Author: Happy New Year Guys =)

Enjoy the chapter.

I just realized I have been releasing chapters everyday, when it will stop...who knows?  For now enjoy the continued release.

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It’s been three months since we entered this town, which is called Fordorn, and have come across some trouble here and there.  Truth be told it’s nothing new, just annoying.  That good looking tomboy guard captain has seemingly grown a habit of making random conversations with me and my group when she sees us.  Usually it’s just personal complaints about her work and what issues to watch out for that she has come across.  

At first I was cautious about her...but she is just seriously too upbeat to make me feel threatened.  Seemingly in her early twenties, she has short cut light brown hair, creamy brown eyes, and her face has an androgynous look to it.  Which truthfully has an attractive charm on her.  Slightly taller than Shiro and an approachable atmosphere.  All in all she nice to talk to, compared to everyone else.

Unfortunately she has a harassment problem, but she is strong enough to handle herself.

Those bandits that escaped when we first left was apprehended after she tailed those guards I warned her about.  The only reason they were never caught was just due to insider information on guard activity.  They weren’t strong, they didn’t even have the guts to head deeper into the forest to avoid capture due to fear of being killed by the monsters.  Which is also why we were ambushed so close to town.

She seemed glad to have one annoyance gone, but issues never stopped coming and she would vent it on us.  I felt bad so whenever I spotted something suspicious that I felt she could handle I would give her some decent hints in the right direction.  It may be also the reason she got the habit of talking to us.

But besides befriending her...at least I think we are friends...my group would spend our time finishing tasks from the guild and training our teamwork.

Puerial’s magic control has gotten better after I taught her how I usually circulate my magic.  Now she doesn’t get so tired after one cast and has shortened how long it takes to finish the spell too.  In the future she may be able to no longer need to chant if it keeps up this way.

This is because chanting it just a type of code that influences the mana in the body to perform a task like a program.  Usually when people get older their control over mana would improve to the point to do this without chanting, and depends on the person.  But my method seems to speed up this process.

It’s not like circulating mana isn’t known, but that it is supposedly only taught by professionals and is dangerous to do on your own since you could risk damaging yourself.  Which is true, but it’s really just circulating it through the bloodstream to adapt the body.  With my knowledge it wasn’t hard, and channeling my mana through Shiro and Puerial so they can see the route wasn’t difficult.  Puerial's parents didn’t know this method and couldn’t teach it, but since they are elves they got time to wait.

The things about magic I learned from Puerial wasn’t too difficult to comprehend, just really annoying.  Turns out the reason I couldn’t change the property of my mana is because I need to gain that property from an outside source.  

Usually my mana would follow my intentions to perform it’s usual tasks.  The healing effect it shows can only be attributed to my knowledge of the body, and my desire to fix any damage to it.  My mana is the usual Neutral mana that everyone has, but is difficult to use due to it’s odd nature.  But that is because it is used for things not usually attributed for elemental magic, aka things like [Identify].

If I had used light or water mana, any healing effects I want would have been several folds more potent than what I have been doing.  And to get these affinities I need to gather the residual mana from its sources.  For example a lit candle would be a suitable source for fire type mana.

Thus I did the training for gaining the mana for each element except spacial.  That one is a bit weird and Puerial said her family keeps the source for it secret and she doesn’t know it.

When I circulated each type of mana around me I gained something amazing, at least in my eyes.

Magic Clad

Active Skill

Novice Level 1

Description:

The user clad's him/herself or objects with mana for various effects depending on the element.

Effects

Physical Armament +1% Elemental effect

Equipment Armament +.5% Elemental effect

Upkeep: 300 MP /s

The upkeep was an eye opener but my [Mana Control] helps diminish it slightly.  Plus the effects are improved as well than without it.  Still I can only last close to half a minute with it active.  Puerial however said it was amazing because normally only experts in magic can clad themselves in elements.

This skill can be very powerful in the future but for now it can only be a slight trump card since it’s effects are still too weak and doesn’t last long.

The only other change to report is our improved gear, my skills were all getting close to the bottleneck with [Physical Control], and that my mana synthesis needs me to discover new formations to be useful so I’m keeping an eye out for any magic weapon’s.  

