Aibo was baffled.
Aibo mulled it over and over.
Aibo suddenly saw the light.
After several days of extensive testing, Aibo finally figured out the logic governing how Inspiration Points were obtained.
His earlier guess had only been partially correct.
The “inspiration” from creating new magic could indeed greatly increase his Inspiration Points, but that wasn’t the main reason.
At first, he’d simply been misled by the name “Inspiration Points.”
Aibo felt that renaming [Inspiration Points] to [Pleasure Points] would be far more fitting.
As long as he received positive emotional feedback and felt happy, he could gain Inspiration Points.
The happier he felt, the more Inspiration Points he obtained.
So it wasn’t that creating magic generated inspiration; rather, it was the excited, joyful mood he entered while creating magic that produced a large amount of Inspiration Points.
This guess wasn’t unfounded.
The discovery aligned with the underlying logic of this magical world—emotions are power.
This was what Makarov, the guild master and one of the Ten Wizard Saints, had told Aibo: intense emotions could unleash powerful magic, and the heart, too, was magic.
And so Aibo understood.
No wonder his Inspiration Points slowly increased even when he did nothing—it turned out he only needed to maintain a positive mindset to keep growing stronger.
Haha, this really couldn’t be better.
Life could actually be this wonderful.
When Aibo discovered the true operating logic of his cheat, the intense pleasure instantly earned him nearly a thousand Inspiration Points, once again confirming his guess.
And now, Aibo’s reserve of points was…
[Inspiration Points: 3712]
That was already enough for him to learn four lv1 magics.
But… Aibo glanced again at his signature magic…
[Telepathy Magic LV4, 5621/10000000]
Emmmm, a drop in the bucket—nowhere near enough.
Though the new discovery was exhilarating, there was still a long road ahead.
Fortunately, he was only six years old, still very young, and time was on his side.
Besides, this “point-allocation” function was never meant to be the main path to growing stronger.
Training on his own was the proper way—
[Requip Magic LV1, 1021/10000]
Lv1 Requip Magic allowed Aibo to switch clothes within a five-kilometer radius of the Requip Doll, meaning he could change outfits at will across most of Magnolia Town.
It was a very convenient ability.
Although a week had passed from first encountering the magic to casting it, he had actually spent only two days truly learning it.
His magical talent was actually quite good.
When Aibo used Requip Magic in the guild, it caused quite a “sensation.” The older men all complained that a little monster had joined the guild.
Though this convenient lifestyle magic wasn’t considered difficult, it wasn’t particularly easy to learn either.
It generally took one to two months of study, so someone like Aibo, who learned it in “a week,” was naturally seen as a genius in others’ eyes.
And once he had truly learned a magic—that is, brought it to lv1—Aibo could gain experience points by repeatedly casting it.
So leveling from lv1 to lv2 should be quite fast, without requiring Inspiration Points at all.
The stages that truly required Inspiration Points were lv0 to lv1 and lv3 onward.
The former offered the best value, while the latter required slow, painstaking effort or a breakthrough in the heat of battle.
So… Deep Blue, add points for me!
[Crush Magic lv0→LV1, 0/10000]
By the riverbank in town, at Gray’s training ground, Aibo came alone to test his newly learned magic.
Crush Magic was Gildarts’s signature magic—a super-high-level destructive magic with tremendous attack power and an extraordinarily difficult learning curve.
Aibo had studied it seriously before, but the experience bar simply wouldn’t budge, so he’d set it aside for the time being.
Now that he basically understood the principles behind his cheat and had enough Inspiration Points, there was naturally no reason to pass up such a powerful magic again.
Although he had high-level Telepathy Magic and a decent amount of magical power, he had virtually no attack capability, which made him feel very insecure—he hardly dared go anywhere.
Now that he’d learned a powerful magic, he naturally had to come out and test its effects.
“Mm, good, no one around. Let me see what this magic can do~”
Telepathy Magic had a detection effect.
At his current level, Aibo could roughly sense how far away the source of a sound was.
The nearest passerby was more than three hundred meters away—no one would come to disturb him.
Aibo stood beside the riverbank, carefully feeling out his new power.
Forcibly raising Crush Magic’s level didn’t mean Aibo had completely mastered it.
His cheat displayed an experience bar, not a proficiency level.
And without having systematically studied it, Aibo couldn’t fully understand how Crush Magic was activated or what sort of power and effects it would have.
All he had was a “feeling,” a kind of… “I reckon it works” power.
He felt he possessed the power to crush everything before him, much like when he’d first awakened Telepathy Magic—he had no idea how it worked, but somehow he could use it.
“Mm, let me test it a little first. Smash the ground… no, better to smash a wall; that should be safer…”
Actually, the riverbank wasn’t a suitable place to test magic, but Aibo was feeling rather timid and didn’t dare leave town for the forest.
So testing near the guild was better—if something really happened, he could call for the master to save him… This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
“Phew, ready… let me try the weakest power…”
Aibo took a deep breath, stood at the river’s edge facing the embankment, and let his magical power gather in his fist.
Following the feeling, the magic power would autonomously form a “magic circle”…
Then… release!
The instant his small fist swung out, Aibo sensed that something was wrong.
The magic on his fist “sucked away” the magical power inside his body, and it poured out uncontrollably.
I-I’m screwed!
“RUMBLE!!”
At the very moment Aibo realized something was wrong, Crush Magic activated successfully.
The brutally unreasonable magic directly pulverized the riverbank before him.
Cracks split the ground, as if a small earthquake had struck.
“Waaah! Master, help!!!”
Caught completely off guard, Aibo fell straight into the fissure that split open beneath his feet.
Then river water came surging in, instantly drowning him.
In his blind panic, Aibo felt himself seized by a hand as huge as a giant’s and hauled out of the water in one motion.
“Cough, cough!”
“Aibo?! What happened? Was it an attack from a dark guild??! Where’s the enemy!”
Aibo opened his eyes to find himself sitting on the palm of a giant—it was Guild Master Makarov, who had heard his telepathic cry for help and rushed over.
Seeing the master’s anxious, worried expression, Aibo guiltily averted his gaze, then looked down at the riverbank where he’d cast the magic…
The once-neat riverbank now looked as if someone had scooped out a chunk with a soup ladle.
A small pond more than ten meters long and wide had appeared where Aibo had been standing.
Fortunately, there were no houses or pedestrians along this stretch of riverbank.
Aside from the damage to the surroundings, no major harm had been done.
As Aibo breathed a sigh of relief, his soaking-wet body went completely rigid.
He guiltily looked at the master, extended a finger, and made a pinching gesture:
“Um, Master, there was no enemy. I was just testing magic, and it only caused a… tiny accident.”
Watching Guild Master Makarov’s face grow darker and darker, Aibo’s neck retracted shorter and shorter.
Even his angelically cute charm seemed to have lost its effect.
“M-Master, I think I can still argue my way out of this… This really was only an accident…”
“Ai—bo—!!”