Chapter 368, A Forced Cooperation

“By the way, Asley, how well are things going on over there?”

 

Hearing Warren’s question, I closed the register book that listed the names of all class attendees.

We’re in the head professor’s office — my office.
Warren often comes here to report current events and ask me about class contents.

And this time, the ‘over there’ he just mentioned referred to the Scarley Devil Wetlands.
Since our first run there, it has become a place frequented by the higher-up members of the Resistance as well.

 

“Everyone’s leveling up at a good pace, I would say.
With how many mages there are, they can easily set up the fixed position type Spell Circles to boost their experience points.
I’ve been told that the number of monsters they could kill was quite a bit higher whenever Jeanne and Hornel participated, too.
Miss Irene is overseeing things over there most of the time, which is what enables me to stay and work on things here.”

“Oh-ho… so Miss Irene has already mastered the split invocation of All Up?”

“Yes, she has.
It’s difficult, but it does help quite immensely in raising everyone’s levels.
Speaking of which, you could have also learned it if you wanted to, don’t you think?”

“No, I’m not quite as proficient as Miss Irene yet.
For All Up specifically, the most I can do is still one cast at a time.”

 

Warren’s laughing to downplay his skill now, but as far as the magic classroom’s attendees are concerned, he’s pretty much the closest to Irene when it comes to Circle drawing speed.
Hell, if his level were to catch up with Irene’s, he might even be able to cast some spells faster than her.

I’ll have to stay on top of my game, seeing that the biggest thing keeping me the fastest-drawing guy is the sheer difference in numerical levels.

 

“And how is your research coming along, Warren?”

“What research?”

“You know what I’m asking about.”

“Hehehe, of course.
It is but a manifestation of kindness to want to hold a conversation with a friend for as long as possible.”

 

Okay, this dude’s getting dramatic all of a sudden… and the look his face is making is creepy as hell.

Warren’s research in question is about combat techniques that don’t rely on using the Limit Breakthrough.
It’s something I also want to see succeed — because it’s not something I can research anymore, and developing new techniques that aren’t tied to brute force would benefit everyone.

It does come with its own dangers, of course, which is why Warren is doing it by himself.

And since he’s supposed to be quite busy, him coming to see me in my office must mean he has found out something important.

I’ve met him often enough to understand that, whether or not I like it.

 

“Let’s just say…”

“Mm-hm?”

“I have come to one point of understanding.”

“Which is…?”

“During my several trips to the Scarlet Devil Wetlands, I have observed the fighting of various members of Team Silver, the mages, and Lylia.
And I must say… Lylia’s movements were particularly interesting.”

“Because she possesses strength that’s not tied to numerical levels.”

 

Warren nodded, then looked up at the ceiling as if to recall Lylia’s movements.

 

“Many of us in the current era have indeed developed excellent combat skills, but due to humanity’s… unusually stagnant history, that doesn’t mean the people of the past were primitive on this front either, so to speak.
Surely you have experienced that yourself, Asley.”

“Yes, I have.
The arcane energy manipulation techniques used by the Hero, Giorno, were quite eye-catching — and opened my eyes to so many developments.
That may be similar to what you’ve seen from Lylia.”

“Perhaps… and after considering Lylia’s movements and anecdotes of Giorno’s fighting, I have come up with a technique of my own.
Would you like to take a look?”

 

Accepting Warren’s invitation, I stood up from my seat and walked to him.

 

“Do we need to go somewhere more open?”

“No, It’s nothing but some simple movements for now.”

“So… this is a technique for hand-to-hand combat, then?”

 

Warren cracked a grin.
Fair enough — when considering Lylia and Giorno’s fighting styles, it’s pretty much completely close combat.

 

“I’ll be striking your left shoulder with the heel of my right palm.
Are you all right with that?”

“Yes.”

 

He’s even telling me where he’d be hitting — now that’s considerate.

I nodded, raised my left hand slightly, and waited for Warren to attack.

And then Warren’s palm strike just… slipped past my hand.

 

“Whoa–!?”

“Aww, you caught it.
Too bad.”

 

I managed to grab Warren’s right hand at the very last moment, but that’s not important right now.
Considering the movements of his shoulders and muscles, the spot he said he would be striking, and also his base abilities… I was WAY too slow to react to that.
Or, rather, Warren’s palm strike was much faster than it should have been.

