I merged two of the original chapters. As a result, reviews for later chapters from 2020 are off by a chapter (two if you count how the prologue put the chapter numbers off by one to start with).
Chapter 60: Continued Training
We hurried to the throne room where the queen was waiting with Ren and Itsuki's parties who hadn't hurried and arrived just ahead of us. Fool was also present off to the side, but wearing almost no clothes. I assumed it was part of one of the queen's punishments for him and tried to ignore it.
"Now that all of you have arrived, I'm afraid I have some bad news. It seems that sometime after leaving the port town the prisoners from the other world managed to escape." Most of the people were surprised by this news, and a few subtly glanced at Therese.
"How did this happen?" (Itsuki)
"The knights that were guarding them were incapacitated but unharmed, so they were able to give an account. However, their testimony of the incident gives some reason for concern. They said that the man, L'Arc, managed to splash the contents of a vial on the woman, Glass, who was then able to break out of her restraints and defeat them all. We are still waiting for the remains of the vial to be examined so that we might find out what it contained, but this is rather alarming news."
"How were they being restrained anyways? The scythe guy literally managed to cut a wave boss in two and Glass was able to one-shot a Soul Eater." (Ren)
"From what we had been told," the queen eyed Therese, "they are only that powerful during the waves. The restraints we had them in should have been far more than sufficient for their levels. Is there anything you might now about this?" The queen aimed her question at Therese.
"Hmmm…. It sounds like whatever was in the vial was able to massively increase Glass's spirit energy, but I've never heard of anything being able to do that. Normally it can only be regained slowly over time or in place of experience when defeating monsters."
"Spirit energy… could it be SP?" (Motoyasu)
"You think it was a soul soothing water?" (Ren)
"That might make sense." (Itsuki)
"Therese, do you know if spirit energy is the same as what heroes expend to use skills?"
"It could be, I know Glass mentioned once how her capacity for spirit energy was greatly increased by the vassal fans, but beyond that I don't really know. I'm sorry for my lack of knowledge my god."
"Can we even trust her?" (Itsuki)
"Miss Therese is under the effect of a slave crest and is unable to lie or disobey Sir Endou's orders. I have also seen that the orders given and questions asked leave no room for treachery." (Queen)
"If the people that want to kill us escaped we should make hunting them down our top priority." Ren probably just wanted to get out of training.
"I already have a team looking for them. However, as they only wish to kill the four of you and will likely only do so during a wave, our best option is for you to continue your training."
"There are dangerous people on the loose and you want us to just wait and train?" (Itsuki)
"Unless you happen to be an expert tracker, there would be little point in sending you to search for them. Continuing your training to ensure victory in the next encounter would be the better choice."
"Hey Endou, didn't you say you were good at tracking people?" (Motoyasu)
"I am, but I agree with the queen that it would be better to keep training. Besides, there's no point in wasting our time and energy trying to hunt them down when they're going to have to come to us anyways."
"The shadow saint has the right idea. Make sure you're ready for the fight rather than rush headlong into it."
"There's also the chance that they could use teleport skills, in which case they could be anywhere."
"Umm…. Actually my god, they can only go back to dragon hourglasses that they visited before. And L'Arc and I never visited any in this world."
"What do you mean?"
"Well that's just how they work. I was rather surprised to find out that your weapons allowed you to go to anywhere you've been before."
"OK, so they can't teleport to get away, but what if they try to ambush us?" (Itsuki)
"Unless you count the time L'Arc thought Mald was the shield hero *snicker* they only know that Motoyasu and I are heroes. Plus they don't have any way of finding out where we went to train and infiltrating the castle undetected would be a tall order for anyone without a lot of stealth training or a thin shadow."
"Why would he think I was the shield demon? I've never been so insulted in my life." (Mald)
"It's because your attitude matches up with the kind of person the rumors led us to believe he was. If anyone should feel insulted by that, it's god, both for being referred to in such ways and for being mistaken for someone like you." (Therese)
"How dare you?!"
"Mald, calm down. Endou, control Therese." Itsuki scowled at me.
"He's the one who asked. All she did was give an honest answer that he didn't happen to like. Now as I was saying before, it's probably safest to stay here and train as we planned. That way even if they do manage to get in, they'll have to face all of us."
"Safety in numbers… what if they try to attack during the wave?" (Ren)
"We have two weeks to prepare and decide how to handle that."
