After a night, we're on the fifth floor of the Nifonium basement.
　The fourth basement floor was completely cleared with my strength rising to S. From today, it was the fifth basement floor.

　The place I came down to was the exact same limestone cave as the 4th floor.
　Coming from a dungeon like the sixth or seventh floor of the tellurian, or some other outdoor-like dungeon, the drop is huge.
　But one thing is the same.

"Dungeonsnow ...... is another level where it snows?

　Just like the seventh floor underground in Tellurium, it was snowing with magic here too.
　Unlike that one, snow falling in a completely cavernous cave chick is a bit interesting.

　A monster appeared.
　It was a skeleton that broke through the ground and came out.
　It looked exactly the same as the skeleton above, and it moved the same way after it came out.

　Is there such a thing as the same monster?　What a bewilderment, I held the gun up - and the skeleton changed.

　Snow fell on the skeleton's body and it seeped into his bones.
　The skeleton that took in the snow of magic power gradually turned red.
　The white bones turned bright red.

'Good, it's all properly different mon--'

　To my relief, the skeleton was in front of me in an instant.

''--!

　I guarded my crossed arms against the skeleton's attack, and I quickly kicked him and tried to fly backwards - but Keri teased him.
　It ducked with great speed and ducked right next to me to attack further.

　Fast!　The red skeleton is three times faster than the last one!

...... but!

　Skelton was fast, but I was faster.
　I was surprised because they caught me by surprise, but once I knew that they were fast, I was good to go.

　I caught the attack and got ahead of the skeleton the moment it moved even faster and hit-and-away away.
　Speed S, I went around one step ahead of Skeleton, who moved diagonally, and countered a side kick to that guy who had just jumped into shape.

　The counter, which combined both speed and power, broke Skeleton's hip bone in half.
　The bone rolled to the ground and freaked out, but it quickly stopped moving and went to seed.

　When he picked it up.

--The maximum MP value has been raised by 1.

　And I heard the usual voice.
　The fifth basement floor drops MP seeds, okay, let's give this one a little bit more.

...... Huh?

　I just remembered something.
　MP, the kind of energy that makes magic happen.

How do you know what magic is?

　　　　　★

　At any rate, after I raised my MP from F to E, I asked Celeste, who joined me in town.

It's usually something you learn as you level up. It's not just a matter of time before you're born, but also what kind of magic you're born with, just as levels and abilities are unique to you.
Okay. But I'm stuck on level one. ...... normally?　Is there any other way?
There's this thing called "magic fruit" that you'll learn to eat.
There is such a thing?
'Yes, but there are quite a few disadvantages, so a lot of people shy away from it.
What downside is there to this?
It's something that goes against your natural growth, so the moment you eat it, your level is fixed and you are cursed not to grow at all. Furthermore, there is one type of magic fruit, and what you learn after you eat it is completely random ...... and sometimes you learn things you already know.
That's a tough one. But if that's the case, why don't you just raise the bar all the way up?
Yes, just one.
What's the problem with the second one at ......?
After the second one, every time I eat, my level goes down a level, and of course, my ability goes down.
That's too tight.

　If you eat one, you won't be able to level up, and after the second one, you'll level down even more.
　It's a tough curse.
　But.

''Are there any other disadvantages anymore?
No. If I had to choose, I'd say it's only because one of them is still expensive, since you eat it after you've completed your level.
Well, I don't have a problem with that.
...... That was right, Lyota, you have the highest level and a 1, so none of that is a disadvantage.
That's what I'm talking about.

　　　　　★

You bought it.

　Outside the largest wizards' shop in Cyclo, I was carrying a fancy crate.
　Celeste, who accompanied me, took the lid off the crate.
　Inside is a fruit the size of a melon with a six-pointed star pattern on the outside.
　Is this a magic fruit that can learn magic if you eat it?

'But was it okay to buy it?　I threw out the entire three million I got yesterday, and it would have been better to spend it on everyone else.
I think I'd like Lyota to have it. I'm sure Emily would say the same. Eve would--
She doesn't seem to mind that it's not a carrot.

