Episode 62: 〖Spatial Affinity・Second Canon〗
“Whoa, are you alright?”
“Ugh…”
Right after unleashing that mysterious slash, Paula, looking pale as a ghost, was about to collapse, so I quickly caught her with a whip.
With a 〖Speed〗 stat over 500, I have plenty of time to react even after seeing it.
“This is… probably a 〖Mana〗 depletion. Just wait a sec.”
I used another whip to grab a Mana Fruit.
Paula didn’t even seem to have the energy to eat, so I crushed the yellow, tomato-like fruit, squeezed out the juice, and finely mashed the pulp.
As she gulped down the dripping liquid, color gradually returned to Paula’s face.
Mana Fruits are abundant around here, but this one is a particularly potent 〖Mana〗 recovery fruit.
Depending on the size and ripeness of the fruit, one can restore at least 100 〖Mana〗. And it’s quite fast-acting.
Ergo says it’s worth gold coins. Though, I don’t really know what that means.
“…Phew, thank you, Kouya-kun. Sorry, you saved me again.”
“Don’t worry about it. More importantly, what you were saying earlier…”
“Yeah, I 〖Sublimated〗.”
〖Sublimation〗. It’s a phenomenon that enhances an 〖Attribute〗, similar to a Demon Beast’s 〖Evolution〗. Or so I thought.
I heard it happens when your magic skill reaches a certain level, but I didn’t expect it to occur so suddenly.
“Was that slash you used also possible because of 〖Sublimation〗?”
“That’s right. It seems like I can now interfere with actual space, like you often talked about, from the 〖Second Canon〗.”
“I see…”
The abilities of an 〖Attribute〗 change depending on its 〖Arcana Rank〗.
For example, with the 〖Water Attribute〗, it seems that the ability to manipulate ice usually comes from the 〖Second Canon〗.
Similarly, with the 〖Spatial Affinity〗, perhaps I could only manipulate other dimensions with the 〖First Canon〗.
That might be why I couldn’t cut or twist space no matter how much I tried.
“Alright, from now on, let’s explore what we can do with 〖Second Canon〗 spatial magic.”
“Okay! Oh, but can I have another Mana Fruit? My total 〖Mana〗 increased with 〖Sublimation〗, so one isn’t enough to fully recover.”
“Oh, is that so?”
Paula then ate a second fruit, fully restoring her 〖Mana〗.
“First, let’s start with that slash. Try it on that tree over there.”
I pointed to a tree a little ways away that didn’t have any fruit.
Then, the two of us—one person and one slime—moved in front of the tree.
“Okay, here I go—〖Space Slash〗!”
She took a breath, exhaled, and swung her short sword in a reverse diagonal slash.
The tip of the short sword grazed the trunk.
—Zzzzz…
A few seconds later. The trunk slid apart silently along the path of the short sword, and finally fell to the ground with a low thud.
“I did it!”
“That’s some incredible sharpness…”
No, it’s not just the sharpness that’s amazing.
The blade of the short sword is, of course, much shorter than the diameter of the trunk. Yet, it felled the tree with a single slash.
It’s clearly beyond the realm of reason.
“What kind of logic is that…?”
“Are you talking about the range?”
“Yeah.”
“That’s because 〖Space Slash〗 is a technique that applies 〖Wave Slash〗. It’s like I’m sending a ‘magic that cuts space’ along with the slash, it’s easier that way.”
I see. Certainly, the movement before activation was similar to 〖Wave Slash〗.
I’ve heard that visualization is important in magic, so she used a familiar 〖Skill〗 as a medium.
“I understand why the attack range increased. Then, conversely, can you narrow the range to be equal to the blade length of the short sword?”
“Probably… 〖Space Slash〗! I did it!”
“Oh, how’s the 〖Mana〗 consumption?”
“Let’s see, yeah, it’s lighter. Before, it took about thirty, but now it’s only about ten.”
After several tests, it was found that 〖Mana〗 consumption was proportional to the area of the cut surface.
Specifying the exact range is a challenge for the future, but Paula is good at this kind of adjustment involving 〖Mana〗 manipulation, so I don’t need to worry.
More importantly, we should investigate its properties further.
“Hey, can you activate that magic without swinging the short sword?”
“Hmm, it’s difficult, I guess? I don’t think it’s impossible, but the difficulty would increase, and the 〖Mana〗 consumption would also be heavier. I’m saving 〖Mana〗 by putting it on the short sword, but interfering with real space is quite difficult.”
“I see… Then, next, let’s check what happens to the space that was cut.”
As I said that, I extended a whip towards the slanted stump.
I ran it along the edge of the cut surface, but the whip didn’t cut or stop unnaturally. It seems the cut space has already returned to normal.
“You don’t even need to check. I have 〖Spatial Awareness〗. I’ve already confirmed that the spatial rift closes in an instant.”
“Oh, is that so?”
It seems that spatial rifts don’t last long.
“Then, is it difficult to leave the slash in place as a trap?”
“Yeah. If I increase the output, the fuel efficiency…”
“Output…? You need to change the output even though you’re just cutting space?”
“Ah, yeah. It’s hard to explain, but you can’t break something tangible with normal output. Remember when we tried to cut something with the edge of a 〖Space Hole〗?”
“Yeah, a long time ago.”
The result was impossible.
When we hit the edge with something, the edge would chip away.
“That failed because the output was too low. You can’t break the spatial strength of an object with a 〖Space Hole〗. So the magic loses. But it seems air is different. The feeling when I cut it earlier was quite brittle.”
“Spatial strength… Is it different from physical strength (〖Toughness〗) or spiritual strength (〖Resist〗)? Do you know what’s hard?”
“Not yet… Oh, but your body was completely impervious to the blade. It was incomparable to air or even wood.”
Hmm, does it change depending on whether it’s a living thing or not?
This also needs to be verified.
Also, there should be other things we can do now that the 〖Arcana Rank〗 has increased.
Let’s make sure to investigate those as well.