Chapter 105: Defeat and the Gravity Spell

Unfortunately, the second time ended very abruptly.

Those damned companion creatures kept crawling in, wave after wave.

Rod had no choice but to toss aside Aimi, who was gurgling away in his mouth, and deal with these sand-grit creatures himself.

【Aimi has acquired skill: Claw Rend】

【Details: Growth Spirituality has activated a native Spirituality Art that Aimi had not yet mastered; this skill comes with toxin, flame, or other elemental effects】

【Remaining Growth Spirituality: 108】

Looking at it this way, his guess had been correct.

Injecting Growth Spirituality into an intelligent race only activates the native Spirituality Arts that race already possesses — it won't go out of control like it did with Little Little Bangde before.

"108 points — keep ten percent as reserve, half needs to stay on the Willow Sands District, after all we need them to form the defensive line against the sand tornadoes. The rest, put as much as possible on Tally."

After all, the succubus was almost always by his side; a high-strength combatant was very necessary.

There was no time to waste.

Once Aimi had recovered her senses, he hurried straight back to the wooden cabin.

Early morning.

Rod lay on the bed in a spread-eagle shape, suddenly feeling a little doubtful about life itself.

Forty points of Growth Spirituality went in.

【Clone Art】, 【Painful Lash】, 【Desire Mist】 — fine, at least those still have some use.

What the hell is 【Sensitivity Adjustment】???

He braced his waist and sat up, tasting for the first time in his life the bitter flavor of defeat in this particular matter.

Tally sat at the bedside, not caring that essence was spilling all over the floor and the bed, and shook her head with a look of utter contempt.

"It's okay, Master~ three minutes is already pretty good~~"

". Cranking it up a hundredfold — what's that supposed to prove? If you've got the guts, try twenty times"

"I just love how you keep that stubborn tough-duck act going~~"

So saying, she lowered her head and stuck out her pink, tender tongue.

Her index finger slid upward, and sensitivity instantly shot to 1000 times.

One little lick~~

A mountain flood erupted on the spot, splattering mud all over her face.

"I just love the way you look right now, Master."

She cupped her full face, eyes an alarming shade of red, the corners of her mouth stretched almost to her ears, her legs trembling uncontrollably.

It wasn't early anymore.

Rod decided to stop messing around with her.

He forcibly exempted himself from 【Sensitivity Adjustment】.

This was also a spiritual-type Spirituality Art — under normal circumstances it simply couldn't take effect on Rod; he had only let his guard down on purpose to play around with Tally.

After a hasty breakfast and a quick mandarin-duck bath with the succubus in a nearby stream.

Rod began studying a new Spirituality Art.

【Gravity Well】.

A skill usable as both a Spirituality Art and a spell.

Its classification was Transmutation and Evocation.

Unlike 【Gravity Chains】, which barely brushed against gravity spells, this skill had one crucial difficulty.

Namely, one had to learn to manipulate the spatial gravity field.

Even for a mage this was a difficult point, so naturally it stumped Rod, whose foundations were comparatively rougher.

"I have to sense the guidance of energy, and on top of that spare the brainpower to support the complex calculations of 【Gravity Well】"

Rod troubledly rubbed his head.

Beside him, Tally was half-reclining on a rock, leisurely pinching a 【Shadow Worm's Feather】.

The power of shadow slowly entered her body.

As a result, her skin deepened by several shades.

After all these days of dual cultivation with 【Elibert's Tome of Amorous Secrets】, the succubus's accumulated Spirituality had steadily broken through to the mid-stage of Sixth Order.

Her progress was even faster than Rod's.

Perhaps because his functions were too powerful and his foundations absurdly solid, he could feel that the Spirituality required for his advancement would far exceed that of an ordinary person.

Noticing her master's gaze.

Tally shot him a flirtatious glance.

Her slender, scallion-like fingers slid upward, and her delicate pink tongue gave a lick at empty air.

The provocative meaning was self-evident.

Rod couldn't be bothered with her and continued immersing himself in mastering the gravity field.

But unfortunately.

The entire day passed with absolutely no progress.

To avoid the situation of working behind closed doors, Rod moved the next day to the Willow Sands District to seek Lady Kali's help.

As a learned and talented elf, she ought to be able to give proper advice.

"Little Little Bangde, is it only you?"

The little horse-girl seemed to have grown a little taller, her face delicate and cute.

Even the clothing over her chest had begun to show a slight swell.

Rod remembered that the terms "freedom" and "adventurous spirit" had once appeared in Little Little Bangde's entry.

He had thought she would have an upbeat personality.

But the appearance of 【Timidity】 suppressed all those latent traits within her.

"Is Rod going to play? I'm coming too!"

She ran over and spread her arms wide.

Rod smiled helplessly and pulled her into his embrace.

"Yes, I'm going to ask your teacher something."

"Then forget it. Teacher should be at her residence."

The horse-girl slid out of his arms at light speed and ran far away without looking back.

It seemed that Lady Kali was a bit too strict as a teacher.

As soon as she heard they were going to find her, Little Little Bangde vanished immediately.

More than ten minutes later.

Rod moved to the Elf's magical treehouse.

Just as he was about to knock, the wooden door flew open with a bang.

Lady Kali glared at him with a scowl.

"What do you want?"

Whether he was seeing things or not, Rod vaguely saw a whip with faint bloodstains hanging on the wall behind her.

But the other party slammed the door shut at lightning speed.

He didn't pay much attention and stated the purpose of his visit.

"A gravity well, huh..."

Lady Kali's expression seemed to soften slightly.

"Gravity spells are not spells that originally existed in the Reality Plane; you should be clear on that, right?"

Rod nodded.

It had been mentioned before.

In the Reality Plane, no native spiritual art of any intelligent race involves gravity.

Gravity spells were created by humans; it is said the inspiration came from a huge meteorite from beyond the sky.

A mage discovered a cosmic creature inside the meteorite and developed these spells after dissecting and studying it.

"Therefore, learning the gravity field has always required some aid; the fastest method is to simulate and use it as a reference."

Having said that.

Lady Kali took a small stone emitting a purple glow from her spell satchel.

"This is a gravity stone, a little thing I used when I was learning gravity spells. As long as you carefully feel it, memorize the sensation of the gravity field, and then imitate it in your own way, you should be able to do it."

"Thanks!"

Rod's eyes lit up.

He reached out to take the gravity stone.

Who knew Lady Kali suddenly pulled it back.

"Lending it to you... isn't impossible, but you must agree to one condition of mine."

"... Tell me first."

"Starting today, you are not allowed to come within one hundred meters of my house!"

The Elf scowled, her golden hair fluttering in the gentle breeze.

"Do you have something you don't want others to see..."

She stiffened, her face turning ice-cold.

"You... won't agree?"

"As long as you don't endanger the safety of the forest and its friends..."

During the trip to Emerald City, the words of the Halfling Lily made Rod realize that spell research was a quite dangerous matter.

It forced him to be on guard.

The Elf let out a cold snort.

"The one who should be on guard is me, human! What do you think this forest is? Bringing various girls here at will, do you intend to treat the forest like a place for indulgence, just like the Dark Elves?"

(End of Chapter)