171. BLEU’S DOMAIN: SWORD N’ MAGIC

Funny as it sounds, titles do have additional effects.

[Bleu’s Blessing], if you analyze it with appraisal, you will learn that it has two perks. First is that you can enter Bleu’s domain freely by thinking of her at night. Why can’t we just think of her domain instead? Tell me that’s a misstatement..

The second one is that it acts like a shield. It’s actually the protagonist's correction we curse, this is the source. But– a big old but– it’s not protagonist correction. It’s just there to guide us on our journey. Doing mainly two things: keeping us alive, and making things interesting along the way.

With that in mind…

Prune let out a yawn as she got up brushing her fluffy white tail. I have a feeling that Prune uses her tail as a bolster, just saying.

Nine kept saying 5 more minutes as she laid there.

Liliath stared at me with hazy eyes, her messy hair had an arousing charm to it.

As for Bleu..

“Oh hi. Welcome to–”

“AAHHHHHH!!!” Prune yelled and rolled herself to the floor from the bed.

The Leviathan blinked. Oh, I didn’t know it could do that.

“W-w-wha-wha..”

“It’s Bleu’s pet Leviathan Prune, it can do no harm,” Liliath said, and plopped down on the bed sideways. 

“Oh, coffee and tea is there by the way, I’m fixing some things onto the tank so give me a moment,” Bleu said.

She was wearing some mechanics uniform and was.. I think drilling a metal tap into diamond? That makes no sense but alright..

“Ou.. what did I miss…” Nine flopped up from bed and stared directly at the leviathan– mind you, the head of the Leviathan alone was comparable to the size of a landed house. “THE FUCK IS THAT?!”
“You’re hurting her, stop that, get some help,” Bleu said in a cold voice. Apparently its gender is female.

“It’s Leviathan, a creature Bleu created last time during her first and last world creation project,” Liliath said with a cute yawn.

“It’s alright. It’s a unicorn Leviathan, it won’t eat us up,” I said.

===

Bleu finished up installing a small metal pipe into the tank– dunno what’s that for but let’s not dig too deep into that for now– and came back to us.

Everyone was warming their minds up with some coffee and tea, Liliath particularly enjoyed today’s barley tea. I opted for coffee of course. I added a little too much milk into it this time around, it’s like, latte now.

Nine and Prune had coffee. Prune only took enough for a few sips before switching to barley.

“What brings you here?” Bleu asked, spinning a wrench like some sort of pencil. That’s dangerous, you know?

“I thought you can read minds?” Nine said

“Can’t I be human for once?” 

“I don’t believe that is possible,” Liliath words were like an arrow shot straight to Bleu’s heart. I myself don't understand why I thought her words were like an arrow though..

“Well, is it alright if you use your domain to practice self defence? Like how to swing the sword or use magic.”
“Thank you for being polite. I don’t see any issues with that, as a goddess in this vast realm, what I have is space, lots and lots of it,” She spread her arms out wide.

That sounds lonely.

“Sure is.”

“How do we start?” Prune asked.

“I can teach you the way of the sword if you’d like, Nine,” with a cold smile, Bleu said. 

“Uh.. fuck. I don’t have any other options do I?”

“No, you only have a one way trip to hell.”

Bleu was rather harsh on Nine. It does make sense.. since Nine kinda deserved it. I’m sure Bleu is just enjoying herself, Nine wouldn’t die, probably.

===

So here’s our plan.

We’ll be training in Bleu’s domain. The maximum duration we can stay in Bleu’s domain is around 5 hours each time, so 2 hours of sword practice, or CQC, and another 2 hours of magic practice, give or take. 

As for rest.. Bleu said that it wouldn’t affect our sleep. She had to explain this to Prune and Nine. Liliath and I have been visiting Bleu’s domain since we knew her so we kinda get how it works.

Our muscles and magic endurance is something we cannot build in Bleu’s domain, so the only thing we gain from practicing here is the know-how and skills. We’ll still have to repeat the real thing in the real world.

Sword practice.

“Where’s the knife I gave you?” Bleu asked with a critical gaze.

“I threw it,” Nine shrugged nonchalantly.

“What?! That was my only kitchen knife!”

I have no idea what’s going on here but let’s just assume something happened between them during their first private meeting together, yup.

Bleu then took out 5 wooden swords from nowhere, passed it to use and told us to imitate her stance. 

Two things to note, first was to reduce our STG stats to 10, the second was to not try too hard, relax. What Bleu was about to show to us is like the basic warm up exercise for swinging a sword.

10 STG for some reason reduced my strength. So is there like– a hidden aspect to my status? I have no idea.

Two hands on the handle, one sweep downwards with our back straight.

That was it.. for today.

