I’d been using Invisible Prison a lot lately since it’s just so convenient, so maybe that’s why the level went up so quickly.
But still, what the heck is Area Pointing supposed to be…?
I mean, I’ve already been able to specify where Invisible Prison appears, so this kind of feels a bit late to the party.
Anyway, let’s check the appraisal.
【Space Magic Level 4 – Area Pointing
Allows coordinate specification and registration.
Up to 3 locations can be registered.
Skills can be used by targeting these coordinates.
Detailed manual settings are available.】
…Uh, okay then.
Oh, hey, my magic space just increased by another 10!
Nice!
So, yeah.
I guess being able to specify coordinates for Input and Output is… convenient?
Until now, I could only use Input near my hands.
This should make experiments a lot easier.
As for Output… Oh, I get it.
I could make something appear from out of nowhere, or shoot it out from a blind spot.
Should I laugh like “Fwahahaha!” here?
Yeah, no current plans to use that!
Honestly, compared to Level 3, this feels kind of underwhelming…
But the ability to register coordinates is intriguing.
For example, if I registered Wendy, I could keep track of where she is anytime, anywhere.
Even if she got kidnapped, I could chase after her right away!
Though… do I really need a “space” for Area Pointing?
Wouldn’t just coordinates be enough?
Wait, it did say you could fine-tune the settings.
Let’s take a look.
-0-
【Settings】
Living beings
Inorganic objects
Humans
Bugs
Beasts
Plants
Good intent
Malice
Magic tools
Weapons
…etc
-0-
A long, long list of checkboxes appeared, each with an “〇” or “×” beside it.
For now, I marked everything with “〇”.
-0-
『〇ジャｊｌｋｌ；ｋｋｌふぁｌ；ｋｆ；ｋｍｋｌ；ｆじょｊ＠ｊｐｈｂじゅぱえ』
『ｆｋｊｇｓｇじゃｋｋｌ：ｇｊｋ：ｇｋｊ；；ｋ：ｇ；ｋｆｌ＠ｋｇｄ：ｌｆ：:』
「１３１２４０４８７０８１７０８７４０４００５０４５４０８４８４３０７８７５」
『ｄがｓふがｇ７ｆ８７１ｇ７ｈ７ｈｋ７６７１ｈ７０ｊｊ７ｈｓｈ７０ｓ８ｈ７ｓ』
-0-
Uwooooaaahhh!?
A massive flood of information suddenly surged into my head, and I almost overloaded for a second!
I immediately switched all the checkboxes to ✕, barely managing to avoid a full-on meltdown.
That was close.
If I’d left it as it was, my brain might not have been able to process it all and just turned to mush.
I’m guessing I got the coordinates for everything around me, grass, bugs, people, beasts, monsters, you name it.
No wonder it felt like I was about to explode.
For now, I limited the filters to just “Malice” and “Bugs.”
When I did, a few sets of numerical data floated into my mind.
-0-
『X,1329 Y,222 Z,60』
（X,1330 Y,201 Z,60）
（X,1356 Y,241 Z,64）
（X,1302 Y,199 Z,60）
（X,1298 Y,251 Z,80）
（X,1324 Y,233 Z,60）
（X,1350 Y,221 Z,60）
（X,1333 Y,181 Z,75）
（X,1256 Y,292 Z,64）
（X,1345 Y,199 Z,64）
（X,1299 Y,233 Z,73）
（X,1301 Y,222 Z,65）
（X,1332 Y,191 Z,63）
-0-
A long string of coordinates filled my head.
Incredible. Just thinking about how many bugs are around me right now makes me even more convinced, I have to request that cheat ability for implementation and blessing.
As for the “Malice” category, I’d hoped it would help identify nearby monsters, but now that I think about it, we’re surrounded by seasoned adventurers. There’s no way any threats would just walk up to us.
Still, with this, I’d be able to pinpoint malicious individuals even in the middle of town.
Most likely, the top set of coordinates is where I am right now.
Just to test it, I took one step forward:
『X,1328 Y,222 Z,60』
Looks like this is the X-axis.
