WATER MAGICIAN

– Mizuzokusei no Mahoutsukai –

- VOLUME 1 -

Kubou Tadashi

Chapter 0 Prologue

【 BOOK 1.1 】 SLOW LIFE

Chapter 1 Slow Life
Chapter 2 Handling Water
Chapter 3 Ice Formation
Chapter 4 Day of Battle
Chapter 5 Various Goals
Chapter 6 Assassin Hawk
Chapter 7 Magic Range
Chapter 8 Northern Forest Expedition Second Team
Chapter 9 Wood processing
Chapter 10 Assassin Hawk II
Chapter 11 Endurance
Chapter 12 Plow…?
Chapter 13 Close Combat Initiative
Chapter 14 I’m craving River Fish
Chapter 15 Fish Sauce and Presence
Chapter 16 Greater Boar
Chapter 17 The Other Water Jet
Chapter 18 Abrasive Jet
Chapter 19 Sea… Heaven and Hell
Chapter 20 Magic Control
Chapter 21 Dullahan
Chapter 22 Once again into the sea
Chapter 23 Paddy field development
Chapter 24 Final battle against the Assassin Hawk
Chapter 25 Dragon
Chapter 26 Slow Life Crisis
Chapter 27 The End of Slow Life

【 BOOK 1.2 】 TWO-PERSON JOURNEY

Chapter 28 Two-person Journey
Chapter 29 Sword Art
Chapter 30 Lizardman
Chapter 31 Wall
 Chapter 32 Golem Nest
Chapter 33 Abel’s Knowledge
Chapter 34 Abel’s Sacrifice
Chapter 35 Great Monster Battle
Chapter 36 Invisible Threat
Chapter 37 Dried Meat
Chapter 38 Ruler of the Sky
Chapter 39 Wyvern
Chapter 40 Return from the Uninhabited Land
Chapter 41 Kyradea

【 BOOK 1.3 】 CITY OF RUNE

Chapter 42 City of Rune
Chapter 43 Guild Registration
Chapter 44 Room 10
Chapter 45 Abel’s Report
Chapter 46 Final Day of Class
Chapter 47 Victory Celebration
Chapter 48 Amon’s Training
Chapter 49 South Library
Chapter 50 Leonor
Chapter 51 Difference in Strength

CHAPTER 0
PROLOGUE

“Ryo-san, please calm down and listen.”

It was the phone call announcing the death of his parents.
Having just entered the second year of college, Ryo took a leave of absence,
returned to his hometown, and took over the family business.
That said, because he didn’t know the ins and outs, Mr. Shige, who was the
managing director, became the president and Ryo became the vice president.
The employees were all people who had played with Ryo since he was little.
…Although he was the vice president, his salary was the lowest… but he
learned the work little by little without garnering any particular dislike.
After 11 months, March.
“Ryo-san, shall I help you?”
Seeing that Ryo was still working on his computer even though it was late, Mr.
Shige, the president, asked.
“It’s okay… it’s something the youth club is doing so…”
The Youth Department of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry… It was
very troublesome for Ryo, who was only a young manager.
 It was an organization that was everywhere in the rural areas and many small
and medium-sized enterprises belong to it… Of course, there was no problem even
if you do not belong to it and there was no merit for Ryo’s company.
However, the previous president asked to be affiliated with it so the current
president, Mr. Shige, was still affiliated with it.
Ryo, frankly speaking, was not struggling with his company but was spending
time on [relations with external parties].
“Mr. Shige, when looked at this angle, our company really has very few
documents.”
Ryo, who was creating documents, presentation materials, event manuscripts,
and such for the youth club, was impressed by the small number of documents
internally.
“That’s right. Our predecessor said. [I don’t need report documents]. It is a
waste of time to write a report. Money won’t come in even if you write reports.
Sales will not increase. The more time spent on writing reports, the lower the
productivity. That action which occupies many hours out of the eight hours of work
a day would not form a normal company. Instead, use that time to develop one of
the business partners, hone your skills or come up with another idea… I wish you
use the time for such matters. And so, if you wish to report, do it verbally.
Superiors, if you want to know something, go to the people in the field, because
that is the basics.”
Of course, it would not work if it was a huge organization but the company had
97 employees, including the management team.
“ [The people in the field know best about the field] so that’s why many people
in the field have a lot of authority.”
“Although it is not easy. When something happens, not just the people in the
field have to take responsibility, but also the boss… Of course, that includes us the
management team.”
Mr. Shige smiled wryly.
“What you need in management is that preparedness. That is why, without a
human resource department, human resource matters are exclusively matters of
the management team. Placing a person in a position means taking responsibility
together when that person fails.”
Mr. Shige smiled and said.
“So now, I have to convey to Ryo-san who is working too hard, the words from
the predecessor.”
“Don’t work until you are exhausted.”
Ryo and Mr. Shige’s voices overlapped.
And the two of them smiled.
Of course, those were not words to spoil the employees to support laziness or
hesitation.
It was purely from a management perspective.
Failure, mistakes, re-do… problems occurs no matter how carefully you work.
However, there is a common reason for many of these cases.
Those were [fatigue] and [having no leeway].
Re-do… all the time, effort, and materials spent so far are wasted.
 Moreover, more time and effort are required to restore the original state.
If all those wasteful things could be eliminated… the company would be
grateful.
Of course, there is the aspect where employees grow by learning from their
mistakes so it is a case-by-case basis.
Ryo’s father grandly told his employees to [Don’t work until you are
exhausted] … and as the same manager level, he once again found it amazing but
more than that, Ryo found it even more amazing that he was forming the company
such that the employees don’t have to work until they are exhausted.
“Fuu…”
Ryo said to Mr. Shige after sighing.
“You’re right, father would be angry if I worked to exhaustion.”
“That’s right, Ryo-san.”
Mr. Shige smiled.
Although hard work is important, [Exhaustion] and [Hard work] were opposite
faces on the same coin.
“I’ll go home.”
Ryo left the company.
His feet may have been swaying a little due to fatigue.
Nevertheless, the traffic light was green. He confirmed it.
He was crossing the pedestrian crossing properly. That was also certain.
But that had nothing to do with the dozing truck driver.
Ryo was struck and hit the ground hard.
He could no longer feel any pain.
His consciousness was slowly becoming faint.
(Ah, this is bad……)
The first sensation Ryo felt was not the fear of death. Nor was it peace.
He didn’t know where it was directed at, but he held a little regret knowing
that tomorrow was his 20th birthday.
“This is, the afterlife?”
Ryo found himself in a white world after waking up.
“Mihara Ryo-san, right?”
In the white world, a man emerged as though he floated out of it.
He seemed to be in his mid-twenties.
The man had long blonde hair and a calm atmosphere, seemingly a handsome
European man?
He held something like a tablet in his left hand.
“Yes, you are correct.”
Ryo answered and the man smiled.
“Great. To be honest, you are the first visitor in a long time.”
And then, he said with a slightly sorrowful expression.
“Mihara Ryo-san, you died in a traffic accident.”
(Ah, as expected.)
Ryo recalled a little.
About how he died in the accident.
“Yes, I remember.”
 Ryo answered with a nod.
The man changed from his sorrowful expression and started talking with a
slight smile.
But the content had many parts that Ryo failed to understand.
“This is part of the reincarnation system of your world. You died in the
7770777 world line of Earth but occasionally there are instances where people
reincarnate or transfer across world lines. This time, Mihara Ryo-san has been
selected for that.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I guess it is hard to understand. Well, to put it simply, do you wish to
reincarnate in a different world from Earth while possessing your current
memories? That’s the offer.”
The man smiled with an expression that showed he was certain this would
work.
“Ah, other world reincarnation… Just like in novels…”
