83 The Spellbook

But a few moments had passed since Chiaki left the room. Nakayama stood in the middle discussing with himself what had just transpired before returning his attention to his ambitions. He made a promise not only to himself but to the other three as well that he would grow stronger. Strong enough to protect them from anything that posed a threat to their well-being, and he'd stop at just about nothing to achieve that kind of power.

He found out in a humiliating fashion that simply leaching levels off of someone more powerful than yourself was a task more complicated than he thought, so that was no good. That level 1500 Kiyoshi Lionheart wouldn't be able to feel Nakayama's punches what with his defensive stats. And since he hadn't actually begun any kind of basic magic training within the academy, it was up to him to use whatever tools he had available to him at any given time.

And, luckily, he had one of the greatest options for self-tutoring a student probably could've hoped for.

He walked over to his bed, the one in the middle, and stopped at his nightstand. He opened the drawer and found a black book of decent thickness. In bold gold letters, the cover read:

EDGAR BRAUSS SPELLBOOK: MOKU MACHI EDITION

"I thought I'd be in a classroom the first time I opened this, but I can't afford to waste even a minute anymore if I want to beat that bastard down."

He traced a few of the letters on the hardcover and opened the book.

----

Chiaki walked desolately through the cafeteria, but he did so with haste. He wished not to attract any unnecessary attention from the one to two hundred traps scattered about the area. It was about time for dinner, so that explained why there were so many people here still. Walking down the middle aisle where the long tables were parted like the Red Sea, he headed straight for the exit. After a little less than a minute, he made it past the automatic doors and outside.

The wind blew gently. The trees in the distance danced along with the whistling song of the air, and the sun was about to set soon. As he tip-toed down the stainless-steel steps, he met his partner standing there with his back against the school, looking up at the sky. Since roughly two hours ago, he'd had a conversation with this person about a few unforeseen events and what steps needed to be taken after them.

The time was around 5:45 P.M. Chiaki and his pink-headed friend had to meet someone at a certain place in around 15 minutes. Being late could have dire consequences. Fortunately, the destination they desired could be reached with the use of a Warp Station for 50 Euls. So, there was no real reason to be late.

Chiaki's pink-headed friend turned toward him in inquiry. "Hm? What kept you? It's been, like, 10 minutes."

Chiaki looked down as he finally made it to the bottom of the small set of stairs. He couldn't look into their eyes as he answered them. "I…met that idiot right as I was about to leave. He must've just woken up and gotten out of the nurse's office and we…talked is all."

The pink-headed friend, who also happened to be a trap, asked, "Well, what did you say to him? He didn't open the bathroom door, did he?"

"No. But, when he eventually finds out, I expect that he'll follow the directions I left him."

"...Then, we don't have any time to lose if he's already up and about. If he finds out about this too quickly, then he'll try to stop us."

The pink-haired trap looked up at the sky once more and clenched his fist.

"𝘈𝘵 6 𝘰'𝘤𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘮𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘠𝘶𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘪 𝘍𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘴. 𝘎𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘤, 𝘴𝘯𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦. 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘒𝘰𝘬𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯, 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶? 𝘈𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴. 𝘉𝘦 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵. 𝘖𝘧 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴𝘦, 𝘪𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘰𝘣𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘦, 𝘐'𝘭𝘭 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘒𝘰𝘬𝘰 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘴𝘶𝘣𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘤𝘶𝘮𝘴𝘭𝘶𝘵. 𝘈𝘭𝘭 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰…𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦."

"Let's go, Chiaki. To Yuurei Forest," said Kiyomi Nagashika.

Unlike what Chiaki had told Nakayaka prior, neither Kiyomi nor Koko were out eating at some restaurant. He had spewed that lie to keep the level 1 safe and out of harm's way on what he could only describe as Kiyomi's behalf.

Kiyomi, while Nakayama was supposedly unconscious, hesitantly told Chiaki about everything that had transpired in the bathroom at the Freshman-Sophomore Event. Especially the details that Nakayama hadn't entered quick enough to hear about. Now, it was time to go through with the agreement.

All of this was to protect Koko. And, to protect Nakayama from interfering and getting himself hurt, they had to lie to him, too.

---

A few minutes had passed since Chiaki's departure. Nakayama sat Indian-style on his bed whilst holding the spellbook gifted to him by his father a day before he got on the bus to come to this city. For some reason, he was a bit nervous as he found himself glossing over the table of contents. Separated by categories were low-level spells, intermediate, and advanced. The book was about 500 pages in length and there were roughly that many spells contained in the book to match.

"If I can help it, I'd like to stay away from lower-level spells," he said to himself. He used his index finger to locate a spot at the beginning of the book that contained general information on magic fighters. Eventually, he found a section that talked about average stats. It went something like this:

"Magic fighters' innate talents are pre-determined at birth by the genetics of their parents. Those with naturally high attribute points in a specific stat can gain a slight upper hand when it comes to the advancement of their magic career. Below, are the average stats for beginner magic fighters (level 1) calculated by the Edgar Brauss System.

PS - Physical Strength (Increases Physical Damage Dealt): 100

PD - Physical Defense (Reduces Physical Damage Received): 80

MP - Magic Power (Increases Magical Damage Dealt): 100

MD - Magic Defense (Reduces Magical Damage Received): 80

SP - Speed (Increases Mobility and Movement Speed): 60

MANA - Mana (Increases Stamina/Mana Supply For Using Spells): 100

With each level obtained, a magic fighter shall gain 6 attribute points that they may place in any of the 6 stats. Every other human aspect of a magic fighter is determined by the unique way they live their life.

Ex. One's strategic skills/smarts do not derive from the six stats."

At first, this information didn't seem all that valuable to him. Knowing whether or not he was naturally weak in certain areas didn't matter to him at the moment. However, as he stared at the information for a few more seconds, he found one key thing that really spoke to him. He looked specifically at the average mana supply a level 1 may possess. That determined how many spells one could shoot off and what spells one could shoot off within that range of mana usage. He hadn't gotten around to exploring his magic menu much further than seeing what level he was at since the first time he opened it was just yesterday, so now would be a good time to check. Everyone started out as a level 1, so it was obvious what he was before he was even taught how to open it. No thanks to his parents.

He set the book down and opened up his blue magic menu, sliding his hand across the air. He saw that he was still a level 1, no surprise there. Up in the top left-hand corner, there was a section that read "stats" and he clicked on it, assuming the magic menu was like a tablet. After finding that he was correct, he spent the next few seconds looking over what was in there.

"!!!"

He stopped, and his eyes widened. A tense feeling swelled up in his stomach.

"Holy shit…where the hell…did I get a mana stat like this…!?"