Making formations is impractical without knowledge on how they work or what they at least look like for those effects.  The library in this town is pretty much just a storage warehouse with grimy books that are falling apart.  No information to be gained there.

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As we walked into the guild as per usual I was met with the glares of all the other guys.  Female adventurers are rare, especially good looking ones.  So the amount of time some ass would come hitting on Shiro was ridiculous.  Puerial got a few looks too but that was of the severely perverted community who was into the really young looking sort.  Everyone who approached with such obviously lecherous intentions was given a proper lesson.  

At first I needed the help of the other two since these guys were fairly strong.  But as time went on they weren’t as difficult.  I gained a few levels and my stats were confirmed to have a time requirement.  To check the effects I poured all my SP into ‘Strength’ and ‘Speed’.  It wasn’t too long, effects started to show after a couple hours and finished improving after about a day or two.  It depends on how much was added.  My CP I will still hold onto for emergencies.

Getting on track we were handing in our latest task from the guild.  Tammy always seemed to be on reception duty.  It was obvious she was trying to learn more about us, but I stuck to telling her the bare minimum.  She understood why, but still wanted to try, even if she couldn’t she still enjoyed talking to us.  

It wasn’t long before I discovered that every time we approached the guild she would switch with her father.  Shiro and Puerial seem to have become good friends with her so it’s fine as long as nothing unnecessary is said.  Tammy didn’t seem to have a lot of friends in the area.  

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The only annoying thing was the ominous aura her father gave from behind her.  After talking with Shiro though I noticed she would always glance at me thinking something when I would seemingly not pay attention when I was at the quest board.  I hope Shiro didn’t say anything weird.  

As something I found great, the guild had a message delivery system so me and Shiro sent a message to Abra with some money and nice things I made for her.  It was enough for her to get her own place and make a real orphanage.  Nothing special but was a difference of heaven and earth compared to before.  Since I didn’t trust the previous home I also provided some funds for some guards for her.

Unfortunately these days didn’t last.

“Ho, it seems there are some top quality materials in this dump.  Guard go and retrieve them, I wouldn’t want my new toys to be tainted any further in this place.” (Arrogant person)

“As you wish young master.” (Guard)

That guard approached my table as Shiro, Puerial and me were having one of the meals the guild provides.  With practiced hands the guy seemingly tries to grab the girls as if it was his right to do so, and they had no say in the matter.  Of course as any other sane guy would do, I did the most reasonable thing this situation required.

I stabbed one of his hands with the utensils I was using to eat, lodging it onto the table.  As he started to scream from suddenly being stabbed, I shut him up by slamming his head right on top of the protruding piece of metal.  I proceeded to call out with a voice that the whole room can hear, “Tammy this guy got blood on our food can we get another serving and a new table, I don't mind paying.” (Kuro)

The room went quiet as Tammy replied, “Ok, just give me a moment to prepare more food.”

“Y-you dare kill my property!” (Arrogant guy)

“Obviously…*taking a glance at the bastard*...are you blind, you should probably get your vision checked.” (Kuro)

“How dare you, I AM THE SON OF THE LORD CARIOUS, I AM IRATUS!” (Iratus)

“Hmm...so what?” (Kuro)

“W-what?” (Iratus)

“Do you have problems hearing too, I said SO WHAT.” (Kuro)

“It means you do what I tell you...you scum.” (Iratus)

“I refuse.” (Kuro)

I just flat out refused him and didn’t even glance at him anymore.  This will obviously lead to trouble, but who cares.  He went after Shiro and Puerial, not to mention we were planning to leave soon anyway.  Tammy her father Khan and that guard captain, Beth by the way, are all aware we were leaving soon.  They were sad to hear it but they couldn’t stop it, we planned to visit anyway so they were fine with it.

So in the end what’s leaving a bit earlier than expected.  [Identify] can now reveal people’s strength level unless they are too strong.  The guys he is with are at similar strengths to Beth, so it is possible to over power them with my current strength.