Next, I moved 90 degrees to the side.
『X,1328 Y,221 Z,60』
Roughly speaking, that’s the Y-axis.
Z must be the elevation.
I see.
I don’t know what the coordinate limit is, but even if I get lost, I can just return to my original coordinates and find my way back.
Not that I’d brag about something like that.
If someone asks, I’ll just say my level went up and leave it at that.
For now, I set the filters to “Malice,” “Bugs,” and “Monsters,” and decided to get some sleep.
…Except I couldn’t.
The bugs wouldn’t stop moving, and the constant shifting coordinates kept catching my attention.
In the end, I removed the “Bugs” category so I could finally fall asleep.
By the way, I’d been excused from night watch duties, apparently, it would be pointless to make me do it.
Out of sheer frustration, I expanded Invisible Prison to a larger size and reinforced it with plenty of magic power, like “See? I can be useful too!”
-0-
The next day, I was walking in front of the carriage along with the three guards, rather than riding inside.
Naturally, I had Invisible Prison deployed.
What I noticed was that, unlike yesterday, when I had to push and strain to move it, the prison now synced seamlessly with my own coordinates thanks to Area Pointing.
It was totally stress-free.
More than just smooth, I could move Invisible Prison like an extension of my limbs, it felt like controlling a remote-controlled machine that obeyed perfectly.
Just to test it, I hurled a fist-sized Invisible Prison at a nearby monster with full force.
Its head exploded.
And then I threw up.
I mean, come on, how was I supposed to expect I’d witness a gore scene like that, even from a distance?
And this marked the first time I’d killed a monster since arriving in this world.
It looked like some kind of lizard.
Guilt crept through every corner of my heart. Sorry.
『Your level has increased to 7』
Ah, there it goes again.
Sorry. But this is how things work in this world.
I’ve lost count of how many I’ve killed, but the act of crushing a living creature’s head to kill it is still something I can’t get used to.
I really wish I could fight golems or other inanimate beings instead, but no luck there.
This area is still firmly within the reptile zone.
Three-armed snakes.
Bipedal lizards.
Iguanas with wings.
It’s a veritable zoo of things that defy all earthly logic.
「By the way, my liege, are you okay walking like this?」
「Yeah, as long as it’s not bugs, I’m fine. But… I still can’t get used to crushing heads.」
「Well, if we don’t do that, we can’t survive. Besides, if we’re killing enemies, we’ve already accepted that we might die ourselves someday.」
「You’re impressive. Me? I’m nowhere near ready to die. All I think about is how to avoid it.」
That’s why I’m leveling up like this, from a safe distance.
Killing living beings.
It’s something I can logically accept.
This is another world, and it’s way more dangerous than the one I came from.
But I still can’t get over how gruesome every kill ends up being.
Right now, I can either crush with Invisible Prison or thin it out to slice through enemies. That’s all I’ve got.
But for some reason, there are enemies that don’t take any damage no matter how hard I hit them.
Maybe their armor is too tough, or maybe because their entire body is classified as a weapon, it passively defends against attacks. I don’t know.
But if I have to aim for a weak point, it always ends up being the head.
And I always throw up afterward.
Even when I don’t want to look… once I start paying attention, I end up seeing everything.
But maybe that’s the proper way to acknowledge the act of taking a life.
Maybe it’s a kind of respect that I have to accept.
「You’re throwing up again?」
「Yeah… maybe I really wasn’t ready for this yet.」
「It’s fine. If you can level up the easy way, you might as well take advantage of it.」
「Totallyssu. We didn’t have any long-range attacks in our party before, and now we can really see how much easier that makes thingsssu.」
「Still, watching an enemy’s head suddenly explode is kind of scary.」
「For suressu. But knowing master, he’s careful to attack from far enough away that we don’t get splattered with bloodssu.」
「Well… yeah. Even from this distance it’s rough. If I had to watch their heads burst up close while getting drenched in blood, I’d definitely be traumatized.」
「So, how far have you gotten?」
「I’m at level 7 now.」
「That’s fast. Then again, this area isn’t somewhere beginner adventurers would normally hunt, so it makes sense.」
「It’s power-levelingssu! Normally you can only go up to level 5 like this unless you’re registered, but master hasn’t joined the guild, so it’s all goodssu.」
「Ah, look, another one’s coming.」
Just as Aina pointed out, a lizard the size of a bear emerged from a path off the roadside.
