Body Enhancement Magic?
My magic practice with Professor Doua, the elf, covers a wide range of things.
Since they always watch me use magic during both magic training and martial arts training, they don’t teach me long incantations. Instead, they have me practice the same spell over and over until I can use it with just a trigger.
Sometimes we even practice behind the Guild or in Dad’s forest. Wood magic, earth magic, and water magic are apparently easier to use when you’re surrounded by trees, soil, or water.
I also learned the spell that lets me make the long-awaited vine Tarzan rope. With this, the bridges high up in the trees aren’t scary at all.
“Ivy Grow.”
“Grow” is the magic that makes plants like trees, leaves, or vines grow, and “Ivy” is the spell that makes vines extend.
Put the two together, and vines stretch out with amazing speed—myooon—and a Tarzan rope is ready.
“A~aaah~~~~~”
I wrapped my hands around the vine and swung from one branch to another.
I’ve always wanted to try this.
“Why is she shouting?”
“Isn’t she scared?”
“Nah, girl looks like she’s havin’ a fine ol’ time.”
The adults on the ground are saying something, but this is part of the aesthetic, okay?
Anyway, Dad told me not to shout in the outer forest because making noise can attract monsters. Yes, sir.
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“Now then, today I’ll teach you about standard body enhancement.”
“Well, Vio’s already been doin’ it on her own, but it’s good for her to know what ‘normal’ looks like.”
“Indeed. During martial arts training, Miss Vio was already using enhancement magic.”
Today they’re going to teach me about the body enhancement I use when I squeeze my fluff and channel magic.
I looked at them expectantly, but the Guildmaster immediately said something to ruin my excitement.
“After discussing it with Professor Doua, we determined that body enhancement magic does not fall under any elemental attribute. So it would be categorized as non-attribute magic.
There are many people who can’t use this magic at all. Like Mrs. Ariana—if someone can’t grasp the underlying logic, enhancement magic is simply unsuitable for them.”
As he said that, the Vice-Guildmaster wrote the incantations on the blackboard:
[Magic dwelling in my body, grant this flesh the hardness to repel the enemy’s attack.] [Magic dwelling in my body, grant this flesh the power to move swifter than anyone.]They’re almost the same, but the center part is different.
“Correct. The top one is body enhancement for increasing defense. The lower one is cast on the lower body when traveling long distances or when one needs to move quickly.”
So you cast them separately.
Ah, but I cast my eye and ear enhancements separately too, so that makes sense.
“I kinda get how speeding up works, but how do you imagine becoming harder? Does your skin thicken? Does your insides get tougher? Or does the surface become like iron?”
Speed is probably affecting the muscles, but hardness—what is that supposed to mean?
When I looked at Dad, he tilted his head. When I looked at the Guildmaster, he avoided my gaze. When I looked at the Vice-Guildmaster, he just smiled kindly.
“Professor Doua?”
“Well, you see, I’m terribly bad at enhancement magic. If I need to move quickly, I can just assist myself with wind magic instead.
So we should ask Zacks, who’s good at enhancement magic.”
Smiling, Professor Doua passed the question to the Guildmaster.
“Guh—Alke?”
But the Guildmaster passed it to Dad instead!
“Aw, don’t look at me like that… I go by feel, y’know. If I had to say, I sorta imagined my skin gettin’ thicker—like if you usually wear cloth clothes, you switch to bein’ covered in tough scales… somethin’ like that, I reckon?”
“Guildmaster?”
“Pretty much the same for me… I think.
I never really thought deeply about it before. I just went ‘Get harder! Hard enough no sword or magic or anything can pierce me!’ That kinda thing.”
Hmm, so intuition really matters.
If you imagine yourself wearing scale armor, then its strength depends on how strong the scales you know are.
Unless you know some super-strong material, Dad’s version would probably be better.
They say it’s best to cast enhancement in parts: better eyesight, better hearing, better… maybe not smells. Faster legs, stronger body.
I can do them one at a time, but casting four at once is impossible.
“My mana gets lost and goes ‘fwaa~’ somewhere.”
“I ain’t got a clue what you’re sayin’.”
They had me try a few times, but I still couldn’t do it. When they told me to explain the feeling, I did—and the Guildmaster was mean about it.
“Then can you try enhancing your arms and legs for defense?”
At the Vice-Guildmaster’s suggestion, I tried.
I wrapped mana around my arms and lower body… oh, this feels like wearing a super-alloy suit for defense.
I coated my legs and arms with mana, thinking of it becoming hard like a super-alloy.
My skin wasn’t getting harder—rather, it felt like wearing a hard suit on top.
“Yep, I think I did it. How is it?”
“May I tap it?”
When Professor Doua asked and I nodded, he poked my leg lightly. Nothing at all.
Then he slapped my leg a bit harder—still nothing.
“If you get hurt, I can heal you. May I try a magic attack?”
“Wait—!”
“Hey!?”
“Mm, I think it’ll be fine.”
Dad and the Guildmaster tried to stop him, but I figured it would be okay.
“Wind Cutter.”
Ka-chin
The blade of wind hit my leg, but nothing happened. The magic deflected away.
Dad immediately lifted up my leg to check—no cuts at all.
“Hm, this is impressive. But it doesn’t seem to be body enhancement.”
… What?
According to Professor Doua, body enhancement strengthens your muscles or skin directly. The thing I use for martial arts training is proper body enhancement.
“But what Miss Vio is doing now isn’t cast on your flesh. You’re coating your body with a thin membrane of mana, like a layer on top of you.”
“Huh? So it’s not enhancement?”
“That’s correct. If it were enhancement, the skin would simply harden. It would not make that sound, and your mana would not remain fixed on the surface.”
My super-alloy idea wasn’t wrong.
The Vice-Guildmaster had been watching with mana sight, and he said enhancement coats the area with mana but then absorbs into the tissue, merging with it.
Mine stayed stuck on the outside like a suit—so it’s different.
“Then what kind of magic is this?”
“No idea.”
“Same.”
The two magic specialists completely gave up.
“Vio, what were you imaginin’ when ya cast it?”
“Hmm… something thin, hard, and strong. I figured instead of hardening my skin, I’d just put on a thin armor like that. Let’s see…
Ah! It’s like a barrier. A barrier wrapped tightly around my body.”
They wouldn’t understand a tokusatsu hero suit, and light novels always talk about expanding barriers or shrinking them to a microscopic layer, right?
“A barrier, you say…”
“A barrier you wear on your body…”
The two magic maniacs drifted deep into thought, and that ended today’s lesson.
Dad told me that enhancement and a barrier-suit are different things, but both are useful in dungeons.
Since I’m small, there aren’t many weapons or armor that fit me, and even after reaching Copper Rank, I probably couldn’t go outside much until I grow more.
But if I can maintain a barrier-suit for a long time, outdoor hunts could be added to training.
Alright! From now on, I’ll practice how long I can keep a full-body suit active!
What do you think about this chapter?
