How To Suck Honey With Extras [EN]: Chapter 315

350. The Truth Is Here (6)

“Talent, you say…”

“It’s not just swordsmanship. In terms of ability and magical power, you’re not even using a fraction of your inherent potential.”

*Does she mean I have great power and talent but no idea how to use them?*

“I’m certainly aware of that.”

I know.

It’s true that I lack useful skills.

And it’s also true that I struggle to improve despite my efforts.

“Well, it’s because I’m not skilled enough.”

“Tsk, tsk, that’s where you’re mistaken, Aileon. You’re simply unable to use your power because you mistakenly believe my swordsmanship is in the realm of a master’s technique.”

“Pardon?”

“Your power and your perception are completely out of sync. That’s the root of your inadequacy.”

Out of sync?

“That sounds different from simply lacking experience…”

“Yes, very different indeed.”

Melas said it was completely different.

“Someone who lacks experience can gradually improve through training. It’ll be filled in eventually… unless they die, of course.”

“Oh dear…”

Her joke doesn’t feel like a joke.

“The important thing is that your problem isn’t experience. It’s your mindset.”

“Mindset?”

*Does she mean I’m not serious enough?*

That’s absurd.

Even though I constantly grumble while fighting, I’ve never acted playfully.

“That’s proof you don’t understand, tsk, tsk.”

Melas clicked her tongue and pondered something for a moment before getting up.

“Come over here for a moment.”

“…Yes? Ah… Yes, ma’am!”

Well, if she tells me to follow, I have to follow.

Melas walked to a spot slightly away from the campsite and finally stopped.

“…This place should be good.”

“What are you planning to do?”

“I’m going to show you directly because you don’t understand the difference.”

Directly? *Does she mean we’re going to spar?*

“There’s no need for that. Now… watch.”

Melas drew her sword, glanced at a suitable tree, and swung her sword.

Crack!

The tree that was struck fell over.

“…What do you think?”

“Please think about the environment.”

She looks genuinely pained.

I know. I’m just kidding.

“You do the same.”

I guess she wants me to do the same thing and cut down a tree.

I drew Killmoulis and unleashed my aura.

As I focused on replicating the exact same motion as she did, the sword naturally guided me, and I reproduced the same swordsmanship.

Cutting down a tree is too easy.

“Hmm, simple enough.”

“Indeed, that swordsmanship is identical to mine.”

Anyway, now that she’s confirmed what she wanted to, it seems Melas is going to show me something in earnest.

“Next, do this.”

With that, she tells me to demonstrate a certain technique.

It’s not difficult.

I have Killmoulis, and it contains all of her swordsmanship.

However, I hesitated because it was a major technique that consumed Influence [a measure of internal energy or power], but she wouldn’t ask me to do something pointless.

Without complaint, I used it right away.

As I consumed Influence, my body moved on its own, and the aura imbued in the sword surged.

The technique I unleashed swept forward, crushing everything in its path like a tsunami.

Kwaaaaaang!

Everything in front of me was overturned, and debris soared.

“…Is that enough?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

However, she doesn’t seem to care about the power of my sword.

She just strokes her chin and watches nonchalantly, as if thinking, ‘Is that all?’

What is she doing?

“Now, I’ll give you a demonstration. …Watch closely.”

It seems she’s going to demonstrate the same technique.

What’s the difference?

For now, I’ll quietly watch her from behind.

It’s the same.

Same movements, similar energy…

“…Hmm? Wait? What’s that?”

A strange sense of incongruity.

As I tilted my head, she lightly smirked and demonstrated the same swordsmanship.

“This is the real technique of this one.”

Kwagagagagagag!

The sword energy raged, crushing and tearing down everything in its path.

It’s clearly different from mine.

When I unleashed the Secret Art, it blew away objects within a 100-meter radius in a fan shape, but the Secret Art Melas used shattered and overturned everything within a 2-kilometer radius.

The difference in scale is so absurd that it’s the first thing that comes to mind.

If her sword is described as a true tsunami of sword energy, then my sword before was just a splash.

“Do you understand now?”

“You said it was the same swordsmanship… If you give such a difference in power, I can’t tell what’s different.”

“It is the same.”

“…Pardon?”

She said the same thing again, leaving me tilting my head in confusion.

“It’s the same. The movements, the amount of aura consumed, the density, the interval of the swing. Everything is the same as what you showed earlier.”

“No, even if you’re going to lie, at least make it believable…”

“Does this seem like a lie to you?”

But there was a sense of incongruity.

“It was definitely different.”

“The only difference is the difference in perception between you and this one.”

“…Perception?”

“Even if you use the same technique, you perceive it differently from this one. That’s what manifests as the result.”

…I still don’t understand.

What’s different?

*What kind of ability do I need more of?*

I went through the memories in my head, trying to figure out what I might need.

But there’s nothing that I can pinpoint and say, ‘This is it!’

“It’s not about increasing your power. It’s not about gaining more skill either.”

“Yes?”

“You probably have privileges that ordinary humans don’t.”

“How did you know…?”

It seems she knows some of my secrets.

But not completely, just vaguely, in a sense.

“Certainly, you can get stronger in your own way. Maybe you can increase the power a little more.”

She said it wasn’t wrong.

