Inside the living space of the store, Riveria looked around curiously and asked, "Did you came from the Far East?"
"Something like that," Kisuke answered vaguely and led Riveria to the dining area, "Please sit down. I'll prepare for lunch."
But instead of sitting down, Riveria asked, "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"You're a guest, Riveria-san. You can take it easy."
"Well, I came uninvited and you're treating me to lunch so maybe I could assist you with something."
"Thank you, but I can manage." Kisuke brought a warm tea for Riveria to help her wait.
Riveria didn't insist anymore and just sat down quietly and watched Kisuke do his work on the kitchen through the counter while sipping on her tea. And since it'll be boring and awkward to just wait in silence, Riveria initiated a conversation, "Forgive for asking, but where are your lo-... I mean the other members of your Familia?" She was about to say 'lovers' but figured that it was a bit inappropriate so she changed her question.
Kisuke didn't mind her consideration and answered honestly, "They're in the dungeon. They're aiming to reach Level 2 within a few days. Arshe-san should be with them too."
Riveria is interested in how Line joined their party and learned her magic, but she's more curious about another thing, "T-they're not yet Level 2 after that battle? How? That achievement should be enough to instantly push them to a level up."
"Because they're not yet satisfied... There's no need to level up if you can improve further at that level."
"But it'll be extremely slow and hard to gain more excelia after that. Since they were able to defeat Minotaurs, their status should be on top than others of the same level. It would be faster to just level up and gain more excelia easier."
"Riveria-san... They'll be only level 1s once and they wanted to gain every benefit they can. True, it's more efficient if they just level up as it'll really be easier that way... But you see, in considering the future, efficiency isn't always the answer. In addition, we really don't like taking the easy route if we can do better at the harder path." Kisuke then faced Riveria with a smile, "And most importantly, we don't care how others level up. We'll do what we think is best for us. Even if we take years for a single level, if that can help us in the future better, then we'll work hard for those few years."
Riveria's eyes widened hearing that. She then smiled wryly, "I'm sorry... I just realized how stupid that question was... What you said is true... One shouldn't compare oneself to others and just do their best in their field that they enjoy. And truly... Efficiency isn't about everything when getting stronger. It seems that my years of adventuring blinded me of something that should be obvious..."
"Well, I can't really blame you. With competition everywhere, you just have to get strong faster so that you won't be overtaken. And feelings of impatience due to some goals should have added to that. There are ways to get stronger faster but one should never get impatient."
"You're right... And you just reminded me of someone who's on the verge of impatience."
"Then you should immediately warn that guy... He'll only get killed faster."
"I'm always doing it... It's just that she's really too impatient to achieve her goal... And it isn't even a very good goal."
Kisuke knew that she's referring to the Sword Princess but didn't say anything about it, "Whether the goal is good or bad, it's only the person who has it can decide that."
Riveria looked at him with a dumbfounded expression, "Your words are like that of an old man who had already seen most of the world... Just how old are you?"
"Ahaha, please don't call me an old man~. I'm just a 17-year old business man~."
"..." Most of the time, Riveria feels like she's talking with a child when conversing with Kisuke, however, from time to time, it feels like she's asking advice from a senior. Shaking that out her mind, Riveria asked another thing she's curious about, "You said there are other ways to get stronger aside from leveling up..."
"Ah, about that, its- "Wait!" ", In the middle of his sentence, Riveria suddenly interrupted him, "I don't want to hear it without hearing about the price first!" She already learned from her mistakes... the hard way.
Kisuke couldn't help but chuckle thinking that he had traumatized the poor Elf of acquiring free knowledge, "You don't have to worry about that. It isn't much of a secret and you could just answer my questions in exchange."
"...No hidden charges?"
"None!"
Riveria sighed in relief, "Then please go on."
Feigning a cough, Kisuke continued, "Ehem... To tell you the other way to get stronger, let me ask you this first. It seems that all of the Adventurers that I came across are only relying on the Skills and Developmental Abilities they have to progress their technique... Why is that?"
Riveria tilted her head and rubbed her chin in contemplation, "Why you ask... Aside from relying on those, what else can you do?"
