The Pseudo-Kunoichi from Another World (Part 8): Power Leveling (2)

We were now at the entrance of a forest about an hour west from town, simply named as the “West Forest”.

“There are lots of insect-type and beast-type monsters here,” Curie says, nervous as she relays the information she gathered from town. “The Blade Mantises and Horned Wolves we’re hunting will be everywhere once we get a little further in.

“It seems that their sudden population boom was because their top predator, ‘Arachne’, was subjugated by a party of B-rank adventurers about six months ago…”

“I see,” I said. “So that’s why the guild is paying for their body parts, to buy the food chain time to recover?”

“The ‘food chain’…?” Nellie repeated.

Ah, so there’s no such concept in this world yet. “Well,” I said, “the food chain is a cycle where the animals eat plants, a stronger animal eats that animal, and eventually that strong animal dies and becomes nutrients for the soil, which helps new plants bloom and grow.”

“This is my first time hearing something like that, but it sure does make a lot of sense,” Curie said.

“Mistre—Lady Shino is so knowledgeable. As expected from someone from a different wor… continent.”

Nellie… you almost blew my secret. How was I going to change the subject?

“Right, let’s head in now…” I said. “Are the both you all geared up?”

“Yes!” Curie said.

“I’m ready, Lady Shino,” Nellie said.

Nellie is equipped with [Silk Sleeveless Shinobi Armor] and a [Shinoichi-style Yamagi Knife].

Curie has her own [Silver Rod] and the [New Year’s Shrine Maiden’s Clothes] she’s borrowing from me.

And after changing back to the Kunoichi class again, I am properly geared in my [Misty Shinobi Armor], [Black Tortoise Shell of the Warrior Lady], [Compression Waist Bag], [Dragonskin Gauntlet], [Gale Leg Guards], and [Warding Medicine Box]. My weapons are two swords, [Iwakiri Kodachi] and [Namiki Kodachi]

“Check your skills…” I say. “Ah, Nellie, do you have any skills?”

“There’s no need to worry because [Resist Pain] is the only skill a level 1 basic slave like myself has,” Nellie replied.

“[Resist Pain]… A skill for withstanding pain? Does it improve your defense?”

“No, it just makes injuries hurt less…” Nellie muttered.

How incredibly specific… is it for the sake of punishing slaves?

“So, what other skills did you learn as a slave?”

“Well, [Anti-Butt] provides better protection against whip attacks,” Nellie said. “[Resist Words]” helps withstand verbal abuse. At the highest levels, I can learn [Transform Pain] which turns damage into pleasure even if it’s lethal!”

“Right, let’s change classes as soon as possible!” I said.

Ugh, what a tragic existence Nellie has led so far…

“Is it okay for me to start casting spells and buff us?” Curie asked while I was secretly crying over Nellie’s horror show of a skill tree.

“Yes, go ahead,” I said. “Oh yeah, since this time we’ll be collecting a lot of materials, both you of take one of these,” I said as I give them cotton bags, about the size of a small shopping bag back in Japan.

“Is this…?” Curie asked.

“It’s the same as Shino’s bag,” Nellie said.

“Yeah, this is an inventory expa… ah, [Compressed Waist Bag],” I say. “They’re enchanted to hold up to 30 unique materials, at stacks of up to 99 each, regardless of their physical size and weight.

“This is…!” Curie whispered. “When people asked if they were hallucinating, was this how you were pulling things out of thin air?”

“To think something like this exists…” Nellie muttered.

In addition to their base storage, thanks to my [Material Storage Charm], we could put things in and out of my account’s shared storage space, so we could fit virtually anything and not feel weighed down.

“Okay, I’m casting my skills now,” I said.

“Roger!” Curie and Nellie say.

“Let’s go meet the monsters… [Conceal].”

Unlike [Stealth], [Conceal] does not completely hide the users from view; however, it is effective for up to 6 people including the caster, and the effect time is long. Back in the game, this sort of trade-off was called “Balancing”.

“Let’s take them by surprise…”

“Okay.” “Understood.”