“Yes, yes, you are correct. It seems to be popular on Earth these days… the
explanations became easier because of that.”
Ryo was grateful to be given the chance to live again.
That said, he had one question.
What did this person want to achieve by letting him reincarnate?
“I have a few questions.”
“Sure, any question is welcome.”
The man waited for Ryo’s questions with a smile.
“Are you God?”
“No, I am not God. If I reference your knowledge, I am something close to that
of an Angel.”
(I see. Angel. If he calls himself an angel… let’s call him Michael (pseudonym))
When Ryo thought that internally, he sensed Michael’s (pseudonym) eyebrows
twitch slightly. A very slight movement that could have been his mistake…
(Hn? Did he read my thoughts? Well, it doesn’t matter.)
Michael (pseudonym) continued waiting for Ryo’s questions with a smile.
“What is your purpose for reincarnating me?”
“Sorry, I cannot answer that question.”
His smile suddenly transformed and Michael (pseudonym) said apologetically.
“We do not decide your reincarnation. The [God] that Ryo-san mentioned just
now makes the decision. For that reason, I do not know the purpose.”
“But in that case, what should I do after reincarnating?”
Michael once again smiled and answered.
“Please live as you wish. I have not heard of anybody told to do something or
given a mission.”
Life as you wish.
That’s a wonderful phrase!
Yup, let’s have a slow life.
“Understood. I accept your reincarnation offer.”
Ryo answered and a smile bloomed on Michael’s (pseudonym) lips like a
flower.
 That smile alone could captivate many women in the world… it was such a
smile.
“Ooo, that is great. Then, I will explain about the world you will reincarnate in.”
According to Michael’s (pseudonym) explanation, it was a world with swords
and magic.
Gunpowder was not yet commonplace.
The size of the reincarnation planet was the same as that of Earth and the
molecular composition was also the same.
Most of the physical phenomenon was the same as well.
“But it is a world with magic?”
Won’t it differ from the physical phenomenon on Earth if there was magic?
“Yes, there is magic. But, there was magic on Earth in the past too. Well,
things happened and it seems that it can’t be used now.”
That was quite shocking to Ryo.
(Earth has magic too? What’s with that? Is he referring to those out-of-place
artifacts? But those were explained as coming from aliens or ancients… It’s true
that in legends and such on Earth, magicians and magic appears frequently…)
“Ah, sorry. It looks like you are confused. But no matter what I said, Ryo-san
has already decided to reincarnate so it is not good for your mental health to
ponder Earth’s past.”
“Ah, yes, you are right.”
Let’s not think about stuff that can’t be solved just by thinking.
(I will think forward!)
“And so in the world with magic, for convenience, we call that world [Phi].
About one-fifth of the humans on [Phi] can use magic. Ryo-san’s attribute is [Water
attribute].”
“Water…”
It could be said that using magic was a staple aspect of reincarnation and
transference.
(But even if it is staple… something like fire magic with high attack power… or
earth magic that is easy to use… like making a swamp or stopping the movement of
the enemy, creating a fort in an instant to change the battle situation, I wanted to
try something like that but… no no, in the first place, if I am to reincarnated, I
would want all attribute suitability! That would have been great.)
“Erm, if possible, could you change it to fire or earth…”
Today, Michael (pseudonym) replied with many apologetic faces.
“Sorry, but I can’t change it. Because Ryo-san’s magic attribute is within the
scope of [Creation], it is the territory of the [Gods]. It is outside the scope of
[Management] that we are in charge of. Also, magical aptitude is determined at
birth on [Phi] and can’t be acquired after birth.”
“In other words, I have to keep living with water attribute?”
Perhaps Ryo’s face was filled with despair as Michael (pseudonym) added in a
hurry.
“That is true but water attribute aptitude is very good for humans. For
example, water is needed no matter where you live. You will not have any trouble
procuring water. Furthermore, 80% of the humans on [Phi] can’t use magic. From
that aspect alone, Ryo-san is already quite blessed.”
(That’s true. Water and salt are crucial for human survival. When talking about
a sword and magic world, it is standard that they do not have a water and sewage
system in cities. The worry about water might be a huge thing.)
Mihara Ryo was fundamentally a positive person.
“By any chance does Water magic encompass Healing magic or has healing
properties…”
“On [Phi], Healing belongs to the domain of Light attribute magic.”
“Ah, okay…”
After that, Michael (pseudonym) continued his explanation.
There are six attributes of magic on [Phi]. Fire, water, wind, earth, light, and
darkness. Also, there is the neutral attribute that is not included among them.
“As the neutral attribute magic is not included in the six attributes, it is
possible to learn it but… the possibility can be said to be close to zero. To be
honest, do not have expectations for it. Instead, I recommend you extend your
mastery of the water attribute that you have an aptitude for.”
Michael (pseudonym) continued talking while looking at the tablet in his hand.
“Ryo-san’s physical strength is about upper-middle tier. On [Phi], there are no
[Level] systems or [Skill] systems so steady efforts are the most important.”
(I’m among the average as expected. In other words, I’m slightly better than
average? Then I have to put in a ton of effort or I might die immediately…)
“How can I grow my physical strength of magic?”
“The physiques of humans on [Phi] and Earth are the same. So the way to gain
ability is the same too. On Earth, the human body becomes stronger the more your
train, right? If you do strength training, you will build muscle. If you keep running,
your cardiopulmonary ability will improve. Or some African tribes look at distant
things since young and have eyesight above 5.0, on the contrary, people who are
blind have no choice but to rely solely on hearing to collect information and have
good hearing. It is the same. All you have to do is use it. Then it will grow.”
After receiving some other explanations, it was finally time to ask for Ryo’s
wish.
“I wish to live a slow life in a place where nobody can reach!”
Michael (pseudonym) nodded after hearing that and operated his tablet.
“In that case, I will make Rondo Forest your reincarnation destination. I will
prepare a house and two months’ worth of food for the time being. During that
time, please become proficient in hunting using water attribute magic. I will make it
such that monsters don’t come near the house. It will look like a barrier. In Earth
units, it will be about a radius of 100 meters. Also, about 500 meters southwest of
the house is a sea so once you are used to water attribute magic, you will be able
to collect salt from seawater. Please do your best.”
“All right. Ah, one final question. How do I use magic?”
At the very end, Ryo asked the most important question.
“Magic is by mental image. Draw a clear image. And gain experience. It is the
same for everything; you won’t become a master suddenly but get better after
countless tries. The same goes for magic.”
“I’ll give it a try. Thank you for everything.”
 After finishing, light wrapped around Ryo’s body and he disappeared.
Michael (pseudonym) remained on the spot.
“Slow life huh… that sounds good. Will I be incarnated someday and live a slow
life somewhere in the world?”
Finally, he lowered his sight to his tablet… and noticed that there was an
oversight.
“Ah… I forgot to mention that his amount of magical power is considered quite
large on [Phi]. Well, he’ll notice as he lives.”
But, there was something else.
“Hidden characteristic? Why is such a thing? It’s been ten thousand years…
since the first girl I reincarnated that I saw hidden characteristics. I wonder what
kind of hidden characteristic does he have?”
Characteristic: Perpetual Youth

