Infinite Adaptation: Starting As A Level 1 Slime-Chapter 30: Magic

"It really is!" Seria said quickly. "Our group was sent to investigate the appearance of an abyss dweller in this area. We meant no ill will toward you."

She watched Roselle’s expression carefully. The princess seemed to relax - if only slightly.

"I am the Saintess of the Holy Church," she continued. "Would the Holy Church really send me on a mission to fight one of the Four Kings of the Beast Forest unprotected?"

Roselle tilted her head, considering this.

"I suppose that makes sense."

The saintess let out a small breath of relief.

"Still," Roselle continued, stepping forward, "I’m not going to let you live."

The relief vanished instantly.

"W-Why?!" the saintess stammered.

"What can I say?" Roselle shrugged. "Blame yourself for worshiping the wrong god."

The saintess’s face paled. "You can’t kill me! The Holy Church has strong holdings in the human nations! This would lead to a diplomatic disaster! All of humanity would attack the Beast Forest!"

Roselle kept walking forward.

"Do you think I’m afraid?"

This nutcase... the saintess thought desperately.

Roselle reached her. The princess raised her clawed hand.

The saintess closed her eyes.

Thwack.

A sharp sound echoed through the clearing.

But it wasn’t the sound of claws tearing flesh.

"Ow!"

Roselle let out a pained wince, clutching the top of her head.

Lunaris stood beside her, his hand still raised from delivering the chop.

"What are you doing?" he asked calmly. "Why do you keep ignoring my orders?"

Roselle’s aura died down instantly. She dropped to her knees and bowed deeply.

"I got too excited. Please forgive me, my Lord!"

The saintess stared at the scene in utter shock.

The tank she had been supporting had already passed out, his full weight now leaning on her shoulder.

Someone who can treat the Demon Princess like that...

Just what kind of power does such a person wield?

She remembered how he had completely nullified Yuna’s magic earlier. Just erased it from existence.

Who is this person?

At that moment, Lunaris walked over to her.

He smiled warmly.

The saintess flinched, caught off guard by the sudden friendliness.

"I’m Lunaris," he said. "The owner of this territory."

He gestured toward the village in the distance.

"Would you like to come over to our place?"

The saintess looked past him.

Roselle was still kneeling - but her eyes were fixed on the saintess. Glaring with barely restrained hostility.

She sighed internally.

We don’t have much of a choice, do we?

She nodded slowly.

"Sure."

...

Lunaris sat in the church.

He raised his hand, and a flame flickered to life in his palm, dancing and swirling.

So this is magic, huh?

He raised his other hand. Earth coalesced around it, forming a small sphere of compacted stone.

He thought back to the fight. The way the mage had thrown that flame magic toward him.

Luckily for him, thanks to his insane Spatial Awareness that allowed him to be constantly aware of everything within range - plus the thousand-times Thought Acceleration that made things appear to move slower - he was able to react despite his physical limitations.

By using the Storage ability to absorb the magic, he was able to somewhat nullify it.

It was still difficult though. He guessed he might not be able to do it so easily against a top-tier magic user.

That being said, absorbing it into his storage allowed him to analyze the magic composition and reverse engineer the creation process. He used this knowledge to complete the analysis of the earth magic that had been used within his Analytical Appraisal range too.

Now he could use both.

He remembered earlier that the mage had chanted something before casting. But to him, the magic seemed to come out naturally.

He wondered why that was the case.

Thinking about it, he figured out the reason.

It was because his magic was a skill.

When he used Analytical Appraisal on the mage, except for some skills that seemed to help with magic, he didn’t notice fire or earth magic listed. That meant the spells themselves were products of her abilities - not skills in themselves.

And this was likely true for other mages as well.

But because he had analyzed the magic, he turned it into a skill through Skill Creation, making it a complete tool. And since it was already a finished product, it didn’t need chanting.

That being said, it was subject to some restrictions. For example, he would always have this level and type of flame and earth magic - similar to the one he had analyzed. He could brainstorm and find ways to improve it, but still...

Well, he supposed his Infinite Adaptation could solve this problem eventually.

He sighed.

No wonder he didn’t notice much difference in skills from the saintess either. It was because magic was the product, not the skill itself.

This meant for mages, unless he let them cast their magic, he would not be able to easily copy their abilities.

Well, there was one way. But it was troublesome, so he didn’t want to bother.

He clenched his fists, and the magic dissipated instantly.

Then he looked at his fist.

This other ability he had received, however, was quite useful.

Physical Strengthening - from the tank.

Now this was good. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

If he could give this to his people, they’d definitely grow stronger. Well, provided they had sufficient mana, which was a whole other problem.

The problems really weren’t ending.

...

In another room, Seria sat rigidly on a wooden chair.

Yuna and Garen leaned against her shoulders on either side, both still unconscious. Their weight pressed down on her uncomfortably, but she steadied herself and endured it.

Her eyes were fixed on the person sitting opposite her.

Roselle.

Just their eyes meeting gave Seria the feeling of imminent death. But she was the Saintess of the Holy Church. She couldn’t falter.

She observed Roselle carefully.

The princess seemed to be fighting tooth and nail to restrain her urge to kill them. Her jaw was clenched. Her fingers twitched. Every muscle in her body appeared coiled tight, ready to strike.

Did she really hate humans that much?

But for her to restrain herself so visibly - so painfully - just who was that person who commanded her?