“KILL HIM!” (Iratus)

“Yes young master.” (Rest of his guards)

His guards started to approach with weapons drawn, I gave a quick apologetic look to Khan which resulted in a sigh and shrugged shoulders.  Since I didn’t want to leave a mess in the place, I left my weapons sheathed as I got up.

“Hahaha, don’t worry those two will be properly cared for when you die *grin*.” (Rat?)

“*Sigh* Just shut up already you rat, your voice is irritating to hear.” (Kuro)

“R-rat? You dare call me such a vile thing.” (Rat)

“Hmph, are you sure you are a Lord’s son, you can’t seem to comprehend your own language.”  I really should stop provoking him, but I was too irritated to care.

“DAMN GUARDS HURRY AND GIVE ME HIS HEAD!” (Rat)

“Oooooooh!” (Guards charging)

*Sigh* so troublesome…

Shiro and Puerial just hung back chatting with Tammy, they knew my strengths and have gotten a good grasp on judging other people's strengths.  There was a total of four guards charging toward me.  I discovered that when I clad myself with neutral mana, unless you are a mage you can’t see it, and I gain a boost in my strength, reflexes, and perception.

Also since neutral mana originated from my body and wasn’t from an outside source it costs less to maintain.  When circulating normally without activating it with the [Magic Clad] skill it would only give me a defense to magic attacks and minor regenerative effects.  [Magic Clad] just increases its effects for as long as I can maintain it, which is currently a minute for neutral mana and 30 seconds for elemental mana.

I stepped into the first guards range and got close enough to prevent him from swinging his sword with proper momentum.  Since he had armor I aimed at his most vulnerable spot with my knee with as much force as I can muster.  I have long since acquired some proper knee guards so I didn’t damage myself.  With his movements impaired, I kicked him into the attack of another guard.  Unfortunately that guards swing pierced through his armor and cut a deep gash in the first guard and got his blood all over the floor.

I’ll apologize to Khan later.

While the first guard was screaming and visibly bleeding to death the other three charged at me with anger in their eyes.  Seriously I wasn’t the one who did that...well I did kill that other guard...yea okay I see why they are mad.  Since blood was already getting all over the place I unsheathed my blade.

Fortunately since these guys were angry they would be more prone to attack than defend.

As they ran toward me, their footwork visibly got worse, seeing this I sped forward and kicked a guards knee into the opposite direction.  He fell to the floor screaming as a blade from another guard managed to cut into my shoulder but I focused my mana into that spot and stopped it from digging in further.  This gave me the chance to stab the guard in the open slit his armor had in his armpit with my spare dagger.  His heart was immediately stabbed through and my dagger got stuck, so I left it in him.

I channeled light mana into my injury and it visibly started healing as I descended upon the last guard.  He was frightened seeing that he was the only one left.  His guard was nowhere to be seen as he fled the premises.  The guy seriously left his employer to save his own skin.

I glanced at the rat and noticed him jump when we locked eyes.

“T-this isn’t over!” (Rat)

After saying the most cliche line I’ve ever heard he fled.

“I’m sorry about the mess Khan.”

“Just help me take the bodies out to the back and get out of town quick, that guy is known for his vengeful habits.”  He sighs as he continues, “Truth is he is only the third son so he has no real power, but his father doesn't like any type of disrespect from people he deems below him.  So it’s safer to leave now before things get bad.  The ‘rat’ may not be much, but the other members of his family are the problem.” (Khan)

“So unless I get strong enough to take them all down it’s better to leave until things settle right.” (Kuro)

“Pretty much, shouldn’t take long though.”  After thinking a bit he hands me a letter.  “This is a recommendation letter for a friend of mine in the city of Carn.  He is a martial arts practitioner.  You got skills kid, but you make too many unnecessary movements, he will help you and your friends...or should I say lovers...out.”

He said that last part as if trying to confirm something, but ended up getting scolded by Tammy.  Shiro and Puerial didn’t say anything but were bright red.  *Sigh* the guy had to make things awkward.

After helping him get rid of the bodies properly, he said he will take care of the rest.  I bid him, Tammy and Beth farewell as my group gathered all of our things.  I hope in the future, whenever we leave a town it’s not because of some bastard driving us out.