And for some reason, Warren is drenched in sweat.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this before.

 

“…What did you just do?”

“Manipulation of arcane energy direction… Magic Direction for short should suffice.”

“Uh-huh…”

“Surely you know that if you concentrate arcane energy in your hands and clench your fists, their offensive and defensive power will increase?”

“Yes, I know… Thanks to the training I received from Tūs, that is.”

“Master Tūs has also taught it to the Royal Capital Magic Guardians, and now it is used to improve the abilities of many mages.
I myself have learned it from Miss Irene, who in turn has trained under Master Tūs at some point.”

 

Infusing one’s fist, then pivoting foot, and then weapon with arcane energy — doing that will increase the attack’s power.

Since Warren brought that up, does that mean he’s got more developments for this thing in particular?

 

“Arcane energy flows in a certain way through one’s body — a consistent, gentle stream like the second hand of a clock.
When one enters a combat situation, though, that changes.”

“The concentrated arcane energy puts one’s body in a state of increased tension, causing the flow to stop.”

“That’s right.
But the arcane energy in and around the body is very much still there.
As long as one doesn’t consume all of it, of course.”

 

True… all humans — warriors, mages, or non-combatants — need at least a tiny bit of MP in their system to live, because it’s pretty much their mental energy.

 

“And if you stop the flow of that arcane energy inside you, then do a certain thing to it, you can achieve the effects of the Magic Direction technique that I just did.”

“What certain thing?”

“It’s nothing complicated, really — just trace all the subtle movements of the human body and create additional propulsive force.”

“……Uh, so you basically augment everything — nerves, muscles, even blood flow — with arcane energy?”

“Wonderful.
You catch on so quickly.”

 

The Black Emperor cracked another ear-to-ear smile… while still drenched in sweat.

And I’m standing here trying unsuccessfully to seem not surprised as all hell.

Honestly, this kind of subtle method is WAY beyond being called arcane energy manipulation.
Even the mere act of clenching a single fist involves the movements of so many other parts of the body.
And just look at Warren — just a palm strike got him sweating like a waterfall.
Even a genius like him had to exert so much effort.

But then…

 

“Perhaps this was what Giorno was doing whenever he was in battle.
And Lylia as well, though she had to exert quite a lot of effort to do so.”

 

Once again, I’m reminded of how much of a genius Giorno was.
Knowing how much of a carefree jokester he was on the outside, I never thought he has been doing something so complicated.
Well, I mean, we in fact don’t know if he actually did it — Warren just made an assumption based on what I told him about Giorno and what he saw of Lylia’s fighting style.
Still, coming up with this technique itself means he’s got a ton of talent in his own right.

 

“So, Asley, I would like you to master this technique if you can, in addition to Professor Minerva’s technique, the Hide Spot.”

“Huh? Why don’t we just try to teach it to everyone?”

“It’s not so simple, I’m afraid.
Even the Hide Spot requires not only a high level of arcane energy control, but also close combat skills on the level of Sir Dallas.
It is an extremely difficult magitek.
I reckon that is why Professor Minerva chose you, Asley.”

“But that’s not…”

“…AND the Magic Direction is so complicated that you could even consider it THE ultimate arcane energy manipulation technique.
In addition to managing all of its moving parts, one needs a body strong enough to keep up.
Lylia being required to exert a lot of effort to carry it out is most likely due to her physical limitations.”

 

Aha, so that’s why Warren was sweating like crazy.
His body couldn’t keep up, producing sweat as a distress signal of sorts.
My body, on the other hand, is probably adequate…

 

“…So as far as the Resistance is concerned, you are the only one who has a chance at making this magitek usable, Asley.
For the others to be able to use it, it would be more efficient for them to raise their levels first.”

 

…Fair enough.
And outside the Resistance, Tūs may be able to learn it.
Hmm… maybe I’ll contact him about this later.

 

“Man… so many things I need to get done…”

“And did I not say that we will offer you the cooperation you may need?”

 

Warren cracked a faint smile… that made him look even more villainous than the Devil King.

I let out a deep sigh and gave an unenthusiastic reply.