"Wes, it seems like my magical power has increased. Could you evaluate it for me?"
"Haha."
The next day, when I went to the Adventurers' Guild, Wes gave me a curt answer.
Why such a silly reaction?
Wes sighs deliberately.
"Yuji, I understand. The amount of magical power a person possesses is determined at birth and cannot increase later in life."
"But has it increased?"
So it's impossible for it to increase. If it were possible to increase it through training, it would completely disrupt the social order. Some even say that one of the reasons nobles are nobles is that they are born with enormous magical power. Magical power is inherited through blood. It cannot be increased later.
I see.
Well, simply having magical power also gives you a huge boost in physical abilities. If you have high magical power, you are definitely considered a special person.
-Then my power has increased, right?
"...Are you listening to what I said?"
Wes sighed again and shook his head.
"Even if your magical power really did increase, how did you know, Yuuji?"
Oops, can you answer that?
I guess it's a little complicated to say, but I bought it from a cheat vending machine last night.
After all, I would have to explain, "God praised me for being the masturbation bitch for the women of this town 10,000 times, and I received some coins for my cheats, so I used it to buy magical powers."
I feel like that would really make people question my sanity. If I were in the opposite situation, I would never believe it.
"...A hunch?"
"..."
Wes's cold gaze pierced through me as I uttered a desperate plea, my eyes lost.
Finally, Wes took off his glasses and sighed for the third time as he polished them with a cloth.
"There's no other choice. I'll accept 10 silver coins, is that okay with you? After all, the appraisal isn't free."
"We did it!"
As expected, Wes knows what he's talking about!
Well, all the other receptionists hate me. They frown at me shamelessly. I don't think they'll discriminate against me.
Let me explain!
Racism isn't the main reason why this guy isn't liked by the male reception staff!
For example,
let's say that one day a young, voluptuous beauty joins a company in our world. Then, the president announces, "I'll give this girl to the best-performing employee in the company," and all the male employees become simps for her. How would the female employees who were already there feel? It's that simple!
I place my hand on the crystal ball, and as before, a mysterious string of characters appears. As always, the characters are illegible. Next time I can get coins, I might consider buying the ability to read and write the language of another world. However, I have no idea how to get them.
As I was thinking about this and waiting for Wes to decipher it, he opened his eyes wide and let out a stunned voice.
I can't believe it...! My magical power has definitely increased!
Oh, I did it!
Well, it's natural that my magical power has increased since I bought the trick, but it's still exciting. The best thing about tricks is seeing the locals surprised, right?
"I can't believe this happened... How the hell did this happen...?"
"So? How much magical power do I have?"
When you say my magical power is impossible, does that mean it's a high threshold?
After all, it's the lowest value for demons, so maybe around 30? No, maybe 100? Sorry, sorry, I'm too strong!
I was hoping that crystal ball would shatter.
"Oh, the number is 1."
"1"
"That's the lowest power imaginable."
"The lowest power..."
I collapsed on the floor.
Ah, I see! Well, even among demons, it's inevitable that there will be huge differences between individuals! The theoretical minimum for the demon race is 1! Whether demon or human, the minimum is 1! There's no difference at all!
Oh no, I have one! Hahahaha!
Stop playing with me, scam catalog.
"Eh... Yuuji, are you crying...?"
"Leave me alone! I've wasted six months...!"
Wes looked at me as if he didn't know how to talk to me while I burst into tears and repeatedly stamped my foot on the floor.
I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed, I failed.
If I could send a message to myself yesterday, I would tell him never to believe the sales pitch in that fraudulent catalog.
Why are they so confident in recommending this? It's totally malicious. Is there an alternate world where those who give you tricks try to intentionally deceive you? That's too much.
While I was feeling devastated, Wes leaned forward from the counter with an excited look on his face.
"This is amazing, Yuuji! Your magical power went from zero to one!"
"The increase is only 1."
It went from nothing to something. It's amazing!
It's okay, you don't have to force yourself to cheer me up like that.
"By the way, how much magical power does the Great Horned Rabbit have?"
"I think it's about 20."
"I'm a useless human who's only 5% of a rabbit!"
I mean, even a rabbit that doesn't use magic or anything has 20 magic?
...Well, okay then.
"Well then."
After crying for a while until I felt refreshed, I recovered and stood up straight.
I've been experimenting a little more lately. I think it was a good idea to get it yesterday.
Wes was looking at me with a distorted expression on his face, but with my empathy completely broken at this point, I couldn't read his emotions.
"Well, I'm going to go hunting for a while."
"Ah, wait a minute. Aren't you going to tell me how you increased your magic power?"
"Yes, it's a secret."
Well, I don't mind telling you, but I'd have to give an explanation that would make people question my sanity.
"I see... So it's not something you can reveal to others."
