“… As long as it’s not a massive one, I don’t see why not. You’re planning on going for the Sapling Voucher, right?”

  “Mm-hmm. Is that gonna be a problem?”

  “Well, trees do take long to grow, even when they’re magically enhanced. It should be fine at the very least until you’re done with college,” Runar pointed out. “Worst case, we just get you a house with a proper, spacious garden near the café.”

  Ryan looked at his uncle with a narrowed gaze. “I’m still weirded out by the fact that you can just … say stuff like that. Yeah, sure, let’s just buy me a house with a garden in the most expensive part of the city.”

  “Okay, sure, we’ve got money; so what? I mean, what did you expect when you realized that I run a café that’s basically only open every other day?” Runar asked with a raised eyebrow, and Ryan was silent for a few moments.

  “I’ve felt a bit awkward to ask this until now, but … do you think we could do something for my mom?”

  “Yeah, sure, we can figure something out.” Runar nodded immediately, patting his nephew on the back. With a bit of relief, Ryan looked back at the clown, buying the Sapling Voucher as well.

  Ryan took a closer look at the three tickets, and they had a dotted line with Tear here written next to it. He should be able to store everything in the domains anyway, so Ryan quickly tore the tickets.

  [Random Seed Voucher has been redeemed—Three Random Seeds have been awarded]

  -[Rock Melon Seeds]

  -[Red Basil Seeds]

  -[Radiant Tomato Seeds]

  [Random Sapling Voucher has been redeemed—One Random Sapling has been awarded]

  -[Golden Apple Tree Sapling]

  [Random Weapon Voucher has been redeemed—One Random Weapon has been awarded]

  -[Elemental Greatsword Granfell]

  Ryan watched as the items were placed right on the ground in front of him. Three small seed packets, a paper-wrapped sapling in a small plastic pot, and a small cardboard box containing the kit that was needed to build the sword. He explained what the system window told him, and Runar listened curiously.

  “Hm, interesting, alright. I’ve heard about Rock Melons but neither Red Basil nor Radiant Tomatoes. And Golden Apples? I think they’re some magical fruit that help with mana recovery, so that’s incredibly useful,” Runar pointed out, but Ryan was rather focused on something else. He was more curious about the greatsword, and he could feel Tiar wriggling excitedly on his left arm as well.

  “I think my Spirit Armament skill would work on the weapon Maximus got,” Ryan pointed out, and Runar raised an eyebrow.

  “Wait, really? I guess it would. Do you want to try it out?”

  “I’d have to build it first, but … kind of,” Ryan responded, and Runar shrugged. He pulled out his pen-wand and wrote something on the ground. Just a moment later, the old wooden boards on the ground creaked and split open as roots pierced them. The roots formed the shape of a table and a pair of chairs, one of which Runar soon sat down on.

  “… Magic really is convenient, huh?”

  “It has its upsides,” Runar replied smugly, as Ryan squatted. He put the small sapling and the seeds into the domain, something that was luckily still possible in their current state, and then grabbed the cardboard box with the sword.

  Since this was a piece that belonged to Maximus, the knight hurriedly stepped out of his domain, standing on the table curiously as Ryan pulled his tools from his bag. He carried them with him everywhere for emergencies, just in case he needed to repair either Maximus or Gaia. He didn’t want them to have to wait until they were home while Ryan could get healed right away.

  Ryan opened the box and pulled out the parts. It wasn’t a very complicated thing to build; rather, it was quite simple and straightforward.

  Though that was something that Ryan expected, anyway. Most swords didn’t have a particularly complex shape, after all. There were a fair number of pieces though, being that it was a greatsword that would probably be about Maximus’s size once assembled.

  Ryan used his Spirit Construction skill and got started taking all the pieces out of the frames, trying to sort them a bit on the table. He didn’t have the boxes that he usually sorted them into with him, after all. His skill could be active for almost thirty minutes at this point, and with his dexterity at a whopping 1.72 and his intuition similarly high, Ryan was able to easily put the sword together before the half hour was up.

