Chương 44: Chapter 42

After the incident inside, the three moved to an outdoor training ground. Once outside, it became even more obvious just how gigantic Ymir truly was. He stood several tens of feet tall, easily towering over two and three-story buildings. The giant looked less like a living creature and more like something that had wandered straight off the set of an Ultraman movie.

"Continuing our lesson, I'll teach you a few more things about chants. More specifically, the differences between chants for spells and chants for skills. You two remember the distinction between spells and skills that I taught you before, yes?" Adam and Mei exchanged a glance before nodding.

"Spells are purely magical," Adam answered.

"They require more mana, but they can be fine-tuned with much greater precision."

"Skills are a combination of magic and physical characteristics," Mei continued.

"They consume less mana because they use physical activators, but they're also limited by the user's body."

"Correct." Ymir nodded approvingly.

"Chants operate under a similar principle. For spells, chanting increases the casting time, but in exchange it strengthens the spell and may even evolve it into a more advanced form. Skills are different. Their chants can be performed while carrying out the physical action required to activate them, such as swinging a sword." He folded his arms behind his back.

"The resulting skill is stronger, but also easier to interrupt. If your concentration is broken before activation, the skill simply fails. Because of that, most warriors avoid chanting altogether. Mages, however, can cast from a safer distance, making chants far more practical for them." His gaze drifted down to Mei.

"That said, I have a feeling you'll have little trouble incorporating them into your fighting style, should you choose to."

"So..." Mei scratched her cheek thoughtfully.

"I just say something that feels like it matches my skill while doing whatever action activates it?"

"Essentially."

"Alright." She rolled her shoulders.

"Guess it's my turn." A serious expression settled across her face as she stood perfectly still, thinking for several long seconds. Eventually, her eyes lit up.

"Got it!" She struck a dramatic pose and spun on one heel before snapping her fingers." Mei is the cutest and sexiest girl in the world! All other girls pale in comparison!" She finished in a pose worthy of the cover of a fashion magazine. Adam and Ymir simply stared at her. An awkward silence stretched on for several seconds before a system window finally appeared. Main Character's Luck activated. Mythic-grade skill activation canceled. Ymir looked at her with an unusually solemn expression.

"Was that an accident... or did you intentionally attempt to cast that skill?"

"It was on purpose, of course," Mei answered without hesitation.

"That can't be correct." Ymir slowly shook his head.

"Do you have any idea what skill you nearly activated?"

"A... beautifying skill?" she guessed, suddenly sounding much less confident.

"That was no beautifying skill." His expression somehow became even more serious.

"It was a disfigurement skill." Mei blinked.

"If that skill had activated successfully, and if the mana cost hadn't drained you dry and killed you first, every female being in this world would have been permanently disfigured." He paused for emphasis.

"You would have become the only beautiful woman left alive." Adam stared. Mei stared.

"It is considered one of the most sinister skills ever created," Ymir continued.

"The Company banned it long ago. Even attempting to recreate it is forbidden by its highest echelon." Mei slowly raised a finger.

"So... that chant's no good?"

"... Yes." She puffed out her cheeks and crossed her arms, muttering to herself.

"Stupid magic. Can't even make me prettier." Adam chuckled.

"If you were any prettier, you'd ascend to heaven." Her eyes sparkled.

"Like an angel?" He nodded.

"Aww, thanks, babe." She smiled sweetly before tilting her head.

"But... am I not already prettier than an angel?" Adam's brain immediately locked up. Fortunately, Ymir intervened before he was forced to answer.

"You two can experiment with chants on your own later. Just exercise caution regarding which spells and skills you attempt to enhance. I'd rather we not repeat... whatever that was." The giant let out a quiet sigh before continuing.

"For now, we'll move on to the next lesson." Adam and Mei looked up at him expectantly.

"Passive skills." Both of their eyes widened.

"We can cast passives?" Adam asked, genuine surprise creeping into his voice.

"Of course," Ymir replied.

"However, they operate according to a rather unique principle." He gestured toward the animal-skin robes draped across his massive frame. It was impossible to tell what kind of creature could have been large enough to provide enough hide to clothe someone of Ymir's size.

"Passive skills can only be imbued into items such as clothing, armor, or weapons." He paused, a peculiar expression crossing his face.

"Some have attempted to imbue themselves instead. More specifically... their skin. The results are generally less than desirable."

"What kind of results?" Mei asked, curiosity immediately getting the better of her.

"From what I've heard, the best outcome was a man becoming a woman. The worst outcome was having their skin melt away." Ymir paused.

"That was the same person." The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation. Adam and Mei stared.

"Oh, and they're still alive." He paused again.

"Just... skinless and female."

