Chapter 134: The Power of the Barrier
“This is… that orchard, isn’t it? It’s nostalgic.”
“That’s right. I’ve been using it a lot for magic practice since then, so there aren’t many Demon Beasts around.”
It was night. After passing through the hole, we had arrived at the orchard that used to be our base.
It seems that there isn’t much of a time difference between the underground and the surface, as the forest is shrouded in darkness.
“Practice with Barrier Magic, huh? I still don’t quite get it, but do I just need to expand my Zone Control?”
“Yes. It seems that the power of Barrier Affinity works on things like Zone Control.”
We moved while talking. If I expand my Zone Control here, the plants will get caught up in it.
I’ve grown from the three consecutive Feral Beast battles, so I should reconfirm my Zone Control information while I can.
~Zone Control Details~
Your Zone Control is the Armory.
Within the Armory, all things are transformed into weapons.
Additional Effects: ‘Sharp’, ‘Sturdy’, ‘Light’, ‘Converge’, ‘(Blank)’ (NEW)
List of Candidates
Master Craftsman: Enhances the performance of crafted weapons.
Mass Production: Enhances the ease of weapon creation.
Sharp: Enhances the sharpness of weapons.
Blunt: Negatively enhances the sharpness of weapons.
Sturdy: Enhances the durability of weapons.
Fragile: Negatively enhances the durability of weapons.
Light: Reduces the weight of weapons.
Heavy: Increases the weight of weapons.
Bellicose: Enhances the wielder’s fighting spirit.
Tranquil: Negatively enhances the wielder’s fighting spirit.
Skillful: Enhances the performance of Weapon Skills.
Clumsy: Negatively enhances the performance of Weapon Skills.
Shrink: Narrows the effective range of Zone Control.
Converge: Minimizes the effective range of Zone Control.
Limit: Limits the effective range of Zone Control.
Collect: Absorbs Mana from all targets.
Directional: Allows specification of the direction of the effect.
Dominate: Enhances the control of Zone Control.
Identify (NEW): Allows selection of the targets to which the effect is applied.
Rational (NEW): Enhances the fuel conversion efficiency of weapons.
Irrational (NEW): Negatively enhances the fuel conversion efficiency of weapons.
The first change is the increase in the number of additional effect slots. Now there are five.
Also, the types of effects have increased.
‘Identify’ is the ability to select the targets to which additional effects are applied, allowing buffs to be applied only to oneself and allies, and debuffs only to enemies.
‘Rational’ and ‘Irrational’ are simple enhancement abilities. For weapons that use artifact-like power, they can increase or decrease fuel consumption.
Well, while we were talking, we arrived at the open space where we used to practice.
The circular clearing was already overgrown with vegetation, as expected of a Ferocious Beast Zone, but it was still less dense than other areas.
And in the center was a Great Bear basking in the moonlight. It was probably a Dire Beast.
“Gwoooaaaooo!”
“What do you want to do?”
“I’ll do it. I have a weapon I want to try. Replicant Form.”
Using a part of my body, I imitate a weapon.
What appeared was a segmented sword. Many small blades were connected, forming a long sword over twenty meters long.
The material was the giant dragon that the Demon Beast Cult had brought, and its sharp claws and fangs became the blades.
“Guluu!?”
“(It’s the Dragon Saw’s first battle.)”
The Great Bear, overwhelmed by the appearance of the segmented sword, the Dragon Saw, changed its course ninety degrees and tried to escape.
But that decision was too late. The Great Bear was already within the Dragon Saw’s range.
“(Here I go!)”
“Gyoooou!?”
With the sound of blades rubbing against each other, it flashed like a whip. It tore the bear’s giant body to shreds.
The Dragon Saw’s greatest ability is defense nullification. It can reduce the strength of the target by more than 80%.
Because of this ability, I deliberately made the sharpness moderate, so that the cut would be ragged.
I absorbed the Great Bear’s body.
“You’re as strong as ever.”
“Paula, you can do the same thing, right?”
“I can, but not as quickly as you.”
“I see… Well, let’s get started. Territory, activate!”
I removed ‘Converge’ and expanded my Zone Control.
Mana spread out like a wave, engulfing the surrounding area.
“Whoa… Isn’t the range wider than before?”
“I’ve grown from fighting other Feral Beasts since then.”
“Yeah, yeah, this looks like it’ll be good training. Area Edit.”
“(!)”
In an instant, I felt a chill. It was a unique sensation, similar to but different from when Zone Controls collided.
It seemed that this was caused by Paula’s magic, and it grew stronger as she released Mana.
