章節 141: Steps In The Right Direction
Updating Aselina's Status only blessed her with a couple of dozen stat points worth of mana, which was far from what she needed to cast her Pýrgos Aias. It didn't even allow her to make use of its passive effect yet. However, at the very least, her training could now well and truly begin.
As Isaac was mainly instructing the raccoon girl and Quinn, Ais shot them a short glance from the distance, before smiling slightly and refocusing on her own progress. Very quietly, she muttered the words "Awaken, Tempest." and enveloped herself in a thin layer of wind. Following her beloved's instructions, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on the origin of the mana that was flowing through her body and influencing her surroundings.
Admittedly, amongst all of the ones that had gathered here, she was the one with the biggest advantage - apart from Isaac, of course. She had long since obtained the Development Ability 'Mana Cultivation - Foundation Establishment', so it was countless times easier for her to actually perceive that stagnant lake of mana within her mental layer, as well as that layer itself. She had a clear guide pointing straight towards it, making it nigh impossible for her to fail at achieving the goal that had been set. Nevertheless, it still wasn't an easy process. Many times, she hastily stopped using her Magic, Ariel, just before she lost control of it. Focusing intently on many things at once made it very easy for one to mess up, and even minute stumbles could lead to catastrophic results.
She wasn't the only one with such problems. Nearly all of those that were attending had lost control over their Magics at least once, and some even tens of times. Those that were more accustomed to the manipulation of Magic, such as Riveria, Lefiya, Titania, Alicia and Elfy, didn't have too many troubles with reining their rampaging mana back in, but especially the novices amongst them - chief of all, most of Isaac's students - were often about to experience Ignis Fatui. 'Ignis Fatuus', that was the name that this world's magical community had chosen to bestow upon the phenomenon of a mage losing control of their Mind, causing it to explode and damage the user. Thankfully, Isaac was present to resolve such issues with casual snaps of his fingers.
Snap.
A certain plant was overcome with terror every single time that this noise reached her ears, as if it was reminding her of an horrifying experience that was deeply rooted within her heart. It even made her lose control over the Magics that she was casting every now and then, resulting in more of those cursed sounds.
The source of these troubles, Isaac, didn't intend to stop either. Yes, he could have soundlessly dispelled all of those haywire Magics and he didn't actually need to disturb his favourite sofa's mind. Still, he was aware that she had been traumatized by how easily he had bullied her back during their first encounter. At that point in time, he had felt it useful to cause her such mental damage - after all, she had been an enemy - but after extorting her and succeeding in making her swear allegiance, this useful mental shackle had turned into nothing but a wasteful hindrance instead. Therefore, he had long decided to resolve this issue.
There were many ways to rid oneself of mental traumas, at least if they weren't too deep-seated. Usually, people would prefer to use the more doting ones that made the patients feel safe and secure. But in this case, Isaac decided to utilize another, harsher, one - he directly confronted Titania with her fears, over and over again.
In her brain, the Demi Spirit had long since associated the sound of the snapping of fingers with helplessness, despair, anxiety, frustration, dread and numerous other negative emotions that she had had to endure during her 'battle' with her master. These feelings resurfaced time and time again when she heard that terrifying noise, but over time, her subconscious mind would also begin to associate one other thing with it - that nothing bad actually happened to her, aside from that one first incident.
Consciously, Titania was very well aware of this already, but to mould her subconsciousness until those boatloads of emotions didn't overwhelm her any longer would take quite a bit of time. And that was exactly why Isaac was being so 'disrespectful' and made use of superfluous actions.
Noticing that one of the training areas had been ruined by a Magic, he restored it to its previous state with a mere thought, before returning most of his attention back to instructing Aselina and Quinn - not that either of them had made any progress yet.
Amongst those that had seen some improvement already was Lefiya. Her being regarded as a prodigy of Magic wasn't just unearned praise and empty words, but a fact. Although she had failed many times in locating the source of her mana, she had succeeded in tracing it back a little bit further with each try.
"Proud warriors, snipers of the forest."
Her chants rang out unabated, and her sheer persistence was praiseworthy. While she didn't usually excel at most things, and had even seen herself as nothing but a burden in the relatively recent past, even back then, she would always give her absolute best during magic practice. After gaining a huge confidence boost and significant close combat skills because of Isaac's training, she was even more devoted to standing out in the one discipline that she was truly talented in.
Smiling proudly at her protégé's display and behaviour, the occasionally observing Riveria turned her eyes back on her own progress. Needless to say, she wasn't lagging behind at all. To avoid ruining parts of this world and making more trouble for its owner, she had chosen to only chant her defense Magics - truly, such a responsible person.
