CHAPTER 41: 41 - THE BASICS

Bzzzzt-

Black electric sparkles started to come out from my fingers, then after a few seconds... A black electric ball the size of a baseball formed in my hand!

"You’re a quick learner, I knew I wasn’t wrong for picking you."

Levina said with a satisfied tone while nodding her head.

It’s now morning, and I’m having my electric attribute training with her as my teacher.

The electricity I produce is all black because of the influence of my mana.

Levina found the color of it interesting when I tried it earlier, thus she bugged me about it, and so, my electric attribute training started much earlier than I expected.

"Now launch it."

Levina instructed, looking at the electric ball floating on top of my palm.

"How?"

I asked.

This is pretty different from launchable magics. What I’m doing right now is manipulating electricity, not casting an electric spell.

This thing in my hand is produced by my mana, but not the same as magic.

Let’s just say that the electric ball in my hand is like a button that doesn’t do anything, so I need to guide it myself to do certain things.

While magic spells are buttons that already have tasks they will do and will automatically execute after pressing them.

"Hmm, I just do it unconsciously... Wait..."

Levina is having a hard time explaining to me what to do... But then, after pondering for a while, she finally opened her mouth.

"You see, I just command the electricity and it usually obeys, so try doing that, like ’BAM!’ or ’SWOOSH!’."

Then she said that with a satisfied smile on her face.

"..."

I frowned. Levina is looking at me confidently, thinking her method will work.

’She’s pretty stupid from time to time, huh.’

I thought to myself.

Anyway, shaking my head...

I raised my hand and aimed it at a nearby tree with the intention of launching the electric ball in my hand, then—

Bzoom-

BAM-!

The electric ball flew from my hand and hit it!

There’s a burn mark on the tree, but because I didn’t put much mana into it, the electric ball didn’t do much damage. Still, it was a satisfying result.

"Ooooh! See! I knew it, I was right!"

Levina exclaimed proudly.

’Well... She’s not entirely wrong, as I launched it after interpreting her advice earlier, but her teaching skills really suck.’

If not for my trait Understanding, I would literally learn nothing from her.

’Well, she’s been controlling electricity all her life, so maybe she now does it naturally like breathing. That’s why she’s having trouble teaching it.’

Moving on, after that...

I trained how to cover things with electricity. It turns out I just need to be more proficient at manipulating and controlling it.

Then after training with Levina... I went to where Oscar is.

...

...

"Oh, you’re early."

"Not as early as you."

I said as I saw him waiting for me alone.

"I’m just excited."

Oscar replied with an excited tone.

"Well, me too."

"Really? Well, it’s earlier than what we agreed on, but should we start now?"

I just nodded my head as a response to him.

Now this time... Oscar is going to help me acquire the wind attribute.

He was hesitant to teach me at first, but when I told him that I’m compatible with any attribute, he changed his mind and immediately agreed.

It’s common knowledge that mages are curious in nature.

After knowing my rare case about attributes, Oscar wanted to observe as I acquired a new one after just acquiring an attribute from forming a contract with a spirit.

’Hmm... Now that I think about it, Adelle is also a mage. Guess that explains why she’s so curious about everything.’

I thought. Coincidentally, she’s also a wind attribute user.

*****

...

...

"Urgh... Fuck."

I muttered after finishing my training session with Oscar.

My head hurts because of my constant usage of mana, making my body a bit sluggish too.

I’m also mentally tired now.

"Even though it’s only still early in the morning."

I’m not used to training hard, because in the past, I was just a shut-in who only went out of the house to buy something or if it was really needed.

I mainly just lazed around every day writing and reading novels.

I tried to train and change my lifestyle before many times, but I was too lazy to fulfill that goal.

I was actually so proud of myself that I trained after coming to this world.

I didn’t stop because the system is giving me a training schedule like this every day:

=====

Push-ups: 51/200

Sit-ups: 24/200

Running: 207/2000 meters

=====

Because of that, I always finish my training because I know that I’m improving realtime.

