“Um… Kouya-kun, right?”
I turned my attention to the source of the voice, and saw a marble-sized hole open in the air.
Beyond the hole, I could see a landscape of some place I didn’t recognize.
『That’s right, it’s me. I 〖Evolved〗 the day before yesterday.』
I used 〖Telepathy〗 to spread my thoughts.
Actually, there are two ways to transmit with 〖Telepathy〗: one for individuals and one for everyone in the vicinity.
This time, I used the latter.
Apparently, my thoughts reached her, as the hole expanded with a zuzu sound to human size, and Paula appeared through it.
She was wearing leather armor, as befits an adventurer, but unlike her usual adventuring, she wasn’t carrying a basket.
“…No way… You really became a 〖Feral Beast〗…?”
『Yeah! I surpassed 〖Level 100〗 with the 〖Experience Points〗 from defeating the Hydra. It’s all thanks to Paula and Ergo’s cooperation, thanks!』
“U-um. You’re welcome…?”
Paula tilted her head as she replied.
Then, she spoke hesitantly.
“I’ve never seen a 〖Feral Beast〗 before… It’s amazing, you’re really bigger than a tree. And your presence, too. It’s like you’re rooted directly into space…”
Paula looked over my entire form carefully.
Then, with curiosity in her eyes, she proposed.
“…Can I touch you a little?”
『Sure, that’s fine.』
When I gave her permission, she extended her right finger and touched my clear blue body, like a summer sky, with a peta-peta sound.
It was a little ticklish.
Paula was stroking one of the cube’s faces with interest, but I don’t think there’s much to learn from that.
The texture should be the same as when I was a Jewel Slime.
After a while, she seemed satisfied and took her hand away, then opened her mouth with sparkling eyes.
“Hey, hey, can I try riding on top of you!?”
『O-okay.』
“Yay!”
She’s awfully excited. It seems like the tension from earlier has eased…
Well, whatever. I’ll transform my body into a staircase… There, that should be climbable.
“Whoa, it’s so high!”
『Don’t fall.』
I warned Paula, who was standing on the edge of my body, marveling at the view.
Well, even if she fell, Paula wouldn’t take any damage.
Since learning space magic, she’s been actively raising her 〖Level〗, and now she’s over 〖Level 20〗.
With her sturdiness from 〖Toughness〗 and her ability to break falls with 〖Speed〗, this height isn’t a threat.
After indulging her for a while, we finally started her magic training.
“I’m sorry. I got a little too carried away.”
『No, it’s fine. Don’t worry about it.』
By this point, Paula had calmed down.
She covered her face with both hands, probably remembering how giddy she was earlier.
『Okay, like before, attack me however you want.』
“A-ah, okay. B-but, please go easy on me…?”
『Of course.』
Reassured by my answer, Paula drew her short sword from her waist and ran straight at me.
I shaped myself into an iron shield and faced her.
“Haaah!”
I blocked her spirited slash head-on with the shield.
It seems her 〖Level〗 has increased again since the last time we met, but that doesn’t mean she can break an iron shield.
Naturally, the blade was repelled.
But Paula had already anticipated this. She immediately followed up with a second and third slash.
She tried to break through the shield and slash my main body, while swaying left and right.
However, I wouldn’t let her get through so easily.
I kept the speed of the shield’s movement at about the same as Paula’s, but since I couldn’t let my dynamic vision falter, I had a clear advantage in a head-on clash.
“〖Space Hole〗!”
『!』
That’s why Paula used magic.
A hole opened in the air, and Paula appeared behind me through it. Many of the plants around here have been ‘Marked’.
“Haa!”
『That was close.』
I shaped another shield behind me to block it.
〖Mana〗 increases at the teleportation destination, so I can usually sense it, but this time it was well hidden, and I almost missed it.
After that, Paula tried to exploit my blind spots using teleportation, and I sharpened my senses to the flow of 〖Mana〗 to prevent surprise attacks.
Paula refined her space magic in actual combat, and I became able to sense 〖Mana〗 with greater precision.
It was a win-win training.
After several minutes of such training, I had a good grasp of Paula’s current strength.
It was about time to get serious.
『I’ll start attacking from here on out.』
“Okay!”
『Alright, Lightning Strike – Weak!』
〖Mana〗 transformed into lightning and flew through the air.
Even though the power and speed were reduced to about a tenth, it was still too fast for Paula to dodge after seeing it with her 〖Speed〗.
But by the time the lightning passed, she was no longer in its path.
She had predicted the trajectory of the lightning from the fluctuations in 〖Mana〗 and started dodging before it was even activated.
I continued to attack the girl with lightning several times, and she dodged them all. Then, I added another attack method.
I transformed the upper part of my body into a whip and swung it at Paula.
“Tch, fuu.”
Paula dodged this by a hair’s breadth as well. Her offensive didn’t slacken either.
Attacks from above—outside of her field of vision—were completely visible to her with 〖Spatial Awareness〗.
“Slash, slash.”
I increased the number of whips to two, then three. I mixed in lightning strikes as well.
Then, even Paula couldn’t keep up with the evasions, and finally, a lightning strike hit her body—,
“〖Space Hole〗!”
—At the last moment, a hole appeared, and the lightning strike passed through it and teleported behind me.
It was a technique that used 〖Space Hole〗 to return an attack to the attacker.
The time from the generation of the hole to the arrival of the attack was shorter than when teleporting herself, making it more difficult to defend against.
“(〖Replicant Form〗)”
However, this time I was able to sense the 〖Mana〗 of the 〖Space Hole〗. I shaped a shield on my back to defend against the lightning strike.
I felt my growth during training as I blocked Paula’s slash with the shield in front of me.
The girl dodged the whips while launching slashes.
I don’t even know how many slashes she’s unleashed, and the shield didn’t block them, but 〖Parried〗 them.
“Uhyah!?”
Paula rolled on the ground.
She had lost her footing due to the excessive force she had put into the attack.
『Don’t rely too much on brute force.』
“Okay!”
She immediately stood up and ran again.
And so, the magic training continued today.
~Unidentified Information Recording Area~
…
War-Inducing Weapon Creation, Fue Toukouya has acquired 〖Parry〗.
…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After a while, Paula started to pant.
She was drenched in sweat, her expression was grim, and it was obvious that she was running out of both 〖Mana〗 and stamina.
Paula tends to overdo it, or rather, she often pushes herself to the brink of collapse even during simple training.
I was about to suggest a break when I was timing it, when.
Paula, gritting her teeth, raised her sword and poured a large amount of 〖Mana〗 into her short sword.
“Yaaaaah!”
『What…?』
I was puzzled, thinking that it was too much 〖Mana〗 for a 〖Wave Slash〗, but I still blocked it with my shield. Then, the shield and my body surface behind it were easily cut.
It was like cutting tofu, without any resistance.
I was surprised and checked my 〖Status〗, but my 〖Life〗 had barely decreased.
That damage was also healed instantly by 〖High-Speed Regeneration〗.
The only noticeable damage was the destroyed shield, and the wounds on my body were so minor that I doubted whether I had really been cut.
No, minor isn’t the right word. Sharp, is more accurate.
The cut was so thin, not even the thickness of a single sheet of paper, that I wouldn’t have even noticed it if I hadn’t been paying attention.
Paula, who had unleashed such an incomprehensible slash, muttered as she held her short sword in the position she had swung it.
“…My 〖Arcana Rank〗… seems to have gone up…”
And just as she finished speaking, she collapsed.