Allen looked utterly miserable. The skill duration of "Pseudo-Immortal Body" was only six minutes, yet its cooldown was eight hundred days. With a year in the Mushoku Tensei world being roughly three hundred days, that meant over two years.
If Healing Spell leveled up in the future, it could heal severed limbs, but the corresponding mana consumption would also keep increasing. The duration of this skill would have to shrink even further.
Did the Barbarian King just pop his ultimate?
Allen had every reason to suspect the system was screwing with him.
Last night's six was irrefutable proof.
How could that be?
The Healing Spell Rune slot was meant for the host to recover after battle. As for keeping it active during combat, that was obviously for desperate life-or-death situations. And given how peaceful the Mushoku Tensei world was, where were all these near-death battles for him to grind every day?
Besides, the host ought to think about it. If this rune could be used freely, then if he obtained an Imperial-tier or God-tier Healing Spell Rune in the future, wouldn't that be equivalent to permanently gaining the Demon Race's immortal body ability?
Add to that Orsted's defensive power once his Dragon Saint Battle Qi leveled up. Don't call yourself Allen anymore—call yourself a cockroach. Why even play? Just clear the game already. No one would pose any threat to you at all.
Allen spat, smearing the system's words that had suddenly appeared to join in on the ground.
"Magic above Imperial tier is based on enormous mana consumption and lengthy chant sequences, so no one uses it at all because it has lost practical combat value, right?
"I didn't see anyone use a God-tier Healing Spell even in the main story. Who am I supposed to shake hands with to get a rune engraved?"
"Instead of coming out specifically to explain runes to me, why don't you tell me how to increase my Dragon Saint Battle Qi reserves?
"You know the current embryonic-core state. It can only squeeze out a few strands of Dragon Saint Battle Qi and dilute them into my native battle qi to improve its quality."
.Co...ntact Orst...
The words suddenly distorted for a moment. Just as they were about to solidify, they scattered directly in midair.
Allen raised a brow, surprise flickering in his eyes.
"System?"
No more words appeared.
Allen stood there for a moment before frowning and muttering to himself.
"Ever since I came into contact with Lokkishi, the system has seemed inexplicably excited. It pops out from time to time to interact with me... That never happened before, and now it has disappeared just as inexplicably."
"If it really is because of the phone, it feels like it lost signal."
"But every swordsmanship level update and rating update still arrives right on time. So far, I haven't encountered this kind of no-signal situation."
"Strange."
"Rejection by the world? Limits on my cheat? Bad phone signal? Or maybe it's out of memory?"
".Not enough information to judge. Still, it already gave the answer to that earlier question: contact Orsted. Dragon Saint Battle Qi originated from the Dragon God Style, so I can infer that I need to learn the Dragon God Style from Orsted.
"It's still too early to go looking for that Dragon Boss. I should develop a little more first. If he gets happy and decides to bare his heart to me, I might be too weak to even qualify to kneel and become his underling."
"As for the maximum duration for keeping the Healing Spell Rune's 'Pseudo-Immortal Body' active: six minutes and thirty-six seconds. Recovering the mana takes an eight-hundred-day cooldown. Based on this world's PvP combat experience, life and death are usually decided within a few moves.
"In other words, using one minute every hundred and twenty days, or being a real man for thirty seconds every sixty days, is a more reasonable allocation. Of course, that only applies to all-out, life-or-death battles."
"In ordinary combat, using breaks to catch one's breath, or time spent taunting the enemy, for intermittent recovery would make both the mana consumption and healing effect manageable.
"And I could pretend to show weakness, create an information gap tactically, deliberately expose an opening, then ambush them with the North God Style or Water God Style."
"All in all, it's a pretty good progression-style cheat. Looks like I wasn't destined to be the protagonist of an invincible story."
Allen stopped muttering.
A pause. Silence.
The system's smoky words still did not appear.
He raised a brow and spoke again, testing it.
"System?"
The system did not answer.
Allen narrowed his eyes, then looked up at the sky.
"."
"Then next, it's time to meet Paul and convince him to take me in. If I want to participate in the major Mushoku Tensei events, the best choice is to integrate into Paul's family like Lokkishi did."
"I need to find a way to earn Rudeus's favor. That shouldn't be difficult. The Detoxification Rune may not be as practical as the Healing Spell Rune, but more skills never hurt."