And it’s interesting to see my progress from a game-like stat screen.

’I’m tired.’

I thought... Then I shook my head and took a deep breath.

’No... I need to be strong to have fun in this world.’

Only the strong can have freedom in this world. I know that because that’s what I wrote in my novel.

’To have fun, I need to be strong.’

So with that in mind—

I walked to a pretty secluded area where it’s covered by tall and thick trees.

And upon arriving there...

"..."

I saw a man with bulging muscles standing proudly. His face was intimidating, if I didn’t know him and saw him like that, I might have run away immediately.

It was Clifford.

"Sir Clifford, I’m here."

He just nodded and looked at me from head to toe.

"Then, without further ado... Let’s start."

He said.

I nodded my head, then a sharp katana appeared in my right hand.

Clifford didn’t say anything about it.

"I’ll teach you the basics."

This is the third time I heard that today—from Levina, then Oscar, now from Clifford.

Nevertheless, I just nodded my head again.

"Please do."

I plan to learn the basics of swordsmanship from him. I chose a katana because I did kendo in the past for a short while due to my interest in it.

Kendo uses a shinai, which is close to a katana, so I feel kinda comfortable holding this sword.

Dadao and katana have a huge appearance difference, but both are two-handed swords.

So the basic moves are similar.... And because of that, Clifford agreed easily to teach me.

He even sounded happy that time, maybe because Eve uses a spear and didn’t ask him to teach her all her life.

That being said, because of my strength—I can easily lift a katana with one hand, so I can use it one-handed.

Not that I can brag while Clifford is holding his dadao in one hand in front of me.

It looks heavy, and it made me frown just thinking about carrying it like that.

"Get ready."

Clifford suddenly said.

And after hearing that—I quickly took a fighting stance. Clifford smiled in satisfaction.

Then with that... He started to train me.

...

...

Clifford made me swing my katana with one hand and two hands consecutively for hundreds of times.

Be it horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.

Be it from top to down or down to up.

I swung again and again, even when I felt that my arms were about to fall off, I didn’t stop.

I continued to swing...

Thud!

Until my body collapsed.

"Haaaaa... Haaaaaaa... Haaaaaa....."

I chased my breath as I lay down on the grass.

"Good job."

Clifford said, looking at me with a smile.

"Thanks."

"You’re welcome. I’m also having fun teaching you."

"Yeah? Then I’ll be counting on you until we leave this dungeon."

"Sure."

We exchanged a few words, then I sat up in a lotus position and started to meditate.

Swoosh~

I circulated my mana in my body. I was training in mana control. It may be unusually high already in my stats, but it’s still not enough for my plan.

"Oh, you’re a hard worker, huh. Then I’ll leave you alone. No need to reply."

I heard Clifford’s voice. Then soon, I didn’t feel his gaze anymore. I couldn’t sense his presence, so he must have left to let me focus.

Man, I’m thankful for that.

...

...

...

After meditating for ’gods-know-how-long’, I stood up from being seated, though I’m still circulating my mana.

It’s mentally burdensome and not as effective as when I’m meditating, but I know it will still be worth it for my growth.

Then when I reached where we are camping, I saw Alina and the other members of [Coldvale]. They felt my presence immediately, as I’m not trying to hide it.

They looked at me with anticipation and bright faces.

"W-what?"

I stuttered as I found their actions weird.

Then... They started a fire and took out cooking equipment, along with some meats and spices.

"Are you done training?"

"Can you cook for us?"

"Your food is the best, so can you cook for us until we leave the dungeon?"

Then they said that to me like they practiced those lines for hours.

And at their words...

"Haha .."

I laughed a little.

"Sure, just wait for a bit."

Then I started preparing to cook.

"Nice!"

"Yay!"

"I love you, Raven!"

-Hey! Raven is mine!

-Kyuuu!

This kind of atmosphere makes me forget that I’m currently inside an A+ rank dungeon.