Chapter 14: The Walk to Town

Through the improvement in Appraisal, there were some changes in the Status display . The first change was the mysterious "Magical Power Conductivity" . Fran didn't seem to know what it was either . Is it the efficiency in conducting Magic? Really, I have no clue .

The next changes related to the display format of Skills . Different types of Skills became sorted, so it's become somewhat easier to look at .

Oh, I also came to understand Self-Modification, which I didn't understand thus far . Apparently, thanks to it new effects are gained once I reach a counter stop . (¹)

✧It can grant Superior Skills, which are simply be better versions of the Skill they're derived from . To Skills that have reached LvMax, modifying it into a Superior Skill is a great bonus . However, these Skills are excluded from the Set Skills that I can share with Fran, and are usable only to me . This is, of course, because my own Skills cannot become Set Skills . Putting it into two categories for Skill Sharing seems to be impossible .

However, because it uses up 10 Self-Evolution Points, I'll need to give serious thought to the Skills I want to modify . Why it uses Self-Evolution Points is quite mysterious, but because they're primarily based in Self-Evolution itself, Self-Modification could be something akin to a support of Self-Evolution .

Along the way to the Town I teach Fran about myself, too . There's nothing to hide, after all . We also need to know the proper truth beforehand in order to arrange an alibi of some sort for one another; that way we won't be found out by others .

I taught her about my ability to absorb Magic Stones, Skill Sharing, my ability to increase the Stats of my wielder, etc .

「Magic Stones......」

『Mhm . However, I just leveled up recently, so there's a long way to go . 』

「Un . 」

『Ah, hey . What are you doing?』

「Un . 」

*Gangan*

My blade was pressed down into the middle of a Fang Rat, piercing the Magic Stone along the way . Usually, I would try to absorb it but she was a little unreasonable .

『Wait, wait! It's no good if it's just cut! It has to remain in contact with my blade!』

「Like this?」

『Yeah, like that . 』

「It was really absorbed...」

『I can become stronger through doing this . We can also sell any materials we gain, so we should hunt Demonic Beasts proactively . 』

「Un . Roger . 」

The journey up until this point has gone on without any problems . It seems that the Plains were quite special after all, as the Demonic Beasts which appeared outside of the forest weren't very strong either . At best, they'd be equivalent to ones found in Area 2 .

In regards to meals, it's left to me .

When my sanity had been depleted, Cooking was one of the Skills that was elevated, after all . The ingredients are the Demonic Beasts stored within Dimensional Storage . Thanks to Cooking, I found out whether Demonic Beasts were edible or not .

Because Fran has the same Cooking Skill as me, she should be able to cook, but I'll be taking charge in this area . This is the duty of a guardian, after all .

Furthermore, I also made absolutely sure that my Resistance Skills were set, alongside Absorption Enhancement, Digestion Enhancement, Predation, and other such Skills while meals took place .

Predation allows the user to absorb the power of what the user eats . I don't know how much of a difference it'll make, but there's no problem with setting it anyways .

At present, Fran's status looks like this:

Name :Fran Age :12 Race :Black Cat Tribe Job :None State :Contracted StatusLevel :5 HP :73 MP :65 STR :41 END :32 AGI :43 INT :28 MGC :32 DEX :45 Skills Night Eyes (²), Skinning Expert, Directional Sense Set Skills: Sword Arts :Lv7, Pugilist Arts :Lv3 Sword Techniques :Lv7, Pugilist Techniques :Lv1

HP Recovery Rate ↑ :Lv1, Evasion :Lv2, Evasion ↑ :Lv1, Leg Strength ↑ :Lv2, Instant Recovery :Lv1 Recovery Magic :Lv1, Flame Magic :Lv1, Purification Magic :Lv3, Ground Magic :Lv4, Fire Magic :LvMax, Support Magic :Lv3 Danger Perception :Lv1, Vigilance :Lv4, Presence Perception :Lv2, Harvesting :Lv2, Echolocation :Lv1, Magic Perception :Lv3 Stealth :Lv3, Conceal Presence :Lv3, Escape :Lv1 Intimidation :Lv2, Ambition :Lv1 Fire Resistance :Lv1, Fear Resistance :Lv1, Impact Resistance :Lv1, Abnormal Status Resistance :Lv1, Mental Resistance :Lv1, Poison Resistance:Lv3, Drowsiness Resistance :Lv1, Disease Resistance :Lv3, Physical Attack Resistance:Lv1, Paralysis Resistance :Lv2 Dismantling :LvMax, Throwing :LV3, Cooking :LvMax Aerial Jump :Lv2 Mineralogy :Lv1, Medicine Manufacturing :Lv1, Herbalism:Lv3 Poison Breath :Lv1, Fission Creation :Lv1 Vigor Manipulation, Dimensional Storage, Vibration Fang, Floating, Parallel Thought, Magic Manipulation Night Vision, Absorption Enhancement, Sight Enhancement, Digestion Enhancement, Bird's Eye View, Hearing Enhancement, Vitals Enhancement, AGI ↑ Low, MGC ↑ Low, Taste Enhancement, STR ↑ Low Titles Dismantling King, Skill Collector, Master of Fire, Cooking King Equipment Regular Clothing, Bracelet of Strength +1

For her Status, she's overwhelmingly stronger than Goblins . In fact, she's stronger than a Goblin King . She would be about equal to the Demonic Beasts and the top of the Orc Race in Area 3 . She's also changed from her previously shabby clothing into ones from the horse-drawn carriage .

