[Set has acquired the Skill "Underground Dive Lv.1"]
That announcement message echoed in the minds of Rei and Set.
"Alright!"
"Gurururururu!"
Voices of joy erupted from both Rei and Set.
It was only natural. Depending on the outcome, Set might have ended up acquiring a skill that caused hair to grow all over his body.
Having won that gamble and spectacularly acquired the Underground Dive skill, it would have been impossible not to rejoice.
At first, both Rei and Set had been deeply torn over whether to use the Fish's Magic Stone on Set or Death Scythe.
The hair growing from the Fish's body was undeniably unsettling, even for an observer.
Even so, Set had judged that acquiring a skill to dive underground would be useful to Rei, and swallowed the Fish's Magic Stone.
Perhaps Set's feelings had gotten through, because what he acquired was Underground Dive—a skill that, as the name suggested, was the very one the Fish had been using.
"Before we confirm the skill's effects... let's try the Hermit Crab Magic Stones too."
So saying, Rei took out two Hermit Crabs from storage, starting with the largest ones. He had stored all but one to use as bait for the Fish.
He didn't think body size would change the skill acquisition rate, but it was a matter of feeling.
Perhaps—just perhaps—there was a sand-grain-sized chance it might raise the probability of acquiring a skill. That was the thinking behind his action.
Normally, extracting a Magic Stone from a Hermit Crab required pulling its body out of its rock-camouflaged shell.
However, the Hermit Crab shells had already been cut by Rei's Death Scythe or shattered by Set's strikes, so there was no need to go through the trouble of pulling out the body. The Magic Stones could be extracted from the hearts without any issue.
He washed the extracted Magic Stones in the river water.
"Set already tried the Fish's Magic Stone. Next is my turn."
"Gurururu."
At Rei's words, Set purred as if to say, Do your best!
That said, all Rei had to do was cut the Magic Stone with Death Scythe, so the burden itself fell on Death Scythe.
"Alright, let's hope I can acquire some kind of skill."
So saying, he tossed the Hermit Crab Magic Stone and sliced it with Death Scythe.
[Death Scythe has acquired the Skill "Power Slash Lv.5"]
That voice echoed in his mind.
"Yes!"
There had been quite a number of them, and the Hermit Crabs themselves weren't all that strong—at least, by Rei and Set's standards.
Given that, he had thought he might not acquire a skill at all, but those fears proved unfounded.
Or perhaps it was because he had used Magic Stones from the larger specimens among the Hermit Crabs.
The acquired—more accurately, leveled up—Power Slash, while carrying strong recoil, had power that was highly attractive to Rei.
"Still... it's Level 5, huh."
That was the sole drawback for Rei.
Even before reaching Level 5, the recoil from using Power Slash had been extremely severe.
If he couldn't properly redirect it, the shock was enough to sprain his wrist—or potentially even fracture it, or so he had thought.
Under those circumstances, just how much recoil would a Level 5 Power Slash carry—Level 5 being the threshold where skills were dramatically strengthened? Even Rei found himself slightly backing down before trying it.
"For now, seeing what happens with the skill... comes after Set tries the Hermit Crab Magic Stone. Set, go ahead."
It was a decision that bordered on shelving the issue, but since Set did in fact need to use a Hermit Crab Magic Stone too, it wasn't entirely wrong.
At Rei's words, Set nodded... and then, gripping the Hermit Crab Magic Stone in his beak, swallowed it whole.
[Set has acquired the Skill "Bubble Breath Lv.3"]
At the announcement message echoing in his mind, Rei wore a subtle expression—half convinced, half not.
It was only natural. The Hermit Crabs had never used anything like Bubble Breath.
Or perhaps, if these had been crabs rather than Hermit Crabs, he might have found it more believable.
(Oh, but could Hermit Crabs produce bubbles too? ...Well, that doesn't matter. What we defeated weren't ordinary Hermit Crabs, but Hermit Crab monsters. So it wouldn't be strange for them to have traits that normal Hermit Crabs don't. The only question is that none of them used Bubble Breath during combat.)
Anyway, since a skill had been acquired from the Magic Stone, the next step was to confirm what it did.
