chapter4 · 078-ep78

Episode 78: A Change in Vision

【Interference Eye+ Acquired】

"...Plus?"

A familiar name with a single character tacked on the end.

For now, I opened the description.

【Interference Eye+】

Allows the user to visually perceive the flows of Magic and interferable forces.

Grasps the flows of Magic within a certain range in three dimensions.

"Three dimensions?"

What did that mean?

Reading the description alone didn't tell me much.

I'd dismissed the Interference Eye I was using until moments ago to check the Achievement display.

Well, trying it would tell me.

"Interference Eye."

I focused, and the surrounding Magic became visible as always.

I could see it flowing through the ground and inside the rock walls, and the Magic circulating through my own body too.

So far, nothing had changed.

"It did become Plus, right?"

I checked the description again.

Yep — it said "grasp in three dimensions," all right.

Three-dimensional.

"...Like this?"

Instead of looking only in front of me like usual, I tried widening my focus, intending to take in the Magic all around.

"Whoa!"

Something completely different from what I'd imagined poured into my head.

In front of me, the rock wall was there as always.

It hadn't gone translucent or anything.

And yet I could tell there was space beyond it.

The passage I was standing in split into two a little ahead, the right branch sloping gently downward from there.

Down the left was a somewhat open area, and a narrow path stretched on beyond even that.

I wasn't seeing it.

But I knew it.

"...What is this?"

I didn't know how to explain it myself.

The closest thing was probably a game map.

Except not a flat top-down view like a normal map.

It was like placing myself at the center and looking down at part of the dungeon from a little ways above.

If a path sloped down, it continued downward properly; I could even tell when another passage ran a little above.

"So the dungeon's shaped like this."

I'd walked all this way so many times, and I'd had no idea.

Seen as just the path in front of you, it's an ordinary rocky stretch — but looking at it as a whole, it was way more intricate than I'd thought.

No question it was useful.

But I wasn't wild about walking while staring at this the whole time.

I tried shifting my focus back to what was in front of me.

"Oh."

The map-like sensation in my head faded, and my view returned to the usual Interference Eye.

When I focused outward again, the shape of the passages spread out around me, same as before.

"So I can switch between them."

Thank goodness.

If it had kept feeling like watching myself from above, walking would've been awkward, to say the least.

Normally I'd look ahead, same as ever.

Apparently I just needed to widen my focus when I wanted to check my surroundings.

After switching a few times, it wasn't that hard either.

"I can work with this."

Thinking that, I took another wide look around — and noticed dense Magic in a passage a little way off that hadn't been there before.

"Hm?"

It was moving slowly.

Its position was just beyond a wall.

Clearly different from the ambient flow of Magic.

"Is that a monster?"

I couldn't see its body yet.

Didn't know what it was, either.

But I knew something was there.

"Let's go take a look."

I memorized the spot and returned to my normal view.

I went down the passage and turned right.

As I closed in on the place I'd seen in my head, a gray body came into view beyond the rocks.

"Ah, there it is."

An armored Greyfish with a sword.

It hadn't noticed me yet.

I stopped once and looked back the way I'd come.

"That's insane."

I'd known about a monster on the other side of a wall.

This would change how I explored, a lot.

Obvious for when I was hunting monsters — but even when I didn't want to fight, I could dodge ahead of time.

When picking a spot to rest, I could just choose somewhere with nothing around.

"No wonder it made me use this for two hours."

Until yesterday, I'd only brought out Interference Eye when needed and dismissed it the moment I was done.

If I'd kept that up, I doubt I'd ever have learned to use it like this.

Mr. Personal Achievement really did want me using Interference Eye, didn't he?

While I was thinking that, the armored Greyfish turned my way.

Our eyes met.

"Ah."

It raised its sword.

"Well, this works out."

I'd tested Interference Eye+.

Time to check the next Personal Achievement too.

【Personal Achievements】

【Next condition: Hold a single force interfered with by Stagnation: Deflection for 30 or more seconds】

"Deflection, huh."

Just learned it, and already being told to put it to use again.

Thirty seconds didn't sound hard, but the problem was that it wouldn't exactly sit quietly while I waited.

