Kotori was sleeping in today

"Why?" you ask?

Because Mari won't dungeon dive with her

"Weird right?"

Kotori was equally confused as well.

It all started a week ago. It had been a month since Kotori asked the boss if she could leave the village. She would still go on dungeon diving trips with Mari and Amelie but there was no difference in her situation. She was beginning to worry about whether or not the boss had actually taken her request to heart.

That was until one day when she went to meet up with Mari and Amelie as usual. Mari only told her

"We're not assigned together anymore"

"What does that mean?" Kotori asked confused.

"It means I'm no longer responsible for you," Mari explained; Despite her curt tone, Mari seemed a bit sad over this fact.

"Who decided this?" Kotori asked

"The Boss, don't ask me why I don't know either" Mari answered

"What am I supposed to do then?" Kotori asked even more confused

Mari shrugged her shoulders

"Not my problem," she said walking off with Amelie and others.

Kotori was unsure of what the Boss's intentions were with this order

[Is she trying to push me away?] She thought

Upon thinking further Kotori didn't think it made much sense

She decided to use this time as a well-earned break.

Hence, why Kotori is currently sleeping in right now. Kotori herself knew she was a lazy person and she happily took her free break.

Still, there was a bit of anxiety in her heart. Ever since the order that she couldn't dungeon dive with Mari, the Boss was looking at her with an expectant eye, but Kotori didn't know what she wanted.

She tried asking the Boss if she could leave the village but the Boss still denied her request.

Kotori's life had returned to her pre-training lifestyle every day she lazed about and waiting for Amelie to get back.

It was rather comfy.

Kotori felt as if something was off. This order was obviously meant to teach Kotori something but she was not sure what it was meant to teach.

Although Kotori was physically 8 years old she is mentally around 40 years old.

She was technically quite mature, but at this moment she felt more like the child she physically looked like.

[For someone who's so simple-minded she's rather abstract in her thinking] Kotori thought about the Boss.

Still, Kotori was getting bored and started roaming the forest herself. With Shu, there wasn't much danger of running into beasts. She also had a general idea of where all the main dungeon spots were and thus could avoid many of the different dungeons herself.

Still, she went to the smaller dungeons and would occasionally kill the few beasts that spawned out of them.

Shu now was aware of Kotori's need to get the last hit on monsters and would leave them in a half-dead state for her to kill. Since he followed her roaming in the forest Shu's stats had grown a little, but it was still slower than Kotori's.

She decided to challenge larger monsters.

.

.

.

Bad idea.

She still wasn't strong enough to kill King Lizard from previously without help. To be quite honest, the thought frustrated Kotori quite a bit. Once again the strange urge to kill the beast arose in her again and she resolved herself that she would kill it. This time she didn't have help.

The only one who would help her was Shu but even then he didn't have much offensive power.

Shu noticed her resolve and gave her pleading eyes to not try it again.

Kotori could only sigh and devote herself to trying to get stronger.

The first thing she had to do was develop her [Magical Musician skill]. Honestly, Kotori had been developing skills at a rate that was unusual for most of the people of this world. Most people only developed around 1-2 Skills and that was only over the course of their entire lives. Kotori's case was unusual since she had already developed 2 skills at such a tender age. When she asked the Boss what her skills meant. The Boss was unsure of what they did.

Incidentally, the Boss had a very simple skill called [Heavy Strike]. It's very self-explanatory but it let the Boss hit things VERY HARD. Quite, an apt skill for someone with the Boss's predilection towards brute-forcing obstacles.

Thus Kotori began to develop her skills.

Here's what she knew about [Magical Musician]

It would allow her to essentially use mana to cast spells through song.

Yep, that was basically it.

Kotori didn't know the nature of the songs that were cast or what it would allow her besides things she had already done before. Like using it for entertainment or a simple damage spell.

[I guess now's a good time as any to test it] she thought

The first thing that came to Kotori's thought was fire, and thus she tried to cast a "fireball" like a stereotypical wizard, but when she tried to blow her flute nothing came out and no mana was channeled despite her best efforts.

[That's weird?]

So maybe [Magical Musician] was not omnipotent skill?

This time Kotori tried something different.

[Maybe shooting an icicle?]

Once again she raised her flute to her mouth and nothing happened.

It seems Kotori's dreams of being an all-powerful wizard were destroyed as quickly as they came.

She looked at Shu who was looking at her with puzzled eyes. From Shu's perspective, all it looked like was her playing the flute and it doing nothing.

[Well what do you want me to do?] She asked

Shu sent an image from when Kotori still lived in the village and she played melodies for her family.

[Ah you miss those?]

It had been a while since Kotori had played for recreation, since arriving in the wood elf village most of her life had been a struggle.

She began to play one of the songs her father often played for them. Apparently, this was a battle song used long ago. It was a fairy tale about rings and an evil king. The song was a very rousing song and her father would often play it while telling the fairy tale. Kotori quite liked it. So she began to play it.

As Kotori played the song she began to remember the tale. A tale of a small group who was able to overcome insurmountable odds.

The tune changed and it became a song that was different from the song her father had taught her. The sound grew deeper and an irregular orchestral sound began to come from her flute. Mana began to outpour from her at a large rate. Kotori knew that her  [Magical Musician] skill was activating but she was very careful. Once she reached the limits of her mana she stopped the song. The rolling orchestra came to a stop and she finished the song panting.

She felt a strange surge within her. She felt… Energized.

She quickly said "status!"

Sato Kotori

Race: [Human] Age: 8

HP: 40 (+19!)

Mana: 1/20

Agility: 32 (+19!)

Strength: 29 (+19!)

Defense: 26(+19!)

Karma: -100,009,647 (+21!)

Skills: [Magic Musician], [Hunter], [Desire of Monte Cristo](Removed)

Traits: [Spirit Seer], [Monte Cristo] [MANA BUFF] (TEMPORARY 5:59)

[Wow!]

Her stats had grown massively

[Hey isn't this a little overpowered?]

She spent 19 points on mana and turned it into a massive buff!

Shu gave a happy bark and she quickly checked his status

Dirt Spirit (Shu)

Race: [Spirit] Age: 2

HP: 34 (+19)

Mana: 10 (+0)!

Agility: 26 (+19)!

Strength: 24 (+19)!

Defense: 24 (+19)!

Karma: 10

Skills: [Rock Bullet](New!)

Traits: [Earth Spirit] (Evolved!) [MANA BUFF] (TEMPORARY 5:59)

Shu who was listening had also gained the buff.

Kotori now realized that her original usage of [Magic Musician] was all wrong. Her time spent with Mari and others just meant all she had to do was last hit monsters and she didn't think about developing her skills further.

[Wait isn't this almost enough]

With these stats, it was almost possible for her to kill the King Lizard alone. All she had to do was work on her mana pool.

Kotori licked her lips in anticipation

[Get ready to die shitty lizard!]