First Days at the Training Facility
I was exhausted after the first day at the facility, so I dragged my body back to the dorm and immediately collapsed onto the bed.
Fortunately, every room had a nameplate, making it easy to find mine.
When I reported the results of the team sparring, we had all won. Ray even said "I win too." She described it like Guan Yu, then suddenly charged forward and ended it with a single punch.
After that, with a lively motion, she raised her hand.
Did she think I was doing a victory pose by flipping my palm?
'No way, right?'
Maybe it was because Ray and I had fought so recklessly.
Leaf must have sensed the same thing and simply surrendered without throwing a punch.
That's how our team sparring wrapped up.
More importantly, it's a two-person room. That's a variable I didn't expect.
When I stayed at the inn, I always preferred a single room as my last compromise.
Unlike me, who was obsessed with hygiene, people in this world were far too lenient.
They would even endure snoring with earplugs but couldn't accept sharing a living space teeming with every kind of bacteria.
"I might have to pray to Seir to make sure my roommate is decent."
As a demonologist, I should pray to a demon besides Seir.
Just as I was starting my daily communication with her, the door creaked open.
I propped myself up on my elbow and scanned my future roommate.
'One of the ones who dominated in today's sparring...'
There was only one person with such striking blue hair, and I remembered it clearly.
The guy who had won using nothing but physical enhancement, just like Ray.
Getting closer, I saw he was tall.
At 180 centimeters, just a little short, this guy had to be around the high eighties.
"You there?"
The other person spoke first.
I answered flatly.
"Roommate."
"Ah, sorry, the explanation was lacking. I'm Arthur Carlyle. My class is battle mage."
I received the introduction and returned it.
My name had been coming up more often lately.
"Roman Sun. Demonologist."
"Demonologist."
Ah, familiar reaction as always.
This one was so boring now that I didn't even feel like asking what he looked like next.
But Arthur's reaction was a bit different.
"You fought recklessly during the spar."
"...recklessly?"
It wasn't wrong, but...
"You won, so that's fine."
"That's true."
Arthur nodded firmly.
"Anyway, since I used this bed first, use the one beside it. You don't want to use the one you were using, right?"
"True. Then the wardrobe?"
"Ah, I haven't opened it yet."
"I'll choose the one I want first."
Arthur strode over to the wall with the wardrobe and opened the left one.
He took off his coat and changed into comfortable clothes.
I needed to change clothes too, but... wait?
"...Is that the one behind my bed?"
"So?"
"Well, no complaints. Normally people don't hang things behind their own bed, right?"
"You have to take one more step. This is training too. Make your daily life training. It's the master's teaching."
I get it.
You really are off the mark.
I stopped worrying about the wardrobe.
It would only give me a headache to keep talking about it.
Instead, I decided to move on to a more constructive conversation.
And at the perfect timing, there was another topic Arthur and I could discuss besides the room.
"Do you know about the training curriculum?"
I gave him a brief rundown of the information I had dug up before entering the facility.
It went roughly like this.
Training was divided into two types, each with two subjects.
Types: Department and Function.
In simple terms, theory and practical.
Under Department: Abyss Geography and Abyss Ecology.
Under Function: Combat Function and Exploration Function.
These four subjects were taught at the training facility and also served as evaluation criteria for acquiring the exploration license later.
"Do you know the content?"
"Ah, yes?"
Obviously.
Arthur gave off the strong "I'm ahead of the game" vibe.
There was no way he wouldn't have picked up on the information from eavesdropping.
Actually, Arthur knew more than I did.
"Even so, I'll tell you one thing out of kindness."
"Oh...?"
The "off the mark" remark was canceled.
You're a smart guy.
I believed it.
You really are normal.
"Tomorrow is exploration training."
"The one done underground?"
Exploration Function training.
Essentially, it was training on a facility modeled after the Abyss environment where you actually explored, catching monsters and finding paths.
"Correct."
It wasn't particularly shocking news.
"It's the perfect place to train. The effects of mental erosion and the high pressure of the Abyss are simulated. It's an environment to cultivate both mind and body simultaneously. From what I heard, especially at a spot with particularly strong pressure, you can maximize the efficiency of the training."
Huh... I was about to stop there, but Arthur added a few more words.
I thought to myself.
Cancel that earlier statement.
The second day at the facility.
I was at the training building.
It was a building dedicated to individual or team training that wasn't part of regular sessions, filled with specialized training grounds.
