Several concentric circles made of deep purple light appeared below the duo, spreading out and covering an area 20 meters in diameter around them. In the sky above them, a sword made of a similar amethyst appeared and began to descend. When it struck the center of the circle, a dome of light manifested, beginning at the tip of the hilt, and touching down at the edges of the outermost circle. With Adama and Ouka now thoroughly trapped, the spell began, pulling them towards the earth with an intense downward physical pressure. It didn’t feel like their shoulders were being pushed from above, but rather that the earth had suddenly decided to swallow them both whole and was dragging them into the dirt. By his side, Ouka grunted and shifted a little, clearly actively resisting the spell just as Tim was:

“Well, that’s one mystery cleared up.”

Adama mused internally, recognizing now that Mikoto’s spell was powerful, yet indiscriminate. He looked at the girl, who was still holding her hands out toward them, seemingly required to do that to hold the spell. He barked out:

“More! Show us what you can do.”

Ouka blanched a little as Mikoto nodded seriously and brought her hands closer together, frowning in focus as she did. The edges of the circle contracted, the area of effect of the spell diminishing as it’s force waxed. The pressure increase was stupendous and even Adama needed to fight to remain expressionless. He had held onto a casual air of indifference since the beginning of the test, leaning back slightly and eyeing Mikoto with an unimpressed gaze. The young companion next to him, by contrast, sweated and huffed at the increasing pressure. Only the slight glint of steel in his eyes gave away Adama’s strain. His neck creaked a little as he turned it, looking Mikoto in the eyes and saying, in a deadpan tone:

“More.”

Mikoto’s face scrunched up even further as the gravitational field doubled in power once again. Now Adama was giving it his full attention, standing up straight with a hard look in his eyes. The ground beneath both men’s feet had begun to give way as Mikoto’s power drew them further and further downward. As the rock splintered, Ouka left out an earsplitting roar. His skin was coated with a light red shell, the blood red glow contrasting with Mikoto’s purple domain. This was his active skill, Defensive Aggravation, and the defensive boost it provided her should help Ouka weather Mikoto’s magic.

Just as he thought that, however, Ouka let out another yell, and faceplanted on the ground. His knees gave out first, crashing down and carving out divots in the cold hardened earth before his torso came forward and did the same. All this happened in two quick motions, like the poor man was a tower knocked over in two stages. A few moments after his face hit the ground, Mikoto let out a gasp and canceled the magic. Adama noted, with a curious eye, that she seemed nearly as tired as Ouka, breathing heavily and examining her fallen friend with some concern. The other two Take Familia girls let out a cry when they saw their fallen leader, but before they could rush to his side, Ouka pushed himself up and deactivated his skill. Spitting out earth and wiping away at his eyes, he waved them off, saying:

“Fine! I’m fine. My pride is the most wounded thing about me.”

He gave a glare at Adama, who simply responded by raising his eyebrow and commenting:

“Told you that your defense could keep up, didn’t I? Bet my soul against a rat’s tail that your little skill didn’t reduce the force of the magic. It just defended you against that impact. Right?”

Ouka nodded, looking slightly stunned:

“Yes, that impact would have hurt me normally, even at Level 2. With the skill, I barely even felt it. But it didn’t make the weight I felt any lighter.”

Adama was scratching his chin now, muttering:

“So perhaps it only improves impact defense, not magic defense? Or maybe Mikoto’s magic just bypasses normal defense, since it is an effect rather than an attack? Can you do it again?”

Ouka nodded slowly:

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“As an active skill, it drains my physical stamina, but its time constraints aren’t high. I can’t use it successively, but I should be able to activate it again in another few seconds.”

When Ouka indicated that the skill had come off cooldown, Adama took a stance and held out his hand in an open palm. He ordered Ouka to activate it and, when the red light had enveloped his body, Adama wordlessly drew a vertical line in the air with a chop, fingers facing Ouka. The wordless Rippling Sword with just his fingers would be enough to kill a Level 1 enemy, but a tough Level 2 would be able to take it with minor damage, so long as it didn’t hit anything vital or weak. Adama targeted Ouka’s right torso, as there would be no chance of hitting the man’s heart and his torso would by the tougher than any piece of the rest of his body. The blade magic cut through the fabric but shattered on Ouka’s skin. There was a bright red line where it hit and a few drops of blood, but the stunned young man was otherwise unharmed. Adama nodded sagely:

“So, it does improve your resistance to magic. That attack would have left a more impressive cut on a Minotaur’s hide. This also proves that Mikoto’s magic bypasses that resistance, at least somewhat.”

Now he was looking at Mikoto, who was standing up straighter after having been mentioned:

“Could you have kept that up for longer? Or amplified its power even further?”

