Detesting The System: Sundering Fate

Upon returning back to the Church after filling our stomachs, Bell and I went up to Hestia to explain the plan I concocted. Even though the Goddess could understand my English, for the sake of improving my language skills, I insisted on using Japanese to say, "Hestia, today we already made a lot money. For now, Bell and I only go to dungeon short time. Noon to night, Bell and I train here. Making couple thousand Vali a day, we pay off monthly taxes first and start eat better. Then, after become strong, buy equipment and fight stronger monsters in dungeon."

It was a hyper-condensed iteration of the message I wanted to get across, but both Bell and Hestia understood what I was trying to say. Turning to Bell, I said, "Bell, follow me outside the Church. I see your interest Magic, will do best to teach."

Hearing the word "Magic" leave my mouth, Bell's face lit up as Hestia looked at me in shock, asking, "You know magic?"

Not answering verbally, I materialized some light energy and a small ball of light, about as powerful as a lightbulb from modern day earth, brightened up the room. By now, the bite wound I suffered from the Dungeon Lizard in the third floor had healed, so I removed the gauze Bell used to bandage me up during our first adventure together and he audibly gasped, whilst also saying something along the lines of, "Your arm! You healed it with Light Magic?!"

Returning a nod, I said, "Soon you too will be able use magic… that is, if have talent..." Almost forgetting that Bell was only revealed to be a human for now with no abilities yet to be revealed for magic affinity, I caught myself from speaking more than I should have.

Giddy with delight, Bell either ignored the second part of my sentence or was too excited to care as he pulled me out of the Church to get to training right away. Sighing at his childish behavior, I didn't take offense to his actions and took this time to conjure another skill. Notwithstanding our relationship as companions of the same familia, Bell's intentions were nothing but straightforward and honest; traits that made me genuinely like him as a person.

[Skill Conjured: Alltalent Deduction (Locked)

1st Degree Prerequisite: ??? (Special Locked)

2nd Degree Prerequisite: Celestial Origin Deduction (Locked)

3rd Degree Prerequisite: Grand Energy Deduction (Locked)

4th Degree Prerequisite: Elemental Energy Deduction (Unlocking)

Elemental Energy Deduction Unlocked!

New Skill

Name: Elemental Energy Deduction

Level: B

Description: A technique that grants the user the ability to deduce an entity's talent for elemental manipulation. The higher the proficiency of the technique the better the depth of the analysis and the greater the range for energy types.

Effect: Allows the user to accurately assess a person's talent for Elemental Magic up to the user's current Level of Magic Manipulation.

Grand Energy Deduction can be unlocked at Magic Manipulation Level: A]

Eventually coming to a stop just outside the Church, I told Bell to stop before using the Elemental Energy Deduction technique to gauge his talent for Elemental Magic. Unsurprisingly, he definitely had talent for Elemental Magic; talent so high even with my current Magic Manipulation proficiency, I couldn't properly gauge it. However, unlike the books, he didn't only possess an affinity for Fire Magic, but Lightning Magic as well. In fact, it could have been a hallucination since I couldn't properly gauge his affinity for either Fire or Lightning Magic, but I could swear his Talent for Lightning was even higher than his Talent for Fire.

Still, there was nothing he could do if I told him right away, as he would need his proficiency in Magic Manipulation to be at least at the Level of C to be able to wield chant-less Lightning or Fire Magic as I did for Light Magic; unless he came across the same method used in the books to give him his "Fire Shot" ability. So, to start him on the path of training magic, I confronted him very seriously and said, "Look, Bell… You surely have magic affinity. Fire and Lightning to be precise. However, Magic needs to be taken serious, else you end up hurting yourself. First, practice the method I give you now and think carefully which Magic you want… I will only teach you one type."

After giving him the basic breathing technique that would set him on the path to naturally feeling his way through Magic cultivation, I told him, "Take very least two hours practice this technique get used to sensing, gathering Magic particles. After, when ready, ask anytime and we spar."

Just like that, we separated and began our own individual training sessions. Focusing on cultivating strength to get my body ready for fighting against faster and stronger monsters. I sat down to convert my Magic into sustenance for the Gold Star Killer Constitution method until my Magic ran out. Thereafter, I would walk around the Church grounds to refill my Magic reserves training my Magic Manipulation whilst also slightly increasing the capacity of my Magic after every refill.

Within the hour, my Magic Stat crossed over from B to A and after Bell woke up from his transient magic gathering session, about three hours after we began, not only have all my physical stats transcend from F to D, but I was over fifty percent completed with the skin tempering section of the Gold Star Killer technique as well. Adding up all the breaks I took in the dungeon to train this skill as well as the hundreds of fights I engaged in that tempered my body, it wasn't a surprise to see this focussed effort result in such a drastic upgrade.

When Bell awoke, he asked for a friendly spar and because I was a bit worried about plunging headfirst into an all-out deathmatch with weapons, we decided on only fighting barehanded for the first time. Of course, that quickly changed after the overwhelming advantage I showed as soon as our spar began. 'Holy f.u.c.k is this body refining method overpowered!' Literally a day ago I had yet to develop my body at all and with just a couple hours spent cultivating my body, Bell was completely left at my mercy. For better or for worse he had a week's worth of experience as an adventurer. That's one more week than me!

Sighing, I could only call off the sparring session as it would benefit neither of us if I only overpowered him over and over again. I couldn't give him my Gold Star Killer Consitution method, as I hadn't a clue if it would be suitable for him, so I asked, "You finalize your Magic choice?"

"Uh… nope. I'll think about it more..." Dejected as he truly wished to pursue both avenues of Magic Manipulation, Bell took this to be a life-changing choice that would only come once in a lifetime.

Nodding in understanding, I said, "Ok then, continue training magic and do body exercise. When you pick a Magic type, first thing I teach is body refinement. Get to my level and maybe teach you more..."