“(Territory)”
A special force field spread out from the mana concentrated at one point.
This force field was the Zone Control.
“(Huuu…)”
With a sensation like exhaling softly, I narrowed the range of the Zone Control.
I didn’t use additional effects like “Shrink” or “Converge,” but directly interfered with the force field.
“(Funununu…)”
I ended up putting strength into my whole body. But the key was the manipulation of mana.
By fine-tuning the concentrated mana gathered at my core, I could interfere with the Zone Control.
But this was quite difficult.
Keeping the mana in a concentrated state was easy—I even did it while sleeping—but the moment I tried to manipulate it, the difficulty increased.
“(…Alright, completed)”
Well, even so, it’s been a few weeks since I learned Territory. With this much training time, I’ve improved somewhat.
Narrowing it a little is nothing for me now.
Now, the Zone Control that I created this time was a flat circle. It was like a dorayaki.
The height difference was low, and I focused only on the horizontal spread.
“(There’s no point in incorporating the sky or underground into the Zone Control)”
Ideally, I should be able to create this state at the moment of activating Territory.
It seems like it’ll take a bit more to reach that level, though.
“(Replicant Form)”
Then, I extended my poison whip and pulled out a tree from outside the Zone Control.
The moment it entered the Zone Control, the tree began to transform into a weapon, but here I further worked on the Zone Control.
“(Range suppression… and)”
A sensation like damming up a part of the constantly flowing mass of mana. This created a hole in the effective range of the Zone Control.
The hole wasn’t physical, and to an outsider, there would be no difference, but I, the activator of the Zone Control, could clearly perceive it.
Inside the hole spreading around the tree, weaponization stopped.
“(Escalating Warfare… this tree would be good as a staff)”
It was weaponization by the Armory, but the transformation target was the weapon that the object was most suitable for.
For example, this tree would become a staff.
But recently, I’ve come to realize that this weaponization can be manipulated by controlling the Zone Control.
“(Release the suppression, and then bias…!)”
The change was obvious. The trunk gradually thinned out.
Like hot iron being hammered, it dented and warped.
All unnecessary branches were dropped, and eventually, the tree became a single sword.
The sharpness was dull because it was an unsuitable material for a sword, and it was closer to a wooden sword, but a sword was a sword.
“(Escalating Warfare… alright, it’s recognized as a sword with the Skill)”
After confirming that, I manipulated the mana again. The wooden sword began to distort.
The blade bent at a right angle in the middle, and from there, it curved slightly forward. It looked like a sickle.
Satisfied with that, I further adjusted the Zone Control and transformed the weapon.
The sickle became an axe, the axe became a hammer, the hammer became a spear, and finally, it settled on a club.
“(That’s enough for a warm-up)”
It’s quite difficult to transform something once its shape is fixed, but now that I’m used to handling the Zone Control, I can do it like a warm-up exercise.
“(Next, I’ll increase the number… and before that, I should check if the Zone Control has grown)”
I was too tired yesterday and skipped checking…
Depending on the progress, I might have to change my training plan, so regular checks are important.
~Zone Control Details~
Your Zone Control is the Armory.
Inside the Armory, everything turns into a weapon.
Additional Effects: “Collect,” “(Empty),” “(Empty)” (NEW)
Candidate List
Limit (NEW): Limits the effective range of the Zone Control.
Collect (NEW): Absorbs mana from all targets.
Direct (NEW): Allows specification of the direction of the effect.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yeah, it hasn’t changed much since I last saw it the day before yesterday.
However, the Zone Control has grown quite a bit in these past few weeks.
The biggest change is the addition of an additional effect slot.
Now, I can apply three additional effects simultaneously.
Among the new additional effects, “Limit” and “Direct” are effects that assist in controlling the Zone Control. They are similar to “Shrink” and “Converge.”
Without having to manipulate mana, I can cut off the effect only around the tree, or fix the transformation target to a sword.
However, it takes more mana, so it’s a trade-off.
And the effect that is different from these two is “Collect.”
I learned it around the same time as the additional effect slots increased.
The wording, “forcibly steals mana from beings within the Zone Control,” sounds powerful, but it’s not really that effective.
The first problem is how easily it’s resisted.
I thought I could weaken my opponents, so I tried it several times against Dire Beasts, but I couldn’t steal any mana at all.
However, since I can steal it normally from non-living things, I might think it could be used as a means of recovery rather than interference.
But here, another problem arises: the low amount of absorption.
I once expanded the Zone Control to its limit and used “Collect,” but my mana recovery speed didn’t increase significantly.
It seems that its main use would be to negate the mana consumption caused by the Zone Control, rather than to recover mana.
The Forest Turtle and Hydra seem to constantly activate their Zone Control, and they probably use this “Collect” as well.
“(The Armory is too conspicuous, so I can’t use it all the time)”
And so, I continued my training with the Zone Control.
“(Alright, I’ll stop here for today)”
My mana was about a quarter of what it was at the beginning. I’ll conserve the rest for any sudden battles.
With that in mind, I activated one technique as the conclusion of today’s training.
“(Earth Spear Barrage!)”
Although it wasn’t necessary, I extended my whip and thrust it forward sharply.
Then, that empty space was suddenly pierced by several spears.
The spears were brown. They jumped out of the ground, and everything from the handle to the tip was made of earth.
It was something that the power of the Armory had transformed from the ground.
The strength and sharpness were still lacking, but it wasn’t bad as a one-off trick.
“(Zone Control adjustment, ‘Converge’ applied)”
And so, I finished today’s training and returned to my base.
But what greeted me was—,
“(W-What is that!?)”
—a swarm of bee Demon Beasts gathering around the flowers and trees.