"Um..." Ais tried to say something but she couldn't think of anything. She didn't think that they thought so lowly of her fight to the death with the Monster Rex. She also felt a little bit angry since even though she's unfeeling most of the time, she still had pride as a First-Class Adventurer that she had cultivated over the years as an Adventurer.
So when the trio, who couldn't even defeat her, harshly commented, she didn't like it and that includes Riveria too as she asked with a frown, "What do you mean?"
The three of them immediately noticed their mood and Sona immediately stepped forward, "I'm sorry if that offended you. However, that's what we truly think. Do you want to hear the rest?"
Ais and Riveria looked at each other and calmed down a little before facing them, "Please..." Ais muttered. If it was something that could help her improve, then she didn't really care about the mild rudeness.
Sona nodded and started, "Let me ask first. Is that your main weapon?" Sona pointed at her rapier.
Ais, in response, nodded.
"About your wind magic, can you control its shape?"
Ais nodded again.
"I see." Sona thought for a moment before continuing, "Then I won't take back my words that I felt frustrated seeing you fight. Even with untrained eyes, I can tell how incompatible your wind is with your fighting style."
Ais's and Riveria's eyes widened but the two of them didn't speak and just waited for Sona to finish her words.
Seeing that they are ready and willing to listen, Sona continued, "First of all, on the magic side, it seems that you don't understand your 'wind'..." Sona then stopped for a moment before taking it back, "Wait... That's not it. What I mean to say is that you don't want to change your 'wind'."
"...My 'wind'? What's wrong with it?" Ais muttered a question with a little concern appearing over her face. Riveria also became worried as she knew the origin of Ais's wind magic.
"The way you move is sharp and forceful yet your wind is blunt and gentle. Instead of frontal and rushing attacks, I think it would be better for you to stay behind and support the rest with that kind of wind. Your weapon doesn't help either. It seems like a very durable blade, but since your wind is blunt, it doesn't help that much and only works when you don't use your magic."
Aika nodded at Sona words as she added, "That's right. Even your swordsmanship was also almost fully thrown out the window as you just kept throwing yourself at the enemy using your magic by shaping it like a cone. With a rare instance that you used your wind to slash, it still just a blunt attack, just narrower. Even if our Koneko here can't match your wind magic, she can still use it better than you."
After hearing Aika's sudden cue, Koneko hurriedly put up her finger and conjured a small magic circle above it before green light and a slight disturbance was felt all around. A few seconds later, the magic circle disappeared while leaving behind the green light around her index finger. Koneko then swung her finger downwards and a small wind blade shot out from it, grazing Aika's cheeks, nicking her skin, and drawing blood from it.
"Hey! What was that for!?" Aika immediately protested.
"...You suddenly called me out. I was not prepared." Koneko replied with a deadpan face and monotone voice.
"But that doesn't mean that you should aim at me!" Aika took out a bit of her potion and wiped some of it on her face and the small wound disappeared and sighed before going back to the topic, "As you can see, Koneko here can make sharper wind blades than you. You can cut monsters with your 'wind blade' because of the amount of force you put behind your wind, but I think that's just a waste of mana or Mind."
Still not satisfied, Aika added an example, "I even know someone who could use it so well that the Barbarians that spawn en masse around here could be instantly annihilated by just using single wind magic spell that he can cast for a few seconds and he wouldn't have even used half of Mana or Mind that Riveria-san used to annihilate the very same hoard." While saying this, Aika was thinking of Kisuke, 'He can pull that off, right?'
"B-but my magic is enchanting magic. I can only use it around my body and my weapon." Ais tried to defend herself from the scathing criticisms. However, the three of them noticed that Ais didn't argue back what they thought is the most important, the fact that her wind is too 'gentle'. But since it seems that Ais didn't want to talk about it, the trio also chose not to mind it and just focused on her defense.
"Enchantment Magic? Is that what your Falna says?" Sona asked.
Ais became hesitant but still nodded at her question, 'She also has something to say about my magic being enchantment magic?' She thought. Ais is nervous as if she was standing nervously in front of a master. She didn't know why she's getting this feeling from a Level 2, but she couldn't deny this was how she's feeling right now.