Thoughtfully, the young battle maiden looked off into the distance and responded:

“The more I increase the force, the more strain I take on. If it were life or death, I could have held on further. I just dropped things when I saw Ouka in trouble. And yes, I could have made the force even greater, but much more than a single extra increase would have been my limit before I failed under the difficulty.”

They did some more testing and realized that Mikoto’s magic was less difficult to hold when she was focusing only on a single target. It would also get easier, Adama surmised, to hold more things, with greater force, and for a longer period of time as Mikoto practiced with her magic. He also made the key discovery that it didn’t affect other magic, meaning that it was perfect for rendering a target helpless before pelting that target with magical attacks. Chigusa was crestfallen to learn that arrows were useless on an enemy pinned with Futsunomitama, as they would usually be crushed by the gravity well before they hit their mark. Adama’s Rippling Sword, however, was unbothered by the magic and hit its intended target with ease. He was rubbing his chin thoughtfully again as he mused aloud:

“It’s double-edged. An enemy with magic would have a way of striking back if caught. But most monsters would be completely helpless if you hit them with something like this.”

“…Speaking of magic, what have you been doing with your magic, Master Adama?”

It was the quiet Asuka who piped out this question. She had noticed how Tim had cast his Rippling Sword without saying a word, which most of the rest of their party had been too distracted to ask about. Adama had been practicing that little maneuver at every chance he could get, and his efforts had started to bear fruit. It was a little awkward, but he could now use chantless Rippling Sword in battle, without the visualization technique. It was still weaker than the normal version, but it meant that his attacks could be fired off even more quickly, and with no advance warning. Using the Chantless Endless Sword was still tricky, but he could still do it if he used the visualization technique and took his time. Even then, it wouldn’t work consistently, as Mid-Grade magic was two steps more complicated than Swift Strike magic. At this question, Adama simply gave a lopsided enigmatic smile:

“If you ever learn magic, I might just teach it to you.”

Mikoto opened her mouth, but Tim cut her off:

“Your magic is too advanced and you’re too green. Come ask me about it after a year or three more of practice.”

Mikoto nodded obediently, but no one seemed satisfied with either of these answers. Truth be told, these fledglings would gain next to nothing from an explanation about chantless magic. None of them had even the slightest chance of being able to use it any time soon, even including Mikoto. High Grade chantless magic was guaranteed to be even more difficult than Mid Grade chantless magic, a technique that even Adama could barely use. Once she got used to the patterns her magic moved in, then they could talk. Still, he chose to use his wordless Swift Strike magic in front of them because he had attained some degree of proficiency with it, and he wanted to show them what was possible. To give them something to shoot for if they ever acquired magic, which he suspected they would.

Adama adjourned their little meetup and told them to take their next practice session off, to celebrate their new Level ups. Lilli was also given leave for the next few days, and she was curious as to why, but Adama waved away her questions:

“I’m going on another training session.” He said, “I’ll be taking my time, so you can take a well-earned break.”

Without further explanation, he said goodbye to everyone and sought out Hestia. He wanted one last status update before he set out onto his most ambitious project yet:

Timaias Adama,

Level 2

Swordsman: H, Spirit Healing: H, Strong Body: H, Hunter: H

Strength: B-724 -> B-734

Defense: D-598 -> C-602

Dexterity: C-699 -> B-707

Agility: D-597 -> C-600

Magic: B-737 -> B-748

Spells:

Rippling Sword

* Swift Strike Magic

Endless Sword

* Mid-Grade Magic

* Chant: “Endless Sword”

Skills:

Predator

* Increased Growth

* Killing Monsters provides increased Growth.

* Killing more Monsters in a short period of time results in an even greater bonus

Mind of a Swordsman

* Automatic Reception of the Swordsman and Spirit Healing Abilities. These Abilities are automatically raised to grade H upon reception.

* All Grade I Abilities the user possesses at the time this skill is obtained are also promoted to grade H.

* Swordsman and Spirit Healing increase in potency as danger increases, so long as the user can maintain composure.

His growth had plateaued somewhat as he reached the C and B ranks. These improvements were the results of a day of Crystal Mantis farming with Lilli, and a day of training with Take Familia. If that was all he had been doing over the past weeks, then his stats would be much lower. His current abilities were the result of more questing in the lower portions of the Middle floors, which he did whenever he got the chance. In between sessions with the fledglings, his morning training group, and the farming of course. These outings were less frequent than he would like, so he had put those other priorities on hold for the next few days.

He packed up his things, said goodbye to Hestia, stopped in at Miach’s place, then headed towards Babel.