Chapter 116.1

116 Part 1

Let’s be an Adventurer! ~Defeating Dungeons with a Skill Board~ 116

Let’s Master The Shamanism Skill!

That voice was coming from behind Haruki.

When he looked behind him, Karen was there, pointing at her pocket.

— Don’t tell me…

Haruki already knew who was the culprit.

“Show yourself, criminal.”

Haruki approached Karen, jerking his chin.

Karen reached for her pocket, and took Chep out of it.

Chep twitched and squirmed inside Karen’s hand.

Her eyes looked like those of a dead fish, and her puffed up mouth was bubbling.

“Why is she pretending to be dead?”

“I have absolutely no idea. She started yelling and squirming all of a sudden.”

Karen replied with a stiff expression on her face.

Haruki closed his eyes after considering what she must have gone through.

She started trembling after she heard a scream coming out of her pocket.

Then, when she reached for her pocket, she found a dead fish inside…

This was a new type of horror story.

They had planned to do some combat training with those normal species, but with things as they were, it seemed that Karen’s pocket would be cursed by a certain fish’s screaming.

Haruki decided that they would take a break until Chep regained her senses.

“Where…”

“Oh, are you awake?”

“AaaaaaAAHH! A molester!!”

Chep had called Haruki a molester even though all he did was slap her a few times to make sure she had regained consciousness.

Hitting women is wrong.

But this was a fish. And a freeloader, at that.

There was no need to have any kind of consideration for her.

“Well, what were you doing?”

“A–A little experience.”

“Hmm? Experience?”

“That’s right. I was earning some experience with my praying– ah, it was Shamanism, wasn’t it?– and well, I must have gotten a bit of that level-up sickness thing. It hurt so much that I ended up fainting.”

“Huuuh?”

Haruki could feel a vein in his forehead twitching at the freeloader’s confession that she had been sneaking around.

However, he remained composed.

“Can you get experience by using your Shamanism?”

“Yes. Actually… I can distribute the experience points received when a monster is defeated. Well, it’s something I’ve just found out I can do, though.”

“Huuuuh?”

Chep was basically saying that her improved Shamanism skills had awaken to a new ability.

Haruki’s brain started to work.

If her Shamanism skill were to allow her to redistribute experience points amongst team members, it could lead to the solution of one of Haruki’s permanent problems.

“Hey, Chep. Can you use your Shamanism on all of us to evenly redistribute our experience points?

“Yes, I can. But I’m so tired right now that I’d prefer not to for now–”

“HMM?”

“Awawahh!”

Chep started to tremble as the eyes on Haruki’s mask started to shine.

“Did you say something?”

“No!”

“Okay. Then always use it whenever we come down into the dungeon.”

If the experience points they earned could be evenly distributed amongst the team, Haruki’s problem of “getting too many experience points will turn you into a monster” could be solved.

Then, as long as they were careful about overkilling monsters, he shouldn’t experience the sharp pain all over his body ever again.

“Ah, but I get it now.”

Having solved a mystery, Haruki slapped his own knee.

It was because of Shamanism that she earned skill points in battles where she did not participate.

Was it a way to make the dungeon recognize the team as a single entity, or a way to make a bypass for friends? Or did it simply act on supernatural forces?

Regardless of its nature, it truly was a well appreciated ability for Haruki to have on his team.

“Well, Chep. Is there anything else you can do with Shamanism?”

“No, there isn’t…”

Chep rolled her eyes.

Haruki didn’t miss that detail.

He increased his energy aura slightly in an intimidating manner.

“HMM?”

“Hawawaah!? I-I can lead people’s thoughts a bit!”

“Ah. Don’t ever use that power, okay?”

The power to lead someone’s thoughts.

Haruki remembered that power.

While Haruki was in Asahikawa and in the middle of the Monster Hunting Contest, “for some reason”, he thought he had to hold onto Chep and head for the top of Kamui Rock.

And then, after Haruki returned from Kamui Rock, he thought had to keep Chep with him “for some reason”.

These thoughts had all been Chep’s doing.

It could be said that it was a necessary ability for the spirit to guide Haruki to that quest.

However, depending on how it was used, it could be a very dangerous power.

For example, before he realized, he was thinking that the fishwoman that had appeared in front of him seemed to be cute, “for some reason”.

— That was horrible.

Haruki got goosebumps all over his body.

It truly was a dangerous power.

“Under no circumstances you are to use that power, okay?”

“…”

“If you use it, I’ll break the bracelet.”

“Eeeek!?”

Haruki’s threatening demeanor caused Chep to tremble.

Of course, Haruki didn’t just want to threaten Chep without a reason.

Leading someone’s thoughts is a terrifying ability of the Shamanism skill. It was even scarier for Haruki, knowing that he had no countermeasures to it.

However, Chep wasn’t the kind of character to use her Shamanism for evil.

Chep was no more than a little rascal.

The worst Chep could do was to make herself look like the most beautiful woman in the world, make it so someone cannot eat fish ever again, or make people call her “Lady Chep”.

Haruki didn’t think that her ability to lead people’s thoughts would be too bad or too good, but he could easily see it as being something very irritating.

So the best way to go about it for the time being was to forbid its use.

If she were to use that ability, then Haruki could break the bracelet and there wouldn’t be anything Chep could do about it.

“Are you okay with this, Karen?”

“Of course.”

Karen too must have realized the risks of the ability to lead someone’s thoughts. Her nose was all wrinkled up.

This would destroy Chep’s means of escape.

All that was left for them to do was to keep a watchful eye for her mischievous behavior.

“Ah, there’s one more thing. It’s a piece of advice. If you get too many experience points in one go, you risk turning into a monster, so be careful, okay?

“Huh!?”

Chep probably didn’t know about the risks of leveling up.

She had gone completely pale.

“Awawah… I’ll turn into a monster!?”

“Ah, wait…”

— She’s already a monster, this one.

Haruki had completely forgotten that Chep was a monster because she could speak like a person.

So that piece of advice wouldn’t be of much use to her…

However, if she were to use her Shamanism to make it so only one of them were to earn large amounts of experience, there would be no end to her screaming from inside Karen’s pocket, so pointing that out didn’t seem that worthless after all.