Level Eater

Chapter 13: Information Magic

After the battle against the wolves, nothing eventful happened throughout the night. The two swapped their resting time until they were finally greeted by daybreak.

"HAAAAAA Do we have to walk today too?" (Tatsuro)

"We can stop if you'd like, but then we'd be stuck in this forest forever. I want to get out of here ASAP so let's just go." (Ai)

"HWAAAA." (Tatsuro)

"Hey. Eyes on the prize!" (Ai)

"Oh Sorry for sl0wiNg DowN." (Tatsuro)

To help cope with the boredom of walking endlessly, the pair exchanged all kinds of useless conversations while walking by the riverside. Amid their journey, Tatsuro grabbed a rice ball from his backpack, split it in half, and shared it with Ai.

"Is this Okaka?" (Ai)

(T/N: https://yjc.tokyo/japanesefood-recipe-onigiri-rice-balls-bonito-flakes for more information on this)

"Yeah. When I was picking which ones to buy, I eventually took this." (Tatsuro)

"That's fine. If you didn't, I'd be thinking that you got replaced by an impostor." (Ai)

"Are you like that because of the Okaka or something else?" (Tatsuro)

Putting Tatsuro in an uncomfortable spot, Ai gave him a sidelong glance and slowly took bite after bite of the rice ball.

"Tatsuro, we need water on table 5, please! Tatsuro?" (Ai)

"Eh? Ah, water. Right, coming up!" (Tatsuro)

Pulled out of his thoughts by Ai's voice, he used [Water Magic] to create a ball of water above his palm and presented it to Ai. Ai, in response, said her thanks and drank from the ball of water suspended in mid-air.

"This somehow makes me feel like an Astronaut drinking water in a spaceship." (Ai)

"I don't really get what you're saying" (Tatsuro)

Making another one for himself, he drank to his heart's content before throwing the rest into the river.

"Can you make hot water too?" (Ai)

"Ah, if I compound fire and water magic then yes. Would hot water be better?" (Tatsuro)

"If only we had cup noodles too. We could eat them anywhere then" (Ai)

"Yeah, if we had them then we'll have more supplies that can last us until we find proper food. Sheesh, if you're going to isekai us, then give us a warning so that we can prepare!!" (Tatsuro)

Complaining to no one in particular, Tatsuro started eating his rice ball too.

Now, the remaining food supplies they had left were a rice ball and an assortment of cheap sweets. While they technically have an inexhaustible supply of water, they still kept that one bottle of tea with them, just in case. That, however, did not ease their lack of rations.

If they were able to slip into the forest, they could probably find various types of fruit. However, with no idea of what creatures lurk within and whether the various types of fruit are safe for them to consume, they decided against it. For that same reason, they also refrained from catching the fish in the river.

In the end, they have no choice but to rely on what they have brought with them.

"If it's like this, then I think we should hurry to the village even if we have to force ourselves a little." (Tatsuro)

"But if we get caught up in something when we do so, we're gonna be in a lot of trouble so no. We have no idea what's next in this world." (Ai)

"Then, should we keep this pace?" (Tatsuro)

"Yeah Uh." (Ai)

Their conversation dropped their morale even further.

Suddenly, Tatsuro remembered about the SP he gained yesterday which caused him a lot of headaches.

"By the way, I got a lot of SP yesterday, but" (Tatsuro)

"Yeah, you mentioned it earlier. Have you decided on how to use them?" (Ai)

"Hmm First, life and earth to Lv 5, then Dispel magic to Lv 3, which should cost 180 SP in total. I'll be left with 3 SP. How's that?" (Tatsuro)

"And why that?" (Ai)

"Earth magic is just too convenient to miss out on, as seen yesterday. Light because I need a new magic to use. Dispel magic because we can use it for searching and stuff. Personally, I think Dispel magic can be a great help in the future." (Tatsuro)

"You're gonna make a new magic? Let me see, okay!!?" (Ai)

"Since there are no objections, I'm going to upgrade them now." (Tatsuro)

Booting up his system, Tatsuro picked out the skills he mentioned earlier and purchased them. To confirm, the two of them checked his stats.

