Jack of All Trades, Party of None

(Calm down, this is a mock battle. This is the place to test whether the tactics I devised for one-on-one combat can work against Mr. Warren.)

I told myself this purpose to steady my agitated heart.

"――【Seal Mitigation: Eighth Layer (Restoration Octuple)】"

Then, I further enhanced my physical abilities and charged straight at Mr. Warren again, closing the distance.

Until now, I had been using magic as my main strategy and employing various tricks.

So next, I deliberately relied on my heightened physical abilities, choosing to clash purely with strength.

Mr. Warren seemed to be wary of a surprise attack using magic, judging from how I had fought earlier.

Because he was focused on guarding against magic, I thought he might not keep up with my movements—but of course, that wasn’t the case. He intercepted my rapidly swinging Schwarzhase sword with his own blade.

Thanks to 【Seal Mitigation (Restoration)】, my sword strikes were heavier and sharper than his.

I planned to overpower him with sheer strength, but Mr. Warren’s swordplay was different from before.

If his previous sword style could be described as “strong,” then now it was truly “flexible.”

My sword technique was effortlessly countered, much like the twin-blade sword handled by Will, and before I knew it, magic was activated from a small staff-like magical tool grasped in Mr. Warren’s left hand, and an explosion assaulted me.

"――Ugh!"

Using the blast wind, I quickly created distance again.

I managed to conjure a mana barrier at the last moment, partially canceling out the explosion, so the damage was not severe, but this was the first time I took an attack during this mock battle.

As Mr. Warren immediately tried to close the gap again, I activated 【Reflective Barrier】 to block him.

Seeing the 【Reflective Barrier】 appear right in front of him, Mr. Warren stopped in place.

"Your movements have sharpened another notch since earlier. Have you reached the essence of the six basic support magic techniques as well?"

With the distance created, Mr. Warren spoke again.

The six basic support magic techniques forcibly activate the recipient’s qi through magic.

In other words, the essence of the six basic support magic techniques is probably “qi.”

"…Yes. Did you learn this on your own, Lord Warren?"

"Well, yeah. No one believed me when I said so, and even if they did, no one managed to acquire self-buffs. I thought this might be my supernatural ability, but it seems not."

It has been about ten years since I became an explorer, but aside from now, the only person I have heard speak of support magic without relying on technique—that is, the existence of qi—is Mr. Haruto from the Red Copper Twilight.

As far as I know, the only ones who understand qi are Haruto, Fuuka, and Lord Warren.

Because Haruto and Fuuka are from Kyokutō, I thought this was a well-known matter in the eastern continent and investigated on my own, but it seems qi is not widely recognized even there.

I have personally experienced that mastering qi requires considerable training, but I believe it is worth the effort to learn.

Still, it hasn’t spread, and Haruto even made me keep it a secret.

There are several hypotheses about why, but none have solid evidence.

It would be good if I could extract more information from Haruto.

…Ah, my thoughts are drifting. I need to focus on the battle with Mr. Warren now.

"I’d like to hear more about that later."

"Haha! Sure. If you can beat me!"

◇

After that, I threw all the tactics I had considered at Mr. Warren.

Some came close to working, but all were countered, and nothing decisive emerged.

On the other hand, I was able to counter all of Mr. Warren’s attacks as well, so though we both took some damage, it was nothing that interfered with continuing the fight.

"…Phew. Well, I guess that’s about it."

After repeating countless exchanges, Mr. Warren suddenly muttered this, shifting the atmosphere from battle mode to normal.

"Does this mean the mock battle is over?"