It takes us about two hours to go into the monster-infested sections of the forest, their increasingly loud noises an obvious sign that we were going the right way.

“Looks like we’re here…” I whispered. “Everyone ready?”

“Yes, yes…” “I’m ready…!”

I looked at Curie and Nellie, found them looking extremely nervous. Well, I suppose no matter how much they believe me when I say “I won’t let anything lay a finger on you.”, fear is just too instinctive of an emotion.

“And with 90-minute up-time per dose… yes, all of us should take this,” I mutter as I handed them a stat-boosting pill each, a combo drug with three effects.

“90 minutes?” Curie whispers, staring at the pills in her hand. “What are these?”

“Gulp, gulp, gulp…”

“That was fast, Nellie,” I say.

“It’s okay,” Nellie says, “whether it was poison or a roofie… fu… fufufu…”

No, they were not those kinds of drugs.

“[Acceleration], [Hardening], [Anti-Monster]… drugs that double SPD, VIT, and MID for 90 minutes. Take it quickly because there are no side effects.”

“Hah, yes…” Curie mutters. “Gulp…”

“Did you drink it?” I asked. “Then I’m changing my skill set now,” I said, switching from [Open World] to [Power Leveling].

[Evasive Maneuvers] [Decoy] [Provoke] [Absolute Defense] [Shadow Bind / Break] [Life-steal Blade]

[Multi-Barrier] [Sword Parry] [Shuriken Parry] [Dual Sword Style] [Steel-rending Double Slash] [Triple Strike]

Twelve skills have been set thanks to the [Warding Medicine Box], which adds two extra to the normal max of 10.

“Right! Let’s start Operation ‘Power Level’! [Multi-Barrier]!”

As I shouted the skill’s name, [Conceal] broke, shields formed over the others, and gave them the same protection as my [Absolute Defense].

Suddenly, monster growls fill the air around us; however, nothing is showing up. Is it because I am too high level?

“Well then… let’s try this out,” I said as I opened my inventory and took out the food item at the bottom.

It was one of the many possible “Failure” results from cooking: “Monster Bait”.

“Now, come and get it!”

At first glance, it looks like I’d just spilled a bag of dog food all over the forest floor. Then:

“Graaaaaaahhh….!”

A dozen or so Horned Wolves burst out and surround us.

“Hiiii!” Curie squeals. “Isn’t this too much to start with?

“It’s alright…” Nellie says. “Look closely. Thanks to Lady Shino’s medicine, this isn’t impossible for us.”

Surprisingly, level 1 Nellie is more calm and composed compared to Curie, who looks just about ready to lose it.

“Yes, [Acceleration] not only makes movements faster but heightens your senses as well…” I said. “Our shield can prevent up to 3 physical attacks, so look around you and watch carefully… [Shadow Bind/Break]!”

I toss shuriken into the shadows of 4 shadow wolves about to pounce on us.

“Gyaunnn…?!”

The shurikens dance within their shadows and restrict all of their movements.

This is the high-rank skill [Shadow Restraint] that I registered in the guild yesterday. Using it on multiple enemies at once costs barely any MP, it has plenty of utility, and since its activation rate is so high, it’s a key skill for power leveling.

And since I have an infinite MP cheat active, nothing is stopping me from using it as much as I want.

“Go all-out on the two that have stopped moving!”

“Yes!” “Roger!”

Since I’m power leveling two people, I don’t step in to help as the experience share would be abysmal.

Leveling up in this world means defeating something that can handle or has magic power, such as monsters, demons, other humanoid races, etc. Their “soul power” ends up absorbed by the one that deals the killing blow.

This Horned Wolf seems to be instinctively using magic to amplify its physical abilities, even if it doesn’t seem like it can use it at all at a glance. With more mundane creatures like slaughtering a cow or hunting a normal boar, there’s no “soul power” to be gained whatsoever.

Within a party, at least half of the soul power is spread to the rest of the team regardless of who dealt the final blow. Even still, healers without many offensive options like Curie tend to grow more slowly within their parties.

So it was that this was the most optimal strategy for our circumstances, crafted after Nellie explained the mechanics to me last night.

