ch141-ch160 · 160-ch160

Chapter 160: Practicing on the Surface

"Ow-ow-ow, this is going to take my fingers clean off! Soushi, faster! The neck—aim for the neck!"

Today, as ever: Minotaurs.

The idea was mine: try out the wire, see if it could restrain a Minotaur... It's harder than I pictured.

Or rather, it hurts.

After knocking the Minotaur's great axe away, I bound it up tight with Mia-san's handmade wire, and the thing STILL tries to turn toward Soushi.

Imagine dragging against all that from behind.

I shouldn't be losing a strength contest, but the Minotaur's full-power struggle plus my pinning force all funnel into the fingers of my right hand.

My left hand is safe—it's holding the wire's case—but if this wire is going to see combat use, hand armor is non-negotiable...

Incidentally, my full armor set—gauntlets and all—is currently worn by Soushi.

"Leave it to me—!"

"Did we get it?"

The rental spear sinks in to about half the Minotaur's neck, yet the thing still tries to body-slam Soushi, and my fingers get squeezed for it.

"Did we get it?" There's the flag, coming due.

A rental spear just can't manage one-shot kills, it seems.

Soushi's on a rental spear today, so the 【Cooking】-enhanced kitchen knife is out of the picture.

Why the rental spear? Because back in the day, a rental spear is what made 【Knight】 appear on my list.

The experiment: throw everything at the wall and see what expands his job options.

I've got him strapping on the arm-mounted round shield too, but he's eating zero hits, so 【Shielder】 won't be showing...

"One more, please!"

What are you, a ramen shop owner?

Come to think of it—if 【Cooking】 activates just from brewing tea and makes it tastier, would it fire on cup ramen too?

No idea, but maybe we should round up a pile of instant foods and find out...

Whoa—the pulling force vanishes, and the Minotaur's bulk tips my way.

Two strikes without weapon enhancement—not bad at all.

He's Level 10 already, after all.

Keep looping Minotaurs until close of business today and he'll hit 11?

"Any new jobs?"

"Nope, nothing. That was only the first one, after all—looks like it won't come that easy."

"Then let's keep at it... Ah—toss me just the gauntlet. My fingers are about to come off."

With me pinning it down by wire, nothing should reach Soushi. Should be fine.

Problem is, at this rate 【Thread User】 is going to end up on MY list.

It's a lower-rank job, so I'd never pick it—but the odds of a high-rank version appearing aren't zero.

Word is high-rank jobs won't appear unless you're using that line's skills—but 【Thread User】 branches from 【Scout】, so if I bundled one up in wire while 【Presence Concealment】 was running, maybe there's a sliver of a chance?

It's even sort of ninja-esque movement, so 【Ninja】 might pop too.

We looped Minotaurs until Soushi hit Level 11 that day, and the only job gained was 【Long Spearman】...

Maybe tomorrow I should have him run a shield on Floor 9?

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"Right then—Soushi starts from the basic thrust as well. Drop your hips and set your stance like this. Right hand back first—like so! Now flip the stance—left-hand thrust!"

If we're power leveling Shiraishi-san anyway, raising Mia-san's and Soushi's levels at the same time makes sense.

But do that, and Soushi's technique rots.

The Triple-Rank who leans entirely on stats, swings his weapon on brute force alone, and without attack skills can't even put down a golem properly...

There are heaps of adventurers like that.

To keep Soushi off that path, we decided he'd sit in on Hiramatsu-san's lessons too.

'Too dependent on skills. If you can't do anything without your skills firing, you're not cut out to be an adventurer.'

I'm already the textbook case, though...

"Now then, Haruki. Show me the fruits of your training. Demonstrate for Soushi."

You just demonstrated it yourself, didn't you?

And "fruits of training"—I never once practiced at home, you know...

"Okaaay. Here I go. Right! ...Left!"

Huh? That's gotten better?

"Hey, you... Don't tell me you spent exam season swinging a spear instead of studying? No wonder the grades slipped... That left thrust—your old problem child. Isn't it better than the right one now?"

Rude.

My grades did NOT slip. They held steady.

But it's true the left thrust came out absurdly smooth.

I didn't practice...

I was simply told to actually use the left thrust too, so I started making a point of it in real fights.

Especially that time I went all-out in the Floor 20 boss area...

That left thrust I threw with spear and shield super modes both running—the feel of it stuck with me, and I think that's what taught my body to move smoothly.

"It really has, hasn't it... Talent?"

"Talent? Hmm? Well, I suppose being able to grind away at something is a talent too? You have gotten better... Haruki, you move to the next stage. Everything until now was the basic thrust. Next I'd be teaching sweeps and rising cuts, but for you, the jumonji spear comes first. Ah—but you keep drilling the basic thrust every day from here on out, got it? Soushi, repeat the thrust you just saw."

Every day, huh...

Could I manage it against monsters in the dungeon, though?

"Watch my thrust too, then. ...Hah! ...Yah! How's that?"

Soushi shows off his basic thrust.

"Yeah, that's miles better than Haruki when he started. At that level, you'll hit the next stage inside a week. Keep at it."

Whoa, whoa—surely you jest.

So the strategy is to praise Soushi into improvement, I see.

I passed in about a week myself, so by all means, practice hard.

"Say, why are we practicing up here, anyway? Inside the dungeon, stats make you stronger and your movement better, right?"

Soushi asks between left-right thrusts.

Today's lesson spot is the parking lot behind the branch again.

In other words: not the dungeon—the surface.

"What you can do on the surface, you can do in the dungeon. But what you can do in the dungeon, you cannot do up here. What we drill is the foundation. Get it right up here first, so no weird habits creep in. Besides, I don't know the first thing about spear work inside a dungeon! Right—Haruki, come at me."

As bidden, I thrust.

The instant I feel my wooden practice spear pressed down from above, mine gets flicked skyward, and Hiramatsu-san's spear sits at my throat.

A "receive" built on the jumonji spear's cross-blades—the side edges, I suppose?

Press the enemy's spear down from above; the moment they push back against it, you lift instead.

Then the raised spear turns straight into an attack, driven in at the throat.

Hiramatsu-san's spear circles mine, round and round, redirecting the force each time—my spear gets pinned to the ground, swept aside, openings carved into my guard.

"That's so cool! I wanna do that too!"

Your weapon's a kitchen knife, so tough luck, no?

Or wait—if she mounted knives on the sides too, would that make a jumonji kitchen knife?

Could that even be enhanced?