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Translator: Nonon
It’s the season when broad-leaved trees in the mountains shed their leaves and the footsteps of winter are getting closer.
About a month has passed since Mr. Zeol started teaching me body strengthening magic and I finally got permission to practice on my own.
It’s also a permission to use body strengthening magic.
“Listen, Nyango. First, move slowly while using body strengthening magic. If you suddenly move at full power, you’ll hurt your muscles and joints. The degree to which you can strengthen yourself is fixed. Adjust the amount of force with the movement of your body. ”
“Got it, sir.”
I’d been thinking that body strengthening magic was adjusting the degree of strengthening by adjusting the amount of the magic essence flowing into the body, but it seems that the percentage of strengthening is fixed.
In other words, it’s just a matter of flipping the switch of whether to use strengthening or not.
Apparently the speed of movements is moderated by muscle strength.
For example, in order for the person who can strengthen themselves twice to move with 50% more force than the original, they must move with 75% more power.
“The strengthening part is fine, but it feels somewhat inconvenient to use…”
“A lot of people have attempted to adjust the degree of strengthening with magic, but they reached the conclusion that moderating it with muscle strength was easier. Well, I don’t mind if you want to try it, but if you’re trying to add attribute-magic in there, you’ll have your hands full trying to adjust magic so you won’t be able to move.”
Certainly, in my case, I’m thinking about using it simultaneously with attribute magic, so limiting myself to either turning it ON or OFF seems better.
“Then, try running without strengthening your body first.”
Right now we are at the causeway of the river that flows through the village, where I can run at full power without being disturbed.
First, I ran without strengthening my body, but since I also kept up muscle training along with magic practice, I was definitely faster than I was in spring.
“Oh? You sure can move pretty well. Then, try running while strengthening your body next. Try with about 20% of your power at first.”
“20%, sir?…”
I thought that just 20% was too restrained, but I guess that’s how much danger there is of harming my body.
I took a deep breath, calmed myself down, filled my blood vessels with magic essence and circulated it.
I took a step prepared to jog lightly, but I felt so uncomfortable, I stopped after 5 steps.
The hair on my whole body stood on its ends and I was soaked with cold sweat.
“How is it, amazing right?”
It took all my effort to nod to Mr. Zeol’s question which he asked while grinning.
I was only using enough power to jog lightly, but the way my speed went up felt as if I was sprinting with all my powers.
“I’ve been keeping quiet about it until now, but the way you channel magic essence is different from normal fellas. It didn’t look like it would go out of control and above all, the magic essence flowed so densely that I was looking forward to what would happen… but this more than I expected.”
It’s probably because I let magic essence flow while also being aware of capillaries so my physical abilities are being strengthened greatly compared to other people.
However, even if I managed to strengthen myself 5-fold, I feel like I’ll end up destroying my muscles and ligaments.
“It’s the reward for sticking with the tedious basics training. Keep training your foundation if you don’t want to be pushed around by the rare power you’ve obtained.”
“You’re right. If I push myself, I’ll definitely end up injuring myself.”
I resumed light jogging while using body strengthening magic.
My speed increased unbelievably with an unbelievably light force.
With about 30% of my strength, I was able to run at a speed higher than my usual full power sprint and I feel like my muscles are less fatigued too.
Though I do feel magical fatigue, so I think it would be hard to maintain strengthening for a long time.
And, when I ran with about 50% of my strength, the back of my thigh screamed with a tingling sensation.
I immediately slowed down, so I don’t think it was serious, but if I ran at full speed using physical strengthening, my body would definitely break down.
“What’s wrong? Did you hurt it?”
“It’s tingling a bit…”
“I see, this is it for today. Practice the basics of channeling magic essence tonight before sleeping. When you’re strengthening your body, your regeneration ability is also being strengthened, so you’ll heal faster.”
“Is that so? I’ll give it a try…”
I knew that it would boost my muscle strength, but the fact that it would also boost my regeneration ability is good news.
There are so-called healing potions in this world, but they are very expensive because they are said to be made by people who can use light-attribute magic, applying healing magic to ordinary potions for a long time.
A high-grade potion that can stop bleeding or close a wound just by putting it on is something that high-rank adventurers carry around for insurance, and it’s too expensive for a country kid like me to afford.
If I become able to heal many times faster, I might not need potions anymore.
“Mr. Zeol, if I were to use body strengthening magic regularly, would it also strengthen me physically?
“That would be difficult. From what I’ve seen, you can’t move with full power while you’re strengthened because of your high degree of strengthening. In that case, you wouldn’t be able to physically train.”
“As expected, there’s no other choice but to train earnestly without using body strengthening… huh? If I enhance my body, the power I can generate while using body strengthening will also increase… I feel like I’ll never be able to go all out no matter how much stronger I get…”
“Gahahaha, you’re right about that. Well, if you train your body, your limit will become higher, so it’s not a waste. This is all I can teach you. You’ll have to try various things yourself next.”
“Thank you very much. For the time being I will try things out while being careful to not injure myself.”
He taught me the basics of body strengthening magic, but it seems that I have to find my own limit while consulting with my body.
In my case, I have to also challenge its combined use with attribute magic, so I still have a lot of work to do.
“Nyango, I will be entering the mountain to cull monsters in a week. You’re coming with me too.”
“Eh, but I have virtually no means to attack.”
“It’s fine, I won’t tell you to defeat monsters so don’t worry. But be sure to refine your means of escape.”
“Got it.”
In the vicinity of Attuca, monsters that are in need of food may invade the village from the end of autumn to the beginning of spring.
In particular, goblins, which are already high in numbers, may come to the village in droves if left unchecked, and in some cases, might cause harm to the villagers.
Therefore, there’s a hunt in the mountains around this time of year, before the full-blown winter, to reduce the population of monsters.
Those participating in the hunt are villagers that belong to the species with large bodies, with Mr. Zeol leading them.
Even if they encounter a goblin horde, if the larger-bodied species outnumber them, they are likely to be able to defeat goblins without suffering any damage.
In the unlikely event that large monsters such as orcs should appear, Mr. Zeol seems to be the one who’ll deal with them.
I was invited by Mr. Zeol this time because he recognized my great escaping skills, but if possible, I would like to be recognized for offensive abilities as well.
For now, I’ll support him with “Thumbing” and “Shield,” but I’ll think about whether I can use attribute magic with a little higher offensive abilities in the remaining week.
Besides, if we’ll have to subjugate goblins, I might have a chance to eat their hearts.
They’ll definitely take out the magic stone, so they’ll have to make an incision around the heart.
However, I am not sure how much I need to eat to feel the effect, and since it is forbidden to eat the raw monster meat, I don’t know what the adults around me would say if they found me out.
Even so, it is a method I would like to try in order to be able to use strong magic as somebody with a small body.
“Ah, I wonder if Horacio is keeping up with the training properly? The fact that there’s been no news must mean that he’s safe… or so it would be if this was the world where letters could be easily delivered… Do your best, Horacio. You promised me that you’d definitely become a knight, after all.”
Imagining Horacio doing his best in the distant capital, I headed home along the causeway at dusk.
Indeed, it seems that body strengthening really does improve the power of recovery, as the pain in the back of my thigh, which I had hurt earlier, has already subsided.