“Gyawan…!”

“This [Shinoichi Knife] is amazing!” Nellie cries as she slashes through the wolves. “Even C-rank monsters can be sliced apart like paper!”

“Ah, ah… please stop moving!” Curie stammers as she stabs them with the pointed end of her silver rod.

Meanwhile, I continue paralyzing the wolves one after the other with [Shadow Bind/Break]. Sometimes, the effects wear off sooner than I’d like it to, but then I just killed them myself before harm could come to the others.

In the end, the pack of Horned Wolves was annihilated within 15 minutes. The breakdown was 12 for Nellie and Curie and 5 for me, making 17 in total.

“We ended up getting three times the requested amount, Lady Shino…” Nellie said.

“There’s never such a thing as ‘too much’,” I said. “So, let’s start collecting!”

Nellie and I use knives to slice off their horns while I ordered Curie to keep watch. “Speaking of which, I think you both should have leveled up some, right?” I ask as we work.

“Yes!” they said before they reported that Curie had gone up 2 levels and was now level 15, while Nellie had shot up to level 6.

“Congratulations!” I said. “Since you’ve leveled up, can you review your skill trees now?”

“I learned <Novice Projectile Light Magic>, which gives me [Holy Light] and [Light Bullet],” Curie said. “With these, I can finally join the offense!”

“That’s great! Our tactical options are expanding… but isn’t your specialty healing?”

“Uh, um… yes, yes of course!”

I was pretty sure Curie wanted to start doing some target practice as soon as possible, though.

“I… I learned two skills, [Resist Word] and [Resist Spanking]. It’s fine, I have more HP now, too…”

She is after all still just a slave… ah, what a tragedy.

“Well, now that we’ve collected all their horns, now we need to search for a Blade Mantis nest and…” I trailed off.

“What’s going on?” Nellie asked. “Lady Shino?””

“Heh, we didn’t even have to look,” I said. “They’re coming right for us.”

Kss-kss-kss…

Kss-kss-kss… Kss-kss-kss…

Kss-kss-kss! Kss-kss-kss! Kss-kss-kss!

Human-sized mantises with giant sickles for claws broke through the bushes behind us.

“Hiiii…!” Curie squealed. “Groo-oss! They’re so groo-oss, Ms. Shino!”

“Gigi Gigi Gigi…” “Gigi Gigi Gigi!” “Gigi! Gigi! Gigi!”

“Hmm,it seems like there’s about 40 of them,” I said. “That’s strange… I wonder if they were attracted to smell of Horned Wolf blood.”

“I’m sorry, but this is just too much for me!” Curie squealed.

“When the time comes, I’ll be Lady Shino’s shield!”

“Curie, don’t panic,” I said. “Nellie doesn’t say such stupid things. [Multi-Barrier]!” I said, refreshing our defenses. “Nellie, who do you think I am? Take a close look, even if it is a waste of experience points.”

And so I jumped into the swarm

Instead of [Life-steal Slash], I cried “[Counterattack] [Decoy], [Provoke], [Sword Parry], [Shuriken Parry], [Shadow Bind/Break]!”

Most of the mantises converge on myself thanks to the bait earlier and [Provoke], I paralyze some with [Shadow Bind/Break] and turn them into walls around us. If they got past them, all my parry skills would deflect their attacks, [Counterattack] will stagger them, then [Steel-rending Double Slash] slices them into pieces while they’re defenseless.

In the end, not a single one got past me.

“I’m sorry, Lady Shino…” Nellie said. “I forgot all about your abilities.”

“Yes, how do I even begin to describe this?” Curie said. “I don’t have the words.”

I keep silently making a hill of corpses of the Blade Mantises. I’m only this good because of the ultimate cheat skill, but I still don’t feel bad about this one-sided slaughter. Maybe my personality was adjusting into my new reality as an actual Shinobi efficiently dispatching her enemies without a second thought, than someone who was just playing the part for stage shows.

Less than 10 minutes later, all 40 Blade Mantises were dead. Curie was frozen in shock and disgust at the carnage, as expected, but Nellie looked quite flustered.

