The day after their camp, where they had savored the bull monster's meat, perhaps thanks to Set, or perhaps simply good luck—either way, despite the Forest of Magic being close by, no monsters attacked during the night. Having slept soundly, Rei traveled together with Zakat... and before long, the Forest of Magic came into view ahead of them.
"I don't think I need to say it, but that's the Forest of Magic."
"...Figured as much."
There was a brief pause before Rei responded to Zakat's words.
Zakat assumed the silence came from the tension of seeing the Forest of Magic with his own eyes for the first time, but in reality, that was not the case.
Rei had returned to this place for the first time in years—a place he could call his second birthplace—and seeing it stirred something within him.
In the world of Elgin, Gilm was without a doubt the place Rei would call home.
But this Forest of Magic was also his second birthplace.
In that sense, seeing the Forest of Magic evoked a strange emotion in Rei.
Set seemed to feel the same, purring softly as it gazed at the forest from beside Rei.
No—in terms of a birthplace, for Set, the Forest of Magic was its one and true birthplace.
Compared to Rei, who had memories of living in Japan, that sentiment was surely even stronger.
"Anyway, two nights and three days there. After that, you need at least two A-Rank monsters."
Zakat told Rei, as if making a final confirmation.
Only Rei would be entering the Forest of Magic; once Zakat guided him here, he would immediately head back to Gilm. In that sense, his job was done.
Though, being able to leave so casually was likely something only an A-Rank adventurer like Zakat could pull off.
"Yeah, I know. While I'm inside the Forest of Magic, Worker will be tracking my position with a Magic Item too."
In other words, if Rei were to spend his days active inside the forest searching for A-Rank monsters, then slip out at night to camp outside, Worker would naturally detect that, and the promotion exam would result in disqualification.
Naturally, Rei had no intention of doing any such thing.
Though if I had to name a place to stay overnight in the Forest of Magic... it would have to be where I first woke up, wouldn't it.
The Zephyle Clan's hidden base, located fairly deep within the Forest of Magic.
That building had been secured through some means to prevent monsters from entering.
At the very least, from what Rei could see when he explored it after awakening in this world, there were no signs of any places destroyed by monsters.
Exactly what method was used to keep monsters away—given that this was the Forest of Magic, even A-Rank or potentially S-Rank ones—Rei had no idea.
It was probably some kind of Magic Item created by the Zephyle Clan's alchemist, Esta Nor, but he couldn't be sure.
If it's a portable Magic Item, I'd definitely want to bring it back. ...Ah, but if I took it with me, would that leave the building vulnerable to monsters? That would be a problem.
This Forest of Magic was a treasure trove for Rei.
He could only stay for two nights and three days this time, but he wanted to return for longer periods in the future for the sake of Beast Magic.
If that was the case, a base of operations would be necessary, which meant having that building was definitely preferable.
"Alright then, I'm heading back to Gilm... Do you have any last questions before I go?"
"Hmm, there are no particular restrictions on what I can do inside the Forest of Magic, right?"
"Right. None. ...Actually, wait. I should mention this—don't use something like that Flame Tornado you're good at. If you're not careful, monsters from the Forest of Magic could come pouring out toward Gilm."
Zakat hastily added that in response to Rei's comment about being free to do whatever he wanted.
During the war with the Bestia Empire, Rei had earned his status as an alias holder through precisely those kinds of actions.
Zakat's words came from understanding that all too well.
Since this was fundamentally a promotion exam for A-Rank, it was better not to restrict Rei's actions.
But if monsters from the Forest of Magic flooded toward Gilm in large numbers, it would become the worst possible scenario.
Moreover, Gilm right now had many adventurers who wouldn't normally be operating there, all because of the expansion construction.
If monsters from the Forest of Magic attacked such a place, there would undoubtedly be a massive death toll.
Naturally, Zakat had no desire to witness such a scene.
"Yeah, I won't do anything like that."
Rei nodded in agreement with Zakat's words.
If the only goal was gathering magic stones, creating a Fire Whirlwind and burning through the Forest of Magic would be acceptable.
Magic stones usable for Beast Magic were those from monsters that Rei or Set had been involved in defeating, even if only slightly.
For example, magic stones from monsters slain by other adventurers couldn't be used for Beast Magic, but those from monsters defeated by Rei and Set could.
Furthermore, even minimal involvement in combat was enough to make a magic stone usable for Beast Magic due to the difference in magical wavelengths—so, for instance, if someone was fighting a monster and Rei threw a stone as support, and that stone hit the enemy, that alone would satisfy the condition.
In that sense, as Zakat had warned, he could create a Fire Whirlwind to burn away the Forest of Magic and incinerate the monsters inhabiting it... or mix in metal fragments or Flame Ore to increase the lethality, and the resulting monster corpses would still be usable for Beast Magic.
However, the problem was not only whether monsters driven out of the Forest of Magic by the blaze would go on a rampage and head toward Gilm.
First and foremost, many of the monsters existing in the Forest of Magic were high-rank monsters.
Whether such high-rank monsters would die that easily from a Fire Whirlwind was questionable.
Additionally, monsters burned to charcoal would obviously make it extremely difficult to harvest meat, materials, or subjugation proof parts.
Rei had no desire to do something like that against the Forest of Magic's valuable monsters, and beyond that, he intended to keep coming back in the future.
Given that, he had no intention of devastating the forest any more than necessary.
...Though, if he ever reached a point where he could no longer handle the Forest of Magic's monsters, he couldn't guarantee he wouldn't resort to such measures as a last option.
"Got it. If you say so, I'll believe you. Take care."
With that, Zakat mounted his horse and rode away from the spot.
At a speed that seemed to say he wanted to get away from the Forest of Magic as quickly as possible.
