Chapter 22: Much Smaller Than Imaginary

When I woke up the next day, I rubbed my sore back. Since the room only had one bed, I volunteered to sleep on the floor so that Sakimi wouldn't have to sleep uncomfortably. But when I checked on her, the covers were empty.

I took out my communication mirror and said, "Sakimi! Where'd you go?"

An image flashed in the mirror, showing the girl outside someplace. "Yo! Morning! You don't have to panic or anything. I just went over to the practice field."

"Oh. Okay. You have to tell me if you want to go somewhere."

Sakimi rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"No. I forgot."

"Wait there. I'll bring you some food."

"Thanks."

At that, Sakimi hung up.

I felt a tinge of irritation, but then I realized that I was starting to act like a parent. Man, I felt old, for some reason.

Oh, well.

With a painfully long yawn, I put on my armor and headed out of the hotel room. There was a cafe nearby, so I went ahead and bought two sandwiches—one for myself and one for Sakimi.

Afterward, I made my way to the practice field, which was the Guild Hub's courtyard. To get there, all I had to do was pass through the front entrance, walk across the room, and exit out a rear door that opened into a wide stretch of grass that contained totems for target practice and chalk-drawn boundaries for sparring. There was also a track and a gym just past the green.

I spotted Sakimi on the far end, shooting Frozen Beams at a poor totem that was completely covered in ice.

"Hey, Sakimi!" I said. "Catch!"

I threw the plastic-wrapped sandwich, and the girl caught it by using telekinesis, slowly drawing it into her mouth.

"Bleh! Is this edible?"

"You have to take off the plastic first."

Sakimi blushed in embarrassment.

"I knew that!"

After ripping apart the covering and littering it on the ground, Sakimi wolfed down the sandwich, eating half of it in one bite.

"You should pick up your trash," I said.

"Hmph. Fine."

Sakimi picked up the plastic and put it in the nearest garbage can. By the time she came back, she was already done with her meal.

"Should I have gotten more?" I asked.

"I'm good. I don't really like eating that much food for breakfast."

"Alright then."

As I finished my sentence, I unwrapped my own sandwich and started eating it. Meanwhile, Sakimi continued with her Frozen Beams. For some reason, the ice was starting to form some sort of shape. Was she making an ice sculpture?

Eventually, the shape became more and more defined, until I recognized it.

Sakimi had built a gigantic penis.

I nearly choked on my food when the realization struck me.

Sakimi turned to me and asked, "What's the matter?"

I couldn't answer her because I was laughing too hard.

When Sakimi turned to look at her sculpture again, she froze for a second. Then, her face became beet-red, and she said, "Arcane Missile!"

In the next instant, the glorious ice-shlong was no more.

I kept trying to suppress my giggles, but that image in my head just kept on resurfacing.

After spending all this time in such an idealistic fantasy world, I was too caught up on my objective. I've had to go through so many struggles, that I had never stopped and just let out a satisfying laugh, forgetting to appreciate the little things in life.

Once my amusement subsided, I asked, "What was that sculpture supposed to be?"

"A Rychaff."

"Ohhhhh."

Thinking back, I could see the resemblance. The body was the right shape, but the legs were too spherical, and when Sakimi tried to make the head, it was less arrow-shaped and more dick-shaped. For some reason, Sakimi had also forgotten to make the arms.

"Why do you keep smirking!" Sakimi exclaimed, her face still flushed.

"I'm sorry. It's just that I haven't seen anything that funny in a while."

Of course, to a late teenager like me, phallic humor was peak humor.

Sakimi pouted and turned her head to the side with a "Hmph!"

Soon enough, I finished my sandwich and disposed of my trash. Then, I went up to Sakimi and gave her my grimoire.

"We've got two days until the blacksmith finishes my weapon. You should learn a new spell or something."

Sakimi graciously accepted the book, saying, "Will do!"

