Counting

"Ei!"

With a single slash, Momo cut across another large root, opening up the pathway to the inner armory.

"How'd I do, Roko?" Momo asked excitedly.

"You used 5-6% of your mana for rally that time." Roko muttered as he noted down the data, "I need you to try to use 1-2% of your mana. I doubt it'll work on a root of that size, but it's best to confirm rather than assume."

"1-2%?" Momo grimaced, "I'm not good at budgeting my mana like that. Plus, I don't think I can spend that little mana to activate my strengthening spell."

"Then if 3% is the absolute minimum and given your attack stats across the various tests, the attack power of your sword and your natural strength stat...have to factor in the defense of the roots as well...as for the rest...I have to assume ceteris paribus."

"Cestus Para-what?"

"Momo, you only need 3-4% of your mana to cut roots. Keep that in mind when you use your rally next time."

"3% is good right?!"

"Well, if 3% is the absolute minimum that you need to activate Rally, then yeah. That means you barely need the spell to cut your way through this garden."

"So I can almost cut these roots without the need for my spell right?! Ooo, I'm so close..."

"Well, that depends on exactly how powerful your rally spell is."

"What do you mean?"

"At 3% of your mana, rally increased your attack power by 50 points. For reference, your sword itself gives well over 100 attack power. So a little under half the power of a sword is needed to cut through large roots."

"So...so what does that mean?"

"Try using another sword."

"ROKO YOU'RE A GENIUS!"

Momo grabbed a sword and ran off to find a root to cut.

"Is it really that simple?" Murasaki asked.

"I doubt it but it should be good data either way." Roko said as he turned a page in his notebook and began writing something new.

"Roko, I'm back..." Momo called as she returned.

"How'd it go?"

"It didn't work." Momo pouted as she threw her auxiliary sword to the ground.

"Well there are several reasons for that." Roko said as he noted the results in his book, "Outside from the idea that it just doesn't work as simple as that, there's always the fact that you used a sword of lower quality which meant it didn't give you enough power. Another is that you don't actually know how to dual wield so properly drawing out the power of both weapons might be a new problem for you."

"Hmm...maybe I should get some lessons from Roland."

"I don't recommend it."

"I don't know who this Roland is, but he sounds like a disappointment." Murasaki shrugged.

"Only if you have expectations." Roko smirked.

"Well, I've gathered as many weapons as I could." Rokusho said as he hefted a large bag of weapons up on his shoulders, "Now we have to get these out to the soldiers."

"You can do that on your own right?" Roko asked, "We need to get to work on that tree."

"How rude!" Rokusho frowned, "You would really just abandon an old man like that?!"

"You said you could defend yourself."

"Not with these weapons on my back!"

"Aren't you a martial arts master? Shouldn't you be able to handle a bit of load?"

"Not at my age, you fool!"

"Why am I supposed to be impressed by you again?"

"Roko, we can go back as far as the foyer." Momo smiled as she patted Roko on the back, "You need a good sweep of the place in the meantime right?"

"Fine but let's make it snappy." Roko sighed, "The tree doesn't seem like it's stopping anytime soon."

"All the more reason to get the army outside their weapons." Rokusho replied, "Once we get them this initial stock, they should be able to find their own way to the armory."

Following the path back, Roko and company found themselves back in the main hall where Rokusho ran off to deliver the army their weapons. In the meantime, Roko studied the surroundings. The main hall split off into four directions. There was the hallway back outside to his back, a hallway to the left that lead to the armory and a path that lead forward and another to the right. The path forward lead directly to the central garden but this path was blocked with several thick roots. To the right was more roots. Now that he thought about it, the left passage was blocked as well when they first arrived.

"Murasaki." Roko called, "Can you cut the roots leading forward?"

"You don't want me to do it?" Momo asked, disappointed.

"I need more information." Roko replied as he opened his book to a new page and began writing, "We'll still need your rally spell, though for now, try cutting them without it."

"I don't know what kind of data you're looking for but if Lady Momo is okay with it, I'll help out." Murasaki sighed as she approached the vines to the north.

Taking her sword in hand, she slashed away at the roots. The ones guarding the garden were smaller, thinner and seemingly more dense. Murasaki was able to cut away a bit of it but whenever she did, the wall of roots would move about, shifting to cover up the area she had cut away. After a few slashes, Murasaki backed down, having made no progress in opening the path.

"This one's a bit different." Momo mused, "Should I use my support spell?"

"Hmm..." Roko thought to himself, "I don't know if it's worth it to test it. For our attempt to have any effect, we'll have to cut them all at once and the amount of mana needed for rally to achieve that might not be worth the test."

"I'll be fine." Momo smiled, "I have enough mana to last the night."

"Not when things get frantic." Roko sighed, "...We'll give it a shot. Scan."

Murasaki Saishinbu

Level: 50

Strength: 46

Dexterity: 39

Constitution: 27

Intelligence: 20

Wisdom: 20

Charisma: 23

Spells: None

Weaknesses: Weaken, Expose, Slow, Gravity, Lightning

"You sure have a lot of weaknesses, Murasaki."

"What does that mean?!" Murasaki cried.

"Weaken, Expose, Slow, Gravity and Lightning." Roko listed off, "That's a long list of spells that you're weak to."

"You're weak to the debilitating spells and lightning?" Momo smiled, "Interesting!"

