Chapter 396 359 – Naming the Sword of God

After leaving the bedchamber, Takumi sensed that Shizue and Chloe were both stable, so he stopped paying attention to them.

Shizue was far too embarrassed right now. It was better to give her some time to calm down.

"Still… I seem to have nothing to do."

With a thought, Takumi summoned two images into the air.

They showed Setsuna, Freya, Kureha, and the others leading separate forces in attacks against the two kingdoms.

Setsuna and the others were fighting enthusiastically, and the battles were completely one-sided.

Neither kingdom was particularly large or powerful, but a country was still a country, and its territory covered a vast area.

Defeating their forces was not difficult. Occupying everything afterward was what would take time.

"At this rate, it'll probably take three to five days to completely occupy both countries."

Had Takumi personally intervened, he could have shortened that time to the absolute minimum.

But after thinking it over, he decided not to go.

He would treat it as practical training for Setsuna and the others.

A battlefield was, after all, the best place to polish newly acquired skills.

As the first core group to follow him, they did not lack experience.

Acquiring skills was easy for them. What they needed now was to learn through combat how to use those skills properly.

"Since there's nothing I need to do… I might as well go play with Kagali."

Just as that thought appeared in Takumi's mind, a crisp, childish voice sounded beside his ear.

"Mother~"

"…"

With black lines practically covering his forehead, Takumi looked at his left hand.

Boosted Gear manifested, and the sword spirit residing within the Sword of God had awakened.

The last time Takumi had roused her, the immense power he poured into her caused her to fall asleep again.

After resting for the past few days, however, the sword spirit had finally awakened properly.

The first thing she did upon waking was call out to Takumi.

Hearing how she addressed him, Takumi split off a strand of consciousness and entered the interior of the gauntlet.

The formerly empty space now contained a palace.

The sword spirit had constructed it herself as a place to live and rest.

Standing before Takumi was a short girl dressed in simple clothing.

The sword spirit had an adorable face and a pair of bright, lively eyes.

The moment she saw Takumi arrive, her eyes lit up.

"Mother, you came!"

"What do you mean, Mother? At least call me something else. If nothing else, can't I be your father?"

"Hm?"

The sword spirit tilted her head, her innocent and ignorant expression filling Takumi with guilt.

Strictly speaking, there was nothing wrong with the sword spirit's reasoning.

She had not originally possessed a complete consciousness. Hers had been fragmented.

It was only through Takumi's nurturing that the sword spirit before him had truly been born.

Calling him her mother was technically accurate according to the process.

But Takumi had no intention of accepting that identity.

"Call me Father or Dad instead. Mother is going too far. I'm a man."

"I see… All right, Daddy~"

"Mmm! That sounds much better."

The sword spirit's sweet Daddy instantly made Takumi feel as though he had swallowed honey.

He excitedly stepped forward and vigorously rubbed her head.

"From now on, your name will be Elaris. Starting today, you're my daughter."

The moment Takumi gave her a name, an enormous amount of magicules surged forth.

Takumi's expression froze, and Raphael, Lord of Wisdom immediately activated.

[Raphael, Lord of Wisdom analyzing… Optimal strategy: Switch magicule supply source.]

"Activate reserve energy!"

Takumi's mind moved at light speed, instantly switching the supply to the magical reserves stored inside Boosted Gear.

That way, the power was merely transferred from one part of the gauntlet to another, while Takumi himself suffered no loss to his maximum magicule capacity.

Watching the sword spirit become enveloped in magicules and undergo a complete evolution, Takumi let out a long breath.

"Good grief, this naming mechanism really is…"

Takumi was genuinely speechless.

He had not even reacted before the mechanism activated automatically.

After roughly one-tenth of the stored magic had been consumed—around eight million magicules—the sword spirit's transformation finally ended.

After evolving, she possessed a true physical body.

However, she could freely switch between the form of a sword spirit and that of a flesh-and-blood being.

Beyond that, the sword spirit's strength had now firmly reached Chief God class.

Takumi attributed this first to her high rank of existence.

As the dragon-slaying Sword of God, her status was no lower than that of the Storm Dragon.

Second, she was now effectively the artifact spirit of Boosted Gear.

This allowed the magical power stored within the gauntlet to be given to her without reservation.

Her strength was also directly linked to Boosted Gear.

It was only natural that she had now reached Chief God class.

After completing the naming, Takumi also noticed several problems with the mechanism.

First, the magical power consumed by naming could not be recovered by the person who gave the name.

However, the power had come from Boosted Gear's reserves, so from Takumi's perspective, it was essentially the same as not having consumed anything.

After all, the gauntlet automatically absorbed ambient magic and stored it. Takumi did not even need to replenish it himself.

Although he could not reclaim the spent magic, the namer gained a certain degree of authority over the one being named.

If Takumi wished, he could prevent the sword spirit's strength from ever increasing again.

He also discovered that because the magicules used had come from his own gauntlet, the sword spirit's nature had been influenced by him.

He could now clearly sense her loyalty and dependence toward him.

Simply put, she had originally been a blank sheet of paper, but had now been dyed in his colors.

As a result, she naturally chose to obey him.

This was another privilege granted to the one who bestowed a name.

"I was originally planning to test this on Ifrit, but I ended up learning part of the answer ahead of time."

Takumi exhaled and quickly accepted the situation.

For now, with Boosted Gear at his disposal, naming was not a problem for him.

As long as he used it properly, he could completely avoid the drawbacks and enjoy only the benefits.

And just as he had expected, naming and divine envoy chess pieces could stack!

After Takumi condensed a divine envoy chess piece and handed it to the sword spirit, she quickly fused with it.

Her strength, already at Chief God class, immediately rose another step.

In terms of magicule count alone, the sword spirit now possessed more than twelve million, which was already comparable to Takumi's former level.

Of course, she was still far behind his current self.

The sword spirit's growth also strengthened Boosted Gear.

"The gauntlet's overall power has increased."

"Now that a sword spirit resides within it, and Raphael allows us to share a mental network, she can also assist me with analysis and combat."

"Excellent, Elaris. You've done very well!"

Takumi vigorously rubbed Elaris's head again.

Enjoying Takumi's affectionate treatment, Elaris wore an extremely contented expression.

After being named and fusing with a divine envoy chess piece, Elaris now regarded Takumi as her father, creator, and sole master.

If affection could be measured numerically, then even if the maximum were supposed to be one hundred, hers would have soared into the thousands.

...

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