While the girl rummaged through the pages, I looked into my skill tree. Lately, I've noticed that my Divine Siphoning skill wasn't functioning, for some reason. It worked fine in the beginning, but maybe there was some sort of bug. Luckily, the game gave me that chance for three free upgrade changes. I used that option to switch my Divine Siphoning to the alternative option, which was a ten percent damage boost.

Other than the three free changes, there were no other ways to revert one's skill tree upgrades, except dying.

When I finished the quick fix, I returned to watching Sakimi, who was reciting an incantation.

"Oh, the weather outside is frightful, but the fire is so delightful. Since we've no place to go, my ice will grow, and I release a Wind of Snow!"

A white cloud formed on the target totem, bringing down a torrent of white flakes.

I clapped and said, "Nice!"

Wind of Snow was a debuff spell that inflicted the target with a twenty percent reduction in speed and a twenty percent reduction in defense. I didn't tell Sakimi which spell to learn, but it was great that she picked one that would be useful against the archdemon.

While I rested, Sakimi kept practicing Wind of Snow over and over again, re-reading the grimoire's pages each time because the author had written useful tips for casting the spell.

In only a few hours, Sakimi could already perform Wind of Snow without using any incantations. Upon doing so, she turned to me with a salute and said, "Mission accomplished!"

"Wow, you're pretty good."

Evidently, Sakimi was a prodigy when it came to ice magic.

"That's right!" the girl declared. "I'm the greatest ice mage in all the world!"

It's at this point that I would press X to doubt, but Sakimi did have great potential to become one of the most powerful mages.

Next up, Sakimi picked a new spell to practice.

"I am the bringer of hail. Ice is my body, and rage is my blood. I have conquered countless storms, becoming a tempered harbinger of permafrost. Glaciate!"

Nothing happened.

"Huh?" Sakimi said.

The girl repeated the spell, and this time, a coat of thin ice formed around her target totem's feet.

"That's it?!" Sakimi exclaimed.

Glaciate was an expert-level ice spell that endgame players often used to clear out huge hordes of enemies. In essence, the attack could freeze multiple targets, dealing increased damage depending on how much mana is used to power it. Because of the near-infinite power ceiling, a master mage could freeze an entire town, or even more.

Sakimi kept on practicing Glaciate, but she could barely create any ice. She was visibly frustrated, but she kept on persevering.

After a couple more hours, the girl exhausted herself, and she could barely stay standing.

"Let's call it a day," I said.

"No...one more...!"

But Sakimi fell on her face before she could even lift her staff.

I let out a short chuckle and picked her up. "Come on. Let's go eat dinner."

After eating, Sakimi went straight to bed. The total food expense for today was seventy Szerath, leaving me with 6,025.

I also went to bed early since there wasn't much to do, other than waiting for my sword to finish.

The next morning, Sakimi had woken up before me again. When I went down to the practice field, she was still practicing Glaciate.

For the most part, this day continued the same as the last. Sakimi was getting better at the spell, but it was still draining quite a bit of mana, so she took breaks in between. I tried reading the grimoire and coaching her, but I wasn't a mage, so I didn't have much input.

As the Hierophant, the Primordial Goddess of Order had given me extensive magical talent, so casting spells was as simple as thinking. It was completely different from Sakimi's procedural practice.

By sundown, I decided to reward Sakimi's hard work by eating out. We went to a Japanese-style restaurant and gorged on tons of sushi. By the end of it, I felt that I was gonna puke. Even Sakimi looked a little pale when we exited the building.

Today's food expense was 250 Szerath, leaving me with 5775. Money was important for buying expensive gear, but I thought it would be nice to treat myself for once.

Until these past two days, I haven't taken any breaks in Serial Slain 2.0. I was always trying to hunt a boss or search for an item, but it was refreshing to relax a bit.

Soon after, Sakimi and I went back to the hotel room and went to bed.

It was the best sleep I've had in ages.