Haruki's status from about 40 days before he paid off his debt.
Status
Name: Tachibana Haruki
Job: Mage
Level: 60
Skill Points: 0
Acquired Skills
- Body Strengthening Lvl. 24
- Black Magic Lvl. 36
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Chapter 25 - New Skill (2)
Participating in the joint subjugation made me realize the benefits of group battles. However, I've given up on forming a party for now. Adventurers who meet the conditions I'm looking for are not easy to come by.
Instead, I decided to acquire a new skill.
Status
Name: Tachibana Haruki
Job: Mage
Level: 125
Skill Points: 0
Acquired Skills
- Body Strengthening Lvl. 47
- Black Magic Lvl. 69
- Summoning Magic Lvl. 9
Skills that Can Be Acquired
- Swordsmanship
- Spear Mastery
- Shield Mastery
- Archery
- Body Strengthening
- Black Magic
- Holy Magic
- Summoning Magic
- Alchemy
- Blacksmith
etc...
The experience points I gained from the joint subjugation was substantial, and my level had increased by 9 just yesterday. I poured all of it into summoning magic. Unlike when I learned black magic, I didn't need to allocate it gradually. I had prepared by reading an introductory book on summoning magic in advance.
Summoning magic is the ability to summon spirits from the spirit realm. Spirits are entities composed solely of mana and often take the form of animals.
Low-ranked spirits often take the form of insects, reptiles, or small mammals. Mid-ranked spirits tend to resemble medium-sized mammals or birds. It's said that high-ranked spirits take on the appearance of large mammals.
Although it's just a rumor, it seems the highest-ranked spirits resemble creatures akin to dragons.
Spirits can be commanded in exchange for mana.
Spirits do not possess consciousness. They are composed solely of mana and will faithfully carry out commands as long as the required price is paid.
It's a magic suited perfectly for someone who has to do everything on their own.
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I headed to the shallow part of Bigina Forest and performed a test run of my new skill.
Just like when I learned black magic, the moment I acquired the skill, I intuitively understood how to activate it.
I infused mana into my fingertips.
The mana infused was about 20% of my total mana. I estimated using about that much in actual combat. Since my skill level and proficiency were higher with black magic, I intended to use summoning magic more as a support.
Drawing a circle with my fingertip left a trace of mana in the air.
Even though I didn't do anything else, the imperfect circle gradually transformed into a perfect circle on its own. When it became a perfect circle, the space within started distorting. Over time, the distortion grew more pronounced.
When the distortion reached its peak, the inside of the circle was dyed entirely in black.
From there, ten masses of mana in the shape of butterflies flew out. They were a type of low-ranked wind spirit.
Their fluttering wings resembled those of butterflies, yet they were not as colorful as real butterflies. They were composed mainly of slightly greenish-white. Perhaps because of this, they lacked the presence of life.
The spirits that flew out stopped and hovered about a meter in front of me.
I somehow understood that the spirits were waiting for my command.
"Hmm... Alright, find me some goblins!"
Upon giving the command, the spirits scattered around me. They didn't know what goblins were, and what I actually wanted were individual goblins that were acting on their own.
But there was no need to explain such details. My mind and the spirits were connected by mana, and the specific command I wanted to convey was transmitted to them through my thoughts.
One minute later, they found a goblin. Or so it seemed. The spirits were hidden in the trees, making it unclear where exactly the goblin was.
But a vague image of the goblin's location formed in my mind. I could also vaguely sense the direction.
Aside from the individual goblin they had found, I gathered more spirits and headed to the actual location. When I arrived, the scene that had formed in my mind was there before me.
The goblin had already assumed a battle-ready stance and was throwing stones at the hovering spirits.
"Not bad, you guys."
I murmured while poking one of the spirits next to me. Their scouting abilities were quite exceptional.
Though I wasn't fond of bugs, I felt a bit distant from them now. If they were spirits of birds or mammals, I might end up getting attached to them.
Returning my gaze to the goblin, it still seemed completely absorbed in the spirits and hadn't noticed me. While I could easily behead it from here, I decided to test the combat ability of the spirits.
"Defeat the goblin!"
Though they had the appearance of frail butterflies, I had infused them with 20% of my total mana. Converted to black magic, that should be enough to take down several dozen goblins.
I wasn't expecting them to be that powerful, but they should be able to handle at least one easily. Depending on the results, I might even consider focusing on raising my summoning magic skill and hunting monsters automatically.
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I'm usually unbothered by killing monsters. I harbor hatred for all creatures living outside the field, and they come attacking with eyes full of murderous intent.
Unlike regular carnivorous animals that attack for food, they attack simply to kill. That's what monsters are. So, I've mercilessly slain them without hesitation.
"Whoa..."
However, the scene before me was too much.
The spirit probably mimicked the wind blade magic, which is the first thing that comes to mind when someone mentions wind magic. The spirit also attacked with wind blade-like magic.
However, it seemed the low-ranked wind spirit couldn't fully replicate my magic.
The power was about enough to leave a 2-centimeter wound on the goblin, and the aim was quite random. Sometimes it missed entirely.
