CH 42

“So, Orn. About the answer to the question I asked in the morning, now’s a good place to tell me, yeah?”

Wilkes, finishing his argument with Lucre, calls out to me. 

If it’s here, I have no problem speaking. 

“Ah, sure. I was able to beat the Black Dragon largely due to two original magics. Since it’s original magic, I’ll leave out the specifics, but the first is a magic called [Impact]. It’s effect is that for only less than a moment, it can increase the performance or power of equipment or magic by a maximum of a hundred times.” 

“Huh? A hundred!? Amazing…. Hey, Selma, can you do that?” 

Lain asks Selma while impressed. 

Though Lain looks like that, the way she speaks is enough to make you feel she’s a mature woman. 

It’s rude to say this, but the gap is incredible. 

“…No, it’s impossible for me. I don’t even have the slightest idea of how it can be done.”

Selma mutters with a shocked expression. 

That bug was something found by chance. 

Even if you tried to search for it, it won’t be discoverable. 

Because the way to realise how to use that bug to cheat is not something that you’d usually consider. 

“Next, the second is magic that can raise my physical abilities more than normal support magic. Since this is done through gradual increments, there’s no special name for it.” 

Strictly speaking, it’s not magic, but if you look at it from a third party’s perspective, it looks like there’s a sudden substantial strengthening, so I’ll call it magic.

This is also a cheat using a bug, so I can’t discuss the details.

“When you say ‘more than normal support magic’, how much more are you talking about?”

Lucre asks.

“When I was fighting the Black Dragon, I raised my abilities by about thirty times.”

“What’s that, it’s unfair! With that much improvement in ability, I can understand just how the Hero Party was able to get to the 95th floor! Or rather, why did they say that you’re lacking in ability?” 

Only Lucre raised her voice, and while the other three didn’t say anything, they seemed to be thinking the same thing as Lucre. 

Well, it’s certainly unfair…

“There’s definitely a great effect, but it has demerits. First, this can’t be activated on any one other than me. It can’t raise the abilities of my comrades. That’s why when I was in the Hero Party, the members could only receive my normal support magic. The multiplier effect of my support magic is only about two times, so I think it can’t be helped that they say I’m lacking in ability. Also, just raise my abilities, a considerable amount of formulae construction is required, so it’s not suited for long-term battles. Even for deep layer exploration, it’s not the case that I can keep fighting in this state. For now, I don’t think I’ll be using this buff like I did while fighting the Black Dragon. I’ll do it if I’m forced out of necessity, but it really hurts my head…”

In the Black Dragon battle [Status Up] by [Quintuple] was used because I was trying to bring it into a short-term decisive battle. 

The battle time had ended up being longer than I imagined, but labyrinth exploration takes hours of diving. 

While exploring the labyrinth, it’s not like there’s always battles, but the total battle time is definitely longer than the Black Dragon battle.

In future labyrinth explorations, I’ll use one or two more different types of status [Stacking], but I don’t think I’ll be using all six types of [Stacking].

“I see. I can get why the Hero Party could reach the 94th floor. Even without that ability increase, that [Impact], is it? Just that magic alone is already a huge advantage. I somehow finally get why big sis Selma praises Orn so much.” 

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was that demanding of a magic, and I didn’t think it would be able to give a hundred times benefit. It’s a really amazing magic.”

“[Impact], in the end, has a maximum of a hundred times so it’s not a hundred times every time, you know. The formula construction for the hundred times version puts a heavy burden on the brain.” 

“Are there any other questions? Though I do plan to answer them within certain limits.” 

“Then, can I ask you a question?”

When I ask if there are any other questions, Lain voices out.

“Of course.”

“Orn, you were an Enchanter when you were in the Hero Party, right? Other than Enchanter and Vanguard Attacker, are there other roles you can do?” 

“If you’re okay with a level between upper B Rank and lower A Rank, I can do everything.”

“Heh, that’s amazing. If that’s so, then you can handle various things while exploring.” 

“It’s just that, for some reason, I can’t use anything more than advanced magic, so I think only Rearguard Attacker will be at a really low level.” 

“Eh, why is that? If you’re well-versed enough in magic to develop original magic, and you can activate advanced magic, can’t you?” 

I think I have a pretty deep understanding of magic.

