After the foolish couple who had been flirting shamelessly nearby finally calmed down, Leah spoke to Tatsuro and the others again.
"Still, you two really get along well no matter where you are."
"Of course! Because we're so in love!"
"That's quite passionate indeed. So, Tatsuro-san, who were you thinking about earlier?"
"Ah, I was remembering the adventurers who taught me about dragons. I wonder if they're still in this dungeon."
"That party seemed to be using this place as their base to earn money. If that's the case, they might have returned after exploring just a bit, or if they're aiming to clear it, they might be progressing at a surprisingly faster pace than us."
"This is our first time here, but they seem to know this dungeon inside out."
"But we're not competing with them, so it doesn't matter~"
"Yeah."
Since it really just randomly crossed his mind, Tatsuro also lost interest and the conversation shifted to other topics.Although it had been tough up to this point, they had been progressing quite smoothly, and since they hadn't had proper time to rest, they hadn't been able to take it easy like now. Since leaving the seventh layer, they had been accumulating SP but were unable to spend it.
"Current SP is... whoa, it's accumulated to (1531) without me noticing."
"Wow. As expected, dungeons are amazing. They're like SP treasure boxes~"
"Well, that's fine, but with such a high collection rate, it makes me want to take a little detour."
"Oh? What do you mean?"
"You see, about Jeanne. I gave her the wood magic factor, but it seems like there are still some things she wants to do but can't reach."
"Ah, that's right, she said she was thinking about whether to use SP to level up further."
During their exploration so far, they had received such consultation once through Nana and Athena's interpretation.
Currently, since Jeanne and the others were magical beings created with light-dark level 10, they can be given level 10 factors for their primary attribute, but the secondary attribute becomes minus 2 from the primary, so at this stage, they can only be given up to level 8.
However, if they raise light magic and dark magic to increase their body's capacity, they can give them factors for free without Jeanne having to use precious SP to acquire wood magic.
This would also allow Cardina, Nana, and Athena to strengthen their secondary attributes more, and even their third attributes could come into view.
Furthermore, since their initial magic amount would increase, it would lead to an overall power-up, guaranteeing their active participation in future dungeon exploration.
"Specifically, how far do you want to raise it?"
"Might as well go up to twelve for light and dark. That way, I can give level ten secondary attributes for all the elemental magic factors I currently have, allowing them to get the second mastery series. So, I think raising it that far would lead to a considerable power-up."
"By the way, how many thousand SP would it cost to raise it that far?"
"Let's see... (519). It's quite expensive since it's acquiring upper limit release, level 11, upper limit release, level 12, times two..."
"Hey, honey~ Our children would want this too. It's a bit expensive, but should we buy it~?"
"Hmm, well... We still have the loan to get back home~ But thinking about our children's future, it might be better~"
"...Um, you two are talking about skill acquisition, right?"
"Yes?"
"Yes?"
Being answered by both of them as if wondering 'What suddenly?', Leah couldn't say anything more and gestured for them to please continue, leaving one word before heading to the restroom.
Although she had gotten used to their foolish couple behavior, Leah still couldn't quite understand their exchange of words that mixed serious talk with joke-like conversations, perhaps due to her previously sparse interpersonal relationships before meeting Tatsuro and the others.
So, she decided to leave them be and excused herself.
The two, watching Leah leave, immediately resumed their previous conversation.
"So, what do you think, Ai? SP accumulates pretty quickly, and I'll work hard to earn more."
"Light magic's other attribute magic enhancement, and dark magic's other attribute magic transformation... Those aspects would be strengthened too, right?"
"Yeah. The laser's power should increase even more."
"And I wonder if Cardina and the others' body levels increase, will their forms change again? I quite like everyone's current forms."
"I don't think that will happen much. I feel like their body forms were pretty much set at level ten. Though some parts might get enhanced a bit."
"I see... -Okay. Then let's get it!"
"Yeah. I love you, Ai!"
"What are you saying now~ That's always the case, isn't it?"
"You're right. Always and forever, I'm hopelessly in love with you."
"---Geez. Silly... I always, forever, love you too, Tatsuro."
And so the two naturally gazed at each other, and as if moved by an invisible force, their lips met.
And while such a passionate kiss scene was unfolding.
Leah, returning from the restroom, wondered why they had gone from talking about skills to doing this.
She moved quietly to her seat in the living room so as not to disturb them while feeling completely puzzled.
"Well then, I'll get it. Ah, and while we're at it, let's get ice magic level 10 too."
"Yeah. With this, your mastery series will be complete too. Just kidding."
"Ah- mastery and complete. O-oh! That's funny!"
"Don't take it so seriously~!"
As he was lightly punched in the head, Tatsuro patted Ai's head while she blushed embarrassedly, and started up the system to make the acquisitions.
"Alright. First, light magic up to level 12 and-- got it. Then, dark magic up to level 12----- OK. And while we're at it, ice magic level 10."
|Class changed from Elementaler to Elemental Master.|
|Acquired skill: [Spirit Magic]|
|Acquired title [Creator - Prelude]|
"Creator... have I become a god or something?"
"What's wrong? Did you hit your head?"
"No, I didn't hit it. Just now my class changed, and I got spirit magic and a skill and title called Creator - Prelude."
"Your class changed again? No fair~ I want to change to another class soon too. So you got two things at that time?"
"Yeah."
"What kind of things are they?"
"Well, let's see..."
Tatsuro checked the details of each item by touching them in order from his status section.