Nevertheless, the lethality was sufficient. After all, ten spirits surrounded the goblin and continuously unleashed magic.
The goblin was engulfed in countless blades, shrieking as it writhed and was torn apart, dying a gruesome death.
"Stop, stop!"
It seemed that the spirit's death determination involved the monster becoming completely immobile. With each instance of it struggling to move, they resumed their attacks.
Thanks to that, tiny meat fragments were scattered everywhere. If I were to try and lift it, parts might tear off. The goblin's nose, which was supposed to serve as proof of its subjugation, was nearly torn off at the base and was dangling by a thin piece of skin.
Furthermore, it seemed the spirit had exhausted all its mana and returned to the spirit realm.
What remained were me and the scene of the goblin's brutal demise. I've seen the bodies of monsters slain by other adventurers many times, but I've never seen anything this gruesome.
I had misunderstood the spirit's nature.
Although the introductory book said spirits lacked will, they looked somewhat like living creatures, and they exhibited a form of intelligence in obeying my commands. Therefore, I couldn't help but feel like they had some form of consciousness.
However, it appeared that spirits were more like robots, faithfully carrying out the given instructions. Regardless of how much the goblin screamed, the spirits' movements were constant and they mechanically slaughtered it.
Upon receiving the stop command, the spirit stopped perfectly hovering about a meter in front of me. Their evenly spaced positions held no hint of emotion.
The spirits had no consciousness. I understood that once again.
I clasped my hands together for the goblin and then continued testing the summoning magic for a while.
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After a full day of testing, I understood how to use the spirits.
Using them in combat was tricky.
Their cost-effectiveness was poor, with a mid-level spirit that carried about 50% of my mana being roughly on par with a Great Fang Bear. They managed to defeat the bear in an almost mutual kill scenario, and a few minutes later, they disappeared due to running out of mana.
Their specs weren't bad. They endured several attacks from the Great Fang Bear and were able to damage it.
However, they lacked the intelligence to target weaknesses or employ surprise attacks, only performing monotonous attacks.
They were like AI-controlled ally NPCs in less capable video games.
If I wanted to use them in battle, I'd need to give specific orders like "Aim for the legs" or "Attack using □□ when I give the signal," instead of just "Defeat the enemy." Their utility was quite limited.
In terms of enhancing combat capabilities, I couldn't expect much.
However, their scouting abilities exceeded my expectations.
Though my senses had sharpened due to my Body Strengthening skill, I had never been the first to spot a monster.
The spirits possessed an exceptional ability to sense mana, apparently detecting the aura that monsters inevitably carried within them. They were able to sense even monsters I couldn't see, hear, or smell, hundreds of meters away.
When I sent the spirits to a specific location, I could share a vague visual experience with them. The advantages of being able to grasp the types of monsters and the terrain beforehand were immeasurable.
As a drawback, there was a high possibility that monsters would become aware of the spirits and adopt a vigilant stance, but this risk had to be tolerated.
Powerful monsters tended to have higher mana sensing capabilities. Considering that surprise attacks might become less effective in the future, it might be a good idea to change my exploration style now.
Lastly, I could use them for carrying things. It was a simple ability, but highly convenient. I no longer needed to take off my backpack every time I engaged in combat, and I could gather more materials.
Although their use in battle consumed a lot of mana, they hardly used any mana for scouting and carrying. In the future, I would mainly explore with one for carrying and several for scouting.
I would assign the dangerous reconnaissance tasks to the spirits, while I focused on combat. This exploration style would provide much greater stability than before.
...It's eerily similar to Gwen's exploration style.
I could picture Gwen's dying face. After all, I was the one who killed him. And my position at that time was exactly the same as the spirits are in now.
"Um... If you're unhappy about anything, please let me know. I absolutely don't want you suddenly flipping out one day and rebelling or anything like that."
I unintentionally spoke in a polite manner, but there was no reaction, of course. When my mana, the vessel for the spirit, runs out, the spirit will vanish from this world and return to the spirit realm. Whether it's disappearing due to mana depletion or being destroyed by monsters, for the spirit, it might just be a matter of returning to the other realm sooner or later.
However, I've seen plenty of science fiction works where AI rebels against humanity. I feel like it wouldn't be strange for them to develop consciousness someday. It would be unbearable if I treated them poorly, only to be backstabbed.
"If you have even a slight dissatisfaction, please let me know. I'll definitely make improvements. Oh, do you want to drink a mana recovery potion? Or would it be better for me to drink it to replenish my mana?"
For a while, I continued speaking to the spirit while absentmindedly rubbing sesame seeds, but there was no reaction, as expected.
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Author's Note:
-----Main Character's Status-----
Name: Tachibana Haruki
Job: Mage
Level: 125 (+65)
Skill Points: 0
Acquired Skills
- Body Strengthening Lvl. 47 (+24)
- Black Magic Lv. 69 (+33)
- Summoning Magic Lvl. 9 (new!!)
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The numbers in parentheses indicate the increase since his debt was fully repaid.
