'Level 221......!

'Hey, are you worried about that?'

　As for Xue Hua, I guess she didn't expect me to be surprised by the level, so she said with a slightly distracted expression on her face.

'No, I'd like to get into a lot of things, but ...... levels are usually over 100, aren't they?

　Well, the "Gordo" we fought in the recent event was level 99. Even taking into account the fact that he was a special boss, it's only natural that the highest level would be over 100, considering that the bosses you can fight in the first event are of that strength.
　Even so, I was at least a little surprised when I was easily shown a level of over 200.
　Hearing my words, Yukika made battens with the index fingers of both hands.

'You can't go beyond the normal level. The level is normally capped at 100. To exceed the limit, you need to go through trials.

'Trials, like quests that are different for everyone?'

'No. Anyone can take the trials at the Temple of Sephira. The trials change depending on your profession, but I don't think I've ever heard of them changing depending on the individual.

　There were many things I was curious about, such as the trials and the temple, but Yukika's speech contained a noun I had never heard before.

'Sefira?'

'The holy city where the creator god is worshipped. Is it more fitting to say the seventh city among the travelers of the foreign lands?''

'Ah, ...... I see.'

　Hearing Xue Hua's words, I was convinced that I must have never heard of it.
　The Seventh City. It's a place that no player has ever entered.
　The reason for this is simply because it was just unlocked in a major update a few days ago.

　To begin with, players have only traveled as far as Zeronor, the sixth city.
　The dungeon that leads to the seventh town, which was unlocked in the last big update, is said to be an incredibly huge labyrinth, and even though it's been a few days since the update, no one has been able to reach it yet.
　I guess it would be easier if someone cleared it at least once, so we can follow the route. Well, it's a far cry from what I'm used to, as I've only gotten as far as Griffith.

'But maybe Sephira's ordeal isn't relevant to you, Sukuna-chan.

'Eh, why?

'Sukuna-chan is a 'child', right?　Basically, gods of special professions aren't worshipped in Sephira, so I don't know if I can take the trials.''

'I see. ......'

　Well, it's true that Drunkard is not the kind of god to be worshipped in a temple.
　Because she is 'sealed'. She was sealed because of her sins, not because of her accomplishments.
　I think I remember Amber saying that he had destroyed three countries,...... something like that,......, so even if he is a god, I think he is more of an evil god.
　In addition, I am currently cursed by the power of Drunkard.

　However, since the gods of special professions are not worshipped in the Seventh City (Sephira), I wonder if there are other races that are similar to Drunkard.
　Come to think of it, when I first met Shugen, she said something like if she messed with the human race, she'd get some nasty attention. ......?

'What's wrong?



'Oh, no, it's nothing. I just thought that ever since I became a child, there's been nothing but exceptions.

'Hmm, that's just the way it is.

　That's the way it is. .......
　Well, the 《Dohji》 is a profession that only players can become, but it's not necessarily the same for other special professions.
　If Yukika, who has probably actually seen such people, says so, I guess I'll just have to accept that it's that way for now.
　I've gotten way off topic, but I was trying to buy the spellbook in the first place.
　There was no point in thinking about Sephira, whom I couldn't even reach.

'Well, let's get back to the topic at hand. What kind of spellbook do you want, Sukuna?　Basically, I have everything, and if I don't, I'll make one.

　If not, I'll make one. What a reassuring thing to say.
　Well, I guess that's what a top-level magician can do.

'What I want most is a magic defense spell.

'Magic defense spells are around here. They're cheapest from this side and most expensive at the end. The effect should be proportional to the price.

　And then Yukika laid out a bunch of colorful spells.
　On the surface, there are letters that look like the worms you often see at shrines and temples,......, but the letters in the middle of the tag are written in such a crisp style that even I can read them.

　The leftmost white spell mark is the magic barrier. I think it was a simple non-attribute defensive spell that any magic skill could learn. It's a typical barrier that prevents attacks by putting up a wall in front of you.
　It's the weakest defense, but it's said to be able to protect you from elementary level magic. It doesn't seem to be very cost effective, though.
　Next is the Wall spell, which is related to the Firewall. These have some resistance to physical attacks, and are also strongly affected by attribute compatibility. For example, a water wall is resistant to fire magic, and has additional effects like that.

　Next are the "barrier" defensive spells. This is completely different from the first magic barrier, as it puts up a reasonably large barrier that covers the magician. The "electric barrier" that Rin used in the battle to destroy the apostles is also a barrier spell.
　It can withstand intermediate level magic and comparable physical attacks. It was always used at the edge of the field during the apostle defeat battle, so it wasn't broken by the shockwave, but I think it's strong enough to be broken instantly at close range.