"Right, for now let's start with... Bubble Breath, which seems the safest."
"Gururururu."
Whether Set had no objections either, he opened his beak toward a rock a short distance away.
"Gururururururururu!"
Bubble Breath was unleashed.
At Level 2, the bubbles had been about three to five centimeters, but upon reaching Level 3, they had grown to about five to seven centimeters.
The bubbles getting larger with the level increase was very easy to understand.
Additionally, when the released bubbles touched something, they burst and turned into a sticky liquid—and that adhesive strength was unmistakably stronger than at Level 2.
This was clear and easy to judge for both Rei and Set.
"The bubbles getting larger means the probability of hitting a target has gone up too. ...In that case, it's definitely become easier to use than before. Though considering Bubble Breath's speed, that's still a bit of a problem."
"Guru..."
At Rei's words, Set let out a cry that seemed to convey both agreement and disappointment.
In truth, Bubble Breath had a quite convenient effect—upon hitting a target, it transformed into an adhesive liquid that hindered the opponent's movements.
But because its speed was slow, in actual use, one had to ensure it would properly hit the enemy before deploying it.
Specifically, using it in places with no room to dodge, or at point-blank range where evasion was difficult.
"Alright, we know Bubble Breath has been strengthened. That means next is..."
Here, Rei had originally intended to say he would try out Death Scythe's Power Slash.
But Power Slash had reached Level 5.
Level 5, where skills were dramatically strengthened.
Thinking about just how much recoil would come, Rei couldn't recklessly say he wanted to try it out.
Seeing Rei hesitate like that, Set purred as if to say he would go first.
Rei felt slightly apologetic toward Set, but since he was also interested in the Underground Dive skill Set had newly acquired, he nodded.
"Got it. Then go ahead. Though, considering the name and that Fish's ability, I can mostly guess what it does."
Listening to Rei's words, Set activated the Underground Dive skill.
"Gurururururu!"
Underground Dive activated... or so it seemed to Rei, but Set remained standing in place.
"Guru?"
Set tilted his head as if questioning his own state.
Rei watched Set like that for about ten seconds before something suddenly occurred to him.
"Set, maybe after you use the skill, you can't dive underground unless you consciously will yourself to submerge?"
The moment he said that, Set's body sank into the ground as if falling into water.
It appeared Rei's guess was correct.
And after about a minute passed, Set burst out from the ground as if leaping out of water.
"Gururu."
I'm back, the cry seemed to say.
After that, Rei drew out the details of the Underground Dive skill from Set.
However, while Set could understand Rei's words, Rei could not understand Set's.
More accurately, perhaps because they were magically connected, he could grasp the general gist—but not the finer details.
For that reason, it took some time to elicit the specifics of the Underground Dive skill.
Even so, Underground Dive was a highly special skill, and depending on how it was used, there was no doubt it could be extremely convenient.
That was why Rei patiently pressed for details...
"I see, so you can move around at a depth of two meters underground for about one minute. ...The depth and dive time probably increase as the level goes up, but... it's impressive your head didn't stick out."
Set's body length exceeded three meters.
Naturally, with a body that large, his upper body was also tall.
His body length was about three meters, but his height—or rather, his height at the shoulder—was around two meters.
If Set's explanation was accurate, it wouldn't have been strange for his head to protrude slightly...
(No, maybe while Underground Dive is active, it's designed so the tip of your head doesn't stick out? But that Fish was extending its hair from underground, right? ...Well, it's a skill, so that sort of ambiguity wouldn't be strange.)
At any rate, there was no doubt that Underground Dive was a highly convenient ability.
For instance, even against a fortress or castle, one might be able to infiltrate by passing through underground.
Of course, such places would have barriers extended underground as well, so one would need to either slip past or forcefully break through them.
(Maybe as the level goes up, we'll be able to slip past that sort of thing... or dive deep enough that the barrier can't reach, then pass through it and get inside. There might be a possibility like that.)
That said, barriers extended underground naturally required considerable cost, whether in the form of rare Magic Items or larger-than-usual amounts of magical power.
