“Mweh heh heh...”
“What’s up, Princess?” the orc captain asked.
“Oh, nothing you need to worry about! Now could we do a little more—”
Mil was interrupted when another orc came running over. “Captain! Have you got a moment?” It looked like one of his subordinates. They had the same face as the captain, but none were quite as big.
“Yeah, all right. Give me a sec. Sorry, Princess. I’ll have to leave you here.”
“That’s fine! Thanks for everything! Can I...come back another time?”
“Sure thing. Drop by whenever.” Then he turned and asked the other orcs, “You’re all fine with that, right?”
“Yeah!”
“We want more healing from our saint!”
“Saint! Saint!”
“Ah ha ha...” Mil felt awkward with all the orcs surrounding her.
They wouldn’t stop cheering “saint.” it was a little over the top when all she’d done was heal a few bruises.
“Bwa ha ha,” the orc captain laughed as he went back to training with his subordinates.
“All right... Now I can level up even more tomorrow!”
Thus began Mil’s intense training program. She spent every free afternoon using her attacks on the orc in the training hall.
“Princess! Same again today?”
“Yep! If you don’t mind!”
Once her level was high enough, Mil didn’t have to rely on enchanted items. Instead, she used a wooden training sword, dealing less damage but getting just as much experience for each attack.
“Same again today, please!”
“Bring it on!”
At level 40, she gained one-handed sword proficiency (low) as a skill since that was the weapon type she’d been using. It made her wooden sword attacks do more damage. It was around that time that the orc started to wince whenever she hit him.
“Same again today, please!”
“Oh... S-Sure thing!”
By level 50, a few basic attacks wasn’t enough to level up anymore. On top of that, the orc was starting to take enough damage with each attack that he’d started wearing armor.
“Again please!”
“Just, uh, just a little.”
At level 60, it took countless blows just to gain a single level. With the orc captain at level 80, closing the gap meant the experience gains were dropping off too.
“The usual ple—”
“W-Wait. We’re taking a break today.”
After about a week, the orc didn’t want to endure Mil’s attacks anymore. Instead, he suggested facing off against some of the other orcs in mock battles.
Sometimes Mil won her mock battles, other times she lost. She’d never tried this form of training back in the royal capital, so battle tactics were completely new to her. She gained new skills from fighting this way, and it leveled her up faster than simple attacks.
Name: Mil / Level: 65
HP: 785
MP: 662
STR: 455
DEF: 394
INT: 502
DEX: 382
SPD: 380
LUK: 144
Passive Skills: one-handed sword proficiency (high), light equipment proficiency (mid), tenacity, fortitude, spellsword, fast learner, saint, detection
Active Skills: fire magic, ice magic, lightning magic, healing magic
Now that her intelligence had increased, Mil decided to try reading the forbidden magic spell books in the library.
Her intelligence stat was oddly high despite her training method, likely down to her individual nature. The higher someone’s level, the clearer it became what role they were best suited to, whether that be frontline fighter, rear support, or something else.
Though the type of training they followed could change the outcome too. For example, fighting with a weapon would raise strength more, while using magic would increase intelligence.
Given her high strength and intelligence, Mil looked cut out to be a spellsword. She’d even gained spellsword as a passive skill.
With intelligence over 500, learning spells looked like a good way to improve herself further. The constant battles were getting boring anyway.
“I guess I’ll check out the library next.”
✧✧✧
The next day, Mil headed for the castle’s grand library.
There was a surprising amount of light inside thanks to skylights in the high ceiling. She saw rows of old books crammed into shelves that extended across the walls of the room.
Mil found the musty smell of the books all around her relaxing somehow. It reminded her that she’d always been a bookworm.
Save for Mil, there was no one here. With each step, she heard the click of her shoes on the floor echo through the room.
“All right! Time to read!”
She took several books from a nearby shelf. Each one was so thick that little Mil could only carry three at a time using both hands.
She dropped the collection onto a table in the library and took a seat. Now she’d have to read each one, a single page at a time... Or not.
“Goddess Eye should work...” She held her hand over the first book, causing a status window to appear.
Advanced Spell Book: dark mist
Required Stats: 125 INT
The name of the spell described by the book and the stats required to learn it were displayed in the window. The required stat was needed to actually cast the spell. Anyone with lower intelligence wouldn’t be able to use it even if they memorized the whole book.
Mil tapped the words “dark mist,” causing a detailed description to appear.
Dark Mist: Dark forbidden magic. Deploys a black mist to the surroundings. The amount of mist increases with higher intelligence. With repeated casting, the mist can be imbued with an element. (Can be learned.)
Mil could decipher it using one of her powers as a goddess’s priestess—Goddess Insight. She took a deep breath and then used her power. “Goddess Insight—Learn Knowledge.”
A faint white light enveloped the book then began gradually breaking into small particles. Each time a particle of light broke off, it was absorbed into her body.
The contents of the book and the nature of the spell slowly took form in Mil’s mind. Learning a spell with the minimum required stats could take a long time. Back when she’d tried learning fire magic in the royal capital, it had taken her two hours to learn the fireball spell.
This time, however, Mil had four times the required stat. For most people, it would still take some time, but she’d been born with the fast learner skill. That probably reduced the time needed even further.
After five minutes had passed, she’d absorbed all of the faint particles of white light. When she closed her eyes, she saw the spell clearly.
“All right...” She held out her hand toward an empty space. “Dark mist!”