Jack of All Trades

We were taking a bit of a break from assaulting the dungeon. After we'd gotten through the ninth floor, normal enemies had stopped spawning—there was just a clear path to the floor boss's chamber. Resting a bit before facing the boss gave us some time to talk, so I was continuing to tell Ciel about the war that Margus's family was going to start.

"The Earl of Argus—that is, Margus's father—is extremely ambitious. He was always looking for any chance to establish himself in the royal capital."

"Yeah, we talked about that some among the royal family, for better or worse."

"Makes sense. I heard he was always trying to make gifts to royal cabinet ministers and such."

"A pretty foolish way to try to get ahead."

Exactly. Ciel was right; the Earl of Argus was a fool. Indiscriminately handing out money might make you some friends, but it would also make you plenty of unnecessary enemies.

"So who did he challenge?"

"The Earl of Gitelle. In the capital, he's, ummm..."

"He's in the faction of the Minister of the Judiciary, Rostel."

"Right, right." Ciel knew much more than me about all of that stuff.

"I can pretty much guess the rest of what happens without you telling me," she said. With only a few moments to ponder what I'd told her, Ciel laid out her theory. "Argus offered aid to an opposing faction that was in financial trouble, and Gitelle retaliated somehow."

"Pretty much. We were never totally clear on all the details. But in the end it was Lord Argus's side that actually invaded. He raised an army and marched on Lord Gitelle's lands."

"So, Margus fought for his father?"

"Ha, no. Margus sensed a chance to advance his own career, and immediately betrayed his father."

"Ah, of course."

The results were instantaneous. Margus had gained the trust of the Earl of Gitelle, a key player in the Minister of the Judiciary's faction—quite possibly the most powerful group within the royal capital. He was suddenly on the express route to success.

"But this time will go differently," Ciel said.

"Yeah, this time he's already returned to his own family lands. There's no pretext for him to attach himself to Lord Gitelle. If he tried, he'd surely be turned away." To approach Lord Gitelle at this point in time would be basically just announcing, "Hi, I'm here to spy on you!"

"Seems like his path to success has been conveniently blocked."

"I guess so... It's just..."

"In any case, it's likely that they will raise an army, and this time there's someone among the enemy who knows their every move in advance."

"Yeah." I had no idea how things would play out in this loop.

"This is great!" Ciel grinned. "Let's crush them into oblivion."

Her smile was brighter than I'd ever seen it before. "Fight against Margus, huh...?"

"You've already beaten him once, right? Should be no problem."

"Yeah, but..." To be honest, I felt uneasy. Having gone through seven loops watching Margus rise up to hero candidacy, it was hard to shake my deep belief in his strength.

"It'll be okay," Ciel said. "It will take years before he gets that tough, and meanwhile I will make you stronger and stronger."

"I'm counting on it."

Ciel stood up. "All righty, time to clear this level and get out of here for now."

The tenth floor of the dungeon—unexplored territory. The floor was empty except for the boss chamber, which just made the boss seem all the more intimidating. There was no gatekeeper miniboss, no gimmick or puzzle. Just a straight up contest of strength.

"Do you know what we're about to face?" I asked.

"Duh. Didn't I say it would be yummy?" Ciel smirked mysteriously. "Remember those magic goblins? You could say this is like...an enhanced version of those."

"What do you mean enhanced?" Magic goblins, as the name suggests, are goblins that wield magic. They're easily distinguished from normal goblins by the staves they carry or cloaks they wear. Generally, each one could only use one variety of magic, and you could often tell which variety by their color. What would an enhanced version of that be...?

"Magic chiefs. Imagine a goblin, but smaller and cleverer and wearing a pointy hat and a cloak, and you've got the basic idea."

"That's what a magic chief is?"

"Yeah. They still each have one attribute, but their magic is more diverse than goblins. They're also much more agile."

"Gotcha."

"So? Don't you agree it'll be yummy?" Ciel's lips quirked into a triumphant smile. "With Skill Eater and Ability Absorption, you two will obtain every magical attribute."

"You're kidding." Fire. Water. Wind. Earth. Light. Darkness. Those were the six attributes of magical affinity. A typical sorcerer would master one, maybe two if they were high-level. There were a few sorcerers who were able to use three varieties, and they were acknowledged as masters and brought into service for the crown. Beyond that, it was extremely difficult to add more attributes, as they interfered with each other. People who break that barrier are known as...well, sages.

"Only a handful of people throughout history have achieved aptitude in all six magical attributes. Even among sages, it's a high-level ability."

"It's typically impossible to acquire conflicting attributes, isn't it?"

"You're acquiring them in a roundabout way, so that's not a problem. And the way magic works, once you learn the trick of it, you can use it freely. If you can raise your proficiency enough before the war to master combining three different attributes, you'll be able to scatter the enemy forces just by showing that off."

"Jeez, yeah, I'd think any mercenary would run away pretty fast in the face of a three-attribute combined attack."

"Exactly. Well, first thing's first. We'll start by just getting you to the point where you can use all of the attributes. And that we can do right here," she declared. "We've done pretty well for ourselves in just ten floors, huh?"

"Yeah... Possibly too well."

"Ha ha. No such thing!"

Advanced swordsmanship. Every magical attribute. Advanced alchemy. And, of course, taming a behemoth. That litany of Ciel's—master swordsman, sage, dragon knight—suddenly those classes that had seemed so exalted as to be mythological were starting to feel like real possibilities.

"Okey doke, we can't do anything until you have the aptitude for each attribute, and we haven't even gotten that yet. Time to fight! Charge!"

"Raaah!"

"Meeeeep!"

At Ciel's command, we burst through the boss's door, screaming battle cries.

"Meep!"

