It wasn't some carefully designed incantation.
You know those moments when you suddenly want to shout a specific line? When mimicking that tone feels cool, or a word just pops into your head?
This is a fundamental quality of chunibyo teenagers.
Kael definitely belonged to that category. He needed an incantation, and one simply materialized in his mind. It could have been something like "No pain, no gain, bitch" — the kind of phrase that escapes when you're enduring pain.
Regardless, even a short incantation proved more powerful than an elementless attack, mobilizing greater spiritual power and dealing more damage.
Kael's chest swelled as the phantom of a divine fire bird appeared behind him. He then unleashed a pure white beam of flame that swept across the sky, igniting half the heavens.
Harpy feathers and flesh rained down as he shook his head.
"This... this move is pretty good. Though it doesn't have much to do with the incantation."
Turning off the recording device, Kael pressed another mechanism, and the device played back the voice pattern he had just chanted.
{T/N: For those who didn't understand, he's trying to reproduce the same magic as before through how he "invoked" it.}
"Hmm, it's still embarrassing to hear it now."
After waiting for his spiritual power to recover slightly, Kael imitated the tone and cast the spell again.
This time, it wasn't an attack spell. As the incantation ended, his face contorted, his height suddenly increased by several dozen centimeters, his muscles bulged, and his expression became stern.
He wore a pink miniskirt and pure white sailor uniform, the wet fabric tightly stretched over his pectoral muscles, revealing his robust eight-pack abs.
... Fuck this shit, I'm tired… Take this ring back, Sméagol!
"Emmm, is this a transformation spell? But why a muscular magical girl? Damn! And it's even wet and seductive — who are you trying to seduce?! I didn't even say 'In the name of the moon, I'll punish you,' you bastard!"
Sitting on the ground, Kael repeatedly listened to the recordings, comparing the differences between the two incantations.
Although there were subtle differences in tone and emotion, they shouldn't have caused such a drastic deviation.
Kael reflected on himself...
"Could it be that I just thought, 'It would be nice if I could change my appearance to sneak into the village', and the magic somehow read my mind? Does this spell come with big data recommendations?"
Trying to record and replicate magic was still too difficult, especially without enough reference material for comparison.
He would have to wait until [Second Dimension Pandora] randomly produced fixed spells later, then try to learn and record them properly.
For now... Since he had already transformed into something bizarre, Kael decided to make the most of it and infiltrate Edas Village directly to steal the Black Dragon's Scale.
He bypassed the magic stone lamps at the village entrance and followed a muddy mountain path. After trekking through the dense forest, Kael finally reached his destination.
Unlike the brightly lit scene he had imagined, the village was completely dark. He could faintly hear snoring from the houses.
"Strange, the fire magic earlier made quite a commotion, yet they're still asleep. These villagers are really carefree."
After circling the village once, Kael was shocked to discover that it was situated in a valley completely surrounded by monster lairs.
"Don't these villagers ever communicate with outsiders? No, they probably never leave!"
Protected by the Black Dragon's Scale, the village was immune to ordinary monsters. Ironically, this had allowed them to deliberately settle in a place surrounded by dangerous creatures.
"In that case, taking the scale seems unethical, but... what does that have to do with me? If they don't like it, they can move. It's obviously safer outside than here. At least other villages don't have a dozen monster lairs nearby."
He arrived at the center of the village and stared in awe at the black scale enshrined like an altar, standing as tall as a person.
This was perhaps the greatest opportunity of Kael's life.
He took out his cursed dagger and forcefully slashed at the scale, leaving a red line. When he wiped it with his hand, the mark disappeared. Looking down at his dagger, he saw that its edge was now rounded and dulled.
"Even if it's not a so-called dropped item, just a single fallen scale has such incredible hardness. If weapons were crafted from it..."
Kael dared not imagine.
Although he hadn't figured out how to use this windfall treasure, that didn't stop him from trying to take it first.
He carefully crouched down and attempted to lift the millennium-old treasure, but despite turning red-faced with strain, he could barely budge the scale, let alone walk with it.
"I underestimated it... No wonder no one has taken the scale away. It weighs about 300kg. Without a supporter skill, it's impossible to carry. Plus, my durability super-domain is reduced right now..." He gazed at the scale with newfound respect.
The scale stood 160cm tall, with a width exceeding twice Kael's. This was merely a single scale from the Black Dragon's body. Based on the density of lizard scales, the Black Dragon itself must be at least a kilometer long.
"No wonder Albert only cut off one eye, and that was enough to brag about for thousands of years. This thing is probably several times stronger than that 'Holy Spear of the Oath' from Fianna."
Since he couldn't take it away now, Kael decided to wait until his skills recovered the next day before trying again.
In the meantime, having nothing else to do, he began to clear out the monster lairs around the village one by one.
It wasn't out of excessive sympathy or guilt; he simply didn't want to waste valuable leveling time.
Hmph! Seizing every opportunity to grind for money and strength is a player's fundamental quality.
Throughout the night, monster howls and magical lights echoed around the village, punctuated by battle cries like "Vanishing Dragon Fist!" "Flames of Eternal Darkness!" "By the sacred oath of my forbidden soul..." and "Behold the power of my demonic eye!"
Of course, to minimize embarrassment, these incantations were all in English.
This was Lord Kael's final defense against humiliation!
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The noisy valley finally regained its tranquility as the sun began to set the following day.
The villagers, fearing the monsters, didn't dare investigate the disturbances. They merely assigned a few former adventurers to keep watch at night.
Night fell again.
An eerie silence fell over the forest that usually echoed with monster howls. The guards glanced around nervously, their senses heightened. Nearby bushes swayed gently with rustling sounds.
Suddenly, a giant bear — over three meters tall — emerged from the darkness. It roared at the guards and lunged toward the Black Dragon Scale at the village center.
"M-monster! It's charging in!"
The guards were so terrified they collapsed to the ground.
Although they were once adventurers, they hadn't held weapons for years and had long forgotten their skills. Faced with the sudden attack, they froze in disarray.
The giant bear knocked aside a stunned guard, grabbed the dragon scale with both paws, and charged out the other side of the village. The whole raid took less than ten seconds.
By the time the villagers, awakened by screams, rushed out with their hoes, all they found was an empty shrine and their missing protective relic.
"What... what do we do? The Black Dragon's Scale has been stolen by a monster."
Has the scale's protection vanished?
No, that wasn't important anymore. What mattered was that even with the scale, this place was no longer safe.
Though the outside world was dangerous too, when you really thought about it, living in the center of monster lairs was practically suicidal.
The village chief, Caam, slumped in confusion, "Should we... leave this place?"
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Meanwhile, deep in the forest, the giant bear ran on two legs while embracing the huge scale, visible joy spreading across its face.
"Great, the plan went smoothly. I was worried that mysterious village might hide some Level 9 big shot." The bear spoke in human language, its expression relaxed.
This bear was none other than Kael.
While clearing the monster lairs one by one, Kael had unexpectedly obtained a druid's bear transformation spell. This transformation not only boosted his strength and endurance but also greatly enhanced his movement and attack speed.
Combined with his initial skill [Bearing the Burden], he could effortlessly steal the dragon scale without raising suspicion.
After leaving the village's surveillance range, he traveled for a few more hours.
Under the moonlight, he approached within less than a mile of Orario. Looking around, he let out a roar as the fur on his body receded, returning him to his skinny self.
He packed the dragon scale into the huge backpack Aiz had given him, put on the Reverse Veil, and as the first light of dawn broke, quietly infiltrated the Labyrinth City again.
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T/N: Favorite, comment and save to your library of best reads in the world, thank you for reading this far!
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