Chapter 31 Strongest Sage, Successfully Forms Party

 

Few tens of minutes after Alma's, a lot more students succeeded invoking chantless magic.
Voices of delight and sounds of the targets getting hit are resounding in the class.

The part where 『Nunn!』 could sometimes be heard makes my head ache, but well, they'd probably notice the weirdness and stop by themselves.

Wonder why is everyone mimicking Guyzar-sensei in that part.
I should have asked a teacher without a quirk to do the magic demonstration.

"How about you Ruli? Managed to grasp the sensation yet?"

It seems Ruli who's training the chantless magic with Alma is having quite a hard time.
The fact that Ruli seems to be particularly good with chant magic might have backfired on her instead.

It's not like she couldn't get it at all since I felt a slight difference in her mana control than the usual chant magic when she shot it.... But then her pace dropped.
And then she looks conflicted about something.

"It feels like I've grasped it a bit, but my mana is about to run out...."

"Ah. That huh."

Apparently, her pace dropped because she ran out of mana.
No wonder, chant magic consumes much inversely to its power.

"Give me your hand...mu."

"Mathi-kun, what's wrong?"

"No well, I was going to transfer my mana to you, but that means we'd have to join hands...."

It doesn't need to be too close, but some form of contact is needed to decrease the mana resistance.

"Transferring mana!?"

However, Ruli was surprised at a different part.
Well, I don't blame her for not knowing it since mana transfer has bad efficiency and there's not many case where you need to do one.
I'm sure that it's only mentioned passingly in lectures even in this school.

"It's an application of mana conditioning."

"Mana conditioning....?"

"It's a magic to synchronize your mana with an object. It's usually used in magic augmentation, but you can also use it to transfer mana. It's not really efficient though."

Magic conditioning is a magic specialized for the First Crest, but it's not like the Fourth Crest can't use it as long as you don't use it at a distance.

However, since it's almost impossible to completely synchronize mana qualities between two objects, the conversion rate will be lower.
By the way, you can transfer your mana to other people even without mana conditioning. The conversion rate is 0.1% at most in that case though.

"I-I didn't know that was possible.... L-let's do it!"

Ruli presented her hands to me while saying that. One hand is enough but she offered two.
I grasp her hands and transfer my mana while using mana conditioning.
Aa. I'm getting healed....
My heart is getting healed yes, my mana is decreasing fast though.

"....T-thank you Mathi-kun."

I separated my hands once the mana transfer was done. I have a lot more mana than Ruli thanks to all my training so far, but I still lost quite an amount due to the conversion loss.

"....By the way, is this what you call mana movement?"

And Ruli seems to have grasped mana movement.
Even though I had synchronized our mana with mana conditioning, a different mana still did get into her from outside after all.

This might be usable to get other people aware of mana in a short amount of time.
Though it's not like getting aware of mana is that time consuming, so there's no need to force this.

"Eii!　...I did it!"

Ruli shot out a fire ball from her fingertip, blowing a target away.
Ruli's magic is stronger thhan the other classmates. For the current stage that is.
Although it's probably partly because of the First Crest, it also must be due to Ruli's training. She's the runner-up of the school year after all.

"Congrats Ruli! Amazing how we could use magic like this in just one day!"

"Yeap. Congratulations."

Rather than a day, it was only 40 minutes.
....Come to think of it, perhaps this is my chance to form a party?

The only acquaintances I have in this class are right before me.
Ruli might not be the optimum in battle, but First Crest is quite crucial in things other than that, so I'd like to have one in my party.... Or rather, you can even say that it's an indispensable crest.

A party without First Crest will have a hard time taking a rest inside the dungeon.
Well, becoming more than the past me, a First Crest who could take on dungeons or monsters alone, would be impossible.


As for Alma, her Second Crest is also quite powerful.
Furthermore, it enables the user to pierce through sturdy enemy at a relatively early stage. In other words, you can easily fight in lower floors with it.

That means I can concentrate on stronger monsters while leaving the relatively weak ones to Alma once we get to the lower floors.
To be frank, fighting lots of enemies with the Fourth Crest consumes a lot of mana on top of being annoying even if they're weak, it'd really help if I have a support to clean up the weaklings.

And once she's able to use the magic I've developed later on, she should be able to blow away one or two continents in one shot and be strong enough to be a potential force to fight the huge monsters in the space.

....By the way, my past First Crest self could have blown away a mere continent if I wanted.
I never did it since it would be pointless and an annoyance to others though.



In short, even though the two of them aren't presently strong enough to fight in the dungeon, they can reach [Reasonably Helpful] level in a relatively short amount of time.
Alright, let's try asking them. I've gotten used to talking to them, and even if they refuse me, it would surely only be as damaging as getting me to want to reincarnate again.

"...I have a request to you two now that you can use magic."

"Request?"

"Yeah. Would you please form a party with me in order to enter the dungeon."

"I heard that you need a group of five to enter the dungeon even for second graders.... Are you forming a party this soon?"

"Don't you think it's too soon? I would love to personally though. Ruli must want it too, and with Mathi-kun around, I'm sure he can do something even if things get dangerous!"

The matter yesterday hasn't been known yet huh.
Well, it happened just yesterday after all.

"Actually, it's been planned that first year will be able to enter the dungeon."

"Really?"

"Only if we can pass the test to prove that we are as powerful in combat as the second graders though. We can enter the dungeon then."

"I've heard that you get can get stronger by beating monsters. But, even if Ruli's fine, will I do? I thought Mathi-kun would rather go with someone stronger or has Glory Crest."

"And I'm aspiring to be a magic augmenter, not combatant...."

"No worries. In the first place, Glory Crest isn't suited for combat. It's strong in augmentations and such though, so having one in a party is good enough."

Even if she wants to be a magic augmenter, getting told that her crest is useless in battle in a world where Glory Crest is expected for its battle prowess (apparently) must be hard on her.
She might feel dejected, but this needs to be told to her sooner or later.

It's better not to pointlessly prolong it.
I'm worried about Ruli's reaction though....

"Is that true!?"

Ruli's eyes opened wide, her body was shaking.
Well, judging from how people treat Glory Crest today, I guess this reaction is only natural.
But she seems strange somehow.

"Yeah. Unfortunately, it's the truth. Glory Crest has a low growth rate, and not suitable for combat. There are various ways to get around it for crests other than the Glory Crest...."

"Not that, the part about augmentation!"

Ah. That one huh.

"Glory Crest is good in augmenting, you know. It can be used in combat to a degree depending on your training, but augmentation magic for crests other than Glory Crest is--"

"It's not unfortunate at all! This is the best!"

...Huh?
Her reaction is somewhat different than what I expected.
Rather, the way Ruli gets into it is surprising. You couldn't have imagined it from her usual composure.
I mean, her eyes are sparkling.

"Ruli, are you.... willing to become magic augmenter even if you have to abandon combat?"

Even if she wants to become a magic augmenter, I thought that you'd usually be disappointed if you heard your crest wasn't suitable for combat.

"Yes! I don't mind not being able to fight if I can get better in augmentation!"

She likes augmenting that much huh.
Well it's convenient for me personally, since I originally need to teach the art of augmentation to a Glory Crest bearer in order to secure my weapons....
To think she would be this happy for the traits of the crest that compelled me to reincarnate myself to rid of....































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