Ch.150150. Your Spirit Was Sick

Fresia fell into deep thought as she watched Ian, who had fallen asleep.

Various disorganized thoughts began to float through her mind.

It started with Ian’s determined face as he doggedly followed her training before the subjugation mission.

She recalled how he burned with fighting spirit without breaking, even when pushed to his limits.

Following that, she pictured his gallant figure facing monsters without retreat in the subjugation battle where his life might have been in danger. His rapidly improving skills through real combat were noticeable.

And finally.

She remembered how Ian, unable to overcome his inferiority complex toward Gilbert, rushed out despite her attempts to stop him, and ultimately ended up receiving help from that ruffian before passing out.

Fresia had repeatedly emphasized to Ian that the most important thing in combat was to maintain composure.

She never failed to mention that even a knight with outstanding control of a Divine Machine could be defeated by a third-rate pilot the moment they lost their composure.

But Ian seemed to have forgotten all her advice, throwing away rational thinking and launching a reckless attack without considering the consequences. In reality, calling it an “attack” was being generous—it was nothing short of a foolhardy charge.

If Gilbert hadn’t thought to save Ian, he certainly wouldn’t be sleeping with such a peaceful expression now.

Fresia couldn’t hide her complicated feelings. While she was relieved that Ian had regained consciousness safely, she couldn’t easily forget how naively he had “solved” the problem.

Was that really solving it?

Fresia tried to understand Ian.

If using wit to escape from a predicament could be called resourcefulness, then Ian had displayed resourcefulness by reversing the public opinion that would have worked against him.

He had transformed his image from a dissident who disobeyed his superior’s orders to a passionate knight who couldn’t stand by while his comrade was in danger.

Considering that most of the human world operates politically, Ian had certainly made the best choice.

Had he remained labeled as someone who disobeyed orders, it would have greatly hindered his future path—that much was obvious without having to experience it. Disobeying orders in a wartime situation was a serious matter that could result in immediate execution.

But Fresia couldn’t fully accept this.

She had no disagreement that Ian’s judgment was correct. Normally, concealing facts that would be disadvantageous to oneself was a natural action.

However, from an emotional rather than rational perspective, it was difficult to view Ian’s behavior favorably. At the very least, he shouldn’t have proudly boasted about his actions.

The right thing would have been to feel at least some shame for what he had done. Showing such nonchalance, especially to her who had witnessed everything, was wrong.

This is giving me a headache.

The more she thought about it, the more complicated it became rather than getting clearer.

She felt that these unnecessary thoughts were only making her head more complicated.

While she was somewhat disappointed in Ian, he was still an inexperienced contractor. If she, an Ultra Artificial Spirit, guided him well, he would surely become an excellent contractor.

Fresia set aside her thoughts about Ian and turned to another topic that was giving her a headache.

I wonder if that ruffian is okay?

She was starting to worry about Gilbert, whom she had been dismissing as a ruffian until now.

Whatever characteristic skill he possessed, the way he had perfectly handled her despite their formal contract was imprinted in Fresia’s mind like a brand.

Moving the Divine Machine in sync with him was a unique feeling she had never experienced in her long existence. It wasn’t such a bad feeling to be led and play a supporting role, contrary to her usual position of leading Divine Machine knights.

What am I thinking?

Fresia hurriedly erased the thought that had just occurred to her.

She felt strangely embarrassed.

Anyway, she decided to refrain from calling Gilbert a ruffian from now on. The noble will he had shown should not be disparaged by such a term.

While Fresia still believed that human nature never changes, she had lowered that hurdle for Gilbert.

Perhaps her premise was wrong. Since nothing in this world is absolute, maybe human nature could change with some intense catalyst.

Or perhaps Gilbert’s inherent nature was simply good.

Whichever was true didn’t matter much.

Fresia continued her thoughts about Gilbert while listening to Ian’s snoring.

***

His drifting consciousness suddenly returned. Perhaps because it was accompanied by terrible pain, his mind snapped to alertness.

Gilbert opened his sticky eyes and looked around. At least he wasn’t dead.

As pain tore through him with each breath, Gilbert furrowed his brow and grimaced slightly. Though he hadn’t checked his physical condition precisely, he could tell it was dire.

He first called up the message window that had been blocking his vision. Though the situation had been too urgent to check it earlier, the system message window was the most objective indicator of his current situation.

His greatest advantage was being able to use the system, so he needed to check all the messages he had skipped.

The first thing Gilbert examined was the system message he had seen right after using his characteristic skill. It was about confirming the special conditions of the characteristic skill he had created purely for fun.

Looking through the messages, it seemed the special conditions referred to the activation of Skill Limit Break, the acquisition of Skill Hundred Beasts, and finally, the synchronization rate with the Ultra Artificial Spirit Fresia.

