As days passed, I continued to explore the region around the camp while studying the magic book non-stop. After seeing how strong Milka's master was, I wanted to improve as much as possible before leaving the forest.
But I wasn't alone in this endeavor, Rin, Kurama, and Usagi were working hard as well.
Although we had hunted some prey, I still felt that we needed to get better acquainted with our strength. That's why even though I had accumulated a lot of essence, I didn't use it to level up. I wanted to test if Self-Evolution would affect the next bottleneck.
After all, if I had one bottleneck, why wouldn't there be another?
Of course, even though I didn't put any essence into strengthening ourselves, our XP bar was still slowly rising. But even if I say that, it wasn't nearly enough for us to level up.
The improvement was only a matter of a few units after the decimal point. For example, I gained around 2% per day, but the others didn't even reach half a percent per day.
Usagi was the only exception, as I was making her level up once a day using essence. But it wasn't as simple as it seemed, I was making her train hard. Usagi started with the basics, like long-distance running and high jumps. Then we moved on to more aggressive techniques, like using her horn to thrust.
At this exact moment, she was circling the camp, and even though she was only level 5, she was quite fast and agile. Even Kurama had trouble catching her due to her agility and ability to make evasive maneuvers.
As for me, at this exact moment, I wasn't wasting any time either.
"Oh, mystical energy that doth surround me always, bestow thy grace upon me and lend me thy power so that I may battle and vanquish mine enemies!"
With my hand extended and a determined look, I shouted.
"Magic arrow!"
"..."
Unfortunately, despite my enthusiasm, as with the other times, nothing happened. I couldn't help but feel a twinge of frustration and disappointment. I spent days studying the book and practicing the correct way to handle magic, but it seems like I still have a long way to go.
Despite being one of the most basic spells of attribute-less magic, I still haven't been able to learn it. In fact, all the spells in the book are of basic magic without an element, which according to the book, is also the easiest element to use.
To make matters worse, magic arrow is the only attack spell in the book. The others were only for training or had no offensive use for combat.
According to the book, it could take years for a person to learn how to use spells correctly and manipulate magic decently. But I didn't believe it would take me that long to learn it.
Why do I think that? Well, it's simple. I wouldn't have been randomly chosen to go to another world just out of kindness. To face the evil that Shadow-san spoke of, they would certainly need the help of strong people.
That being said, I, someone who is currently going through the protagonist's journey, am destined to be one of those strong individuals. Well, I obviously don't want to rely solely on luck, so I am training hard to achieve my goals and face any challenge that arises.
Or at least that's what I believe based on the novels and manga I've read.
Going back to spells, when I was reading the book, I discovered some interesting things. While I thought these words were the actual spell, it turned out that they were just something called an auxiliary incantation.
The true spell was a long and complex magical sequence, which is quite difficult to memorize. But by associating these words with the real sequence, it makes it easier to memorize and learn the spell associated with them.
According to the book, this works for most people.
Given my knowledge, these phrases a just said should serve as a trigger for my memory to remember the spell. Back in the Earth, this technique was known as mnemonic, widely used to memorize things using associations and arrangements of elements.
After reading the book completely, I discovered that there is something called chant shortening. However, it was not as I thought it would be.
Chant shortening is not the spell's actual sequence shortening, but just the auxiliary incantation, the words. This is something I can only do once I've learned the spell. At that time, using the mnemonic, I will re-synchronize it with the actual incantation so that I will be performing it more quickly.
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Putting it in simple words, the chant shortening is just the auxiliary spell's phrases getting shorter as I perform the spell sequence more quickly.
Another thing I discovered is that there are two ways to use magic: primordial and progressive.
In summary, primordial involves direct manipulation of magic, while progressive makes use of spells. The book emphasized how dangerous it is to manipulate magic directly and how progressive magic is incomparably safer.
Of course, I already knew the dangers of primordial magic from personal experience, after all, I've tried to manipulate magic directly and ended up with a hole in the palm of my hand. But reading the explanations in the book helped me understand better the risks involved.
The book also had some additional notes that were very helpful in my learning. I don't know if they were made by Milka or her master, but they are really useful. Some of the notes denied or complemented things that were in the book, which allowed me to better understand how magic works.
