I Was Reborn, but I Was Told That the Popular Standard Skills Were No Good, so I Chose the Skill of Collecting [Title] - CH 254

“Lightningbolt.”

“Pigya!”

“Good job, Nii-sama!”

I defeated the monsters using spirit magic with Zeal. It had been a week since Sophie and I went on an expedition to defeat monsters. My level still hasn’t improved. How much experience did that goddess take from me for evolution…?

”Your spirit magic has also improved over the past week, hasn’t it?”

“Ah.”

What I’m doing now is spirit magic while extracting magic power from the spirit world by myself. If I can extract magic on my own, I can get Zeal out of me before I encounter the heroes and use spirit magic after passing a large amount of magic power to them. Of course, while I’m stripping the spirits from the heroes, I’m busy handing over the magic power, so once the magic power stored in Zeal is gone, that’s the end of the spirit magic.

That’s why I practice spirit magic. I have a small repertoire of spirit magic, even though freedom is one of my strengths. I’m trying to get the best out of it by listening to Sophie’s advice.

“The one that’s working best for you right now is the lightning bolt.”

“Ah.”

I made a lot of new moves, but the one that suited me the best was the lightning bolt. I made many others, but most of them required some ingenuity to use, probably because Sophie had thought of them. Compared to them, the lightning bolt magic was simple, just exploding lightning with me in the center. This is an enhanced version of the Lightning Spark I unleashed during my fight with Sophie. The power is many times more powerful than using the same amount of magic power.

“Though this magic is one that only you can imitate.”

There’s a reason why it’s so powerful. The closer you are to me, the more powerful this magic is. In other words, I’d normally take more damage than anyone else. Normally, such magic isn’t worth it. That’s why only I, who can absorb lightning, can make the most of this magic.

“Then I guess we should leave for the day.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Right now, we are in the deep forest in the center of the territory of the four races that are rumored to have monsters and dragons. We continue to hunt in the relatively shallow area there. Of course, normally there are high walls and checkpoints, so you have to be an adventurer of A rank or higher or other qualifications to enter, but Sophie and I came here by transfer. Because of that, we couldn’t transfer for three days, but we were glad that Shana didn’t send us a signal.

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

We’re sleeping in a place a little deeper into the forest because of the risk of being discovered near the walls. We’re in a shallow but highly ranked forest, so one of us is always on watch. So I never sleep with Sophie.

“It doesn’t look like my level is going to get any higher today…”

“Is that so.”

I’ve defeated a lot of A+ ranked monsters, but my level is not going up at all.

“We haven’t received any signals yet, have we?”

“That’s right.”

The signal is supposed to be sent two days before the school battle starts, in addition to the emergency situation. In case it hasn’t been sent yet, we can continue the hunt.

“Nii-sama, stop, please.”

“Hmm?”

Sophie suddenly grabbed my arm and stopped me.

“Someone is coming.”

“……”

Someone…that meant it wasn’t a monster that Sophie had detected. It must be a very strong person to be able to enter a place like this by themselves and walk around without any problems. Even I can’t go in alone because I can’t be vigilant when I’m asleep. I was wary of monsters.

“Don’t be so cautious. I met the young lady once when facing the dragon.”

“Ah…”

A white-haired old man came out from among the trees. He had two white-sheathed weapons at his waist.

“The swords are different from the ones you used at the time when facing the dragon.”

“You remember well”

“Eh!”

I thought it was a rapier because it was too thin to be a sword. I thought it was unusual to use two rapiers, but that’s a sword!

“I didn’t have this sword with me at the time because I was just in King’s Landing on a shopping trip. I’m sorry for the trouble I caused you all.”

“Oh really…”

It seems that this old man is the one who helped Sophie when she was defeating the dragons.

“So, we’ll leave you now…”

Sophie said this and tried to get away from the Grandpa. If they met for the first time when facing the dragon, they are not that close. So I guess he’s going to break up with her without asking any questions about why she’s alone in a place like this.

“You don’t have to leave as though you’re running away from me.”

He moved instantly in front of us, who naturally turned our backs and walked away, alert. The magic high-speed sensing didn’t react to this. In other words, he didn’t use magic. The skill to move in an instant other than magic comes to mind: Shrink. However, the shrink can only move in a straight line. Therefore, it‘s impossible to go around us. So, he must have acquired some unknown skill other than Shrink, or he must have acquired an advanced Shrink like my thunder Shrink.

“As a thank you for taking care of me when I was a dragon, let’s see how good you are with that sword.”

I’ve never had such an unwanted gratitude push before, not even in my previous life. It doesn’t seem to make sense to refuse…

“Sophie.”

“Haa…I understand.”

I made eye contact with Sophie and told her I would accept this offer. I had a feeling that if I continued to ignore him, he’d follow me around for the rest of my life.

Sophie let out a sigh and took a few steps back away from us.

“If you move in any disturbing way, I will kill you immediately.”

“You’re a scary little girl…”

The Grandpa laughed off Sophie’s serious threat. He, who had received the threat, suddenly grabbed his sword. When Sophie and I were alarmed by his action, Grandpa pulled out his sword and threw it far away.

“Here, is that okay?”

Grandpa said as he held the two sheaths that contained the swords he had thrown. By the way, the thrown sword was neatly stuck in the tree.