"And you stopped yourself from using it in other ways than just being enchantment magic?" Sona gave a follow-up question.
"B-but it's enchantment magic..."
Sona sighed at her answer, "I can't call myself an expert in magic but I can at least tell you one thing about it." She then put on a very serious face and continued, "Magic is a phenomenon where you manipulate mana, either by yourself or with the help of outside forces, to change reality according to your will. Enchantment, Attacking, Defending or any other categories are only there to help you classify your magic and not to lock your magic in that particular classification. That's just a second-rate's mistake of misunderstanding magic. Magic is magic. It can be anything!"
Not just Ais, but also Riveria was affected by her words which essentially called them second-rate magic users. They wonder what would happen if this incident of a Level 2 telling two of the top Adventurers of Orario that they're second-rates with magic, one of them is even the so-called 'Sage of Orario.'
Seeing the weird expression Ais and Riveria were making, Aika feigned a cough to try and dispel the increasingly bizarre atmosphere, "Ahem. Although she said a lot of things, what she's simply saying is that you don't need to limit yourself because of some labels. Only those who're just familiarizing themselves with something are using labels to get started and would sometimes even use it for entirely different purposes once they've achieved mastery."
Although she was trying to lighten the atmosphere, that wasn't happening. Ais and Riveria could only maintain a blank stare with both of them thinking, 'So does that mean Enchantment Magic isn't really Enchantment Magic if you use it differently?' They only became more confused. Kisuke didn't tell Riveria anything about Magic yet despite having some chances to do so because he wanted her to hear it from someone they thought was a lot weaker than them like the trio and laugh at their struggle to understand the new outlook regarding magic.
Editors
28th00
Garan Mayers
Editors and Author's Corner:
28th00: Oh man, that's a smackdown for these system fanatic fools! How terrifying do you think Healing magic is when it's used offensively? It's pretty much Destruction Magic that the Baal's got in Dxd at that point! It sure as hell ain't support magic anymore!
Goyya: It's one of the problems of this world if compared to other worlds. They're too dependent on their stats.
Ais, Riveria, Sona, Aika, and Koneko reached the 6th Floor after two days of traveling and ignoring the monsters that got in their way.
Since they can't reveal the real size of their backpacks, Aika had to carry the drop item of the Udaeus which is a 5-meter tall black sword. The same sword that Udaeus used. Since it's a very heavy sword, Aika had to use constant body strengthening during these two days. Even with Koneko's help, she is about to deplete her Reiatsu-Ki reserves, which wasn't very much to begin with . Sona also wanted to help but she's extremely lacking in the physical department even after her level up compared to before her Falna and could only watch them.
The reason she was carrying it at all is because she heard that Ais didn't have a use for this drop item. Ais asked her if she wanted to buy it, as Aika wanted to have it as a souvenir for Kisuke, but Riveria only told them to take it as a deposit for Ais's upcoming debt.
Ais looked at Riveria and wondered about the debt she'll incur as Riveria explained to her the deal she signed with Kisuke that included the check-up he'll do on her.
When the trio heard them talk about it, they had complicated expressions and thought, 'Another set of victims?'
While they were walking through the 6th Floor they suddenly came across an unconscious Adventurer, lying on the floor of the Dungeon face down, when they turned a corner. And due to his white hair, the trio immediately guessed who this young Adventurer is, "Cranel-san?" Sona muttered as the group approached him.
Koneko turned him over and let the others inspect him. Riveria immediately diagnosed him and said, "Mind Zero."
Sona nodded at her words, "What a reckless guy."
"It's a common story. New Adventurers getting excited when they've just awakened their magic and would immediately trying it in the Dungeon without any regard to the consequences it may bring. This child is pretty lucky that we came across him before the monsters cut him limb to limb." Riveria added.
Ais only looked at the white-haired Adventurer with curiosity and wondered why no one had warned him.
Sona guessed what she was thinking and said, "It's probably because he came from a very small Familia. It's already pretty late in the evening outside the Dungeon, this guy probably couldn't wait to try his magic and came down here in secret when everyone was already asleep, so nobody was able to warn him."