"Very well then. The heroes shall continue their training as planned. It may also be necessary to have an escort when outside the castle."
The other heroes immediately complained, pointing out how they could "handle themselves" and that L'Arc and Glass didn't know two of them. The queen relented and agreed to let them to go without escorts within the castletown as long as they had some of their party members with them.
Once we were done with that discussion it was time for dinner then magic training. Granted this only applied to those that used magic. The three morons weren't particularly fond of studying since it meant they needed to learn to read. They also thought it was better to save time and just learn from crystal balls. They were totally fine with having their magic casting party members study though. Harlot's attempts to seduce Motoyasu were at least able to get him near the books, but afterwards they just became a distraction.
An hour passed and I swapped places with my clone, then I had my shield absorb the corpses of the various monsters they killed before using my portal skill to bring Keel, Blake and Freon back. The latter of which ran to Motoyasu to tell him all about how she finally found something she could fight with. That of course became another distraction until she settled down to start studying.
I considered having Keel learn magic, but after a day of hard training he was practically dead on his feet, so I decided to hold off on that until after getting the majority of his physical training out of the way. He was sent to bathe after eating his dinner. He was already asleep when the rest of us turned in for the night.
The next day started with combat practice. For which the other heroes were once again late. Motoyasu came once Blake went to get Freon, but the rest of his girls were getting their "beauty sleep". They probably would just be standing around cheering anyways. Luckily there was a knight skilled in the ways of the spear that was able to teach the two of them the fundamentals. Motoyasu had already figured most of it out on his own, but the instruction did seem to help. Freon may not have had the experience, but she was quick to learn once Motoyasu started practicing the techniques.
About half an hour later, Ren and his party showed up. They had a diverse set of weapons and were thus split among different instructors. One thing I can say about Ren's party is that, other than the brooding teen, they are all willing to put in the effort to train. Ren himself was learning under Eclair, with Seb, Talia and Rishia, who was here as part of Itsuki's orders to train and get stronger. It was mostly Eclair showing a technique then sparring or having two of them spar using it. I think she was trying to learn what I taught those two as much as she was trying to teach them. Ren was more than a bit behind the three of them in terms of ability, but he often resorted to using a skill when he was about to lose. Rishia however was completely overwhelmed and totally unable to even come close to challenging any of them.
Blake and I continued to work with Keel, who wasn't currently wearing the kigurumi. He really was quite scrawny for how much he ate, or maybe lean might be a better word. I guess it's because of how much is needed for him to grow and the energy spent during training. I think he may be into his early teens developmentally speaking, but he was also having some pains from growing so fast. At one point I thought I heard his bones pop the same way Blake's did when she was growing.
Itsuki and the rest of his party arrived only after we took a break for breakfast, as did Motoyasu's girls. They were about as arrogant as usual, not thinking there was a need to work on their fighting techniques, thinking their battle tactics were perfect, and generally being annoying to those who were serious about training. The bow instructor tried to talk to Itsuki, but Mald said something about how he was nothing in comparison to Itsuki, who then got a bull's-eye on a target on the other side of the training grounds. This caught Blake's attention.
"So you're good at hitting things from long range too." (Blake)
"Hah! No one can match Master Itsuki's accuracy." (Mald)
Blake looked at Mald for a moment as if determining if he was even worth talking to before turning back towards Itsuki. "Do you believe the praise he gives you?"
"I'm simply the best there is." (Itsuki)
"You're good, but a shot at that distance isn't enough to claim to be the best."
"You think you could make that shot?"
"Let's see…" Blake looked at the target then pulled out a throwing knife and managed to get it to enter in the same spot Itsuki's magically formed arrow had. "Looks like I can."
"Ok, I'll admit that having accuracy at that range with a throwing knife is no easy task. How'd you learn to do that anyways?"
"Master Kousuke taught me, then I got a lot of practice while hunting monsters for food. Moving targets are more difficult, even if you get their patterns down."
"You had to hunt for your food?" Itsuki seemed shocked at the very concept.
"Well, we had a lot of fruit after fixing the bioplant, but I like meat and that means hunting. Master Kousuke also said something about a balanced diet, but I'm not really sure what that means."