Wes nodded and his glasses glinted.
It seems like he uses some incredible secret technique, but a lot of idiots masturbated 10,000 times. Well, if that makes sense, then fine.
"But it seems like their numbers are increasing... What exactly are these [Influencers] and [Demon Breeding Rights]...?"
"I want to hear it!"
Hearing the phrase "demon breeding rights" in a public place in broad daylight sounds really ridiculous.
Well, since I'm here, I'd better check the information.
It's the right to have children with demons without danger. Wes, do you know what demons are? I think they're probably some kind of monster.
"No, I've never heard of them."
Wes tilted his head and looked puzzled.
At least in this region, there are no such monsters. The territory of our empire extends to the Indispice region in the east, but their existence has not yet been confirmed. Perhaps they live on the Dark Continent in the south, or in the depths of the New Continent across the western sea...
"Wow."
This seems to be a rather rare species.
I don't think I'll ever have the chance to meet it.
Well, I'm glad I didn't encounter any dangerous race that spread curses just for having sex. But even so, this world is too harsh in many ways.
=======
====
==
Brishav Island is full of rabbits.
The island is filled with a variety of rabbit-like monsters, including not only normal-sized rabbits, but also rabbits with large horns,
sleeping rabbits that cast sleep magic, white rabbits that run on two legs carrying a clock, and March hares that laugh so loudly that they drive anyone who hears them crazy.
When I went on a picnic with Wes, I heard that originally there weren't many rabbits living on the island, and there weren't any monsters either.
However, long ago, the culture of deer hunting was introduced to the island from the neighboring Naropa subcontinent as a pastime for the nobility.
The nobles became obsessed with deer hunting as an exciting sport and embarked on a massive slaughter, almost to the point of exterminating all the deer on the island. Idiots!
With the disappearance of the deer, the nobles had nothing to hunt, so they started hunting foxes. Foxes are not as large as deer and the risk of counterattack is lower, so although the sense of achievement in hunting them is modest,
their small size and quick movements make them attractive prey. So much so that they ended up driving them to extinction again.
What would happen then on an island without foxes? Their main prey is rabbits. In nature, populations are governed by the food chain.
Without natural predators, rabbits multiplied rapidly, spreading across the island's grasslands, devouring every last blade of grass, invading villages, and eating crops. As a result, the island's towns and villages had to be walled off.
That was still okay.
According to Wes, there is a kind of law that regulates the appearance of monsters in this world: they are born from species that thrive above a certain level in an area.
For example,
normal rabbits began to give birth to unusually large and ferocious offspring, which grew even larger with each generation, eventually giving rise to the giant horned rabbit, equipped with enormous horns that could be used as weapons.
This was probably the most stable species, as giant horned rabbits spread throughout the island, completely displacing the normal rabbits that had inhabited it until then. Thus, Vrishabu Island became the kingdom of rabbits... and remains so to this day.
When I heard this story, I exclaimed, "Nobles are useless," and Wes covered my mouth with his pale face. I'm glad it happened during the picnic, because who knows what would have happened if I had said it in town. Well, Wes is also a low-ranking noble, after all.
Fortunately for humans, the large-horned rabbits, which made up the majority of their species, were weak in combat.
Although they possessed dangerous characteristics, such as no mating season, extremely high reproductive capacity, and voracious appetites, their extermination was easy for ordinary people to carry out.
In other words, even a humble adventurer like me.
I hid in the shadow of a tree with gnawed bark, watching the horned rabbit. It was the size of a wild boar, and it mercilessly devoured the grass that had finally grown back.
It was adorable to see it peek its nose out from time to time, but it was also an aggressive monster that would get excited and attack any human it saw, so it was best not to let my guard down.
I've also made some mistakes in handling the situation, and holes have been made in my leather armor and my body. If I pour a potion directly into a hole in my body, it hurts a lot, but if there's a hole in my armor, the cost of repair is extremely high. Right now, I don't have any money,
so the armor still has a hole in it. If I don't fix it soon, it will start to break, but I don't have any money on hand, so there's nothing I can do.
Well, there's a chance that my hunting efficiency will improve dramatically from today... Thinking about this, I tightened my grip on the hilt of the magical item.
I usually fight with a spear and a one-handed shield, but this time I'm carrying a small staff. It's called the "Shock Staff" and is one of the legacies left behind by my predecessor in the warehouse.
Although it can shoot an electric shock, it's not lethal and won't kill the horned rabbit. At best, it would stun it and prevent it from moving.
Even if an ordinary person receives the shock, they will only feel a tingling sensation and lose all strength in their body, so some men carry one with them to protect themselves from perverts. Basically, it's a stun gun for self-defense.
Although it was just a magic tool, it was something I really wanted to try. I always wanted to use a magic item in another world. ... Or rather, there are too many drawbacks if you can't use magic items.
