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— Rue, is summoning other living beings to fight for you allowed?
— The answer to Master's question is 'no', but the definition Master has for 'living being' is quite vague. The limitation is that participants are not allowed to summon beings that have their own Ether Links.
— Just to make sure, do demons have their own Ether Links?
— Yes, Maser.
So the demon was not alive. Then let me put it this way:
— If in this tournament such a thing happened that a demon was fighting for the angel, what could be the cause of it?
— Illusion magic and puppetry are the most obvious explanations I can think of.
Those claws were definitely not an illusion.
— Can you please elaborate on what this 'puppetry' is.
— There are multiple different branches of magic that fall under the category called puppetry. It is, as can be understood from the name, category of magic that focuses on manipulating other objects. To be more precise it is category of magic that forces objects to exhibit behaviour normally associated with the behaviour of living beings.
Quite a confusing explanation.
— So what you are saying is that the angel just remotely controls the demon?
— Yes, Master. That would be the most logical assumption, given the situation you described.
Hm... At least this version explains why the demon ignored me cutting his hand off.
— Is it possible to break this puppetry spell?
— Yes, Master.
— So, suppose I had this sword you call 'spell-breaker', what should I do with it to dispel this spell?
— It depends on the nature of the puppetry spell. There are three kinds: autonomous, semi-autonomous and manual puppetry spells. Autonomous spells manipulate the object by themselves and don't require any input from the caster. To disrupt them you just need to find the place where the spell is concentrated and slash it. Even just cutting the manipulated object might disrupt portions of the spell.
— Cutting and stabbing the demon didn't seem to stop it. Am I to assume it was not autonomous type of spell? Or did I just miss the spell?
— Manual puppetry spells require caster to continuously send signals to the manipulated object. Using strings of Ether is quite common for this, but alternatives exist. Cutting these strings or otherwise interrupting the signals will stop the puppet from moving.
If this is the case, then I have a chance of getting close to the angel while she is concentrated on manipulating the puppet.
— And finally the semi-autonomous puppetry spells. These combine the features of the previous two types. The spell lets the puppet move autonomously, but at the same time, with the help of strings of Ether or other such means, caster can give commands to the puppet. These are the hardest to cast and require large amounts of Ether. Destroying the spell on the puppet will usually drastically decrease the puppet's combat effectiveness, while preventing it from getting messages from caster will make it's behaviour more automatic and predictable.
With my luck, I'm pretty sure this is the case. Well, to be precise it's not about luck. The condition to get summoned here was to be the strongest one in your world, so the fact that she is capable of some absurd things is a given. With no need to control every single thing the demon does, she can concentrate on attacking me from the long range or on support spells. Never mind winning, just getting close to her will be insanely difficult.
— You mentioned that interrupting signals is an option. How could I do that?
— Well... There are spells to disrupt the flow of ether or for sealing things away. Using those would probably be the best.
— And how long does it take to learn any of those spells?
— How much experience does Master have with spells and spell-casting?
Oh yeah, she forgot the last three days.
— Three days. I just learned to use my ability and to make Chlymea into weapon.
— It is a bit hard to estimate, but since those types of spells are somewhat hard I would estimate the time required to be somewhere between a month and half a year.
That's... quite long. Not really something I can do right now. What other options do I have?
— Is there some weapon I can make from Chlymea that is capable of disrupting Ether or sealing.
— There are blueprints for 'noise generators' that disrupt the flow of Ether. But there is a problem with them: They use Ether to function. The amount of Ether absorbed can be adjusted, but with less Ether used, the effectiveness is decreased.
In other words I will have to continuously concentrate on the device to prevent my opponents from using spells. I probably won't be able to do that for long, so this option is not really viable at this point.
— What about weapons to seal things?
— I could not find any weapons with characteristics of spatial manipulation from the ones available for the Master. In case Master desires a weapon with such functionality, he would have to enchant it himself.
Doesn't really help, since it means I would have to learn the spell anyway. So that option is out as well, huh? It seems there isn't any easy way out of this.
Talking like this, we finally arrived at the Training complex. My first agenda here is to get the bracelet that would enable me to use the Chlymea. If information I got from last time is true, then trying to use Chlymea normally will cause it to break.
The infirmary is exactly same as how I remember it to be. It was originally empty, but as soon as I got inside the familiar semi-transparent robed figure appeared. When the spirit finished forming he begins to speak:
— Good morning. What is it that troubles you?
Oh yeah. This is supposed to be my first time here. How do I explain what I need to him? I don't really remember what he said to me, so I'm not sure I can describe properly what exactly I need. Also, the scanning was quite unpleasant, so I would like to avoid it if possible.
— Hm... How should I explain this? — I took a small pause to collect my thoughts for a bit. — It seems I have two Ether Links or something like that... Could you please give me the device that would allow me to use the Chlymea?
The spirit appeared to be quite troubled.
— Is that so? Quite a fascinating condition. Would you mind if I scanned you?
— Is there any way to avoid it?
— You don't expect me to believe you based on words alone, do you? — The spirit grinned. — I can't really give out this company property based only on some flimsy excuses.
Pity that I can't seem to avoid it right now. Why can't they do anything about unpleasantness of these procedures? Still, I have to admit that it's a cheap price to pay for being able to use a weapon.
Fifteen minutes later I am at the training arena with the green bracelet on my hand.
— Rue, could you please get me the schema for the sword named 'spell-breaker'.
Rue raises her hands, and a glowing circle appears in front of her. In a familiar manner she took a crystal from that circle and passed it to me. Accessing that crystal was much easier than the last time. This time it took me only one hour to properly form the sword. This is a noticeable improvement compared to the last time.