I have no complaints, because I’m pretty sure there’s a good reason for this basic stace. It’s like kendo or something.. not that I really did my research on it.

We repeated that for around an hour, taking breaks in between and.. ow.. my arms hurt.

The television screen in front of us kept showing us the replay of a Japanese guy swinging a wooden katana downwards. He was wearing a paper bag with two holes on his face to hide his identity for some reason...

“You should take a break once you think you’re at your limit. Hurting yourself here wouldn’t affect reality, however, it’s inefficient to do more. About increasing your stamina, this world takes your most recent body condition in reality to be projected in my domain. So if you increase your stamina in the real world, your stamina will increase here too. But you can’t increase your stamina in the real world in my domain.”

That makes sense.

Prune also decided to stop. Surprisingly, she looked less tired than Nine. The most energetic of them all was Liliath of course, she had no problems swinging the sword. 

Just how strong is Liliath?

Later, I was told that Liliath’s previous stats were merged into her base stats, except for HP and MP– which explains why she’s like– so freaking OP.

CQC was left till the future since most of us were already burnt out.

Magic practice.

Liliath would be the person taking charge of this. Bleu herself uses a different form of magic that’s a tad too advanced so Liliath will be taking her place for now. Bleu will mentor Liliath when she has time to spare.

“Magic is.. try to close your eyes and focus on your lower chest,” Liliath said, having us sit with our legs folded together.

“You mean dantian?” Nine asked.

“Qi?”

“The guide said it’s the solar plexus, where most of our nerves come together before entering our spine then to the brain,” Liliath had no idea what dantian.. or maybe she does since it’s a chinese word.. not sure what it means but Liliath basically knows all the languages of earth so..

Which reminds me.. there are skill books we can use right? Oh, that explains why Liliath had the language skill.

“Unknown probably deleted those. No cheating Noel,” Bleu said with an imposing ladle. Oh well..

Prune, Nine and I tried to feel for this magic energy inside of us. There isn’t a particular correct way to call this. Mana, magic energy, spirit energy, magic stamina, there’s a bunch of different terms you can use. It’s not very standardized.

I felt this weirdness where my solar plexus was, it’s more of I know it’s there but I don’t feel anything. There’s no weird chill or warth to it, I just know it’s there. I was thinking that maybe I should imagine this mana flowing through my blood vessels but..

“It’s part of your own body. Not some extension. It is already a part of you, don’t get caught up with trying to pull out another arm,” Bleu said.

I wasn’t sure if that was directed at me or Nine but I suppose every novel has it’s own way of grasping this mana. To be honest, I have no idea what Bleu actually meant.

“The false depresosition of mana  written in stories whereby it’s some sort of flowing energy may be the wrong way of thinking about it,” Liliath said.

“Really?”

“I think I got it,” Prune said, a small crystal bead of some weird purple thing on her finger tips. That’s condensed mana right?

“Congratulations Prune,” Liliath said.

“What the..” Nine looked disappointed.

“I don’t get it..” I really don’t get it. Like seriously. Don’t think it’s an extension, it’s already part of us.

“How do I describe this.. just think that you’re trying to move the solar plexus? it’s like you have another arm there.”

Prune’s explanation doesn’t help. I thought Bleu said we shouldn’t imagine that we have some sort of extension.

“Don’t think too hard about it, just feel,” another tip from Bleu.

Okay, okay. Let’s try not being too analytical here and just feel..

Nothing.

Now.. what did the magic guide say again? You need focus right? Focus.. clear your mind maybe? Or..

“Astral projection, try that,” Bleu said, as if reading my thoughts.

Astral projection was something I came across in the past, it’s this weird spiritual thing where some people believe you can get out of your body. Well.. I think it’s more like thinking in third person.

Oh. I think this is mana.

Oddly enough, it was more like trying to feel everything then something, the act of being mindful rather than focusing on a single point. The mana was part of myself to begin with, but it’s also this tingly feeling when you meditate. Hey, I think it’s similar to one of the novel’s I’ve read in the past where the protagonist could recharge by resonating with the mana around himself.

As for why we should focus on the solar plexus.. I have no idea how that makes sense.

I thought of condensing mana in the air and.. it happened. A blood red eerie tinge for some reason– oh, it turned green– and now it’s white.. interesting.. and now it’s rainbow.

“Congratulations Noel,” Liliath said.

“Ugh.. ” Nine sighed, closing his eyes tightly and trying to focus.

“Nine, try thinking as if you’re very focused on playing a game, as if you're seeing your body from a third person perspective.”

“Oh.. is this it.. what the.. it’s that simple?!”

Nine also managed to coalesce some mana, just like me, the colour was quite volatile.