The armored Greyfish swung its sword.

I extended a hand toward the incoming slash.

"Stagnation."

The slash stopped in front of me.

I switched straight to Deflection and kept it at my hand.

"There's my thirty seconds."

Just as I was about to glance down at my watch to check the time, the armored Greyfish swung again.

"Whoa—!"

This slash I dodged normally.

The first one I'd caught was still at my hand.

Moving around a little didn't make it vanish.

"I could move before too, so this part seems fine."

The armored Greyfish closed in.

Holding the deflected slash, I backed away and evaded its swings.

Thirty seconds.

Just a number, it's short — but waiting through a fight made it feel absurdly long.

"About ten seconds in, maybe?"

This time I actually looked at my watch.

Less time had passed than I thought.

"You've gotta be kidding me."

Thirty seconds is usually gone in a blink.

It was only ever too long at times like this.

The armored Greyfish swung again.

A slash came flying.

For a second, I was tempted to test whether I could Deflect a second one too.

"No, better not."

If the first one vanished here and I had to start over, that'd be way too much hassle.

I twisted aside and dodged the second slash.

While keeping tabs on the armored Greyfish, I tried Interference Eye+ as a bonus.

Shifting to the wide view, I could tell the dense Magic of the armored Greyfish was right next to me.

For dodging the attacks themselves, normal sight was easier.

But just for knowing where the opponent was, I didn't even need to look directly.

"Once I get used to this, it could be pretty useful in fights too."

I switched back to the usual view.

As it came in, I dodged its sword and put a little distance between us.

About time, surely.

Before I could check my watch, the display appeared.

【Personal Achievement Unlocked】

【Hold a single force interfered with by Stagnation: Deflection for 30 or more seconds】

"Yes!"

No more waiting needed.

I loosed the slash I'd been holding at the armored Greyfish.

It struck home in the chest, and the monster staggered heavily backward.

Apparently one of its own slashes wasn't enough to finish it.

"Then the rest, the normal way."

I closed in and punched.

The armored Greyfish crumpled to the floor and dissolved into light.

"Man, thirty seconds was sneakily a pain."

But it was done.

Which meant next came the reward.

【Stagnation: Stockpile Acquired】

"Stockpile?"

Stagnation again.

Recoil.

Deflection.

Now Stockpile.

"What does it stockpile?"

I opened the description.

【Stagnation: Stockpile】

Converts an interfered force into energy and accumulates it within the user.

"..."

I read it a few times over.

The slash I'd held with Deflection earlier had still been a slash even after thirty seconds.

That's why it stayed a slash when I fired it.

But Stockpile apparently converted the interfered force into energy first.

"So it's not keeping the attack itself — it's storing just the force?"

That was how it read.

Below the description, there was even a display that hadn't existed before.

【Current stockpile: 0】

"So it really does build up."

How much could it hold, I wondered.

A slash would probably work.

What about magic-like attacks?

Then what happens with arrows?

It's not like it would stuff the arrow itself inside my body — maybe it only takes the momentum it flew with?

"Now I'm curious..."

I wanted to test all of it right now.

Moments like this, right after learning a new ability, were the most fun.

But once I started, it would absolutely take forever.

And I wanted to grab every Achievement I could manage within this week.

"Let's knock out the annoying one first."

I opened the Achievement list.

【B: In Battle Armor Form, evade a monster whose Level is higher than yours for 3 hours without attacking at all】

"This one, yeah."

Three hours.

Long no matter how many times I saw it.

But it was still day one, and I'd just eaten.

Better to do it now than to run around for three hours exhausted in the second half — no question.

"This is the one I want locked in while I've still got energy."

The problem was the opponent.

It had to be a monster above my Level.

And I didn't have anything convenient that could confirm a monster's Level just by looking.

In the end, whether something was strong had always been a fight-first question.

"But with this, could I find one?"

I looked around with Interference Eye+.

Widening my focus from the look-ahead view, the shape of the dungeon rose in my head again, centered on me.

And with it, I could tell the Magic of whatever monsters were there.

The nearby ones weren't so different from that last armored Greyfish.

