“N-no matter what you say, i-it’s my skill.” Farnese resists nervously.

Firing shotgun really made Lupine excited. She asks Farnese a lot of questions, including about the non-disclosure condition; about how her weapon work; about how my flashlight emits light similar to magical orb of light despite not being a magical item. Her cat-like curiosity totally surpasses the self-control and self-awareness of a girl with usually cold demeanor.

"Your majesty. I want to know too. I chided Lupine for prying too much earlier, but after seeing Farnese's skills, I also can’t let it go. It’s not out of simple curiosity or intellectual pursuit. To continue being her allies during this exploration, I want to have an accurate understanding of her abilities. Besides, that was no ordinary skill. Do you know what ‘Skills’ are or what ‘abilities’ are?”

And here we have another curious girl who couldn’t restrain herself… No, more like she wants more information so she could do her job properly. Reina is looking at the monsters’ corpses, but gives a sidelong glance to me and starts asking questions.

“I don’t know exactly what they are, but it’s said that skills are active while abilities are passive, right?”

“Well, that’s the gist of it. Skills are activated at the owner’s will. While abilities are always active regardless. The skills you’ve displayed are far superior to those we know.”

“So, what are they?”

“Either bloodline skills, or something fundamentally different.”

Giving up, I was thinking about just declaring them bloodline skills, but I had also hinted that they were something different. Bloodline skills had a nice ring and could mislead people – but I wasn’t sure how long that excuse would last.

“It’s a bloodline skill called ‘Arms’. It’s both an ability and a skill. Please don’t reveal this.”

“Ah, you talked about it so readily, unlike what I expected. I definitely won’t reveal this. Lupine, you too.”

"Hmm.." Lupine's talkativeness cools down.

The two are more or less content with my explanation. So we discuss which role each of us would take, as well as how we’d work together during battles – thus resuming the exploration. Things go on smoothly afterward with no more needless chatter. 

Lupine, the dark elves girl, uses a very small shield and medium sized sword. Fast attacks are her strong point.

Meanwhile, aside from Farnese, Reina is the weakest fighter among them but she is extremely agile and possess good detection ability.

Selene is a sorceress who has unusual reserve of magical energy. 

Normally, magic is invoked by chanting magically charged words. However, once you became a skilled magician, you could directly tap into the power of your specialized magic attributes by calling their names. Just like Selene summoning fire or ice by citing a word. Just reciting these names could materialize their power. Magic invoked this way was less refined than magic invoked through chanting in terms of scope, strength and behavior. On the other hand, you could activate the magic with just a mental image you yourself constructed. Each method had its own pros and cons. Magic’s degree of freedom was actually higher than you could imagine.

Reina speaks, “There’s a big space ahead, with multiple enemies there.”

Actually, there are 12 supposedly-hostile trolls behind the trees – I detect their existence in my translucent dashboard. But I want to hide how accurate my knowledge is, so I simply say that to them.

“What now?”

“I’ll launch a wide-range magical attack. Others follow up after me.”

“Understood. After your attack, I’ll strike from the room’s entrance. Farnese, please watch the rear.”

“Got it.”

We carefully advance past the trees.

"Trolls!!"

12 trolls take up positions each at a tree, with 3 more in the room center.  Those 3 have bigger bodies than the other trolls though.

"Cyclone!" 

With Selene’s chanting, a huge tornado appears between the trolls and us – moving in their direction. The tornado blows them away while the wind cut at them and their blood swirls into the colourless storm as if dancing. A red storm sweeps through between the trees.

The storm gave the trolls minor injuries,so we jump at them with our weapons drawn. The surprise attacks stun them. They make some resistance but we overcome them in no time. When we are finished, the trolls became nothing but a pile of corpses.

Selene's skill set really makes our work easy.

It’d been only a few hours, but we could more or less draw up a map of the western region already. The full picture was still unclear, but at this rate, we’d probably reach further west within the next few days. Furthermore, my translucent dashboard automatically record places I have explored in its world map. Of course, this ability remains secret, only known to me.