  The sword soon took on a recognizable shape, and in the middle of putting it together, Ryan’s curiosity got the better of him. Just to test it out, he ran one of the edge pieces over some of the hairs exposed on his arm, and the edge cleanly cut through them. These pieces were incredibly sharp, so he should be careful with them.

  Before long, Ryan finished assembling the sword. It was clearly a sword that belonged to Maximus, through and through. It was the same silver and red that his armor was. Clearly excited, more so than he ever had been about any of the weapons that the craftsmen had made for him, Maximus stared at the sword, and Ryan quickly gave it to him. The knight’s hand closed around the sword’s handle, and he slowly waved it around, feeling the weight.

  “So, what’s the ‘elemental’ part?” Ryan wondered, and Maximus stared at the blade for a few moments. He jumped from the table, grasping his sword tightly with both hands. Ryan watched as Maximus took on a stance that he used a lot when fighting with a sword. He had a lot of very different styles of movement that he used for different situations, and something told Ryan that this sword could take advantage of that fact.

  Maximus held the sword up above his head, swinging it down in a swift motion. With fast, tight angles, the knight swung the sword, and the dust on the ground around him was pushed around. The more he moved, the more the air around him moved. It was clear that Maximus himself was just getting used to this as well. His aura was slowly filling out the sword as the Knight’s Attack skill was activated, and at that point, the wind became even stronger as wisps of his aura were flowing out of the blade like they were carried along by a gust. One of Maximus’s slashes managed to carry for quite a while, leaving a narrow scar in the wood of the wall.

  And then, Maximus slowed down considerably. The motions of his sword became wider and smoother. It was like they were slower but more intentional than before. The wind settled down, and instead, Ryan and his uncle watched as the sword’s edge was enveloped in a thin veil of water. With every cut or stab, aura-infused streams shot forward, deepening the light cut in the wall.

  When he was satisfied, Maximus’s sword form changed again, this time becoming almost erratic and speeding up again. This time, the edge of the blade turned a bright red as it heated up, and flames followed behind every one of Maximus’s movements.

  One more time, Maximus’s swordsmanship changed. The way he moved was like his sword suddenly became heavier. And it probably did; it was soon enveloped in a layer of stone that seemed to appear out of nowhere, built up by Maximus’s aura.

  “Well, would you look at that.” Runar grinned lightly. “I guess that would be the ‘elemental’ part. I wonder if that means all the weapons the craftsmen made are obsolete now.”

  Ryan shook his head. “Maximus isn’t the type to stick to just one weapon. This is definitely useful, though … There’s two more weapon vouchers in the store. I wonder what else he’ll get.”

  “Hm … I don’t quite remember the mechanism behind getting weapons. They can’t just give out random quests for it, either. It might have something to do with a skill you’ll get as you level up.”

  “Urgh … that’s going to take quite a while, right? You also said something about a skill that allows the spirits to be further away from me, and there’s not even a guarantee that those will be the next two skills I’ll get.”

  “Well, sure,” Runar replied. “But the Spirit Keeper has a history of leveling up pretty fast compared to others. Especially as you become the keeper of more spirits, your leveling speed will increase. Not proportionally, I guess, but you’ll still do better than others.”

  “If you say so.” Ryan groaned, getting up from his seat, grabbing the steel rebars attached to his backpack before placing them on the ground and stretching his hand out toward Maximus. “Mind if we give it a go?”

  Maximus nodded, releasing the sword. It fell apart into red wisps that promptly flowed into Ryan’s fingertips, safely appearing right next to the spare part of Maximus’s armor. Ryan looked at Tiar on the back of his hand.

  “I know this might be a bit of a waste of the skill use for the day, but it’s worth it, right?”

  ദി(•ᴗ• ), Tiar replied, giving a quick thumbs-up as Ryan held his hand out to the steel rebar, soon activating the Spirit Armament skill. The symbiote’s tendrils reached out to the metal and tore it apart like it was clay, shaping the steel into the shape of a sword, starting at the hilt. Piece by piece, the weight increased, and Ryan did whatever he could to keep the blade upright. By the time the sword was fully put together, it was far too massive for Ryan to actually use.