　I laugh bitterly.
　My friends don't seem to mind.

Well then, let's get on with it.
No, wait.
Why?
I've learned. You shouldn't eat these things by themselves.
"?　Are you going to have Emily cook for you?

　I smiled back at Celeste, who smiled at me quizzically, and walked ahead, closing the lid of the box.

　　　　　☆

　Cyclo's open air, the usual unpopular place.
　When they came there, Celeste quickly understood.

'I see, you're going to haggle and re-drop it.
'Yeah, it's probably going to be better than the original magic fruit.

　I said it outright - but secretly I thought it was a 50-50 proposition.
　Maybe it will be a good one, but I can't get a vector for that good (...).
　Sometimes you can get a normal, upward-compatible drop like a rare monster drop, and sometimes it's something completely different, like that gorilla, which goes from tuna to gorilla and from gorilla to gun.

　I don't doubt that it gets better, but I'm 50/50 on whether the effects of the magic fruit will remain.
　Still, I decided to give it a try.

　When I was at the company, every time I tried something, it was usually rejected as unprecedented.
　But when I came up with an idea and someone else did it first, the rejected boss or company would say, "Why didn't you think of that? He yells at me.
　No more of that, I thought I'd challenge you.

　I put down the magic fruit and leave with Celeste.

　I put down the magic fruit and leave with Celeste.

　I jumped out of the fruit in a combat stance.
　The monster is a metallic-colored ball - and then it suddenly melts and changes shape.
　The molten metal changed shape and became a human shape.

"Ryota-san!

　Celeste screams.
　Yes, it was dressed exactly the same as me.
　The only thing missing is the color, and it's still metallic all over.

　A liquid metal android.
　It's just like something out of a movie.

　It jumped on me. He's fast!
　He guards against the gouging punches, and then kills them to get some distance.
　He readies his gun and fires a series of regular bullets, hitting it, but it doesn't seem to be working.

　He pounces further, fleshes out with great speed, punches and kicks bellowing in the wind.
　I took it, fought back, and this time I hit a penetrating bullet.

　The balls hit him in the chest - and he was stopped before he could do it. I crossed my arms and he guarded me.
　That's what I'm used to.

"Hard, fast, powerful.

　Metal Ryota (I'll call him that for now) had pretty high basic specs, but he wasn't as good as I was.
　But not as high as I was.

　Guns didn't seem to work, so I put them away and fought back with bullets.
　I avoided attacks, counterattacked, punched them away, caught up with them, and changed directions at right angles.

　The more battles I've fought, the more I've figured out.
　My power and speed are roughly 80% of mine.

　It's a monster that's probably 80 percent of the specs of the opponent I'm copying.

It's not a good opponent to go around...

　I grabbed the guy who was fighting back and threw him into the air, then shot a restraining round into the air.
　Metal Ryota is tied up in the air by a rope of light, unable to move.

　We've got the gist of it, we're going to get it done.
　I put bullets in two guns, a flame round and a frozen round.
　I fired them in rapid succession - fusing them into a series of annihilation rounds, the most powerful of all.

　It's a very good idea to have a good idea of what to expect when you're in the air and you can't dodge it.
　It struggled through the hole, but the holes grew one after another, and eventually it exceeded its limits, cracking like a water balloon and drifting down to the ground in a slushy manner back into liquid metal.

　I held the gun up, just in case, but it was fine.
　The liquid metal-like substance quickly disappeared, and with a pop, it dropped.

　I approached slowly, while Celeste, who had been watching from a distance, ran to join me.
　Celeste gave me a complicated look as I picked up the drop.

'It's still a magic fruit. Some things never change, do they?
No, not really.

　I twisted the corners of my mouth in a grin and turned the magic fruit I'd picked up around and showed it to Celeste.

　The six-pointed star sign, which had been one earlier, was now two.

''Is this ...... maybe?''
Maybe, no, I'm sure.

　Probably a slime broth pattern.
　More of the same, upward compatible.

　I took a bite of the magic fruit, confident that...

　--I'll learn two magic.

　An announcement-like voice echoed in my brain.