【 BOOK 1.1 】
SLOW LIFE

CHAPTER 1
SLOW LIFE

“The first ceiling.”

The first words in a reincarnation… it was close to a staple… although it was a
little different.
But staples are important.
A bed with a luxurious canopy… there was nothing like that.
If there was a canopy, he wouldn’t be able to see the ceiling.
By modern Japanese standards, it was a shabby bed.
Straw was laid on a board and a piece of cloth was laid on it.
That said, considering it was a European pre-renaissance cultural level, the bed
was relatively good.
It said something about his class too. As he was not in an aristocratic mansion.
He was wearing the same outfit he wore when he died on Earth. The same
shoes. He didn’t bring anything else.
Ryo got out of bed and first took a walk around the house.
Bedroom, living room, kitchen, and bathroom.
“A bath!?”
He never heard of a bath appearing in Europe before the Renaissance.
“Well, there were large baths during the Roman period so it can’t be said that
there has been none. As a Japanese, I am immensely thankful… Ah, I wonder if
Michael (pseudonym) made it for me because I am Japanese. Michael (pseudonym)
… is a great man!”
Although it was still unknown if Michael (pseudonym) was even male.
That said, Ryo’s knowledge was very mistaken and there were public baths in
medieval Europe too.
 However, the general public’s knowledge of hygiene was poor so ironically
those public baths were a hotbed for infectious diseases.
There were two books and a knife on the desk in the living room. Beside them
was a piece of paper.
[The food can be found in the storage outside. It has been made into a freezer
room so the food can be preserved. By Michael (pseudonym)]
“I knew he could read my thoughts…”
He didn’t want to make a capable man an enemy.
The books were not those heavy volumes stored in the valuable archives in
university libraries… but ordinary books… right, books that can be said to have been
made on Earth after the development of letterpress printing.
“Books? Not parchment but paper? Is this a world with paper?”
[Monster Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition]
[Plant Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition]
“This is…”
In other words, there was no such thing as the classic [Appraisal] skill
commonly found in reincarnation stories.
“He did mention that there was no level or skill system…”
Both books were quite easy to read with illustrations.
He was very thankful for that.
The knife was about 20cm in blade length and it seemed to be quite well made.
What would you bring along if you are alone on an uninhabited island?
The staple answer will be a knife.
“Staple is royal road! Staple is supreme!”
Ryo slotted the knife on his belt for now.
Looking around, there was nothing else that stood out.
Then, he opened the door to the outside.
The image of a brilliant sun came into his eyes.
A carpet of grass surrounded the house.
And a forest directly ahead.
It fit the term dense perfectly. A forest which depths can’t be seen at all.
The same forest was in the opposite direction.
However, further beyond… perhaps it was quite a distance away but there were
mountains that reached the heavens.
This transferred location seemed to have a warm climate but it was snowing
near the top of the mountain.
“It looks like a place where dragons might appear… yeah, I’ll not approach
that.”
Ryo pledged to himself out loud.
He was not yet hungry.
In that case, there was something he must do.
Or rather, it was something he definitely wanted to try after coming to this
world of sword and magic.
Yup, to actually try to use magic.
“I can only use water attribute. And the image is important for magic.”
He somewhat put his right arm forward.
 He imagined shooting water from his right hand and called out.
“<Come out water>!”
Splash.
A clump of water about the amount of a full glass came out from his right hand
and fell to the ground.
It was his first experience of magic!
From an objective point of view, it was an extremely shabby display, but that
was that.
Succeeding in his first magic, Ryo was struck with emotion.
“Magic truly exists in this world…”
Ryo continued to cast due to his excitement.
“<Come out water>”
“<Come out water>”
“<Come out water>”
……
“Michael (pseudonym) said that the image was important. Maybe…”
The image of water coming out of his right hand was the same.
“<Water>”
In the same way, a clump of water appeared from his right hand and fell to the
ground.
“<Water>” (T/N: He said it in English)
Even then, the same clump of water appeared from his right hand and fell to
the ground.
Next, without saying a word, he chanted in his head.
(<Water>)
Upon doing so, the same clump of water appeared from his right hand and fell
to the ground.
“So there is no need to say it out loud. I yearned to chant some cool lines
though…”
Men will always have some aspect of chuunibyou.
“Ah, I should have stored this in the bathtub. That was a waste of water.”
After that, he quickly moved to the bath.
Then, he continued his water magic training.
“Water could only make a full cup amount of water appear. I want to have
something that allows water to continuously come out. About enough to fill the
bathtub.”
The bathtub was made of stone and was quite well made.
The closest image would probably be those open-air baths in luxury hot spring
inns.
Just relying on <Water> would certainly be a hassle.
“Thinking of continuous water flow, the first to come to mind will be a tap. No,
wait, this is a bath. For a bath, it should be hot water. Right, I’ll try to release hot
water.”
He made an image of hot water in his head.
He chanted out loud to solidify the image he had.
“<Hot water>”
 When he did that, a clump of water appeared from his right hand and fell into
the bathtub.
That’s right, not hot water but water.
“Eh? Maybe I have to imagine it better.”
He chanted with the image of the hot water in a bath.
“<Hot water>”
And then, a clump of water appeared from his right hand and fell into the
bathtub.
That’s right, it was not hot water after all but just regular water.
“…Yeah, let’s give up on hot water for today. This Rondo Forest is quite warm
so a water bath is good too.”
Ryo didn’t hate hard work.
But he was a man that knew the usefulness of giving up.
Yup, not everything will work well from the beginning.
“<Water supply>”
Shaping his right hand like a faucet, a continuous stream of water appeared
from his hand.
“All right, that looks good.”
It was true that his procurement of hot water failed but continuously releasing
water from the first day should be in the category of considerable success.
At the very least, his drinking water and water bath were secured.
Of the problems faced in daily life, the remaining major one was…
“Fire huh…”
Right, from cooking to keeping warm or to rank up his water bath to a hot
bath, a fire was needed.
It would be great if he could use fire attribute magic… but he could not hope
for what was impossible in this world.
Ryo would have to live with water attribute magic for his entire life.
“How can I get my hands on fire…”
Was mankind’s first fire due to a tree burned by a lightning strike… or
bestowed by Prometheus… either one was not plausible at the moment.
“It would have been easy if I had a flint.”
A quick glance told him that there was no flint in the house.
Striking the flint with the metal part of the knife would have generated spark.
Eventually he would have to find it from a nearby cliff or riverside… but that
would have to be after he got used to life to some extent.
The fact that monsters don’t come within a radius of a 100 meters meant that
there were monsters outside.
He felt that he should make some preparations before leaving the barrier
(pseudonym).
Only after he gets better with water magic and find a way to make offensive
water magic…
At any rate, for now he would have to find another method to obtain fire.
Without a flint, the other method would have to be rubbing a hard stick against
a soft stick to generate fire from the friction.
“Although I totally cannot imagine myself succeeding…”
 After finally generating enough water to store in the bathtub, Ryo went out.
He collected firewood while making sure to not leave the barrier.
Along the way, he picked up tinder as well.
The tinder would refer to materials that can catch fire easily to start the fire.
Withered grass.
If he crushed them, he could use them without issue… probably.
Among the pile, he seemed to have been lucky to acquire some black palm
bark that came from palm-type trees similar but slightly different from the palms
trees he recalled.
“Yeap, I recall seeing it in a video.”
Ryo’s survival knowledge was to that extent.
In the house Michael prepared, there was a sickle.
Even after taking into consideration the amount of firewood to use there, he
was able to obtain a reasonable amount of firewood.
The wood he would use to cause frictional heat were the pine-like tree
branches and the oak-like tree branches.
“Now!”
It didn’t even smoke.
Ryo worked harder.
An hour passed… two hours passed… and then he gave up.
“Let’s check the food inventory for the time being.”
It may be necessary to ration.
Ryo, who gave up on making a fire, headed to the storage outside the house.
The storage seemed like an ordinary small hut.
Upon opening the door, he noticed that the interior was cooling.
“Is this water attribute magic? Walls made of ice? This is just like what they
call a cold room.”
Michael probably prepared it for him. In the future, Ryo may be able to use this
kind of magic… maybe.
The second day after coming to [Phi], Ryo woke up with the rising sun.
The idea to get a fire going was already in his mind.
However, to realize it, he would have to get even better in water attribute
magic.
Michael (pseudonym) mentioned that the laws of physics and molecular
composition of Earth and [Phi] was fundamentally the same.
Of course, [Phi] had magic while Earth didn’t have magic. But apparently there
was magic on Earth too in the past.
The molecular composition of water was H 2O. That was probably the same in
[Phi].
He brought out a pail from the bathroom.
“<Water supply>”
He collected about 10cm deep worth of water in the pail.
After that, he would have to solidify the water and make ice.
The mental image he had was to tightly squeeze and shrink the water.
“Freeze!”
But, it didn’t go well.
 “Yeah, it’s difficult. But I have to be able to make ice… this will likely be my
weapon. I want to try making a spell like ice spears.”
Perhaps it was not enough to just squeeze the water. Maybe he needed to
imagine taking heat away at the same time.
Thoughts such as those ran through his mind as he repeated trial and error.
After challenging countless times, a thin film of ice finally appeared on the
water surface.
But he couldn’t make it completely solidify.
This time, he imagined the H2O molecules within the water in more detail.
There are two mechanisms by which ice stores thermal energy.
One is by molecular vibration.
The other is by changing the strength of the bonds between water molecules.
In other words, enthalpy.
He bonded the H2O molecules together.
He connected the oxygen atom O of this H 2O molecule with the hydrogen atom
H of the adjacent H2O molecule.
A phenomenon called hydrogen bond was formed in his image.
At the same time, the molecular vibration stopped.
In the first place, the temperature of a substance is proportional to the
magnitude of the amplitude of the vibration of the molecules that make up the
substance.
Or rather, ‘temperature’ can be said to be an indicator of the intensity of
vibration of a molecule.
The stronger the vibration, the higher the temperature of the substance and
vice versa.
The state where the vibration of all atoms and molecules is almost zero is
called absolute zero, -273.15 degrees Celcius.
That is why, theoretically, there is no temperature below absolute zero.
In his mental image, he made the vibrations of the H 2O molecules zero.
At that instant, the water in the pail completely turned into ice.
“Alright, success!… Although I succeeded, I can’t get the ice out of the pail.”
He had to change the shape of the ice slightly.
While holding both hands over the ice, he imagined in his head. The ice was
gradually scraped off around the edge.
Then, he took it out of the pail and held it in his hand.
A lump of ice with a diameter of 25cm and a thickness of about 10cm.
He held it in both hands and imagined deforming it in his head. He thickened
the central part and thinned the periphery, making a convex lens.
After about 30 minutes, it finally reached a shape he was satisfied with.
“Fufufu, I won. The reason for victory was hydrogen bond!”
Who exactly was Ryo fighting against… no one knew.
Hydrogen bond forms the bond between water molecules but for example, a
double helix DNA, is also connected by hydrogen bonds.
From science class, we learned that A-adenine and T-thymine, and G-guanine
and C-cytosine are linked by hydrogen bonds to form the double-strand.
Hydrogen bond is amazing!
 Now then, it was time to gather the sunlight with the created ice lens and burn
the black palm bark.
Using ice to create fire. It felt a little immoral.
He was worried that the ice would melt but it didn’t seem to melt if he
continuously pour magical power into it.
That aspect may be the difference between natural ice and ice created by
magic.
The brilliantly shining sun. And the fairly large ice lens.
Using those, the palm bark was ignited in less than two minutes.
Ryo finally acquired a way to set fire.
“Magic sure is convenient.”
He could use magic to obtain the three elements of survival, fire, water, and
food. Well, he did use quite a primitive method to create fire using magic…
“I wonder where does this water come from? I guess it comes from the
moisture in the air… maybe?”
The Rondo Forest had a warm climate, or rather, the temperature was so high
that it seemed like a subtropical climate. And there was high humidity.
That naturally meant that there was a large amount of water contained in the
air.
Because of that, a beginner in water attribute magic like Ryo could quickly find
the knack to release water.
Ryo thought so.
On Earth, even deserts have a few percent of humidity.
In other words, even the dry air of a desert contains moisture.
If he could extract that… magic is definitely convenient.
However… if that was not the case?
If he was not extracting water from the air but creating it from nothing?
Of course, it can’t come from nothing.
To be exact, when he mentioned nothing, it only meant there was no
substance, but there was energy.
Michael (pseudonym) mentioned that the laws of physics were fundamentally
the same on Earth and on [Phi].
In that case, Ryo thought that the physics formula effective on Earth would be
effective on [Phi] as well.
The famous Einstein formula that even ordinary people on Earth know.
E=mc2
E: Energy; m: mass, c: speed of light.
“Energy is equal to the product of the mass and speed of light squared.”
To put it simply, it is possible to generate energy from matter.
A prime example would be nuclear power and the atomic bomb.
However, the focus here was the equals sign.
As learned in junior high school mathematics, the right and left connected by
an equal sign are equal. They are equivalent.
In other words, if energy can be extracted from matter, matter can also be
generated from energy.
Of course, even on Earth entering the 21 st century, material production from
energy has not been established as a technology.
At best, pair production has produced electrons and the like.
In the first place, a huge amount of energy is generated from even one gram
of matter.
In other words, even if you could control an enormous amount of energy, you
will only succeed in generating one gram worth of matter.
How enormous?
The atomic bomb that fell on Hiroshima actually only weighed about 0.7 grams
in terms of energy.
In other words, even if all that energy could be converted to mass… only 0.7
grams of matter would be produced.
However, there was this convenient thing called magic on [Phi].
Perhaps in the depths of magic there is also a technique to create matter from
energy.
Not only ‘creating something from nothing’, that would lead to the
establishment of creating matter from energy and even the mystery of the creation
of the universe.
His dreams were expanding!