“But you can’t reach the extreme. With that, you can’t keep up with this one or the original owner of the power.”

“…In short, you can’t beat the original if it’s the same technique?”

I crossed my arms and pondered deeply.

She said it was a fundamental problem, not just a lack of experience.

“Aileon, what kind of perception do you have about the power you possess?”

“…That’s a strange question.”

“What is power to you?”

“That’s even harder to answer.”

I can’t easily think of an answer.

My perception of the power I have…

What is that?

“You’re limiting the potential of the power you have.”

“…”

“Even after saying this much, you still don’t seem to understand?”

“I felt a sense of incongruity, but I can’t quite grasp what it is.”

When you don’t know, be honest and say you don’t know.

“I have no idea!”

“…”

Well, let’s just accept the dumbfounded look I’m getting.

“Is there a more definite way to find out?”

“…Originally, it would have been filled in on its own over time, even without pointing it out.”

“I don’t have that time.”

It probably won’t be filled in within a day or two.

“Then can you bet your life on it?”

“No!”

Let’s say NO firmly.

“…At times like that, you should at least say yes, even if it’s just a platitude.”

“I can’t do what I can’t do.”

“I can’t help it. Then can we compromise with a slightly reckless method?”

“To that extent…”

I might be able to do it.

But what does she mean by a slightly reckless method? What is she going to make me do?

“It just so happens that there’s something perfect. Something that fits perfectly into this one’s schedule. Originally, this one was going to solve it, but this is a good opportunity. Will you do it?”

“I don’t mind…”

If I can solve the problem, there’s no reason for me to refuse.

But there’s one thing that bothers me.

“But is this perhaps a way to pass the buck?”

“…You’re truly a headache.”

I’m sorry for being such a headache.

* * *

Let’s pass on what we have to do to others~.

Following that beautiful trend, I decided to defeat a monster that she was originally supposed to defeat.

“I’ve said it many times, I’m not passing it on to you.”

“Yep~ Yep~ I know very well. But is that monster special?”

I’ve faced monsters countless times.

I’ve faced them when I had no money, and recently, well, they’re something I have to fight every now and then.

Will I realize something by catching it again?

“Words are unnecessary. Experience it directly.”

“Are you saying, ‘Don’t speak, feel’?”

“Hmm… maybe something like that.”

She’s saying something that often appears in martial arts movies.

Don’t think, feel, is that it?

Whether I do it or not, I have nothing to lose anyway.

According to her, my life isn’t in danger even if things go wrong.

As we arrived at the place…

“…Huh? What is that?”

I blinked and stared at the place.

“Hey?”

“What?”

“If my eyes aren’t deceiving me, it looks like a volcano no matter how I look at it.”

And a raging, active volcano.

“Surely you’re not going to say you’re seeing a volcano for the first time, saying something that’s not even cute?”

“That’s… not it, but it’s strange. Suddenly there’s a volcano in a place like this…”

It’s not that far from the city.

“Recently, places like this have been increasing.”

“…Pardon?”

“Suddenly, a perfectly normal mountain becomes a volcano, or it snows or freezes in the desert.”

“…”

“Mutations of monsters with powerful forces have also appeared.”

I can’t dismiss it as a joke.

Could this be a phenomenon occurring as this world ends?

“If left unchecked, there will be damage.”

“…Could it be.”

I realized why she was going around slaughtering monsters at this time.

I noticed it.

“That’s enough. You talk too much. Don’t you have no time? Hurry up and go up there.”

Smack!

She slapped my back, urging me to go quickly.

…She’s not really passing on annoying work to me, is she?

Let’s trust her for now.

First, I headed straight for the volcano she mentioned.

“Did she say it was at the summit?”

I can feel the crazy heat from the middle of the mountain, but I somehow blocked it using magic.

Well, I’m still sweating, though.

“…Are there living things in a place like this?”

The ecology of monsters is not much different from that of ordinary creatures.

Monsters usually can’t live where creatures can’t live.

There are exceptions like skeletons and golems, but those are outside the category of creatures.

Then the ones here must be similar.

“Then should I assume that the way to deal with them is through magic or abilities?”

I was inwardly contemplating how to deal with whatever appeared.

According to her, my current limit is a matter of mindset.

‘Seriously…’

Come on! Let anything come at me!

Confidently, I climbed to the top of the volcano, and all I could see was a completely red landscape.

It wouldn’t be strange if it erupted right away.

“The monster is…”

Where is the monster in question?

No matter how I look, there’s hardly any place for a monster to be.

There’s no cave or anything…

In the first place, I can only see magma…

“Magma?”

Just in case, I stared at the center of the volcano.

“No… surely… it’s not really that, is it?”

Please say no! Please!

But worries always come true.

At this moment, I was convinced.

The monster is there.

“…Oh my.”

In the center of the boiling volcano, there is a moving object in the red lava.

Our eyes met.

Gugugugugugu.

The lava bubbled and surged upward, and finally, the creature hidden inside revealed itself.

“Indeed… is it a creature that can only live in a place like this?”

The magma itself.

The rising magma took shape, stretched out a long neck, and moved its head to glare at me.

I don’t know the exact species, and it’s a monster I’m seeing for the first time.

Surely that’s the monster I have to face.