Regarding the magic of the DanMachi world, there was a technique that was considered to be difficult to master, which was 'Concurrent Chanting'. This wasn't a formal Skill or anything of the sort, but rather the ability to chant Magics while on the move or in combat.
There were a few ways of achieving this. One was to simply ingrain the chants of one's Magics so deeply within one's mind that one would be capable of flawlessly reciting them in one's sleep. Of course, for those who had Magics with relatively short chants, that was quite simple to do. Another way was to train one's mind until one could split one's attention into two, and follow two trains of thought at the same time flawlessly. While that was far more difficult to do, and would seem 'pointless' to the common rabble, it opened the door to countless possibilities for those that had the capabilities and tenacity to make use of them.
Riveria and Alicia were currently the only members of the Loki Familia that had mastered Concurrent Chanting via the second method. Because of this, they had an innate advantage in achieving the goal that Isaac had set for them. Whilst both of them had yet to be successful, they found it far less demanding to progress than Lefiya, who had to put in more blood, sweat and tears to reach the same thresholds of improvement.
Due to her comparatively 'easy' time advancing, the motherly High Elf allowed herself the spare time to let her thoughts wander occasionally. Of course, the main topic of these mental notions were Isaac's revelations.
If she had been confronted with all of them directly after his arrival in her world, or via someone else, then she would have nearly fully disregarded what she had been told. Of course, she would have thought about it every so often, and might have come to the same conclusions over the years. However, because her little Ais' beloved had performed countless incredible and mind-boggling feats, ones that had honestly seemed impossible to her, all of this new information that he had told her was far easier to swallow.
In fact, she didn't even doubt the young man much, if at all - from what she had observed, he wasn't one to mislead the ones that he cared about. Or even those that were of importance to his loved ones. Hadn't he revealed what seemed to be a significant part of his secrets to her very early on? At this point, after having accepted so many otherworldly characteristics and matters about him, Riveria really didn't find it in her heart to excessively doubt him. That wouldn't change, even if what he said were to completely shatter her current perception of reality.
Shaking her head and smirking to herself, the High Elf chanted her Liv Ilusio - the first level of her defense Magic - one more time. As she had done tens of times before, a part of her thoughts followed one of the streams of mana, attempting to find its source. It had been two hours since she had started, and she honestly had no idea how much overall progress she had made. After all, while she mentally observed the mana, she couldn't successfully locate it at any particular spot in her body.
Suddenly, this half of her focus encountered something that she had never before laid eyes upon. The remaining half of her attention hastily scrapped the chant that it had been immersed in, leaving the clean up to the observing Isaac.
What stretched in front of Riveria's mental perception felt almost like another world. There was a tranquil lake of mana extending seemingly endlessly far in front of her. During her observation of the mana flow that had made its way through her body, she had often noticed this particular energy. Although it appeared to be in liquid form, it also… didn't really seem to be a liquid. Besides that, its colour was hard to describe. It didn't appear to be of any particular colour, as if all of them were absent, but it also was neither black nor white. In any case, as soon as she had mentally approached this overwhelmingly large lake full of it, she felt her perception change in a way that she found equally as puzzling to explain.
Fortunately, she recalled Isaac's chalk drawings, so she attempted to sense that mental layer that he had expounded upon, setting that lake of mana as the point of origin. This time, it felt like the fog of war had been lifted, and her mental body revealed itself to her in its full glory. Well, she couldn't actually make out its form in detail, but it seemed similar, if not identical, to her physical one. The only thing that she could observe clearly, though, was the fact that the accumulated mana was indeed situated within her chest area.
'Seems like I'll have a lot left to explore in the future.'
The smile on her lips being uncharacteristically enthusiastic, Riveria opened her eyes and looked in the direction of Isaac, who was still fruitlessly diverting most of his efforts towards Aselina and the cat boy.
Her emotional gaze couldn't escape Isaac's notice, so when he turned his head to shoot her an inquisitive look, the High Elf proudly presented her achievement.
"I've done it. I've found the lake, and I've perceived my mental layer."
Positively surprised, Isaac halted his instructions and made his way over to the mother hen to inquire about the exact steps that she had taken, as well as to present her with her next goals.
-----
Recently, an ever-growing number of adventurers and regular citizens of Orario had been talking about a certain topic, getting increasingly convinced by the righteousness of their choice. Even the original masterminds behind this phenomenon didn't need to involve themselves personally anymore, as the ball was already rolling downhill - it wouldn't stop again easily. Any further incitement of the populace was unnecessary.
