Chapter 29
Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Speed?
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Speed?
The first day at the academy had no formal classes.
After orientation came free time. It was the academy's way of giving new students a chance to adjust to the unfamiliar environment.
Thanks to that, the campus was abuzz with the voices of freshmen. They all seemed to be paired up in twos, so apparently the other classes had follower lessons too.
Of course, there were exceptions.
"Hehe. This really is Ruidel Academy. I already feel drained on the first day."
That seems to be just you.
Senia had sidled up close to me and Cecilia before we knew it.
Luna was nowhere to be seen.
Had she ditched her on purpose?
Cecilia cautiously asked Senia.
"Um... by any chance, Luna Grace..."
"Huh? Who's that?"
Had she decided to erase her from her mind?
In the original story, Cecilia should have been the one acting like this, but now Senia was taking her place.
That was one thing.
"So, what are you planning to do, Senia?"
"Huh?"
"I'm thinking of stopping by the training hall."
To tackle the Doll Dungeon, I first needed to check Cecilia's specs.
I also needed to see how battles would play out when fighting alongside her.
That's why we were headed to the training hall.
She wasn't planning to tag along all the way there, was she?
"Ah... right. We're students now, aren't we? Yeah."
Senia nodded as if convinced.
"See you at lunch, then. You too, Cecil."
"Y-Yeah. Later."
With a wry smile, she waved and turned away.
Cecilia looked awkward, unaccustomed to this side of Senia.
But unfortunately, that wasn't my concern. Whether Senia and Luna got along or not, we had our own tasks to handle.
I asked Cecilia.
"Could you show me your Abyss Core, by any chance?"
"W-What?!"
"...I'll show you mine in return."
This damn unnecessary setting.
We need to check cores and shards to plan our strategy, right?
Cecilia's original core was Lapis Lazuli.
But now Senia had the Lapis Lazuli.
So Cecilia must have a different core.
'I need to know that to make a plan.'
The problem was that everyone overreacted when asked to show their core. It was embarrassing every time.
"...Here."
Once I offered to show mine too, Cecilia finally flushed tomato-red and opened her socket.
"B-Be gentle."
No, I'm not doing anything.
I closely examined the core she handed over. The pattern engraved on it looked strangely familiar.
I knew this core.
'She brought this one?'
Abyss Core [Lumen].
Lumen was a reward from a subquest later involving the Ren family.
Every time the user attacked, light particles would drop with a certain probability, and absorbing them slightly restored stamina.
In a world line where she couldn't get Lapis Lazuli, Cecilia ended up equipping Lumen.
Its ability was average, but Lumen had a hidden trait: its functions evolved as it grew.
Fully grown, Lumen became [Lumen & Kalligo], allowing the user to freely switch between attack-focused and recovery-focused stances.
Thanks to the ability to switch freely between healing and offense, it was a core typically given to Mine as the main dealer.
Who would've thought Cecilia had it.
'Not bad at all.'
It even seemed better than Lapis Lazuli.
High growth potential and healing capability.
How to utilize it would be entirely up to me.
The core was fine, but...
Shard slots.
This was a mess.
╔═════════╗
◈Abyss Core - Lumen◈
╠═════════╣
▸ Equipped Shards: 16/16
■ ■ ■ ■
■ ■ ■ ■
■ ☆ ☆ ☆
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
╠═════════╣
■ = Blue Shards 9
☆ = White Shards 7
╠═════════╣
▸ Stat Bonuses
Stamina 9
Magic 7
╚═════════╝
Stamina 9, Magic 7.
What a tank build?
"...It's embarrassing."
Yeah, it should be. Her setup was wrecked.
What was wrong with the Ren family that they all insisted on these tank builds?
Even funnier, she'd stubbornly equipped 7 white shards.
That made it half-baked.
At least if she'd gone all-in on defense like Senia to avoid pain, it would make sense.
In reality, stacking stamina just meant you could take more hits. Unless you're a masochist who likes getting hit, why bother?
...Fine.
'I'll overhaul it later.'
I handed the core back to Cecilia, and she murmured softly.
"...You should show me yours too."
Go ahead.
"Whoa. You have three special cores? One's new to me."
"Got it from the Beast Dungeon."
Cecilia peered into the socket for a while, then froze at the Mercy in the center.
"Wait. Isn't this the one Sis had?"
"Got it during the entrance exam."
"...Why!?"
"For the same reason as you."
She seemed bothered that Rene, which she'd given me, had Senia's shard in it.
But why did that bother her?
"...It bugs me for some reason."
Stop overthinking!
Dragging the needlessly dejected Cecilia along, I headed to the training grounds.
The training hall was fairly spacious. Easily big enough for a hundred people to train at once.
With over five such spaces on campus, the military academy vibe wasn't for show.
In a few days, they'd be packed with students, but being the first day, it was still quiet.
Made it easy to claim a spot.
Then, in one corner of the grounds, I spotted a familiar face.
"Huh? You're...?"
"Mourning Sword."
