Volume 1 Chapter 9 (1/2)

With the discovery of the level reset function as well as the fixed status increase, the magic knight class was said to be industrialized. Along with these two discoveries, a third discovery was made for Magic knights. That was Magic Customization.

Initially, the magic knight was rated as a weak class due to it’s inability to cast magic above the intermediate tier. The only benefit to choosing the class was the ability to cast magic despite being part of the front-line, however this benefit was considered a weakness rather than a privilege. Magic knights were unable to cast Wall and thus unable to be the tank in the frontlines.

In this world, there are three tiers of magic. Basic, Intermediate and Advanced

Basic tier magic was considered a useful magic to have due to it’s quick cast time and high power for it’s cost.

Advanced magic was magic with a large area of effect with a long cast time. However, despite this it was still easy and effective to use as it also has extremely high firepower.

However, unlike the other two tiers which were highly regarded, Intermediate magic was looked down upon as an irrelevant tier to master.

Basic and Advanced tier magic were extremely efficient in terms of their consumption as well as effects, producing good results for relatively low cost. Whereas Intermediate tier magic was inefficient in results.

Intermediate tier magic has a reasonable area of effect with range and it’s cast time wasn’t very long but not short either. It’s power wasn’t spectacular for it’s cost, making it a tier that had many niche uses.

High-levelled magicians often taught others that Basic magic was effective in dealing with weaker monsters while Advanced magic should be used when the number of monsters are too many or too powerful. Thanks to this, there weren’t many uses for Intermediate magic and was considered a waste of skill points to invest in.

They weren’t wrong. Intermediate tier magic was indeed useless when compared to the other tiers available. However, Intermediate magic was superior in one aspect. Customization.

If it was possible to place the level of each spell’s fundamental concepts in numeric values, the values of Intermediate tier magic was more efficient compared to other tiers.

When Magic Customization was discovered, magic knights were given an ability that magicians did not have.

That was the flexibility to customize their spells to provide powerful attack spells as well as supportive magic. Magicians didn’t have the ability to sacrifice their range and cast time to increase the power of their attack spells. However, that wasn’t the true benefit of Magic Customization. It’s true potential lies in it’s supportive magic.

When magic knights’ power level was reevaluated, it wasn’t the flexibility nor the attacking magic that caused them to be rated highly. It was the ability to freely alter the blessings that they provided to the party. This characteristic alone was enough for the class to be deemed as the strongest.

[This makes three!] (Luna)

After the trio had left, Luna and I continued to look for rock golems in order to raise our levels.

The subsequent battles were much easier once the baggage was gone. After defeating our third golem, I became Level 6. It was an incredible leveling pace as there was a huge level difference between the monsters and us, giving us a bonus gain in experience as a reward.

Since Luna was in my party, the experience was evenly distributed between the two of us, so Luna’s was currently Level 6 as well.

[Alright its time to head back, I’ve pretty much drained all my mana.] (Youya)

[Youya, Luna wants to fight. There’s no point if Luna doesn’t fight.] (Luna)

[It’s because Luna is here that I can focus on my battles. If Luna wasn’t here, I would worry about multiple golems appear once the battle was over.] (Youya)

[I understand. But still…] (Luna)

It seems that Luna was dissatisfied that she did not have a chance to enter the battle.

However, even if Luna did join in the battle, she would not be able to land a scratch on the golem. It’s defensive stats were far too high for adventurers with our levels. That being said, she was still crucial in our battles as she was constantly on the lookout for monsters that would join in on the battle. That alone saved me a lot of energy and was an important role, but it seems that she is still dissatisfied.

[Don’t worry, tomorrow you’ll get a chance to fight monsters. Now that we’re Level 6, you should have at least 5 skill points. Let’s use this opportunity to level an attack skill. I’ll recommend the optimals skills and you’ll choose which skill you wish to use.] (Youya)

[Yay!] (Luna)

Luna smiled happily as her tail shook back and forth. She seems happy that she’ll finally get an attack skill. Could she be a battle maniac?