Normally, it wouldn’t even be strange for me to be able to activate special-grade magic, but I don’t know why I can’t. 

The reason is entirely unknown. 

Well, with [Impact] or [Raise Repeat], I can somehow get by with using magic with high power. 

“I don’t know the cause. I can’t use it for some reason.”

“Is that so. I hope you’ll be able to use it someday!” 

“Yeah. Currently, even if I can’t use it it’s not inconvenient so it’s fine, but I hope I can do it one day.” 

“Yes! Can I ask a question?”

At the timing when the conversation takes a pause, this time it’s Lucre that asks a question. 

“Alright.”

“Do you have a Talent~?”

“Yeah, I have one. It’s called [Mana Convergence]. The effect is as the name suggests, it converges the surrounding mana to one point.”

I raise my hand to chest level while answering Lucre’s question. 

With palm facing up, I converge the mana. 

The nearby mana gathers in my palm, forming into the shape of a black sphere. 

“Ooh! Awesome!”

“…For that, what ways can you use it?”

Wilkes asks after seeing the black sphere.

“Basically, I use this to create improvised footholds in the air, attack using the impact that emanates from releasing this mass. Other than that, I combine it with magic, more or less.”

“Hoh, pretty versatile, isn’t it? Now there are three people here with Talents huh.” 

Very few people possess Talents. 

Even among top-class explorers, there are few who do. 

“Does Wilkes also have a Talent?”

“Will is fine. And to answer your question, no. The ones who have are big sis Selma and Lucre.” 

I turn my gaze toward the two.

Talents are top secret.

There are many who keep it secret. Despite collecting information about “Night Sky’s Silver Rabbit”, there was nothing about the two of them having Talents. 

If they say, I’ll listen, but I won’t force it out of them. 

“Fufufufu, I’ll tell you! My Talent is [Mana Tracking]! The effect is simple though. It can track the remnants of magic and sorcery, and find out where they are fired from and the thing that cast it, Yeah? It’s plain, right?” 

“No, no… It’s really useful.”

Even when magic is flying around while exploring the labyrinth, there are often times when you won’t know where it comes from. 

Magic isn’t necessarily only cast when you approach close to demonic beasts. 

For example, there are cases where demonic beasts attack while you are sandwiched between two sides. 

In that event, with Lucre’s Talent, you can deal with it before the second cast is fired. 

Saving the trouble of having to look for the caster is easy on the mind. 

“Thank you. But Selma’s Talent is more amazing, you know? Hey! Selma?” 

“Don’t raise the bar… My Talent is [Telepathy]. I can connect something like an invisible path between myself and any person, and communicate without uttering sounds, something like that.”

Eh, what is that…

When I was in the Hero Party, what I wanted the most was something that would allow us to converse and communicate even if we were far apart. 

Of course, there’s no such thing on the market, I had a sponsor go through various places to investigate, but in the end, it couldn’t be found. 

Surely It goes without saying just exactly how excellent this Talent is for labyrinth explorations.

Not only, it’s incredibly useful in everyday life.

Combat for example.

Coordination is important in labyrinth battles.

If you’re an advanced explorer party, you’ll get used to it and be able to cooperate with only a few words, but it doesn’t mean that you’ll always be able to perfectly communicate. 

During battle, the Vanguard and Rearguard may get separated from each other, and if that happens, it’s possible for there to be friendly fire. 

Selma’s Talent that can prevent this is an extremely excellent ability, directly leading to an increase in sustaining and surviving labyrinth explorations. 

Among the Talents I know of, looking only in terms of usefulness for exploring labyrinths, [Telepathy] is by far the best. 

Well, every Talent is excellent still, there’s definitely a place for each one of them to play an active role. 

“For that, does it mean that everything you’re thinking about will be exposed?” 

“No, it’s a feeling thing so it’s hard to explain, but if it’s something you don’t want to convey to the other person, your voice won’t reach. So it’s not that you can hear everything.” 

I see, I’m honestly grateful that you won’t just transmit everything you think.

Everyone has an inner voice that they don’t want others to hear.

“Is there a distance limit?”

“Yes. It’s a radius of several kilometres around me.”

Pretty wide.

This distance might not be the most useful for everyday life, but party members rarely leave more than five hundred metres away from each other during labyrinth exploration. 

In other words, when it comes to exploring the labyrinth, distance is no longer a concern.