  Sure, he could keep it somewhat upright if he tried really hard, but swinging something like that around the way Maximus did was absolutely impossible. And the weight wasn’t even the main issue there; it was just the sheer size. It was more than two meters long, so the tip of the sword always seemed like it was being pulled to the ground by a magnet. With his un-awakened strength, there was no way he could use this productively in a fight.

  “I really hope I awaken my strength stat soon.” Ryan groaned as the tip of the sword dug into the old wooden floor. “There’s no hope for me to activate the elemental part of it, either, is there?”

  Maximus slowly shook his head.

  “Yeah, I thought so …”

  “Cheer up; maybe at some point, you can actually use it properly. I feel like those flames would kind of suit you,” Runar pointed out, but Ryan sighed. He let go of the sword and deactivated the skill, making it fall apart into smaller pieces.

  “No, I won’t. Unless I awaken my Aura and learn Maximus’s swordsmanship, at least,” Ryan explained, “His swordsmanship stances are basically physical patterns that imbue Maximus’s aura with some elemental aspects. Those aspects can’t usually show, at least not with Maximus’s current level of aura, but the sword, Granfell, seems like it can properly take those elemental aspects and actually make them appear like that.”

  Runar glanced over at Maximus and then back at his nephew. “You got all that from him just shaking his head?”

  “That was basically just a confirmation of what I already thought. My Intuition isn’t that high yet.” Ryan scoffed, scratching the back of his head. “Whatever; I’m pretty happy with the bat Silvia made for me. And it suits me a lot more, anyway.”

  “Sure, sure. So, now that we know what kind of items you can get through the gift shop, let’s get you to the next area. Though it’s going to be a bit rougher in a lot of ways,” Runar explained, and Ryan curiously raised his eyebrows.

  “Oh, alright! I’m guessing it’s still going to be a simple fighting thing, right? No puzzles? If so, we’ll definitely be fine.”

  “Hah, honestly, with your type of intuition, you should be able to get through puzzles pretty easily. But yeah, it’s just a combat area. But it’s rough because for one, the enemies are a bit higher-leveled and act in small groups, also because of their appearance.”

  “Their appearance? Can’t imagine anything more off-putting than a rotting, living mascot suit.”

  “Yeah, so … the next area will be the petting zoo.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Aura Capacity

  The gate in front of Ryan was foreboding. It was old and run-down, covered in rust and all sorts of grime. But it wasn’t really about the gate itself; rather, it was about what would be behind this gate. Monsters that were born from the memory of the animals that used to be in this place. That was mostly just in regard to their appearance, since monsters were usually pretty hostile, though Ryan now knew that there were exceptions in some places, such as the gift shop.

  He took a deep breath and pushed the gate, making it open with a high-pitched creak. The first ones to step inside, instead of Ryan himself, were Gaia’s two sub-golems. Ryan was connected to them through the Spirit Link skill again, so he was using them as scouts. Since these monsters were apparently a lot tougher to deal with than the mascots, it was incredibly important for them all to know what they were dealing with.

  This area was already pretty tough to deal with, though. Since it was made for animals, there was lots of dirt and grass and even some trees planted within the fences, and after this long, many of those plants, including others that intruded from elsewhere, would have grown tall enough to block Ryan’s sight. And that was without the dungeon’s distortion of everything. With it, it seemed like Ryan was supposed to push his way through the jungle.

  “Urgh … great, can’t wait to be ambushed by wild monster animals … My dream was always to have my throat torn out by some bunnies,” Ryan grumbled to himself, holding his shield in front of his body as he carefully proceeded forward. It was a bit tough for the sub-golems to see there, but due to their point of view, they had a somewhat-easier time looking through some of the grasses and weeds.

  And due to that, they soon saw a flash of white and brown pass by as dried leaves and plants were rustled. Ryan could actually hear it from all directions, as if something was surrounding him, just a few steps into the petting zoo’s fenced-off areas. Ryan groaned as a bad feeling overcame him.