------------------------
Skill Name: Spirit Magic
Rarity: 16
Type: Active Skill
Effect: Can temporarily grant spiritual will by creating a vessel with elemental magic.
------------------------
------------------------
Title Name: Creator - Prelude
Rarity: 19
Effect: Self-world intrusion.
------------------------
"Spirit magic, well, I kind of understand... but self-world intrusion? What does that mean?"
"Who knows? If you don't understand, let's ask Help~"
"Yeah, good idea."
Since the text alone was incomprehensible, he launched Help for the first time in a while to ask questions.
Then, the answer naturally came to mind.
"Well, um, yeah. It means exactly what it says."
"What do you mean?"
"It might be faster if I show you."
So Tatsuro lifted Ai from his chest and set her down on the sofa, then stood up and took out his staff in the room.
Leah, who had been leisurely drinking tea at the living room table, also turned her attention to what was happening.
"Are you going to do something?"
"Yeah. I thought I'd try out a new skill. Leah, could you watch with [All-Seeing Eye] just in case?"
"Understood."
"Hey~ Is this skill safe to use inside the house?"
"Yeah. It doesn't matter where we use it."
Tatsuro took a breath to compose himself, then activated the title effect of [Creator - Prelude].
Then Tatsuro, Ai, and Leah found themselves standing in an empty plain.
"What... is this?"
"This skill seems to let me forcibly construct a world that works exactly as I want, and drag in any people or objects I choose."
"Exactly as you want?"
"Yeah, so I can do things like this too."
Saying that Tatsuro transformed this world, creating a space identical to his hometown in Japan.
And as Tatsuro willed it, houses appeared and disappeared, burned and froze, all just by thinking about it.
"Amazing~ This is practically invincible, isn't it?"
"Yeah, that's right-- ah..."
"Huh? -Wait, Tatsuro!?"
Just as the created world suddenly vanished, Tatsuro suddenly collapsed and was about to hit his head on the floor when Ai caught him in her arms.
"Tatsuro!? What's wrong!?"
"Ai-san, don't worry. It's just magical exhaustion."
"Magical exhaustion? But it's only been about ten seconds since he used the skill?"
"The title effect of [Creator - Prelude] seems to require enormous magical power consumption to force a self-world intrusion. So in Tatsuro-san's current case, even with maximum magic power, the limit is just over 10 seconds."
"It uses that much magic power."
"Yes. Remember before, in this dungeon, there was a deep sea layer?"
"Yeah, there was."
Ai looked at Leah with a puzzled expression at the sudden change in conversation.
Seeing that expression, Leah said "Well, well" and began to continue.
"Right before entering there, Tatsuro-san put up a barrier, right? But it broke immediately."
"Y-yeah. It lost to the water pressure. --Ah. Could this be similar to that?"
"That's right. Just maintaining the state of forcing a small separate world into this world with its overwhelming mass requires a terrifying amount of magic power. And when the magic power runs out, it naturally gets crushed by this world and returns to reality. That's how it works."
"I see. A world of your own that only lasts ten seconds, it's powerful but difficult to use effectively."
"Also, it seems that while you can do whatever you want within the scope of elemental magic like fire magic or ice magic, you apparently can't ignore basic physical laws like suddenly stopping extremely fast-moving objects or making humans move faster than light. Plus, in Tatsuro-san's case, once his magic power runs out, he loses both his means of attack and defense, so it really can only be used as a trump card. Ah, but if combined with Ai-san's [Perfect Harmony +1], I think it could last twenty seconds at full power."
"So if I stick close, it'll be fine. Oh oh, Tatsuro? Are you awake?"
"...Ugh. My head hurts..."
Perhaps due to the effects of magic depletion, when Tatsuro woke up, he was hit with pain like his head was being squeezed in a vise.
He tried to heal it with life magic, but just trying to use magic made the pain worse, so he lay down quietly on the sofa supported by Ai.
"Ah... that was rough."
"Are you okay now?"
"Yeah, thanks."
Having depleted his magic power more instantly than ever before, Tatsuro realized he had collapsed before even feeling the sensation of running out of magic and resolved to be more careful next time if there was another opportunity.
Thanks to Ai staying close and stroking his head, he was able to recover in about ten minutes.
"Still, even using the title effect with Ai, the limit is only around twenty seconds. This is definitely a skill to use with no messing around, aiming to end things in three to five seconds."
"Hey~ So putting that aside, what about the spirit magic?"
"Ah. Then let's try that too."
Although Tatsuro hadn't fully recovered, he had recovered enough to use magic normally, so he created a ball of light with light magic.
Then he used spirit magic to imbue it with a light spirit's will.
The ball began moving around the house on its own without Tatsuro controlling it.
"Hey. Come over here."
"Ah, it came! It might be cute!"
Understanding Tatsuro's words, the sphere of light came over on its own and began spinning around while blinking.
Then going outside, he created a fireball and imbued it with a fire spirit.
The fireball and light ball began flying around the area as if playing tag.
"Can you two cooperate to shoot a laser?"
When Tatsuro gave this instruction, the light ball and fireball joined together and merged, then shot several small lasers appropriate to their small size.
Since they were currently inhabiting small vessels, this was all they could do, but if he prepared larger vessels, it seemed they would be able to attack enemies with their own will in battle. While this required communicating what he wanted them to do rather than controlling them directly, Tatsuro nodded in satisfaction, feeling it was still quite a powerful skill.