"Are you serious?" It was Kisuke's turn to be dumbfounded, 'Are they this reliant on the system? Isn't that pretty bad if you want to reach the higher levels? After all, the stats that each level provides isn't enough to fight in the higher levels.'
"...Yes... What's wrong with that?" Riveria is confused with his reaction.
"How do people practice combat?"
"Sparring and monster hunting. Either of those."
"...Are there no systematic art or school of martial arts being practice anywhere?"
"Systematic art? School of martial arts? I'm not very well versed with frontline fighters so I'm not sure..."
"Okay... I already figured it out with that answer." Kisuke wanted to do a facepalm but he's currently frying some chicken so he can't, 'So they went full practical and didn't even develop any martial arts? No... That's impossible... There should be some but it should be incredibly rare. I guess you can't defeat an Adventurer who devoted 10 years to reach a high level just with a master class martial artist who devoted his whole life to the art.
"What's wrong with it?"
"Nothing... Nothing is wrong about that... It's just that... I can't really easily explain it with words." Kisuke then looked around the room and decided to just show it to her, "I guess I have to sacrifice that cup... Please throw that cup to me." Kisuke pointed at the empty teacup in front of Riveria.
Riveria is still confused about his reaction and wanted to know what he wants to do, so without hesitation, she tossed the cup towards Kisuke.
When it's about to reach Kisuke, he raised the wooden chopstick that he's holding and as slow as possible, he cut the incoming cup into two using it before catching the broken cup with his other hand, "This is what I'm talking about! For your information, this isn't magic."
"W-what!?" Riveria couldn't believe what she just saw.
Riveria stood up and approached the counter where Kisuke placed the bisected cup to continue his cooking.
Riveria grabbed the cup and examined it carefully, "How did you do it? Is it not really magic nor skill?" She also looked towards the chopstick that Kisuke used to cut the cup and figured that nothing is special about it.
"It's a technique known as Suikawari (Watermelon Splitting). A simple sword art that focuses on cutting."
"Suikawari?" Riveria knew that if Ais, who's the best swordsman among them, did the same, she'll just smash through the cup instead of cutting it.
Kisuke didn't answer her as he didn't need to and placed the last chicken being fried on the plate he prepared and proceeded to make some soup.
Riveria sat back down and stayed quiet for a moment to think of what she just witness, "So you're saying that this isn't a skill or magic that is granted by a God's blessing?"
"Yep... It's a skill that doesn't rely on Falna... Even without it, I can still perform it..."
"Although it's possible for magic... I didn't know that it's also possible for martial arts... I didn't even know that this branch of power exists. I've read it from some books, but I thought those are just fantasies and myth..."
"Fantasies... huh... If you think that's the case, then these kinds of arts must be almost extinct if not entirely."
"But how can you use it? Although it isn't magic, if it's a technique, there should be some energy fluctuation from the Mind..."
Kisuke stayed silent and Riveria thought that that particular information already has a price and she's right. A few seconds later, Kisuke turned his head to her and said, "Say, why don't we exchange basic parameters. More specifically one of my Familia member's basic parameters with your basic parameters from Level 1 to 6."
Riveria furrowed her brows at Kisuke ridiculous offer. Why would she trade her basic parameter information from levels 1 to 6 for the basic parameter information of a rookie? However, she didn't immediately reject the idea as she knew that Kisuke's offer isn't that simple, "Is that the price?"
"Yes... And I don't think you'll regret this trade." Kisuke asked for her parameters because he wanted to estimate the strength of those in the higher echelons of Adventuring.
Riveria didn't agree immediately and contemplated silently for a few minutes. She then reached a decision and asked, "Do you have any parchment, pen, and ink I can use to write on?"
"I don't have parchment, but I do have something you can use." Kisuke then pointed at the corner of the room, "Please open that drawer and you'll see what you need."
Riveria followed Kisuke instruction and opened the table drawer in the corner of the room and found two things, "This is... paper? Such great quality... Where did you get this? And... What's this cylindrical object?" Riveria brought both of them back to the table as they're the only items in the drawer.
