novelraw Chapter 181 : Chapter 181
Chapter 181 : Chapter 181
Chapter 181 - The Executioner's Dilemma (5)
Steal Grændal’s 『Space Slash』.
Reconsidering it, that plan was the optimal conclusion to draw out the best possible outcome, but there was one thing I had to think about.
‘Is this plan even feasible?’
My aptitude for magic, when assessed objectively, was below average.
My magic power, for some unknown reason, had grown on its own as my deaths piled up, but the talent for wielding magic was a different story altogether.
I often lamented that my talent for martial arts wasn't exceptional, yet I barely managed to be counted among the gifted. In contrast, my magical talent was closer to being inept than mediocre.
It wasn't that I was completely hopeless, just middling enough that I could somehow hone my magic to a usable level.
Anyway,
Because of that, before considering the problem of how many deaths I would have to expend, I first needed to confirm if it was even possible in the first place.
If I determined that I couldn't steal Grændal's technique, I would have had to come up with another plan.
For someone as versatile as me, jumping into a real battle without any countermeasures, hoping to learn by sight, would be a reckless act that was embarrassing to even call a gamble, wouldn't it?
Therefore, as I had always done, I had to practice and train. Furthermore, I had to determine whether I could ‘steal’ magic.
How did I decide to determine that?
The answer was by seeing if I could achieve a success case, even on a slightly easier difficulty.
***
- Ahem, anyway, what I wanted to ask is-
- That you let me watch you use Origin Magic.”
The rather strange request I had made to Arien last time was also made in this context.
To steal Grændal’s 『Space Slash』, and to confirm whether that plan was feasible.
And the space-type Origin Magic 『Fixation』 was the means of judgment to give me confidence before entering the real battle.
Of course, the fact that succeeding would give me a way to deal a blow to Grændal was also appealing.
That's why I had asked Arien, instead of directly explaining the working principles of the magic, to just show me its casting.
And the result was.
‘It’s not going well⋯⋯.’
Well.
I had spoken boldly, but copying—or stealing—magic just by watching with the naked eye without any guide was obviously not an easy task.
‘If it were that easy, why would magic lectures and professors even exist?’
The story was that even after watching Arien attempt the Origin Magic 『Fixation』 dozens, even hundreds of times, I couldn't completely understand it.
‘I feel like I’m about to grasp it⋯⋯ but there’s no progress at a strange point.’
Though, thanks to the advice Arien had given me last time, I was able to understand it to some extent.
-Rain. When using Origin Magic, you must change your perspective of viewing the world.
-When you use 『Space Perception』, you don't view the world with your eyes. You perceive space as space itself.
-That perspective doesn't only apply when using 『Space Perception』. When using Origin Magic, you must view the world as the unit itself.
Those words, as I felt at the time, were an explanation of a rather abstract concept.
To view the world as the unit itself was closer to a conceptual theory than a methodology.
Of course, it wasn't Arien's fault; rather, I had to consider that since Origin Magic itself interfered with the laws of the world, it had to be expressed abstractly.
However, through that abstract conceptual theory, I was able to get a feel for casting Origin Magic to some extent, and for that, I expressed my gratitude to Arien.
The problem was that my understanding had stalled at ‘to some extent.’
‘There’s no progress.’
You could say it was a situation where I had completed the theoretical perspective but was having difficulty applying it in practice.
Looking back, this aspect had been remarkably consistent ever since I started living in this world as Rain.
The part where I was quick to understand the theoretical aspects, but my body and senses couldn't keep up.
In that situation, I sought Arien's advice again.
“Through what you've said, I have understood the basic concept to some extent⋯⋯ but I feel like I can't quite internalize it. Is there any good way to overcome this situation?”
-⋯⋯I think I know roughly what kind of feeling that is.
-Thank you. Sincerely.
To ask again after saying something like that, in a way, it was a bit of a letdown⋯⋯ but was Arien the type of person to care about such things?
“Hmm, it’s not a method that always works⋯⋯ but in this case, it’s not that there’s no way. Rain.”
Arien seemed to organize her thoughts for a moment, then quickly presented a solution.
And that solution was.
“To learn how to use magic is to fundamentally understand the flow of magic power within the magic. It's a matter of cause and effect, of how you must manipulate magic power to produce a certain effect.”
“That’s a point I received advice on before.”
“Yes. And the easiest way to understand that flow of magic power is⋯⋯ to experience the effect of the magic directly.”
The method Arien proposed was very simple.
