The Villainess Returns with a System Chapter 61: SP Farming (2)

Such an opportunity to gather a lot of SP ant that I could exploit Sir System more and more.

I understand that there are no free als in this world and the System isn’t sothing that was given to out of goodwill. It wants things from and in return, I want things from it.

Until one day a Quest arrives to tell to do sothing crazy, I should make the most out of Sir System’s abilities.

The problem here is that I am 19 years old so learning Aura or Magic isn’t sothing that will be achievable easily. So people learn these supernatural arts at the age of 8 while others at 6 or 5.

I am not just late to learn Magic or Aura, I am super late and I will have to go through many hurdles to achieve sothing those of my age have achieved ages ago. (Or that’s what I thought back then, we’ll return to that topic later.)

If Sir System, which is the only power akin to magic I have at my disposal, needs an upgrade, who am I to say no and for all its worth, I must seek more clues about the upgrade process.

But in the anti, I had to find out more ways to get Sir System to give SP.

I tried to trigger the challenge quest against Logan once again but no matter what I did, the quest never showed.

This ans that I can’t repeat the sa challenge, but for how long? And what are the other restrictions?

After that, I waited till the evening as Jane and Voros dropped for a visit. I invited them to the gun range and lit the place up to try our guns in a friendly challenge.

And what do you know, the quest worked on both. I got 150 SP from beating Jane and 180 from beating Voros, while the quest still never activated with Logan.

I’ll try again with Logan after 24 hours to see if it is a ti-based restriction.

As for now, I got this sweet sweet reward.

« Trait Level Up: Novice Gunslinger? → Apprentice Gunslinger? »

Leveling up this trait was a real lot of work but I understood the learning curve and why it took so much ti to level up compared to a different trait like, for example, The Pianist.

Unlike the Pianist, the Gunslinger trait is combat-based, which I believe is more difficult overall, even though there are more gunslingers in the world than there are pianists and the piano is one hell of an instrunt to learn. Still, many can actually co forward and claim to be piano experts or masters, but Guns on the other hand aren’t the sa.

One can’t simply master death and firearms are death incarnate, so among gunslingers, only those who have shot various types of guns and have a high record of kills can be called the masters of the gun, one can’t just run into those since many die before that point.

So aside from the rarity of the skill, what I think to be the practical factor of trait learning speed is the versatility of the skill.

When I dusted off my Pianist trait in one hour, that’s because the instrunt I was using was an authentic classical piano just like the ones I played on many tis before as Nadia, there was barely any difference.

Guns on the other hand, I had none of what I had before. Away from the Glocks and the Barettas and MP5s and AK-47s, I fired dozens of guns in my career and I had no particular favorite so I was good with many guns.

In other words, in order to dust off the trait Gunslinger back to its full potential, I’ll need so rifles, revolvers, shotguns, and submachine guns. Pistols weren’t the only guns I slinged after all.

This left with a new predicant: how will I level up my self-defense traits since I may one day need them very much?

Seeing looking at the gun and sinking in thoughts, it was Voros who showed interest.

"Thinking?" He asked.

"Say, Mr. Voros, have you participated in combat before?" I asked.

"Been long. Voros crushed many skulls... all in the past."

"I see. Since you don’t seem to know Aura, how do you fight back then?"

"Hey, Duergar strong!" Voros said pointing fingers at my face as if he felt offended, "Voros knows Aura."

"You do?" I asked, I rember his level wasn’t anything interesting the last I saw it in the reading.

"Well... used to... no combat for fourteen years."

"So skills like these disappear if you don’t use them much?"

"Hum!" Voros nodded with a grunt.

"I see."

Of course they should disappear, try hitting the gym for years then stopping for fourteen years with no physical labor whatsoever. It’s only fair for those who don’t sharpen themselves to lose their edge, such is the way of life.

"So, what do you think is the best way for soone like to..."

"Sword!"

"I was asking..."

"Sword!"

"Do you even..."

"Sword!"

"..."

Why is he so adamant on that answer? I stared at him for a few seconds trying to get a chance to talk before he interrupted again.

"Why?" I asked quickly.

"Hmph!" He snorted, "Slender legs, quick body, thin arms, strong shoulders, good for guns, good for swords."

"Good for guns, good for swords, huh?" I repeated the phrase he said and I liked the sound of it.

It seed this crafty Duergar had all figured out. I wanted to ask about how to further protect myself and it seems those fourteen years may have dulled his combat prowess but not his custor service.

