Chapter 166
Chapter 166
I put the fur into subspace and moved to a place where I could move a bit more freely.
‘This should be about right.’
A vast, empty plain with nothing but grass and snow.
There were no obstacles, so this was a place where I could move a little more aggressively.
“Lapin. Try that. That thing.”
“Okay!”
Lapin replied as she put on the silk hat.
……Like that, I decided to conduct a simple experiment to properly understand Lapin’s ability.
I needed to clearly understand Lapin’s ability and grasp the required stats and growth direction.
I picked up a thin tree branch nearby.
“Alright, Lapin. From now on, I’ll swing this, so try to dodge it well.”
“Yeah! Yeah! This sounds fun!”
Lapin bounced around with an excited expression.
Whoosh-.
I swung it very lightly first.
……My fingertips cut through empty air.
She dodged it easily. But at this level, even an ordinary cadet could react.
Next, I increased the speed and swung again, but…….
“Puhahaha! Hahahaha!”
Lapin laughed as if my attack was ridiculous.
‘Then how about this.’
When I grasped the air, Shurk’s card appeared in my hand.
A Black Mask covered my face, and a dark aura settled into the tree branch I was holding.
Of course, it was still just a thin branch. It had no killing power, but…… if it hit, it would hurt a lot.
“Lapin, you really have to dodge this, okay?”
“Bring it on!”
At that signal, I drew out as much speed as possible.
But even with Shurk’s assistance, my arm only cut through the wind several times.
In contrast, Lapin vanished in an instant and reappeared right behind me.
“Ahahaha! Villed, you’re way too slow!”
I turned around to look at the laughing Lapin and froze for a moment.
‘……This is a crazy, broken ability.’
Thinking that at least one hit might land, I swung earnestly and aggressively.
“Kyahaha! That was just my afterimage, you know?”
There was still no sound of impact. Only the sound of air being torn apart echoed.
In close combat, victory or defeat is decided within just 0.1 seconds.
To be able to completely dominate that 0.1 seconds meant…….
‘It’s basically having a cheat key.’
Though I wasn’t really one to say that.
‘Anyway…… it’s an absurd ability.’
I knew that ‘time interference’ was a transcendent ability, but I never imagined it could create this much of a difference.
It was while I was swinging the branch in admiration that—
“Hey, wait! Wait, wait!”
Lapin retreated backward, hurriedly waving both hands and shaking her head.
Then she collapsed face-first onto the ground. Thump-! Along with a limp sound, the transformation was released, and she returned to her usual appearance.
“Haa, haa…….”
Lapin’s face was flushed bright red, and her breathing was extremely ragged.
“……B-breath. Villed, if I move fast, I can’t breathe.”
So that was the penalty of the ‘time interference’ ability?
According to Lapin, when she used the ability, she entered a state where breathing itself became impossible.
On top of that, with violent movements added, the oxygen in her body would be depleted in an instant.
If she overused the ability without proper control, she would end up fainting from oxygen deprivation.
Indeed, it would make no sense for an ability this powerful to have no penalty.
‘Using the ability is at most about 1 minute…… no, around 40 seconds.’
Even then, Lapin endured only because she used the ability in short bursts measured in seconds over those 40 seconds.
If she had used it continuously without interruption, the maintenance time would have been even shorter.
And after using the ability, recovery seemed to be mandatory.
It was a meaningful experiment. The conclusion came easily.
‘To properly utilize this ability, the first thing Lapin needs to develop is…….’
Cardiopulmonary endurance.
If that increased, the frequency and duration of ability usage would also rise.
‘Rather than blindly training magic or raw strength, it’s better to grow according to the traits of the spirit beasts we have.’
In a way, Lapin was similar to me.
Having entered a world of magic, yet not training magic.
“In the end, you’re just like me.”
“?”
Perhaps she had recovered somewhat. Lapin, who was sitting and resting, tilted her head as she looked at me.
……After that.
Through experimentation, I roughly grasped Lapin’s ability.
I hadn’t figured everything out yet. It was quite complex, but what I understood roughly was this.
With 1 stack of acceleration, her own speed increased dramatically, and the surroundings felt like slow motion.
With 2 stacks, everything felt about three times slower.
With 3 stacks, she became about seven times faster, and the surroundings felt almost completely stopped.
However, when I was using Shurk’s ability, it seemed that even Lapin at 3 stacks of acceleration could still see my movements. That was probably because my speed also became quite fast when borrowing Shurk’s power.
All acceleration was reflected not only in the body but also in ‘perception,’ making the surroundings feel slower.
When stacking acceleration, oxygen became critically necessary. Especially when maintaining 3 stacks, the stamina consumption was high, while the duration was extremely short.
As for 4 stacks…… it seemed she couldn’t use it yet.
I confirmed that this was a ‘time stop’-like ability, where time around her felt slowed due to stacked acceleration.
Only when the sky began to turn sunset-colored did I head back to the lodging.
Though calling it a lodging was a bit of a stretch—it was an earthen house, after all.
“You’re already asleep.”
“…….”
It was still early evening, with the sunset light spreading in gold.
Night was still far off, but perhaps because she had overused her ability, Lapin fell asleep as soon as she entered the earthen house.
I smiled lightly and quietly stepped outside.
Having checked Lapin’s ability, I wanted to look at my own stats as well.
I raised my hand into the air and opened the system window.
