chapter4 · 077-ep77

Episode 77: Come to Papa, Rewaaard—!!

The armored Greyfish swung its sword through.

I reached out toward the incoming slash.

Up to here, it was the same as before.

"Stagnation—"

The slash that had been bearing down on me stopped.

With Recoil, I'd send it back the way it came.

But that wasn't the one I was using this time.

"Deflection."

The instant I focused on it, the feel of the slash held at my hand changed slightly.

"Ohh..."

It hadn't vanished.

The slash was still hovering near my hand.

It didn't feel like it would go flying off on its own the way it did with Recoil, either.

For starters, I looked at a rock off to the side, away from the armored Greyfish.

"Over there."

I thought: fly there.

A beat later, the slash held at my hand moved.

Not straight ahead of me — it flew off diagonally right and slammed into a rock a short distance away.

"Ohh!"

The rock's surface sheared away, and little fragments dropped.

"It really does let me shoot it."

Just like I'd thought.

Recoil sends an incoming attack back at its owner.

Deflection lets me receive it once, and then I decide where it goes next.

Similar, but the ways to use it looked pretty different.

The armored Greyfish wasn't going to wait while I did all that.

It raised its sword again, so this time I just dodged.

"No, wait, wait. I'm mid-testing right now."

Of course it didn't listen.

The next slash came flying.

I stopped it with Deflection again.

This time I didn't fire it right away — holding it, I tried moving a little to the side.

"...It's following me."

The slash wouldn't leave my hand.

Seemed I could move a little while carrying it.

I waited a few seconds like that, and it showed no sign of disappearing.

"Got it."

So I could receive an opponent's attack and use it a little later.

Though I didn't know how long it would actually last.

No need to stand here waiting forever, either.

I looked at the armored Greyfish.

"If I'm just returning it, Recoil's faster."

No need to deliberately catch it with Deflection and re-aim at the same opponent.

But when I wanted to send it at a different target, Deflection was the useful one.

Knowing that much was enough for now.

I turned the slash I was still holding toward the armored Greyfish.

"All righty, returning this~"

The released slash struck the armored Greyfish dead-on.

Its body flew far backward and dissolved into motes of light.

"All right."

That settled most of what I needed to know about the new Skill.

The fine details I could figure out while using it.

"Now, the next one."

If I'd cleared a Personal Achievement, the new condition had to be up too.

I opened the list on the spot.

【Personal Achievements】

【Next condition: Use Interference Eye for a cumulative total of 2 hours】

"Two hours?"

Not combat.

It didn't say to kill monsters, either.

Just: use Interference Eye.

"That's it?"

No, wait — being two hours meant it wasn't exactly "that's it," either.

But if it's just about having it active, it sounded easy.

The question was how much I'd used it so far.

I checked my progress.

【In progress: 34 minutes/120 minutes】

"...That's barely anything."

I'd thought I'd used it way more.

I'd fought a fair amount since learning Interference Eye, or so I'd thought.

But thinking about it, I didn't remember ever just leaving it on.

When watching an opponent's Magic. When interfering with an attack.

That was about the extent of it.

Basically, I'd switched it on when needed and gone back to normal when done.

"Come to think of it, as long as I keep focusing on it, I can use this thing indefinitely, huh."

It doesn't consume MP.

And I'd never heard anything about a time limit, either.

So there was really no need to use it only in combat.

"Is Mr. Personal Achievement trying to train me into keeping Interference Eye on at all times?"

Something like that was starting to sink in.

The Personal Achievements so far had all been conditions that made me use Observer Skills.

This time too, rather than just "use it for two hours," maybe using it long-term was the actual point.

"Well, let's give it a try."

I activated Interference Eye.

The flows of Magic began to appear, layered over the usual scenery.

Until now I'd only looked at what I needed, so it never bothered me — but with it on constantly, there was a lot of information.

Magic flowed through the ground.

It ran faintly through the rock walls too.

I had my own, and a little way off, I could see Magic like the remains of the armored Greyfish I'd just killed.

"I have to look at this the whole time?"

Kind of obnoxious.

That said, it was for an Achievement.

I kept Interference Eye active and pushed deeper.

After walking a while, something about the Magic flowing beyond a wall felt slightly off.

"Hm?"

Something was wrong.

Normally I'd have passed it without a second thought.

But because I'd been watching continuously, I could tell the flow there alone moved differently.

It wasn't the wall itself.

It felt like something was on the other side of it.

