And finally, the POV returns to PO-me!

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Sorry about that.

Anyway, it's been a while since I last narrated, specifically, over five months. More specifically, it was now the 1st of January of the year 1675. I hadn't thought it important to mention the year in this world before, but I suppose I might as well. Ahem, totally not something that just slipped my mind and am only adding it in now because it's hard to keep track of everyone's ages, that's totally not the case...! Just to clarify, I'd initially reincarnated in this world at the start of the year 1673.

So, yeah, it had been nearly half a year since the infiltration mission, and a lot had changed.

For starters, the Spell Cards I brought back with me resulted in some pretty drastic improvements. Elina had created a bunch of new spells from suggestions and ideas that I offered her without any worry since the whole reincarnation thing was out in the open now.

Most notably, the Rustlands was surrounded by a protective barrier that served two purposes, the first was a magic-nullification effect like what was used to undo my transformation spell in The Valaque Empire, and the second was a security effect, it would electrocute anyone who tried to sneak in through it from any point besides the main gates, and in addition to electrocution, it would start glowing bright red at the spot where the person tried to sneak in from. In other words, any spies trying to sneak in to the Rustlands would have their work cut out for them. Even an intangibility barrier wouldn't help, the nullification effect would undo it.

Silvland and Bronztan had also employed the same barrier around their walls as well. As for The Empire, no more spies had been able to get in, they had put up a security barrier as well, plus assigned a lot more guards.

So, yeah, as a result of the barrier around the Rustlands, my nightly sneaking out was no longer possible, but thanks to my experience with sneaking out, I had plenty of useful input in securing the walls, including the addition of paralysis-laced barbed wire fences at the top, just in case someone did manage to get past the barrier somehow.

The remote activation feature in spells was also successfully replicated by Elina, hundred meter range and all. But she didn't stop there, she took it a step further by created a counter against it. I mean, think about it, you could easily create a killing spell and then add the remote activation to it, giving you the option of sniping someone from a hundred meters away.

And so, Elina created an anti-remote activation spell. Basically, you activate this spell on an inanimate object and wear it on you, such as a ring or necklace. In other words, this spell could basically enchant an item to nullify an incoming remotely activated spell directed at you. And so long as you wear the enchanted item, you'll be immune to remotely activated spells. Just to be safe, I used the spell to enchant my entire outfit instead of just a single item, and I made Persia and the others do the same too.

Then there was the truth serum, I had only been able to bring back small traces of it, but it had been successfully reverse-engineered and recreated thanks to a potions master in Bronztan, whom I was yet to meet. The only people I had met from Bronztan were two S-Ranks who had picked a fight with Az a few months ago.

Speaking of Az, his abilities were common knowledge now, and as a result, he was on the receiving end of a lot of attention and intrigue. He wasn't too happy about that, to put it lightly, and had been in a perpetually bad mood for a while, though he was getting back to normal these days, as the hype began to die down, so to speak. He had also quit his apprenticeship with Elina, he didn't talk about it much, but from what I did hear, things got pretty ugly and had ended on negative terms. He didn't seem to care though, he just seemed relieved to finally be free of it.

Another major change was that Spell Scrolls were now officially obsolete except for super complex spells, and Spell Cards were in wide use across the three allied nations. I had gotten myself a new spell that I simply named Stealth, it was a barrier spell that combined the effects of the invisibility barrier, soundproof barrier and intangibility barrier into one neat little package, pretty sweet, I know.

Oh, yeah, there was something else major that happened, but it was kinda stupid...Rai and Einn had started a so-called trend of yelling out your attack names, and it had become pretty popular. Okay, maybe that's an understatement, because when I say popular, I mean that yelling out attack names was something that was now commonly done by Adventurers in all three of the allied nations.

And it had all originally been Rai's idea. In other words, technically speaking, that hyperactive idiot had changed the world, in a manner that was laughably fitting of him.

Getting back to more serious matters, as far as The Empire was concerned, they didn't seem to be in any further rush to attack us, despite the infiltration a few months ago. So instead, during what had now become a regular monthly meeting, I'd advised Erhtaph Ragiu, Princess Agatha Silvland and some other important figures who'd been present, that we should preemptively attack them first. And that was what was happening, we were currently about two months away from being ready to attack. We'd sent some scouts to observe The Empire from a distance, and from what we'd heard back, they seemed to be in no urgency to act anytime soon.

Platinberg was mostly left alone, they didn't really seem to be doing anything besides providing The Empire with dinosaurs and human test subjects. Beyond that though, Platinberg appeared to be staying independent, showing no signs of aggression, or pacifism, towards the allied nations. We did have a few scouts keeping an eye on them, but for now, it seemed safe enough to leave them be.