Each of her equipments' Stats have also been improved by ~20 per piece; this is due to the effects of Skills like Owner ALL Stats ↑ and STR ↑ Low . They're quite the cheats . Like this, there'll be no problem in a fight against lower-leveled Demonic Beasts .

As for her Skills, these are the basic ones, but they'll change often because I modify them depending on the situation .

The only problem at hand is money . The currency unit of this world seems to be "Gorudo" (³) . From the Slave Trader we received 2 Silver Coins, and 24 Copper Coins . That's a total of 224 Gorudo . It seems that's along the fine line of having lodging at a hotel for one night .

The reason why I said "it seems" is because Fran isn't an expert on the market of the world . It's just general knowledge .

And so, the first order of business is getting money . Preparing Armor and such will be essential, after all .

Just in case, I have a certain prospect that we can use . That is, the corpses of the Demonic Beasts which have been stowed away in Dimensional Storage . Because they seem to be the main source of income for Adventurers, selling them as materials would be worth a little at least .

So, before arrival, we'll dismantle the material and sort out the ones that'll most likely sell .

Because the materials gained from high-ranking Demonic Beasts might attract unnecessary attention to Fran, we'll have to sell materials from lesser ranked Demonic Beasts for now .

Well, that's an issue for when we arrive at town though .

『Alright, it's done . 』

We're in the middle of camping at the moment . Fran is in the process of dismantling the materials . Apparently, so long as I'm registered as Equipment, even if she's not holding me Skill Sharing will still be in effect . The Status raises will also remain . So Fran can use Dismantling even if she's a little bit away .

In one hand Fran held a knife, dismantling the corpse of a Demonic Beast lying on the ground . Deodorization from Purification Magic is also being used in order to keep Demonic Beasts from approaching due to the smell of blood . Fran set that up all on her own .

Currently, I'm preparing a meal . It's a stew using the meat of Demonic Beasts inside of a pot taken from the Slave Traders' carriage . I'm also making use of medicinal herbs harvested using Herbalism, so the nutrition'll be perfect .

As a sword, it's easy for me to cut up ingredients, and mixing isn't a problem using Telekinesis . The taste should be absolutely flawless ーー Cooking is LvMax, after all . It's quite regrettable that I can't taste it for myself .

This division of labor will be the default in the future . I'll be in charge of Cooking and lookout, and Fran will be responsible for Dismantling . I'll take the Magic Stones, and everything will be either sold or eaten .

『Fran, it's finished . 』

「Un . 」

『Rinse your hands with water . 』

「Aqua・Create」

Fran washes her hands with a *pachapacha* sound using water I created via Water Magic, with me as the source of MP . There're no problems in regards to consumption . Because Fran is the one using me, my Magic can be freely used, so we'll be able to generate as much water as necessary .

『Is the Dismantling finished?』

「Almost . But one is impossible . 」

『Ahh, the Tortoise?』

For the Blast Tortoise, even at LvMax it seems impossible to dismantle with just a knife . Well, it can't be helped . It's a high-ranking Demonic Beast, after all .

The Tyrant Saber couldn't be dismantled yesterday either . It's an issue with the tools .

『Is it my turn today as well?』

「Please . 」

『Mmh . Leave it to me . As for you, have a good meal . 』

「Un . Thank you . 」

Now, I should dismantle it quickly before Fran's finished eating .

"Correction"

It's a Skill that could be said to be one of a kind; an amazing Skill resultant from reaching a counter stop: a Superior Skill .

And it's worthy of the title "Superior" . (⁴)

(¹) Counter Stop is Japanese gaming lingo for "When something reaches max value", in this case, it's when a Skill become LvMax .

(²) Previously translated as "Night Vision" — which it technically is . It's spelt like this "夜目" whereas the Night Vision Sword-shisho has is "暗視" . To be honest, I knew that it was a bit different, but the Skills were practically synonymous . Now that Fran has both Skills however, I need to change it . Originally I would have made it "Cat Eyes", but there's a possibility that other Races will have the same Skill, so "Night Eyes" is the middle ground I settled with . As always, if you have a better recommendation let me know

(³) It's ゴルド . That could also be changed to plain old "Gold" — but in the end it would just be a guess based off of the onomatopoeia, so I kept it as Gorudo . Tell me what you guys think .

(⁴) The Author makes a "→" here, which is essentially them referring back to a previous part of the chapter . For which part they're referring to, it's the part related to Self-Modification's ability to elevate LvMax Skills to "Superior Skills" — I've marked it with a "✧" for easy finding if anyone wants to read it again .