Chapter 42: Rank Up Exam Zero Edition 2

TN: Special thanks to Micheal C. for the amazing coffee. An extra chapter was released in appreciation.

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“Brother, do you realize you’re a treasure trove?”

“Treasure trove?”

This is what Sophie told me when I asked her why I couldn’t beat Shana when we came back from the capital.

“What is the one thing that no one can beat you at, ni-san?”

“Is it reflexes?”

Only my reflexes in my previous life were superior to those around me by far.

“That’s right. But you haven’t been able to use those reflexes.”

“What do you mean?”

“First, reflexes don’t start unless something is perceived.”

“Right”

You don’t use your reflexes when someone hit’s you from behind without you noticing. However, if you perceive that you’re about to be hit with your eyes from the front, you use your reflexes to avoid the attack.

“And Zero ni-san leaves almost all that perception to crisis detection.”

“That’s right”

“Crisis detection is an excellent skill, but it can’t be used unless you fall into a crisis.”

“Well, that’s right.”

Since it’s a crisis detection, it won’t be detected unless it’s a crisis. I tried with Sophie, but the crisis detection did not activate when Sophie was preparing magic, but it reacted at the moment when the magic was released.

“But what if you could see the crisis before you fell into it?”

“Oh!”

Certainly, it wouldn’t have been difficult if I could see the moment when Shana wrapped the chain around my leg.

“You need a broader perspective”

“Okay”

So for the next two years, I tried to keep a wider view. However, I didn’t know if It was being effective because monsters don’t cooperate with each other in a clever way.

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“Widen my field of view …”

“Hah!”

“Stone ball”

I tried to guard Wallace’s attack with a stone ball. However, Gardner came in and prevented the stone ball, and soon Wallace approached again. I hurriedly took distance from Wallace-san using shrink {TN: Shukuchi means shrink }

“Damn!”

If I widen my field of view, I’ll pay less attention to each person. After all, it seems I couldn’t learn it well when dealing with monsters. I have no choice but to get used to it in actual battle.

“Stone Spear”

“Light Spear”

“Wind Spear”

I slash the Light Spear with my sword and offset the Stone Spear with Wind Spear.

“Damn it!”

And my other sword blocked Tira’s attack, which was a reaction to my crisis sense. Tira was surprised as if she hadn’t expected to be blocked. By widening my field of vision, I was able to focus my crisis detection on just Tira. It’s been about five minutes since I’ve been conscious of widening my field of vision, and I’m getting used to it.

“Thunder Arrow”

I then fired thunder magic at Wallace who came from behind. Hmm? Why did I know about the back? I can’t really see it, right?

“Picon! 』\

“You have acquired bird’s-eye view”

“!”

As the announcement echoed in my head, I could see the movements of Wallace and the others as if I were watching them from above. But I couldn’t see Tira, who couldn’t be seen with my own eyes. And since it’s not “collected” it shouldn’t be a title. In the case of skills, it’s “acquired”.

And with the bird’s eye view, there was more room to prevent attacks. I think I can do what I wanted to do with this.

Shakin

“””” What? “”””

Wallace and the others froze for a moment. The reason they froze was because I suddenly sheathed the sword in my right hand.

“Shhh!”

Gakin!

I didn’t miss the chance and used Shukuchi to move in front of Wallace san and slashed. However, Gardner intervened and prevented it. After all, the most troublesome thing in this party is Gardner who prevents all my attacks. And for the next few minutes, I somehow managed to prevent their attacks with one sword.

“Ready”

“Everyone get close to Marina!”

Lisette, who was the first to know what I wanted to do, told the party.

“Roar! Thunder Burst!”

“Illuminate! Shield!”

The magical power that had been stored in my right hand was converted into lightning magic and released. By the way, [intelligence] is involved in using various types of magic. No matter how high the MP and magic attack are, if the intelligence is too low, it’s possible that only basic ball-type magic can be used. I tried it for the first time thinking that my current intelligence may not be enough, but it’s good that it activated successfully. 

And though Thunderburst is so simple that it just drops a huge thunderbolt from above, it used almost all my remaining MP. I can’t even enchant anymore. I can’t see Wallace and his friends because of the dust, but I hope they at least suffered some damage.

“Seriously…”

But when the dust disappeared, Wallace and the others appeared unharmed, surrounded by a huge shield.

“I give up…”

“That’s it!”

I gave up cause I didn’t have any MP and had no way to win. And it seems that it was Marina, not Gardner, who was the most troublesome one to beat in this party.

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