To put it another way.
The route Natsuka had originally planned — leveling up first through hunting monsters — had been blocked straight off.
But still…
“It’s not like I was in a rush to go grind for levels right away, anyway.”
Natsuka actually had his own count of things in his heart.
What he was waiting for, right now, was for Ryuu to first learn of his existence, and then, through his skill, to bring him a wave of baseline affection and stat-value feedback.
Once that time came, even if he were empty-handed, taking on a few commissions up on the surface to begin with wouldn’t be all that hard.
Before that, though.
What he needed even more was knowledge.
And to keep developing [Mystery] deeper.
Three days later.
Asfi was preparing to set off back for Orario, and Natsuka went over to see her off.
After learning that Natsuka had ultimately joined the Astraea Familia, Hermes didn’t look all that surprised — instead he wore that meaningful little smile of his and handed him a business card.
“I can tell — you’re not the type who’ll settle for ordinary.
Sooner or later, you’re going to end up in Orario anyway.” Hermes’s tone was offhand, but his eyes were like they saw straight through everything.
“Keep this.
It’s a caravan I’m on good terms with.
Whenever you decide you’d like to head over, you can ask them for a ride.”
Natsuka took the card, gave it a glance, then carefully tucked it away inside his coat.
“This really is a huge help.
Thank you.”
“It’s nothing.” Hermes flashed that smile of his that just looked plain shifty no matter how you saw it.
“Next time you come to Orario, remember to come find me.
I’ll take you to see some good stuff.”
After seeing Asfi off, Natsuka headed back to the blacksmith’s shop, only to be pulled aside by Astraea the moment he stepped through the door, who quietly cautioned him.
“This time, you went and transferred over here to my place without telling Hermes ahead of time.
Though on the surface he didn’t show any reaction now, I’d estimate that later on he won’t be able to resist pulling a little prank on you.” This chapter is updated first at g.com.
Her tone remained gentle, but the reminder was very serious.
“So the next time you bump into him, it’d be better to be a bit careful.”
Natsuka froze for a beat, then fell into a contemplative look.
True enough.
The fact that he hadn’t even said a word of greeting before he’d just up and bolted from Hermes’s side over to Astraea’s — that was, more or less, rather rude.
And then there were those past moves Hermes had pulled on Bell…
Getting himself killed probably wasn’t on the table.
But taking a few losses, swallowing a few mouthfuls of frustration — those, he probably wasn’t going to escape.
“I get it.” Natsuka nodded.
“I’ll be careful.”
Only then did Astraea let out a soft little smile.
“That’s good.
Alright then, let’s keep going — today we should be able to formally test out your magic.”
That’s right.
After these three days of fumbling and practice, Natsuka had basically mastered how to use chanting to step by step convert mental energy into magic power.
Which is to say.
Right now, he could finally start truly using magic.
The two of them walked out to the back courtyard.
This place was where Cecil normally went to test her blades — the open area wasn’t all that small, and off to the side stood several wooden practice dummies.
The ground was covered in plenty of old scratches and shallow pits left from being struck — one look and you knew it usually got plenty of action.
“Go ahead.” Astraea stood off to one side, watching him quietly.
Natsuka closed his eyes and slowly mobilized his mental energy, letting his consciousness sink down.
That force gathered together bit by bit, and bit by bit was converted into magic, flowing through his body with a strange sort of warm sensation.
Right after, he began to chant.
“Cornerstone of the world, end-point of space and time, the double heavenly fate is inevitability itself, shine forth, O heroic spirits of the Myriad Heavens and Myriad Worlds, heed the call of the Descender!
Constellation of Stars, gather here!”
As the incantation fell.
The air in front of him suddenly twisted.
A spatial cavity no bigger than a thumb hummed into existence, its edges glittering with little flecks of light — as if a piece had been forcibly gouged out of reality itself. Get faster updates on novelping.com.
“That’s way too small!”
Natsuka complained while picking up a slim sword and carefully thrusting it through into the spatial gate.
The very next second, on a wooden dummy in the distance, a gash suddenly appeared out of thin air.
His eyes lit up.
He hurriedly began moving left and right, trying to see whether he could use the spatial gate itself as a cutting tool.
But after several attempts, the results weren’t exactly ideal.
“So it really won’t work, huh…”
He furrowed his brow.
“This magic itself has no direct offensive capability.
The moment an object touches the edge, it goes phantasmal, so it can’t normally produce a cutting effect.”
To put it plainly, no matter how he rubbed the outside, it was useless.
If he really wanted to hit the bullseye, he still had to line up properly on the far side of the gate.
After that, Natsuka tried pouring more mental energy in.
The spatial gate swelled out by a chunk in an instant, blowing up from thumb-width to about three fingers wide — but only for an instant, before going “poof” and outright annihilating into countless little flecks of light.
Natsuka also lurched in tandem, bending over and gasping for air in great mouthfuls, his chest heaving violently, beads of fine sweat instantly springing up at his temples.
“Just that one shot and it fizzled…
I’m way too garbage.”
Astraea, standing beside him, analyzed warmly,
“Given Natsu-chan’s current level of mental energy, this is just about your limit.
As your magic stat rises later on, the gate’s size, stability, and duration will all grow along with it.”
“Got it.”
Natsuka nodded, and first sat down to catch his breath for a moment.
____
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🔥 New history: Danmachi: Summoning Ruri Gokou, And other Chuunibyou Brats
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