Gathering and Magic
"See you later~"
"See you tomorrow, bye-bye!"
Class was over, and since Len couldn’t quite pull off a good finish in the second half today, he went to call his dad. As I was being carried in his arms, I waved at Len.
Next to my dad were Nachi, Tony, Lun, and Kathe. That was the magic group from earlier. Kathe had introduced herself as being good with wood and water attributes, so she probably wants to master wood magic.
"I'm best with wood magic, but I couldn't find any spellbooks that describe offensive spells, so I've been trying to develop my fire magic instead. I wanted to ask you, Mr. Alke, how you handled things when you were an adventurer."
"I'm also good with wood and water. People say neither has much use for offense, so I've been working on my martial arts instead. But if there are any spells that you'd recommend I definitely learn, could you tell me?"
From my perspective, having read a light novel about a terrifying adventurer who rose to the top with water magic alone, water magic users are in the top three people I absolutely wouldn’t want to face in battle.
Well, that person was a complete water specialist who knew the structure of the human body in detail, which is probably why they could even perform healing magic—total cheat. But even so, if your opponent breathes, you can just trap their mouth and nose in a water orb and drown them. You can’t drink the water, but it's useful for daily life, so it’s highly valued.
Fire magic seems kind of impractical for material gathering, but if it’s for drowning enemies, water magic can be used in all kinds of situations. So if you want to be an adventurer, water’s probably the way to go.
While thinking about all that, I looked up to see how Dad would respond. Hm? Dad raised an eyebrow slightly and patted my head with his left hand. Wait—did he think I was waiting to be patted? Could everyone please stop giving me those warm and fuzzy smiles!?
"Let me think here... The spell I used most often was for stoppin' enemies in their tracks—makin' roots and vines shoot up from the ground. When there's a whole mess of 'em, stoppin' their movement lets you thin 'em out safer-like. And in them forested areas, I used Wood Lance a fair bit too."
Ohh! Wood Lance—that’s the one where sharp wooden spikes shoot out from the ground or nearby trees, right?
"If you're lookin' for some offensive spells, you best ask Mimi. The public materials won't have none of that. They're stored separate-like."
"""Thank you very much!"""
At Dad’s words, the four of them bowed their heads and dashed off to the second floor.
"Alrighty then, it's time to mosey on home. You're gonna put in some good, hard work gatherin' today, ain't ya?"
"Yeah! But today, can you wake me up after just a short nap? Wake me in one hour, okay?"
"Haha, gotcha, gotcha. One hour it is, sugar."
If I get too tired before gathering, I end up napping too long, so I ride in Dad’s arms on the way home. After gathering, I walk to the guild to submit what I collected since I don't have any plans afterward. I’d asked Dad about that this morning, so he seemed in a good mood and walked faster than usual.
As promised, he woke me up after an hour. I grabbed my gathering set—knife and basket—packed them into my bag, and put on my gloves.
The herbs we gathered two days ago had already grown back so fully, you’d never guess we harvested them recently.
"Dad, we picked herbs around here, right?"
"Yep. This here area's chock-full of mana. Healing herbs and Mana herbs'll grow right back after just one day of rest."
No way! That’s basically unlimited income! I didn’t need to hold back thinking I might over-harvest!
Relieved, I began collecting Healing herbs. After checking the first few plants, Dad started his own work a short distance away. Ah, that reminds me!
"Dad, there's something I want to make, so I want to create a bunch of thin wooden boards about this big."
I used my fingers to show the size and explained about playing cards and flashcards.
"Wooden tiles for study tools, huh? Well, aren't you somethin', Vio. I reckon them little rascals will want to study more if it's as fun as that. Alrighty, I'll whip up them wooden tiles for ya. You just focus on gatherin'. One thing at a time, ya hear?"
I only wanted to ask him to collect some nice branches for me, but now he’s even going to process them into cards!? Thanks, Dad!
I returned to gathering, carefully slicing each leaf with my knife and placing them gently into the basket without crushing them.