Overall, I know quite a bit when it comes to theory, but when I go to practice, my progress is way down.
***
As we continue to train and hunt hard, the day has finally come to level up Usagi to level 10.
Although I think one level a day may be too fast, I am very excited to see the effectiveness of Self-Evolution on her.
With the essence in hand, allocating it to Usagi was easy. As soon as I did that, she was surrounded by a bright layer of light, just like what happened with Rin, and at that moment, the system alarm sounded.
*Ding*
---
Your tamed monster, Usagi, has leveled up to level 10.
Due to the interference of the unique skill Self-Evolution, the race of your tamed monster Usagi has changed to variant rabbit.
Using the other tamed monsters as a base, the unique skill Self-Evolution corrected the genetic disorder of your tamed monster.
---
"So, Self-Evolution can really cure genetic diseases?"
As I was surprised and amazed at the usefulness of my unique skill, I waited until the cocoon of light that surrounded Usagi began to dissipate and finally showed her figure. The color of her fur remained white, but in her information window, the condition of albinism had disappeared.
Come to think of it, Rin and Usagi were enveloped in cocoons of light, but Kurama was not. Did this happen because they had more significant changes?
While I pondered this, another question arose. Despite the significant change and some time spent in the cocoon of light, Usagi didn't take as long as Rin. Could it be that the Self-Evolution also strengthens over time like other passive skills, and that's why it didn't take as long?
As I was immersed in my doubts, Usagi rubbed against my legs. She had grown considerably, from her original thirty centimeters to just over half a meter. Her small horn was now larger than before, appearing to be about ten centimeters long.
Opening my arms, I invited Usagi to come up.
"Come here, girl."
After my words, she promptly jumped into my arms, and at the same time, a sweet aroma of fruits invaded my nostrils.
"Is it because you only eat fruits?"
Without giving me an answer, she just rubbed her ears against me.
"Of course, you wouldn't know..."
Putting her appearance aside, I opened Usagi's skill window and was pleasantly surprised. She had gained five new skills: Sprint, Horn Attack, Jump, Body Reinforcement: Speed, and Toxin Resistance.
Although I was satisfied with the result of the training I gave her, I did not expect it to result in so many new skills.
With the exception of toxin resistance, which I discovered to be a characteristic of horned rabbits, it seems that training really influences evolution.
So, does this mean it's possible to evolve and try to gain as many skills as possible by shooting in all directions?
No, I think it's better not to be too greedy; otherwise, I may end up falling into the trap of being a jack of all trades and master of none. It's better for each of us to focus on what we are most capable of.
Come to think of it, the description of Self-Evolution says that it helps the user improve in all possible aspects. Even so, as the owner of the skill, I did not evolve like Rin and Usagi.
Does that mean I'm already in perfect shape...?
Despite my doubt, I quickly shook my head, "Nahh~~ That can't be it."
I would like to have at least some explanations.
To alleviate my frustrations, I decided to test Usagi's skills in practice. Starting with the Sprint, this skill is the same as Kurama's, but due to her racial characteristics, it's faster than Kurama, even though she's level 10 and he's level 14.
The Horn Attack skill was simple but effective. When we tested it, her horn glowed white, and she headbutted a tree trunk with her horn pointed at it. With her acceleration, it was enough to leave a deep hole in the wood.
As for the Jump skill, the name is self-explanatory, it's like a normal jump, but more powerful. She could jump up to three meters high and about ten meters in distance.
Body Reinforcement: Speed is similar to Body Reinforcement: Physical Strength. Since she hasn't had time to use the skill to accumulate mastery, the increase in speed is not very significant.
Finally, Toxin Resistance, by the name, I prefer not to test its effectiveness.
After finishing testing her skills, I decided to level up Rin, Kurama, and myself to level 15. As for Usagi, I plan to increase her level by 1 per day until she catches up with us.
Although I'm happy to have companions to help me, dividing the XP among four people ended up being a considerable amount. Just remembering that we will have to hunt tirelessly makes me feel lazy.
That said, I think it's best not to increase the number of companions for now. After breakfast, I gave a task to Usagi and Kurama and spent the rest of the day training with Rin.
At the end of the day, we went to bed early since I was planning to explore farther than we normally did tomorrow.