CHAPTER 2
HANDLING WATER

Ryo, having won against who knows what with hydrogen bond, next aimed for
hot water.
However, it was simple.
Ryo saw the prospects of victory.
Ice was created by stopping the vibrations of the water molecules H 2O so he
could perform the opposite process as well.
In other words, he increased the vibrations of the water molecules.
In the past, Ryo used to do free research during his summer vacation. Of
course, it was not using magic…
Place water in a thermos bottle, cover it, and shake!
After shaking about 2000 times, the temperature of the water rose.
The temperature rose by forcibly increasing the vibration of water molecules.
That was already guaranteed success.
First, he took out the frequently used pail. He’ll try with that.
(<Water supply>)
He cast without chanting. He practiced so that he could do it while either
chanting or not.
The same as when he created the ice lens, he prepared about 10cm deep
worth of water.
Then, he held both hands over it and imagined the H2O molecules in his head.
Then, he vibrated them!
……
 “Eh?”
There was no change in the water in the pail. It didn’t feel like steam was
coming out.
When he placed his hand in the water, he didn’t feel any temperature change.
“Why?”
Was his H2O image insufficient?
After imagining it more clearly… vibrate!
“The temperature isn’t going up.”
Even though it should work if he reversed the process he used to make ice.
“What else did I do that time…”
He thought about his actions.
“…Ah, before stopping the water molecule vibrations, I combined the
molecules. Maybe I have to do the opposite as well.”
He once again held both hands over the water in the pail and summoned the
image in his head.
An image of breaking the hydrogen bonds between the water molecules and
allowing free movement.
And then imagining each molecule vibrating.
Splash
Suddenly, hot water blew up as though a geyser spouted out from the pail.
“Hotttt”
Ryo managed to somehow avoid the falling geyser.
It would have been terrible if he got burnt. Water magic has no healing aspect
after all…
That said, it was great that he succeeded in making hot water.
However, the current problem was that it was terrifying to attempt this
unstable boiling water technique (Ryo-style definition) in a bath.
It would be a disaster if the stone bath broke.
So how should he do it?
That’s when he decided.
“I just have to practice!”
Increase his proficiency.
Experience success and failure countless times.
Slowly increase the number of times he succeeds.
Experiencing success many times would lead to confidence.
His lunch was also the same surprisingly unfrozen dried meat in the storage as
yesterday… for some reason, only the dried meat was not frozen in the cold room…
he repeatedly generated hot water while chewing.
It was about 3 pm in Earth hours judging from the time the sun moved across
the sky.
Ryo suddenly felt dizzy and couldn’t stand.
“My consciousness is swaying…”
It was his first magic depletion.
He drank a little of the freshly generated water from the pail and somehow
managed to reach the bedroom before collapsing and letting go of his
consciousness.
 The third day after arriving on [Phi].
“Reflection on yesterday. Let’s use up my magical power after taking a bath.”
Ryo spoke out loud and reflected.
It seemed that it felt unpleasant to sleep without taking a bath.
As expected of a former Japanese.
It was then he noticed something.
“I only have the clothes I’m wearing now.”
That’s right, in this home prepared by Michael (pseudonym), there were no
clothes prepared.
“Thinking back, what was Michael (pseudonym) wearing?”
Something like a toga worn by ancient Roman aristocrats…?
Well, at any rate, there was no cloth in the house.
No, there was one. The cloth used as his bed.
But that was necessary for sleeping!
“Well, nobody is watching so if it came to that, I have the choice of not wearing
anything.”
But even in the paintings of Adam and Eve, their crotch was hidden by leaves…
“When I eventually hunt animals, maybe I can wrap some skin around my
waist.”
Ryo had always been a man who didn’t care about what he wore.
Now that he had decided on the direction for his clothes (did he?).
He had fire, water, and food.
In that case, it was finally time.
Right, a means of attack using water magic!
He had two months until the food in storage was exhausted.
Until then, he must become able to leave the barrier and procure food.
His only weapon was the knife prepared by Michael (pseudonym).
The man who made a name for himself using a knife on Earth… was not Ryo so
he had zero confidence in hunting animals or monsters that attack him using that
knife.
In the first place, it is almost impossible to defeat even a normal wild boar with
a single knife…
It would be insane to attempt to cross a forest in [Phi] where monsters roam
with just a single knife.
In that case, the only weapon Ryo could use was his water attribute magic.
“I wish I had the skills to make a bow and arrow and shoot it but I don’t have
such a thing.”
Yesterday, when he made the ice lens, he thought that he could one day make
an ice spear.
But it was still impossible.
Just making the water in front of his eyes into ice took a few minutes… making
a spear in front of his prey and sending it flying… was not very realistic.
In that case, what can he send flying?
<Water> and <Water supply> both freely fall to the ground after coming out
from his hand.
Right, first of all, he had to use something like a water ball.
 He raised his right hand forward and made a mental image.
An image of him creating a water ball the size of his head and launching it from
his right hand.
“<Water ball>“
Splash
Just like his image, a ball of water about the size of a head was launched from
his right hand and flew.
It was about the speed of a basketball pass?
After flying about 10 meters, it fell to the ground.
“Ooo~!”
Ryo did a slight dance of joy from his first attack spell (?)
This time, he’ll fire it at the trunk of a tree about 7 meters away!
Splash… drip
The trunk got wet with water.
“Yeap, it has no attack power, I knew it from the start.”
Ryo said as he collapsed to both his hands and knees. It was a pose of despair.
“But I have a trump card!”
Ryo immediately stood up and declared.
“If water ball doesn’t work, I just have to release a water jet.”
On Earth, the water jet was said to be able to cut anything.
However, fundamentally it was not ‘cutting’ but ‘shaving’ with water.
In the past, Ryo researched water jets for company operations and was
convinced that it was the likely winner for water attribute attacks.
Raising his right hand forward, he made a mental image.
The image of a thin, high-speed water jet launching from the tip of his right
hand.
Water was made as thin as possible by applying pressure from the
surroundings.
“<Water jet>“
Trickle trickle
A thin stream version of <Water supply> with little momentum appeared.
Yeah, that will likely not cut anything.
Ryo once again was on both his hands and knees on the ground and
overwhelmed by despair.
“I lost…”
It seemed that he lost to something…
“Let’s calm down.”
Just like yesterday’s lunch, he bit down on the dried meat from the storage.
(There’s no need to rush. I could only use the boiling water technique fairly
well after practicing for half a day. In that case, if I pile on practice for this Water
jet, won’t it become a strong weapon? Furthermore, I’m now able to create ice.
That should be useable in the upcoming battle with monsters… I just don’t know
how I can use it yet.)
“I just have to practice after all. Hard work does not betray!”
He devoted himself to practicing Water jet.
After around 2 pm on Earth time, he surpassed to make a slightly more
vigorous version of Water supply. However, after that, he could not focus the
pressure beyond that of a car wash hose.
Then, Ryo suddenly realized.
“I have to enter the bath for today.”
And in the bathroom. It was time to show the results of his half-day training
yesterday.
“<Plenty of water>”
The bathtub was filled with water in just 10 seconds.
He was now able to control the amount of water produced.
That was the result of the magic control he acquired after training for half a
day and collapsing.
Next will finally be the time to make the water hot.
But Ryo was not worried. With yesterday’s training, he was confident.
He held his right hand over the bathtub and imagined in his head.
The image of the water molecules moving around freely and each one of them
vibrating.
He performed it for about half of the water in the bathtub. He didn’t want it to
be too hot.
He placed his hand in the hot water each time and raised the temperature
while repeating the fine adjustments.
And then, finally, it reached the perfect temperature.
“Yes~”
Ryo’s efforts were thus rewarded.
“Tiredness is the cause of failure. Don’t work to the point of exhaustion.”
It was somewhat of a signature phrase from Ryo’s father.
It was true but… a difficult phrase to put into practice.
He slowly immersed himself in the hot water and organized the current
situation.
Water jet still could not be used as a means of attack.
Forming ice takes a couple of minutes. Before that, he had to verify if he could
directly create ice in mid-air.
(But I still want to be able to say ‘Icicle Lance!’ and launch an ice spear.)
Any man would like to perform cool things.
(First, I have to know a little more details about using ice with water magic.
Next, if I could generate ice faster, I might be able to use it when confronting
monsters.)
After getting out of the bath, Ryo went to the garden and put it into practice.
“I’ll try directly generating ice from the air. <Ice lens>”
Between his hands, the same ice lens he used to create fire appeared. It took
about five minutes to complete.
“It is possible to directly create ice from the air. But it takes quite a long time.”
Unlike yesterday, it was made without a pail… it was actually quite significant
progress but Ryo was not aware of it…
The ice lens would not melt while magical power was channeled into it. Once
that was stopped, it would melt like ordinary ice.
“I wonder if I can make this lens can fly.”
 Swish plop
He used his arm strength to toss it and it drew a parabola before falling.
“Yup, I knew it couldn’t fly. I made it to be an ice lens after all so it’s natural
that it can’t fly!”
Of course, it was a secret that he was feeling depressed internally.
Then, next will finally be… an ice spear, Icicle Lance.
“This is the favorite for attack magic using ice!”
First, the image was important.
In his head, he imagined an icicle about 30cm long.
“<Icicle Lance>”
Compared to the generation of the second ice lens, this took considerably
longer.
After 10 minutes, after 15 minutes, it finally took shape.
“Alright, just as imagined. Then, fly!”
Swish plop
“Ah…”
He used his arm strength to throw it and it drew a parabola before falling.
“I imagined it flying but maybe… it was not enough?”
Shooting the <Water ball> from his hand allowed it to fly for about 10 meters.
But then why didn’t the < Icicle Lance> fly?
“The Ice lance is heavier? But the Water ball was about the size of my head so
the weight should be about the same. Hmm~ I don’t know. Maybe I will find out
after trying a few times.”
“<Water ball>”
From chanting to launching, it became much faster after repeated practice.
Initially, it took about five seconds from chanting to launch but after dozens of
practice, he could now fire after around one second.
The distance also seemed to have extended further from the initial 10 meters.
The power was… the same as the start.
“Fuu. I’ve gotten used to it. Well, Water ball worked well from the start. Now,
it will be Icicle Lance based on that. I’ll try firing the Ice lance from my right hand
like the Water ball.”
He adjusted his breathing and chanted.
“<Icicle Lance>”
Swish plop
The instant it shot from his right hand, it fell to the ground.
“<Icicle Lance>”
Swish plop
It was the same no matter how many times he tried.
“The time taken to generate the spear has become much shorter but… why
can’t I get it to fly?”
He had probably released dozens of Icicle lances.
The time from generation to launch had been reduced to about a minute.
Then, the time came.
“Ah, I’m losing consciousness.”
It was the same magical power depletion as yesterday.
 While staggering, Ryo reached his bed and let go of his consciousness again.

CHAPTER 3
ICE FORMATION

The fourth day after arriving at [Phi].