Riz Villed Dedencman Ludwig
Health: 24
Mana: 8
Strength: 22
Willpower: 22
Agility: 41
‘They’re my stats, but they’re pretty well trimmed…….’
By the current point in the episode’s progression, they were excellent stats. Excluding mana, they had surpassed the average stats of upper–mid-tier first-year cadets.
Of course, compared to core figures like Elined or Keirin, my main stats were still on the lower side.
‘But I’m that infamous trash build, Villed, aren’t I?’
I, who once had those miserable stats, had achieved dazzling growth in less than a year.
Moreover, when it came to agility alone, it was at a fairly high level. It was probably among the highest in the first year.
‘The higher my agility, the faster my speed gets, and the better I become at seeing the opponent’s weaknesses.’
It was the stat that suited me best, someone who possessed攻略 methods.
Was it because of my habit of quickly pulling out cards, or Shurk’s influence?
In the past, my agility had been pitiful. But at some point, it grew rapidly, and in the end, it became twice as high as my other stats.
Of course, that was only by current standards.
Just because I had become strong enough didn’t mean I’d entertain the complacent thought of slacking off on training.
Rather, it felt like I had only just stepped onto the starting line.
‘I have to stop the Witch, the Children of the Brand, Lahan’s group, the war, and defeat all the Calamities…….’
Thinking about all the other events that would happen, this was just the tip of the iceberg.
If I merely relied on my spirit beasts and became satisfied and complacent at my current level, I wouldn’t be able to solve future problems. It would be only natural for other characters to overtake a negligent me.
To prevent that, I myself had to become much stronger. I had to keep training.
……Of course, unlike other characters, for me, training through livestock shed activities was the most efficient.
‘And if I progress the episode and work a bit harder on growth…… then even strength or health should eventually surpass the main characters.’
However, there was exactly one disappointing point in my stats.
‘Mana.’
‘I’m curious about what kind of phenomenon this even is.’
At the end of my first year, my mana was overwhelmingly at the very bottom.
Even the new students who would enter next year would probably have far higher mana than me.
When I cleared farm quests or trained by hunting monsters, my stats grew little by little. Mana was the same.
After falling into this world, since mana was originally my highest stat, I had planned to scrape together my stats somehow and become a mage.
But for some reason, my mana points never increased beyond 8.
That growth being blocked…… was, naturally, a tremendous penalty, and ultimately the reason I gave up on magic.
It was fortunate that I had the ‘Animal Farm’ skill, which had no effect from mana at all.
In fact, it almost felt like a blessing that only my mana stat had hit its limit. If I hadn’t been able to grow strength or agility…… just imagining it made me dizzy.
‘Anyway, then I should learn swordsmanship instead of magic.’
In this world, pure swordsmanship clearly had its limits.
Up to the mid-point of the episode progression, swordsmen could outpace mages, but once past the midpoint, the highest ceiling belonged to mages or spellswords.
But for me, the story was completely different.
I had the potential to push my swordsmanship beyond its limits using Shurk’s ability.
However, as I was now, I still couldn’t fully utilize Shurk’s speed.
Because I hadn’t learned any proper swordsmanship yet.
‘Yeah, someday I’ll have to learn swordsmanship too…….’
Thinking that with a bit of regret, I took out ‘Ilawne’s Heart’ from subspace. Its size still felt like that of a semi-staff.
‘The number of fruits has increased.’
It looked to be around ten or so.
‘It’s growing in ways I don’t fully understand.’
Then something else came to mind at the same time.
I pointed into the air and opened the ‘Omni Shop’ of the Animal Farm.
I couldn’t clearly tell the conditions for unlocking additional shop items, but when I checked again after some time had passed, items would be released one by one.
It was easiest to think of items being added as the episode progressed.
There weren’t many items that directly affected combat, but they were extremely helpful for my daily life.
Recently, a ‘Rental’ tab had also appeared in the shop.
I pressed the button without much expectation, then blinked.
“……There is?”
A ring-shaped machine had been added.
When I clicked it, an additional hologram appeared.
Learning Machine 486 ( One-Month Rental )
Your passionate heart to protect your animal friends leads to high concentration and academic zeal!
You can learn anything well!
I rubbed my chin as I read the description.
‘You can learn well, huh…….’
There was no detailed explanation of how much learning efficiency increased, but the items in the Omni Shop always showed astonishing performance.
This one was probably a significant item as well.
“Can Lapin use this, by any chance?”
Only the Animal Farm owner can use it!
As if responding to me, a system message appeared.
Even if Lapin was related to the Animal Farm, she wasn’t the farm owner.
In the end, it was an item only for me.
“So then, how much is this?”
The problem was the price.
30,000P
“…….”
I was left speechless.
At the academy, I was operating a livestock shed, a pond, and a sea farm. And on the island planned for sale, a forest farm.
No particular quests appeared on the island farm, and the points obtained there so far varied, but averaged around 100P per day.
I had steadily saved up, rented equipment to create spirit beast duplicates during the festival, and even purchased a memory device, leaving me with…….
Less than half the amount needed to rent the learning device.
“Not even close.”
As I replied with a hollow laugh, pink-colored text sparkled into view.
Of course, it’s an item that’s nowhere near something you can buy~!
Sometimes, the system responded like this, as if it had a will of its own.
“……Are you mocking me or what?”
As I answered while staring at the system, a rainbow-colored hologram filled my vision, and the sound of a fanfare rang out.
Pa-pa-pam-!
For the poor you, a heart-pounding special event begins!