The Hostess of Fertility, as a popular inn that quite a few decently well-off residents of the Labyrinth City frequented on the daily, also had that topic circulating around every so often.
"Only four more days, brothers and sisters! Then, we shall let the gods know that we won't stand for their unfair judgement!"
A slightly drunk, muscular patron slammed his jug on the table and attracted the attention of most of the ones present. While such behaviour would have earned him a few unhappy frowns or even a beating a few days ago, the sentiment that he had expressed had now already spread to the vast majority of Orario's inhabitants, so it instead pulled other drunks to his side.
"Hear! Hear! They'll torture a hero just like that, only because the villain was a deity? None of us will stand for such a thing. Am I right, everyone?"
Nodding at the scarred Amazoness' words, most of the patrons of the inn got distracted from their own conversations and paid full attention to this one instead.
"Nobody should be punished for ridding this place of evil. Else, that would simply be tyranny!"
One scholarly man's nearly heretical words even got some of the deities in the audience to agree with him. Amongst them, a handsome young man with fiery red hair decided to chime in.
"I'll join you all in your protest. My brethren have clearly made a mistake here, and it has to be rectified. There is a flaw in our current rules and laws, and now that it has been exposed, we have to change them!"
It was clear that this particular god had been living with mortals for quite a few years, and had grown closer to them as a result. He felt connected to their simple lives, and now experienced true empathy for their circumstances. Gone was the usual conceit and haughtiness that most deities would showcase whenever they descended to the Lower World.
"Most of us are a part of a familia, so we know that the deities aren't infallible, at least in their current state. Our mortal laws become outdated over time and have to be overhauled frequently, so the same thing occurring with the laws of the gods shouldn't be much of a surprise."
Yet again, that one scholarly man's insights garnered him a lot of approval, and even a free drink or two. While that hadn't been his goal, he still accepted them and showed a reserved smile.
If Isaac had been here, then he would have noticed the nine remaining members of his old supporter team sitting at one of the more remote tables. They didn't actively involve themselves in the ongoing, noisy discussion that had taken center stage, but they clearly weren't opposed to its notions.
"I assume we're all going to that protest as well, right? I know that you're all pissed about what happened."
Speaking just loud enough for his companions to hear him, Cedar leaned forward and looked at them closely, clearly personally invested as well.
"Yeah. It's a pity that our goddess couldn't protect Isaac, but if we can have a part in reducing his punishment, that'd be great."
Smiling peacefully, the towering but extremely docile Auroch nodded. He had only had a few chances to interact with that old friend of his after the end of the expedition, which was a crying shame. Although they hadn't been too close, he at the very least had felt quite disturbed when he had heard about Isaac's deeds and the fate that had accompanied them.
"Oh? Cedar, weren't you the one who was raging the most when we heard the news? You almost stormed Loki's study, remember? How is it that you're now trying to sound like that never happened?"
Interrupting the positive vibes and bringing somewhat of a playful and confrontational air with him, Bryce grinned at the still relatively stuck-up Elf.
Before the fuming Cedar could even make a move, two people had already started to brutally pinch the mischievous Cat Person's sides, causing him to flinch uncomfortably and almost let out quite the embarrassing sound.
"Shut up already. We're all in the same boat, for once. No need to ruin it."
Her expression overcast, Randi silenced him. The Boaz woman had felt particularly saddened by the news about Isaac's imprisonment. Because she had been in charge of him during the expedition, she had thought that he would at least let her know if he was going to do something so outrageously dangerous. As a reliable 'older sister', she could have helped, after all.
Well, that was what she had been convinced of at first. After thinking it over again and considering the average Level of the opponents, it did indeed make sense for her to be left out, but it still had left a bitter taste in her mouth - one which she had been trying to wash down with plenty of different drinks ever since. She had always been the overly caring type, and once someone had been left under her command, she would do her absolute best to help them resolve their troubles.
Alongside her squad leader, Claire was also glaring at the mischievous Bryce, warning him to be quiet for once. While she usually didn't mind his behaviour, and even encouraged it at times, they currently really didn't need any pointless infighting. Especially not when such a huge and rowdy crowd was gathered in their favourite inn. If anything that they did resulted in troubles for the employees, then they might even get banned from here! Obviously, that would be an utterly unacceptable outcome.
"Now, now. Let's all calm down again. I also agree that we should at least attend that protest and make our stand. Isaac was one of us, after all, and I still see him as an honorary member of this team, although he has long since surpassed us. I'm sure you all feel the same way."
