Chapter 104 - Qualifications (4)

'Her Holiness probably wants me to make a name for myself.'

In that case, simply clearing the whole thing with his unfairly inflated stats wouldn't quite do. He needed to show off as wide a variety of abilities as possible.

With that thought, Aiden looked at the artificial magical beast before him.

'I can't do things the usual way to begin with.'

With his divinity all but sealed, his old strategy of imbuing a weapon with every supernatural power he had to maximize a single blow was impossible. He didn't have Aether, the ideal weapon for that approach, and he didn't have many supernatural powers available to combine, either.

In that respect, the Mana he'd copied from Morrigan was perfectly suited to serve as a major cog filling that gap.

'Come to think of it...'

What was so remarkable about magic? What made it so great that dragons had once used it to rule the continent?

The answer was simple.

Magic could change the rules—something no other supernatural power could ever do.

It could make fire cold and ice hot, change the weather, or alter the direction of gravity. In other words, it let you manipulate the normal laws governing the world however you pleased.

Of course, the greater the law you changed, the more Mana it required, and Aiden's current reserves were pitifully small. Even the "miracle" he'd just copied from Morrigan could accomplish only the simplest feats.

But even so, something like this was well within reach.

-System Message

▶ Composing 'Basic Magic.' Only low-level laws can be altered!

▶ Magic increases the 'efficiency' of your body's muscle fibers.

▶ Your physique changes from an ordinary body to that of a seasoned warrior.

▶ Insufficient total Mana. The caster's body will pay the price.

Twist the laws and forcibly change the way the body functioned. Depending on how you used it, magic could feel almost all-powerful.

Mana was like the currency for this equivalent exchange, mitigating even a little of the backlash on the body.

In the game, hadn't it depleted health instead when you ran short of Mana?

As those windows slid past, something like black threads enveloped him, coiling through his body. Aiden coughed at the sensation of taking a solid, powerful hit to the abdomen.

Alester and Julius, watching from behind, seemed puzzled, but never mind that.

'It doesn't really matter if my body takes a little damage...'

He had the Sacred Body skill he'd learned from Katya, after all. He could simply laugh off a certain amount of injury.

If that price bought him this much efficiency, he could laugh it off easily enough. In fact, he could endure it over and over again.

Because he had plenty of skills optimized for inflating his base stats. He could squeeze every last drop out of them.

The skill he'd just taken from the Pontiff was a prime example.

-Skill Info

◆ Divinity Manipulation - Combustion

Converts all available supernatural power into fuel for the body. Divinity is the most efficient, but other supernatural powers may also be used.

With that in mind, there was a combination he'd been dying to try.

Once he'd used Mana to give himself a trained physique...

-System Message

▶ Activating 'Skill: Magical-Beast Transformation.'

▶ Activating 'Skill: Primordial Strength.'

▶ Activating 'Skill: Divinity Manipulation - Combustion.'

...what would happen if he threw all of these into it?

'Now I finally feel like a superhuman.'

Aiden grinned as strength on an entirely different level from anything he'd possessed before filled his body.

He'd wanted to try this at least once: wielding monstrous physical abilities like Noel's to perform feats that were hard to believe even when you saw them.

As it happened, he'd built up quite a bit of Combat Styles proficiency, too. It had been a long time since he'd put it to use.

In that case...

'Shall I try playing the master swordsman?'

▣

Alex was in quite a good mood.

'Everything's going smoothly.'

Whatever else happened, stripping a man with ties to the Pontiff down to the bone would be profitable in its own right. Of course, doing that openly would draw attention—but if it got him noticed by influential people, that alone would satisfy him.

Besides, Alex's group had so many members that, despite their separate starting points, they'd managed to cooperate and make their way through far faster than the other groups.

It was time to teach that idiot who'd picked a fight with them on a whim a lesson. The world wasn't nearly so forgiving.

"Look over there. A barrier."

As the enormous barrier blocking the path came into view, someone said,

"Don't let your guard down. I hear it gets pretty dangerous past here."

"I know."

"...?"

What on earth was this?

The obstacles they were supposed to work together to overcome had all been breached in a straight line. Judging by the traces left behind, there hadn't even been much time between one obstacle being breached and the next.

"...??"

As they walked through the labyrinth, cleared out and theirs for the taking, the group talked among themselves.

"Who do you think it was? The first prince? Or Julius, the supposed dark horse of this ceremony? Maybe that eccentric Princess Mylène?"

"Whoever it was, why should we care? All we have to do is pick up the scraps."

Someone gave that indifferent reply.

Really, everyone here probably felt much the same. What did it matter who it was? Small fry like them only needed to devour that Aiden fellow, and their job was done. They had no reason to get involved with those big shots.

That was what they thought.

Until they reached a cavern.

"... What is that?!"

Someone let out something like a scream at the sight inside.

