How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 122

134. Just Business (6)

First, I asked why she had been watching me, and it turned out Elenia had ordered it.

“…More importantly, weren’t you supposed to be guarding the princess? Like last time? Aren’t you supposed to be working? You’ll get in trouble if you keep slacking off like this.”

“I can’t help it. That princess keeps asking me to do things. …Honestly, I find it annoying too. Suppressing my presence is surprisingly tiring.”

“Hmm… well, if it was because of a request, I guess you can’t be blamed.”

I can understand her position.

More than anything, it’s a hundred times better than being completely ignored.

‘Seeing that she’s paying attention to me… is it because of my spirit magic…? It seems to be working faster than I expected.’

Well, let’s put Elenia’s motives aside for now.

Right now, my own training is more urgent.

“So? You mentioned training… but a little while ago, your spirit magic seemed completely out of control?”

“You saw correctly. Just now, that was just an unlucky stray blade that happened to be heading your way.”

Lucell, who almost got skewered by that unlucky accident, still looked pale, as if she had a chill down her spine.

The reason she can’t argue further is probably because I deliberately hid my presence.

I think we both consider it even.

“By the way, that spirit… is it perhaps a high-grade spirit?”

Also, Lucell is nervous because she recognized that the spirit I summoned, Fluorite, is a high-grade spirit.

In addition, Fluorite is still leisurely rolling around at my feet.

You’re so relaxed; I envy you.

Since I paid the spirit energy required for the summoning, it will probably stay like that for about 30 minutes unless I deliberately send it back.

“…It just looks like a cat.”

“Sometimes I suspect that too. …It probably does it on purpose.”

“More importantly, you’re a high-grade spirit mage.”

Lucell looked back and forth between me and my spirit, seemingly a little resentful, and muttered to herself.

“…I haven’t contracted with a high-grade spirit yet.”

She’s resentful.

Lucell hasn’t yet made a contract with a high-grade spirit.

Originally, she should have achieved it in the early part of Volume 5.

Of course, she has the ability now, but she hasn’t tried because of Sylvester’s instructions.

It’s not because she’s worse than me.

Even so, it can’t be helped that her competitive spirit is stimulated.

“First of all, let me make it clear. I’m a mid-grade spirit mage. I just happened to contract with this guy.”

“I’ve heard of it. If you have an extraordinary opportunity, you can contract with a powerful spirit.”

“…That’s about it. The details are secret, so don’t ask.”

In reality, it’s just a quirky spirit I found while mining spirit stones.

I still don’t know why this guy is sticking to me.

“The problem is that I can’t handle this guy properly. The efficiency is completely off.”

“Ah! It’s because your basic skills are lacking, so you can’t control it.”

As expected, she seems to understand roughly because she uses spirits herself.

“It would be easier to handle if it ignored my commands and acted on its own.”

However, for some reason, Fluorite doesn’t try to do anything except follow my commands.

Usually, when a spirit of higher ability makes a contract, that spirit tends to act somewhat independently.

Yet, this guy is overly passive.

It causes problems because it tries to forcibly listen to the commands of someone who doesn’t have the ability.

It’s quite an ironic problem.

To put it in perspective, it’s like a professional baseball player trying to throw a ball according to the advice of a neighborhood kid, which leads to mistakes.

“Come to think of it, that guy seemed to say something like that too… or maybe not…”

I probably mentioned it around page 183 of Volume 1.

“So? What do you want to ask?”

“Did you get any advice from your colleague [Sylvester]?”

“…Hmm, I don’t know.”

“Or your personal secrets for handling spirit magic? I want to hear anything.”

“Ugh, that’s difficult in its own way.”

Lucell crossed her arms and groaned for a while before concluding that she didn’t know.

“So, it’s like whoosh, with a feeling of wow! and then poof!”

It’s a more pathetic explanation than I imagined.

It’s even more pitiful because she’s gesturing.

I’m sure that if she gave a lecture like that, the students would riot immediately.

Honestly, I want to hit her right now.

“Hey, senior… are you kidding me?”

“…Even if you say that, it’s only been less than a year since I learned spirit magic, so I can’t help it!”

She’s still in the learning phase, so she’s far from pursuing her own realm independently.

Actually, I didn’t expect much of an answer.

I was hoping for something, but it was the answer I expected.

‘More than anything, it’s not this kind of advice I was hoping for, but something else entirely.’

This elf will help me in another way.

I tried to check Lucell’s information as a test.

Yes! I succeeded in confirming her stats.

Some parts are unreadable, but I could see what I wanted to see to some extent.

‘Is that battle related after all?’

Influence, that is, the result of actions, must mean how entangled it is with related people.

The relationship with that person must be important.

‘By the way… surprisingly, her stats aren’t that different from mine?’

For comparison, I compared my stats with Lucell’s at this point.

In terms of overall balance, Lucell is superior to me, but in terms of mana, I am definitely superior.