Compared to a proper building, it was just walls of lattice in a grid.
During my daily magic manipulation practice, which I had done every day since gaining magic power, I noticed something different.
'My total magic power has increased.'
Not just the total, but the magic power flowing through the contracts had also risen.
Was it because I had squeezed out all my reserves yesterday?
'If I fill up like this and release all at once, will it keep growing?'
It would require testing, but I felt it probably wouldn't be that simple.
Too easy.
Perhaps the heightened consciousness from the concentration that had been insanely sharp back then was the main factor.
Still, to be safe, I decided to experiment gradually, and I slowly moved my magic.
Now the magic immediately gathered on my palm.
And compression.
'Without magic at the moment, my only weapon is a magic bullet.'
How could I increase the power of the magic bullet?
First, I chose to compress the magic power.
I had to sacrifice some of the no-delay instantaneity that was the bullet's greatest advantage, but once mastered, the downside could be covered.
That's how I kept depleting my magic power every day.
One hand compressing, the other changing the shape of the gathered mass.
BOOM!
"It exploded again."
I had already exploded it several times.
I rubbed my tingling arms for a moment and took a break in place.
'It's not easy.'
The training facility, the team, magic.
Nothing was resolving easily.
The moment I let my guard down, they called me a demonologist and looked down on me.
Honestly, I had calculated to win, but the bitterness from fighting teams when I was a sorcerer had carried over.
Even though I wasn't a normal demonologist and didn't need to be swayed by such prejudice, it still stung when I thought about the future.
Despite the clear victory in the spar, the gaze directed at me hadn't changed at all.
Especially the team.
'Hmm, is it okay?'
Leaf was fine.
No rough edges, looked reliable.
The only issue was that being an elementalist was like a ticking bomb, but it could be covered if I didn't assign him the important role.
'The problem is Ray.'
Ray had joined our team for some reason.
She had even entered after I confirmed I was a demonologist.
So what was the reason?
"I don't know."
The competitive spirit during the spar?
But it seemed odd for a demonologist to show such determination.
"I really don't know..."
It was natural.
You couldn't fully know someone after just one drink, and you couldn't know a person after one day's experience.
That was something I would gradually figure out.
At least today, we would be moving together again.
"Exploration training, right."
Exploration Function was the highlight of the training facility.
The other three subjects, Abyss Geography, Ecology, and Combat, combined into a comprehensive training.
Exploring the Abyss was pioneering the unknown while also struggling against it.
Even the natural environment like the Otherworld was one thing, but the biggest issue was the monsters there.
Monsters that showed unconditional hostility toward outsiders made up the largest portion of exploration mages' cause of death.
Of course, the exploration training would take all of that into account.
In other words, it involved combat.
'I need to get used to fighting too.'
Now I was a mage.
In the end, the only thing I could do was train.
The sooner I got stronger, the more trivial those worries would become.
If strength didn't solve it, there was even a proverb that if you couldn't solve it, it meant you were lacking strength.
I should start again soon.
Scratching my head as I was about to get up, the feeling of fingertips touching my scalp suddenly popped.
"If I'm going to compress, do I really need to gather it on my palm?"
At first, I had focused only on the palm, using the entire area.
When compressing a large area, wouldn't it break if I started with a narrow area?
Thinking about it, the motion of shooting a gun didn't involve spreading the palm; instead, you aimed by extending your fingers.
I immediately folded my fingers straight and pointed them.
This form was called the貫 hand.
'It's like shooting from the fingertips instead of the palm.'
The entire arm became the barrel, and the fingertips became the muzzle.
Now I was getting the hang of handling magic.
The most important part of moving magic was recalling a clear image.
Once the image took shape and I drew a line with my will, the magic followed the outline.
ZZZZING! THUD!
The target board shook violently.
The fiercest movement yet.
"Oh!"
It went up.
Both speed and power.
'Five fingers did this much.'
As I reduced the number of fingers, the pressure of the shot increased and the power grew.
I folded my thumb and extended the remaining four fingers.
'This time four.'
ZZZZING—! THUD!
It went up again.
Shooting with four fingers took a bit longer because it demanded more attention, but the increase in destructive power compensated for it.
'This...'
I found it.
A way to get stronger.
I continued shooting magic bullets.
Until I couldn't fold any more fingers.
Until I had to stop going out.
Continuously.