Level Eater

Chapter 7: From Here On Out

The two had already decided on their goal for the near future. However, there was a slight problem right in front of them.

"For the time being, we need to prioritize food, shelter, and maybe money." (Tatsuro)

"Food, huh? I still have a few sweets with me here, but" (Ai)

Checking her shoulder bag while saying that, Ai found some candy, chocolates, a small bag of potato chips, and some other cheap sweets. There's also a 500ml PET bottle with water mixed in the bag.

"I knew you always had snacks in your bag but why do you even have this much?!" (Tatsuro)

"So I can eat it when I get hungry, or whenever I feel like it!" (Ai)

"Y-yeah I bought a convenience store lunch box, two rice balls, and a bottle of tea for a midnight snack." (Tatsuro)

Saying that he took out a plastic bag from his backpack.

On a side note, Tatsuro's parents usually come home late two to three days a week. As such, they usually purchase something to eat on the way home, leaving Tatsuro to his own devices for dinner.

"Ah, now that you mention it, I remember you buying something in the store when we were walking home Uuu, if I knew this would happen, I'd have bought a lot" (Ai)

"Ifs and buts won't make things any better. Let's just make do with what we have now." (Tatsuro)

"Yeah. But for shelter The system says we don't have any money In the first place, how do we even get out of this forest?" (Ai)

"If that's what you're thinking, I already asked Help, but" (Tatsuro)

Waving his hand in Ai's direction, Tatsuro managed to grab her attention once more.

"As I was saying, it looks like we'll get to see a path leading to the town of Obsul if we continue downstream." (Tatsuro)

"Really? By the way, how far is this Obsul?" (Ai)

"Ah If we're talking about how long it'll take us to walk there, it'll take us about 3 days." (Tatsuro)

"T-T-T-THREE DAYS?!" (Ai)

"Yeah, a 2 days walk by the riverside, then 1 day down the path to Obsul" (Tatsuro)

""Haaaaa""

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Losing their spirits, the two cast their eyes downward. For kids like them, born and raised in the modern world, just the thought of a 3 day walk with such little food supply was enough to dishearten them.

However, Tatsuro still tried to salvage the situation.

"Alright, if we continue like this, then we won't get anywhere so let's change the topic." (Tatsuro)

"What is it, then?" (Ai)

"I want to learn magic." (Tatsuro)

"MAGIC!!!" (Ai)

As Ai's eyes sparkled like a little child's, Tatsuro quickly opened up his system.

"Uhh Right now, I have 62 SP, so Light, Dark, Fire, Water, Life, and Earth. That should be enough to get all of them to Lv 1." (Tatsuro)

"So you can learn 6 at once, huh? But will it be fine if they're all only at Lv 1?" (Ai)

"That's gonna be a bit of a problem, but For now, I just want to test them out, find which is the easiest to use, and then focus on that, I think." (Tatsuro)

"I see. Well, it'll be more interesting to watch if you use different elements so just go for it!" (Ai)

"Then, I'll go get them now and" (Tatsuro)

Getting the OK from his partner, Tatsuro opened the skills section and burned 11 SP to learn light attribute magic.

"Hmm?" (Tatsuro)

In an instant, it felt like something changed inside of him. A weird feeling that he got as soon as he learned the skill.

"Did something happen?" (Ai)

Thinking about how to explain it to Ai who had her head tilted while looking at him, the weird feeling suddenly vanished.

As it wasn't a particularly bad experience, he voiced out a "no problem!" in reply to Ai.

Once he calmed himself down, he proceeded to the darkness attribute. Feeling a faint chuunibyou spirit in him, he saw that the skill now costs 22 SP.

If he chose to learn these attributes last, they would have cost him a whopping 132 SP. Just the thought of that is enough to send chills down his spine.

This time, he prepared himself for the weird sensation again, but nothing happened.

Continuing, he learned fire, water, life, and earth attributes too, and was left with 11 SP.

"Alright, this much should be fine." (Tatsuro)

"You can show me some magic now, right!?" (Ai)

Even though they both felt impatient and wanted to see how magic actually works, Tatsuro first confirmed if he had really learned the skills in his stats screen.

Name: Tatsuro Hasami

Class: Light Magician

Level: 3

Ki: 10

Mana: 116

Strength: 10

Durability: 10

Agility: 5

Magic: 36

Magic Resistance: 36

Mana Control: 31

|Acquired Skills|

[Level Eater], [Light Magic Lv 1], [Dark Magic Lv 1]

[Life Magic Lv 1], [Fire Magic Lv 1], [Water Magic Lv 1]

[Earth Magic Lv 1]

|System skills|

[Map]

Skill Points: 11

|Titles|

None

"Nice, they're all there. Ah, my class changed to [Light Magician] while my stats adapted to it too. Was it because of that thing?" (Tatsuro)

"What thing?" (Ai)

"Uhh It's kind of hard to explain but You've been a Martial Artist since the beginning so you probably didn't get to experience it" (Tatsuro)

"I don't get it but that means everything's okay, right?" (Ai)

"Yup, everything's fine!" (Tatsuro)

"Then what are you waiting for?" (Ai)

"Yes, ma'am!" (Tatsuro)

After that exchange, Tatsuro moved a little further away from Ai.

Tatsuro, not wanting to betray her expectations, used Help to learn how to handle his magic properly.

It seems that for someone who is using their skill for the first time, it's better to use it at full strength without holding anything back. Feeling the mana circulating in his body, Tatsuro learned how to control, release, and shape it into magic. As time passed, he slowly inched close to the magic that he had envisioned.

Focusing on [Light Magic] first, he immediately felt something well up inside him. Like a computer system booting up, Tatsuro felt his body start the magic activation process all on its own.

Facing his right palm towards the sky, he felt the flow of mana within him and gathered them towards his right hand. As he released it, it slowly took the shape of a sphere the size of an apple.

"It's here! Amazing! So this is magic" (Ai)

Reveling at the moment, Tatsuro did not reply to the high-spirited Ai.

The ball of light was something he made from his mana.

The feeling of mana circulating in his veins, the feeling of releasing the mana from his body, and the process of refining it into a sphere of light. All of them were new to him, and he felt speechless.

It was like seeing the light for the first time as a blind person.

After basking in that feeling for a short moment, he didn't want to forget the sensation and left the activation to his body as he continued to use the other 5 attributes. However, using his skills like that, all he did was form spheres of various elements in the palm of his hand.

While it might be fun for him, Ai quickly lost interest as all she saw was a ball changing colors. It didn't feel too different from an RGB light which could do the same.

"Hey, Tatsuro Isn't there anything else?" (Ai)

"Hmm? Anything else? Ah! I felt like I was about to learn something! Wait a bit for me, okay?" (Tatsuro)

"Mmm If you say that, then I can wait but If we don't start moving soon, we're never getting out of this sea of trees, you know?" (Ai)

"Wha?! Ah, I almost forgot about that." (Tatsuro)

Finally remembering their current predicament, Tatsuro ended his magic practice.

Before long, the two-faced the river and started heading downstream.