The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

…What?

“Seh… hah… seh.. hah…!!”

…What?

“Ngh… Rise, A-rise, Sharp Wind Cross! Chappie! Be careful – they’re behind you!”

What in the blazes?!

“F-father! Mother!! A little help here?!”

What the hell is up with this Karam Mountain Range?!

“Master! Four Assault Flybees coming from the right!”

“Rise! Earth Blast!”

“Damn it – rise, Volcano Rain!”

Here’s the thing: the ranks of the monsters here averaged at a whopping A.

And no matter how many of them we’d killed, more popped up almost just as quickly. We hadn’t gotten even a second of rest – almost makes me think that all of them, despite their differences in archetypes, had joined forces just to get us.

Pochi’s speed would have allowed us to stay away a reasonable distance from them, if not for Chappie being here as well.

And even if we were able to outrun them, the poor footing here meant that we were still vulnerable to airborne monsters.

When we had started up the Karam Mountain Range, the first thirty minutes were perfectly quiet.

However, once the chasing and running started, it was impossible to turn back.

The staggering number of monsters behind us reminded me of the Blazing Dragons last year… hell, this here was probably a larger army than the one back then.

Additionally, because of the sheer variety in their archetypes, it was also extremely difficult to counter them.

“Master! I’ve got a good idea!”

“Ooh, what is it, Shiro?!”

“In the stories I’ve read, there’s that one thing that’d happen most of the time!”

“And what’s that?!”

“In times of trouble, your latent powers will awaken! Now, Master! It’s time to release all that power you never knew you had – ouch! What are you doing?!”

Damn it, I think I’ve actually been told to do something like that before.

But now might be a good opportunity to try it out…

“All right, all right! I’ll see what I can do!”

“What?! You actually have it, sir?!”

Even Pochi herself sounded as if she’d never believed it.

Seriously… if she didn’t actually think it’d work out, then she never should have said it.

I stood up on Pochi’s back, and placed my hand on Bright’s shoulder as he looked up at me.

“Listen well, Master Bright! You have to grab on to Shiro so tightly that you’d rip her fur, otherwise you’ll be thrown off!”

“Yes!”

After saying what I needed to, I leaped, with my staff ready, into the swarm of monsters behind me.

“What the-?! Have you gone insane, father?!”

“He may be a fool, but he is ALWAYS sane!”

Pochi covered up for me… in a not-so-covering way.

If her voice hadn’t sounded actually trusting, I would’ve gotten angry.

All these monsters coming at me just seem so… slow. It’s all right – I’ve become much stronger than before. I’ll be fine.

Just gotta remember the sensation from back then…

Back when I’d encountered the Havenly Beast Shi’shichou. When I’d released the arcane energy from my body before being crushed under the intense wind pressure.

Back when I’d confronted one of the Six Archmages, Sayla the Frostgazer – I’d let the arcane energy in my body run amok.

That technique Giorno used – with which he let his arcane energy flow, magically enhancing every single one of his movements.

My MP pool is a whopping 180,000 now; I can definitely do it.

That arcane energy wall that I’d used to try and block EXP from entering my body… I should be able to do it reliably now-

“DAHHHHHHHHH!!”

I directed a high concentration of arcane energy into myself, so as to unlock the power deep within.

“Ngh… gh… c’mon!!”

My movements are still pretty clumsy, but I’ve managed to maintain the state… wait, for real?!

“Master?!”

“Incredible! Father is…?!”

“He… he’s flying…?!”

The release is draining so much arcane energy! So much that I’m levitating!

But again, the drain absurdly fast – it’ll run out real soon. I’ve got to concentrate my mind, and suppress the excessive release of energy… all right, looking good.

Wait… could this be…? No, now is no time to have second thoughts!

“Holy World! Double Dragon! Fullspark Rain!”

I knew it!

“What a rapid succession of large-scale spells! But you didn’t draw any circle – so how, sir?!”

“I’ll tell you later! And now! Hell Stamp! Icicle Shot!”

“Amazing…! The spells are melting through the monsters like butter…!”

That’s right – I was firing off large-scale spells as I’d wished, with no regards to the monsters’ characteristics and archetypes.

And that’s because the arcane energy consumption of those spells isn’t an issue anymore; it’s the maintaining of this empowered state that’s consuming.

In terms of time, I’ll be able to hold it for about three minutes.

Pochi, Bright, and Chappie had been zigzagging around, but now they ran up to join me; once I was done wiping out the last of the monsters behind them, I fell to my knees right under Pochi’s nose.

“Woohoo! Nice work back there, Master!”

“Ugh… I’m exhausted… and feel like throwing up… can’t take it anymore…!”

“Now hold it right there! If you throw up on me, I’ll rip your nails and hair to shreds, sir!”

