Chapter 1459 December 13th: Time is Money

「Listen up, Sanraku. First of all, strengthening of muscles is a trap.」

Ether Zero, who turned into a five-year-old child, began to explain the subject very seriously, so I also managed to listen while trying not to laugh too much.

「I’ve tried it several times, but training my skills, while not all that efficient, still makes you stronger…… No, it’s not completely wasted. I think it’s not the raw strength you’re looking for here.」

Why is he talking on the premise that I know his strengthening policy? I’m actually getting scared here.

However, while it might sound crazy, I’m sure he makes a lot of sense in his own right, so I can’t actually dismiss any of that.

「Then what is your recommended method of enhancement?」

「Strengthening of all of the five senses.」

「And the reason for that is?」

「The feeling of getting stronger from that method is huge. Bigger than anything else I have tried.」

According to him, muscle strength and STR are strictly different things. So no matter how much you increase your muscle strength, your STR status will not change, so what you need to change is to realize that your physical abilities will not contribute to the damage multiplier. Things like grip strength or pinch strength.

However, the five senses are all different. The sense of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch…… But all of them are capturing external stimuli. These are separate frames from the status parameters. That is why the practicality of remodeling here is not about ratio of strengthening you muscle strength.

「Are the senses of touch and taste useful in battle?」

「The sense of taste might not be all that important, but the touch sensation is all about sign detection, which can help in a places where the sense of smell and hearing might fail you.」

Hmm, I see…… He may be viewing the subject through the pink-tinged glasses here, but as long as it raises the basic specs of the body it shouldn’t be a problem…… Hmm, this is actually deeper than I expected it to be.

「As a side note here, the more you strengthen your body, the more experience points you require, but that’s probably something that you have already known. It’s a given, after all.」

「Huh?」

「It seems that the amount of experience points needed from level one hundred forty nine to lone hundred fifty and the amount of experience points needed from level one to ten is not all that balanced. Hehe…… So the smartest way here is to lower it to level one hundred and raise it all again from there.」

「By the way, did you choose that method because you knew about that fact?」

「I told you, Sanraku … I have no regrets. I’m sure I would do the same every single time.」

What a clear view and conviction…… I can’t even say anything here anymore.

「Oh, by the way, shouldn’t we just stop strengthening the dynamic vision?」

「Huh? Why?」

「I have no idea what has been strengthened that way. I don’t really feel anything, or it might be that there wasn’t any change at all.」

Hearing those words, I rolled my eyes…… To that word, I rounded my eyes … and then I burst out laughing.

「W-What is it!?」

「Kukukuku…… No, it’s nothing, really. Ether Zero…… You’re the type who mainly raises their STR and VIT, right?」

「Well, that’s right. Of course I am. I don’t need the speed of long-distance running to do grapples, after all.」

「Then there is no surprise that you got a Miss.」

Is dynamic vision acuity the ability to distinguish between moving objects?

Raising the basic specs of the body…… The basic specs do not affect the “status”, after all…… I see, the basic specs are not irrelevant to the skill enhancement itself. If so, the dynamic visual acuity affects more than just one thing……

It’s time to strengthen my eyes, I guess…… It will also be a state where you need more dynamic vision after strengthening your eyes….

「Ivory, I’m going to be Subject Number Two here. I’ll put three levels into my Dynamic Vision.」

「Sanraku, you are a smart person, indeed…… That is the correct answer.」

Umm, Ether Zero-san. I think it’s intentional, but can you stop chewing on your handkerchief and brushing your teeth? Come on now, stop it already, where did you even adapt that from? Hmm? …… Is this some sort of Honor Student behavior I simply don’t get?

…

………

……………

This is the end of the flashback that gave me such a headache.

「By the way, because I have messed with my hormone balance, I can probably interfere with my appearance more when I change my sex.」

Rattling! × 2

「Sit down, dumbasses. It’s this time only, this time.」

We could technically go off-track over and over again, infinitely.

Well, it’s finally time for the main subject, I guess.

「It doesn’t matter what I do solo for the time being, but the problem is…… Oh, there’s no point keeping it a secret at this time. I have to go to the country of Cait Sith because of the Unique Scenario requirements……」

「Caith Sith?」

「They are cats wearing boots, and they can speak.」

「SF-Zoo wouldn’t shut up if they found out about such a bombshell information……」

「Furthermore, it seems that other races will come as well because there is going to be a summit of some sorts over there. Rabbits and Caith Sith are sure to be there. But what else are we going to see there? Dogs?」

「Hey, are we bound to keep silent on this? Because if SF-Zoo finds out that we knew and did not share, won’t our lives be in danger!? Is our life insurance going to cover something like that!?

「We knew that our very lives would be at stake the moment we decided to come here, Karoshis-san……」

If I was told to come to the country of Cait-Sìth, it must not be a place that I can never reach unless I have met some sort of specific conditions like with Rabbitz. If I get there someday, it’s the same as if I have already known about it…… In other words, even if I leak it in the flow of conversation someday, I don’t need to tell anyone anything right now…… Or at least that’s what I keep on telling myself…… Guys, can you shut up for a moment! You are way too lively for your own good, geez……

「Look, it’s fine, really. Besides, isn’t it a terrible thing to try to capture the New Continent with a large number of people in tow? It’s easier to run through it with a select few elite people.」

「Just the elite four, huh…… Huh? Four? That’s it?」

「I’m in the middle of my strengthening for now, so I might not exactly be cut out for this, shut up……”I’m strengthening and I don’t have it, shut up …”

「Bonus Time! Fooooo!」

「CHR: CFK.」

「What the hell is wrong with you guys!? Want to have your guts baked, huh!?」

This is the Crimson Heat Riser: Combat Fusing Knife by Imron, whose creative motivation has run wild lately and all the money and items have been exhausted! Its name was way too long, so I arranged only the initials, hence CHR: CFK! Still, it’s hard to say, so it’s commonly known as a “guts-baking knife”!!!

It is a weapon that Imron derived from all of her observations of Ardaval, and operated on almost exactly the same principle…… In other words, a by-product of trying to make a burning weapon that melts metal just by touching the blade. I was lamenting that it wouldn’t be all that useful because it was shorter than a one-handed sword, but … Well, it was a good idea to buy it as a substitute for Aradval, which has good firepower.

「H-Hey, that hurts……! Yeah, but we knew that much. Sanraku is really kind…… I knew that much, but……」

「Stop pretending to be a young housewife who doesn’t accept the reality of domestic violence, this is just pure violence.」

「This is a moment when you should apologize to us and gently hug us! Hey! Darling!」

「Right between the eyebrows!」

「Avoidance!」

* * *

「…… To think that they would still have things like that deployed in the field.」

「Something it reminds me of that thing, what was it? Omicron’s Sengoku Himepu? If my memory serves me correctly?」

「When it comes to me, it makes me think of that “Enoki” thingy.」

「What are you even talking about?」

「「Nothing. Nothing at all.」」