‘Could it be that I could have won even if we fought seriously back then?’

If we dragged it into a war of attrition, I might have been able to win.

That was quite surprising.

I was stronger than I realized.

‘I don’t care about the stats themselves. What’s important is… Lucell’s ability as a spirit mage.’

The secret to how Lucell Elbeid achieved the realm of a high-grade spirit mage in a short period of less than a year.

I just want to see that.

In particular, the current Lucell is being directly guided by the protagonist [Sylvester], building the foundation of the ideal spirit mage that he knows.

In other words, the textbook example.

It would be foolish not to refer to it.

Let’s make her my role model.

In games, it’s natural to check the opponent’s build and refer to it for development.

‘She has quite a few rare qualities….’

In the original work, the protagonist only mentioned that he might have such talents, so it was ambiguous, but it’s convenient to be able to confirm the numbers.

In particular, I paid attention to the Grace of Nature trait.

What is that?

Sylvester didn’t bother to mention it in the original work, so it seems like a natural trait?

There are things I don’t know.

I can’t know abilities that are not described from the protagonist’s point of view in the original work.

‘In other words, I just need to copy that?’

My goal is to obtain the same qualities as Lucell.

Fortunately, I have plenty of points, so it’s good that I don’t have to worry about consumption.

However, this time, I didn’t get it right away, and a warning window popped up.

Oh? Is the consumption a bit high? No, seriously high?

I thought it was a trait of a bloodline ability class.

‘Or is it because it’s something that only certain roles have?’

This is the first time I’ve seen a warning like this?

But I have enough, so I’ll learn it!

Above all, if it’s such a powerful quality, I won’t lose out.

Anyway, I successfully acquired the ability itself.

All that’s left is to wait for the effect to be applied.

It’s probably an ability related to the amplification and correction of spirit magic, so it will be effective.

“What are you doing? Suddenly spacing out? Hey? Are you listening now? I’m explaining.”

“Ah~ I was just readjusting my senses. Don’t worry, I’m listening.”

Having already finished the work, I smiled as I savored the newly enhanced senses.

Because I confirmed the results.

As expected, it must be a quality related to spirit magic.

But what is it? Aside from the others, what is this absurd amount of amplification of spirit power?

That’s a little concerning.

‘It wasn’t just a simple talent? This cheat character….’

This guy had an unusual talent beyond what I felt in the original work I read.

As expected, the main characters and supporting characters are unfair.

Later, when I have time, I need to review the text of the later volumes that are engraved in my head.

What exactly was the characteristic that Lucell had?

Come to think of it, did the protagonist mention it properly?

The information I know from the original work is ambiguous because of the characteristic of being a novel.

I can’t know the detailed settings because it mainly describes what the protagonist saw.

It would have been easier if the author had released a setting book.

Anyway, I’ve learned it, so let’s test it.

“You really learned the trick?”

“Thanks to you, I think I roughly understand the control of spirit magic.”

“…Seriously, just with that? Are you kidding me?”

Lucell doesn’t seem to believe it.

“Who do you think would gain enlightenment from that kind of explanation?”

“Hey, that kind of explanation. You said it?”

Of course, she herself doesn’t think that it will be improved with that nonsensical advice.

What a sly girl.

“Anyway, take a look.”

I gave Fluorite another command.

“Pierce it.”

There is no need to command in detail.

Just by briefly instructing, Fluorite clearly receives the intention.

It starts to gather a large amount of shadows from the surroundings.

The amount itself is different from before.

“…Huh?”

Lucell perked up her elf-like ears, perhaps noticing the difference.

It feels good.

“Okay. Do it to the maximum once. I’ll endure it as much as possible.”

As I nodded as if giving permission, Fluorite, who had gathered the shadows indiscriminately, seemed to bristle all over.

It absorbs the large amount of shadows and swells in size.

Fluorite, who wrapped its surroundings with shadows, took on the shape of a two-headed beast.

It opens its mouth as it is and shoots out blades.

The strands of dozens of shadow blades intertwine and fly away, accurately piercing the target.

No, is it just the target?

It literally ground the ground.

The scarecrow didn’t even leave a trace.

“…No way.”

Lucell muttered blankly.

She saw me failing to control even a weaker ability than this a little while ago, so she must be surprised by the sudden change.

I think it’s cheating too.

Using the abilities of other spirit mages as a reference and finding what I don’t have to strengthen myself even more.

There couldn’t be anything more cheating than this.

“Thanks~ It was helpful.”

I patted Lucell’s shoulder lightly because I thought she wouldn’t be able to say anything if I left her alone.

Even so, she just stared blankly at the target I had broken.

Fluorite, who had returned to its original size at my feet, was licking its fur.

‘Anyway, with this, I have strengthened my spirit magic to the maximum as far as I can do now.’

At least it would be impossible to strengthen it any further at this time.

In short, my future has become even brighter.

Now, there is nothing to fear right now.