I slowly moved from place to place, and after gathering 20 Healing herbses, I moved on to Mana herbs.
Now that I think about it, I don’t hear any chopping or knocking sounds. How is Dad harvesting wood, anyway?
When I looked up, I saw several thick branches already at my dad's feet. When did that happen!? It looked like they were different kinds of branches—he probably planned to make a few and see which one worked best. Well, it’s fine to have as many sets of karuta or playing cards as you want.
Dad stood in front of a tree and placed his hand on the trunk. It looked like the tree shook slightly. Then a branch slowly descended from above. It didn’t fall—rather, it slid down, tied to the tree by some vines. No wonder there was no sound... Wait, wasn't he casting without chanting?
“Dad, was that wood magic? What kind of magic is it?”
"Hm? Oh, that there was felling magic. I send a bit of my mana into the tree, and once I spot a good-lookin' branch, I make it so it can be cleanly cut off at the base.
It's similar to checkin' the contents of a magic bag. Then I use vine magic to lower it slow and steady, so prunin' can be done safe and sound without puttin' nothin' in danger."
Ah, just like how the contents of a bag are organized in your mind. Wait, does that mean you can see inside the tree?
“Dad, at school today, everyone was chanting spells. Is that necessary? If magic takes that long to cast, wouldn't a monster eat you before you finish? They’re not going to wait, right?”
In Dragon Quest, the game wouldn’t progress until you selected a command, so even a beginner like me could enjoy it. But in an online game like Monster Hunter, you had no such luxury. I remember giving up, thinking there was no way I could manage that. Surely the monsters in this world weren’t the “I’m a good slime!” type. Maybe there were villages of well-mannered goblins, but generally, they probably attacked on sight.
"Heh, hahahaha, you hit the nail on the head, sugar. Them critters'll attack, alright? You got a good grasp on it. It's right common for new adventurers who just make Bronze Rank to get a mighty scare when they first tangle with them horned rabbits in the forest. Things have gotten a heap better now with all that trainin' at the academy, but back in the day, if you didn't encounter enemies early, you'd end up goin' too far in and gettin' swarmed by wolves and meetin' your maker.
Now, magic'll always activate if you chant the spell. But it's also possible to use magic without chantin'. Like that felling magic I just used.
The key is to clearly picture the phenomenon you want to create. Then gather the mana you need and bring it to life. If you can't picture it, chantin' the spell can make it happen anyway, which is why beginners usually start by learnin' the incantations. But doin' that makes 'em think they can't use magic without a chant, and that's where they stumble. Once they experience somethin' that teaches 'em they can use magic with just a trigger, they've taken the first step up the ladder. Them who can't do that won't rise above Bronze Rank and end up with normal jobs."
Harsh. So “Fireball” must be the common trigger.
Well, unless you can control your mana, it probably won’t work. Chanting that long spell likely helps focus the mana into the arm. Wait, maybe what I was doing when I focused on listening earlier was also magic?
“Dad, when I focused mana into my ears and thought, ‘I want to hear clearly,’ I could hear voices far away really well. Was that magic too?”
"Well, I'll be! You did that, Vio?"
“Yeah. I was wondering about the difference between daily life magic and elemental magic, and just as Nachi and the others looked like they were about to use some magic, I tried really hard to listen and it worked.”
"Well, I'll be darned! You tried it and it worked... Ain't that somethin'? That there's a type of enhancement magic, Vio. For your ears, that's auditory enhancement. If it's your peepers, then it's visual enhancement. And if you apply it to your arms or legs, it becomes physical enhancement."
Oh! That must be the body enhancement magic all adventurers need! So if I direct that fluffy feeling to my legs, I can walk faster? Alright! I’ll try that later.
After thanking my dad, I happily began gathering Mana herbs. So it’s enhancement magic. And you don’t need a chant. Which means you can activate magic without chanting. Thank goodness—there’s no way I could say such cringey spells out loud.
What do you think about this chapter?
