Chapter 40 (2/2)

s.p.a.ce-time magic.

If Serge saw him, he would probably been astonished at the precision of its composition.

Fearing the eyes of his enemies, the youth faced his destination. This continent’s core, the imperial capital.

Knowing his purpose, he was still by himself.

In front of her eyes, there was a ma.s.s of muscle.

Over many years, that muscle had been constantly strengthened.

She felt it was even beautiful.

Facing that muscle, Ria—pierced it with a needle.

“Uoh.”

The voice Vargas unintentionally leaked out wasn’t an unpleasant one.

Ria pierced needles along the line of Vargas’ backbone. These needles were also produced from genesis magic.

The needles’ heads were beaded to stimulate.

“U~mu.”

Sound continued to leak from Vargas’ mouth.

“D-do you really not feel any pain?”

s.h.i.+zuna inquired while watching fearfully. Similarly, the other members who were watching questioned with their looks.

“Muuu, it doesn’t hurt. Rather… the pressure feels good.”

It was the third day after finis.h.i.+ng their first exploration.

After Dark Labyrinth exploration was considering recuperation from fatigue, equipment repairs, about ten days of rest from start to finish. That was Thunder’s Fangs pattern.

However, Ria objected.

“Generally speaking, three days is enough for recuperation.”

When she said to recover with magic, the members of Thunder’s Fangs had already considered that.

Certainly, magic could recover fatigue. It could also recover wounds and the like.

But if you did that repeatedly in a short time, the amount of fatigue recovered and the recovery speed of the wounds would decrease.

This was a natural phenomenon for explorers. Carlos, who had been on marches on the battlefield, also knew this.

Ria didn’t know. She strove to exterminate all demons in the vicinity in one day. It was because she could disregard damage in Labyrinth City to some degree. Above all, her fatigue recovered quickly and due to her const.i.tution her wounds would as well.

However, she felt that a rest period of ten days was really long. For this, s.h.i.+zuna held the same opinion.

Accordingly, Ria decided to try out acupuncture from her previous life.

Ria hadn’t given acupuncture treatment in her previous life of course. Neither did she have a license for it. [1]

However, having received it herself, she was very grateful for it. In any case, a martial artist wasn’t someone that could be separated from injuries.

Sprains that should have taken two months to recover with scientific treatment would be cured with just a few days.

Acupuncturists with magical arms, qigong therapists, seitai masters. She had visited them many times in her previous life. [2] [3]

And although it hadn’t gone to using needles, she had been taught how to stimulate vital points to promote recovery to some degree.

As for her acupuncture treatment, she just used her experience and intuition.

Of course, at first, no one wanted to receive a treatment they’d never heard of before.

In front of everyone, Ria calmly pierced thin needles into her own hands and feet.

… she pierced a pain point at one point by mistake, but she endured it expressionlessly.

Then Vargas became interested in it and stepped up as a guinea pig.

And with that, she pierced him with needles on his back, where there were few pain points.

(Unexpectedly, didn’t this become magical power manipulation training?)

Like dragons had the pulse of the world, humans had blood vessels.

In this world, magical power flowed.

By taking a specific posture and meditating, she was able to hasten her magical power recovery. She could even do this at Casalia.

Dozens of needles spanned from the waist of his back, to his shoulders, to his neck.

“I’m surprised. My body really feels light.”

Since Vargas said that while waving his arms, the warriors also asked Ria for acupuncture.

Ria willingly treated them while making disposable needles.

Finis.h.i.+ng all of the men, Ria thought next would be the women for her to enjoy.

Ria’s knees fell out from under her.

“Eh?”

Her body trembled. From the tips of her toes to her hair, her entire body.

“W-what’s happening?”

She wasn’t afraid. Nor was she trembling with excitement.

Maal and Lulu drew close to Ria from both sides while panicking. However, after a moment Maal and Cell felt an abnormality.

“The spirits are clamoring…”

Spirits dwelled in all things. They were making noise as if the world was trembling.

The wizards also noticed it before long. In a faraway place, some extravagant magic was being used.

“Anise… no, it’s a little different… farther?”

Lulu muttered. Why could she feel magic from so far away? Just how much magical power was used?

But what Ria felt wasn’t something like that.

Something was lost.

A puzzle piece necessary for this world… fell away.

She didn’t know just what was lost. However, something was lost. Something that should never have been lost.

With that gigantic feeling of loss, Ria could do nothing but tremble.

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