket].

The sense of security that comes with using the [Divine Blanket] along with being unable to refuse Rokuko's invitation… Ugh, it's the blanket's fault. It's the blanket's addictiveness that's to blame. Even if I were in the middle of scorching magma, once I was wrapped up in it, it would keep me at the proper temperature. The [Divine Blanket] is just too comfortable, that's the problem.

Anyways, I'm going to faint and fall asleep. Ei! [Stone Pile (Orichalcum Grain)]—-gufu.

 

＊ ＊ ＊

 

When I next woke up, it was evening.

Thanks to the effect of the [Divine Blanket], my mana had fully recovered. However, the inside of the blanket was so comfortable that I didn't want to leave… it was like being under a kotatsu in the winter.

As for Rokuko… oh, she was covered in drool. I cast a quick [Purify].

"Goshujin-sama, how're ya feelin'—?"

And then Ichika was looking down at us as she came to greet us.

"Nnn. Wait, Ichika… are you done with the rat race thing?"

"It's all set."

It seemed like all she had left to do was watch over its operation while were were here, meaning that she'd be free to do whatever she wanted for the most part.

"But man… sleeping in the same blanket cuddlin' like that. How passionate."

"Aah… well, we didn't do anything inappropriate, but definitely keep it a secret from Haku."

"Yeah yeah, Rokuko-sama—, wake up, it's time for dinner—"

I crawled out of the blanket. Ichika lightly patted Rokuko's cheek to wake her up.

"Nn… what's for dinner…?"

"Meat udon."

"Again? I want to eat something else for a change… The only thing that ever changes is the kind of meat… Nnn, hah, let's go back, Kehma."

Rokuko stretched and put the [Divine Blanket] away in her [Storage].

"Hey, can I come along to your special training starting tomorrow, Goshujin-sama?"

"Ah, no, that's okay. It's about time I started practicing arena combat against people for the tournament… I even got a new skill, but it's mainly just good for killing people."

Wait, that technique has too much power to be used in a mock battle with my friends. Even with recovery magic, it wouldn't be good to pierce their limbs or kill them if things went poorly.

… Well, I'll make the Cloth Golem learn martial arts for fighting people in the arena.

For now, I guess that's about it for preparing for the tournament.