Aren, the 183cm alpha male reduced to just a male.
And Ran, sparring with him.
Aren had chosen Ran as his first follower.
'Good pick.'
Picking Ran was the meta of metas.
She was the classic early-game character: high floor, low ceiling. Especially, boss-damage specialist Aren and mob-clear specialist Ran synergized perfectly.
The Beast Dungeon had tons of mobs. I skipped most thanks to Instant Kill, but normally you'd fight them all.
With Ran's Arts, you could bulldoze straight to the boss room.
Use her up and toss her aside afterward...
That sounded kinda scummy?
Anyway.
Fortunately, this Aren was following the meta route.
'Should be easy to talk to.'
I needed to break the ice with him anyway. Clear up the remote-control mess from the entrance exam.
As I approached, Ran spoke first.
"The Ren family's Sword Heiress and the Mourning Sword. Have you two paired up?"
"What...!"
"...That's not how you usually put it."
"Did I misspeak again? Sorry."
Ran was always like this.
Orphaned young and trained solely under the Fist King, she was clueless about the world.
No ill intent, but it landed hard.
Aren spoke up.
"Are you two here for training too?"
"We're all students. Feel free to call me Halibal casually."
"Huh? Oh. Got it."
Anyway, I successfully got the conversation flowing naturally.
Their presence here probably meant training too.
Perfect timing. Sparring with playables was most efficient.
"Wanna spar with us if you're up for it?"
Normally I'd be hitting training dummies, but they didn't trigger combat judgments, so pointless.
To get real combat sense, nothing beat fighting people. Meeting these two here was lucky.
Both training maniacs too.
My proposal visibly brightened Ran's face, and Aren nodded.
"Then we can take turns, one-on-one. Mind if I go first?"
"Why not make it 2v2 while we're at it?"
"......?"
"?"
Our voices overlapped.
Our eyes met.
"Aren't spars usually 1v1 by default?"
True, but 1v1 meant little to me.
Cecilia whispered beside me.
"How do you even do a 2v2 spar?"
Valid point.
But we had to.
Our boss fights had two enemies.
Couldn't say that, though.
As I looked at Ran, she stated firmly.
"Spars are 1v1. That's how I was taught."
Stubborn as expected.
Pondering how to convince her, Aren stepped in.
"We're all aiming to conquer the Demon God's Dungeon eventually. We'll have to fight multiple beasts at once later. We can do 1v1 anytime, so how about 2v2 this time?"
Hero material indeed.
Knew I could count on him.
Aren's persuasion skills were top-notch in the original too.
He never made listeners uncomfortable, naturally leading them to agree.
That's how he earned trust and became raid leader.
"You're right. I was being stubborn."
When Aren mentioned the Demon God's Dungeon, Ran couldn't argue and reluctantly nodded.
"Good now? Mind if I request a 1v1 next time?"
"Of course."
Aren smiled softly.
Seeing him in person, the alpha male label fit perfectly.
Not gay, though.
He'd probably charm all the heroines with that smile.
Thus, we split into two teams across the training ground.
Cecilia and I, Aren held training wooden swords. Ran went bare-fisted instead of gauntlets.
I'd deliberately unequipped Black Cloud.
Instant Kill triggering in training would be trouble.
Just a friendly spar, not official class, so no Arts. No targeting vitals or weak points.
Disappointing, but unavoidable.
"Shall we start?"
Aren raised his fighting spirit and aimed his sword the moment he finished speaking.
Cecilia and I matched him, while Ran took the Fist King Five Forms stance like at the entrance exam.
'Hoo.'
I took a deep breath and lowered my stance.
Until now, my turn-based combat had only been 1v1.
Now it was multi-target. How would 1vMany or ManyvMany play out?
I extended my right foot back and raised my sword.
Then the familiar sensation hit.
Time slowed, and a blue gem appeared above my head signaling combat start.
'Up to here it's the same...'
I glanced between the two frozen figures.
Did I have to target Aren separately from Ran?
Was there no multi-combat, just 1v1?
...That's when the anomaly happened.
A red gem appeared above Aren's head.
Simultaneously, one above Ran's too.
Normally, no gems appeared over enemies on my turn.
But now they did.
And they looked different.
'The size and clarity vary.'
Aren's gem was slightly smaller and dimmer than mine.
Ran's was even smaller and dimmer.
Mine was the clearest blue.
The meaning was clear.
'Turn order.'
In multi-combat, gems showed the sequence.
Me → Aren → Ran.
Based on speed, naturally. In the original, Aren's attack speed was faster than Ran's.
'...This could be tricky.'
With two opponents, turns could get messy.
In real combat, I'd take heavy damage from their consecutive attacks.
More to keep track of.
Wait.
'Where's Cecilia's?'
Turning, oddly, no gem above her head.
'Am I the only one with turn-based?'
No.
Squinting closely, very, very faintly. A blue gem hovered above Cecilia too.
"Watch closely. I'll show those two the true power of the Ren family."
Um... Lady Cecilia.
Speed?