"...This way?"

I went a little down the passage and turned.

What I found there was a bow-wielding goblin, one I'd already taken down several times by now.

"Ohh."

It noticed me too and raised its bow.

Dodging the arrow it loosed, I recalled the Magic flow that had caught my attention.

"So that was this guy?"

I still couldn't see what was beyond a wall.

But maybe having a monster nearby subtly affected the surrounding Magic too.

"This is actually pretty useful."

The goblin loosed another arrow.

This time I didn't dodge — Stagnation.

Then straight into Recoil, returning it and taking it down.

I left Interference Eye on and set off to find the next monster.

Watching the surrounding Magic as I went, like before, quite a lot of things I'd never paid attention to started catching my eye.

The density of the flow differed a little from passage to passage.

In open areas, Magic pooled thinly in places.

When a monster was in one, the flow changed slightly, sure enough.

"I see, I see."

I'd assumed Interference Eye was for combat, but that wasn't all it was for.

To interfere with something, first you have to see it.

So of course it made sense to keep watching all the time.

Seen that way, the two-hour condition made a little more sense too.

"It really does feel like I'm being put through training."

I kept Interference Eye going after that.

Watching the Magic without pause even mid-fight, I gradually started catching how the flow shifted before an opponent moved.

Until now, I'd switched Interference Eye on right as an attack came.

If I watched from the start, I could see what came before that.

"Yeah, this is definitely easier."

The Magic moved before the armored Greyfish swung its sword.

Enemy Observation already made its movements easier to read, and putting the two together made things clearer still.

I was ready a beat before the sword came down.

I returned the incoming slash with Recoil.

Even after the armored Greyfish vanished, Interference Eye stayed on.

"...There's no reason to ever turn this off."

It doesn't drain MP.

Its only downside was the mild annoyance of seeing more stuff.

And even that bothered me less than it had a little while ago.

People really do get used to things.

After a while longer, I got hungry and decided to head back to my supplies once.

I walked back the way I'd come, Interference Eye still on.

I could more or less sense where monsters were better than before.

I couldn't tell perfectly, but by steering around places with heavy flows of Magic, I got through without fighting more often too.

"This is so handy."

I returned to near the Gate and pulled food from the bag I'd left there.

Then I sat down against the wall.

"...Oh."

Interference Eye.

I almost dismissed it for a moment, then stopped myself.

"Just keep it on during breaks too, duh."

It's cumulative two hours.

Nothing said I had to be fighting.

As an experiment, I ate some bread with Interference Eye still active.

No particular problems.

Time had to be passing during my break, too.

"If that's all it takes, this is easy."

I checked my Personal Achievement while drinking water.

【In progress: 83 minutes/120 minutes】

"It's going up properly."

Then I'd keep it on through the meal, too.

Actually, at this point, was there any reason to turn it off at all?

It took some focus, but conversely, as long as I kept that focus, I could just leave it on.

After I finished eating, I moved out with Interference Eye still active.

I'd started out using it deliberately, but before I knew it, it felt close to my normal vision.

Apparently I was getting used to seeing Magic at all.

"So this is what it's about."

Using it for two hours wasn't the point in itself.

Keep it on for two hours and you get used to it whether you like it or not.

Maybe that's what the Achievement was for.

Not that I could ask Mr. Personal Achievement in person.

I headed deeper into the dungeon again.

On the way I killed a few monsters and picked up one more easy-looking Enchanter Achievement.

But someone else had apparently cleared that one already — all I got was a stat increase.

Even so, I never once turned off Interference Eye.

A while ago I'd have forgotten it without constant focus; now it would feel stranger to dismiss it.

And then, as I was walking down a passage—

【Personal Achievement Unlocked】

【Use Interference Eye for a cumulative total of 2 hours】

"Oh."

There it was.

I stopped and looked at the display.

In the end, I'd had it on almost the entire two hours.

Thanks to that, it was clearly easier to use than at the start, and I'd learned it was handy outside combat too.

"I knew it — this was an Achievement for teaching me to keep it on full-time, wasn't it?"

If so, I could just leave it on from now on, too.

More importantly—

【Personal Achievement Reward will be granted】

This.

The reward for two hours of Interference Eye.

It had been nothing but Stagnation offshoots until now, but surely this time it would be Interference Eye — an upgrade to it.

After using it all that time, it had better be.

"Come to papa, rewaaard—!!"

With a little anticipation, I waited for what came next.