Afterwards Itsuki and Blake ended up competing to see who could hit the targets from further away. Their skills were impressive by normal standards but given that I know people who can snipe with pinpoint accuracy from several miles out, it seemed like a childish competition. At least it meant Itsuki was practicing if nothing else. They were standing on top of one of the walls by the time Blake ran out of knives to throw, and by then it was time to head to the mountains for energy training.
This time Keel, Blake and Freon were coming with us and Elena volunteered to stay behind since we could only transport 24 people including the four heroes. Odds are she just wanted to get out of training, not that she was likely to take it seriously if she came with us. So we teleported to the spot in the mountains and the first thing Elder Sensei had us do was meditate. Freon asked what meditating was and Keel seemed equally confused. After explaining it to them, we meditated. About half way through, that meditation was interrupted by Keel's growling stomach. He snacked on some jerky, which he then had to share with Freon, and we continued. I don't know what it is with filolials and dried meat but if someone has it, they want it.
After meditating we were once again trying to break boulders using energy. I decided to try having a clone break the boulder since Elder Sensei said that a shield hero shouldn't be able to do it. I found that manipulating the energy in a clone is very different from manipulating the energy in myself. It takes a lot of concentration and force to manipulate it in myself, but in a clone it moves with almost no resistance, which became a problem of its own. It was so easy to move that it could easily go too far and escape the clone's body, often damaging the clone's form in the process. I did manage to put a crack in the rock, but I think it was because the energy shot out of my clone like a bullet, destroying its arm in the process. That cause everyone to turn to see what happened. After that I moved to a boulder that was further away. It was unfortunately common for the clone to be destroyed in my attempts to manipulate the energy in them, forcing me to make a new one. I guess if nothing else my clones now had a suicide attack they could do, even if it did waste a lot of mana and energy. That was another thing. I started to notice that it I was expending energy each time I made a clone and when they moved. I hadn't really thought about it until after gaining the memories of the clone that was training Keel the day before, but it seems that the reason I feel fatigue from the clones is because in this world they are using my energy to move instead of mana. I could probably theorize reasons for why that is, but I doubt it would lead to anything helpful.
To everyone's surprise, Freon was the first person to be able to put a sizable crack in their boulder, closely followed by Blake. Elder Sensei looked at them and said that because they were monsters they had a natural ability to manipulate energy. After that explanation Motoyasu could be heard asking Freon how she did it. With the response being so childish and vague that it was basically useless. Strangely enough Blake confirmed its accuracy and said that it was hard to put the feeling into words. I guess it would be like trying to explain the process behind how I make clones; even I don't fully understand it.
Elder Sensei also had each of us take a break from the boulders to spar with her again. I managed something close to the "softness" she referred to before and was able to stay standing after one of her attacks without losing a chunk of energy, but it still hurt like hell. Then she spared with one of my clones. Since my clone wasn't the shield hero there wasn't much point in allowing it to be hit, so I decided to have it evade her attacks. Then when it went in to strike her, she countered by striking the hand that was striking her. The strange part was that when she sent energy in, it passed right through, destroying the arm in the process.
"Well now, that is interesting. It seems the energy in these manifestations is more than a little too soft." She then struck it in the chest, making it disperse completely.
Seb and Talia each spared with her and, while holding up better than my clone, both lost after a few strikes. Keel was still afraid of her, even after he had taken down giant dog monsters and knowing that she wasn't going to kill him. He tried using his speed, but the difference in level and experience was just too much and she out maneuvered him with ease.
The other heroes and most of their party members still couldn't take more than one hit from her before being unable to continue. There were also some who simply refused to fight her, namely Harlot and Lesty. Then there was Rishia, who was somehow able to hold her own against Elder Sensei. Sometimes she was even able to strike back, but those seemed to be reactionary and surprised her enough that she left herself open afterwards. Freon tried, but didn't have enough experience with the spear Motoyasu gave her. She didn't seem to be too fazed by the energy component of Elder Sensei's strikes though. Blake actually did pretty well. Their match got intense enough that most of the others stopped to watch. Blake even used some of the techniques that she learned from fighting Fitoria, and I had forgotten to try to learn. Well I have my hands full trying to figure out these energy techniques right now, I'll leave those for later.
After energy training, everyone went back to the castle except me, Keel, the pair of filolial queens, and Motoyasu, who wanted to see how Blake was training Freon. Training Keel went well, the local dragons were proving a good challenge for him. At the end of the day he was level 36, I think he should be able to fight them without Aura after he gets his class-up.