Of course, it spotted the conspicuous carriage and charged toward us.
「They never learn, do they? Typical mindless monsters.」
「If they had reason or intelligence, they’d be demonssu. And I definitely don’t want to meet one of those out heressu.」
「Right? Trying to protect my lord and fight a demon out here? Hard pass.」
「Still, if it came down to it, you’d make sure master got away safessu, wouldn’t you, Sorte-tan?」
「Shut up. You would too, and you know it!」
「Totallyssu. Anyway, here it comessu!」
「Renge, block it!」
「On itssu!」
Renge intercepted the charging lizard and pushed it back with force.
Sorte followed up with a side assault, slashing open its soft underbelly.
And just as the creature froze in place, I launched Invisible Prison at its head.
The lizard, now headless, collapsed limply, and Renge and the others dragged its body aside to begin dismantling it.
「By the way, my liege, where are you putting your level-up bonus points?」
「Mind (MID), dumping everything into it. Gotta toughen up a little, mentally…」
「Yeah… yeah, I think that’s the right call.」
Makes sense.
After all, monster materials do include body parts.
They’re amazing…
Wait, no. I shouldn’t be thinking about them like that, covered in blood as they work on carving up a monster.
They’re just doing what has to be done.
And I’ve asked them to collect materials for me more than once, so I don’t have the right to feel anything weird about it.
Fffffffffffhhhooooooo…
Okay. Reset complete.
From experience, I know once I fall into a pit of negative thinking, it’s hard to get out.
That’s why I force myself to take a deep breath and reset my thoughts before it drags me down.
「Get anything good?」
「Are you okay, my lord? I mean, coming all the way over here while we’re still dismantling it…」
「Ah、I’m the one who asked you to do this, after all. I should take responsibility and see it through to the end. Thanks for everything, really.」
「It’s no problemssu! And look! This time we got a big onessu!」
Renge held up a large magic stone, and the giant lizard’s body began to crumble into dust and disappear.
Apparently, if you don’t remove the magic stone, monsters can start moving again by absorbing magic power from the air.
No corpses left behind, now that is some classic fantasy world stuff.
And honestly, it was a huge relief for my mental health.
By the way, anything that remains after removing the magic stone is considered a dropped item.
So technically, “dismantling” just means extracting the magic stone.
「Ah, my liege. I can see it now, that’s the royal capital, Rasiayu.」
「Really? Let’s take a look from above. Renge, Sorte, Aina, come here. We’re gonna jump on three, okay? One, two, three!」
With a light boing, the four of us jumped straight up and immediately landed on an activated Invisible Prison, which I then lifted using Area Pointing.
What came into view was a massive castle, surrounded by a city even more sprawling than Einzhei.
At its center stood an enormous fountain, everything about the place was big.
「Wow… so this is the royal capital.」
「I never thought I’d get to see the whole city from above like this.」
「What a rare experiencessu!」
「Hey, that’s all great, but we have to guard the carriage! C-C’mon, let’s hurry back already!」
She’s right.
Still, that voice crack was telling.
「Wait… you afraid of heights?」
「Of course I am! I’m a wolf, I need solid ground under my feet!」
Not even pretending to be tough, now that’s rare.
She must really hate it.
And I hate people who force others to do something they clearly don’t want to.
Like people who pressure others to drink when they don’t even drink themselves. I hate that kind of jerk.
So this time, I’ll take us back down immediately.
「Alright, let’s head back down.」
Might as well go quickly.
She’s probably desperate to feel solid ground again.
「N-No! W-We’re faaaaalling, NOOOOOOOOO!!」
…Yeah, this one’s on me.
Next time, if there is a next time, I swear I’ll lower us down slowly.
So please, Sorte, don’t glare at me with those teary eyes while clinging to me like that.
It really hurts… my heart.
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