The main reason I recommended making the first move against The Empire was because I was worried...I was almost certain that they must have been working on adding more Elemental Magic types to their Retribution Tier members, and then there was the dinosaur guy that Selesa created...

Speaking of that pervert, she had unofficially moved to the Rustlands. Technically speaking, she was still a resident of Silvland, but had started spending more time here than there, in fact it'd been a good couple of months since she last went back. She had even gotten herself an apartment here, and brought over most of her savings and belongings. The main reason was that Silvland was having a lot of internal strife right now.

When the facts about reincarnation were made public, all three of the allied nations went into an uproar, understandably. Thankfully, things quickly settled down in the Rustlands and Bronztan, and we so-called 'Reincarnators' were accepted without much trouble, and I attribute that to the lack of religious forces driving either of the two. Silvland on the other hand, was fanatically religious. Apparently, the extremist religious faction among the nobles had called for the Reincarnators to be executed since their very existences defied their religious beliefs. In case I haven't already mentioned this, I hate religious fanatics with a passion.

I mean, seriously, that's about as narrow-minded as you can get. Princess Agatha, and more importantly, the king of Silvland, opposed this, so it didn't get too out of control, but there have been several reports of Reincarnators being brutally executed by vigilantes called themselves 'God's apostles of justice' and crap like that. Those responsible were arrested whenever possible, but some covered their tracks well and are still walking free.

There were more Reincarnators in this world than I expected, though not all were Adventurers. Oh, and Aurich Goldway was living in the Rustlands now, serving as a royal advisor. Clari Ramigoll was also living here, working as a waitress at a restaurant. I saw them every now and then, and if nothing else, they were definitely doing better than they were when I found them in The Empire.

I was now in my third year at the Adventurer Academy, having no trouble getting through the second year since I got an exemption from taking the written exam. My class had started out with twenty-one students at the start of the first year, and now, at the start of the third and final year...only twelve remained.

Group D was fully intact, but the other groups, not so much. The remaining seven had all been combined into one group. Namely, Gela Sorr, Lamasa Phiban, Tuck Lehosa, Niski Torfa, Tulsi Dagery, Trax Pendalb and Dise Rhacater. Yup, it had taken two years, but I finally could say that I knew the names of everyone in my class.

Things were going as well as ever with Group D, it's safe to say not much has changed with the five of us. Sure, Key and Rai got married, but that was more like a formality, they didn't act any differently than they used to. Az had been irritable for a while, but it hadn't been a permanent change. I had continued training with Persia, using the Academy training halls. I had to keep taking Quests because the results of those training sessions was that I had to pay a bunch of money in damages after every time.

Persia was able to control the full extent of her Anima now, though it was a bit shaky...there was something new we found out though, once she learnt to control the full extent of her Anima, if she lost control in that start, he power increases further, which I assumed was feral adrenaline and instinct bursting out as she lost control of suppressing them.

Once her control in that state slips, she goes berserk for about twenty seconds, after which she reaches her limit in that form returns to her normal state. While in control of the full extent of her Anima, she was a bit weaker than I was at a hundred percent Karma, though she could keep up just fine, but when she lost control of it, she was stronger than I was in that form, meaning that my Vampire Mode was the only thing stronger.

Since naming attack names had become the norm now, I took the privilege of naming her transformations, much to her annoyance. Since she unleashed her Anima in quarterly thresholds, I started by naming her transformation as Feline Fury Mode. A quarter of the full extent of her Anima was Feline Fury: Q, half was Feline Fury: H and three quarters was Feline Fury: This Isn't Even My Final Form. As for the full extent, it was Feline Fury: F, or FFF for short. And as for when she lost control, that was Feline Fury: Berserk Mode. Pretty cool, huh? She absolutely hates it, haha.

Oh, and my mentoring of Mika was going well too, she had developed her Anima a couple of months back, it turned out to be a retractable lobster Anima, she could morph her arms into lobster claws, which she could use to grab an opponent and electrocute them. She had gotten pretty strong, and was already able to use Lightning Boost at x2.2, which was really impressive considering that she was still only twelve.

As for me, I had taken it easy for a couple of months, after which I continued my own training. I had reached my limit with Lightning Boost at x3.3. I could use twenty percent Karma for thirty-one minutes now, forty percent for fifteen minutes and twenty-five seconds, sixty percent for seven minutes and thirty-five seconds, eighty percent for three minutes and forty seconds, and the full hundred percent for one minute and thirty-five seconds. And I could use Vampire Mode for a full minute now.

Well, that about covers the developments of the last few months. Today was a Saturday, and I was currently working on something really important, but terrifying to get through. Yeah, that's right...I was trying to overcome my weakness. Lagusa would definitely try to exploit it, which means that I need to overcome it as soon as possible, difficult as it may be. Az was the main person helping me with the rehabilitation, while Persia also stayed by, for emotional support.

