part1 · 048-ep48

Episode 48: Level 4

Having felled the Grayfang, Ren was pressing deeper into the third floor again, spear in hand.

That last fight had taught him one thing. 《Body Strengthening》 worked plenty well in actual combat.

With one condition—

"Don't overuse the magic."

In yesterday's training, he hadn't known his limits and had flooded the magic out all at once. Now he had at least some feel for it.

Send magic only in the moment it was needed. And cut it the moment it wasn't.

Even just that made a real difference.

　　　　　◇

A while on, a sound came from up ahead.

—Rustle.

Ren stopped. Two Grayfangs emerged from the thicket.

"Two of them..."

One was no problem. Two at once was a different story.

Ren readied his spear. One stood directly ahead. The other watched from a short distance off.

"Come on."

The one in front pounced first. Ren triggered body strengthening.

"《Body Strengthening》."

Magic flowed into his legs. His body lightened.

He dodged the attack. Thrust out the spear on the follow-through.

But—

The second one came at him from the side.

"—!"

Ren twisted away. The claws grazed his clothes.

"That was close..."

Taking on two at once was hard. Ren put distance between them.

The pair moved to pinch him from both sides.

"...Then I'll take one down first."

Ren stepped toward one of them. Magic focused into his legs. He closed the distance in a burst.

"Hah!"

Spear thrust. The Grayfang dodged.

But—

Ren followed up. Swung the spear sideways. The monster flinched — and in that gap, he drove it in again.

One went down.

"One left!"

The remaining Grayfang pounced. Ren dodged the attack coolly.

Thanks to body strengthening, he could keep up with its movements.

And—

The final blow.

The second Grayfang fell too.

"...Two down."

Ren caught his breath. He'd have struggled far more in the past.

Now, using body strengthening had made fighting visibly easier.

　　　　　◇

From there, Ren kept exploring.

One. Two. Sometimes three.

Every time he found monsters, he fought. Not all of it was easy. Some attacks nearly got through. Sometimes he overused the strengthening and burned extra magic.

Even so—

With every fight, things became a little clearer.

When to send the magic. How much to send. Which parts to strengthen.

"Strengthen just the legs, and my steps get faster."

"Send it to the arms, and the spear swings harder."

"Focusing only where it's needed beats spreading it over my whole body."

Fighting as he went, Ren learned how to use 《Body Strengthening》.

And—

When he brought down some monster or other, that feeling surged from deep inside his body.

"...?"

Strength welled up from somewhere deep. He'd felt this before.

The same feeling as when he'd killed the Bloodwolf.

"No way..."

Ren appraised himself.

"Appraisal."

《Name: Kurose Ren》

《Age: 16》

《Race: Human》

《Level: 4》

《HP: 120/120》

《MP: 78/100》

《Skills》

《《Infinite Growth》》

《《Survival Adaptation》》

《《Appraisal Lv.3》》

《《Body Strengthening Lv.1》》

"...!"

His level had gone up.

"Level four..."

And both his HP and MP had grown. The power inside his body had clearly increased.

"So it's true..."

Ren looked back over his fights. Kill a monster. And that feeling would come.

And afterward, his level had gone up.

"Killing monsters... raises my level?"

Not confirmed yet. But twice in a row was hard to call coincidence.

When he'd killed the Bloodwolf. And now.

Both times, the strength had welled up from deep inside right after the kill.

"...If I fight more, will it go up again?"

Ren clenched his hand. His body felt lighter than at level 3. Stronger, too.

And his max MP had risen to 100.

"So this is... a level up."

Ren murmured quietly.

　　　　　◇

That said, his current MP wasn't full. The fighting and appraisals had eaten a fair chunk of it.

Even so, with the maximum up, he had more room than before.

"If I get better at handling my magic..."

...he could rein in the strengthening's cost, too. And then he'd be able to fight even longer.

Ren looked at the monster he'd felled. Then turned his eyes past it.

There were still unexplored places left on the third floor.

"...Let's go."

He re-gripped his spear.

A body that had just reached level 4. The newly learned 《Body Strengthening》. And a use of magic that was slowly coming into focus.

As if to test them all, Ren pushed deeper into the third floor.