I sat on the nearby table in the gun range as Voros joined . He seed to be ready to converse about what sword I should use but I preferred action over words.

On the table, I put my pieces of equipnt on display. This attracted both Jane and Logan who were still shooting nearby and they joined us midway.

What I took out were...

Titania, the Mouse Pistol.

Roo & Juliet, which are the nas I give for my right and left guns respectively, and the current Roo & Juliet are two break-action pistols rather than the old flintlocks which I still have.

After that, I took out my push dagger which, following this tradition, I will, from now on, call it Macbeth.

Lastly, I took out the Tactical Umbrella which I received as a quest reward once. It has a short steel blade inside its cane. I haven’t thought of a na for the umbrella yet but I am leaning towards calling it Dr. Jekyll and calling the blade within Mr. Hyde.

"That’s my whole arsenal for the ti being." I said.

"What’s that? A toothpick?" Logan held the push dagger up, wondering its strange design.

I snatched it back imdiately and held it the right way in my hand before showing how it is used to stab and then be hidden away.

"Your love for concealed weapons isn’t healthy." He said.

"Saved my life twice so far." I replied and played with Macbeth between my fingers, "This little toothpick had taken a life once even."

As I said that, Logan seed to be disturbed by my kill record. Well, as long as it keeps my pretty head on my pretty shoulders, no one can complain.

On the other hand, Voros took out the blade of the tactical umbrella and gave an approving nod.

"Any ideas then?" I asked.

"Will make sothing." Voros replied and took out a small journal and a piece of charcoal before starting to doodle sothing.

He hates pencils for so reason even though I keep telling him how effective they can be as weapons.

"You want to use a sword?" Logan asked .

"I see no qualms against using one." I replied.

"Well... my job is to hold a sword instead of you so..."

"So?"

"You don’t trust protecting you?"

"You’re cute."

"Co on."

"I want no one else to protect aside from you, Logan, but I am picking up a bunch of new hobbies. Swordsmanship is just sothing I want to try."

"Well, I quite trust you with a firearm since you shoot better than most people but as it is a ranged weapon, it ans you don’t have to get too close to danger. Swords are different."

"Shouldn’t I have a sword in case my guns couldn’t be reloaded on ti?"

"Believe , anyone who can avoid your shooting will have no problem dealing with you in lee."

What Logan said actually makes sense. I don’t want to fight in close-quarter combat against knights and aura users either.

"But what if I have to?"

"Do as you must."

Logan dropped it but then Jane said sothing that almost made jump off my seat.

"Shouldn’t one train in lee weapons in order to awaken Aura?"

As Jane asked the innocent question, both Voros and Logan, who were busy writing in a journal and reading a pistol respectively, nodded as if it was sothing natural and commonly known.

"Excuse ?!"

They all looked at as I seed a little bit upset and taken.

"What’s wrong?"

"To train your aura, you need to have lee weapon training?" I asked.

"Naturally." Logan replied.

"Why hasn’t anyone told that before?"

"Errm... you didn’t ask?" Logan said.

"It is... known." Voros spoke without much interest even.

"I’ve always seen the wannabe soldiers in the third academy say they would train with swords until they awaken their Auras and beco officers." Jane also said with a smile.

I... I never heard of that.

It wasn’t ntioned once in the Moore Manual even though I read it from cover to cover.

The System didn’t even ntion it once. Sir System, how could you?

« ... »

Betrayed! I feel so betrayed!

I’ve been running around myself like a stupid donkey pushing a mill.

This original Vivian! How can she be so not interested in the powers of her own world?

Nadia’s world was rather too mundane compared to this one. People from such a mundane world romanticized about Aura and Magic for a long ti. However, for growing up in a world with such qualities, old Vivian just decided to not be interested. Holy fuck!

The first action of Nadia in this world, aside from killing the little piggy, is asking Father for an Aura Manual. That’s the start of the whole thing.

"Ugh! I was doing all that training for nothing."

I can’t handle this anymore. I just want to crawl in so hole and get depressed.

"Not for nothing. You need years of training to awaken the aura, it is not sothing easy with soone your age but..." Logan tried to explain but...

"Soone my age?" I stood off my chair and faced him with all the fury in the world, "What’s wrong with my age, old man?"

"Nothing." Logan backed away imdiately, "It is just people start training at a very early age."

"And?"

"Usually results are difficult to achieve with age, especially after 18."