"Ack, no lead-in?!" The moment we entered the room, we were attacked by something quick and nimble. In a panic, I instinctively fought back and quickly realized that they didn't have much defense other than their speed. At the same moment, Ciel's warning shout reached my ears.

"Remille! You can't be the one to defeat them!"

"I know!" Without unsheathing my sword, I managed to knock my opponent away. Meanwhile, Catra was chomping on two magic chiefs. The Skill Eater ability was more effective when consuming the corpse of an enemy Catra had felled herself. So in a case like this, where we cared a lot about obtaining the enemy's skills, it was important for Catra to do most of the fighting.

"Seems like she just got one with a light attribute and another with dark." When Catra used the Skill Eater ability, I could feel its effects directly via Ability Absorption.

"Nice, perfect hit!"

"Won't we get them all eventually?" I hadn't thought that the order mattered.

"Those are the two I was most hoping for in this situation. The gloominess of this floor favors the enemy, but light magic can illuminate it. And dark magic specializes in debuff spells, which is the best way to help you support Catra without actually defeating them yourself."

"That makes sense. Hey, wait, I don't know how to actually use this magic!" What I had gained just now was just the potential to use the attribute.

"Focus your thoughts! In your case, once you have the potential you should be able to do most of what that attribute is capable of just by thinking of it."

While trying to avoid the hit and run attacks of the unseen magic chiefs, I did as Ciel commanded and focused my thoughts into a single wish.

"Let there be light!"

Instantly, the gloomy chamber was flooded with light.

"Wow, so that's light magic..."

"Light magic 101, but yeah. Nicely done! Okay, four to go!"

"Slow!" I yelled.

"Nice! A dark magic debuff! You're doing great!"

It wasn't exactly a pleasant memory, but it was still easier to call to mind spells that I'd already experienced. This was the type of magic that Rui had been using when I was killed in the seventh loop. The magic she'd used to kill me.

Well, that was then. "Catra!" I called. "Finish them!"

"Meep!" At my command, Catra dashed to and fro around the arena. The remaining magic chiefs quickly scattered before her.

"Is that...it?"

"Unless they've got a final trick up their sleeve... Ah, looks like that is indeed it."

A second door appeared in a wall of the chamber, which had previously only had one entrance. The floor boss had been defeated.

"Congrats. You have cleared the tenth floor." Ciel smiled at me.

As you'd expect from a floor boss, that fight had given us more trouble than we'd encountered on the path up here. On previous floors, Catra had defeated whatever we encountered almost instantly on her own, and all Ciel and I'd had to do was stroll along in her wake. So despite the fact that we'd just had our first real battle in a while, Ciel continued without a pause.

"Okay! I'm gonna teach you some basic spells of each attribute, so pay attention and etch these into your memory. You too, Catra."

"Meep!" Despite just having finished a battle, Catra seemed raring to go. Honestly, I was also pretty eager to learn some new magic.

"What kinds of sorcery did you use in the past?"

"Basically, I was best at fire magic. When I had to, I could manage a bit of light magic for healing spells."

"You're not really the sorcerer type, right?"

That was true. I had a feeling that my attempts at sorcery were the times I'd been least useful. After all, our party already had Rui, a sorceress powerful enough to be a possible sage candidate. She could use fire magic, dark magic, and the opposing earth and wind attributes—all in all, she could use four different types. If things continued going well for her, that wasn't that far off from mastering all six.

"Well, that's fine. You've both gained the aptitude for any kind of magic now. With that, all you need to do for basic spells is wish for something. Did you get the hang of that?"

"More or less."

"The next step is just to keep using them over and over. In your case, all of your XP means that your magical proficiency will level up naturally. As for Catra, I think she'll continue getting stronger without us doing anything special."

Behemoths are really something. When I looked over at her, Catra cheerfully chirped at me. And thus began our magical training.

"Let's start with the fire attribute. Make a fireball or something; I don't care exactly what, just as long as you produce fire."

"Meep!"

"Like this?" As instructed, I formed a clear mental image of what I desired, and sent it out through the magic. I was familiar with fire magic from previous lives, but this was a somewhat different way of approaching it.

Catra, meanwhile, was emitting dense balls of flame strong enough to singe the dungeon wall.

"Excellent. Now the same idea, but with water."

"Meeeep!"

"Water Ball."

"Now wind."

"Air Cutter."

We continued on like that for a while, training in each magical attribute. After a time, I realized something. "Wait. Ciel, how do you know all of these examples?"

"These are elementary level."

"Yeah, but..." Couldn't Ciel also reach sage class herself?

"Oi. Remille. Did you think I was nothing but a cute girl for you to amuse yourself with?"

"No no no, not at all!" I'd never thought that, truly.

"I have no intention of being a burden you have to constantly worry about. When I said I'd leave the combat to you, that was just a technique to force the two of you to fight."

"You didn't have to do that!"

"Yes, I did. If you'd known I could fight for myself, you would have let down your guard. You're the sort who only goes all out when he's protecting someone else."

Now that she'd said it, I realized that was probably true. It was a strange feeling to have her point out things about me that I hadn't even realized myself.

"All right, since we defeated the floor boss, the way out should be clear." As she spoke, Ciel reached for the door that had appeared.

Dungeons often had such doors, enchanted to appear and disappear in a fixed pattern. In this case, it was a door that appeared only when the floor boss was defeated. But still... "What if it's a trap?"

"Exactly who do you think I am?" Ciel retorted, her Eye of Appraisal flashing turquoise.

Oh yeah, good point. Our party never had to worry about things like poison or traps or whatever. It was a standard pattern for beginner adventurers: let your guard down after defeating the boss, only to fall right into a phase trap or some such thing. But, of course, the door that Ciel opened led us right outside.