  “Me and my big fucking mouth.” Ryan immediately glanced over at Maximus, who was holding the greatsword Granfell again. While he would still use many of the weapons attached to Ryan’s armor throughout the course of the different battles, he had only just obtained Granfell. So, it was probably a good idea to make sure Maximus was properly used to the special effects of the sword and could adjust to them. From what Ryan had seen in the gift shop, Maximus was able to deal with it very well already, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

  Not to mention Maximus was clearly excited to use his swordsmanship to its fullest degree. Maximus held his sword tightly, glancing around to get ready for any sort of attack. Ryan was carefully watching to make sure that they could catch the actual monster that was incoming when the sound of paws stomping could be heard. Immediately, Ryan exclaimed, “To your right!”

  Maximus reacted, swinging his sword to the right in a straight, swift motion. The blades of grass around him were pushed out of the way as a crescent of aura-infused wind shot out toward the enemy. It was a white rabbit, probably three times the size of a normal bunny, with large, incredibly sharp teeth that seemed almost like knives growing out of its mouth.

  That crescent cut into the rabbit’s fur, though not all too deeply. It was able to draw some blood, dyeing a portion of the matted, almost-grey dirty hair a deep red. The rabbit flinched back for a moment, as Maximus’s second slash reached the rabbit as well. He was closing in, step by step, swinging his sword speedily.

  However, this wasn’t the only monster that was attacking. The monsters of this area attacked in groups, and the second and third of the group were approaching just a beat after the first. From two completely different directions, at that. Luckily, Gaia was standing right behind Ryan, in range for the Spirit Domain skill. In the worst-case scenario, he could forcefully pull the Golem into her domain before any of the monsters could even get close to her.

  That being the case, Ryan didn’t have much time to focus on that. Another one of the rabbits was jumping right at him. With his weight behind it, Ryan slammed his shield at the monster. The weight of the impact was nearly enough to throw Ryan onto his back, but it didn’t seem to have left the rabbit without consequence. It was, at the very least, stunned for a few moments. As this happened, Ryan swung his bat down at the third of the monster rabbits. It hopped out of the way, though the solid metal bat still scraped its leg, clearly injuring it.

  As this happened, a message popped up in front of Ryan’s eyes.

  [You have killed a Level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]

  Ryan glanced behind himself, seeing Maximus pull his sword out of the rabbit’s throat. The knight came running back to him, and Ryan immediately swung his bat toward him. Of course, that wasn’t to attack him, but since the bat was filled with Ryan’s mana, it extended the reach of the Spirit Domain skill.

  And so, Maximus and his sword soon fell apart into wisps of red, flowing over the bat and to Ryan’s hand. The wisps dove into his skin, and Ryan could feel Maximus almost instantly move in and out of his own domain. Instead of reappearing in the same spot he was in before, Maximus appeared closer to the other two rabbits.

  The first one he attacked was the stunned one, which was still recovering from the shield-bash. Dropping down from around two feet above it, Maximus stabbed his sword into the rabbit’s back. The smell of burning flesh immediately spread out as part of the rabbit’s fur caught fire, but it didn’t take long until that fire stopped again as its fuel fell apart.

  [You have killed a Level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]

  Ryan grinned lightly as he watched Maximus tear his sword back out of the dead rabbit’s body, jumping off of it and toward the last of the trio. Swinging the sword upward while barely in range, Maximus cut through the rabbit’s snout, slashing back down immediately after. The sword was buried in the rabbit’s face for a few moments.

  [You have killed a level 6 -Giant Rabbit-]

  Carefully turning the dial, Modak adjusted the values of the speaker in front of him. It was the special speaker that he and Marge had put together as a prototype. It read the pattern engraved on the mana cassettes, outputting the corresponding sound while amplifying the imbued mana by a certain factor.

  That part of it was working quite well; there was an output of mana that could be read through the sensors that they had put up in front of it as a test to make sure that the output was actually to the correct strength and accurate to what was on the tape. Luckily, that seemed to be the case, at least, so Modak was currently trying to resolve another issue.