"Ah..." Mei slowly nodded.

"No imbuing ourselves with passives. Got it." Adam immediately pulled out his notebook and scribbled down a bolded reminder. No passives imbued into the body, unless you want to lose your skin. Beside him, Mei wrote a note of her own. You can grow a peepee if you imbue yourself with a passive skill... but you'll lose your skin. Worth it? Probably not... Adam glanced over.

"... I don't think that's what he said." Mei tilted her head innocently.

"If a man became a woman, then wouldn't a woman become a man?" Adam opened his mouth to argue but couldn't come up with anything to the contrary.

"... Please don't."

"Don't worry." She grinned.

"I like my skin too much for that." He considered responding, but thought better of it. The less he encouraged her thought process, the better. BOOM! Ymir clapped his enormous hands together to regain their attention. The resulting shockwave echoed across the training grounds like a sonic boom. Adam and Mei staggered as the deafening blast slammed into them. Their vision blurred, their ears rang violently, and for a brief moment they thought they might actually lose consciousness. Ymir winced.

"Oh... oops." He scratched his cheek sheepishly.

"I keep forgetting I'm not supposed to do that around you little ones. Sorry."

"Huh?!" Adam shouted, clutching his ears. The ringing completely drowned out Ymir's apology.

"What did you say?!" Mei yelled toward Adam.

"I can't hear you!"

"What?!"

"I SAID I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" With a tired sigh, Ymir lifted his enormous World Tree staff and waved it over their heads. A spell activated silently. The scenery around them shimmered. An instant later, Adam and Mei found themselves back inside the guest house. Ymir's voice echoed directly inside their minds.

"Rest for a while. We'll resume the lessons tomorrow." Even speaking directly into their thoughts, his voice was strangely muffled beneath the lingering ringing in their ears. After sitting in silence for several minutes, their hearing gradually returned. Mei stretched lazily.

"So... what do we do now? Practice more chants?" Adam snapped his fingers and pointed at her.

"No." He shook his head.

"Let's take a break today. We've done nothing but train, attend lessons, and then train some more. Why don't we explore the city?" Mei's eyes lit up.

"Oh! That's a great idea!" She bounced up and down in place, causing Adam's eyes to go dizzy from all the movement.

"I wonder if they have a mall."

"Normally I'd say, of course not." Adam shrugged.

"But honestly... they might. I'm really surprised by how advanced their civilization is." Mei nodded thoughtfully.

"Yeah. Y'know, I've noticed our tutorial feels really different from everyone else's."" Yeah. It's literally Impossible. The difficulty nobody chooses." She rolled her eyes.

"You know what I mean."

"I know." He laughed.

"I was joking." His expression became more thoughtful.

"Our tutorial really is different. Most tutorials start with beginner monsters like slimes or vampiric bunnies. Goblins technically count as beginner monsters too, but they're about as dangerous as beginner monsters get. That part makes sense for an Impossible tutorial." He frowned.

"What doesn't make sense is everything that came after that."

"The hidden boss parasitizing the Goblin King?"

"That too." Adam nodded.

"But honestly, I was thinking of Skysandra. She was the first real anomaly we encountered." Mei smiled dreamily.

"She's my wife." Adam elected not to acknowledge that statement. Experience had taught him that engaging only encouraged her. And if she ever decided to actually flirt with Skysandra as a joke... Well... He couldn't beat either of them and reasoning with Mei was about as easy as fighting Lord of Flesh with nothing but a toothpick.

"Then there was the Goblin King with the parasite hidden inside him." Mei shuddered at the memory.

"I still remember him exploding into chunks of meat."

"And after that we accidentally uncovered an ancient secret buried beneath the desert..." He paused to rub his forehead from the sheer absurdity.

"... which somehow ended with us meeting an actual god and getting our party member cursed." Mei nodded.

"And now we're staying in a city that wouldn't look out of place on Earth."

"... Except it's populated by muscle-bound orcs."

"... And their giant father." The two exchanged a look before laughing.

"And that's not even half of it," Adam said.

"Nope." Mei smiled.

"Still, I'd say we're doing pretty well so far."

"Say that again when the real challenge starts."

"You worry too much." She waved dismissively before grabbing his wrist.

"Come on! Let's go shopping. I need a new outfit. I've been wearing this one for weeks. Like... seriously. Ew." Adam blinked.

"Don't you have an infinite wardrobe in your Legendary Closet?"

"They disappear after twenty-four hours." She gave him a completely serious look.

"What happens if I forget to change right before a boss fight that's being livestreamed to thousands of viewers?" Adam immediately understood.

"... Yeah. That would be a disaster."

"Exactly." He sighed in surrender.

"Alright. Let's go shopping."