Reliable and soothing as always, Orba shot a bright smile at his friends, eliciting agreement and markedly reducing the embers of conflict that had started to rear their ugly heads. Compared to Randi's oppressive and forceful handling of the matter, due to her own emotions being a little messy at the moment, his approach was far more appropriate.
"I agree, and I'll also take part. What about you, Tanzi and Kell?"
In between sipping on her drink, the one actually in charge of this whole bunch, Line, joined in as well. Usually, she was left with the duty of keeping them all in check, but during these rare retreats, she happily left everything in the hands of the squad leaders and allowed herself to relax.
"Count me in."
Not one for many words, the perpetually smiling Tanzi gave an elegant nod, while Kell only replied with a thumbs up. The dark-brown haired Pallum simply didn't feel like he had the energy for a better response, and just rested his head on the table.
Two hours later, the only ones still left in the Hostess of Fertility were its employees.
As had been the case for the last two or three days, Syr seemed to be a little distracted and lost in thought, but she still dutifully cleaned the place. Nevertheless, there was clearly something on her mind, which often caused her to smile slightly in an amused manner, as if she had figured something out, or was piecing together a particularly fun puzzle.
Suddenly, Ryuu, who had been keeping an eye on her closest friend, had an arm wrapped around her shoulder out of nowhere, causing her to stiffen up and turn her head to face the complacently grinning Chloe. Quite close by, a knowingly smiling Anya was also creeping up on her.
"That hot loverboy of yours has the whole city talking about him nowadays. Are you also going to join the protest?"
Her mischievous co-worker's words caused the quite prudish Elf to blush madly. A combination of embarrassment and indignation surfaced in her sky blue eyes.
"What do you mean with 'loverboy'!? I told you, he is nothing of the sort!"
Only even more emboldened by these words, her grin widening at this easily teased friend of hers stepping into her 'trap', Chloe came a bit closer and naughtily whispered into Ryuu's ear.
"You say that, but you even asked Mama Mia for some time off to spend time with him. You might not have directly stated that it was for this purpose, but don't think you can fool me and successfully sneak off on a secret lovey-dovey date without me knowing! Also, might I remind you, you didn't deny that he is hot."
Clearly incensed, Ryuu slapped the misbehaved cat girl's arm away and distanced herself, her ears and cheeks an even deeper shade of red. Chloe's words had reminded her of that brief moment when her - gloved - hand had been grabbed by Isaac. Although there had been not a single improper intent behind it, it was nonetheless… a touchy subject for her. It was also the only thing that could - if one did ridiculous mental gymnastics - be considered somewhat 'date'-like, which made her feel… caught. As for that last comment of her friend, it conveniently slipped her mind for the second time.
"That wasn't a date! Get your mind out of the gutter!"
Raising her eyebrows at the truly a bit exaggerated reaction, the smug expression on Chloe's face only intensified, and she snickered impishly.
"Oho~ So it seems that something 'did' happen, eh~?"
All of a sudden, her body froze. Because there was now a bit of killing intent exuding from Ryuu's piercing gaze, some nervous sweat began to trickle down Chloe's back and she hastily raised her arms to capitulate.
"Calm down, I was just kidding! I know it wasn't a date. It was related to those old enemies of yours, right? Evilus? Anyway, as Isaac got in trouble because of dealing with them, I think he doesn't deserve such a punishment. I actually just wanted to ask you if you want to attend the protest together, but felt like playing a bit of a prank."
Ryuu's angrily furrowed eyebrows relaxed a little at her friend's now-honest words, and she nodded. But just when she was about to verbally agree, the previously quiet Anya tilted her head in confusion as well as undisguised shock and poked her right cheek with her right hand's index finger.
"Huh? You really weren't on a date!?"
Her words left both Ryuu and Chloe speechless and elicited an entertained giggle out of the observing Syr's lips.
創作者的想法 
Shiro_the_Hero
Shiro_the_Hero Chloe and Isaac aren't the only ones who love teasing Ryuu, I do as well! Yes, I am guilty, I won't hide it. And before you ask: No, there won't be any actual Ryuu x Isaac, we don't do that here.
Anyway, those matters aside, I hope that you enjoyed the chapter! \o/
-----
Check out my novel series "Reincarnation Cycle's Unfortunate Bug" on Amazon:
-> https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CYHGRR8M/ <-
Support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/sh1ro
-----
Shameless self-promotion aside, I hope you have a wonderful, fantastic day!! o/
每周推薦票狀態
-- 推薦票
榜單 
-- 推薦票