The next event is going to happen in the evening, when the hellhounds should be attacking the elf-sharpshooter. The problem is that I don't know what to do until then. I don't really know how to train properly. Last time I was only training the basics. I can continue that, but I don't feel that I will be able to significantly improve in the three days that I have. I need some kind of a training program.
— Rue, I need to improve my abilities before the first round of the tournament starts. Do you have any suggestions for training?
— I do not know Master's current level, but using Adaptive Training Program is recommended.
— Can you please give me more details?
After my experiences with medical equipment and the Chlymea getting broken, I was slightly cautious about anything new here.
— AI overseeing this complex will generate training exercises and partners for you. The difficulty will be changed based on Master's performance and the goal that Master has set.
— With no better options present, let's try this Adaptive Training Program.
— Initiating... Master, please provide a goal.
A goal, huh? In other words, what I want to accomplish by doing this exercise. Right now my goal is to survive the preliminary round. This means that I need to survive the battle against that angel with her pet-demon.
— My goal is to defeat an angel that is using puppetry to control a demon in a fight.
— Confirming... Goal: defeating long-range puppet master that is controlling a close-range fighter. Calculating training regime... Calculated. Generating first exercise...
As soon as Rue says that, the environment starts changing. The clearing in the woods, that I am standing in, starts getting bigger. The trees do not disappear or fall down, they are just getting farther. The feeling of watching this is surreal — as if a camera is zooming out. The changes finallt stop and I am standing in the middle of the meadow with a forest at some distance.
— Arena generated. Generating opponent...
After that, at a distance of about twenty meters in front of me a blue glowing sphere appears. That sphere starts growing and deforming. The sphere takes a shape of a human and immediately after that starts changing it's colour. The entire process takes less than half a minute. When it is finished, before me a priestess is standing. A delicate female figure clad in blue dress and white shirt. In her hands is a staff with a golden ring on top of it. Inside this ring is a design of three droplets with tips pointing forward. These tips go through the boundary of the ring, making the staff slightly resemble the shape of a trident.
The priestess raises her staff and a glowing magical circle appears between us. From that circle a demon jumps out and stands between us, blocking my view of the priestess. This demon has brown skin, huge claws and horns, as well as red fur around it's head. Although the demon clearly has hands, he is standing on all fours. His body seems disproportional. Compared to the huge muscular hands and claws, the legs seem comically small, so I am not sure if he can actually stand on the legs.
— Generated. The purpose of this exercise is to cut down the summoner while avoiding attacks. Awaiting the command to start the exercise.
Summoner? I thought I was supposed to train against a puppeteer. Oh well, close enough. This situation is really similar to what happened during the first round. Except, at that time my target was flying. Though, I probably shouldn't get ahead of myself. I have a hunch that I will have my hands full with just trying to reach the opponent that is not resisting.
I check that I am firmly holding the sword in my right hand and speak to Rue:
— All right, begin.
I half-expected the demon to charge at me, but instead it is just standing there. Without doing anything the demon is simply looking at me. Being more than three meters high, he looks very imposing. What should I do? First, let's try ranged attack. I concentrate on the tip of my blade and with a few slashes I produce three wind-blades that fly towards the demon. Unfortunately they were deflected with a swipe of his claw. Totally useless. Is there anything else I can try?
With no better idea, I just try circling around the demon with the sword at the ready. As I take a few steps to the right, the demon turned his head in my direction. His eyes seemed to be following my every movement. This made me feel really uncomfortable, but I still continued moving around him.
Few steps later the figure of the summoner became visible from behind the demon. She was holding the staff in front of her as if to protect herself from possible attacks. As soon as I saw this, the demon moved to stand between me and the summoner. This startled me so I just stopped in my tracks.
I don't want to get close to that. Even with my inventory-ability and the sword, it would take only one hit for me to die. Pretty harsh for training. What should I do? What can I do? The only thing I can think of is some kind of a suicide attack, where I just try decapitating the demon. With my ability I should manage to get through his defence but, as was the case in my previous fight with the angel's puppet, that would likely get me killed.
I don't have a shield or any ability that would let me defend against a simple swipe of those claws. This means that if I am attacking then I am not using the sword to deflect attacks. To be precise: even if I am using the sword to deflect attacks, there is a high chance that I fail and get hit. It's already a miracle that I was able to defend against those hellhounds last time and at least do something against the angel's demon. Actually, looking back at it, those were practically suicide attacks.
Wait a minute... Cold sweat ran through my back as the realization hit me. I have a potentially powerful ability that, with some training, can protect me from projectile attacks and to get through opponents defences. I also learned to make a weakish ranged attack — wind-blade. Other than that I have no real abilities. Am I retarded? Why did I learn that stupid wind-blade? The skill is practically useless. Any way you look at it I should have learned some defensive skill. The way things are now, even if I am able to defeat somebody, then I will likely be killed by their counterattack. Defensive skill is a must-have in such a situation.
Now that I think about it, the spirit from the library did say to come to him 'when I was ready'. Did he actually mean that I should have come as soon as I got the hang of the way my ability worked? Doesn't this mean I should have went there on the second day already? I really am an idiot.
Then, I should stop this pointless exercise and go... No. Going to the library right now would be too wasteful. I absolutely must help that elf today. Getting allies in this situation should be the top priority. Hellhounds seem to be really weak, so even with my lackluster skills I can somehow cope with them. I don't remember the exact time, but it was in the evening, so I have around eight hours left. Going to the library will take at least one hour and probably more.
Learning basics is of course important, but if Rue can teach me a simple defensive skill, then my time will be much better spent learning and polishing that skill. If, like the last time, I will be half-dead after the fight with the hellhounds, I won't have the chance to get the help with the training from the elf. So even one hour would be better spent on increasing my defence than upgrading my skills. I will just go to the library tomorrow.
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