　The next time I slid my eyes to ......, I saw the name of a skill.

'Warding Art, Blue?

'Skuna-chan, do you know 'warding art'?

'...... No, I've only seen it before.'

　I'm sure that after the apostle defeat, when Amber and I were fighting, Melty used a technique called "warding art, black" to protect the city of the beginning from the aftermath.
　I only heard his voice when he activated it,......, but I'm pretty sure I've seen the warding technique once before.

'I see, then I'll explain it to you in detail.'

　I'm sure I've seen the warding technique once.



'Warding is, as the name suggests, a skill to set up wards. There are two types: 'defensive warding' to prevent attacks from the outside, and 'auxiliary warding' to exert some effect on the inside.

'Hmmm...'

'A simple example of an auxiliary warding is a "recovery warding" that keeps recovering HP when you are inside the warding. The amount of recovery is not as great as that of a professional healer, but the effect of recovery magic is dramatically increased when inside a recovery ward.

'Sounds like a skill for buffers.

'Yes, that's right. If you only look at this skill, its position is specialized in support. Even though there are wards that reflect attacks, the warding technique itself can't attack at all.

　A skill that activates a ward with a defensive or assistive effect? I haven't seen any players talking about using it, so I guess it's one of the master rank skills.
　But I wonder what kind of direction the skill will be derived from?
　If it's just a combination of magic, someone has already found it, or maybe there's a pattern where sorcery is required.

In the event that you've got a lot of time, you'll be able to make a lot of money by using a lot of different methods. The hardest one, Black, is an absolute defense that can completely block even the highest level magic.

'Oh, that's great.

'By the way, all wards have physical resistance as well as magic, but unlike magic, the power of ...... physical attacks is hard to see, so be careful.

　I see, and I remember that in the battle between me and Amber, who can't use magic, Melty used the "warding technique black".
　If you think about it, he chose the hardest warding against both magic and physics.

'By the way, is there a fixed range of effect and duration?

'If you put it into a spell, the area of effect is a few meters in radius of the magician, and the duration is a uniform 10 seconds. It lasts for ten seconds unless it is destroyed, but you can't attack until the ten seconds are up.

'I see. So the warding technique also has a protective effect on the inside.

'It has the same amount of hardness inside and out.

　That sounds like a performance that would be a little difficult to use in a battle against someone.
　You can use it for pure defense, but you can't use it for momentary guarding. Because even if you protect yourself from an attack, you can't fight back.
　But it can be used to prevent ranged magic attacks, which I don't want to be subjected to, so I guess it's worth considering.
　In the first place, this game doesn't really have a human element.
　The only humanoid opponents I've fought, aside from Lowe, are NPCs and Siren Knights. I'm not sure I'd call that a human element.

'By the way, the cheapest warding art is "Warding Art, Blue" starting at 50,000 Iris.

'Fifty thousand, huh? ......'

　I muttered vaguely when I heard the price Yukika had told me.
　Well, 50,000 is really a small amount of money from where I stand now.
　I have plenty of inheritance from the time I defeated Gordo, and I also received about a million from the time of the giant dragon Ars Nova.

　As a matter of fact, I secretly think that this Blue is the easiest to use.
　If it's an intermediate level spell, you can protect yourself at worst, and then break it by yourself to follow up.
　Advanced spells and above are too powerful to be cast without powerful arts, and if you use them, you'll end up getting stuck in the stiffness after the arts.

'By the way, what is the price of the upper level?　



'The green one that can protect you from the higher classes costs 300,000, and the black one costs a million. There are also a variety of auxiliary wards and a lot of magic and sorcery spells, so why don't you go and splurge?

'Hmm, you're honest.

　Perhaps it's because I'm the kind of character who says something about the smell of money when we first meet, but I can't help but loosen my purse strings when someone honestly asks me to splurge.
　You can buy anything you want, so it's okay to spend freely. After all, I have plenty of money thanks to Gordo.
　At the same time that I remembered Gordo, I decided to ask Yukika about something that had been bothering me since the battle.

'There's something I'd like you to tell me, Yukika.

'What?'

'You know, how much is this worth in Iris terms?'

　What I took out of my inventory was a gold bar dropped from Gordo.
　When I placed it on the counter of the store, it made a loud thumping sound.
　This was a gold bar that I hadn't sold because I wasn't in need of money, and I didn't know its value even though I had ten of them.

'Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, ......?

　Xue Hua's eyes widened and she let out a voice like a broken robot, and then she completely froze.