Clang! He sheathed his sword.
And continued on his way.
--
The sun sank westward. Buena Village.
The evening glow dyed the white walls of the Greyrat Family estate—the home of the village's knight—bright red.
Just like Lilia's face.
Her red hair was efficiently tied behind her head, with the bangs at her temples resting against her cheeks, making her look especially gentle.
Her black-and-white maid uniform fit perfectly. She stood behind the second-floor windowsill, quietly watching the courtyard below through her glasses.
Following her gaze, under the setting sun, three people—two adults and a child—stood in the unusually spacious rural courtyard some distance away.
The golden-haired lady with delicate features and the handsome, tall, powerfully built master stood with their backs to her, scolding a child who had lowered his head in silence.
It would have been an extremely harmonious scene.
If one ignored the fact that the master was using his body to hide how one of his hands was still roaming over the white dress behind the lady's back, right in front of his son.
The master and mistress really have a wonderful relationship. Every night, they're full of energy and burning with passion. I can hear it all clearly.
Thinking of that, Lilia subconsciously touched her own backside, lowering her eyes.
In the courtyard.
"Rudy, didn't we agree last night that you would spar with me in swordsmanship this afternoon so I could check your recent self-study results? Why did you run off and only come back now?"
Rudeus lowered his head, awkwardly looking at the grass beside him as he scratched his face with a crooked mouth.
"Well... I had to survey the terrain and investigate plants, and I got carried away without realizing it. Hahaha... cough, cough."
Paul squinted at Rudeus and increased the strength in his hand by several degrees. Zenith, who had come over to mediate, had a vein twitching faintly on her forehead. But with Rudy still in front of them, she could only maintain her smile and suppress her anger, while the flush on her face grew ever deeper.
She had completely forgotten the words of mediation she had prepared earlier.
Paul spoke in a muffled voice.
"Rudy, tell the truth."
Hearing that, Rudy immediately straightened his body, tucked the plant dictionary firmly beneath his arm, bowed, and answered seriously.
"While I really did go survey the terrain and investigate plants, I did have thoughts like, if I came back late, I wouldn't have to spar with Father. Sorry!"
Paul smiled and nodded, then turned to Zenith with a meaningful wiggle of his brows.
"Then, honey, go make dinner. Rudy and I need to fulfill a promise between men. Cough! Cough, cough, cough!!"
Zenith reached out and patted the wrinkled white house dress behind her, then gave Paul an elbow with a smile that did not reach her eyes.
Then she crouched down and spoke gently to Rudy, who was looking at her skirt with a child's clear-eyed gaze.
"It's fine if you don't want to practice swordsmanship with Father next time, but tell us in advance, okay? You didn't come back all afternoon, and Mommy was worried sick."
"What are you talking about?! Rudy is practicing swordsmanship willingly!"
"Dear, you clearly don't understand the situation at all!"
Rudy watched his parents' four hands twist around each other. They appeared to be arguing, but were actually flirting, and a speechless crooked expression appeared on his face.
Hey. You old married couple burning with desire, watch yourselves.
Before long, the two finished flirting. Once Zenith had walked away, Paul shifted his gaze from his wife's butt and leaned down toward Rudy's ear.
"Hey, hey, tell me the truth. Did you go out to lift girls' skirts?"
Don't judge others by yourself, Lord Paul!
The thirty-four-year-old old Niet roared inwardly while outwardly grinning and pretending to be innocent. Then he suddenly noticed something.
It felt like a venomous snake crawling over his body.
What is this feeling? A gaze. Someone's watching me, and it's the kind of scrutinizing gaze I hated most in my previous life.
Driven by instinct, he ignored Paul's subsequent teasing and turned toward the courtyard gate in the distance to his side.
A middle-school-aged boy with terrifyingly long eyebrows and a sturdy build was staring at him.
No, not terrifying exactly. He simply had a pair of sharp, inverted-V blade-like brows that made him look overly fierce. His messy hair was swept back behind his head, and his whole body radiated a cutting sharpness.
But Rudy was generally not good at dealing with people who carried that sort of presence.
It instinctively reminded him of the school bullies who had picked on him.
The bully stroked his chin, watching him with great interest.
Their gazes met.
The bully raised a brow. As though he had seen something that interested him, an amused smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
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