“Ugh… urp…” Curie moaned.

“Lady Shino is so amazing…” Nellie muttered.

I sensed something watching us on the side, that Nellie and Curie weren’t aware of yet. Something very different from what I just slaughtered…

“The two of you… don’t move just yet,” I said.

I sensed mortal danger behind me and immediately jumped away.

Crunch!

A moment later, the tree beside me slowly slid off its trunk, despite being at least 30 centimeters in diameter.

“There!” I cried.

Based on the angle and the direction of the slash, I threw a shuriken where I thought my attacker was. Then I heard a “Clang!” and my shuriken bounced off and fell to the ground; it sounded like it didn’t even hit home.

My new foe stepped forward, much larger than others before it; it was about 5 meters long, its shell seemingly made of metal and gleaming like polished steel.

“Death Mantis…” Curie whispered, stunned.

This was a special evolution of the Blade Mantis, a B-class monster that was just shy of A-class.

I assessed our situation: we were here to gather Blade Mantis sickles, and now a Death Mantis’, too. Since the carnage earlier, I had buried warding stones to create a safe zone, preventing monsters from smelling the blood while we were working, so there’s no risk of more trouble coming in.

And it may be a B-rank monster, but it was no match for me using [Steel-rending Double Slash] twice on it.

“… Wasn’t it a B-class monster?” Curie asked. “Usually, a monster that usually takes a platoon of Royal Knights to take down? How did it go down so easily…?”

“No matter how strong it is, it’s still just a B-class monster, level 30 or less,” I said. “There’s no reason for you or me to have worried about it.”

“… Is Ms. Shino’s level truly that high?” Curie asked.

“I can’t elaborate much, but you have realized I have six skills at the same time, right?” I asked.

“… Yes!” Curie said. “But that means you’re at least level 50… the same as the heroes of legend?”

“Yes, yes, but we’ll never get out of this forest before sundown unless finish our work~ So, hurry up, we’ve got materials to gather!”

Three female adventurers loitering in a place like this is just asking for trouble if you ask me.

It took some time to collect all the materials and tally it all up with the help of my guild card.

Battle Results:

• 17 pieces of Horned Wolf horns
• 44 pairs of Blade Mantis sickles
• 1 pair of Death Mantis sickles
• 1 Death Mantis Magic Gem

In case you’re wondering, a “Magic Gem” is a substance that is sometimes refined in the body of a powerful demon beast, like a supercharged magic battery. It’s a key component of magical tools, which makes them high in demand and fetch a handsome price.

As for levels, Nellie ended at 15 as planned and Curie at 17. The mantises did not touch them nor did they slay any, but half of the soul power from 40 of them a B-class monster was significant still. Unsurprisingly, I barely got anything from it myself.

As for new skills, Nellie learned [Stone Skin] and [Anti-Butte]. She looked quite proud that she finally learned a useful skill.

“Right, now let’s get back to town…” I said. “Huddle up and [Conceal]…”

Effectively invisible to monsters, we headed out of the West Forest.

---

It was dark when we finally got back to town but we headed straight to the guild and reported our success at the quest counter.

“Oh, that was the quest you took on this morning,” the clerk said. “Have you already completed it?”

“Yeah, we just happened to run into groups of our targets in a row, lucky us,” I said before I started handing over the materials.

A ruckus went up around us as I handed five hemp sacks to the counter, the same size you’d usually see Santa Claus carrying over his shoulder. I’d bought them from a store outside and filled them with the materials on the way here, so I wouldn’t need to pull them directly out of my inventory; much as it would have been very convenient, I didn’t want other adventurers getting too curious about how I was doing so.

“Oh, please wait…” the clerk says, overwhelmed.

I felt sorry for bringing her such a massive job so late at night, so I said, “I’ll be waiting in the dining hall, so please relax.” and left with Nellie and Curie.

“Do you want to eat while we wait?” I asked. “No alcohol, though.”

“Well, I’m still shocked I made it back in one piece after that adventure, so… let’s celebrate,” Curie said. “And also because of Nellie’s class change soon.”