After noting that nothing else is wrong with him aside from 'Mind Zero' and without waiting for anyone's instruction, Koneko grabbed Bell's right arm and started dragging him without any mercy, "...Let's go."
Everyone was a bit dumbfounded at her actions but immediately followed her thinking that this was also fine.
Once they reached the top, the giant sword that Aika is dragging caught a lot of attention, despite not having many people there. Riveria had to explain that Ais got it after defeating the Monster Rex of the 37th Floor. The Guild then offered help to deliver it for them and the group accepted it to be delivered to the Candy Shop beside the Abandoned Church.
The Guild staff became confused about why they wanted to bring it there but they still followed their instructions and worked on it properly. Koneko left the unconscious Bell to the Guild employees who're doing the night shift. They then said goodbye with each other under the lights of evening stars and moon, "Riveria-san, Ais-san. Thank you for accepting our selfishness." Sona started.
"We learned a lot during this exploration. Thank you." Aika added.
"My Ki control became a lot better after going against those monsters." Koneko also added.
Riveria shook her head, "No. It should be us that is thankful. I learned a lot and anticipate more about what Kisuke will teach me."
Ais nodded, "After some thinking, I figured that my wind really does have the freedom that I just ignored all this time because it's enchantment magic. Thank you."
Sone smiled, "Is that so? Well then. Goodnight." "Goodnight~." "...Goodnight."
"Goodnight. See you tomorrow." Riveria said.
"Goodnight..." Ais also bid her farewell.
They then separated and started walking towards opposite directions. But after just a few steps, Aika suddenly remembered something and turned around, "Ah, Ais-san. A moment please."
Riveria and Ais turned around curiously and looked towards Aika.
"I don't know what you're going through and why you're rushing things. I also don't know whether this will help you or not, but I want to pass you what Kisuke told me last time when he was training me." Aika then cleared her throat before continuing, "He said when I thought that my progress was getting slower, 'Stagnation is part of getting stronger. If your strength is stagnating, it means it's time for you to refine and understand your current strength. Just going forward forcefully will only stagnate you more in the future because of your lack of understanding.' That's all~."
Aika then turned around and tried to catch up to the still walking Sona and Koneko, "Hey! Wait for me!"
On the other hand, Riveria and Ais were frozen on the spot and had their eyes widened after hearing Aika's words, "Stagnating is part of getting stronger?" Ais muttered.
Riveria recovered and sighed, "That's the exact opposite of every Adventurers' goal. Once your basic abilities start stagnating, you should level. However, thinking about her words again, she indeed makes sense..."
Ais then turned around and started walking towards the Twilight Manor without uttering a word.
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Sona, Aika, and Koneko came back to the underground hideout and saw that aside from Hestia, everyone is still awake and is chilling in the living room, "We're back~." Aika greeted everyone with a smile.
"Welcome back." Yoruichi stood up from her seat and gave each one of them a hug, "How was it?"
"It was fun~." Aika answered.
"I learned a lot." Koneko also responded.
"I also learned a lot and understood Loki Familia... Well at least, the members that came with us." Sona added.
"I see. What do you think of them?" Yoruichi asked.
"Tiona is just a simple-minded girl. Tione, on the other hand, is also the same as long as it's about their Captain, Finn. Riveria is just like an adult looking out for everyone's well being while Ais is like a child that only knows a few things in the world... Her mindset is strange."
"Lastly, Finn Deimne. It's hard to trust him. Although he's a good person, he looks like the type of person that would only care about certain individuals. I don't like him."
Yoruichi laughed and patted her head, "That's good."
Editors:
Garan
28th00
Editors and Author's Corner:
28th00: I'm gonna find a way to hurt you if you keep messing up In/On and 's. I edit the edits so I can edit while I edit. Bell's plot armour is so thick it's scary, he's gonna get absolutely destroyed by Eina, while in immense pain from being dragged up 6 floors. Some might call that, Karma.
Goyya: Please forgive me for those mistakes! It's not much of an excuse, but I can only write these days before I sleep and that's around 11 PM to 1 AM and I have to get up around 5 AM. And Bell… His plot armor is truly OP but he won't be making much sound as he did in the canon. He'll be drowned by the Trio and Kisuke.
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