Freon's training didn't go quite as smoothly. Motoyasu had a habit of butting in when he thought Freon was in danger. This annoyed Blake to the point that she chewed him out about everything he did that kept Freon from becoming a better fighter. That led to Freon going after Blake for yelling at Motoyasu. And then they just started fighting each other. Luckily their shared hatred of dragons was enough to redirect their focus.
Afterwards we went back, ate dinner, and joined in on magic study… it went about the same as before. I didn't really need to study since I could already use the highest tier of magic they know of and there weren't any support spells that could match Aura. There weren't any new healing spells for me to learn either since the vast majority of healing spells were just ways to use different elements for healing, not very useful for someone without an element based affinity. I did find out that Seb and Talia's affinities were somehow wider reaching than before. Seb now had access to water and fire magic, which should have been necessary for him to use ice magic in the first place. Talia was also able to learn a large number of spells beyond illusion magic now. My best guess is that it was because of the special class-up.
Blake openly admitted that she would rather just apply mana to her attacks than go through the trouble of learning new spells. Gone are the days when she used a magical smokescreen to blind people before taking them down. I suppose it does make some sense since her magic was mostly used for disorienting opponents, but now she is fast enough that it doesn't matter and anyone fast enough to fight back would probably be able to fight through the spell or even counter it like Fitoria. Instead she ran off to play with Melty.
Day 3 of training went similar to day 2 except I tried incorporating Aura. It did make maintaining control of the energy in my clones a bit easier as well as making the results of failure more dramatic. It also made getting hit by Elder Sensei all the more painful. After that I was "asked" to cast Aura on everyone to help them get a feel for energy. With the upgrade from the staff method I was able to cover everyone with just two casts. Rishia said she felt a warmth, but I don't think anyone else noticed anything other than the stat increase. Itsuki and Ren started a rant about how OP it was and how there wasn't a need to train when we could just use Aura to boost our stats. This led to another conversation about the difference between having power and mastering that power.
Freon gave up trying to learn from Blake and Keel made it to level 40. Afterwards Keel chose to get the special class-up and things went as expected. I do find it a bit odd that Keel is fine wearing the kigurumi in public, but I doubt he cares much about his pride after everything that's happened to him. Plus Rishia wears one, so he isn't alone. Keel's class-up also reminded me to ask Therese how she got past the level cap without visiting a dragon hourglass. It turned out that the people of her world didn't have that restriction and could instead use the hourglass for a "job change" which could determine their future development in a similar manner.
Day 4 of training is when things took a turn. First Ren played hooky, later claiming that he had fulfilled his end of the bet by coming to training for three days and that his lack of results was proof that it was a waste of time. He also made claims about how all he needed was better weapons and to raise his level. Then Itsuki left in the middle of training, along with most of his party. I'm pretty sure Motoyasu would have ditched too if Elder Sensei wasn't teaching Freon, Blake, and Rishia a more advanced technique. Of course he was just watching Freon instead of trying to master energy, so he might as well have been gone. The rest of his party chose to stay back at the castle now.
On the bright side I finally managed to make a sizable crack in a boulder without damaging the clone, but I only managed it once. My ability to withstand Elder Sensei's attacks is continuing to improve as well, but my clones still can't last against her.
It turned out that the queen had anticipated the other heroes abandoning training and had arranged it so the guilds would turn them away and the border guards would block their path. So, Ren and Itsuki didn't have anything to do other than sit around all day or train with us. I suppose they could try grinding against the weak monsters in the area, but they won't amount to much compared to our levels.
Things continued like that for several days. Sometimes the others would show up, other times they wouldn't. Once they came only to hunt the dragons in the area and called it training. At least when I had Keel do it he was learning how to fight, not just playing around with a weapon. Speaking of, Keel had reached level 50 and could probably take down Ren as long as he was equipped with the kigurumi and karma dog claws.
AN: L'Arc was smart enough to make sure Endou wasn't anywhere near by before making an escape attempt. And somehow the topic of weapon teleport skills never came up during interrogation. The exact mechanics of the teleport skills are more complex than Therese described here, but it gives them the general idea.
Edit AN: I have been told that somewhere Aneko states that ice magic is an advanced type created by combining fire and water magic. I personally have not been able to find where they say this, but it makes sense given that Melty only says that her mother can use water and fire magic when she is most prominently seen using ice magic.