"No, don't listen to him, Lady Momo!" Murasaki cried, "He doesn't know what he's talking about!"

"In exchange, your level's pretty high and your stat average is higher than Momo's was at level 48. So you're doing marginally well compared to Momo who is a princess."

"Amazing!" Momo clapped, "That's Murasaki for you!"

"T-This is embarrassing..." Murasaki mumbled as she turned away, her face growing red.

"Your weaknesses, aside from those five spells, is your intelligence and wisdom. Unless you're not planning on learning any spells those stats could be better."

"Mmph..." Murasaki looked frustrated, "Mmmmm..."

"It's okay if you don't want to learn any spells, Murasaki." Momo said, "You're plenty strong already."

"Thank you, Lady Momo." Murasaki replied, still looking conflicted, "But I must temper my weaknesses and resolve them to the best of my ability."

"We can have Roko train you!" Momo grinned, "He trained me after all!"

"I have not agreed to this." Roko stated.

"What's going on here now?" Rokusho said as he returned, "Trying to steal my student?"

"Murasaki can learn from two teachers." Momo said.

"I have not agreed to this."

"Hmm so the student becomes the teacher." Rokusho said, amused, "And so quickly now. I'd be interested to see how Roko would lead a lesson."

"See, you got sensei's permission! There's no reason to hold back now!"

"W-Well, if you really think he's that good then I don't see why not." Murasaki gulped.

"Have I said I've not agreed to this?" Roko scowled, "In any case, the army has enough weapons for now right?"

"For now." Rokusho nodded, "As soon as they wake up more soldiers, they'll be in need of more weapons but for now, we're set. We might even be able to rescue some more soldiers trapped in the castle."

"We'll do what we can but getting rid of the tree is our priority." Roko said, "Hmm...maybe I should go out there and inform them of that."

"I knew that was going to be how this was going to go." Rokusho smiled, "I've already informed the king and queen of our priority and they've given us our blessing. As a matter of fact, they've even gathered a few spare potions for us to use." Rokusho pulled out a waist bag, "As they could get smashed in the middle of battle, I'd say I should hold onto them."

"As the only person not participating in battle, that's probably the best choice." Roko nodded, "Plus it'd give you a purpose outside of observing."

"You really don't hold back on your words." Rokusho frowned, "I'm worried about your future. Have you heard of shakou jirei?"

"You're my martial arts teacher, not my courtesy teacher." Roko scoffed, "I get enough passive aggressive comments from Kress."

"Ah, I remember Kress." Rokusho nodded, "We used to talk a lot. I should give him a call."

"I'm not sure if I should be concerned about that." Roko frowned, "In any case, we should deal with this wall."

"So we're cutting it?" Murasaki asked.

"It's worth a try." Roko nodded, "Momo try using 6% of your mana for rally."

"What does 6% of my mana feel like?" Momo mumbled as Murasaki drew her sword and approached the wall.

"Done gathering data on Momo now?" Rokusho asked as Roko stepped back.

"For now. I really need to gather more data from other users." Roko said as he consulted his book once more, "This could be really important."

"How so?"

"If rally's effects are consistent, I can calculate the ratio of mana used for rally to the amount of change in the user's stats. And if I manage to calculate it down to how much mana is required to give a single point of increase in the user's strength stat as well as the minimum amount of strength needed to cut one of these roots, I can then test how much mana is required for me to get enough strength to cut the same root. From there, I can calculate, from the mana used, how much of an increase to my strength stat was needed and by subtracting that same addition from the minimum requisite strength for cutting a root, I can FINALLY figure how what my strength stat is. Maybe."

"You can't just scan yourself?"

"Trust me, I tried."

"We're ready over here." Murasaki called.

"Right. Go on then." Roko said, turning his attention back to the task in front of him.

"Rally!"

A gold light seemed to surround Murasaki's body as she raised her sword and brought it down onto the wall of roots. In one stroke, she cut the wall in half, splitting the way open but only for a brief instant. The roots reacted immediately, crawling back over the pathway to block it. More roots seemed to sprout our behind them to further block the main pathway forward.

"Well it worked." Murasaki said as the glow faded, "But I don't think it'll work."

"Right, given the amount of resistance it gave, I think we'll have a tough time brute forcing our way directly to the tree." Roko said as he wrote in his notebook.

"What do we do?" Momo asked, "Should we get somewhere with a vantage point and throw magic at it?"

"You're the only one who knows any attack spells here, Momo." Roko replied, "And I don't remember being told about a magic corps in the Momokan army."

"Then is there a way to defeat it?" Murasaki asked, worried.

"Getting in and cutting it down is still our best bet." Roko answered, "But since the easy way is out, our next best bet is to get somewhere high and drop into the garden."

"Well, there's space on every floor to drop in from." Momo mused, "The top of the garden was specifically left with free space so that they can get light from the sunroof at the very top."

"I question how effect that will be with a 12 story castle surrounding it but that doesn't matter now." Roko sighed, "Is there any other way forward?"

"I checked the pathway past the armory and its been blocked by rubble." Momo explained, "So if we can't go left or forward..."

"We go right." Roko nodded, "Murasaki, can you cut down the giant root to the right? It's similar to the ones blocking the armory so we should be able to cut it without problem. Momo, try using 4% of your mana this time."

"Umm...okay?"

"Is he always like this?" Murasaki whispered.

"Pretty much." Momo smiled.