Chapter-01 · EP-023

Episode 23: Maika Momota's Magic Practice

The four of us descended to the first floor of the dungeon to help Maika Momota practice her Water Magic.

We moved to a reasonably spacious area so we wouldn't interfere with any other students exploring.

Here, I, as a dungeon enthusiast, decided to share some knowledge that hadn't been covered in class yet.

"Slimes are weak to fire. Conversely, they're strong against water. So even if Maika's magic succeeds, it might not defeat a slime. But our goal here isn't to defeat slimes, so don't worry about it."

"Then what's the point of coming to the first floor?"

Yuno Hayasaka objected to my explanation.

"Even so, we haven't gotten permission to go down to the second floor yet. Maybe practicing in the hall didn't work because there was no real tension. If that's the case, we have to do it here. If it doesn't work, changing the conditions is a fundamental part of experimentation."

"You're always like that, Shirou."

"Dungeon conquest is all about repeated verification!"

I spoke passionately. I felt the cold stares of the other three.

"Well, fine. Okay, Maika. Try using your Water Magic like usual. If slimes appear, we'll deal with them."

"O-okay!"

Encouraged by me, Maika raised both hands and visualized the magic.

A huge mass of water appeared above Maika's head. It was clearly enormous, enough to fill a household bathtub.

A Water Ball spell was supposed to be about the size of a baseball. For damaging monsters, the speed of the projectile was more important than the size of the water ball.

Maika, with her hands raised, seemed to be trying to imagine making the water smaller. But the mass above her head only wobbled; it didn't shrink.

"It's no good… I can't do it…"

Maika said in a strained voice. I called out to her.

"Alright, just throw that water for now."

Maika, who had apparently only practiced trying to create a small water ball until now, looked surprised at my instruction.

"Huh, but…"

"It's okay! Come on, quickly."

"O-okay."

Prompted by me, Maika lowered her hands, pointing them forward.

Splash!

The water above Maika's head didn't fly forward; it simply succumbed to gravity and dumped right in front of us.

Naturally, the four of us got soaked.

"I-I'm sorry!"

Maika quickly apologized. But what was there to apologize for? Wasn't that why we were wearing swimsuits under our clothes?

"Don't worry about it. This was expected. Now, we shouldn't mind getting any wetter. Let's try again!"

I said, thoroughly drenched.

No one here was angry at Maika.

Maika looked at me, Yuno, and Iori, confirmed no one was upset, and tried again.

"Hmm?"

I noticed a slime at my feet that I hadn't seen until it was close, and I poked it with my wooden sword to defeat it.

After confirming the slime was gone, Maika once again conjured a water mass above her head.

It was still huge. It seemed difficult to shoot forward when it was this big.

"For now, just dump that one too."

"Yes."

At my instruction, she dropped the water forward again.

Water splashed violently.

"It's still not working…"

Maika muttered dejectedly amidst the puddles.

I had formed a hypothesis about Maika's magic. I decided to share it before she lost motivation.

"This is just my speculation… but you mentioned you have Magical Power Accumulation Syndrome, right? That excess magical power in your body gets converted into fat…"

"Yeah."

"If that's the case, in game terms, it means Maika has high MP."

"What's MP?"

Maika gave an unexpected answer.

I instinctively looked at Yuno and Iori to check.

"I don't know either."

"Same here."

"Huh? You're kidding? Don't you play games?"

At my question, all three nodded in affirmation.

"For real? I thought that was common knowledge. MP stands for Magic Points; it's the amount of magical power a person has. Assuming the MP consumption for a spell is fixed, the higher your MP, the more times you can cast it."

"I see."

"So, I think Maika currently has more magical power built up inside her than her actual maximum MP. Because of that, when you try to use a spell—in this case, Water Ball—even if the normal MP cost is, say, 10, you can't control it and end up using around 100 MP because you have too much stored up."

"Is that why the water comes out so huge?"

"That's my hypothesis."

"Then what should she do?"

Hayasaka asked. I answered with a face that said, "I'm glad you asked."

"First, she needs to consume the excess magical power. Even if it's a failure, if she expends a lot of magical power, once her MP drops, controlling the consumption might become easier."

"I see!"

Maika's expression brightened, seeming to understand my explanation.

"Alright then, for now, stop trying to imagine making the water ball smaller. Let's just have you release the water several times!"

While I was explaining, Iori had been defeating a few slimes.

"Slimes seem to be spawning a lot today…"

Splash!

As I was looking at the gem left behind after defeating a slime, Maika's Water Magic splashed onto the ground again.

Then, I noticed more slimes gathering in droves.

"One, two, three…"

I counted the slimes. There were clearly more than usual.

What was happening here?