He still could not decipher the Icicle Lance even after a night’s sleep.
In fact, there was an even more urgent issue in the morning.
He was hungry.
Thinking back, he had only eaten dried meat since he was reincarnated.
Furthermore, he basically only ate lunch.
Ryo was by no means a large eater but he was a healthy nineteen-year-old.
His stomach would growl if he ate too little.
If he died of starvation despite Michael (pseudonym) preparing two month’s
worth of food for him… he wouldn’t know what kind of face to make if he gets
reincarnated again and sees Michael’s (pseudonym) face.
He first headed to the storage.
After passing through the door, it was cold as a cold room. Probably due to the
inner walls made of ice.
Those were probably made with water attribute magic but… the ice Ryo makes
would begin melting once he stops channeling magical power through it.
But the inner wall made of ice in the storage showed no signs of melting at all.
Was Michael’s (pseudonym) magical power reaching this place?
Or did this embody a higher aptitude in water attribute that Ryo had not seen?
Either possibility was interesting.
He will one day solve that mystery… but first he had to satisfy his hunger!
He could first eat the dried meat but as expected, after four days, he wanted to
eat something else.
Right, that would be roast meat!
There were frozen beast and monster meat lined up in the storage.
Rabbit, boar, and chicken-like meats… and they have been dismantled,
butchered, and lined up nicely.
“These meats have been through dismantling… I believe Michael (pseudonym)
prepared this. In other words, he’s saying that I can obtain edible meat if I
dismantle them this way. Michael (pseudonym) is such a capable man.”
While thanking him for his consideration, he took down two pieces of what
looked like rabbit thigh meat.
“They are really frozen solid. I wonder if I can melt them. It would be great… if
they would naturally start melting once they leave the storage.”
Ryo exited the storage shed with meats in both hands.
Then, he placed them in the pail. The all-purpose pail!
Sunlight from the slowly climbing sun illuminated both lumps of meat.
However, they didn’t seem to be melting at all.
“Is he telling me to defrost them myself as a water attribute magician…”
 Holding his right hand over one of the frozen meats, he formed an image in his
head.
He imagined breaking the bonds of the water molecules in the ice that covered
the meat.
“Eh? I feel like I’m being repelled.”
He couldn’t peel off the bonds between the water molecules.
And he didn’t just fail to do so. Ryo could sense clear feedback in his head.
“Is this because it isn’t ice I made myself? There’s a rejection because Michael
made it?”
But there was no way he would give up that easily.
He couldn’t live without eating.
In the first place, since Michael (pseudonym) prepared it, it should be able to
melt and eat.
After all, Michael is a capable man. So it should be doable!
“I’ll do it without rushing.”
He didn’t aim to melt the entire piece at one go but focused on a single
location. He felt himself concentrate his magical power on that location and broke
the bond between the molecules.
Next, he broke the bonds next to it. And next to that. And next to that…
The ice at the places where the bonds were broken turned into water.
Finally, after around 15 minutes, he defrosted a piece of rabbit thigh meat.
Even after taking that much time, the other piece of frozen meat remained
rock solid and didn’t show any signs of melting.
“Michael’s magic is amazing. Let’s experiment on the other frozen piece. I
wonder what will happen if I directly roasted Michael’s ice.”
He prepared firewood and black palm bark in the yard.
Then, he brought the salt that Michael (pseudonym) prepared from the
kitchen.
Incidentally, of the seasonings prepared by Michael (pseudonym), there was
only a large amount of salt.
He skewered the thawed thigh meat on a branch and sprinkled it with salt.
And then, he made the usual ice lens.
Perhaps because he made it multiple times, initially it took him about 15
minutes just to freeze water but now it only took him two minutes to directly create
an ice lens.
“I’ve gotten quite used to it.”
It was nice to see his progress in a measurable way.
Using the ice lens, he focused the sunlight onto the black palm bark to create
fire.
He blew on the embers to make it bigger and transferred it to firewood.
He then stuck the branch skewered with thigh meat on the ground beside the
fire.
Then, he held the frozen thigh meat in his hands and held it over the fire.
The frozen meat did not show any signs of melting even above a fire.
“This is quite a surreal scene…”
Conclusion: Meat frozen by Michael (pseudonym) does not melt even when
roasted over a fire.
The thigh meat skewered on a stick had roasted nicely during the time he took
to reach that conclusion.
“Thank you for the meal.”
He finally had a decent meal for the first time on his fourth day.
It was so delicious it made him want to cry.
Or rather, Ryo ate while actually crying.
Ryo used the same method to melt the other frozen thigh meat and roasted it
before eating comfortably.
He thought about what he should achieve today.
First would be icicle lance… he still had no clue why it didn’t fly.
He didn’t get a flash of inspiration because he didn’t have all the information.
He wouldn’t get an answer even if he thought about it for a long time.
In that case, he should try something else and wait for the information he
needed to solve it.
Time was limited after all.
He was already quite used to ice formation.
But if for example, he wanted to use it while in battle with monsters, it would
probably still be difficult.
It took one minute from the formation of the icicle lance to launch. Although it
still couldn’t fly either.
The formation of ice lens took two minutes.
Either one had a significant reduction in formation time compared to when he
initially made them.
But more. He had to shorten it even further.
When fighting monsters, he was putting his life on the line.
There was no room for compromise.
He had to be proficient to the level of completing the formation in one second.
Ryo made that decision and started practice.
He tried creating all kinds of ice.
An Icicle-shape like for an icicle lance.
It was an ice spear of about 2 meters in length.
Ice sheet, ice pillar, ice wall, and such…
He noticed something during that time.
The way to make [Hard ice].
Even on Earth, there were hard ice and ice that were hard to melt.
By removing the air within the water, it would become difficult to melt.
That could be achieved by first boiling the water to expel the air within before
freezing it.
Now, how should Ryo form his ice to produce harder ice?
When freezing, it would be more solid if he excluded the air.
To achieve that, he tried freezing from inside out.
Normally, when water freezes, it would freeze from outside in. As such, the air
contained inside water would solidify inside the water and form bubbles.
However, he could form ice using magic. So he could just freeze from within!
Ice formed that way would probably be harder than the ice made without any
thought put into it.
Ryo firmly believed so.
For lunch, he had the usual dried meat as he earnestly repeated the formation
of ice.
Forming with his right hand, forming with his left hand, or even forming using
his feet… he practiced while assuming as many situations as possible.
While he was absorbed in doing so, he suddenly noticed that the sun was
setting and it was reaching evening.
“I have to enter the bath.”
He ate, took a bath, and once again repeated magic training.
Such a cultured life.
Ryo was happy.
The fifth day he came to [Phi].
Today, he tried reviewing what he learned up to today.
In the morning, he took out rabbit thigh meat from the storage just like
yesterday and roasted it to eat.
Thawing the meat, lighting a fire, roasting, eating… it went smoothly.
And as a continuation from the day before, he created ice.
After training for an entire day yesterday, he could now produce an icicle lance
in 20 seconds and reduced the creation of the ice lens to 20 seconds as well.
But it was still not at the level of being of practical use.
Of course, as long as he could not launch the icicle lance, he could not use it
for battle but he would never know what kind of skill would protect him in what
situation.
Furthermore, the creation of ice was likely to be a skill that he would use for
this entire life.
As such, his goal was to raise it to such a level that he could form ice as
naturally as breathing.
Ice spear, ice sheet, icicle, ice walls etc…
He would create and melt it, melt it and form, in a perpetual cycle of repetition.
Whole-heartedly.
During lunch, Ryo was chewing on dried meat as usual.
In the afternoon, he devoted his time to the formation of ice.
Suddenly, when he looked up at the sky, something fell on his cheeks.
“Rain…?”
He was experiencing the first rainfall since reincarnating to this land.
“Fuu, it’s a good time to take a breath and enter the bath.”
In the home prepared by Michael (pseudonym), there was no such thing as
glass windows.
There were windows but they were in the form of hollowed-out walls and could
be covered during rain with a wooden board.
And there were no lamps in the room.
And no fire.
Right, it was pitch dark.
It wasn’t an issue up until yesterday.
After all, usually after entering the bath, he would use magic outside until he
ran out of magical power.
Then, he would return to bed and lose consciousness.
The windows were left open and the room was illuminated by moonlight but he
was usually not in the state of mind to recognize it.
Today, due to the rain, the windows were shut and there was no moonlight.
“But it does not affect magic training.”
He got up from the bath, laid down on the bed, and repeated ice formation
which he was doing outside.
Instead of letting it melt after formation, he made it turn into water vapor in
the air.
By doing so, he could avoid melting ice that would soak his bed.
After repeatedly forming ice yesterday and today, he managed to reduce the
time for ice to take shape to five seconds.
Just as he realized that, he ran out of magical power tonight as well.
Ryo let go of his consciousness as he erased the icicle lance.
For a week after that, he spent all his time creating ice.
The 12th day since he came to [Phi].
Finally, he could create icicle lances almost instantly, in less than a second.
However, he still could not launch the icicle lance.
That said, he finally had a goal.
What goal?
Of course, the goal of leaving the barrier.
His goal was set but his preparations were not complete.
First, he had to secure a means of recovery.
The staple of an other world reincarnation would be potions.
The plant materials that act as ingredients for potions were listed in the [Plant
Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition].
But even though it was listed, Ryo was not confident that he could secure the
ingredients other than the plants needed.
However, leaving the barrier without a means of recovery was reckless and
idiotic.
Even though it would not heal as much as a potion, some plants could help
heal an injury by just grinding it and putting it on a wound.
So first he decided to secure those plants within the barrier.
If he could do so, then he would plan to leave the barrier the next day.
According to the [Plant Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition], the most commonly
used method to treat an injury was the Wound Grass that was aptly named.
It seemed that townsfolk regularly use it as getting a potion was difficult.
Wound Grasses were growing just behind the house.
It was so dense that it could be said to be growing en masse.
“Wonderful. Sometimes having it in easy mode is great too! It would be great if
the icicle lance problem could be solved easily too…”
Ryo sighed and complained about something that would anger 80% of the
residents in [Phi] that can’t use magic.
It was a shame that he could not procure inside the barrier the other grass
called Detoxifying Grass that had an antidote effect when brewed and drunk.
 He would have to look for it when he exited the barrier.
Securing flint and Detoxifying grass were his first goals.
After that, he would identify if it was possible to hunt and procure food.
His only physical means of attacking was the knife that Michael (pseudonym)
prepared.
The knife was considered large, having a 20cm blade but he would have to get
close to his opponent if he wanted to use it as a weapon.
To be honest, Ryo didn’t see himself as capable of doing so at the moment.
It would be better if he widened the reach.
“The length of the spear gives soldiers a sense of security.”
The king of the sixth heaven realm said that… probably.
He made the knife into a spear.
That said, he didn’t use water attribute magic.
He made a physical spear.
He used something that looked like bamboo… or rather, it was bamboo no
matter how he looked at it, and cut it to the right length.
He could use it as a bamboo spear but he had a knife after all so he split the
end of the bamboo and slotted the knife there.
He wrapped it with ivy that he gathered and tied it tightly so that the knife
wouldn’t drop.
As a final touch, he would secure the knife with ice right before leaving the
barrier.
Naturally, he did not make a six meters long spear just like the Owari soldiers
but a two meters long spear that was easier to handle.
The three Japanese famous spears were the Nihongo that was 3.2 meters long,
Otegine which was 3.8 meters long, and Tonbokiri that was 20 shaku long, or 6
meters long… such lengths were impossible for an amateur to wield.
An ice spear could be used as a physical weapon but there was no telling what
would happen in battle.
He could not say for certain that he could calmly create ice when his life was
on the line.
“For now, let’s take today slowly and prepare to leave the barrier tomorrow.”
Ryo had been depleting his magical power almost every day by using magic
before sleeping.
One of the reasons was because Michael (pseudonym) mentioned that he could
train by practice.
Of course, the other reason was to gain experience and reach a point where he
could use magic as easily as breathing.
However, there was no way to tell if his magical power would completely
recover by the time he woke up. That was because he could not see his remaining
magical power in a quantified manner.
With that in mind, he decided to rest for today to allow his body’s magical
power to recover to its limit before leaving the barrier the next day.
He read the [Monster’s Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition] until the day turned
dark, ate roasted meat, entered the bath, and slept.
Then, he welcomed the morning of the decisive battle.
 CHAPTER 4
DAY OF BATTLE

The 13th day after coming to [Phi].