Which meant that laying barriers underground wasn't something that could be done easily, so considering that, infiltration would be possible without issue in most cases.
However, the one who could dive underground was solely Set.
Rei had tried using Underground Dive while riding on Set's back, but only Set had gone underground—Rei was left behind on the surface.
In other words, riding Set and diving underground together to infiltrate a building was not possible.
(That Fish pulled the blue Hermit Crab underground while it was still alive, though. Is that related to skill level too?)
Rei pondered this, but at any rate, the verification of the two skills Set had newly acquired was now complete.
And what remained was Power Slash, which had reached Level 5.
Having come this far, Rei needed to steel himself.
"Alright."
He muttered, taking Death Scythe in hand.
He usually held Death Scythe in his right hand and the Twilight Spear in his left, but this time alone, given the uncertainty of what might happen, he held Death Scythe with both hands.
"Set, stay away from me for now. I don't know what's going to happen."
"Guru."
Set too knew what kind of effect Power Slash had.
Though Set possessed similar skills in Power Crush and Power Attack, in his case, thanks to his blessed physical abilities, he didn't need to be as wary of recoil as Rei did.
Or perhaps the fact that Rei was using a skill acquired by Death Scythe rather than his own skill was also a factor.
Compared to Rei, Set used skills he had acquired himself, so there was a possibility he experienced no recoil at all.
Precisely because that was the kind of being Set was, he watched Rei with concern—knowing Rei would likely suffer recoil—while nonetheless moving away as instructed.
"Now then."
After confirming that Set had moved a sufficient distance away, Rei gripped Death Scythe and directed his gaze toward a tree roughly as thick as his own torso.
The target could have been a rock, but... considering the recoil, he judged it better for that recoil to be as small as possible. That was the reasoning behind his choice.
Then, concentrating his awareness...
"Power Slash."
Activating the skill, he swung Death Scythe toward the targeted tree.
With a sound close to an explosion, the tree was snapped by Death Scythe...
"Huh?"
Rei let out a strange sound, wearing an expression as if he had absolutely no idea what had just happened.
It was only natural. He had been wondering how much recoil would come from the strengthening at Level 5, but the recoil that returned to his wrist the moment he cut—no, destroyed—the tree was almost nonexistent.
"Could it be... the enhancement from reaching Level 5 means the recoil disappears?"
Of course, the power to destroy the tree had also increased, but even more than that, the disappearance of Power Slash's recoil was something Rei was genuinely delighted by.
[Set]
"Water Ball Lv.5" "Fire Breath Lv.4" "Wind Arrow Lv.4" "King's Intimidation Lv.4" "Poison Claw Lv.6" "Size Change Lv.2" "Tornado Lv.4" "Ice Arrow Lv.5" "Optical Camouflage Lv.6" "Magic Eye of Shock Lv.2" "Power Crush Lv.6" "Sense of Smell Enhancement Lv.5" "Bubble Breath Lv.3" new "Crystal Breath Lv.1" "Earth Arrow Lv.2" "Power Attack Lv.1" "Magic Reflection Lv.1" "Acid Breath Lv.1" "Wing Blade Lv.1" "Underground Dive Lv.1" new
[Death Scythe]
"Corrosion Lv.6" "Flying Slash Lv.5" "Magic Shield Lv.1" "Power Slash Lv.5" new "Wind Hand Lv.4" "Terrain Manipulation Lv.5" "Pain Burst Lv.4" "Penetrate Lv.4" "Multi Slash Lv.4" "Blizzard Slash Lv.3" "Flying Needle Lv.1"
Power Slash: Increases the power of a single strike. However, rather than making the cut sharper, it delivers a crushing blow. At Level 5 and above, power increases and recoil vanishes entirely.
Bubble Breath: Spits out countless bubbles. Bubble size is 1–3cm in diameter at Level 1, 3–5cm at Level 2, and 5–7cm at Level 3. Upon hitting a target, the bubbles burst and transform into a sticky liquid that halts the enemy's movements.
Underground Dive: As the name suggests, enables movement underground as if through water. At Level 1, one can move at a depth of two meters underground for a maximum of approximately one minute.