Chapter 5: Various Goals

The 14th day since coming to 『Phi』.

Last night, he enjoyed the thigh meat of Lesser Boar.

The other parts he froze in ice and placed in the storage.

After one night, he calmly looked back on yesterday’s battle and broke into a cold sweat.

The Lesser Boar was as its ‘lesser’ name implied, the weakest of boar-type monsters.

Of course, it was more troublesome compared to Slime or Lesser Rabbit but due to its brutal charge, it would be impossible for ordinary farmers or hunters to defeat it alone.

Nevertheless, it was listed as the weakest rank in the 『Monster Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition』.

“But I’m glad my first enemy was the Lesser Boar. There was a chance of encountering even stronger foes so I was lucky.”

Ryo was an optimistic person.

Although he could not launch the Icicle Lance, he could use it as a line of spears.

But even if he could use it, it used himself as the decoy to attract the enemy.

Because of that, he would take immeasurable damage if it failed.

What if the monster’s speed exceeded Ryo’s expectations?

What if there was a foe that wouldn’t slip on ice?

Also, it would be useless if he was attacked from the sky …

As expected, since he could finally use magic, he wanted to secure a method to safely hunt from afar.

Hunting on the edge every time would be too mentally draining.

The Water Ball could be launched but not the Icicle Lance.

After trying all kinds of theories, he concluded that water could be launched but ice could not.

They were both formed using water attribute magic.

Water Ball was (probably) made by gathering the moisture in the air and then launching it.

Icicle Lance was (probably) made by gathering the moisture in the air, freezing it, and then launching it.

“Hn? Icicle Lance has an extra step? Don’t tell me that, at my current ability, I can only use two-step processes …?”

He decided to prepare water first then try the ‘freeze and launching’ steps separately.

It would be bad if something happened to the pail so he made an ice bowl and stored water in it.

Placing his right hand over the ice bowl, he imagined in his head.

The image of the water freezing and launching along with the ice bowl.

“”

Woosh

Although it wasn’t a spear, the frozen water stuck to the ice bowl flew about 10 meters.

“Alright, success!”

Something that didn’t work for dozens of days was resolved in an instant.

“So that’s the reason. The answer came quickly once I realized the important information.”

In this case for Ryo, instead of obtaining the necessary information, he acquired flint, concluded a battle outside the barrier, and came to this realization after relieving his mental stress … but it was a fact that he solved the problem so it was probably fine.

“I understand the reason. For now, it seems that it is not possible to perform three steps at once. Perhaps I will be able to do so after I am more proficient in water magic. It would be great if I can.”

It seemed that he won’t be able to launch ice for some time … in that case, water will have to be his means of long-range attacks.

“Now that I think about it, I have not tested the Water Jet recently.”

The Water Jet that he practiced hard on the third day of coming to 『Phi』 but was only able to focus it into the strength of a car wash hose and concluded that it could not be used for attacking.

“With creating ice, I’ve come to understand how to handle water magic so I’m sure it will be better than last time …”

With his right hand raised forward, he made a mental image of a water jet.

“”

Shuu

Compared to before, the stream of water was much thinner and more vigorous.

“There’s progress!”

Next, he tried firing at the tree at the edge of the barrier.

Shuu … crack

It still could not cut the tree … but the spot it hit was slightly gouged out.

“This could work as long as I practice …”

Ryo once again started practicing Water Jet.

Four days from then, Ryo practiced Water Jet all day.

Of course, he made sure to eat a proper breakfast and enter the bath.

He ate roasted meat for breakfast. Right, roasted meat in the morning. Breakfast is important after all!

His lunch was mostly dried meat.

And he entered the bath at night.

As for dinner … he always thought of practicing Water Jet a little before preparing but end up depleting his magical power and going to bed directly … without having dinner.

Perhaps that was why he always wanted to have a proper meal for breakfast the next day.

The result of four days of practice on Water Jet … was that its power had certainly increased.

But although it increased, it could not compare at all to the water jets on Earth …

He was able to gouge deeper into the tree trunk and was able to focus the jet into a smaller stream.

But it was still far from the image of ‘cutting’.

However, he acquired the skill to hit the spot he aims for with pinpoint accuracy.

If it was a stationary target 10 meters ahead, he would hit it without an error of 1mm.

“There’s no telling when it will come in handy. Right, I have to train to be able to shoot multiple jets at once, not only one.”

Ryo said and continued his training once more.

A positive mental attitude will save him.

His goal was to hunt safely.

Obtaining food every day by putting your life on the line … was not a slow life!

Becoming able to hunt safely and leaving the barrier was part of life too … once he was able to do so, Ryo wanted to expand his diet.

Currently, he could only eat monster meat seasoned with salt and roasted or dried meat.

He wanted some other flavor … right, he wanted to have some fruits eventually.

In the 『Plant Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition』, pepper was called 『Pepper』 too and could be found in 『Phi』.

After living here for about two weeks, Ryo felt that it was a location similar to that between the Tropic of Cancer and Equator on Earth.

From the direction of the vortex when water flows, it seemed that he was in the Northern hemisphere.

The height of the sun and the humidity meant that he was close to the Equator.

In that case, there should be spices!

Although there were hundreds of kinds of spices, Ryo only knew pepper, red pepper, Japanese pepper, and ginger.

He was never very knowledgeable about cooking in the first place so that couldn’t be helped.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Among them, he had personally seen the trees where pepper grows from.

They would grow in a bunch like grapes.

(I can probably identify that inside the forest!)

Well, he would only be able to get his hands on it after he can leave the barrier with more peace of mind.