To start off, I had tried to keep my cool while Az took the gloves off his hands to reveal his webbed fingers. It took me two weeks. After that, Az tried to get me used to his pet frog. I totally lost my cool a bunch of times when he carried it towards me, and it took a whole month before I could handle him holding it five feet away from me. And another month before I could handle one foot away.

Next, he tried getting me to hold it. I passed out the first time. And the second time. And the third...all told, I passed out the first eleven tries. After that, I managed to stay conscious, but my blood went cold and I was paralyzed, unable to move or speak or stop trembling. All told, if took two months before I could finally hold it calmly. Four months of hell, and it was only going to get worse from here. My next challenge...was heading for the swamp area.

The plan was for me to let frogs get near me and then kill them. After that, the next step was to head in deeper till we reach Giant Poison Frog territory...I was horrifed when I learnt of their existence, they sounded like monsters straight out of the darkest depths of my nightmares.

Anyway, I was currently in the forest area with Az and Persia, on the way to the swamp. I was pretty nervous about it, but I knew I had to do it. This was a weakness I could no longer leave unchecked. Over the past four months, I had at least found out that it wasn't incurable, the fact that I could actually hold a frog now without freaking out was a damned miracle, all things considered.

"Hey, are you feeling okay, Kuro? You look a bit pale," Remarked Persia with a look of concern.

"No worries, I'm fine...a little nervous, sure, but that's a lot better than I would have been four months ago. I'm ready to do this," I replied assuringly.

"Yeah, it's great that you're getting over your weakness, I'm so proud of you!"

"Hey, don't treat me like a kid, Cat Girl," I sighed, pulling her nose lightly.

"It is good that you can handle frogs better than you used to...I don't need to wear gloves around you all the time anymore," Chimed in Az.

"Oh, uh...sorry about that, man," I responded apologetically.

"No, don't worry about it, it wasn't a big deal," He said with a shrug.

It didn't take long for us to reach the swamp, brushing aside any monsters we ran into without any real effort. This area was filled with snakes, crocodiles and all manner of dangerous reptiles, but none of them scared me in the least.

"Okay, stand over here and close your eyes till I say so," Instructed Az, drawing a circle in the ground.

It was fairly wide, enough for two or three people to fit in. I stepped in and closed my eyes.

"You've got this, Kuro!" Encouraged Persia from a few feet away.

This was nerve-wracking...the sense of dread inside me was growing, my breathing becoming sharper and my heart rate increasing slowly but surely...

"Open your eyes now."

Okay, here goes nothing...

I nervously opened my eyes...and froze. There were about twenty frogs in the circle with me. S-screw this, I'm out-! I tried to leave the circle, but I hit something...a barrier?

"A-Az, take this barrier down now!"

"I will. First, use your lightning to kill all the frogs in there with you."

"N-no way, man, I can't touch these things! A pet frog is one thing, but these ones are wild and feral, who knows what they're capable of!?"

"You're not thinking rationally. And you don't have to touch them, just fry them with lightning."

"B-but...I don't want my lightning to touch them either!"

"Huh? That makes no sense."

"Az, come on! Take down the barrier already!"

"No."

"Hey, this isn't f-funny, I'm really-...fuck, one of them just hopped at me, g-get it away from me!"

"Looks like this is going to take a while," Sighed Az, closing his fist and encasing all the frogs in the circle in ice.

My legs wobbled and I collapsed onto my knees, my body breaking out into a cold sweat. Damn it, I feel so pathetic. Why'd I develop this phobia anyway? What Az said just now really hit home, I wasn't thinking rationally...whenever that fear seized me, all rational thoughts left my brain, leaving only fear and the desire to get away from these terrifying creatures.

"A-alright, let's try it again," I declared, standing up and smacking the sides of my face.

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By the end of the day, I had made no progress at all. I let out a dejected sigh as we headed back to the Rustlands. I don't think this would take me as long as the other steps, but it was still probably going to take at least a couple of weeks. The main thing stopping me from attacking them was the fear that they'd hop onto me before I could strike...which is irrational, I know, since my lightning was undoubtedly faster, but still. I just couldn't help it.

"That could have gone better. You sure can be a handful sometimes," Remarked Az, as the walls came into view.

"Hey, he's trying his best, give him a break!" Persia argued defensively.

"Trying isn't good enough though...I need to get rid of this weakness ASAP, before anyone can exploit it. I've made progress but it's taken too damn long," I sighed in exasperation, rubbing my head with a groan.

"I agree. So let's do things a bit differently tomorrow...I won't take down the barrier until you kill all the frogs I put it with you, no matter how much you beg," Suggested Az.

"Yeah, sure, sounds good."

This weakness had been plaguing me for long enough already, enough is enough, I will get over my phobia no matter what it takes...

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