For thieves, there aren’t any actual attacking skills although offensive skills do exist. For offensive skills, there are two styles that can be used. One was a style that specialises in critical hits while the other specialises in abnormality effects.

The former has a high skill floor, requiring talent and technical ability. If successfully executed, it will provide the user with tremendous explosive power whereas the latter requires knowledge and battle sense. Once the user has enough experience with his abilities, he will become an important asset in future battles.

Although it is certain that Luna will choose the first option, I will have to determine whether she has the talent for Critical specialization. Although having the ablity to land critical hits packs a huge punch, if the user doesn’t have the talent for critical strikes, the skills learnt would become dead skills as they wouldn’t be used in any other way.

Relying on Luna’s Presence Detection, we successfully evaded monsters as we travelled down the mountain towards the exit.

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For our first adventure, it is impressive that we managed to level up five times while obtaining a rare drop at the same time.

We headed towards the guild hall as we returned from the dungeon

The guild plays three important roles.

Firstly, the guild serves as a consultant for adventurers. When inquired, the guild staff will explain specific details about dungeons including the level and monsters that will appear.

Secondly, the guild serves as a store that collects drop items from dungeons. Everything that is dropped by monsters can be sold at the guild. Using it’s huge network, anything can be sold and delivered to anywhere around the country.

Lastly, the guild is the distributor of quests in the countries. Quests accepted from all around the world are shown here for adventurers to accept.

The guild is a crucial lynchpin for the lives of adventurers as they were arguably the main source of income for us. Without them, it would be difficult for us to sell the items from dungeons to other vendors. The guild also takes a commission depending on the amount given for the drop items. Depending on the commission, guild points are given and once the amount of points reaches a certain amount, the adventurer will be promoted to a higher rank. The higher the adventurer’s rank, the more advantageous it would be when travelling around the country. There are special privileges that are only given in certain countries and cities once you are at a high enough rank. Therefore it is rare for adventurers to avoid cashing out their items at the guild unless it was an absurd amount.

However, there was something strange that caught my eye.

When I took a look at my status back in the dungeon, I realized that my rank was currently Bronze, the lowest rank for adventurers. Back then, I was at the top rank, White.

Although I expected my status to completely reset thanks to the goddess statue, I didn’t expect the statue to reset my guild points as well.

Looks like I’ll have to raise my guild rank as well as my level this time.

I sneaked a peek at the quest board before heading to the cashier. Just as I hoped, I found a quest that requested for the Karakuri heart from the Rock Golem. After defeating three golems, two Karakuri hearts were dropped.

I’ll be submitting only one of the hearts for the quest and the other will be kept for crafting magical items in the future.

Turning in items for quests were much more beneficial than simply cashing them in for money.

By completing quests, not only do you earn a bonus, but you also earn the original price of the item back in cash as well as guild points.

The amount that we had earned was quite a hefty sum for a beginner dungeon. It seems that lady luck has been smiling upon me ever since i met Luna.

[Luna, let’s head over to the bar tonight. We earned a lot more money than expected today, thanks to that we can afford to eat more of the meat you liked.] (Youya)

The glint in Luna’s eyes shined brightly. However, that glint quickly disappeared as Luna began to shake her head.

[It’s okay, the new skill is more important. Luna wants to become stronger.] (Luna)

I widened my eyes at Luna’s statement.

I can’t deny that I was looking forward to eating good food tonight, but watching Luna give up the food for training gave me a bit of a shock.

[Alright, then let’s settle for a sandwich tonight then. We’ll drop by the store later and get the ingredients for the sandwich. That way we can enjoy a delicious dinner while training.] (Youya)

[ As expected of Youya! Youya is so smart! I like smart Youya!] (Luna)

Afterwards, we bought plenty of meat as well as other ingredients before returning to the inn.

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Me and Luna were facing each other in the courtyard of the inn. Both of us held a wooden dagger in our hands

[The skill I want Luna to learn is Assassinate. It was the same skill with a cool name that you liked.] (Youya)