To be directly hit by the magic one wants to learn.
What did I say after hearing those words?
“Please do it.”
Naturally, I asked her to cast the Origin Magic 『Fixation』 on me.
As for the result.
Well, the answer was already there in the fact that I had used an application of 『Fixation』 to deal a blow to Grændal.
By repeating that process, I was able to learn 『Fixation』, and in the end, I was able to prove my earlier hypothesis.
-However, this method is a stopgap measure at best. If it's not magic that is cast targeting something, the act of experiencing it directly becomes impossible.
It was a method that used a shortcut, but⋯⋯ that didn't matter.
Because I already knew that my initial goal, 『Space Slash』, was a type of magic and technique that could be learned by being hit with it.
Yes.
The task I had aimed for from the beginning was to be directly hit by Grændal’s 『Space Slash』 until I understood it well enough to cast it myself.
All the fights and deaths until now were all groundwork for this stage.
As it was Grændal's last resort technique, it was clear he would only use it when cornered.
Now, the remaining task was very simple.
Like a moth drawn to a flame, to leap into death and pain.
In other words, it was no different from what I had been doing all along.
***
Slice-!
After being cut, that sound always followed. It was because the sound couldn't keep up with the speed of the sword strike.
Ah.
Flesh, bone, and organs were cleanly severed in a single strike.
It was a fleeting moment, but the cross-section was unforgettably clean.
[ System : You have overcome deaths. ]
Teeter-
Thud.
The ways I was cut down were truly varied.
Decapitation, sliced in two horizontally, vertically, or diagonally.
After realizing I'd been cut, my consciousness faded quickly, so I couldn't confirm the exact state of my corpse, but it must have been a gruesome sight.
‘It’s clear if you think about what would leak out from the severed gap.’
The corpses I had seen so far had been like that.
Though, it was something that didn't really matter.
[ System : You have overcome deaths. ]
“To think I spewed nonsense like burying you with all my might⋯⋯ I was underestimating you.”
I don't respond.
I just take in every moment of the process.
How his muscles moved the moment Grændal drew his sword.
How his magic power pulsed.
Slice-!
And when my body was severed, how The One's Origin Magic was constructed.
I just contemplate and gain insight.
[ System : You have overcome deaths. ]
Clang, clang-!
As the process to reach that point repeated, the precision of the battle also increased with each regression.
“How⋯⋯!”
Seeing the guy who had looked down on me just a few hundred times ago make a face of astonishment was⋯⋯.
“⋯⋯Pfft.”
It was a sight satisfying enough that a sneer escaped me unintentionally.
[ System : You have overcome deaths. ]
Die, fight, die, fight.
In the series of events that repeated as naturally as daily life, it wasn't that I didn't feel pain.
Pain is always pain. No matter how much pain I had experienced so far, there was no helping the biological signals of a body that was reset every time time rewound.
But strangely, unlike right after I fell into this world, or before the second semester, I wasn't thinking about wanting to escape this situation as quickly as possible.
To confess honestly, I was even engulfed in a strange sense of elation.
‘Why?’
I had plenty of time to think, and thanks to that, I could form various hypotheses.
The first hypothesis was, as I said before, that it was quite enjoyable to see Grændal's flustered face.
Looking down from above at the guy who had looked at me as if I were less than an insect.
It might have been more enjoyable than I had thought.
The second hypothesis was a craving for power.
Until now, I had rarely been in a position of strength.
Now, if I was prepared for nearly a thousand deaths, I could overwhelm even one of the world's foremost powerhouses, but this was only temporary.
As time went on, the enemies would become stronger, and I would have to expend more deaths just to stand on equal footing with them.
‘But what if I steal his technique?’
Grændal’s 『Space Slash』 was, without a doubt, a very powerful weapon.
If I could grasp it, I too could stand on equal footing with the main characters⋯⋯ or villains of this world.
No, perhaps even above them.
The geniuses who could fly freely in the sky, something I could only imagine, simply because they were born that way.
I could stand in the same position as them.
It was truly a heart-pounding affair. Something I had wished for my entire life.
My entire life? Of course not my entire life.
Many other thoughts came and went.
It's a strange thing. Until now, I hadn't had much leisure to be lost in such thoughts amidst death. Is this also a form of growth?
Anyway.
In the process of such thoughts, I was able to find one more answer.
An answer to the question I had asked myself so many times and been so puzzled by.
Ah.
Truly, everything is going so well, in an unprecedented way, and heading in the right direction⋯⋯.
Truly.