It was finally the day of the decisive battle.
He started a fire with experienced hands and ate meat.
He slowly ruminated the preparations he made in his head…
After finishing his meal, he confirmed the items he would bring.
The Wound Grass had already been ground and frozen into packs using water
magic. They were ready to use by just melting them and applying them to any
wound.
A bamboo spear with a knife as the tip. He had strengthened the part where
the knife and spear connect with created ice.
That was all.
In fact, the items he took to leave the barrier were very limited.
His goal was to secure flint and Detoxifying grass.
And to fight a weak monster… if possible, he hoped for a slime!
He didn’t plan to stray too far.
If anything happened, it would be troubling if he was too far and couldn’t
escape into the barrier quickly.
He closed his eyes a little and adjusted his breathing.
“All right, let’s depart.”
He headed in the direction of southwest. The direction where Michael
(pseudonym) told him that there was a beach 500 meters away.
There were a couple of kinds of rocks that can be used as flint but Ryo was not
well versed in it.
The only stone that Ryo could identify as an amateur was ‘Quartz’, a stone with
a proven track record used as a flint.
There were colorless transparent quartz called crystals but the more common
opaque white quartz could be found quite easily.
A good place to find such stones was at river banks.
If there was a sea, there should be rivers connected to it.
In that case, he wondered if he could encounter a river along the way to the
sea.
“Well if this fails, I can set off in the opposite direction next time. This is an
adventure in a sense. There’s no telling what can happen so it is an adventure.”
Ryo felt a slight sense of resistance as he left the barrier.
“I guess that sensation was the outer edge of the barrier.”
As he was within a forest, visibility was poor.
He listened carefully and walked slowly while relying on sound.
He could hear the sound of birds flapping their wings in the distance.
After proceeding about 100 meters outside the barrier, the forest suddenly
ended.
 In front of him was a river that spanned hundreds of meters to the opposite
side.
“Bingo!”
However, Ryo appeared on the top of a cliff. It was a difficult spot to go down
to the river to look for flint.
(I guess I’ll continue walking upstream.)
The river ran from east to west so Ryo carefully walked upstream on the cliff.
“Such a wide river is only a hundred meters away from home… This scenery is
a little touching…”
However, the current Ryo couldn’t afford to take a leisurely look at the
scenery.
After a short walk, he was able to get down to the riverbank.
And quickly found quartz.
He decided to give it a quick try to generate sparks.
He tried to hit the back of the knife attached to the bamboo spear to the
quartz.
Spark spark
“Ooo, I see sparks. With this, I can make fire even when there is no sun.”
There was no need to linger once he confirmed that.
A river was a place for beasts to quench their thirst. There was no telling what
would appear.
He quickly climbed up the cliff where he came down from and headed in the
direction of northeast.
(If I continue moving north like this, I should appear on the south end of the
house barrier. If I head northeast, I should be able to move while having my house
to my left.)
If anything happened, he could quickly dash into his house barrier.
As mentioned many times, that was the most important matter to Ryo right
now.
In the first place, he didn’t know how strong the monsters in [Phi] were.
He was certain that he could defeat slimes but it wasn’t guaranteed that only
slimes would appear.
He was able to find flint fairly quickly but he couldn’t find Detoxifying grass no
matter how long he looked.
He constantly moved while keeping the position of the house in mind so he
didn’t stray too far from the barrier.
“Well… this is quite difficult… what should I do?”
Perhaps he was recalling the page on the Detoxifying grass in the Plant
Encyclopedia hoping for a hint… at the very least, it was certain that his attention
strayed from his surroundings.
When he suddenly realized a boar was looking in his direction.
“Shit. That is a Lesser Boar.”
The Lesser Boar charged in a straight line toward Ryo.
That was a Lesser Boar.
Charging in his direction.
He had to intercept it.
 Ryo’s mind was aware of those facts. Even though he was aware, his body did
not move.
It was the first time he faced the killing intent of a monster head-on.
It was a clear murderous intent that he had never experienced in his life.
Perhaps it was the same principle as a frog that couldn’t move when a snake
glares at it.
“Shit, move, move, move~~~!”
His body finally jumped to the left. Instead of jumping, it may be closer to
describe his action as falling to the side.
“Uguh…”
When dodging the Lesser Boar’s rush, its fangs lightly scratched Ryo’ right foot
and injured him.
However, he couldn’t stay down forever.
The Lesser Boar that rushed past him slowed down and stopped before turning
around and staring at Ryo.
In those eyes was clear murderous intent. Or perhaps it was angered that he
avoided its rush.
“Calm down.”
If it was possible to calm down just by saying that, no one would have a hard
time.
Ryo was not an exception.
His heart was pumping like an alarm bell.
His mind was blank… well, not completely.
Even though that was the case, his body wouldn’t move as he wanted.
The Lesser Boar charged once more.
Once again, Ryo couldn’t move as expected.
However, even if he couldn’t move his body, Ryo had magic.
His water attribute magic that he has practiced over and over and over again.
Hard work will not betray.
“<Ice Bahn>” (T/N: Bahn = Road in German)
In front of Ryo to the Lesser Boar, an ice road about 2 meters wide was
formed.
Due to its momentum, the Lesser Boar slid over the ice toward Ryo. It couldn’t
stop itself on the ice.
“<Icicle Lance 16>”
Even though the Icicle lance couldn’t fly yet, he could grow them from the Ice
Bahn.
It was like a line of spears in front of Ryo.
The 16 spears grew from the ice floor at a 30-degree angle.
Without any means to stop, the Lesser Boar rammed into the mountain of
Icicle Lance head-on.
“Gyooooooo”
The skewered Lesser Boar screamed from the severe pain.
But it had not died.
But the fear of death that bound Ryo was released.
He could finally move his body.
 He held his bamboo spear affixed with a knife.
Ryo did kendo but of course, he didn’t know how to use a spear.
However, there was no need to think about it so much. He just needed to stab.
Face, neck, groin. He stabbed over and over again.
He could move his body now but that didn’t mean that he was calm.
He stabbed with the bamboo spear with all his might.
Again and again and again…
He probably stabbed a couple of dozen times.
Ryo finally realized that the Lesser Boar was no longer moving.
“I won…”
That day, Ryo defeated a monster for the first time.
“I have to quickly leave this place.”
There was no telling what might be attracted by the scent of blood.
Ryo summoned his energy and stood up.
The problem was the Lesser Boar’s corpse.
It looked heavy.
“So how should I carry this?”
Of course, leaving it there was not an option.
It was his first hunt.
Ryo decided that he would eat Lesser Boar meat tonight.
The barrier shouldn’t be far. It was at most a hundred meters.
That was when he suddenly saw the Ice Bahn that the Lesser Boar slid on.
“Could I pull the Lesser Boar if I spread ice below it?”
If he laid down Ice Bahn until the barrier, it shouldn’t be difficult for him to pull
on his own.
With just a little adjustment, he created a path of ice below the Lesser Boar
and pulled.
“Ooo, it’s super~ easy this way.”
He could easily pull the Lesser Boar that seemed close to 200 kilograms with a
single hand.
Then, he passed through the barrier and arrived in front of his house.
“I’m finally… home.”
There stood a young man who had exhausted all his energy and willpower.
Although he didn’t get any Detoxifying grass, he obtained flint, won his fight
battle, and net a Lesser Boar.
Those were sufficient results.

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.
“<Icicle Lance>“
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.
“<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.
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.

CHAPTER 6
ASSASSIN HAWK

The 21st day after coming to [Phi].

Ryo was hunting outside the barrier.
His target was a Lesser Rabbit.
A monster that resembles a rabbit.
It would hop unpredictable to close in on the target before biting their throats.
That was the Lesser Rabbit’s movement pattern.
Ryo’s aim was the moment the Lesser Rabbit hops.
At that instant, he shot Water Jets concurrently from the left and right side at
its hind legs.
It was not powerful enough to pierce the legs but it would lose its balance
when it lands and he could prevent its next jump.
Then, while approaching it, he would aim the Water Jets at both its eyes.
If he could do so, he would then pierce it with his knife-tip bamboo spear and
end its life.
“Fuu.”
Ryo finally established a safe way of hunting. Against Lesser Rabbits.
His other foe was the Lesser Boar that he encountered the first time he left the
barrier.
From then, he encountered Lesser Boars countless times but this method did
not work against them.
The reason was simple.
It was possible to snipe the exposed hind legs of the Lesser Rabbits when they
are jumping but the hind legs of the Lesser Boars couldn’t be sniped at when they
are charging forward.
In that case, he could aim for the front legs with Water Jet but they could
apparently use their hind legs to leap forward for the last 3 meters.
He was able to leap to the side at the last moment but it revived the nightmare
of his first encounter with the Lesser Boars.
After that, it was a bitter memory where he finally calmed down after shooting
Water Jets frantically at its legs, eyes, and everything he could see.
From then on, he reverted to the original hunting method of Ice Bahn + Icicle
Lance and dealing the final strike with his knife-tip bamboo spear.
That method was the most suitable because the Lesser Boar would always
charge in a straight line forward.
In any case, it was now relatively safe to hunt the Lesser Rabbits and Lesser
Boars that appear around the house.
Lately, Ryo’s schedule was he would hunt outside the barrier in the morning
and practice magic inside the barrier in the afternoon.
He still could not launch the Icicle Lance and Water Jet was still not powerful
enough to penetrate the target.
Nevertheless, the hunting success from every day planted a seed of
peacefulness in Ryo’s heart.
“Peace is the platform for the next step. By Mihara Ryo.”
The next step was of course the enrichment of his food.
That food enrichment referred to his aim to obtain fruits and seasoning other
than salt.
In general, clothing, food, and housing were the fundamentals of life.
Among them, ‘housing’ was the home and barrier prepared by Michael
(pseudonym) and was rock solid.
Then, ‘clothing’…he was no longer wearing the clothes he had when he
transferred to [Phi]. He kept those in a safe place. In frozen storage.
Currently, Ryo was wearing… tanned leather from Lesser Boar skin.
Right, Ryo was performing tanning!
As it was amateur work and he had only seen it on blogs and videos on Earth,
the result was quite mediocre but…
First, he peeled the skin of the Lesser Boar.
 Then, he washed the peeled fur carefully. Wash. Wash.
He was living up to his worth as a water attribute magician.
After washing and drying, he stripped off the meat and fat on the inside of the
skin.
In the case of the Lesser Boar, he could peel them off piece by piece by hand.
All that remained would be the dermis or the part called collagen. All that was
left was ‘tanning’ by allowing the tanning agent to bind and stabilize the material
but… the problem was that ‘tannin agent’.
On Earth, the mainstream tanning agent was called Chromium… of course, he
didn’t have it. He didn’t even know how to make it.
The other mainstream agent was tannin… it was the astringent component of
wine and was derived from plants but he didn’t know what kind of plants he can get
it from.
In the first place, ‘tanning’ was written as ‘tanning’.
‘To soften the leather’

That was the essence of tanning.

