It’s Not Your Imagination

Remembering Aria’s words, Kikori hunted together with Kuon.

They had gone slightly deeper than usual, but there were few Horned Rabbits… only occasional goblins appearing.

Even so they obtained a fair amount of mana stones, and the two were taking a break.

At that time, Kuon spoke up.

“After all, we should go a bit farther ahead.”

“…Yeah.”

“Honestly, the earnings here are really low right now. And it looks very bad for you to be hunting here, Kikori.”

“Since I beat the Goblin General…”

“Exactly. Saying ‘I’m a beginner, I’m weak, that’s why I hunt here’ no longer works. We’ve become the ones being lectured about stealing a beginner’s income.”

Yes, that was true.

The reward from defeating the Goblin General had honestly been huge.

Even Kikori’s adventurer plate had changed from bronze to iron.

Both axes had become Magic Axes.

Frankly speaking, it was overpowered equipment for hunting here.

Of course, even with any equipment you could still be easily killed by a Horned Rabbit… but that wasn’t the issue.

The issue was that Kikori hunting goblins in a place like this now looked extremely bad.

“But farther ahead means orcs, right?”

“No, for a while it’s still goblin territory. There should be more Hobgoblins.”

“Hobgoblins, huh…”

“Honestly, Kikori, you’ve gotten pretty strong so I’m not worried.”

“Yeah, well.”

“GIIII!”

Seeing an opening, a goblin attacked, but Kikori’s Magic Axe blew off its head in one strike.

That was partly the Magic Axe’s power… but the biggest reason was—

“…I feel like my raw strength has just gone up.”

“That’s not your imagination. Your total mana has increased a bit, and it’s probably an unexpected side effect of Luna Eclipse.”

“…What did you just say?”

“You took in tons of mana while under ‘mana-based body reinforcement’ from Luna Eclipse, right? Your body probably learned how to reinforce itself with mana.”

It’s like gaining a little muscle, Kuon explained.

“Doesn’t that mean… managing mana will become much harsher than before?”

“I don’t think you need to worry. But…”

“But?”

“Even if your mana grows from now on, it might get diverted there…”

Apparently, a future where Kikori could use powerful magic without relying on Charge… did not exist.

“…Let’s go a little deeper.”

“Yeah.”