One look at the magical beast made you feel as though you might piss yourself. Its presence was that overwhelming—even knowing it was artificial.

And when they realized someone was facing it with a single crude sword, that scream became a horrified shout.

"Th-that, that crazy—!"

There were limits to trying to break a rock with an egg.

Anyone would have thought the same. Perhaps it would be different with their full supernatural power available, but how were they supposed to fight something like that?

Only Alester, who had attained mastery in so many fields, saw things differently.

Even as Julius recoiled in alarm and tried to stop Aiden, Alester alone, an accomplished all-rounder, grasped the change that had just occurred in him faster than anyone else.

'... Huh?'

He stared at Aiden with a start.

Until a moment ago, Aiden had been like a small gun forcibly loaded with an oversized bullet.

Supernatural power needed a solid foundation to function efficiently. However much water you poured, it would only spill over if the vessel was too small.

He'd seemed like someone born with an absurd talent for supernatural power whose body hadn't been trained enough to support it.

Yet the instant he drew all the power he'd released back into himself, as though gathering it up, the size of that vessel itself increased.

'Is that even possible?'

Supernatural power was influenced by talent, but a body that could readily accommodate it wasn't built in a day or two.

Naturally, that was damn hard work. It meant repeating grueling tasks for a very long time.

Yet a process that should have required years—decades, even—of arduous effort had taken mere seconds. As though he'd become someone else entirely.

Where Aiden had previously been violent but unrefined, he now felt like a far quieter, deadlier weapon.

'What the hell is this man...?!'

As someone seated among the continent's ruling elite, Alester had met all sorts of people. Many of them had numbered among the strongest on the continent.

In terms of combat strength, plenty had been more impressive than this man Aiden.

And yet, even among them, he'd never met anyone who could swap out his very identity so freely.

As though he were omnipotent, able to wield any ability he pleased simply by deciding to!

Alester couldn't even begin to guess how many weapons the man had stocked in his arsenal.

"...?!"

Even the swordsmanship that followed proved every bit as astonishing.

-System Message

▶ 'Skill: Analysis' activates automatically.

▶ 'Skill: Magical Beast Hunter' activates automatically.

▶ 'Skill: Tracking' activates automatical...

The skills he'd accumulated over so long were working to their fullest potential.

And it wasn't just those copied skills. The Combat Styles Aiden himself had built up by dying hundreds of times every night were working exactly as they should, too.

-System Message

▶ You proficiently execute 'Combat Style: One Strike, One Arrival.'

Seeing Aiden charge toward it, the magical beast growled and bared its fangs.

It certainly resembled Reaver. It looked vastly inferior to the original, but its monstrous durability seemed to have been reproduced almost perfectly.

You could tell at a glance that ordinary attacks wouldn't even leave a dent.

Normally, Aiden would never have dreamed of facing it with nothing but a crude sword while his supernatural power was impaired.

But instead of running for his life, he steadied his breathing and closed his eyes.

Slowly, he brought a hand to his scabbard.

'Right here, senior would definitely...'

He'd never been formally taught the principles of swordsmanship, but the movements he'd witnessed while being cut apart by Meyer countless times were already engraved in his mind—and beyond his mind, in his muscles.

The principle was simple.

Establish six regions around yourself. Divide each of those six into nine sections, making fifty-four directions.

And then:

-Cut down everything that enters that range. With precise movements, swiftly.

Hadn't that man cut Reaver apart countless times every night using that very method?

If he could do it, Aiden could, too.

"You lunatic, run! What are you doing?!"

The first second.

Julius was approaching Aiden, screaming those words.

He seemed more generous-spirited than he looked. Despite his slovenly appearance, he was jumping in to help because he genuinely believed Aiden was in danger.

A fairly likable fellow. Worth remembering.

The second second.

The magical beast before him charged like a collapsing mountain.

And at the third second...

"—"

-Sword Draw.

Aiden's swinging sword tore the magical beast completely to pieces.

In a single exchange.

The magical beast, which had seemed to boast near-invincible durability, was cleaved clean in two.

"...?!"

"..."

Silence settled over the cavern, so deep that even breathing sounded loud.

Then a weapon slipped from someone's hand and hit the ground, its clatter ringing out all around them.

But no one nearby turned to look.

They simply stared blankly at Aiden Kellermain.

["Aiden Kellermain has set a new record for the fastest labyrinth clear."]

["Total time: 8 minutes, 42 seconds."]

["The record of th-the current Pontiff, Her Holiness Abigail III, has been b-broken."]

Alongside the announcement signaling the end of the preliminary round, only the Pontiff's applause rang out from somewhere, a fierce smile on her face.

"Didn't I tell you I have an eye for talent?"

-System Message

▶ Target 'Abigail III's affection increases.

▶ You may copy 1 skill!

▶ Your relationship type with the target may change soon!

And she was, without a doubt, an employer who made quite sure hard work was properly rewarded.