The Gravity Balancer and Roy’s Growth

Katy apparently used Hikaru’s story of how the wingless Gray Noble Drakon flew in the air as reference when developing the Gravity Balancer. Drake didn’t possess the level of power to make a huge body like that float, but his body was equipped with the same function as well, which Katy studied.

Holy mana’s effect on gravity obeyed certain laws which she explained using a blackboard. Though it was too technical that Hikaru could only get the general gist of it.

「So basically, holy mana isn’t used like a wing to glide through the air, but rather it exerts direct influence on gravity or repulsive forces, and doesn’t obey any existing laws of physics. Instead, it has its own laws.」

「Exactly. I’m glad you catch on quick… but you don’t seem that surprised.」

「Well, yeah…」

This world has magic, so that doesn’t really surprise me at all.

「There’s a similar air Spirit magic spell called Air Wall which creates an air cushion, but this one works on a completely different fundamental principles.」

「Hmm… Let’s give it a try, then.」

「Do you want me to do it?」Lavia said.「It requires mana, right?」

Hikaru barely had any mana. But he thought there wouldn’t really be a chance for Lavia to use it, unless she fell from a high place or she needed to land on water for a moment. Then again, she could probably use it to fly. However, Hikaru decided he would do the first test run. He didn’t want Lavia to do anything potentially dangerous.

「I’ll try it first with my measly amount of mana.」Hikaru said.

Since he already had their party bracelet on his right arm, Hikaru put on the wristwatch-looking device on his left arm instead.

「Hmm… Oh.」

With Mana Detection, Hikaru watched his mana flow into the Gravity Balancer. Then he felt his body become lighter, like all the hair on his body stood on end.

「This is incredible.」

「Did you float?」

「Yeah, it sure felt like it.」

「You can think of it this way: that device’s effects has a two-meter radius range.」

「Got it. Thank you. Though I hope I don’t have to use it anytime soon.」

This needs more tests, Hikaru thought.

「Hahaha. Right, I have a parting gift for you as well, Lavia.」

「For me?」

Katy returned to the lab and came back with a massive book. Lavia’s eyes brightened. Its leather binding was worn-out, the blurry characters on the front unreadable. It was about 10 by 7 inches in size.

「Are these… notes?」

「More like a codex. It was left here a long time ago by someone from the academy. It was handed over to my lab by chance, but I never found it useful.」

「What’s it about?」

「It’s a grimoire. Advanced fire-type Spirit magic is written in there. If I recall correctly, you use fire type spells, right?」

Lavia could use widely-known spells like Fire Breath, Flame Wall, and Flame Gospel. Only those who studied fire-type Spirit magic could use anything more advanced than those. Most of them were either secret techniques known only to the one who developed it, or spells that were for exclusive use only.

Not a lot of documents remained about them, and most of them were kept by royal families or research facilities.

「C-Can I really have it?」

「Of course. Just don’t expect to find terribly destructive spells. It’s just a bunch of tricky spells that are hard to use or requires much skill to cast. I even forgot about the book until now.」

「Still, I’m sure it’ll be of great help!」

Katy watched Lavia with a smile as she embraced the grimoire in her hands.

After bidding farewell to Katy, they made their way to the training area where they found Professor Mikhail and his students who just finished preparing the grounds. The professor wore a complex look when Hikaru told him they were leaving Scholarzard.

「I see. I knew you would leave one day. You probably don’t have much to learn from this academy. But you being here really encouraged everyone.」

Mikhail’s great sword students watched Hikaru with glistening eyes. They had practiced here a lot, but in the end, not one of them managed to land a hit on Hikaru. As they grew and improved, so did he. They failed to close the gap in skills; in fact, it only grew bigger. Most of them were from Jarazack.

「Professor, please allow me to fight Hikaru one last time.」

「Hey, no fair! I wanted to ask first!」

「Me too!」

「No, me!」

The first one who raised his hand was not a citizen of Jarazack, but a young man from Rumania, Roy “Yellow Tiger” Rumania. Hikaru was curious about the serious look in his eyes.