I reached a little farther.

"...Oh."

There was one that clearly stood apart.

Pretty deep in.

I couldn't tell what it was.

Just that its Magic was far denser than any monster I'd seen so far.

"This one's probably strong, right?"

If you asked whether dense Magic always meant a higher Level, I couldn't say.

But I had nothing else to go on.

At the very least, it didn't seem weaker than anything I'd beaten so far.

"If I'm wrong about this, I'm seriously gonna cry."

I evaded for three hours.

The Achievement was not completed.

Reason: the opponent's Level was below mine.

"...That would be the worst."

Well, if it happened, it happened.

All I could do now was pick something that looked as strong as possible.

"Let's go with the densest one."

I memorized the location and switched back to normal view.

No need to walk in that watched-from-above state.

At each fork, one wide look around.

Confirm the direction, then back to normal.

Even that alone made things a lot easier.

"This is so handy."

There were a few monster reactions on the way to my target, but for now I slipped past every one.

If I detoured into fights, doing this while I still had stamina would lose its point.

After a while, I took another wide look with Interference Eye+.

"Getting closer."

The reaction was clearer than before.

Dense, all right.

The closer I got, the easier it was to see the gap between it and the surrounding Magic.

"It's not, like, too strong, is it?"

It wasn't as if I needed the single strongest one around.

I just needed one even a little above my Level.

And yet I'd gone and picked the one with the densest Magic of all.

"...Well, I'll decide after one look."

If it looked too dangerous, I could find another.

The three hours hadn't started yet, after all.

Thinking that, I pushed on — and the passage suddenly opened up.

Something was in the depths of it.

Even without Interference Eye+, its body was already in sight.

"...Huge."

That was my first thought.

It was crouching at the back of the open area, and its eyes were still above mine.

As it rose slowly, it stood close to three meters, probably.

Dull reddish-brown skin.

A thick neck, and shoulders that made mine look like a joke.

Its arms looked long enough to reach its knees, and its fists were absurdly big.

If one of those hit me, I could at least confirm how well the Hardiness I'd just gotten worked.

"Not that I want to confirm it."

Two short horns grew from its forehead.

Thick fangs poked out of its mouth too.

It carried no weapon.

Wouldn't need one, probably.

It was like an ogre out of a game.

I didn't know if it actually was an ogre, but at the very least, it was a close match to my mental image of one.

"..."

It still hadn't noticed me.

I gave it another look with Interference Eye+.

"Whoaa..."

Dense Magic, as expected.

Maybe because I was up close now, I could tell even more than when I'd watched from afar.

Serious amounts of Magic were flowing through its body.

"Surely this one's above me, right?"

Probably.

No — it had better be.

If I spent three hours running from this thing and got nothing, I'd honestly want to lie down right there and sleep.

I looked at it once more.

Huge, with thick arms.

And up close, its Magic felt denser still.

"...If it's just running, can I make it?"

It didn't say to defeat it.

Didn't need to attack, either.

Just don't get caught for three hours.

With Interference Eye+, I'd always know where it was.

And I was in battle armor too.

Plus, I wanted this done while I still could.

"All right."

I walked straight into the open area.

A few steps in, its face turned toward me.

Our eyes met.

"Uh... hey there."

Of course, no reply.

It rose slowly with a low rumble.

Up close, it was even bigger.

It was going to be chasing me for three hours; ideally, its legs would at least be slow.

"It looked slow, though."

But no such luck — it dipped its body slightly.

"Hm?"

The next instant, that huge mass closed the distance in a flash.

"Fast!?"

I threw myself sideways.

A thick arm swept past beside me, and its fist slammed into the rocky floor.

A sound that rattled my gut rang out, and cracks spread from the point of impact.

"..."

Going by looks alone, it was a total power-based bruiser.

"You're just straight-up fast?!"

It pulled its fist out of the floor and looked at me again.

Not even ten seconds in.

No need to check my watch.

"This — for three hours?"

I might have picked the wrong opponent.

But it already had its eyes locked on me, completely.

It kicked off the ground again.

"No, wait, wait!"

I turned tail and ran with everything I had.