I Am in Need of Strength

It’s been a while since I’ve actually sat down and read something.

I mean, really read something. Not just skim through the material as I’ve done with [Rulebook] so far.

After settling into my tent for the night, I stared up at the dark beige canopy. Right now, the only people outside were Lucrezia and Priya who were taking the night watch.

[Eagle Eye] told me as much.

[Rulebook].

A familiar screen popped up in front of me, its faint glow illuminating nothing but itself. The light didn’t touch the sides of the tent. It was a light that was only for me.

I wasn’t going to be able to understand any of the complicated formulas that [Complete Analysis] threw at me whenever inspecting some of the more dubious terminology, so I needed to focus on the semantics instead.

Just as before, levels were gained by accumulating experience, and the stronger the foe was, the more experience you would gain.

That had been my initial interpretation.

In reality, the wording in the rulebook specified that the opponent only needed to be challenging. The more challenging it was, the more experience I would gain.

That was something I had realized while I was going through the rulebook when looking for ways to power up the others.

Now, the only problem was getting a way to create that difficulty.

I had already considered restraining myself or simply holding back and only using magic. I’d amassed a rather respectable mana pool while on our journey, but I rarely actually used magic.

As a result, my [Pyromancy] skill was still dismally low, and all my previously gained levels had gone into my stats instead of getting actual skills.

Honestly, it was kind of amazing that I’d managed to get this far purely on stats alone. Even though I still retained the martial arts I knew in my previous life, I would’ve expected magic to be far more impactful, but perhaps it’s just because I haven’t met a competent caster yet.

No. There was the archbishop, wasn’t there? Though, he didn’t really use magic much, outside of Forbidden magic.

I sighed. Either way, I doubted that was going to work. I mean, even if I was actively holding back, it didn’t mean that the fight was actually difficult for me since I’d be able to use my full strength at any moment.

In fact, there was a solution, but it wasn’t one that I particularly liked nor was it accessible to me at the time.

Thanks to the new Reputation skills that I now had access to, I could now see a whole list of skills that were far less offensive than the Corruption skills that had been in their place recently.

Among this list was a skill known as [Warrior’s Trappings]. It was a pretty niche skill, but according to its description, it was popular among the hardcore battle fanatics of the eastern tribes.

The skill was rather simple. All it did was cause your stats to be lowered to 10 and your skill levels to be lowered to 1.

While this sounded like the perfect skill for my current situation (and it was, in a way), there was one big issue: the skill couldn’t be freely deactivated.

When [Warrior’s Trappings] was activated, it remained for a period of eight hours even if it would be detrimental. Apparently, that was simply part of the challenge that warriors who learned the skill undertook.

There were other ways to achieve similar effects, but they required magic items that were out of my reach for now.

During the earlier encounter with Liandra, I’d inspected her with [Complete Analysis] and found that she actually had quite a bit of useful utility skills such as crafting magic items and enchanting mundane items.

Outside of combat, she actually had a pretty flexible skillset, but I doubted that I could put her to use anytime soon.

For now, the only solution was to gain a singular level so that I could invest it into [Warrior’s Trappings]. After that, I could simply grind trash mobs until we reached the Precipice of Night. Hopefully by then, I’d be strong enough to fight that goddamn archbishop.

I couldn’t rely on the luck of another temporary powerup again.

I clenched my fists tightly.

We only had three days until we reached the Precipice of Night, according to Antenora. I’d be occupied with lugging Liandra around the whole time, so I wouldn’t have any time to fight anything but trash mobs.

It was now or never.

After confirming the existence of a strong enough creature using the rulebook’s bestiary, it was time to get going. I didn’t know whether or not such a creature would actually be present in the area, but with luck, I’d be able to find at least one.

The mines hadn’t reached the requisite depth, so they shouldn’t have encountered any yet.

I picked myself up and exited the tent, drawing curious glances from Lucrezia and Priya as I made my way through the campsite.

“Is something wrong, Ryuuko?” Priya asked.

I shook my head. “Nah. I’ve just got a bit of stuff to take care of. I’ll be back before it’s time for me to take watch, so don't worry.”

“Are you going to be okay going by yourself?” Lucrezia looked slightly concerned, but I gave her a gentle smile.

“Of course. It’s me we’re talking about, y’know?”

“...I guess so. Sorry, it’s just that... I feel like we’re relying on you too much, Ryuuko. You’re always the one who’s risking your life and carrying us through these battles.”

“So you finally realized, huh?”

I regretted saying that the moment those words left my lips as Lucrezia and Priya’s gazes immediately dropped.

“I’m joking.” I added hastily. “I’m stronger than all of you right now, so it’s only natural that I’m the one fighting. If you really feel bad, then all you’ve gotta do is work hard and catch up to me, yeah?”

“Yeah!” They both said in unison.

As I left, I caught Lucrezia and Priya exchanging determined gazes and a few words out of the corner of my eye.

I didn’t expect my words to have such an impact, but it was probably more due to how little they contributed against Liandra. Even Priya could do nothing but stand there and watch as I powered through Liandra’s barrier alone.

Good. Everyone’s focused on getting stronger now... As for Antenora, there’s still a ton of things I don’t know about her. Her behavior’s been confusing as hell ever since I met her.

I pushed the thought aside for now and activated [Eagle Eye] to scan my surroundings for anything worth fighting. Antenora could wait until after I obtained my goddamn level.

There was nothing worth my attention in the forest, but my penetrative vision soon found what it was looking for deep beneath the mine.

I wasn’t expecting to locate it so easily, but there it was, dormant as if it didn’t have a single care in the world.

Found you.