I do appreciate Pochi’s kindness in only choosing the painless parts, but I had not the energy to laugh back at her now.

Then I fell flat on my back… and vomited right then and there in part thanks to the putrid smell of the monsters’ corpses around us.

It wasn’t as if I had gotten sick; this was a common side effect of the arcane energy exhaustion I’d just experienced. That, or the human body’s defense mechanism.

Pochi and Bright proceeded to rub my back until I started to get better.

Chappie also continued to fan me quietly with his wings.

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

Afterward, Pochi let me lie on her back as we proceeded up the mountain; we found a nice little cave just before reaching the summit, and decided to camp here for the day.

We made a campfire, and Pochi left to confirm the safety of the surrounding area; I had recovered by the time she was back… at which point she proceeded to hound me for answers.

“Explain yourself, sir!”

“Nah, it’s a drag… and your face is way too close, doggo.”

“Now, don’t you look away, Master.”

Did you not hear me? Your face is way too close, damn it!

In addition to Pochi, Bright was naturally interested as well, despite him never stating as such.

Chappie is still fanning me. I can see the fatigue on his face – he must be really tired by now.

I’m all right now, though… But it’s nice and cool here thanks to him, so I appreciate that.

Despite me trying to turn away from Pochi, her eyes were fixed right on my face-

“When are we having dinner, sir?!”

THAT’s what she wanted to know?

“That’s not it, Shiro.”

Hmm, he’s gotten to the point where he can calmly point out Pochi’s absurdity now.

It’s quite fun, seeing my student develop his character like this.

“Oh, that’s right”

Pochi uttered as if she had actually forgotten, tapping the back of her head and sticking out her tongue.

“Come on, explain it in a language we understand, Master!”

I scratched my head then started talking, as if compelled to by the stares of those two,

“I temporarily pulled out the arcane energy limiter – like, plop.”

“”Arcane energy limiter?””

Seeing them both tilt their heads in the same direction at the same time, I almost let out a chuckle.

Pochi would get angry if I did, of course, so I held myself back – doesn’t change the fact that it’s funny, though.

“Arcane energy is usually contained within our bodies, you see, and only comes out when we use magic spells or special technique.”

“I can sometimes feel a strong concentration of arcane energy in the air, though – is that the exception, sir?”

“It’s a release of energy that happens to all living things – an everyday occurrence. The stronger the arcane energy an individual has, the more excess energy they’ll release.”

The two nodded.

“And what I did was expand that ‘leak’ from which arcane energy is usually released in small portions, letting it out all at once. It’s hard to say for sure myself, but that was quite a lot, wasn’t it?”

I explained to Pochi, then turned to ask Bright,

“Yes, Instructor – that was the first time I’ve ever felt so much arcane energy in one place.”

“And that was why I exhausted my arcane energy so quickly.”

“…I see.”

Bright cast his eyes slightly down, looking satisfied with the answer he had gotten; to his side, Pochi proceeded to ask me another thing – something she must have been curious about.

“And how were you able to use magic without drawing a Circle, sir?”

Yeah, of course she’d want to know that.

“Hmm… As much as I’d like to explain it, it’s quite hard to put into words, you see? All I can say now is that, given the right circumstances, I can just do it.”

“Oh, I see, I see,”

Pochi muttered; I couldn’t tell whether or not she’d seen through my lie.

Well, she seemed to have seen through my reason for saying that, at least, so that’s fine by me.

To be honest, I still haven’t quite figured out how the whole thing worked, either.

But that state of perpetual arcane energy release was probably a simple Swift Magic-enabled space.

…Which lets one invoke the spell circles in their head without limitations – that’s the most likely explanation.

The truth is that I’d planned to use the resulting arcane energy shockwaves to take out the monsters, but my body just… did its own thing.

In that state, my body just knew what to do.

Still… that technique was quite difficult to use properly.

The best adjustments I’d managed gave me three minutes. And that consumed more than 180,000 MP, all at once. Using Giving Magic on me wouldn’t work, either, so I don’t see this release technique being something I could use very often.

I reckon it’d be more efficient to improve my Deca Spell, in fact.

I’ll probably not use the release unless the situation absolutely calls for it – and I sure as hell hope that situation doesn’t ever come.

…While I pondered over things, I received another Telepathic Call.

[“Is something the matter, Lady June?”]

[“H-hello, Sir Poer! Can you hear me?!”]

She seems a bit flustered… whatever could be going on?

[“Apologies for the late notice! I had my information slightly wrong last night – when crossing the Karam Mountain Range, you ought to go through the cave at the foot of the mountain. The surface is infested with a great variety of monsters, you see. Please, don’t let my brother Bright cross paths with them.”]

I wish I’d known that way sooner, milady.

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