“Is it normal for mana to change colours so much?” Prune asked. Her’s was straight up purple, not to mention, it was smaller.

“That’s because unlike these two, you started with a low amount of mana. It becomes difficult to control mana when it’s a high volume,” Bleu explained. “Also, it’s harder to bring our mana if your mana pool is small. In short, you got it on the first try.”

With your ‘trying-to-find mana’ montage over, now was the time to get down to the real thing— not. 

Our first ever magic was.. to just try to cast any magic. Yeah, that condensed mana didn’t count as our first magic. If it did, we should’ve heard a ‘ding’ for the daily quests. It sounded simple– but it’s actually a heck of a lot more difficult in reality.

What exactly do we need to do? The bead of mana doesn't change no matter what I think. Even though Nine’s lowered my MP to make controlling it easier, I can’t figure out how this works.

“For now, this is the first hurdle you would need to clear. How should I explain.. magic isn’t formed through imagination, it’s formed through a specific resonance. It will take time to grasp it. It’s inevitable,” Liliath said.

“Wow.. this is serious stuff.. I don’t get it at all,” Nine said.

“Nine, you’ve played the flute before right? Remember the first time you tried to generate sound?” Bleu asked.

“Ah, so it’s like that?”

“Yes, it’s like trying to get the way you blow into the windpipe just right. After that only then you can make various tunes with it.”

“I think I understand what you mean.”

“I don’t,” I said.

“You were once a musician?” Prune asked.

“Yeah, I was an ex-flutist once. And you know how you have to blow into a hole? It’s not like a recorder where you just blow, you have to angle it just right if you want to produce sound.”

“I don’t get it,” I’ve never played an instrument so it’s obvious that I have no clue right? If anything, I’m surprised Nine was a musician. Just proves how amazing he is.

“Prune, you were thinking of something dirty just now weren’t you?” Bleu asked.

“””...”””

Um.. TPO? Did that fly out the window? Even my mind is tilted towards the wrong direction now. I mean.. who’s the real pervert here?

“Anyways, just keep using mana, you will get it eventually,” with a cough, she continued.

“””…”””

“Okay! I apologize!” And then she knelt.

172.

“I think it’s not something we can rush if we think about it like playing a flute. If I'm not wrong, I took around a week to get the sound just right.. and that was without the body part. The balancing becomes harder when you try playing different notes,” Nine said.

“Noel, you didn’t become a prodigy in art in a single day correct?” Bleu said.

“Yeah.. I think I get what you’re trying to say..”

Practice and patients is key– got it. I guess it’s too much of a cheat to know how to use magic on the first try huh? Speaking of which, If magic was this hard, I wonder how the heroes are doing..

BOOM.

A flash of lightning.

“They have the title [Otherworlder], a combined blessing from different gods and goddesses. Though the title helps them grasp magic in a clinch, I don’t recommend it as it’s like skimping through the basics. Akin to trying to operate a ship that’s already fit in with an advanced AI. I'll warn those gods and goddesses to not give you that sort of blessing, so don’t worry about it.”

“Huh? So you actually went and met with the gods here?” Nine asked.

“Not yet, I’ll tell them about it so they don’t try to bug you too much,” Blue shrugged, “If they knew their creator descended, they'd definitely come pull you to either side of the conflict– yes Prune. The Gods are in conflict. The so-called evil God, or God of War, Ares together with the God of Spirit, Ophion, are going against the other 10 Gods.”

Isn’t it obvious who would win then? It’s been written in the history books for the past 17 cycles.. that god surely is tenacious huh?

“If I don't warn them, they’ll definitely try to drag you into the conflict. It is that you hold massive power in your hands. I wouldn’t permit any meetings until you’ve settled into the world.”

“And here we are, unable to use a sword properly or even cast magic,” Nine said tiredly as he leaned against the couch.

“Patience is key.”

BBZZTT.

A large crashing sound echoed in our surroundings.

“I need to come up with better goals..” Nine brought up his UI.

“What goals do you have currently?” Prune asked Nine.

“Hey, how about we create a list of goals. So that we tally and see what we want to do. I have a lot of goals but I’ve narrowed it down to 3 important ones, like how I’ve always done. First is to be able to defeat a level 50 monster with my own abilities, without cheating and only with base stats of 200. The second is to find some sort of method to gain passive income of 50 silver a month, and lastly, being present in the moment and enjoying my time here. Deadline being next spring.”

What? That’s actually a pretty high bar.. 

“Noel, Nine is just that competent in his work. Ask him, and he’ll tell you he even invests in options and stocks back in the modern world.”

“The passive income is the main point,” Nine added with a smug.

“As for me.. I think I just want to be able to visit other kingdoms. How many kingdoms are there Bleu?” Prune asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve never really counted, I think there are about 7 kingdoms? If we exclude 2 or 3 ruined ones.”