In that case, what would happen if it was not done?
It would rot and dry and turn hard.
Rotting and hard clothes… wasn’t something he wanted.
To prevent that, the skin is preserved in Chromium and tannin.
Right, basically ‘tanning’ was ‘preserving’ the skin but… Ryo knew.
There was a method to preserve without tanning.
Smoke tanning… he saw a video on it before.
That said, he only recalled them burning some leaves to produce smoke but he
couldn’t remember what leaves they were.
Well, any plant-derived smoke would work, yeap.
In addition to the usual firewood, he gathered lush leaves from the surrounding
trees.
Then, he made a fire. Igniting a fire was now his forte.
He kept the fire from getting too strong by putting lush leaves and green grass
into the fire to generate a large amount of smoke.
For example, smoke from ‘smoking’ would normally be from the burning of
sakura chips or some other kind of wood but this was an expression of Ryo’s
sloppiness where he felt that any plant-derived smoke might work the same.
If he did it in a residential area, he would definitely receive complaints.
Lately, in Japan, there have been cases where policemen went down to fields
to jot down names… it has become a difficult world.
That said, on [Phi], nobody was living around Ryo’s home… probably.
The skin of the Lesser Boar was hung on a bamboo construct like a drying
futon.
He tried smoking for half a day.
The next day, the smoke tanned Lesser Boar skin… no, it could be called
‘leather’.
He first washed that leather.
Smoke tanning wasn’t intended to allow the odor of smoke to seep into the
leather.
After washing the leather, he finally spread it thinly and evenly with an <Ice
Roller>.
Right, this was the true calling of a water attribute magician!
The completed Lesser Boar leather was about the size of a table tennis table.
For now, he cut the part to be used as a waistcloth with a knife.
He turned the remaining scrap leather into thin strings.
He didn’t have thread in the first place after all.
That was how Ryo, wrapped in Lesser Boar leather around his waist, was born.
“Peeling the skin off a monster you hunt and tanning it… this is a stereotypical
slow life!”
…The definition of slow life differed by the individual.
Lesser Boar leather, waistcloth equip.
Lesser Boar leather, sandals equip.
He wasn’t wearing anything apart from that.
If he was in Japan, he would have been reported immediately.
“I actually wanted to make something like a tunic but… as expected of leather
not made by an actual craftsman, it doesn’t seem that durable.”
Ryo muttered while tapping the Lesser Boar leather.
“Hn? If it’s durability, can’t I just generate ice on the surface of the leather?
No, in the first place, I don’t even need a chest tunic and can just directly form an
ice armor? No, that would be too cold and might even stop my heart? I want to
eventually be able to automatically generate an ice shield for defense when
receiving attacks… fufufu, I want to try saying ‘Fool, such an attack would never
reach me!’ or something like that…”
Men would always have chuunibyou no matter how old they are.
Once the ‘clothing’ and ‘housing’ parts were settled, naturally the final aim was
to enrich his ‘food’.
He aimed to acquire fruits and new flavors.
The question was which direction to set off for.
From home, the sea was about 500 meters in the Southwest direction.
Michael (pseudonym) said that.
To the South was a flowing river. A river that spans hundreds of meters to the
opposite bank. The river where he found the flint.
In the East, he first fought the Lesser Boar and after that, it became the
important hunting ground for Lesser Rabbits.
However, he has not traveled far from the barrier.
In that case, he had not set foot toward the North at all.
“There’s a chance I can find it nearby in the North… let’s go.”
Apart from his waistcloth and sandals, he carried his usual knife-tip bamboo
spear and jute bag.
He couldn’t tell if that jute bag was actually made from jute but it was one of
the two bags that Michael (pseudonym) used to keep the dried meat in the storage.
It would be meaningless if he found fruit but don’t have a bag to bring it home.
He could only use what he had available.
For now, he kept all the dried meat that was in it inside the storage.
 That jute bag was the kind of jute bag used to carry coffee beans.
“Since I am between the Tropic of Cancer and the Equator, I wonder if there is
a coffee tree?”
He noticed that there was no coffee tree listed in the [Plant Encyclopedia:
Beginner’s Edition].
Even f he could gather coffee beans, there was the problem of how to brew
them but…
For now, enriching his food with drinks wasn’t a bad idea either.
“Let’s set out!”
Even though he was heading in the direction of North, it didn’t mean that the
vegetation would change compared to the East or South.
Well, it would be troubling if he encounters a frigid place where cold wind blows
as soon as he goes north.
That would have been very fantasy-like though.
Immediately after he left, he found something that resembled a fig.
“I recall this is called Ichizuku in the Plant Encyclopedia. It’s written that it can
be eaten.” (TN: Fig in Japanese is Ichijiku)
For now, he took one and ate it.
“There’s a good balance of sourness and sweetness!”
That was the first time the flavor of fruit was spreading across his mouth since
coming to the Other world.
He put about 10 ripe ‘Ichizuku’ in the jute bag.
“It would be great if I can find all kinds of things like this.”
After that, he walked around the area for an hour but couldn’t find any other
fruit.
“There’s no helping it, I should step foot a little further North.”
At the moment, he was about 200 meters from the barrier.
He had no experience of leaving the barrier further than that in all directions.
But he was planning to extend further eventually. He was just setting foot a
little earlier than planned.
But Ryo was not able to proceed further.
It was not a calculated act.
He didn’t think but he sensed it.
He fell prone to the ground.
Something invisible suddenly passed over Ryo’s head after he crouched down.
Something was flapping in the direction from where the invisible something
came from.
“A bird?”
That bird flapped its wings strongly.
Then, he couldn’t see it with his eyes but he heard the sound of something
slicing through the air.
He dodged to the side.
“Is that wind magic? A monster that can manipulate wind… and a bird-form.”
An invisible wind attribute long-range attack magic. The so-called Air Slash or
Sonic.
“Yup, I can’t beat that.”
 He made a quick judgment.
“<Ice Wall: U-shape>”
It was an ice wall that Ryo devised for protection. He created a wall about one-
meter thick and two-meter high in front and to his left and right.
A defensive wall meant for retreating backward.
When he started running toward his house, the ice wall followed right behind
Ryo.
In reality, Ryo was channeling magic into it to move it according to his
movement speed but when viewed from the side, it looked like the wall was
following him.
(200 meters to the barrier, I have to somehow dash all the way.)
But after running about 100 meters, the ice wall shattered.
“What!?”
After receiving three shots of the invisible wind attribute attack magic, it
couldn’t withstand it any longer and shattered.
It would be impossible to run the remaining 100 meters and escape while
showing his back.
Ryo had no choice but to turn around and confront it.
He could see the bird a lot clearer than before.
“Assassin Hawk… its main weapons are the invisible wind attribute long-range
attack magic Air Slash and its assault that approaches the speed of sound using its
beak and claw.”
He inadvertently recited the contents he memorized from the [Monster
Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition] but he couldn’t think of any method to confront it.
He couldn’t use the Ice Bahn + Icicle Lance that worked against the Lesser
Boars.
Using Water Jet like how he dealt with Lesser Rabbits… maybe.
Maybe he could snipe the base of its wings to hinder its movements a little?
A good plan must be acted on immediately without hesitation.
(<Water Jet>)
The opponent was a monster with the wisdom to manipulate magic. No chant
was better.
The fired Water Jet pierced the target accurately.
Right, it ‘pierced’…the air.
It didn’t hit the Assassin Hawk’s body.
It seemed that its speed that exceeds the speed of sound can be utilized not
only for attacking straight but also for dodging enemy attacks.
“In that case, I will suppress with numbers.”
(<Water Jet 32>)
From Ryo’s right hand, 32 Water Jets was shot forth simultaneously and
headed toward the Assassin Hawk.
But when the Water Jets pierced the space where the Assassin Hawk was, the
Assassin Hawk was no longer there.
It moved far to the side and diagonally forward to the right of Ryo.
“That’s bad!”
Ryo couldn’t tell but he jumped and rolled to the left.
 Immediately after, the place Ryo was on exploded.
It was the Assassin Hawk’s charge.
He somehow managed to avoid it and the Assassin Hawk was now right next to
Ryo.
He thrust the knife-tip bamboo spear in his right hand toward the Assassin
Hawk.
Stab
“Gieeee”
He felt the response of cutting something.
At the same time, the Assassin Hawk’s cry deafened him.
That instant, his eyes definitely met the Assassin Hawk’s.
Its right eye was bleeding and could not open. His knife-tip bamboo spear
seemed to have injured its right eye.
The remaining left eye… was glaring at him with immense hatred.
Normally emotion in a bird’s eye was not so easily read like fine glasswork but
the Assassin Hawk’s eye at that time was definitely full of hatred.
“<Ice Wall Package>”
An ice wall was formed like a box from above to cover the Assassin Hawk in
front of him.
However, as expected of the Assassin Hawk.
Even though it was injured, its agility was still there.
It took a distance from Ryo before the ice wall could form.
Then, it glanced at Ryo before leaving.
Ryo felt like he heard a voice telling him that it will kill him the next time.
Ryo couldn’t move for a while even after the Assassin Hawk was gone.
“This time was dangerous.”
He firmly checked his condition and injuries as he headed to the barrier.
“How should I confront that…”
Difficult problems were pouring in one after the other… a slow life in Rondo
Forest was quite challenging.