「You heard him, Hikaru. What do you say?」the professor said.

「Well, since it’s the last one… and as long as it’s only Roy, I’m in.」

「What?!」

「No fair!」

A few complained.

「Have some shame, men. It’s first come, first served. Get ready, you two.」

Hikaru left his stuff with Lavia and performed some warm-up exercises.

「I didn’t expect to see you here.」Hikaru said.「I thought you’d be with League.」

Roy, who was also doing stretches, looked at Hikaru. At first, students made fun of these warm-up exercises, but eventually did it themselves when they realized its usefulness.

「Right now, Lord League needs competent men. I still have a lot to learn.」

Hikaru was genuinely impressed. When he first met the guy, he was just a student studying the great sword—a weapon that didn’t quite suit his stature—and sulky at being treated as the black sheep of the family.

Hikaru took a look at his Soul Board.

【Soul Board】Roy Yellow Tiger Rumania

Age: 19 Rank:4

16

【Magical Power】

..【Mana】1

..【Spirit Affinity】

….【Air】1

【Physical Strength】

..【Strength】1

..【Weapon Mastery】

….【Great Sword】1

Roy had gained two ranks and one point each on Strength and Great Sword. He even had affinity to Air Spirit magic. Even the moron made considerable improvement.

I guess it’s true what they say. You gotta watch out for those you haven’t seen in a while.

Hikaru was surprised at Roy’s progress. I should be careful, then.

「Are you two ready? One, two… fight!」

The fight began.

「No way…」

Roy lay sprawled on the ground, breathing heavily. Fifteen minutes later, just when Hikaru was starting to warm up, Roy already collapsed from total exhaustion, having been on the full-power offensive.

「Roy.」Hikaru said as he stood beside him.「You shouldn’t get too cocky just because you became faster with your sword. You still lack the muscle strength. That’s why the great sword pushes you around. You must not neglect your basics. Your fighting style is based on Mikhail’s teachings to begin with, which assumes you have the stamina of someone from Jarazack. It’s not suited for a Rumanian body. In that case, you should try to adapt your body to it, make the adjustments yourself.」

「Ugh…」

「But I guess the Spirit magic was interesting.」

Hikaru pointed out his affinity to Spirit magic before which he stubbornly denied. But he learned it and added it to his arsenal. At the last stages of the fight, Roy’s eyes still burned despite being exhausted. Hikaru expected him to do something. That’s when Roy fired an air bullet at him.

「You dodged it easily!」Roy shouted.

The other students nodded. Hikaru already knew he could use Spirit magic, and with his Mana Detection, he saw Roy’s mana expanding. Dodging the spell was easy.

「Don’t worry. Normally, the enemy wouldn’t notice if you recited the spell silently.」

「Is that supposed to make me feel better?!」Roy exclaimed, teary-eyed.

Hikaru felt a little bad. Now that I think about it, nothing’s happened lately that could boost his confidence. He might break down at this rate, he thought.

「How about testing your abilities in some other place?」

「What…?」

「You registered with the Adventurers Guild, right? You can take requests. Oh, there’s the king selection tournament in Einbeast, a martial arts tournament to choose their next ruler. Strong people from all over the country gather in that event.」

「A martial arts tournament…」

「I’m not saying you should go there. I’m just suggesting you join similar tournaments.」

「Professor!」Slowly, Roy got up and turned to face Mikhail.

「That sounds quite interesting.」the professor said.「A field trip, huh…」

「No, no, no.」Hikaru said.「That’s more than just a field trip. It’s a different country. Going there won’t be easy. Besides, you have classes here, don’t you?」

「Practical training is a necessity in every field.」

「Don’t say I didn’t stop you.」

Somehow, Mikhail and Roy’s eyes looked serious, even the other students. I doubt they’ll actually all go to Einbeast… I sure hope so. Hikaru felt worried.

And so Hikaru bade farewell to the academy. Their first stop was the kingdom of Ponsonia. He wanted to see how the nation was doing after the civil war.

Hikaru, however, received an unexpected intel.