“I would like to travel, something like that works as a goal.”

“I’ll support you on that,” Nine said. Sounding like some independent man. Oh great.

“Mmuu..” So pouted Bleu for some reason.

“Mine is this, to reach the point where I can cast all intermediate magic and then use the [widget] system to automate defensive systems. After that.. you know, instead of aiming for passive income, I was thinking of getting the know-how of how the economy here works first. I don’t know if it’s possible to attempt to create a passive income all the while travelling. Third goal being.. trying to figure out a way to complete Liliath’s evolution quest.”

CRACKLE.

BOOM.

The four of us turned to the direction of the sound.

Funny as it sounds, when Bleu said to ‘mentor’ Liliath, who by the way was ‘practicing’ magic, I didn’t expect her to be dropped right into Leviathan’s tank. It’s like what.. 1000 meters deep or something?

Liliath was to survive, using magic to generate air and hold off the pressure all the while defending herself from the Leviathan’s attack.

Two large jet Black orbs crackling in an eerie blood red lightning.

The diamond-glass could be seen vibrating intensely.

Rather than say ‘defending against’ Leviathan’s attack, Liliath was shooting magic towards the fleeing Leviathan– which was a few kilometers away from Liliath. A totally impossible target to snipe .. that’s unless you’re Liliath who possesses [God’s Eye] and some crazy sense of spatial awareness.

I think the only salvation for Leviathan was the fact that Liliath was told not to move from her spot.

“Don’t you think it’s about time she completes?” I asked.

Liliath sent the two black orbs away, casting afterimages as it accelerated forward with an explosive sound. That projectile exceeded mach-3 didn’t it? 

“I think I’ll take up that suggestion. Liliath has become a force to reckon with indeed. I'll have to console Leviathan after this,” Bleu said with a finger to her lips.

===

So let’s get our goals straightened out.

Nine wants to be able to fight a level 50 monster head on, generate 50 silvers in passive income on a seasonal basis, so around 33 silver a month– that is if we use the 12-month-a-year system that doesn’t exist in Imagi. Lastly, to have fun.

Prune’s goal was simply to travel around the world. After listening to Bleu, she made it more specific and said she’d like to travel to at least 2 kingdoms. One of them being Toren Kingdom where Liliath came from.

As for me, I want to find a self-defence method to defend against any sort of attacks. You know– we’re in a fantasy world so I need to figure out how to properly utilize my Unique Skill to deal with any kind of combat related situation. I was thinking of learning normal magic and rune magic so that I can add those into the Autocasting widget– but maybe it’s much better to just learn to fight with magic?

We had to push Liliath a little to set goals. Her first one being to meet her family again– her second one being to announce that she’s currently engaged to me– her third one being to find a nicer place to stay where we can settle down as a base of operation–

“Lofty goals without anything to the upcoming war huh~” Bleu muttered.

“There’s war?”

“Of course, it’s a demon lord world so obviously there’d be war,” Bleu said.

“Let’s not try to think too much about that, we should first deal with our current goals, we’ll set new ones to prepare against the demon lord when the time comes,” Nine said.
“Sounds quite uncanny, there are two demons right in front of you, did you know?” Liliath said jokingly, her hair still wet from the battle a while ago. She was wrapped in a large towel, her clothes were soaking wet and I was tempted by it.. but I held back okay..

So in short, what we needed to work on were these goals for now. Prune’s goal would have to wait, but we intend to get enough money for travel by spring if possible– maybe end of spring but we’ll see how it goes.

“You know, just saying but I think we really, really need to depend on each other to survive in this world. So– I’ll be in your care, Nine, Prune. Liliath is a given since I’m engaged to her now,” I said bluntly.

“Wow, you sucker puncher. Okay, sure. We’ll still be one family as we have always been,” Nine said.

“Same here. Let’s continue to work together,” Prune smiled, though faintly lonely.

“Hey! HOw aBout ME?!”

Opps.. yeah. Bleu and Unknown are also part of the team.

“Sorry Bleu, I’ll be in your care too.”

“Likewise,” Liliath said.

“Good. Good– Oh, time ups. Then see you tomorrow,” Bleu nodded and stopped with a few blinks.

Our figures wrapped around in light–

Looks like our time here has come to an end.

“Welp, thanks for everything.”

“Thank you Bleu.”

“Thank you.”

“Thank you Bleu.”

I opened my eyes and woke up on the apartment couch, Nine already gone from the other couch, the sound of running water in the bathroom–

The orange light of dusk outside the veranda– today was another day– but it feels weird somehow.

Oh. I see.

I just realized that the god forsaken blaring alarm was gone.