"He didn't need to rush away that fast, I think. ...Well, whatever. Alright, Set. Let's head into the Forest of Magic too. First, let's make for the house. If we use that as a base, we can sleep soundly at night too."
"Gruu!"
Set purred in understanding at Rei's words.
Using the Magic Tent to camp was fine, but surely Set also thought it would be better to have a place where Rei could sleep more peacefully.
And so, the pair was about to enter the Forest of Magic... but before that, Rei stopped.
"Gruru?"
Set looked at Rei with a questioning gaze, as if asking what was wrong when he suddenly stopped moving.
In response, Rei pulled the bull monster's magic stone from his Misty Ring.
"Zakat's gone now, so we might as well use this magic stone before entering the Forest of Magic. Here, Set."
"Gruu!"
Set took the magic stone Rei handed over in its beak and swallowed it whole.
Set has acquired the skill 'Power Attack Lv.1.'
An announcement message flowed through his mind.
Hearing it, Rei was momentarily puzzled.
Didn't Set already have the Power Crush skill? he thought.
But recalling the announcement message again, he remembered that the skill Set had acquired was not Power Crush, but Power Attack.
What kind of skill it was exactly, he didn't know.
However, based on the performance of skills acquired so far, he could roughly imagine it.
So it's a skill that makes a single strike more powerful? But wouldn't that be the same as Power Crush?
Since he couldn't figure it out, the only option was to test it.
Given that it came from the bull monster, there was probably some significance in that connection...
As he thought about this, an idea occurred to Rei.
"Set, that Power Attack... could it be a skill that deals damage with a powerful body slam?"
"Grururu? ...Gruu, Grurururu!"
At Rei's words, Set checked something within itself, then purred as if nodding in agreement... and charged at a tree growing at the edge of the Forest of Magic, activating the skill.
"Grurururu!"
At three meters in length, Set already had considerable weight from body mass alone.
Moreover, much of that weight was muscle.
Naturally, a body slam from Set alone would already be a powerful strike, but... a body slam using Power Attack possessed enough destructive power to easily snap a tree trunk so thick that three adults linking arms could barely encircle it.
With the sound of wood splintering, the tree toppled and crashed to the ground.
"That's... quite powerful."
Given Set's physique and natural strength to begin with, its body slam was already a formidable attack method.
But seeing it snap a tree with such a substantial trunk, that was clearly abnormal.
The power of that strike was undeniably that of Set's newly acquired skill... Power Attack.
For Level 1 to have this much power is a bit unusual. Well, thinking about Power Crush and Power Slash, it probably boosts power additively on top of inherent physical ability, or something like that.
The stronger the base strength, the greater the skill's power.
Thinking of it that way, the nature of this skill made perfect sense.
"If it's this powerful at Level 1, it'll get even stronger when the level goes up. ...Set, is your body okay?"
Death Scythe's skill, Power Slash.
Its single-strike power was considerable, but precisely because it was so powerful, the recoil was also strong.
By now Rei had mastered Power Slash thoroughly, but when he first acquired the skill, and when its level increased, he remembered struggling quite a bit.
Skills with "Power" in the name were powerful but difficult to master.
That was Rei's conclusion, knowing both Power Slash and Power Crush.
That was why he asked whether Set's new skill, Power Attack, might cause problematic recoil...
"Gruu!"
Set cried out as if to say, "I'm fine!"
For a moment, Rei couldn't help but wonder if Set was putting on a brave front, but from what he could see, Set genuinely seemed fine.
Seeing that, Rei felt relieved.
"Alright, no problems then. ...Might as well take this while I'm at it."
Since it was a tree growing in the Forest of Magic, it wouldn't be surprising if it was some kind of special tree.
Rei didn't know exactly what kind of special properties it might have, but if there was nothing particularly special about it, he figured he could always use it as a shield in an emergency. With that in mind, he stored it in his Misty Ring...
"Kuu..."
When he stored the tree in his Misty Ring, a single squirrel was revealed in the space where the tree had been.
Whether it had been injured when the tree fell, it let out a pained cry.
Just an ordinary animal? No, given that it's in the Forest of Magic, I can hardly assume it's a normal animal. Which would mean... this one is also a monster? For that matter, "Kuu" isn't a squirrel's cry, is it?
From that cry, Rei concluded that this squirrel was likely some kind of monster as well.
However, if it was a weak monster, it was entirely possible it would sense Set's presence—let alone Rei's—and flee.
If it attacked, he could kill it, but if it ran, there was no need to go out of his way to kill it.
That was Rei's judgment, and since the likelihood of it being a Forest of Magic monster remained high, the possibility of it attacking was still very real, so he watched carefully.
And... eventually, the squirrel monster apparently judged that Rei and Set were not enemies that would attack it.
With its small body, it climbed up a nearby tree.
It had appeared injured from the earlier impact, but even so, its ability to climb the tree was likely a testament to it being a Forest of Magic monster.
"Alright, let's go. First, let's head to where Set was born."
"Gruu!"
Set cried out happily at Rei's words, and the pair truly began to enter the Forest of Magic.
[Set]
'Water Ball Lv.5' 'Fire Breath Lv.4' 'Wind Arrow Lv.4' 'King's Intimidation Lv.3' 'Poison Claw Lv.5' 'Size Change Lv.2' 'Tornado Lv.3' 'Ice Arrow Lv.4' 'Optical Camouflage Lv.5' 'Magic Eye of Shock Lv.2' 'Power Crush Lv.6' 'Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.4' 'Bubble Breath Lv.1' 'Crystal Breath Lv.1' 'Earth Arrow Lv.2' 'Power Attack Lv.1' new
Power Attack: A powerful body slam skill. At Level 1, it has enough power to snap a tree trunk so thick that about three adults linking arms could barely encircle it.