"So you’re telling it is useless, huh?"

"I don’t know why you’re angry but this is public knowledge even more than the weapon training thing."

Logan’s reply made shut up but I was still dissatisfied. I couldn’t understand why.

"Hmph!" I sat back down pouting and crossing my arms in a bad mood, "I don’t even understand why!"

Those who made the ga surely wanted it to be a power fantasy for young teenage characters. Making the Heroine into a spell turret or a party healer was fun to do especially when her abilities get buffed up by the late ga.

"Well, I have been paying attention while I was in the second academy for that part." Logan said and started explaining it to , "You see, when young people grow, they develop their bodies and adapt to their nature better than grown-ups. The process of training to awaken the aura is similar to forging tal. During the early phase, the body is like hot tal and can be tempered and shaped much easier than when it is old..."

Yep, the sa simple cliche explanation from every power fantasy there is.

"... But from what a professor told once, it is more related to the healing factor of younger people. Training your body is actually a process of damaging it so that when it heals, it gets stronger by preparing itself for the coming training similar to how broken joints beco thicker when they heal..."

Huh?! Alright, I take back that previous thought. That’s actually very accurate and in line with how the body works.

"... In a way, when you exert your fullest in training, the body begs back for energy to heal. The better the healing, the more results you get. That’s why it is advised to eat and sleep well after training."

I am actually liking what I am hearing and I have a question.

"So let’s say, Logan, soone as rich as gets healed after every training session, wouldn’t that hasten the process?"

"Well, my lady, I’d love to say that the Heaven isn’t blind. Even if you have all the money in the world and you hire the best healer, knowing how rare those are, you’d run into the issue many greedy people ran into before you. How healing magic works is that it reverses the damage done to your body, that is why it is called "Restorative" magic, not "Regenerative" magic."

"I see... so I guess an alchemy elixir like Panacea would actually do more harm than good?"

To my innocent and simple conclusion, Logan coughed and almost choked on his breath.

"Pan... Panacea?" He asked and as if the word is so sort of a thing I shouldn’t say, "Well... I think the Panacea is an exception. Still, that’s not sothing money can buy. I an... one vial can only be produced every year at the Temple of St. Florence."

"Co again?!"

"The Panacea... you know... the Elixir of Saint Florence."

"... Aha..."

"Only one vial... per year."

"Not... per day?"

"No. Per year."

"You sure?"

"Pretty sure. It is the Panacea."

"Shit!"

Alright, Sir System. We need to talk. Hopefully, Sir System’s Panacea and St. Florence’s Panacea aren’t the sa thing. Like... mine is called Common Panacea for crying out loud, it can’t be THE Panacea.

Can it?

Anyone?

"... rincess! Princess! You with us?"

"Oh, sorry! Lost in thoughts." I said and got all my marbles together, "So... let’s say... hypothetically of course... if the damage dealt by training is regenerated by a pretty good elixir, how long does it take to... you know... awaken aura? Theoretically, of course."

"We’re talking how many elixirs?"

"Let’s say... one per day... for example, of course."

"Well, that will cut down a lot of ti. Years actually."

"Regardless of age?"

"Not sure but the younger the better, of course!"

"Gulp!"

This is big... so biiiiiiiiiig!

"Logan, I want you to teach swordsmanship." I said and got off my chair.

"You’re one stubborn spoiled princess, you know that?" He said with a tired face.

"We’re training, old man." I replied and stood in an empty space in the gun range.

"We don’t even have training swords." Logan said as he followed while shrugging.

"I can fix that." I said and turned to the System Shop nu.

Training Swords... here they are. 20 SP each, I’ll get two, my dear Sir System.

« Cost: 40 SP »

But just as I was about to confirm the purchase, I rembered that I had to unbind one of them for Logan to use. If I don’t do that, the mont I get so distance from him, the training sword will be absorbed back into my storage purse.

Alright, Sir System, would you please.

« Cost: 220 SP »

Co again?

A bound training sword costs 20 SP, and an unbound training sword costs 200?

You know what? Worth every point!

I took the two wooden swords out and tossed the unbound one to Logan. He caught it, swung it around a few tis, and seed to like it.

"Alright, Princess. Don’t say I didn’t try to stop you." Logan said.

"We’Re DoInG tHiS!" I replied with the voice of demons from the villainess within.

"Alright, alright... let’s get you started with the basics. Stance, posture, footwork! Do what I do."

« New Daily Quest: lee Training (Novice) »