Skip Magician 91

Test

Chapter 91. The Return Of Ivy

A few days passed since the first day of reckless training. On the second day of training... Ash and Nina's faces had already grown incredibly sour.

“I feel like Theo just beat us up... Will we really be able to manifest a Grimoire?”

“I don’t know... but there’s no way out of this... We have to get our hands on a Grimoire.”

“Good luck with that.”

There’s one thing I’ve realized: Ash and Nina might be people who simply can't fight with everything they’ve got. It’s not that they can’t unleash 100% of their power or anything like that... It’s more fundamental.

Everyone I know who has manifested a Grimoire... Jeremiah, Hilalda, Ivy, Elixira... all of them seem like people who’ve broken some kind of internal stopper. Without breaking that kind of personal restriction... I don’t think you can manifest a Grimoire.

Ash weights the Garndi barony, and Nina, maybe it’s her upbringing in the slums? Either way, both of them—whether consciously or unconsciously—prioritize survival. As humans, that’s natural... but that kind of thinking is the biggest obstacle if you want to gain powers beyond the norm.

Maybe Grimoires exist at the far end of a reckless, mad determination people call "bravery." It’d be nice if they just appeared when you wrung your soul out like a rag.

“Theodore, do you consciously do anything to manifest your Grimoire?”

“Huh? Not really?”

I just pull out the sword that’s inside me, so there’s nothing to really think about.

Stop looking at me like I'm useless. It hurts, you know.

“Why don’t you throw away your pride and just come at me with everything you’ve got? Maybe you’ll find some trigger. Besides, without doing that, you’ll never beat me properly, right? Haha.”

As soon as I teased her, Nina charged at me. Her face was fully enraged, but even then, she fought prioritizing her survival as an adventurer... Always taking half a step back. It’s not wrong to fight like that. After all, no one is without fear, and those who recklessly step forward easily end up dead... But even if Nina finds something she can’t yield on, will she still fight by taking half a step back?

The essence of the soul reflects the person themselves. Someone who steps back on what they can’t compromise... well, they won’t get far.

“Guh!?”

I activated a small-scale repulsion spell around myself, stopping Nina’s strike just before it landed. Her face twisted in frustration as she raised her sword again, but this time, I cranked up the repulsion to full strength.

Nina was blown away like a tissue in the wind. I felt a little sorry for her... but it’s what she wanted, so it’s fine.

“Hah!”

While I was standing there, keeping the repulsion active, Ash charged straight at me. I thought the repulsion would stop him... but somehow, he cut through the force pushing him away and came closer.

“How are you doing that?”

“The repelling force is made of mana! So, if I deflect the mana, I can get through!”

Uh, no, that’s impossible.

Isn't Ash’s soft sword technique about something entirely different? Since when could he deflect magic? Seriously, what the hell... Could that be your Grimoire? It's terrifying... What is going on?

Even with the repulsion still active, he’s gradually closing in. Let’s reverse things then. A few tweaks to the magic circle, and reversing the effect of the spell is a piece of cake... depending on the spell.

“Whoa!?”

“Too bad.”

I reversed the repulsion... The outward force instantly changed into an inward pull toward me. Unable to react to the sudden shift, Ash flew toward me defenselessly. I punched him in the stomach as he came in, then rewrote the magic circle to restore the repulsion force.

Sucked in, then blown away as soon as I hit him. That must’ve hurt... but he’ll have to deal with it.

“You’ve got some serious skills... Maybe I should learn a thing or two from you.”

“Your Grimoire is already overpowered, so why bother? How the heck do you shoot beams of light anyway?”

Jeremiah had apparently been watching at some point. She spoke up, but I wasn’t surprised to see her. A quick glance around revealed Elixira, as usual, reading books in the shade without a care, and Jeremiah grinning as she watched. Thankfully, Princess Elissa wasn’t around today.

“Your Grimoire is really peculiar... Theodore.”

“Me?”

Not Ash or Nina’s inability to manifest a Grimoire... but me? I’m the weird one?

“Your Grimoire... It doesn’t suit your essence. It’s like the soul manifesting your Grimoire and the soul speaking to me now are two different entities.”

“...”

Why is she so sharp... It’s seriously unsettling.

“Wait a moment. Humans can’t have two souls... If that happened, the body would explode.”

“Oh? But no one has ever encountered such a case, right?”

“Well... That’s true...”

Actually, there’s someone right here.

And hang in there, Elixira, don’t let her win!

“Aren’t you curious? If a human had two souls... Would they have two Grimoires as well?”

“Hmm... That is an interesting thought.”

“What do you think, Theodore?”

Damn it, Elixira, you’re falling right into her trap. You’re no match for the heir of a duke’s family if all you do is read books in seclusion.

“Who knows? At the very least, trying to experiment on it would probably make you a major criminal.”

“That’s true.”

Still... Ash and Nina are taking their sweet time. I realize I knocked them a good distance, but they haven’t come back yet... Are they strategizing or something?

“Theodore... You didn’t accidentally kill your classmates, right?”

“I’m not that bad at holding back... I think!”

They’ll be fine. They’re tough enough to survive!

“Looks like you're having fun, Theodore?”

Huh? Ivy?

“Where’ve you been? I heard you haven’t been attending class lately... Don’t tell me you’ve been sneaking into some weird place.”

“How rude... I just went to the Western countries for a little bit.”

Isn’t that what you’d call a weird place?