These seemed like flimsy special conditions, but considering that Gilbert had set up his characteristic skill purely for fun, it was hard to see it as a forced setting.

Gilbert opened his skill window and examined the description of his characteristic skill in detail.

The only differences from before were that the special conditions were confirmed and that there was a higher-tier skill.

He guessed that he could unlock the higher-tier skill when all conditions were met, but even this wasn’t certain. Besides mentioning the existence of a higher-tier skill, everything else was filled with question marks, so what he could see was all he knew.

The same was true for Skill Hundred Beasts. This growth-type skill also seemed to have a higher-tier skill like the characteristic skill.

What conditions needed to be satisfied to unlock it remained unknown, just like with the characteristic skill.

Damn it. There’s nothing I can figure out.

Gilbert shook his head and checked the next message.

Though it wasn’t what he had wanted, he had achieved the achievement “Ogre Slayer” for defeating the monster ogre alone.

Additionally, for fighting the ogre alone to buy time for the subjugation team’s retreat, his fame had risen dramatically, and he had gained the title “Noble Spirit.”

The Ogre Slayer achievement, in particular, was quite difficult to achieve even among rare achievements, so its effects were among the top tier. This achievement alone made slaying the monster ogre worthwhile.

After confirming the achievement message for Ogre Slayer, Gilbert’s expression hardened as he saw the next message. Though he had been trying to ignore it, this message couldn’t be resolved by simply ignoring it.

[Due to exceeding the limits of your limits, your mana road has been severely damaged.]

Severe damage to the mana road.

This message hit Gilbert painfully hard.

In the era before Divine Machines, when people fought only with cold weapons, one of the most important things for a knight was the mana road. It would not be an exaggeration to say that knights could exert superhuman strength different from ordinary people because of this mana road.

Seeing the message that such a crucial mana road had been severely damaged, Gilbert felt dizzy.

With mountains of tasks ahead of him, he had to prevent the mana road from breaking at all costs. Even boarding a Divine Machine and establishing synchronization was only possible when the mana road was normal.

For Gilbert, who had the grand dream of returning to his original world, preserving his mana road was absolutely essential.

With a tense expression, he looked at the last message window. With his mana road severely damaged, this was his only hope.

[Having reached your physical limit, your Ultra Regeneration ability awakens.]

The awakening of Ultra Regeneration.

This was an anomaly he had never seen even in Tactical Combat.

Ultra Regeneration was the final tech tree of recovery-type skills that could be obtained when recovery-type skills awakened or when special conditions were met. Gilbert had also gained Ultra Regeneration ability as a side effect when acquiring Skill Hundred Beasts.

However, even Gilbert, who had played Tactical Combat for a long time, had never heard of Ultra Regeneration awakening. It was strange that there was an awakening for Ultra Regeneration, which was already a final skill.

Of course, this was reality, not the world inside a game. In a situation where one could use abnormal abilities like the system, it would be foolish to blindly believe in game settings.

What level would this awakened Ultra Regeneration skill be?

Gilbert opened his skill window with reverence.

<Einherjar’s Feast>

Rank: ??

Description: Brave warriors, raise your cups!

Effects:

– Ultra Regeneration efficiency is maximized

By maximizing Ultra Regeneration efficiency, you can limit regeneration to specific areas to increase regeneration power and speed.

– After a battle is judged to be over, declaring a feast dramatically increases Ultra Regeneration efficiency.

– ??? (Conditions not met.)

Gilbert couldn’t help but tremble as he looked at the golden-glowing skill called Einherjar’s Feast.

This was a skill he could proudly call more incredible than any other skill he had obtained so far. Not only did it maximize Ultra Regeneration efficiency, but the ability to limit regeneration to specific areas to increase regeneration power and speed was extremely attractive.

Additionally, there was an effect that boosted Ultra Regeneration efficiency once more after declaring a feast when a battle was judged to be over. Though he wasn’t sure yet what declaring a feast meant, he got some hints from the skill name Einherjar’s Feast.

Gilbert immediately straightened his posture and used Einherjar’s Feast. He fixed the Ultra Regeneration range to his damaged mana road and gently closed his eyes.

The mana road he sensed was in such a terrible state that “devastated” would be an understatement. Thanks to the Ultra Regeneration skill, it was slowly regenerating, but at this rate, he would need months of recovery.

However, when he limited the Ultra Regeneration range to just the mana road, the recovery speed increased dramatically. He could feel it was at least ten times faster than before.

Although other parts of his body were not affected by Ultra Regeneration, the mana road was the urgent priority now.

Gilbert immersed himself in his inner being and focused all his mental energy on healing his mana road.