The Strongest Villain Sets Out: Reincarnated into a Merit-Based Clan, I Become the World's Strongest Swordsman - Chapter 24: Enhancement Magic

The magic duel with the male student who admired Sheila, Seaweed-kun, reached its conclusion.

I was the victor. Taking my final blow—fire-attribute magic at point-blank range to his abdomen—he lost consciousness while screaming in agony.

Thanks to his defensive magic barely making it in time, Seaweed-kun’s body wasn’t that badly injured. This was also the result of me holding back.

Even as I was now, I could have killed the defenseless Seaweed-kun with magic. For example, by targeting his neck, heart, or head instead of his abdomen.

But I wouldn’t do such a thing. The Salvatore ducal family… if the opponent had been Kamren, I might have killed him, but Seaweed-kun was a noble son from another house. Moreover, this was the academy.

I didn’t want to cause trouble and draw attention from teachers or other students.

I left Seaweed-kun, who was scattering drool and leaking urine from his lower body. Massive amounts of tears flowed from his eyes.

It was truly like he was spraying bodily fluids from every hole in his body. Did he really think I was going to kill him?

Honestly, I didn’t feel this guy was worth killing. It would be more troublesome to kill him.

“Luka!”

The match ended, and Sheila, who had been serving as referee, rushed to my side. She immediately grabbed my arm. A slight pain shot through me.

“Hey now, don’t suddenly grab my arm. I’m injured there.”

“Terrible… why did you take that orc’s magic with your bare body? There should have been better ways.”

What Sheila was referring to were the burns inflicted by Seaweed-kun’s flame magic. Particularly bad were the flaming arrows I had charged through while defending partway.

Actually, I hadn’t blocked most of those. I had charged in believing in my defensive ability—my physical capabilities.

As a result, my arm was burned and festered beyond imagination. It hurt just to move it.

“No problem. I can use divine prayer once the match is over. Like this—see.”

While speaking, I concentrated prayer on the injured area. The divine power easily healed the burns.

“Mm. It’s still dangerous nonetheless. You were burning even during the final blow. You were laughing while burning.”

“Oops. Seems the corners of my mouth unconsciously went up.”

I hastily covered my mouth.

My bad habit was unchanged. Since being reincarnated into this world, my fear of pain has diminished. Even when Norn-nee-san cut my arm, rather than worrying whether my arm would grow back, I only thought about how I could kill Norn-nee-san.

Should I be a bit more considerate of my own well-being? No, becoming stronger was more important than that. I had at least the minimum sense of crisis needed to survive.

“Strange. Luka is insane. I really want to dissect your head and see inside.”

“Don’t mess around. Your own head… no, how about cutting open Seaweed-kun’s head lying over there? I’ll help.”

If Sheila was the main perpetrator, it wouldn’t be my responsibility even if we cracked open Seaweed-kun’s skull, right?

“Nah, not interested. That orc is ordinary.”

“Yeah, I thought you’d say that.”

If I were Sheila, I would have said the same thing. In that aspect, Sheila and I might be infinitely close.

“Anyway, let’s return to magic training. Let’s also reflect on that match.”

“Mm, got it. First, what Luka lacks is—”

Leaving behind Seaweed-kun, who had collapsed with his eyes rolled back, Sheila and I began chatting while using magic.

Thanks to Sheila teaching me magic, I grew rapidly in just one day.

☆

Excluding the event of being challenged to a match by Seaweed-kun, my magic training was extremely smooth. This was also thanks to the genius Sheila’s full cooperation.

Without her, it might have taken at least half a year before I could use magic reasonably well. After all, magic was a power that couldn’t be learned in the Salvatore ducal family. Having the library was also very helpful.

Of course, I also taught Sheila some of the knowledge I had gained. Since having Sheila become stronger meant gaining a valuable rival, I was happy about it.

Along the way, there were times when I was chased around by a wild-eyed Cornelia, nearly sexually assaulted, and when Sheila and Cornelia engaged in a death match after a huge fight—but two months after learning magic, I had reached a level sufficient for practical use.

“…Alright.”

I extinguished the three types of magic floating in my palm. Watching this, Sheila let out an exasperated voice.

“You can already use three attributes simultaneously?”

What Sheila was referring to was parallel activation of magic. Originally, magic could only be used one at a time. Because as the number increased, manipulation and control became hellishly difficult.

However, I had continued training magical power manipulation until I coughed up blood, achieving parallel activation that was quite close to brute force. Right now it was still similar to the flaming arrows Seaweed-kun had shown before, but these and those were on different dimensions.

No, perhaps I should say the ingenuity was different.

“Yeah. Sheila was at two attributes?”

“Right. Three attributes are still difficult. Luka surpassed me in just two months…”

“Because I’m a genius.”

“Really. I’m glad I met Luka. My knowledge has expanded terrifyingly.”

“Thanks to you, I was able to master magic quickly too. Now I can even do applications.”

It was about time to conduct that experiment I had been thinking about.

In a corner of the training ground, after confirming no one else was around, I generated a small flame in my palm. A small flame about the size of a baseball.

“Hm? What are you doing, Luka?”

“Watch. I’m about to blow your mind.”

“?”

Sheila tilted her head, looking genuinely puzzled.

Ignoring her, I mixed aura into the flame sphere floating in my palm.

Aura was the power to enhance all things. Not just physical abilities, but even the five senses and the strength of objects could be heightened. Then other abilities should also be enhanceable through aura. Theoretically, nothing was impossible for aura.

This was the ultimate experiment I had wanted to try since childhood. Training that absolutely couldn’t be done without being able to use divine prayer to some extent.

Why was divine prayer necessary? That was obvious.

Even simultaneous activation of magic was difficult enough to split your head, so what would happen if you used two abilities simultaneously and even mixed them…

The answer was:

“Guh?!”

Proven by explosion.

The baseball-sized flame mixed with aura and increased in potency. On the other hand, it became terrifyingly difficult to control.

I could only control it for a few seconds. Maybe it lasted about ten seconds. But either way, my magic burst. In its enhanced state.

“Luka?!”

My palm exploded. It was magnificently blown away. My right hand became a mess. Though it barely retained its original shape, seeing the overflowing blood, Sheila turned pale. She was in a mild panic state.

Meanwhile, I couldn’t suppress my loosening cheeks as I stared at my own wound. Elation involuntarily spilled from my mouth.

“Haha… hahaha! I did it. I knew it could be done! Enhancement magic. Composite magic, whatever you want to call it.”

I had definitely, right now, surpassed the original work. I had created a technique that originally didn’t exist.

I couldn’t stop laughing. I rejoiced grandly while concentrating divine prayer on my right hand.

Sheila, who was nearby, was completely taken aback watching me like this.