CHAPTER 7
MAGIC RANGE

Magic seemed to have somewhat of an effective range.

Currently, Ryo’s range was roughly about a radius of 15 meters around him.
He could not channel his magical power beyond that.
For example, even if he launches a Water Ball, it would lose its ability to float
and fall to the ground once it passes 15 meters.
Before it reaches 15 meters away, he seemed to be able to control it to some
extent as though there was a thread of magical power connected to it.
Thinking back as to how the Water Ball would fall after 10 meters, he was able
to verify that the effective range would be extended.
That said, the Water Ball wasn’t fast and its attack power was weak so Ryo
could not use it as an attack spell…
Even the Ice Bahn that Ryo used when hunting the Lesser Boar could only be
generated up to 15 meters in front of Ryo.
It could only manifest starting from Ryo.
It was not possible to create an Ice Bahn directly underneath the feet of a
Lesser Boar 15 meters away.
Suddenly creating a Water Ball in a space 15 meters away was impossible.
But what if he could do it…?
Forming a 3-meter radius Ice Bahn underneath a Lesser Boar 10 meters
away… just that alone would render the Lesser Boar immobile due to the slippery
surface.
At the moment, Ryo’s greatest means of attack was the Water Jet.
That was a straight-line attack originating from Ryo toward the opponent too.
In a sense, that made it relatively easy to avoid.
Since the trajectory of the attack was just a straight line.
Sure, avoiding the fast Water Jet was pretty difficult but… that Assassin Hawk
dodged it.
Furthermore, <Water Jet 32> was Ryo’s hidden trump card.
Firing 32 Water Jets at the same time… An all-direction surface suppression,
even though they were fired at a slight angle to achieve, but it still managed to
move out of the effective range.
There was still room for improvement.
While enriching his food was an attractive prospect… there were still monsters
that Ryo could not win against at his current stage.
And it could be found very close by.
He had to become even stronger.
Since everything would be over once he dies.
He would hunt in the Eastern forest once every two days in the morning.
Hunt one Lesser Rabbit or Lesser Boar.
On days when he doesn’t go hunting or on rainy days, he would read the
[Monster Encyclopedia: Beginner’s Edition] in the morning diligently.
Since he didn’t know when, where or what kind of monster he would
encounter.
It would be too pathetic if he couldn’t cope with the new monsters because he
didn’t read up on them.
Apart from that, he would train magic.
He was practicing creating water and ice away from him.
As expected, he could not immediately create them 10 meters away from him.
He extended his right arm.
He cast a Water Ball in front of him, forming a Water Ball 10 cm away from his
palm.
His goal was to extend that distance to 15 meters or even further… that
training seemed that it would take a long time as well.
Nevertheless, just because it felt like it would take a long time didn’t mean that
he shouldn’t do it.
When he was practicing outside, he would always incorporate the practice of
firing a Water Jet from a point away from him.
By doing so, he could practice both creating it away from him and improving its
power.
Growth only progressed in tiny steps.
But Ryo was happy to see the result of his growth.
As it was directly connected to his survival, he had to do it regardless of
whether it made him happy or not.
That was a fact but humans are not that strong-willed.
Instead, having visible results from effort would have a great impact on
motivation.
It was more related to emotions than reasoning.
Half of the humankind’s drive comes from emotions.
Whether that half can be moved was crucial in getting good results.
Ryo knew about that regardless of being a person who leaned on the side of
reasoning.
Ryo was not a genius.
Nor was he a talented person.
But he knew the importance of hard work.
That came from his emotional side, rather than his rational side.
For a person like him, the effort didn’t bother him at all.
The change came suddenly.
On the day he goes hunting.
He was hunting for Lesser Rabbits or Lesser Boars in the Eastern forest.
Of course, there was a chance of encountering monsters other than those two
types.
But he had not experienced it other than the encounter with the Assassin Hawk
in the Northern forest.
The Northern and Eastern forests were connected and it wasn’t such a large
distance so he naturally considered the possibility of the Assassin Hawk appearing
in the Eastern forest.
However, he encountered a different monster today.
“Greater Boar…”
The greater species of the Normal Boar that is the greater species of the Lesser
Boar.
Capable of shooting stone gravel as a long-range earth attribute attack magic.
And the speed of its charge was close to the speed of sound.
Although there was a difference of wind and earth and sky and ground, its
characteristics were similar to the Assassin Hawk.
But it was huge…
Its length was about seven meters. Its head was around three meters above
the ground.
Something that large would charge at subsonic speeds. It was a nightmare.
“I’d die if I get hit. I was hit by a truck and died on Earth but isn’t that even
faster?”
Since kinetic energy was determined by mass and speed, a Greater Boar that
charges at subsonic speed produce destructive power that is incomparable to the
trucks on Earth.
By visual estimations, it was about the size of a dump truck.
The Greater Boar was so large that even though it was about 20 meters away
from Ryo, the perspective seemed strange due to its appearance.
(<Icicle Lance 16>)
First, 16 Icicle Lances formed at a 30 degrees angle from the ground to
intercept its charge.
That would prevent the subsonic charge.
The Greater Boar fired two stone gravels while slowly approaching.
(<Ice Shield 2>)
Two shields about the size of tennis rackets made of ice formed in front of Ryo
and disappeared after the gravels that were shot over collided with them.
“Guooooo”
He wasn’t sure if it was to intimidate or a cry of frustration. But the Greater
Boar cried out.
Immediately after, more than 20 stone gravels manifested around the Greater
Boar.
“That’s way too many.”
(<Ice Wall>)
Ryo chose a wall instead of a shield to prevent all the attacks from the front.
The Greater Boar shot the stone gravels immediately after that.
The stone gravels that flew toward Ryo shattered the Icicle Lances before
causing cracks on the Ice Wall.
Ryo jumped to his left at once.
Almost the same time as the stone gravels landed, the Greater Boar charged.
“Charging in at the same time as using skills… are you some knight with a
sacred sword technique!”
It was a technique that appeared in Ryo’s favorite comic.
“If I were a wind attribute magician, I could form three other bodies and shoot
sonic blades before following up with a charge assault!”
But that was impossible for Ryo.
The Greater Boar shattered the Icicle Lances with stone gravels and shattered
the Ice Wall with its body charge.
It passed Ryo by from the momentum of crushing the Ice Wall and turned
around to face him after about 15 meters.
“You shouldn’t have stopped there.”
(<Ice Bahn>)
He formed a floor of ice with the Greater Boar in the middle.
A radius of about three meters around the Greater Boar became a floor of ice
and the space between it and Ryo was an ice floor as well.
The Greater Boar failed to stand on the ice and fell over many times.
It probably never experienced walking on ice before in its lifetime. The Rondo
Forest was warm after all.
(<Icicle Lance 16>)
Even after that much practice, he still could not shoot the Icicle Lances
forward.
 However, after becoming able to form them away from himself, he found a
new way of using them.
16 Icicle Lances formed 18 meters above the Greater Boar with their center of
gravity placed near their tips.
Then, they fell.
“Gyaaaaaa”
The Icicle Lances pierced the Greater Boar one after another from its neck to
its back, except for its head.
Due to the Greater Boars characteristic to favor charging, its entire head,
including its nose, was extremely sturdy.
An ordinary sword would not be able to pierce it.
That was how it was able to break through Ryo’s Ice Wall.
However, its body other than its head wasn’t as sturdy.
It was similar to that of the Lesser Boar and may only be slightly tougher than
a regular boar.
Ryo aimed for that.
“I’m glad I read the [Monster Encyclopedia]. But the hide is now full of holes
and no longer useable…”

CHAPTER 8
NORTHERN FOREST EXPEDITION SECOND TEAM

“Now, the second team for the Northern Forest Expedition is here!”
Ryo declared to nobody but he was determined.
“This time I will fulfill my food enrichment!”
The previous time, he went to the Northern Forest to enrich his food but the
Assassin Hawk blocked his progress.
The Assassin Hawk hunted just as its name ‘Assassin’ implied, killing its prey
even before it was noticed.
It would fire an invisible wind magic Air Slash from a blind spot in the air.
Ryo was able to dodge the first attack of the Assassin Hawk the other time by
pure coincidence.
This time, was he ready for the Assassin Hawk?
“I can’t win yet so I will withdraw immediately if I meet it.”
It sounded like he had not made any progress since his last encounter but that
was not the case.
Now, he should be able to retreat with more leeway than before… maybe.
His inability to defeat it was a matter of compatibility.
The Greater Boar was not inferior to the Assassin Hawk in terms of strength.
However, the difference in how Ryo was able to beat the Greater Boar and not
the Assassin Hawk was dependent on whether he can impair the movements of his
enemy.
Once the Greater Boar enters Ryo’s effective magic range, he could stop its
movements using Ice Bahn.
 However, he could not do that with the Assassin Hawk that flew in the air.
Even when he tried to surround the Assassin Hawk with <Ice Wall Package>
the previous time, it was able to escape.
The basis of Ryo’s hunting style was to block the movement of his enemy and
then attack it.
At present, without a means to hinder the Assassin Hawk’s movements, it was
an enemy with the worst compatibility with him.
And so, he decided on ‘retreat on encounter’.
“Regardless of the Assassin Hawk, I gathered Ichizuku (fig) the previous time.
The last time I gathered Ichizuku that was about to be ripe so it would be great if I
can find something else like pepper…”
His equipment was a waistcloth made of Lesser Boar leather, sandals, a knife-
tip bamboo spear, and a hemp bag.
His usual set of expedition gear.
Immediately after leaving the barrier to the north, he reached the location
where he picked the Ichizuku the last time and found freshly ripe Ichizuku ‘figs’.
“Yup, it’s a great haul.”
He stored 10 Ichizuku in his hemp bag and headed further north.
Then, he arrived at the location where he was attacked by the Assassin Hawk
the other time.
About 200 meters from the barrier.
“I was attacked here the last time. But it looks like it is not here this time.”
After looking around carefully, he noticed that at that spot, the dense forest
was slightly interrupted and there was not much overlapping of trees.
In other words, it was a suitable place to attack from the sky.
“I didn’t notice at all the previous time. I guess that was my limit.”
He advanced further north while maintaining vigilance of his surroundings.
By the time he reached around 500 meters from the barrier, he finally got his
hands on it.