Flashlights have already been invented in this world, but until now I had no magic power, so I couldn't even activate them.
By the way, the power of the tool is not affected by the user's magical power. Even a useless human like me, with magical power 1, can emit an electric shock of the specified power as long as I activate it.
Magical power 1 is the minimum grip strength required to press the switch on a flashlight. ...Saying this makes me want to cry.
Now, let's get into the battle.
Hiding in the shadow of a tree, I pointed the tip of the electric baton at the big-horned rabbit and, as Wes had taught me, thought, "Activate it!"
Then, as if everything up until then had been a lie, the Baton, which had not reacted no matter how hard I tried ,
lashed out at the air and fired an electric shock at the Horned Rabbit. Sparks flew, and the unmistakable smell of ozone tickled my nose.
Ah, that's great! It's so good! I really feel like I'm using magic! Ever since I arrived in another world, I wanted to try something like this!
"Beep?!"
The large-horned rabbit, struck by electricity, screamed and shuddered slightly.
As we explained earlier, it seems to be just a minor surprise.
It immediately looked around anxiously, and then its gaze turned to the tree where I was hiding. Oops, they found me...
The big-horned rabbit's red eyes filled with rage, and it stamped its hind legs on the ground, signaling that it was about to charge.
I held the shield in my left hand and tightened my grip on the shock staff.
Now, here comes the main course...!
I firmly approached Baston as if I were trying to do some new trick.
— —
"[Influencer] - [Magic]!"
Suddenly, the Big Horned Rabbit lost its balance and fell to the ground.
"Giggle? Giggle?!"
The horned rabbit desperately tries to get up, but seems to lack the strength to do so. It stares at me, trembling.
"Hehehe... Welcome to 'this side'. This is the world of weaklings with magic power 1...!"
It was just as I thought.
For the creatures of this world, magical power is directly linked to their offensive and defensive capabilities.
In other words, they use that power unconsciously to move their bodies.
And what would happen if you transplanted the stats of a weakling with magical power of 1 to one of those creatures?
The answer is simple: like the rabbit in front of me, they would lose control of their bodies and balance.
If the opponent is strong... why not bring them down to your level?
I hate to admit it, but I think disadvantages are the best tactic.
"Well, let's move on to the main experiment."
I prepared my electric staff and unleashed an electric shock on the Great Horned Rabbit, whose magical power had been reduced to 1.
"......"
The smell of burnt flesh fills the air.
I was speechless when I saw the charred remains of the dead horned rabbit.
Its fur was mercilessly burned, and its exposed skin was covered with lightning-like marks. I remember reading online news stories about people who miraculously survived being struck by lightning, only to be left with these kinds of marks all over their bodies. However, this horned rabbit did not survive.
It was fortunate for the rabbit that it died instantly, without any pain.
Its tongue was hanging out of its mouth, and its flesh was also charred.
Instinctively, I covered my mouth with my hand and crouched down on the spot.
I felt terribly sick. Tears flowed uncontrollably from my eyes.
That was me. I had identified with the rabbit's fate.
A creature with magical power 1 would be affected by a spell on the level of a stun gun.
If I encounter a monster that uses magic, no matter what kind of magic it is, I will die like that.
For the past six months, I had been hunting wild rabbits and believed I had improved. I had the illusion that I was getting closer to being a true adventurer.
What kind of growth are you referring to? I was fortunate to be able to continue as an adventurer for six months. If I had encountered a goblin mage, whom other adventurers often defeated, I would have died without hesitation.
The world of Magic Power 1 was a world of despair where anyone touched by magic would die instantly.
"...This won't work."
Even though I am controlled by [Mental Resistance], that doesn't mean I don't feel fear. I can still make rational decisions to avoid danger.
No matter what happens, it is impossible for me to continue as an adventurer. I am not crazy enough or confident enough in my combat skills to try to venture outside the island.
My life will end sooner or later.
A creature with a magic power of 1... In other words, the purpose of acquiring [Influencer] this time was to find out what would happen if I was hit by magic, and it was certainly worth it.
I learned that a single hit of elemental magic would char me and kill me instantly. This information was worth the price of my life.
If I can reduce the opponent's magical power to 1, they won't be able to use magic... In other words, I thought I could use it as a magic sealing skill, but [Influencer] can only be used on targets within my field of vision. In other words,
if a spell attacks me from a place I can't see due to a surprise attack or melee combat, I will die in one hit. I don't want to take such a risky path.
I finally understood what Wes had told me six months ago: "I've never met anyone less suited to being an adventurer than you."
A person who can die with a single spell certainly shouldn't be an adventurer.
"...Okay, I'm done being an adventurer!"
So I decided to retire from my adventures after six months and embark on a new path.