Name: Tatsuro Hasami

Class: Light Magician

Level: 14

Ki: 21

Mana: 233

Strength: 32

Durability: 32

Agility: 27

Magic: 141

Magic Resistance: 139

Mana Control: 141

|Acquired Skills|

[Level Eater], [Light Magic Lv 5], [Dark Magic Lv 1]

[Fire Magic Lv 5], [Water Magic Lv 1], [Life Magic Lv 1]

[Earth Magic Lv 5], [Dispel Magic Lv 3], [Mana Purification Lv 1]

[Mana Regeneration Lv 2], [Focus Lv 3]

|System skills|

[Map]

Skill Points: 3

|Titles|

None

"I guessed right. I didn't level up but my stats increased from yesterday's." (Tatsuro)

"Did it?" (Ai)

"It was different from before and after I took the skills too. It's the magic-related stats this time." (Tatsuro)

"Aren't you a diligent one." (Ai)

"It's an 11-point increase, the same increase as the levels of my magic-related skills. This means that for every increase in my magic levels, I'll get the same amount in every one of my magic stats. At least, that's what I think." (Tatsuro)

"So, you mean that learning a skill just for the sake of it is enough to make us stronger?" (Ai)

"That's it." (Tatsuro)

After making sure that he acquired the new skills, Ai closed her system while Tatsuro fired up Help to learn how to use his newly acquired Dispel magic.

"First will be Dispel attribute's search magic." (Tatsuro)

"Search magic, huh. I wonder how that works" (Ai)

Leaving the control of his body to the skill once again, Tatsuro only took back control when he felt that he could do it on his own. Closing his eyes to reduce the information flow into his brain, he dissipated his mana as a fog-like substance through his palm.

(The mist will spread, invisible to the naked eye. Control it, turn it into a dome shape with you in the center.)

Following Help's instructions, Tatsuro succeeded in forming a dome of about 6 meters in diameter.

"Ack" (Tatsuro)

Without total control over the mist, Tatsuro's mind was overloaded by the amount of information it was trying to receive. He immediately cut his connection with the information traffic. Then, he restricted the flow of information to only those considered as living and reconnected himself to the vortex of information. Now, he was able to feel the nearby Ai within the dome.

"Tatsuro? Your face looks pale. Are you alright?" (Ai)

"I bit off more than I can chew at first, but it's fine now. By the way, can you raise one of your hands? I should be able to tell which one it is without opening my eyes." (Tatsuro)

"Really? Then, here it is, right hand!!!" (Ai)

Ai did not raise any of her hands.

"That was a bluff. Both of them are down." (Tatsuro)

"Correct! You got me. Again, here goes! I raised my right hand now!" (Ai)

Ai lifted her right leg.

"That's not really a hand, is it?" (Tatsuro)

"Correct again Then here goes the right hand for real this time!" (Ai)

This time, she turned around without making a single sound and raised her left hand.

"You turned around 180 degrees so that should be your left hand. How's that?" (Tatsuro)

"Perfect score! If you have this, then even if you return to Japan right now, you'd be like some kind of superhuman and wouldn't have any problems making a living! Congratulations!" (Ai)

"What kind of compliment is that? Well, superhuman or not, I don't think there'll be any problems with going home" (Tatsuro)

After saying those words, Tatsuro finally opened his eyes. To learn more about Dispel magic, he thought about doing various experiments in the future. From today's performance, he also wasn't able to accurately measure the mana expenditure and scope of the magic. Once he gets the hang of using it, there's bound to be a lot of improvement.

The two soon resumed their march.

"Hey, is it alright for you even if you don't practice the other attributes?" (Ai)

"Ah, the others were still at Lv 1 when I last tried them. It should be fine as long as I can increase their output, I think. Besides" (Tatsuro)

"Besides?" (Ai)

"The search magic I used earlier burned a lot of mana so I think I should preserve my current mana just in case." (Tatsuro)

"Isn't that search magic way too much of a mana glutton, then?" (Ai)

"That was the basic form of Dispel magic based on the instructions from Help alone. It felt a lot like manual labor in my case. I do plan on refining it to suit my style better though." (Tatsuro)

"In games, it'll be over with just the press of a button, but here, it's hard to use magic without thinking how to use it, huh?" (Ai)

"It's more interesting that way for me." (Tatsuro)

"I'd say it's more of the troublesome type, I guess it's fine since I'm not the magician in our team" (Ai)

Saying those words, she ended her sentence with a shout along with a fist towards the sky. Seeing her perfect form as she punched in the air, Tatsuro was reminded of the expert martial artists back on Earth and felt nothing but admiration.

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