Kisuke did a taste test of the soup and thought that it's already enough and turned off the flame. He then took off his apron and approached Riveria to show her how it's used. Kisuke grabbed the cylindrical object and removed its cap, revealing the tip of the ballpoint pen before giving it to Riveria, "This is a pen. Use it like how you would a dip pen."
Riveria inspected pen which is very different from the feather quill pen that she knew. Moments later, she inspected enough and tried writing her name on the paper provided. She's amazed at how clean and thin the resulting ink is and even tried to touch it but it didn't even smudge, 'Did he use monster blood for this?'
However, that is not important right now and continued writing while Kisuke went back to the kitchen to prepare everything else so that they could have lunch. A few minutes later, Riveria finished writing and waited for Kisuke.
Everything is already done and all that is needed is to set the food, however, Kisuke thought that it would be a good idea to write Koneko's basic parameters first and exchange it with Riveria so that they would have something to talk about during their meal.
Kisuke wrote Koneko's parameters and gave it to Riveria and Riveria gave hers to Kisuke. She didn't know why, but she trusted Kisuke more than those who display themselves as perfect gentlemen. Maybe she preferred Kisuke's straightforward personality, although she doesn't really like his tricky side.
Kisuke read through her status and commented, "So you have more balanced parameters on lower levels while you become more and more focused on Magic parameter in your later levels."
However, Riveria didn't listen to a thing that he said and just blankly stared at Koneko's parameters, 'What's this!? It's very surprising that she went through the supposed limit of parameters but why is there a new basic parameter!? What does this mean!?'
While waiting for Riveria to arrange her thoughts and respond, Kisuke brought their meal on the table.
It was until Kisuke placed a plate and utensils in front of her that she reacted, "What's this!? This is impossible! I know all of the Adventurers only has five basic parameters! Why would someone have six!?"
Not minding her energetic reaction, Kisuke responded casually while also starting his meal, "Did you think that Mana... or this case, Magic is the only superpower in the world?"
"What do you mean?"
"Mana... Or Mind is how you call it, is the energy that gives power to Magic or most of the supernatural thing. Ki, on the other hand, is the life force itself. It's the innate power of almost all living beings has and emit. Tapping on this power also gives you strength."
"Could it be... Another power system that we aren't aware of? And the slash you did just now?"
"Correct. It used Ki... My own vitality to perform it."
"Why...? Why haven't we discovered it until now?"
Kisuke just smiled, "Hmm? Dunno~. It's probably because it's harder to detect what's already part of you as opposed to the flashy things magic could do."
Riveria then proceeded to calm herself down and started eating the food in front of her, "Thank you." Aside from shock, an unprecedented amount of excitement started to fill Riveria as a new and unknown path of knowledge opened in front of her. And aside from that, fear also started to take root on her because she got it 'too cheap' and is horrified by Kisuke's non-monetary price.
A few seconds later, she said, "My basic parameters isn't enough... Would you like to see the rest of my status?"
"Oh? Is that fine?"
"It's fine... And honestly, I would really be happy if you would take a look at it! I'm really afraid now because maybe you have hidden charges for this!" Information about the sixth basic parameter, her own status information is a cheap price to pay.
Kisuke chuckled, "Well, I'll be taking your kind offer~." And Riveria happily wrote down her magic, skills, and developmental abilities. It's a dangerous move for her, but she wanted to gain some trust from him as she needed him to teach her more than just about the sixth parameter.
But before she could finish writing, Kisuke perked up his head and smiled, "Looks like I have some more guest today~."
Riveria looked at him curiously and a few seconds later, a voice she's familiar with came calling from outside, "Excuse me~! Anyone in there?"
If you like this work, consider supporting it here:
pat reon.com/goyya00
90 Advance Chapters available~.
Thank you very much~.
También te puede interesar
Comentario de párrafo
¡La función de comentarios de párrafo ya está en la Web! Mueva el mouse sobre cualquier párrafo y haga clic en el icono para agregar su comentario.
Además, siempre puedes desactivarlo en Ajustes.
ENTIENDO