“…Thank you,” Nellie said.

As I tried to order a meal fit for the occasion, I heard a boisterous laugh from the side. “You ladies seem to have struck gold!” said a brown-haired warrior with a gruff voice. “Sacks full of Mantis and Wolf materials. How’d you get them?”

“Why do you… we hunted at their usual territory,” Curie answered.

“Hey, don’t kid around,” the warrior said. “You mean to say you defeated all those C-class monsters within a day? It’s just not possible. Be honest with me: you found it in a monster graveyard somewhere, didn’t you?”

The warrior confidently puts his hands on my and Curie’s shoulders.

“It’s inappropriate to touch the shoulders of young ladies like this, you know…” I said coolly. “Why don’t you go talk a walk outside and cool your head?”

(Apparently, when I get angry, I get dramatic.)

“Y-you bitch, who do you think I am?” the warrior snapped. “I’m a B-rank adventurer…”

Thunk.

I stabbed a table knife into the warrior’s shadow.

“W-wait, what? I can’t move… oi, what’d you do to me?”

“Ah, my apologies, but you didn’t take my offer to take a walk outside and acted quite rudely beside…” I said.

If [Shadow Bind/Break] is used on a solo target, the effect time dramatically increases. By my estimate, he’ll be stuck like this for about two hours.

“Ms. Shino Kagura, the assessment is done!” the guild clerk called out. “… Um, what happened to that man?”

“Oh, it looks like I bound him too tightly,” I lied. “I can’t do anything for him, I’m afraid…”

“… Is that so? I hope he’ll be alright. Well then, let’s discuss your reward. This way, please.”

“Of course,” I said as we stopped eating and returned to the quest counter.

“Now, let me recap your results based on the quest,” the clerk said, pulling up her menu.

• 17 pieces of Horned Wolf horns
• 44 pairs of Blade Mantis sickles

“The quest was for 5 pieces of Horned Wolf horns and 5 pairs of Blade Mantis sickles, so we will give you 17 gold pieces plus additional rewards. Since all three of you have also gone up in guild rank, please hand over your guild cards.”

I collect our cards and hand them over to the clerk.

“Eeeeeeeee, 17 gold coins!” Curie squeals. “Oh, Ms. Shino!”

I can understand her excitement. If you compared monetary value with Japan using meals, it is about 100 yen per kran.¹ Since a gold coin is 10,000 kran, that amounts to about 1 million yen, so our reward is worth 17 million yen.

“Ms. Shino and Ms. Curie’s guild ranks are now C, while Ms. Nellie’s in now D,” the clerk said. “Ms. Shino, going up to C rank in just two days…. just whatever are you up to? Please be careful “

“Thank you for your concern, I’ll be careful…” I said. “Oh, I didn’t hear your name. In case I need your help in the future, may I ask?” I said, smiling.

“Ah, certainly! It’s um… Michaela,” the clerk said, turning bright red.

“Lady Shino…” Nellie said, looking uncomfortable. “You really should be more aware of the power of your smile.”

---

We discussed how we were going to split the reward as we returned to our food. (The man from before was moved to a corner of the dining hall, like a statue.)

“Is it really okay for you not to get a share, Ms. Shino?” Curie said. “You did most of the work, after all…”

“Right?” Nellie said. “Rather than us helping you level, you leveled us up all by yourself.”

“But I got the Death Mantis sickles and magic gem all to myself,” I said. “If I sell it for gold, I could get about 3 coins from it, right?”

Ultimately, Nellie and Curie convinced me to take a share, giving me 6 gold coins each, 5 more coins from the bonus, the Death Mantis’ sickles, and the magic gem.

After that, we enjoyed the rest of our meal, said our goodbyes, and returned to our respective inns.

Also, since Nellie is no longer a slave, I am moving from the suite to a normal room tonight. For our bath, I enjoyed the large communal baths and the open-air section together with Nellie. With my body warmed up and relaxed, I sneaked into bed and thought of Nellie’s class change tomorrow.

---

1. Kran is the currency of “Sengoku Online”, the MMO that Shino played and got her skills from.

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