While I was wondering whether to resist or let it be,
“Ugh, unnn… Phew! No good, it’s too heavy!”
Paula, having released the magic, shook her head as if to say she was giving up.
“Too heavy, huh? Is my Zone Control hard to interfere with?”
“Yeah. It’s like a thick iron door, it won’t budge. It was easier when I messed with the Political Territory in the mock battle…”
“The Political Territory was like a noble’s magic, huh? Are the natures of Zone Control and Political Territory different, or is it just a difference in skill… Okay, let’s try removing ‘Dominate’.”
‘Dominate’ is an additional effect that increases the control of Zone Control.
If removing this makes it easier to interfere with, then the ‘heaviness’ that Paula feels must be the strength of the control.
“Area Edit… Yeah, it’s easier to interfere with this time.”
“That’s good.”
“Here… like this… and like this… Okay, Area Edit Reverse!”
“Whoa!?”
Suddenly, my body became heavy.
From the feeling of my Zone Control being taken over at the same time, it seems that the effect of ‘Light (Weight Reduction)’ was nullified.
“–No, it’s not nullified… Is it being reversed…?”
“Correct! I tried reversing the effect that I saw with Spatial Awareness. It’s still difficult to tamper with the root part, but if it’s attached to the surroundings, I can touch it now.”
“The root part…?”
“Hmm… like, changing an object… turning it into a weapon? It’s about the effect.”
“I see.”
The ‘root effect’ is the weaponization effect described at the beginning of the Zone Control details, and the ‘surrounding effects’ are the additional effects.
The weaponization effect can’t be stopped even by my will, so it makes sense that it’s hard to interfere with.
I shared the information about the root effect and additional effects with Paula, and then we delved further into the Barrier.
“How freely can you change the effects with Area Edit?”
“Besides the reversal I just did, I think I can change the target of the effect, or change the strength of the effect.”
“That’s versatile.”
“Thanks, but it seems I can’t change it to a completely unrelated effect. Also, Mana keeps decreasing while I’m changing the effect.”
Then, we investigated whether the ease of interference differed for each additional effect, and whether there were differences in Mana consumption.
Having roughly grasped the nature of Area Edit, we moved on to the next stage.
“Okay, let’s try something other than interference this time. Can’t you create your own Zone Control?”
“You’re thinking of something outrageous… But yeah, Political Territory is the Demon Lord’s magic, so maybe I can!”
“Okay, I’ll use Territory a few times, so watch closely.”
When I concentrated Mana at one point, the Mana began to decrease when it exceeded the critical point, and the surrounding area turned into Zone Control.
While watching this, Paula also kneaded Mana and tried to use magic, but the result was a misfire.
“Sorry, show me one more time.”
“Sure.”
However, without being discouraged by the failures, she repeated the trials many times, and after several more failures, and after munching on Mana Fruits to recover Mana—,
“–Area Dominate… I, I did it…! But…”
“It’s kinda small.”
The Zone Control that spread from Paula was about two or three meters.
In my case, it was at least ten meters even at the beginning.
“Also, it seems to use quite a bit of Mana…”
I had told her that Zone Control normally consumes about one Mana per second when expanded.
However, Paula’s Area Dominate seems to require much more Mana than that.
“For now, Mana Fruit.”
“Ah, thank you.”
I handed her a tomato-like fruit that I had picked in the orchard, and after she finished eating, I asked for her impressions.
“So, how is it? The power of Zone Control. In my case, I can see the details when I focus on Zone Control.”
“……Huh? I can’t see it.”
‘I see… So, learning 〖Zone Control〗 from a 〖Territory〗 and recreating it with magic results in different 〖Status〗 processing?’
“I don’t know… but I can sense the effects of 〖Zone Control〗, so it’s not a problem. It’s like a refresh of my 〖Zone Control〗 space.”
‘What do you mean?’
“It erases all ‘changes’ engraved in the space, like distortions or disconnections, returning it to its original, pristine state. It seems I can exclude ‘changes’ I’ve made myself, though.”
‘Heeh…’
My first impression was that it was kind of underwhelming. In the current situation where there are no other space magic users besides Paula, I couldn’t really imagine a time when this would be useful.
But then again, I realized that even the weaponization of the 〖Armory〗 hasn’t been useful much either.
‘Can you add any additional effects?’
“Yeah, I think I can manage one while maintaining 〖Zone Control〗.”
‘I see. Then, first, try mimicking my ‘Convergence’.’
After that, I taught Paula various additional effects, switching them out one after another.
At first, she struggled with the imitation, but from about the fifth one, she started to learn them quickly. Eventually, after teaching her all the additional effects, the secret training for the day ended.